Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 20

Respite

“All you gotta do is take a cup of flour....”

~O~Frostmane~O~

“Argh!”, I groaned, as another bowl full of dough was sprayed all over the kitchen by my overflowing magic. Ever since I had gotten out of the hospital, my magic had been acting up. While there, I hadn't used it very much, but now... Even simple telekinesis went wildly out of control whenever I tried to pick something up.

Earlier this day, I had offered to help Firestorm with the repairs on her armor, since it had been bent quite badly in our fight the other day. In the end, the armor ended up several sizes smaller, with sparks flying from it in several places. She had taken one look at it, then looked at me, and I could see that she would have loved nothing better than to hit me at that moment.

Golden Sunshine, at least, had been able to help me understand what was going on with a theory of hers. According to her, she could still sense the same amount of magic in me, but something had changed. The only thing that had changed since our last meeting, was that the darkness in me had been sucked out, so I assumed that it had something to do with that.

So far, all I could tell for sure was that, whatever spell I used, it got amplified by several times the force I intended to use in the first place. Had that darkness hampered my magic before, or was there something else wrong with me?

Right now, I was trying to teach Homage how to make Muffins, since the filly had asked me if I would mind doing so. Sadly, all I had been able to accomplish up to now, was paint my kitchen in muffin dough. The little gray filly had already taken cover behind me, to avoid getting sprayed once more.

“I give up...”, I sighed, slumping down onto the floor, and resting my head in a puddle of dough.

“What's wro... Oh dear Celestia...”, came Firestorm's voice from the door as she trotted in. “What happened here?”

“Frostmane tried to make Muffins, but each time she tries to stir the dough, the spoon just starts spinning like a tornado!”, Homage exclaimed, darting out from behind me to hide behind my marefriend. Thinking of her that way was still pretty new to me, even though I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would.

“Yeah... Ever since I got home yesterday, my magic has been acting up, and I have no idea what's going on.”, I said, looking up to take a look around my kitchen. Shut Up was already at work, cleaning my mess up without a word of complaint. Firestorm came trotting towards me, taking a little bit of dough from my muzzle with her wingtip and licking it.

“Well... at least you haven't lost your skill for cooking. This doesn't taste bad at all.”, she chuckled.

“Yeah... Well, that won't give you your armor back though...”, I responded, and her face became serious as she told Homage to go and leave us alone for a while. When the filly was gone, the black Pegasus mare in front of me bent down and put a hoof under my chin.

“I'm still a little mad about that, but I'm sure I can get a replacement somewhere in this city. I'll take the money out of your account, so don't beat yourself up about it.”, she said, looking into my eyes deeply. There was a definite blush coming on, so I turned away.

“Still... I feel like a foal that has a magic surge.”

“Well... maybe you do? I mean... we know that you're part Alicorn. Could it have something to do with that?”, Firestorm asked before adding, “And, by the way, you should take a shower. This stuff will be much harder to get out of your coat once it's dried a bit.” Once again, my marefriend was right...

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

“This... This is embarrassing...”, I grumbled as I sat in the bathtub of my apartment, while Firestorm was scrubbing my back. It had turned out that I couldn't even wash myself properly anymore, and had actually embedded the brush into the ceiling when I had tried to wash my backside .

“Well... I don't mind doing this, but you might want to get some practice with your magic later on. If you keep crushing things with it, it could become a problem once we're on the road again.”, the Pegasus behind me said, after spitting out the metal handle of the brush.

“I know, but... what am I to practice on? I mean... so far everything I tried to lift has been either crushed...,”, I looked up at the hole in my ceiling, “... or thrown through the air at amazing speeds.”

Firestorm thought about that for a moment, then suddenly trotted up next to me, so she stood next to the tub.

“Try to extend one of my wings.”, she said softly. I gasped at that.

“Storm, I could seriously hurt you if that goes wrong!”, I exclaimed, not willing to risk something like that. There was the very real possibility that I ripped her wing clean off, instead of unfolding it, after all.

“You would never hurt me. I trust you Frosty.”, she just said, smiling at me again. I sighed, igniting my horn. Ever so gently did I let my magic brush over her feathers, before I took hold of the appendage itself. I could feel every muscle in her wing, as I exerted only a fraction of the power I would have usually used to accomplish the task before me. At first, her wing didn't move an inch, but I was afraid to use any more power. Instead, I decided to focus on the joints in her wing, using just a little bit of strength to make them move. Slowly, but surely, my marefriends wing extended, and she smiled at me once more.

“See? I guess your output has somehow been altered. All you need to do, is to be more careful, and everything is going to be alright.”

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

“Are you sure about this?”, Homage asked as I was done putting the last of the ingredients into the bowl. The little one was already taking shelter behind the open door of a cupboard, only one of her green eyes peeking out from behind it.

“Not really, but I think I got the hang of it now.”, I chuckled, as I grabbed the spoon again. It came floating over to me easily enough, but I realized that my condition would take some getting used to at this point. I had been able to do these things without thinking about them before, while I now had to relearn the use of my magic all together. Well... maybe not relearn, but practice.

The spoon began to stir around slowly, while a second layer of my magic formed inside the bowl, making sure that the ingredients were mixing properly. Homages eye widened, and she actually dared to stick her head out from behind the cupboard door.

“How did you manage that so quickly?”, she asked, amazed.

“Firestorm helped me. All I need is to control myself a little more. Right now, I need to concentrate on each spell I cast, even if it's something simple like this, but I'm sure that, in time, I'll be as right as rain again.”, I explained. Golden Sunshine and Firestorm soon joined our little baking session. There wasn't much left to do, but it was still funny to see how my marefriend tried to fill the finished dough into the prepared forms.

Being a Unicorn, I sometimes forgot how hard such things could be for non-magic users. I ended up doing yet another bowl of dough, this time letting the filly take care of mixing the ingredients, since Firestorm slipped, and ended up with the bowl on her head, light brown dough dripping down her face.

“I guess now you need a shower.”, I had laughed. At first, Firestorm had glared at me, but when she saw the smiling faces of Golden and Homage, her muzzle was split by a grin as well.

“I guess so. “, she said, taking her leave for the moment, but not before dipping her hoof in the dough and booping me on the nose.

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

It was already past midnight when I crawled into my bed. Firestorm had taken to sleep in the same bed with me which, at first, had been a little to fast for me. After only one night with somepony at my side however, I had to agree that it was a nice feeling.

“Not a bad day.”, she mused, as I lay down beside her.

“Pretty nice actually. Too bad it's only temporary...”, I replied a little downtrodden.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“Once everything is said and done. Once we have taken care of Gear Turn and we have explored what we want in the wasteland, what do you say we go find someplace peaceful? Someplace without military or post-war troubles. Only we four. Wouldn't that be nice?”, my marefriend asked, and I had to pause for a moment at that.

“It would certainly be nice, but you know it's just a dream, right? It's not like we can just build ourselves a house on a hill, plant a bunch of flowers and live happily ever after. Storm... I want you, Homage and Golden to stay here in Trottingham. You're safe here. I'll go and take care of Gear.”, I said softly, to which Firestorms ears perked up.

“Oh, because that went so well the last time? You need us Frostmane. That mare can get through your armor, and with those mares at her side, it would be suicide to take her on alone.”, she argued. I sighed heavily.

“I know... I just don't want anything to happen to you guys.”, I said. It was strange. Loosing a soldier had always been hard on me, but the mere thought of loosing Firestorm was too much to bear for me. She was the first Pony, except Homage, who I had allowed into bed with me, and I was strangely OK with that. She didn't press me to do anything, just laying at my side and holding me. It was a feeling I had never experienced in my adult life. For once, I felt actually safe. I didn't want to risk that for anything...

“Frostmane...”, Firestorm purred, pulling me closer, “... nothing will happen to us. Let me worry about Gear. All you have to do, is keep her Ponies off my back. Think you can do that?”

I nodded into her chest, taking in my mares sent, as she wrapped her wings around me. Part of me wished we could just forget about Gear Turn and her Order of Machina at that moment. We were safe here, and we were able to lead a comfortable life. All that drew us away from here, was that nagging feeling in the back of our minds. A feeling that made the butcher of Pega-ville our responsibility. I had chosen her after all, and Firestorm had been partially responsible for her training...

It were those thoughts that fought for dominance with another one that came into my mind, as Firestorm's wing stroked my back gently.

“As long as she's with me, everything is going to be alright...”, I thought, before falling asleep...

~O~Firestorm~O~

A tear ran down my cheek as Frostmanes breathing beside me became slow and rhythmic. Even getting her to allow me to sleep in the same bed with her, had taken a lot of persuasion, but I had insisted on it. I knew that she was unsure of what the future held for us, and that she needed every little bit of comfort she could get at this point. It was almost funny. Frostmane was a seasoned veteran, and yet she was just a normal Pony if one looked past all that military training...

Of course, I could have tried to make a move on her at this point, but it had been one of her conditions to let me sleep here that I didn't. And to be honest, I didn't want to either. Just knowing that she needed me, other than as her second in command, was enough for me at this point. All I wanted, was to be close to her.

I was just about to drift off to sleep myself, when I heard the door creak open. It couldn't be Golden, since the Alicorn was out at the moment, claiming she had something to take care of. That only left Homage. I looked up and, true enough, a little gray head that was topped by a wild, neon blue, mane poked through the door.

“I can't sleep.”, she whispered, and I smiled softly. The filly hadn't slept alone since she had joined our little group. While we had stayed at my place, she would usually sleep with me. Now that Golden was out, and I was comforting Frostmane, she was faced with a situation she wasn't used to anymore.

“Come on in then.”, I whispered back, waving her over with a wing. I didn't have to say it twice, for only a moment later, she was already laying down on the other end of the bed. She lay near the edge, and I could tell that it wasn't what she really wanted. How I knew? I don't know. Maybe it was some kind of parental instinct.

“Come over here.”, I whispered, and Homage obliged. Putting a little distance between Frostmane and myself, I made room for the filly. Soon she lay between the two of us, and my marefriend slung her metal hoof around her unconsciously. I couldn't help but smile, as I put one of my wings around the filly, who was fast asleep only a minute later....

Footnotes:

Frostmane:

New Perk:

Alicorn Magic: You have discovered that, since the darkness has left your body, your magic has been amplified. All of your spells are now 45% stronger, but will cost you 3 instead of 1 AP to cast.

Firestorm:

Lost Equipment: Shadowbolt Power-Armor

Golden Sunshine:

Level Up!

Homage:

New Skill:

Run and hide (Rank 1): You are hard to hit, may it be muffin dough or bullets. Your evasion is increased by 12%