Fallout Equestria: Sky High

Father.

My real father, not some arena boss who calls himself that.

I could see his face, his dark green coat with his dark grey mane. He almost seemed to glow with happiness.

We were in a dusty field, not that there was any shortage of those, but this one looked like it was a park before the war, and we were playing catch. Our ball was a frog that my dad had killed and stuffed with... Something. He threw it to me, way over my head, and I ran to catch it, my little legs not able to carry me fast enough before it hit the ground. I couldn't fly yet, I hadn't quite gotten the hang of it.

I picked up the frog and turned around to throw it back, but he was right behind me. I squealed as he easily pushed me to the ground and we wrestled. He let me win, as usual, and as I sat on the seat of victory we both laughed.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

I woke up with a jolt. So much for dreamless. I rolled off my bed and staggered into the bathroom to wash those memories away. The mirror by the sink let me see how much of a morning pony I'm not. My mane was everywhere, sticking up in places I'd never even notice otherwise and refusing to be patted down. My tail was no better, but at least I could groom that one with ease.

Stepping into the shower, I'd turned the cold on and nothing else, the torrent of icy water hitting me and sending shivers all over my body. I let it run over my coat to cool me down enough before I stuck my head under, sending another wave of shivers through me. Once I was wet from feather to hoof I hopped out, the cold having served it's purpose and no longer wanted. I'd decided against brushing my mane, my plan had no welcome for neatness, nor did it have the time.

Satisfied with my still slightly damp body, I gathered my gear and (grudgingly) retied the bow around my wings. Might as well keep up the facade of the unremovable blades. I hadn't gotten any supplies as I hoped I would have here, but I didn't want to, and couldn't, give the overpriced goods the satisfaction of my attention.

As I trotted out through the gate that kept this place so protected, I flare out my wings, the blades slicing through my bindings with an almost mocking ease. The guard said nothing as they returned my only bullet and my hoofclaws, and they cautiously backed away as I jumped into the air to make putting them on a tad easier. Satisfied that they were secure enough to aid me in a pinch, I waved goodbye to the guard merrily.

"Don't hurry back." were their only words as I flew off towards my only goal; Fillydelphia.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

Wings are honestly the greatest things ever. I silently landed behind a sniper in a raider den, never expecting to be attacked from the sky, and quickly dispatched him before he could call for help or make any noise other than an undistinguishable gurgle. How anypony would ever survive walking through these places was beyond my reasoning. Maybe the raiders were really just that dumb here. I quickly looted what ammo (.308 rounds! Perfect!) he had before slinking downstairs.

Okay, I didn't know what to expect to see, but anything but this would have sufficed. There were three cages; two of which had held multiple foals of both unicorn and earth pony. The unicorns seemed relatively unharmed, only shocked, but the earth ponies were beaten, bruised, bleeding and bastardised. I felt tears well up in my eyes along with a warmth in my gut. That warmth soon turned into a blaze, and I lost all notions of stealth or self control as I burst out from the shadows, senselessly screaming vulgarities.

Three enemies. Or was there six? I was too out of it to fully notice, all I knew was that they all needed to die. The first pony had his back to me. He didn't get to see the face of death as it ripped away at the muscles on his shoulders, dropping his front half to the ground. I leapt off him towards my next target and into... A piece of rebar? As I recovered, it struck me again, and again, until everything went black.

Well that was short lived.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

When I came to I was pulsating with pain. Everything about me hurt dreadfully, my left shoulder more so than anything else. I forced my eyes open slightly, well, eye, my left eye seemed to not want to cooperate, and glanced at my surroundings. Cold, metal, oh, the third cage.

I heard some ponies shouting nearby so I tried to focus on what they were saying. Easier said than done, though after a short while I did get some clarity.

"Red Eye don't pay as much for damaged fucking goods, idiot!" I heard one say.

"I-I said I was sorry, Crack! I just hit her 'til she stopped crawling!"

I could make out the two figures through my blurred vision. There was an earth pony holding a piece of rebar over a cowering unicorn. Ten caps if you could figure out who was in charge. Half of me felt sorry for the unicorn, since I knew how much a well swung bit of rebar could hurt; the other half of me wanted to rip out his throat with my teeth.

Now that was a tempting thought...

Which I buried at the back of my mind. I was not about to go full raider if I could help it. Besides, I didn't think I'd have the jaw strength.

It seemed I'd missed a part of the conversation with my thinking, because the earth pony now stood in front of my cage and was saying something to me.

"I said, what are you fucking doing here!?" He shouted right in my face, his breath smelling less than desirable.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't actually remember why it was I landed in here in the first place. Was I being shot at? Did I want to take a nap? That beating must have got me nicely. Kudos to the unicorn. I closed my mouth and shrugged, trying to point at my head before realising I had shackles on.

He shot a glare to the unicorn, who flinched as a result, before turning back to me.

"Where were you going before you decided to kill my second in fucking command?"

Oh, I knew this one! "Filldelpha." I slurred. This made him smile. One of those devious smiles leaders make when plans hatch in their mind.

"Well, as a... Sorry, for my friend's behaviour, we'll personally take you to Fillydelphia. Only condition is that you stay where you are. You need to rest."

I nodded. What a nice stallion. Rest sounded good, too, although I did think there was too much pain for that.

"Got Med-X?" The earth pony quickly turned back to me, scowling as if I stepped out of line, then just like that, donned his friendly expression.

"Sure," he said as the unicorn levitated some over. "As a token of our good will." And like that, the needle was stuck in my flank.

The relief, oh Celestia the relief, was amazing. It was like a wave of ice cold beer washed over me, soaking into my hide and getting all the parts of my body so drunk that they don't know how to feel the pain anymore. My brain still wouldn't process things correctly, but at least without the pain it was one less thing to worry about.

I looked at the foals in the other two cages. Maybe the stallion was taking care of them too. How nice of him. They looked back and seemed... Fearful? I began to wonder why as I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep. Maybe it was that mean unicorn they were scared of.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

When I woke up my head was throbbing dully and all the Med-X had worn off. I curled up into a ball, trying to hold as many pained bits of me as I could to no avail. As I whimpered into the confines of my 'security ball' I realised something.

We were moving.

We were at a large gate and the stallion pulling the wagon along was talking with what I assumed was a guard. A couple of times they'd gesture towards me. Maybe he was making sure I was safe, or hopefully he was organising a healing potion for me. I felt like I really needed one if I was going to find Pyre in here.

Hey! I remembered!

A couple of grunts later and we were pulled inside, allowing me to look at the city. The main detail was a roller coaster running through the town and a large, worn head of a pink mare who seemingly stares into your soul almost everywhere.

Once more the wagon was brought to a halt and a stallion grabbed me by the chains and tossed me onto the dirt, causing my entire body to flare up in pain and to stifle a scream of pain. I lay there, sprawled out on the ground, as a gryphon in sleek black armour marched up to me, lifted me by the scruff of the neck and set me down on my hooves only for me to collapse once more.

"Stand up!" She bellowed in my ear.

"Can't..." I whimpered back meekly.

She gave me a quick glance over and turned to a patrolling guard.

"Call for Doc Slaughter," The name made me shiver "and make it snappy!" The pony ran off, leaving me to look up at the gryphon. She was massive, like a large earth pony stallion, and the anti-machine rifle she carried didn't aid to disperse that illusion.

"My name is Stern, and you now work for Red Eye. This here is my town, so what I say, goes. You follow?" I nodded lamely. "Good. As a worker you now aid Red Eye's goal of creating a better future for Equestria, but obviously you don't care about that. You care about your freedom." That's not true! I mentally fought back. I cared about finding Pyre, then my freedom. "And through working, Red Eye will grant you said freedom. He is a very generous pony as he gives you three options: To work in stable recovery, where you will spend two years scavenging the stables for anything Red Eye deems useful and killing any Steel Rangers who try to stop you. They don't give you the options we do and like to shoot first, ask questions later. You can choose to work in the radiation pits, as Red Eye has a use for the radioactive materials there. Four months of that and you're free to go. Then there's the arena. There is a weekly event in which you will fight, and more if Red Eye wishes. After six events, you will be free and even gain an honourable place in Red Eye's grand army." Stern looked me over once more, with all my blades shining from whatever light was being given off. "Seems to me you know your way around an arena, however here there are no weapons." Fuck! Weapons are the only reason I can fight at all! "I'll leave that option to you.

"There are also two more ways you can be free; through Unity, where you will live under the command of the Goddess," Is it me, or does she not seem to like that option. "However that's reserved for unicorns. The final option is death, plain and simple. Those are the only options," she paused and thought for a while. "However, a pegasus like you is rare indeed. Especially one that isn't branded as a Dashite." She grinned malevolently. "So for you, there is a sixth option. Work for me. The Enclave give my gryphons trouble whenever they fly near the cloud line, and I believe you might be able to change that. You will live here freely until I call on you, if you so choose. Of course, I will let you off after you help me for a while, but how long depends on how good a job you do." Enclave huh? I know how they operate, sort of, and it does seem like it's that or be stuck in here for much, much longer than I wanted.

I was silent for a while, thoughts slowly processing in my head while Red Eye's speeches ran off in the background. That stallion knew how to spin a yarn. Stern gave a yawn and began to walk off as I whispered in between broadcasts.

"I'll do it.." She paused in her stride and turned around to face me. "I accept your offer. The Enclave one..."

She grinned wickedly. "I knew you would."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw some tyre treads, assuming it was just a robot sent to take me somewhere to heal me up. My eyes worked their way up the cylindrical metal chassis and avoided spending too much focus on the various sharp edges and poking things attached to long, thin appendages, and then stopped at the top.

If I could run, now would be the time.

At the top of the robot was the head of an earth pony who looked as though he'd lost all trace of sanity years ago. I recoiled as he peered down to me and bore an evil grin before turning his attention to Stern, who had started to speak.

"I want her fixed, Slaughter, and I need her to look as pony as she does now. You know what will happen if she doesn't..." The last sentence was so cold that it sent a chill down my spine, even though it wasn't directed at me.

"Oh Stern, why must you wound me so. Come along, little one, and if you're good you'll get a sweet treat." I didn't move. Not out of fear or contempt, it was just that I couldn't. The machine (I can't honestly call him a pony) looked at me curiously when I didn't budge.

"Oh? Oh! You mean that fixed. This doesn't sound all too bad now." He almost sang before he pointed a saw blade at a guard. "You! Carry her to the operating room. I'll be there momentarily."

The guard grunted and trotted over to me, grabbing my mane in his teeth and roughly tossing me onto his metal barding, causing me to yelp in pain. I felt him chuckle underneath me until Stern gave him a, well, stern look which made him look away and quickly haul me off to Slaughter's room of doom (Seriously, with a name like Slaughter, what could go wrong). One agonisingly brisk walk later I was tossed onto a cold metal table so carelessly that I almost slipped off the other side.

And so I waited, and waited, and waited, for what felt like forever until the faint whirring of gears came into earshot. I flicked my eyes towards the door to see the metal canister roll through next to where I was laying.

"Sorry for the delay, I had to sterilise my tools. Seems too long since I've done that, but Stern wants you and I like living, so I refused to take the risk." He smiled creepily (Can he do anything without being creepy?) as he tested each of his tools to make sure they still worked.

"Doc." I muttered faintly, just enough for him to hear me. This caught him by surprise. "How'd you wind up..." I couldn't bring myself to say it, but that didn't seem to be a problem.

"Ascended? Improved?" He grinned, which faded shortly. "I guess it's not for everypony, but I had no choice in the matter. After the incident with the grenade it was either this or die, and believe me I have no intention of dying anytime soon.

"But, always look on the bright side of life, I say to myself, as I have discovered the functionality of claws to be a great upgrade from hooves and allow me to do the delicate things I'm about to do with precision.

"Now I'm going to do two things before I start: paralyse you and give you a drug called Bloomberg. Do keep in mind that this will hurt. A lot."

"Bloomberg?" I managed to asked before he injected me with a needle. The pain inside me died away suddenly, and I even felt like I could take yet more damage. This was way better than Med-X. In fact, I had half a mind to march into the arena as I was.

"Med-X and Buck. Extreme painkiller is what it amounts to. I also added a small amount of Hydra into the mix as the powerful healing properties of it prevent most of the blood loss without sealing the wounds. Perfect for an operation like this. Now for the manticore poison."

A second needle jabbed into my flank and all my freshly relaxed muscles tensed right back up again. I thought not being able to shift myself was bad before, but now I don't even have the option to try. I tried to scream, but my voice wouldn't react to my mental agony and I merely laid there in silence when a torch was shone in my eyes.

"Oh yes, you're definitely freaking out. Don't worry, the venom is mostly harmless aside from it's paralytic properties, so do try to relax."

Mostly harmless. I repeated the words in my mind over and over again. What'd he mean by mostly, and come to think of it, what the hell is a manticore? As I busied myself trying to imagine what a manticore would look like, Slaughter began the operation and... DID HE HAVE TO USE THE FUCKING SAW-BLADE!? I mentally screamed. The circular sawtooth blade hacked away at my flesh in a flurry of blood, and even through the Bloomberg it made my body scream in agony. PRECISION MY FUCKING FLANK!

He scraped fragments of bone out of my shoulder, tossing them loosely behind him. "My my my, whatever have you done to yourself." He chirped. "I'm going to have to replace the whole bone here, and a joint!" He's gonna have to whaaaAAAGGGHH!? He started to rip the bone out of my upper foreleg, holding the end of it down and twisting to wriggle it free from my muscle. It gave off a resounding *pop* as the solid half of the bone slipped out and making my leg fall uncomfortably limp. Once more he tossed the bone behind him, causing something I couldn't quite see to be knocked off a bench with a loud crash. He payed no mind to it as he fished around for the replacement bone and joint.

"Now where did I put... Aha!" Slaughter raised the metal rod in the air triumphantly and waved it around in front of my eyes. "This here is something our Red Eye likes to call Starmetal, and believes it should be kept only for his personal use should he desire it. I like to call it a resource, and I think it should be used as such. Rumour has it that it can block magical frequencies, but you can't truly trust anything that comes out of The Hoof.

"Now you young mare are to be the first in Equestria to have an implant like this. Seeing as you will be flying under Stern's wing for some time, I'll have the freedom to research how it works, and as this is my excuse to Red Eye, you shall aid me in this. It's both lightweight and hardy, so it should be perfect for a pegasus such as yourself. Now let's just hope it isn't as poisonous as when it's made into bullets..." He added as he opened up my already gaping foreleg and angled the limb for smooth entry. Entering was so much nicer than exiting as the rod of metal glided through my hollow leg and bumped the joint at my knee, spun around to get a connection and say neatly in my leg. He then screwed it into where the bone in my shoulder was, which felt more like an uncomfortable dull pain than anything else.

"Thankfully your wings are fine. I don't have any implants for those as you are a very, very rare sight. Unfortunately for you, however, is that your hip bone seems to be in worse condition than your shoulder was." He spoke as he prodded my flank. "You see, Starmetal isn't as flexible as bone. In fact, it's not flexible at all." Slaughter stressed this point by attempting to bend my new foreleg with his metal claw tools. "This would be fine were you male," Oh... So that's where this was going. "but you aren't, which poses the question: Would you sacrifice your ability to have children safely over having a sturdier frame, or vice versa." Children! Children! I screamed. No way am I ruining that chance!

"Now I know you can't respond at all right now, so I'll either have to wait or make your decision myself. I'm a patient stallion, yet Stern is quite the opposite, and she wants you ready as soon as equinely possible. See this poses a challenge for me, more so than the operation itself. You've saidbut two things to me since you arrived. Not your fault, granted, but not enough to form an opinion on your behalf.

"So I will decide off the basis of a mare I once loved. She had said to me that she would sacrifice anything in the world for our foal, even if that meant her life. It cost both hers and almost mine as well. Thus, I come to my conclusion. I will opt for the other, sturdier option. Your flank may still seem larger than before, so no, the barding does not look your butt look big; your butt is big."

He sighed, and if his eyes were any indication, then that speech had kept him holding onto his sanity for just a while longer. He smiled at me as I tried to explode his head with my mind.

"I'm sorry if this isn't your decision, but I feel that you need to at least survive as long as possible."

He looked away for a moment before turning back to focus on his task. Now this time, he was being precise, as he now used the scalpel instead of the saw-blade. It hurt much less, fortunately, and he wasn't getting coated in any fresh blood so that too was a good sign in itself. I could feel a cold metal claw digging around inside me and plucking out small, sharp shards one by one so as to not cause more damage than necessary.

It's a strange feeling, having your bones plucked out of you. It wasn't blindingly painful like he was with me foreleg, just... Uncomfortable.

Eventually my waist felt fully deflated, which is another strange feeling. Doc Slaughter rinsed his tools before he picked up my soon-to-be hips and separated them into their two halves. One claw slipped inside through the incision to make the way while the other slowly slid the chunk of metal inside of me. He did the same with the other side, then pushed on the outside of my hips until there was a faint *click*. One short repositioning of the bones in my hind legs later and he was done, injecting me with something that caused all my wounds to close up and I swear even shift the metal replacements inside of me.

I slowly regained control of my head, tilting myself until I saw the Doc. He smiled at me. "The Wasteland is no place for foals." Was the only thing he said before leaving me alone in the room.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

I must have been moved while I slept as I was no longer in the cold operating room but in a nice warm bed that reminded me of Tenpony.

Except this wasn't Tenpony. The smell was off.

I cracked open one eye to glance around the room. The dirty, worn down accommodation wasn't glamorous in the slightest, but it was nice. To the right of my bed was a bathroom with a gryphon statue next to the doorway. The statue was well detailed, to the point where I could have sworn it had actual feathers. Curious, I opened my eyes and rubbed them a bit making my vision blurry for a moment. As I blinked a couple of times, the figure approached me, almost making me leap out of my bed in shock.

"Good. You survived." He said in a gruff voice. "I'll notify Stern, you get more rest. Boss'll want you prepped for flying A.S.A.P.. Your gear's by the door." I checked my wings and sure enough, no metal. Probably for the best, apparently I'm a restless sleeper, and these bed sheets were niiiiiice.

When I looked again the gryphon was gone, which allowed me to check myself over a bit. I looked over at my flank and there were no scars, nor any other sign that I'd had any operation or injury anywhere. I made a mental note to ask Slaughter about that later as I settled back into bed, sleep finding me quickly.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

Stern and I sat on a platform above the arena and waited for the fight below. Shortly after my gryphon watcher had left she'd arrived to make sure Slaughter had kept to his word and that I would be flying fit. Once she was pleased, she simply told me to follow and said nothing else until we arrived here.

Down below us a fight was about half way through. One team had a zebra out on the field while the other had a pale yellow stallion. It was truly spectacular to watch that zebra move fluidly between his strikes only to plant her own precise counterattacks, but they tended to be ruined by cheap shots from the stallion. At one point he'd even kicked a mine towards her, thankfully not taking her out of the fight.

In one clean movement she leapt over the stallion and he just froze in place before falling to his side. Calmly she trotted up to him and watched him for a moment.

"Finish it!" Stern cried out into her headset, making my ears ring. She was certainly a loud one. Her words were heard, however, as the zebra quickly ended the stallion's life by cracking his neck.

Such is arena fighting.

Her next opponent was a small mare who looked as if she had no combat experience whatsoever. On closer inspection I saw she had a brown mane and grey coat. It seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place exactly what it meant to me. Nevertheless, the fight was on, and this time I was cheering for her. I liked the underdogs, reminds me of somepony.

The small mare just stood there after the zebra bowed, allowing for an easy strike against her to cause her to fall to the ground. Surely the fight couldn't be over yet, that was too quick! I realised I was letting my enthusiasm show in my actions when I unknowingly shifted towards the edge of the platform hoping that one of the fighters would hear my screaming over the rest of the crowd. Stern's laughter brought me back to attention.

"Really getting into the fights, aren't ya." She said.

I brought myself back from the edge. "An arena is why I'm here." I responded quietly. This got her to raise her eyebrow in curiosity, and I took her silence as my allowance to continue. "I was sent here to collect something for the arena boss. Well, not here specifically, Ponyville, but the Enclave didn't take too kindly to me flying their property and made me crash."

"Their property?"

"I had a unicorn passenger in an Enclave Vertibuck. The unicorn was an arena elite."

"Elites huh. Tell me more about the arena, I think this one could do with a change or three every so often to make it more interesting."

"Oh, uh, I don't know too much about it, just that it's five versus one elite, with whatever melee weapon of your choice. Always to the death. I was one of the five when I fought. We lost, but I was spared for some reason. Adapt or die." I said the last words with a subtle proudness, not because it saved my life in the arena, but because it had also sort of saved me from slavery here.

"Interesting." Stern said in a way that made her sound completely bored, but I was sure it was just a cover. "So, after you crashed?"

"I came across Tenpony. Stayed a night, got a deal with a bartender and was told where my unicorn friend went by that DJ pony... What was their name... Oh, doesn't matter." Suspicion now took the forefront of her image at the mention of the DJ.

"And this DJ... Did they ask you to do anything for them while you were here?" I could make out her reaching back for her rifle as she asked the question out of the corner of my eye, but I stayed looking at her piercing eyes to show no fear.

"They asked me to make sure a mare was okay. I don't quite remember the details... I think she had a grey coat? Brown mane? A unicorn sounds about right too I think."

"Like that one down there?" The words made me turn my head do quickly I almost jarred my neck. The mare was sprawled on the ground and her horn was glowing, the zebra ready to land a killing blow. Suddenly the zebra back off slightly before dropping to the ground.

"What an upset!" Stern yelled out across the arena. I merely sat at the very edge, close enough that the slightest breeze could have tossed me off. The mare trotted over to the zebra's fallen body, holding back from doing anything more. Stern pulled off her rifle.

"Finish it!" She yelled, beginning to peer down the scope towards the fighters. "Finish it or I will!"

Stern wasn't very patient. As the mare created a cover of radioactive goo, Stern fired a shot. Since the goo didn't drop, I assumed she missed. I'd shot enough unicorns myself to know that. Stern fired a few more rounds, slowly punching holes in the cover. Could she not see the glow of the horn? Or was she just angry enough to not care? Even though I was to make sure the mare was fine, Stern owned me, and I needed to prove myself in one way or another. I started pointing out where the glow was moving, the bullets from Stern now getting closer every time.

Then the mare did something I'd never expect; she went up. Directly up. It wasn't a controlled flight, but one nonetheless. During her moment as a sitting duck, Stern had to busy herself with reloading that monster of a weapon. The gryphons circling the airspace started taking shots at the unicorn, who was carrying possibly everything she could with her magic, yet none of them hit as she fumbled with the lock to open the cage.

"Stern." I said loud enough for her to hear me over the ruckus. "Got a spare rifle?"

She gestured behind me where my precious hunting rifle sat. How'd she get that? I grabbed it and jumped into the air, hovering just above the ground as I steadied myself. The mare had opened the cage by now and was beginning to run along the top, so I fired after her, most of my bullets being blocked by the metal and the others that avoided it were too far off course to hit anything.

Stern flew off after her and I followed. In the air, she took her time to aim precisely, and just as the unicorn jumped off the edge the fun rang out, hitting something metal on her leg and making her drop her magical grasp and to the ground below.

I started to move forwards but Stern held me back. "She's got one way out, so we'll ambush her. My gryphons will keep up the chase, so follow me."

I nodded and she flew off, myself close on her tail. Her first stop was at a black maned earth pony with a cybernetic eye that was really kinda creepy when he looked at you.

"Red Eye," Stern said "She's on the run for a balloon to flee."

"I know." He responded calmly. "And we will capture her at the top of the tower, after I test her mettle. I want you to go to the Fillydelphia Tower station and deal with a small intrusion there in the most polite way you can. Take the best of your fighters with you, they could be useful for your goal."

Stern nodded and saluted the stallion. "Will do. Six, with me, we'll round up my gryphons and head there immediately."

Once again, she took off with power I could only dream of reaching, and I sped off after her.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

We were outside the tower. Stern, six gryphons and myself. One of the gryphons opened the door quickly to meet a bloody death from a barrage of grenades.

"Shit! They got a Steel Ranger!" Stern shouted. "Everyone! To the skies!"

We scattered.

A pony stepped out from the tower, fully clad in grey, metal armour, and started their counterattack with a rain of explosives. They made sure to keep Stern occupied as she was the only one with a weapon that could do anything to putting him out of order. Behind him stepped a pegasus with a twin rifle battle saddle. He took one look at the fight and stopped on me, shouting something I couldn't hear over the explosives before flying straight at me. I braced for combat.

He flew straight at me, not giving me time to dodge, and tackled me a bit of distance away from my allies. He pushed me away and I bounced back, going for a swipe with my claws, but he was faster.

"Woah, woah! Stop f'er a sec!" He screamed. "Ah jus' wanna talk a moment!"

Talk? I could spare a moment I suppose, I'm no savage. "Yeah? 'Bout what?"

"You Enclave?" I almost missed what he said, his accent was thicker than most ponies up here, and that was hard enough to decipher as is.

And he was a Dashite. Maybe I could relate.

"Nup. Granma was Dashite. Ausneighlian Enclave."

"Auswherenow? Are ya pullin' mah wing here?"

"South west. Diff'rent country."

"What're ya doin' in Equestria?"

"Long story." I looked behind him. Four gryphons down, Stern too, but she was alive and bound.

"Git outta here. Ah'll spare ya if'n ya do."

"Can't. Contract bound t' Stern. Let her live, I got little other purpose." I paused a moment. "And y'er friend's alive, Red Eye's got 'er." Maybe. Probably.

"Dangit! Better get to the tower then!" He flew away for a moment before coming back. "An' what's y'er name?"

"Hawk. Don't mention me, tryin' to keep the name down."

He nodded. "Will do." He saluted as he flew back to his friends, and I did the same back and hovered above the tower as I waited for them to leave. They'd dragged Stern inside by now, and the other gryphons were scattered over the ground, all missing at least one part of them.

I waited, and waited, until finally they exited, taking Stern with them. Damnit, so much for my rescue plan.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

I followed from the sky as they wandered to the gate into Fillydelphia. I watched the pegasus settle himself on top of one of the buildings nearby and kept sniper cover on the scene below where Red Eye emerged with the unicorn. I brief bit of conversation later and the exchange was done, the little mare moving very, very quickly away from the town. I took this moment to fly down to Stern and help her get free of her bonds.

"Where the fuck were you!?" She shouted as soon as she could. "We were getting blasted to fucking bits and you were off having a fucking conversation!"

I backed off slightly. "S-Sorry, first pegasus I've seen, had to get details." I lied. He wanted my details, and I learnt nothing about him aside that he had a thick accent and was a Dashite. "Dashite kinship an' all." I added.

"Dashite kinship? Dashite. Fucking. Kinship!? If most of my gryphons hadn't been gibbed in that fucking fight I'd kill you right here, right now!" She sighed. That was unexpected. "But now you're the best I've fucking got, and Red Eye has a job for you; to make good on his threat. You said you've been to Tenpony before? Well now you're going back. With a bomb."

This is where I wanted to shout no and fly away, but I couldn't. I was in the shit already. I had to do this.

"What've I got to do?"

Then Red Eye approached me.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

The entrance to Tenpony hadn't changed a bit, not that I'd expected it would. The guards checked me over once again, taking my claws away and tying my wings down, and they took all the ammo I had for Bolt. They didn't check under my wings, thank the heavens.

I trotted through the stores towards my destination; the bar. Red Eye had stocked me up on grog to use as a cover as well as to get in the good books of the owner. He was smart like that, always planning three steps ahead in all directions in case one turns out to be a flop.

I entered the bar, the bottles in my saddlebags clanking together to act as an announcement of my arrival. My eyes first met with Olive's. Somehow I remembered that name.

"She's back!" She cried out. "And she's stocked up to bursting point!"

Suddenly the owner peered around a doorway, his eyes lighting up as he saw me.

"Ah! My faithful business partner! I trust you enjoyed your adventure."

"Yeh." I said dismissively as I turned to Olive while pulling a bottle out of my saddlebags. "And you'll never guess what I found: beer!" I popped off the cap and tossed it onto the counter before chugging the beer down greedily, sticking my tongue out in disgust when I finished. "Ugh, it's warm. Where d'ya store the booze, mate? I'll take it all there, save puttin' it down and pickin' it up again." I said to the owner.

"Oh, of course, just follow me." He beckoned me towards the doorway he popped out of. When I reached it I saw it led down some stairs into a basement. Perfect. I wandered over to a corner and put the bags down, slowly pulling things out one by one.

"Just come back up when you're done and we'll have a drink to celebrate such a successful partnership," he said before trotting back up the stairs. Double perfect. Quickly, I grabbed the balefire bomb out of the bags and stashed it in the bottom of a crate before scattering the rest of the alcohol amongst the shelving. When I was done, I grabbed another bottle of beer and headed up the stairs where the owner had poured two glasses of Wild Pegasus. I passed the bottle to Olive.

"Be a dear and stick that somewhere it can chill quickly, a'ight?" She nodded and disappeared somewhere while I settled down with my drinking partner. "Y'know, I never got y'er name."

"Oh of course, how could I have been so ill mannered. You may call me Pilsner, or Pils for short if you desire."

I picked up my glass with a hoof and held it in the air. "To a worthwhile partnership." When Pils returned the action I added more. "And to free grog!"

We clinked our glasses together and both finished our drinks in one fell swoop.

And so the night begun.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

A barstool was not exactly where I'd intended to spend the night, but judging by the amount of bottles I could see lying around when I opened one eye slightly, including those I couldn't see, a barstool was the last thing I'd really needed to worry about. I closed my eye again and held my pounding head down as if trying to squeeze the alcohol out like a sponge. The sound of steps behind me were louder than they had any right to be, and then there was the claw on my shoulder.

Wait? Claw?

I opened my right eye, much to my own dismay, and turned my head to see the talons on my shoulder before the gryphon spoke in a rough, gravely voice.

"Red Eye wants you." He said, and I groaned. Couldn't he wait? "Must've been a good night, but now you're part of Red Eye's army, so it's the last you'll see of this for a while."

And like that, I was lifted and slung over his shoulder like a baby, facing behind him as he carried my hungover ass out of Tenpony, stopping only to get my stuff from the guards before taking to the skies.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

A largely uneventful flight later and I was dropped by the gryphon in one of Red Eye's few encampments that had an antenna. I staggered my way through the shaggy buildings, eyes only slightly cracked open as the hangover did wonders for dull lighting, with the gryphon (Who's name I'd learned was Sharp) nudging me in the right direction whenever I strayed off course.

He pushed me into a building where several ponies seemed to object to my presence until Sharp assured them Red Eye had a message for me. They looked to each other, then to my pained expression, and finally back at each other, before nodding and leading me into the next room that was behind a flap in what you could consider a doorway.

The pony at the console shifted aside as I approached, and Red Eye appeared on the screen.

"Ah, how nice to see you again, Six. I trust that you've fulfilled your end of the deal as I have mine." I clambered up the console, leaning against it with two hooves and my head hanging.

"Yeh. S'done. No problem."

He smiled, and wow that was a nice smile. Almost nice enough to remove my hangover. "Good, good. Now as you have done your bit, I can inform you about my half of the bargain. Let it never be said that I am unfair. I have located your unicorn friend within Fillydelphia, and much to his own dismay, have sent him to your location. While you await his arrival I request that you stay in the camp and relax. That is, unless, you're willing to accept this next offer."

I mentally groaned. "What I gotta do?"

"After your unicorn arrives," Why does he keep saying my unicorn. "I want you to stay in Equestria for a while longer as I feel I may have a growing need for pegasi. The Enclave hive appears to be stirring. If you accept, the payment I'm sending you will allow me to contact you when the time comes. If you don't wish to do this then I understand, and you will be allowed free roam of of Equestria without being hassled by my ponies."

"I'll do it." I said it more to get him to shut up than for the deal itself, not that it was a bad one.

"Your unicorn will arrive at your location tomorrow, and until then you had best get some sleep. I will bother you no longer." The transmission cut off. Good.

I lowered myself down from the console and wandered to the doorflap, pushing it aside into the awaiting glances of the three ponies who must have been the station operators. I merely glanced at them as I wandered through the room to the exit, tapping Sharp on the flank with a hoofclaw. I'd gotten so used to wearing these I kept forgetting exactly how sharp they actually were, my little tap drawing a small amount of blood. Sharp glared at me, then cracked a small smile.

"I trust you're sticking around, then." I nodded "Red Eye has a way with things like that. Come, we prepared you a place to stay before you arrived." Damn they were efficient.

Sharp led me past a couple of tossed together shacks to one that seemed to have a bit more structure to it. He pushed me inside and I instantly noted the smell. Gryphon. It wasn't exactly a bad smell, just a... Noticeable one.

"So it may have been where I sleep. Hope you don't mind. You have your own room and all, so you don't need to worry about that, but if you do have to... Relieve... Yourself, try keep it down. The noise is bad enough with that couple rutting two tents down every fucking night." I giggled. "Seriously! You'll hear what I mean." That only made me laugh harder, which probably wasn't the best thing for me to do with my headache and all. Sharp let out an exasperated sigh and left for me to calm myself down. Eventually it subsided and I forced myself through the tent. This room was definitely Sharp's; that nest in the corner was much too big for a pony, so I moved into the next one. A single mattress. Well, I'll deal with Pyre later.

I flopped down onto the mattress and closed my eyes. It was as good as two hundred year old mattresses generally got, unquestionable stains on all parts, slightly mouldy, but I couldn't complain. It was a safe place to sleep. I blocked out the pain in my head and forced myself asleep.

.*.    .*.    .*.     *     .*.    .*.    .*.

I woke to a dull thump in the other room. The eerie kind of one. I pretended I was asleep as the sound of muffled hoofsteps drew closer. I cracked open one eye as the pony stepped into my room.

They were here.

Footnote:

You level up, but you have no use for said level because of your lack of any pre-war technology. You should get yourself some of that one day.