Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 4

Reality

“It is on!”

~O~Frostmane~O~

It turned out the Luna Dream had crashed a little ways south of little horn canyon. Goosebumps formed all over my body as I thought of the place. The ministry of awesome, including me, had been part of the clean up operation in Princess Lunas school for young Unicorns. The sight of young Ponies melted into the floor or walls had been almost to much for me. For the first and only time during the entire war, I had loathed the Zebras. Had I been given the opportunity to do so, I would have killed all of them on that day. Until I learned all the details that was. Our Ponies had fired first... They had abandoned the principles of love and tolerance, replacing them with fear and paranoia. A single Zebra assassin, who had lost his family in our sides attack, had wiped out the entire schools population. My hatred had dimmed somewhat afterwards, and I had never been able to simply go in and kill my opponents after that day. I had begun to understand the Zebras a little...

A day had passed since we had left the acid lake that had once been the Luna Dream. We had sat there to see if the acid would continue to eat away at the soil, but after about two hours, the lake had turned transparent and any magical reaction seemed to have ceased.

We had spent the entire day after we had left there, trotting towards the location marker on my Pipbuck map, and had reached the place less then ten minutes ago. It lay about ten miles south of little horn still, in a side canyon known as Lunas Horseshoe. So it was no surprise the town itself was called “Horseshoe”. What was a surprise however, was that many doors closed upon our arrival, and Ponies scampered away as soon as they saw us. The settlement itself consisted of huts built out of local sandstone, with flat roofs. It kind of reminded me of a desert town I had once visited with my parents as a filly.

Storm and I trot carefully through the little town, looking left and right for anypony to talk to. My EFS was up and it showed that there were several Ponies in the huts around us, but they obviously didn't want to talk to us. What should I have done? Knock down their shabby looking doors and demand answers? If they were hostile towards us, I might have done just that, but in this situation it seemed to be a little to much.

Finally, as we reached what I guessed was the town square, a big Earthpony stallion awaited us. His white coat was barely visible through the layer of sandy dust that covered him from head to hoof. Even from ten paces away, I could see that he was shivering in fear, and that his short black mane stood on end.

“What do you make of this?”, I whispered to Firestorm, whos eye was darting around, looking for any kind of threat.

“I don't know. The buildings around the square would make perfect sniping positions, but I don't think these Ponies would have it in them to put up much of a fight.”, she whispered back, taking her helmet off and hanging it on a hook on her armor. Her ash gray mane flowed out behind her as she shook her head a little. I retracted my helmet in turn, showing these Ponies that I didn't mean them any harm, and my companion that I trusted her judgment as we stopped. I didn't dare get any closer to the frightened Earthpony, as not to scare him any further.

“Hey there! My name is Frostmane, and this is Firestorm. May I ask what your name is?”, I called out, making this powerful looking stallion flinch at the sound of my voice. It annoyed me a little, but I did my best to control myself.

“I...I...I'm Cider Barrel... I'm the mayor of Horseshoe. W...What do you want here? We...We... still have two days until the next shipment is due....”, he stuttered in response. I cocked my head in confusion. Before I could ask anything however, Firestorm stepped forward and bowed her head. She was always better at these social things than me.

“We bid you greeting Mayor Cider Barrel. Let me assure you that we do not mean you any harm. We are just two travelers, looking for a place for the night, and maybe some trade. If you do not wish us to remain, we shall leave your fair town.”, she said respectfully, and I was kind of stunned that she was going all royal protocol on him. Especially considering that she still believed that the letter left by our “Friend” was a hoax.

“You are not with the Order?”, Cider called back, a lot more confident now.

“I do not know what Oder thou speakest of. We are just former soldiers turned travelers.”, Firestorm said, her head still bowed and presenting her neck to the stallion that was coming closer to us cautiously. I knew however, that my friend had her rifles ready to fire at a moments notice should he try anything.

“You really don't look anything like those Order nuts, and the symbols on your armor don't match theirs... So... you really just want to do some trade and have a place to stay for the night?”, he asked, almost as if it was too good to be true.

“Yes sir. We have trotted a long way without rest, and our saddlebags are full of things we don't really have any use for. But, if you don't mind me asking, who are you so afraid of?”, my friend asked, looking the stallion in the eye with her organic one.

“Not here.”, he said quietly before adding loudly, so that anypony in the surrounding buildings could hear him, “THEY'RE TRADERS! NO NEED TO WORRY!”

Instincts born of years on the battlefield made me jump a little as the doors to the homes around us burst open, and what seemed like hundreds of Ponies streamed out of them. Some of them came towards us, obviously wanting to talk, but the majority of them stormed off some way or another, minding their own business. What struck me immediately however, were a couple of Zebras leaving the huts alongside the Ponies...

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Half an hour later we sat at a table together with the mayor. The stallion seemed grimmer than ever as he offered us a small meal. Firestorm and I had exchanged one meaningful look, and had instead asked him to give us the opportunity to thank him for his hospitality, by treating him and his family to a meal.

Fancy buck cakes, several cans of vegetable soup and a few packs of military rations were soon produced from our saddlebags and placed on the table. The mayors wife, a skinny Unicorn mare with a broken horn, had actually begun to cry when she saw the amount of food we had produced so casually. It made me feel uneasy, since it brought the thought to my mind that it was maybe not such a good idea to give away about half of our supplies.

The two foals, both Earthponies, were delighted by the cakes I had been able to rescue during our escape from the Luna Dream. It seemed to me, that they had never eaten anything this good before, which made me quite sad. I had always wanted a foal of my own, but due to... certain happenings in my past, I was sterile.

While Firestorm was playing with the two foals after the meal, I sat down to talk business with the mayor. There was definitely something wrong here, and I wanted to know what it was. It brought a twinge of envy to my heart, since I would have loved to switch places with Storm.

“So, Cider Barrel. I'm not too good when it comes to social stuff, but even I can tell that whatever that “Order” is, they seem to scare you out of your coat. I'll ask directly. What's the matter with them and this town?”, I inquired, keeping one eye on my EFS to keep track of where Firestorm was with the foals. If there was a threat here, I didn't want to loose track of her. The mayor sighed before waving his wife away with a hoof.

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but there really isn't anything you can do. The Order of Machina are a group of outcast Steel Rangers, a lot more fanatic than the regular ones. They practically worship any piece of pre-war tech, and would kill the both of you for your Pipbucks alone. For about twenty years now they come by once a month and take sixty percent of what we scavenge from the ruins of Trottingham, and what our fields provide us. In return they down burn the place to the ground.”, he explained, refusing to meet my eyes.

It took a great amount of self control not to start shouting in rage at that point, and it took me several minutes until I trusted myself to speak. Steel Rangers were supposed to help the Ponies of Equestria, and these ones were basically holding this town in a death grip. What I had seen of this wasteland so far indicated that it was a small miracle that these Ponies were able to grow anything. I was angrier than I had been in a long time.

“We could go and talk to them.”, I offered, as I had finally managed to calm myself a little. The bucks eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at this.

“NO!”, he shouted at me, more afraid than angry. “You can't! They'll kill you, and if they find out that you came on our behalf... they will kill half of us as well! We've tried to fight before, but it hasn't been any use. They're too well equipped, and there are too many of them...”, this big, strong looking stallion actually broke out in tears in front of me. His wife came running, putting a yellow hoof on his shoulder, looking at me with a sympathetic smile on her face.

“ 'xcuse mah husband miss. He just not well.”, she said in a drawl that made me realize that she was mentally ill. It sounded almost like a foal that was just learning how to speak. Just as I wanted to say something, Firestorm came trotting towards me, putting a hoof on my shoulder and giving me a small nod.

“Please excuse us dear miss and sir, but my friend and I shall go to your fair towns Inn now to make arrangements for the night.”, she said politely, still keeping up the royal protocol act.

~O~Firestorm~O~

As soon as we had traded two cans of soup for a room, Frostmane and I went upstairs to have a little chat. I had of course heard her conversation with the mayor, and I could already tell what was on her mind. Her sense of honor was acting up once again, and it could get us in a lot of trouble if she acted on the impulse.

“I know what you're thinking, and I say you're stupid.”, I said to her, as soon as I had closed our rooms door behind me. Frostmane had already plopped down on one of the beds, putting her saddlebags down on the foot of it.

“Oh? So what am I thinking then?”, she asked right back with a slight chuckle.

“You want to take on what could be a full contingent of Steel Rangers with only the two of us. It's stupid, and you know it!”

“Not really. You know we could win, especially if they don't know we're here. But... no I don't want to take them on. Not really. What I want, is to hear their side of the story. If they are willing to talk, we'll talk. If they want a fight, they'll get a fight. Easy as that.”, she responded, twirling a hoof in the air lazily as she lay on her back. I sighed, laying down on the second bed.

“Frosty... Please think this through. You heard him. I still don't believe Steel Rangers would attack us, since we are on the same side, but if what he said is true, revealing ourselves to them could be dangerous. We should finish our business here tomorrow and get going towards Manehatten.”, I voted, putting as much conviction into my voice as I could. The truth was, that I was beginning to believe what the letter had said. There was no way Princess Luna would allow a place like this to exist. These Ponies would receive governmental help and protection at least, especially since we were so close to Zebrica.

“I tell you what. We'll stay until these Steel Rangers show up and see how they deal with the townsponies. I'm sure we can get a cloak for you somewhere, so you can keep your armor on and I can simply retract mine. Then, if we deem in necessary, we can intervene. If they deal politely with them, we pack up our belongings and leave. Would you be OK with that?”

I thought for a moment. It was risky, but we had been on stealth missions before. Concealing my military background was not to hard. I just had to act like a simple townspony.

“Deal.”, I said before adding, “But if we have to wait two days anyways, we can see what we can do to help in other fields as well. I've seen a couple of generators while we were walking, but barely any of them were working. I bet I could repair at least some of them.”, I said confidently, earning a smile from my friend.

It was still strange for me to not think of her as my Commander anymore, but it was also nice. It somehow felt... right. Frostmane had never liked to command other Ponies. There lay a mare who could throw herself into a group of a hundred enemies without hesitation, but who feared the responsibility to command fellow Ponies.

It was funny if one thought about it. One of the reasons we were so successful as a unit during the war, was due to Frostmanes military brilliance. She rarely joined the battles herself, and when she did, they were over in mere minutes. But it was the times she stayed aboard that she was really able to shine. She stood in front of the holographic depiction of the battlefield, shouting out commands to each squad-leader, switching the perspective to another angle so quickly that nopony but herself could make out what she was seeing. But it was due to that, that we barely ever lost a Pony. The squad-leaders had trusted her to make the right decisions, and so our little army had always moved as if there was a single mind behind it.

The only thing that worried me was, that each time she joined a battle, all other troops were ordered to retreat. Nopony had ever actually seen her fight, ever since these Talismans had been implanted in her. I really wondered why that was...  The soft breathing from my right indicated that Frosty had gone to sleep, and soon after I did the same.

~O~Frostmane~O~

As we had discussed the evening before, Firestorm and I had asked the townsfolk and the mayor if there was anything we could help with. It turned out that the list we were given was about eight Ponies long. This town had some serious problems, and there weren't enough hooves to try and sort them all out. So, while Storm went to work on the towns generators and the water purifier, I offered my help on the fields. I wasn't too good when it came to technical work, but this was something I could handle.

So it came that the morning sun found me pulling a plow through one of the small fields these Ponies had managed to maintain on the top of the canyon. The thing was heavy and rusted, but I could pull it easily, thanks to my Power-Armor enhancing my strength.

“Wow. Miss, ah've neva seen a mare pull dat plow.”, the Zebra who owned this particular field said in awe as he watched me trotting laps around his field. It was strange to work with a Zebra, but I didn't mind too much. These were civilians. I doubted that any of them had ever fired a gun in their lives. Well, not unless they were provoked enough to do so that was.

“It's nothing, really. So, what are you going to grow here anyway? Doesn't look like much would grow here.”, I replied, looking to the other fields around us. Most of them were growing stuff like Broccoli and Pickles, but some ways away I spotted a small orchard that looked like it was for apples or oranges.

“Cabbage, miss. It's 'bout da only ting dat will grow on dis here patch o' land.”, he drawls, looking a little sad. It was then, when I wanted to make a remark about how you could make several delicious meals with cabbage, that I saw something out of the corners of my eyes. I had put my saddlebags down near the edge of the field, together with some of our food since I didn't want to use up any of these folks supplies if I could help it. What I saw, was a white rump with gray stripes on it's coat sticking out of one of my saddlebags.

My magic enveloped the white tail of the Zony and pulled her out of my saddlebag, bringing her up to my face. It was a little Zony filly, not much older than five, her red eyes looking at me in surprise, and her muzzle smeared with chocolate from one of my snack cakes. I couldn't help but chuckle a little. It really wasn't that big of a deal, since we had more than enough supplies, but I couldn't rightfully tell this to her, could I? It would only make her think that stealing was OK, and I didn't want to deal with the fillies parents later on.

“Oh, look what we have here. A little cake thief, mmh?”, I said in mock anger, narrowing my eyes. The Zebra buck, who had been sitting by the sidelines, suddenly perked up, looking at the filly with an expression of pure, unadulterated rage. At first, I thought it was directed at me for lifting the filly by the tail, until he stormed towards me and knocked her out of my magical grip with a hoof, hitting her squarely in the face. Years of training kicked in, and I reared up, keeping him from pursuing the fallen filly any further with a hoof that stops only inches before his muzzle.

“''xcuse mah ,miss. Please jus' lemme get rid o' 'er.”, he sputtered, clearly shocked that I was about to hit him with my armor clad hooves.

“What's the meaning of this?”, I snarled as I dropped back to all four hooves, looking at the filly who's getting up fast and running off as fast as her little hooves could carry her.

“Aw shoot. Got away 'gain...”, the stallion cursed, looking at me apologetically before adding, “Ya see miss, dat filly, she's an orphan stealin' what she needs fer a livin', and refusin' to work with da others on da fields.”

“Has anyone ever tried to actually talk to her? And what happened to her parents?”, I demanded, towering over the frightened stallion. It was quite evident to me that he hadn't expected my sudden change in attitude. How could he? He didn't know me at all. If he had, he hadn't mistreated a child in front of me.

“Dat filly... she no good... 'er parents wanted us ta rise up 'gainst da order a few months back. Were killed when da order got wind o' it. B'lieve me, we would be better off wi'out 'er.”, he says, trying to justify what he had done. I wasn't a Pony who went back on her word, so I finished up helping him with his field, but we didn't exchange another word, until my work was done.

~O~Firestorm~O~

The towns technology was in a right state. I had already taken apart three generators, and the reason for failure on all three of them had been the same. The pumps were stuffed with dust, blocking the way of the arcane energies coming from the Talisman in the center. The dust was packed in there so densely in fact, that I had to blow it out with my left rifle, wasting several shots to do so.

“We can't thank you enough for your help, Miss Firestorm. This will keep us going for quite some time I expect.”, mayor Cider said, hoofing me a wrench, so I could take apart the fourth filter that morning.

“You know... it would make it easier on you, I think, if we just replaced these generators all together. They're not build to work in an environment such as this.”, I replied, taking the wrench and opening the filter. This one was also full of dirt.

“What do you mean? We don't have the caps to replace so many generators, and I'm quite sure the order would take them from us if we had anything more sophisticated than these.”

“I really start to dislike these Order Ponies. But what I meant was, that you could get much better results if you didn't try to supply each home separately. If I took all of these apart, I could build one powerful generator, that cleaned itself of any dirt.”, I suggested, giggling a bit as the bucks eyes widened.

“You could do something like that?” I nodded confidently. Sure, it would take me a while, but all the parts I needed were here. I would build a containment chamber, using four of the Talismans, and isolation material from ten of the generators. The rest of the Talismans would be placed in intervals inside the pipes guiding the energy flow. With each pass, they would amplify the arcane energy, and disintegrate any dirt that had gathered inside the pipes or filters. It was a scaled down version of what the Luna Dream had used, but I was certain I could build something like that.

“Well what are you waiting for then? Just let me know what you need, and I'll do my best to provide it!”, he said merrily, wearing the first genuine smile I had seen on him since we came here.

Everything after that moved pretty quickly, and with surprising efficiency. The townsfolk worked together, bringing all of the generators to the town square, where I had decided to build the new one. Some where grumbling a little since their generators were still working, but quickly shut up when I pointed out their homes would soon be without power as well, when theirs were full of dirt too.

I spent the next few hours disassembling the old generators, sometimes having to shoot my way into their containment chambers to get the Talismans out. To my dismay, quite a few of the Talismans were dead, having been damaged due to overflowing arcane energy. Others were damaged to a degree that made them unsafe to use. From eighty two generators that had been brought to me, I was only able to salvage twelve usable Talismans. More than I needed, but still less than I had hoped for. Then a thought struck me. This was a mixed community after all. It was worth a shot.

“Mayor, are there any Zebras in your community that are skilled in the arts of Zebra alchemy? And maybe a Unicorn or two that knows how to enchant objects?”, I asked, hoping desperately for a positive reply. It was a process I only knew in theory, since it was basically the same as creating a mega-spell, but to make one of those they would need more than just a few Unicorns.

“Well... yes, there is one Zebra, but he's not in town right now. He went out with the scavenge group and won't be back for another week at best.”, he replied, making my heart sink. His next words however, gave me new hope. “But as far as enchantments go, almost every Unicorn here knows how to do them. It's one of our main exports after all.”

“Then I need one of them to lend me a hoof here. Preferably one that knows how to repair things with minute arcane control.”

A few minutes later, the mayor returned with a young Unicorn buck who had a lavender coat and blue mane. He introduced himself as Dusk Shine, and asked me what I wanted him to do. Explaining exactly what I wanted him to do, I set him to work on the damaged Talismans. It was almost evening when he was finally done repairing them, sealing the miniature cracks in the gemstones with his magic.

Now I had almost fifty Talismans to work with, which heightened my spirits enormously. It was when Dusk had already left, and I was working on the multiple generator parts with my rifle on a low output setting, that I heard a cough behind me. Pushing up my visor and wiping away the sweat from my brow, I looked back over my shoulder. Frostmane was standing there, a grim expression on her face.

“We need to talk.”, she said simply, trotting a little distance away.

“OK, time for a break!”, I shouted, earning a groan of relief from the Ponies who had been helping me lift the heavy metal parts all day. Following Frostmane I shut down my weapons and took off my helmet. I didn't like this one bit. The look on my friends face told me that there was something bothering her immensely, and she didn't want to make a stupid decision.

“OK, so who's bucked up your mood?”, I asked as I reached her, knowing that it had to be something serious if she had this expression on her face.

And so she told me. Told me how she had been working in the fields with a Zebra buck. It had been easy work for her, due to her being stronger than most Unicorns, and the fact that her armor enhanced that strength greatly. She told me that it had even been fun, until she had caught a filly snacking on her provisions.

“You should have seen him Storm! If I hadn't stopped him, I'm sure he would have killed the filly.”, my friend growled, tears of rage in her eyes.

“Did he explain why he attacked her?”

“Well, yes, but his explanation was hollow. He told me that her parents were trying to get the townsfolk to rebel against these “Order” Ponies, and were killed when they found out. They would like to get rid of her too, since she seems to have inherited her parents point of view, and therefor refuses to work on the fields.”, Frostmane spat, pacing up and down in front of me. From her words I gathered that the buck was lucky to still be alive.

“So... what now? You want to stop helping these Ponies and move on after all?”, I asked calmly, trying to get a feeling for her emotional state.

“No... No of course not... Well... yes... But the real problem here isn't them! These Steel Rangers are the real problem! Storm, from what I have seen up in the fields, this town has enough produce to support a community twice it's size, and still many of them look like they didn't have a decent meal in weeks!”

Frostmane was all but shouting now. I doubted that she had meant to do it, but her Power-Hooves had formed on the ends of her legs, crackling menacingly. There was no doubt that, if one of these Steel Rangers came trotting down the street right now, my friend would have turned him into a beat up can filled with ground meat.

“So... does the plan still stand?”, I inquired, wanting to know what we were supposed to do now. Frostmane narrowed her eyes at me, and nodded grimly.

“Yes, it does. But if any of them makes so much as a wrong move, you better evacuate the townsfolk. I won't hold back.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I hope you will never have to see.”, my friend sighed, and I took the hint that she didn't want to talk about it. Still, it made me wonder. She had taken out that giant Pegasus on board the Luna Dream, even though I hadn't seen her do it. The only thing I had seen, was the other Pegasus, who had threatened her, fly all the way down the corridor and lie motionless... If that was any indication, I decided it would be a bad idea to have Frostmane go all out in a populated area. Especially if these feats were performed while she was holding back.

We both went our separate ways after our little conversation, agreeing to meet up back in our room in two hours...

~O~Frostmane~O~

I stomped up to the mayors house, knocking on the door hard. The stallion opened the door shortly after, looking slightly worried as he saw me. Then his face changed to an expression of resignation. Sighing, he motioned for me to come in.

“I thought I'd be seeing you before long. Jorel told me what happened in the fields this morning. I'm sorry you had to see that.”, he began, but I cut him off with a raised hoof.

“Look, you're supposed to be the mayor here. Isn't there anything you can do for that filly?”, I inquired, looking him straight in the eyes. He sighed again, running a hoof through his mane as he sat down in the hallway. I guessed he didn't want to have this kind of conversation where his kids could hear him, since he started to speak in a hushed voice.

“OK, I can understand that it might seem strange to an outsider how we handle things here, but there really isn't much I can do about it. I've offered the filly to take her in, but she doesn't want to. She refuses to help the community and she steals food that we desperately need. Trust me, she's a burden and a danger to the entire town. If she ever got close to the Steel Rangers who come to pick up the goods, we would all be killed.”, he explained sorrowfully, and I could see that he didn't take any pleasure in this. Heck, he didn't even think the filly deserved what she was getting.

“So why don't you give her some supplies so she can leave this place then? There have to be other communities around here.”, I offered, having calmed down a bit. He chuckled dryly before answering.

“She wouldn't survive a day out there. There are Super-Stallions in some of the other canyons, and the Order of Machina is the only reason they haven't overrun every settlement in the area yet.”

At my confused expression, he explained.

“Never met a Super-Stallion before, have you? Well they are mutants of some sort. Big and quite fanatic. Almost as fanatic as the Order themselves. All of them are Earthponies, and their strength has been enhanced by their mutation. I have once seen one charge through a solid granite boulder, and all it did was slow him down a little. You'll know them if you see them. If you live long enough to tell the tale that is.”

“So the goods you give to these Order Ponies are some kind of protection racket?”, I asked, being even more disgusted at them now. The Steel Rangers I knew would have smoked out such monsters without asking for payment. Well, hazard pay maybe, but that would have come from the MWT. He nodded to answer my question. It seemed to me that my “Friend” had done the right thing by sending me here...

We exchanged a few more pleasantries before I left. There was a lot be done...

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The next day I kept my armor retracted, since we had been warned that the Order of Machina Ponies would come that day to pick up their goods. Firestorm had finished building quite a powerful generator, and was spending the day with a few of the townsfolk, connecting all the homes to their new energy supply. She had gotten a black cloak from one of the mares in town to conceal her armor under it. She looked a little suspicious wearing it, but it was better than parading her magically powered armor to a group of Ponies willing to kill for any kind of technology.

I on the other hoof had set out to look for the little Zony filly from yesterday. I had learned that her name was Zekanda, which didn't help me much in tracking her down. My experience in tracking down Zebras in the jungle did however. There weren't many places around town where one could hide efficiently, and only a few of them could be reached by a filly his young. It came down to see which of them was the most likely, and where I could find small hoofprints.

Finally, after about an hour of searching, I was looking at a set of filly sized prints in the sand. They were leading up to a small cave in the side of the canyon. My EFS showed me a green blip, which told me I had found the right place.

“Zekanda?”, I called out. No reply. “Look, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to talk.” Still no reply. I sighed. “OK, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Your choice.”

As there was still no reply, I reached out with my magic and grabbed everything in that cave, pulling it out. A few packets of food, a dirty blanket and the filly I had been looking for came floating out. She was cursing so loudly that it actually made me chuckle. She had obviously never met a Unicorn that could grab things it didn't see in it's magic.

“Lemme go! Lemme go, ye big meany!”, she shouted, and it wiped the smile off my face. I wasn't trying to be mean to her at all. All I wanted was to show her a little kindness. I disengaged my magic, making sure to set her down as gently as I could as I trotted up to her. The filly was quick, I had to give her that. As soon as I was only a Ponies length away, she lunged at me, turning in mid air in a maneuver I hadn't seen since my sparing sessions with Jerakal.

While Jerakal had been a master in martial arts, this filly didn't have more then the most basic training, and it showed. I was able to sidestep her easily, making her fall to the ground hard. The little grunt of pain that came from her muzzle at this made me wince a bit. I didn't want to hurt her. Giving an almost feral battle-cry the filly jumped up again, lunging at me once more.

This time however, I caught her in my magic, floating Zekanda up to my face.

“Aren't you a little young to be using Doom Bunny style?”, I asked teasingly.

“How do ye know of that?”, she asked, her eyes widening. I stood up on my hind legs, taking a stance I had learned from Jerakal so long ago. It didn't belong to her style of fighting, but I could tell by the fillies eyes that she recognized fallen Caesar style when she saw it.

Afterwards our conversation grew a lot more civilized, and I told her that I had studied Zebra martial arts under a Zony mare much like herself. In turn, she told me about her parents. A Zebra stallion and an Unicorn mare. Both of them had been against paying the protection racked to the Order, stating that the Super-Stallions were as much a threat to them as to the town of Horseshoe. If anything, her father apparently once said, they should work together to get rid of them. Afterwards they would be able to live in peace together. As it seemed however, the Steel Rangers were not satisfied with such a solution. It would have meant that they had to trade for the supplies they now got by bullying the towns around here, and they didn't want that. As a result Zekandas parents were executed publicly. I recognized the pattern. They had wanted to make an example of the pair...

“How would you like to leave this place for good?”, I asked. Zekanda looked at me quizzically for a moment, before her expression changed to one of suspicion.

“Why would ya do that?”, she asked me. I shook my head, not wanting to tell her my real reasons.

“Let's just say that I know how hard this must have been on you. My friend and I will leave Horseshoe soon. You can come with us if you want, until we find a place where you can stay safely.”

Zekanda thought about it for a moment, before nodding.

“There is a Zebra settlement in that old school up north. They don't pay tribute to the Order. Can ye bring me there?”, she asked, her eyes pleading with me. I chuckled.

“It's not exactly on our way, but I guess we can afford a little detour.”, I replied, ruffling her mane a little with one of my hooves.

Zekanda gathered her things in a pair of filly sized saddlebags, while I waited. They looked worn and tattered, and I could only imagine how they had gotten damaged to such a degree. Some of the holes in them looked like they were cuts even.

When the filly was finally done, we made our way back to the settlement. Many of the townsfolk gave me strange looks as we trotted towards the town square, where a group of Ponies had gathered. My Pipbuck was concealed under a layer of bandages, but my EFS was still up. It told me that there were four red blips in the middle of that crowd...

Zekanda stiffened beside me, as we drew closer, and I saw what this was all about. Three Steel Rangers stood next to the generator that Firestorm had build the day before, while the fourth was arguing with the mare herself. She was wearing her cloak, but I could see that she was very angry.

“This piece of technology belongs to the Order of Machina.”, the Ranger said angrily, almost headbutting my friend.

“And I keep telling you, this generator has been build of parts that belong to the town of Horseshoe!”, she growled back at him, not willing to give in.

“This is a very sophisticated piece of technology. It will do more good in our hooves than theirs!”, the stallion shouted back.

I couldn't watch any more, stepping up to my friend and whispering in her ear.

“Storm, back down. I can understand your anger, but if he fires that grenade machine gun here, there will be more casualties than this thing is worth.”

Storm didn't like it one bit, but did as she was told. Giving a last flick of her tail, which hit me right in the face, she stepped back into the crowd, stomping a little to vent her anger.

With that the situation wasn't defused however. The stallion that had spoken rounded on the mayor next, demanding to know where they had gotten the packages of military rations from. Looking over at the pile of food and tools that lay on a cart further down the road, I saw that much of the stuff we had traded here was on that cart as well.

“We.. we traded for them.”, Cider said, shooting me a quick glance. The Ranger was too occupied to see if the mayor was lying to notice it.

“With whom? No caravan has passed the canyon for several weeks now.”

“Ehm... They were just travelers, spending the night. I don't know where they went.”, Cider responded. I had to comment his bravery. The Ranger in front of him was packing a grenade machine gun and an assault rifle on his battle-saddle after all.

“Hey... can I have another one of those cakes?”, I heard Zekanda speak up from beside me. I could tell that she just wanted something to occupy herself with. It was all she could do not to charge at these Ponies, and I could understand her sentiment.

As soon as I floated the cake out of my own saddlebags, and gave it to the filly, the Ranger whirled on the two of us. He aimed his rifle directly at the filly at my side, and my eyes widened as I realized my mistake.

Footnotes

Frostmane:

New Quest:

Grund meat in a can: Decide to either stand by, or eliminate the Steel Rangers belonging to the Order of Machina.

Firestorm:

New Quest Perk:

Foalsitter: Whenever dealing with Ponies that have yet to reach puberty, you have unique dialogue options.