Fallout Equestria: Crystal Reborn

Chapter 6: The Minutemares

"I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends."

"Rose Quartz!" I screamed as I awoke. I was hyperventilating, I took a look around, I was in the castle throne room, there were several beds out with several ponies laying on them. "Rose? Rose where are you!"

"Shhh, its alright princess deep breaths, Rose is fine, you have been out for quite a while," I turned to see a light red unicorn mare with a black mane with a pink highlight running through her mane and tail. "Although with your wounds, you recovered faster then I expected."

"Who are you, whats going on?"

"Shhh just relax and I will explain everything," the mare's voice was very tender in the way she spoke, "Well my name is Doctor Emberheart, but you can call me Ember for short. As for your friend, Rose you said her name was, she is alive she is in the bed next to yours, however she is in coma, that bullet came close to hitting her heart, a centimeter closer would have hit it. You were in a coma yourself, well sort of you have been asleep for about four days and the Minutemares are now using the castle as their new HQ."

"Minutemares?" My head felt like it was going a million miles an hour, I felt confused, relieved and exhausted.

"We are a group of ponies who go around helping the good ponies of the Crystal Wastes. I am their doctor, when news got around that the castle doors opened I wanted to see it, but we got stuck in that tower as you saw, when we brought you in for surgery most of your cuts and stuff were healing rapidly, once we took out the shrapnel that was inside your legs those wounds healed within a day. You truly are made of some pretty tough stuff."

"So, what about Starlight and Pepper and the other Quartz sisters?" I remember them saying they were coming back within a week and from what I have been told that was about six days ago.

"Starlight and Pepper are helping a few of us take stock of the castles food inventory, as for the Quartz sisters they went out to look for medical supplies. You should take it easy though we gave you a magic potion not to long ago and that should help some of the broken bones heal, you can walk around the castle just try not run or fall, it may reopen your wounds that didn't heal right away," wait I still had wounds that didn't heal? I looked down and saw magical bandages around my stomach. I started to get up with Ember's assistance.

"Where is your leader, I wish to speak with him," I felt my legs starting feel like jelly as I started to stand. I was feeling pain in one of my hind legs. I looked down to one of my hooves and saw my PipBuck was gone.

"He should be coming back from his noon patrol any second now."

"Also, where is my PipBuck?"

"Our head technician is working on it, he is probably in his room on the second floor working on it, first he wanted to fix it but who knows what he is doing now."

"I am going to go get it," I started to walk away from the throne room which is now a make shift hospital.

"I am going to go with you, your PipBuck took major damage after you went down, lots of shrapnel hit it so our head technician had to replace most of the PipBuck," we continued down the hallway and walked up the stairs to the second floor. I didn't respond we continued down the hallway until we reached the door. "Well here we are he should be inside."

"Thank you Ember you should get back downstairs some I am sure the ponies down there still need treatment."

"Oh right!" Ember dashed down the hall and back down the stairs, did she forget she was a medical pony, its odd for a doctor to just up and leave her patients.

"Anyways," I said talking to myself, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," the voice sounded like it was a mare, I opened the door, and there sitting at a desk was a bright blue pegasus pony, she was wearing a lab coat, her mane was silver and she turned the chair to face me. "Hi there, my name is Silver Wire, I you haven't noticed I took off your PipBuck and made it a hell of a lot cooler," she was certainly a spirited mare. "I improved your S.A.Ts accuracy so you will be better at long rang, and upgraded your status monitor so that way it gives you more accurate body conditions."

"Thank you... Silver Wire," I levitate the PipBuck off the desk and clamp it back on. "Hmm... Its lighter then I remember."

"I replaced a lot of the insides with new material, lots of unnecessary parts, I recalibrate your EFS so that way it would have a increased detection range."

"Why is everything all purple instead of green... and why does the casing say PipMare instead of PipBuck?" I took another close look at the casing, it was a darker shade of purple rather then the usual gray and on the side was Luna's cutie mark. Anything from that it was almost identical to a PipBuck.

"Oh that, well about a three months ago me and some old friends of mine were searching a old Stable Tech facility in Baltimare after passing a few security doors and fighting off a few robots, we came to a room that looked pretty much ransacked except for a safe and a terminal on the wall, there were explosion marks all around it so somepony tried to blast it open. After hacking the terminal we got the safe open and inside was the PipMare, it wasn't working at the time so I brought it with me just in case we came across the parts to fix it and now we are here. So I used the parts from your old PipBuck to fix it up. The cutie mark on it looks like it belonged to one of the princess, guess it never made it to her."

"This must have belonged or was going to be Princess Luna's PipBuck, figures that it would be different for hers," the EFS is more sensitive then my old one I am picking up about 12 peg and I doubt they are from up here.

"After exploring the features a little bit there is a feature that most PipBucks don't have, this one monitors your stress, dehydration and hunger levels," Silver Wire walked up to me and switched the PipMare to the conditions screen. "Here is where it shows your heart rate and it will increase under levels of stress as well as how hungry and thirsty you are."

"Well this is interesting, well I best be off, I don't want to keep you from your work," I started for the door.

"If the PipMare start acting up take it back to me and I will run a tuneup on it, anyways I need to get back to maintaining our energy weapons, see you later Princess." I waved good bye and opened the door and walked out, a peg appeared on my EFS on my right. There stood a dark brown unicorn buck pony with a cowpony hat and a trench coat on, from what I could see his mane was light brown.

"Howdy Princess, I hear you've been lookin for me. My name is Bullseye, the leader of the Minutemares.

"Lets head back downstairs to the common area we can talk more there," I nodded and we walked back down the stairs through the hallway into the throne room, then we walked through another hallway and into what used to be my living room. I sat down on the couch and Bullseye sat on the one adjacent to mine.

"So Bullseye, why you were in the control tower and how you even got on the runway, there are walls all around the area, only pegasi can fly over it."

Well, part of the wall is knocked down on the east side," that was probably destroyed after the megaspell hit the castle, "We hoped that we could use the airfield as a base for us in the Crystal Empire. You see, we wandered for 15 years trying to find a place to settle, we originally from Fillydelphia, but a stallion named Red Eye kicked us out. Originally it was started by mares, hence the name Minutemares and when they let Stallions join and hold position of leadership we just kept the name anyways, Red Eye led a assault against us, we held out for as long as we could. I was a just a young colt back then however Red Eye's died five years after we left and Fillydelphia has been absorbed into the New Canterlot Republic. After that we moved just outside Manehatten, we settled in Fetlock but that was short lived. Increased Steel Ranger activity made it unsafe to be there, we used modified energy weapons and they tend to like to kill ponies for said weapons. We slowly just kept moving north, we have been here for about 3 years. We lost several ponies trekking through the ice of the north but we made it here, we have been trying to keep peace and order ever since."

"So you guys have been trying to keep the peace around the Crystal Empire, are there any ponies that have started settlements to try to rebuild?"

"Yes there is, there is one major settlement and that is Emerald Fields. Its where the old stadium used to be, according to local history the city is over 100 years old. They say that the first settlers there the survivors from the megaspells, the first few were a couple families seeking refuge from the magical radiation, after that more and more kept coming so then Emerald Fields was established. MAS technology is what have been keeping the raiders out of there, old machines laced with spells on them prevent ponies from bringin in weapons as well as a magical shield on top to protect from the magic radiation. Since they have machines to detect weapons you have to leave them with the guards out front."

"Why is it called Emerald Field?" I am surprised that the magical barrier is still up, that means the Crystal Heart must still be intact if its magic is still active.

"Inside the stadium there is green grass, its the only place in the wasteland that has actual grass that isn't burned. So the founders named it Emerald Field because the grass is green like a emerald, someponies just call it 'the Jewel.'" Bullseye seems to know a lot more about the what has become of the Crystal Empire.

"So what do you plan to do now since I returned? Are you going to to leave now that I have returned?"

"No we made the Crystal Empire our home, we have sacrificed to much to get here, since our retreat from Fillydelphia we have gone through 9 leaders, our leader in Fillydelphia stayed behind to cover our retreat and is most likely dead. After that we had a struggle for power and one after another were leaders assassinated for power. Once we got to Fetlock we were at our 5th leader, she was eaten alive by ghouls while scouting the area. The one after abandoned us and left to join the Steel Rangers, the 7th and 8th thought they could lead together but that made us pick sides and fight amongst each other, the 7th stepped down and we moved north and the 8th was killed by raiders along with 4 others. So we had another leader, out of all the leaders we respected her the most, her name was Silver Bullet, she was killed while we crossed the icy snow of the north, some monster came out of nowhere and attacked us, we had several injured but she was the only one who didn't make it. Then I took over, we carried her body all the way until the outskirts of the Crystal Empire and buried her. Then under my leadership we grew and here we are now."

"So will you fight for me, to help me make the empire... No Equestria the bright and shining place it once was. The Minutemares won't be dissolved fully if you choose to join me, the current members will considered part of a elite guard faction under the same name, you can still remain the leader, I will give you free reign so long as you keep your cause just and moral."

"Actually princess, thats what we came here to do, once word got around that the castle opened we knew it must have been you or Shining Armor. Where is he by the way, did he not make it to a Stable?"

"No he did, the Griffon Kingdom has raided my Stable and took him, I don't know how long ago that even was, I just know he is gone." I had almost forgotten about Shinning Armor being gone, this whole castle ordeal has been proven to be more trouble then its worth.

"The Griffon Kingdom has been destroyed by the Pegasus Enclave, Griffonstone is still around but there is almost nothing left. I know there are a bunch of other settlements full of griffons to the northeast but I doubt they united as one seeing how griffons can get rather greedy. Anyways I accept you offer to join, the Minutemares and the new Crystal Empire will flourish, now that we have a safe place to take shelter, we can start clearing out the surrounding area's. I will inform the ponies the good news, and get to work right away, in the mean time, you want to head to Emerald Field to inform them of your return and see if they want to rejoin you. I will mark it on you PipBuck for you, just be carful there are a lot of raiders between here and there," I looked down at the location, it was on the west side of the empire, about a few hours trot but with the state of things now, I say around a day or so if there as many raiders as Bullseye makes it out to be.

"Thank you, Bullseye, lets head back into the throne room for to tell them the good news," we got up from our seats and walked out of the room, we headed back into the throne room, there were a considerable amount of ponies now helping the sick and wounded, but a number of them wounded were up and walking around. I walked to the top of the throne where the seat was, "Attention everypony!" I yelled, "Attention, we have a important announcement to make at this point forward the Minutmares are dissolved into the Crystal Military as new branch of elite guards, dubbed Minutemares, the head of the guards is the former head now General Bullseye. You will still act under his orders. All civilians are granted Imperial citizenship and all soldiers access to the armory down below to rearm and repair your gear, as well as the head doctor will now have full access to the the airfields infirmary, if there is still stuff left in there. Soldiers follow me I will lead you down to the armor, I will need a few medics with me to take away the bodies of the old guards who perished down there. That is all return to your duties."

"There are bodies down there?" Bullseye seemed surprised to here that, there where guards everywhere, most died to radiation exposure or were killed by me when I was down there.

"Yes as well as ghouls, I don't know how many are left but we fought off the majority of them when I was down there before almost dying in your firefight. The last active guard from the old empire died down there, he defended the armor from all of the ghouls and any of the insane ponies when after the bombs fell. His name was Flash Sentry, and he asked me to kill him, he was suffering from the guilt he bared from having to kill friends and ponies he served with drove him close to insanity. Come on lets head down there."

We moved most of the medical equipment that would have blocked the stairs, I casted the spell and opened up the stair way. Bullseye alerted the Minutemares with us to be cautious of hostile ghouls. Once we were down there, the medical team started piling bodies into a cart to bring up to the runway to burry them on the surface, I stopped them from taking Flash Sentry's body, he was to be put in the Crystal Catacombs where past royalty and generals were buried.

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I put Flash's body in a cart and enter the catacombs, every body here was encased in crystal and looked the same since they day they died, the crystal prevented any deterioration of the bodies and had the name rank or name of the ruler on it. All over the walls there crystal sarcophogus's that went up were ponies encased in crystal Bullseye and all the Minutemares at the castle at the time were down here for his burial . " Took Flash's body out of the cart and laid it on the ground.

"Are you ready to say you good byes Princess Cadance," Bullseye said walking up next to me.

"Yes, I am I am going to give him a eulogy first." After a brief pause I took a deep breath and said, "Minutmares, today we mourn the loss of Flash Sentry, a pony who served me before, during and after the Great War. Before the Great War he served as a captain of my guard, for over 200 years he was down here in the armory guarding it from ghouls, and the survivors who went insane to try to raid it for a way out. Fighting off those who deserted their post, however I do not blame them for their actions nor what Flash did, he did what he thought was right, he spent over 200 years suffering down here in the hope that one day I would return, he was promoted to colonel posthumously. Now he will be laid to rest here in the catacombs. May his duty and sacrifice inspire all of you," my horn lit up, I casted a spell that incased Flash in a crystal sarcophogus and I used magic to etch him into the wall on the bottom floor. After I used magic to add a caption on his sarcophogus it read: Col. Flash Sentry, served the empire loyally for over 200 years.

"Its a shame I couldn't meet him," Bullseye said as he pulls off his hat, "Minutemares let this be a lesson to all of us, this place here is where the important ponies go when the die, each and everypony laid to rest here died making the ultimate sacrifice where on or off the battlefield. These are the hero's of the Crystal Empire and one day maybe even all of you could end up here. Minutemares, dismissed," after a couple minutes the Minutemares down here started to disperse and head back to the armory.

"So what have we found in the armory Bullseye?"

"Well looking at all the weapons we found we have enough to supply a small army but most of them don't look like they are in working order. So at this point who knows how many we have. There are a lot of broken vehicles down there, not sure if we can fix them, on top getting the parts and knowing even how to do it and we have some battle armor," so limited weaponry and vehicles are out of the question. At least we got some armor.

"Good get them equipped start out slowly, small area patrols around the area and I want guards at the front gate at all times, every day add a little more range to their patrols. Ghouls are to be welcomed if they are sane.That is all."

"Princess what about you what is your next plan, I am going to head to Emerald Fields, I need to see if they want to join us or ally with us."

"What if they don't want to do either Princess?"

"Then we move on, I don't doubt that the pony in charge wants to give up power, but I doubt that the citizens will want to stay with the leader if he rejects one of the royal princesses, I will be heading out tomorrow, I won't need a escort I already know just who to bring," we walked out of the catacombs Bullseye went to the left back towards the armory and I went right to head back up. I finally arrive in the throne room, most of the ponies that where here were moved to the hospital on the airfield, I walked out of the throne room and through a long hallway, portraits of past rulers lined the walls. I always hated this part, all these ponies who did great things and now I have to live up to their expectation, now they would be ashamed of me I let the country fall to ruin. I opened the door at the end of the hallway and walked out onto the airfield. Ponies were using the scrap metal from all the planes to build houses on the runway. I walked past the runway into the infirmary. I was greeted by one of he nurse mares.

"Hello there Princess Cadance, Ember is in the main office on the second floor."

"Thank you, I will head right up," I walked over to the stairs and walked up them, several of the rooms up were empty or just lab equipment. I entered the office of the head doctor.

"Good afternoon Princess, what brings you here?" Ember was sitting at the desk and using the terminal on the desk.

"Well tomorrow morning I will be heading out to Emerald Field, its going to be a long way from here to the stadium, will you accompany me there. It will be a good chance to get medical supplies if you need them and..." Ember interrupted me.

"Let me stop you right there, I will go with you, it will be a nice change of pace for me, I am getting tired of sitting behind a desk all day," Ember got up, she wasn't wearing her lab coat, this was the first time I saw her cute mark, it was a orange trimmed heart colored red inside with fire coming out of the top. "I will pack my saddlebags for tomorrow."

"Good, meet me in the throne room tomorrow at 8am, I will see you then," I walked out of her office, "Good now I just have to talk to Silver Wire."

"Talk to me about what?" jumped back hitting the wall.

"S-Silver Wire, why are you here," I was trying to catch my breath.

"Well I was working on one of the laser rifles and I accidentally discharged the laser and it burned me, good thing I turned down the power," I rolled my eyes, you think someone who is a one of the top engineers wouldn't make mistakes like that.

"Anyways I was wondering if you wanted to join me on my journey to Emerald Field."

"Well let me check my schedule for tomorrow... You know what a spot just cleared up."

"Ok meet me in the throne room at 8am tomorrow," she nodded and trotted off, I walked back down the stairs. Now I just need to find Milky Quartz, I proceed to the door and then in walks in Milky Quartz. I face hoofed, is everypony simultaneously hurting themselves today. "Hey Milky, what are you doing here?"

"Oh I was just checking on Rose, I heard she is still in a coma," I totally forgot about Rose.

"Yes right, Rose went down in the battle for the airfield, we both got hit by a grenade and it knocked us out," I motioned her to come with me and we walked to Rose's room. "I feel like its my fault that Rose is in a coma, I couldn't protect her."

"Princess you didn't know there was going to be a battle raging on the surface when you got there either, so if anything you both were victims of circumstance," we walked into Rose's room, she was hooked up to all sorts of machines to keep her alive.

"Its too bad that we didn't have the same medical technology as Equestria did, we used modified versions some were better some were worst but we did what we could for most ponies, Equestria developed what is called a Crusader Mainframe, its almost like a AI as it would be self sufficient but if needed a person could download their personality into the machine making it a soul jar, it would in turn kill the body but save the life of pony who used it, the only issue with a soul jar is, its not exactly the same pony, it shares the memory and personality of the pony in it but its a copy of the pony and uses the pony's soul to keep it bound to this world prevent the pony who died a way to reach whats beyond this life. However if a pony is healthy then can still bind their soul to something, my Crystal Revolver is a soul jar, it is always a fatal blow when shot from this, or it will miss and kill no pony, even if I hit them in the leg they will die."

"That sound terrible, so the risk is you become somewhat immortal and you soul is bound to it but not your whole soul just your passions and goals, but in return for those your soul enhances the gun for you to use or for the next person and it doesn't wear off until the soul jar is broken or so I assume."

"So far nothing has been able to release a soul from a soul jar, even if the weapon is broken your soul is still bound," a soul jar is a terrible thing, since I am immortal, I bounded my soul to Shinning Armor's enhancements when they were made.

"Anyways Milky I wanted to know if you wanted to join me on my journey to Emerald Field, I need to see if they will join up with us."

"I will go with you but I doubt the mayor will want to give up power, he is a greedy little bastard if anything, he even killed his political opponent running for office. Well thats just the rumor but everypony knows it was him. What do you plan to do after?"

"We are going to head to Manehatten, I want to know who is unifying Equestria under this New Canterlot Republic, if anything we will rebuild Equestria after that and become a once strong nation."

"I heard that Manehatten is a battleground right now, the NCR is fighting with several small raider factions and there is to many ghouls for the place to be habitable."

"I need to get in contact with them regardless of the circumstances, well I best be off, its getting late and I think I am going to go to bed early, we got a long day ahead of us be in the throne room by 8am," I walked out of the room, its going to be a very long day indeed.

Footnote: Item added: PipMare
Perk added: PipMare Guided Assistance: With the new PipMare your perception has increased by 2 and SATs is more accurate.