Chapter 2: A New Life

Guess you'll just have to find a new line of work that doesn't match your names quite so... perfectly.

Oww, everything hurts. What happened? I opened my eyes to the wasteland around me. Suddenly everything came rushing back to me. Oh yeah, Tree Fall is a jerk and I fell out of the sky. How could I forget? A message was flashing in front of my eyes saying Armor critically damaged. Suggest immediate repairs. Then my sense of hearing returned and I got to hear the blasting alarm that went with the message. Great. I pulled myself up and almost fell back down immediately out of the flaring pain from the effort.

Injecting Med-X. 0 Dose(s) Remaining

What? I had ten ready to go at all times. How did I run out so quickly? My gaze drifted over to the rock pile I had fallen down. "Oh. Right. That." A sweet, soothing feeling came over me as the Med-X took effect, thankful for the armor's automated medical procedures. I took an experimental step forward. Aside from the dull ache everywhere telling me to go back to sleep, nothing happened. I took another step. Nothing. Good. Now time to find some shelter. I took a good look at my surroundings. Just rocks. Wait, no. That's not a rock. The giant formation I had fallen down earlier looked rather odd now that I was looking at it. Everywhere else the rocks were rigid and random. This one however, had a completely flat wall. I walked over to said wall speculating, "If my suspicions are correct." Knok Knok Knok Hollow. "So…what's here?" I saw an oddly placed stone sticking out the wall further to my left. "I wonder." I pushed in and, Click. Whirrr. huzza, an entrance appeared. Naturally, I walked right in with the door closing behind me. Before I had the chance to panic that I couldn't see some electric lights came on, illuminating a hallway with stairs at the end. I could hear more systems activating in the next room. A plaque on the wall read, M.O.A Hidden Warehouse #1. Hidden? #1? Must be something important here. Quite impressive that this facility still had power. A sudden ache all over my body reminded me that I was here for medical help. Maybe there's something further on. I went downstairs to find a fairly large room with several features. In the corner to my left I saw a door which probably led to an office. It also had a nameplate on it but I was too far away to read it at the moment. Right in font of me was a strange machine with a large cylinder-like thing in the middle of it. On my right there was a door that because of the toilet image I guessed was the restroom. In my head I heard my drill sergeant from basic training say something about medicine commonly being found restrooms on the surface so I went there without checking anything else in the room. What? I needed medical help. In the room I saw the yellow box with three pink butterflies that signaled the end of my increasingly more prominent ache. After a few kicks to the lock the box surrendered it's goods. One syringe of Med-X, one healing potion, and a washcloth. I quickly removed my helmet and drank the potion, feeling my wounds heal themselves and weakened body regain strength. With nothing left to help me there I grabbed the Med-X and went back to the main room, heading towards the office. As I got closer I could read who this room belonged to. Overseer's Office Well isn't that helpful? The door was unlocked and I just walked right in. What I found wasn't pleasant. Before me I saw a desk with a pony skeleton sitting in a chair behind it. Strangely, the terminal next to it was still logged in. I cautiously walked towards the terminal, seeing another door that probably led to a bedroom on my way. On the screen I saw that an audio file was pulled up. Seeing nothing in the room that might attack me, unless corpses could irrationally come to life, I pressed play.

A dry, hoarse voice started speaking. "Journal entry #365. Been managing this glorified warehouse for a year now. Isn't that special huh?" The speaker began coughing for a while. After a short pause he resumed. "Been a week since the world blew up. Not going up there with all the radiation lingering about. To bad they didn't seal this place up a bit better. A whole two months since the last food delivery. Don't think I'm going to make it much lo-" He went into another coughing fit, this time sounding worse than before. He paused again before speaking. "If anypony who cares finds this, I was able to preserve the prototype at this location. As far as I can tell, it will be in mint condition until you open it's container. Not sure what the overseer at warehouse #2 did with his. Just remember this. I died staying loyal to Rainbow Dash and doing my job. Don't you dare let it go to waste. The access code will be displayed at the end of this message." Another pause. "Good bye." The audio file was replaced on screen by three simple little words. Defend the Innocent

"Don't worry. I won't let you down." I left the room and walked over to the strange cylindrical case. I noticed a terminal next to it.

Input Access Code

Defend the Innocent
...
Be Their Shield
...
Unsealing Daybreak Armor

Armor? With a hiss the front of the case began to open revealing what at first looked like normal Enclave power armor with a dull yellow paint job. That is until I looked closer at it's impressive upgrades. Firstly, the armor was clearly made of a stronger material and pieced together differently than normal power armor, appearing more Steel Rangerish than standard pegasus power armor. It also had a built-in battle saddle equipped with what looked like a grenade launcher on one side and a rocket launcher on the other. It even had blades attached to the wings. But undoubtedly most impressive of all, there was an energy weapon on each foreleg oriented to hit where the leg is pointing. From the look of the barrel I guessed that they were folded in so that the one wearing the suit can actually walk. Are they supposed to manually be folded into place? Wouldn't exactly be the most convenient setup during a firefight. The helmet fully covered the mouth and seemed to have a built in gas filter. Oddly enough, the visor was one consistent strip again like pre-war Steel Ranger armor rather than the two lenses of the Enclave. Inscribed on the flank where a cutie mark would be was Daybreak. I removed the battered and broken suit I was wearing and carefully put on the prototype armor. When I put the helmet on the H.U.D automatically came alive with a copper-like glow. I instantly recognized the E.F.S and compass, but there was one other tab in the bottom right corner. A message popped up in the middle of my vision.

Launch Tutorial? Y/N

Sure I guess.

Yes
...
Launching Tutorial

Wait, how'd it do that? I didn't even say anything yet.

Launching in 3...2...1

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

I was in an empty white void. Wait, what?! I thought I had created dreamscape access without memory orbs. Did this thing have a built in Recollecter or something? A figure came into existence in front of me. If it wasn't for the pure shock of who she was, I would have immediately begun questioning her. Standing before me, was the legendary Rainbow Dash herself.

"Hello recruit. As you should already know I am Rainbow Dash, leader of both the Ministry of Awesome and the Shadowbolts. Do not panic. This is a one time embedded memory orb program that will delete itself once this is over and put you back in the real world." What? Since when could they do that? "If you are seeing this it means that you have been chosen to wield the Daybreak armor, our most powerful and successful military project. As per my order, this recording is the only source in Equestria to receive instruction on how to use it to it's full potential. So pay attention. This armor is equipped with everything that is on a standard suit of power armor with some additional programs. For starters, we were able to add in an upgraded Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting Spell, a program that slows your perception of time almost to a stand-still and allows the user to target anything in sight and have a percentage displayed indicating your chance of hitting a targeted area. This can be narrowed down to specific body parts if needed. Upon coming out of S.A.T.S. your body automatically carries out whatever command you had issued. Because of the unique arsenal of Daybreak we decided to upgrade it to where you can target multiple hostiles with multiple weapons simultaneously. Speaking of Daybreak's payload, this armor comes embedded with one 5-round Rocket Launcher on your right side, one 40mm Grenade Launcher on your left, an upgraded stinger tail with shock capabilities, two shock wing-blades, one Trotts 2000 LRMBR on your right leg, and one Tri-beam Magical Rifle on your left leg." Oh this is going to be fun. "Thanks to the contribution of several highly talented unicorns, we have made it possible to where any and all of these can be used by mental commands. Simply commit to firing in your head with a certain weapon and your suit will take care of the rest." Guess that answers how the foreleg guns unfold too. Also, since when could they do that? "Just make sure you're aiming at what you want to hit as you won't have time to aim once you fire. For the weapons on your foreleg a cross-hairs will appear on your H.U.D indicating where you are aiming. While you are wearing this armor you will be known as Daybreak and nothing else. You will meet your partner Nightfall shortly." Nightfall? Wait, does that mean there's another super powered armor out there in the wasteland? "Good Luck."

"Wait no! I still have some more questions. Who is Nightfall?! Where do I find him?!" Rainbow Dash disintegrated before me. "No! Wait!"

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

I was back in the warehouse. Ugh. Maybe there's some information on Nightfall back in the office. I entered the overseer's office with it looking the same as I had left it. Thankfully the terminal hadn't logged off while I was out. I never did well in dealing with passwords. After scrolling through the archives to before the world ended I started to find data files files that weren't journal entries. A message from the M.O.A caught my eye. I started to read through the document.

Dear current overseer,

Now that the prototype has arrived to your location you are to await the arrival of a chosen candidate. You will give the prototype to them and put them through the introduction program. Once they complete it, send them to the Hoofington Shadowbolt hideout. You will be reassigned once this is complete.

Sincerely, Rainbow Dash

Well this must be really important if Rainbow Dash herself sent this. No wonder the overseer stayed here. Really wish I knew his name. So, Hoofington. Well it's not like I have anywhere else to go. Going back to the Enclave is out of the question if they would have Tree Fall attack me. I'll probably be shot down again, this time by someone competent no doubt. But how do I find the Shadowbolt hideout? If it's as remote as this place it could take forever to find it. Maybe the armor has some info.

Locate Hoofington Shadowbolt Hideout

Huh, being able to just think in order to command this thing is going to take some getting used to.

Error: Signal Not Found

Signal not found? What, does it broadcast from the hideout so that you have to be near it and wearing the armor to find it? That's kind of brilliant actually. Hoofington it is then. I went up the stairs and back outside. Now, where is Hoofington from here?

Display Map
...
Displaying Map

The E.F.S. was replaced by a bird's eye view map of the local area. "Wow, this mental command stuff is pretty neat. Wonder how specific it can get."

Enlarge to Equestria; Highlight Hoofington
...
Enlarged; Highlighting Hoofington

The map now showed all of Equestria and with a highlighted area near the bottom of the map. Now that it was zoomed out I could see where I was in the world. According to the map I was about 10 miles outside of Ponyville. "Guess I'm heading south for the wint-" Clip, Clop Quickly I turned around to find something I never thought I would see in my life. Well I guess I didn't expect to ever see Rainbow Dash either but still. Standing in front of me was a zebra with a sword on his back! Zebras, the enemies of Equestria in a war that ended the world, and one of them was right in front of me! I got into a combat stance, my newly acquired grenade launcher pointed right at him. In hindsight I realized that I wasn't using my leg-guns that would be much more effective against an agile opponent, but it was to late to adjust. The instant I tried he would attack. I had to be ready. The zebra seemed unconcerned by my actions, and he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out...a chalkboard? But his sword is on his other side. What is he doing? He quickly wrote something on it and turned it around for me to see.

"Hi."

Well this was strange. I expected zebras to be crafty assassins and hostile towards ponies but this, this was a completely different direction. I checked my E.F.S to see if he had any conspirators waiting in ambush and found us to be alone, not only that but he was showing up as a friendly green dot. "Um...Hi. What are you doing here?" He quickly erased what was on the board and replaced it with something else.

"Traveling. Am I not allowed here?"

A zebra was asking permission for something? A zebra was just 'traveling'? Something must have changed since the war, this zebra wasn't at all like the lunatics that brought about the end of the world. "I uh...I don't have a problem with it." He erased and wrote something new.

"Ok. Good." I'm not sure if he was relived or unconcerned when 'saying' that. Hard to tell since he wasn't talking. Either way I relaxed my stance.

"Why are you using a chalkboard instead of talking?" I think you get the idea of what he did by now.

"Zebra curse. Can't speak at all." They can do that!? "My name is Azel. What's yours?"

I was about to answer with my real name before I stopped myself. I wasn't sure that I completely trusted him yet. What if he could mind control me by saying my name using some sort of dark zebra magic. Think of something, quick! "I'm...Daybreak." That should work.

"You're lying." How did he know? Strangely, he didn't pursue the matter but asked a different question instead. "What were you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were just standing there until I alerted you that I was here."

"I was about to leave for Hoofington." His ears perked up at that and for some reason that concerned me. "Why?"

"Can I come with you?" What?!

"Uh...why do you want to come with me? You seem like you could handle yourself around here with that sword of yours." I gestured to the cool-looking sword on his back.

"I'm not worried about that. I'm just not familiar with Equestria. Need a guide.

"I'm not sure you want me as your guide. I literally crashed on the surface from my home above the clouds not more than eight hours ago." I was guessing how long exactly I had been here but it got the point across. A flash of concern crossed his face before he composed himself.

"Something took you down in that armor?"

"No. I just got this." I tapped my chest. His look changed to confusion.

"From where?" Oops. I don't think he saw me leave the bunker. "In that rock you came out of?" Nevermind.

"Yes...there's nothing else in there...at all." He gave me a questioning stare. I matched it (at least as best as I could while wearing a helmet) and he decided to drop the subject.

"Still, it would be nice to have a pony with me. Not everypony waits before shooting a zebra." He had a point. Most of the Enclave blamed the zebras for everything. The canabalistic psychos down here probably had a similar opinion drilled into their insane minds like a chant

"Do you...hold hostility towards ponies?"

"Those alive today have nothing to do with the war. Any feuding between our races because of it now is pointless." Great, now I felt guilty for being so suspicious of him because he was a zebra.

"Then sure. You can come with me if you want. What are you doing in Hoofington anyway?"

"Heard there were some Proditors down there. Going to join them."

"Proditors?"

"Zebras that chose to no longer serve the Ceaser, the ruler of the Zebra Empire."

So Equestria has been reduced to lunatics and raiders constantly fighting with themselves, but the Zebra Empire is still partially intact. That seems unfair. "Why did you leave?" He didn't move for a few seconds.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Okay...uh...well, shall we get going?" He nodded. "Alright then." We began our journey south. After about two hours of walking we heard a young scream in the distance. With a single look between us, we raced off in the direction of the sound. I heard some voices on the other side of another large rock formation but they were to distorted to make out any words. I could tell that they weren't happy with each other based on the tone of their voices. I flew up and landed on the top of the formation, hearing some more shouting followed by an electric jolt and some sobbing. When I looked down at the scene bellow me I didn't like what I saw. Below where three ponies in what looked to be vintage Steel Ranger power armor that were forming a semi-circle with their backs to me. In front of them was an unconscious male unicorn, his shotgun on the ground in front of him, an earth pony mare whose glare could melt ice, and a sobbing filly behind her. Protect the innocent. Be their shield. Instantly I became determined that I would not let any harm come to those ponies. They could be some of the last civilized non-pegasi left. Azel was standing right beside me (how did he do that so fast) with a single word on his chalkboard.

"Plan?"

"Yeah, I'll get between the two groups and try to distract the armored thugs while you sneak around behind them. On my signal, I'll get the two on the sides while you ambush the one in the middle. That work?" He nodded and jumped back down. "Okay Hotshot, ready for your big debut in the wasteland?" I jumped off the formation and using my wings landed between the two sides, my back to the mare and her poor foal. My E.F.S instantly marked three hostile red dots in front of me and one green dot behind them getting closer. "What's going on here?" I asked them.

The one in the middle replied, "We are simply collecting the toll for passing through Steel Ranger territory." Steel Ranger territory? The Steel Rangers were remnants of some elite force from the war that had some obsession with technology, the closest thing the Enclave had considered as civilized down here. Aside from having a safe perimeter around bases and the like, without there being other civilized groups to complete with what reason would they care about territory? Was Enclave intel wrong about them? "You better back off if you know what's good for you." He revved his machine gun threateningly. The green dot was now five feet behind the middle Ranger and had stopped moving. To bad for him that the common E.F.S only worked on what's in front of you.

"Oh I don't think so. In fact...this ends NOW!" before they had any time to react I entered S.A.T.S; seeing the world slow to a standstill around me. Behind the middle Ranger I saw that Azel was already right behind him, his sword out and ready. Wait, was his sword glowing blue? Probably just S.A.T.S. analyzing the sword or something. Anyway, let's see how this works. I targeted the left Ranger with my grenade launcher while both my leg lasers were trained on the Ranger to my right, all weapons showing a 95% chance to hit. Just like Rainbow Dash said, as soon as I came out of S.A.T.S. my actions that followed were almost instinctive. I jumped to the left while turning to face the right Ranger. Simultaneously both weapons fired, three shots from Tri-Beam Rifle knocked into his head and a forth from the Trotts 2000 finally pierced the helmet through his visor. One red dot disappeared. At this point I was nearly parallel to the ground and my suit automatically fired a grenade, the weapon pointed right at the other Ranger from this position. I heard it explode and a Thump of a large object hitting the ground. To my left I heard an out of place discharge of electricity followed by a cry of pain. As I turned to face the left Ranger I caught a glimpse of how Azel was doing. He was in a pose suggesting he had just swung his sword while the middle Ranger was turning around to face him, machine gun starting to whir. Making my full rotation I saw the left Ranger on his side a few feet away from where the grenade had gone off. I aimed my leg lasers at him myself, seeing one x-shaped cross-hair and one +-shaped cross-hair appear on my HUD, and fired another volley at his neck then followed it up with a jab from my tail at a spot where the blasts had weakened. Another red dot disappeared. To my right I heard another out of place sound, this time being a Fwoosh, followed by a Clank. When I turned back to Azel to provide assistance, I saw him swinging for the Ranger's neck, somehow Azel must have cut clean through the Ranger's machine gun since most of the barrel was lying on the ground. Mysteriously, where the cut had happened was glowing orange as if it had been melted through. Mid-swing something unexpected happened. There was another Fwoosh and then his sword caught on FIRE! He seamlessly cut through the steel neck armor and the now exposed neck, leaving a momentary glow of molten steel on the suit just like the gun and a scorch mark on the small amount of skin I could see. The last red dot disappeared. Looking on in awe I stuttered, "H-How...What!?"

"My sword can channel both fire and lightning." Before I could reply he quickly added, "Zebra magic." They can do that!? Urgh, focus. You're here to help the mare and her foal. You can question Azel later. I turned to the pair. The mare, whose redish-brown mane and coat blended in with the rock she was in front of, was cautiously staring at me with hazel eyes. The filly on the other hoof, who had a light brown coat and a mane matching the mare's, looked both relieved we had come to help and amazed at both of our performances.

"You hurt?" The filly quickly shook her head, her purple eyes seeming to light up, while the mare slightly let her guard down and replied.

"We aren't. Can't say the same for Buckshot." She gestured towards the unconscious unicorn with a cloudy-white mane and brown coat. At the mention of Buckshot, the filly's face was overcome with concern as she stared up at her mother.

"Is daddy gunna be okay?" Instantly any hardness in the mare melted away as she looked down to comfort the kid.

"He will wake up in less than a hour, sweetie. Don't worry." She then looked back at us. "Thank you for jumping in to save us when you did. Few seconds longer and I would have done something stupid."

"Glad to help. What are you doing out here? Do you need an escort?"

She shook her head. "Just going to a new home. We're at the boundary of their 'territory' now so we shouldn't have anymore trouble with them." There was a pause before she added, "However, I guess we could use some help carrying Buckshot with us."

"Sure thing." I moved over to the unicorn and with the mare's help, got him onto my back. "Azel, keep on watch for any more Steel Rangers." He nodded understanding and started watching the surrounding terrain as we walked.

The mare came up next to me and in a hushed voice asked, "So...what's with the zebra?" Well wasn't that subtle?

"We both had a common location and mutual benefit. He wanted to have a pony travelling with him to deter others from being a bit trigger happy and I needed somepony who knew what dangers the wasteland held."

"Do you trust him?"

"After helping me save you without any gain for him, I think so."

"You're right, sorry. I haven't even asked you two your names. His is Azel if I heard you right. What's yours?"

"My name is Daybreak. You?"

"I'm Clay, my daughter's name is Sonnet. You've already met my husband Buckshot." As if summoned by the mention of her name, the little filly skipped in front of me.

"Hi! Your friend is reeaally quiet. Why doesn't he talk much? Oh, is he shy?"

"No, some other zebra put a curse on him that prevents him from being able to speak." The mare looked back at Azel suspiciously at that, making me realize that might not be the best information to give when she already didn't trust him. Before she could say anything the filly continued her interrogation.

"Then how does he talk to you?"

"He has a chalkboard that he writes on." Before the filly could fire another question, her mother took her turn.

"Why was he cursed?"

Well, already started digging this hole. Might as well clear this up. "Possibly as a punishment for leaving the zebra emp-"

"Where did he get that awesome sword?" She paused in thought for a second before pleading, "Mommy, can I pleeaase have one?"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"I said no."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No means no."

"But why not?!"

"Swords can be very big and heavy, maybe when your older." Nice way of getting around the whole 'because you could get hurt' reason that most mothers, including my own, go for.

"Not even a little one?" She's using her sad eyes. Great, now I feel bad for not giving her a sword.

"Sonnet. No." How did she resist it? Before Sonnet could continue her quest for a cool looking sword, Buckshot began to stir on my back.

"Uhhh...What happened?"

"Daddy!" The filly jumped up on her father, accidentally knocking him off my back.

"Ohf. Hey it's good to see you too kiddo." He looked up and saw Clay. "Hey sweetie. Where are we? And what happened with the Steel Rangers?" Hearing the commotion, Azel made his way back to the group.

"We are just about at the edge of their territory. We would probably have been killed if it wasn't for these two." She gestured towards Azel and I. Buckshot turned around to see us and jumped back. Possibly due to the fact that a pegasus wearing intimidating power armor and a zebra had been standing right behind him.

"Ahem. Sorry about that. Thank you for protecting my family while I was out. Don't know what I'd do without them."

"No problem. Glad to have helped." Azel nodded in agreement behind me.

"Thank you for escorting us out as well. But now that we're at the edge and Buckshot's awake, we can make it the rest of the way."

"Where are you going?"

"We heard about a large amount of ponies going out to try and start building new settlements. We're on our way to go join them. Like I said, we aren't far now and the danger has passed. Again, thank you for your help with that." Buckshot answered.

"A large group of ponies? From where? I thought that it was a stroke of luck that I found somepony that could even speak."

The mare's questioning look returned. "What are you talking about? Sure we have raiders and the like, but there's plenty of us civilized folk across the wasteland. Look at Manehattan for example."

"Manehattan still has sane ponies?"

"Have you been living under a rock or something?" Buckshot asked.

Quite the opposite in reality but figuratively it was looking like it. "I've been... out here in the open spaces for a while I guess. Isolation must be getting to me or something." This combined with the Steel Rangers having territory that they compete others for goes against years of intel that the Enclave has been feeding pegasi up above. Aside from some special area near Thunderhead, it was stated that organized and non-hostile groups of ponies were non-existent on the surface. Surely I wasn't so lucky to have found both Daybreak and some of the last few real ponies on the surface, and according to Clay there's much more of them everywhere. This doesn't make any sense.

The couple gave me a concerned look, Clay reaching to tuck Sonnet closer to her. After a moment Buckshot coughed, "Ahem, well, we better get going before it gets too late for our little one here. Thanks again for the help and uh...hope to see you again sometime." Great, I thought that the first ponies I met down here would be nut-jobs that I'd have to take things slowly with, but it seems that those roles were reversed.

"Well uh... good bye then. And good luck to you all."

"You too! Oh daddy, I have to tell you what happened after you got knocked out." the filly exclaimed, bursting with excitement.

"I'd love to hear about it." The filly began going into detail about my arrival and the ambush we set. Eventually, they got to far enough away for us to hear them any more. I turned to Azel.

"Well, I think that was a good first day of travel. Don't you?"

Footnote - Level Up!

New Equipment! Daybreak Armor: DT +15, +5 to all intimidation checks. Other bonuses listed in inventory menu.

New Companion! Azel: A zebra skilled in acrobatics, hoof to hoof combat, and ambushes. Desires to join the Hoofington Proditors. He has also lost the ability to speak.

Skill Notes - Explosives Level 20, Guns Level 30

Author's Note

And the journey begins. A huge thanks to Kkat for the masterpiece that started it all. A huge thanks to everyone viewing, and an especially big shout out to Rolai Eckolo for the pointers in the first chapter. Hopefully by chapter 4 I will have my act together and you guys won't need to do any editing yourselves . See you guys soon.