Fallout: Equestria - Forevermoreby TailsTalesChaptersThe Little Problem (Prologue)Baby StepsFirst ImpressionsThe Little Problem (Prologue)Deep underground, away from the troubles above, a conference was being held. Several unicorns bearing white jumpsuits joined in on the meeting, each with their own personal colors aligning their roles. The unicorns took to their assigned spots and waited for their leading director to start with the usual. But, today was a different day, and instead of being rewarded with the common affair, the staff were surprised to see the look of anxiety wash over his face. Some of the unicorns were concerned with the unusual aura that bore off of their leader, and when asked what was wrong, the stallion simply levitated a picture to the table. The picture revealed a mare with a grayish coat and a brown mane. "This is the problem." stated the stallion. The staff took a moment to look at the mare in the picture, some took longer than others. All but one looked with confusion at the picture, wondering how such a child would be a problem. Yet, the one however just looked at the picture with infatuation as he admired how gorgeous the mare was. Noticing this, the unicorn director ripped away the photo from the table and gave a stern look toward the unicorn. The pony immediately straightened up, and blushed a bit when realizing his mistake. When the directing stallion set the photo back down on the table, one of the members of the staff cleared his throat, then began questioning the photo. "Um, Father, what does a young mare like her do to make herself a problem to be considered here?" asked the stallion. Father hesitated for moment before answering. "This pony did some remarkable actions in her short lifetime in the wastes above. Clear out the ruins of Ponyville of all raiders, Kill almost all Arbu civilians with ease," Father paused for a moment before finishing his list. "And unfortunately, she killed the Goddess." The room erupted with outbursts of shock and protest. This continued for a bit before Father raised his hoof in the air, which provoked everypony to be silent. "Yes, I know this news wouldn't come easy to all of you, but-" "Of course it wouldn't come 'easy' towards us! We needed the Goddess to proceed to the next phase!" shouted out a mare who had a blue stripe across her chest. "Yes indeed, Lapis," responded Father without any sign of anger towards the mare. "The Goddess would have been a major asset for our-" "The Goddess was our one way ticket into reforming the world, Father!" yelled out another pony. This one had a black stripe instead. Despite being interrupted once more, Father remained unfazed by his loyal staff's objections towards such an event. "I know that, Bulwark, but-" Father was cut off once more by a yellow striped unicorn mare. "Without the Goddess, how are we going to advance to the next step?" piped in the mare. Father's tolerance reached it's limit as he jumped up onto his hind legs and slammed his fore hooves onto the table, causing everyone to retract a little. When he received no further complaints, Father eased back down into his previous sitting position. He cleared his throat as he continued to finish what he had to say. "Now, I know you are all upset over this major blow to our operations, but we must keep our heads at ease. Do I make myself clear?" After he received nods in agreement, Father continued. "There is still ways to take the next step. They will just be harder to take action upon of course. But, before we go towards brainstorming different ways we can approach our goal, I propose that we stick to the main plan." He was rewarded with blank, puzzled stares after finishing his statement. Lapis was the first one to speak up about it. "Sir. Did you not just say that the Goddess was eliminated? How can we proceed with the plan if it's already dead?" wondered Lapis. The others were curious as well, as they leaned in a little bit to hear whatever absurd answer their director was about to announce. "It is true that the Goddess was wiped out, but I have a feeling her remnants are still there," Father answered with a hopeful tone. "If this is true, we could use her matter to work out the plan. Regardless if it's alive or not, its parts should have the samples we need to determine on how it controlled the mutated alicorns. When we learn its way, we could use that for the device." The staff became once again confused with this idea, but soon became intrigued and interested with it. "I believe that actually can work!" acknowledged the embarrassed pony from before. His jumpsuit had a green stripe. "It can, and I'm afraid it must, Fletcher, for if it doesn't, I am afraid we would be stuck at square one for a while." Father paused a moment to levitate some folders from a nearby desk towards the table. Upon opening them he skimmed through the files before making a statement. "Since this mare blew up Maripony with a balefire bomb, the facility is covered with radiation. So it is required to wear hazmat suits when there. I'll debrief you all in a later time. For now..." Father glanced at the photo with a look of disgust. "This one needs to be out of the picture." "But, why should she need to be killed? Despite destroying probably our only key to ignite the next phase." spoke up Bulwark. "Cause she has the ability to shut down all we've created. She has already destroyed one of our science experiments gone wrong, what makes you think she won't do it again?" Father didn't wait for an answer. He continued on with his reasoning. "Besides that, she has a well known reputation above. Some are admired of her actions, some want her to be wiped out as well. She's even called the 'lightbringer' by some. With that kind of hope, it will lead into following their idol, which will then lead to a united formidable force to be reckoned with. A unity like that would be chaotic for us. Get it?" Father was rewarded with the staff nodding once more in agreement. "Alright then. Fletcher, I need you to take a team of synthetics with you to extract whatever you and Lapis need from the Goddess to get the device to work properly. Don't forget to put on a hazmat suit before you leave here. Bulwark, I need you to stay here for a moment. As for the rest of you, get back to your duties. Dismissed." Everyone but Bulwark left the conference room. Silence carried throughout the room, making Bulwark shift a bit in nervousness. "Bulwark, I need you to put 54 out there." Bulwark gasped at the request. Then suddenly turned back to an all too familiar puzzled pose. "But Father, we don't know if 54 can handle the new installation. After all, he is the first and only generation 4 prototype we have at the moment. Putting him out in the field only to face such a dangerous enemy would be both disastrous and wasteful. 36 is available, why not use-" "Because Bulwark, this would be the perfect moment to test 54's capabilities out there. Capabilities that far exceed any gen 3 coursers we currently have. Besides I honestly believe this mare's skill can outright leave any gen 3 courser to be like scrap metal. Which is why I need you to activate him." Bulwark hesitated, then sighed for he knew Father was right. "Fine, I'll activate 54. But, I need to know who this mare is so I can input the name of 54's target." "This mare," Father showed Bulwark the picture once again. "Is named...." *** Bulwark walked in the chamber room containing the Institute coursers. Row by row Bulwark passed each pod until he was in the fifties section. He went down the aisle a little ways before coming to a pod that read "54" on the top. There was a terminal next to the pod, which Bulwark approached. He turned on the terminal and logged onto the control mainframe. After some time, Bulwark opened up the initial directive program for the courser. On the screen there were two words, Command and Activate. Bulwark opened up the Command feature, which only showed a text box. Bulwark was hesitant in typing out his ordered words in the box. He knew 54 would be out there in that damn chaotic place some time, but not when it's the only model for their next generation of synthetic ponies. Generation 4 was the improvement, the future. They are designed to learn by themselves without much direction from software. They are capable to perform regular pony actions, such as eating and sleeping. They are also programmed to experience personal emotion instead of preset ones. Something like the rogue generation 3's, Bulwark thought. Just better. If 54 is destroyed out there, it would end any way to breathe life into the generation 4 synthetics. Pony kind's last hope of rejuvenating it's species for a better world. So in order to prevent such a chance that 54 would be flattened out there, Bulwark typed in Find Littlepip instead of killing her. Cause if what Father said was true, he thought it would be a good idea to just locate her instead of going guns blazing at the walking death. He hit enter and pressed the activate button. He didn't enjoy disobeying his orders, but he did it to preserve the Institute's most advanced technology. Personally, Bulwark felt it was the right thing to do for the Institute. The hatch opened up from the pod, revealing a conscious synthetic underneath. It's emerald eyes darted around in puzzlement, until it rested directly onto Bulwark. Bulwark gave a smile towards his greatest creation, then greeted it with the formal Institute greeting. "Welcome, Xenon, to the Institute!" Baby StepsI woke up after what seemed to be an eternity in darkness, to see a dark, grey skinned pony greet me to my birth home. The Institute. I didn't think much of any of it, or rather couldn't think much of it. I don't recall ever being here. Then again as I searched my thoughts, all I could remember is a void. The only thing worth noting was a sudden urge to find Littlepip, whoever or whatever a Littlepip is. As I was dozing off into my own subconscious, I didn't realize somepony was talking to me. "W-hat?" I asked, clueless on what the mare said. Unless she was speaking static. That would be weird. The pony had the expression of both frustration and anger, but her body didn't know which one to follow. It was both a little scary, and oddly amusing. "What!? I have been giving you the details of your mission for the past thirty minutes!" shouted the now-tomato mare. Was she a vegetable? "And you didn't hear any of it!?" Suddenly the same grey pony I've first met came across us. He looked...well? He didn't show much to tell how he feels at the moment, though I had a feeling that he's hiding back some anxiety. Or he needs to piss. I don't know. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I will remind you, Charms, that this is the generation 4 prototype. He's is supposed to act this....flaky. For it's part of his nature to act like what any other average pony will feel after waking up for the first time. So please be patient with him and just go through his inventory. I have full confidence that he knows what to do." The tomato's color faded, but only a little until it looked like some kind of gum. Either way her expression softened a bit after realizing my condition. I mean come on. I've been asleep for as long as I can remember. Cut me some slack. "Fine. I'll keep that in mind." reassured Charms. The grey stallion, Bullmark I think, smiled with Charms change of heart. With a nod of leave, Bulcock proceeded on his way to the....place where the bathrooms are I guess. Charms levitated her clipboard as she continued with whatever she was talking about earlier. "Alright, Xenon, let's do an inventory and gear check." stated Charms. I didn't had anything else to do, so I simply answered with a 'okay'. This answer prompted the mare to start reading off her checklist. "Alright. To start things off, may you please activate your Hooferizer." I surprised myself when I did exactly that, despite not remembering doing that ever. Again, I was unconscious for most of my life, lady. Geez. My forehoof transformed itself into a, whatever a Hooferizer was. It was the size of half my leg, and some parts of it glowed a dimmed color of green. Curious, and unknowingly I swear, did that magic trick of doing something that I didn't know I knew how to do, and fired the weapon. Luckily Charms reacted before the 'Hooferizer" fired, the blast passing her and hitting it's mark on a unsuspecting crate. The effect of the blast turned the crate into ash. And it left me with an awe look on my face. However Charms didn't had awe on her's. Instead she looked ever redder than before. Shockingly, either it was Bulcrak's words seeping back into her mind, or she realized that I had a blaster thingy that could turn her into ash, her color immediately drained back to it's normal color. She took a deep inhale and exhaled before continuing with the check-up. "It looks like it's in order." She looked back at the damage behind her. Then back to her clipboard. "Okay. Activate your close combat weapon," she then gave a stern look towards me. "Without destroying another crate full of supplies, if you please." Like magic, My Hooferizer folded in on itself, turning it back into a normal like hoof. Then suddenly a blade popped out. Fortunately I didn't hit another crate. Instead the blade went through the clipboard Charms was holding. The tip neared her neck, leaving Charms with a wide eyed look. Her expression molded in an annoyed state. She simply pushed the tip away from her chest and pulled off the clipboard. Even though I almost killed her, I found it pretty amazing at how cool the blade looked like. I mean when you have a sword emitting a cool, jade colored glow, you know it's the sword for you. For me at least. For Charms however, I think she's just pissed all the time. "Hmph. Seems to be working." observed Charms with a hint of annoyance. Yep. Pissed. Most definitely. "Okay then. Put away your sword and follow me to the test chamber." Not wanting to, I retracted the blade back into my hoof. Instead of feeling down that I couldn't wave the sword around, I was curious onto why we were going to a test chamber. Wasn't what I had enough? "Um. Excuse me, Charms ma'am. Why are we heading towards this 'test chamber'? I thought I had everything I need." Instead of receiving a 'without attitude' answer, Charms did what she did best and emphasized on how annoyed she was with my entire existence. Man I wasn't even here for more than an hour or two and already somepony hates my....well everything. Then again she seems to get annoyed over the smallest of things. "Well you thought wrong. We are going there to test out a few more pieces of equipment, that would most likely destroy everything in here when used." She then turned her head towards me. "In your case, it's a definite." Is it wrong to hate someone so much that you glared at that individual's back the entire time going somewhere? Well I for sure did, cause I did exactly that. We approached a metal door that read Test Chamber in the center of it. Charms went to a panel next to the door, and in a few seconds the door opened up. If there is one thing that best describes the chamber, it would be big. In fact it's the biggest room I've ever seen, which wouldn't be saying much since I haven't had the privilege to explore around the Institute. Judging my previous actions however, I don't think I would be 'let loose' around here for awhile. "Enter the Test Chamber please." ordered Charms as she turned towards me and pointed her hoof at the door. I simply nodded, and entered. I didn't feel like questioning anything, cause that would mean spending another minute with Miss.Temper Tantrum over there. Upon entering the room, the door behind me closed, locking itself. Guess it' time to get started with whatever experiment they are planning. Instantaneously on the wall, appeared a wide glass pane. Behind it was Charms, and some other ponies that I haven't met yet. Charms brought a microphone up to her mouth and began speaking my instructions. "Okay, let's begin," she said. "Alright 54, activate your wings." I stood there dumbstruck at such a request. Wait what? I had wings!? I looked at my sides to see if they were there, and sure enough, there they were. However they looked...odd. According to my knowledge, wings didn't look like long, out-stretched steel. Puzzled, I tossed a confusing look towards Charms. Only to receive an impatient glare from the pony. It took a few minutes until I knew how to work out the flight mechanics. In no time I was up in the air doing loops. Thank the Institute that this room is big. "Alright that's enough with the airshow." Charms said with a frustrated tone. "Time for the final test. 54, use-" Charms was interrupted by another unicorn mare wearing a blue labcoat. Curious, cause it nearly matched Charms, just instead of two armband-like stripes, this one had a full on lower half of the coat blue. Must be Charm's superior. Directly behind the blue coated mare was Bull-honkey or whatever. He went over towards Charms and started speaking to her very quietly. Either that or they cut out the microphone, cause I couldn't hear anything. Charm's superior began to say something, which resulted in Charms yelling back. This flared an argument for a few minutes before I saw Bul-whatever ended it by piping in. Charms stormed off out of line of sight, and Mr.B approached the microphone. "Hello, Xenon. Would you please come outside of the chamber and follow me?" It wasn't like I had anything better to do. So I proceeded my way out of the chamber, retracting my so-called "wings" back into it's place. As weird as it was, I didn't think much of it. Instead I just focused on following....Oh screw it. "Um excuse me sir. How do you pronounce your name?" I asked. "It's pronounced Bulwark. Now if you would keep up please." answered Bulwark. Bulwark and I continued down a narrowed hallway. I haven't seen Charms's Superior come with us. Probably gone to talk to Charms. As we continued I started to see the end of the hallway. At the end was a door with a label next to it saying "Relay Port ". "Why are we going to the Relay Chamber?" "Cause it's time to send you out." "Out where?" I questioned. Bulwark turned toward my direction and pointed upwards. "There," He continued walking, and so did I. "We are sending you up there to the Wasteland on an assignment. I am sure you know what the assignment is, right?" "Right." Wrong. I didn't know what I was supposed to do when I get out there, unless it's finding a Littlepip, whatever that is. Bulwark went over to a familiar panel and pressed in several keys. The door leading to the Relay Port unlocked, sliding upwards through a crack. Inside the Relay Port room was a couple of unicorns typing away on their personal terminals, and a circular pad in the middle of the room. It glowed an aura of blue,and it was eye-catching. The terminals that the Unicorns were working on outlined the panel, leaving only a narrow area for someone to step onto the pad. Bulwark walked over to the unicorns, whispering something. A few moments later, he came back with a look of worry. Concerned, I decided to ask what was the matter. "What's wrong?" Bulwark sighed and said a simple "nothing". "Alright Xenon. I know you've only been here for a small time, but it's time for you to step in the middle of the Relay Transmission pad." I nodded in agreement, and stepped onto the platform. Upon doing so, Bulwark ordered the unicorns to start it up. The staff started typing away once more. They nodded toward Bulwark when they stopped typing, who then started to count down from ten. Nine, eight, seven. The floor below be started to glow brighter in a blue color. Six, five, four. Sparks started to appear everywhere. I looked over toward Bulwark with a face written with nervousness. Bulwark nodded reassuringly back. Three, two, one. My vision started to go funky. Everything moved in a wavy motion. It was odd, and it made me sick. Suddenly a flash of white appeared all around me, blinding my sight. I closed my eyes to shield them from the sudden light. After a few seconds, I felt my stomach ache. I felt my head ache. I felt my body ache. I felt ground underneath my hooves. First ImpressionsI opened my eyes, only to see that Bulwark and the chamber transformed into a vast, dried up plain. I blinked and darted my head all around me in bewilderment of what just happened. To my sides, behind me, up above to the sky. The sky. It was definitely a sight to see. It gave off a familiar feeling, like how I felt when I was in the pod. Despite having a dull, grey color, the space above me was comforting. What wasn't comforting was the land around me. The land was supposed to be green, full of life. Well according to my installed memory files. Where was the grass? Why were the trees shriveled and dead? I guess that's how this land got it's name. The Wasteland. I remember that was what Bulwark called it. Just wished he would've told me that the land was like this. After breaking off my trance from the sky, I started moving in a random direction. Bulwark didn't rally give me any sort of direction or destination to go to. The only objective that I currently know of is to find this Littlepip. What exactly is a Littlepip? One of the Institute's experiments gone M.I.A probably. Or maybe it's the name of a powerful weapon. Though it sounds like a name for a dog. Why would they send me out here to find a dog? I shook away the thoughts, for they were a bother at the moment. I just have to find Littlepip or whatever that is. No questioning it. I must have been walking a bit, for on the horizon I started to gain sight of a visible structure. Multiple structures actually. It seemed to be a town of some sort. Whichever it is, it's interesting and it might provide a lead to where I can find Littlepip. Though it seemed to be a long walk from where I was. Probably take me around a few hours to get there on hoof. But not by flight. I opened up my metallic "wings", and began to run for take off. The thrusters attached to the wing plates started to glow with heat, and in moments, I was off in the air. The air roared in my ears as I traversed through the air at a fast speed. I was quite surprised at the amount of distance lying in-between the town and I as I closed in. Within minutes, I was there. But I didn't want to end the ride so soon. I wanted to do some tricks with this ability. And I did. I started doing flips and loop d' loops in the sky, all with a wide grin written all over my face. It was fun! The most fun I've had since......since...... Anyways I didn't wanted to waste anymore time. As much as I wanted to continue, I didn't want to lose track of the main purpose of me being out here. I hovered above the town, and I'll be honest, it looked like a hurricane went through it. The place was a complete wreck. Houses were in ruins, whilst some others were completely off their foundations. There were some roofless ones as well. The only building that seemed sorta intact was a tree house thing nearing the middle of the town. However, with a quick scan through, my memory bank recognized it as Twilight's Library. Or what's left of it. Maybe the library might have some information that will explain what a Littlepip is. Or at least some lead to find it. Either way, I was intrigued to go there, and so I nose dived towards the ground nearing it's entrance. With exceptional reaction, I landed almost perfectly on the dirt, only staggering a bit from the sheer power of the thrusters. Whilst retracting my wings, I slowly waled over to the magnificent tree that held Twilight's massive collection of books. I was quite curious into what I would find in there. I was nearing the entrance when I was overcomed by a rotting stench. It seemed to be emitting from inside the library. Which was odd, for why would such a smell be coming from inside? The answer for that came shortly as I proceeded to enter through the entrance door, only to be greeted with what one could say a massacre. Rotting corpses laid across the floor, with blood spewed all over the walls. It was indeed a horrendous sight. The bodies, upon closer examination, seemed to be like this for around a month. I wanted to take a sample, despite how revolting the bodies were, so Bulwark can study it or something. The dead ponies all seemed to have died from the same cause: Bullet wounds. Curious. The bullet wounds all resembled with the same mark. Meaning someone or something used a weapon with precise accuracy on each of these individuals. There was a cage nearing the back of the library as well. Somebody definitely wanted to make the library into a classic horror movie torture house. I pried my eyes of the deformed corpses to check around the shelves for any sign of a book. Fortunately I did find some. Unfortunately they were burnt, torn, and had some sticky residue that I honestly did not want to observe. After several minutes in the search for a clean, legible book, I decided to go check into another room. There was a wide, burnt mark on the wall, with of course a red stain. Didn't know what the mark was, but the room was in shambles. There wasn't much to go through. I didn't feel like picking up the weapons these ponies happened to have with them, cause it would both be a distraction from my main objective, and dead weight. The weapons didn't even have any ammunition in them. Empty magazines littered the floor, as well as more ruined books. This once grand library of Twilight's was nothing more than a house of the dead. There wasn't any leads into finding Littlepip, nor anything that would be useful for the Institute and myself. I shook my head in frustration at the time wasted in this pigsty. The more time wasted, the farther away the finish is for my mission. I took leave after scrounging through more shelves in hopes that there was at least something, anything at all that would prove that this side distraction would give something rewarding. Sadly nothing turned up except my impatience and annoyance. Oh well, I thought, at least I have some samples. Maybe the visit wasn't an entire waste after all, just close to it. I waltz outside trying to convince myself that I still have plenty of time to proceed with the assignment, only to be greeted with a barrel pointed straight at my muzzle. The holder of the weapon was a face that looked like it seen some shit. Either that or it's been trampled on several times. I believe both ideas were true. Behind the ugly looking earth pony was a purple unicorn raising her side arm as well. She at least looked more......well normal. Other than the outfit she is wearing. And armor. And the scars across her eyes. For a minute there I thought she looked like Twilight, but the only difference between the two was this one had a dark, grayish mane. Did I mention the scar? "Hold dit rite der, skinny bones!" yelled the ugly one. Meat bag? Why the nerve of this guy! I was only awake for a few hours after being unconscious for my whole life! It wasn't like I ate much between my awakening and now. Wait did I eat anything before I left? The purple unicorn came up behind the ugly one and gave him a good whack on the back of his head. "Ay, knock it off, Screws. Ain't like he going anywhere." The disfigured-I mean Screws gave a glare toward the unicorn, but his expression softened a bit to an annoyed look. "Yes, ma'am..." Screws answered, emphasizing his irritation with a sigh. Despite having a gun aimed toward my head, I already like the mare so far. But enough admiring the authority she had. I would like to know what is going on. "Um, excuse-" My head fell backwards as I toppled over from the sudden blow to the cheek by Screws's butt-end of his gun. Despite feeling a twang of pain, the blow all but knock the wind out of me. I ran a quick body scan to see if there were any major damages to be concerned about. Luckily it was a fairly small dent on my lower cheek bone, but that didn't reassure my dislike with the stallion. "Silence ya trap, ya shit!" yelled once more Mr.Ugly. I think he and Charms would get along together. Maybe. The unicorn gave Screws another whack before gesturing me to stand up. "Come on n' get up. You're with us now. Screws!" The unicorn called out to her partner, who then pulled out a set of...hoofcuffs? Screws gave the cuffs to the unicorn, who then walked over toward me with them. Now multiple things were going through my head at once. One: Who the heck are these two? I am pretty sure I've never seen them before. Two: Why are they being so hostile? There wasn't any sign stating "you can't enter" on the front doors of the library. Then again, the smell alone should've been the trick to drive away any sane pony anyways. And lastly: Why am I being cuffed? If I recall, I didn't break any laws from the book of laws. Yeah I have that inputted in my memory banks as well. Too bad I didn't had any personal memories to remember. Not like I care anyways. Ugh focus! This little circumstance I'm currently in right now is just wasting more time. I need to get out, but how? I don't think I want to resolve this with violence. Mostly because the two aren't my main targets to waste anything upon. The other side...well..I don't want to be a bad guy by killing them. That should only happen during emergency situations where drastic measures must be taken. I could do something else though. Have I tried talking yet?....Oh yeah. That resulted in me getting an indent on my casing. Oh what to do, what to do... Ah got it! The problem being on how to execute it without Mister Charms over there blasting me away. Though I think my casing's material is durable enough to defend from such an attack, no matter the distance. The unicorn whose name I have yet to know placed the cuffs onto my hooves, locking it with a click!. I must say these cuffs are EXTREMELY in poor shape. I could easily break them if I put enough pressure onto it. But I resisted the urge to do so, cause knowing full well the consequence of doing so after taking another glance at Screws's shotgun. The unicorn then walked over to Screws, whispering something. He then waled over to me and pressed his forehoof on my back. Hard. "Ye stay put til Venessa gets back, ya hear?" It was more of an order than a request. Unfortunately for him, I have to go against that order. I unleashed my wings form their holders, which caused Screws to jump backwards in surprise. He also accidentally fired his weapon in the air. Jeez you would think with a face that scarred that anybody with it wouldn't jump from a measly little thing. I boosted up my thrusters, which started to slowly drift me across the dirt. Screws quickly regained his composure, and grabbed onto my hind legs. Idiot forgot his weapon though, One point for me. Suddenly another shot rang through the air, followed by a whiz of a bullet nearly missing my head. I looked over, shocked to see that Venessa brought some friends with her. Who all had big weapons. Awesome. They started to give chase as my thrusters picked up on it's speed. Screws held on though, and he slowly tried to climb up toward my face. "Get off!" I shouted as I tried kicking the stallion's hooves off of me, but to no avail. "Ya should've done what ya been told, meat bag!" Screws then pulled out a sick looking carving knife from his saddlebag. He grinned at me as he tried to regain balance enough to jab it in my stomach region. I wasn't going to allow that to happen. I tried to pull up off the ground, but the extra weight Screws was giving out pinned me to the ground. So instead of trying that, I rounded back my forehoof and wailed on Screw's face, connecting it with his jaw. A sickening crack sound came afterwards, then a scream as Screws dropped his knife. Blood spurted form his mouth and muzzle, making Screws looking more screwed up than before. See what I did there? Several more metal rounds fired passed my body as Venessa's posse continued to chase. They were still ways away, but oh Celestia, their aim is near accurate! One of the bullets strayed off to a different target, entering Screws's hind leg. He screamed once more as he fell back to my legs once more. He still held on though. It was impressive, and disturbing at the same time. Even with all of his injuries, this pony will just not let go! But because of that stray bullet, I can now take off. It was awkward at first, but because of the released weight off my chest, I was able to start gliding a bit. My altitude raised little by little, to the point where we were several dozen feet in the air. The thrusters kept increasing their power, thus my flying speed gradually followed up at a similar rate. Screws noticed this as he tried to lift up his dangling legs, but he couldn't. I had enough of the unwanted passenger. I brought back my other hind leg and kicked Screws in his face. "Screws! Get-" I kicked again. Square in the muzzle. I was quite to surprised to see that he was still holding on. "-Off-" I kicked him once again. This time it connected with his eye. It instantly swelled up as Screws closed it, but he held on. "-ME!" I yelled as I gave him one last kick, making contact with his throat. Screws gave in and fell limp as he fell over several hundred feet down to the ground. The last ten seconds of his life was a gurgled scream before turning the ground below him into a brightly colored red. I watched in shock as the whole scene unfolded, and when he was splattered across the ruins of Ponyville, I nearly lost it. I turned my head away from the scene and kept flying forward, avoiding the following gunshots behind. You know when I said I only kill when it's an emergency? Well that was one of them. If I didn't release his grip I would've followed him in a similar fate. He would've killed me, so I prevented that. In order to continue with my mission. My only objective. So why do I feel guilty? *** I landed after sometime of flying. Screw's death was traumatizing to witness, so I continued flying off course until I found an unoccupied barn house. Upon entering, there was a similar stench like the smell back at the library. And of course there were more dead bodies. But less than the library graveyard. The farmhouse was a mess, but it seemed to be a good spot to take it easy for an hour or two. I didn't want to waste more time, but after experiencing what happened back at the ruined town, I think I deserve some time to forget about it. There wasn't much in the place, except a terminal and what's left of a bed. Everything else? Trash. I decided to tidy the place up a bit, mostly because I didn't feel like resting in a place with the smell of death. I tossed the corpses out the door, in high hopes that would remove some of the stank in the building. As for the pony's weapons...tossed. Like the ones back at the library, these ones didn't have any ammunition. After pushing around some broken down furniture out of sight, I decided give the terminal a look. Maybe this would say something useful in my mission. But much to my dismay, the terminal held several pre-war records. Some pony named Hoss typed these back when., talking about life back when. However, after skimming through several of Hoss's documents, I gave up for it was only giving me a glimpse of something I already have known. Irritated, I left the terminal to look around the place for some kind of clue. But there wasn't much to go through. Feeling the need to release some frustration, I went up to one of the barn's walls, and punched a hole right through it. I was only out here in the Wastes for nearly the same amount of time as I was back at the Institute. Yet I feel this stress cause of it. I am running out of time, and I have no lead whatsoever to draw me closer to finishing this assignment. Heck is this even my assignment? Bulwark didn't really clarify what I was supposed to do before I got out here. Saying that I should know what to do. Yet I don't. Sorta. Ah my head hurts from everything. I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes. Just need to lay here for a moment... *** "How is he doing?" Bulwark looked at the screen once more before giving his full attention to Father. "Well...He got his first kill." Father looked surprised at this. "Already? He was only released out there a couple hours back, and yet he's already taken one's soul," Father shook his head before continuing. "Was it Littlepip?" Bulwark shook his head. "No sir. It was a scoundrel of the land. A raider." "Excellent. One down, hundreds more to go." Father walked over to the main screen, displaying Xenon at the moment. "He hasn't found Littlepip yet..." He suddenly turned around to face Bulwark and his partners. "I want a full scan across the land. Littlepip's location needs to be found and sent to Xenon. I rather not walk around in circles like a headless chicken!" Everyone immediately went back to their stations, typing away commands and codes to start a scan. Father nodded in approval as he left the command center, leaving Bulwark anxious at the ever closer deadline of the confrontation between his most prized invention and his target. He hoped that the command he inputted would prevent that from taking a violent turn.
The Little Problem (Prologue)Deep underground, away from the troubles above, a conference was being held. Several unicorns bearing white jumpsuits joined in on the meeting, each with their own personal colors aligning their roles. The unicorns took to their assigned spots and waited for their leading director to start with the usual. But, today was a different day, and instead of being rewarded with the common affair, the staff were surprised to see the look of anxiety wash over his face. Some of the unicorns were concerned with the unusual aura that bore off of their leader, and when asked what was wrong, the stallion simply levitated a picture to the table. The picture revealed a mare with a grayish coat and a brown mane. "This is the problem." stated the stallion. The staff took a moment to look at the mare in the picture, some took longer than others. All but one looked with confusion at the picture, wondering how such a child would be a problem. Yet, the one however just looked at the picture with infatuation as he admired how gorgeous the mare was. Noticing this, the unicorn director ripped away the photo from the table and gave a stern look toward the unicorn. The pony immediately straightened up, and blushed a bit when realizing his mistake. When the directing stallion set the photo back down on the table, one of the members of the staff cleared his throat, then began questioning the photo. "Um, Father, what does a young mare like her do to make herself a problem to be considered here?" asked the stallion. Father hesitated for moment before answering. "This pony did some remarkable actions in her short lifetime in the wastes above. Clear out the ruins of Ponyville of all raiders, Kill almost all Arbu civilians with ease," Father paused for a moment before finishing his list. "And unfortunately, she killed the Goddess." The room erupted with outbursts of shock and protest. This continued for a bit before Father raised his hoof in the air, which provoked everypony to be silent. "Yes, I know this news wouldn't come easy to all of you, but-" "Of course it wouldn't come 'easy' towards us! We needed the Goddess to proceed to the next phase!" shouted out a mare who had a blue stripe across her chest. "Yes indeed, Lapis," responded Father without any sign of anger towards the mare. "The Goddess would have been a major asset for our-" "The Goddess was our one way ticket into reforming the world, Father!" yelled out another pony. This one had a black stripe instead. Despite being interrupted once more, Father remained unfazed by his loyal staff's objections towards such an event. "I know that, Bulwark, but-" Father was cut off once more by a yellow striped unicorn mare. "Without the Goddess, how are we going to advance to the next step?" piped in the mare. Father's tolerance reached it's limit as he jumped up onto his hind legs and slammed his fore hooves onto the table, causing everyone to retract a little. When he received no further complaints, Father eased back down into his previous sitting position. He cleared his throat as he continued to finish what he had to say. "Now, I know you are all upset over this major blow to our operations, but we must keep our heads at ease. Do I make myself clear?" After he received nods in agreement, Father continued. "There is still ways to take the next step. They will just be harder to take action upon of course. But, before we go towards brainstorming different ways we can approach our goal, I propose that we stick to the main plan." He was rewarded with blank, puzzled stares after finishing his statement. Lapis was the first one to speak up about it. "Sir. Did you not just say that the Goddess was eliminated? How can we proceed with the plan if it's already dead?" wondered Lapis. The others were curious as well, as they leaned in a little bit to hear whatever absurd answer their director was about to announce. "It is true that the Goddess was wiped out, but I have a feeling her remnants are still there," Father answered with a hopeful tone. "If this is true, we could use her matter to work out the plan. Regardless if it's alive or not, its parts should have the samples we need to determine on how it controlled the mutated alicorns. When we learn its way, we could use that for the device." The staff became once again confused with this idea, but soon became intrigued and interested with it. "I believe that actually can work!" acknowledged the embarrassed pony from before. His jumpsuit had a green stripe. "It can, and I'm afraid it must, Fletcher, for if it doesn't, I am afraid we would be stuck at square one for a while." Father paused a moment to levitate some folders from a nearby desk towards the table. Upon opening them he skimmed through the files before making a statement. "Since this mare blew up Maripony with a balefire bomb, the facility is covered with radiation. So it is required to wear hazmat suits when there. I'll debrief you all in a later time. For now..." Father glanced at the photo with a look of disgust. "This one needs to be out of the picture." "But, why should she need to be killed? Despite destroying probably our only key to ignite the next phase." spoke up Bulwark. "Cause she has the ability to shut down all we've created. She has already destroyed one of our science experiments gone wrong, what makes you think she won't do it again?" Father didn't wait for an answer. He continued on with his reasoning. "Besides that, she has a well known reputation above. Some are admired of her actions, some want her to be wiped out as well. She's even called the 'lightbringer' by some. With that kind of hope, it will lead into following their idol, which will then lead to a united formidable force to be reckoned with. A unity like that would be chaotic for us. Get it?" Father was rewarded with the staff nodding once more in agreement. "Alright then. Fletcher, I need you to take a team of synthetics with you to extract whatever you and Lapis need from the Goddess to get the device to work properly. Don't forget to put on a hazmat suit before you leave here. Bulwark, I need you to stay here for a moment. As for the rest of you, get back to your duties. Dismissed." Everyone but Bulwark left the conference room. Silence carried throughout the room, making Bulwark shift a bit in nervousness. "Bulwark, I need you to put 54 out there." Bulwark gasped at the request. Then suddenly turned back to an all too familiar puzzled pose. "But Father, we don't know if 54 can handle the new installation. After all, he is the first and only generation 4 prototype we have at the moment. Putting him out in the field only to face such a dangerous enemy would be both disastrous and wasteful. 36 is available, why not use-" "Because Bulwark, this would be the perfect moment to test 54's capabilities out there. Capabilities that far exceed any gen 3 coursers we currently have. Besides I honestly believe this mare's skill can outright leave any gen 3 courser to be like scrap metal. Which is why I need you to activate him." Bulwark hesitated, then sighed for he knew Father was right. "Fine, I'll activate 54. But, I need to know who this mare is so I can input the name of 54's target." "This mare," Father showed Bulwark the picture once again. "Is named...." *** Bulwark walked in the chamber room containing the Institute coursers. Row by row Bulwark passed each pod until he was in the fifties section. He went down the aisle a little ways before coming to a pod that read "54" on the top. There was a terminal next to the pod, which Bulwark approached. He turned on the terminal and logged onto the control mainframe. After some time, Bulwark opened up the initial directive program for the courser. On the screen there were two words, Command and Activate. Bulwark opened up the Command feature, which only showed a text box. Bulwark was hesitant in typing out his ordered words in the box. He knew 54 would be out there in that damn chaotic place some time, but not when it's the only model for their next generation of synthetic ponies. Generation 4 was the improvement, the future. They are designed to learn by themselves without much direction from software. They are capable to perform regular pony actions, such as eating and sleeping. They are also programmed to experience personal emotion instead of preset ones. Something like the rogue generation 3's, Bulwark thought. Just better. If 54 is destroyed out there, it would end any way to breathe life into the generation 4 synthetics. Pony kind's last hope of rejuvenating it's species for a better world. So in order to prevent such a chance that 54 would be flattened out there, Bulwark typed in Find Littlepip instead of killing her. Cause if what Father said was true, he thought it would be a good idea to just locate her instead of going guns blazing at the walking death. He hit enter and pressed the activate button. He didn't enjoy disobeying his orders, but he did it to preserve the Institute's most advanced technology. Personally, Bulwark felt it was the right thing to do for the Institute. The hatch opened up from the pod, revealing a conscious synthetic underneath. It's emerald eyes darted around in puzzlement, until it rested directly onto Bulwark. Bulwark gave a smile towards his greatest creation, then greeted it with the formal Institute greeting. "Welcome, Xenon, to the Institute!"
Baby StepsI woke up after what seemed to be an eternity in darkness, to see a dark, grey skinned pony greet me to my birth home. The Institute. I didn't think much of any of it, or rather couldn't think much of it. I don't recall ever being here. Then again as I searched my thoughts, all I could remember is a void. The only thing worth noting was a sudden urge to find Littlepip, whoever or whatever a Littlepip is. As I was dozing off into my own subconscious, I didn't realize somepony was talking to me. "W-hat?" I asked, clueless on what the mare said. Unless she was speaking static. That would be weird. The pony had the expression of both frustration and anger, but her body didn't know which one to follow. It was both a little scary, and oddly amusing. "What!? I have been giving you the details of your mission for the past thirty minutes!" shouted the now-tomato mare. Was she a vegetable? "And you didn't hear any of it!?" Suddenly the same grey pony I've first met came across us. He looked...well? He didn't show much to tell how he feels at the moment, though I had a feeling that he's hiding back some anxiety. Or he needs to piss. I don't know. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I will remind you, Charms, that this is the generation 4 prototype. He's is supposed to act this....flaky. For it's part of his nature to act like what any other average pony will feel after waking up for the first time. So please be patient with him and just go through his inventory. I have full confidence that he knows what to do." The tomato's color faded, but only a little until it looked like some kind of gum. Either way her expression softened a bit after realizing my condition. I mean come on. I've been asleep for as long as I can remember. Cut me some slack. "Fine. I'll keep that in mind." reassured Charms. The grey stallion, Bullmark I think, smiled with Charms change of heart. With a nod of leave, Bulcock proceeded on his way to the....place where the bathrooms are I guess. Charms levitated her clipboard as she continued with whatever she was talking about earlier. "Alright, Xenon, let's do an inventory and gear check." stated Charms. I didn't had anything else to do, so I simply answered with a 'okay'. This answer prompted the mare to start reading off her checklist. "Alright. To start things off, may you please activate your Hooferizer." I surprised myself when I did exactly that, despite not remembering doing that ever. Again, I was unconscious for most of my life, lady. Geez. My forehoof transformed itself into a, whatever a Hooferizer was. It was the size of half my leg, and some parts of it glowed a dimmed color of green. Curious, and unknowingly I swear, did that magic trick of doing something that I didn't know I knew how to do, and fired the weapon. Luckily Charms reacted before the 'Hooferizer" fired, the blast passing her and hitting it's mark on a unsuspecting crate. The effect of the blast turned the crate into ash. And it left me with an awe look on my face. However Charms didn't had awe on her's. Instead she looked ever redder than before. Shockingly, either it was Bulcrak's words seeping back into her mind, or she realized that I had a blaster thingy that could turn her into ash, her color immediately drained back to it's normal color. She took a deep inhale and exhaled before continuing with the check-up. "It looks like it's in order." She looked back at the damage behind her. Then back to her clipboard. "Okay. Activate your close combat weapon," she then gave a stern look towards me. "Without destroying another crate full of supplies, if you please." Like magic, My Hooferizer folded in on itself, turning it back into a normal like hoof. Then suddenly a blade popped out. Fortunately I didn't hit another crate. Instead the blade went through the clipboard Charms was holding. The tip neared her neck, leaving Charms with a wide eyed look. Her expression molded in an annoyed state. She simply pushed the tip away from her chest and pulled off the clipboard. Even though I almost killed her, I found it pretty amazing at how cool the blade looked like. I mean when you have a sword emitting a cool, jade colored glow, you know it's the sword for you. For me at least. For Charms however, I think she's just pissed all the time. "Hmph. Seems to be working." observed Charms with a hint of annoyance. Yep. Pissed. Most definitely. "Okay then. Put away your sword and follow me to the test chamber." Not wanting to, I retracted the blade back into my hoof. Instead of feeling down that I couldn't wave the sword around, I was curious onto why we were going to a test chamber. Wasn't what I had enough? "Um. Excuse me, Charms ma'am. Why are we heading towards this 'test chamber'? I thought I had everything I need." Instead of receiving a 'without attitude' answer, Charms did what she did best and emphasized on how annoyed she was with my entire existence. Man I wasn't even here for more than an hour or two and already somepony hates my....well everything. Then again she seems to get annoyed over the smallest of things. "Well you thought wrong. We are going there to test out a few more pieces of equipment, that would most likely destroy everything in here when used." She then turned her head towards me. "In your case, it's a definite." Is it wrong to hate someone so much that you glared at that individual's back the entire time going somewhere? Well I for sure did, cause I did exactly that. We approached a metal door that read Test Chamber in the center of it. Charms went to a panel next to the door, and in a few seconds the door opened up. If there is one thing that best describes the chamber, it would be big. In fact it's the biggest room I've ever seen, which wouldn't be saying much since I haven't had the privilege to explore around the Institute. Judging my previous actions however, I don't think I would be 'let loose' around here for awhile. "Enter the Test Chamber please." ordered Charms as she turned towards me and pointed her hoof at the door. I simply nodded, and entered. I didn't feel like questioning anything, cause that would mean spending another minute with Miss.Temper Tantrum over there. Upon entering the room, the door behind me closed, locking itself. Guess it' time to get started with whatever experiment they are planning. Instantaneously on the wall, appeared a wide glass pane. Behind it was Charms, and some other ponies that I haven't met yet. Charms brought a microphone up to her mouth and began speaking my instructions. "Okay, let's begin," she said. "Alright 54, activate your wings." I stood there dumbstruck at such a request. Wait what? I had wings!? I looked at my sides to see if they were there, and sure enough, there they were. However they looked...odd. According to my knowledge, wings didn't look like long, out-stretched steel. Puzzled, I tossed a confusing look towards Charms. Only to receive an impatient glare from the pony. It took a few minutes until I knew how to work out the flight mechanics. In no time I was up in the air doing loops. Thank the Institute that this room is big. "Alright that's enough with the airshow." Charms said with a frustrated tone. "Time for the final test. 54, use-" Charms was interrupted by another unicorn mare wearing a blue labcoat. Curious, cause it nearly matched Charms, just instead of two armband-like stripes, this one had a full on lower half of the coat blue. Must be Charm's superior. Directly behind the blue coated mare was Bull-honkey or whatever. He went over towards Charms and started speaking to her very quietly. Either that or they cut out the microphone, cause I couldn't hear anything. Charm's superior began to say something, which resulted in Charms yelling back. This flared an argument for a few minutes before I saw Bul-whatever ended it by piping in. Charms stormed off out of line of sight, and Mr.B approached the microphone. "Hello, Xenon. Would you please come outside of the chamber and follow me?" It wasn't like I had anything better to do. So I proceeded my way out of the chamber, retracting my so-called "wings" back into it's place. As weird as it was, I didn't think much of it. Instead I just focused on following....Oh screw it. "Um excuse me sir. How do you pronounce your name?" I asked. "It's pronounced Bulwark. Now if you would keep up please." answered Bulwark. Bulwark and I continued down a narrowed hallway. I haven't seen Charms's Superior come with us. Probably gone to talk to Charms. As we continued I started to see the end of the hallway. At the end was a door with a label next to it saying "Relay Port ". "Why are we going to the Relay Chamber?" "Cause it's time to send you out." "Out where?" I questioned. Bulwark turned toward my direction and pointed upwards. "There," He continued walking, and so did I. "We are sending you up there to the Wasteland on an assignment. I am sure you know what the assignment is, right?" "Right." Wrong. I didn't know what I was supposed to do when I get out there, unless it's finding a Littlepip, whatever that is. Bulwark went over to a familiar panel and pressed in several keys. The door leading to the Relay Port unlocked, sliding upwards through a crack. Inside the Relay Port room was a couple of unicorns typing away on their personal terminals, and a circular pad in the middle of the room. It glowed an aura of blue,and it was eye-catching. The terminals that the Unicorns were working on outlined the panel, leaving only a narrow area for someone to step onto the pad. Bulwark walked over to the unicorns, whispering something. A few moments later, he came back with a look of worry. Concerned, I decided to ask what was the matter. "What's wrong?" Bulwark sighed and said a simple "nothing". "Alright Xenon. I know you've only been here for a small time, but it's time for you to step in the middle of the Relay Transmission pad." I nodded in agreement, and stepped onto the platform. Upon doing so, Bulwark ordered the unicorns to start it up. The staff started typing away once more. They nodded toward Bulwark when they stopped typing, who then started to count down from ten. Nine, eight, seven. The floor below be started to glow brighter in a blue color. Six, five, four. Sparks started to appear everywhere. I looked over toward Bulwark with a face written with nervousness. Bulwark nodded reassuringly back. Three, two, one. My vision started to go funky. Everything moved in a wavy motion. It was odd, and it made me sick. Suddenly a flash of white appeared all around me, blinding my sight. I closed my eyes to shield them from the sudden light. After a few seconds, I felt my stomach ache. I felt my head ache. I felt my body ache. I felt ground underneath my hooves.
First ImpressionsI opened my eyes, only to see that Bulwark and the chamber transformed into a vast, dried up plain. I blinked and darted my head all around me in bewilderment of what just happened. To my sides, behind me, up above to the sky. The sky. It was definitely a sight to see. It gave off a familiar feeling, like how I felt when I was in the pod. Despite having a dull, grey color, the space above me was comforting. What wasn't comforting was the land around me. The land was supposed to be green, full of life. Well according to my installed memory files. Where was the grass? Why were the trees shriveled and dead? I guess that's how this land got it's name. The Wasteland. I remember that was what Bulwark called it. Just wished he would've told me that the land was like this. After breaking off my trance from the sky, I started moving in a random direction. Bulwark didn't rally give me any sort of direction or destination to go to. The only objective that I currently know of is to find this Littlepip. What exactly is a Littlepip? One of the Institute's experiments gone M.I.A probably. Or maybe it's the name of a powerful weapon. Though it sounds like a name for a dog. Why would they send me out here to find a dog? I shook away the thoughts, for they were a bother at the moment. I just have to find Littlepip or whatever that is. No questioning it. I must have been walking a bit, for on the horizon I started to gain sight of a visible structure. Multiple structures actually. It seemed to be a town of some sort. Whichever it is, it's interesting and it might provide a lead to where I can find Littlepip. Though it seemed to be a long walk from where I was. Probably take me around a few hours to get there on hoof. But not by flight. I opened up my metallic "wings", and began to run for take off. The thrusters attached to the wing plates started to glow with heat, and in moments, I was off in the air. The air roared in my ears as I traversed through the air at a fast speed. I was quite surprised at the amount of distance lying in-between the town and I as I closed in. Within minutes, I was there. But I didn't want to end the ride so soon. I wanted to do some tricks with this ability. And I did. I started doing flips and loop d' loops in the sky, all with a wide grin written all over my face. It was fun! The most fun I've had since......since...... Anyways I didn't wanted to waste anymore time. As much as I wanted to continue, I didn't want to lose track of the main purpose of me being out here. I hovered above the town, and I'll be honest, it looked like a hurricane went through it. The place was a complete wreck. Houses were in ruins, whilst some others were completely off their foundations. There were some roofless ones as well. The only building that seemed sorta intact was a tree house thing nearing the middle of the town. However, with a quick scan through, my memory bank recognized it as Twilight's Library. Or what's left of it. Maybe the library might have some information that will explain what a Littlepip is. Or at least some lead to find it. Either way, I was intrigued to go there, and so I nose dived towards the ground nearing it's entrance. With exceptional reaction, I landed almost perfectly on the dirt, only staggering a bit from the sheer power of the thrusters. Whilst retracting my wings, I slowly waled over to the magnificent tree that held Twilight's massive collection of books. I was quite curious into what I would find in there. I was nearing the entrance when I was overcomed by a rotting stench. It seemed to be emitting from inside the library. Which was odd, for why would such a smell be coming from inside? The answer for that came shortly as I proceeded to enter through the entrance door, only to be greeted with what one could say a massacre. Rotting corpses laid across the floor, with blood spewed all over the walls. It was indeed a horrendous sight. The bodies, upon closer examination, seemed to be like this for around a month. I wanted to take a sample, despite how revolting the bodies were, so Bulwark can study it or something. The dead ponies all seemed to have died from the same cause: Bullet wounds. Curious. The bullet wounds all resembled with the same mark. Meaning someone or something used a weapon with precise accuracy on each of these individuals. There was a cage nearing the back of the library as well. Somebody definitely wanted to make the library into a classic horror movie torture house. I pried my eyes of the deformed corpses to check around the shelves for any sign of a book. Fortunately I did find some. Unfortunately they were burnt, torn, and had some sticky residue that I honestly did not want to observe. After several minutes in the search for a clean, legible book, I decided to go check into another room. There was a wide, burnt mark on the wall, with of course a red stain. Didn't know what the mark was, but the room was in shambles. There wasn't much to go through. I didn't feel like picking up the weapons these ponies happened to have with them, cause it would both be a distraction from my main objective, and dead weight. The weapons didn't even have any ammunition in them. Empty magazines littered the floor, as well as more ruined books. This once grand library of Twilight's was nothing more than a house of the dead. There wasn't any leads into finding Littlepip, nor anything that would be useful for the Institute and myself. I shook my head in frustration at the time wasted in this pigsty. The more time wasted, the farther away the finish is for my mission. I took leave after scrounging through more shelves in hopes that there was at least something, anything at all that would prove that this side distraction would give something rewarding. Sadly nothing turned up except my impatience and annoyance. Oh well, I thought, at least I have some samples. Maybe the visit wasn't an entire waste after all, just close to it. I waltz outside trying to convince myself that I still have plenty of time to proceed with the assignment, only to be greeted with a barrel pointed straight at my muzzle. The holder of the weapon was a face that looked like it seen some shit. Either that or it's been trampled on several times. I believe both ideas were true. Behind the ugly looking earth pony was a purple unicorn raising her side arm as well. She at least looked more......well normal. Other than the outfit she is wearing. And armor. And the scars across her eyes. For a minute there I thought she looked like Twilight, but the only difference between the two was this one had a dark, grayish mane. Did I mention the scar? "Hold dit rite der, skinny bones!" yelled the ugly one. Meat bag? Why the nerve of this guy! I was only awake for a few hours after being unconscious for my whole life! It wasn't like I ate much between my awakening and now. Wait did I eat anything before I left? The purple unicorn came up behind the ugly one and gave him a good whack on the back of his head. "Ay, knock it off, Screws. Ain't like he going anywhere." The disfigured-I mean Screws gave a glare toward the unicorn, but his expression softened a bit to an annoyed look. "Yes, ma'am..." Screws answered, emphasizing his irritation with a sigh. Despite having a gun aimed toward my head, I already like the mare so far. But enough admiring the authority she had. I would like to know what is going on. "Um, excuse-" My head fell backwards as I toppled over from the sudden blow to the cheek by Screws's butt-end of his gun. Despite feeling a twang of pain, the blow all but knock the wind out of me. I ran a quick body scan to see if there were any major damages to be concerned about. Luckily it was a fairly small dent on my lower cheek bone, but that didn't reassure my dislike with the stallion. "Silence ya trap, ya shit!" yelled once more Mr.Ugly. I think he and Charms would get along together. Maybe. The unicorn gave Screws another whack before gesturing me to stand up. "Come on n' get up. You're with us now. Screws!" The unicorn called out to her partner, who then pulled out a set of...hoofcuffs? Screws gave the cuffs to the unicorn, who then walked over toward me with them. Now multiple things were going through my head at once. One: Who the heck are these two? I am pretty sure I've never seen them before. Two: Why are they being so hostile? There wasn't any sign stating "you can't enter" on the front doors of the library. Then again, the smell alone should've been the trick to drive away any sane pony anyways. And lastly: Why am I being cuffed? If I recall, I didn't break any laws from the book of laws. Yeah I have that inputted in my memory banks as well. Too bad I didn't had any personal memories to remember. Not like I care anyways. Ugh focus! This little circumstance I'm currently in right now is just wasting more time. I need to get out, but how? I don't think I want to resolve this with violence. Mostly because the two aren't my main targets to waste anything upon. The other side...well..I don't want to be a bad guy by killing them. That should only happen during emergency situations where drastic measures must be taken. I could do something else though. Have I tried talking yet?....Oh yeah. That resulted in me getting an indent on my casing. Oh what to do, what to do... Ah got it! The problem being on how to execute it without Mister Charms over there blasting me away. Though I think my casing's material is durable enough to defend from such an attack, no matter the distance. The unicorn whose name I have yet to know placed the cuffs onto my hooves, locking it with a click!. I must say these cuffs are EXTREMELY in poor shape. I could easily break them if I put enough pressure onto it. But I resisted the urge to do so, cause knowing full well the consequence of doing so after taking another glance at Screws's shotgun. The unicorn then walked over to Screws, whispering something. He then waled over to me and pressed his forehoof on my back. Hard. "Ye stay put til Venessa gets back, ya hear?" It was more of an order than a request. Unfortunately for him, I have to go against that order. I unleashed my wings form their holders, which caused Screws to jump backwards in surprise. He also accidentally fired his weapon in the air. Jeez you would think with a face that scarred that anybody with it wouldn't jump from a measly little thing. I boosted up my thrusters, which started to slowly drift me across the dirt. Screws quickly regained his composure, and grabbed onto my hind legs. Idiot forgot his weapon though, One point for me. Suddenly another shot rang through the air, followed by a whiz of a bullet nearly missing my head. I looked over, shocked to see that Venessa brought some friends with her. Who all had big weapons. Awesome. They started to give chase as my thrusters picked up on it's speed. Screws held on though, and he slowly tried to climb up toward my face. "Get off!" I shouted as I tried kicking the stallion's hooves off of me, but to no avail. "Ya should've done what ya been told, meat bag!" Screws then pulled out a sick looking carving knife from his saddlebag. He grinned at me as he tried to regain balance enough to jab it in my stomach region. I wasn't going to allow that to happen. I tried to pull up off the ground, but the extra weight Screws was giving out pinned me to the ground. So instead of trying that, I rounded back my forehoof and wailed on Screw's face, connecting it with his jaw. A sickening crack sound came afterwards, then a scream as Screws dropped his knife. Blood spurted form his mouth and muzzle, making Screws looking more screwed up than before. See what I did there? Several more metal rounds fired passed my body as Venessa's posse continued to chase. They were still ways away, but oh Celestia, their aim is near accurate! One of the bullets strayed off to a different target, entering Screws's hind leg. He screamed once more as he fell back to my legs once more. He still held on though. It was impressive, and disturbing at the same time. Even with all of his injuries, this pony will just not let go! But because of that stray bullet, I can now take off. It was awkward at first, but because of the released weight off my chest, I was able to start gliding a bit. My altitude raised little by little, to the point where we were several dozen feet in the air. The thrusters kept increasing their power, thus my flying speed gradually followed up at a similar rate. Screws noticed this as he tried to lift up his dangling legs, but he couldn't. I had enough of the unwanted passenger. I brought back my other hind leg and kicked Screws in his face. "Screws! Get-" I kicked again. Square in the muzzle. I was quite to surprised to see that he was still holding on. "-Off-" I kicked him once again. This time it connected with his eye. It instantly swelled up as Screws closed it, but he held on. "-ME!" I yelled as I gave him one last kick, making contact with his throat. Screws gave in and fell limp as he fell over several hundred feet down to the ground. The last ten seconds of his life was a gurgled scream before turning the ground below him into a brightly colored red. I watched in shock as the whole scene unfolded, and when he was splattered across the ruins of Ponyville, I nearly lost it. I turned my head away from the scene and kept flying forward, avoiding the following gunshots behind. You know when I said I only kill when it's an emergency? Well that was one of them. If I didn't release his grip I would've followed him in a similar fate. He would've killed me, so I prevented that. In order to continue with my mission. My only objective. So why do I feel guilty? *** I landed after sometime of flying. Screw's death was traumatizing to witness, so I continued flying off course until I found an unoccupied barn house. Upon entering, there was a similar stench like the smell back at the library. And of course there were more dead bodies. But less than the library graveyard. The farmhouse was a mess, but it seemed to be a good spot to take it easy for an hour or two. I didn't want to waste more time, but after experiencing what happened back at the ruined town, I think I deserve some time to forget about it. There wasn't much in the place, except a terminal and what's left of a bed. Everything else? Trash. I decided to tidy the place up a bit, mostly because I didn't feel like resting in a place with the smell of death. I tossed the corpses out the door, in high hopes that would remove some of the stank in the building. As for the pony's weapons...tossed. Like the ones back at the library, these ones didn't have any ammunition. After pushing around some broken down furniture out of sight, I decided give the terminal a look. Maybe this would say something useful in my mission. But much to my dismay, the terminal held several pre-war records. Some pony named Hoss typed these back when., talking about life back when. However, after skimming through several of Hoss's documents, I gave up for it was only giving me a glimpse of something I already have known. Irritated, I left the terminal to look around the place for some kind of clue. But there wasn't much to go through. Feeling the need to release some frustration, I went up to one of the barn's walls, and punched a hole right through it. I was only out here in the Wastes for nearly the same amount of time as I was back at the Institute. Yet I feel this stress cause of it. I am running out of time, and I have no lead whatsoever to draw me closer to finishing this assignment. Heck is this even my assignment? Bulwark didn't really clarify what I was supposed to do before I got out here. Saying that I should know what to do. Yet I don't. Sorta. Ah my head hurts from everything. I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes. Just need to lay here for a moment... *** "How is he doing?" Bulwark looked at the screen once more before giving his full attention to Father. "Well...He got his first kill." Father looked surprised at this. "Already? He was only released out there a couple hours back, and yet he's already taken one's soul," Father shook his head before continuing. "Was it Littlepip?" Bulwark shook his head. "No sir. It was a scoundrel of the land. A raider." "Excellent. One down, hundreds more to go." Father walked over to the main screen, displaying Xenon at the moment. "He hasn't found Littlepip yet..." He suddenly turned around to face Bulwark and his partners. "I want a full scan across the land. Littlepip's location needs to be found and sent to Xenon. I rather not walk around in circles like a headless chicken!" Everyone immediately went back to their stations, typing away commands and codes to start a scan. Father nodded in approval as he left the command center, leaving Bulwark anxious at the ever closer deadline of the confrontation between his most prized invention and his target. He hoped that the command he inputted would prevent that from taking a violent turn.
