Chapter 12: Diplomacy

“So, how did you arrive here?” The stallion asked. I shifted a little in my seat, trying to find a more comfortable position. The chairs they had provided us were not designed for humans, joining that with all the stuff I’m currently carrying and it becomes quite difficult to simply sit down and talk.

“We don’t really know,” I answered. After some quick greetings, we decided to begin talking right away, not wanting to waste a second of such a unique and precious moment, for both parties. “One moment we were in our world and the next there was a bright flash, tremors and we got thrown here”.

Frost's eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. “Interesting, are you sure it wasn’t something from your world, maybe some sort of accident?” I shook my head in reply.

“No, as far as I know nobody back home has anything that might cause this. Not only that, our base was far from any sort of research facility, military or otherwise”. To be honest, we had previously considered this idea, but we quickly scratched that. Right now, all of us were in a smaller room deeper into the building (probably Frost's personal office, by the looks of it) having more or less of an interview. The stallion had insisted in hearing more about our situation. “The only possibility is something from here”.

Frost let out a sigh. “Well, I’ll be honest with you, this is probably the strangest tale I’ve heard in years. However, I’ll try to see if there’s anything that might answer your questions”.

Those words got me a little uncomfortable (even more than I already am). “Look… sir, can you tell me if you’re aware of anything that might be behind this?” I didn’t want to sound demanding, but after everything we’ve been through I’m just too eager to get some sort of reward.

“Well, the only thing I know for sure that could do something like that is a megaspell. Do you know what these are, son?”

I gave a quick glance towards Snow, who was standing near Blizzard. “Yes, Snow told us the basic about them. They are sort of a combination of multiple spells in order to magnify the effects of them, right?”

“Yep, that’s a good way to summarize them,” Frost calmly said with a nod, “Now, I don’t really know for sure, but it could be some sort of teleportation megaspell”. Before I could make a question, he rose a hoof. “This is only a theory, I don’t even know if something like that even exists”.

“Alright… that sounds reasonable,” And what I mean by that is as reasonable as magic stuff in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world with unicorns and shit can possibly be. It isn’t much, but at least we there might be something out there. Still, I’ll have to look up for more information about these things. “Is there anything else you would like to ask?”

“Actually, I would really appreciate if you told me more about your world; it’s not every day we get visited by aliens.”

At that moment, Snowdrop practically jumped in front me. “Oh, dad, I did managed to write a few notes on them, I got a few details on their biology and culture,” So this is why she did all those questions? Doesn’t really surprise me.

Blizzard rolled his eyes. “Nevers stops being an egghead…” Snow ears flattened as she blushed in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Frost had a vague smile in his lips. “Of course you did that, sweetheart, I’ll make sure to read them later,” He looked at me, “But before that, why don’t you begin?”

I nodded, while thinking of a good way to start this. Explaining this kind of thing isn’t really my field of expertize, I’m not a teacher. I decided to give a more generic idea, without focusing on any specific theme. I told him a few extra things regarding our biology, such as our omnivorous nature, while Barin explained a few bits on our technology. The ponies were impressed at some things like GPS, the internet and space exploration. Their technology isn’t very far (from what I’ve seen until now), but it’s still dwarfed by some of our things.

After that came the more political and social topics like our nations and governments. To my surprise, they actually have a good understanding of democracy, despite their pre-war world being always ruled by an absolutist diarchy. It makes me wonder about how exactly their political philosophy developed, but that’s something for another day. They were also intrigued by our coalition…, which was a pain in the ass to explain. I suppose the whole concept of uniting many vastly different nations into a single coalition does sound impressive.

I also spoke a bit about recent events, however, I let the ice age and the war out, there’s no point in telling them that. At some moments, I would also ask about their world, just so I could have something to compare. The contrast between us is… strange, almost insane at some points. At the same time this place reminds me of a fucked up fairytale I also see things surprisingly similar to us. Any other day this would question my sanity, it’s just too much to take in.

We kept talking for a while longer, until they eventually ran out of questions. I felt somewhat tired, it’s not everyday someone asks me to explain almost every aspect of humanity. At the end of our small chat there was a small book of notes on the table at the center of the room.

“Alright, I have a final question,” said Frost, just as we stood up. “Do you have any other intentions, beyond searching information?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean to this city?” he nodded, “I can assure you we’re not planning to do anything to this place or its inhabitants. Right now we’re merely defending ourselves against anything that tries to threaten us, such as raiders or slavers.”

The stallion nodded. “That’s good to know, sorry if I sounded offensive,” he told us, “Now, since I know you’ll probably be here for a while, I’ll provide you with a room where you can stay for the time being, as well as food and water, if you need any.”

I raised a hand. “Look, you don’t really have to, we’re both carrying some caps and we can pay for our stay.”

“Nonsense, consider it a gift for getting Snow back here.”

-x-

After a few minutes of waiting, Snow guided Barin and I towards a room Frost had kindly provided. We didn’t spoke on the way there, but that was no issue, it felt great to be actually getting new information that might help us figuring this out. Hopefully we can find out more, without any further issues.

“Alright, this is the place,” Snow said as we reached a particular door in a long corridor. She opened it and stepped aside, allowing us to have a better view of the inside. “Enjoy your stay… I guess.”

It’s not the most impressive room I have seen, and it clearly lacked the clean and refined aesthetic of our world, but comfortable nonetheless. It’s somewhat large, with a beautiful and well preserved furniture, the white and light yellow colors of the walls also gave a warm and calm atmosphere to it. I can definitely enjoy spending a few days here.

“Well, this place looks good!” Said Barin, going inside the room and placing his stuff in one of the beds. “Almost reminds me of a hotel”.

“Yes it does,” I replied. “So, what should we do next?”

He shrugged. “I think I’ll begin organizing our stuff here, then I’ll rest for a while, it has been one hell of a journey”.

I nodded. “Indeed, I guess I’ll walk around for a bit and get used to this place, then… I don’t know, maybe I’ll eat something,” I walked out of the room, “I’ll come back later on, so we can begin searching for more intel”.

Without further discussion, I left, with Snow following me down the hall. As I moved, I let out a long sigh, calming myself and thinking about our next step. I honestly don’t know where to begin, if what Frost said is true, maybe I should look up anything regarding these megaspells. I’ll also have to know more about their pre-war government and military in order to get a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Perhaps I could also look for a map of military installations, somewhere where they could keep these weapons.

Wait… but where would they do this? For all I know, these spells could be kept in a suitcase or a pen. Do they need some sort of trigger? Or a command center? Furthermore, even if they do, what would it be like? Fuck… I really need to know more about this “magic”, there’s no way I can get an accurate answer if I don’t have a precise idea of what I’m dealing with.

“Alex?”

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be so pessimistic. From what we were told this place is filled with pre-war documents. It might be only a matter of searching…

“Alex!”

“Wha- What?” I looked around, my eyes quickly settling on Snowdrop. “What is it?”

She looked slightly concerned. “Sorry, you kind of just… stood there, staring blankly ahead”.

I shook my head, bringing one of my hands to it and letting out a sigh. “Oh, I think I just zoomed out a bit…”

“So, where do you want to go first?”

“I don’t know, maybe somewhere quiet so I can eat.”

“Well, there are a few balconies in the upper floors that should be deserted, want to head there?”

“Sure.”

So we headed there. The few ponies we saw along the way tried to stay as far away from us as possible, while giving me a suspicious look. Others also kept a close hoof to their weapons. This wasn’t by any means a friendly atmosphere, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. It’s not like I’m planning on staying here for long.

Eventually, we reached our destination. As she told me, the small balcony was deserted, and offered a good view of the city. Without wasting time, I sat down and began to search my bag for a little snack. As I did so, I couldn’t help but to look a little at the city ahead, it’s still an impressive sight. The two of us spend a few minutes in silence, as I ate.

“So, Snowdrop,” I spoke, no longer enjoying the silence. “How exactly does this place works?”

Her ears stood in attention as she heard me. “Oh, what do you mean?”

“Well, there are some things I’m curious about,” I explained. “Like for instance, where does the power for these buildings and street lights come from?”

Her expression changed from confusion to understanding at that. “Ah, yes, that’s actually a simple answer; the power comes from each of these ministries”.

I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, what do you mean by that?”

“Each one of these buildings were made to be more or less self-sufficient, they are all equipped with generators and other things that allow this place to function”.

Well, that’s impressive and I can’t help but to wonder why they would put so much effort in that. Snow did told me previously just how important these ministries were for the pre-war world, but still… this level of efforts raises a lot of questions in regards to just how powerful they were.

“Hold up,” I said, raising a hand. “Can you explain these ministries a little?”

“Well… that’s kind of a complex question…”

“I have time”.

“Alright… did I tell you what the Elements of Harmony were?”

“I… don’t think you did”.

“In order to understand what the ministries were you must know what the Elements were, so listen…”

And so Snow began a long explanation about these… artefacts. They were sort of a set of magical things that encompassed the best of Equestrian moral values (that is, magic, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and honestly). Each one of them had a personal bearer who best represented his or her Element. It sounded… lame, and if the state of the world is anything to go by, these people did a shitty job.

Now here’s where things get difficult. Apparently, when the war broke out between Equestria and the… zebras (god, no matter how many times I say it, it still sounds fucked up), the bearers were chosen to help organize the war effort, and each created a personal ministry to do so. Now that’s just great, putting a bunch of civilians who encompassed peaceful ideas to lead a war effort… there’s just no way that could go wrong…

“I guess I understand now…” I said, as Snow finished her explanation. “Is there anything you want to ask?” I figure it’s only fair, after everything she told me I might as well answer some of her questions.

Snow brought a hoof to her chin, contemplating my offer. “Well… you never really told me about your home”.

“That’s not true, I told you a few things back at the outpost and during our journey”. Plus, I just gave her a small history class a few minutes ago.

“Yes, but they were mostly… generic things, about your race and planet, not really about you”. What? I'm honestly... surprised by that. Why would she want to know about my home? I mean, I did noticed she see me more or less as a friend, but so far she hadn't done anything like this.

I closed my eyes for a second. “I guess you have a point, alright, I’ll give you a short version…”

I proceeded to tell her how I was born in Russia, near the Caspian Sea, and how despite that I spend most of my life in Southern Iran. I spoke a little about my family and close relatives, and what I did before I ended up here. However, as I talked about how I had also lived a while in Tehran, I realized she looked slightly confused. At that moment I had a small epiphany. She knows little to nothing about Earth and probably has no idea what the places I just told her about are. Way to go, Alex…

“And you’re probably not understanding half of what I’m saying…” I placed a hand in my face, mentally kicking myself for that mistake.

Noticing how I was, Snow waved a hoof dismissingly. “Oh, don’t worry about it, I think I understood most of it”.

Despite her assurance, I took out my personal tablet and turned it on. “Still, I might as well show you a map and a few pictures I have here”. At the sound of that she nudged closer, staring at the screen of the device. I quickly opened a map. “Alright, this here is map of the Middle East and this area over here is where I live,” I told her, pointing at the picture. The mare simply nodded, completely focused on the screen. “But like I said, I wasn’t born here, my family and I came from Russia, which is up north and-“

I was interrupted by a shout behind us. “Finally! There you are!” The two of us turned quickly in surprise, finding a tired looking Blizzard standing near the doorway.

“For Celestia’s sake Blizzard, don’t scare us like that!” Snow said in an annoyed tone.

The young stallion rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever, I’ve been looking for you two for almost half an hour now,” He pointed a hoof at me, “more specifically, for you”.

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Why is that?”

“Somepony wants to see you.”

“Who?”

“The Confederacy and the Blackwatch,” he said. “And I suggest you hurry up to meet them…”

What he said took me by surprise. I suppose I should expect that reaction from the locals, but not so… soon. My mind began racing with ideas of how to deal with this. Before we left the outpost, Nicolay had told me a few advices on how to deal with diplomacy. Basically, we are supposed to avoid any kind of confrontation as well as avoid saying much about our capabilities. While I understand what he want, I don’t really have much experience with negotiations… but I suppose it’s not like we have an actual diplomat available.

“Alright, I understand… who should I see first?”

“There’s a Confederacy officer downstairs already.”

I raised an eyebrow at that and then turned to Snowdrop. “Snow, could you please tell Barin to begin searching for intel without me?” She nodded.

“I’ll bring you to the officer,” Blizzard said. I nodded and followed him inside.

-x-

Blizzard led me through the halls of the ministry. As we walked in this quiet journey, my mind struggled to create a plan. I’ve absolute no clue of what they might want. Do they know about the rangers I killed? God, I hope not, that’ll will only make things harder. Once again, I suppose I should be thankful to Snow for telling me a little about them. If I remember correctly, these people are a powerful faction, another good reason to avoid confrontation. Hopefully I can reason with them.

Eventually we reached a larger room, with a big table at the center, probably some sort of meeting room. Already sitting down on one of the chairs was an earth pony. He had a dark brown coat, a golden mane and was wearing a military uniform. Behind him were two other ponies, both wearing camo. I assumed the one sitting was the officer and the two others were his guards. They all looked at me with a hint of surprise as I entered the room.

“So it’s true…” He whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear it.

“You’re the one who called me?” I tried to sound casual, avoiding unnecessary tension. My words, however, had little effect, the three ponies kept their behavior. “Who are you?”

“I’m Major Stronghoof, Second Ranger Battalion of the Confederacy,” he replied. A ranger too? I wonder if those two mares were under his command. “I’m here to confirm the rumors we’ve been hearing about aliens”.

I raised an eyebrow. “Well… is my presence confirmation enough?”

“I suppose it is, and so I also have a few questions to ask”. His tone was mostly emotionless, but I couldn't help but to notice something else lurking beneath the mask of pragmatism.

I nodded and sat down in a chair in front of him. “Alright, ask away”.

We began with basic introductions. I told him my name, rank and other basic things. He then asked me about what army and nation I was, what was the name of my species and more of the same questions I had already told Snow and her family. I got bored quickly; the only thing I had to worry so far was to avoid revealing sensitive information. Eventually, as the basic questions ended, we shifted towards the real matters.

“Why are you here?” Stronghoof asked. His tone changed a little, becoming more authoritarian.

“It was… an accident,” I said, looking away for a second. “We didn’t intend to come here”.

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Well, I’m sorry to sound skeptical, but it doesn’t look like you are unprepared for this place”.

“We are a military unit; we are supposed to be prepared for combat, survival or anything similar, that doesn’t make our arrival intentional”.

He shook his head. “Whatever the case, I need to know what you’re planning to do and if it effects the Confederacy in any way”.

“I can assure you, our intentions are peaceful,” I answered. “We only desire to find out what’s behind our arrival and as soon we figure that out we’ll leave”. He didn’t look convinced, and I searched my mind for a few more words, just something to calm him down a little. “The only actions we took were against those who posed a threat to us and whom we weren’t able to negotiate with, such as raiders and slavers.”

His face twisted into a more serious expression. “Really now, is that why you killed two of my rangers less than a day ago?” Fuck! He knew about that… great, how am I supposed to explain that? I’m sorry buddy, your rangers kind of panicked when they spotted us so I shot them both, no hard feelings! I'm really not the right person for this job...

A sense of guilt mixed with worry surged through me. This is not how this negotiation should go. The last thing we need is to get on the bad side of a possibly powerful faction. I struggled to keep a serious expression and eye contact. My mind rushed with possible explanations and excuses I could use, but in the end, I realized there was no way to avoid the truth. Well, that’s what I get for my actions, the only thing I can do now is try to salvage the situation.

I let out a long sigh. “So you already know…” Stronghoof nodded, “Look, I don’t know what version you have, but they tried to attack us, what I did was an act of self-defense”.

He gave me a skeptical look. “So you admit killing them and still have the guts to tell me it’s their fault?” Great, now I managed to get him even angrier…

I raised both my hands in a placate gesture. “I’m sorry, but what do you want me to say? please forgive me for killing them? I already told you it was self-defense, if there’s something I can do to make up for it, I will”.

He crossed his front legs. “Can you guarantee that this won’t happen again?”

“Perhaps… we can reach some sort of agreement”.

“I’m listening…” To be honest, I don’t really know how we can solve this, but I don’t have a choice. There has to be a way to avoid this sort of thing…

“Well… I already know you guys came from the northern section of the island, where exactly are you based?”

“We took over an old fort near the border with the dusty plains…” He answered hesitantly.

“How about we stablish a border at the golden river?” I suggested, “You keep your operations on the northern side and we’ll keep ours on the southern side.”

His expression became less serious at that. “But what about Ministry square and the surrounding settlements?”

I rushed to think of an answer. “We could have them as neutral zones”.

“How do I know I can trust you with this?”

“If you see any of us wandering on your zone, you are free to engage them,” That’s probably a little bit extreme, but at this point I’ll give anything to avoid open conflict. That’s the last thing we need.

“I guess that is… acceptable,” I calmed down at that, until he pointed a hoof at me and whispered, “But make no mistake, any other act of aggression will be met with retaliation, don’t think we are afraid of you, alien!”

This wasn’t by any means an ideal agreement, but it’s the best I can get in a situation like this. It’s obvious these ponies feel threatened by us and what we might do, so it’s only natural they’ll act defensively, especially after that little incident with the two rangers. However, that makes things worse for us, now we have to watch out for anything suspicious from them. Perhaps we can avoid further tensions and maybe create a more stable relationship, in time. Still… I have no illusions, we need to be very careful and Stronghoof’s behavior doesn’t make things promising…

This is far from over…

-x-

With the end of our discussion, I left. This whole thing had left a sour taste in my mouth, but I have bigger concerns, plus I still need to see these Blackwatch people. Hopefully that meeting will go smother. For god’s sake, I’m really not the right person for this job… I’m supposed to be working with banks and financial stuff, not this. I mean, seriously, I can even adapt to being a soldier and all, but honestly, negotiating and manipulating people is not my thing.

Blizzard and I headed downstairs, where we met Snowdrop. “So… how did that went?” Oh, don’t worry about it, I just discovered they know about the rangers I killed so we almost started a war…

“It was… productive,” I said, hesitantly, “We came to more or less of an agreement”.

Snow frowned at that, she could probably see my discomfort. “You sure everything is fine?” I should probably tell her about the two rangers. It would be unwise to keep her in the dark about this.

“Do you remember those two rangers?” Her eyes widened, “They know…”

Blizzard looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing…” I quickly replied.

I looked at Snow. “Alright, I need to go meet this… Blackwatch company, do you know where they are?”

“Y-yes, just go to the first building on the left side of the square”. I nodded and walked out. Well, maybe this meeting will go better, after all, as far as I know I don't have the blood of any of these mercenaries in my hands.

At my first step outside, I was confronted with a change, there was a larger number of guards standing here. Instead of just two, as before, there were now five, all them heavily armed and well protected. I guess these people must be worried with the attention we’re probably drawing.

Once again, my presence caused a variety of reactions from the ponies closer to me. For a second I even considered going back and asking Barin to come with me, but I shove that idea aside. He’s probably too busy searching for more intel and I’m pretty sure I can defend myself, if necessary. Not wanting to draw more attention, I quickly walked towards the building Snow had told me to go.

The sun had reached its zenith and the central market (as I choose to call it) was beginning to fill with ponies and a few griffins. I stayed away, hoping to avoid unnecessary attention. This time I took a better look at the ministries, noticing that each one was vastly different from one another. Almost as if they were decades apart in terms of architecture. I felt a small sense of curiosity, asking me to take a few seconds to have a better look at them, a sense that I quickly ignored. There’s no time for that.

My brief journey ended as I approached my goal. This Ministry, in particular, reminded me more of a factory, it had a mostly square shape with little to no details in it. One thing I took notice was a large propaganda poster depicting a group of ponies clad in heavy armor. It looked like something out the Middle Ages… with the addition of rocket launchers and miniguns. They seemed to be charging down a bunch of… zebras. On top of the building was a big black banner, on the center of this flag was a white winged pony skull with a dagger stabbing it from above. It must be the symbol of this mercenary group.

Confirming my guess, I saw several griffins and ponies standing by the door, all of them wearing similar gear to those guards at by the gate. They were chatting while smoking and drinking, probably having some sort of brake, I guess. I walked closer, hoping they wouldn’t shoot me on sight.

Now, I know I’ve already faced a similar situation quite a few times, but it’s still my life on the line here. The simple fact that most people here are spooked by my appearance and that they’re often armed, means that I am, to certain extend, risking myself whenever I need to make contact. In addition, my own mind plots against me by giving me a small paranoia. Was there a sniper or some observer who might have the wrong idea about me? What about these guys in front of me, are they trigger happy?

It’s one thing to walk in an open area where you have a pretty good idea of what’s around you, but inside an urban environment you can never be too sure. Most times, it’s simply not possible to keep an eye on every single spot where someone might be hiding. Snow had told me this place was safe, and so far I hadn’t seen anything to prove otherwise, but I can never be too sure.

I kept moving closer until I was within a hearing distance. Some of them got a little tense, moving hoofs and claws to their guns, but remained peaceful. “Is this the Blackwatch Company HQ?” I asked, receiving multiple reactions. Some of them raised their eyebrows… or whatever these ponies and gryphons have, others looked at me as if I was an idiot and one pony seemed to be almost laughing.

“Are you blind or something, alien?” One of the griffins (Gryphons? I really don’t know), with a deep voice, gray feathers and fur, replied. “Yes, this is the place, why are you here?”

His tone was filled with annoyance, that guy clearly didn’t like me. “I was informed someone here wanted to see me,” Part of me wanted to give him a more… uneducated answer, but I figure there’s no point in starting a fight.

The mercenary rolled his eyes. “Well, then go inside already, and make sure to leave your weapons in the reception”.

I complied, heading in and leaving those people behind. The interior, similar to the outside, had a Spartan design with little to no details. The furniture was equally simple, made with efficiency in mind, not beauty. As expected, most people inside went quiet as they spotted me. I ignored them, walking towards what I guessed was the reception. The stallion sitting behind it locked eyes with me. He looked somewhat young (it was hard to tell with these ponies), dark gray coat and black mane, wearing a military vest with the same symbol I had seen outside, on the banner.

“What do you want?” He asked, leaning back on his chair ever so slightly.

“I was informed someone here wanted to see me”.

“I see…” He moved towards the terminal on his right, typing a few times and looking through whatever was on the screen. He kept giving me occasional suspicious glances, while the general atmosphere of the room remained tense. “Alright… our boss, Shortbeak, wants to see you; his room stays on the second floor by the end of the hall”.

Before I could move he added, “And you’ll have to leave your weapons here, they will be returned on your way out”.

I don’t like this one bit. Being unarmed is never a good thing, especially in a place like this. On the other hand, if they wanted to capture or kill me, they could’ve done so the moment I entered this city. Well, I don’t think I can convince them otherwise and even if I did kept my weapons, my chances of fighting my way out in case things go bad are slim.

I placed all my weapons on the table and moved towards my goal. As I had speculated outside, part of the building was indeed a factory. Looking through one of the windows, I saw a wide room with what looked like production lines, each one being used to make different types of metalwork like armor, tools and what appeared to be gun parts. The first floor also had a large number of workshops.

Eventually I reached the room, guarded by two heavily equipped gryphons. Without the need to ask, one of them gestured me to go inside, and so I did. As expected, the so-called Shortbeak was inside. He was an imposing figure, not just in size but also because of his dark brown coat and black feathers. His dull gray eyes locked on me the moment I gave a single step in. He appeared to be smoking some sort of cigar. If there was any surprise or reaction from my presence, he wasn’t showing. That was both refreshing and… slightly disturbing.

Before I could open my mouth, he spoke. “Sit” A single words, voiced in a powerful tone, which reminded me a little bit of Nicolay. His free claw pointed towards a chair facing him. I quickly decided not to question that, I just want to get this over as soon as possible. I approached him and sat down, while trying to avoid showing any kind of fear or hesitation.

He reclined back on his own sit for a few seconds, silently examining me with those deep eagle eyes. His behavior was completely natural, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. “Huh… I expected something different”.

That took me by surprise. “W-what?”

He rolled his eyes. “When I first heard the rumors of aliens, I expected something… taller and perhaps a little bit more imposing,” Was he fucking with me? “But I suppose it doesn’t matter now…”

“Why did you call me here?” I asked. I’m honestly not in the mood for long talks and shit like that, I’ve got a mission to accomplish.

He raised an eyebrow at that, while his beak twisted in a vague smile (How the fuck could he do that?) “Well, straight to the point then?” He placed his cigar on an ashtray, “Alright, I’ll cut this short, I called you here because, as you may already know, it’s our job to ensure the security of this city, and so I need to know if you pose any threat”. This shit again? Fuck… it’s the third time already, this day alone.

“Okay, that seems reasonable…”

He nodded. “Good, now start talking”.

There wasn’t anything new to this so I’ll make this short. Once again, I spoke about who we are and how we arrived here. I told him a few bits about humanity and what’s my current objective. This whole explanation calmed him down a little bit and he seemed to understand our situation. After a while, I finished my explanation.

Once again, he dropped his body in his big (and probably very comfortable) chair, with a calm expression in his face. “Well, that sure is an interesting tale…”

“Does it answer your questions?”

He crossed his arms. “For the most part yes,” He replied, “But there’s one more thing I need to know”.

I raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Three of my people came back from a mission, not long ago, claiming they were helped by aliens”. Well, now that’s interesting, I don’t recall meeting anyone who looked like them, definitely didn’t help anyone like that either. “Were you the one behind that?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m pretty sure I didn’t saw anyone like that on my way here,” His brows furrowed, pondering what I had told him, “However, like I already told you, I’m not alone, so they might’ve come across another unit”.

“I suppose that’s possible...”

“Were they, by any chance, going south? Near the coast?”

That seemed to get his attention. “Actually, yes they were”.

“Well, in that case it’s very likely they meet someone else, we do have a few units on that area”.

“Alright, that’s good enough,” He said. He tone was much calmer, less authoritarian. I should probably thank the guy who helped those mercenaries. “And so I suppose I should offer a something in return”.

I raised my hand and opened my mouth to protest, but Shortbeak didn’t allowed that. “First of all, you and the other alien will be allowed to come and go from the city, and I’ll have passports issued to both of you”. Passports? This city is clearly more organized than I had originally thought, when Snow told me gangs ruled this place, I assume it much more chaotic. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be too quick to judge, after all, I’ve been wrong too many times already in regards to this place and the locals. “You also told me you needed information, so if you have any questions, just ask”.

“Okay…” What should I ask? I doubt he knows much about megaspells and pre-war things. I should probably focus on other things that might be useful, such as details of local factions and ongoing conflicts. Despite what I had already discovered, I still don’t know enough to properly deal with whomever we come across in this place, so far, the best we have is a uneasy deal with the Confederacy. “On my way here I saw some sort of firefight between a group of ponies and a few Confederacy troopers, do you know anything about it.”

He brought a claw to his beak. “Well, it could be something from the Militia; they’re always looking to disturb whatever the Confederacy does”.

“Why?”

“Because they don’t like the Confederacy, or anyone who might pose a threat to them,” His tone became slightly tense, making me guess he didn’t like this Militia. That wouldn’t surprise me, this faction is taking a place normally occupied by the Blackwatch. “These people think themselves as the representatives of popular will and the only ones with legitimacy to lead them”.

I raised an eyebrow. “And are they correct?”

To my surprise, he gave a small laugh at that. “Sure, as they care a lot about you… as long as you don’t question their actions,” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, “They’ll protect you… whether you want it or not”.

“Well, that sounds pretty bad…”

“You think? Don’t get me started on their involvement with drug traffic and constant blackmail of those living in their territory”. If everything he said is true, we should be careful with these people. The memory of the officer we meet on the bridge is still fresh in my memory, but I had assumed he might be just an exception, I guess I’m wrong. “Look, I’ll admit we aren’t exactly virtuous, but at least we try to keep standards”.

“Alright, tell me more about this city.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If I’m going to stay here for a while, I should probably know how this place works”.

He nodded. “Okay, that sounds reasonable,” He spend a few seconds thinking, “The basic thing you have to know is that this place is divided by three gangs, the Blackwatch, the White Coat Society and the Lunar Caravans. Each one of us provides a different kind of service, the Lunar Caravans are merchants, we provide mercenary contracts and the Society provides skilled things like healthcare, arcane knowledge, engineering and etc.”

“You don’t produce anything?” I asked.

“Well, yes, each faction also makes some products to sell in the market, but most of our income is from services”.

I nodded. “I guess this answer my question; however, I need to ask one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“Is there any sort of laws I should be aware of?”

“Don’t steal, no heavy drugs and avoid getting into fights,” He answered. “Basically, try not to be a dick.”

-x-

I went back, hoping to meet Barin and see if he made any progress. This meeting went a lot better than I expected. Shortbeak doesn’t seem to feel scared or threatened by us, or at least he’s not showing it. Still, is it because he actually believe in my story or because he thinks Blackwatch is powerful enough to defend itself? I don’t know for sure, but at least it seems unlikely they’ll turn hostile, at least for now. Well, I already have the Confederacy to worry about, last thing I need is another heavily armed group having a bad opinion of us.

This time I decided to walk at a slower pace, hoping to memorize more about this place. I looked at some sort of weapon store, near the market. The place had a variety of guns exposed. Ever since I arrived here I keep wondering how these ponies use guns, it just seems so difficult to do so without hands. From what I understand, there’s about four ways they counter that deficiency. They use battle-saddles to carry heavy weapons like machine guns and high caliber rifles. When it comes to smaller weapons like assault rifles, shotguns and submachineguns, I’ve seen ponies leaving them hanging on their necks and using triggers adapted to hooves (these are usually preferred by unicorns). Lastly, they also have mouth grips for pistols and revolvers, as well as modified versions strapped to their hooves.

However, what really got my attention was another set of guns. On a small corner were a few rifles and pistols almost identical to ours, the only difference was a slightly bigger and ticker trigger. I guessed these weapons must be designed for gryphons, good, if for some reason I end up losing my weapons there’ll still be other options available.

Eventually, I reached the MoAS. I spotted Blizzard guarding the entrance, he gave me a small nod when he saw me, and I nodded back as I moved inside. Just as stepped in the main hall, Snowdrop showed up. She looked… happy, more than usual. I raised an eyebrow, wondering about that.

“Hey Alex!” She said in an equally cheerful tone.

“Hey Snow,” Her behavior has always been strangely happy… for someone living in a wasteland, but this time it just seems different. “You look happy.”

She nodded. “Yes, I’ve finally managed to activate this pip-buck!” Snow waved her hoof in front of me, displaying the device.

“Well, that’s good to know,” I remember her telling me about the many functions of these things. I couldn’t help but to be impressed at them, sure, we have things more advanced, but these're still powerful devices. “Have you already tested the… spells?”

Her ears stood up. “Actually, no, not yet,” She looked at her pip-buck, pressing a few buttons, “I’m still trying to get used to the interface, let me see if I can get the EFS on…” I waited there for a few moments. What is this “EFS” thing? I remember her telling me about it before… something to do with a mini-map or something.

The pip-buck gave a small beep. “Okay, I think I got it now!” She began to look around, as if searching for something, “Ah yes, here it is, I got the health status, compass… and the map!” That got her even more excited. I gave a short smile, seeing Snow like that is just… cute, in a way. These ponies… it’s just so strange, they look so simple and harmless and yet they live in a blasted wasteland dealing with constant death and destruction. This kind of thing just doesn’t match, little colorful ponies is the least thing anyone would expect in a place like this.

“Hold up… there’s something wrong…” Snow said, cutting my line of thought. “What’s wrong with this?”

I looked at her, confused. “What is it?” I asked.

She looked at her pip-buck, reading something with an expression of confusion and strangeness. “The mini-map, the tags are wrong…” Snow pressed a few more buttons, “It’s just… the EFS is supposed to provide a local map with tags on every living thing inside…”

“And it isn’t doing that?” I guessed.

Snow shook her head. “It is doing that just fine, but your tag is wrong.”

Okay, now I’m really lost here. “What do you mean?”

“The EFS is supposed to tag each living being based on their stance towards you,” Snow explained, “It shows green for friendly and red for hostile.”

“Okay, what exactly is wrong with mine?”

Her tone had become frustrated. “It keeps switching between the two, as if it can’t decide…” Well… that doesn’t really surprise me, after all, how could this device predict if someone was friendly or not towards you?

“Do you think it might’ve something to do with me being an alien?”

“Well, maybe… is there any kind of magic or spell in your equipment?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Not that I know of, we don’t really have any magic in our world.”

Her face twisted in confusion, her eyes widened. “W- What? No magic?” huh, sounds like I just told her she’s in a virtual reality or something…

“Well, yes, what’s the problem?” I honestly have no idea what’s wrong.

“But that’s impossible!” She said, “Every living being has magic inside him, it’s a fundamental part of life!” Okay, she beginning to scare me, right now she sounds like an inquisitor or something… “Do you mind if I do a quick scan for spells?”

“Is there any side effects?”

“No, you shouldn’t even feel it.”

“Alright then, do it,” Her horn glowed for a few seconds and I felt a vague sensation of something around me. My whole body was incased by her magic, it felt… strange, as if I was inside a pool or something. In a few moments, it ended.

She opened her eyes and her face had an expression of… fear. She took a small step back and looked away, mumbling something to herself. We stood for a few more seconds in silence. “You… you’re right, there’s just latent magic inside you…”

I let out a long sigh. Girl has to remenber I don't know anything about magic. “Could you please explain?”

“Every living being has some sort of active magic inside them,” She told me, while still trying to calm down, “However, you only have magic accumulated from the environment and nothing else…”

“Is this a problem to me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, normally this would mean you’re dead, but this is obviously not the case”. She placed a hoof on her chin, eyes furrowing in deep thought, “This would probably make you somewhat resistant to spells and curses… now that I think of it, this surely explains the EFS and why you need a whole healing potion to fix even the smallest wounds.”

Alright, this does bring some interesting things to consider, however, I should probably leave this for later. Barin is probably waiting for me. “That’s all good to know, but I should probably go see Barin now.”

“Okay, I understand, would you mind if I did a few tests later on, just to have a better look at this?”

“Meh, I suppose that’s all right…” Just hope it doesn't involve cutting me open.

After asking for directions, I went to meet Barin. It took me a while to get there, since the library was located in the upper floors of the building. The place itself was huge, with countless shelves filled with documents. Most of them were blueprints and archives, recovered by the White Coat Society in an attempt to recreate some of the technology lost in the apocalypse. There were also a few tables, one of which was used by Barin.

My friend had left most of his stuff in our room. Instead of full battle armor, he only had his uniform, vest and sidearm. On his table were piles of documents, some maps and a few blueprints. Looks like he did a hell of a search. I approached him calmly, to avoid spooking him. My footsteps made his head snap towards me. Upon realizing whom I was, his face twisted in a short smile and he gestured me to get closer.

“Hey, Alex!” He greeted me as I walked, “Glad to see you’re back already; got any good news?” That question made me frown, I really wanted to avoid speaking about this… but he must know, even if the truth isn’t very pleasant. God, how am I going to explain this to Nicolay?

“Well, more or less…” I replied. “The Blackwatch was mostly okay, I don’t think they have much of a problem with us,” Well, here comes the bad news, “But the Confederacy, on the other hand…”

His expression turned neutral. He raised an eyebrow and asked, “What about them?”

“They know about the rangers I killed…” There’s no point on being smooth about this. His face changed to an expression of worry, he opened his mouth a few times but wasn’t able to form a response.

I waited in silence until he was able to speak. “Then how… Alex, tell me what happened.”

“Sigh… They know about it and they feel threatened by us,”

“Do you think they might try something?”

I shook my head. “No, if they wanted to they wouldn’t come here for a little chat,” Honestly, I’ve zero clues of what they might be up to, “I think they’ll probably wait for now, see if they can get more intel about us,” It would be stupid to attack a group you know almost nothing about.

“How did the meeting ended?”

“We settled down in some sort of non-aggression pact, they keep their people north of the river, we stay south and the towns are neutral zones,” If this deal lasts more than a week, I’ll be surprised… “But enough with that did you find something while I was out?”

His face brightened up a little at that. “Actually, yes, I found a whole bunch of things,” He began to shuffle through the papers, “Turns out Snowdrop wasn’t kidding when she told us their people didn’t know much about war, just look at these projects!” He began to show me a few blueprints. I’ve to agree, most of them were either insane or impractical. They attempted to create types of mutated beasts specifically for combat, super-heavy power armor, giant robots… almost like a futuristic movie from the cold war period.

All these things did pointed to a lack of knowledge of warfare. In a war, the best weapons are usually the more reliable and cheap to produce, not the heavier or with greater firepower. Instead of investing millions of rubles in a single super soldier, you might as well train hundreds of normal ones. Dozens of normal tanks can usually do a better job than one super-heavy version. However, another thing this outlines is a lack of certain ethical and moral laws regarding prisoners of war and experimental subjects. Some of these documents mention the use of living test subjects, in many cases zebras, with little to no regards to their well-being. Little ponies acting like Nazi doctors… I don’t know if I should be laughing or worried.

“Now, I did managed to also get some things on these megaspells,” Barin continued, snapping me out of my thoughts. “It looks like they can be made with all sorts of intentions; they had types of healing megaspells, gravity alteration, explosive (which was the most common) and a whole lot of other things.”

“So… does that mean there could be something related to us?” I asked.

“It certainly looks like it, from what it tells here they can modify just about any kind of spell into a megaspell version, and that includes teleportation.”

That discovery brought a small wave of relief to me. It isn’t much, but it looks like there might be something out there. Hopefully it’ll be only a matter of time before we’re back home. Still, that also raises a question… could someone be behind this? I doubt it; so far, the only factions with enough power and knowledge to do something like this seem to be too busy killing each other. On the other hand, the idea of some sort of malfunction being the cause of all this also sounds unlikely.

“You got any leads to where we should be looking?”

Barin moved to another pile of files. “Well, from what I learned, these megaspells were activated in special command bases, either by magic or being launched in the warhead of an ICBM, depending on the specific type,” He opened a big map of the island, “These bases were spread out across the nation… including this island.”

“Huh, so it could definitely be a megaspell…”

“Indeed,” He agreed, “Now, these places were top-secret, so there wasn’t any information on their precise location, however, it looks like they were under control of the ‘Equestrian Strategic Command’, and they just so happen to have an office in this very city, not far from here.”

“So if we want to find out more about these megaspells…” I began.

“Then that’s where we need to go look,” He finished.

Well, I guess we got a new objective in mind…

Note: Level Up!

New Perk: Comprehension - You gain one additional skill point for reading books and double the skill points for reading magazines.

Reputation Changed:

Ministry Square – Cordial
Confederacy – Suspicious

Author's Note

Well, longest chapter I've written till this day... and I took less than a month to do so! As always, thanks to the FoE community and to all those reading this, please leave a comment and point out any mistakes. I understand if some of you don't like the more peaceful nature of these last few chapters, but keep in mind I need to set up a stage before jumping into action.

Also, I just came across these two great FoE stories that truly deserve more attention:

Fallout Equestria: Fallen Angels by Tetragrammaton

Fallout Equestria: The Long Road Home by Vermilion and Sage