Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 12

Feelings

“You don't have to hide your feelings from me.”

~O~Frostmane~O~

I was up and about again, even though Golden Sunshines treatment of my injuries had been more than brutal. The mare hadn't even given me a warning, before she had set and healed my ribs. The pain I had been in had vanished, and my body had refused to listen to me from there on. It was a small miracle in itself that I didn't faint right then and there...

Right now, I was trotting towards a secluded part of the canyon where, according to the Alicorn mare who acted like my shadow, her sisters had set up camp. Firestorm and Homage had stayed behind with three of the Steel Rangers, while six of them were following behind me. They were very uncomfortable with the white Alicorn that trotted next to me, and stayed a safe distance away from her at any given moment. Earlier in our little trip, the mare had suddenly turned around, making all of the Rangers jump a bit.

Granted, Golden was powerful, but I was pretty sure that the six of them could take her down if they worked together. Therefor, it was quite funny to see them react this way.

“So, what is your plan, Frostmane? I already told you how large groups of us work. Unless you can persuade Moonsinger, you won't accomplish anything, and I doubt that you can do that. She is very devoted to our dear mother.”, Golden said quietly, so only I could hear it over the soft crunching sounds our hooves made on the wet sand. I sighed.

“First I'll try to talk to her. There has to be some way to make them stop the attacks on the settlements in this area. If that doesn't work, I'll try to persuade her my way.”, I replied, letting my Power-Hooves crackle a bit.

“But you are aware of the fact, that she's the strongest one in this group? You can not hope to break her shield with those weapons of yours, and if she gets a hit on you, even my healing magic won't be able to safe you.”

I waved a hoof, dismissing the mares worried attitude.

“My armor is designed to absorb sixty-four percent of what ever is hitting me, and that includes magic. So far I know of only two Alicorns who would have been able to really harm me, and that were the Princesses. No offense, but you guys don't even come close to what I saw Luna do.”, I explained with a smile on my face. Golden just stared at me.

“You knew her personally?”, she asked, dumbfounded.

“Both of them actually. Well... I met Celestia a few times, but most of my time was spent with Luna. She was a great mare...”, I sighed, remembering all the times I had been summoned to the palace, or when she had visited me in my dreams to receive my reports.

Golden seemed impressed at what I had said, for she stayed silent for quite a while before speaking again. By the time she did, we had almost reached our destination.

“You may have known the Goddesses... but you can not begin to fathom what Moonsinger is like... Even before she lost her connection to our mother, she was terribly powerful. It was the reason she was made the leader of our group after all. None of us could take her on, even though we all knew the same spells.”, the mare next to me muttered, more to herself than to anypony else.

“Ehm... Golden? You're kinda creeping me out. So what would happen if I beat her, or she beat me?”, I asked, but I was pretty sure that, if I got my flank handed to me, I would be dragged of to that Goddess they were talking about. It was a possibility that I didn't relish at all, as we rounded the last corner towards the Alicorn encampment.

What I saw there, made my eyes go wide. I had slightly wondered why we hadn't encountered any guards on our way here, but now I saw the reason. There were just so many of them, that it didn't really make a difference. Even if I had been able to bring all Moon Skulls with me, we would have been hard pressed to defeat hundreds of them! Some where walking about, while others lay on outcroppings in the canyons wall, apparently asleep. It was like walking into a giant bee hive, with all the bees tending to their assigned tasks. Even though Golden had told me that these Ponies were out of their minds, I couldn't see a single mare doing nothing. Everything seemed to be perfectly organized.

In the middle of the circular section of the canyon, stood a brown Alicorn, her mane and tail flowing behind her like Lunas had done when she had been still alive. Her eyes were emanating a silver light, indicating a massive use of magic... Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to come here after all.

Suddenly, as if a silent command had been given, all of the Alicorns stopped what they were doing, and turned their heads towards our little group. Even the sleeping ones awoke instantly, standing up and flaring their wings out. The one in middle, who I assumed to be Moonsinger, came towards us. Her eyes had stopped glowing at that point, and her blip on my EFS couldn't have been redder...

“My, my, my... Our wayward sister has returned. Do you want to rejoin the flock, Golden Sunshine?”, the mare asked my companion, her voice as smooth as silk, but I could tell that she was up to something.

“No. Our mother has instructed me to protect this mare, and I can not do that if I join your misguided group again, Moonsinger.”, my companion said firmly. There was a slight tremble in her voice, but I thought that she was hiding her fear splendidly. The brown mare turned eyes on me now, and I suddenly knew why Golden Sunshine was afraid of her. Those green eyes seemed to look straight into my soul.

“And you are the mare we came here to find. You are quite interesting. Not many of those I sent north, came back after encountering you.”, she said, a hint of malice in her voice.

“Well... that's me. Full of surprises!”, I chuckled, and the other mare snorted. The Steel Rangers behind me began to back away slowly. I couldn't blame them, for even I hadn't anticipated their numbers to be this great.

“So... have you finally decided to meet our dear mother? She is longing to meet you.”, Moonsinger purred, but her eyes said that she would have loved to rip me to pieces right then and there.

“No. I am here to ask you to leave this canyon, and to never come back. In fact, I order you to do so.”

Moonsinger looked at me, surprised. I guessed that nopony dared to speak to her like that ordinarily. After a moments pause, she threw her head back and began to laugh maniacally.

“You order me? I could crush you in an instant, you insolent foal!”, she responded, but I tried to keep my calm.

“But then you would disobey orders, wouldn't you? If you killed me, your Goddess wouldn't be able to talk to me, and I guess she wouldn't like that.”, I retorted.

“I was ordered to bring you in alive, that is true, but “alive” leaves a lot of room for interpretation...”, the leader of this group of Alicorns began, but Golden interrupted her by putting herself between us.

“You know full well that these were not the original orders Moonsinger! We were to bring her in unharmed!”, my white friend said venomously, apparently forgetting that she had been terrified of the other mare not five minutes ago.

“What is this? Do YOU want to take control of this flock then? You wouldn't survive the attempt, I assure you.”, Moonsinger threatened, and an idea struck me. Golden had never answered my earlier question, but now I got a pretty good idea of what would happen if I managed to beat this mare. While Golden was still hesitating, I pushed her aside with my magic, and stepped forward.

“She may not, but I do.”, I said, earning a shocked look from both Alicorns.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

“SHIT!”, I thought as I dodged another spell this insane mare had thrown at me. Differently from the other Alicorns, she was using lightning based spells similar to my own chain lightning, which she had simply batted away with one of her wings when I had used it on her.

My armor wasn't of much use either, what surprised me quite a lot. In fact, it was a liability since the Starmetal was acting as a conduit for the electricity of her spells. I had retracted it after getting hit once, and almost fainted from the pain it had caused. It was due to that, that I still had problems evading her attacks, since all the muscles in my body had locked up for a second there.

Only my partial Alicorn physique was what kept me moving at this point, and I had no idea how to even get a swing in on her. The mare was hovering about ten feet in the air, throwing spell after spell after me, while I jumped around like a bunny on a hot plate. Golden and our allies were forced to watch from the sidelines, being held in check by the other Alicorns.

The deal was simple. If I managed to beat Moonsinger, I would take control of this flock from her, and gain the authority to command them. If I lost however, she was free to do with all of us as she liked. Already having a pretty good idea of the mares character, I knew that it would most likely be unpleasant...

“Give up already. Challenging me in the first place was a foalish mistake.”, she called down to me from her vantage point.

“Oh? Are you getting tired already? I can do this all day!”, I called back. It was a lie. My joints were aching from the exertion, and my muscles burned like fire. It was times like this that I cursed myself for not carrying a firearm with me. How the heck could I get at a flying opponent...

Another spell hit the ground, creating a small crater and throwing up a few small stones. One of them hit me in the face, leaving a small wound there. Then it hit me. If I couldn't get up to her, I would have to get her down to my level, and how better to do that then by affecting her ability to take flight? I enveloped some of the stones in my magic, lifting them up in front of me as I reformed my armor. It prompted another wave of maniacal laughter from the brown Alicorn in the air above me, but I paid her no attention. If this didn't work, I was toast for sure...

Forming my Power-Hooves, I started to hit the floating stones in front of me in an upward angle. There were so many fragments, that soon the air was full of tiny stone shards. It was almost as if somepony had fired a giant load of buckshot straight into the air, peppering the other mares body with tiny cuts. Her laughter stopped as I looked around for more ammo, but found nothing. It was obvious to me that she had never been injured before, or at least she had never suffered so many wounds in a single battle.

It didn't bring her down to ground level, but it made her raise her shield for a moment, which prevented me from landing another hit. She in turn couldn't cast her spells through it however.

“Not so confident anymore, are you?”, I shouted, running over to the canyon wall and starting to hit it with my Power-Hooves. Large chunks of rock came down from it, which I caught in my magic and knocked up towards my opponent before they even hit the ground.

Moonsinger cursed under her breath as I kept up my barrage, a dose of Med-X from my armor dulling my pain a little as I did so. She couldn't attack while she defended herself from my projectiles, and I could see that it was frustrating for her.

“Never been up against somepony who can think for themselves, have you, you bitch?”, I shouted, but my blood ran cold as I heard her reply.

“You are nothing! Just a relic of a failed country, ruled by a lunatic of a mare! She should have stayed on the moon, then we would have taken over Equestria long ago!”, she shouted at me, and I felt the sharp pain of something hitting the side of my head. A moment later, I was floating in the  air over my body...

My armor was retracting as my body began to change. It didn't take long for my body to turn, locking the black pits that had been my eyes not so long ago on Moonsingers. This made the Steel Rangers turn tail and run. The Alicorns that were supposed to watch them just stared at my body, all of their attention focused on it. The only one that didn't watch it, was Golden Sunshine.

The mare squinted in my general direction, as if she was seeing something she couldn't quite make out. Hope flooded me. I was unable to stop what was going to happen next, but I would at least be able to warn her. Gathering all of my willpower, I floated over to the mare who had sworn to protect me, and started to scream. She covered her ears with her hooves for a moment, her face distorting into a grimace as I screamed at her to run away as fast as she could.

“Alright, alright...”, Golden said weakly, spreading her wings and taking flight after the Steel Rangers. I was relieved. At least one Pony had escaped...

I turned my attention back to my body, which was simply standing there, grinning at Moonsinger behind her shield. My wings unfurled and my body took flight, insane laughter erupting from its mouth. Moonsinger was quick to react however, her transparent shield becoming more solid just before my body impacted on it. The brown mare was thrown to the ground, her shield shattering as she left a crater.

Moonsinger extracted herself from the hole in the ground, and I could see that she was moving much slower now.

“What the hell are you?”, the mare shouted at my body, which didn't respond. Instead it threw a dark orb at the Alicorn. Moonsinger raised a shield around herself once more, but I could already tell that it wasn't strong enough...

~O~Firestorm~O~

I saw the sky darken as a pillar of pure blackness erupted into the sky from the west. It hadn't been long since I had seen something like this, and I could feel panic rise inside of me. This was one of the attacks Frostys nightmare form had used in Horseshoe, and that could only mean one thing. Something had happened that had caused my friend to snap.

It was then that I saw the six Rangers that had went with Frostmane and the Alicorn, Golden Sunshine, hoof it into our camp. All seven of them looked like they had seen a ghost. I took flight, gliding down from my vantage point atop the canyon, to land in the middle of them. There was no way to get any coherent explanation out of the Rangers however, so I turned towards the Alicorn.

“What happened?”, I asked flatly.

“I... I don't rightly know. Moonsinger, the leader of my group, didn't really want to talk to Frostmane, so Frostmane challenged her to a duel for control of the flock... Then... Moonsinger said something about Princess Luna, and I saw something fly from Frostmanes body. I don't know what it was, but it came closer to me as she began to change, screaming for me to run away. I did as I was told, but only because I thought she didn't need my help.”, the mare explained to me, panting a little.

I explained about Frostmanes past, and the mares eyes widened.

“We... We got to help her. If she returns to normal before she is done with Moonsinger... Moonsinger won't show mercy on her, no matter what our mothers orders were.”, Golden Sunshine said, taking to the air, and motioning for me to follow. The Rangers meanwhile, were all trying to explain what had happened to an exasperated Star Paladin Raspberry...

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

It didn't take long for the two of us to reach the place where the Alicorns had camped. There wasn't much left of it however. A giant crater was all that was left of the place. A crater that was caked with blood and body parts.

Even from the height we were at, I could see a shimmer of silver in the middle of the crater. It was entangled in something red, and as I landed, I soon learned that my friend was covered in Pony entrails. This was even worse than what she had done to the Rangers from the Order of Machina... This place looked as if a mega-spell had hit it, for Celestias sake!

“This... this is unreal...”, Golden Sunshine said, her voice shaking at the sight of the destruction Frosty had caused. I began to wonder if it was safe to travel with a filly, given Frostmanes condition... She of course was not to blame for her condition, but in that moment I feared for my life and that of anypony in her company...

Something moved on my right, and a yellow blip appeared on my EFS. My head snapped around, and I was looking at a pile of body parts that lay in a pool of blood. Something was moving there, stirring the pile slightly.

“Sunshine, over here!”, I shouted to the mare, who followed behind me after making sure that Frostmane was not in any immediate danger. Sickening wet sounds came from the pile as we began to free the Pony trapped in it. I was appalled at what I saw. The mare we... unearthed, was barely awake, most of her lower body blown to bits. Her guts slithered out of her belly, pulsating with every weak beat of her heart as her life seeped into the sandy ground.

Her eyes were already unfocused, and I could tell that she wouldn't live for much longer. Two, maybe three minutes, that was all the time she had left. My rifle roared, putting a bullet into the Alicorns head, ending her suffering forever. Golden Sunshine looked at me in shock, wiping a bit of her sister brain off her face.

“She would have died anyway, but I couldn't let her suffer any more than she had to...”, I said sadly, turning around and walking back to Frostmane. Out of the corner of my eye I saw how Golden bent down and kissed her dead sister on the horn, closing her eyes with her magic.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The Steel Rangers had run out on us. The camp was empty except for Homage, who was hiding in a small dark corner of our camp. To my dismay, they had taken all of our supplies with them, leaving us only with what we had on us, which wasn't much. What worried me the most though, was that they had also taken the negation Talisman the Zebras had given me.

“Son of a...”, I cursed, stopping in the last moment, since I remembered we had a filly with us. Sighing I turned around to her with a questioning look on my face. She shrugged, indicating that she didn't know where they had gone off to.

“They didn't say anything. All they did was pack all the stuff, and off they went. They acted as if I wasn't there at all!”, the filly pouted, tears in her eyes. I threw a look back over my shoulder at where Golden was taking care of Frostmane. I had no way of getting a healing potion down her throat as long as that damn armor was active, but the Alicorn could heal her regardless if she needed it.

“Everything's going to be alright.”, I cooed, stroking the fillies mane with one of my wings. “Mama Frostmane won't let anything happen to you, and neither will I.” Homage just looked at me, wide eyed.

“You're not my mom, and neither is she.”

“Well, it was worth a shot.”, I chuckled, realizing that this filly wasn't at all acting like a foal her age should. She was much more mature than I had expected in this situation.

After Homage had told me the story of her biological parents, she looked at Frostmane once more, with a worried frown on her face.

“Is she going to be alright?”, she asked.

“Yes, I think so. Frostmane is pretty tough, but the last time this happened it took several hours for her to wake up. I don't really understand it either, but it seems to be quite exhausting for her.”, I explained.

“Mhmm... When I found her, she looked much like she does now. Totally helpless, and not knowing of the dangers of the wasteland. I'm not sure if I wanted her as my mommy, even if I was looking for somepony to watch over me. She seems pretty unreliable...”, the filly said, looking a little sad.

“And that is where you are mistaken, little one. Believe me, if you were in danger right now... she would push herself to wake up and protect you, even if it wasn't good for her. She loves foals you know...”

“Does she have any kids of her own?”

I came to a stop instantly, not knowing if I should reveal my friends other condition to the filly. It only took me a moment to decide I would tell her a half truth.

“Frostmane... doesn't have any kids. But it seems that, whenever she comes across a lonely or crying foal, she just has to do something about it. You are the second filly she has helped in as many weeks. That's just the kind of mare she is. Compassionate, gentle, determined, cruel...”, I sighed. “She can be cruel... but only if she has to be. It weighs heavily on her each time it happens though.”

Homage looked at me quizzically. The filly looked over at my friend once again before speaking.

“You know... when she woke up the last time, she baked me a cake... Was she a baker before becoming a soldier or something?”, she asked, looking interested in the subject.

“Yes, well sort of. Frostmane can bake and cook magnificently. You're lucky if she baked something for you though. She rarely does that anymore for some reason. Even I have only tasted her food twice, and both times it was wonderful.”, I said dreamily.

“You love her, don't you?”, the filly asked, hitting me totally unprepared. I began to sputter, blushing as fiercely as when that Zebra blacksmith had made me his dirty offer. Waving my hooves in front of me, I began to deny everything. The filly began to chuckle at my reaction.

“You know... you make it kind of obvious. The way you speak about her and all. Besides, shouldn't you try your luck? You aren't the youngest one in the stable anymore.”, the filly said, a smug grin on her face.

“I... I'm NOT a filly fooler!”, I almost shouted, catching Golden Sunshines attention.

“I don't know you for very long, but even I have noticed how you look at her. You would do anything for her, wouldn't you?”, the white Alicorn mare said, without taking her eyes off my friend.

“Would you two shut it already? I'm not a filly fooler... Besides... Frostmane is straight...”, I said in a low voice. This caused both of them to look at me, a strange expression on their faces. Was that... concern? Worry? How could it be? We didn't even know each other for a week! But then again... why did I care for the well being of these two? Was it just my sense of duty acting up, or was there something more? Even the casual banter we had just shared, with them teasing me, was something I only knew from close friends...

Were they my friends already? I didn't know. All I knew was, that I cared for both of them. In Goldens case, I feared that she would betray us one day. In the case of the filly, I was afraid. Afraid that Frosty would loose control when she was around...

It was then, when I looked in both of their faces, that I swore to myself not to run away next time Frostmane turned. I needed to know what kind of power I was up against, if I ever found myself in the unfortunate position of having to keep her busy, until her Pipbuck could trigger that spell she had told me about...

Footnotes:

Frostmane:

Quest Completed:

What is going on?

New Skill:

Pitcher: You have learned to use random objects as ranged weapons. Your damage varies with the item you are throwing.

New Quest Perk

Alicorn Physique: Your damage threshold increases by 5 regardless of what armor you are wearing.

New Trait:

Motherly instinct: You get infuriated whenever a foal is in danger. This trait activates whenever a foal is screaming or crying in you presence. You gain +20 to your speech skill if you are dealing with a foal.

Firestorm:

New Trait:

Admittance: You have admitted to yourself that your barn door swings both ways. This gives you unique dialogue options with certain characters.

Golden Sunshine:

Level Up!