Chapter 2: An Okay Place to Live

“Does she long for her parents, lost to the same creatures that even now defile our sacred home?”

Samus’ log: Date: Unknown.

What does it mean to be a soldier?

I was a soldier once, or perhaps I still am. I worked for the Galactic Federation to preserve order and protect the innocent. Order, however, wasn’t exactly my style, so I became a bounty hunter instead. I still wanted to protect the innocent, though. Protecting the innocent was what my father believed in wholeheartedly.

One of the worst duties for a soldier is to bring news of a comrade’s death to his family. I’ve seen even the most hard-assed soldier break down when he gives the news. Even as a bounty hunter I found myself giving the news of the deaths of other bounty hunters to their families, even though I’m not obligated to. Though, for three certain hunters, I had a hard time telling them that I had killed them myself.

Puppysmiles kicked her forelegs in the air as she rode on Samus’ back. Samus turned her head to see the dead trees, tumbleweeds and various pieces of debris around the area. She walked over the broken carts,’Must be from some scavengers’ she thought as she took a peek inside to notice the various pieces of metal and empty food cans. She frowned as the ground began to grow ever darker,”Well, Puppy, we’ll have to rest for a bit.”

“Okay!” Puppysmiles hopped down next to Samus and walked with her to a boulder on a field. Samus placed her hoof around Puppy as she sat down and leaned against the rock. Her ears were perked up and her eyes scanned the area.

Over to her left, a few miles ahead in the direction that Puppy lead her, she could see tiny flickers of light.’It looks like a settlement. It’s a little too far though, and I can’t see a few feet in front of me because of the darkness of the cloud cover. I’ll just stay here and listen for any danger, and move out in the morning.’ She leaned back, holding Puppysmiles as close to her as possible. She then noticed a whirring sound to her right. She turned and heard the sound of static come from a flying machine. Although it was still pretty dark, she could still see bits of the thing before her. It had a lined face with a metal body and it had little wings flapping on the back.

The thing spoke,”You really should be asleep.”

Puppy grinned,”Questioner!” she waved to the little machine.

“Questioner?” Samus blinked a few times.

“Yeah, because he asks a lot of questions!” Puppy looked up at Samus with a wide smile.

“Uh, well I actually prefer Watcher myself.” The voice said.

“So, are you a hacker or something?” Samus asked immediately,”I assume that because your voice sounds too aged for an AI.”

The hacker coughed,”It’s that obvious, huh? Most ponies just assume the I’m just a talking sprite bot.”

“I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between a living voice and robot voice.” Samus leaned forward, her mane covering her eyes,”I can go for a long time without sleeping, and considering what I’ve had to deal with, this is necessary.”

“Well, okay, but raiders don’t usually hang around these parts, something about that town over there. Anyway,” Watcher seemed to perk up a bit,”So, what’s it like being an alien!? I’ve always wanted to see one!”

Samus jumped at the sudden change in tone,”How did you-? Were you monitoring me!?”

Watcher chuckled,”Well, one of my various... surveillance equipment just happened to see you land.”

Samus raised an eyebrow at this.”I’ll answer your question, if you answer this: Why are you doing this? This is kind of...”

“Creepy? Yeah, I get that sometimes. However, I’m only here to help wastelanders to survive here. As you can guess, this planet is a bit of a hellhole.”

“Yeah, with crazy raiders and bouts of radiation, I must imagine that this isn’t a nice place to live. You guys must’ve had a nuclear war, didn’t you?” Samus said with a frown.

“Yes, between us ponies and the zebras.”Watcher’s voice took on a more solemn tone,”There was a war, I’m not too sure of what exactly happened, but it just escalated to the point where we used these weapons known as balefire bombs to destroy each other. Our races has only survived thanks to stables, special vaults created as bomb shelters, although there are ponies who have suffered... conditions. I’m here to basically guide stable ponies who’ve left their stables to venture into the wastes. Some did survive the bombs without the stables, intact, but those usually left to unfortunate circumstances, such as the raiders you’ve fought earlier.”
“And The Purge?” Samus asked,” I heard about that on the radio.”

Watcher sighed,”When the war ended, the pegasi decided to isolate themselves by hiding up in the sky. You notice the cloud cover? That was created by them. However, two years ago, the pegasi were kicked from their home by the creatures known as alicorns. There are two kinds:God alicorns, and Goddess alicorns. God alicorns come in three colors:Red, blue, and,brown. Goddess alicorns come in blue, green, and purple. God alicorns come in both male and female varieties, but Goddess alicorns are only female. I’m not sure how they appeared, but what I do know is that they have been at war with each for two years. No one really knows why or how it started. One thing I do know is that the Goddess alicorns seem to have gotten more powerful for some reason.”

“God and Goddess, huh?” Samus thought,”Well that shouldn’t be too difficult a problem to solve, but that’ll be later.”Thanks, that’s all I need to know. My people almost went to nuclear war as well. Although, I shouldn’t divulge too much information on where I came from.”

“That’s understandable. Still kind of cool to see a real alien, even if you look just like a pony. Before you do anything, though, I feel I need to give you a little advice.” Watcher cleared his throat,”First, you need the Wasteland Survival guide, then, you need some armor, and finally some friends. Luckily you already have a weapon.”

Samus nodded,”Thank you for that. I didn’t want to use those raider’s armor, it might get me shot.”

“Good point.” Watcher chuckled,”I must turn off now. See you soon, Samus.” The sprite bot made a staticy sound before changing to some happy music as it floated away.

Puppy was busy playing with a little rock,”That was kind of boring,” She said with a frown,”I kinda wanted him to start asking more funny questions!”

“Well, Puppy, it was information I needed.” Samus said, looking up to notice that the clouds were getting brighter.

“Oh, sort of like how Mommy always goes to this weird place and talks about boring stuff while I play with the blocks!” Puppysmiles said, her mane bobbing up and down as she spoke.

“What kind of weird place?” Samus asked as she got up.

“This place with all these numbers. Mom called it the Socia Secrety office.” Puppy said, bouncing beside Samus as the huntress walked to a bunch of buildings in the distance.

The first thing that Samus noticed upon entering the village was how nice and friendly all the ponies seemed. She walked by several mares and stallions who waved at her with smiles on their faces. She didn’t just see ponies, though,, she also caught some giraffes and buffalo walking around, with saddle bags. She had noticed some of them getting small bottle caps after giving certain items to one of the ponies. ‘Even though this looks like a nice place, I’m going to find out some dark secret about this town aren’t I?’ she shook her head,’You’re too pessimistic, Samus. That, or you’ve been to too many weird places.’ She looked around and noticed a small tavern,’A tavern, sweet!’ She walked towards the door, with Puppy in tow. As she entered, she noticed several of the patrons hoof wrestling, drinking, gambling, and hitting on the employees,’No matter where I go, bars stay the same’ She smiled as she headed towards the bar tender. She noticed at the corner of her eye a strange looking suit of armor. That was when she noticed something,’Why is no one looking surprised that a weird mare with a blue jumpsuit is walking around? These guys must live strange lives apparently.’ Samus stood up on the table and looked at the bar stallion,”Give me your strongest drink, and an orange juice for my little sister.”

“One Arbu Smasher and an orange juice comin’ up!” The brown stallion with a long necklace said, turning around and taking a few of the bottles on the shelves and began to pour them into small shot glasses.

As the stallion began to mix the drinks, Samus began to speak,”What’s with that armor in the corner back there?”

“Oh, that’s some Enclave armor that was given to us by this pegasi stallion we took in. The stallion was badly injured during the purge, and we helped nurse him back to health.” The stallion handed Samus the drink, and gave Puppy some orange juice,”He left it here because he wanted to walk away from his former life. I was thinking of giving it to somepony because none of us can use it.”

Samus looked down and noticed Puppy trying to drink the glass, but was only able to hit her helmet with it,”I could take it.” She said, kneeling down to inspect Puppy’s helmet.

The stallion snorted,”You are aware that it’s power armor, right? You need training for it.”

“I do have training.” Samus said, patting Puppy as the filly began to sniffle.

“What? Are you some kind of former Steel Ranger or something?” The stallion cocked his head.

“Eh, you could say that.” Samus said, getting up and pulling out some bottlecaps.

“Well, guess they don’t let you keep your armor when you leave them,” The stallion shook his head as he took the caps,”The suit’s yours.”

“For free? Just like that?” Samus asked,”For all you know, I could use that armor to utterly destroy you and this entire town.” She gulped down the alcoholic drink,’Of course, I barely feel it. Equines have great constitution, and considering that I had the ability to drink pretty strong ale without feeling anything already, this drink does absolutely nothing to me.’

The stallion shrugged,”We’re all good shots in this town, so if you had any ideas, we’d be able to stop you.” He grinned.

“Okay then,” Samus moved away from the table,”Thank you, sir!” She turned and headed towards the suit of armor. Upon inspection, she noticed that the armor was vaguely insect like. The helm was equipped with metallic goggles, with a small opening for the mouth. :Looking down the suit, she saw several plates for use with wings, and she noticed tiny bits of what could be assumed to be some sort of Kevlar lining attaching the various bits of black metal. Along the sides were small wing plates. In the back, there was a long tail with a blade at the end, making it out to be like a scorpion’s tail. Another look through it showed some burn marks, presumably from when the pony was attacked, however, it looked undamaged.”This looks pretty good. The smaller bits of armor here and there show that this armor doesn’t sacrifice mobility for defense, which is fine by me.” she then had a thought,’How the heck do I wear it? I guess I’ll find out.’ she grabbed the armor and put it on her back and began to walk out before stopping and turning to Puppysmiles.

Puppy had just accidentally bumped into a giraffe. Looking up, Puppy said,”Excuse me, Funny long-necked thing!”

The giraffe looked down and chuckled. He craned his neck towards the little filly,”I’m called a giraffe, little pony.”

Puppy cocked her head,”Girabbe?”

The giraffe chukled, and handed her a small plate,”Close enough, kid. Here, you look hungry.” He looked up at Samus,”Your big sister’s waiting for you.”

Puppysmiles took the plate that had a sandwich on it,”Thank you mister!” She said, before turning and bouncing off towards Samus.

After the two walked out of the bar, Samus put the armor on the ground. She moved it from side-to-side, trying to find to actually wear the thing with her hooves. Then she saw a couple of latches on the legs. Unlatching them she placed the greaves on her own legs one at a time. She began to feel the greaves make a hissing sound. She took the torso plate and moved it over her head, causing the torso piece to automatically connect with the greaves with another hiss. She looked behind her and flicked her tail, watching as the scorpion tail slammed the ground. She looked down at the helmet, picked it up, and put it on. The helmet connected with the torso plates and made a hissing sound. It’s visor then lit up, with various diagnostic information running by Samus’ eyes before showing a complete screen with a targeting reticle in the center, vital signs in the upper right hand corner, a compass showing several orange blips on the lower left corner, and in the upper left corner was an inventory list. On the list was the Flash Sparkle, two health potions, a roll of bandages, disinfectant, 30 bottle caps, and an audio log in the suit itself.

“Wow!” Puppysmiles said with big eyes,” You look really cool!”

“Why, thank you!” Samus said with a smirk, before an old stallion came up to her.

“You gotta get outta here! This town holds a dark secret, I tell you! This town’s crazy!” He said before running off.

“That was weird.” Samus said, frowning, watching as he ran off to rant at a couple of merchants.

“Pon, ee, meet?” Puppysmiles began to say.

Samus turned and noticed Puppy looking at the plate the giraffe got her. Samus walked up and knelt down to her level,”What was that?” She took a piece of the sandwich. The Enclave armor then designated it as “Pony meat.” Samus frowned,”Puppy, go play with those kids in the playground, okay.” She said, pointing behind her at the playground.

Puppy smiled,”Okay!” She got up and ran to the other foals.

Samus got up and armed the Flash Sparkle. She turned and noticed the bartender putting some trash away. She walked up and fired at the ground at his hooves, startling him,”You ate that pegasus, didn’t you!?”

The stallion sighed as he fiddled with his necklace,”We... didn’t have enough food one year. The whole town was starving, until a band of ponies came along. They were wounded, most of them at least, so we figured, ‘who’d miss them?’ so we had to cannibalize them to survive. That was only the beginning, however. In time we killed and ate many more, and couldn’t stop. We’re still nice to traders and visitors, but anypony we figured wouldn’t be missed, we killed. Like that stallion. Who cares about the Enclave anyway? They left us down here to die after all.”

“That guy’s family cares!” Samus yelled,”You took a pony and murdered him!” She aimed her gun at the bartender’s head,”Now? You have to pay!”

“Daddy?” a small voice said from behind Samus before she could pull the trigger.

The bartender looked at the small blue coated fily,”Yes, Will-O-Wisp?”

“Can I go in and get my ball?” The filly said, running up to her dad.

“Yes, just don’t stay out for too long, okay?” The father said. He looked up at Samus.

Samus stood, frozen. ‘No. No. No. I can’t do this. He has a child to care for. I can’t kill him. I can’t become like Ridley, I can’t do this!’ She put her gun away and turned,”I’m going. But what you are doing, is going to have consequences.” She said as she walked off.

Samus walked towards the playground,”Come on Puppy, let’s go.”

Puppy stopped bouncing a ball and looked at Samus,”Okay, Big Sister!” She said as she ran to Samus’ side.

Samus sighed as she walked with Puppy out of the town,’Might as well check the audio log in this suit.’She thought as she clicked the log.

A male voice came from the log:

Hello, My name is Ace Ray, Captain of the 41st division of the Enclave. If you are hearing this, then I am dead. Damn alicorns, they got me good. Listen, I have a daughter, named Sunny Smiles, or as I like to call her, Sunbeam. I managed to send her to a large settlement while I distracted the alicorns. She should be safe, provided she didn’t come look for me. I promised her that I would find her. Heh, looks I may have to break that promise. I believe the settlement is called Friendship City. I want you to go there and find her. Give her this message.

Sunny, my lovely little Sunbeam. I’m sorry. I tried my best to help you, and help the Enclave become better, but that didn’t happen. I know I promised we would find your mother together, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I love you, Sunbeam.

I also have a message for my wife, Moonlight.

Moonlight, wherever you are, I tried my best. I hope you are doing well, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you as soon as I could. I love you too, honey.

Whoever you are, that found this log, and this armor, thank you.

Samus nodded,”Well, Ace Ray, I will find her, and do my duty as a soldier. Puppysmiles,” She looked down at the little filly,”You wouldn’t mind a little... change in direction to Friendship City, would you? I have to do something there.”

Puppysmiles looked up,”Okay! Mister Voice? Could you find Friendship City, Puppy please?”

“Friendship City, found.” The voice said, and an arrow showed on Puppy’s visor, pointed west towards a large broken city in the distance.

Footnotes: Level Up.

New Perk: Unavailable.

Author's Note

Spoilers: Arbu is not a good place to live.

Another spoiler: Watcher is an exposition hound.

The chapters should be getting a little longer this time around. I originally had Samus outright steal the armor, but I changed it because I didn't want her to become a total thief.

Again, any feed back would be appreciated.

Special thanks to Alchemystudent for being my co-writer.