I awake to my caretaker nudging me with her hoof. I peer up at her, confused. She holds up a board that reads, "I need you to get out more often." It was already noon. I figure that there was no point in complaining, so I get up off my mattress (technically mattresses, because I use three for extra comfort). Across the room is an open window (really, it's just a square that was cut out of the metal) and under it Enclave armor and my favorite sweater. I trot over, slip on my sweater, ignoring the armor, and dash out the room with a "See ya Derps, love you, be back later!" I sleep and live in a train cart. behind Ditzy Doo's store. Growing up, the ghoul has been my mother and caretaker because of the absence of my biological mom. Apparently, I was dropped off because the Enclave were planning on killing me, on account that I wasn't a pegasus. Mom gave Derpy her armor, battle saddle, and saddlebags. Inside the saddlebags was a PipBuck and tools to take it off and on. It was Mom's PipBuck, before she became part of the Enclave and didn't need it because of the power armor making more use anyway. There are journal entries dating until she gave me up, which means that she always carried it around her and used it despite having armor to do the same thing. I haven't read the entries. I'm unsure about it. Her PipBuck's on my leg now. It makes me feel closer to her. And I want her to know I'm not mad; that I understand she did what she had to and I agree with her choice. She did the right thing.
Trotting straight out of town, I’m ready to explore. Shutting my eyes, I spin in a circle for a full minute. When I stop, I fall down, laughing. Once recovered, I check my PipBuck for anything out of the ordinary. There was a new signal that I hadn't noticed. Tuning in, the PipBuck plays the message. "-us. Please... Message Repeats. Raiders came after me and my wife," a mare is crying in the background, most likely the female spouse of the speaking buck. "We hid in a cellar, and they've decided to just wait it out. We need help. Anypony, come rescue us. Please... Message Repeats." I turn off the radio. A cellar, huh? It would be a lot better if they had given more of a hint to their whereabouts, but I was pretty sure of their location. I look around. That-a-way! I trot off South. Anypony would think that I’m strange, doing what I do, but I've already memorized the whole Wasteland, so I have nothing else to do really. I can get home with my eyes closed; that's how well I know it, and that's pretty damn well.
I spot a little shack, with raiders all around it. That's the place. As I get closer, the raiders start to see me, but none of them attack. One of them screams in my ear though. I don't show a reaction to it and the raiders get confused. I look as no threat but still am not fearful. Eyes Forward Sparkle label one of the raiders with an actual name, Slash-Tastic. This raider, a unicorn stallion, stares at me. The large stallion has a dirty dark green coat, a messy dark red mohawk, and eyes like clear pre-war rivers. The left side of the shack has a cellar door. And Slash-Tastic was standing right by it. "Slash-Tastic?" I ask. It's good to say their name when you've never seen them before; it scares and confuses them.
He has an angry face. "What do you want?" I smile. Most ponies got some curse words with talking to raiders, but they didn't do that with me. I look useless, but not helpless. I nod at him, and he slowly nods back. Playfully, I stick my tongue out at him. His face drops all anger. The smallest of smiles appears on his face. I turn away. The rusty metal handle was cold in my mouth. I pulled on it but something was stopping the door from opening.
I let go and sit down in front of the door. I speak gently, "excuse me?" I pause. "I got your message. The radio signal."
A raider screams. "A RADIO SIGNAL? WHAT THE FUCK!"
My voice lowers more. The tone was soft, like a mother's, "You can come out now. You'll be safe. I promise." A minute of silence later, I hear something metal sliding smoothly against more metal. The door slowly creaks open to a hesitant male earth pony and a scared female unicorn with dried tears on her face. The earth pony has a lime green coat, a mane and tail made up of two shades of brown, and brown eyes. The mare behind him has a light pink coat, a long mane and tail of dark blue and yellow, and light green eyes. "C'mon," I say, turning and walking away. I glance back and see the couple frozen as there were about thirty raiders staring menacingly at them. "Follow me. You're going to be alright." The earth pony slowly stalks out of the cellar with wife behind him. The two pass Slash-Tastic untouched.
The other raiders got upset. "What are you doing?!" They yell. "Get them!"
Slash steps forward, and the husband noticing the movement, dashes between his wife and the raider, growling loudly. Slash-Tastic raises his head, "You touch them, you DIE!" He uses his levitation to raise about ten guns, ranging from sub-machine guns to rocket launchers. All of the raiders backed up because due to the new threat.
I face Slash-Tastic and we make eye contact. "Thank you," I whisper. A smile grows wide on his face and he starts laughing like mad. The raiders see that Slash-Tastic isn't himself and run for their lives. The couple pull up beside me as I continue trotting.
"Thank you so much. We'd be dead without you," cheers the stallion. "How'd you do that? It was amazing!" His eyes light up despite him being extremely confused.
I laugh. "I don't know how. I probably got it from my Mom or Dad. And about saving you, it was no problem." Honestly, the only reason I think ponies and other creatures don't attack me, is because they know I'm not planning on doing anything bad, otherwise I would have probably brought a weapon with me. I mean, I don't even carry saddlebags with me, so it's not like I'm there to take anything. I'm harmless unless provoked, and I like it that way.
The green stallion shakes his head. "Thank Celestia you came."
I laugh again, "No. Thank my guardian. I would have just stayed home if she didn't make me do something productive."
The mare speaks up, "There's no way to repay you for what you've done." She rubs her stomach in a circular motion. She's pregnant? Wow. "I had the a nurse check. We've got a baby on the way." A soft smile found it's way to her lips.
Apparently the father didn't know. He freezes, eyes wide. "We... we're gonna have a foal...?" His wife nods. Suddenly Mr. I'm Gonna Be A Father had the pink mare in his arms. Tears were streaming down his face. Happy tears. "Oh Mel!"
"How about we get somewhere safe?"
The stallion let go of his wife (and child) and hid her (them) behind him. "How do we know you aren't leading us somewhere bad?"
I stare at him blankly. "Whatever. I'm offering an escort to New Appleloosa." He was thinking, when I continue. "You know what? You don't have a choice." He takes it as a threat and backs up. "You have a foal with you." No reaction. "You all are terrible ponies if you would risk your child's safety." I start trotting. "I know my mom would never do that." I turn briefly. "My mom died to give me a chance in life, and here you are," I spat at the ground. "Here you are, making the wrong choice." And I continue on my way home.
The soon-to-be mother, called Mel by the stallion, starts trotting with me and her spouse follows close behind. My words got to him and he’s feeling lousy. "Hey," said Mel. "What happened to your mom? She died giving birth to you?"
I look up and smile. "Not even close." Confusion showed on her face. I laugh for a second, then it died with my smile. "My mom, she was part of the Enclave." The mare gasps and the stallion's ears perk up. "Yeah... She gave birth to me, and I, being an earth pony, couldn't be allowed to live in the clouds with all the pegasi. So they decide that I’m allowed to live at all. Got to spend one week with Mom. She loved me too much to let me die, so she flew me down her, and gave me to a good home. I'd have to assume she's dead by now."
"What was her name?" asks the stallion behind us. His ears are down. He must have Mom problems too.
"Nitrogen. And I'm Oxygen. She'd call me Oxy though."
He smiles at the talk of nicknames. "I was always called Drum by my Mom. Because she'd always be playing the drums, and I liked to copy her. I changed Drum to my official name after she died."
His wife giggles at her own name, "My Dad'd call me his little Radioactive Gumdrop." We all laugh. "My real name's Melody Lane."
"I like your name," I say, providing a smile. She smiles back.
We arrive in Appleloosa shortly after the conversation ends. "You guys ever been here?" The husband nods. The wife's head shakes. I decide to make it a tour. "Welcome Melody Lane, to our humble establishment and my lovely home." I project each word loudly and because of that many ponies in the town turned towards us. The ones in good spirits, which was everypony today (yay!), smiled at the new folks as well as laughed at my silliness. "First and only stop on this tour is my house and the general store...: Absolutely Everything!" That earned a smiled from Melody and Drum. I lead the couple to our destination. We walk into the store. The owner of the store and my trustee is dusting off the merchandise. "Ditzy Doo?" The ghoul turns and smiles at the new ponies. "Melody Lane? Drum? This is Ditzy Doo, my guardian." They waved politely, but I could see a suspicious look in the stallion's eyes. "Ditzy Doo, this is Melody Lane and Drum, they set up a distress signal when they were stuck in a cellar with raiders waiting for them to come out or starve to death."
Derpy's face showed no smile. Then she took a chalkboard and wrote "Well I'm glad you're okay," then showed it to the pair.
"Now! THE TOUR CONTINUES!" I announce dramatically roaring voice. I lead the recently rescued ponies into a door at the end of the store. We enter to my room. The door is in the corner, on a the long side of the cart. The middle of the length, the opposite side of the door, is my mattress(es). On the mattress sits five scattered blankets and my teddy bear. The teddy bear was given to me when I was born and it has a little heart with "I love you" is sewn on the right side of it's chest. Across from the mattress is the square hole I called a window. Around the window, I have a couple of posters. The first is “REMEMBER: We are all in this together! Care for one another,” for Fluttershy’s Ministry of Peace. The second is "Reading is Magic" and the third is “Remember what separates Ponies from Zebras. Not stripes. Not cutie marks. But what is inside. THERE IS GOOD IN ALL OF US!” The short, far side has two bookshelves. The left bookshelf is filled with pre-war books of all kinds; books on the brain to books on humans, I have it all. (A Book on Humans By Lyra Heartstrings, I read it. It’s pretty cool.) The right bookshelf isn't a bookshelf at all, just a normal shelf. It holds all my stuff, my caps, a functional camera (Mom suggested it I try to fix one), a large stack (more than three hundred) papers with my drawings on them, clipboards, pencils, and other stuff. "This my room. If you ever need a place to stay, you're welcome to crash here. We have extra beds in the other room."
Melody smiles. "Thank you so much for everything." She trots up next to me and kisses me on the cheek. I blush like mad. "Oh, I didn't know you liked mares!" She looks embarrassed, slightly blushing too. "That was a friendly kiss."
Still blushing a lot, I speak shakily, "Oh- I- It- It's alright." Drum stares at me, suspicious as always. "Anyways, would you all like anything? Water? Sparkle-Cola?" Drum was too busy staring at me to answer, so I looked to his wife for an answer.
Still blushing a bit, she nods. "Oh. Some water please. Gotta make sure the foal's alright." I nod and walk out into the store. Behind the counter is a mini fridge. I get out two cold purified waters, walk back into the room, and give them to my guests, then walk back to the fridge, grab four apples, and come back into my room. "For de lede," I said through the stems held in my mouth. The mare envelops the apples in her magic so I have a free mouth. "Please, sit," I say, gesturing with my hoof toward the stacked mattresses. She sits down and Drum does too. I take a seat on the floor. "We have plenty of apples, so eat till you're full." Melody passes an apple to her husband, to me, and drops one in her lap, between her legs, leaving one more in her magic. We all take bites into the apples. The apples are fresh and crisp. They take notice. Melody opens her mouth to ask a question, so I decide on answering the question before she asks it. "Ditzy Doo gets fresh apples from Stable Two. They give us apples, we give them basic weapons and armor." She nods and smiles because I knew what she was going to ask before she said anything. Finishing my apple, I looked at the fourth apple that I brought. Drum placed his hoof on his wife's lap. I looked up and we lock eyes. He looks pissed, like he wants to beat me up. Okay then.
Note to self: don't look at Melody Lane's private parts or anything that may be near her private parts.
I break the stare, awkwardly get up and walk out. I sigh as I fetch two more apples out of the mini fridge. Was he seriously going to do this?
When I turn around, I see Derpy holding up a chalkboard. "You okay Sweetie?"
I smile and hug Derpy Hooves's squishy body. "Yeh. Wuv ou Ders."
She smiled back and me and wrote on her board "Love you too Oxy."
Reaching the door, I see Drum attempting to kiss Melody Lane. She turns away as his face approaches hers. No. I’m not going to eavesdrop. I lift up my hoof and knock on the wall, making a loud clank. I clear my throat as I walk in. I prance in, trying not to be awkward, and failing. Drum had taken the fourth apple, so I approach Melody with my trip’s haul. "Ahul?"
She smiles weakly, a tear rolling down her face as she takes an apple from my mouth. I frown with my apple in my mouth. She bites her apple. I shoot a glare at Drum for upsetting Melody and he turns away from me. I place my apple on my shelf for later. "You all have a place to go?" No response comes from the grumpy stallion. The mare shakes her head to give me an answer. "Well then," I say as I trot to the window. "Hey Crane! I need six mattresses up here!"
"Hey, is Little Miss Day Dreamer finally getting laid?" replies the stallion with a chuckle. I laugh. "Here you are Ox." Six mattresses float in through the window, one at a time, kinda rolled up so they could fit. Once through the window, Crane flattens them out on top of the other. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight Crane. Thanks for your help." I turn away from the window. I get up on my hind legs and push the top three mattresses of the bottom three. I space out the three beds, or three stacks of three mattresses, evenly, so that if Melody and Drum are still being weird, they don't have to be next to each other. The sky is darkening and the two ponies looked exhausted. "You two look tired. I think crashing earlier that usual would be a good idea." Most ponies would be up another three hours. Melody Lane and Drum get off my bed. Melody crawls onto the bed to the right of mine, so Drum is stuck the one near the window. I leave the room for a moment and come back with a big turquoise sweater and a smaller light blue sweater. I fold them up and place them on the shelf. "If you need more than this," I say, tossing a blanket to each of the ponies, leaving my bed with only three, "you can take a sweater. The small one's the light blue one, and the bigger one's the dark sweater." I nod, satisfied with my hostess skills.
I take off my sweater, and notice a specific mare watching me do it. Her eyes follow me as I fold it and place it under the window where it was this morning before I left. I yawn as I hop into my bed. Pulling my blankets over me, I close my eyes and eventually fall into a light sleep.
Dirty light flows into the room. I open my eyes to see Melody Lane sitting on her bed, whispering softly to her unborn foal. "How's my little sweetie today?" She’s wearing the sweater I put out for her last night. I smile at her as our eyes met.
"Thought of any names yet?"
She beams. "I've always like the name Evergreen." Her gaze lowers back to her stomach. "That was my grandmother's name."
"I like that name too."
"Ah. Uh. Duhha." Melody's husband rolls around in his bed, back to his old, silly self. He wiggles, eyes still closed. "Baaabe. I just had the most hot dream ever... It was you and that white pony making out and totally fucking." He giggles at his words. My whole face is red as I crawl back under my covers. Luna please make him stop- "I mean, you two were going at it like it was nothing. But let me tell you, it was something. Something huge." He snuggles up in his blankets a bit more. "I'd like to see that in real life," he groans softly, praying for the occurrence. Melody couldn't hold it any longer. She starts laughing like crazy, falling to the floor. The laughter gets the stallion to open his eyes. My face is exposed from the blanket that only covers my mane and body. Our eyes make contact. This time his face is red. "Oh jeez." His hoof nervously scratches the back of his head. "I- Uh- Sorry about that. I've gotten use to only having Mel with me when I wake up."
It gets eerily awkward. Really awkward. Clearing my throat, I offer breakfast. "You guys up for breakfast?" They both nod. Let's think, deliveries taken place lately... A shipment of carrots should be here... And cider with be should be here sometime today or tomorrow. "You up for carrots or oats?" We always have oats in the house incase of some emergency. They take a long while to expire. I get my sweater on and crawl out of bed. Needing no real answer, I exit the room anyway. When you live in the Equestrian Wasteland, you'd jump at any chance to get your hooves on some fresh fruit (or in this case, vegetable).
When I leave the room, I trot into Ditzy Doo. The board that was in her mouth falls to the floor. I trot over and read it. Shit. No carrots then. "Caravan is missing." Got it.
"Well then, I guess we're having oats for breakfast!" I call out as I get the cylinder of oats from atop the fridge.
Once I reach the room and trot inside, I give the oats to the pregnant mare. It’s more important that she eats. "What happened to the carrrrrots?" He said (well, whined) in a tone that makes him sound like a little colt who getting denied a lollipop.
"The carrots didn't arrive, which means those Stable folk must be in trouble." I nod politely. "If you want, you can stay here, but I need to go and see what's up."
Drum had been eating as well, which I found only slightly rude (if we had a limited about of oats, his nose would be broken by now), and spoke up with food still in his mouth. "Wha? No no no no. You shooldn't-" He was cut off by Melody shoving her hoof in his mouth. "ah! Ahhhhh! AHHH!" He starts screaming through the hoof. What a weird stallion.
Melody Lane removes her hoof from his mouth and he stops screaming. "It would be the right thing to do, yes; but I don't want you to get hurt out there on your own. Drum will go with you."
I shake my head, politely of course. "It's fine, really. I've got luck on my side." I thought for a second. "And I look at me. Who could shoot somepony with such a nice~ flank~~" I coo silkily, waving my flank in her face. I feel like teasing her... and bucking with Drum. Her nervousness comes out in a hesitant giggle, a slight smile on her lips and red on her cheeks. I compose my body again and clear my throat. "Feel free to stay as long as you like. And if you need anything, Ditzy Doo is here." I smile and jump out of the square I call a window. Galloping off into a seemingly aimless direction, I head toward Stable 28 along the trading route they use.
After five hours of following the same trail, I come across the wreckage. My PipBuck makes a little sound as it label the space Stable 28 Caravan Wreckage. How original- A broken and burnt wagon. The wagon has a thing sticking out in the front for a pony to pull it and was in fairly good shape before it was blown up. Probably a raider with a rocket launcher, or if luck is not on the Stable's side, this might be the work of the infamous Steel Rangers. I look around for evidence. The carrots weren't taken. So this must have happened recently enough that nopony took it. And also, the attackers didn't take it, which means that they were after something else. Raiders would have killed everypony just to kill them, but still would have taken the food. Three dead bodies, all three of them Stable ponies. None of the attackers died. When I approach the bodies, to give them a proper goodbye, I notice something. Their PipBucks are missing. No no no no. Two of the dead ponies' legs were broken. The leg in which the PipBuck would be on. Okay, okay. Dear Princess Luna... PLEASE tell me the Steel Rangers aren't doing this. I hate the Steel Rangers. Ugh. There damn fire power's so bucking annoying. And they’re so damn quick to violence too.
Grabbing the dead Stable ponies by the collars of their stable barding, I line them up. "I'll safeguard your home and protect your family with my life." I sit down in front of the ponies and gave them a moment of silence.
The Stable is another day away. So I get to trotting as a rainstorm starts. So much for luck being on my side.
Lightning strikes, tearing apart the sky between me and Stable 28. That must be a sign. Thank you universe for the warning. . . But we all know I’m not gonna just trot away. To my left and right were tents. Steel Ranger tents. Thank Luna for the thunderstorm. Lightning keeps the Rangers indoors because if they aren't they'll get struck. I trot straight up to the Stable door. I knock. "OPEN THE DOOR! I'M HERE TO HELP YOU! THE RANGERS CAN COME OUT IN THE STORM!" My hoof collides with the door. From the inside, there's no way you could hear someone banging on the steel, especially with a thunderstorm in the background, but the Stable has sensors. The Overmare or Overstallion, should be able to see me.
A mechanical whine roars against the thunder as it pulls back into the stable. The Steel Rangers hear it and the ponies stick their heads out of the tents they take shelter in. Under their masks are fear, pure fear, and I could feel it. In particular, a scribe's face is visible. It’s a mare. Earth pony, very light green coat. Her mane is made up of a light and dark brown and in two low ponytails. Eyes of light blue orbs highlight her face. Bewildered is her expression. Priceless. She steps out of the tent. Shit. Shit! SHIT! Scribes! Scribes don't have that metal armor! She takes another step outside of the shelter. Oh no. Another! No no no no. And another... I turn back around and see a yellow unicorn stallion with red warpaint on his face. "Welcome Outsi-" I cut him off by galloping straight into the Stable to reach the controls. The scribe is slowly going faster and faster towards the door. I pull down the lever. Please close! Pleeeeease close. She’s at a full gallop now and her Steel Ranger buddies are yelling for her to "come back" for her life’s sake. The stallion backs up from the door. He keep backpedaling, and turns to race to my side. My pleading is in vain; she reaches to the door in time to gracefully hop in. Once she gets inside, she stands where she is while the closing Stable door screeches. "SECURITY!" yells the stallion who had come to greet me.
I smile. "It's nice to know you're on our side," I say, trotting up to the scribe, letting out a breath of anxiety I had been unconsciously holding.
The stallion with the warpaint is confused and so is the mare I’m talking to. She responds, not completely behind her words (but I'm sure I'm the only pony who noticed it). "I am not on your side!"
My hoof is out in front of me. "The name's Oxygen, but you can call me Oxy. I enjoy pegasi and hanging out with non-assholes," I grin kindly to her.
She nods, and smiles back. "My name is Zeal. Though most ponies just go with Z." She shakes my hoof. "I enjoy reading and tinkering with various pre-war tech."
"It'll be a pleasure getting to know you." She stares, appalled at my calm reaction and that it’s not a joke, but quickly wipes the expression off her face and replaces it with a gentle smile.
A bang comes from five security ponies busting into the entrance room. A mare in better armor than the other four ponies has a baton in her magic floating in front of the yellow stallion. "Back away from the Overstallion!" Her voice echoes through the metallic room. The Overstallion, huh?
"I appreciate that the Overstallion came to greet me," I say aloud. "My name is Oxygen, but Oxy is what you may call me if you like." I didn't mind repeating myself as much as some other ponies do. "And I enjoy pegasi and hanging out with non-assholes." I smile.
The Head of Security stifles a giggle, then gets serious again. "Overstallion Ledger, please back away from the potential threats."
The stallion now known as Ledger, groans. "Seriously? I didn't get to do my introduction thing, but they did!" He isn't really a whiny stallion, I can tell by the way he carried himself; he’s just teasing the Head of Security. The yellow Overstallion spun away from the security ponies and back towards me and Zeal. "My name is Ledger. I am the Overstallion by birth right, though currently trying to set up elections for the leaders of the Stable. I can’t wait for you to get to know me, and for me to get to know you two." Back in the direction of the security, he starts trotting. "How about I give you all a tour of the Stable before we get down to important business." We nod and follow him, the rumble of a storm raging outside dying as we get farther away.
I admit, Stables are pretty difficult to memorize. Having a PipBuck helps, but I refuse to use it for such a situation. My PipBuck or rather, Mom's PipBuck, means too much to me. Zeal trots behind me as we follow Ledger. She seems to already know the placement of the rooms. A slight smile would appear on her face after every next room is announced. There was a new part though, a part of the Stable that was unlike the others. An extra floor. This floor is made up entirely out of rooms, some bigger than others. The Overstallion explains. "As you know, each pony has a special talent. This place is here for each pony to utilize their expertise." I nod. Woah. I gesture to a door; the fifth one on the right. Overstallion Ledger nodded. "Go ahead."
The door slides up to open. Inside is a light blue mare with goggles and a dark red bandana around her neck. She has a mechanical bunny in front of her. "Doombunny. Jump." The bunny springs into the air, barely missing the ceiling before landing back on the floor. "Doombunny." It's robotic eyes met hers. "Doombunny, do you miss Fluttershy?"
The bunny stares with it's red glowing eyes. "Doombunny misses Fluttershy."
The pony's face is sad, "I miss her too Doombunny."
I clear my throat. The noise shocks the mare. Her eyes go wide and she takes the bunny and hides it behind her back as she sits perfectly still where she is. "What is that?" I ask as I take a step forward into the room. "How do you know who Doombunny is?" Her body tilts to the left and so she could get a view of the Overstallion. She goes back to her former position, so that her face is blocked by my body.
Only visible by the former Steel Ranger and I, she mouths, "Come back later, I have some questions for you." I nod and give her a smirk.
"See ya later, Stable saviour." Her eyes go wide for a second and she slowly cocks her head to the side, as if trying to get a different perspective on me. I walk out, following Zeal out the door. It closes behind me.
"That filly's a strange one," comments the Overstallion as he leads us out. "She's an orphan, has been her entire life." He turns to me. "Her mom died. Radiation. Which doesn't make sense, because there's no radiation in the Stable."
"She must have gotten it from leaving then."
"That's the thing though. The Stable door only let three ponies out. And they-" He looks around. "We'll continue in my office." Another corridor later, I find myself in the Overstallion's office. He gets behind his desk and took a seat. Zeal and I just sit down in front of the desk. "Listen. We're having problems in the Stable. Problems I believe you'd be able to fix."
I nod. "We're here to help." No resistance came from Zeal. "Oh, and about those ponies..." My head hangs low. "The Steel Rangers got them." My eyes start to tear up. "I- I- I-" I pressed my hooves together. "I hate them. Those selfish, selfish ponies..."
Darkness takes over my vision.
