Fallout Equestria: Aces High

by Vinyl Scoot

Chapters

Ch. 1: Dante's Inferno
Ch. 2: The Road
Ch. 3: Port Mortuary
Ch. 4: Reframed
Ch. 5: Machine

Ch. 1: Dante's Inferno

Ch 1: Dante’s Inferno

“I think I’ve finally got your location, sir.”

“Good. I’ve been dying to leave for years.”

“How exactly am I going to do this without causing suspicion?”

“Why would it cause suspicion? Oh, I’m not in your territory, am I?”

“No, sir. Just out, I’m afraid. Sending troops to get you might be seen as a provocation.”

“Make it seem innocent. Or just invade anyway, Hell, I’m itching for another war. It’s been too long since the last one.”

“I had a shipment interrupted by number five. The merchant is on the run. I could lead him to your location and say he’s-”

“Five will see right through that, but it will have to do. Just get me out of here.”

“Sir, yes sir!”

************

Boredom.

As the only pegasus living in Cormount, ponies have always shunned me. None of them are impressed that I can fly around the sky while they remain rooted in the ground. So I’ve spent most of my time reading. I’ve read every book in the Cormount library. Twice. Not saying much when you consider there are only sixty books in it.

Of course, when I wasn’t reading, I spent my time heading my one-pony thieves’ guild.

I trotted through the many alleys in the bad part of town, my dark blue coat camouflaging in the dark shadows. I slowed down as I approached a particularly dark zone and pulled a trench coat out of my saddlebags. Being an outcast in the bad part of town is never a good thing, so I try to hide my wings and cutie mark. This city is probably the only place in Equestria where having wings could make me so special, it becomes my cutie mark. Its near-glowing white stuck out a lot against my dark blue coat as well. I snuck around the corner, took a quick glance both directions. The orphanage wasn’t very educational, but it taught me one very important thing. Always look both directions. Not many other ponies figured that out.

I found the ladder I was looking for and zipped up it. Now I was in my element. I took off my trenchcoat and ungraciously stuffed it in my saddlebags. Why I took it out for the two seconds to get up here, I’ll never know, but better safe than sorry as I’ve always thought. I flipped my wings out (how I love that feel) and leapt to the next building. I knew better than to fly; guard ponies are always on the lookout for me flying. Just jealous. I am the only pegasus in Cormount anyway.

I landed a few buildings from where I leaped and peeked over the edge. Good. No ponies. I pulled a grappling hook I found near the Stable in the park out of my saddlebags and hooked it to the gutter in the building. I grabbed the rope with my mouth and hopped down, stopping halfway down the building. I snuck a look through the nearby window. Good, the family was asleep. I tied the rope around my hoof and fished out a screwdriver and lockpick from my saddlebags. A few seconds later and the window was open a crack. I eased it open and slipped inside.

A cursory look at the room told me the family was not one of the richer families in the city. A shame. They were the ones who needed to be robbed. I untied myself from the grappling hook and left it hanging out the window. I froze when I heard a loud snort, but relaxed when I realized it was a snore. I tiphooved over to the main room.

“Jackpot,” I whispered to myself.

The room was full of vases and urns. Several looked expensive, which was fine by me. I went around the room, looking in them, knowing that they would notice if I just stole all of them. That’s when I saw the safe. I couldn’t conceal my excitement as I began to pick the lock. Fuck. My pin broke. I looked in my saddlebags and saw I was clean out. I took another look at the safe and sighed. Looks like I was doing this the old-fashioned way. I stuck my ear to the door and twisted the lock with my hoof. Few minutes later, the safe was opened and the money inside was preparing to be spent on another meal for me.

That’s when I heard hoofsteps.

I closed the safe quietly and leapt to the nearest wall, trying my best to look like a plant. This was difficult, mostly because most plants don’t have wings. Or are blue. Or are still smiling like an idiot from the amount of money it just stole. The pony whose house I was robbing sleepily walked around the room. He yawned and blinked a few time. He glanced around the room before shrugging (can ponies shrug?) and heading back to his room. I breathed a sigh of relief. With my new money in hand, I snuck back to the window I came in and climbed my rope back to the roof.

I gathered my rope up and took a look at the sky. Cloudy. It was always cloudy here. When I asked the ponies at the orphanage about it, they told me some bullshit story about how there’s no sky and only clouds. The other ponies bought it. Fucking morons. I knew better; part of being as well-read as I could be in this deadbeat town.

Although...

I sat and looked at the town. My town. I may not like anypony here, or be wanted, but this was my town. Nopony knew it better than me. I’d explored everything from the Stable in the park to Town Hall at the entrance to town. I wasn’t allowed outside. Nopony was. Only merchants were allowed in. But, as I thought about it, the town wouldn’t be the same without the gang fighting at night. Just not the same without the pompous stuck up aritstoponies in the rich district, uneducated orphanage ponies, or the slow to react guard ponies around town.

Speaking of which...

“You there! Winger! Get off that fucking roof before I shoot you down!”

I sighed. Looks like reflecting time was over. I turned and dashed to the next roof. To the next. The feel of the air through my unkempt, blue hair was enough to make me love flying. My wings shot out and I was in the air. I did a few loop the loops and landed on the roof of a restaurant. Throwing my trench coat over my wings, I leapt off the roof and landed gracefully in the alley. I strutted out to the front of the food place and walked in the door.

I nodded at the pimply fry cook, Fries. Another pony bullied, he was one of the few ponies here decent to me. I mosied over to the cash register and shot the mare there a flirty grin. Like she would sleep with me. “Well hello there, Gorgeous. How are you this fine day?”

Gorgeous was a pink unicorn filly with a bit cutie mark. Most ponies would think she’s a banker, but in this town, that’s a cashier. I’d been after her for years, but she was not in a flirty kind of mood now. Never was with me. “It’s night, Ace. What do you want? And you better have bits this time, because I’m done taking I.O.U’s.” Ouch. Shot down again. Not a good feeling for a pegasus.

“You wound me, Gorgeous. I always pay you, eventually. And even if I don’t, what about ponies like Panther? You always let them give you I.O.U’s.” I knew I had her there.

“They always pay me what they owe. Any money you give me always turns out to be hot. I doubt you’ve actually earned any money by working your whole life.”

I was beginning to get angry. “That’s horseshit! I know Panther’s never given you money in his life for his food. Why am I so different?”

She stared at me furiously. “I said he paid me back. I didn’t necessarily say with money.” Oh. OOOHHHH... shit.

It hit me and I threw on another flirty grin. “Well, why don’t we have the same agreement? I’m sure I could pay you pack much better than Panther...”

She stamped her hoof down. “You think this is a fucking porno you weirdo? I wouldn’t fuck a virgin like you if you were the last fucking pony in the fucking city! Go fuck yourself before I call the guards on you!” Ow. My pride.

“Alright alright, sheesh. In all seriousness, can I get a fried daisy sandwich? I do have money today.” This seemed to satisfy her, and she barked the order back to Fries. A couple minutes later, I was sitting at a booth, slowly eating my daisies, discreetly looking at Gorgeous’s flank. I watched a few late working ponies come in and order. I watched with disgust as some of them flirted with Gorgeous... and she flirted back! It struck me how much of an outcast being a pegasus here really made me. I finished my food and left.

A few minutes of aimless wandering found me in the Cormount park. Right in front of the Stable. Nopony in town had figured out how to open it, which was fine by me. Ponies in town told stories of the cruel tricks they played in the Stables, and our town was vigilant in case it ever opened. I looked at the opening mechanism near the door and sighed. There was probably nopony in there knowing the town’s luck. We were situated at the most northern part of the Wild North. An isolationist town in an isolationist region. Visitors were rare.

Which was why I didn’t notice the sprite-bot float in front of me.

I yelled and jumped back a couple feet. Usually I can hear those things coming a mile away! However this one seemed to be silent. Curious. I creeped over to it and gave it a poke.

“Watch it!” it yelled at me. Whoosh! Another couple feet back. “Sorry, I was waiting for you to notice me and drifted to another bot. Hello there, Ace. My name... well, call me Watcher.”

I stared at it. Since when do they talk? “Um, hello Watcher? Why do you know my name? Who are you? Why are you here? And why the fuck is that bot not playing that annoying music?” I shot off as many questions as I could. I really hated March of the Parasprites. And I really didn’t care for music in general. Not unless somepony made something with real musicality in it.

Watcher was quick in answering. “I know your name because I’ve been keeping an eye on you for a few days now. You may just be the backup I was looking for... if my primary plan doesn’t work...” it trailed off a minute. Do bots think? “As for who I am, well, I’m Watcher. I watch everything in the Wasteland.”

I interrupted him. “Wasteland? Looks pretty clean to me up here. Nothing to make us need this Stable anyway...”

Watcher hesitated before answering. “Well, it’s a lot worse down south and, well, everywhere else. Anyway, I’m here to ask you for a favor. As I said, you may be the backup I’m looking for. But you need to get out of here. You’re going to get yourself killed.” Was it rack on Ace day today or something? Celestia Almighty, everypony...bot... body was piling it on me. “Get some supplies and get out of town. Make some friends, hell, I’m under a lot of pressure. Normally, I’m not like this, but I’ve got stuff to do.”

I snorted. “Friends in this city? The only pony that’s decent to me is Fries, and only when nopony else is around. Might as well be asking Gorgeous to stop fucking everypony without wings. Also, weapons? They slow me down. I need my lightness to make money to live. Lastly, stop stealing? You want me to die? Fuck off, Watcher, before I turn your little bot into a set of braces.”

Watcher was silent for a minute. I heard some mumbling that sounded like “...even the crazy one’s nicer than this” but I soon heard... throat clearing? “I’m sorry to hear that. Good luck, Ace, and may next time we cross, you sing a different tune.” And with that, the March began playing. I watched it fly off. I hated those things. When one came by as I was breaking in a house, it brought attention to me. Well, whatever. I sighed and turned around. And was face to face with a dark purple buck grinning evily at me, his two cronies, Bonecrusher and Stronghoof, skulking in the shadows behind him.

Just what I needed right now.

“Well hey there, Winger. Got a word from Gorgeous that you was bothering her. Now why would you do something like that?” he cackled.

“None of your business, Panther, I was just trying to get a little flank,” I muttered, trying to keep my voice steady while slowly backing up.

“Well, I’m making it my business. She says you left without paying again. And she wants that money bad. So I’m here to take it from you, and she don’t care if she never see you again.”

I crouched to a fighting stance. “Bring it on, Panther, I ain’t afraid of you.”

He charged at me. Predictable. I jumped in the air and flew over to one of the benches in the park. Stronghoof ran at me, holding a large pipe in his mouth. I leapt to my right and rolled out of the way. The bench I was standing one cracked in half. Shit. I turned and saw Bonecrusher had a fire axe handle while Panther pulled out a golf club. There was heavy shit all around the city. I took off, flying low to the ground to avoid being noticed by the guards. I knew the second I flew too high or attacked one of the three back, they’d be on me like parasprites on an apple tree.

My mind raced as I weaved through the trees and bushes, glancing back every now and then to assess my position. Holy fuck, they were gaining. I took a breath and did a vertical u-turn. Now I was flying towards them. Right as I passed in between Bonecrusher and Stronghoof, they swung their respective weapons at me. The satisfying clunk of them hitting each other brought a smile to my face. I turned to look at their howls of pain and misery when I realized I’d forgotten somepony.

Then pain. Lots and lots of pain.

I crashed to the ground, skidding a couple metres on the gravelly path. I quickly retracted my wings, knowing how much these ponies hated them. Though probably the strongest muscle in the pegasus body, it would probably be their first target. I looked up fearfully, my left forehoof throbbing painfully, as Panther walked up to me, his cronies still disoriented in the background.

“Well look at the big pegasus stallion now. Can’t fly away? We don’t need you around here. We don’t want you around here. And Gorgeous never wants to see you again.” He swung his club down on my head and I heard a large crack. Stars flew across my vision and I tasted blood in my mouth. “You don’t deserve to die quickly, ya fucking winger. I’ll show you.” He swung the club down between my back legs. I felt a few millennia of unimaginable, unbearable pain. I’d never prayed for death in my life, but I shot up one to merciful Celestia. My vision cleared enough to see Panther pull up for another swing.

Then my prayer was answered.

The sprite-bot from earlier buzzed right in front of Panther’s eyes and he lost his balance, giving me a distraction. I forced my wings open and took off. No point in avoiding death by guards if the alternative is death by assholes. I landed quickly on a nearby rooftop and ducked behind the edges. I took a few deep breaths and examined the damage. Blood all over my face. My left eye was still blurry. I took one last deep breath and looked down. Oddly enough, it didn’t look too bad, though it stung like a bitch. I gave it a tender push with my hoof and felt another sharp rush of pain. However it was more diminished than the previous ones, so I relaxed. I stood up and stretched my legs. More pain. Okay, maybe I’m not so hot. I dug into my saddlebags, hoping to find a healing potion. Haha! Success! I quickly drank it and felt the warmth in my nether regions fade away.

“So thought about what I said?”

I whirled around and fell flat on my face. Ouch. Bad pony, don’t try to exert yourself, you were just nearly gelded with a golf club. Try not to think about that. “You saved my life,” I whispered. My voice wasn’t where it was an hour ago.

“I was merely trying to give you enough time to think about what I said. Had you died, I would have wasted my time. I’d rather not do that, though none of my experiments have been successful yet... though I have high hopes for this new one...” Watcher trailed off thoughtfully. I attempted to stand up again, but gravity decided I was still its bitch. I thought I heard a chuckle from the bot, but I had a feeling I was still a little loopy.

“Okay, fine,” I replied. After several minutes of struggling, I decided I was comfortable lying in a heap. This was actually comfortable. Having my back legs near my head and my front twisted in a knot behind me, I snorted out laughter at how I thought I looked. “I hope you can forgive me for not wanting to be friends with the assholes I know around here.”

Watcher floated there, probably thinking about what I said. “Fair enough. In that case, you may want to leave the city. If you do, head South to a little place called Tin Town. It was a mining town and it may have something for you to do.” I nodded. But for now, I thought, let’s just get some rest.

**************

Several nights later, I was creeping through the back alleys in town, my saddlebags filled with newly stolen medkits and my trench coat pulled tight across my back. My lack of bobby-pins kept me from opening them, but hey, you never know. I slipped out of the alley and began a casual walk to my house. Then I noticed something very peculiar.

A book.

I changed course and sauntered over to it. I was always looking for new books. The title read “Wasteland Survival Guide” by somepony named Ditzy Doo. I slid it into my saddlebags, thinking I’d get a chance to read it when I got home. That’s when it hit me. Well two things. One, why would someone leave something like this laying around? And two, the apparent owner of the book.

“Oof!” I grunted as I slid across the sidewalk. This seemed oddly familiar...

“What do you think you’re doing stealing my book?” I heard from my left. My face grew cold as I imagined Panther standing over me with a golf club. I looked over and saw a stallion staring daggers at me.

“I haven’t read it yet, so I picked it up! I’ll give it back!” I yelled without thinking. I may be a clever pony, but I do NOT do well under pressure. And I wasn’t in any shape for a fight right then. That’s when I noticed his aggressive stance had eased slightly.

“...You were going to give it back?” he asked slowly, making me realize he wasn’t used to common courtesy.

I examined the stallion. He was a white earth pony with unkempt blood-red hair and weird blue feet. Why was I giving him courtesy again? I wasn’t expecting any in return to be honest. That’s when I realized something; he wasn’t calling me a winger and trying to murder me. I already wanted him to be my best friend.

“You’re not from around here are you?” I questioned while steadying myself up. I noted the scratch on my leg as I pulled the book back out of my saddlebags. As I turned to get a better look at him, I realized he had a cutie mark I’d never seen before: some blue paper with drawings on them.

“Well, no, I was actually here for trade, but it seems nopony here wants my wares,” he sheepishly said, his eyes lowering. “If you want, I could sell that to you... I really need the caps!” he finished with a hopeful look over at me.

“I think I have a few bits on me...” I began

“No, no, those things are worthless in the Wasteland,” he said shaking his head furiously making his red mane fly everywhere. He sighed and looked around the empty street. “I knew it was a bad idea to come out this far... Pride is going to kill me if I don’t pay him... stupid isolated villages.” It looked like he was talking to himself so I replaced the book inside my bags.

“Well, I may have something you might want... what do you need?” I tried to helpfully ask.

“Bottle caps. It’s the source of currency in the wasteland,” he turned back to me to say. “If you need details there’s some help in that book.”

“I think I may have some old bottles at my house, if you want,” I suggested, hoping that a second pony may stave off attackers. He nodded so we began walking along the sidewalk.

“I have to say, this city is really sheltered. The guards just told me to watch out for thieving pegasi. I thought I might be safe here for a little while,” he said. “Oh by the way, my name is Blueprints. I’m a merchant working for Pride in Mesa City.”

“I’m Ace Flight, but everyone around here just calls me ‘That fucking winger’,” I joked, but he stopped in his tracks.

“Y- yo- you’re Enclave?” Blueprints had such a look of pure fear on his face that I began to get scared too.

“N-no... who’s that?” I stammered.

“Oh thank God...” he wiped some sweat off his brow. “They’re bad ponies who live above the clouds.”

“And they’re all pegasi?”

“It’s all in the guide. Tell ya what. You can go ahead and keep it. I’ve read it plenty anyway. Wait, so are you that thieving pegasus the guard warned be about?” He started digging through his saddlebags. I stared at him curiously a second, then burst out laughing.

“Relax, Prints, the fact that you’re talking to me like a normal pony means I’m not going to steal your stuff.” I gave him a reassuring smile as was crossed the street. He gave a nervous chuckle. Damn it. The one pony not intolerant of pegasi and he was getting it already. I really wanted to leave Cormount right now.

Cue the explosion.

Blueprints turned towards the sound while I ducked behind a nearby bush. We saw a billowing pile of smoke coming from a nearby wall. I could just make out silhouettes of ponies in the smoke, but Blueprints was already turning away. “Shit! They found me!” he yelled as he began sprinting away. I threw off my coat and flew off after him. Things were about to get really weird.

“Who are they? How did they buck through the wall? Not even Stronghoof could put a dent in it!” I yelled as we fled.

“I’ll explain later, but... here!” He turned into the park and flew towards the Stable door. I landed and noticed the blood pile where I lay a few days ago. I shuddered and looked over to where Blueprints worked furiously at the door controls.

“Good luck, nopony’s been able to figure out how to open that for 200 years,” I scoffed as I walked over and looked over his shoulder. Bad idea, Ace, this was for ponies who can understand numbers.

“Then how do you explain that?” he asked triumphantly as the door creaked open. I stared in awe at the opening door. “Come on, we have to close it too!” I jerked out of my stupor and flew in the door. Blueprints hit a button and the door swung shut behind us.

And that’s how Blueprints and I got into Stable 79.

******************

“This place is amazing!” I exclaimed as I flew through the empty hallways. Blueprints trotted along after, chuckling to himself at my amazement. “What’s this?” I landed in front of a door that read Overmare’s office. “Overmare? Who’d put a mare in charge? Stallions tend to think straighter in my experience...” I thought out loud.

“Cormount is not a normal town then,” Blueprints said, stopping right next to me. “In pre-war Equestria, there were two princesses, and most towns had a female head of government.”

I looked at him in wonder. “I’ve never read about any of this! This is so amazing!” I gleefully yelled. “Wanna go inside? It looks like nopony’s ever set foot in here!” Without waiting for an answer, I tried the door handle. Locked.

“I had a feeling it’d be locked, but unfortunately I can’t pick locks,” Blueprints said glumly. “Makes me wonder why I always pick up any bobby pins I see.” I grinned over at him.

“I’ve done my share of breaking into places. Lemme see those pins.”

Two pins later, the door was open and we stepped inside. The first thing that caught my eye was the long golden bracelet on a pedestal in the back of the room. “What is that?” I asked as I stepped towards it.

“I think it’s a Pipbuck, but not one I’ve seen before,” Blueprints answered, heading towards the desk. “I’ve no interest in it, so go ahead and take it. Let’s see if there’s anything of value in here...”

I stopped paying attention as I approached the Pipbuck. It seemed to glow at me, and I began to reach for it. The second I touched it, a recording began to play.

“...Uh, hello there, Stable 79! You are going to take place in a special experiment! That is... wait, nopony’s ever gonna hear this message. The experiment is to lock it up before ponies even go in? Apple Bloom! This one is so stupid! Why bother making it if no pony is going to fucking use it? ...Whatever, I’ve been getting tired of these anyway. Sweetie Belle, get me a bottle of whiskey!...”

I froze. Nopony was supposed to be in here? I hesitated, then slid the Pipbuck on and slipped through the functions. Eyes-Forward Sparkle. Inventory Sorter. The last one I said aloud.

“Stable-Tech Assisted Targeting System?” I turned towards Blueprints. “What’s that, genius pony?”

“It’s an auto-target for Pipbucks. Stable Ponies have better tech than wasteland ponies, but they also become a target for Steel Rangers,” Blueprints said without looking up from the desk. “If they see that Pipbuck, be happy if you get away with your leg still on.” I turned on the E.F.S. and noticed a green dot where Blueprints was.

“So I guess I should get some kind of gun so I can use it?” I asked him.

He immediately looked up, shocked. “You’d be willing to kill a pony? Have you ever even hurt anything?”

“Well, no, but if those ponies out there tear apart the town looking for you, I may need something to defend myself with. And I’ve had to deal with violence my own way. Having a weapon would make my life so much easier,” I said as I walked towards the desk. “So what are those ponies after?”

Blueprints studied me for a second then said “Well, you came in here with me so you’re probably just as much a target now as me so I’ll tell you. I am a merchant working for Pride in Mesa City, a fortress several miles southeast of here. I may have lost some expensive cargo in a raider attack, so Pride has put a bounty on my head. Not that I didn’t really deserve it... we are about to start in a war after all.”

I whipped my head to turn at him. “War? Like full on, nuclear wasteland making war? Haven’t we seen the consequences of this?”

Blueprints shook his head. “Not that large. More like a civil war. Pride and his siblings all have holdings in the Wild North. He’s had particularly bad relations with his brother Wrath recently. I know what Wrath’s raiders can do; that’s how I lost my cargo. But Pride hates pegasi and earth ponies. He’s been looking for a chance to get me out of the picture. But I don’t care. I’d give my life stopping Wrath from destroying this land further.”

Blind loyalty to a pony who wants him dead? And I thought the ponies in this town were crazy. “Well, sounds like Pride wouldn’t want me around either. So let’s wait ‘til the raiders here leave and sneak away.”

Blueprints frowned at me. “Don’t you care about the rest of the ponies living here?”

I laughed. “I was an outcast here. My parents were run out of town when they had a pegasus kid, and the Council decided to let me live. Anyways, I’ve been beaten, shunned, and generally hated by everypony in this fucking town, no matter how nice I try to be to them. Not that I’m all that nice...” I stopped to think. Everypony I ever knew was going to be enslaved or killed and I was was going to let them. I thought about what Watcher said about making friends. If I saved the city, I could be a hero. “We have to go save them.”

Blueprints really looked shocked now. “Wait, save as in go attack Pride? I don’t need to piss him off more! And how are we going to do that? Those ponies have guns, swords, probably explosives! How do we match that firepower?”

I walked over to the wall where a map was pinned up. “Looks like there’s an armory in the Security wing. And we might as well stop by the Mechanic wing to get you a Pipbuck.”

Blueprints considered my idea. Then he shook his head. “I’m sure there’s a way to escape and save them without antagonizing Pride.”

I looked over at him and shot me my flashiest grin. “Well, let’s make sure he doesn’t know it’s us saving them then.”

Blueprints studied me for a minute. Two. “Alright, fine.” I clapped my hooves together. “But first,” he continued, “let’s explore the rest of this Stable. Who knows what it might hold?” I nodded and we left the office.

We walked in silence down the artificially lighted hallways, Blueprints staring at the floor, me flying, looking around in wonder. “Hey, Prints? You seem to know a lot about these Stables. Are you a Stable Pony yourself?”

Blueprints looked up at me to answer. “Not from a Stable, but my merchant guild in Mesa City was built into one. Stable 78. It opened ten years after the bombs fell, when the Overmare realized the North wasn’t in much danger. Of course, Mesa City was controlled by Pride, so he took over the rest of the Stable and built a guild in it. 190 years later, he’s still in power.” I blinked. This pony was over 200 years old? I opened my mouth, shut it, then promptly ran into a railing hanging across the hallway. “Before you ask, no, I have no idea how he is still alive. Same for his siblings. They just don’t seem to die of old age.”

I landed, rubbing my head. Celestia Almighty, that hurt like a bitch! “What exactly does he run in Mesa City?” I asked after a while.

“Almost everything. Brothels, raiders, slavers, trade, you name it. He recently started sending slaves down south to Fillydelphia, though only Celestia and Luna knows why.”

Slavery? That fit in perfectly with my image of him. Sounded like the worst pony I’d ever heard of. Then again, I could easily see Panther and his cronies enslaving other ponies. We came across a large door in the left side of the hall. Luckily it was unlocked, so Blueprints and I pushed it open. Inside was a large atrium, with dusty pictures of Stable-Tech propaganda and loads of tables. Looking up, the ceiling seemed to reach about a mile up in the sky, causing a smile on my face to grow. I hadn’t been legitimately happy for years! Without waiting for Blueprints to try to stop me, I immediately jumped in the air and flew circles around the wide room. The pictures on the walls blurred past me as I sped up, making both tables and chairs go flying. Eventually I landed near a large poster of an orange pegasus with purple hair. She smirked out at me and underneath her it read “Stable-Tech: For when the Unthinkable happens.”

I heard a crash and whirled around to see Blueprints had tripped over one of the fallen tables into an awkward heap. A smile grew on my face. This pony certainly was a character. “Come on, Prints, there’s nothing in here.” I flew back to the entrance and took one last look around. The large room seemed sad, its emptiness sapping the happiness from me. I turned my back on it and walked out.

We eventually reached the Mechanic wing, locked naturally. I pulled out my screwdriver and bobby pins and worked the lock open. The inside was... empty. The only thing in the room was a rack with Pipbucks on it. I grabbed one and tossed it over to Blueprints. He slipped it on and we departed for the Security wing.

Once there, I glanced over at Blueprints as he examined his Pipbuck while I dug through the weapons cabinet. “Man, why’d I let you have the awesome gold one? Mine’s just silver with padding.”

“Quit whining, they do the same thing. Now, you want a shotgun? Assault rifle? Sniper rifle? How about a grenade launcher?” I asked him, grabbing one of each for me.

“I think I just want that,” he said, pointing towards a wall to my right. I turned and saw a saddle with guns attached to the side.

“‘Battle-Saddle,’” I read aloud off the sign next to it. “I don’t think I could carry that and still be able to fly, so by all means go ahead.” I began looking for some barding that would fit me. To my surprise, I found a suit with wing holes in it. I slipped into it and noticed that it seemed to shift around to fit my body. “This is pretty impressive. I want to shake the hoof of the pony who invented this stuff.”

“Well, ponies inventing this stuff is how the Wasteland came to be,” Blueprints said, getting into his own barding. “So what’s the plan when we leave the Stable? Think we can get out unnoticed?”

I pondered this for a moment then shrugged. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” I started messing with my Pipbuck and noticed a new function. Or rather, several new functions. Ready, Shoot, Reload, Throw Grenade, Switch Weapon, and Zoom were all flashing. Intrigued, I tried pushing Zoom on my screen. Nothing happened. Then suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my foreleg where the Pipbuck was set. I then realized it had pushed a needle into my leg. “What the fuck is it doing...” I questioned aloud.

Blueprints walked over and looked at it. “I have no fucking clue. Maybe some kind of cyborg enhancement? We should probably practice firing at the firing range before we head out...” he trailed off as he headed into the range. Several seconds later I heard shots firing and cursing.

“Sounds like somepony’s not very good with a saddle,” I chuckled as I walked in. I looked at the targets, shaped disturbingly like ponies. I held my Pipbuck up and searched for the Ready command, but before I pushed it, my shotgun floated in front of me.

“Ace... how are you doing that?” Blueprints nervously asked. I looked at the shotgun and saw a golden glow around it.

“I think my Pipbuck has a spell matrix in it allowing it to levitate a weapon for me...” I trailed off as I thought about what I just said. “Wait, it can cast spells? Something tells me this is an amazing Pipbuck.” I activated SATS, aimed two shots at the dummy witht the shotgun and fired. The dummy was riddled with bullets.

“How’d you aim it? I can’t do shit with this saddle!” Blueprints complained, stomping his hooves on the ground.

“Use SATS” I explained, switching over to the assault rifle and tried to use SATS myself. I groaned as my Pipbuck gave me a loading sign for it. “But sparingly I guess. It needs time to recharge.”

Blueprints stood for a second before he fired off a few shots. They all hit the dummy right in the head. “That’s pretty cool, Ace. Alright, I think we’re ready. Let’s head out.”

*************************

Blueprints and I stood in front of the door, neither one of us really wanting it open. I fidgeted around a second, then glanced over at Blueprints. “You ready to head out there, Prints?” I asked with what I hoped to be a calming grin.

“No, but by the time I am, we’ll be very old stallions. Let’s go.” He activated the doors, I let out a war cry, and we charged out of Stable 79.

Into a burnt park.

I glanced at my E.F.S. No red bars. Only Blueprints showed up green. “Looks like they weren’t about to stay for you,” I said as I walked toward one of the trees. I sheathed my assault rifle and looked back at him. “So let’s go see if anypony’s still here.”

Blueprints nodded, turned to the entrance of the park and gasped. I quickly turned and saw a bright blue unicorn standing there staring at us. I cautiously took a step nearer to the unicorn.

Then the ground exploded.

The tree I was next to splintered off in every direction and I took to the skies. My barding took the brunt of the damage, but I still felt a blunt hit on my chest. “Mines!” I yelled, hoping Blueprints could think better than I could under pressure.

“Well well, seems we got ourselves some more refugees,” came a voice from behind the explosion. A quick glance at my E.F.S. showed flashes of red appearing all around me and Blueprints. “And one of them’s got a purty set of wings. Take them alive. I’m sure Pride will want to see this one undamaged.”

I felt my face get hot. I slipped into SATS and fired off a grenade towards the largest red blob I found. The hazy smoky air obscured my vision, but my Pipbuck told me I had eliminated quite a few. Nearby I heard Blueprints firing desperately around him. “Use SATS!” I screamed at him, and switched to my assault rifle while I ducked behind another tree. I began spraying the areas that had high concentrations of red while my Pipbuck threw up shields to protect from incoming bullets. “Didn’t know it could do that...” I muttered while waiting for SATS to recharge.

“Fuck!” I heard the raider leader yell from the direction I was firing. I suddenly felt elated. Maybe we weren’t fucked after all. “Fall back! They aren’t worth our time,” I heard a new voice say from the same direction. The bullets stopped flying past and the sea of red began dissipating. I looked over at Blueprints and saw a comical look of horror on his face. “Be lucky Pride don’t give a shit or I’d have your wings on a mantel. Come on, you lazy fucks, we got to head back.”

I took some deep breaths, trying to keep calm. No luck. My anger took control of me and I pulled out my sniper rifle. I looked around the tree through the rifle’s scope. Nothing. Then I saw a dim outline of a pony with what looked like spikes coming from it. I fired and the pony’s head exploded. I smiled and turned back to Blueprints, only to find he had passed out. I chuckled as I walked over to him. For a Wasteland veteran, he didn’t do well in battle.

I carried Blueprints over to the town hall and looked through the terminals. Finding nothing more than bureaucratic bullshit, I sat next to the bed Blueprints was asleep on and began fiddling with my Pipbuck. Soon I came across a radio and listened to the first radio station I found.

“In other news, up in the north, brothers Wrath and Pride’s relations have deteriorated. Several attacks on Pride’s merchant caravans by Wrath’s raiders has increased the tension, and it seems that war is about to break out again. My little ponies, I’d have thought we would know better by now, but it seems that war will always be inevitable. If you’re hearing me up in the north, try to talk sense into the brothers. This has been DJ Pon3, bringing you the truth... no matter how much it hurts.”

I stared at my Pipbuck as a new voice began to sing. I turned it off, not really in a music kind of mood right then. Instead, I thought over what I’d heard from Blueprints and DJ Pon3. War? Why are ponies still trying to make war? Why were the raiders here? And how could I help? I pondered this last question for a long time. I heard a yawn and turned to the bed I’d put Blueprints on.

I smiled. “Well, nice to see you awake, Prints. You missed a great sunrise.”

“Oh ha ha,” he replied, giving me a small smile. “Where are we?”

I waved my hoof around. “This here is where the high and mighty Council made decisions to keep me stealing from the ponies who didn’t deserve it.” That got a bigger smile. I sighed. “So many bad times in this town. I need to get out of here.”

“Well, you got any plans? I don’t think Pride’s going to like seeing me back at his step anytime soon, and I refuse to go anywhere near Wrath.”

I laughed. “There’s a nice little mine just south of here. Maybe we can take a vacation. No raiders, no fighting, just dark holes and empty tin deposits.”

His grin slid off his face. “You murdered that captain,” he said quietly.

My laughter subsided. “Murder’s a strong word...” I began. “Think of it as one less asshole alive. I’d say that worked in the past, but I’ve never had a chance. Don’t you see, Prints?” I asked, walking over to him. “I can take revenge on all the ponies that have hurt me in my life!”

Blueprints looked at me in horror. “That... I... What?” He slowly shook his head. “One battle in and you’ve already lost it.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” I waved him off. “I’m fine with you, it’s just, if I see anypony from here again, I’m probably going to shoot them.”

“That’s horrible!” Blueprints shouted. I just shrugged back. “Obviously I’m not going to win this debate, but have some compassion! Also, what’s that over there?” he asked, pointing at a terminal.

I glanced over. “Just a terminal. Locked. Can’t get in.”

“Or is there... bam! Blueprints does his magic again!” he exclaimed proudly. I stood up, wobbling a bit, and hobbled over to the terminal.

“‘Hoofsmith’ Diary’... who’s he?” I turned towards my white companion. He shrugged and pointed at the monitor. Taking the hint, I began to read.

This was has been going on for two years now and I’m sick of it. I’ve seen my friends all leave for war only to return in pieces or not at all. War never changes. It always ends with one side destroyed and I don’t care what the princesses say, it’s probably going to be ours. Not that the Zebras are going to end up much better off than us. So I’m heading north with like-minded companions. It has been unsettled for centuries, but I see no problems with it now. Safe from the fighting, safe from the destruction. Ours will be a peaceful society.

Damn it, it’s already started. I had two ponies get into a drunken brawl. Their names escape me, but I know they were related. I don’t want more problems so I’m kicking the whole family out. Peace is always an alternative. Celestia keeps pestering me to let her put some troops to protect from attack. Ha! Like Zebras will attack un unarmed village.

Ponies have been asking for my return. The massacre at Luna’s school was dreadful, but certainly not my problem. I will keep this city neutral and peaceful. There is no Cassus Belli. Colgate has settled up here too. She has been trying to get awfully close to me. I suspect spying, but it may be some silly crush as well.

The new ministries are such a pain in the ass. The family I’ve exiled has settled throughout the land and let the Ministries set up Hubs everywhere! I’ve told them, not in my town! Neutral we are, and neutral we remain. Colgate keeps telling me to let the Ministries help protect us, but I’m standing my ground on this one! She did persuade me to let Stable-tech build a Stable here though. Didn’t tell us how to open it though... that pegasus looked shifty when she left.

I knew it. The bombs have been dropped and Equestria is destroyed. Not Cormount though. Unfortunately, we have been reaching problems of our own. Our distance from Manehatten may protect from the radiation, depending on the winds, but I have been thankful for the nearby Stable just the same. I only hope somepony can figure out how to open it.

It happened. The ponies I banished all those years ago have taken over. They agreed to let me keep Cormount though. And Colgate has her bay. So long as they leave me alone in my old age, I can remain at peace. I’m not ready to die, but I fear I’ve overstayed my welcome...

That was the last entry. I turned to Blueprints and wiped my eyes. They felt extremely dry. “Ramblings of a madman,” he said without looking at me. “Pride did what he could to unite the land. It was utter chaos when the bombs dropped. This old pony wouldn’t have been able to hold it together.”

I gaped at him. “Well, fuck, dude, why don’t you go suck his dick or something? From what I’ve heard, he isn’t any better than Wrath. And I guess it’s safe to say that they were the ones in the drunken brawl?”

Blueprints turned and glared at me. “You don’t understand. Pride may have his shortcomings, but he is a just ruler. He keeps the peace in Mesa City and his sphere of influence. Wrath’s people live in poverty, tormented by his raiders and enslaved.”

I just sighed and switched off the terminal. “Well, there’s no changing your mind I guess. I was serious about the tin mine south of here, by the way. I guess that’s as good a place as any to go. I don’t want to stay here anymore.” I looked around the empty building. “I need to get out.” Blueprints nodded. “Let’s see what we can loot from the town and get out.

We looted the city for food, Rad-Away, healing potions, and bottle caps, although I still kept my bits with me (“Just in case” I told Blueprints) and we walked out the front gate. The land outside the city was twisted and destroyed. “I thought the bombs went off in Manehatten and Canterlot? Why is there radiation way up here?” I wondered aloud.

“The winds carried the fallout north from Manehatten. The further south you get, the worse it is, although it doesn’t get that bad really. Not unless you get into some taint,” Blueprints pointed out. I nodded in agreement; while he dug in trash for caps, I had skimmed through some of the Wasteland Survival Guide.

“Well then. Shall we be off?”

“I guess”

“Onward!”

******************

Yeah. onward.

Tin Town was quite a bit of a distance away. We had been walking for hours when I learned that the Wasteland was actually pretty boring. Well, Blueprints walked. I flew around, keeping an eye out for raiders. Can’t be too careful. Unfortunately, I grew bored even with that, so I landed and started messing with my Pipbuck. I felt that it seemed a bit cheating really. It let me use weapons with more skill than a unicorn and put up shields to protect me. Granted, the shields weren’t strong, but still better than nothing.

I glanced at my map and saw we were closing in on Tin Town. And the town was full of red bars. “Watcher didn’t mention there’d be raiders here...” I muttered. Blueprints glanced at me, but said nothing. As we approached a hill just outside of town, I pulled out my sniper rifle and peered through the scope. Several guards patrolled the streets surrounding the mine, but what caught my eye was the cage just inside the entrance. Inside were several dead ponies, some skinned, and a few cowering ones. “Prints...” I began, “we’ve got ourselves some prisoners.”

Blueprints walked over and took a look through the scope. “So what do we do? Neither of us have much combat experience and they outnumber us ten to one.”

I grinned at him. “It’s called being stealthy. Get your saddle ready.” I ducked down and crawled around the hill to the closest building. From the look of the outside, it was a warehouse where the miners stored their pickaxes. Staying out of sight, I found the back door and picked the lock. I peeked my head inside. No enemies. Good, we could set a trap. I snuck over to the pickaxe rack and hefted one up. Damn, these things were heavy! Blueprints followed my lead and grabbed one of his own. We walked over to the door leading to the patrolled streets. Taking positions on both sides of the door, I carefully opened it up.

Nopony came over. Blueprints picked up a rock and threw it at the street. Seconds later, I smiled as I heard the sounds of galloping over to the street. Then the little pony inside my head decided to pipe up. Why are we going to kill the raiders when we could just sneak over and rescue the captives? I shook my head. Because we’d have been seen, of course! It’s different than breaking into sleeping ponies’ houses and waking them. They’re tired so they confused me for a plant.

But could we have managed it?

“Anypony in there?” I tensed up.

“Idiot, if there were, they weren’t going to answer.”

“Never hurts to check!”

I pulled the pickaxe up as footsteps neared the door. The second the purple head came in, I swung down. I could feel the crunch as the axe broke his skull. My first thought was of the “Whack-a-Parasprite” game in the arcade back in Cormount. I smiled inwardly; I was actually good at that game. I pulled the pickaxe back up and did empty my stomach at the brains dripping from the point. Blueprints was looking pretty green too.

“Shit! Sound the alarm! We have intruders!” Well, they knew we were here. I jumped in the doorway and threw the pickaxe at the raider who’d just yelled and heard a satisfying crunch as he crumpled. Blueprints pulled me out of the doorway right as a bullet lodged in the door.

“Got a plan B, genius?” he asked sarcastically.

I chuckled nervously. “Well, we could just shoot them as they come in...” Blueprints groaned and pointed behind me. I turned and my face fell as I saw the large garage door to the warehouse begin to open. “Or we could charge at them, guns blazing?” I asked hopefully.

Raiders charged at us, apparently lacking real weapons. Instead, many of them carried bats and clubs, though one, I saw with a jolt, had a pitchfork. My mind flashed to my fight with Panther as I pulled out my assault rifle. The only difference was, I realized with a smile, was I could use my wings and fight back. I flew in the air and started spraying the incoming raiders. That worked really well until the gun ran out of ammo. And I realized I didn’t have any extra. I swore as I threw the gun at the nearest raider and zipped back to where Blueprints was taking cover, occasionally taking shots at the incoming swarm.

I landed and scanned the roof. “Prints! Shoot that beam up to the right!” I yelled, as a raider with a bat swung at my head. I quickly ducked and bucked his front legs, cracking his knees. Blueprints fired at the beam and the scaffolding along the roof began shaking. Blueprints glanced at me, then dove through the nearby doorway, with me close behind.

We dashed away from the collapsing warehouse, hearing screams and crashes coming from the door. When we stopped to take a look back, I searched my EFS, but the red bars had disappeared. “Great plan, Ace. Someone needs to put you in charge of Pride’s raider army,” Blueprints nickered at me.

I glared back. “Go free the prisoners while I check the raiders for some ammo. I’m clean out.” Still giggling to himself, Blueprints trotted over to the cage and grabbed the key hanging near it. I sighed and walked in the now collapsed warehouse, kicking myself. How could I have forgotten to get extra ammo? That was like, rule number 3 in the Wasteland Survival Guide!

“Well, to be honest, you aren’t the smartest pony out in the Wasteland.”

I jumped and spun around. “Who said that?”

I heard chuckling coming from my leg. I looked at my Pipbuck and saw a light purple unicorn mare smiling out at me. “I did. Hope I didn’t scare you.” Yeah, tell that to my stopped heart. “Oh, shut up. Your heart is perfectly fine.” Wait what? She can hear my thoughts? This won’t end well... “Relax, I usually shut them out. You can be a really boring pony sometimes.” Gee thanks. “But you are very interesting.”

This got my attention. “How so? Wait, better question. Who are you, and why are you in my Pipbuck?”

She cleared her throat. “My name is Dusty Wind. I worked in Stable-tech during the war, and, to be honest, I could tell that the war was going to end in disaster. So I asked the CMC to put my brain into a Pipbuck and allow me to help one of the Stables keep peace. Unfortunately, Scootaloo put my in a Stable that never had anypony in it, and, from what I’ve heard around you, never was really needed. So imagine my joy when you put me on and I finally had pony contact for the first time in 200 years! I don’t think you can comprehend being alone for two hundred years with no contact at all. I feel like Princess Luna! Anyway, I think you have potential.”

Whoa hold on. My mind was failing to grasp the entirety of what she said. 200 years? CMC? Put her brain in a Pipbuck? “So whenever my Pipbuck us levitating a gun...”

She nodded. “Yep! That’s me!” Well, shit. I must be going crazy. “I don’t think you’re crazy, but from what I’ve heard from your pal, it may be hard to keep sane. I’ve been analyzing the Wasteland as long as we’ve been out here, and, well, I put your chances at survival at less than none.” Nice. I’ve managed to break science by living.

“So what all can you tell me about the Wasteland? And what did you do before you became my Pipbuck?”

“For the first question, nothing. The Stable walls blocked the scanners of this Pipbuck so I’m only now getting any info. If anything pertinent comes up, I’ll let you know. As for the second question, I was sort of a freelance scientist for the Ministry mares. Worked in all six ministries and helped link their projects together. It helped that I didn’t have to focus on wartime items since Hoofsmith forced the Northern Ministries to retain neutrality.”

I grinned awkwardly. “I’d be lying if I said I understood half of that.”

She sighed. “Just understand I was a very important pony way back when.”

I was about to ask another question when Blueprints fell through the rubble near the entrance. “Smooth...” I teased as he got up, his white face growing pink.

“I just wanted to tell you the prisoners were freed. What are we going to do with them?”

I frowned. “Let them go? We don’t need a large group of ponies following us.”

He shook his head. “We can’t just let them go. They’re some of Wrath’s merchants.” I heard Dusty sigh in my head. “We just killed an entire party of Pride’s warriors. If we keep the prisoners under lock and key, we may break even.”

I groaned. Was he serious? “Does it matter who works for who? We came here, there were ponies who needed help, so we helped them.”

Blueprints glared at me. “What if these ‘merchants’ are really slavers then? Wrath’s merchants always have something to do with buying and selling ponies! We can’t let monsters like that run free!”

“And I’m sure if I asked them, they’d say the same about you. Let’s just be the better ponies and let them go. Celestia knows we need more good ponies in this world.” After a few tense seconds of silence, Blueprints turned and climbed out. I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding and started for where he left. “Honestly, that pony needs to learn to trust more.”

“I think that last part really stung him,” Dusty spoke up. “Don’t antagonize him; he’s the one who actually killed the ponies, so he’s probably taking it a bit badly.”

I stopped. He had killed them all, hadn’t he? And on my order, without hesitation. “It’s been less than a day and he’s following orders. And who put me in charge? He’s the one who’s been in the Wasteland!”

Dusty continued. “You’ve just got a leader aura around you. But that doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Keep on Blueprints’ good side and keep him alive, and he’ll do the same for you.” I nodded, then climbed over the rubble to where the prisoners are.

“...so we were saved from Pride’s raiders by Pride’s merchants? Probably going to send us to Fillydelphia without a second thought, aren’t ya?” the unicorn who seemed to be in charge yelled at Blueprints. “Why don’t you shoot us now and save Red Eye the money?”

Blueprints glanced at me before answering. “We’re letting you go. I know this is going to come around and bite my ass in the future, but we don’t need the trouble right now. Nopony’s stopping you.”

The unicorn’s jaw dropped, almost comically. I stifled a laugh as I walked up to Blueprints’ side. She turned to the other prisoners and shrugged. “Uh, well, let’s go... then...” she told them as she walked away from us. We watched them walk away, none of them giving us another look.

“That’s going to bite us in the ass, Ace,” Blueprints said without looking at me. “I know their type. They’re going to go kiss Wrath’s ass and brag about their amazing escape. And when Pride hears about this...” he shuddered, “it won’t be pretty.”

“Relax,” I said, attempting to calm him down. “Who knows. Maybe they’ll remember our kindness and save us. Or something. Did you find anything of interest around here?”

He brightened up. “I did see a flyer for Pride’s Predators!” Damn it. He just can’t get his mind off Pride. “And apparently this mine went dry a long time ago, a couple months before the balefire bombs fell. Not sure what they used the tin for though, seeing as it doesn’t have a practical use in weaponry or technology.”

Tin, huh? Probably somepony somewhere that could use it. “Come on, Prints,” I jumped, “let’s see if there’s any tin left.” He looked at me as if I was crazy, then shrugged and trotted into the mine. I turned and walked over to the nearby cabin, probably where the miners lived. The door opened easily and once inside, I stared in awe at the pictures of ponies hung on the walls. The one nearest me was of a bulky unicorn, floating up a large jackhammer, with a caption of “Jackhammer: Mined the most tin, with a whopping 465 kilos of the magic boost in tow.” Next to it was a picture of an earth pony and a pegasus smiling at each other, captioned “Brothers in crime: Short Hair and Winter Breeze rest after a long day of mining.” I smiled as I looked through the rest of the pictures along the walls, until I reached the last one. In the picture was a red pegasus with a number 5 for a cutie mark and a violet unicorn with a number 7. Both ponies were smiling, but neither looked like they were very happy. The caption read “Wrath and Pride meet to settle purchase of Tin Town mine.” Those two were brothers? And the ones who were trying to start a war?

“Bad ponies. Both of them.” And Dusty’s back. Good old Dusty. “I never got to know them, but we did meet at least once. The claimed to be against the war, but from the hefty profit they made, I had my doubts about them.”

“Wonderful. Probably trying to show a beautiful picture of neutrality here,” I responded sarcastically. Dusty stayed silent. I turned away from the picture and began digging through the empty room, looking for... well, I had no idea what I was looking for. It wasn’t until I reached a bed with “Jackhammer” carved at the base that I found what I was looking for. Under the pillow was a journal, covered in dust and seemingly forgotten. I flipped it open and began reading.

Day 1

Well, it had to happen eventually. It was only two weeks after the incident in the Everfree Forest when we were put on trial. It’s not our fault the prisoners actually swallowed the Poison Joke! Who would have guessed that it was that gruesome a killer? Anyway, we were sentenced to work in this tin mine up north in pussy land. Lucky we kept the troop together. If it weren’t for Shorty and Breeze constant arguing and Lemon’s horrible jokes, I may have gone crazy on the way here. And what could we possibly need tin for?

Day 24

The mining job is going really slowly. The rocks are tough to break, even with my jackhammer on full. Shorty’s pickaxe broke, and it’s a 3 week wait for a new one, so he just sits and watches us mine. Honestly, I’m happy to have something to do, since boredom is what led to the Everfree incident as we are calling it now. I can see Shorty’s mind working. He always was a bit of a sadist, but he knows how to make entertaining games.

Day 73

Shorty came up with a drinking game. He took what little tin we found and ground it up into one of four cups. Then he switched the cups around and we each took one. I don’t know who ended up drinking the tin, all I know is the next day, I felt a magical surge and destroyed half the mine. We have no idea what happened to Lemon, but what we did find was a large amount of tin. The media is all over the mine now, and I’m being credited with discovering a use of tin as a magical conductor. The Ministry of Magic has started buying all the tin and there’s a huge ownership struggle between some of the warlords here. I hope they can reach an agreement.

Day 119

This will be my final entry. I’ve heard rumors of bombs falling in Equestria, but I refuse to believe them. My troop has all but disintegrated. We found Lemon’s body torn to pieces by something in the mine. Shorty and Breeze are gone. Deserted. I’m all that’s left. And I need tin. I can feel my magic draining away. I’m going into the mine tomorrow and I won’t leave until I find some. I can’t even levitate my jackhammer anymore. The other miners avoid me. They think I’m crazy, but I’m not. I’ll beat back the zebras myself. All I need is some tin...

I felt my mane start to crawl. I whirled around, but there was nopony else in the room. I sighed and threw the journal back on the bed. One final look around the room yielded nothing of interest, and I walked back out of the cabin. I looked in the direction the prisoners had gone, but they had disappeared. Then I turned and headed into the mine.

My first thought was that being underground was not where I wanted to be. No room to fly, chance of being caved in, this was not going to be a good idea. Until I saw something lying on the ground a little ways in. I sped to a trot to examine the object.

A Pipbuck.

I felt my blood begin to grow cold. How long had Blueprints been in here? I pulled out my shotgun and checked the ammo. Good, this was still full. I slid it back in my bag and scooped up the Pipbuck. Behind it was the entrance to a dark tunnel which could barely fit a pony in it. I took a deep breath and walked in.

Dark is a bit of an understatement. It was pitch-black in there. I waved a hoof in front of me as I walked and still managed to run into almost every wall in there. Something told me that I was not going to be able to get the jump on whatever was down here.

Eventually, I saw a faint light and the walls surrounding me were coming into view. I tried to ignore the red splatters on them and pulled out the shotgun again. As the light grew brighter, I began to hear sounds of scuffling in at the tunnel’s end. I crept the final few feet and peered out.

Apparently the mine went all the way through to another camp. Except this one was burned down. I searched through the area and finally found a couple of ponies huddled together under a tent cover. One was a filly, one a unicorn mare, and the other had some very familiar blue hooves. I crept out of the tunnel and crawled down to the tent.

“Is there a reason everypony’s hiding here?” I whispered in Blueprints’ ear. He yelped and spun around, his mouth on his saddle trigger.

“Oh, it’s you, Ace,” he said, relaxing his mouth grip. “Get under some cover! We’re not sure when he’s coming back!”

“He’s gone for good, I tell you!” the unicorn grumbled. “If he was still here, we’d be dead by now. I’ve had enough of this nonsense.” She raised her head snootily and walked away.

“Mom, wait!” the filly pleaded, bounding after the unicorn. Blueprints raised a hoof to stop her, but she caught up to her mom quickly. A loud roar came from the right and raised the shotgun to shoot... whatever it was. “It’s back mom!” the filly cried out. She tripped and rolled down a small hill.

Then the... thing... came out.

It had a pointed snout and extremely long claws, and the hair on its body ended in sharp spikes, as did the ball end of the tail. It charged towards the fallen filly and cleanly tore her head off. The unicorn screamed and started galloping away. The creature began chasing after it. “What in Celestia’s name is that thing?” I yelled, frozen to my spot, the filly’s decapitation playing over and over in my head.

“No idea!” Blueprints yelled back, “but I don’t want to get to know it!” He fired a shot from the saddle at it, but it glanced off the armored spiky hair. I tossed the shotgun away and dug in my bag for some grenades. I was getting the idea we were a bit out of our league with this thing. Blueprints fired off a few more shots, with just as much success as the first one. The unicorn’s screams cut off, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest.

“Blueprints, do you have any ideas on how to kill it?” I shouted, continuing my frantic search for explosives.

He fired off a few more shots before cursing and turning back to me. “Well that sums up my efforts. I’m drawing a blank on this monster, what about you?” I was about to answer when it roared again. I quickly turned back to where it had run off and froze as I noticed it had started charging at us. This had to set some record of length of surviving in the Wasteland. I clenched my eyes shut and braced myself for death.

Then something exploded.

I cautiously opened my eyes and saw the thing had been blown apart. Blueprints started shaking my shoulder. “Ace... there are some ponies over there...” I nodded numbly and looked down at my hooves. One had a grenade in it and the other was shaking like mad. Holy shit was that scary. I hadn’t felt that close to death even when Panther was trying to geld me.

“Hello, gentlecolts. It must be a fine day to be rescued by the two greatest pest-control mares in Equestria!”

I looked up and my jaw dropped. In front of us were two identical looking purple unicorn mares floating some fairly heavy weaponry in front of them. I nodded again, stunned speechless at their beauty. Not even Gorgeous compared to the perfection that stood in front of me. I heard Blueprints faint next to me and I smiled weakly. “Perfect timing, ladies.”

************************

This was a situation I would never have dreamed of being in at Cormount.

The two sisters tried to wake up Blueprints as I ran frantically around the camp, looking for some kind of cooking appliance. Giving up, I settled for a pot over a fire and boiled some water. “It’s not everyday I get attacked by some monstrous creature and get rescued by rocket toting unicorns,” I said as I dug in my bag for vegetables. “Can I get your names at least?”

One of them came over and sat by me. Very close. I focused on searching through my bag. “My name is Dragon Claw. My sister is Dragon Fang. We’re the Dragon twins, the best pest-control service in Equestria. And don’t get any idea, pegasus. You’re not going to get lucky with us.” Well that made me feel better. “Wings are sooo two centuries ago.” And confidence shot down again. Mares are really good at that.

“So what was that thing that you saved us from?” I asked casually as I tossed some tomatoes and carrots in the pot.

“Mutated mole,” I heard Fang answer. “That thing’s had a bounty on it for months now and ponies have been scared to come anywhere near the mine. In fact, the only reason ponies came recently has been to kill that thing. Why were you here?”

I froze. Why were we here? Because a mysterious flying robot told me to. And we didn’t know where else to go. “Just stumbled upon this place I guess. We really have no idea what we’re going to do next.”

Claw stood up and started walking around the camp. She picked up some metal and gagged. “Blech, tin. If you need some kind of plan, you could always sign up for Wrath’s Warriors. There’s going to be a war soon, you know.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Don’t let Blueprints hear you say that. He’s aching to join the Predators. Trying to clear his name with Pride I guess. Oh, and, could I have that tin? Sound like you don’t really want it...” I looked up and got beamed in the face with the metal. “Ow.” They started giggling and I felt my face growing hot.

“So the earth pony wants to be a unicorn, huh?” Fang taunted. She started slapping his face, whispering “Wakey wakey.” I rubbed my nose and saw Claw digging through Blueprints’ bag.

“Hey get away from that! It’s not yours!” I yelled at her.

She sneered at me. “Whatcha’ gonna do about it, pegasus? He’s just an earth pony, why do you care what happens to him? Or are you two ‘special’ friends?” At this the sisters started giggling uncontrollably and Blueprints started groaning. My face started getting even hotter. I took a deep breath and started channeling my embarassment to anger.

I pulled out my shotgun and leveled it at Claw’s face. “Last warning. Get away from him or I’ll make sure you turn out like that mole.”

She stared angrily at the gun for a few seconds then through Blueprints’ bag on his bed. “Fine then. Next time you’re being attacked by a mutated pest, don’t expect any help from us!” Fang punched Blueprints in the face and she and Claw nodded at each other. There was a flash of purple light and they disappeared.

“Ow!” Blueprints shouted belatedly. I glanced over at him rubbing his head and walked back over to the soup sheathing my shotgun. “Where are we? What the fuck just happened?”

“They were some kind of bitchy pest-control. That thing was a mutated mole and they didn’t like you very much. Or me.” I tasted the broth and licked my lips. Well, at least they gave us an excuse to have a good meal. “Soup’s on, if you’re hungry.”

“Why didn’t they like us?” Blueprints asked, still rubbing his head.

“Well, I’m a pegasus, you don’t like Wrath, you’re an earth pony, I pulled a shotgun on them, the list goes on and on,” I rambled on while pouring myself some soup. “Oh, and they were kind of stuck-up bitches.”

Blueprints smiled as he shook his head at me. “Sounds like it’s a good thing I was out cold. So what are we going to do now?”

I sat down and started eating. “They asked me that question too. Told me to join up with Wrath. I politely declined, so they threw some tin at me. And started slapping you. So my idea is to just walk along the road. Maybe we’ll run into somepony in need.”

Blueprints nodded. “Sounds as good a plan as any. I’m starving though, so let’s eat.”

“Already ahead of you on that,” I said through a mouthful of soup.

****************

We looted the camp for ammo (it was nice to be able to shoot things again) and started off for the road. I handed Blueprints his Pipbuck back, but he declined.

“It’s uncomfortable to wear. And my aim is getting better anyway.”

So as we walked along the road, I turned on the radio to see if anything was on.

“Good morning, Equestria! I was dared to say that! Anyway, news from Equestria proper, there is a little stable pony who has rescued a bunch of prisoners from raiders in Ponyville! The Wasteland needs more ponies like this. If you see the Stable Dweller, thank her and help her if you can. On a darker note, Northern Equestria is seeing dark clouds overhead, and not the Enclave’s clouds. These are metaphorical. If you live up there and were hoping for peace and quiet, you may have better luck living in Fillydelphia!...”

I turned off the radio. The silence was starting to get boring. So I decided to pass the time with some small talk. “So how’d you get your cutie mark?”

Blueprints glanced over at me and smiled. “It’s a long story, but basically I had a friend that I helped through a problem. I realized that my talent was my ability to work out how ponies work.”

I stopped, confused. “But isn’t your cutie mark a blueprint? Wouldn’t that make you an architect or something?”

Blueprints stopped too and looked at his flank. “If you look closely, it’s the blueprint of a pony. I’m really kind of a psychologist. I’ve actually been psychoanalyzing you ever since we met.” I gave him a sharp look. “You’re a very interesting pony.”

“You’ve been psycho-whatting me? How am I interesting?” I asked the first two questions that popped in my head. I couldn’t believe it! He’d been sifting through my brain! And why does everypony think I’m interesting?

“I’ve been trying to figure you out,” he started to explain. “I’ll explain what I’ve found out when we make camp. But there’s someplace we should check out. I’ve heard of a raider camp in the east over there. Something called Hope Rock. Wanna go check it out?”

I glanced at my Pipbuck’s map. Sure enough, Hope Rock had appeared just to the east. “Why not. It’s not like we’re in a hurry or anything,” I groaned. I felt a little ticked off at him. Nopony needs to know how my brain works, not even me! We turned off the road and headed for the flashing dot in silence.

Almost. “How’d you get your cutie mark?”

I thought back. When did I get my cutie mark? “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I was pretty fast in learning that my having wings set me apart from the rest of the town. First in my class to get my cutie mark. Didn’t go over well with the other ponies.”

He was about to answer when a bullet swished through my tail.

“Stay back! That was a warning shot! Come any closer and it’ll be your head!”

I entered combat mode and pulled out my own sniper rifle. I looked through the scope and saw a black unicorn buck with a luxurious golden mane levitating a sniper rifle and next to him was a...

An orange mare with chunks of skin missing along its body.

I lowered the gun. “Prints, what the fuck is that thing?” I moved the rifle over so he could see through it.

“Oh, that’s a ghoul. Put your gun away, these guys are harmless,” Blueprints said as he kept walking casually forward. I glanced at my E.F.S. and noticed he was right; they were green.

“S-stay back! I know how to fire this thing!”

“Hey, wasn’t that first shot supposed to be through his head?”

“Shut up, Symptom, they don’t need to- GET BACK!” the unicorn yelled and fired another shot. This one went wide and pinged off a rock somewhere behind me.

“Cool it with the potshots!” I yelled. Bad idea. The unicorn thought that was a threat and fired again, this one going right through my front leg. “CELESTIA-FUCKING DAMN IT!” I screamed as I fell, trying to staunch the blood flow. I quickly grabbed a healing potion and downed it, praying to Luna that it worked. Lucky for me, the wound sealed up, and I stood back up. “That’s it, mother fucker. I don’t care if you are friendly.”

The unicorn screamed and dropped the gun. “I’m sorry! I surrender!” he yelled as he ducked for cover. The ghoul just sighed and sat on her haunches.

“Relax,” Blueprints soothed as he cantered to the two. “We’re not going to hurt you. This place just showed up on our map and we decided to check it out.”

The unicorn looked up. I limped over to the three and sat down. The ghoul was the one who finally responded. “Hmph. I guess if you’re not shooting, you’re not a raider. I’m Symptom, and this...”

“My name is Monarch!” the unicorn exclaimed with a pose. “And I am the ruler of the Wild North!”

Blueprints and I exchanged a look. “You mean here? All I see is a rock,” I said, scratching my head. Was it a rule that all wasteland ponies had to be slightly crazy?

“Yes! My kingdom has diminished,” he admitted theatrically. “But! In time, I will rule everything from the Bottomless Barrel Naval Base to Manehatten!” he finished with another pose on the rock. Okay, completely crazy. First the Dragon twins, now this nutjob?

Now Blueprints scratched his head. “What gives you the right to rule us? And how are you going to make order in this wasteland?”

This time Symptom answered. “You see, dipshit, Monarch claimed to have had a vision of the future. A future where the North unites under the Banner of Hope held by Monarch himself.”

I looked at her quizzically. “And you’re just going along with it?” I wondered how this ghoul pony, or anypony really, could possibly live with Monarch.

“Monarch has proven to be an adept leader to me many times and I am confident he will save all of ponykind from itself, including your sorry asses. Unfortunately, even his most spectacular deeds have escaped the notice of the Wasteland’s DJ. Instead, he prattles on and on about the odd “heroes” such as the Stable Dweller...”

I grew a little hot. “Do you plan on uniting the North by insulting every pony that comes by, then cowering behind a rock?”

Blueprints gave a little snicker. “Yeah, you guys are just pitiful. I could take you with two hooves tied behind my back. And I’m a merchant!”

Monarch glared at him. “Merchant huh? Who’s your affiliation?”

Blueprints straightened up a bit. “I was a high ranking member of the Mesa City Merchant guild.”

Monarch jumped down from the rock. “So you’re one of Pride’s lackeys huh?” Apparently everypony was crazy and obsessed with Pride or Wrath. “He wouldn’t want you, you know. He only accepts unicorns, and,” he looked at me curiously, “possibly pegasi.”

I’d had enough. “We’re not affiliated with either of the power-hungry war-mongerers. We’re here to help ponies in need. If you’re another close-minded pony that has to be on one side, we have nothing to say to each other.” I looked at Symptom. “Look at the Stable Dweller. She went and saved ponies from raiders. We just did that an hour ago, and I plan on doing it again. The Wasteland needs heroes, and that’s a job I’m willing to fill.”

Symptom looked me up and down. “Well, heroes seem to be losing stature then.” Ouch. That one hurt.

Monarch looked at me cooly and nodded. “He’s right Symptom. We’re not doing anything hiding here. We need to be useful. And as much as I despise working with a Predator, I’d like to join them.”

I smiled. “Good. Welcome aboard.”

“Uh, Ace, can I talk with you for a second?” Blueprints pulled me away. “Why the fuck do you want to drag this guy along with us? He’s useless! He can’t even aim a sniper rifle!”

“He’s got his heart in the right place,” I said confidently. “And hey, if he does rule the North, why, we’ll get in good with the new king!”

Blueprints looked at me suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you actually bought into his horse shit about being King of the North.” I frowned. Why was Blueprints being so distrustful? He trusted me so readily earlier, I thought for sure he’d let them join. “He’ll just slow us down anyway.”

I sighed. “We already had this discussion, Prints. I don’t care about who wins what war that hasn’t even started. All I want is to do right in the Wasteland. And that’s what they want too.” Blueprints continued staring at me, then nodded. We turned back to the unicorn. “Welcome aboard.”

Symptom rolled her eyes. “So where are we going, then?” I frowned. We still never decided what we were going to do, did we? “Well, if you don’t have a plan, Pipsqueak Port is a good place to find ponies in need.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Monarch declared excitedly.

Blueprints nodded cautiously and a grin grew on my face. “Then let’s be off! Every minute wasted is a minute that a pony’s in trouble!”

And we walked back onto the road.

Note: Level up!

Perk added* Adrenaline: Whenever facing a creature, gain a 20% speed boost..

(A thanks to Kkat for writing Fallout: Equestria)

Ch. 2: The Road

Chapter 2: The Road

“Enslave the town? That was your plan to get me out?”

“Fat lot of good it did, you weren’t even there!”

“I escaped in the chaos. Five’s pissed though. We’ve been in contact.”

“Yeah, he sent me a message. He won’t listen to reason though.”

“Well of course not, you just enslaved one of his villages! Look, I’m not asking you to sort it out, I said earlier a war might be just what we need.”

“How? How is a war what we need? I’m fine with what I own, all of us are except Five, and he’s just always pissed! And if a war breaks out, what if he has balefires? I know Three does, and we’re lucky he’ll never want to use them.”

“So keep it petty. Don’t escalate it, you’ll be fine. This is an order, Seven, and I expect you to follow it. I’ve been in captivity far too long to let this slip away.”

“Yes, sir!”

*************

“...and the radgators have been docile since. This has been DJ Pon3, bringing you the truth... no matter how much it hurts.”

I turned off the radio. Nothing about Pride or the Stable Dweller Symptom mentioned yesterday. Another two hours of walking along a dirty brown path with nothing to distract me from the boredom.

“You know, there’s other radio broadcasts other than DJ Pon3, Ace.” I looked over at Monarch, who was levitating and apple and eating it as we walked. Once again, I lamented not having a unicorn horn. “I’ve heard plenty of distress signals and whatnot from just turning the dial.”

I frowned at him. “You heard distress signals? Did you go help the ponies sending them?” Monarch looked away and kept eating his apple. “Oh yeah, you just hid under a rock.” He grunted than levitated up a pair of binoculars.

“Hey, Symptom, that look like a caravan to you?” he asked, floating the binoculars over. Symptom glanced through them and nodded. “Well, Ace? Wanna go see what they have for trade?” He looked at me hopefully. “This was my last apple, and I’m really craving some cider.”

Blueprints and I exchanged an exasperated look. King or not, Monarch was a royal something. I sighed. “Why not.” I flew up in the air and tried to wave the caravan to stop. To my surprise, one of them flew up in the air too. “Well, what do you know. Another pegasus.”

Blueprints froze. “Wait, pegasus? Pegasi are not a friendly sight in the wasteland, Ace!” He started panicking and running around in circles. Monarch levitated the binoculars up to me. I looked through them and...

“Never mind, it’s not a pegasus. Just... some kind of half eagle, half lion thing.”

This had the opposite effect I’d hoped. Blueprints started babbling incoherently and Monarch spit out the piece of apple he’d just bitten. Symptom just froze in place.

I was leading the biggest group of cowards in the Wasteland.

I waved the hybrid thing over to us, and, sure enough, the caravan turned and started travelling towards us. I landed next to Blueprints and rammed my hoof in his mouth. Monarch had regained some composure and Symptom began walking again. A few minutes later, we met up with the caravan.

“A pegasus, earth pony, unicorn, and ghoul huh? Not quite what adventurers look like here in the North,” the hybrid said, glancing over each of us as she did. “I’m Spear, and this is Rend and Luck.” I looked behind her and saw two more of the weird hybrids.

“I’m Ace, this here is Blueprints, Monarch, and Symptom,” I responded, pointing at each of my friends. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but, what are you exactly?” Blueprints collapsed at the question. I kicked him without turning away from the caravan and gave my best apologetic grin.

The hybrid laughed heartily. “Not often you find a pegasus who’s never seen a griffin before!” She turned and the three griffins began digging through their supplies. I grabbed my caps out of my saddlebags and counted them. Monarch gave me his and Symptom dug out Blueprints’ from his fainted body. “That looks like Stable barding, there, pegasus. Good for light weaponry, but anything bigger and you may as well be wearing cardboard. You from a Stable? I didn’t think any pegasi went to one.”

I glanced down at my barding. “No, but my town had a Stable underneath it. Completely empty. Of ponies anyway. And it’s worked well enough for me so far.”

Rend walked a circle around me. “I think we may have a better set in our inventory. Oh! What’s this?” She peered closer at my foreleg. “I’ve never seen anything like this before...”

“It’s just a Pipbuck. Just a little stronger than others.” I lied, trying to avoid too much examination. How did she not notice earlier? The gold stands out a lot against the dark blue. “I got it from the same Stable.”

Rend nodded. “Fair enough. Looks pretty handy.”

I brightened and started digging in my saddlebag. “I have another in here that I don’t need. Want to buy it?”

Spear’s eyebrows rose quite a bit. “You’re just carrying two by chance? I think a Pipbuck for improved armor is a fair trade...” she trailed off questioningly. I agreed and shed the Stable barding for the better armor. As I put it on, however, my Pipbuck started clicking. I looked at it and saw that the radiation meter was moving.

“Radiation? Why are you irradiated? Actually...” I turned to Monarch, “Why aren’t we irradiated?”

“The bombs fell two hundred years ago, and very far away from here. What radiation there was is long gone, though its effects still remain, as you can see,” he answered, gesturing towards Symptom.

Spear nodded. “Right, and we just came from Equestria proper. The radiation down there is still horrible, so we probably have trace amounts on us and our stuff.” Makes sense to me. We finished up the trade and I slipped on the new armor. “We got it from a dead Enclave scout troop. It’s not the fancy armor you see the commanders wear, but it’s a hell of a lot tougher than your Stable barding.”

Monarch bought his cider and I slid the armor over my Pipbuck. With the flashy gold covered by a slick black, I felt considerably better about my ability to hide. We waved goodbye to the griffons and watched them disappear in the distance. I heard a groaning and looked over to see Blueprints struggle to get to his feet. “Fucking Celestia, I feel like I was hit by a train. What just happened?”

“Ace introduced us to some griffons and you collapsed,” Symptom said bluntly. “I’m still not entirely sure how you’ve lived so long. And why are you cursing a dead princess? Seems kind of stupid to me.”

Blueprints rubbed his head. “Celestia’s not dead, she ascended to the sky and became a Goddess,” he replied.

Symptom let out a barking laugh. “You believe almost anything you’re told, don’t you? She died two hundred years ago, when the bomb fell on Canterlot. She can’t hear or help you now, so you might as well forget about her. She’s gone.”

Monarch finished a gulp of cider and nodded. “Luna too. And everypony else who died when the bombs fell. The ones who died in the war, the ones who died after the war. All gone forever. Never to be seen or heard from again.”

I paused to think about what he said, then shook my head. “They may be dead, but they’re not gone. At least, not forever.”

Symptom glared at me. “Then where are they? Nopony’s coming back from the dead, that’s impossible.”

Blueprints steadied himself against me and said, “Celestia and Luna were powerful enough to transcend death. The flew to the heavens and continue watching over us from there.”

Monarch put down his cider. “Then why are their bodies still in Equestria? Desecrated in the halls of Canterlot probably, by the Pink Cloud ghouls roaming the castle.”

“Their souls escaped to take control of the sun and moon!” Blueprints retorted. I nodded in agreement.

“There’s no such thing as a soul, fucktard,” Symptom said advancing towards us.

Blueprints said the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. “Then how do you explain why we are us?”

Apparently Monarch and Symptom agreed, based on their stunned faces. “Uh, care to explain what that means?” Monarch questioned.

Blueprints stopped in thought. “Well,” he began, “look at Ace.” Me? “He’s sneaky, thieving, backstabbing, and pretty unemotional...” A little harsh aren’t we? “...but he’s willing to defend a spineless little merchant like me from raiders.” Okay, that sounds a little better, but I wouldn’t say spineless... “He may not be a perfect pony, or even decent, but it’s who he is.” Damn straight. “If he was any different, he wouldn’t be Ace. He’d be somepony else.” I nodded in agreement to his explanation.

Symptom shook hers though. I was beginning to regret letting her follow us. “If that’s true, what happens to his soul when he dies? Locked down with his dead body? Floating throughout the world devoid of purpose?” Downer, much?

“No...” Blueprints said slowly, “he’ll join Celestia and Luna in paradise!”

Monarch, Symptom and I all stared at him in disbelief. “Where the fuck did you hear that shitty explanation for death?” Monarch asked incredulously. “And what about the raiders? After living a life of raping, killing, and pillaging, do they go to paradise too?”

Blueprints shook his head with a smile. “It’s not a shitty explanation, it’s the truth. And no, the raiders are going to go be tortured by demons in Hell!” Symptom shook her head and sat down, lost for words. Monarch opened his mouth, closed it, and turned back to his cider. I looked from pony to pony in utter confusion. Blueprints smiled smugly and promptly fell over. On the ground, he started giggling like a maniac.

Cowards and insane. I sure can pick friends.

*******************

We continued along the road, Blueprints wobbling with Monarch’s support while Monarch floated his cider in front of him. Symptom followed behind him, right in step. I smiled inwardly at the image, then unrolled my sleeve to get to my Pipbuck.

I flipped through the radio channels hoping to find a distress signal that Monarch mentioned. Why wait until we get to Pipsqueak Bay to start helping? My persistence was rewarded. “...surrounded. Only about ten of them, but they still outnumber us. Please... we can’t hold out much longer... Help! A raider party has our fort surrounded. Only about ten of them, but they still outnumber us...” I switched it off and glanced at my map. Fort Periwinkle was flashing not far to the south. “Come on, guys! We have a fort to save!” I looked around at my friends. Monarch was finishing off the last of his cider, while Symptom stared at me unblinking. Blueprints wobbled over to me, still dizzy from his faint.

“Ace, are we really equipped to go attack raiders? The last couple fights we’ve gotten out of through dumb luck or by being rescued. And I’m not entirely sure we should rescue every single pony who asks for help.”

I looked at him sharply. “All we need is some experience. And what do you mean we shouldn’t rescue every pony who asks?”

Monarch was the first to respond. “He means, what if they are slavers?”

I stopped. What if they were? “Well, we’ll just have to find out when we get there, now won’t we?”

Blueprints shook his head, apparently still tired from the last argument. “Whatever you say, glorious leader. Lead on.”

We began running towards the fort. As it came into view we slowed down to a trot. I took to the air to see if I could find see the raiders’ encampment. Unfortunately, as I soon learned, flying makes you an easy target. A bullet clipped my wing and I spiraled to the ground. I slowed just enough for a soft landing, though Symptom didn’t think so. “Get off me, you flying ton of bricks! I’m not a fucking pillow!” Such a wonderful friend.

“Well?” Blueprints asked as he helped me and Symptom up. “What’s it like?”

I stretched my wing out, thanking Celestia that pegasi wings were the strongest part of the body. “There’s a lot more than ten down there. We do have the element of surprise though. Anypony got any ideas?”

Monarch spoke up. “How about you and Blueprints go down and kill everyone while Symptom and I hide out up here.”

Was he serious? “The only reason you guys are with us is so we have backup! If you two sit and do nothing, we’ll just die down there.”

“That’s not our problem,” Symptom said with a smirk.

Blueprints shook his head and threw my sniper rifle at her. Wait, how’d he get that? “If you don’t want to get up close and personal, at least snipe some.”

Monarch gasped. “I can’t do that! You’ve seen me with a sniper rifle!”

“Yeah, you put a bullet through my leg,” I reminded him. “So it’s you and me, Prints.” I pulled out my shotgun and checked the ammo. A little bit down, but enough to survive. “Come on. Let’s go.” And before I could get distracted again, I jumped down to the encampment.

“Intruders! Intru-” a guard yelled, cut off by a quick shot from my gun. Blueprints hopped down after me and began targeting the scrambling raiders. I activated S.A.T.S. and quickly targeted the three nearest me. My Pipbuck began putting up shields, but my barding was still taking some fire. I threw a grenade towards a group of raiders, scattering them. I heard shots from a sniper rifle being fired off, and I’d hoped Monarch was actually killing some ponies.

The fight went way smoother than the one at Tin Town. Soon there was one raider left, and Blueprints had him pinned down. “Any last words?” I heard Blueprints taunt. The raider spat in his face. I felt a surge of anger greater than I’d felt before. Without quite comprehending what I was doing, I had my gun in the raider’s mouth and was pulling the trigger.

“What the fuck?!” Blueprints yelled, snapping me out of my trance. I looked up at him. “Dude! You... That... I... Fuck!” Blueprints stormed off. I watched him curiously. What did I do wrong this time?

“Are they dead?”

I turned towards the fort and saw a green mare sticking her head out the gate. “Yeah,” I answered, looking back at the headless corpse. “Definitely dead.”

**************************

We sat inside Fort Periwinkle, waiting patiently for the leader of the ponies here to come talk to us. Monarch, as it turns out, didn’t fire a shot, letting his fear of taking a life get the better of him. Symptom, however, seemed to think nothing of callously shooting every pony in raider barding.

“Ace, it’s not your fault,” I heard Blueprints say. “We all lose control sometimes. Just work harder at keeping yourself in check.”

Symptom spoke up. “He didn’t lose control. He just used his anger to fuel his combat prowess. Raiders are evil ponies and that one probably deserved a shot in the face twenty times over,” she logically explained.

Blueprints looked at her incredulously. “Did becoming a ghoul make you lose all your compassion? Because I can guarantee that any other pony would lament over a lost life.”

Before she could retort, the door opened and the captain of the fort walked in. Symptom slipped into the shadows, pulling on some cloak that vanished her from sight. Before I could wonder why she did that, the captain began speaking. “I’m glad some ponies got the distress signal. I’m Captain Apple Thunder, descendant of the first Overmare of Stable 78. Who might you three be?”

Blueprints looked up. “Stable 78? I thought that was in Mesa City! Wouldn’t you be working there for Pride?”

The look on Thunder’s face turned from delight to stony anger. I mentally kicked Blueprints for not thinking before he spoke. At least he spared her his horrified look. “Actually, I do work for Pride, and I’m not going to hear anything against him in this fort.” Okay, there’s the horrified look. “Listen, I’ve got to go inspect some MEAT vendor in the market. He spurned ME when I asked him for identification last week, but I didn’t want to make a scene at the INN. THE only reason I didn’t exile him then and there is because he’s COURTing my daughter. Well, hopefully I can see you again before you leave. This room is only a YARD from your rooms, so be sure to get some sleep.” I raised my eyebrows at Blueprints. This pony chose some weird words to exaggerate. Monarch, however, was nodding. I looked at him curiously.

“Well, thank you, I guess,” was all I could say.

Thunder shook her head, then walked out of the room, muttering something which sounded suspiciously like “dumb pegasi.” When the door closed, Symptom re-materialized from the walls. Monarch turned and grinned at me. “Well that was informative.”

Did I miss something here? “I didn’t get shit except how she prattled on about an illegal meat seller,” I asked. Monarch facehoofed. Yep, I definitely missed something. “Alright, what am I missing?”

Symptom answered. “She wants us to meet her in the courtyard, dipshit. Possibly to reward us for the fort’s rescue. Or to kill us all in a convenient locale...” she trailed off thoughtfully. I stared at her awestruck. “I thought you were supposed to be a smart pony,” she finally said when she returned from Ghoulland.

“Just well-read, or as well as I could given the situation,” I admitted. I was about to ask how she could have figured out her message, but decided to drop the issue. “How and why’d you disappear when she came in here?”

Symptom pulled out a cloak. “Zebra stealth cloak. Makes me invisible. Most ponies don’t trust ghouls, you see, so I like to stay out of sight.” I pondered over this for a minute. “I looted this off a dead zebra awhile back. I didn’t think she needed it anymore.”

We stepped out of the room and headed for the exit to the building. “Well, she didn’t say when to meet her, so let’s just agree to go to the courtyard in an hour,” said Monarch. “I need to go see what this fort has to offer food-wise.” We agreed to split up, and that’s how I ended up in the library.

The library.

Books! So many books! I stared in awe at the sheer sizes of the bookshelves. There had to be a thousand of the things in here! I walked up and pulled a book out, glancing at the title. The Founding of The Wild North. I put it back and looked for a more interesting one. I found one about life in Equestria several hundred years before the war even started. There was an eye-catching one about so-called “Elements of Harmony” but it seemed like a Pony’s Tale to me. I left the nonfiction(?) section and stumbled into the fiction. Set up on a pedestal in the middle was a brown book with gold trim along the sides. I stepped closer to the ropes surrounding the book and squinted my eyes to read the title. Heroes of Equestria.

“Ah, interested in our Heroes Archive, huh?”

I whirled around to see an aging caramel colored mare with a book cutie mark. “Heroes Archive? What’s that?”

The librarian smiled. “It’s this library’s record of heroes through Equestrian history. You’re a very lucky pony, as I’m about to add a new name to it, so I’ll let you flip through it if you want.” I took a look at the book. It seemed to call out to me, begging to be read. The librarian unhooked the rope around it and pulled the book out. I followed her to a table and watched her open it. I read the names as she flipped through the pages.

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Wheels, Sir Lemon Drop, and Martial Law were the names on the first page, but I couldn’t read much more than that before the librarian flipped towards the middle where the book was empty. Wait, no, there were six names on the top of the left page. Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. “Who are those ponies?” I asked the librarian.

“Oh, those were the Ministry Mares, and the Elements of Harmony before the war. They stopped Nightmare Moon and Discord and formed the six Ministries,” she answered before picking up a pen. I watched as she wrote a new name in the book: Stable Dweller.

“What’s the Stable Dweller done now?” I wondered aloud. I remember both Symptom and DJ Pon3 mentioning her and was now genuinely curious.

“DJ Pon3 always puts props up to random ponies who try to do good in the Wasteland, but this is the first one who’s had tangible effect. She’s cleared both Ponyville and Old Appleloosa out of Raiders, reopening trade with New Appleloosa and Mesa City. She even dropped a train on an alicorn!” How in the fuck could she do that? And they don’t even have a proper name for her? Well, this pony’s certainly something special.

I stepped back and took one long look at the library. “I need to check out a few books...” I started towards the reference section and started skimming the titles. “Blueprints might like this one...” I muttered aloud.

“I knew them, you know.”

I stopped and closed my eyes. And Dusty returns. “I honestly don’t care all that much, Dusty. They’re long dead, and it’s not like they matter to me anyway.”

“Celestia’s long dead too, but it seems you think she’s watching over you,” she replied tauntingly. “They deserved to be in that book. That librarian didn’t even begin to tell you how much they accomplished in their lives.”

I was starting to feel a little hot. “Oh yeah? Like starting a war that would destroy Equestria? Finding better ways to kill other ponies? Causing me to end up as an outcast before I could even talk?”

“They tried to end the war! They didn’t start it! The reason they moved some hubs north was to research peacetime technology.”

“Yeah, well they didn’t do very well, did they? They didn’t end the war, the zebras did, and in the only way they possibly could. I know my history, Dusty, even if I’m shaky in other subjects.” I felt tears coming to my eyes, and tried to blink them back. “Everything I’ve gone through, my entire shitty life, is because of their fucking war, and I’m not about to forgive them about it.” Dusty remained quiet. And alone in the library, I sobbed into the silence.

***************

Dry-eyed, I walked into the courtyard of the fort and saw Blueprints, Monarch, and Symptom waiting for me already. Blueprints’ armour looked a bit more protective, Monarch was sipping on some more apple cider, and Symptom... “Holy shit, is that a rocket launcher?”

Symptom gave a small smile. “Best I could find. Hope you don’t mind me selling your sniper rifle for it.” Oh great. Now I have to get up close and personal for battle. “I thought you might be unhappy, so I bought you these,” said Symptom as she tossed me some hoof claws. Oh great! Now I can get up close and personal for battle.

Blueprints stood up and stretched his legs. “Where did you go? We didn’t see you at the market...” he said.

I grinned. “I went to the library and checked out a few books. Check ‘em.” I pulled out Battle Saddles and their accessories, 1001 ways to hide in plain sight, and A History of Magic Warfare and tossed them to Blueprints, Symptom and Monarch respectively. “I thought you ponies might like them.”

Apple Thunder walked into the courtyard and over to us and Symptom disappeared. “Good. You’re here. I’ve sent scout parties to find you, and I wanted to talk to you.” Well, it’s not like we were hiding. “I’m under orders to kill you on sight.” And now would be a good time to escape. Okay, wings, let’s get out of here. I felt a pony grab onto my mane. “Hold your horses, Ace, I’m going to let you free. I am the rightful heir to Stable 78 and Mesa City, but Pride took over. I’m not too happy about that.” My wings went back to the rest position. “He knew killing me would not go over well with the Stable, so I’m the only Earth Pony in his ranks.

The only Earth Pony? And all Pegasi were supposedly Enclave? That could only mean... “All his troops are unicorns? I never knew that” Blueprints articulated our thoughts.

“That’s right,” I was surprised to see Monarch answer. “Pride thinks Unicorns are the master race, so he kills all other ponies on general principles.” Okay, so now I have a legitimate reason to hate him. I was beginning to like Symptom’s rocket launcher.

Thunder paced in front of us. “It’s treason already to let you go free. So if Pride finds out, I’m dead. Which is why I want you to kill him. Soon. When he’s gone, I’ll assume control of Mesa City.” That made sense to me. Why put somepony who doesn’t know what they’re doing in charge? I found myself nodding and putting up a fighting grin. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave tonight.” And my grin faded. “I don’t want to push my luck, which is why we are having this discussion out here. I’ve put some food and clean water in your rooms. I’ll let you wash up, but I want you gone by morning.” She turned and left.

Monarch turned to Blueprints with a winning look on his face. “Looks like your idol isn’t the pony you thought he was.”

“Oh shut up,” Blueprints grumbled. “Ace, are we really going to do this? I’ve seen the city, and not even the Enclave could get in without heavy losses.”

“Then we won’t just run up and attack it. When we have small numbers, we try to stay undetected.” I explained. “And why do you keep bringing up the Enclave? I keep hearing about them and still have no idea who they are.”

“They live in the sky,” Blueprints answered. “Haven’t you noticed the constant cloud cover? Probably used to it like everypony else. Nopony has any idea what they do up there or why they refuse to let the sun in, but it can’t be good.”

“Some ponies think they’re planning an invasion,” interjected Monarch. “They’re up there building an army while we’re down here killing ourselves. Gonna swoop in and take over once we’ve whittled ourselves down to nothing.”

“That’s why a lot of ponies are going to shoot first when you’re around,” continued Blueprints. “Better safe than sorry when concerning the Enclave. Never trust a pegasus.”

I struggled to wrap my head around this. They lived in the sky, on the clouds, probably controlling everything, yet nopony trusted them? “How do you know they exist then?”

“There’s been plenty of scouting parties they send down,” Blueprints said. “They’ve got a section to themselves in Mesa City, and Pride just left them alone. I assume the rest of them do too.”

“The rest of who?” I asked.

Blueprints looked at me surprised. “The rest of his siblings, of course! There’s seven of them, all spread out in the North. Pride and Wrath are the only ones that have real power, though. And of course they never agree with each other.”

My head was starting to hurt. Power struggles, mysterious enemies, a few death threats... “Coming here was probably a mistake.”

“No shit, Sherclop,” Symptom said, rolling her eyes.

We left to our rooms for the night, and by morning, Fort Periwinkle was behind us. DJ Pon3 was blabbering on about some raiders in Manehatten when Blueprints said the first thing about the previous night. “So what now? Pipsqueak Port?” I nodded at him absentmindedly and flung out my wings. I took off and felt the pleasure of flying again. Then pain. My right wing was on fire! I dove and slid on the gravel road. I heard Symptom snicker. I looked up at her and glared daggers. “Ace... your wing...” I heard Blueprints say. I looked at it and saw a hole from the fight yesterday. “Hold on, I’ve got some bandages here...” He dug in his saddlebags and wrapped my wing up. Symptom snickered again.

“Keep laughing Symptom and I’ll try out these claws you gave me.” Yeah, that shut her up. “So how long am I grounded, doc?” I faintly smiled at Blueprints.

He shook his head. “Hard to say. I’ve heard Pegasus wings heal fast, so probably a day.” I groaned and stood up. “So I guess you’re walking like the rest of us.”

I dusted myself off and looked at my map. We were getting closer to Pipsqueak Port. “Well, let’s not tarry then.” I started walking towards the flashing dot. Monarch levitated out Magic Warfare and started reading. I felt a pang of jealousy, but shook it off. There’d be time to read when we got there.

An hour of silence later, Monarch spoke up. “I can see our destination.” I looked up eagerly; sure enough, there was the ocean and port. “I estimate we’ll get there in about thirty minutes. Unless we step up our pace.”

That was all the motivation I needed. I burst into a gallop and heard the others follow suit. “Race ya’ll there!” The road blurred past us and I glanced at the many dead bodies on the sides. Wait... dead bodies? I slid to a stop and the others crashed into me. “Uh, guys? Something’s not right...”

I hate it when I’m right. Ponies in raider barding jumped out from both sides of the road. I didn’t have time to pull out a gun. I jumped at the first raider I saw and smashed my claws into his face. I glanced at my EFS and was relieved by the low numbers. I pulled out my shotgun and fired a shell at the nearest raider and heard Blueprints’ Battle Saddle fire off. I turned around and slipped into SATS to take down two more. I saw Monarch float out a sword and haphazardly swing it at a raider. Wait, where’d he get a sword? I didn’t have much time to ponder this as a fired off my shotgun at another raider. Symptom bit out at the raiders surrounding her.

“Ace! Get her off me” I heard Blueprints yell. I snuck a look towards him and saw a filly in raider barding biting on his back. Without thinking I fired off at her and saw her head explode. Before I could react, a head from a newly beheaded raider flew past me. Soon the firing stopped and the dust began clearing. Blueprints drank a healing potion and Symptom began looting the bodies.

“Well that was unnecessary,” said Monarch as he sheathed his sword.

I glared at him. “Really. No shit.”

Blueprints frowned. “Ace, you just shot a filly with a shotgun...”

“She was trying to kill you. She knew what she was doing,” I shot back at him. “No regrets.” Symptom finished looting and nodded at Monarch. We continued towards the city walls.

To say I was amazed at the gates is an understatement. They were ornately designed, made of a durable Redwood with metal plating in the curved inwards along the edges. They stood at least twenty feet high and flanking it were two of the most heavily armed ponies I’d seen in the Wasteland. About a foot taller than normal ponies, they were covered in such heavy armour, I couldn’t even see flesh.

“State your business here in Pipsqueak Port, traveller,” one of them said in a bored voice.

I hesitated. Why were we here again? “We’re just passing through really. Here to help.” I heard one of them yawn in his suit.

Monarch spoke up. “We’re a scouting party from Mesa City.” That sure got a reaction. Both ponies stood up straighter and glanced nervously at each other. I looked over at Monarch curiously. What was he going at?

“M-Mesa City, huh?” one of them stammered out. “Why is Mesa City interested in us?”

Blueprints caught on. “Orders from the top. We just came from Fort Periwinkle with a command to investigate the... uh... defenses of... this... port...” he trailed off weakly.

The guards burst out laughing. “Like Thunder’s that big of an idiot! Pride wouldn’t violate the treaty. I bet you’re all just little babies running away from home.” I looked over at Monarch and noted how he was nearly as big as them. The rest of us were dwarfed, but we certainly weren’t foal sized. I was beginning to feel a little hot in the face and significantly less impressed with the door now.

Finally, the guards began to calm down. “Listen, kid, I don’t think you need to be hanging around this Port. It’s no place for little foals, so go be on your way. Maybe when you get a few battles around your belt, you can come back.”

I fumed. Little foal? Kid? I pulled out my shotgun and heard my friends gasp. “Don’t make me use this,” I growled at them. Bad idea. Suddenly both ponies had very large guns pointed at me. Nopony was laughing anymore.

“If you really want to get in here, go clear out that mutie infestation down by Colgate Bay. Those guys have been bugging the port for weeks and our captain can’t spare the ponies to take them out.”

“Fine then. I’ll be back tomorrow with the Bay clear of them,” I spat in his face. “Come on, guys, we have muties to kill.” I turned and walked away from the doors. Blueprints followed right after, but Monarch stayed in place.

“Um, Ace? What are muties?”

I stopped. What were muties? I looked over at Blueprints and Symptom, but neither of them looked like an expert on the subject. I sighed and looked over at the guards. “Well? What are muties?”

Apparently, this was funny too. After the guards got back up, one of them decided to explain. “Muties are mutant ponies. None of the Balefire bombs fell more north than Manehatten, so when the wind brought the radiation here, some ponies were mutated. Their minds are twisted more than their bodies are, and that’s saying something. If you come across one, shoot first and ask questions later, and,” he turned towards Symptom, “I normally say the same about ghouls too.” I glared at him, but wisely decided not to press the issue.

Symptom was not so wise, “And I’m sure that does wonders for your love life.” Yeah, time to go now. I am not having much luck with other ponies in the Wasteland. After we lost the guards a few miles away from the Port, I turned on Symptom.

“Well, I can see why ponies don’t like ghouls much.”

She snorted. “Please. I’m perfectly nice to ponies who aren’t so pretentious. Of course, I prefer to avoid confrontations, which is why I like hiding when in town.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have tried to change his opinion about ghouls by acting, you know, civilized?”

“His opinion is deeply rooted in his brain. One kind ghoul isn’t going to change it, so why bother? I don’t regret what I said, and I think you should just drop the issue.”

I was about to argue more, but Monarch gave me a drop-it look. I grumbled and looked at the map to see where we were going. Surprisingly, Colgate Bay was fairly close-by. “Well, let’s go kill us some muties.”

Blueprints facehooved. “So close...” he muttered. I shot him a confused look. “From what the guard said, muties are ponies too, Ace. You were so close when you felt remorse for the filly, but now you’re ready to go kill more, and they may not even be hostile!”

I threw the thought through my head a bit, then replied. “How about we only shoot if they shoot first?” This seemed to satisfy Blueprints.

The Bay was really close. Closer than I could’ve imagined. Like literally over a hill away. The sight of the city startled me. Not surprise. Startle. It looked... completely normal. From where I was, I could see ponies moving around, shopping in a market, sitting in a park, eating at a restaurant.

I was picturing dark and depressing. This was... happy. We walked up to the entrance of the city, and a dark green pony with a boneless leg hanging limply off his side approached us. “Oh no... more ponies from the Port... Please... we don’t have any more supplies!”

Wait, what? Was he begging me for supplies? I looked back at Blueprints and he shrugged at me. I turned back to the mutie. “Uh... is this Colgate Bay?” The pony nodded slowly. “We were sent here to stop raids against the Port.”

The pony looked surprised. “We haven’t raided the Port. We’ve sent a few merchants for food, but we’ve no weapons here. We’re nonviolent, most of us.” I looked past him at the other muties in the bay. Most were even sadder than he was. One had a third eye and a stump leg. One had a wing sticking erect out of his back and a few more legs than normal. One had a horn where his eye was supposed to be. I take back what I said about it being happy.

Oh Celestia, this was a nightmare.

“Can we talk to the leader, or captain, or mayor, or whatever of this town?” I asked the pony.

He nodded eagerly. “Right this way. My name is Platter, by the way. Dinner Platter. Who might you be?”

“My name is Ace. Ace Flight. But I really prefer Ace. The blue-hoofed one is Blueprints, the black unicorn is Monarch, and the ghoul is Symptom. If you aren’t violent, we aren’t here to cause trouble.”

He gave a large smile. “You’re friendlies?” He turned towards the town. “Everypony! A normal pony who doesn’t hate muties!” All eyes (and a horn) were on us now. I began to feel a little uncomfortable. As we walked to the town hall, Platter introduced us to everypony he saw. I didn’t remember a single one of their names. Platter didn’t seem to notice my unenthusiasm. When we got to town hall, he stopped and his smile faded a little. “This is where I leave you. I always get the creeps in there.” What could give a mutant the creeps? But with that, he galloped off.

I looked at my friends and they nodded. We walked into the town hall.

It was a one-room building. The walls were painted a sickly green and there were dusty books and weird orbs on all the bookcases. Sitting behind a desk on the opposite side of the room, floating a pen on some papers, was a light blue unicorn mare. Her mane was split between blue and white in a way that strangely reminded me of toothpaste. She looked up at us and smiled warmly. “Welcome to Colgate Bay. I’m Colgate. Who might you be?”

I blinked then stepped towards the desk. “I’m Ace...” I paused. “I’ve heard the name Colgate before...”

“Yes, The first Colgate was one of the settlers of the North during the war. She got into a disagreement with the other settlers and settled along the water’s edge. I am one of her descendants. All of the port cities were owned by her at one point. Now...” she sighed, “all that’s left is this city of muties. They are a pleasant bunch, but it’s not a true dominion anymore. That and we are constantly under threat of destruction.”

I was about to answer, but Monarch stepped forwards. “Milady, that is simply terrible. We shall see that this fine city shall not come under harm. I swear on my father’s name that I will unite the North under one crown.” Wait, what? I turned and opened my mouth to say something, but something stopped me from speaking. Colgate looked thoughtfully at Monarch. Symptom walked up to Monarch’s side and nodded. Blueprints and I glanced at each other the shrugged.

Colgate smiled. “Very well then. I shall trust you four with defense of this city. Now, Ace, do you want to see a doctor about that wing?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No ma’am, it’s perfectly fine now.” I ripped off the bandages and threw out my wings. The hole was mended and my wing felt stronger than ever.

Colgate stood up and walked in front of the desk. I noticed her cutie mark was an hourglass. I also noticed how her flank looked very nice. My wings straightened a bit. I heard Blueprints suppress a chuckle. Colgate walked up to Monarch and smiled. “Well then, I give you full power of this city. May it best serve you well.”

***********

“That was some quick thinking there, Monarch.”

We were inside a house generously donated to us by Colgate. Blueprints lounged on a couch, reading his book on Battle Saddles. Symptom was polishing her rocket launcher and new assault rifle. I had finished performing aerial acrobatics for the amused mutie townsfolk and was now sitting across a table from Monarch. He had been in deep thought for the past couple of hours, and I was beginning to get antsy.

He finally answered. “I just said what came naturally. It’s my talent, I think.” He looked back at the crown on his flank. “I’ve had this since I got the vision of creating an empire, but I never figured out what it represented. I assume it means that I’ll succeed. Why else would it be there?”

I shrugged. “Beats me. Pretty easy to figure out my talent, especially given the lack of pegasi anywhere.” I turned to Symptom. “What about you, Zombie-mare?”

“Don’t have one,” she stated gruffly.

“You don’t have one?” Blueprints looked up. “Everypony has a special talent. Isn’t there something you do better than most?”

Symptom looked up and glared at Blueprints. “No,” she answered. “Nothing, zip, nada. I’m useless. Always have been.” Her eyes lowered. “Always will be.”

“Now that’s not true,” Monarch interjected. “You have a talent, you just don’t have a cutie mark. Understandable, given what happened.”

“Why? What happened?” I asked curiously.

“Nothing happened,” Symptom blew me off and went back to polishing her guns. “I met Monarch, he saved my life, we went to that rock and hung out there for a couple of years.”

Saved her life? Hung out at a rock for a couple of years? I turned back to Monarch questioningly. “Anything to add?”

Monarch glanced over at Symptom and chuckled. “Of course there’s more. But I’ll let her tell it when she’s ready. You know,” he leaned closer to me and whispered, “she still doesn’t trust you. Or Prints. Probably never will.”

“Why not?” I whispered back.

“She’s just not a trusting pony. You’ll know why when she feels like telling the story.” I sighed and stood up to start pacing. “Don’t rush her or she’ll close you out.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” I waved him off with my hoof and looked over at Blueprints. “Got any ideas on what to do now?”

Blueprints closed his book. “There’s lots we can do. We can stay here for the rest of our lives, we can go back to Pipsqueak Port and try to get in, we can head south and hide out in Appleloosa...”

I stopped paying attention and started thinking about how to get into the Port. Large armored ponies guarding it with very big guns, high walls that I can’t carry anypony over... the place looked pretty hard to get into. I shuddered at the thought of trying to get into Mesa City. It dawned on me how much in deep shit we were in.

“So we have Pride, Wrath, Pipsqueak Port, and probably fifty other ponies pissed off at us now,” I interrupted Blueprints’ monologue. “Fuck me...” I muttered.

“Not in your life, winger,” Symptom growled. “And having them pissed off might be a good thing. Anger blinds.” Anger blinds? That sounded like something meant to be deep but was really just fucking stupid.

“She means that they won’t think clearly,” Monarch explained. I groaned and sank back into my chair again. “Cheer up, Ace, it’s not that bad. Turn on some music.”

Oh yeah, I have a radio. I flipped on DJ Pon3 and we sat listening to some smooth jazz. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, letting the music flow through my body. Soon the music faded out and the DJ began talking.

“And that was some Yardpony, an old jazz artist brought back through his immortal music. And now a report. There have been slaves piling into Fillydelphia from all directions, South, East, West and North. If you see any slavers, or ponies you suspect to be slavers, do not confront them, or be seen by them. And speaking of the North, some very powerful ponies are in an outrage over a rogue pegasus attacking their troops.” I opened my eyes and slowly turned to my Pipbuck. “From the description, he sounds like an Outcast from the Enclave, so please thank the Outcast if you see him. If you can hear me Outcast, don’t bite off more than you can chew, but let Celestia guide you. In other news, the railway linking New and Old Appleloosa will be out of order for a few months...”

I flipped the radio off, looked up and saw three ponies staring at me, one happy, one awestruck, one sour. Blueprints jumped up and grinned broadly at me. “Listen to that, Ace! You’re a hero! Pon3 doesn’t mention anypony unless they’re important.!” I grinned weakly back, but my hooves had started shaking. Furiously.

Monarch’s mouth slowly broke into a smile too. The only frown left was on Symptom as she picked up her guns and left the room. I looked over at Monarch and asked “What’s her problem?” His smile faded, he shook his head and walked after her. “Damn it! Just when something good happens, somepony gets pissy,” I muttered.

“Well, to be fair, you really haven’t done much,” Blueprints pointed out. “It’s just, up here, good ponies are hard to come by. You have to look out for yourself. Not many ponies make friends for fear of being sold into slavery.”

I looked at him incredulously. “How do ponies live like that? It’s mad is what it is. Virtually undamaged by the centuries old war and still in chaos. If the Enclave were really going to swoop down and liberate everypony, they’ve had ample opportunity.”

“What, you think they’re planning something else up there? What else could they do? Anyway, don’t mind them, they’ll come around eventually.” Blueprints stood up and started pacing. “Actually though, recognition won’t be good. If your name is out on the streets, ponies will avoid you. Shun you. And the rest of us.”

“And because I’m a pegasus, it’ll be easy to point me out in a crowd...” I mused. “But I’m used to that. Shunned, hated, bullied... I really am just an Outcast. How did the DJ know that?”

“He has eyes and ears everywhere. Probably has the most connections in Equestria. Wouldn’t surprise me if he had known who you were the minute you walked out of Cormount.”

I nodded slowly. “I guess that’s true... so what about you?” He looked at me puzzled. “I’m going to be the most wanted pony in the North, and it’s been almost two days since my home was attacked. You’re welcome to leave and ditch me. Go join up with Pride again, or flee.”

He looked offended. “Why would I leave? You saved my life! And I don’t have anywhere else to go, I’m just as wanted as you are.” I smiled and nodded again.

Monarch walked back in the room, his head drooping a bit. I opened my mouth to speak, but he waved me off. “She’s fine, she just needs to be alone.”

“Is there any reason she reacted like that?” Blueprints inquired.

“I don’t really know, she’s probably in denial or shock or something. I’ve never been able to read her very well. Something to do with what happened when she was a filly.”

I rolled my eyes. “And you’re still not going to tell us?”

He shook his head. “Give her some time. She’ll come around, I guarantee it.”

I sighed and rubbed my head with my hoof. Then I realized I hadn’t asked the obvious question. “How do you intend to use this city?”

He looked up. “I’ve been waiting to hear you ask that. We need to get weapons for the citizens here. We also need to re-establish trade with Pipsqueak Port and Mesa City.” I looked up shocked at the mention of the city. He seemed to note my confusion. “Well, after Apple Thunder takes control anyway. We also need to spread the idea that muties aren’t evil.”

Platter had snuck up on us while he talked. “Excuse me, sir, but did you say weapons?”

I nodded, catching on. “That’s right. We need to get this city a proper guard.”

He gave me a horrified look that rivaled Blueprints’. “But we are a nonviolent people! Fighting would remove from us the idea that we are real ponies!”

I mulled this over. “Elaborate on that for me.”

“Before the war, ponies didn’t fight. Sure we had guards and such for protection from wild animals, but a pony hurting another pony was unheard of. The war with the Zebras was the first time Equestria had a military, and ponies found out they were good at fighting. Several ponies, including Colgate, were against the idea of war and moved up North to form a nonviolent community. The war isn’t what destroyed Equestria. It was the fact that ponies never figured out how to stop fighting. If we take up weapons, we risk ruining what’s left of being a pony.”

I was stunned. “If this was a nonviolent community, what about the raiders? What about Pride? And those armored guards at the Port?!”

Platter shook his head. “Ponies shouldn’t war. We refuse to take up weapons.”

Monarch and I exchanged a look. He was about to say something when an alarm went off. We were on our feet and heading for the town entrance in an instant, Monarch slowed down to pull out his sniper rifle. I floated out my assault rifle and slowed down to a trot, Blueprints beside me. Standing there was a single armored pony, bigger than the ones we saw at the gate of Pipsqueak Port. He saw me and readied a miniturret.

I let out an “Oh, shit!” before he started firing and flew into the air. I started rolling and evading the bullets, my Pipbuck throwing up a shield every time one got close to hitting me. I fired potshots at him every time I got a chance, but the bullets just bounced off his heavy armor. I saw a bullet clip his ear and he turned to Monarch and Blueprints. I watched them scatter, but the muties behind them stood frozen. “Get the civilians out of here!” I yelled at my panicking friends. I dove back down towards the hulk of armor and landed on top of him. I turned and tried to buck the miniturret off, but it stayed firm and heavy.

“Get off me! No pegasus should touch the Steel Rangers!” He yelled before trying to buck me off. I flew off and tumbled behind a nearby trash can. The... Steel Ranger was it? turned back to me and readied his turret again. I closed my eyes and shot a prayer to Celestia. Just five minutes ago, I was listening to my name on the radio, and now I was about to die. Must be a new record.

I heard an explosion and the bullets stopped. I opened my eyes and saw four hooves and pieces of metal. I looked to the center of town and saw Symptom with a smoking rocket launcher and a scowl on her face.

I flew over to Symptom and Blueprints and grinned. “Nice shot!” I said, patting her on the back.

Symptom glared at me. “This doesn’t mean I like you or anything. And I was going to say you were my best shot at surviving, but now...” she looked over at the flaming chunks of metals, “I know I’m going to have to save your life more than once in the future.”

I grinned. “Well it’s nice to have you on the team.” I turned to Platter who had walked over, visibly shaken. “Yeah, so, that’s kinda why you guys need weapons. We’re real ponies and we only kill to protect other ponies and ourselves. Ponies shouldn’t be malicious, you’re right. But being nonviolent is just downright stupid.”

Platter shook his head. “You don’t understand. And probably never will. But after that...” he shuddered. “We will take any help we can get.” Monarch caught up to us and put away the rifle.

I turned to Monarch. “So how do we do those things?”

He smiled. “Weapons are easy. We just need to find a certain griffin named Spear.”

I laughed and punched the air. This wasn’t going to be too hard after all. “And re-establishing trade?”

Monarch’s grin faded. “I haven’t thought about that part yet. We need to get into the port for starters...”

Symptom cut in. “I just thought of a plan to get in, but I need a mutie’s help. And him and I are going to be in quite a bit of danger...” she looked over at Platter and winked suggestively. “I’ve got just the mutie in mind...”

****************

The five of us, Platter, Symptom, Monarch, Blueprints, and I, stepped out of Colgate Bay. Colgate stood right outside and walked up to me. “Here, take this. Watch it when you get the chance. And use it to remember me by.” I nodded and slid an orb into my saddlebags, mentally reminding myself to ask Dusty what it was. “Return safely, Ace. Don’t try anything out of your league.”

Monarch stepped between us. “Let us be on our way, Ace. We have a lot of ground to cover.” I nodded again and the five of us stepped out.

Back into the Wasteland.

Note: Level Up!

Perk added: Acrobat - when flying, you are 20 percent harder to hit and resistant to bullets

(Thanks to Kkat for starting the whole snowball)

Ch. 3: Port Mortuary

Chapter 3: Port Mortuary

“I hope you understand why we’re doing this, Five.”

“Frankly, I don’t. I’m having trouble believing it’s you, sir, it’s been way too long. How are you even alive?”

“I could ask the same of you. I need you and Seven to work together on this. I know you’ve had your differences in the past, but this could be our chance.”

“I don’t trust him, sir. He wants me dead, I just know it.”

“And yet you trust Six?”

“I trust him even less. They’re all out to get me, except maybe Four, and he’s just lazy.”

“All this distrust can’t be good for business. You’re brothers!”

“Brothers who never get along. And don’t forget about Sis. She’s been sending some odd messages lately too.”

“You two are in touch?”

“In more ways than one.”

“...That’s kind of disturbing.”

“I thought you knew.”

“I wish I didn’t.”

“So what’s this I hear about a pegasus? Seven told me...”

“The pegasus is harmless. He was where I was being held captive, and he got the shit beat out of him daily. No way he could cause any harm.”

“That sounds like something a super villain would say right before the hero destroys his Doomsday device.”

“Cliche, isn’t it? ‘Fools! You will never defeat me!’”

“Very funny, sir. I’ve got work to do, so if we could hurry this up...”

“Fine fine, just remember to keep the war between the grunts. Don’t let it escalate.”

“No offense, but that’s like telling a bomb not to explode.”

*************

I’ve always liked night time more than daytime. Even if clouds blocked out the sky, the darkness felt more soothing than the gray, foggy daytime. The sounds of the fire crackling was also pretty relaxing. I stood watch on a hill overlooking Pipsqueak Port, watching as the lights in the houses clicked off. The walls surrounding it looked smaller than I remembered. I took in a deep breath of the cool night air and smiled.

“Are you done standing there like an idiot, or are you going to help us set up camp?” Leave it to Symptom to ruin a nice moment.

“Yeah, whatever, darling, I’ll be right there!” I called back. I took another look at the city and closed my eyes for a second. Then I turned around and trotted back to the camp. From the looks of it, camp was already set up. Colgate had happily donated a few tents for us and Monarch set them up without breaking a sweat. “How exactly am I going to help here? Looks like everything’s done.”

Symptom walked out of one of the tents and threw a bag at me. “You can cook dinner. Then you can say you did something productive.” I made a face at her as she turned back into the tent. Blueprints walked over and grabbed the bag himself. “And hurry up, I’m starving!”

“Isn’t she a pleasant one,” Platter commented from over by the fire. “You pick your friends well, don’t you?”

Blueprints and I cantered over and sat down. “I’d ditch her, but I doubt she’d actually leave,” I confided. “That and she is actually kind of funny when you get to know her.”

Platter harumphed but stayed quiet. Next to him, Monarch stared into the fire, deep in thought, a cigarette floating by him. He looked up at me as we sat down. “What was a Steel Ranger doing there?” he asked, looking back down into the fire. “They guard technology, sure, but I didn’t see anything technological there. In fact,” he looked back up at me, “your Pipbuck was probably the only thing he would have been interested in, but it looked like he hadn’t seen it while he was shooting at you.”

I glanced down at the bulge on my leg, concealed by my Enclave armor. “Steel Ranger? That’s what he called himself, but what is it?”

Blueprints answered promptly. “Technophiles is the best way to describe them. They take technology and protect it. They don’t care about ponies anymore, if they ever did. It’s going to be hard to get in the port if they’ve taken over.”

“Wait, they’ve taken over the port?” I asked. “How do you know that?”

“The guards outside yesterday were Steel Rangers, didn’t you know? And Monarch, put that thing out, it’s disgusting and will probably kill you.”

“Nah,” Monarch answered. “A lung purge every few months and I’m perfectly healthy.” He did crush the cigarette in the ground anyway. “Weren’t you supposed to be cooking, Ace?” Oh yeah, I was. I opened the bag and pulled out the various cooking equipment needed and set up some stew to boil.

Symptom finally came over while I dished out the stew into bowls. “Just in time for the eating,” Blueprints muttered.

Symptom rolled her eyes and sat down next to Monarch. “Like I’d ever eat anything a pegasus cooked up.” I froze and turned to her, anger flaring in my eyes.

“Don’t take it personally, Ace, she doesn’t eat anything,” Monarch said guardedly. I glared at them, but wisely decided to drop it. “So what’s the plan? How are we going to get in?”

“I dunno. Fly? Magic? Shoot our ways in?” I said sarcastically. Nopony criticizes my cooking. “I suppose I could throw my evil pegasus food at them and watch them melt!”

Symptom started to growl, but Blueprints cut her off. “What took you so long in that tent? Did you need a little special alone time?” he asked, punctuated by giggles from Platter.

She glared at Platter for a few seconds before she answered. “That shitty rocket launcher I bought at Fort Periwinkle nearly fell apart when I shot it. I was looking to see if I could salvage it, but it’s pretty much gone beyond repair.” That’s kinda sucky. I liked that rocket launcher; it was good at killing Steel Rangers.

We finished up our dinner and set up a guard rotation. I started off the night back on the hill overlooking the port, the other four cozy in their tents. The rest of the port had gone to sleep. Back in Indianpony, there was always somepony up late with lights on all night. From the looks of the port, the Steel Rangers had set up a curfew. I took another deep breath and sat down to watch the guard rotations at the gate. The efficiency of it surprised me. There was no way all five of us could sneak past that.

“You’ve gotten yourself in quite a situation here, haven’t you?”

I sighed. “No, Dusty, I really haven’t. I’m just busy. Nothing wrong with me except the bounty on my head and the wings on my back.”

“Who’s Dusty?”

I looked down and saw my Pipbuck wasn’t glowing like it did when Dusty was there. I turned and saw a spritebot floating near me. “Oh, Watcher! Not a situation, I’d say. Just busy.”

“Who’s Dusty?” Watcher repeated.

I hesitated. Could I trust him? I already had, hadn’t I? “Dusty is the pony living inside my Pipbuck,” I finally answered.

“A Pipbuck?” I slid up my sleeve to show it him. “That’s... very ornate. I’ve heard that name before...” Watcher trailed off. “Never mind, it’s probably not important. By situation though, I mean your friends. You’re just asking to get shot here.”

I frowned. “Why do you say that? And not all of them are friendly.”

“A ghoul, a mutie, and a pegasus walk into a town... That sounds like the beginning of a cruel joke. Be on your guard, and don’t trust anypony, especially,” he put a lot of emphasis on that word, “Steel Rangers. Never let them see your Pipbuck either, or they’ll mount your wings over their fireplace.” They’ve already tried that, hadn’t they?

“Weren’t you the one who told me to go out and make some friends, anyway?” I asked. “Kind of hypocritical of you, isn’t it?”

Watcher sighed. (Can robots sigh?) “That doesn’t mean go out and get yourself killed. Look, I’ve got to go, I can’t spend too long in these things. And I’ve got other ponies to look after.” And with that, the bot flew off playing an annoying sounding polka.

I shook my head and smiled down at the ground. I could watch myself just fine. As long as I kept my head down and wings out of sight, I could blend in with any crowd. I could take on the world and win it over. I could start actually doing my job and investigate that rustling sound. I looked up sharply, the rustling coming from my right side. I stooped down and crawled silently to the moving grass.

I caught a glimpse of a green tail before a flash of purple caused it to disappear. “What the hay was that...” I muttered to myself, standing up to get a better view. Laying in the grass that had just flashed purple was a brown bowler hat, threatening to blow away with the wind. I cautiously approached it and gave it a poke with my hoof. No reaction. I picked it up and examined it. No nametag, no hidden weapons, nothing. Just a hat. I rolled my eyes and tucked it into my saddlebag.

The rest of my shift went by rather uneventfully. I did learn that radroaches show up on EFS fairly often as red, even though they’re almost harmless. I practiced my aim, trying to avoid using SATS as much as possible. Eventually, Blueprints came out to replace me and I headed into the tent for a well-deserved sleep.

It felt like only a few minutes before Symptom kicked me awake. “Wake up, Cloudcolt, we have a busy day ahead of us.” Oh joy, another day with the queen of insults. “And hurry up, I’m explaining my plan before it starts raining so we can get in shelter quickly.”

“You have a plan?” I mumbled groggily.

Symptom sighed. “If you had listened to me as we left town, you would know that I have a plan for getting in the port.” We walked over to the remains of the fire where the other three stood sleepily. “Okay, here’s what we need to do...”

As Symptom laid out the points, the word insanity kept popping in my mind. That was the only way I could describe Symptom’s plan. And from the look on Monarch’s face, he was thinking the same thing. I saw Blueprints’ horrified expression before I even looked at him. Platter seemed pretty shaken as well. I peeked my head out of the covered wagon we had set up to hide behind and looked through Monarch’s binoculars (where did he get these?) at the gate guarded by the same Steel Rangers as the day before. I put the binoculars down, looked up at the cloudy sky and sighed.

“Anyone else got any ideas?” No answer. “Great.” Was it just me, or was it starting to feel a little cold? I turned back to my ragtag peacemaking team and sighed again. “Then we’re going with your plan, Symptom. Only thing is, I can’t carry Monarch and Blueprints.”

Symtom looked at me blankly. “I didn’t think you could, nor said you had to. Fly one over and the other can sneak by invisible. Me and Platter here can chase off the guards. Not like they aren’t itching to kill a mutie.” She stood up and stretched, glancing up at the sky as she did so. “And we better hurry. It’s about to rain.” Couldn’t argue with that logic. I did not want to be in the Wasteland during a radioactive rainstorm.

Blueprints found his voice. “What if one of you two gets caught and killed?” Then we’re down a useless pacifist and an outcast ghoul? Okay brain, let’s be a little more tolerant. Got it? Okay, now that we’ve got that settled, let’s put on a concerned face.

Symptom let out a bark. Ghouls bark? Add that to a list of things that are useless to know. “Relax, Mr. Therapist. We’ll be fine. I’ve had to escape from guards before and this guy’s a lot more mobile than Monarch.” I gazed curiously at Monarch. What had they done before I met them at Rock Hope? Irrelevant now, I guess. “So are we going to do this or not? I haven’t slept in a real bed since I was alive.”

I nodded. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Symptom handed Monarch the stealth cloak, and she and Platter then walked out and started for the gate. I knew this could take awhile, so I attempted to start a conversation.

“Any idea what the weird flying robots are for?” I asked.

Blueprints looked up. “Spritebots. They fly around, playing that weird polka, recording everything. I think they had some purpose during the war, but now, I don’t know who controls them.”

Monarch popped in. “They were owned by the Ministry of Morale. So I bet if you got into one of its hubs, you could get into the Spritebot memory banks, although how much they’ve recorded in the past two hundred years...” he looked at me sharply. “Ace, that information could tell you almost anything you needed to know about Equestria now. Somepony could know everything. Watch everything.” I looked away and tried not to look suspicious. I still didn’t know if I could tell them about Watcher or Dusty; I wasn’t sure either of them were even real!

“Don’t be stupid, Monarch,” Blueprints said. “What good would that do? If you were sitting in a room watching everything, you couldn’t do anything about what happened. You’d have to get other ponies to do your dirty work, and why would they trust you? It’d be suspicious if somepony knew that much about everything.”

“Or ponies might view them as some kind of God or Goddess and do whatever they say,” Monarch countered. “You were arguing so much yesterday that Celestia became one, so obviously somepony could trick others into worshipping them.”

“Yeah, but.. but... Ace!” Blueprints sputtered before turning to me. “You understand my point of view, right? Who would be stupid enough to listen to them?”

I chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I get you. Monarch, ponies are smarter than that, they wouldn’t blindly follow somepony without knowing anything about them other than they know a lot of stuff.”

Monarch looked at me cooly. “So why is Blueprints following you? Why am I following you? I don’t know anything about you! You show up one day claiming you’re going to save the Wasteland or something and we’re just supposed to follow you?”

I stood up angrily, the binoculars still in my hoof. “You volunteered! I didn’t force you! If I hadn’t come along, you would still be hiding behind a rock firing potshots at raiders!”

“That’s still better than risking my life trying to get into a closed port for no other reason than you want to go!” he yelled back. “I’m beginning to rethink my decision to join up with you.”

I grunted. “Well it’s too late now. You’re little ghoul friend is out doing the life-risking part anyway. And she didn’t want to come in the first place.” Monarch’s gaze lingered, then he turned and started to walk away.

“If you’re adamant on becoming king, earn the respect you desire,” Blueprints said quietly. Monarch stopped. “Turning and hiding like a coward won’t win over the ponies you want to rule over. And believe me, you need the support of everypony to become a king.”

Monarch turned back around. “Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t help being a coward! It’s in my blood. I can’t handle being in danger. I run and hide and let other ponies do the dangerous stuff. I know it’s not noble, but it’s survival.”

“Fear isn’t a bad thing,” Blueprints pointed out. “It’s okay to be scared. True bravery is being scared and still facing danger.”

Monarch lowered his head. “Come on, Monarch,” I whispered. “We’re here. We’ll always be here. I swear to you, in the name of Celestia herself, that I will keep you alive.” Monarch glanced up, but lowered his head again.

“Trust me Monarch,” Blueprints said after a few moments, “we’ll be fine. I know Ace can keep us alive. I’ve been about to die at least three times in the past few days and he saved me every time.”

Monarch looked up, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Thanks. I’ll try to keep my fear under control. Now, what’s taking Symptom so long?”

Before anypony could answer, we heard shooting. I threw the binoculars in my saddlebags and flipped out my wings. “Showtime!” I exclaimed. I flew up, grabbed Blueprints’ mane, and we were off to Pipsqueak Port. I watched the Steel Rangers chase after our ghoul and mutie as we flew towards the wall. I dove down and landed inside the gate. Not too much later, the gate open and closed and Monarch materialized in front of us. We nodded and turned to the main street. It blew my mind how well that first phase went. We turned around a corner and our jaws dropped simultaneously.

It was beautiful.

I gazed, speechless at the bustling streets and plentiful shops. A few ponies ambled past us, chatting pointlessly about butterflies and nonsense. There were Griffins, Unicorns, even Zebras hidden in the large market place, all shopping, talking, comparing weapons. I heard somepony’s radio playing Saphire Shores and ponies of all colors eating at nearby restaurants. But the things that caught my eye were the six tall buildings at the end of the street, three on each side. One purple, one yellow, one cyan, one pink (pink?), one white, and one orange. Even the ponies living here seemed to look in awe at them.

Naturally, I wanted to go explore them.

Unfortunately, we still had to get Symptom and Platter in the Port. Which meant we had to do phase two of Symptom’s plan.

Talking to the Guard Captain.

Given my last time talking with a Steel Ranger or any kind of captain, I wasn’t expecting any miracles. Nor did I have the slightest idea where the guard barracks was. So we decided to do the most sane thing. We asked a passerby pony.

“Excuse me, miss, but do you know where the barracks are?”

I was expecting a yes or no. Not a scream and hoof to the face. Alright, Ace, keep calm, causing trouble won’t help the situation. Of course, neither does the fact that there’s a pony screaming in front of me, acting like I assaulted her or something. I focused the pain out and concentrated on what she was screaming.

“Enclave! Enclave! They’re here to steal our souls!”

What. The. Fuck.

“Miss, He’s not Enclave! He’s the Outcast!” Monarch stepped in. Her screaming subsided. I rubbed my nose, praying to Celestia it wasn’t broken.

Her attitude changed instantly. I stared amazed at the way her eyes grew wide, as did the ponies around us. “He’s the Outcast?” “He don’t look like much” “Probably got lucky with those raiders” “DJ Pon3 never lies about these ponies, but seriously” I felt my face getting hot again. Was I still a joke to them?

Blueprints pulled the attention off me. “Can we please get directions to the barracks? We’re kind of in a hurry.” All the hooves pointed off to our right, the ponies’ eyes never leaving my face. Was my nose bleeding? “Thank you!” Blueprints nodded and grabbed my mane. Thus, I was dragged off to the barracks, nose bloody, staring dumbstruck at the ponies gathered around the street. What an image I was giving myself.

I stood up and turned to walk alongside Blueprints and Monarch. Monarch floated a handkerchief over to my nose and wiped the blood off. I began to feel a bit like a foal. We approached the barracks and stared apprehensively at the door. I turned to Blueprints and nodded. He opened the door and we went inside.

Damn, but it was nice in there.

The room was lit by several candles hanging off each wall, next to which pictures of ponies in militaristic poses hung. There were many tables spread throughout the room, but only two or three had ponies at them. It seemed like they were in the middle of a card game. One of them looked up at us and a scowl appeared on his face. I grinned nervously back and scratched the inside of my leg. He stood up and lumbered over to us. Celestia almighty, he was big.

“What do you want?” I felt the remains of Symptom’s plan blow off in the wind. Apparently so did Blueprints, which could explain him fainting. He needs to stop doing that. I heard Monarch suck in his breath. Yeah, this was going to go really well.

“Well,” I began, “we were kind of hoping you to let our friends into the city with us... if that’s okay with you,” I shrunk down a bit.

He relaxed. “Is that all? We’ll take care of it.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Steel Rangers are very intimidating. “Anything special about your friends that prevent them from coming in?”

I hesitated before answering. “One’s a ghoul, the other’s a mutie.” I mentally chuckled at his momentary eye-widening. “Neither of them are bad ponies... though the ghoul can get... unfriendly at times.”

He nodded and his eyes relaxed. “We’ll find them. In the meantime, why don’t you go explore the Port? I can get Carrot Cake to show you around.” The three of us nodded; we didn’t need to get lost in this weather. “When you’re done, come back and ask for me. Name’s Star Paladin Buttercup. And if you laugh at the name, that’s a fight.” I didn’t know whether to take him seriously or not, but I was hoping to Celestia he wasn’t. I don’t think I held in the mental smirk. He called over Carrot Cake and soon after, we were walking down what he called Ministry Walk.

“Of course, this isn’t the walk in Canterlot, but it sure is in better condition,” Carrot explained as we walked past the colorful buildings. “I assume you three know about the Ministry Mares during the war?” The three of us nodded, still staring awestruck at the colorful buildings around us. “Who better than the Elements of Harmony to head the Ministries?”

I burst into his monologue. “That’s just an old pony tale, isn’t it?” Apparently not, as shown by Blueprints’ facehoof. I shot him an angry glare.

Carrot shook his head. “No, it’s true alright. They were Rarity of Image, Rainbow Dash of Awesome, Fluttershy of Peace, Applejack of Wartime Technology, Twilight Sparkle of Magic, and Pinkie Pie of Morale. Six ministries to regulate the war. Six friends to lead them.” He frowned. “All of them are long dead.” Duh. “These hubs here are probably the only true surviving hubs in Equestria. And Hoofsmith and Colgate may have disagreed on a lot of things, but both protested having the hubs here.”

“Why do you think they did that?” Monarch asked with a frown. “Seems like the neutral area would be the best place to put hubs for research.”

Bueprints answered. “Well, I guess because having ponies working for the war here would make the North a target for Zebra agression, which is the whole reason Hoofsmith lead the pacifists up north in the first place.”

“But having no military around here would make the Zebras look even more aggressive than the normally do. And attacking unarmed cities might violate their sense of honor.”

“Yes, but look at where else hubs have been put. Manehatten. Fillydelphia. Hoofington. Canterlot. All of them deadly and contaminated.”

Carrot interrupted their fight. “The point is moot. The hubs have been deserted and locked anyway. The only one still in use is Wartime Technology, and it’s been confiscated by the Steel Rangers. Speaking of which,” he gave a quick glance around us, “don’t let your guard down around them.”

I tilted my head, curious. “Why? Buttercup didn’t seem too bad...”

Carrot facehoofed. “He’s plotting. I’m not a Steel Ranger. I was the original city guard captain, until the Steel Rangers came in and took over. If he’s out looking for your ghoul and mutie friend, he’s shooting to kill.”

“Think about it, Prints, if you had to put a research hub anywhere, you put it where it’s least likely to get attacked.”

“Leaving it completely undefended would entice the Zebras into attacking it! It’s common sense, Monarch!”

I rolled my eyes at their continuing debate, but it was cut short by a loud alarm call. “What’s that?” I asked, as ponies around us started dashing for their homes. “Attack?”

Carrot shook his head. “No. I haven’t heard that alarm in a long time. It’s the Pegasus. It’s come back.” And before I could ask about it, he dashed back off to the guard barracks.

The street had deserted completely, yet Monarch and Blueprints continued their bickering. I figured they might go on for awhile, so I slipped into the Cyan building closest to me. I lookd above the welcome desk and saw a picture of a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair. She was saluting the camera and her eyes were narrowed in determination. Underneath it read “Join the Equestrian Military today!” I wondered if this was Rainbow Dash... then slapped myself mentally. A quick look around was all it took for me to realize I was alone.

Thank Celestia.

I finally had time to think. I walked up to the welcome desk and looked at the receptionist book. I turned it around to read it better and saw the last date on there was over 150 years ago. I pushed it back. Why was everything so dusty in here? The chairs and stairways looked a few shades grayer than the dark red they used to have been (probably). I went around the desk and sat in the chair.

That’s when I remembered Colgate’s orb.

I pulled it out and examined it. It was dark blue with a white stripe seemingly in the middle. “So, what are you? What do you do?” I asked out into the silence.

“That’s a Memory Orb.”

I sat up and pulled my armor sleve up, and my Pipbuck shot out a hologram of Dusty. “Well, that’s new. Haven’t seen you in awhile, Dusty,” I commented.

“I’ve been a bit busy. Now that the Stable walls aren’t keeping me in the Pipbuck, I’ve been exploring the technology around Equestria. Enjoying it too. So much improvement in so little time. Although the Sprite-bots are off-limit it seems...” she trailed off thoughtfully. “But anyway, how have you been? I deposited some of my magic into the Pipbuck so you wouldn’t even know I was gone.”

I stared at her, my mouth slowly growing wider. “It’s been a little more than a day since I last saw you, how can you have done all that?”

She shrugged. “I’m good with computers.”

“Whatever, what is this thing?” I asked, gesturing towards the glowing ball. “A Memory Orb? What’s it do?”

Dusty smiled. An evil smile. I didn’t like it. “Let me show you,” she said, and her horn started glowing...

oooOOOooo

I felt... weird.

I was walking along a hallway. Trying to stop did nothing, so I guessed that I couldn’t do much of anything. I sighed and drooped my head. Suddenly, I could see something different about my body.

I realized why I felt so weird.

No wings either. But I had a horn. Okay, so female unicorn. Maybe Colgate? Or one of her ancestors? My host reached her destination; a large room with a fireplace and large red square rug. The room’s sole occupant was a violet buck with a large “7” on his flank. He had his back to my host and was staring into the fire. My host gave a small cough. He turned to the door and smiled. A very fake smile.

“Ah, Colgate, you’re here! I trust you’re happy with the arrangement Hoofsmith and I came up with?” He even sounded slimy. This was not a good pony, I could already tell.

Colgate knew it too. “Actually, Pride, that’s exactly why I’m here. You’ve brought war here to the North. And Hoofsmith and I were very clear on our policies.”

Pride just smiled again. “It’s not war if nopony fights back. Consider it a bargain. Hand over all control of the North to my family and we’ll spare your lives. I’m feeling generous even. I’ll leave you the ports and Indianapony to Hoofsmith. Do we have a deal?”

I could tell Colgate was aching over this decision. “What about the Zebras? What are you going to do when they come invading when you prove a threat to them?”

Pride laughed. “The Zebras? The Zebras are nothing compared to the power I have. They take one step into my family’s new domain and they’ll regret it for the rest of their miserable lives.” The smile on his face faded. “You will too if you don’t accept the proposal. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” My host teetered on her hooves a bit, before saying something I could barely make out. “What was that?” Pride asked, his smile growing back.

“Fine. But if I hear anything about an army, military experiements, or any threats of invasion, I’m going straight to Celestia herself,” Colgate growled.

“I think you’d soon find yourself in unspeakable horrors before Celestia could help,” Pride sneered. “Now get out and go to your pony friends. I know they’re anxious to hear how the negotiations went.”

Colgate stayed where she was, glaring at Pride, for at least another minute. Finally though, she turned around and left. Soon after, I felt myself seperating from Colgate again.

oooOOOooo

I woke up on the floor of the building, Dusty sitting in the chair reading the book on the desk. “Eye-opening? Probably not, it was nothing you couldn’t have guessed,” she said without looking up.

“What did he mean about the power he had? He’s just a unicorn, isn’t he?” I asked whilst rubbingmy head. I stretched my wings out and sighed a sigh of relief to have them back.

Dusty looked up. “I don’t know, that’s where I got lost too. Other than that one line, it seemed just like a normal, failed, negotiations. I didn’t even see the point in you having it.”

“Colgate must have had a reason for giving it to me,” I mused. “Well, maybe it was just to show me that she tried to stop them from taking over.”

“The funny thing is, soon after they took over, the balefire bombs fell on Canterlot, Manehatten, all of the places that were destroyed. And they went their seperate ways, each controlling their own part of the North.”

That was news to me. “I thought only Pride and Wrath had strongholds up here?”

Dusty shook her head. “Nope. Pride has Mesa City, Wrath is in Manetreal, Lust controls Las Pegasus, Sloth is out at sea on the Isle of Mane, Envy lives in New Colt City, Greed has his own castle near the southern border and Gluttony is out in the east with Barcepony.”

I stared at Dusty. “Pride, Wrath, Lust, Sloth, Envy, Greed, and Gluttony. Are you shitting me? Who would name them that?”

Dusty smiled faintly. “Don’t laugh too much, Ace. They’re all powerful and not to be taken lightly. And they all know about you now. Keep your guard up...” she trailed off looking at the door. “Sorry, got to go,” she said before disappearing back into my Pipbuck. Just then, the door swung open, a yellow mare leaped in and slammed it shut.

“Uh... hi?” I said, watching her blockading the door with nearby plants. “Who are you?”

She turned and I saw surpise on her face. “I didn’t know anypony was in here. There’s never anypony in here...” I saw her eyes travel to my wings. “Of course. A pegasus would always go for the Ministry of Awesome first. Well,” she pulled a gun out of her saddlebag and leveled it at me, “Equestria can always use less pegasi.”

“Wait!” I yelled, thinking furiously on how to get out of this. “I’m hiding from the city guard too!”

She lowered the gun. “Really? Obvious hiding spot for a pegasus is in here, so you’re not doing a very good job.” I can’t believe that worked.

“Yeah, well, I’m good at hiding in plain sight, now, who are you again?” I questioned.

She threw the gun into her saddlebag. “My name’s Flint. I’m the captain of the Pegasus.” Well isn’t that convenient? Confused about it five minutes ago, and learn about it instantly. “You wouldn’t happen to know about the bickering gay couple outside, would you? I need to thank them later for distracting the guards.” Bickering gay couple? Yeah, I could see that.

“Are they still going at it?” I asked. “I dashed in here to get some silence from their constant blah blah blah.”

Flint giggled. “So you do know them. Well, bring them by my ship later, and my crew and I can thank them. So I’ve answered your question, now answer mine. Who exactly are you?”

I smiled. “I’m Ace Flight, the most agile pony in Indianpony, more commonly known around here as the Outcast. Well, I say known, but I’ve only just got here, they only know me from the radio...” I trailed off from the look on Flint’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“Indianpony? Look, the guards are going to be searching in here soon, so I’ve got to go, but I need you to visit my ship tonight. Bring your friends,” she said with a worried look on her face. “All of them,” she added.

I looked at her, puzzled. “I... okay?” And with that, she ran out the door and disappeared. I followed her out.

“I’m telling you, Spitfire as the Wonderbolts captain led the best Wonderbolts I’ve ever seen!”

“No, Prints, it had to be Wind Tunnel! They repelled a dragon without breaking a sweat!”

I shook my head. “Guys, what are you even talking about?”

Monarch turned to me. “Explain to him that Wind Tunnel was the best Wonderbolts captain of all time.” Wonderbolts?

“Is it really that important?” I asked. They looked at each other and answered simultaneously: “Yes.”

“Well I’ve got something more important to share. There’s a ship in the harbour waiting for us and we’re not entirely together right now.” Blueprints opened his mouth to interrupt but I shushed him with my hoof. “Symptom and Platter are in danger, don’t ask me how I know, but we need to go rescue them.” Monarch nodded and Blueprints shut his mouth. “Now then, we need to go. And try to keep quiet, you were making fools of yourselves.”

**********

We walked out the front gate and noted with satisfaction that the guards were still gone. Unfortunately, we had no idea where Symptom and Platter had gone. I picked a direction and started walking. “Ace? Where are you going?”

“That way!” I said, pointing dramatically. I heard the sound of a hoof hitting a face and smiled inwardly. “I’m just feeling this way,” I explained, not telling them that Dusty figured out where they were.

“Well, you haven’t steered me wrong yet,” commented Blueprints.

“Better than no direction at all,” Monarch added. My inward smile came out as I turned back to them. Monarch’s eyes were focused off behind me.

“Something behind me?” I asked, my smile fading.

“No, I just thought I saw a flash of purple back there, but I guess it was my imagination.”

“A flash of purple?” I asked, all traces of my smile gone. “Like a big ball? Think hard!”

“I don’t know, yeah I guess. Why?” Monarch tilted his head curiously.

“Because last night while I was standing guard, I heard a noise nearby. I crept over to examine it and there was a big flash of purple light. When I got there, there was a bowler hat lying there,” I explained.

Monarch and Blueprints just stared at me. Then Blueprints started shaking his head. “You’re mental, Ace. It was late, and you probably just imagined it.” Imagined it? There was definitely a flash there!

“I’m not entirely sure about the flash just now either,” Monarch added. Oh come on! He even saw it himself! “We don’t have time to debate this,” Monarch said before I could open my mouth. “You said it yourself, we need to go now.” I nodded and we ran in the direction I had decided on.

Minutes later, we came across a bunker. I say bunker, but I really mean giant hole in the ground with lights. Which, admittedly, is pretty much what a bunker is. Nevertheless, I was disappointed in Symptom’s choice of hiding place. “Well, look who finally showed up,” I heard from deep inside. I heard Monarch breath a sigh of relief. “You may have gotten Platter, but you won’t get me!”

I tensed up. We got Platter? An orange dot appeared down the hallway and started running towards us. I saw bullets flying past it, followed by an explosion. “Symptom! Here!” I yelled down the hall. At the other end, I saw the Steel Rangers come around the corner. I pulled out my assault rifle and backed up. Symptom ran past me and ducked down behind Monarch. I readied SATS and got ready to fire at the incoming soldiers...

And the door to the bunker shut.

“Oh, what the fuck?” I yelled, throwing my gun at the door. “Who closed the door?”

Blueprints looked at me from beside a terminal nearby. “They’re trapped in there. Stable walls were meant to hold back a balefire bomb so...” he shot the terminal, “nothing they can muster will dent it.”

“Idiot, that’s not a Stable, that’s just a random bunker!” Symptom exclaimed. “They could get through that in a minute!”

“Oh...” Blueprints scratched his head. “Well, we have a minute to think up a plan now.”

“Yes, and you won’t be doing it,” Symptom snapped. “Look, just keep them busy for a second, I’ll be right back.” And with that she ran off.

“Keep them busy?” Monarch yelled after her. “How are we supposed to do that?”

“Can’t talk, being brilliant!” she yelled back.

“Blueprints, why, in the name of Celestia, did you think that would work?” I asked.

“You never know, maybe they’re really stupid and don’t know how to get out,” he answered sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I don’t do well under pressure, but you know that! Remember the mole?” Oh yes, I remember the mole. And the dead mare and filly. And the Dragon twins.

The door clanged and a giant dent appeared. “Wouldn’t dent it huh?” Monarch snapped. “What are supposed to do? I’ve only got this sniper rifle, your gun wouldn’t even phase them, and Blueprints can’t do anything right at all!”

“I’ll tell you what we’re not going to do,” I looked Monarch straight in the eye. “Panic. Symptom’s got a plan, she always has a plan. We just need to buy her some time. Let’s see,” my eyes darted around the door, “aha!”

Blueprints looked at me, surprised. “You found something?”

“No, but I do realize that they’re on the inside and we’re on the outside. We have a lot more space than them so...” I hit my head repeatedly with my hoof, “think, Ace think! How can we stop them? What can we do to keep them from getting out here... of course!” I jumped and pumped my hoof in the air. “Radiation! If they see a high radiation level. they won’t come out!”

“Couple of problems with that Ace,” Monarch said. “One, where do we get radiation, and two, they’ve got some of the most sophisticated armor in Equestria, I’m pretty sure that radiation won’t hurt them.”

My heart sank. “Oh, right... Well, I tried.” The dents grew bigger. “Let’s get out of the way before the door ex...plodes...” I trailed off and a smile grew on my face. “That’s what Symptom’s doing! Trying to get a way to blow up the door! So...” I ran over to my gun and aimed it at the terminal, “let’s see what happens when I shoot this some more.” I fired.

The door shot off and the Steel Rangers sprinted out. “Well well, it’s that little colt from yesterday. What a nice surpise.”

“Before you shoot, I have to tell you something,” I said, lowering my gun.

“And what is that, ya little rodent?”

I grinned. “Don’t look up.”

At that, both immediately looked up and saw Symptom land on their backs. Before they could react, Symptom bucked them both in the back of the heads and jumped off. “Run!”

We turned away and sprinted as fast as we could back to the Port. “What did you do to them?” I yelled to Symptom.

“Sticky explosive residue,” she explained. “Stuck to their heads. Second anything lights up near them, boom!”

We made it back to the gate. “That’s nice and all, but won’t they still chase us?” Blueprints asked.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” said Symptom. I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Now the bad news. Platter might be dead. Probably. He may just be hiding very well. My point is, I lost him.”

“We split up and he disappeared! He’s not dead! Probably!”

“You just said he might be dead!”

“And he might not be!”

I sighed. “We’ll have to find him later, we have a meeting to go to,” I said, creaking open the gate. “Symptom you may want to stay out of sight.”

Monarch frowned as Symptom vanished. “Meeting? Meeting with who?”

I smiled. “You’ll see.”

We snuck our way to the harbour and ducked inside, hiding behind a few crates. I peeked my head out and gasped at the ship. On the bow there was a seapony statue, turned green with the sea air. It dwarfed all the other fishing boats nearby and its masts shot up in the sky like giant ladders to the clouds. “Is that where we’re going then?” Blueprints whispered from beside me. I nodded slowly, then jumped over the crate. “Wait! What if it’s a trap?” hissed Blueprints.

I flipped my hair back. “Then we’ll walk right into it. That captain knows something about me, and I intend to find out what.” I crept over to the gangplank. “Flint! It’s me! We’re here!” I called up. The yellow mare appeared by the railing and motioned me to come aboard. “Come along, fellas, we’ve been invited to dinner,” I called to my companions.

As we walked aboard, Flint used some kind of scanner to wave us through a shield. “Hold on a minute,” she whispered. “Why is she invisible?”

“Ghoul,” Monarch replied. “Best to stay hidden. You understand, right?”

Flint frowned. “No. Why hide anything? She’s fine on this ship. Come on out, ghoul, I won’t bite.”

Symptom materialized glaring at Flint. “Let me get something straight here, sister. You don’t tell me what to do. How to live. I don’t take orders from you.”

Flint glared back. “My ship, my rules, you little freak of Celestia. One word and I can have you thrown overboard.”

Blueprints stared off in the distance, oblivious. “I’d like to see your men try. I can take all of them, two hooves tied behind my back. So come on!” Symptom challenged. Oh Celestia almighty, this was not going well at all.

“Symptom! Mind your manners!” Monarch barked. Symptom growled, then settled down. I let out a sigh of relief. Blueprints continued to stare off behind Flint. “Blueprints, what are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” he answered dully. “Thought I saw something green, but I think it was just the water. You’re not the captain either,” he turned back to us.

“Yes I am!” Flint stomped her hoof. “Go back to arguing with your little coltfriend! Ace, I need to talk to you. Now!” And with that, she turned and marched to the cabins.

“She’s not though,” Blueprints explained. “I’ve seen this ship before, some old stallion captains it. She’s just the cabin filly, last time I saw it.” So she was promoted. Big deal. “And before you say she was promoted or something stupid, this is a pirate ship. The only way she could have taken over is through mutiny.” Oh, that’s bad. “Be on your guard.” Why is everypony telling me that?

I followed Flint to the cabins, hearing Monarch mutter something about coltfriends under his breath, and I suppressed a chuckle. I walked into the cabin hall... thing, and Flint beckoned me to the captain’s cabin. I sauntered in and she shut the door behind me. She walked to the desk in the room and sat down on the other side. “You claim to be Ace Flight? From Indianpony?”

“Well, yeah, we already established this in the Ministry of Awesome,” I replied confusedly. What was she getting at?

“Just confirming that you weren’t lying.” Why would I be lying? I was beginning to get intrigued.

“Do you know me somehow?” I asked tentatively.

“That’s just it. I do. I’ve just never met you, nor did I think you were alive,” Flint answered. Wait what? “Your parents were banished from Indianpony and fled here to this port. Your dad got into a drinking contest and one thing led to another and he owned this ship.”

“This ship?” I asked incredulously. Flint nodded. “Like, the one we are standing on right now? Holy shit, is he here? Wait a minute,” I said, piecing it together. “If he owns this ship, wouldn’t he be the captain? What did you do to him? And my mother?” I yelled, jumping up on the desk.

Flint shook her head slowly. “They told me you weren’t the smartest colt. You still haven’t figured it out yet. I’m your sister.” I froze in my accusing pose on the desk and slowly lowered my hoof. Did that mean...? “No, mom and dad are still alive, but they’re not here,” She answered my unasked question and I sighed in relief. Wait, I don’t even remember my parents and I’m happy they’re still alive? I wasn’t even aware I was worried they were dead! “But they’re captured, held on the Isle of Mane.”

“Isle of Mane...” I mutttered, “where have I heard that before... Dusty!” I yelled and started jumping on her desk in glee. “Dusty told me! That’s where one of them lives! But, uh, which one?” I stopped jumping and looked at her.

“Sloth. I’m surpised he’s even managed to build up an army there, that place in unihabitable for anypony who’s not a ghoul. It’s a wonder he survives there,” Flint answered. “And please get off my desk.”

I grinned sheepishly and bounded off the desk. “Sorry. So I guess a direct assault is out of the question?” I asked.

Flint giggled. “Unfortunately, but I like your style. Listen, I’ll have to depart soon. Our parents are tough; they’ve been through a lot. And I don’t have nearly enough supplies for the rest of you so you’ll have to stay here. We come to this port at least four times a year, so if you come back in a couple of months, we’ll be here again.”

“Why do you have to leave a day after you show up?” I asked sadly.

“The Steel Rangers are after us. This port is the best place for drinks, so we come here to stock, but the Rangers are after our water talisman. If they get it, we can’t move. And before you open your mouth and make me question your IQ again, we use the talisman to move a water wheel that moves the ship. It’s radiated water too, so we have to stock up on fresh water seperately.” My head started hurting from all the random stuff she was saying. “I’ll walk you out of the docks.”

I nodded and we walked out of the cabin rooms. On deck, Symptom sat on the gangplank looking lost while Blueprints and Monarch were debating the effects of smoking. “Cut the chatter, colts, it’s time to go.”

Symptom looked over her shoulder at us. “Finally. This ship is a ghost ship. There’s nopony here except her majesty and the idiots over there.”

I shook my head, smiling. “We’ve got work to do, Symptom. Don’t forget the reason we’re here in the first place.” She shrugged and threw the cloak back on. Monarch and Blueprints trotted down the gangplank after her. Flint and I went last, sneaking through the various crates and barrels we went through to get there. As we stepped out of the docks and back onto the main street, I turned to Flint and nodded a goodbye. “Take care, don’t sink the ship.”

“Please, I’ve sailed bigger. If you get shot when I get back, there’ll be Hell for whoever did it. And you lovercolts!” She yelled past me to the duo who had resumed arguing. “Make sure this idiot doesn’t kill himself! See you later, Ace.” And with that she disappeared back into the docks.

“Wait, does she think we’re...” Monarch started.

“Enough arguing, if you two keep at it, I’ll be crazier than Platter. Now...” I grinned, “does anypony know a good spot to spend the night?”

*************

The next morning, after Monarch’s snarky comments on not having slept in a bed for months, we headed for the Dragon’s Fire, as suggested by Symptom. I’ve come to trust her more and more; it really seems like she knows what she’s doing. Monarch I walked in the bar (Blueprints insisted on staying outside and Celestia knew where Symptom was) and we were immediately accosted by a unicorn filly. “Please, sirs, just a few caps and I can pay for her release, just donate to the cause!”

“Who’s release?” Monarch asked warily.

“Her mother,” an older mare answered for her from a nearby table. “Pride’s been getting bold recently and taken to raiding all the towns near him for slave labor. Guards around here aren’t as worried as they should be. Every town he invades gets closer to this port, and the guards just sit around keeping us “safe” from mutants.” I looked at the filly for confirmation and she nodded. “Of course, if the slave is a unicorn, Pride’s willing to ransom them to family members for outrageous costs. This little filly has been begging around here for nearly a month and still doesn’t have a cap to show for it.”

“I think I understand the situation,” I replied with a smile. “What’s your name?”

The little filly examined me cautiously. “I’m Mayflower, but why do you-”

I cut her off, “Well Mayflower, I’m Ace and I’m going to rescue your mother, free of charge. How’s that?” Her eyes widened and a smile grew on her face. “Just stay out of trouble, I’ll be back with her before you know it.”

I winked at Monarch and we stepped back out of the bar. “Well that was fast,” Blueprints remarked.

“We’ve got a mare to save,” I said heroically and started trotting to the gate.

“Ace, where is she being held?” Monarch called after me. I tripped and fell into the dirt road, and a raindrop landed on my nose. “What’s that? Okay, we’ll save her don’t worry. Thanks you! Ace, I know where she is now!” Wonderful, Monarch. Why couldn’t you save your snide comments until after I regain my dignified pose?

“Any idea where Symptom went?” asked Blueprints, after he trotted over to me and helped me up.

“Nope, but she’ll turn up. She always does,” I replied. Monarch caught up to us and we stepped back out of the port. I slipped on my hoof claws, Blueprints cocked his saddle and Monarch pulled out another apple. We nodded and set off for the destination that Monarch still hadn’t told me. Seconds later, Symptom materialized and nodded at me coldly. I nodded back and the four of us turned our attention back on the road. The road that would lead us to heroism. The road that would lead us to death. The road that led us to our destiny.

Note* Level up!

Perk added - “Defender” When allied with an unarmed companion, bullets tend to aim more towards you and do less damage.

(Thanks to Kkat for writing the original)

Ch. 4: Reframed

Chapter 4: Reframed

“So now what? Keep a stalemate until somepony gets suspicious?”

“Yes. That’s exactly it.”

“Great. What if Four gets antsy? We are right next to him.”

“Come on. It’s Four.”

“True. And what should I do about the port? The Steel Rangers are in a mess right now, something about missing guards.”

“You can thank your little pegasus friend for that.”

“Five? What’s he doing in Pipsqueak Port?”

“Not him, dumbass, the other one. Outcast or whatever.”

“You said he wouldn’t be a problem!”

“He won’t. Everything he’s done has been either by accident or by one of his friends.”

“How do you know? What if he’s trying to undermine my efforts?”

“He doesn’t even know what you’re doing! But if it makes you feel better, keep the kill on sight plan you have. It’s been working pretty well.”

“How do you know so much about his actions?”

“I don’t, only what other ponies have told me. From what I’ve heard, all he’s done is save one of your forts from an attack by Five and open up a way to take back Pipsqueak Port. He may be on your side, you know.”

“Or he has a master plan to-”

“Shut up, you’re almost as paranoid as Two.”

“I’d just be more comfortable if he was dead is all I’m saying.”

“Then by all means kill him. Just leave me out of it.”

***************

“Ow!” Blueprints yelped. I rolled my eyes and stifled a smile as Symptom sat on Blueprints’ fallen body. “What was that?!”

“It’s called using your opponent’s weaknesses against him,” Symptom retorted. “Can’t be afraid to fight back when the enemy slips up. When are you going to leave cover and shoot at somepony, while they’re shooting back or when they’re reloading?” She had a point.

“Since when am I your opponent? I was literally just sitting here and you tackled me!” Also a fair point.

“Never let your guard down, either. You never know when a raider party will show up,” Symptom pointed out. I nodded and glanced over at Monarch with a grin on my face. He was slowly shaking his head, hiding a small smile with a cigarette floating in the air near him.

“We were sitting on this high bluff, only approachable from one side, overlooking the gorge where Mayflower’s mum is held, planning the best way to attack it without hurting the prisoners! If a raider party were to show up, we’d know long before they attacked!” Another point for Blueprints!

“I also wanted to sit on you. Your body makes a nice chair.” I have to give this one to Symptom, her logic is undeniable.

Still.. “Symptom, get off him. We have work to do,” I said as I stood up. Symptom gave me a blank look then got off of Blueprints. “Alright, so, from my quick flyover of the camp, it’s lightly guarded, and the guards who are on duty don’t seem to be that aware.”

“Of course it’s lightly guarded, Ace,” Monarch pointed out. “This camp is the opposite direction of Wrath from Mesa City. Pride’s not expecting an attack or anything over here.” That made sense.

“So how are we going to do this, Ace?” Blueprints asked. “Charge in, guns blazing? That worked well at Fort Periwinkle.”

I smiled. “No, we’re gonna try something a bit less murdery. I’m going to fly one of you guys with me down to the back of the camp. We’re going to find the captain and force him to release the prisoners. Meanwhile, the other two of you will figure out a contingency plan, specifically one that involves us getting out alive,” I explained.

Monarch nodded in approval. Symptom shrugged. “Okay, so how are we going to find the captain?” Blueprints asked me.

“Whoa whoa, hold on,” I said. “I’m not taking you. I’ve seen you try to sneak around, you could set off an alarm in a padded room.”

Blueprints looked at me, hurt. “So who are you taking?”

“Me,” Symptom answered. “We already know he can’t lift the big oaf over there, and I’m sure as fuck not staying here with you, dumbass.” I nodded in agreement.

“So how are we supposed to come up with a plan?” Blueprints asked.

“Yeah, it’s always you two that think of them,” Monarch added with a frown.

I put my hoof on Blueprints’ shoulder. “You’re a clever pony. You can think of something. Use the environment. And remember, only if you see we’re in trouble. So, Monarch,” I said, turning to him, “keep an eye on us.” I turned back to Symptom. “Let’s go. Luna knows how bad the prisoners might have it down there.”

Symptom scoffed. “You didn’t see how bad off the prisoners were? Some rescue. What if they’re having the time of their lives?” I stopped. What if they were? “And if you’re actually taking me seriously, you really are as stupid as I thought you were. Let’s go already.”

I rolled my eyes and thrust out my wings. Seconds later, I was flying Symptom down the bluff and we landed in the back corner of the camp, out of sight of the guards. We crept into the nearest tent, thankfully empty, and waited for a chance to move. A pitter-patter of rain began on the roof of the tent and I sighed.

“So why did you want me alone?” Symptom asked.

I looked at her sharply. “How did you know?”

“It’s obvious. Blueprints could easily have come instead of me, the guards here wouldn’t give a shit if they found him,” she replied. I couldn’t help but smile.

“You really are a lot smarter than them,” I said. “But I needed to talk to you alone.”

“Clearly,” Symptom rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever, just hurry up. We don’t need the jackasses up there to get worried and do something rash.”

“You’ve stopped insulting me,” I pointed out. “And you’ve started insulting Monarch. I want to know why.”

Symptom scoffed. “Started? I’ve always made fun of that oaf. He’s just not as reactive as you and Blueprints. As for you, well...” she trailed off. “I don’t know, I just feel like I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “Why not me, but you’ll continue with Blueprints?”

“Because I trust you, but I don’t trust him! Frankly, I don’t think you should either,” Symptom said tersely.

I shut my mouth. She trusted me? I haven’t done shit! Nothing more than anypony else anyway. “What’s wrong with Blueprints?” I finally asked.

“He’s too... loyal. And not just to you. He’s worked for the pony we’re working to kill all his life, I have no doubts he’s thinking of a way to stop us.”

I shook my head. “That’s crazy talk. I told him if he didn’t like it, he could leave.”

“If he left, he wouldn’t be able to stop us.” I couldn’t respond to that. I looked outside the tent and saw the nearby guards trot away. “Anything else you want to air out?”

“The coast is clear,” I said, ignoring her. “Let’s go.” We slowly worked our way to the large central tent in the back of the camp. The sound of the rain coupled with the pleas coming from the prisoners covered the sounds we made in the mud and slop surrounding the tents. When we reached the main tent, I glanced inside. Empty. “Damn it, I don’t want to have to tear apart the camp looking for him.”

“So let’s just wait in here,” Symptom said, pushing past me into the tent. She walked around a table with a map on it and sat down in a chair behind it. “He’ll turn up.”

“Symptom, the goal is to catch him by surprise-”

“And he’ll be surprised when he sees us in his tent,” she cut me off. “Relax, Ace, this stuff is second nature to me.”

I sighed and walked over to the table too. “What’s this map of?” I asked.

“I dunno, some army shit or something,” she said with interest.

I took a close look and saw several places marked in Violet and others in red. “We’re over here in the west. See, here’s Pipsqueak Port. And up here is Cormount. Colgate Bay’s not on here though...” I trailed off.

“Yeah, like Pride gives any shits about that town of muties,” Symptom replied. She got up and started examining the bookshelf in the back. “Of course there’s just a bunch of war books back here. So predictable.”

“Can you stop saying ‘shit’ please? Celestia almighty, it’s like you have some kind of obsession with excrement!” I said.

“Only if you stop talking about those dead princesses like they were goddesses,” Symptom countered.

“Never mind,” I gave up. “Looks to me like Wrath has an advantage here... His territories are kind of in a pincer around Pride.”

“So he’s divided. That’s never a good plan,” Symptom answered. I looked up at her, confused. “If his forces are divided, they won’t have the numbers to attack any of Pride’s territories, dumbass” she explained. And she’s back to calling me a dumbass. Back to normal.

“So Pride’s got the advantage,” I said.

“Not really. He’s surrounded. He has no way of retreating if Wrath attacks,” Symptom looked at me like I was five. “Are you sure you’re smart? I’ve been seeing a lot of evidence to counter that.” Hey! That wasn’t nice.

“So neither army has the advantage? Then what’s the point of the war?” I asked.

Symptom just shrugged. “Pride and Wrath aren’t actually going to fight, just murder their own troops. Something tells me that there is an ulterior motive to this and, if I really cared, I might want to figure out what that is,” she said as she turned back to the bookcase.

“If you want to stay with me, you better learn to care then,” I warned. “Because killing Pride is going to throw us right in the middle of this war.”

I felt a gun barrel pushed against the back of my head. “Killing Pride, you say? Typically assassins don’t announce intentions to murder someone in the middle of a said pony’s camp.” I cursed. Symptom turned back around and I watched the coolness fade from her face and get replaced by an emotion I’d never seen on her: fear. “Get over there by your ghoul friend and take out all of your weapons. One false move and that bookcase gets a nice red coat.” I complied, tossing away both my shotgun and my assault rifle. I turned around and saw a green unicorn floating a pistol aimed at my temple. “Claws too, now, come on.” I glared at him and flung off my claws.

He lowered the pistol. “Such good captives. Now if I remember my orders correctly, if I find a blue pegasus and an earth pony with blue hooves, I’m to execute them on sight.” He looked from me to Symptom. “Your hooves are orange. Where’s your other friend, pegasus? Hiding up on a bluff, perhaps?”

I glanced over at Symptom. Her fear was gone and replaced with the coldness I was familiar with. “What do you think we are, idiots? Why would we leave somepony behind while we infiltrate a hostile camp with no way to communicate with him? He’s here too, freeing the prisoners as we speak. In a few seconds, he’s going to come in here and put a bullet through your head without even a warning. So I’m telling you now, all this can be avoided. Just let us and the prisoners go, and your camp will be spared.” I nodded, hoping the captain would take the bluff.

The captain opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a soldier dashing in the door. “Sir! Major problem! We’ve got a boar stampede coming in! The guard is going crazy and I can’t control them!”

The captain looked at the soldier and looked back at us, then back to the soldier.. “Keep an eye on these two, I’ll go control the guard,” he spat, tossing the soldier his gun. He looked back at us. “No funny business or you’ll see what pain really is.” And with that he sprinted out of the tent.

Symptom immediately let out a breath and walked back to the map on the table. “Well, I thought we were screwed there for a second, Ace.”

I watched the soldier tremble as he aimed his gun at Symptom’s head. “Uh, Symptom, there is still a soldier here...”

She glared at me. “I really hope you have a very, very, very, very! loose interpretation of soldier, because this fucktard is not one.” Uh, what?

“He’s aimed at your head!” I exclaimed. “I know you had a rough life in Mesa City, but a bullet to the head will probably still kill you.”

She turned to the soldier, and, from the way his pistol was shaking, she was still glaring. “You better hope that the first bullet kills me, or I’m going to take that pistol and use it to violate holes you didn’t even know you had, you snivelling excuse for a pony. What the fuck are you even doing here? I don’t see a fucking horn, so, from what I’ve experienced, you’re worthless. Pathetic. Useless. Cannon fodder. Whatever excuse you have for being here is nothing compared to the anger I’m holding back at having one of my own kind aim a gun at my head for the ponies that ruined any chance of me having, well, any kind of normality in my life.”

My jaw dropped. Where did that come from? That was more hate than she’d had for Blueprints! The soldier dropped his pistol, still shaking, and muttered something I couldn’t hear.

Apparently Symptom could. “Your mom. You’re here fighting for the horned ponies because they have your mom.” She took a step towards the soldier and started whispering. “Well at least you have a mom. And you are the biggest disappointment in her miserable life. While you’re here fighting to keep her safe, she’s been raped, beaten, mutilated, probably all three at once. In fact, she’s probably being raped right now, all the while thinking ‘oh, thank Celestia that my son is keeping me safe. If it weren’t for him, instead of having three cocks in my ass, I’d be in the pleasant coolness of death. I’m so fucking happy that instead of releasing the pain, I’m having my hooves chopped up and force fed to me, only for me to shit it out and eat it again.’ And don’t say that I’m wrong and she’s perfectly safe. I know what happens in the capital building of Mesa City. It’s not pretty, and I can promise you, every earth pony in that place welcomes death.” What. The. Fuck.

The soldier stopped shaking and stared at Symptom. I opened my mouth to speak, closed it, than actually said something. “Uh, Symptom, did that happen to you?”

She whirled around and glared at me again. “I wish I was that lucky,” she said shortly. While she had her back turned, the soldier’s eyes darted around the room and lit up. I followed his eyeline to what it led to.

My shotgun.

“Hey, hold on there, mister soldier guy, no need to be so drastic,” I heard myself say. Symptom glanced at the shotgun and smiled. “I’m sure she was just exaggerating for effect, just let us out and pretend-”

“Shut it, Ace,” Symptom snapped. She turned back to the soldier, halfway to the gun. “Do it. Blow your miniscule brains out. Let your mother free. Hell, let us free too while you’re at it.” The soldier picked up the gun and cocked it. “End it all, fucker.” Okay brain, close the eyes now, I don’t want to see this. Unfortunately, my brain was just a little bit too interested. The soldier slid the barrel into his mouth and clicked the trigger.

What happened next was a bit of a blur. All I remember is blood. Everywhere. And an eyeball landing right on Mesa City on the map. I’m pretty sure some of it got in my eyes. I told them to close, but alas, no such luck. I remember Symptom kicking the shotgun away from the body and muttering about the mess. “Why would he do that, Symptom? Why would YOU do that?”

“I did it to get us out of here, moron. Fucker deserved it too, little traitor.” I couldn’t avert my eyes from the eyeball. It just stared at me, unblinking, and I felt something start to come up. “ Come on. We’ve got to get out of here,” Symptom ran around the room, picking up the guns and claws.

I glanced up at her as she reached the soldier’s body, but shifted my attention back to the eye. “Leave the shotgun,” I said weakly. Symptom complied, ran over and grabbed my mane. She dragged me out of the tent and back to the edge of the bluff. “The eye just kept looking at me, Symptom,” I whimpered.

“Yeah yeah, you crazy winger, just get ready to fly us out of here. We may have to abort the mission,” Symptom said before looking at me with another unfamiliar emotion. I couldn’t put my hoof on this one, though. I shook my head as fast as I dared, which admittedly was still slower than a pegasus whose wing was caught under a rock. “Sorry, Ace, but if we go rescue them, we’ll all just get slaughtered by the boars anyway.”

“Please, Symptom, for me,” I whispered. She looked away. “I need something, anything, to salvage this mission for me.”

Symptom looked down at me. “Alright. But you are in no shape to fight. Just get up on the bluff and I’ll go save the prisoners.” She grabbed my assault rifle and trotted off. As I watched her go, an eye floated in the air above her and I clamped my eyes shut. I grasped the pistol in my mouth and tried to stand up. My knees had other ideas and crumpled. When my mouth hit the ground, the pistol went flying out and landed several feet away. I opened my eyes and sighed again.

“Celestia, please, give me the strength to help Symptom. I need to do this,” I murmured. I tried standing up again with no luck. An explosion roared in the front of the camp and I saw smoke start rising in the distance. “Let’s try this again.” I slowly pulled myself up and my knees stayed just solid enough to stand. “Okay, small victory. Now let’s see if we can do this, wings.” I strained but my wings stayed welded to my sides. “Oh well, guess I’m walking.” I took a step and immediately crumpled again. “Motherfucker. Guess I’m crawling.”

I pulled myself to the nearest tent and glanced inside. A guard rushed out towards the rumbling, but stopped when he saw me. “Don’t tell me there’s a prison break too!” he yelled. He walked over to me and kicked me in the face. “Just stay here, and if I see you anywhere else, I’m shooting.” With that, he galloped off to the stampede. I wiped my bloody nose with my hoof and felt something harden in my stomach. I pulled myself up and grabbed my pistol again.

“Don’t worry, Symptom,” I said. “I’m not down yet.”

I stumbled my way past the captain’s tent. I resisted looking inside and continued to the prisoners’ hold tent thingy. And by that, I mean I stumbled around the camp, desperately looking for where they keep the prisoners. I finally found a promising tent, but upon inspection, it was the barracks. I walked back out and felt a rumbling in the ground. I turned to where I suspected it was coming from and saw a mob of red haired, large tusked things that dwarfed the porkers we had in Cormount. And riding on top of the lead one was Blueprints.

I rubbed my eyes. Blueprints? Riding on top of the lead boar that was stampeding through the camp? I saw him whisper something in the boar’s ear and point in my direction. The boar shifted towards me and I watched as it came up to me. “Hey, Ace, we found a contingency plan!”

“You... sure did,” I said. Then I collapsed.

**************

“I’m going to kill that motherfucker!”

“Calm down, Symptom, he needs to rest.”

“No he fucking doesn’t! He nearly killed himself and more importantly me!”

“I agree with Monarch, just let him sleep. He’s been through a lot.”

“And I haven’t? I told him that the mission was a no-go after that suicide but nooooo, I have to go do it for him, and then he has to try and help.”

“So he got kicked in the face. It happens to the best of us.”

“Except the best of us don’t throw our helpless bodies in the middle of an enemy camp for their friends to rescue.”

I slowly opened my eyes. I was in a tent that somepony had set up, and from the silhouettes outside, there was a fire up. I pulled myself up from the cot I was lying in and forced my legs to walk me outside. Symptom had her back to me and was yelling at Blueprints and Monarch.

“Okay, but he’s a little bit more sheltered than you,” Monarch said. “He’s not used to watching ponies kill themselves.”

“Um, guys,” a voice asked from behind Blueprints.

“Shut up, Dent,” Symptom snapped. “I swear, that motherfucker is going to get his ass killed when the rest of us aren’t there to bail him out of it. Probably BY one of us.”

“Symptom...” Blueprints said looking at me.

“Shut your fucking yap and let me finish, Fucktard!” Symptom screamed. “That fucker just layed there and told me to go do the rest of the work while he napped!”

“Symptom!” Monarch barked. “Ace is awake!”

Symptom whirled around and glared at me. “I’m going to kill you.”

“I heard,” I said weakly. “How long have I been out?”

“A while. Your name came up on the radio,” Blueprints pointed out.

I sighed. “Great. What’s Pon3 saying about me now?”

“Not that station, dipshit,” Symptom said, rolling her eyes. “It was on Pride network. Let’s just say that now you are Public Enemy Number One here in the Pridelands. Or Penop. It works really well with you.” Just what I wanted to hear.

“To be fair,” Monarch explained, “anypony traveling with you is also shoot on sight.” Even more good news! It’s like my birthday or something.

“So the question is what to do now,” Blueprints said. “We can’t go back to the port, they already know what you look like.”

“Get out of the Pridelands?” I suggested. “I don’t want to get attacked over and over again, all I have is this pistol.” I pulled out the gun. “Damn thing’s got like, no ammo.”

“Which you stole from that dead soldier, Penop. The one who killed himself,” Symptom pointed out. I looked at my gun in horror and dropped it. “You may need a psychologist.”

Yeah, because those are so easy to find in the Wasteland. “You can always talk to me, Ace,” said Blueprints. “It’s my specialty, you know.” Oh yeah. First pony that spoke a complete sentence to me. How could I forget?

“What about me?” Dent asked. I looked over at her, seeing her for the first time. She was a steely grey mare with a short yellow mane and a wheel cutie mark. “You let the other prisoners just go, but asked me to stay. Why?”

“We were going to escort you back to Pipsqueak Port, but apparently, we can’t go back there,” Monarch explained.

“Why Pipsqueak Port? I live in Turn.”

“Because that’s where your daughter is trying to recruit ponies to rescue you,” Monarch continued.

“Mayflower?” Dent asked, standing up. “She’s alive?”

“Last we checked, yes. And we told her to stay out of trouble until we get back.”

Dent broke into a smile. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that!” she exclaimed. She started jumping in joy and celebration. I felt a smile grow on my face. This was reward enough for what we’d done. This I could live with.

“Yet you still can’t look Symptom in the eye.”

I turned and Dusty was lying on her back, watching the clouds go by. “What are you doing here?” I whispered.

“They can’t see me, if that’s what you're wondering,” she chuckled. “I’ll make this brief, so you don’t look like a lunatic.”

“Make what brief?” I hissed. “Get out of here, we’re trying to plan.”

“Ace?” Dusty vanished. “Who are you talking to?” Monarch asked curiously.

“Just myself,” I answered, staring at the flattened grass. Wait, how was it flattened if she was...?

“Talking to yourself already? That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen somepony accelerate through insanity,” said Blueprints.

“Shut up,” I said, turning back to them. “So from what I saw on the map, Wrath has Pride in a pincer grip, keeping both armies at a permanent stalemate. What I want to know is why.” Monarch and Blueprints gave me blank looks. “And to do that, we’ll need to find somepony who can explain why.” Still more blankness. “Obviously, if Pride has us on a peanut, or whatever it is-”

“Penop!” Symptom interjected happily.

“Yeah that. We need to go somewhere safe,” I concluded. Blueprints and Monarch glanced at each other. “Okay, so I just summed up what we’ve already discussed. Any ideas where we can go?”

“Aren’t you escorting me back to my daughter?” Dent asked. Fuck, forgot about her.

“We can’t unfortunately,” Monarch explained. “But we’ll give you this zebra stealth cloak! It’ll keep you out of sight, so you won’t have problems on your way back.”

“To Hell she’s getting this!” Symptom growled. “I need it to stay out of sight in towns!”

“Then we won’t go into any towns, Symptom,” Blueprints said mockingly. “It’s not brain surgery!”

“Just give her the cloak,” I sighed. Symptom grumbled unintelligibly, but tossed Dent the cloak. “Dent, you might want to get a head start, otherwise, you may hear some words you’d never thought existed.”

“I can’t thank you guys enough, you’re really the best group of ponies I’ve met!” she said emphatically. “Really, thank you!”

I smiled as she disappeared. “Fuck, if this is what’s going to keep happening, us saving somepony then losing some of our stuff, I’m resigning,” Symptom scoffed. “I’m going to sleep, tell me in the morning what you’ve decided.” She walked into the tent and collapsed on the cot.

“Do we really need to keep her, Ace?” Blueprints asked. “I’m beginning to doubt her usefulness. All she does is complain and whine-”

“I could say the same for you,” Monarch said sharply. “I’m the one who recruited those boars to trample the camp!”

“You wouldn’t have if I hadn’t pointed them out to you!”

“You wouldn’t have had to if you had let me use the binoculars!”

“You were bird watching! I needed them to keep an eye on Ace in case he got caught, which he did!”

“Can it, you two!” I shouted over them. “First the suicide, then the phantom unicorn, now your endless bickering, no wonder I’m going insane!”

“Phantom... unicorn?” Blueprints asked hesitantly. Oh fuck me, Celestia. “What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing, forget it,” I said. I desperately thought of a subject change. “Any idea where to go?”

“Okay...” Monarch said slowly. He pulled out a map. “I found this in one of the tents. Not as detailed as the one in the Captain’s tent, but that was all covered in blood and it had an eye on it, so I didn’t want to touch it.” Bad memories seeping in, fuck it. I winced noticeably. Monarch glanced up, and quickly looked back down at the map. “Yeah, from what I can tell, the best thing to do is head west. Away from here as fast as possible.”

Blueprints frowned. “Wouldn’t that lead us directly into Wrath’s territory?” I looked at the map and confirmed it. “How in hell is that best?”

“Wrath can’t be mad at us, we’ve already attacked one of Pride’s camps,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but we’ve also eliminated several of Wrath’s patrol groups,” Blueprints countered. “Let’s curve north a bit, into Lust’s territory. She’s neutral, and I heard Lynchway Lake is kinda fun.”

“Because heading north in winter-time is always the best choice,” Monarch said sarcastically. “Ace, what do you think?”

I took another look at the map and couldn’t avoid thinking of the eye spiked to the map. I could feel my stomach start to twist and, despite my best efforts, failed to choke down what was coming up. “Well, let’s not head the direction I just puked on.”

“Ace...” Blueprints said slowly, “that’s fucking disgusting.” Thanks for telling me. I had no fucking idea.

“I don’t want to walk into the land of another pony who wants me dead, so let’s go with Lust,” I decided.

Monarch shrugged. “Fair enough. Make sure you bundle up though. It’s going to get cold.”

“Monarch, he lived in Cormount. I think he knows it gets cold up north,” Blueprints said.

Monarch rolled his eyes. “Ever heard of a rain shadow? Cormount’s at the foot of a mountain, it’s not as cold as the rest of the northern areas. But before you try to counter with some stupid remark,” he said as Blueprints opened his mouth, “I want to ask Ace something. What happened in the tent? Symptom refused to tell us and, judging by that puke stain, something pretty upsetting happened.”

I took a breath. “Symptom basically drove the pony guarding us to suicide. You don’t want to know the details.”

Blueprints and Monarch glanced at each other. “That explains the blood and the shotgun,” said Monarch. “Wow, I really did not think she’d do it again.” Wait again?

Blueprints had the same reaction. “She’s done this before? Why are we traveling with a psychopath?”

Monarch sighed. “It’s a long story, and I really don’t feel like sharing. Yes, but I trust her. Fair enough?” I opened my mouth to ask more, but he walked into the tent before I could say anything.

I turned back to Blueprints. “Well, this has been an eventful day.”

He nodded. “It has. But you’re still taking first watch,” he said as he walked into the tent after Monarch.

I sighed. Looked like everypony had secrets here. Time for speculation. What all could have happened to Symptom in Mesa City that ruined her life? Why is Monarch so quiet about it, and why can’t he trust me enough to tell me? And what Symptom said earlier about Blueprints was bothering me. What if he was still loyal to Pride? How could I know that he wouldn’t sell the three of us back for his own safety? “It’s gonna be a long night,” I grumbled.

“Need somepony to talk to?” asked Dusty. I glanced over at her sitting in the pressed down grassy area. “Not like I’ve got anything else to do.”

“Yeah, I guess. I feel like I haven’t done much of anything since leaving Cormount. Like, I always dreamt of leaving that Hellhole of hatred, but never really thought about what I’d do afterwards. I mean look! It’s been less than a week since I left and already I’m on one of the most powerful ponies’ hit list!” I ranted.

“What was so bad about Cormount?” Dusty asked.

I thought for a moment. “I guess it was the ponies that really got to me. None of them even remotely liked me. Why they even let me live is a mystery.”

Dusty whistled. “So you probably never got close to anypony right? No relationships, no friends?”

I nodded slowly. “Sounds about right. Even had a few ponies actually try to kill me.”

“So when you met Blueprints, he had to work to earn your trust?”

I stared at some grass that was rustling in the distance. He really didn’t, did he? “No... I just kinda, you know, went along with him. He caught me off guard I guess.” I glanced back over at Dusty. “Weird, isn’t it? I live a whole life being hated by everypony I see and one pony easily gets to me by being nice.”

Dusty smiled. “And I remember meeting Monarch and Symptom. He shot you through the leg, and you decided to let him travel with you. Why is that?” I stared at her, stunned. “You’re a very trusting pony, almost naively so, regardless of what happens in your life. So why are you here with them anyway?”

I racked my brains for a second, but I already knew the answer. “They’re my friends. Friends stick together.”

“How would you know that? You’ve never had friends until this week.”

“I’ve read about it. All the storybooks when I was a colt. Friends are nice to each other. They don’t argue. They trust one another.”

Dusty laughed. “That sounds almost too good to be true. And it really is. Are these three your friends, Ace? Is Symptom nice to you? Do Blueprints and Monarch never argue? Has Monarch opened up anything to you since you met him?”

I sat there, mouth agape. Were they really my friends? Were any of us really friends? “I know Prints is my friend. And some friendships require sacrifice. And compromise.”

“Sounds like you’ve learned some things since you left Cormount,” Dusty said with a smile. “Now the real question is, are you happy?”

Again, I already knew the answer to that. “Not really. Ever since I left, I’ve been shot at, nearly eaten, yelled at, shot at some more, and watched a pony commit suicide. Symptom has me doubting Blueprints’ loyalty, Blueprints has me doubting hers, Monarch refuses to say anything, and the four of us never stop arguing!”

Dusty’s smile faded. “That’s not the answer I was expecting. If you’re not happy, why not leave them? You said it yourself, you really aren’t friends with Monarch and Symptom. And you haven’t known Blueprints long enough to feel guilty about leaving him. What’s keeping you here?”

I surveyed the nearby hills, watching a few shadows cross over them, away from us. “I don’t know. But I could ask the same of the other three and none of them would have an answer either. None of them know why we’re here and what to do next. They look to me for direction and leaving them would probably just kill them.”

Dusty nodded slowly. “And I know what keeps each of them here. You said Symptom’s worried about Blueprints selling you out to Pride? He won’t do that to you. Just like he’s your first real friend, you’re probably his first real friend too. And the reason Symptom hates him is just plain jealousy. He had a relatively normal life in Mesa City whereas she, well, something bad must’ve happened to her. As for Monarch, he’s here to watch you crash and burn as a reason to go home and return to mommy. He doesn’t think he has what it takes, so as long as you survive, he’s with you.”

I took in all that she said and slowly processed it. For just a minute. Or two. Or ten. I continued watching the shadows in the silence. A few paused and looked toward our fire, but continued on their way. I sighed again as the rest of the shadows dispersed. And then something landed on the tip of my nose.

A snowflake.

I was no stranger to snow. In Cormount, every year, it snowed, blizzarded, even hailed a few times. Yet every time I saw it, the inner colt in me came out. A smile beamed on my face as I looked up to the sky at the falling flakes. “Dusty, look! Snow!” I shouted in glee.

I flew up in the air and followed a few flakes down. On the third trip, I saw Dusty waving a hoof at me to return. “Ace, as much as I love having this body, albeit only half here, I can’t stay for much longer.”

I grinned. “Whatever you say, crazy pony in my head. Whatever you say.” I watched her fade away before flying back up in the air to watch more snowflakes. Honestly, who doesn’t love snow?

********************

“I fucking hate snow!” Of course she does.

Symptom glared at the falling snow as Blueprints and Monarch packed up the tent. Well, Monarch magically packed it up in five seconds while Blueprints stared in awe. “Damn. I really wish I was a unicorn sometimes.”

Symptom turned her attention from the snow to Blueprints. “Oh yeah, totally. Get to use magic to easily carry items, you can easily hold weapons, and plus, you get to torture earth ponies for fun disguised as science.”

I decided to butt in, against my better judgement. “What about Monarch? He doesn’t torture Blueprints. In fact, you seem to be the one doing most of the torturing.”

Symptom glared at me for a second, then resumed her staring contest with the snow. Monarch continued packing up the camp completely unfazed. Blueprints shook his head and started covering up the remains of our fire. Kinda pointless considering the snow. But I was too preoccupied with the lack of warmth in the group to point it out to Blueprints. How were we supposed to take down a 200 year old ruler when none of us can get past petty differences? I sighed, eliciting another glare from Symptom.

Eventually Monarch broke the silence. “Camp’s packed. Let’s go.” Though it wasn’t much, Blueprints still jumped in the broken silence. I heard Symptom snicker but I wisely decided not to press this issue.

We walked down the bluff, and started heading north again, still in complete silence. I don’t know if I emphasized it enough earlier, but I hate silence. Unfortunately, when I tried to turn on the radio, I had a metal pan thrown at my head. So I decided to get lost in my thoughts.

The only thing I don’t like about snow is the ice that forms on my wings. I don’t know if it affects other pegasi, me being the only one I know, but it does severely limit my flying ability to none. I had to deal with the problem every year in Cormount and eventually found a way to keep it from forming. When I was by myself and not too worried about being yelled at, flapping my wings without getting airborne helped tremendously. However being with ponies I consider my friends...

“I swear to Celestia, if you don’t stop that constant flapping noise I will not be held responsible for what might happen.”

“Penop, if you keep doing that, I’m going to cut your wings off and shove them so far up your ass, you’ll be coughing up feathers.”

“Ace, stop.”

Such wonderful company. I admit, it may be noisy and visually distracting, but it’s better than being unable to fly if needed. But damn it, I needed some reason to still be here. With my wings, I could have been long gone before the snow snuffed out the fire last night. So I decided to grin and bear it, pulling my wings back into my body.

So we continued in silence. Agonizing silence. Boring silence. Silent, silent silence. It was really starting to get to me. How the fuck could they just keep walking without uttering a single noise? I stopped and watched them keep walking without me. It took them almost a minute to realize I wasn’t with them anymore. The three of them turned back around and stared at me. I stared back. Eventually Blueprints trudged back to me.

“Ace, it’s your head they want, not ours. So let’s keep moving.”

I shook my head. “No. Not with that deadening silence. I can’t take it anymore.”

Blueprints rolled his eyes. “That’s your problem, Ace. Look, if you can’t stand it, by all means, just stay here and freeze. We’ll keep going, and if we come across any patrols, we’ll tell them you’re back here, okay? Okay.”

“What makes you think that Monarch and Symptom are going to stay with you? Neither one of them really likes you. Hell, I know Symptom hates you,” I said.

Blueprints eyes narrowed. “What makes you so important? You think you’re special? That you’re better than me? I don’t need your pity, Ace.” He turned and started back to the group.

I went after him. “I don’t think I’m better than you, Prints...”

He cut me off. “Yes you do. Don’t even try to deny it. Ever since we left Cormount you’ve been acting the leader, even though you don’t have a fucking clue what you’re doing. I’ve tried to go along happily with what you said, but it’s already fucking impossible. You’re not going to be some big storybook hero. None of us are. It’s kill or be killed out in the Wasteland, Ace. It’s a miracle that any of us are still alive.”

I felt myself starting to get a little angry. “If it’s kill or be killed, why do you put up so much of a fuss when I kill somepony?”

“It’s not that you killed somepony, it’s the fact that you do it so heartlessly! And that’s not my point! It’s plainly obvious to me that you think of yourself as the good guy, and I’m just a sidekick that gets in trouble. I can take care of myself, Ace. I’ve been at this longer than you.”

I realized why Blueprints was angry at me. “You don’t want me telling off Symptom when she bullies you.” I said softly.

Blueprints stopped. “That’s part of it. But...” He turned back to me, tears welling in his eyes, “you never thanked me for saving your life in that camp last night!”

Was that really the problem? “I... Thank you? I would have died if you hadn’t been there?”

Blueprints face contorted a few times, then he burst into laughter. “Two things, Ace. One, I’m not that petty. Two, Monarch can suck it. I told him I was the one who rescued you!”

I was confused. “You’re not mad?”

He waved his hoof dismissively. “Of course not. Though I am getting annoyed that you think I’m some wimp who needs defending from the bully trying to steal my lunch money. I can handle my own battles, okay?”

I started feeling a little embarrassed. “Okay. But why were you giving me the silent treatment earlier?”

Now Blueprints was confused. “Silent treatment? I was happy that Symptom wasn’t yelling at me and enjoying the peace and quiet.”

And now I was confused again. “And why isn’t Monarch talking to me?”

He shrugged. “No clue. Ask him. Now, are you going to stay here and freeze to death or are you coming with us? Because I was serious when I said we’ll leave you behind.”

I glanced over at Monarch and Symptom. Monarch had sat down and was floating a book in front of him while Symptom, from the looks of it, was fighting the falling snow. “Prints, if we were to go our separate ways, all four of us, where would you go?” I asked him.

Blueprints frowned. “I don’t know. And it’s not like it matters anyway. That’s a hypothetical we won’t have to deal with.”

I pressed on. “What if the three of us die and you’re left alive. What would you do?” I figured that would get an answer.

He thought about it for a minute. “I hope that doesn’t happen, but I guess I’d probably go south. I’ve got just as much of a bounty as you do so staying here isn’t an option. And I’m not going to change anything by myself.” Blueprints looked at me with a hint of fear in his eyes. “You’re not actually leaving, are you?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No, of course not. I couldn’t leave you behind. Friends stick together, don’t they? Alright, let’s go catch up with the oth-”

I was cut off by an explosion in the snow bank behind me. I quickly jumped around next to Blueprints and pulled out my pistol. “Explosive gel, huh? I’ll give you an explosion!” came out of the smoke where I saw two large silhouettes. Monarch and Symptom were already running towards us, weapons drawn. Damn, but this group had fast reflexes. “Blueprints, situation!” Monarch yelled.

“Two Steel Rangers! Looks like the ones from the port! And they’re not happy!” Blueprints shouted back.

“If they’re from the port, they’ll be really angry, and not thinking clearly,” Monarch said as he reached us. “Their fighting style is sure to have holes in it. Blueprints, engage them from the front while Symptom, you try to get behind them. Ace, fly above them and act like a nuisance. I’ll try and shut off their armour from a distance. Move!” Blueprints and Symptom both nodded and ran towards the rangers. I didn’t have enough brainpower to process all of what Monarch had just said, but I heard my job and immediately tried to launch in the air.

Key word here being “tried.”

“Damn ice!” I yelled. “Monarch, I need about a minute to warm up first!”

“That’s fine, just hurry it up,” he muttered, peering through his scope. “Think you could do something about all the smoke?” I saluted and started furiously flapping my wings. As a way to launch in the air, it was doing fuck-all, but the smoke quickly started to clear. I continued flapping long after the smoke had gone, and I could tell that Monarch was starting to get annoyed. Oh well, fucktard, I told you I needed to keep my wings warm. “Ace, do you have an idea of when you can fly?” Monarch asked.

“Give me another minute, I can only flap so fast,” I replied. I watched Blueprints firing into the body of the Ranger, only to have the shots bounce off, while doing a weird tap-dance to avoid the grenades being fired. Wait a minute. Grenades? I have some of those. I dug in my bag and pulled one out. “Dusty,” I murmured softly so Monarch wouldn’t hear, “where do I put this to do the most damage?”

Dusty answered immediately. “The one on the left, see how every time he fires, his front hoof comes up? Time it to land it under the hoof.” Celestia almighty, Dusty’s smart. I activated SATS and aimed for right under the hoof. “Throw it... now!” Dusty ordered. I chunked the grenade and watched as it landed right as he put his hoof down.

Monarch glanced at me, and I beamed at the thought of praise. “Ace, you’re in the air, go do your job.” My smile vanished. Oh yeah, I was in the air. I felt the free sensation of not touching the ground just as he finished talking.

“Alright, motherfucker, let’s do this,” I pulled out my pistol and flew right over the other Steel Ranger. Lucky me, he was firing grenades, which, surprisingly enough, don’t do much to ponies who are flying. I turned on SATS again and aimed for the visor, firing three shots into it. Two bounced off, but one stuck in the glass. Unfortunately, the only thing that accomplished was to make him angry. I landed behind him and watched him writhe in anger.

“Oh you fucker! I’m going to kill you!” Really? No shit, I thought you were going to take me to lunch. “Where did you go? Come out so I can shove a few grenades in your holes!”

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and somepony whispered, “Get him to look this way.” I took a deep breath and shot a quick prayer to Celestia. “You know, that doesn’t sound all that pleasant!” I yelled at him. He spun around and through the glass I could see rage I’d only seen in the eyes of one other pony...

One other pony who jumped off my back and slammed her shotgun into the faceplate. “How’s this for an explosion?” Symptom yelled, and she started firing the shotgun into his face. And again. And again. I heard the empty sounding click and she yanked the shotgun out, covered in blood. “Fucker.”

I turned back to the other Ranger. He was collapsed on the ground, one leg lying a few feet away from him. He actually looked almost pitiful. I took a few steps closer, but stopped when I heard a weird sound coming from inside his suit. I went into a launching position, thinking it was some kind of suit repair system, but it dawned on me that I had heard this sound before. Just a few minutes earlier, actually.

“He’s... crying?” Blueprints asked tentatively. I nodded slowly and slid my pistol back into my bag. “Not very disciplined for a Steel Ranger, is he?”

Symptom walked right next to him and kicked the faceplate. “You’re lucky that I’m out of ammo, or you’d be wishing you’d never been born. And I wouldn’t be firing in the front end, if you get my meaning.” She looked at me and Blueprints. “One of you kill him.”

I reached for my pistol, but Blueprints stopped me. “We’re not going to kill somepony who’s lying here helpless. If anything, we’re going to help them. Right, Ace?”

I looked between the two of them. Symptom’s glare versus Blueprints’ pleading eyes. I left my pistol where it was and walked over to the injured Ranger. “Is there anything we can do for you?” I asked him.

The sobbing continued, and I frowned. There was something odd about the sound to me. Monarch walked over the hill to us. “What are you doing, Ace? He’s tried to kill us at least three times now.”

“Shush it,” I said. I heard Monarch’s mouth shut. The sobbing continued and I tried to put my hoof on why it was so odd to me. It’s similar to what Blueprints was doing earlier and...

And he was faking it.

I closed my eyes and pulled my pistol back out. I didn’t need SATS for this shot. Following Symptom’s lead, I used the butt to smash the visor then unloaded a few bullets into the Ranger’s face. I stood back up, reloaded the pistol and put it into its holster. Symptom looked... not angry, Monarch stared at the body, and Blueprints had his horrified look again.

“Good job, Ace,” Symptom said. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Good job?!” Blueprints exclaimed. “Ace, why’d you do that? He was injured! He needed help!”

I kept my focus from turning to either one of them. “He wasn’t crying. It was fake. He was trying to get aid that he didn’t deserve.” I glanced over at Symptom. “Make a sign. Use their blood. Make sure nopony messes with the Outcast.” A genuine smile appeared on her face and she mimed a salute.

Blueprints looked at me in disgust and walked to the body Symptom wasn’t writing on. “May you find peace in the afterlife.” He said.

“Oh not this again,” said Symptom. “They’re dead. Gone forever. Into an eternal nothingness.”

Monarch glanced up from his staring contest with the dead body. “Well that’s not entirely true, Symptom. I mean, you-” he shut up. I didn’t even need to turn to see the glare on Symptom’s face. “Anyway, let’s hurry this up and go. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

Blueprints gave another quick prayer for the other Ranger, one that Symptom decided to ignore. Written on the armour of shotgun face Ranger was “The Outcast was here.” On legless Ranger was “Don’t mess with the Outcast.” I smiled at Symptom’s handiwork and the four of us departed once more for the North.

This trip wasn’t nearly as quiet, allowing me to keep my wings circulated. Blueprints grumbled about not getting to bury the bodies while Symptom grumbled about the snow. Monarch was being silent though, and I intended to fix that.

“So, what did you do during that battle, Monarch?”

“I monitored the situation in case we needed a change in plans,” he replied. “Luckily that first plan went swimmingly.”

“Which reminds me,” I said, “where did you learn all that battle speak and planning stuff?”

A faint smile appeared on his face. “Schooling in Mesa City. My parents wanted me to become an officer in Pride’s army. They signed me up for a bunch of military classes, and I only remembered some of it last night. I’ve kind of repressed my memories of Mesa City.”

“So you took a bunch of military classes and you can’t even hold a gun right?” I joked.

Monarch rolled his eyes. “My mom didn’t want a soldier son, she wanted an officer son. I didn’t get any combat training, and was told to avoid any personal fighting in the class. That really stuck.”

I frowned. “So your parents picked your career for you? That doesn’t sound fair.”

“Yeah, well, don’t mention fairness to Symptom. She got the raw end of the deal.”

“What deal?”

“Every deal. I was born a unicorn in Mesa City, which alone would have given me a prosperous life. I lived sheltered, though, and I never even knew about earth ponies, let alone pegasi. That’s part of the reason I’d shot at you. It scared me seeing a pony with wings. But I digress, what I was going for was my parents kept me from learning about the outside world and everything. Now, I resent them for it.”

I watched a snowflake land on my nose and melt. I realized that I looked disinterested and tried to put on a face that showed interest. And from the heat coming from my Pipbuck, I could tell Dusty was listening too. “Why’d you resent them? I lived my life without knowing about the rest of Equestria except in history books. I never felt the need to explore it or anything, at least, not until my town was ransacked.”

Monarch kept silent for a few minutes and I picked up on a few grumblings coming from the others. “...would have only taken a few minutes, we could easily have dug a grave” “Fucking snow, I hope it gets radiation poisoning and dies, that would show it.”

Finally, Monarch answered. “It’s not that I got wanderlust or anything, and at the time, I thought my parents were perfect. They told me about the glorious princesses and how they died during the war to protect the other ponies. That they have a paradise for all ponies who live their lives in their name. All mumbo-jumbo after I left though. They said the princesses were unicorns. I’m sorry, that’s not important, what I meant to say is, I eventually met an earth pony. When I asked my mom about why he didn’t have a horn, she said that it was because she was born into a slave position. And naturally I believed her.”

I nodded in agreement. “But something must have opened your eyes, right? Otherwise you’d still be there?”

Monarch nodded absentmindedly. “One day I was walking back from school and I see a bloody orange pile in an alley. I walk over to it and discover that it’s one of the slave ponies. So naturally, I try to wake it up, saying stuff like ‘your masters are probably worried’ and ‘where do you live, I can take you back.’”

I glanced back at the orange ghoul behind us glaring at the falling snow. “So was that Symptom?”

Monarch nodded again. “She opened her eyes and told me to help her out of the city. I was confused, because at the time, I didn’t think there was anything outside the city. I was told Equestria had pretty much been destroyed. But I was young and hadn’t been taught that all earth ponies are pure evil. So I dragged her out of the city. That was a little over five years ago.”

I processed all of what he had said. And in my head, Dusty was doing the same thing. “So what about your parents? Did you tell them you’d be leaving?”

Monarch stared stoically ahead. “No. They think I’m dead. And I want to keep it that way.”

I nodded in agreement again. “My parents are still alive, I think. Flint said they were taken captive by Sloth.”

Monarch looked at me. “Are we going to save them?”

I thought that over for a minute. Did I want to save them? Yes they’re my parents, but they left me in Cormount by myself, forced to endure a lifetime of hatred. But still... “I think I have to. What does that say about me? I don’t know if I want to save my parents’ lives?”

Blueprints piped up behind us. “It means you’re a cold unloving bastard child who is probably going to be a sociopathic murderer.” Thanks Blueprints. That helps a lot.

“Oh please,” said Symptom. “Everypony hates their parents. Well, I don’t, but I hate everypony else instead.”

I fell back to listen to the argument and let Monarch walk ahead. “So you just indiscriminately hate everypony you come across?” Blueprints asked.

“Not indiscriminately. I find reasons. For starters, I hate you because you are one of those lucky earth ponies that lived in the Stable. I hate Monarch because he’s useless in a fight, never stops eating, and gets all huffy if you explain that to him. And you,” she said turning to me, “I hate you because you’re a flying little asshole that doesn’t give two shits about the rest of us.”

Blueprints and I glanced at each other. “She’s got you spot on,” Blueprints said. I rolled my eyes and chose not to respond. Turning back to the front I noticed Monarch had pulled ahead significantly.

Monarch stopped at the next hill. “No!” he yelled. I glanced at Symptom and Blueprints and we hurried up to hill beside him. And I saw why he was angry.

There was a long stretch of plain ahead of us, and the snow around it was red. Red from the blood of hundreds of dead boars. And walking through the bodies towards us were two mares I did not want to see again.

“Oh look, Fang, it’s that pegasus again. What did the radio say about him?”

“I don’t remember, Claw. Something about having a large bounty on his head.”

“Him? He was almost killed by a mole, and now Pride is afraid of him? Isn’t that charming?”

“I agree. And I think our pockets have been a little empty as of late, don’t you think?”

“And look, it’s the cute blue-hoofed one. I liked him. He has a bounty too, right?”

“That’s right. We could kill these two and be set for life!”

“Who are the others, though? Do they have a bounty?”

“Who cares? They look delicious. I’m sure Gluttony would love to have the fine specimen of unicorn.”

“Indeed. So,” both mares pulled out some fairly large weapons that made me nearly piss my armour, “let’s have some fun.”

Note* three quarters level up

Sorry for the huge delay in the chapter, and for the inevitable delay in the next chapter. I hope to get this on a schedule very soon

Ch. 5: Machine

Chapter 5: Machine

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“You are Doctor Smiles?”

“Yes, sir. May I ask how long this will take? I would like to get back to my testing.”

“This won’t be long at all, Doctor. Do you remember what happened roughly five years ago?”

“Look at my eyepatch, I don’t think I could forget. It’s in the past though. Why bring it up?”

“I’ve been getting reports of this so-called “Outcast.” It’s more than just him and the merchant, apparently.”

“Is there any reason this should interest me?”

“There are two others with him. A unicorn and a ghoul.”

“And I should care why?”

“The report says she goes by the name of Symptom. Known to you of course as-”

“40672. But the papers said she died in her escape! She didn’t make it out the city walls!”

“We may have fudged it to keep the civilians from worrying.”

“And you didn’t bother to tell anypony who was affected by the break-out?”

“We didn’t think it mattered. But I pulled up her file. I’m guessing she would want some kind of revenge?”

“The feeling’s mutual, sir.”

“I’m sure it is, but I need you to stay here.”

“Knowing her, she’ll come straight for me if she comes back.”

“So are you saying she’s the principal danger in the group and not the pegasus?”

“To me at least. And probably to any scientist here.”

“That’s all I needed to know. I’ll post more guards to your building, Doctor.”

“Thank you, sir. But what about your safety? She won’t stop with us.”

“Let me worry about that, Smiles. Dismissed.”

************

It’d been less than a week and I already missed life in Cormount. Sure everypony there hated me, but I knew my way around the city well enough to avoid fights. And even if I dropped my guard, I could hold my own against some of the best. It’s not like I really needed friends to live. Cormount was safe. The imposing walls didn’t threaten me like they did the rest of the city. I even remember seeing Panther tremble in fear while staring at the wall. Sure he wasn’t a complete adult yet, but both of us had our cutie marks at the time.

I sat perched on a building, watching Panther and a few older colts amble along the road to the wall. The road that led to the wall, oddly enough the part of the wall that Pride’s raiders broke through later, was surrounded by just as menacing buildings, none of which having been occupied in the past few decades. Down by the streets, lampposts stood staggered on each side and made a desperate attempt to fight the darkness.

I couldn’t hear what the colts were saying, but I knew this was some ritual, ceremony, test, initiation, whatever you want to call it, for Panther to get into their little gang. The group stopped at the wall and, after a few minutes of heckling, there was a large explosion of laughter, and all but Panther departed. He sat staring at the wall.

A few minutes passed. Panther sat like a statue, hypnotized by the wall.

I couldn’t resist. I flew over to the lamppost nearest to him and deftly perched on the top of it. “Hey, Panther! Whatcha’ doin there?” I called out.

He jumped, prompting me to let out a chuckle. He looked up at me and glared. “What do you want, Ace?”

I jumped down and smoothly landed between him and the wall. He took a menacing step towards me, looked up at the wall, and stepped back. I jumped on this opportunity. “Aww, is the big bad Panther afraid of the bigger badder wall? Some friends you have there, leaving you with the scary bricks.”

Panther narrowed his eyes. “Can it, you oversized hummingbird, or I’ll rip your wings off with my teeth.”

I put on a winning smile. “That’s no way to behave. Maybe if you were nicer to other ponies, they wouldn’t ditch you by this frightening monstrosity.”

Panther continued to glare at me, though having dealt with him for the bigger portion of my life, it didn’t faze me. What did faze me, however, was him dropping the glare for puppy-dog eyes. “It wouldn’t scare me if I could just fly right over it like you could.”

My smile disappeared. Panther was admitting a weakness? “Uh... are you alright? Normally by now you’re trying to jump up and hit me while I float just above your reach...”

He looked down at the ground shamefully. “I’m not in the mood right now.”

I detected an opportunity to find a weakness with my rival. “Is something wrong?” I faked a concerned voice. Well, more concealing the excitement than faking concern.

Panther glanced back up at me. “I don’t want to go home.”

I was really curious now. “Why not? You have something to go home to. If anypony should be depressed about going home, it’s me.”

Panther started to glare again. “You don’t have my family. To tell the truth, I don’t ever want to go home. I want to get out of this city.”

I started to feel a little angry. “Why would you want to leave? Ponies like you here. They don’t like me. If anything, I should want to leave the city.”

“So why don’t you? You don’t have any ties here, everypony hates you, me included. Why are you still here?”

I turned and looked up to the top of the wall. “There’s nothing out there for me either. And to be honest,” I looked back at Panther, “the outside world scares me. It’s not the wall, it’s the whole ‘out there.’ If this city’s a puddle, the rest of Equestria is an ocean.”

Panther nodded in agreement. “I see what you mean. I’m afraid of the wall because it’s large and imposing, but outside,” he shuddered, “it’s even bigger.”

I walked over to him and put my hoof around his shoulder, confident that he wouldn’t snap at me. He glanced at me through the corner of his eye, then reciprocated the side-hug. “So why don’t you want to go home?” I asked after a few minutes had passed.

He pushed me away. “Don’t get the idea that we’re friends, Winger. We’re not.” And he stood up and walked away. I watched him vanish into the dark. Then I turned and looked back at the wall and shuddered myself at the thought of the rest of Equestria.

*************

Symptom was the first to react to the attack. She grabbed her shotgun and flung it at Fang (or was it Claw?). In her effort to dodge the flying weapon, Fang dropped her energy cannon. I felt my reflexes start to kick in before I could think about it and I was in SATS aiming my pistol at Claw (or was it Fang?). I let loose two bullets before diving down to let Blueprints fire with his saddle. Claw threw up a magical shield to deflect both of our shots.

Fang pulled herself back up and floated her massive energy cannon back up. She fired a shot at Monarch who quickly jumped out of the way. A pink explosion where he stood melted away the snow. I shot up into the air, putting my pistol away. Symptom flung herself onto Fang, biting down on the unicorn’s back. She let out a yelp of pain before swatting away the ghoul with her gun.

Blueprints continued a barrage onto Claw, forcing her to focus her magic on the shield rather than on firing her cannon, hanging lazily outside the shield.

I glanced from the cannon to Monarch, crouching behind a snowbank. In particular, I noticed his sword lying half out of his sheath. I glanced back to the cannon.

A plan hatched in my mind, and again, my body reacted before I could think of how badly this would probably end up. I swept down near Monarch and deftly pulled his sword out of his sheath. I flew straight for Claw’s gun and, with a bit of precision aid from SATS, neatly sliced the cannon in half. I expected the gasp of surprise coming from Claw and the yelp of horror from Blueprints.

What I did not expect was the cannon to explode.

I slammed into the ground amidst many cracks coming from my legs and slid a long path in the snow. The pain I felt in my wings and legs kept me from even opening my mouth. Silent tears streamed down my face as I glanced down to my agonized legs. None of them seemed to be jutting out at weird angles, though my wings didn’t always bend that far. The blood that eked out of them dripped into the snow underneath me to dye it a threatening red. I shut my eyes to avoid the image.

What felt like an hour to pass ended up being five minutes.

When Blueprints dug me out and Monarch floated me over to where Fang’s shot had melted through the snow, I could finally open my eyes. “You are the stupidest pony to ever grace the presence of Equestria,” I heard Symptom say from a few feet away. Blueprints got to work bandaging up my wings while Monarch set a splint for my leg. “Seriously, there is not a single pony I can think of that would slice open any kind of energy weapon with a sword.”

“Give the pony a break, Symptom,” Monarch said. “At least those two are gone. Ace, who were they? They seemed to know you and Blueprints.”

I managed to squeeze out a few words. “We’ve met. Long story.” I was impressed I was able to get four words out through the pain in my legs, though my wings were already starting to feel good as new.

“They slaughtered all those boars, Monarch,” Blueprints said solemnly. “For fun probably. I don’t want to run into them again.”

“Oh please,” Symptom barked, “I can’t wait to get my hooves around that one’s neck again. I don’t think I’ve ever had a chance to kill a unicorn like that before.”

“Hush, Symptom,” said Monarch. “There. Try to stand up, Ace.” I complied, awkwardly using my back right leg in conjunction with my front left to avoid putting pressure on the other two. “Put some weight in your legs. They’re not broken, just sprained.”

“Why... splint?” I coughed out before settling my weight into the other two legs. A surge of pain shot through both, then subsided. I took a few tentative steps.

“Stability,” Blueprints answered. “Your wings didn’t look too bad, just a few cuts. You’ll be in the air again in a few hours.”

I took a few more steps and felt the pain start to ease away. “Good,” I said shortly. It still hurt to talk. I wobbled a few more steps and proceeded to almost fall over. Luckily Blueprints was there to catch me. “Thanks.”

Blueprints sighed. “Well, obviously we’re not going to make any progress when you’re like this, Ace.”

Symptom rolled her eyes. “Sure, let’s just stay here, in the middle of a mass genocide. If any ponies trying to collect on the bounty find us, we can tell them we killed all of these boars. Maybe it will scare them away.”

I wanted to say something, make a snappy comeback, but Monarch beat me to it. “Symptom. Shut. The fuck. Up.” Okay, he kinda beat me to it. He floated the sword back into his sheath and trudged north. “We’ll keep moving. We have plenty of daylight left.”

“If you can call it that,” Symptom muttered under her breath, though I was certain Monarch couldn’t hear it.

We started walking again, deciding to go around the former battleground rather than through. The place reeked of death and murder. There were some boars piled up in small groups, while others were off on their own. I noticed, with a sick feeling, that the groups piled up tended to have smaller boars than the ones on their own; obviously children. The snow, which had previously melted on contact with the bodies, started to cover up the sickly red creatures. I turned my head to avoid looking at it.

The four of us moved at a snail’s pace, and after what seemed like an hour, we crossed another snowbank that hid the boars from view. What the snowbank was hiding from us, however, piqued my interest. On the horizon, in a bright orange that contrasted with the falling snow, was a building. Without talking, the four of us immediately turned and moved to it.

As we moved closer, the building loomed above us threateningly. It dared us to go in. At least that was the vibe I was getting.

“And... let’s keep going,” said Monarch, making a sharp turn back to the north.

“You don’t want to go in?” Blueprints asked. “It’s an old Ironshod factory! There’s no way it could be dangerous, the ponies of the wartime North didn’t let any weapons up here.”

“But look at it!” Monarch gestured frantically. “That thing could kill all of us and nopony would find us for years! Decades!”

“Aww... is the big bad king of the North afraid of the bigger badder factory?” Symptom taunted. I get the feeling I’ve heard that before. Racking my brains, I remembered the night I met Panther by the wall. And I felt a surge of fear about the open world.

“We’re going in.” I said shortly. I nudged open the door and stepped inside. Blueprints and Symptom followed right behind. Monarch hesitated, then came in grumbling. I shut the door behind him.

The inside was dark. Like, can’t-see-your-hoof-if-you-wave--in-front-of-your-face dark. Undaunted, I turned on my Pipbuck’s flashlight and scanned the room. The ceiling was at a normal height, though a bit uncared for, as seen by the many holes. The walls were a steely gray, dulled by dust. The rug on the ground was in tatters, though oddly enough, still a vivid red as opposed to the dusty rest of the room. Looking forward, I saw something that made my heart start beating rapidly.

There was a dark yellow filly standing at the top of the stairs.

She looked just as dirty as the rest of the building, her fur matted down and dusty. Her mane seemed to made of dust, though the tip of her tail was bright yellow. I took a step closer to her and she took a step back. Okay, she was scared. I guess we weren’t the first ponies to come in here. “It’s okay,” I said. “We won’t hurt you.”

“Unless you attack us,” Symptom called out. I turned and glared at her. “What? It’s true!”

I took a few more steps toward the filly. “What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Ace, don’t get too close!” Blueprints warned. At that outburst, the filly turned and ran away.

I sighed and walked back to the group. “Good going, Blueprints,” Monarch said. “She could have given us a tour. Now that we don’t have a guide, it’s probably pointless to delve any further, so let’s just leave and-”

“Shut it, Monarch,” Symptom snapped. “I think that little filly is hiding something. We need to find her.” Wait, Symptom was voting on not killing somepony?

“I agree with Symptom,” said Blueprints, “but I don’t think we need to find her. I’m getting a vibe I don’t like from her. She’s going to try to find us.” All three of them looked at me. “What do you think?”

I looked from Monarch’s terrified face to Symptom’s determined one, to Blueprints’ slightly worried one. Then I nodded. “I agree, she’s got something to hide. But actively searching for her probably isn’t the best action. We need to show her that we mean no harm. I think we should split up. We’ll be less threatening.”

The three of them glanced at each other then back at me. “Is splitting up really a good idea?” Monarch asked. “If one of us gets into trouble, the others won’t be able to help.”

“I’ll go with you, you big baby,” said Symptom. Monarch hesitated, then slowly nodded in agreement.

“So let’s go then,” said Blueprints. “No need to keep her waiting.” He trotted into a nearby hallway, pulling out a flashlight as he left. Symptom and Monarch turned and went down the opposite hallway. Once I was sure they were gone, I shut the door leading out. No need to let the infinite outside in, right?

I shone my flashlight up the empty entryway and took a few more steps in. Hanging off the walls were ripped safety posters, the messages long since decayed away. At the end of the corridor, on short set of stairs, the tattered red rug lost its vividness on the stairs, though when I reached the top, it was clean again. This piqued my interest. Why was it dusty on the stairs? There must be something still alive here that keeps this rug so clear.

I flipped a bottlecap to decide which direction to go. Brand side up, so I turned left. Like the ground floor, the walls here were covered in a thick layer of dust. I brushed a hoof along a wall. The dust accrued on my hoof, which I promptly wiped on my armour. Underneath the dust seemed to be a picture. I wiped clear the rest of the frame and saw that it was actually a mirror.

Ho...ly... fuck. I really looked that different? How many days had it been since I left Cormount? Four? Five? Six? I’d honestly already lost count. Back in Cormount, I’d always been a neatfreak. My mane had to be set just right so I could keep it nice despite flying high speed around the city.

Now? Now my mane was a greasy mess, almost slicked back. The bandages around my wings didn’t add to my comfort. They were soaked in a deep red. The splints around my legs made me look absolutely pitiful.

If I saw my reflection in Cormount, it showed a determined pegasus, ready to take on the world. Now it showed a broken pegasus, with tears already welling in its eyes. I blinked them away. Now was not the time.

I had a filly to find.

I turned away from my reflection and moved down the hallway. As I reached the end, the dust on the walls faded. On each side, red circles with a line through them encircled outlines of ponies misusing guns. I noted each one with a bit of comical interest. One showed a unicorn floating the gun behind its head. Another depicted an earth pony holding a pistol with the barrel in its mouth. I found them pretty funny all in all, until I found one that made me stop in my tracks.

I looked closer at this particular picture, featuring a unicorn. He had a sniper rifle, floated right next to his head with the sight in front of one of his eyes. Hanging lazily off the unicorn’s side was a sword. Etched faintly into his flank was a crown.

I felt my mane start to stand up. Right next to it was a picture of an earth pony in midair, a shotgun in its mouth. Underneath her, an earth pony lay collapsed, with a battle saddle aimed haphazardly forward. I tore my eyes away from it to look at the last picture in the hall.

A pegasus, wings clearly mangled, the front right leg colored golden. In his mouth was a bright blue pistol. I looked down at my Pipbuck, surprised that Dusty wasn’t buzzing with activity at this. I guess she was out exploring some other tech stuff. I sighed and turned off to a side hallway.

And came face to face with the dusty filly.

I yelped and jumped backwards, landing in an awkward heap. I heard a giggling while I pulled myself up. One of the bandages had fallen off a wing, so I took the opportunity to stretch it out. “Don’t do that!” I scolded.

“Keep your voice down,” she whispered. “Or else they’ll find you.”

“Who’ll find me?” I whispered back.

“The Janitors. At least that’s what I call them,” she answered.

“What’s with the drawings?” I asked, gesturing towards the one of me.

She shook her head. “It’s too risky here. Follow me.”

She darted down the hall and turned a corner. I hesitated before following. What if this was a trap? But I needed answers. I turned the corner after her and watched her disappear down another hallway. Damn, she was fast! I chased after her, after each turn seeing her disappear up some stairs or around a corner. I finally caught up to her when she stopped in front of a door. “They locked it,” she whispered furiously. “My one refuge, too.”

“Let me help,” I offered, pulling a few lockpicks from my bag. It wasn’t too difficult a lock, but still harder than any I’d dealt with in Cormount. Two broken lockpicks and the door swung open. The filly dashed in without a word of thanks and I followed.

We were in an office of some kind. In each of the back two corners were filing cabinets, and taking up the majority of the room was a large desk. Clearly the Janitors, or whatever they were, had been here recently, since the ground was clear of all dirt and grime. The walls still had a thin layer of dust though. The filly shut the door behind me and bounced on top of the lone desk, sending papers flying everywhere. “What was that for?” I whispered.

“You don’t have to whisper anymore,” she said, jumping onto a nearby filing cabinet and opening the top drawer. She pulled out another set of papers and tossed them on the floor. “They can’t hear us in here.”

I watched her close that cabinet and open up another, only to repeat the process of throwing out all the papers. “Okay, who the hell are you, what’s up with those freaky drawings, what are the Janitors, and why are you just tossing paper everywhere?” I demanded.

The filly jumped back on the desk and looked at me. “Name’s Grime. I’ve lived here for all my life, and I’m always happy to get visitors.The drawings are just some old warning posters. I think the place had to cut its funding a bit.” She shifted nervously. “Are they really that bad?”

I still wasn’t sure if I could trust her, but I guessed that she wasn’t hostile. My EFS said she wasn’t anyway. “Well, on the contrary, they’re really good. Kinda why I freaked out a bit.” Grime’s face lit up, and the dirt on her face seemed to melt away. “But who are the Janitors? I’m a bit worried about my friends...” I trailed off.

Grime jumped onto another filing cabinet and opened a drawer. “The Janitors are mechanical janitor ponies that keep this place clean. The years since they’ve been made haven’t been kind though, and their detection system’s a bit wonky.”

“So why are they a danger?” I asked.

“Like I said, detection’s a bit wonky,” Grime explained, pulling the dirt out of a nearby dead potted plant and throwing it on the ground. “They used to be able to detect any kind of dirt, dust, grime, you name it, and clean it up. But now they can only detect it when it’s moving, and recently, they’ve taken to finding it through noise. Noisy ponies that come in here tracking what they call filth all over the building.” She finished with the dirt in the pot and jumped back on the desk. “You know,” she said, “you may be able to help me with something.”

“Can it wait?” I asked. Grime gave me an inquisitive look. “My friends are still out there, somewhere. We need to find them.”

Grime nodded and pointed to a terminal in the corner of the room. “I’ve been trying to get into that terminal for as long as I can remember. I haven’t made much headway, but I’ve got it hooked up to the security cameras. We can easily find them.” She jumped to the terminal and typed in a password. I walked over and watched her flip from camera to camera. Eventually, it came across Symptom and Monarch in what looked like some kind of dining room.

“Why is there a dining room in a factory?” I wondered out loud.

Grime giggled. “Factory? Who told you this was a factory? I mean it was, at one point, a factory but it was converted to an orphanage years before the war ended.”

I looked at her, startled. “Who would convert an old weapons factory to an orphanage?”

She giggled again. “It’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? That’s part of the reason why I’ve been trying to get into this terminal for so long. It’s probably a great story, one that I’m determined to learn about.”

We continued to flip through the cameras to find Blueprints. Grime just kept flipping lazily, until we caught one that had a shadow on it. Grime frowned. “That’s too bulky to be your friend. I think that’s a Janitor right there. Best to avoid him.” She continued flipping. A few minutes later, we came across Blueprints digging around what looked like a bedroom for foals, filled with cribs. “Great! He’s pretty close to where the other two are,” Grime said. She shut down the terminal and trotted to the door. “Remember, quiet in the hallways.”

We walked out and I followed her down a nearby flight of stairs. We snuck around a corner, but Grime stopped me before we went around the next one. She crouched down and gestured for me to do the same.

A few minutes passed.

“Grime,” I whispered, “what are we-”

“Shhh,” she shushed me, and pointed at a shadow that was creeping down the hallway. Slowly, a bulky pony-like machine came into view, moving deliberately down the hallway. Grime leaned in close to my ear. “Stay. Completely. Still,” she breathed. The Janitor seemed to glide across the carpet, which looked more like a dusty blue in contrast to the entryway rug.

The Janitor turned its head and looked straight at us. I struggled to not quiver in fear, and I felt Grime’s heart start beating furiously. It stopped and Grime and I both glanced at each other.

It stared at us.

We stared back. Or at least until my eyes turned to the rug behind it.

It was a blood-red.

Its body slowly turned to face us and crouched in a pouncing position.

I couldn’t help myself. I started shaking in fear.

The Janitor’s mouth shot open.

“DIRT DETECTED! DIRT DETECTED!” the sound from its mouth almost felt like a wall of air. The top of its head flashed red and the Janitor turned to face us.

“Run!” Grime yelled, and we both sprinted in the way we just came. Despite my groaning legs, I managed to stay right with Grime this time, the motivation of having a killer robot on our hooves pumping me full of adrenaline. As we rounded a corner, the bandage flew off my other wing and my body took over. I grabbed Grime and soared off.

Surprisingly unfazed, she yelled out directions to me. “Left! Down the stairs! Right! Left! Left again! Right! Down stairs! And right once more!” After the last turn, we slammed right into Blueprints.

“Ow!” Blueprints yelped. We crashed into one of the cribs and my legs started yelling at me. “Well, obviously, you found her-” he started.

“Shh!” Grime shushed him. Blueprints looked at her, and she shook her head.

Symptom and Monarch dashed in the room. “What was the commotion?” Monarch asked.

“Shh!” Grime shushed again.

Symptom glared at her. “Why should I?”

“Because killer janitor robot,” I whispered furiously. “Now shut it.”

Grime darted to the door and slowly closed it. She put her eye against the keyhole and held up a hoof. For a few minutes, the five of us sat in a very uncomfortable silence. Eventually, Grime stood back up. “We’re clear. Now,” she said, turning towards us, “I never got any of your names.”

“And we don’t have yours either,” Blueprints piped up angrily. “Who put you in charge?”

“Your pegasus friend did,” Grime said sharply. “And my name is Grime. Now who are you?”

“I’m Ace,” I answered for the group. “The ghoul is Symptom, the unicorn is Monarch, and the blue hooved one is Blueprints.” Grime nodded. “You three,” I said, turning my back to her, “keep quiet in the halls. There are killer janitor robots called Janitors. They’ve killed everypony that’s come here except for Grime.”

“And how long have you been here amongst the heartless killing machines?” Blueprints asked accusingly.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” Grime replied with a frown. “Never been outside the building.”

“If you’re going to lie, at least make sure there isn’t a gaping hole in it,” said Monarch.

Grime scratched her head. “Hole? What hole?”

“What do you do for food?” asked Blueprints. “How have you lived this long without anypony else here, especially as a foal?”

“I... find food in places around the building,” Grime replied slowly. “When ponies come in to explore, I avoid them if they seem bad and help them if they seem nice. My mom taught me how to live here.”

“And where’s your mom now?” Monarch asked.

“Dead.” Grime answered shortly. “Died a few months ago. I was being careless around one of the Janitors and she rescued me. Except she didn’t escape.”

My head was starting to spin. She’d had her own mother die only recently? I glanced over at Blueprints and noticed his expression had softened a bit. “So the reason the rugs are red is-”

“The Janitors use the blood as cleaning water,” Grime finished. “Like I said, they’ve been corrupted.”

Symptom started laughing. “You mean that those things are cleaning the factory with your mother’s dead body?” she said.

“Symptom!” Monarch snapped.

“Well...” Grime hesitated again. “I didn’t say I didn’t get her body back...”

**********

Grime took us through a few more twisting hallways until we ended up in the kitchen. Well, a makeshift one. It was a transformed break room with a bunch of appliances crammed into areas along the wall. Grime ignored all of it and went straight to what looked like a barricaded closet. “In here, the orphanage kept a freezing amulet. Used it as a freezer. They barricaded the door to keep the cold in.”

She grabbed a nearby rope and tied it to the handle of the door. Then she started pulling a crank that slowly pulled the door open. We were bet with a blast of cold air and fog. After a few seconds, the fog cleared and we went inside.

My first irrational thought was holy shit, this was a big closet. Then I noticed that some ponies had knocked down the nearby walls to expand the room. I saw some oddly shaped frozen figures in the back of the room. Before I opened my mouth to ask what they were, Grime trotted over to them. As we approached them, it dawned on me what they were.

Butchered dead ponies.

They were all pale, and the ones that had faces on them wore expressions of shock and agony. All of them were missing various chunks of their bodies, some even lacking a head. Around the hooves, or where the hooves would have been, were frozen puddles of dark red liquid.

One pony in particular caught my eye, as she was placed on a box above the rest of the statues. Her face was the only one that didn’t look horrified, instead wearing a painful smile, frozen in her last moment of looking at her filly. Most of her left half was torn apart and her organs threatened to fall out of her body. A quick glance over at Grime told me that this was indeed her mother. Monarch and Symptom were also both examining the body, yet Blueprints was looking at somepony else.

“Grime... why do all these ponies look like they were frozen at the second of their death rather than later on?” Monarch asked.

“The Janitors spray them with some kind of paralysis fluid to keep them still while they, for lack of a better word, digest them,” Grime answered.

“So how do you get them if they’re in the middle of being digested?” Symptom asked curiously.

“It’s just a matter of distracting them,” Grime explained. “They’re not real ponies, so they forget about the ponies if I lure them far enough away. I just come back and grab them later. I don’t rescue the ponies unless they deserve rescuing, though.”

“Hey, Blueprints, who’s that?” I asked, gesturing to the stallion he was entranced with. He ignored me, so I stepped closer for a better look. The pony was a steely grey, with one of his legs significantly smaller than the other three. Chunks of his back and rear legs had been ripped out. On the remains of his flank, I could make out bits of a bag for his cutie mark, but the rest had been cut off. His mane was a deep blue, roughly the same color as Blueprints’ hooves. “Is... that your dad?” I asked cautiously.

He gave a short jerky nod and turned away roughly. “Only by blood,” he said tersely.

Grime trotted over. “Oh, I remember him! Well, kinda. I was really little. Mom said he was the nicest pony she’d ever met. I don’t remember him dying, though. I guess it was before I had to take responsibility of saving the bodies.”

“Well, you didn’t have to save this one,” Blueprints snapped. He turned and bucked the stallion, chipping off a bit of his mane. I took a few steps back, deciding that I didn’t want to stand too close to the pony that just beat a dead horse.

“What’s so bad about him?” I asked curiously.

“He’s a jackass,” Blueprints responded. “One of the, if not the most, successful merchants in Mesa City, and he takes all of his money and burns it, just to leave my pregnant mother in Mesa City. I swore if I ever found him I’d snap his neck myself.”

Symptom tried to jump on an opportunity to attack a relative of Blueprints, but Monarch held her back. “Why is his leg cut so cleanly?” he asked curiously. “All the other ponies look like theirs are ripped off, but his is smooth.”

Grime shifted. “I guess that particular Janitor got a clean cut?” Monarch narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent. “Maybe his skin was particularly easy to cut through.”

I walked back over to where Grime’s mother stood. She looked a lot like Grime, just bigger and with a lighter color. Even their tails had the same yellow tips. I then noticed something odd in her tail. After a quick glance back to Grime, I chipped off a bit of the tail to see what it was.

It was a memory orb.

Another quick glance around and I snatched it and stuffed it in my bag. I turned back to the group, preparing to suggest a movement back to the main office. Monarch was still watching Grime intently, making the filly start shifting even more. She started to look a little guilty too...

“You’re lying to me about something,” Monarch said. “There’s something about your story that just doesn’t click with me, I just don’t know what.”

“Does this help?” Symptom called from the other side of the freezer. She trotted over, dragging a skeleton with her. “Just a skeleton? You said the Janitors grind up everything.”

Grime glanced back at the freezer door. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?” she said slowly. “I’m getting cold.”

Blueprints examined the skeleton that Symptom brought over. “It’s completely clean. No signs of decay or rotting. Unless you’re lying about the Janitors eating the skeletons too, your story doesn’t add up.”

Symptom pulled out her shotgun and pointed it at Grime’s face. “Tell us the truth, or I swear, I will set you up right next to your mother, sans head.”

Grime looked scared. She looked from Monarch’s quiet accusing look to Blueprints’ curious stare, to Symptom’s angry glare.

She started crying.

Symptom immediately lowered her gun. I rushed in and started trying to calm her down. Not a good choice when you’ve only touched other ponies a few times in your life. “There, there,” I said, awkwardly trying to pat her back. “It’s fine, Symptom won’t shoot you, the gun doesn’t have any ammo anyway.”

Symptom glared at me and shoved her shotgun back in the holster. “That’s your fault anyway,” she grumbled.

Grime gave a few more sniffles before she could finally say something coherent. “I didn’t have a choice, okay? Neither me, nor my mom did. Your dad recognized that, Blueprints.”

I stepped back, confused. “You didn’t have a choice in what?”

“There’s no food here, we had to make do!” she bawled. “I hate that I have to do it, but I’m too scared to leave!”

Blueprints looked at the skeleton and jumped away, throwing it on the ground. “You mean you’ve been eating them?” Grime nodded, still crying her eyes out. “That’s disgusting! You’re sick! A sick fuck!” Blueprints screamed. “Ace, we need to get out. There’s nothing here for us except a fuckton of killer robots and an insane cannibal.”

“Calm down, Blueprints,” said Monarch. “It’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is!” Blueprints was jumping up and down frantically. “It’s disgusting! Evil! She’s like one of those freaks in Barcepony!”

Barcepony? I remember hearing that from somewhere, but at the moment, it slipped away from me. At any rate, we’d spent way too much time in the freezer. “Let’s go back to the office,” I suggested. “Give us some cooldown.”

Grime nodded, followed quickly by Monarch, Symptom and, reluctantly, Blueprints. The way back to the office was relatively uneventful. No Janitors to be seen. Upon the return, the office still had papers and dirt everywhere. “I guess the Janitors haven’t been here in awhile?” Monarch asked. He seemed a lot more relaxed now that Grime’s story had no holes in it.

“Actually, this all happened about an hour ago,” Grime answered. She too, seemed more relaxed, though still a little jumpy around Blueprints.

“Blueprints,” I said as we walked in, “can you get into the files on the terminal there?”

“I don’t know, is it filled with recipes on how to eat other ponies?” Blueprints responded nastily.

I sighed. Obviously this had touched a nerve with him. Grime shuffled nervously before pouncing onto one of the filing cabinets. Blueprints trudged over to the terminal and started typing things in. Monarch opened up the cabinet Grime wasn’t on and started reading through the files. Symptom sat down by the door and pulled out her shotgun, a screwdriver, and some pieces of metal. I cantered over to the desk and sat back in the chair.

With the silence, I took the time to think. It felt like I spent a lot of time thinking now. Sure, I read books back in Cormount, but I acted on survival instincts most of the time. And survival for what reason? I had no idea. It always seemed like the best choice. And now survival has gotten a whole lot harder.

But I didn’t know of any ponies who wanted to die. Grime had clearly made the choice to live. And Celestia knows what Symptom may have gone through to be here alive. But Grime had a mother to teach her how to survive. Symptom? I had no clue.

The conversation I had with Monarch earlier came to mind. Do I really care about my parents? Would they have made living in Cormount any easier? Would they have protected me when Panther found a rusty pipe? Would they have instilled in me a fear of a wall?

Would they have been like Grime’s mother, putting their foal before their own life? Or would they have been like Monarch’s parents, lying through their teeth and manipulative? Or what if they were like Blueprints’ father, doing something despicable enough to make their own flesh and blood hate them?

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice that Monarch was trying to get my attention.

“Ace!” He yelled right in my here, simultaneously hitting my head with a folder.

“What happened?” I yelled in reaction jumping to my feet and sliding out my pistol.

“Whoa, calm down,” Monarch said, backing up slightly. “You dozed off a bit. I need your help.”

“With what?” I asked, sliding my pistol back in the holster.

“That bottom cabinet’s locked,” Monarch answered simply. I gave him a look of disbelief before shaking my head and pulling out a few lockpicks. The lock looked like somepony had broken into the cabinet before, then replaced the lock. It looked almost new, but underneath I could see the shattered remains of the original lock. I broke my first lockpick, but opened the cabinet on my second.

I opened it up after checking my Pipbuck for a count on my lockpicks. Inside the cabinet lay a blue pistol. There seemed to be no corners or edges on the gun, except for the trigger. I reached in and grabbed it. It felt cold, colder than it ought to have been given where it was. I laid it on the desk and Monarch and I examined it.

“I’ve never seen a pistol like this before,” Monarch murmured.

“Well, it’s not like you use guns anyway,” I answered with a grin. “Can I have it?”

“I don’t care, why not?” Monarch answered sounding bored. Symptom glanced up from the mess she had made of her shotgun, but surprisingly enough, didn’t make a comment; instead, she went back to working on her shotgun.

I picked the pistol back up and tried to find out how many bullets it had in it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the ammo cartridge on it. I aimed it at the wall near the filing cabinet and pulled the trigger.

Despite the minimal recoil, the shot was deafening. Sticking out of the wall I just shot was a foot-long icicle. Monarch held a hoof up to it, then quickly pulled it away. “Holy shit. You know when something’s really really cold, it can feel like it’ll burn you? Yeah, this is like that.”

“Okay, Ace,” Blueprints called from the corner. “I got you in. Seems like the guy running this place got into some arguments with some powerful ponies.” I pulled my old pistol out of its holster and tossed it over to Symptom, who seemed to expect it, and slid the blue one into the holster. Then I trotted over and pulled up the earliest document I could find.

Hoofsmith-

As I’m sure you’ve heard, the Ministry of Wartime Technology has been given permission by Princess Luna herself to put their factories wherever they damn well please. Our soldiers need these guns to fight the zebras and the recently colonized North is the perfect place to establish said factories. The Council of the recently established Mesa City has claimed support for the Ministry with a majority vote led by their newest member, Brush. While I cannot say I support all his policies, he has given me the honor of being in charge of this factory, and I’ll be damned if I let you take it.

Need I also remind you that, while you have control over your little village up by the mountains, that is the limit of your authority. If you want this factory gone, come down here and get rid of it yourself, but remember that we have weaponry, and we are not afraid to dissuade protesters with them.

I hope you see my point, and will not reply

-Gold Star

I flipped to another file and opened it, expecting another letter. This time, it was a journal entry.

Log # 1

Those damn Ministry Mares are making us keep logs on our progress in whatever field we happened to be condemned in. And naturally I get sent to the undeveloped Hellhole that is Mesa City. Everyday I get fucking cease and desist letters from the jackasses in Cormount (don’t they care about the survival of our species?) and the local Council refuses to help. Thank Celestia that the new member, Brush is sympathetic. Though I’m a bit wary around him. He doesn’t seem to hiding anything, but there’s something odd about him.

But I digress. For this actual log, we have had no work done. At all. And why not? Because the fucking protestors outside keep both materials and workers from coming in. If Hoofsmith doesn’t do something about this soon, I may have to shoot some bitches.

Log # 2

With the lack of progress being made in this factory, making notes on it is practically impossible. I did get a message from an unknown sender though, saying he would send me this unique gun he found. I won’t believe it until I see it, but he claims it doesn’t use bullets or the energy that the Zebras use. I’m curious.

Log # 3

It’s been a month since I’ve been put in charge and already things have gone to Hell. Applejack gave up on the factory and gave it to the Ministry of Peace for use as an orphanage. How in fuck’s sake do you turn a factory into an orphanage? However, despite the lack of support given to me by anyone (except maybe Brush) we did manage to create a type of torture device. It will slowly grind up the pony in it until somepony programs them to stop. The only downside is that it kills too quickly.

But enough about that. I want to talk about Sapphire.

Sapphire is the most wondrous gun I’ve ever seen. The trigger is easily accessible by one’s tongue and it has almost no recoil when fired. And like the letter said, it doesn’t use bullets or Zebra energy. I don’t know how, but it recharges its ammo in cold weather (of which there is plenty here in the North). Had the factory not been shut down, I would have immediately started producing these in mass quantities. However, now that I no longer have control of production (not that I ever did) I see no reason to tell the higher ups in the Ministry about it. My only remaining question is who made the gun? And how?

Log # 4

I was demoted today. I could tell that something bad was going to happen the second I received a call from Applejack about those torture machines. “We ain’t monsters. We’re decent ponies and ah want you to destroy all those monstrosities and cut production.” We already cut production the second you gave the factory to the MOP, bitch! And now you retaliate by sending me along with it. Well, if the Ministry Mares aren’t going to do their job when it comes to saving our race, I’ll have to show them the error of their ways...

Log # 5

Mother of fucking Celestia, these foals are going to drive me insane. I need to find a way to keep my sanity. My robotic creations have been successfully converted to janitors. I didn’t work that hard to have my machines get destroyed before they see the light of day. But I need to test them on something. They clean up the place really well. But how do they fare in the idea of defense? Well, there is one particular foal that is especially annoying. Maybe I can borrow her for my purposes...

Log # 6

I am so fucking happy it’s not even funny. I know it’s bad taste, but I was so clever today. It worked. The janitors can be easily switched from cleaning mode to torture/kill mode. The only downside was they took the remains of the foal and put it in their cleaning water. When asked about it, I said I modified them to carry red paint to recolor those ugly blue carpets. And when somepony asked me about the missing foal, I just told them that

The rest of the file was erased, or never finished, I couldn’t tell which. When I went to click on the next log, an error appeared on the screen, saying it was corrupted. I scrolled down and noticed all the rest were corrupted, except for one at the end.

Log # 402

last entry her i am going to die the janiters are outside the office door, bangng to get in as i type this i swear on my moters life that if i get out of here alive, i will deote my life to stoping these montrosies from seeing the cloud of day i thouht it would all be over when those boms fell, but i cant never mind i need to confess i need closur i need forgivnes im sorry appljac im sorry flttershy im sorry hoofsmit to control ther is a contol panl for them in mt bedroom behind the backbord oh celestia dont let them in i use the contol to turn the janitors back into ther toture version i use that to kill inspecors about misng orfins help me please i locked the gun in my cabinet it wont help aginst those monters the orfins the workers the visitors all dead fuck my life fuck pride fuck that little piece of grime on the wall i now one of the orfins new and wanted to kill me i didnt think shed do it oh celestia its busting thruh the door please help me please help me please help me please hel

The back of my leg started to feel warm against Sapphire. I glanced over at the door and saw faint signs of it having been destroyed in the past. I turned around and scanned the room. Symptom seemed to be trying to fuse my old pistol with her shotgun, though I didn’t understand how she intended to do that. Monarch was cleaning up the papers on the ground, probably more out of boredom than anything else. Blueprints and Grime were angrily glaring at each other.

“So from what I read, there’s a master control for the Janitors in the headmaster’s bedroom, behind the bed’s backboard,” I said, breaking the silence. Symptom grabbed all the pieces of the guns and shoved them into Monarch’s saddlebags. “Grime, any idea where that is?”

“Top floor. It’s somewhere up there. I’ve never really gone up there because of the Janitors,” she answered without removing her gaze from Blueprints. “And I have no desire to.”

“If she’s not going, I’m not going,” Monarch said with a quiver in his voice.

“You haven’t even seen one of them yet, idiot,” Symptom said. “But if it’s all the same, I’ll pass too. I don’t really have a working gun right now,” she gestured to the pieces on the ground.

I sighed. “Blueprints? Are you staying too?”

Blueprints pulled his glare away from Grime. “Anything to get away from those two,” he said, gesturing at Grime and Symptom. The latter snickered before returning to her gun. “Sure.”

We stepped outside the office and closed the other three in. Blueprints nodded at me and we trotted towards the nearest staircase. I took the lead, using the reflections off my Pipbuck to look around corners for Janitors. For the next floor we were clear. Same with the next floor. On our way up the stairs, I felt comfortable enough to ask Blueprints a question. “So why do you not like your father?”

He shook his mane out of his eyes. “Like I said before, he was really successful. Probably the highest ranking earth pony in Mesa City. Hell, he may have talked with Pride a few times. But he just up and left my mother while she was pregnant with me. No explanation. Left no money.” We peeked around a corner and he continued in a whisper. “My mom told me that she missed all the signs before he left. He never spoke to her except to initiate sex. His departure took away all the respect my mom had in the guild. Which transferred to me. So he’s responsible for making me start with less than nothing as a merchant.”

I nodded slowly. It seemed like as good a reason as any to hate one’s father. “But do you really think he deserved to die from that?” I asked. “Seems a bit petty.”

Blueprints shuddered. “Not the way he did. And I guess I wouldn’t have killed him if I had seen him. I would have tried to talk to him. Try to find out why he left. But seeing him there with no warning, and already dead, just kinda rattled me, you know?” His expression softened a bit. “I think I owe it to him to give him a proper burial at least.”

I felt like I started to see the picture. “So you’re taking out your anger on Grime?”

His expression hardened again. “No. She’s not a good pony, Ace. And I still don’t get how she was able to live this long with all these robots around. They’re probably not that hard to dismantle.” His tone started to scare me a little. “You know,” he said with a louder voice, “I think we should leave. Now. Leave Monarch, Symptom, Grime, all of them to die. Let’s just get out and head south, forget everything here.” He stopped and grinned at me. “After all,” he said loudly, “they’d do it to us if they could. Leave us to die.”

I looked at the hallway in front of us and saw a shadow looming out of one of the doorways. “Prints, keep your voice down,” I whispered.

“Why should I?” His grin vanished instantly. “I bet that little dust ball has a control in the office and those things don’t operate on sound like she said. You’re going off the word of somepony that has lived here with the creatures her entire life without getting hurt. That doesn’t seem fishy to you at all?” Down the hall, the shadow started creeping along the wall and the hints of a metallic pony crept around the corner. On its head, the light was glowing faintly.

“Blueprints! Shut up!” I yelled, pulling out Sapphire. I aimed it at the ground a few feet ahead of us.

Blueprints followed the path of my gun and shut up. He ducked down and readied the saddle at the machine. “Some armor-piercing bullets would be nice right about now,” he murmured. I shot him an accusing glare and he grinned apologetically. “Sorry, I got carried away,” he whispered.

Down the hall, the Janitor slowly turned around the corner. The light on its head started flashing, seeming to taunt us with our doom. I chanced a look behind us and saw another one crossing that corner as well, its light still dull. Blueprints let out a whimper. I leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, “You take the one in front, just keep pounding it with bullets. I’ll try to stop the one in the back.” He gave no indication of hearing, but his mouth closed tighter around his saddle trigger. Nodding, I turned around to face the Janitor behind us; its light had started to glow as well.

“Celestia is my shepherd,” Blueprints whispered.

Ignoring the weirdness of what he just said, I switched on SATS, aimed at the ground right in front of him, and fired.

“INTRUDERS DETECTED! INTRUDERS DETECTED!” Well that was different than the other one’s message. An icicle grew from where my shot landed, a few feet in front of the Janitor. It charged forwards, leaping over the icicle. Shots fired from Blueprints saddle, followed shortly after by “pings” against the other Janitor. The back one stumbled, and I noticed its back leg tipped the icicle and had stuck to it, ripping it from the robot’s body. I aimed another shot at the head, but my mouth was too shaky for me to get a lock.

Hoping that it wouldn’t get up again, I turned my back on it to see how close the front Janitor had gotten. Its light was cracked, which seemed to slow the thing down, but it still charged at us at a breakneck pace. Blueprints glanced at me in fear, giving me an I’m-out-of-ammo look. I took a deep breath and hoisted myself up on two legs, using my wings for balance.

Blueprints pulled out a knife and sprinted to the back Janitor. I held out my front hooves, claws attached, ready to meet the charging Janitor. I tried to think of any confrontation back in Cormount that might have prepared me for this, but somehow, I couldn’t think of anything that readied me for dying by hand of a mechanical torture machine turned “janitor.”

And then I realized I was going to die.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw hanging next to me another mirror, again showing the distraught pegasus that I had seen earlier. This time he was on his back hooves, front ones outstretched comically, like he was trying to hold back something. His mane was slicked back greasily, and he was still on the verge of tears.

But one main difference divided the two.

This one had a light blue pistol sticking out of his mouth. And I realized that that blue was the same color as the sky I’d read about in old books. The one blocked out by clouds that I had been too afraid to clear. I had been too afraid to leave the safe walls of my hometown. And now I was afraid I would never be able to leave again.

I wanted to see that sky.

I wanted to get out.

The pony in the mirror changed. The slicked back mane showed efficiency, not carelessness. The back hooves showed determination, not fear. The front hooves looked ready to take on the future, not hold on to the past. And the eyes narrowed. I shifted my attention back to the charging Janitor and shifted my weight to my back right hoof. I pulled my front right hoof back and felt myself thrusting it toward the light on the Janitor’s head. Somehow I knew that was where I should hit. My hoof connected with the pulsing light just as I felt the machine’s metal teeth close in on my head.

***********************

“What happened to him?”

“Janitor got to him. He’ll be fine, I just need help fixing him up.”

“He’s waking up, you know.”

“That’s a good sign, but he needs to be knocked back out. That thing nearly crushed his head, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to see what happened to his hoof.”

“Sorry, I don’t carry anesthesia around with me.”

“I could hit him with a filing cabinet!”

“Symptom, now’s not the time. What’s that ball that just rolled out of his bag?”

“It’s a memory orb! Monarch, can you activate it for him? That should keep him under long enough for me to fix him up.”

“Sure, but... uh... how?”

“I don’t know! You’re the unicorn, those things were made for you!”

“Hit him on the head with it.”

“You know, that may actually work.”

“Wait, how did you get him away from the Janitor?”

“Well, there were two, but they’re both in a burning pile of metal right now.”

“You destroyed them? Nice!”

“There’s an option on his Pipbuck here... ‘Activate Memory Orb’ Do I push it?”

“No... you’re supposed to buy it dinner first.”

ooo000OOO000ooo

I was in the freezer.

It was emptier than it was when I was in there with Grime. And I was chewing on something, though the taste was unfamiliar to me. My host was an earth pony, and from the feel of it, a mare. I swallowed and took another bite off of something that my host refused to look at. I swallowed again and took another bite, this time getting me a look at what I was eating.

A chunk of a pony’s abdomen.

I felt sick, though clearly my host didn’t. We were on the verge of taking another bite when a gun was cocked from behind us. “So this explains why they’re in chunks.”

I turned around. Aiming a pistol at my head was Blueprints’ dad. “Wait, Steel, this isn’t as bad as it looks like,” I felt come out of my mouth. “I have to to survive.”

“Why don’t you just leave then?” he said. “You don’t have to stay here. I’d leave right now if I wasn’t certain my destiny was here somewhere. This can’t be the best place to raise your kid.”

“I can’t take her anywhere else!” I explained. “She’s afraid of the outside. She’s seen the bandits, the rapists, the outlaws that take refuge in here away from the snow, she’s terrified of leaving.”

Steel lowered his gun. “She’s also scared of leaving you. If she really wanted to stay, she would have let you leave a long time ago. But she needs you, not this orphanage.”

I started crying. “So what am I supposed to do, then? If I leave and she doesn’t come, she’ll die! And if she stays, the Janitors will kill her anyway!”

Steel slid the gun in his holster and trotted over to me, patting me on the back. “There, there,” he said soothingly. I felt a serious sense of déjà vu. “The real question is this: Is she afraid of leaving? Or are you?”

The question stung me in a way I’m not entirely sure how. Maybe it just stung Grime’s mother. I still wasn’t very good with memories. Steel pulled his hoof off my back and started to trot out of the freezer. “In any case, I won’t leave. If it’s Grime you’re worried about, I’ll take care of her if you leave.”

The scene seemed to dissolve and reappear. I was in the office with what looked like a younger form of Grime. She was perched on top of the filing cabinet, playfully throwing papers everywhere. Seated on the desk was Steel, flipping through some book. I paced around, glancing nervously at the door every once in awhile.

“Relax, they can’t get to us in here,” Steel said without looking up. “They’ll be gone in a few hours and we can go explore again.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about, Steel,” I said. “It’s the others. The group that came in here earlier. They’re probably going to get themselves killed. And we couldn’t warn them.”

Steel lowered his book. “Others?” he said sharply. “Some others came in?”

I nodded. “Yeah, about half an hour ago... wait!” I yelled, but Steel had already charged out the door. I turned around. “Grime! Stay here and don’t move. Mommy’ll be right back.” Grime smiled and nodded. I dashed out and slammed the door behind me.

Steel ran around a corner, the Janitor that had been waiting outside right on his tail. I sprinted after them, darting around each corner, just following the trail of blood. After a few turns, I lost sight of them and a few turns later, I lost the trail to follow them. I listened for a sign of fighting and heard a scream come from the other end of the building.

I ran through the nearest hallway and came across somepony I’d never seen before getting chopped up by a Janitor. Behind him was Steel, frozen in fear, with another Janitor about to pounce on him. “No!” I heard my host yell. The Janitor ripped off a chunk of the back legs of Steel. My host leapt across the digesting Janitor, and kicked the one that bit Steel in the face. It stopped paying attention to Steel, now bleeding profusely out of his flank, and turned its attention to me.

I dashed down the hallways, a lifetime’s knowledge of the orphanage helping me escape. Several turns later, I was darting back into the office. Grime broke into a smile when I ran in. “Mommy! You’re back!” Her smile dimmed a bit while glancing behind her. “Where’s Steel?”

“He’ll be back soon,” I lied. “I promise. How about we play the dirt game? Whoever makes their half of the room messier wins!” Her smile returned in full and I felt some happiness well up in me. Not just in my host.

ooo000OOO000ooo

I awoke with a dull ache in my head that was dwarfed by the agony in my hoof. I could feel my eyes were open, but nothing focussed. I was lying on my front with my pained hoof elevated on a stack of papers. Judging from the smoothness of the surface I was lying on, I was still in the office, on the desk. The smell of burnt machinery wafted in from the open door, and I heard some voices coming from the hallway.

“That’s red, Symptom! Your. Blood. Is. Red.” That was Blueprints’ voice.

“So? Yours is too, but you don’t hear me blabbering about it!” Symptom had responded.

“I don’t see the issue here either, Prints,” Monarch’s voice had the air of superiority he had when I first met him. “So she got cut during the fight. Big whoop.”

“But she’s a ghoul!” Blueprints’ voice was closer. My eyes started adjusting to the light in the room. I shook my head slowly and let out a moan.

“So what if I’m a ghoul? I still have blood!”

“Ghoul blood is supposed to be black!”

Silence from outside the room. I let out another soft moan, too weak to make anything louder. A gust of air brushed me as something hit the floor in front of me. “Guys!” Grime called out. “He’s waking up!”

A sound of trotting came from the same direction of the open door. My eyes started to clear up and I could see Grime grinning at me. I tried to lift my head, but gravity decided I wasn’t going to move. Blueprints walked next to Grime and grinned too, but he had a strange look on his face right before.

“Ace! I’m really sorry about what happened, it was my fault,” he said, turning his grin a bit apologetic. “I didn’t realize how deadly those things are. But we found out how to deactivate them without going up to the top floor. That light on top of their heads has something to do with detection. Once it gets destroyed, they essentially power down.”

Monarch stepped into view with another big grin. “I’ve been getting all of them myself. Seems like I’ve got the most accurate gun from a distance.” I tried to give some acknowledgement, but only managed to eek out another groan. “Uh... we were going to wait until you were awake to give you painkillers,” Monarch explained.

“I voted not to,” Blueprints piped up. “Those things are addictive. It could completely ruin your life.”

“Just shut up and give him the drugs,” Symptom’s voice came from behind me. I felt her shotgun land right between my back legs and I winced involuntarily. “Anything to get him up again. I’m tired of this place.” Monarch shrugged and tossed a few pills in my mouth. My vision immediately cleared and the pain in my head disappeared, though I still felt throbs in my hoof. “Now that I think about it though, those may not be painkillers,” Symptom continued. “I found them in an unlabeled bottle.”

Blueprints face turned from apologetic to horrified. “So we just gave Ace some random pills that you found?” I pushed myself up from the table. Monarch nodded and trotted back out the door, his rifle floating behind him with a creepy black glow around it. Blueprints started to frown.

“Has his magic always been black?” I asked.

“As far as I know, yes,” Symptom responded. I turned around and watched her attempt to put a bandage around her cut leg. Unfortunately for her, she managed to yank on the bandage too hard and pulled one of her hooves out from under her, causing her to fall in a heap. Blueprints and I tried unsuccessfully to hold back a chuckle. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up. That thing skidded farther than I thought it would on carpet.”

“You never answered my question,” Blueprints said after we calmed down. “Why is your blood red? I thought ghouls had black blood.”

Symptom’s eyes glazed over. I blinked and glanced over at Blueprints to see if he saw it too, but his gaze was on the blood pooling by her hooves. “Where do ghouls come from anyway?” I asked. A faint robotic voice came from a nearby hallway, quickly followed by a gunshot.

“It’s hard to explain, but the fallen balefire bombs caused a bunch of different types of radiation,” Blueprints explained. “This radiation all has essentially the same effect on ponies of killing them and rotting their bodies and minds from the inside out. Some ghouls beat the odds and stay sane, while others lose their minds and attack friends and family.” As good an explanation as any, I guess.

Symptom snapped back into reality. “Let’s say I don’t follow the same rules.” She glanced over at me and frowned. “There are the Pink Cloud ghouls down in Canterlot, basic radiation ghouls in the major radiation sites like Splendid Valley, Manehatten, and in pockets around Central Equestria, and then there’s Taint. But I’m none of the above.” One look at Blueprints told me he wasn’t following this at all. Good. That meant I wasn’t the only one.

“I thought there was something odd about you,” Grime piped up from the cabinet she had leapt back on top of. I completely forgot she was in here. “You look funny.”

Symptom’s expression hardened. “Yeah, well, only on the outside. Basically my outside died, my inside didn’t. So I’m a living pony in a dead pony’s body.” She trotted out of the office with a bandage haphazardly placed on her cut. Blueprints shrugged at me and followed her out, leaving me in the room with Grime.

“Is she always that harsh?” Grime asked.

“She has the whole week I’ve known her,” I answered. “You know, I’ve got a question about you. You already told me you were afraid to leave. Did anything really cause that phobia?” The wall around Cormount appeared in my mind.

She looked at me confused. “What makes you ask that? I mean, I guess it was because my mom always told me that outside was dangerous. So I was always scared of actively going out into danger.”

“And yet you never realized that this very building is probably more dangerous than most of Equestria?” I asked. Grime remained silent. Panther’s last words to me played in my mind.

“We don’t need you around here.”

“We don’t want you around here.”

“Can’t fly away now, can you, ya fucking winger!”

I realized Grime was starting to say something. I came back to reality just in time to hear the last words. “...it’s not like I’m afraid to leave, I’ve just never felt like I wanted to.”

And then it all came together to me. “Your mother was scared to leave. Something must have happened to her involving seeing somepony leave and never return.” Grime’s eyes widened. “She didn’t want the same thing to happen to herself or her daughter, so she taught you to be afraid of the outside.” Blueprints, the first pony I’d met from the Wasteland, was nicer to me than any pony in Cormount had ever been. “Even though it’s nothing anypony can’t handle.”

Grime’s mouth opened slowly, then closed again. Then she found her voice. “No, that can’t be it. Mommy wouldn’t have lied to me. It’s safer in here than out there. She said ‘no ponies to kill, rape, torture us in here.’” Tears started welling in her eyes again. I nervously glanced out the open door, but apparently Symptom had closed it on her way out. “Don’t you dare talk about Mommy like that,” she said, with her eyes turning to a glare. “You’re not going to drag me out of here, especially not since you cleared out the Janitors. It’s really safe now.” A grin grew on her face, but I couldn’t detect any happiness in it. “I can live here forever. I will live here forever.”

I shifted uneasily. At least she wasn’t going to try and kill us though. “Well, I guess if you’re happy staying here, we can’t force you to leave,” I said slowly, backing towards the door. “So we’ll just be going now,” I reached a hoof for the door and grasped the handle, “and just leave you here,” I opened the door and started hobbling out, “okay? Bye.”

Grime grabbed Symptom’s shotgun off the desk and swung it towards me. “Leave the pistol,” she said shortly. I glanced down at the blue gun hanging in its holster. Electing not to give the crazy pony a powerful icicle launcher, I put on a big smile, slammed the door, and launched off down the hallway. Right as I cleared the doorway, the door exploded from the shotgun blast. What did Symptom do to that thing?

I rounded a corner and ran right into Blueprints. “You need to stop doing that,” he said, rubbing his temple. “Not all of us are as hard-headed as you.”

I grabbed his mane and flew off again, mentally reminding myself to answer the questions he was shouting in between the curse words that I’m fairly certain Celestia would not be happy with. I wrapped my good front hoof around his abdomen and focussed all my energy on not hitting anything. At the speed we were going, I’m fairly certain we would just splatter on an impact.

As we rounded another corner, I heard the crack of a sniper rifle shot, right before I felt something small but fast smash into my Pipbuck. The shot knocked me off course and the two of us skidded down the hallway to land at Monarch’s hooves.

His black cheeks turned a dark shade of pink as he apologized. “You can’t just zoom around corners like that, Ace. I thought you were a Janitor.”

I groaned and pulled myself up, thankful my Pipbuck was not on my bad hoof. “That was a great shot, but now you’ve hit me twice. Please don’t make this a habit.”

Monarch’s face turned back into its normal hues. “Why are you two flying around like that?” Symptom’s voice came from behind him. She trotted into view. “Also, did you happen to grab my shotgun? I think I left it in the office.”

“Yeah you did. And now Grime’s trying to shoot me with it,” I answered sharply. “We need to get out of here.”

“Why is she shooting at you?” Blueprints asked, dusting himself off.

“She wants Sapphire.”

“So give it to her,” Monarch said, looking through his scope around another corner. “We can get you another gun.”

“What makes you think she’ll be happy with that? I think she’s just completely lost it.”

“She was fine when we left,” said Blueprints. “What did you do to her?”

“I may have insinuated that her mother psychologically made her afraid of going outside.”

Blueprints stared at me. “Why would you say that? What made you think that?”

“The memory orb that I was in. Your father kind of explained it to her mother and her mother rejected it.”

I felt a surge of anger from Blueprints when I mentioned his father, but it had subsided when I finished. “That actually makes sense. I’m impressed.”

I smiled nervously. “I’m no psychiatrist, but I figured that one out,” I said, again thinking about Cormount’s wall.

“So what are we going to do?” he asked.

“We leave,” piped up Symptom. “If she’s going around with my shotgun, she’ll get herself killed. That thing could backfire at any minute.”

I was beginning to expect that kind of thing from her. Apparently Blueprints did not. “She’s a little filly! That’s practically killing her ourselves! Do you really want that on your conscience?”

Symptom snarled. “This coming from the pony who wanted to kill her when he found out she was a cannibal. Yeah! Let’s kill her!”

Monarch gave her a stern look. “Symptom, she’s done nothing to us yet. At any rate, she’s clearly not completely sane right now. We need to calm her down, at least. So we need to disarm her, and probably trap her in some way that she can’t hurt us.”

“Well, how many Janitors are left?” I asked. “She seemed to think you got all of them.”

“Hardly,” replied Symptom. “We’ve still got the top floor to worry about. They’re different than the ones down here though. No light on their heads. And they don’t leave the trail of blood.”

“Are they as dangerous?” I asked curiously.

“No, they actually shoot a magical salve that cures all wounds,” said Blueprints with an eye roll. “Yeah. They have guns, not just claws. I’m really glad we stopped where we did on our way up, because there was only one more floor before those demons.”

“Everything’s a demon with you, isn’t it?” Monarch said with a small smile. We started walking up a flight of stairs, and I heard another shotgun shot faintly. “Admittedly, if she kills herself, it will save us a lot of trouble. So what’s our plan going to be? I’m assuming we’re not just going to lure her up to the killer robots on the top floor?”

“Let’s do that. Then if they kill her, we won’t feel any guilt,” Symptom said excitedly. I forced myself to hide a chuckle.

“Look, it’s simple logic here,” Blueprints explained, apparently ignoring what Symptom just said. “The more Janitors we destroy, the less of a grip on sanity she has.” What? How the fuck did he come up with that? “So if we kill all of them, all traces of sanity will be gone on her and she’ll probably try to kill us.”

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees massive holes in that theory,” said Monarch. Symptom and I both nodded in agreement. Blueprints just shrugged. “In any case, let’s worry about her after we take out the rest of the Janitors.” The rest of us agreed and we traversed the next few flights of stairs in silence.

When we reached what I assumed to be the top floor, Monarch held up his hoof and his horn started to glow. “Simple detection spell,” Blueprints explained to me. I guess I was looking more confused than usual. “It’s how we make sure we don’t open a door just to see one.”

Monarch nodded and opened the door. I pulled out Sapphire and nodded back at him. He took a few steps into the hallway, followed shortly by Symptom, me, then Blueprints at the rear. “With the last few floors, we set up a barricade in a corner and made a lot of noise, to attract them,” Symptom whispered to me. “We tried that on this floor and they just opened fire on us. Luckily, Monarch threw a shield up for us and we ducked back down the stairs.”

“Lucky for you, I’m here this time,” I said, brandishing my Pipbuck. “This thing’s got Eyes-Forward-Sparkle; it detects enemies and friendlies in the area.” I quickly scanned the EFS. The three green dots near me were Monarch, Blueprints, and Symptom. Around the rest of the floor were five red bars, each of them standing still in separate parts of the floor. “Okay, there’s only five of them,” I whispered.

“Yeah. Only,” Monarch muttered. “Our problem now isn’t that there are a lot. We have no fucking clue how to kill the damn things.”

“Did you try shooting them?” I asked.

Blueprints gave me a blank look. “Sometimes I think you’re serious.” Okay, so it wasn’t funny. I wasn’t a comedian back in Cormount, alright?

“To be honest, we didn’t,” said Symptom. “We saw they were firing at us and didn’t have lights, so we ran.”

“So let’s try that,” I said, slowly creeping to a corner around which one of them was standing. I peeked my head out.

Luckily it was facing away from me. This thing was bigger than the ones that Blueprints and I took down. It reminded me of the Steel Rangers at Pipsqueak Port. Hanging off its left side was what looked like a heavy machine gun. The metal that it was made of was not quite as shiny as the other Janitors. I guessed that cleanliness wasn’t as much of a big deal with them. Right where the mane would have been on a normal pony was glowing red.

I turned back around and gestured for the other three. Then I stopped them and gestured just for Monarch. I didn’t want to risk Blueprints making too much noise by tripping. Monarch crept over. “What is it?” he whispered.

“The light’s right on the back of its head, but it’s covered by some armor plating. I don’t know how powerful your rifle is, but there’s the weak point.” Monarch nodded and aimed the rifle. I backed away to ease any pressure that may have been on him.

And then a shotgun blast burst from the staircase.

Immediately, Blueprints and Symptom were running past Monarch and me. Monarch sheathed his gun and we followed, hearing a cackle and another shot right behind us. I leapt up and over the Janitor (who had opened fire on Blueprints and Symptom) and my wings caught the air. I turned a corner and caught Monarch stabbing the light with his sword out of the corner of my eye.

Turning around another corner, I came face to face with another Janitor. No time to think, I pulled the trigger on Sapphire and watched the icicle fly through the machine’s head. The body crumpled as I shot over it. I scattered a few bits of flaming metal which started to set the carpet on fire. I cursed, but decided that there was nothing for it.

I skidded to a stop around yet another corner. From all directions, I heard various bits of gunfire, with the occasional crack of the shotgun. Seriously, what had Symptom done to that thing? I glanced down at my EFS. One green bar was on top of a red bar (I could only assume that was Symptom), one still fleeing from another, and one standing in a corner with another one standing down a hall facing it, just around the corner from me. I elected to go for that one.

I three-hoof trotted down around the corner. Monarch was holding up a shield that was being battered by bullets from a Janitor. I took aim at the thing’s head and pulled the trigger on Sapphire. Nothing came out. I cursed and shoved it back into its holster. The only other weapon I had was one hoof claw, the other having disappeared with my hoof shattering. I lamented the fact that it wasn’t on my dominant hoof, then started sneaking towards the Janitor. I made eye-contact with Monarch, his face straining from the stress of holding up the shield.

I leapt up on the Janitor’s back and shoved my claw into the back of its head. Its knee joints buckled and the machine crashed to the ground. Monarch let down the shield and cantered over to me. “See the others yet?”

I shook my head and looked back at my EFS. There was only one red bar now, which was chasing both of the other green bars. I found a spot where we could head them off and gestured Monarch to follow me.

We stopped at an intersection between hallways. “Here’s the plan; you try to magically yank the gun away from Grime while I tackle her, savvy?” I whispered. Monarch nodded. I snuck a look down the crossways and saw Blueprints and Symptom barreling down the hallway. Monarch and I took our positions. Blueprints and Symptom reached the intersection and promptly turned our direction.

Running straight into us.

“Shit, she’s going to get us now!” Symptom yelled, hopping back up. Somehow, I’d managed to stay up on my hooves while Blueprints and Monarch had landed in a provocative manner. If we weren’t about to die, I would have found it hilarious. Unfortunately, right behind them on the turn was Grime.

Who promptly ran into me.

The shotgun slid across the carpet and Grime promptly collapsed after hitting me. “Ow! Why are you doing this to me?” she screamed from the ground. I looked over at the other three, who mirrored my confusion.

“Uh... doing what?” asked Blueprints. “You came at us with a shotgun. All we were doing was dismantling the Janitors. With our guns.”

She sobbed. “Exactly! That was my only source of food! And defense against ponies from the outside! You’ve killed my life!”

Understanding dawned on Blueprints’ face. But Symptom spoke before he could do anything. “Quit being a foal. It’s a tough fucking world, get used to it and go.” She casually picked up the shotgun and tossed down the hallway. The second it hit the ground, it exploded. “One more shot and that thing would have turned you into so many pieces, the Janitors wouldn’t have been able to pick up all of them.”

Grime had stopped crying and was looking at Symptom fearfully. Monarch raised a hoof to shush Symptom, but she was on a roll. “‘Boo hoo, my mommy got killed by the things that live with us, so I’m going to whine about it over and over until everypony here gets sick of me.’ You know the closest thing I had to a mother was a pony that occasionally gave me food. Occasionally. If I cried, I would have gotten beat. Or worse. So tell me you have a tough life. Tell me how much you can’t stand us. Never mind that we just made your life that much easier to live expecting absolutely nothing in return. You make me sick.” She spit on the ground in front of Grime. “Come on,” she said to us, “let’s leave the vermin.”

My mind traced back to yesterday when Symptom said more or less the same thing to the soldier at the camp. The eye popped into my head and I struggled to keep myself from puking again. Then I thought of Grime’s eye in that same spot. I looked in her eyes and saw the same look of fear that was on the soldier’s face.

I couldn’t live through that again.

“Symptom, stop.” I said firmly. “Grime, listen, I know exactly how you feel.” Monarch scoffed disapprovingly. “To be honest, I’m terrified of the Wasteland too. More so than those three. Back in my hometown of Cormount, we had a wall, separating us from the outside. Everypony in the town was afraid of it, its largeness, its looming nature. But not me. I saw it as safety. Because I knew that everything outside was unfamiliar to me.”

I smiled what I hoped to be a warm smile. “I was the only pegasus in town. I could leave whenever I wanted. But I didn’t. Because I was familiar with Cormount. Even though everypony there hated everything about me, I stayed. Even though I was risking my life by being there, yes there were several attempts on my life there, I stayed. Because I believed that the familiar dangers of Cormount were easier than the unfamiliar dangers of the Wasteland.”

My smile faded. “Then some ponies came in and enslaved everypony in the town. Lucky for me Blueprints was there,” I knew he grew a proud grin right there, “or I’d have been taken too. But I was forced to leave. And I found out that I liked the openness of the Wasteland. Then I was shot. Stabbed. Watched somepony kill themselves in front of me. I nearly killed myself this morning with my ignorance. But knowing my past, I’d rather be out there than hiding in here.”

Symptom gave a loud yawn. “Awesome story, Ace, I really want to hear it again, but can we go? I’m starting to get really bored.” I turned to shoot her a glare, but Monarch was already doing that. Grime on the other hoof, was smiling.

For some reason, that smile looked very familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. I pushed it out of my mind and grinned back. “Thank you, Ace. But I’m not leaving.”

My face fell. “What?” I exclaimed. “Why would you stay here?”

She kept on smiling. “This is my life. I can’t leave my mommy. And she won’t want to leave. So I’ll stay here. I know kind ponies that come in will give me food. And they’ll try to get me to leave too. But I won’t. This is my home.”

“Okay! She’s staying here! Let’s get the fuck out!” said Symptom.

“Come on, Ace. She’ll be fine,” Blueprints said. “We can leave some food here just in case.”

Monarch nodded. “She’s in less danger than she was before. And we can’t rescue those who don’t want to be rescued.”

The three of them turned and started walking for the stairway. I turned my gaze to Grime, who was walking away, probably to the bedroom to turn off the master switch if there were any Janitors left. I sighed and hobbled after my friends. I took one more glance behind us and watched Grime disappear into a room.

My Pipbuck flashed hot for a second. I glanced at it, but no notifications had come up. I shrugged and turned my thoughts back to the wall around Cormount. Resting on top of it was a single eyeball.

Note* Level Up!

Perks added: Stalwart level 1: Ponies and objects hitting you won’t move you as far or make you stumble as much.

(Thanks to the various people helping edit, pre-read, and edit some more)