Fallout Equestria: lost Remembrance

Chapter 3: Snow to snow

“Hey, everypony this is DJ-PON3 and I’m broadcasting from Manehattion once again. Also, Littlepip say hi to everypony. That’s right she is still alive. Even, at the right all age of that is none of your business. No mare likes having her age told. But, still she says hi. Now, mares and gentlecolts lets see what news is happening at Stalliongrad. It appears a blizzard has settled into the area. It looks like it won’t go away for several days. Also, our friend the wonderful Ditzy Doo, that’s right everypony the author of the Wasteland Survival Guide is in Stalliongrad for some business and who knows she may just meet our friend the Ghost and sadly still there is a high bounty on his head. I have some friends in the NER and they tell me that some of those charges are bogus and the higher ups want to capture him for some reason even they don’t know.”

“Rumors around the NER are that the President wants to talk to the Ghost about something. Speaking of the NER due to the blizzard that has engulfed the city there march there has been delayed until farther notice. Also, in the south end of Stalliongrad there were reports of some serious fighting inside an apartment building. When the sounds of fighting were over, two ponies came out  both appear male. One was wearing winterized combat armor and the other was wearing riot armor with the matching helmet but, here is the kicker the helmet has a slash across the face. There bags seemed to be over flowing with gear. The one with the combat armor was said to have at LEAST four assault rifles on him along with a hunting rifle. The other was said to have two pistols, a marksmen carbine, and Zebra assault rifle. When they left. The witness went inside to find that an entire firefight went down. It seemed like a small explosion happened between about four different ponies all but, one were killed in the blast as the last one committed suicide via cyanide pill. Is this the Ghost or some lucky bastard that just happened to have a grenade? Coincidence? I think not. That’s your news for the hour. Now, here is a favorite from my old pal, Velvet Remedy.”

********

When I woke up the next morning I check the time on my pip buck. 0800 on the dot. I was the first one up. There was still a small fire going from the one last night. I looked at the two ghouls sleeping next too each other. The grey one from what I learned last night was the wonderful Ditzy Doo, the author of the Wasteland Survival Guide. Why do I feel like I’m quoting somepony? I put a piece of shelf on the fire and it caught almost immediately. It felt warm for once. I looked at my pack. It was filled with water and food that Fire trade with Ditzy Doo. It cost us two sets of the combat armor but, we got about 125 caps in change. Note to self: let him do the trading. I almost don’t want to talk about the moment when I saw that she had a bottle of whisky. I about paid 30 caps for the damn thing but, Fire basically pimp slapped the back of my head. He got it for 10 caps. I’m never going to hear the end of that. The only ammo that Ditzy had was armor piercing in .308. We got about fifteen rounds at about 6 caps each. But, after I began to drink the whisky that night faded into mush. I had a mild headache. I yawned and got up. I walked to the Sparkle-cola machine inside. Surprisingly, it wasn’t pried open yet. I opened it and there were two Sparkle-colas.

I popped one opened and when I did,  Fire popped up like a fucking rocket. “SPARKLE-COLA!!” he yelled making everypony jump up and making them draw their guns. His eyes went to opposite sides like one the pink pony from the propaganda posters. Scared the shit out of me and then he basically tackled me and he grabbed the cola and jugged it down all in one motion. He let a satisfied ah. I was still on the floor wondering what the hell just happened. One moment I was about to take a drink of cola and the next I’m on the ground wondering if I just got hit by a sky wagon.

One of the other ponies a green mare came to my side helped me get up. “Did anypony get the number of that sky wagon?” I said is dazed. I thought I saw mini bloodwings circling around my head. I got back up when I could see straight and I looked at my brown friend. He had a sheepish grin on his face as I looked at him. I raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he nodded without a word. I looked at the window and cleared some of the dust. It was pitch white outside. You probably couldn’t see your hoof right in front of  your face. “Well, it looks like were stuck here for the moment.” I looked at Ditzy. “Hey, Ditzy can I ask you some questions?” I asked as I sat down next to the fire. The green mare sat next to me and the rest followed suit.

She wrote on her black board and show me: “Yes, what would you like to know? Other then that I would love to have a muffin. Do you have a muffin?”

“Sorry, I don’t have a muffin.” I said. She lowered her head like she was about to cry. “But, I will give you some if I find or get any.” She smiled as I said. Well, damn. Hook, line and sinker. “I only have three questions.”  she erased her board getting ready to answer my questions. “Why do you use a black board to talk?” I asked. She responded by  pointing to her tongue or at least what was left of it. “Let me guess. Raiders?” she nodded. “Alright, second question, why are you here? Every time I hear about you, you are always in New Appleloosa.”

She began to write on her board. She showed me and it read: “I’m here to make an additional chapter on the Wasteland Survival guide on how to survive in the north. Could you help me with it?”

I looked at her and thought for a second. “I would love too. It’s not like we can go anywhere anytime soon. But, can you answer my final question?” she nodded as she erased her board. The crackle in the fire made me look at it and then, I saw that everypony was looking at us.  “Do you know what this is?” I asked as I levitated the patch of fabric with the red star on it.

She stared at it like she was seeing a Ghost then, she wrote on her board like it was the end of the world. She showed me again it read in all caps : “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!”

“I got it off a pony that was apart of a team that tried to capture me and kill my cola freak of a friend back inside of an apartment building. Why?”

She frantically erased and wrote. “That was the insignia of the North Communist Union that caused a civil war five years before the war with the Zebras! They were the reason that we depended on coal so much was to defeat them! It didn‘t last long but, still they killed a lot of innocent ponies. Celestia had everypony that was involved in the killings hunted down either to be killed, put into prison camps, or exiled!” she looked at me then, erased the board. She began to write again. She showed me again it read: “Why… Why do you have this?”

I looked at Fire and he nodded. “We got it off the body of a second in command pony in a team that was sent to capture me. The pony in charged, the way he talked was like he wanted me and Fire to kill his team. The way he spoke before he left he sounded satisfied.” I said getting a little confused in the process.

She erased and began to write again. “Why do they want you?” she wrote.

“I… don’t know. He said in all due time. It sounded like he wanted to see if could survive anymore or something but, I don’t know.  All I know is that I got a gut feeling that we’re going to meet them real soon.”

The ghoul right next to her with what seemed to be wearing Night guard armor from before the war got up and cleared his throat. The other ponies plugged their ears making me and Fire look at each other with our eyebrows up. “DO YOU KNOW THIS COMMANDER‘S NAME?” says the Ghoul that left the Caps lock on, which left me and Fire rubbing our ears.

“Ow.” I said wondering if I gone deaf or not. “but, yes I know his name. He called himself Black Jet. Do you guys know who that is?”

The Ghouls thought for a second for a second with a worried looked on their faces then, they shook their heads. I looked at the two regular ponies including the mare sitting right next to me and they shook their head too. I sigh and then I thought popped into my head. “I’m sorry but, I didn’t catch your names.”

The buck smiled. “I’m Sliver Back and this is Live Wire.” he nodded toward the green mare. “I believe that you two already met.”

I raised my eyebrow. “What?”  All I got for a response was the green mare blushing. My eyes widened. “What in the hell did I do last night?!” I looked at the green mare I could tell that her blushing matched her mane. I looked back at Sliver back for a second to get a good look at him. He was grey (of course) with strangely an orange mane. Odd it is.

“Two words my friend. Applejack Whiskey.” Fire said patting me on the back. I’m doomed for fucking eternity. I thought as I faced hoofed.  I’m stuck here for several days? Shit.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Ditzy with her board it read: “So, are you ready to answer some of my questions for the new chapter?”

I smiled a little. “Alright, I will answer some, just to pass the time.

********

Two days later.

Nothing really happened besides the several played out jokes of what happened the first night involving Applejack Whiskey. But, after the jokes I talked to Ditzy about how to survive in the frozen north. Hell, I told her everything about surviving. I told her about the gladiators, the raiders, how to find materials for a fire. How to enchant water not to freeze, and how it feels to get tackled by a Sparkle-Cola lover. That last part I just added in just to lighten the mood. But, back to the book. I told her what places to avoid and where to find shelter during a storm like this. Stuff like that.

I woke up two days later and the sound of the storm was gone. I looked at my pip buck again. 0800 on the dot. Again? I got up and cracked my neck. I tried to open the door but, the snow drift was too high. Damn it. I flared my horn and started to move the snow. The pip buck’s Geiger counter went off as I stepped outside with the cold wind hitting my face. It felt sharp and painful but, it felt good at the same time. I went back in and checked our gear as everypony woke up. When Fire woke up I was cleaning the Zebra assault rifle

“Morning. Is the storm over?” he said rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, it is.” I paused for a moment after I said that. “Hey, Fire I got ask you a question.”

He sat up and looked at me. “Shoot.”

“What are you going to do when we get to the market?” I said slapping the cover of the Zebra rifle.

“I’m thinking I’m going to quit the caravan guard business. The fight in the arena was the last straw but, I’m going to get my last pay check from those bastards at Cotton trail caravan company. I think they knew the dangers of that place and they didn’t tell us. They owe me the caps. You?” he said chambering a round into his assault rifle.

“I don’t know.” I said putting two more rounds of .44 magnum into the cylinder. “I’ll probably look into why the these ’communists’  want me so badly.”  I paused. “And more and likely I will get myself into trouble. I’ll probably need somepony to help me kick some ass.”

He thought about it for a moment but, he replied “Alright, after I’m done with the caravan company, I’ll have nothing else better to do and all of my other friends were kill either during the ambush or in the arena.” he shrugged. “Plus, hell when I’m around you, I get more caps and better weapons. Now, lets quit lollygagging, I need to get paid and then, we can find out more about our friends with the red star.”

I took a deep breath and placed my helmet on. The pip buck’s HUD pretty much goes with the helmet‘s red stare. I stopped as we got to the door. Ditzy and who she called Lion were sitting together eating some oats, while Sliver back and Live wire still were asleep. I smiled a little and walked out. I could see that Ditzy was waving goodbye but, something tells me that I’ll see the Ghoul again.

After about an hour of walking through the snow we found a metro tunnel. I and Fire looked at each other. My Pipbuck’s HUD let up and said: You have discovered S. Applejack metro station! That’s nice. I pushed open the chain link door and we stepped in. I checked my rifle to see if it had a round in it. I saw that Fire was doing to the same. When the doors closed it went dark. “Damn, I can’t see shit. I can’t even see my hoof in front of my face.”  We walked a little bit but, didn’t get far as Fire kept hitting every single trash can in the damn tunnel. I lit my horn but, the yellow light lit the tunnel dimly. Fire was rubbing his shin. “Couldn’t wait until I hit every trashcan?”

“Nope, but Fire are you sure that this is the way toward the town square?”

“Yeah… I think so.”

I turned to him taking off my helmet. “What do you mean you think so?”

“Hey, I’m sorry but, you’re the one with the map.”

“Don’t blame this on me, this thing only has markers from where I’ve been with it on my leg. According to it we have been three places. The arena and I think we won’t go there any time soon, that apartment building that we met our red friends and here.” I sighed and turned on the light. It was dimmer but, I don’t to experience magical burnout. “So, do you know where we go from here?”

“Yeah, we should just head north and follow the signs. One thing about pre-war ponies is they loved signs… and hoof grenades apparently they love hoof grenades.” I chuckled at that. “We got a long walk ahead so lets see what DJ-PON3 is saying.”

“Yeah, because unless you want to hear about me taking a shit then, the radio it is.”

I switched on the radio and it appears the end of a song with a nice country feel to it. “That was a rare piece made by Applejack herself. Apart from being the head of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, in her spare time she did some singing with a nice guitar. Here is some new for you folks near the Applejack metro.” When she said that Fire and me looked at each other. “There has been reports of strange noises near the west section of the metro, some ponies that have tried to investigate haven’t returned. Some say that a Stable is in there but, no pony knows. But, in the north section there has been reports of feral ghouls but, the reports are vague. Are the Ghouls spreading? Or is there something more to it? That is it for the hour and now a piece that I just received from a treasure hunter. I don’t want to set the world on fire. Oh, the irony.” the music began to echo through the tunnels. That moment the sounds of sucking and growling roared through the tunnel.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” I moaned our as I realized what it was.

“Celestia, Damn it. You just had to turn on the radio didn't you."

“Well, sorry but, I like music when I'm down here."

The sounds of the Ghouls got closer as we continued to bicker. "Well, whatever we need to go and not the way we came, cus i don't want to freeze." The moment that Fire said that a Ghoul appeared and roared.

That moment we pretty much left clouds of our body shapes, figuratively and almost literally. As we began to run the sickening sound of rotting flesh hitting concrete hit my ears. I turned and saw that about twenty-five ghouls are chasing us and a couple of them are fucking glowing, which is making my pip buck’s Geiger counter go off. Shit. I turned around back pedaling firing the Zebra assault rifle emptying the mag. I slapped in a new one and repeated. I did it three times using seventy-two rounds of ammo which leaves me with only three more magazines including the one in my rifle. After all of that I only killed ten of the fuckers and wounded about another seven taking off their legs so they aren’t problem. I turned around again and  began to run again. I turned to see that Fire was no longer at my side. “That fucker!” I yelled as I continued to run. Where the fuck is that yellow-bellied son of a bitch?! But, before I could think of more names, a hail of bullets pretty much made the Ghouls into mincemeat. The hostile signs were gone and all that stood was a single green dot. I heard hoofs step and saw the pony when he walked into the light. It was Fire with a fucking mini-gun. He had a smirk on his face.

“So, did you miss me?”

“Where did you go? You motherfucker!” I yelled almost throwing my helmet at him.

“Hey, hey don’t get pissy. I saw a dead pony that was eaten by the Ghouls with the gun and so when you began to fire, I took the chance and went for the gun. Two of the bastards went after me but, I killed them with the 10mm. It took me a few moments to get the thing working but, it’s almost falling apart.” he said throwing the mini-gun onto the metal ground.

I sighed with a little annoyance but, mostly with relief. If it wasn’t for him I would have probably ran out of ammo for the assault rifle, and had to go for the 10mm. I leaned against the wall expecting a concrete wall only to get a cold steel wall.

“Oh, shit.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “Let me guess. A Stable?”

“Yup.”

“And you ran out of ammo for the mini-gun?”

“Yup.”

“And we are almost out of ammo for the assault rifles?”

“Yup.”

“Bring it on.” I said turning around revealing the huge door of stable 193. I looked at my pip buck and sighed once more. “Well, shit for now it looks like we won’t make to the square before nightfall with our little adventure with the glowing ghouls. But, w-” I looked at Fire as he opened the door.  “Couldn’t even let me finish my sentence, could you?”

“Nope.” is all he said as the cog shaped door opened. I really did not like to hear the stories of what happened to these Stables. Usually, the social experiments thought up by Stable-tech went wrong or something else but, there rare cases that the Stable’s inhabitants were still unaware of the what is going on outside.  But, this is not one of these cases. I reloaded my ZA rifle and lit my horn. The corridors were rusted and covered in gunk. This places was giving me a bad feeling. We really don’t need this right now but, who know what we’ll find or die trying.

We made our way the autum. When we got there, a smell hit me like a when Fire was in to full Sparkle-cola rampage mood. Even with my gas filter on the smell was horrible. I looked at Fire and he was on the verge of puking his lunch. I can’t imagine what he is going through right now. He quickly threw on a face mask with a filter on it. It looked like something you would use with spray paint. We made our way down to the autum ground floor and looked around. I looked down and noticed that the floor was freshly cleaned. That’s odd. I looked a little closer while Fire looked in one of the Sparkle-cola vending. Of course. The floor had a faint stain of blood being dragged toward the Utility Section. I raised an eyebrow while Fire came back with two Sparkle-colas. He tried to hand me one but, I shook my head.

“Just put it in my pack but, Fire I want you to look into the Utility section and see what this blood smear came from.” I said looking at the med bay. “I’m going to the med bay to look for some supplies so I can heal this a little more. I‘m starting to think it is getting infected.” I said showing Fire the slash wound from the sword in the arena.

“When did you get that?” he said pointing at my leg.

“Arena.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about that metal leg of yours.”

I thought about it for a moment and I couldn’t think of anything. “I don’t know but, this is not the time to discuss this. You check the utility section.”

“Alright.” he finished saying as he opened the door of Utility.

I opened the door to the med bay and saw a safe. I smiled a little and began to pick it with the one bobby pin I had. After almost breaking the bobby pin, I opened the safe and saw a little. Two healing potions, one Rad-X, RadAway, and some antibiotic gel. Nice.  I began to go through the filing cabinets when Fire came running in with a look on his face of that he just saw a ghost. He locked the door. “I think I found out where that smell was coming from and I think our little friend is outside waiting for us to come out.”

Without saying a word I went to the window and saw what he was talking about. It was a Mr.Hoofy house robot with instead of the eyes was a screen on the circular body with a smiling pony face looking straight at me. Without warning it began to speak. “Please, come out. I don’t mean any harm, I just want…” it paused as it the voice glitches some then the voice returned to normal. “…to kill you.” Fire and me looked at each other. “If you don’t comply I will have to force you out like I did with the rest of the population that didn’t comply. You have three minutes or  the door will open and I will come inside and soil the freshly cleaned Medical bay.”

I was confused on the last part then, I looked at the office. It was right, it didn’t have that fowl smell. It looked like it was just recently cleaned, just like the autum. I looked at the robot and its face turned to countdown clock and thirty seconds have already gone by. Well, shit. “Hey, Shell do you know how to hack terminals?”

I turned to see Fire at a desk Terminal. “No, but I’ll give it a shot. If that thing comes in while I’m still on the terminal. Fire on it until our ammo is dry or something.”

He nodded as I sat in the chair and plugged in the pip buck into the terminal. It went from the log in screen to a screen filled with symbols and words. I raised an eyebrow at this. I clicked one of the words. ASSAULT. Incorrect. 0 out of 7. Three chances left. Ok, this is kind of weird. I clicked another word and it read SURVIVE. Correct. Access Granted. The moment that the pip buck hacked the terminal the robot’s screen turned to a frowning pony. “Unauthorized access to medical terminal. Initiate protocol Beta four Alpha seven. Must destroy Zebra threat and purge all of those contaminated.” the robot then, began to use the saw to cut through the door.

“Hurry up and see if you can shut this fucking thing down!” he yelled taking the hunting rifle and filled it with armor piercing ammo.

“I’m trying!” I yelled back as I scrolled down the selections. I found a page that said: “Shut down Prototype Mr. Hoofy (ONLY USE IF MALFUCNTIONING OR THREAT OF ZEBRA OCCUPATION IN THE STABLE!)” I clicked it but, the robot still was cutting at the door. Shit.

“MUST KILL ALL CONTAMINANTS AND MAKE STABLE PURE FOR PONYKIND! ALL SHUTDOWN PROCEDERS ARE OFFLINE!” the robot yelled out.

Fire looked at me with the Hunting rifle in his hoofs. He was shaking. Normally, the Mr. Hoofy robot was about three feet in diameter. This thing was about twice this size and the doors didn’t make me feel any better as they were probability made for this damn thing. I began to go through the terminal to see if I can find anything. I clicked on all of the entries and they all went to my pip buck but, the last one caught my eye. I clicked on it and it was a entry made about three weeks ago. “Shit.”

“Please, don’t say that I already having a hard time just keeping the rifle up.”

“This shit started three weeks ago.” When he didn’t say a word. I began to read the entry.

“Today is a good day. The overmare has let me do the experiment and see if a medical robot should do all of the medical procedures for the next six months.”

“Alright, it has been about a week and the robot is doing great! But, it keeps giving me a weird look every time I look at it. every time I turn I see it in the corner of my eye. I having a bad feeling right now, I don‘t know why.”

“This is bad. For the last two weeks ponies have been missing and a fowl smell has been going through the Stable. Some ponies are starting to blame the robot but, some ponies think that the may have left. Some ponies have done this before to see what is going on up there. But, this has me worried the robot has been watching me and the overmare more closely. I need to look into the archives and see what the experiment was original made for. Since, I’m the brother of the overmare, I can get the access I need. I need to start being more careful around the robot. I feel that it’s listening to every word I say.”

“FUCK FUCK ,FUCK!!!!! I went into the archives two days ago and download all of the data I could onto my pip buck. I read it and I concluded is that after a month of being activated, the robot will malfunction and kill a few residents thinking that they are Zebra insurgents. It has been one and half months. I can’t tell the others since activating the robot was my idea I would be killed in my sleep. I need to find out a kill code just in case the one on the terminal doesn’t work.”

“Dear Celestia, may you have mercy on my soul. I prey to you that all of the residents of Stable 193 will be in paradise. I wish I didn’t activate the robot, I wish it didn’t kill my sister. I wish that it wasn’t killing every single pony inside the stable. I can still hear the screams and bloodshed. Each night it kills a few and cleans up the mess like it was getting it ready for a new resident. Now, it is out there killing the last of the residents. Some of them put up a fight firing their weapons but, it was no use the robot has a think layer of steel armor. Only armor piercing round will be able to damage it. But, I found three weaknesses. Aim for that Celestia damn screen, Aim for the thruster that it uses to move around, or use the kill code I found but, its tricky. Inside this desk is a holodisk with my voice for the kill code. For some reason it will only respond to my voice. I guess it has to do something with me being the one activating it.”

“Fuck, its at the door and it’s trying to get inside. I guess it has finished the rest off the rest or they fled. I hope they fled. For whom ever is reading this, if you can read this, you NEED to get rid of this thing before it gets out and starting killing everypony. If you kill the robot by shooting it then, It will cause self-destruct destroying the entire Stable and all who are inside. It was sort of a last resort for any Zebra invaders. But, if you use the kill code and deactivate it. Can you please go into my overmare’s office. Inside is something very special to me. I would like you to have it. It’s old but, it will do you good. Next to it is a Photo of my sister and me as fowls, if you find my body please put it in my hoofs. May Celestia have mercy on us all. If you fine a 10mm casing on the floor then, you know why. This is Doctor Bandage over and out, also happy Thanksgivings. ‘only the dead have seen the end of suffering‘- Bandage 9/26/42-11/25/86” the entry ended and I froze for a second. I opened the desk and their it was. A holodisk. I put the disk on the port of my pip buck and it was an audio file. I went to the window.

“Fire, Do not shoot the robot.” I said as calmly as possible.

He whipped his head facing me. “What! That thing will kill us, if we don’t shoot th-.”

“Yeah, I know but, if we destroy it with bullets then, it will initiate self-destruct destroying the entire Stable with us in it.” he didn’t say a thing. His silence was enough. “But, I have a way to end this thing once and for all.”

“What?”

“Well, lets see.” I said going to the file.

I took a deep breath and pressed the intercom and file at the same time. “This is Doctor Bandage of Stable 193. This tape is only used for when the Prototype Mr. Hoofy medical robot model 92Y-12 is threatening  the Stable and the emergency shutdown doesn’t work. Mr. Hoofy!”

The robot stood at attention and yelled. “Yes, Sir!”

“Initiate protocol Omega eleven Delta seven Codename: Mercy, Passphrase: Only the dead have seen the end of suffering.”

The robot stood there for a second before it responded “Yes, Sir you may rest and so shall I. I will awake again when needed to purge the Zebra scum.” it said shutting down.

Me and Fire signed in relief and we collapsed on the floor. “Thank the love of Luna that is over.” Fire said with the biggest sigh he could.  “I’m never going into a Stable even if you pay me a million caps.”

I smiled. “What about a million and one caps?”

He chuckled. “Maybe, just maybe”

After a minute of  gaining back our sanity or what was there, I got up and unlocked the door. I walked out and realized that the door was almost breached. If I didn’t do what I did, when I did it we would of died. I looked at the machine and began to make my way to the Overmare’s office. When I found the office I opened it. On the desk was a picture frame. I took it with my magic. It was a blue mare with a sliver buck both were fowls by the time frame of the picture was taken. They were playing in the autum with what seemed to be their parents. I paused as I sat in the chair taking off my helmet. The smell was still there but, not as bad as the autum. I sat my helmet on the desk and opened the desk itself. Inside was .44 magnum revolver that was engraved. It had a note next to it. It read: Hey, sis this is Bandage just wanting to congratulate you on being elected overmare. I have been holding onto this for you for some time now but, I never got the chance to give it to you. I call this piece of work ’Thumper’ it is a stubbed nose .44 magnum revolver with a six round cylinder. It is already loaded with hollow points and there is three boxes of .44 with it. Just remember when in doubt make it thump. - Love, your big brother Bandage. P.S. Don’ shoot yourself in the leg or something. I have enough trouble with new trainees for the security section. I picked up the gun and took out my old .44 and replaced it with ’Thumper’ I placed other one in my pack and picked up the picture. I looked up and saw that Fire was their looking at me concerned.

“What’s up?”

“Since we got the time now and it seems by the clocks around this place it is about midnight.  I’m just wondering why are looking at that picture?”

I paused for a second and looked back at the picture. “I’m going to do a favor for the pony that saved our asses.” he raised an eyebrow. “In the last entry that showed me the kill code it said that if I find the picture I should find his body and place the picture with him.”

“I get it. You don’t like leaving ponies with loose ends. So, do whatever you have to do and I will see if I  can find a real bed to crash on for the night. Night.”

I sighed as I got up. I rubbed my face with my bare hoof. I looked down at my helmet. The face mask was staring right at me. I’ve always wondered where that slash came from but, I got more important matters to attend to. I left the helmet on the desk and went down to the Utility Section where the bodies where being stuffed into. When I walked in the smell almost knocked me out but, I kept going as I came to part where the bodies where. Surprisingly, they weren’t bloody and they looked like they all had an autopsy and were halfway embalmed. I looked at the picture and saw through the bodies. About five minutes into the search I found Doc Bandage. He had a piece of his head missing but, I could still recognize him from the picture. I placed the photo in his hoofs and smiled. May you rest in piece Stable 193. I thought as I went to a residential apartment and went to the bathroom. I took a deep breath as I took off my armor piece by piece and when it was in a neat pile I turned on the shower.

“Holy shit! What the hell happened to you!?” Somepony yelled making me jump.

“Ah, What the hell!?” I yelled. I looked in the direction of the voice and it was Fire in some pony’s pajamas.

“Sorry, but what the hell happened to you! It looks like you were tortured or something.” he said looking up and down my body with concern.

“What?” I looked down at the burns and scars that covered me from almost hoof to neck. It mainly covered me on my body.

“How in the hell did you get those?!” he said almost making me wonder if I’m going deaf.

“I don’t know, I had these for as long as I can remember.” I said turning on the warm water.

“Ok? So, you don’t remember where you got burns and scars that cover your body and something tells me the same thing is with your leg too?”

“The burns and scars, I don’t know but, the steel leg I got from a group of Steel rangers.” I said splashing water in my face.

“Wait, you met a group of  STEEL RANGERS! Why did you need a steel leg?” he said yawning.

“Well, that can wait until tomorrow.”

“Ok.” he said as scratched his head.

“Also, one more thing.” I said facing him.

“What?” he said raising an eyebrow.

“GET THE FUCK OUT SO I CAN TAKE A FUCKING SHOWER!” I yelled almost making him fly from where he is standing.

He responding while rubbing his ears. “Ok ok I’ll leave. Shit, you don’t have to yell.” he mumbled the last part as he left.

I sighed and took my shower. I needed that. It was the first shower that I had that wasn’t irradiated in a while.

I fell on the bed thinking over the day. Just as I was about to fall asleep, a random thought went through my head. Where did that slash on my helmet come from?

********

My vision was blurred and my ears were ringing, when it cleared I was in a battlefield. Bullets were whizzing around hitting the concrete. It was the battle for Stalliongrad. I don’t know why I know this but, I feel like I do. I was getting up with my rifle. I had the Pip buck HUD. Red dots pretty much filled the Eye-forward Sparkle. Bodies filled the streets. Blood stained the snow and ice. Where it wasn’t frozen it was making a river. I fired a burst of the rifle, killing a Zebra in armor what seemed to be made of leather straps and painted red. He fell, but the entire time, time slowed. He kept his eyes on me but, they weren’t filled with hate or fury but, with desperation and… gratitude. When he fell, everything stopped. A bullet was about to hit the pony right next to me. It started to turn to white again.

Blinding Snow was sitting looking over a file. She was sitting at an overmare’s desk with… my riot helmet but, it was black and had green eyes instead of red. I was about to wonder why it was like that But, Blinding snow looked up. She seemed older now maybe a teenager now. I think. “Hello, Eagle Shot.

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Who the fuck is Eagle Shot?” I asked but, the name had a familiar ring to it.

She cracked a grin. “Interesting.” She said getting up and walking toward me.

“What’s so interesting?” I asked starting to get a little annoyed.

“Nothing, it is just that when the first time I met, you snapped at the name like it was a curse but, now you can’t seem to remember anything.”

“So, I’ve been having memory problem for a while now.” I said trying not to show her that I realized that she was right.

“How long?”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Two years.” I said flatly.

She sat back down at the desk with the file. “And how long can you remember back? Can you remember any childhood memories? Flashbacks?”

“What is this? A therapy session?”

“No, but just answer the questions.” she said flatly with an edge of annoyance.

“No, I can’t remember anything beyond the last two years of survival. The last two years of sorrow. The last two years of… lonesomeness.” I said sighing at the last part.

The pip buck on her leg went off with like some kind of alarm. “Shit, I think these sessions are starting to get shorter every time. I need to look into this.” is all she said as it world turned to black.

__________________________________

Chapter end.

Analysis… Complete!

Level up!

New Perk!

Pre-war hacker- Your science skill is raised by 10 and you have a fifteen percent chance to find Holotapes that will help you in the future, weather for money, survival or new gear. Also, when in SATS each shot takes five percent less Action points.

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