Author's Note

A long one I've written up here. I hope you guys enjoy it, and before you continue on I have something to ask. I've been meaning to add a introduction chapter, like the one in FO:E but I just wanted to know if there are any objections to that. Once again, thanks for choosing to read up this far and I hope to keep you reading in The Equestrian Wasteland.

Horseshoe Bay

Safe-Tec regulations prohibit allowing Stable Dwellers to interact with anypony outside of the Stable until after they are allowed to leave the Stable, please keep everypony inside at all times.

Many hours later
“She’s waking up! Doc! Get over here!” I heard a mare’s voice say as I regained consciousness.

“It’s fine, Windy. Get back to the council meeting; I’m sure the Sherriff and the Mayor are dying to talk about this sudden influx of changelings and the thought that New Appleloosa has a way to get into a Stable,” A stallion’s voice, who I assumed was the Doctor that the mare was talking to, said.

“Alright, I’ll see you there then, I’ll get a handle on them at least until you get there,” I heard the mare’s voice say before I heard a door open and close. My eyes opened for a second before closing again.

“Wake up, buttercup. I think it’s time you woke up,” I heard the stallion say to me.

I finally opened my eyes and I saw a large grey, Unicorn stallion; his shortly cut, black mane stood up on end, there were fringes of grey on the ends. “Wh-where am I?” I asked confused as I noticed that I was indoors.

“You are in Horseshoe Bay, the town’s clinic, to be exact,” the stallion answered. He sat on a brownish looking chair, it had small rips in it and it definitely look like it had aged for quite a while.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Healthy Touch, or Doc Health. I’m the town’s doctor, and I’m trained in battlefield medicine by the Medical Arcane Services of New Canterlot,” he responded.

“New Canterlot?” I asked remembering the name of the radio station using that name.

“You stable dwellers from the East might have heard about Canterlot, right? The capital of pre-war Equestria was hit hard by the Griffon bombs during a time where the missile defense systems were being repaired. The nobility of Canterlot had been hiding in Stable 1 and when they came out, the noble city of Equestria was in ruin. There were still quite a few sections to be cleaned by the time I left New Canterlot,” Doc Health replied.

I had heard about the majesty of Canterlot. There was an entire unit in Equestrian History on the splendor of the city of Princesses Celestia and Luna, how it was founded after the union of the three pony races. That course had gone on to talk about how changelings seemed to have an influence on the city, between the esteemed Leo Hoovsi, one of the most famous Reneighsance era artists, Pomice Neutron, the stallion who had started modern day Arcane Sciences past Star Swirl the Bearded’s and Princess Twilight Sparkle’s research, and even Neal Boar, the earth pony who had discovered what was inside the atom and whose research helped lead to the splitting of the atom. When I told this to the Doctor, he grinned in amusement.

“I remember a few crazy ponies talking about that same type of thing back in the University. They kept quoting this one book that they said was written by the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle herself, quite possibly the most powerful Unicorn in Equestrian history prior to her ascendance to Alicornhood” he answered rolling his eyes, “Changelings: The Guide to Equestria’s Strangest Creatures, if I remember correctly. They said that this book had been written by the Princess to show that the Changelings had a larger part in Equestria’s histories and weren’t a parasitic race that demanded to be enslaved to make sure that they couldn’t take over post-war,” he answered.

“B-but my teacher had taught me that we changelings could have been Equestria’s salvation? I was taught that had Equestria had taken equality with changelings seriously, the possibilities for keeping the war from happening could very well have saved Equus,” I said not believing that anypony could have been taught otherwise, “I thought that the Princess of Friendship was the patron saint of Changelings. Priestess Nile Waters told me that the Princess was basically as much of a Goddess as the Princesses Celestia and Luna. You said yourself that she had ascended to Goddesshood.

“I may not believe in the official line from Unicornia, but I also doubt that whatever you were taught in that stable of yours is true. On the topic of the Princess of Friendship, I had simply said that she had been ascended to Alicornhood and there’s been plenty of debate in New Canterlot about the difference between an Alicorn and a Goddess” the Doc said before getting off the chair. “Now, as much as I’d love to continue this conversation; I need to get to the council meeting. Would you like to join me? I’ve asked just about every other pony from your stable, but they all seem a bit… in shock… from their experience. I think that having somepony from that stable at the meeting could help remind my fellow council members of the urgency of this slaver problem.”

“But I have other questions,” I said needing more answers.

“And I’ll gladly answer them, but we have spent enough time dilly-dallying here. Sit at the meeting, answer the questions that are asked to you, and soon you’ll be able to get the answers you want,” Doc Health replied before turning to leave.

I reluctantly followed him outside and when I stepped outside of the clinic, I was reminded of the moment when I exited the Stable with those slavers -oh by Celestia, I was so close to a life of servitude- and I first saw the broken landscape of Equestria and the sky and the Sun, blazing above like Celestia’s wrath upon Equus. When I first exited, last in the line of ponies and changelings, I stopped and freaked out. I could tell that everypony else from the Stable was also freaking out with how the pony train had stopped. It was so bright and dead outside that I had no idea how anypony could’ve stood to live in that landscape. The sky was so deep and blue that it was as if it was a portal to Tartarus itself and I feared that I could somehow fall into it, which is weird considering that it was up and I was down but at least my first view was at day instead of at night which I would bet would have been so much worse.

“I need to thank you for coming, Mr/Ms…” The Doc said to me pulling me back to reality. He ended with a sigh that seemed to ask the question of who I was.

“Miss Cloudy Skies, Doc Health. Yeah, it’s a bit hard to tell what a changeling’s gender is without them telling you themselves,” I answered sheepishly.

“Trust me, I know. Horseshoe Bay has its very own single changeling resident. The guy sometimes likes to use one of those pony forms of his in town, which everypony who lives here knows so there’s never any confusion on whether or not there’s a new pony in town,” The Doc replied.

“Really?” I asked incredulously.

“Yep, he’s one of the guards and he usually gets Guard Tower duty so he usually is on one of the towers you can see outside the town walls,” Doc Health answered.

I took a look towards the edge of the town and I could see the walls that surrounded the town. I could tell that they were made of some sort of metallic materials but past that I couldn’t say. I then looked past the walls were I could see a box peeking over with two figures on them. I assumed that there were more of these boxes that I couldn’t see due to the buildings near me blocking my view. Looking at the buildings, I got a sense that everything in this town was built out of metal.

“And here we are, I apologize for the long trip but the clinic is right there,” Doc Health said jokingly.

I looked back at the part of the town before me; it was a central area in which a single piece of metal in the center was surrounded by four buildings, two being the clinic and the council meeting area. “Interesting urban planning you’ve got here,” I said as we walked inside.

“Yeah, the ponies who built this town after the War definitely had an interesting idea of what would go where. The town is basically built into sections, this section being the ‘Government Services’ area. There’s also the Trading area, the residential area, the Barracks, and the Beach, withhold your questions until the end of the meeting,” Doc Health said before talking to a pony, a blue mare clad head to hoof in black barding with a black helmet, guarding a door, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her except for a few moments at a time, “They still talking in there?” he asked.

“Actually they are waiting for you, Doc. I see you brought a guest along for the ride; one of them changelings from the stable from the looks of that barding,” the guardpony said as I looked away.

“Yep, Miss Cloudy Skies of Stable 12,” Doc Health replied.

“I’m sure she’ll have a nice chat with the mayor and the sheriff then, oh and Doc I’m going to be sending Flitter over later,” the guardpony said as Doc Health and I entered the meeting room.

“Still worried about her and that coltfriend of her’s? Alright then, I’ll be sure to check again,” Doc Health replied warmly before the door closed behind us and I knew that the sight of that mare in that uniform wasn’t gonna leave me, I just had a thing for it I guess. I hid it well enough in the Stable but still that damned full-body barding always got my blood flowing and I’m guessing that having different ponies in those types of uniforms kinda got me flustered more than usual.

The room we entered definitely looked the part; it had four chairs that looked like they came from before the war judging from the style and especially the wear and tear, those four chairs –three of which were occupied by ponies- stood on one side of a half-circular table with four name plates on it, and around these were walls made of the same metal as the rest of the town. Various wardrobes and shelves stood in front of these walls filled with various items, along with these a single terminal stood from the wall opposite of the door.

“I see the reports that Stable 12 was ransacked were true,” A brown, earth pony stallion said. His shoulder-length, light-brown mane capped off by a similarly colored Stanton hung down like a mare’s after stepping out of a shower and he wore a plain, brown vest.

“You didn’t believe those reports after seeing all those Changelings being led into town? You must be slipping Thunder,” The black, unicorn mare in the rightmost chair said to the stallion. Her black mane and tail were styled much like that of my Pegasus form. She wore an officer’s cap and guardspony barding with a golden star hanging. Damn it…

“That’s Mayor Thunder Hooves, alright Sherriff? And besides, just because there are a bunch of changelings wearing Stable barding with the number 12, and I get your point Sherriff Quick Shot,” Mayor Thunder Hooves replied.

“Now that the good doctor is here, can we finally get back to the topic of what to do about New Appleloosa?” A blue Pegasus mare, sounding like the mare I heard before I regained consciousness, said “For fifty years we’ve had to deal with New Appleloosan raiding parties attacking the various small communities surrounding Horseshoe Bay and now they’ve gained the ability to break into Stables and enslave the populations within. Sooner or later they are going to make a deal with either Los Pegasus-Cloudsdale or New Canterlot that will allow them to get past our defenses, 200 year old robotics be damned!” Her hoof slammed down on the table disturbing the glasses of water on it, her blond mane flying in the motion.

“Windy, there is no need to be so hasty. Even the forces of Pegasia and Unicornia combined couldn’t get past our defenses. Nopony could ever get past our combination of robotics and pure pony muscle; we’ve even got a Griffon and a Changeling on the guard,” Mayor Thunder Hooves replied.

“That’s what the ponies at Constantineighple said before they got besieged by the Griffons of Griffondore,” Windy rebutted.

“Those ponies didn’t have Pon-Co robotics helping them,” Sherriff Quick Shot stated, “Nor did they have Neuox and Gruntilda.”

“My point is that believing that one’s defenses are impenetrable usually leads to the fall of those very ponies. A single Changeling and Griffon won’t make a difference in the end,” Windy argued.

“My fellow council members,” Doc Health finally spoke up, “I believe that our talking about the town’s defenses can come after we get some information from the little changeling lass next to me, and I’m sure she’s dying for some answers that I alone couldn’t answer.” I nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough point, does anypony object?” Mayor Thunder Hooves said as Doc Health left my side and walked to his chair to the left of Windy.
After nopony objected, the Mayor then turned his head to me and said, “Well, Miss…”

“Cloudy Skies, Mayor,” Doc Health said for me.

“I’m sure the little changeling mare could answer for herself, Doc,” the Mayor said.

“Um, yes, I’m Cloudy Skies, of Stable 12, sir, um, Mayor,” I said nervously. Mayor Thunder Hooves’s mouth curled up into an amused smile.

“Well, Miss Cloudy Skies of Stable 12, I’m sure you want some answers on what’s going on, correct?” He said before I nodded in answer. “Well ask away, it’s better for you to get a full understanding of what’s going on before we begin probing your mind for what we don’t know,” He prompted.
I asked the first questions that came to my mind, “What is New Appleloosa? What is New Canterlot? Los Pegasus-Cloudsdale? Pegasia and Unicornia?”

Sherriff Quick Shot answered the New Appleloosa question, “Well, New Appleloosa is built from the ruins of the cowpony town of Appleloosa. Almost a hundred years ago they started engaging in the slave trade and by fifty years ago they became the most powerful slave-trading town in the Equestrian Wasteland due to their connections with Pegasia and Unicornia.”

Windy Quick Shot answered the Pegasia questions, “Los Pegasus-Cloudsdale was born from the union of the two cities of Los Pegasus and Cloudsdale in the aftermath of the Great War. The pegasi tribes of those two cities and of Cloudopolis and Wingston united to from the nation of the New Pegasian Principality, naming Princess Fluttering Wing as their leader using the Princess moniker of Celestia and Luna. Pegasia named itself after the old Pegasia from before the unification of the Pony Races and they claim to be the successor to both that state and of Equestria itself. They say that Los Pegasus-Cloudsdale is the most beautiful city in the Wasteland and the true successor to Canterlot.”

Doc Health then answered my Unicornia questions, “Unicornia, on the other hoof was formed by, as I told you before, the old Nobility of Canterlot. After walking out of Stable 1, the nobility opened up 101, which had been holding the Royal Guard. The first leader of those nobles was Diamond Crown who began equipping the Nobility and the Guard with the energy weapons of their respective vaults, mind you that this was 50 years post-war, and radiation lingered in some sections of the city then. However, the Nobility had something that very few Stables had, a GECK, or Garden of Equestria Creation Kit, which allowed them to create life from nothingness. A marvelous invention from Safe-Tec that has only been used twice to our knowledge, once in New Canterlot and once in the area that Los Pegasus-Cloudsdale settled itself in. Unicornia now controls the areas up to the Range and past Ponyville. Both Pegasia and Unicornia, now led by their respective leaders Princess Sky Chaser and Queen Shimmering Sun, trade with New Appleloosa although only some members of the Pegasian elite really buy slaves and it is looked down upon there, meanwhile Unicornia is more open to the idea and most of the population of New Canterlot is slave-owning.”

After those answers I could see how this New Appleloosa place could get so powerful with two nations backing it up. “Why is Unicornia’s leader a Queen?” I then asked.

“She named herself that after proclaiming the Queendom of Unicornia after annexing Ponyville and the Range,” Windy answered, “They just called themselves New Canterlot before then.”

“Alright, what is the Range?” I asked.

“The Range is the name for the various towns and forts in the Unicorn Range. The mountains that extend west from New Canterlot,” Doc Health answered.

I supposed that made sense, but I had had other questions on my mind as well. When I asked about how Horseshoe Bay was built, I was told that the town had been built 150 years ago from the vehicles from a nearby Ponschluss Auto factory. The pony’s of Stable 16 and some of the tribes surrounding Baltimare had decided that living away from the irradiated remains of Baltimare would be a good idea and so had picked this spot due to its close proximity to an outlying Pon-Co robotics plant. Apparently Baltimare was where the headquarters of Pon-Co and most of its robotics plants were built and so despite being so far from other major Equestrian cities, they had defenses that the raiders and slavers couldn’t get past. My next question was on how they knew about the Slaver’s attack on Stable 12.

“It was, to be perfectly honest, an accident that we even knew that they were in the area,” Sherriff Quick Shot answered rubbing the back of her neck, “One of my scouts saw them in the area of your Stable and almost got himself shot for his pleasure. When he came back, he reported them coming out of the Stable with a whole line of ponies and so I, along with some guards trained in marksmare weaponry went out to find these Slavers. The plan was to wait until they were all asleep and then we’d take out whoever would be on overwatch but when Private Neuox that he saw a rape-in-progress, his exact words, he decided to fire without permission,” I certainly remembered that moment, I cringed and my tail darted between my legs at the memory, meanwhile the Sherriff continued her explanation, “-Those ponies quickly got what they deserved when Neuox took them both out, meanwhile I was able to get the Ghoul pony myself. The final two who ran by this point were taken out a short while after.”

“I guess I have a lot to thank this Neuox character, then,” I said. If it weren’t for him… I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened. After I spoke, I could have sworn that Sherriff Quick Shot smiled. I looked towards a piece of wall panel to hide my blush and smile, even after looking back at that terrible moment with Disky couldn’t get my damned infatuation down.

“I assume that answers all of your answers then?” Windy asked. When I agreed, they began to ask me about what happened when the Slavers invaded. I told them everything from when I woke up that day to when I passed out, minus the liquid splashing underneath me and some of the details of the near-rape.

By the time I was finished, it had gotten darker and I began to yawn. “I could tell that the trials of the past days has had their toll on our friend here, how about we continue this issue tomorrow with the topic of how we are gonna react to what we’ve learned today?” Mayor Thunder Hooves said.

“Where will we be housing these Stable 12 changelings and ponies? The clinic doesn’t have all that much room and I’m sure that housing them in the homes of our town dwellers wouldn’t make anypony happy,” Windy questioned.

“For now, I can hold them in the clinic. Given a few days I hope we can come up with a solution,” Doc Health answered, “I think that I can house Ms. Skies in my home though, I’ve had a conversation with Green and we’ll be able to take her in for a short while, at least.”

I raised an eyebrow but I didn’t say anything, who was I to deny free housing? I had no plans for what to do anyways, nor did anypony from Stable to be perfectly honest. With the four council members deciding to end that day’s activities, Doc Hoof and I left the Council Meeting. “Alright, so what is next on the agenda?” I asked after a yawn.

“Well, I think it’s time you got some well needed sleep, it’s getting late and you’ve been through a lot, so I’m going to take you to my house and my little Greenie is gonna take care of you until I get back from the clinic,” Doc Health answered.

“Alright,” I said in reply. After we left the building, we took a left towards the bay as the land started to slowly slope down a short distance past the clinic. Soon we reached his house and entered.

“Greenie! I’m home, and I brought the little changeling with me,” Doc Health said as we entered. The house was interesting from what I could see of it. There were two floors from what I could see: on the left side I could see a room with a pre-war couch and tons of books, on the right side I could see a table and some chairs, and in between was a flight of stairs.

“I’m coming!” A high-pitched, stallion’s voice sounded out from the right side. Soon a green, Earth Pony stallion showed up wearing a dirty apron. “Oh Healthy! You must be famished, come on in and I’ll whip up some peas and beans for you and your guest!” the stallion said smiling.
“Sorry honey, but I’ve got to get back to the clinic and I’m sure Miss Cloudy Skies here is too tired to eat,” Doc Health said, smiling apologetically. I actually was a bit hungry but I nodded in agreement anyways.

“Oh alright, dearie, I’ve already prepped the guest room for her,” Green said in that high-pitched voice again.

“Alright, I’ll show Miss Skies to her room,” Doc Health said prompting me to follow him upstairs. When we reached the second floor, Doc Health opened the door to the right and I followed him in. “About Green, he sometimes speaks like that around anypony new, it’s his way of messing with anypony new. Don’t tell him that I told you that though, let him keep his fun,” Doc Health said as I looked around the room. It was plain enough, with a bed and empty shelves on two sides. There was a table on the opposite wall and an old clock above the bed, it was broken from the looks of it.

“Alright, thanks for telling me,” I said.

“No problem. Oh, and before I forget, please make yourself at home and enjoy yourself. I’ll see you again tomorrow, at the meeting,” Doc Health said before leaving the room.

With the day ending and it getting darker, I got into the bed and I quickly fell asleep.

Quests Completed:
Ponies… Ponies never change.

Locations discovered:
Horseshoe Bay

Level up! New Perk!
Bard-rific!: Your attraction to full-body barding is certainly different, heck some might even call you a clothphiliac! Either way, you gain a speech rank when talking to anypony without full-body barding, except with those wearing very little on purpose, nopony can resist that. This perk is incompatible with the Naked Freak perk.