What hours in the aftermath of this atrocity felt like centuries. Centuries of pain, cruel mental and emotional agony erupted within me. I couldn't take it. The streets lay with burnt and molested corpses of ponies I knew. Stallions, mares, fillies, and colts all dead, charred, burnt, ravaged and flayed. It was too much to bear. I had to look away, trot back to my shack and pretend this never happened. Only, it had, and I wasn't going to escape it.
A thought came into my mind. It was of Felix. Something else took hold of me, a smile. Felix was my only family left. I couldn't just leave him behind. I had to keep fighting. For my brother. I trotted back into the forest and found Aurora laying recumbent next to Felix who was using her flank as a pillow. I couldn't hold back the tears in my eyes.
“...It's...” I began, but grimaced in mental agony, “New Trotakomai... Is gone... As far as I know, we are the only survivors. Felix, I need you right now buddy.”
I came up to him embracing the dragon and my only family member I had left. I couldn't look back at the smoke. My eyes flowing freely of tears and mucus. Felix was reassured me.
“You still have me... Brother,” he patted my back and held me tight. It was then I noticed that Aurora also joined in our group hug.
“And,” she began and stammered as well, “Thank you for saving my life. I was lucky enough to land into your caring hooves.”
That meant a lot to me, coming from a stranger. We took the long way home, away from the town. It was well hidden in the woods with camouflage netting I salvaged from an old world destroyed tank. When I entered I found the wardrobe knocked over and my clothes were all chewed up. The giant rats came back and ate them all. I didn't care all that much, I got some threads off Aurora's copilot and it matched well with the jacket Felix bought. I was quite skilled at multiple crafts. I had a workbench as well as an ammo bench in my house off to the side for easy access.
I remembered my fathers dying wish: for me to move on. It meant a lot of things right now and I was trying my hardest to put my past behind me. I shall move on. I can't stay here with all the death and decay still lingering from the raider attack. Felix kept silent as we entered my house. Aurora trotted up to me and patted my back.
“Hey, cheer up dude, I know it's harsh. I've been there too,” I needed that. It was a welcomed gesture, “Pardon me Ranger, but may I have some food?”
I had forgotten about that. I honestly needed a distraction. I gathered my senses and smiled to her.
“Sure thing. It's the least I can do,” I walked to my sink and washed my hooves to prepare the food.
“If there is anything I can do for you, please do ask,” Aurora offered, looking at her wing, “I'm kinda stuck with you until my wing heals. But pegasi are fast healers so I should be okay.”
A thought entertained my mind. A thought of wasteland justice.
“Actually. There is one thing I can think of that you could help with,” I glanced back as Felix dried my hooves with a heated puff of air, “I'd like to ask you to bomb the living shit out of that raider nest. If you can. I mean, I'm not sure how planes work and all.”
“Consider it done,” she smirked, enjoying the idea, “Just like that.”
“Just like that?” I repeated, surprised.
“Just like that. I can pull a few strings. Besides, I'm a mercenary. I'll just list that target as a cleared helicopter LZ,” she made no sense but from her expression it sounded lovely.
Felix came up to her and pulled one of my maps on the wall, “During a recent scouting mission our recon team found the camp of the raiders right here in this abandoned water park on the coastline to the west.”
“That I can level. I work under a private military contractor allied with the NFR. I can pilot anything they issue me and I'm quite the ace pilot, six air to air kill. Because of my record I can do anything I want so long as it doesn't harm the NFR or its allies," Aurora boasted in a cocky smirk, "Consider that camp razed! Now we just need to find a working plane or enchanted flight saddle. Not really going anywhere with my bum wing."
I looked inside my magic powered refrigerator to find the many food items still fresh from the wasteland, "So Aurora, what are you up for? Do you need a menu?"
"A menu?" she cocked her head back as Felix came up to her with a crude cardboard menu.
"My house is also a cafe whenever the trade caravans or tourists come to visit. I keep that handy in case they wanna spend a few caps," I explained.
“What will it be madam?” Felix looked to her and smiled. She browsed through the menu intently.
“Ooo! The mirelurk cakes sound good. So does the crispy squirrel bits. Although I've never tried fresh abalones before. Surprise me,” she slid a few bottle caps on the table. I started to prepare the food I had.
A few hours later she had fallen asleep next to the masses of empty plates that were once meals, now polished off by the hungry pegasus mare drooling into them. My wallet felt rather heavy and my fridge was left destitute. While she ate I had time to sort through my inventory for the road ahead. I had my trusty G3 battle rifle, a PSG-1 semiautomatic sniper rifle, my mom's customized .44 magnum, 120 rounds of .308 ammo, 72 rounds of the .44 magnum, food, water, a survival kit, and the stuff I got from Aurora's co-pilot. Felix strapped on his Kevlar vest and filled his pockets with 9mm rounds, leaving the broken G36 rifle in the corner. Aurora jumped awake.
“Ba! Huh? Weird dream. I thought I was human and you were there,” Aurora yawned and pointed a hoof to Felix, “But you were a Pokemon.”
“What's a Pokemon?” I glanced back as she startled me.
“It's nothing. Just an old world thing. What are you doing?”
“I'm packing up to hit the road. Felix and I will have to find a new home. You can stay here if you like, I left some supplies handy until you get better and fly off. That is, unless you want to come with us?”
She looked to me and shook her head, “Me, stay here? You crazy dude? I owe you one so I'm sticking by your side.”
That was a little surprising to me. She was a lot safer here in the shack, but thinking about it now I understand why she wanted to come along. She was a mercenary and adventure was in her blood.
“So what do you say? You all set?” I eyed her. She was mobile and had recovered from her blood loss. Her left wing was still broken and wrapped by bandages. I guessed she could hold her own, judging by the odd weapon on her side, “Also, did you happen to loot any ammo off my copilot?”
I remembered that I picked up a box of mini rifle rounds from one of the pouches of the dead pony pilot. I floated them up, “Well, I found this weird ammo off your copilot. These are some tiny ass rifle rounds. Here you go.”
I examined the box. On the side it read the caliber: 4.6mm AP. They were tiny armor piercing bullets.
“Thanks. And second, did you happen to grab a watch from him as well?”
“This thing?” I glanced at my loot sack. The watch was odd for sure but it didn't really scream like it would be anything special, “Looks like a normal watch to me. I was gonna sell it for, I'd say thirty caps I guess.”
“That thing is not a normal watch!” she smiled, “Put it on, I'll show you what it does.”
As soon as I put the watch on my left wrist it immediately latched on. I panicked at first trying to pry it off, but Aurora stopped me.
DNA ANALYSIS COMPLETE. NEW USER REGISTERED, PLEASE INPUT YOUR NAME.
The machine read aloud in a mechanical voice. I stood in awe.
“Cooool! What is this?”
“That's a Pipwatch. It's a wrist mounted computer powered by a magic gem,” Aurora explained.
“Now that is kick ass! Damn!” I eagerly typed in my name on the touch screen with magic. The watch spoke again.
WELCOME RIFLE RANGER. NEW INTERFACE DETECTED: DNA ANALYSIS COMFIRMED. YOUR COUSIN: AURORA STARSTREAK IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.
“Wait! What?” her and I dropped our jaws, “How are we cousins?!”
She fiddled with her watch, telling it to interface with mine in the DNA tests.
DNA ANALYSIS IS CONFRIMED. YOU ARE COUSINS WITH RIFLE RANGER. PROBABLITY: 100 PERCENT.
We both stood with blank stares. I was the first to talk, “ Well ain't that the luckiest thing that ever happened in my life. What was your grandfather's name?”
“Ar-Arctic Wind,” she stroked her chin with a hoof. I jumped with joy.
“He was mine too! We are cousins!”
“Yay!” she squeed, “Can I have a hug?”
“Huh, sure I guess. I haven't had a bath in a while.”
“Oh shut up stinky and give your cousin a hug!”
Aurora jumped me and gave me a firm squeeze. Suddenly a flood of joy overcame me. I realized I had a family once again and that I wasn't alone. I smiled and hugged her back, “So who else is in our family from where you're from?”
“Well, we've got two other cousins back home. Two aunts and an uncle,” Aurora paused, “I think that's everypony still alive.”
“Mind if I ask what happened to the others?”
“Dead...” she sighed heavily. I was about to say sorry before she continused, “Neo Stallionrad Legion.”
“Neo Stallionrad Legion?”
“They're a vast nation at with with the NFR and our allies: The Austrotian Coalition. Those Commie bastards enslave and kill innocents and torch their land, taking anything and everything not bolted down. Food, water, metals, everything. As far as I'm concerned it's just a unified faction of wasteland raiders. Only...” she left a pregnant pause, “Millions strong.”
“Celestia solarshit,” I gasped.
“The Legion almost overran the NFR but we've pushed them back. We were planning to invade their mainland but they shut it off with a giant megaspell barrier. Nothing goes in or out besides their military.”
“Let's get off the subject,” I saw her rage building up. She sighed again, “Can you tell me more about my new Pipwatch?”
"Oh, yes, sorry about that cous," Aurora fiddled around with my watch telling me everything I needed to know to work it. Following her instructions I learned quickly and got the hang of it, "Great! Now that you know how it works I'll show you what it can do!"
She pointed to my sniper rifle on the table, "Pick up your rifle real quick."
“Okay,” I did as she told and floated it up with magic.
“Now look at your watch. It will keep track of everything you are carrying with its sorting spell. It will also monitor an items condition, value in bottlecaps, and ammo count if it's a weapon. Unlike the more common Pipbuck, this can also store files, movies, music, pictures, games, and other applications onto it. It also monitors more important stuff like vital signs, fatigue, dehydration, skills, which kinds of ammo you have, and more! Take a look at your weapon screen real quick,” she twisted my forehoof gently to show me all the menus and buttons I could push on the touch screen. This was to be used by the wings of a pegasus or the magic of a unicorn and would have been utterly useless for a simple earth pony with no dexterity.
“My PSG is in 70 percent condition and my battle rifle is at 76,” I smiled as I looked to my watch, “Felix, hand me your M9. Oh geez that could use a bit of work. I'll have to fix it up later.”
“Couple that with a Geiger counter and a bioscanner to detect any positive or negative effects of food and consumables and you're good to go! Not to mention the ever so helpful Eyes Forward Sparkle,” she still kept fiddling with my watch. She backed off and I noticed her weapon again, having no mouth grip and strapped to her side in a holster on her flight jacket.
“By the way, speaking of guns, what kind of weapon is that?” I cocked my head to get a better look.
“Oh this thing? It's my own customized MP-7A2. Once the megaspells hit H&K of Germaneigh moved all their important employees with the help of our national hero to the Fillypines. He often did business with them and kept their legacy alive. This gun has a red dot sight, a folding ammo counter on the side rail, adjustable stock, and I even got a detachable suppressor for it! Pretty cool huh?” she grasped it in her right wing, wrapping it around the weapon, “I like to shoot with my wings. I don't have good aim while flying and mouth fired guns hurt my neck. Unless it's a battle saddle.”
Felix poked me in the side, “You guys ready yet?”
“Where do we go from here Aurora?”
“Well, I really need to get back to the NFR. Tell you what, I saw an old airbase on my way over here to the west. If we're lucky I can salvage enough parts to fix or find a working radio in one of the control towers,” she thought it over, “Then I could use that to contact a rescue party. Even better would be a working plane or enchanted flight saddle, but that's doubtful. The hangars would have to have been preserved with a magical stasis field.”
“You've got to be shitting me. We have to go through the Noboribetsu Ruins for that,” I shook my head.
“Something wrong I'm guessing?” she cocked her head again to one side, curious.
“Deathclaws... Lost too many friends in those ruins and I still remember where their bones are,” I flashed back to my dead fillyfriend, Rose Tint. She was eaten alive by one of those things and I had a front row seat at her death. I remember her screams, her maroon coat stained darker with blood, her dark blue mane pulled from her head with bits of scalp, and her brilliant blue eyes she had inherited from her long dead ancestor as they looked at me for help. I froze.
“Ranger! Ranger! Snap out of it!” I was thrust back to reality as Aurora was clapping her hooves in front of my face. I shook my head vigorously and purged the thoughts from my brain.
“Sorry! We got no choice though. Watch my back okay? It's nice to have some extra eyes and ears,” I opened the door with magic and crossed my left hoof over my right that was planted on the ground, “You first cousin.”
“Thanks,” we trotted outside into the light, setting foot on our way.
Author's Note
Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Egghead
You will add +2 skill points each time you gain a new experience level.
Chapter Four: Adventures Await
As we trotted out into the sunlight the snow on the ground started to melt and expose the wet sand beneath. I couldn't stop thinking about New Trotakomai. All my friends, family, and fellow ponies gone and taken from me in a flash. They had suffered, and I was too sickened to go back into town to help anypony that might have lived. I felt the sand at my hooves. It has a very unique feel and sparkles in unison with the snow, giving off a bright, beautiful gleam. Yet, all of this, stained in blood at the hooves of those fiends. We looked into the sea as it washed the sands clean, purifying it, like washing away past sins. It was still a bright and clear blue, clean, yet still salty. Felix and I were born near this ocean and we'd play and swim in the water during summertime. A lot of time has passed since the bombs and our long distance away from Equestria, rendering the oceans safe from debris and radiation. I still stood there, starring into the bright blue gleam.
“Hey,” Aurora interrupted, “You okay?”
I sighed, “Not really. But I think I'll manage. I need to hold onto the hope of both you and Felix.”
She gave an empathic nod, “I understand. Talk to me about anything please. Whatever is on your chest, I'll try to pry it right off.”
She looked at her wing, checking it over for signs of decay before turning back to me.
“Let's start with a change of subject. I'm guessing you like weapons?”
“Mhm,” I looked to my cutie mark. It was of a vulture grasping a G3 rifle in its talons, “I like rifles of any kind. Sniper, assault, battle, anything accurate and long barreled. You?”
I tried to get a glimpse of her cutie mark. It was almost the same symbol on the plane she had crashed in, minus the black diamond in the middle. It was the brilliant stylized sunburst of the NFR.
“Light rifles, carbines, SMGs, and explosives. Grenade launchers are my thing too, but what I really want is an RPG battle saddle. If you haven't noticed by now, I like missiles, a lot,” she gave me a wide grin and bumped her face into my cheek. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
I stopped and my eyes widened. We did have an RPG battle saddle. I wanted to surprise her, but that would mean that I would have to go into town. Something my stomach wasn't ready to take. I gave another sigh.
“There's something I need to do before we go. Stay here, I need to put some things behind,” I walked off into the distance.
“Take all the time you need Ranger...” she almost whispered as she starred back at me.
As I made my way into town, the streets were luckily picked clean by the many wasteland critters. Some I don't want to name or even think about. But at least the streets were empty and a few buildings were still on fire, but not much. I gathered my thoughts through my heavy heart and cleared my head.
“Focus Ranger. Just loot the merchant, grab all his stuff and get out!” I exclaimed to myself as I neared the booth. I got up onto one of the stools and pretended to barter, trying to grasp a sense of normality, “Hey Swords, just came to stop by for that RPG. I've finally got enough to buy it.”
I looked down to see the dead corpse of the merchant pony that I had worked with so long. Flies had started to buzz around him and it gave off a smell of rotting flesh. I tried to dismiss it as rotting meat from a shipment gone bad.
“Sleeping on the job again I see?” I was holding back tears, “Don't worry, you've done a hard days work my friend.”
His eyes were open and tongue drooped out. I stuffed it back into place and closed his eyelids shut. I focused on his head rather than the blown out midsection blasted open by a shotgun shell. I could clearly see buckshot imbedded into his flesh. The front half of him seemed peacefully asleep after I had closed his eyes and mouth. I started to sing, half crying to the loss of my friend.
“H-Hush now, q-quiet now... It's t-time to lay your sleepy head...” I turned away and vomited into his trash bin. I looked around to find anything I could use to distract me, or at least give me a false sense of normality. I found it in the form of a blanket in the back on his bed of hay. I pulled it over him and lifted one arm to tuck him in. Now he looked comfortable and I could easily mistake him for being asleep. I calmed my breathing as I could finally look at him. I continued to sing, “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...”
I pulled the pistol from one of his drawers and it was the same 9mm that Felix used, only with a mouth grip for ponies. I looted all the ammo I could carry in my new saddlebags and eyed the RPG battle saddle on the wall. The menacing weapon came in a pack with pockets designed to hold six rockets total. I floated it down with magic and ran back to Aurora who was skipping rocks into the water.
“Oh no way! Hehehe!” she started to bounce and giggle with glee as I brought back the RPG, “Please! Please! Please! I want big boom!”
Her smile was enough for me to purge my grief. I breathed a sigh through a very relieved smile, “Here you go. Happy belated however many birthdays I missed.”
I handed her the saddle and ammo. She came up to me and gave me another firm hug.
“Thanks cous! Tell you what,” I helped her strap the launcher on and fitted it to her size, “I want to teach you a little trick just in case you ever get into a jam.”
She stood a few feet away and pointed to my rifle, “Point your rifle at me like you're holding me up.”
“Okay, sure I guess,” I unloaded my rifle and cleared the bolt, pointing it right at her like she told me to.
“Alright you got me,” she smirked. I was confused.
“What am I suppose to learn from-” Aurora rushed forward, bucked the rifle out of my magical grasp, caught it in her teeth, and tackled me back. I understood now, “Ahh!”
“Tricky tricky!,” she giggled and spat out my rifle, “That's one of the many counter techniques taught to me by my mother after I joined the NFR military. She was such a brave mare.”
Her giggle turned to sadness. She shook it off and continued, “Nevermind about that. You go ahead and give it a try!”
She picked the rifle from the dirt and pointed it at me. I tried to go for it but I was greeted with the buttstock right to the face.
“Nopf!” she mouthed, “Toof slow! Wanna fake if step by stepf?”
“Okay, that hurt. But I'll try again,” I got back up and followed her step by step instructions. We did all this for a better portion of a few hours with Felix spectating us. At the end of our session I picked the lesson up quick as a snap. Felix returned to his duties burying the dead in town.
Aurora looked to him as he disappeared, “Is there anything you'd like to share about him? I haven't got the chance to really talk to him yet.”
“I'll tell you this much. He was hatched on the same day I was born. His brother and sister were stolen as eggs and roasted by those raider ponies. His mother died in the same raid,” I started to explain, “His father committed suicide. Felix was orphaned so my dad took him under his wing. We were brothers and always had each other to look after. He's dependable, fast, caring, and mature for his age.”
“He sounds really nice. Is there anything he can do in combat that might be helpful?”
Felix returned a few minutes later and pointed back to town with one of his claws, “Buried the last pony. We're good to go.”
“We can talk on the way to the airbase. Let's go,” we trotted on west towards the old ruins of Noboribetsu. Aurora was itching to fire her launcher at any Deathclaws that might rear their ugly heads and my battle rifle was loaded with armor piercing ammunition.
We walked for hours on the crippled and crumbled road that was once a major highway for chariots before the war. We kept our eyes peeled and mouths shut as we focused on our eyes forward sparkle. All it detected so far were a few starlings and a rabbit or two. There was oddly nothing hostile so far but as we approached the ruins my EFS compass lit up with a spot of red.
“Hold up,” I whispered to Aurora.
“What is it?” she stopped and hugged the wall.
“There's a pony in there. I think maybe a raider, I can hear him talk,” I pressed myself onto the side of the building. I could hear the stallion talking in a strange language. Aurora picked it up immediately.
“That's Stallionradish. And by the guess of it my EFS says he's alone,” she turned to me as she screwed on her suppressor, “I have a plan. You look like a merchant with all that stuff you're carrying. Go to the front and get his attention. Try to make him think you're selling stuff.”
I nodded to her as she went in through the back door. I trotted over to the front and knocked on the door, moving to the side, “Hey! Is there anypony in there? Traveling Wasteland Salespony with working electronic bits! Radios! Working phonographs! And other assorted gadgets!”
The door opened with the soldier pony stepping out. He wore a red uniform and was armed with an odd saddle with a suppressed AK-74u mounted on a turret that followed the movements of his head. He looked lost.
“Do you accept Stallionrad Rubles comrade?” he asked in a heavy accent.
Aurora got in behind him and stabbed into his neck with a deployable hoof mounted combat knife, “Nope! Die fucker!”
The soldier slid down to the floor and convulsed as blood seeped out of his neck at an alarming rate. He died from a combination of choking on his own blood and the blood loss he experienced from a recently opened jugular. Aurora was unphased and grabbed the AK off the dead body. I was slightly surprised at her, but dismissed the idea of killing our enemy instead of trying to reason with him. He did appear hostile on the EFS after all, even as I was talking to him pretending to be a merchant.
“Sweet! I've always wanted one of these. And look at all this ammo he was carrying! Looks like I got a good pick-me-up,” she removed the gun from the saddle mounted turret. I was fascinated by the contraption itself. I examined the body and all the soldiers gear. It all looked pretty ragtag but at the same time it looked more uniform than the standard garb of a wasteland mercenary.
“Strange, why is this guy here?”
“He's probably part of a scouting party. The NSL has been eying territory worth taking. From the look of his uniform I'd say he's a paratrooper,” she looked at the earth pony corpse and looted more ammo, “VDV huh?”
She stopped and eyed her new rifle as she held it in her right wing. I found it odd that she was using it that way. She checked the condition of her rifle and examined its features. The AK was short, had a fixed wooden buttstock, a suppressor, a custom desert paint job, and an odd reflex sight.
“That's a lot of attachments,” I was impressed.
“Definitely worth 5000 caps with this many weapon mods on it,” she adjusted the magical red dot sight and looked up, “You know what I find strange? There's no Deathclaws here and not a single mutant creature.”
“You're right cous. Looks like they migrated,” I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was about to set and it was getting dark. We reused the soldiers camp as our own and locked all the doors. The building was reinforced and might have been a pawn shop once before. There were bars on the windows and double locked doors. The back door had been blown apart, probably early on during the first few years of the apocalypse. The shelves and racks also hinted at the former purpose of the store. Aurora and I searched the building for anything of use. We got more ammo from a hidden safe, some money from the trash cans, and a few cans of food left over by the soldier. Nothing else was out of the ordinary aside from the soldier and the lack of mutants. The sky was turning dim and night had fallen.
Aurora and I lit up a campfire on the roof of the building. She had caught a wild starling and was roasting it on a makeshift grill of corrugated metal. I was killing time by recording a journal into my watch while Felix slept in a tent beside me. Aurora came next to me and gave me a wing and some wheat stalks to munch on.
“This is pretty good,” she bit down into the crisp skin of the feet, “Do a lot of wastelanders eat meat?”
“Of course,” I sat there sucking on the succulent juices of the fried bird, “It's out of necessity really.”
“I know what you mean. Filipinos ate meat even before the war. After Sky Buster evacuated all those Equestrians to our country they were vegetarian. I can tell you that it was an odd culture shock when we started to blend together,” she continued to eat then asked me a question, “What's it like living in the wastes?”
“Hell, but you learn to live with it. As my father put it if you can thrive in chaos you can adapt to anything thrown at you,” I replied back as I kept gnawing on the bones.
“Insightful. I do hope you are okay though,” her and I discarded our bones off the rooftop.
“I'm fine, really. That town is literally and figuratively behind me. I want to see that you two, as my only family left, are kept safe. We should get some rest, it's almost nine o'clock,” I went into my tent and yawned, “Good night!”
“Good night cousin.”
I laid my head down on a sandbag and shifted around the crude tarp bedding I had prepared. Surprisingly, the loose sand underneath was comfortable and I found myself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
I awoke to the sound of an excited yell in the distance. I jumped up and scrambled out of my tent to see Aurora looking puzzled into the distance.
“What the hell was that?” she asked without taking her eyes off the object in the distance. I grabbed my sniper rifle from my tent and floated it up to my eye, right down the scope.
“Luna fucked us with the moon. Raiders,” I rolled my eyes and floated the rifle near her, “Take a look.”
“Looks like they got jeeps,” she brushed her mane away from her right eye.
“Jeeps?” I was confused, “Nevermind! I think they saw our fire last night and they're headed this way!”
“I-” Aurora was cut short by a few bullets impacting the side of the building, tearing through the heavy brick and concrete. We ducked down behind the parapet, “Yup! They saw us!”
Felix threw us our weapons and we prepared for a firefight, sealing the hatch to the roof with sandbags. Peeking sideways above the edge I could see the raiders in sniping range. I ducked back and checked my PSG
“Aurora I'm gonna snipe these bastards with a little trick I wanna show you!” I put on a wide and zealous smirk, “Ever seen a unicorn curve a bullet?”
My horn glowed a brighter brown, imbued with magic energy.
“Now that is badass! Show me!” she gave me a brohoof and smiled.
“Hah! Sure thing!” rising above the ridge I shouldered my rifle and scoped in. I saw my crosshairs vaguely centered on the driver of one of the menacing looking vehicles. They were painted in blood with welded spikes and improvised armor with all the ponies inside the vehicle and not pulling it. I found it odd that it wasn't even vaguely in the shape of a chariot. I shrugged the thoughts off, “Watch closely!”
Feeling the bullet, I fired. The armor piercing round curved left and downward right and pierced, not shattered, the glass and went in between the eyes of the driver. Aurora followed the tracer of the bullet as the round arced unusually. The tracer itself glowed a bright yellowish brown, mixed with the tint of my magic. As the round made contact the jeep careened out of control and crashed into his ally. The two vehicles flipped and twisted into wrecks, exploding with magical energy as they impacted the ground. Their crews thrown about like burning rag dolls.
“Now that was cool!” Aurora was astonished and smiled at the carnage.
“Get the fuck down!” I tackled her to the floor as the fifty caliber machine gun punched through the bricks.
“Son of a bitch! Thanks,” she looked at me and brushed the dirt from her coat, “How the hell did they get that fifty?”
“Gimme a grenade, I'll dispose of him,” I pointed to one of the grenades we had looted from the dead soldier.
“Here! Fuck 'em up with ya?”
With my eyes forward sparkle showing me the direction of the bandit I threw the grenade blindly towards the jeep. In the explosion I heard a faint gargle and death rattle. I peeked out of one of the holes blasted from the brick. The gunner of the jeep was slumped over on his gun and the driver was aching in agony from the shrapnel imbedded in his gut.
“Come on,” I got up and grabbed my .44. I unlocked the hatch and we carefully checked the building. We trotted out to the jeep and there was a large pool of blood from the driver, who was still in agony writhing in his seat. I grabbed his head and turned it towards me, “You deserve no mercy!”
I leveled the revolver to his head and fired.
“Such uncivilized barbarians. No regard for life whatsoever. Sickening ain't it? Oh well, let's see what they had on them,” Aurora patted down the two bodies of the intact jeep, “Nothin' but a few nine mils.”
“I need that ammo,” Felix raised his claw up, “You think that one still works?”
“Hold on,” Aurora bent over and twisted the keys. The jeep sputtered to life and the magic powered engine thundered, “Sweet! It's good to go and humming just fine!”
Author's Note
Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Travel Light
You will have 10% faster running speed when wearing light or no armor.
Bonus Perk: Starstreak Counter
Use the Starstreak Counter to swiftly counterattack opponents holding you up. Perform a standard buck when prompted to steal your enemies equipped weapon.
Chapter Five: Things to Come
Hours later we parked our vehicle inside a cold waterfall to wash out the blood and smell. We used a leftover box of Abraxo cleaner and an old shirt to scrub it out and dry it off. Felix boiled up some snow for deep cleaning. We left it to dry as looked out into the dry lake bed before us as the sand blew in swirls from behind this oasis waterfall. Aurora called for my attention.
“Yo Ranger! What do you think?”
I thought the vehicle looked like a piece of shit, but at least it was a polished turd and no pony will mistake us as raiders now.
“It'll have to do,” I shrugged, “By the way, did you see any good loot points when you were flying in?”
“Well, I found a vertibuck crash just near Northwest Airfield. I'll drive,” Aurora took her place at the front of the vehicle. I had noticed that the front of it was a spark battery powered engine covered by a cowling of some sort and the two panes of glass which my cousin referred to as a windshield were bullet resistant to all but armor piercing rounds.
Curiosity got the better of me and I inquired, “Aurora, how do you know so much about vehicles?”
“Like I said, I'm a mercenary. NFR hires us to do many things. You're just lucky your cousin is a pegasus that can drive a car,” she spoke not taking her eyes off our front. I was on the turret viewing the sand swirling landscape in front of us. It was getting into my mouth and the grit was, at least for me, pleasant to chew on. It reminded me of my many wasteland scavenging missions I had lead into the wasteland.
“So this is a car?” I must have sounded odd to her. Her face scrunched and then she sighed.
“Yes Ranger, this is a car. It's much faster than a pony or any chariot, save for those of the pegasi. But even in the New Fillypine Republic those are replaced by planes, vertibucks, and even helicopters. Our engineers finally got the idea that putting a fleshy pony or pegasus in front of an armored vehicle left the pilot or driver oh so exposed. It stemmed from our connection to the Ministry of Awesome.”
“The what now?” I squinted my eyes, not understanding a thing she said.
“Do I have to explain everything to you?” she pouted thinking like I was stupid or at least ignorant, which for the most part I was.
“Well, seeing as how I am a wastelander with limited knowledge of the world beyond I think you just might need to. We do have plenty of time after all,” I explained. Her eyes perked and nodded understandingly.
“Now that you mention it, I hadn't thought about it this way. Very well, I'll tell you what I know,” she started, clearing her throat, “Before the war there were six ministries in Equestria. With the Fillypines being a former commonwealth of that superpower this is important to note. The six ministries were the Ministry of Peace, Wartime Technology, Image, Morale, Arcane Sciences, and last but not least the Ministry of Awesome.”
She glanced back and saw that I had her full attention, “The Ministry of Awesome was a covert arm of the Equestrian government. Many of the best spies, loyalist mercenaries, soldiers, and aces were part of that project. Including our hero, THE Martyr and my ancestor: Sky Buster.”
I saw her glance at her cutie mark and continued, a wide smirk on her lips, “I, am part of his legacy. His legacy was two part: he conducted the covert and often highly dangerous missions deep behind Zebra lines with his hoof picked team. Second was his implemented plan of saving everyone, not just everypony, after the megaspells had detonated. The latter is a more interesting story. Day in and day out after the Last Day he rounded up the lone bomber crews flying aimlessly, sailors with no home or country to come back to, fighter pony squadrons left to die, cruise liners with so many innocent lives drifting, you name it. He vectored them to the safety of the Fillypine home islands. They were untouched by the balefire bombs. It wasn't a concern for Equestria or the zebras to bomb a little known country out in the ocean nor did they bomb Austrotia either. Within the span of a week he had saved hundreds of thousands of displaced lives. That was just the beginning.”
We came to a sudden skidding stop by the foot of a hill. I got the sense that we were near the crash sight. I was bumped headfirst into the gun and my horn dented the metal.
“We're here!” she smiled up to me and flapped her good wing, “Come on, we need to advance on hoof.”
“Ah, sneak to the crash sight and not draw any attention. Good plan.”
“Yup,” she brought out her rifle and trotted at the daisy cutters pace. I was surprised that she was as stealthy in her gate as I was. I had a burning question to ask her.
“Hey Aurora?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do they put parachutes in fighter jets for pegasus ponies?” I asked rather bluntly, “I mean, you do have wings.”
“Didn't you notice my copilot was an earth pony? In the NFR we take what we can get,” she started to whisper, “Besides they're all good for something. Earth ponies are strong so their control surfaces don't lock up. pegasi don't suffer from G-LOC and unicorns can get creative with the magics. Now please, stay quiet for a bit.”
We came to the edge of the tree line that overlooked the crashed vertibuck. I readied my PSG and peered through the scope. My eyes forward sparkle blinked red. I assumed that a few raiders were guarding the chopper. They must have recently found it, as it was in a secluded location and hidden behind the crest of a sand dune. My assumption was correct. The raider ponies had no tents set up and there were only two guards armed with assault rifles.
“I think I got a plan,” I gathered Felix and Aurora next to me, “I'll provide sniper support. Aurora, you sneak up there with your suppressed AK. Felix, you flank from the right, Aurora to the left. When you hear the raven call weapons free.”
“Standard Trotakomai Pincher Maneuver? I missed that one,” Felix smiled, “I don't have a suppressed weapon though.”
“Aurora, you can do the honors of the stealth kills. Felix you're gonna be the backup.”
“Alright, sounds good,” Felix nodded and slithered away. His low profile made him blend with the surroundings.
“Got it, moving out,” Aurora dashed away in a silent gallop. I had a clear line of sight of the craft as they circled around. I saw them both get into position as their dots on my EFS stopped moving. I gave it a few seconds before I cawed. Aurora got a clean head shot off on the first pony but the second immediately dashed into cover. The raider started to fire suppressing shots at her but his aim couldn't hit a barn door.
“Everypony go loud!” I yelled to them as I started to fire shots to pin the enemy down. He was hiding behind the cockpit and I couldn't get a clear shot. All I wanted to do was to stop him from firing at my cousin.
Felix went around using the bushes and his slender stature to his advantage. I could see his dot drift behind the tiltrotor and I heard his pistol shoot three times. His dot was still there and he successfully killed the raider guarding the craft. I crossed the clearing and made my way to the wreck.
“Alright! Area's clear. Let's see what we got,” I browsed through the wreckage of the craft. Inside was a peculiar looking crate that glowed of magical energy. It was labelled: PROPERTY OF THE MINISTRY OF AWESOME in bold white letters crossed out by overlapping sprayed on letters that served to repurpose the crate. They read: PROPERTY OF THE NEW FILLYPINE REPUBLIC. I set to examine our prize. It was unlocked by the very helpful and now dead raider ponies that lay in the dirt just a few meters away. Felix had the pleasure to loot their bodies while Aurora came over to me.
“Ooo! It's an NFR crate. I wonder what's inside,” she cocked her head to one side as I opened the box. Inside was this awe-inspiring sight of a wither mounted magical energy weapon that gave off the telltale glow of the box. Along with it was a memory orb. Aurora and I carefully wrapped our prizes and went back to the jeep. Felix had picked up two 5.56 rifles off the dead ponies. One was an HK33 rifle with a claw mount for accessory rails. His friend also happened to have a working red dot sight stashed away in his large ALICE backpack with some blood bags and morphine injectors in a medical kit.
“In case of falling off a ladder, use bandage, blood bag, THEN morphine,” there was a note that came with it that I read out loud. I rolled my eyes, “Are raiders really this stupid that they had to put this in?”
“Dunno dude, but I am loving this new TBBBAP Tesla cannon! Hopefully we get to try it out unlike in the last story,” Aurora made no sense with her latter statement as we drove away from the crash sight.
“What?”
“You know, in Pokemon: Signs of Decay. The original story this one is based on? I never got to use the Tesla cannon we found today,” I felt a wall break.
“Say what?” I shot a look of confusion at her.
“Saaay Whaaat!” her voice rolled to a high pitch, “Crown me a prince why don't ya!”
“You are making no sense cousin. I think the wasteland air is getting to you. Maybe we should get you back home somehow,” I tapped her on the forehead with the handle of my revolver to knock some sense into her. A branch or a bit of lead piping crossed my mind as an alternative.
“Say, is this a radio?” Felix fumbled with the dials on the front of the jeep. The speakers of the vehicle sparked to life in a grainy and static filled assortment of sound. He caught wind of a working station.
“Hello my brony and pegasister friends! I'm Silver Rose bringing you the latest news in the wasteland straight from Rose Thorn News Network!” the voice was that of a mare. Young but optimistic, it was like hearing the voice of an angel. This was the first time I had heard of this. Felix and I listened close but Aurora seemed uninterested, “Well friends I have some good news and some bad news for you today. The good news is that the New Fillypine Republic has finally made landfall off the southern coast of Hokkaido. If you are ever in the need for some supplies remember the golden rules of wasteland conduct: holster your weapon, keep your finger off the trigger, and present yourself in a non-threatening friendly manner. And for the love of Celestia never shoot on sight like those dastardly bandits and raiders that roam the wastes! Speaking of raiders, bad news today as the town of New Trotakomai was-”
Felix cut it off before we could hear any more. We wanted to get our minds off that. I began with a question to my cousin.
“So Aurora, who was that?”
“That is our voice in the wasteland, Silver Rose. She was dispatched to the Hokkaido wasteland to spread the word of the NFR. She's currently occupying one of the radio stations in Sapporo preaching about fighting the good fight with the NFR. She's really something huh?”
“Something is right, she seems oddly cheerful,” Felix added, “Does she have to put on that show?”
“Yeah, makes us look good around here. Hey Ranger, you should probably give that memory orb a view and tell me what you find,” Aurora brushed her mane away from her eyes and focused on driving.
Curiosity got the better of me as I unwrapped the orb I so carefully enveloped in cloth. I got down from my machine gun and sat down to focus on the orb. The world faded and I was thrust into the memories within.
“How long has he been out there?” I felt myself speak through another voice. It was a warm but wet rainy night that poured down from a typhoon. I could feel my hat soaked by the torrential downpour as I looked into the night worried for a friend. A light glowed from my horn with a green tint that replaced my brown magic. By my guess his magic was the same as his coat color. I noticed another thing: droplets formed in front of my face as they gathered on a pair of eyeglasses, blue in color. The stallion whos view I witnessed wiped it with an equally soaked blue cape that he kept on his back. He was talking to another pony, a mare. Wait-no, a stallion with the facial features of a mare. His red jacket matched the color of his mane, drooped by the rain but you could tell that it was somewhat spiky if it was dry. As the stallion came closer I could see his light grey coat and blue eyes that shifted to look at me.
“You know Sky Buster. He won't stop until he saves everypony he can. I'm surprised you made it out Puzzle,” he spoke in a rather odd accent and I could see the pain and worry in his eyes. It looked like lived through something catastrophic and he was shaking from both cold and fear.
“You'll be okay Redcord, what's important is that we're alive and we have Sky Buster to thank for it. I just wish we could do something to help him,” I patted my friend on the back and draped my cape over him. From out of the night sky a bunch of lights started to edge closer and closer to us. They were large planes that came in for a landing being lead by a light blue dot in the night sky. The blue dot morphed into the shape of a pony and landed right next to us. He was heaving, soaked, and exhausted. White wings spread and drooped like his short red mane and yellow banana-like tail. I'd never seen a pony with so many colors and he really looked like he'd been through hell and back. I took notice to his cutie mark. It was exactly the same as that of Aurora's: a bright yellow Fillypine sunburst.
“Saved two Equestrian bombers that flew all the way from Cloudsdale! They've got wounded on board so get some medical personnel on the tarmac! I need to go back and save more!”
“Sky, you're in no shape to fly any more tonight. You need to rest,” Redcord approached Sky, “Besides, there's a Typhoon out there.”
“Don't give me that bullshit Redcord! The less time I search the more innocent lives die out there! We need to save everypony still flying with no home left! I want you to go into that damned control tower and have them scramble as many SAR assets as possible you hear me?” he was passionate as he was furious. I took the hint that this was an old memory orb left over from right after the bombings of Equestria and the Zebra Nation.
“Buster, you're tired, soaked, and you need a break. The search teams can handle it from here and your kids are worried about you sick. Just take a break. It's already hard enough for them without Rainbow,” Puzzle tried to reason with his friend. The worry in his voice was all to apparent as a flash of lightning and drum of thunder lit up the midnight sky.
Buster held his head low and started to cry at the mention of Rainbow, “Dammit! Just-Dammit! Do you know how much I worked for an end to this war? All those clandestine operations, all those missions, all the times I've taken Kim and Antony to lead them into some black ops hellhole because we believed that it would help win the war! It was all for nothing! I wanted to save everyone, not just Equestria, not just the Griffin Kingdoms, not just the Zebras. Celestia dammit! Everyone! I... Failed.”
Fulling sobbing into the concrete of the paved area where the planes had landed I felt my gut wrench at the feeling of pure empathy to my friend and savior. I, as Puzzle, went up to him and took him in my embrace.
“You didn't fail, you never did. You saved so many lives, hundreds, thousands, maybe even a million. It wasn't your fault that the war ended like this but what you gave to us was more than anything we could have imagined. You went out of your way and risked your life to save me, Redcord, Lucid, and all the others that managed to escape. You need a break, and you've earned it. Come on, let's go.”
I carried Sky Buster into the shelter of a large rectangular building with the help of Redcord's support. The memory cut off as the light of the hallway blinded my eyes.
“Ranger!” Aurora was clapping her hooves in front of my face, “Ranger! Wake up. We're about to go into a city and we need you awake. Let's go bitch.”
“Where are we?” I shook my head clear and rubbed my eyes.
“Check your map dummy. It's on there for a reason,” Aurora pointed to my watch.
“This thing has a map?” I navigated through the menus to find myself on the map screen of the Pipwatch, “Well what do you know.”
We were on the outskirts of the port city of Otaru. What used to be a major port turned into a cobbled maze of concrete and steel filled with mutants, raiders, and all sorts of deadly vermin. Although the waters of the canals were clean enough to swim in the occasional bit of debris floated by. We kept our eyes and ears on high alert as cities were highly dangerous places to loot and go through. The crumbling buildings posed a threat, as bits of rubble and iron beams eroded and sometimes fell. Of course, the many bones and skeletons of those who lived here are present. Picked clean by feral animals years ago. Destroyed cars and the occasional armored vehicle littered the streets and I could see in the distance was a roadblock.
“Stop stop! My EFS is going crazy with red dots. That roadblocks ain't friendly,” I prodded Aurora's shoulder for her to take evasive maneuvers. We turned tail and made a U-turn to park the jeep away from the roadblock. Roadblocks were always a death trap, if you don't know if it's friendly you bet your ass it's hostile. That didn't require an EFS to reason out. Felix kept guard by the jeep as Aurora and I made our way into the buildings to try and get a better vantage point on the roadblock.
"I can see a few raiders, they're fanning the area to search for our jeep," I whispered to Aurora as we hid in the second story of a hotel, "Okay, this is gonna get tricky. We've got a squad of four guarding the roadblock with two manning big fifties. See those cars they set up? I want you to blow up those and make damn sure they set off a chain reaction. Once you shoot, move to the jeep and guard it. I'll be in a building beside this one. That explosion is gonna bring the rest of their guys back and I'll ambush them, sound good?"
“Yeah, I'll wait for your signal,” she gave a salute with her good wing and scurried out.
I sneaked out into the back alleys and set up on the last floor just before the roof of the building to the left of Aurora. I had my G3, better for close range engagements with the red dot sight. I could get a clean shot off the four guys on the roadblock, so I gave Aurora the all clear signal. She was on the roof to provide the first blow with her mighty Tesla cannon. The brilliant blue bolt of lightning impacted the cars and set them off in a loud explosion. Three of the guards died in the explosion and I killed the last one with one shot of my battle rifle. Aurora galloped out of the building and made it safely to the jeep. The remaining raiders came back to the roadblock and all of them ran out into the open. I opened fire and with each pull of the trigger was a kill up until the last guy. He dashed into the building I was hiding in and I just barely missed his head, the bullet whizzing past him by merely an inch.
"Shit!" I shouldered my rifle and unholstered my .44 magnum, “Go ahead, make my day.”
I could sense that they were clearing each room one by one. I think he might have been the commander of the group, experienced for sure. He was even checking for booby traps. As he approached my room I ducked behind the left side of the door, as people usually checked the right first. I could hear his steps and my heart raced. My horn tinted brown as I hovered my revolver close to my chest. I saw the barrel of his gun stick out and grabbed it. Using what Aurora taught me I disarmed the commander, unloaded his AK-74, and threw it out the window. He drew his knife from a side sheath and I drew mine. We slashed and struck blades, parrying each other with quick strikes. I managed to nick him in a face.
"Hey! You're pretty good boy, why don't you just put down that knife and become my bitch! How's that? It's not gonna be that bad, just take it up the ass now and then. Or maybe you'll love to meet my contractor," the scum was actually talking.
"Never, but nice offer," I sarcastically remarked. I threw him a quick buck but he caught my leg and stabbed his knife through. I screamed in agony as the sharp and inflaming pain engulfed my leg. I could see my blood dripping out and I was incapacitated. I heard Aurora and Felix scream.
“You shouldn't have done that, you'll do fine as a slave,” this was the last thing I heard before he pulled an improvised dart gun from his saddle and shot me unconscious.
Author's Note
Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Trot n' Shot
Reduced accuracy penalties with one-handed ranged weapons, be they firearms or magic energy, while trotting or galloping.
I awoke on the shores of a distant island. My clothes were damp and the water had permeated my coat. I was shivering immensely as I looked around for Felix and Aurora. The air was cold, much colder than that of the Hokkaido wasteland. It was a piercing cold that felt like needles driving into my skin. I cried out for my friends.
“Felix! Aurora!” no response. I looked to my hooves and found my legs shaking. Something didn't feel right. My saddlebags felt lighter and something was around my neck. I touched the odd device and it hit me. It was a slave collar with plenty of explosives to blow of my head at the push of a button. I gasped and frantically surveyed my surroundings. Suddenly my Pipwatch spoke.
“Do what I say, and no pony gets hurt,” it was that of a mare. She sounded demanding and superior.
“What did you do to my friends?!” I screamed into my Pipwatch microphone. She was hardly phased.
“Like I said, do what I say and they won't be hurt. I have them in stasis pods wired to explosives. I could kiss these foals goodnight with a press of a button,” I heard a click in the background and my heart sank. I froze in place as I assumed that she murdered the only family I had left. In a cruel, or maybe fortunate twist of fate, the sound of the explosion never came, “Do not test me, or the next click will be for real.”
I held my head down and tried to suppress my tears. A few escaped and fell to the ground. I couldn't believe it, I was taken captive by this fucking slaver and she wants me to do her bidding. I recollected myself and let out a depressed sigh.
“...Okay, I will play your game,” I whispered into my Pipwatch and stood in silence. My response came in a satisfied tone.
“Good. I need you alive for now. I want you to retrieve something of mine. Do it and you'll be set free. You already know what will happen if you refuse,” she talked down on my like I was a dog, “I stripped you of all weapons so that you wouldn't have killed me when I dropped you off the boat. Find some shelter, find some gear, and come back to me when you're not dying of cold. This island has been mostly untouched after the balefire. Well, mostly. I will leave you to that. Get going, get a fire up before nightfall.”
She disappeared off my radio and the breeze started to pick up. I grimaced as another wave of pain pierced into every part of my body. She was right, I have to find shelter, food, fresh water, and most importantly warmth. I had the luxury of my Pipwatch still on my person so I used it to find my bearings. I was on a hawk sharped island chain labeled by my Pipwatch as “Namalsk.” There were two islands that made up the chain. The largest was shaped like a raptor bird and the ominous island I was thrown on was shaped like a piece of meat the carrion bird was eating. It was foreboding and a chill ran out my spine, among other sensations of pain cause by this fucking cold as crotchtits wind.
To my direct north was a placed simply called “Old Sawmill.” To my west was a massive railroad bridge that spanned a strait. It was one of the most defining landmarks of the island and thus was labeled “Tara Bridge.” I urged my body to press forward as the cold made my movement sluggish and painful. I spied an outhouse of all things that could have given me warmth. I had to do it, get away from the cold.
I opened the outhouse door and was greeted by the absolute most horrific smell I had ever come to expect in the wasteland. There was a dead pony, mummified, still reading a newspaper with centuries old pony pies dumped into the craphole. The stench of rot, fecal matter, and an opened can of caked on beans buzzing with flies-wait! He was actually EATING here? I had no choice but to vomit. I picked the corpse up with magic and threw the bitch into a hole. His sticky fingers disgustingly held onto the now rock hard newspaper with his mouth agape in an eerie smile. Again, I vomited uncontrollably.
“This is gross! Worst than shit, it's meatcrob horrendous!” I backed away from the corpse and the damned stench it still managed to give off. However, I stopped to look at something shiny on his belt. It was a weapon, a Makarov pistol. Normally I wouldn't so much as mind looting a dead corpse. But most corpses I just freshly made and didn't give off an order nearly as bad as this motherfucker in front of me. I sucked it up and grabbed it off his belt, never bothering with the holster. It still stunk but at the very least I had a weapon to defend myself with only one magazine. For the lack of a better expression: a polished turd.
“Good, you acquired some food and a weapon,” the disembodied voice spoke to me again.
“Um, food?”
“You left a can of unopened beans on the body. I think you should grab it,” she suggested with little concern.
“Pardon me ma'am, not to sound disrespectful. BUT HELL NO!” I was reactive in my statement.
“Fair enough, I wouldn't take it either. I wouldn't force you to eat a rotten kiwi anyway. Like I said: I need you alive. Nice call on that,” she complimented me. Like a pat on the head of her pet, “Search around more for some basic gear. You need to stay warm. Get some dry clothes on. I suggest you head over the bridge. There's an old barn in the tiny marshland. Be warned though: there's a creature guarding that place. They're all around and they'll kill you silently. Word is: they're invisible only until they get up close. We call them Bloodsuckers for their blood curdling scream and preferred dining method. Watch for imprints in the snow carefully. That's the only way you can tell where they are if they're stealthy.”
“You have got to be shitting me,” I eyed the bridge and shook my head, “My only option huh?”
“Eeyup. Get going,” she radioed out.
I was left to myself again and pondered about crossing the bridge. With one eye on my EFS compass I made my way over the bridge. It was a really bad idea as the wind actually blew harder making me even more sluggish and cold. I had to do something or I was going to die. Then a small miracle happened upon me. To the side of the bridge on a maintenance station was a single unused heatpack. I felt it, touched it, and relished it. I hurriedly stampeded on the bag to release the chemical reaction. I felt the most pleasurable sensation of warmth finally take over as I slipped the heatpack between my shirt and chest.
“Luna, Celestia you've answered my prayers! My Goddesses thank you! Thank you!” I shouted to the heavens at the long dead princesses that watched over me. I felt my muscles move again and trotted on to the other end of the bridge. I stopped as I neared the end. There was a white dot on my EFS compass and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a friendly face and I needed it. I trotted under the bridge and looked for any signs of life. There was a small campfire with empty metal cans littered about. I checked the surroundings for anything of use. There was nothing. Suddenly, I felt a drop of something hit my horn. I wiped it off with my hoof and found-blood?! I glanced up to see the corpses of the ponies who once used this campfire hung between the support beams. One of them had his saddlebags burnt off by the fire. Another with a bullet hole shot in his head and a third with guts strewn about. The cause of death was even more terrifying: they all had holes in their necks punctured by some creature. I ran to the white dot on my EFS compass and cried for help.
“HELP! HELP! HELP ME!” I hyperventilated and ran for my life into the barn where I expected a friendly pony to come and shelter me in their grasp. I opened my eyes to see that the barn was filled with corpses of ponies. Foals, mares, stallions, all of them with puncture wounds on their necks and blood covered the floor. I froze in fear, nopony was here and the dot was clearly in front of me. They weren't on the roof, they were right here in front of me but I could not see them. The dot flashed red to hostile. I had sealed my fate. The monstrous abomination growled with the gurgle of blood in its tentacled mouth. Its head swollen with a massive exposed brain and red glowing eyes of sheer murder. As fast as it appeared it vanished, turning a white dot on my EFS compass. I panicked and ran out of the barn as fast as my legs could carry me. Pure adrenaline coursing in my veins as I cried my eyes out and ran scared for my life. I got onto the bridge and looked back to see the half pony half mutant beast eying for my flesh and blood. I couldn't keep running as the cold nipped and bit at my legs. I kept crying, I didn't know what to do! I was going to die and I was foolish enough to put not only myself but my friends in danger too! Damn it! Damn it all to Discord's hell! I tripped on a rail and faceplanted into one of the maintenance corners of the bridge. I turned to see the Bloodsucker's razor sharp bladed tail and thrashing tentacles hiding a razor toothed mouth and lamprey like tongue. I backed myself in the corner and shielded myself in a futile attempt to stay alive. As I did so I accidentally pressed a button on my Pipwatch. It activated a spell matrix that I was not aware of until this moment.
WELCOME TO THE STABLE-TEC ARCANE TARGETING SPELL OR SATS FOR SHORT. IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME USING SATS PLEASE READ THE MANUAL OUTLINED IN YOUR SIGHT.
The world was frozen in time. The Bloodsucker was in mid swipe and behind a wall of text that I could read clearly. This was exactly what I needed. I made sure to familiarize myself with the spell as I disabled it to roll away from the Bloodsucker's swipe of the tail. The guard rail of the bridge was sliced cleanly and I had some distance on the mutant. I pulled my Makarov and enabled SATS. The head was highlighted bright with a yellow tint and a percentage chance to hit, ninety five percent. It would be an unfortunate miracle if I missed. To be safe, I selected the monsters head three times and activated the spell. Immediately the trigger fluttered in a flurry of three shots in rapid succession. The Bloodsucker dropped like a leaf and skid to my hooves, still trying to grab me with its mouth tendrils. I followed up with a bone crushing stomp.
“DIE! DIE! DIE! ROT IN HELL! DIE!” I repeated my stomps as I furiously cursed and beat it down to a nice bloody pulp, “Fuck you, you motherfucker! I beat your ass bitch!”
I yelled in victory and smiled. Not wanting to turn down any loot I patted down the body of the Bloodsucker. What I found was an odd little device called an APSI. It was a simple PDA that seemed inactive. I turned it on and found the screen flash a countdown to something. T-minus: 45 minutes to next emission. This confused me but I held onto it anyway. It could be important. I tossed the body into the sea and let that sucker drift away. With that out of the way I went back to loot the bodies of the campfire group first then I'd turn my attention to the barn. Always keeping an eye on my EFS compass for any signs of life. I was startled as my captors voice rang out over my watch.
“So, I see you took care of the little Tara Bridge Troll.”
“Yeah, thanks for the warning. That thing took three head shots from this gun to bring it down. Never seen anything take that many hits in the face,” I rechecked the condition of my pistol. My Pipwatch stated oddly that the Makarov had bonus critical hit damage, most likely due to the small round aftertumbling upon impact.
“You should try and get a better weapon. I'll let you loot these bodies first then head northwest to a crashed helicopter. I have dropped a supply crate there for you to use during my last venture to this island.”
“Okay, you've kept my alive for now. But why are you doing this? Why me?”
“Because my mercs pick out the tributes. I simply can't tell you why. Just get something for me at all costs. I need it and you aren't equipped to retrieve it yet. I am not your enemy, I do not want you to die. I only kidnapped you and your friends so that you'd comply. I don't expect a typical wastelander to partake in a mission like this. Especially an odd one. Now go, don't keep me waiting,” she explained in a more casual tone. I felt a small feeling of mutual trust and understanding, but I was still pissed she had put me in this situation. At least I knew she wasn't out to kill me or make me suffer, she would have already done that by now-with the exception of Felix and Aurora of course. The fact of the matter is that I was still her slave.
“Still playing your game,” I felt the heatpack slipped into my clothes fade. The now useless hunk of plastic I threw to the ground. I turned my attention to the bodies of the ponies stuck under the bridge. I levitated them down with magic and stripped their clothes off to wrap myself in a comforting veil of warmth. I could finally feel my legs as I piled on the shirts of the dead ponies. I dug them a grave and buried the bodies as to not attract any more bloodsuckers. They had little on them besides clothes. There was a crowbar, a box of matches, and a can of Past Analysis brand pasta: macaroni and cheese.
I was starving and settled into a small shack beside the barn with all the dead bodies. My nose finally started to tolerate the smell of rot, something I wasn't prepared to accept. Like it or not, I was becoming used to it. I had to be careful with my mental health least I go insane. I took shelter in the shack and found two heatpacks. I stuffed them into my saddlebags and swapped it for the can of pasta. Oddly enough it was still fresh with the printed expiration date only passed by a mere month. This happened in Hokkaido too, but seeing as how two post-apocalyptic superpowers were eying to annex it the connected dots made sense. Only one problem: I had no can opener. I cried, really just-dammit cried.
“Dear Discord, you are a whore,” I banged my head on the can and held my hooves up to curse the god of chaos and his sick twisted joke of a world, “Turning and laughing in your grave aren't you! UGGH!”
My horn impacted the can. I felt something drip onto it and wiped it off with my hoof. I looked at my hoof and licked it. Cheese sauce! I had punctured the can with my horn. I laughed.
“HAA! HAA! HAHA! HAAHAHAAA!” I held the can up in righteous victory, “Screw you buddy!”
Once more, I thrusted my horn into the top of the can. The delicious contents poured forth from the can onto my face and mouth. I yelled like a maniac at my next bit of victory.
“I AM A BADASS!” I drummed my chest, “I FEEL SMART!”
I cleaned my face off with a rag and sighed in and out. Cheese was crusted on my mane as I came into the entrance of the barn. Now that the threat was gone I concentrated on looting whatever was left in here. I found a hatchet, two cans of soda, a wrapped bandage, and a canteen of clean water. I used half of the water to really wash my face and hair as clean as I could get it. I used up another heat pack and went up the hill like she told me to. I was now paranoid for anything as a few dots of red marked my EFS. My pistol only had a few shots to spare and I wanted to save those for an emergency. I brought out my hatchet and sneaked into some bushes to spy on the enemy in front of me. I stared for a moment at the unarmed soldier dressed in the same style of uniform as that of the NSL soldier Aurora and I killed earlier. He was trotting along at an odd gate and I approached silently. He never saw me coming as I brought the axe to his head. It was then that I noticed something: he was a ghoul pony and a feral one. I was used to the ghoul ponies that visited New Trotakomai every so often. This didn't scare me at all as I knew all too well that feral ghouls existed in the wasteland so why should Namalsk be any different? For once, it was actually a welcome sight to see cannon fodder. Free loot yet again! This time it was a single magazine for my Makarov. Decent and it opened up my ranged option of self defense once more. I passed by a deerstand where the zombie pony patrolled. Up the ladder was his dead friend already looted for anything of use except a pair of binoculars and a single vial of healing potion. This was a good find.
Immediately to my west was the helicopter crash she had told me about. It was swarmed with around ten feral ghouls. I had to take the stealth approach. With my single tin can I threw it away from the helicopter to the bottom of the hill. The pack of ghouls made their way to investigate the sound as I crawled to the inside of the heli. Score one! My captor dropped off an SMG with two fat drum mags stashed in a crate under one of the seats as well as an audio recording. I looked to my Pipwatch and found that it was called a Bizon. It fired the same rounds as my pistol but my main surprise was the magazine size. Sixty four rounds of rock and roll in each magazine for close quarter combat. I was grinning ear to ear as I made my way silently out of the area now labeled on my Pipwatch as Nitija Tower.
“You got some good gear? Good. Now I need to you travel north along the east side of Nitija Mountain using the trees as cover. You might hear some gunfire from the Stalkers coming out of the nearby army base,” my captor came back over the radio. I've marked a location on the map called Sebjan Mine. You hungry? I dropped off some food there plus a little easter egg like the one you just picked up. You might want to head back to the shack though and warm up. Good luck out there,” I could sense that she was finally beginning to trust me, “Oh, and by the way. You can take off that collar now. You've been very helpful.”
My collar unlatched and I threw it to the side. I was no longer a captive but I had no way of getting off the island without her help. With that said I needed to ask her one question.
“I never got your name. Who are you?”
She paused, “My name is Eliyora. I've been alive for a long, long time. You will see why after we meet. Until then your mission still stands. You'll need some friends too. Meet up with some of my agents on the island. I'll talk to you when you find one. It's a good thing I can trust you. Most wastelanders would have tried to cut and run.”
Once again Eli's guiding voice faded into the ambiance of Namalsk. I trotted back to my shack and built a campfire in the shack with the door facing the sea opened outward. The APSI device started to beep and rumble uncontrollably. I turned to it and found the countdown at zero. Something in the ground rumbled. In the distance I saw the clouds that covered the islands converge into a swirling mass of energy. It was a storm of the likes I've never seen and I hastily put out my fire and slammed the door shut. Lightning, thunder, and explosions could be heard outside. I looked out into the sea as the sky turned a bright yellow and flashed repeatedly. I turned my gaze and ducked down to prepare for the storm of the century. The ground rocked violently and the windows turned too bright to peek out of. That swirling mass had exploded into a shock wave of magical energy and radiation that flooded the land. I waited a few minutes after the sky blacked out. I was okay and it seemed like the magical storm passed by harmlessly around the building. I tried to contact Eli.
“Eliyora! You there? What the hell was that?”
“That was a magic emission. There were some-” she paused trying to think of the right word, “experiments that Equestria conducted here on this island. Now you see why I am having a hard time gathering what I need here and I can't do by myself. Just remember: stay inside of buildings when it happens or else your head will explode from the release of psyonic energy. Solid objects block all emissions so keep a building nearby. You can relax now. Listen to that audio tape. I think you'll find it insightful.”
I sighed and loaded the audio file into my watch. I kicked back to listen and sipped on a soda to pass the time.
Namalsk Aftermath: Day One:
This is Major Eliyora of Equestria's Ministry of Awesome. Things haven't gone so well here on Namalsk after the balefire hit. I've received word from my old friend, Sky Buster, that he's leading a rescue operation to find all the bomber crews, sailors, and the rest of the ponies that have no home left to go to and have fled to the sea. I've got no where to go either so I'll just stay here on this island. Plenty of supplies to go around the base and we've got potatoes for years. I hope Cakey will be okay, poor girl. She had it all in Applewood and wanted to give a good show for the troops before they set off to deploy on the northern Zebra coast. Fleet's gone now, sailing back to the Fillypines. They told me to stay here and watch the base. Something's not right though. I get the sense that there's more here than meets the eye. I'm only a Major and don't have access to the deeper parts of the base nor the landmark we're studying to the west called Object A1. Heard rumors that it's an alien UFO but I think it's just a coverup for a downed prototype Zebra recon plane. Whatever it is they don't want the public to see it, even after the bombs hit. No contact from Equestria yet. This is Major Eliyora of the Ministry of Awesome R&D Sector signing out.
“I wouldn't advise going to that sight. It's full of Bloodsuckers. And it definitely wasn't a Zebra recon plane. You need to meet up with one of my agents at Sebjan Mine. Go, before another one of those emissions hits.”
I heeded her warning and made my way on the tree line east of Nitija Mountain. There was a break in the trees as I saw an army base swarming with zombie ponies and hostile mercenaries fighting it out on the coastline. I avoided it like the plague and made my way north in a thankfully uneventful trek. I stopped once I got a clear view of the mine. It was a collection of buildings that were fairly decent in size. I could make out the water towers and mills that once processed the minerals dug from the earth. I eyed the railroad station on the northern most end of Nitija Mountain with my binoculars. The place only had a few zombie ponies roaming around and there were bodies of them scattered on the ground. Someone was here all right but at this distance my EFS could not detect them. I edged to the tower with the massive hopper that sorted the rocks. With my Bizon ready I trotted silently to the mill. Inside was a massive store of mechanical parts and not much else. I made my way up to the second level of the facility and scouted the building to my direct north. There were loads of zombie ponies clawing out the destroyed house to somepony inside, somepony friendly. There was a massive crack of a large rifle that blew out the door of the building with an explosive round. There was a grey blur that shot out of the door and flew up to the roof of the house. My gaze was at full attention to the pony. He was an Alicorn! Alicorns were the rarest beings in the wasteland and he looked like he meant business. Jet black mane and tail with a fluorescent stripe of purple that matched his eyes. His tactical vest held many magazines of .50 caliber ammunition for his dull purple and matte black AS-50 anti-materiel rifle. With wings spread and stance steady, he ignored the zombies and took a breather.
“Where the hell is that wastelander Eliyora sent?” he asked casually and emotionless. He was unphased by the horde around him. With that statement I went up to the roof and tried to get his attention. He gave me a look of anger as he whipped his rifle around and shot at me. I hid behind one of the air conditioning units on the roof and readied my Bizon. I was furious as my Pipwatch let me down.
“Shit! This SMG won't cut it at this range,” I ducked and waited for a second shot. The Alicorn responded back to me.
“You know I wasn't trying to shoot you right?” he yelled rather calmly, “Look to your left.”
There was the corpse of a feral pegasus ghoul at my feet I had not noticed. I came out of hiding and waved to him. My anger simmered down and was replaced with gratitude.
“Why don't you help me out? That sub machine gun of yours won't attract as many zombies to you as my rifle. I'd love to fly but that'd make me an easy target for pegasus zombies hiding in the trees,” he made a good point. I was just thinking why he hadn't just flown off, “Keep quiet! I've got their attention.”
I nodded back to him and made my way down the steps carefully as to not make any noise. I flipped my weapons selector to semi automatic and began to whittle down the horde. The sixty four round magazine dispatched the horde with little noise compared to the rifle the male Alicorn possessed. I also made sure to attack the horde at a distance where the shots of my gun were muffled. I missed a few shots, but the horde now lay dead and the male Alicorn stepped down from the roof of the building to greet me.
“Thank you for the save.”
“The feeling's mutual my friend. My name is Rifle Ranger,” I shook his hoof and admired his Alicorn status, “I have never seen an Alicorn before, let alone a stallion Alicorn.”
“Yes, I can't deny that I am rather impressive,” he said level headed. I eyed his rifle and drooled.
“Where in the world did you get that rifle?” likewise I've never seen an AS-50 up close. He gave a small smirk and closed his eyes.
“Had Phoenix since I was a unicorn. That was a very long time ago, back when things weren't as bleak,” he recalled a fond memory. He was a true professional with many kills scratched into the stock of his anti-materiel rifle. Beneath his tactical vest was a checkered coat that kept him warm, “Let's get you some food. My name's Amale”
“As in, a male Alicorn?” I had to inquire. He rolled his eyes at me.
“If I had a bottlecap for every time I heard that. Let's just go. I made my camp under an old deer stand just north of here.”
“Wait, Eli left me a stash in that building,” I turned back to the crumbled house with all the dead zombies lining it.
“You mean this?” he tossed me the audio recording from his saddlebags, “Don't bother with the food. I've got it in my pack.”
“Right. Can I catch up with you? I want to see if there's any more good loot left here,” my curiosity got the better of me.
“Alright, I've put my camp location on your map. Pay me a visit when you're done,” Amale trotted off into the forest and I eyed the mine. I gave a good look at the zombie ponies that died in the house, making sure I looted each corpse. Most of them held nothing but trash but one of the military zombies had a .357 magnum revolver with two speed loaders. I jumped in joy.
“Hell yeah!” I kissed my new revolver and threw my crappy Makarov into a pond, “Oh how I do love my revolvers.”
I turned my attention to the watch tower with military crates left over from the Ministry of Awesome. I climbed the many stairs and sifted through the crates. Nothing was left inside of them save for a locked one at the very top of the tower. I was faced with a few options: crowbar it, shoot it with my revolver, or pick the lock. I wanted to get out of there in a hurry so I ended up prying the lock off with the crowbar. With the combined force of my magic and body weight the lock gave way in a splintering crack. Inside was a single AK type rifle that I've never seen before. I looked on the weapon and found the designation engraved on the receiver; it was an AK-107 with a red dot sight and two magazines of ammunition. I stuffed that into my saddlebags and moved on north to meet up with Amale.
“Found an AK! You got any more mags for this?”
“Of course. Check the tents bambi. Feel free to get some food too,” Amale had a campfire going underneath the deer stand. I took a can of beans and tried to open it with my horn again. Amale stopped me, “You should try this. From the looks of things your last meal didn't go so well.”
He gave me a can opener and I couldn't help but laugh. My horn still had residue of cheese sauce and for once that made me look like an idiot. I sighed and ate my delicious can of hot beans. It lifted up my spirits and I felt safe with Amale watching out for me. I took the time to listen to the next audio log.
Namalsk Aftermath: Day Two:
Eli here again. I just got word from the Fillypines. We're back in business! The research team is working hard to perfect the Alicorn stabilization serum again after the fall of Equestria and our research into the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion at Maripony. Still no word from the mainland but we're getting our shit together. There's a lot of refugees in the base now and I sent word for them to be picked up by the aircraft carrier ESS Celestia as it sails to the Fillypines. Now, back to that serum. We've reached a massive breakthrough in controlling the metamorphosis. A small dose of IMP into the back of a unicorn submerged in a tank of the, oh my Celestial did we REALLY have to use this acronym? Oh fine. A small dose of IMP into the back of a unicorn test subject submerged in a tank of ASS. Alright! Which one of you named this stupid thing? Oh whatever, fuck it. The serum mimics the conditions of the womb and allows for new body parts and abilities to form harmlessly. We could have had an army of these Alicorns if we only found out that purple phoenix feathers solved the problem. Oh well, this might still see some use. Due to the lack of Zebra unicorn spies to test on one of our guards volunteered to partake in the final experiment. Amale is his name and he's waiting in the tank right now. I'll get back to this after the experiment is done. He's a brave stallion for doing this.
I removed my earpiece and gazed in more amazement at Amale. He turned to me with a small smile.
“You're-” I gawked, at a loss for words.
“The first male Alicorn. The experiment was a success. I wouldn't have put myself in danger and I knew that the serum would work after I overheard some scientists. I jumped on the opportunity,” he smiled and patted me on the shoulder, “Let's go to Sebjan Warehouse before the next emission hits. I'm immune to that but you aren't. Technically I'm still classified as a mutant and radiation doesn't effect me. We should be there before nightfall.”
I followed Amale through the forest as we came to the warehouse after a few minutes canter. He had made his home base here in the attic of one of the two story houses. He hung his rifle on a rack and sunk into an old couch.
“Make yourself at home. We're safe here for now,” he turned on a radio and tuned it in to that familiar station.
“Hello my brony and pegasister friends! I'm Silver Rose back again for another exciting round of news in the Hokkaido Wasteland! Remember those rules of good wasteland conduct I outlined yesterday? Well it turns out that a couple of misfits decided to shoot first and got their butts kicked by some roadblock mercenaries being employed by the NFR down near Otaru. Looks like that unicorn, pegasus, and two tailed dragon got hauled off to some island as punishment. That's what you get for shooting first everypony! Until then this is Silver Rose bringing you the daily wasteland news. And now for some music! Here's The Living Tombstone with his popular song The Good ol' Days featuring Mic the Microphone and Jackle App.”
“Oh great, she makes me sound like a raider,” I put a hoof to my face.
“Did you have a weapon brandished when you came up to the roadblock?” Amale asked plainly.
“Um, no-wait! Yes. We drove in with a jeep armed with a heavy machine gun. D'oh!” I put another hoof to my face, “And yeah, we did shoot first. My EFS labeled them as hostile.”
“Next time you should sheath your weapon before actively engaging. Reason first then when all options are exhausted shoot. That's the way of the hero. Checkered shirt optional,” he closed his eyes and yawned, “Well good night.”
“Night Amale,” I found a nice spot on the floor next to the magically powered space heater Amale kept near the window. I closed the blinds and dropped asleep into my saddlebags.
I dreamed that I was trapped in an old world casino with a large rifle that fired bolts of solid light at zombie ponies in hazmat suits. I felt even more lost and scared as I was when I was taken captive. There was that all too familiar choke of a slave collar that started to beep alarmingly fast. I screamed as my head exploded and I was thrust back into reality.
“AAHH!” I jumped awake and felt my face, “Oh thank Celestia.”
“Hmm?” Amale stirred awake with little alarm to my outcry of mental pain, “Bad dream?”
“Yes,” I sighed sadly, “I've been through a lot since my town was burnt down by raiders.”
“You have my condolences. I am sorry for your loss,” he pulled me closer with one of his outstretched wings, “I speak from experience. I have lived a long time. It's a miracle that I've kept my sanity all these years to the loss of my friends around me, the balefire that extinguished my country, and all the monsters physical, mental, and emotional that have plagued me. Do you know what I did Ranger?”
“What did you do?” I asked with a heavy feeling that sunk in my gut.
“I found my virtue. I have saved so many lives and each one held so much meaning. The lives I've saved went on to do wonderful things for the world and not just the wasteland. I've dealt with so much pain, so many betrayals. Even if I die a million times and save just one life, it's worth it,” Amale gave me some much needed words of encouragement, “This is why I have this cutie mark. A purple balefire phoenix. I can never truly die from my wounds but once my body turns to ash I am reborn again. I have felt the pain of death and I've seen the afterlife. Every time I die I see the lives I saved that went on to do great things. Find your virtue Ranger and you will go far.”
I felt my soul soar at his advice. Tears were flowing down my face as he took me under his wing. He was my mentor now and a new friend I could trust.
“Now let's get out there and finish the mission,” Amale took the rifle from his gun rack and fitted it to a harness on the back of his vest. He took out a strange bullpup rifle with an ACOG and grenade launcher from the chest beneath the gun rack. I cocked my head and eyed it curiously.
“What's that?”
“Crystal Empire L85A2. Are you a weapons expert?”
“Yes I am, I love guns. My father taught me to shoot and I couldn't help learning all about them when I had the chance. So what's the plan Amale?”
“We'll need a vehicle to reach the largest city of Vorkuta. There's an army checkpoint to the west with a damaged NSL UAZ that was dropped off by hostile Stalkers. We need to steal it from them and fix it back up,” Amale opened the door and we made our way out of the compound of warehouses. There was a destroyed tank that marked a fork in the dirt road, “Take a left. Let's go over the mountain. And watch for Bloodsuckers.”
“Eli warned me about that. This end of the island is crawling with them right?”
“Yes,” we stopped to listen. It was just the swirl of the wind and the eerie cry of a bird that sounded too close to a foal yelling the word: help, “Come, make it over the mountain. You might want to use a heatpack.”
I stomped on one of my heatpacks to release the thermal reaction. I slipped it onto my chest and levitated out my assault rifle. Had I been an earth pony my mouth and tongue would have frozen stuck onto the rifle like I was licking a flagpole. The trot only took a few minutes as we came to a tower that overlooked the checkpoint. Some Stallionrad soldiers with ragtag clothing made it their base camp. There was an odd seaplane that they beached on the sand with short stubby wings and a nose that opened to roll out their single, now broken down, jeep onto the island. The jeep sat in the middle of a helipad and two barracks with guards that patrolled the area. My EFS all labeled them hostile. I put away my gun and their dots remained red.
“You don't need to do that Ranger,” Amale whispered, “Always assume NSL are out to kill you.”
“Same with raiders I take it?” I whispered back.
“Yup. Stay low and try to flank around. I'll get their attention,” he flashed his AS-50 and flew off the treeline using the mountain to get a height advantage on our enemies. I flanked around from the west using the thick forests as cover. I made my way to the south corner of the base and waved to Amale. I saw that he raised one of his hooves to signal me.
He began the ambush with one shot from his anti-machine rifle. His victim exploded in a vicious red mist of blood and entrails plastered on the side of the small barracks. All eyes turned to him as they scrambled for cover from the unseen sniper. With them distracted I took time to view their strength with my eyes forward sparkle. There were seven of them now, three of which were on top of some armored guard towers. I silently climbed my way up the first tower and peeked to see one of them prone on the floor with an equally large rifle as that of Amale's. I grasped a knife in my forehoof and kicked him onto his back. He gasped in horror as I plunged a ceramic kitchen knife into his throat. He was unable to scream as blood filled his lungs. Just the way I wanted it. I crested over the edge of the tower and activated the tactical zen that was SATS. I had a clear sight on three of the Stalkers. One hid behind a wooden box, another behind the barracks, and the last near the jeep. I had a good chance to hit the Stalker pony hiding behind the barracks with my assault rifle. I selected his head as my first target then shifted the spell to the mare Stalker behind the wooden box. SATS ran out of actions as I made sure to double tap the mare behind the box. My gun snapped to the head of the barracks soldier and gave a rapid three round burst into his head, felling him with the signature clatter of my AK. My gun snapped to my eye as I automatically took aim at his friend. Two bursts from my AK and her chest was punctured by multiple bullet holes. She bled to death on the cold muddy ground. I sowed confusion among their ranks as I slid down the ladder to fire from another position. I wanted to project that they were being attacked by a force larger than they were. Amale fired again just to pin the other Stalkers in place. I circled around the coast using the slope of the hill to hide my movements to assault from the north. I used the blind spot of one of the towers and fired at the soldier that took cover behind the jeep. A shot rang out from the guard tower I was under followed by Amale's rifle. The bullet impacted and pierced right through the towers metal plating with a loud blast of an explosion. I saw the sniper slump over and fall to the ground next to me with a loud meaty thud and the crack of bones. I saw a grenade on his vest and helped myself to the prize. I levitated it up to the top of the other tower and pulled the pin. His EFS dot disappeared in a flurry of shrapnel and body parts. One last Stalker inside the barracks. We were gonna clear it out.
“Go around the back and peak into the windows. I'll clear the inside room by room,” Amale flew to me and pointed to the barracks door.
“No need for that, I've got an EFS remember?” I enveloped his shoulder with a bit of magic to hold him back, “He's in the back room. We'll go into together.”
“On three we breach,” we stood on the opposite sides of the door as Amale loaded a breaching charge into his under barrel grenade launcher, “One, two, three!”
He blew the doorknob clean off and lead the way as he bucked the door open. I was right behind him with my Bizon aimed above his shoulder. The enemy soldier burst from the door with a shotgun and blew away Amale. I took my Bizon and filled his chest with twenty or so rounds of 9mm death. I turned to Amale. He was heavily wounded and the buckshot had torn into his flesh.
“Sweet Luna!” I gasped as I cut away his vest and checkered shirt. He was coughing out blood and the holes in his chest exposed his organs, “You're gonna be okay Amale. Stay with me!”
“B-Bloodbag,” he pointed at his bags, “Band-dages.”
“Right! Oh my Goddesses don't die on me!” I was frantic as I bandaged his wounds. I stopped when I remembered the healing potion in my bag and lifted it out, “Drink! Drink this!”
I held Amale's head up and made him drink some of the potion, only enough to keep him alive as I took my knife and used a barrel fire to sanitize it. It bought me some time as I placed him on one of the bottom bunks of the barracks bed.
“This is gonna hurt, but I need to get those pellets out of you!” I gently thrust my knife into Amale's wounds as they cauterized and removed pellet after agonizing pellet of the shotgun shell. Amale screamed with each twist and clump of flesh removed. I made him take sips of the healing potion and gave him an IV with his own blood bags. With one last scrape of my knife his ordeal was over and I could breath, “Thank Celestia and Luna you pulled through. Rest my friend. Stay here while I go loot and clean up the bodies.”
Amale closed his eyes and exhaled with a deep feeling of relief. I tucked his rifle underneath his hoof like a teddy bear and closed the door behind me. The dead body on my feet with the shotgun looked up to me in that blank gaze. I dismissed him as scum for attempting to kill my friend. I gave him a firm kick to make sure he was dead. Something rolled out of his pocket. It was a small propane tank for a blowtorch with a blasting cap taped onto it and a laser sensor from an old garage door. It was an inactive improvised mine, a gas bomb.
“This will come in useful. Now to loot that anti-machine rifle off one of the tower guards.”
I noticed a poster on the entrance of the barracks as I made my way out. It was a poster of another ministry of Equestria. It was a poster from the Ministry of Morale, now faded over time. It was of a white unicorn mare with braided hair and a heart shaped cutie mark with ribbons singing to a crowd of soldiers. I had seen this poster before at the sawmill and mine but I paid no heed as other passing matters kept me occupied.
“-with special guest: the famous 'Cakey' Crown Heart singing in concert!” I read the legible print out loud, “From your friends at the Ministry of Morale!”
I heard the name before. I wanted to contact Eli again.
“Eli! You there? I have a question,” I talked into my Pipwatch.
“Yes, what is it?” she responded back after our long silence.
“Who is this Crown Heart I've been hearing about? I've seen a few posters and one of your audio logs referenced her by name.”
“She is...” Eliyora paused, “-was a good friend of mine, a famous one. Actor, singer, and one of the most upbeat ponies one could ever meet, aside from Pinkie Pie who was the leader of the Ministry of Morale. Some of the greatest actors, entertainers, and music artists gathered their efforts to support the Ministry of Morale. Famous names like The Living Tombstone, Black Griffon, Mandopony, so on and so forth. Cakey was one of the best as she did it all: music, TV shows, movies, and sketch comedy. Not as famous as some but her style was always upbeat and unique. She's dead now.”
“Sorry to hear that. Not one of the benefits of Alicorn ascension huh?”
“Unfortunately,” she sighed, “That is all I have time for. You must go.”
“Roger,” I proceeded as normal to loot the bodies and dispose of them into the sea. Admittedly I got carried away as I looted everything but the kitchen sink as I waited for Amale to wake up. I piled all the gear and weapons inside the truck and took the time to mend Amale's checkered shirt and tactical vest. I noticed a whiskey bottle of an odd liquid tucked into his front pocket. It was a miracle that the bottle was untouched and I was curious enough to take a quick sip. I felt the burn of alcohol touch my tongue with a smokey sweet flavor of whiskey and candy. Amale had labeled it a Smokey McDaniel Cocktail. I liked it and took another small sip.
“Phew! That's nice. That would go well marinated into some radbit meat.”
My pocket began to vibrate as the APSI detected another emission. I hurried back into the barracks and sealed the door. I found Amale awake but still laying on the bed. He shot a look at me.
“Did you just drink my cocktail?” he asked with straight face.
“Yes, I would have asked you first if you were awake.”
He rolled up one of the posters on the wall and tapped me in the head with it, “Bad Ranger. Aren't you a little too young for booze?”
“Well no, I use it to cook my meals. Give it flavor and spice. My father warned me about the dangers of excessive consumption. Plus my best friend is a dragon. I usually don't drink when he's around from risk of fire hazard. What's in that stuff anyway? I would like the recipe and that would make a great marinade.”
“Two parts apple whiskey, one part of melted jelly beans, and some Mountain View soda. It's quite rare in these parts so I save this drink for a special occasion.”
“Sorry for drinking it then,” I gave him back his vest and shirt with the bottle tucked in. He took one sip and offered some to me, “Wait, you said.”
“Special occasion,” he pulled a locker to block the window as the storm of radiation rolled by. He put a glow spell on the one dead light bulb in the room to light us up, “A toast to a friend?”
I found the empty tin can of pasta and used that as my shot glass, “To new friendships!”
“It's the least I could do to thank you for saving my life,” he smiled and chuckled, “Not that I really needed it though, seeing as how I'm immortal.”
“You'd still have to wait until you were turned to dust. How many times have you died anyway?”
“Three,” he took a sip of his cocktail, “Once near Sapporo, once in Chernarus, and last was here on Namalsk. All were very much painful. On Chernarus I was forced by NSL to drink disinfectant spray and eat rotten kiwis until I died of food poisoning. They cremated my body and I rose from my ashes to hunt them down so that no pony as to live through that again. Anyway, what did you find on our little friends?”
“Well, I got a KSVK anti-materiel rifle, another few AKs, the shotgun you were shot by, some ceramic chest plates, vodka, and lots of ammo.”
“Good, we can set out as soon as the storm subsides,” Amale took off his bandages and he was now fully healed. I cocked my head to one side amazed.
“You're already good to go? Wow, you Alicorns are amazing.”
“Thank you,” Eli and Amale spoke simultaneously.
The one light bulb swung back and forth to the shaking of the ground as we sipped our cocktails. We only took a few shots then we trekked back to the warehouses for the parts to fix up the jeep. All it needed were some fuel tank parts and two car tires. Oddly enough there was already a spare tire on the back of the truck. I tried to remove it but some idiot thought it was a good idea to weld the darn thing to the back instead of actually using it on the car.
“What dumbass welds a spare tire to the back of car?” Amale slid his face into his hoof, “NSL soldiers I tell you.”
“I know nothing about cars so I dunno what to tell you,” I got into the passenger side and Amale took the driver seat. With a few flicks of the jeeps switches Amale turned on the radio and the air conditioner. Warm air filled the car and the radio stirred to life.
“Good evening comrades! This is Neo Stallionrad Radio home of the faithful and death to the capitalist empires! Todays broadcast is brought to you by Boris Borsch! To the Stalkers on Namalsk and the Hokkaido Wasteland this next song is for you: Pinkie's Russian Gypsy Brew by comrades Lenich and Kirya!”
The song started off with gentle rifts of an acoustic guitar followed by the lyrics sung in that strange NSL language.
“Sounds weird,” we drove out past Sebjan Warehouse and out near the edge of the forest. We stopped the jeep and Amale got out, “Something wrong?”
“Yes, look at that watch tower on the hydroelectric dam right there,” he was behind the front of the car and looked down the scope of his rifle. I brought out my binoculars and eyed the top of the tower. There was a sniper prone at the top roughly seven hundred meters out. Amale turned to me, “Wanna take him?”
“Yeah, didn't loot this rifle for nothing,” I pulled the KSVK from the back of the jeep and lay prone on the ground. The cold dirt kept me shaking so I had no choice but to use another heatpack slipped into my vest. I focused on my target and placed him between the six hundred and eight hundred aiming chevrons of my scope. One shot blew his arm off and stirred a hornets nest. What we thought was an empty dam was filled with Stalkers that looted it for anything valuable. They pulled up their bright yellow cargo truck to search the area.
“You and me Ranger, aim for the wheels of that Ural truck!” Amale sighted his rifle on the front tire of the giant vehicle and blew off the tire right out of its axle. My own anti-machine rifle took out the driver through the door. The glass was tinted red with blood as the rest of his squad jumped out of the back to secure the dam. Suddenly out of nowhere we took counter sniper fire.
“Shit! Amale you okay?”
“I'm fine, just dented the jeep. I saw a muzzle flash from the east watchtower!”
Another sniper, great. I cycled the bolt of my gun and ranged him in the manual rangefinder on my scope. Roughly six hundred meters, an easy shot for this rifle. With a firm kick of recoil and dust my rifle propelled another half inch slug into the flesh of my would-be assailant.
“You know what they say: the best kill is overkill,” I twisted the bolt of my AMR and circled back into the passenger side of the jeep. Amale floored the pedal and drove it offroad on the dirt path under the dam. There was a blind spot which we used to hide ourselves from their fire as we drove north and away from the Sebjan Dam roadblock. I laughed and sighed, “We made it! Haha! Woo!”
“Well, it's not much. They put a good sized hole in our gas tank,” the UAZ rolled to a halt near the small outpost of Alakit labeled on my Pipwatch. The place was devoid of life and zombie ponies erupted from the place. I ditched my AMR and turned to my Bizon to thin the horde coming for us. Blurs in the sky swooped down as zombie pegasus ponies emerged from the water tower.
“Out of the frying pan into the fire!” I kept up the automatic fire before my SMG jammed, “Oh crap!”
“No time! I'll cover you,” Amale launched a well placed 40mm grenade from his L85 into the mass of zombies that galloped to us. He zoomed into the sky to fight the pegasus zombies to level the playing field and get a height advantage on the horde. I tossed my Bizon into the UAZ and grabbed my AK off my back. There were way too many of them and I had to devise a new plan. I noticed the trail of gas from the UAZ and the gas bomb I had looted earlier. I yelled to Amale, “Fly north! I'll meet up with you! Go! Distract the pegasus zombies!”
“Roger, see you when I can!” Amale drew the pegasi to the northern coast. I placed the gas bomb next to the jeep and lured the earth and unicorn zombie ponies to it. Three loud beeps later the fire and fury of the improvised incendiary mine coupled with the gasoline leak set the horde into a frenzy of shambling, flaming corpses that died at my hooves. I was impressed at my work but had to sacrifice all of my looted guns in the ensuing explosion.
I was now back to square one. No ammo for my AK, no guns but my revolver, and little food or water. I searched Alakit and found much needed food in one of the destroyed buildings and a can of Mountain View soda with two bottles of whiskey. With another quick search of the intact smaller house I found a crossbow with two wooden bolts. It was something but I was hurting for gear again. I eyed the large city of Vorkuta and thought about my options. Should I meet back up with Amale or take my chances in the big city filled with Stalkers, Bloodsuckers, Zombies, and Celestia knows what else? I didn't have to think twice about that. I made my way north into the forests and past Vorkuta Marsh. The ground of the swamp was cold and sticky with mud that clung onto my clothes. I was slowly using up heatpacks and I desperately needed more. I was on my last pack when I came up upon a deer stand with a Stalker looking right at me with a scoped AK trained on my head.
“Stoy! Brosay oborudovaniye!” she exclaimed in her harsh Slavic language. I had no clue what she said.
“No Russian! I do not speak!” I got on the ground and put my fore hooves behind my head.
“Idiot,” at least I understood that part. She spoke in a slow and broken Equestrian, “You, drop bags! All!”
I did as she told and slid my bags off my flanks. The pegasus mare flew down to me and kicked my bag open. All I had was food, heatpacks, and my crossbow. She smiled as she picked up the soda can. Like Aurora she held the assault rifle with her right wing and kept the barrel pointed at me as she looted. I remained still as she came around and hoofcuffed my legs behind my head. She spoke to me in a soft yet seductive tone.
“Tam vy idete. Ya sobirayus' zabotit'sya khorosho zabotyatsya o vas,” she whispered into my ear and slowly took off my clothes. I was scared and hyperventilating, “Don't wiggle. I fuck you.”
“Not on my watch!” I heard a yell in the distance and my eyes widened with relief. My captor jumped up and searched the area to find Amale with his rifle in the distance. She dropped dead from the fifty caliber rifle, “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine! Holy shit I thought I was gonna get raped back there,” I sighed in great relief.
“Let's get you a good weapon now. Here, she had a better version of your last rifle,” Amale looted the dead Stalkers AK-107 and gave it to me. I discarded the crossbow and looked up at the deer stand she guarded. There was an AK shotgun on the top of the deer stand coupled with ammo boxes of shotgun shells. One was locked and I put my skills to good use. I took out my toolbox and one of the bobby pins with a screwdriver. I put my ear up to the box and listened intently for the tumblers to click in place. One click, two, three, then the final one clicked in place and I was rewarded with three frag grenades and some slugs for a strange weapon. They were slightly magnetic and very heavy for their size. Amale flew up the tower and patted me on the back, “Good job. Mind if I have one?”
“No problem. Here you go,” I gave him one of the grenades and hopped down to the ground, “Where to next?”
“I say we hit Vorkuta. Eli wants us to meet up with another agent,” Amale unlatched his L85 and replaced the AS50 on his back as we trotted on.
“Do you know this agent?”
“Not exactly. Who knows who she might send in. Keep an eye on your Pipwatch. You've got a better tracking system than me. Eli, did you update Ranger's map yet?”
“Yes I have. My agent should be marked on your map. Good luck you two,” Eli reported back.
“We're gonna have to wait in that house on the coast. An emission is coming in five minutes!” I warned Amale and he nodded to me. We galloped into the house and blocked the door with a heavy desk before it hit. I was so glad I picked up that APSI, “So, you found any good loot here? I see you took care of the zombie ponies.”
“I found this,” he slid an unarmed bear trap from his saddlebags and showed it to me, “In this house actually, up in the attic.”
“Well, luckily for you I found!-” I fiddled with my Pipwatch sorting spell and hovered out the two bottles of whiskey and the green can of soda, “This!”
Amale smiled to me with a bag of jelly beans in his mouth, “Theres af stovef in here.”
He came out muffled and placed the bag onto the floor, “I'll teach you how to make a Smokey McDaniel.”
“Yum, let's do it,” we brewed the beverage for a good few minutes and kept stirring the mix to keep the sugar from burning. After the storm had passed we poured it back into the empty whiskey bottles and capped them with corks. Amale took his marker and labeled the drinks as we slid them into our pockets to keep us nice and toasty, “Say, I gotta ask: why is it named a Smokey McDaniel?”
“He was an old friend who came up with the drink one night when Sky Buster and him got really drunk. I remember it was after a mission where Mr. Sky Buster shot down a Zebra stealth fighter,” Amale scratched his chin trying to remember. I recoiled a bit at the name.
“Sky Buster? You mean THE Sky Buster I keep hearing about from the NFR?”
“Yes, The Martyr as we call him. How much do you know?” Amale brushed a tree branch from his face as we walked closer to Vorkuta.
“I know that he saved many ponies left over after the war. Why do you call him The Martyr?”
“He was betrayed by a life he saved. Death by firing squad that started off the war with Stallionrad. Do not trust them, they seek to control what's left of the world. The Fillypines seeks to restore the world under Sky Buster's and Rainbow Dash's vision.”
“Who's Rainbow Dash?” the forest was thick with pine trees that obscured the city. Amale stopped to let me lead the way with my Pipwatch pointing the way.
“She was the leader of the Ministry of Awesome and Sky Buster's wife. She was the main figurehead of the ministry in the public while Sky Buster lead the field operations. Records were never kept of his missions within the ministry and he wanted it that way to give the zebras a pain in the ass. The zebras that tried to assassinate him were lead into deliberate traps. He was the only one to personally record his details and missions. Can't spy on a house that's floating on a cloud when you're a Zebra now can you?” Amale explained as we made it into a small clearing. I did not forget to check my EFS compass now and again as he continued, “Although Rainbow was well known to the public, Sky Buster was more well known and liked within the ministry. I worked with him as a bodyguard before I was transformed into an Alicorn. Anyway, we're close.”
“Oh my Goddesses, we got a lot of EFS dots in there,” I checked to see that all of our weapons were holstered. These were either zombies, Bloodsuckers, Stalkers, or some mangled combination of all three. It was most likely the last as we heard screams, moans, and gunshots from within the city. I saw an industrial building to our right that would make a good overwatch point, “Hey Amale, can you cover me from that building right there next to the large radio tower?”
“Sure thing. I'll get into position. You stay quiet and stealthy. I'll cover you as best I can but I might not have a clear shot with all the buildings in the way. I believe in you buddy, go on now,” he shook my hoof and nodded, “Meet back here in thirty minutes to an hour.”
“Gotcha. I'm gonna hit up the hotel, then the school building, and loop around the supermarket for loot. I'm going to talk to our agent in the hotel first.”
“Okay, good luck!” Amale flew to the factory at low altitude as to not attract pegasi zombies.
I circled the fence of the city and found a break up in the very north to the back of the hotel. I could see some pony that looked right at me posted up on the roof. I saw that she placed traps beneath her as piles of dead zombies, Bloodsuckers, and Stalkers littered the ground at the back of the hotel. She was marked on my map as the agent I needed to talk to but she backed away from the roof to the inside of the hotel. I trotted on and watched my step for landmines, tripwires, and the occasional spiked branch rugged to swing out as I stepped over the bodies of the victims. They were all looted for anything of value. With a few near brushes with death I found myself at the foot of the door into the hotel. With shotgun ready I opened the door slightly to find a tripwire. I traced it to a rigged shotgun and a system of pulleys. I cut the wire and opened the door to the inside of the hotel. My map marker hovered over the ladder in the elevator shaft so I followed. On the roof of the building was a VIP room that overlooked the town. I saw the dark orange braids of the unicorn mare I was suppose to talk to. She patted the seat next to her and invited me to sit.
“Come come, have a seat my friend,” I walked over to see that she was a ghoul and a familiar one at that. I sat on the seat and felt something hard underneath, “Now now, I would advise that you not get up no matter how uncomfortable that seat gets. The cushions are only for show. Now, who are you?”
“I'm Rifle Ranger and that better be a shaped charge or else we'll both be dead,” I gave her a look of anger as she tricked me. She merely smiled, amused.
“Sounds like you've done some blue collar construction work in your life, your ma must be proud. Still,” she paused, “Get up without my permission and I'll blast your ass so far through your head it'll turn the moon cherry pie red. So, let's keep this sweet and polite and finish our conversation with no misunderstandings.”
I read her expressions and tried to entertain her thoughts, “I'll save my questions for the end. Please, go on.”
She smiled at my comment and chuckled, “And that's what I've missed: a rapt audience. Just because I work in entertainment doesn't mean I'm a moron. I know you were sent by Eli and I want out of this contract. I've been stuck here on Namalsk for far too long and I grow bored.”
“That's where I come in then. She's kind of got me on a leash too. For now we have to play her game and work together,” I gave it my best shot.
“And if I refuse?”
I raised my eyebrows and smirked, “Then neither of us is getting off this island now are we?”
I had her beat with my logic. She got up and levitated a pistol to my head, “You win, for now.”
She put it away on her leg holster and trotted out the door. I knew who she was but why would Eli lie to be about her? As if she read my thoughts my Pipwatch spoke with Eliyora's voice.
“Remember when I said that my friend had died? She did, figuratively, not literally. After the bombs fell something inside her changed. She isn't the innocent, upbeat, and sing song pony that she used to be. She was broken by the war,” her voice was filled with regret, “And her looking like a zombie didn't help either. She may have kept her voice but the bitterness in her heart has been there since Judgment Day.”
I felt sorry for the poor girl as we walked out into the front of the hotel. I caught up to her and raised my hoof.
“Wait up! Eli told me-” she stopped me.
“Told you what? Nothing matters anymore. Let's just get off this damn island. There's a truck down the street I've been fixing up. Being stuck on this island makes a mare like me bored. The sooner we can do what we need to the sooner I don't have to look at your dumbass face anymore,” Cakey laid it on a little hard.
I sighed and shook my head, “Okay, what do we need to fix it?”
“Engine parts. Should be some in that factory building right there,” she pointed to the building Amale used as a sniper position, “also.”
Her pistol flew from the holster with her magic as she dispatched a Bloodsucker that managed to sneak up behind me.
“You should really watch your back,” she tossed the empty magazine to my hooves and spat in my direction.
“You should come with me to the factory. I want you to meet someone,” I tried to approach her but she snarled as I put a hoof to her shoulder. I felt her gun press to my head.
“Don't touch me. And if I presume correct I want to greet this 'someone' with a full magazine of my sidearm if you don't mind. She's been hiding from me for quite a while,” her voice had a hint of murder.
“Okay, if you want to kill Eli then I will lead you to her,” I lied and wanted her to meet with Amale, “Hold on though, I haven't peed in a few hours so I really need to go use the little colt's bush.”
She cocked the hammer of her 9mm, “Do you really think I'd fall for that?”
I was only half lying in my last statement. I really had to go, “Oh come on! I really gotta go!”
I thought fast and let just a little go. She recoiled in disgust and sent me off.
“Fine! Just make it quick.”
I receded into the bushes and took my time. I whispered to Eli through my Pipbuck.
“She needs to talk to Amale. I'm lying to her so she gets the help. I hold nothing against you Eli. I hope you can hear this,” I zipped up my pants to keep warm. Eli hacked into my Pipbuck and displayed the two words: I understand.
I returned to Crowne Heart as she picked through the bodies of some Stalkers in the supermarket. She tossed me a bag filled with food and other assorted things.
“Carry that crap for me. And don't even think about eating any of it,” she selfishly barked. I resisted the urge to blow her head off and replaced it with the feeling of pity. She really needed the help even if she didn't want it.
“I-A fuck, fine!” I was still angry at her abuse. The massive bag put a strain on my back and I could only manage a slow gate as we made our way into the factory. I put the bag down and yelled, “Hey! It's me Ranger! Come out.”
Amale stepped forth from the top of the factory catwalks and I saw Cakey seethe with rage. She constricted her magic around my throat and slammed me into the wall.
“You lied to me!” her grasp kept me from breathing. Again, the cold muzzle of the 9mm pistol was thrust firmly into the back of my neck.
“Cakey! Let him go,” Amale demanded furiously, “Drop, the, gun.”
“You're with Eli aren't you two?! Tell her to rot in hell for doing this to me! I fucking hate all of you,” she pistol-whipped my face in and knocked loose one of my teeth. She wrapped her forehooves around my neck and turned her attention to Amale with me as her hostage, “You drop your gun or I'll paint this fuckers brains all over the wall.”
I remembered what my cousin taught me and this was the perfect opportunity to save my life. Amale refused to cooperate.
“No, Cakey I will kill you if you don't drop your gun,” he raised his bullpup to his eye and centered it on her.
“Amale!” I coughed, “Do what she tells you to! I don't wanna die!”
“You're putting me in a tough situation Ranger,” Amale started to pull the trigger.
“You two shut the fu-” I took the chance and cut her off in mid sentence. I pulled her sidearm away as she fired next to my ear. A loud ring erupted in my left ear but I focused to twist her left forehoof into submission and deliver a knock out blow with the back of my elbow. I knocked her unconscious and slipped from her grasp.
Amale glanced at me and lowered his rifle, “Smooth moves.”
“I think we should restrain her. And you,” I gave a sad look to Amale and slowly nodded my head, “You need to talk to her. She's very broken. Not to mention a pain in the ass.”
“I can see that. I'll see what I can do to talk some sense into her,” Amale took her unconscious body on his back and flew out of the building. He hovered next to me, “Let's take her back to the docks. We can rest there. You carry that bag of food.”
I slumped with disappointment and looked at the bag on the ground, “How about I not? I'll just take what I can alright?”
“Okay. Let's get out of here then.”
We finally got back to the small farmhouse we took shelter in. Amale tied Cakey down to a chair in the upstairs attic and I stayed downstairs as I heard yelling, screaming, and crying coming from the attic. It was muffled but I could still feel the years of pain she had to go through. It was a good thing I brought her to Amale for a good long talk as another emission rolled over. I was used to them by now and found that they barely damaged any of the more sturdier buildings on Namalsk. I sat inside for a long time, two-three hours I take it? Eventually I saw Amale and Cakey come down the stairs with Amale gently patting her shoulder in comfort. Cakey was crying uncontrollably and her sobs made my heart feel heavy. I got up to offer my own hug.
“She's okay now. But she'll need a lot more help to get over what she has lived through. It's not pretty,” Amale turned me to the other room as we let Cakey let out all her emotions. I nodded in respect.
“Okay, a few emissions rolled over and the last one just hit,” I changed the topic, “Cakey told me that she was fixing a truck out of boredom and all she needed was some engine parts in the factory you took cover in.”
“That will come in useful. Let's do it,” Amale glanced back at Cakey who walked into the room. Black streaks of makeup lined her face from her sobs.
“I'm... Coming with you,” she looked down and whimpered. She turned to me and gave me a hug, “T-Thank you. So much.”
“You're welcome. It was the least I could do and it was for your own good,” she started to touch my face. She eyed me carefully and fiddled with my head.
“My Luna, you-” she shook her head, “No, it can't be. Are you a descendent of Sky Buster?”
I sighed and closed my eyes, “Yes. Yes I am.”
“I-I don't believe it,” she fell to her haunches and just looked at me, “Even in death his kin comes to save me. You really are your grandfather's legacy.”
“You-know of my great great grandfather?” I stood back.
“Know him? Know him! I was one of his best friends before the war!” a smile crossed her face and her eyes widened with happiness, “I don't believe it. Ranger, you saved me.”
I laughed, “Oh come now, you got your buddy Amale to thank for that. I just lead you to him.”
She jumped up at me and hugged me tight, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
I sighed happily and returned her embrace, “You're in good hooves. Let's finish what we came here for.”
“Yes. I know what Eli wants and admittedly I was part of the reason why I hindered her. Care to listen?”
“Yes, please!”
She cleared her throat and began her tale, “Years ago before the war the underground base here on Namalsk was used for two things: to find a way to stabilize the IMP Potion and to develop a rifle so deadly it could take down a light tank or a power armored soldier with only one shot.”
She noticed the strange ammo that hung out of my pocket.
“That,” she pointed to it, ”Is the ammo for said weapon. We recovered the ASS Potion but the weapon remains locked away in the concrete tomb that was Object A2. The place is filled with traps, Stalkers, zombies, and Bloodsuckers. You can't get near it without a good team. And we might also need some medical supplies from the Old Hospital. We'll need the truck to travel that far without an emission turning the smoothskin from looking like me.”
“Ah, yeah. That would help huh?”
“Yes. I am ready. Amale?”
“As am I,” the two gathered at the door, “Ranger?”
“Right here. Let's do this,” we trekked back to Vorkuta and regrouped at the hotel. I outlined the plan, “Okay, now we take that truck. Amale, you get on top of this hotel and provide some sniper fire down the street. Cakey and I will fix that truck with our combined magic to lift this engine block to fix it. Everypony got the plan?”
“Sounds good. You two go on,” Amale flew out of the window and took position on the roof. Cakey and I walked outside to see a wandering horde of zombie ponies across the street. We kept our heads down as I followed her through the alleyways to the truck. It was a bright yellow one not unlike the Stalker truck that we shot at before. She gave a hoof signal for me to stop.
“Stop stop! Let this horde pass by,” the horde of zombie ponies shambled past us to another part of town. We were undetected by them but there was a fast moving white dot on my EFS that kept zigzagging across the roof tops.
“Shit, Cakey I think we got company. How do you deal with Bloodsuckers?”
“Look at their eyes. If you can't see their hoofprints their eyes glow bright red,” she readied her pistol and watched the roofs, “Look sharp! I saw one eying us!”
“Yeah! I saw it too. Damn I've got nothing silenced!” I thought fast. I saw a jerrycan on some scaffolding and levitated it near me, “Come on, come on.”
I saw another dart and splashed it with some gasoline. The creature was soaked and clearly visible. With a single match I came up close to it and set it ablaze as to not alert the zombie horde. The Bloodsucker wailed and clawed at the walls in pain. With several dodges of its flailing claws we managed to keep silent as the creature fell over and was cooked to a crisp by my quick thinking tactic.
“That was nice, let's get this truck fixed,” Cakey smiled to me and sighed in relief.
I continued to trot on with the engine block strapped to my back. I had left all my belongings back at the camp with only my police revolver as defense. We finally lifted it in gently without alerting the horde in town. Cakey slid under the vehicle and began her work.
“It's gonna take some time so keep an eye and ear out for anything that comes near me!”
I spied a sniper on the roof of one of the large buildings that dotted the town. I alerted her, “Make it quick! We got Stalkers!”
A shot rang out and nearly hit my head. The bullet grazed my mane and sent hair flying behind me as I fell to the floor.
“Shit! Ranger!” Cakey gasped. I got up and took cover behind the truck. I ran my hoof through my mane and felt the reverse mohawk on my scalp.
“I'm fine!” I gathered my thoughts and held one hoof to my chest, “Sweet Luna I shouldn't be alive!”
Cakey was all the way underneath the truck and was fully covered from the sniper's line of sight. I debated on crossing the street to signal Amale. Or at least to draw the sniper fire again for Amale to spot and dispatch. I settled on the latter as I hovered a piece of trash at high speed to confuse the sniper to shoot instinctively. It worked like a charm as I heard one shot, then two as Amale's AS-50 rang out. With a quick peek I saw a clean hole in the parapet with blood that dripped out of it. The zombie horde was drawn away to the sniper but now turned their attention to Amale and they were gonna round the corner and spot us.
“Solve one problem cause another,” I rolled my eyes.
“Still got some gas in that can?” Cakey poked out from under the truck. I was surprised I hadn't thought of that.
“Oh yeah,” I tossed the can into the road and let it leak into the street, “Come on bitches!”
“Almost done! Buy me some time!”
“Time's at a premium!” I shot the jerrycan but the explosion wasn't nearly as big to ignite the whole horde. The ones that did escape galloped to us at a fearsome pace but oddly they ignored Cakey and went straight for me, “Oh fuck!”
“Don't worry! I got you!” she fired into the crowd and thinned the zombies out. We were in serious trouble as this was going to attract more to us. I was caught up in hoof to hoof combat with the zombie ponies that tried to grab, claw, and bite me. I used a broken stop sign to engage in brutal and bloody melee combat and cleared a path to my friend. I got on top of the truck and used my height advantage to beat their heads in as Cakey placed clean headshots to thin their ranks, “Looks like they're ignoring me because I'm one of them!”
“That's one perk I guess!” I saw some pegasi zombies fly up and swoop down to me. They were shot right out of the sky in a violent spray of blood from Amale's fifty cal. I continued to beat down the horde as they rocked the truck back and forth. I kept one eye at the sky for any pegasi that swooped down to attack. Amale did a good job at keeping them away and the few that did get through were shot down by Cakey's pistol. Even that wasn't enough as one pegasus zombie managed to snatch me from the top of the truck and bit hard into my shoulder. Pain shot through me and I became dizzy as it flew higher and higher into the sky. My heart was racing and that only made my shoulder wound bleed even more profusely. The zombie snarled into my face and lightened its grasp on me. Before my brain could react it dropped me out of the sky like a seagull cracking a clam. I screamed as my body flew through the air and impacted the ground with a meaty blow. I felt the agony of my bones breaking and felt fluid fill my lungs. The zombie pony landed next to me and I continued to scream and gurgle as it began to eat chunks of my flesh right from my broken legs. I was at death's door and could not scream any more as one of my lungs filled with blood. I squirmed in pain as another showed up to take a chunk of my stomach as I saw it eating my own intestines. I vomited out blood and my breathing became labored and painful. I heard the last few gunshots of my friends as I passed out and saw a light that took me away.
“Well Ranger, you came a long way,” there was a voice from out of the darkness. It sounded so familiar, so vividly like my own but just a tad bit softer, “You're okay boy. You're safe here now.”
The darkness purged away and I was surrounded by clouds. My eyes frantically shot back and forth and I screamed for my friends, “Cakey! Amale! Are you there!”
“No child, you are with us now,” I heard the voice again. I looked to my feet and I was clearly walking on a cloud with no spell enchanted onto me. My heart sunk and I started to cry, “No! No! I-I can't be dead! NO! Dammit how could this happen to me!”
“You did your best and we will take care of you now,” I saw a pony-like figure fly in from the blue and open sky with white wings spread like an angel of which he was. He emanated a glowing white aura that one could stare directly into without their eyes blinded by the glare. It was a divine and supernatural glow indescribable.
“Who are you?” I cried to the angel and he placed his hoof on my shoulder.
“I am your ancestor. I am Sky Buster,” I looked up to see the smiling face of my long dead great great grandfather as he lifted me to stand, a halo around his head.
“But... I didn't want to die!” I sobbed as he took me in his embrace. He wrapped his large white wings around me to give me solace.
“Now now, death is merely a new beginning. I was scared too and left behind my family when I died. The one friend I thought I could trust turned on my wife and I when I least expected it. But no, it's not your time. I've been watching you now for a while Ranger. I think you are ready to set forth the events that will shape the world. Do not worry about Equestria, for another Lightbringer will grace the land. I don't want you to forget about me or your virtues my child. You are of righteous and warrior blood and you are destined to bring peace to this corner of the world.”
“I'm just one pony! How can I do it grand dad?”
“You'll see. That you will have to discover for yourself. Goodbye my son,” Sky Buster faded and the darkness engulfed me again. I started to panic as the clouds collapsed under my hooves and I fell into a void that stretched on into infinity.
My eyes opened to a cracked ceiling of white paint that crumbled from age. My lung felt odd as it was cleared of fluid and my hooves had feeling restored back into them. I turned my head and saw that I was tied to an operating table with a boxy medical robot with many arms of surgical tools next to me.
“Subject is awake and has responded well to the surgery,” the mechanical voice spoke from the robot.
Amale sighed in relief in the background, “Oh thank Luna and Celestia in the heavens.”
I felt the stoke of a hoof through my mane and a soft embrace that could only have come from Cakey, “We thought you were dead.”
“I,” I spoke weakly, “Was.”
“Indeed, subject flatlined during the first five minutes of the surgery with brain activity ceasing for one minute,” the robot gave another diagnostic, “Heavy use of blood bags and healing potions helped to bring subject back to life.”
The robot unlatched my clasps and I slowly moved my legs. They weren't broken anymore as the healing potions mended my broken bones. Even still they didn't feel the same.
“You are free to move about slowly subject but I advise you to get plenty of rest for a few days.”
“Gee, thanks robot,” I found some strength to speak a complete sentence, “Where am I?”
“Old Hospital, Namalsk Eastern Island,” the robot continued, “Looted time and time again since the apocalypse two hundred years ago. The only reason why I am still functioning is because I treat everypony enemy or friend. My combat inhibitor prevents all hostile actions to any sentient beings. My only directive is to heal and save lives for I am a property of the Ministry of Peace.”
“Yap yap yap, well we got some time for a few days. Good thing we got all this food huh?” Cakey emptied the bag onto the floor in the corner and gathered a can to give to me, “Eat up buddy.”
I glared at her with my head dipped, “No, can, opener.”
She levitated the can and started to rub it vigorously on the ground. She wore away the edge of the can and magically popped it open to reveal a tasty, crunchy clump of canned seaweed, “Ta da!”
My mouth dropped open and hung for a minute, “You my friend are a fucking magician.”
“Well no, but my daughter was. Bless her poor heart. She died when the bombs fell.”
“Oh my, you talked with Amale about that yes?”
“Yes. I've let go among other things,” she hovered a spoon near my mouth with the seaweed, “well, eat up!”
“No thanks with the spoon, just stuff the whole can into my mouth,” I took the can from her with my own magic and crammed my face full of the stuff. I was starving and ate messily. This disturbed her and both her and Amale walked out of the room to leave me at peace.
For the next few days boredom got the best of me. To my right was a working lamp that I fiddled with as I rapidly turned the darn thing on and off. The lamp burst into flame and was immediately put out by the robot which dosed me in some of the foam as well. My face was covered in the stuff and I wiped it off with my hoof.
“Please do not play with the lamp sir,” the robot hovered and dusted the area off. I spied a ball in the corner of the room and brought it over to me. I inflated it like a balloon and started to bounce it back and forth on the wall. It gave off a satisfying squeak one each bounce but even then that wasn't enough to really pass the time. Unfortunately the darn ball hit my face and got punctured by my horn, the deflated sack flopped over onto my face.
“Why does this feel like this happened to me before?” I said it out loud to myself and whinnied, “I swear to Celestia this feels oddly familiar.”
I looked at my Pipwatch and found that it hasn't been even five minutes since I've been in here. My eye twitched and I dropped into my bed.
“UGH!” I covered my face in a somewhat fresh pillow that the robot kept washed now and again. I felt something prod me in the shoulder.
“I suggest a good book to pass the time good sir,” the robot gave me an old and dusty novel from one of the shelves in the room.
“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone,” I glanced at the robot, “Noo thanks! I only read nonfiction books.”
“Well, suit yourself. But it has been scientifically proven that boredom leads to insanity. I will need to recharge for the night. Systems powering down,” the robot entered its maintenance capsule and shut down. I took the book and reluctantly began to read.
“As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky. But her crash landing in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days. Few days... it might as well be a few months, or a few years! Huh. I'm right there with you, sister,” I read out loud and continued, “The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. The macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step. What the hell is a macaw?"
A few hours later I found myself immersed in the story. Although some parts didn't make sense and it probably referenced creatures long extinct or far away it didn't matter. It wove and flowed into my imagination as my head was filled with the brave adventures of this “Daring Do.”
"Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around to find herself face to face with the long lost temple that she had sought tirelessly for over sixty days and nights!" I now read with much enthusiasm. I was no doubt hooked, “I hate to admit it to myself, and would really hate to admit it to my friends, but... I love this story! I-I... I love reading! I'm an egghead.”
I looked back and forth to check if they were spying on me. I pulled the blanket over me and stuffed my face into the pages. I could imagine Miss Do avoiding traps, fighting off large cats, and finally eying her prize that was the Sapphire Stone. I looked to the clock and found that I had been reading well into the night. I had to stop and sleep.
I couldn't do it. I wanted to know what happens next! I had to read and so I did. Daring navigated an odd trap that used the process of elimination to determine that she had to step on the tiles with the rats. She deftly danced and jumped on each of the panels to find herself face to face with the stone. Her bit of an anticlimax with the taking of said stone put me in a bit of laughter. It was short lived as I was on the edge of my seat, rather bed, as more excessive traps erupted to kill her. The volcano erupted and she was thrust into the air then fell to the ground. I felt my eyelids heavy as I looked out the window to see the sun that was well over the horizon. I looked to my watch: 9:34AM.
“Good morning sir! How was your sleep?”
I pulled the book down and starred at the robot, “No sleep. Must read!”
The robot injected me with a tranquilizer and forced me to sleep. Several hours later it was the growling of my stomach that woke me up. Amale looked at me with a can in his mouth.
“You like that book I see?” He levitated the can to me and pulled another from his bag.
“Yes, I really like this book. I couldn't sleep last night because of it,” I sighed and admitted being an egghead.
“You know Ranger, your great great grandmother was also a big fan of that book. I guess it runs in the family huh?”
“Wait, really? No wonder my cousin is so weird. We're all eggheads aren't we?”
“I do believe so. You really do remind me of Sky Buster now that I think about it. Don't you agree Cakey?”
“Yes,” she nodded and smiled, “You really are your great great grampa's kid.”
“Okay, back to my story and a can of beans. Don't bother me please,” I drew the book back to my face and let myself submerge in the lore.
Days later and fully recovered we set out back to the south and over the bridge to Object A2. Amale and Cakey had some time to talk without me and they also gathered enough loot from the Stalkers and major military bases to make us look like a three pony army. Cakey had found herself a stylish tuxedo from the nearby supermarket in the hospital complex. While I read she modified it with the ceramic plates of armor to make a good looking and protective suit. Amale found an old ghillie suit preserved in a crate airdropped in by some enemy NSL troopers. He looked fearsome like a snow yeti wielding a high powered sniper rifle. They came together for me and brought along an old bit of Namalsk Riot Armor that was both lightweight and resistant to bites, stabbing weapons, and small caliber bullets as well. It was a combination of a camouflaged one piece winter uniform with plates of articulating kevlar armor that allowed great freedom of movement. It flowed like an extension of my body and kept me both warm and well protected. We were ready to hit up A2 as we took cover in the Old Sawmill for the next emission.
“So, you guys ready to finish this?” I flipped the visor off my face and smiled to my well equipped companions.
“Hell yeah! I still wanna get off this island you know,” Cakey chuckled.
“It's gonna be tough. Expect everything: Bloodsuckers, Stalkers, zombie ponies. Object A2 is a hotspot for death,” Amale opened his map and we all came up with a plan after a few minutes discussion.
“Okay, Amale will fly to the west and use the mountain to overwatch the base. Cakey and I will sneak in from the north and make our way in as fast as possible. She'll watch the entrance while I go deeper into the base to grab our prize. Quick, clean, and as stealthy as we can.”
“Sounds good Ranger,” Cakey twirled and juggled her pistol on her horn and hooves. She loaded it in mid juggle and replaced it in her holster.
“This plan might actually work,” Amale brushed away the bit of the ghillie suit that blocked his sight, “But just in case things go bad. Shall I propose a toast?”
He hovered out the bottle of Smokey McDaniel Cocktail from his pocket and poured us a shot in whatever container we had on us. Mine was a tin can and Cakey had a cracked coffee mug.
“To whatever this hellhole throws at us! Burn and rot in hell!” I smirked and shook my head back and forth. I downed the drink with both of my friends and started to feel a bit of a buzz tingle all over me, “Woo! That's strong. Real good.”
Cakey started to giggle and her rotted cheeks somehow flushed with red. The loud explosions outside of the rolling storm passed over our heads. Amale looked out of the window just to see if the truck was still there. With no cause of alarm he turned back to us.
“Well, let's wait until you two are a little less tipsy before we hit up A2. Looks like you're holding up Ranger.”
“Yeah, I'm a little out of it. But I can't say much about Cakey,” I looked at her drunken state as she giggled uncontrollably and tipped around as you'd expect from a drunken horse.
“Why does your horn glow Malicorn? Hehehe!” Cakey started to rub her hooves onto his face.
“Cakey, you are drunk. Please do not touch my face,” Amale sat there and requested politely.
“What, I can take Mage's job if I wanna! She ain't alive anymore so,” she hiccuped, “I can touch your face!”
“I prefer that you don't do that,” he gently pushed her away and she stumbled onto the floor.
I poked her, “I think she's passed out. How much of that did you give her?”
“As much as you Ranger. Let's leave her be and take a break. We're safe here on the south east island,” Amale laid his head down and slept. I took this time to read more of my book and whisk myself away from this depressing world.
After the blur of alcohol had washed away from the help of Daring Do's extreme escape from the clutches of Ahuizotl I was ready to raid Object A2 with the help of Cakey and Amale. He drove us the long way around the southern most coast and over the mountains to Norinsk Pass. At the fork in the road we dismounted and proceeded to A2. Amale split off to hide in the forest to provide sniper cover while Cakey and I trotted on the west using the forests as concealment. We entered the area from the north west corner of the base and breached into a barracks. I swiped more shotgun shells and Cakey found herself a suppressed HK 416 rifle with an ACOG and canted iron sights. I tossed her my spare mags of 5.56 ammo and hugged the outside of the fence to the base. I peeked in to see Bloodsuckers and zombie ponies patrolling the grounds. I pulled Cakey closer to me and whispered to her.
“Try and take out those Bloodsuckers from here. I'm going to sneak into the bunker.”
“Got it,” she fired away and I peeled off with her distraction. Amale fired as well and took out a Bloodsucker picking at a corpse of a Stalker. Their distraction served me well to sneak into the entrance of the bunker. Cakey's dot on my EFS shifted to me as she killed all the Bloodsuckers with Amale's help, “Okay! I'm here, I got your back. Nopony is gonna get in so you go ahead with the snatch and grab!”
“I am so glad you're a ghoul right now. Those zombies just don't notice you huh?” I approached the hole that lead into the tunnels of the base. I heard the shuffling of hooves down the ladder and dropped a grenade to clear it out. I slid down the ladder and found that a few Stalkers were already down here looting the place. I swapped my rifle for my shotgun and blew off the head from one of the unconscious Stalkers knocked back from the grenade. I yelled to Cakey, “I'm okay! There's some Stalkers down here!”
I watched the stairs and waited for their arrival. I knew more of them were inside and my shotgun was hungry for blood. One rounded the corner and I filled his chest with buckshot. His friend followed but tripped over the corpse. That cost him his life as I pulled the trigger and blew off his right foreleg along with a bit of his chest. A gun magically floated around the corner following the pony and fired blindly. It managed to hit me but my riot armor held together from the barrage of fire. I was knocked back into a screen door and saw the next Stalker come around only to be given a twelve gauge surprise makeover. I got back up and carefully cleared the stairs to the second level as I made my way down. The concrete tomb had multiple rooms with multiple red EFS markers that denoted enemies around me. My senses became as sharp as knives as I dashed into one of the computer rooms and painted it red with a blast from my Saiga. Bullets impacted near me and I flipped one of the metal desks over for some cover. I floated my combat shotgun to the entrance of the door and heard meaty spats of blood and organs with each discharge. I peaked around to see two dead Stalkers at the foot of the door. I worked my way into each room and cleared it out one by one racking up a good body count. Four more EFS dots were on my compass as I cleared all the rooms in the second level. There was still a whole floor to clear out under me. I had two options to go down: one was a ladder that was obviously being watched over by the dead ponys friends and the other was the less obvious maintenance tunnel that lead to a flooded tunnel of the base with a catwalk that I carefully climbed onto. With my choice made I went past the catwalk and rounded a concrete hallway to find exactly what we were looking for locked away in a gun case.
“There it is. I'm transmitting the radio signal to open it from your Pipwatch. The case should open now,” Eli came in and opened our treasure trove.
I picked up the weapon and examined the engraving: ER7 RFW manufactured by NAC. The rifle was clad in a carbon fiber hexagon frame with the magnetic barrels that shimmered in a brilliant polish. Mounted on the top accessory rail was a sniper scope that turned this into one of the most powerful anti-machine rifles I've ever held. And now it was mine. I got a little cheeky and tested it out. I pointed it right to where one of my EFS dots hovered in place and fired. The weapon pierced right through the wall and the dot disappeared from my compass with a loud electrical discharge and explosion that left an awe inspiring gunshot. It even made Amale's rifle sound like a childrens toy. I slung it back over my shoulder and pulled my shotgun to finish the job on the last two enemy ponies.
I climbed right back up the ladder with a victorious yell, “I got it! I fucking got it!”
“Great job Ranger! Now let's get you off this island!” Eli rang out from my Pipwatch, “My helicopter will pick you up on the top of Seraja Army Base. Make your way up the mountain and I will meet you in person.”
“Let's get back to the truck and regroup!” I turned my head to see a chopper fly over us.
“Heads up, I see some Stalkers driving into the base. I suggest you use the railgun!” Eli advised.
“Will do! I fucking love this thing!” I aimed right at the gate as an NSL tank drove into the base. I heard more of Amale's fifty caliber fire trying to dent the armored vehicle. All it did was piss it off and it fired into the mountains to dislodge the male Alicorn. I floated up the ER7 to my eye and put the round right in between the turret and hull. I must have detonated its stock of ammo as the turret blew sky high off the eight wheeled vehicle and crash with a loud thud into the side of one of the factory buildings. A smirk was wide on my face and I was laughing like a maniac.
“Let's get the hell out of here!” Amale flew right next to us and we ran for the truck. We all piled in and made our way up the mountain with company running us down, “Get em off us Ranger!”
“Hell yeah!” with each discharge of my railgun the chasing UAZs were dispatched in a brilliant fireball as their gas tanks erupted. The winding mountain road was perilous driving and I was easily defeating their attempts to chase us up. We could finally see the helicopter landed on the helipad with Filipino soldiers guarding the perimeter shooting at zombie ponies that clawed their way up. I saw a deep brown coated Alicorn step forward and wave to me.
“Ranger! Get in!” It was Eliyora in the flesh. I jumped right into the chopper with Amale and Cakey as the rotors spooled up for takeoff, “Get on that grenade launcher and show those Stallionrad bastards who's boss!”
They had mounted a six shot grenade launcher to the side of the helicopter and I took my place to send over some parting shots to the NSL Stalkers that shot at us. The revolving grenade launcher dyed the snow capped base with spots of red and bits of pink from dislodged organs and limbs as we flew off past the island. I poked my head out of the window and curled my hoof into a fist.
“See ya later you bastards! Woo!” I slid the window closed and the air conditioning of the helicopter filled the cabin with warmth. I was sweating inside of my armor and took the time to remove it, leaving only my light brown coat and my stylized vulture cutie mark. I sank into the seat and gave the ER7 to Eli, “Here you go, that thing was well worth the adventure!”
“And thank you to you Ranger,” she engulfed it with magic and latched it to her back, “You deserve a reward for this.”
“Hey cous!” Aurora was flying the helicopter and Felix wore a helmet as he sat next to me.
“Hey dude! Eli's pretty cool huh?”
“Felix?! I thought you were in a fish tank or something.”
“Honestly, had I known you guys were NFR I wouldn't have had my mercs sell you to slavery. I really need to get those guys off my payroll,” Eliyora looked back at all of us, “Sorry for capturing you in the first place. I want you guys to have this.”
Eli gave each of us two solid gold bars for the safe return of her rifle. She also gave me the last of the audio logs she wanted to share.
“It was a pleasure working with you Miss Eli. I hold nothing against you. All is forgiven and I enjoyed that little mission,” I smiled to Eliyora and glanced over to Amale and Cakey.
“Oh, and before I forget!” Eli gave the rifle to Amale, “Happy birthday Malicorn!”
“Wait, you're giving it to me?” his eyes widened.
“I trust that you will keep it safe. So yes. Well Ranger, where should I drop you off?”
“Back on the wasteland miss. I can find my own way from there,” I looked out of the window at the endless ocean that stretched for miles.
Author's Note
Footnote: Three Levels Up!
New Perk: Light Touch
While wearing light armor you gain +5% critical hit chance and your enemies suffer a -25% critical hit chance.
New Perk: Old Equestrian Gourmet
You gain +25% addiction resistance. +50% health bonus from snack foods. Scotch, vodka and wine now give you health in addition to their normal effects.
New Perk: Gunslinger
You gain +25% accuracy in S.A.T.S. with small mouth held weapons be they firearms or magical energy.
Bonus DLC Perk: Eliyora's Wise Words
Boosts Aurora's repair speed by 150% & gives her a 25% chance for explosive attacks to knock down enemies.
