Fallout: Equestria - Old Grudges

As we sat here on the bridge waiting for Mrs. Cap and her husband to embark with Vanilla, I couldn’t help but feel like we’d encroached upon some sort of sacred navigational grounds. Both Bluejay and I sat staring across the holotable at Wingnut’s navigator, who gave a better annoyed glare than even Eighth Note did whenever I spent more of a night on his wallet than I should have. And with how practiced Eighth was with his glare? Let’s just say it isn’t easy to beat.

“Goddesses,” Bluejay whispered toward me, not taking her eyes off the navigator. “it’s like he’s trying to burn right through me…”

“I know, right?” I whispered back.

“I can hear you two, you know.” The navigator grumbled.

“Shhhh.” Bluejay whispered again. “Maybe if we don’t move, he won’t see us…”

“C’mon, Astrolabe. Tain’t nice ta scare tha guests.” Wingnut called down from his captain's chair, still spinning himself lazily with one wing. Looking down to us, he offered a half a wave and a smile. “Don’t y’all worry none ‘bout him. He just ain’t used ta folks in his corner of tha bridge.”

“You know what I don’t like?” Mrs. Cap called out from the doorway to the bridge. “Large airships disrupting my crops.” Angrily, she… walked in? Attached to Mrs. Cap’s rear legs were a pair of very old, very rusty cybernetic legs. A thick cable ran up along her side and into a pair of batteries she wore on a harness under her red leather jacket. Walking right down to Wingnut with her horn pointed right at him, the flustered pegasus pressed back into his seat with a nervous grin. “Next time you show up, you park this pile of junk another thousand feet out, do you understand me?”

“Y-yes ma’am.” Wingnut nodded quickly.

Remind me to stay far away from Mrs. Cap for the foreseeable future. Looking over the angry cyber mare, she at the very least put up one hell of an aggressive front. How qualified she actually was for whatever we had to do out here however, was something I wasn’t too sure of. I know I should put my faith in Bluejay, but so far this has been one problem after another.

“Sweety?” Panting and sweating, her husband chokingly called to her as he trotted up the stairs with a very large case of luggage balanced on his back. “A little help... finding the cabins... maybe?” His wheezing gasps made me cringe, and I couldn’t imagine why a guy like him loved a mare like her. Or vice-versa for that matter.

“The cabins are down the stairs on your left.” Vanilla spoke up as she squeezed past him with her unwavering smile. “Mrs. Cap, would you kindly join the others around the holotable for the briefing?”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Mrs. Cap mumbled as she trotted down towards us along with Vanilla. As she did, she cracked her neck and levitated her snub nosed revolver down onto the table, along with what looked like a cleaning kit.

“Excuse me, my chart table is no place for your greasy firearms.” Astrolabe grunted, looking even more furious than before. “I said, excuse me…”

“You are excused.” Mrs. Cap turned to him angrily. Across her muzzle was a look of shock like Astrolabe has just called her something akin to a cheap whore. This was some mare to have the audacity to carry herself this way with normal ponies. Still her tactic worked, and Astrolabe trotted off of the bridge in a huff. Turning around, she met with the same unamused look that Bluejay had given me before. “What? You wanted me for the job, you got me.” Cleaning off her gun, she turned and looked to Vanilla. “Spill it. What’s the job?”

Vanilla’s eyes glowed softly a moment before the table we stood around did the same. The cartographic data that had been showing fuzzed away and was replaced with a different section of wasteland. What appeared before us was a small industrious looking town that seemed to be built along a river that ran between two very odd looking mountains. Both mountains looked like they once held large, lush forests at one time, but were now barren and oddly dug out.

“We will be traveling to the eastern edge of the Smokey Mountain Range. Truce city, to be precise.” Vanilla started. As she spoke, the map shifted and enlarged the city, bringing its details into greater view. “Courier Swift had arrived in the southern section of the city, meeting with one of Master Eighth’s contacts to receive the package.” One of the old buildings in the city flashed brightly a few times as she continued. “The contact confirmed safe transfer to Courier Swift by radio with no passcodes given for suspicion of interference.”

“How long until she was killed?” Mrs. Cap asked as she wiped down her gun.

“Unknown.” Vanilla raised her hoof and pointed to a road that wound it’s way south out of the city. “However it was approximately a half hour after the first transmission when Master Eighth received the report of her body being found outside of the city.” A red X appeared on the map just past the last buildings. “The southern end of the ruins are uninhabitable due to the industrial chemicals contaminating them.”

“What about city security?” Mrs. Cap spoke up again. “Or is this one of the cheap settlements that doesn’t keep eyes outside of it’s own walls?”

“A city patrol was the one to discover the body. A single gunshot wound to the chest that penetrated straight through her body armor.” Vanilla answered back promptly. Honestly, I was beginning to feel lost in all this. “They reported no gunshots, though noise suppression talismans may have been involved, it is more likely that the adverse weather conditions that evening might have obscured them.”

“What sort of conditions?” Bluejay spoke up. Okay, now I really felt out of the loop.

“There was quite an intense electrical storm that evening paired with heavy rains.” Vanilla nodded.

“And no trace of any assailants was found near the body? No hoofprints even?” Mrs. Cap asked, cupping her chin with her hoof. Vanilla answered with a simple nod that only deepened the perplexed look across Mrs. Cap’s muzzle. “Long range sniper?”

“Not with heavy rains and having to retrieve the package, lack of visibility meant that the shot had to come from the ruins nearby.” Bluejay grunted, leaning in towards the table in thought as well. “What about a ghoul hidden in the ruins?” Turning to Vanilla, she perked up. “What sort of chemicals are contaminating them?”

“The contamination is mostly pools of tainted Flux with very little magical radiation saturating the ruins.” Vanilla gave as much of a frown as she normally does. Though, like always, it was only momentary.

“So then what are we left with that is taint resistant?” Bluejay sighed, still intently staring at the map. She was so focused on it that you might think she was physically looking for the shooter in the ruins. “What about a hellhound?”

“They don’t use ballistic weapons, only magical energy ones.” Mrs. Cap sighed. “What about one of those alicorn freaks?”

“I don’t know about that. They’re always going on about that ‘unity’ thing.” Bluejay answered her with another groan. With each wrong answer, I could tell that they were both becoming agitated with this enigma. “This doesn’t sound like something they do, though there are stories out there of rogue alicorns…”

With a roll of my eyes, I could almost see the headache as it started to envelop my head with all this back and forth.

“Hey, if you all don’t mind?” The pilot called down to us from her seat. Strapped into the machine, I almost forgot she was even there. “I’m going to begin preparations for lift off. If that’s the destination, it’s another five days back across the wastes. The sooner we leave, the better.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Both Bluejay and Mrs. Cap responded about the same time, basically ignoring her.

Wait.

“Wait!” I cried out, this time outside of my own head. The three mares around me turned their attention to me, making me feel like celestia’s great sun was beaming down on me like a spotlight. “What about a pegasus shooter?”

“Smart. That fits the M.O. at least.” Mrs. Cap smiled and nodded at me, holstering her now clean gun. “Plus the symbol on that paper you showed did sort of look like wings. I’d say that’s probably our best lead at the moment.”

Vanilla turned to Mrs. Cap with her renewed smile. “Do you have much experience as a bounty hunter with Pegasus targets? Can you track them?”

“Track them, sure.” She nodded to Vanilla and sighed, her cyberlegs giving out a whine as she sat down. “It’s not easy, but so long as they didn’t get above the cloud layer, I can find them. I’ll just need to talk with the two guards and the contact for your boss.”

“Good to hear.” Vanilla canted her head as her eyes flickered and dimmed a bit. The image on the table disappeared as well, for some reason giving Mrs. Cap pause to look over her again.

“You don’t just have cybernetic eyes, do you?” She asked, rousing a chuckle from Vanilla. “You’re entirely a machine.”

“That is correct.” She nodded, making Mrs. Cap look quite uncomfortable. Vanilla turned to me and pulled my attention to her. “Sawyer, now that the briefing is concluded, I suggest that we discuss something in private. Would you mind coming with me?”

“Uh, sure?” I wasn’t sure what she wanted to talk about, but I could tell already that I wouldn’t like it. As Vanilla turned to leave the table, I moved to follow her. Mrs. Cap uneasily moved the other way around the table as we left, scooting close to Bluejay before I turned back to continue with Vanilla. Odd to see a mare like her act the way she did. I’d have to ask her about it later when she got back to our room.

Trotting up past the captain and into the long stairwell throughout the ship, Vanilla stopped abruptly and turned around to me. In the lower light of the hall, her eyes glowed more than usual, and her smile seemed just a bit too bright.

“Due to a request made after you left Mrs. Cap’s home, there has been a change in assigned sleeping quarters.” Vanilla’s voice was lower in volume than before, but just as cheery as ever. “You will join her husband and I in cabin two, while Bluejay, Skeleton Key, and Mrs. Cap take cabin one.”

“What!?” I grunted, trying to keep my voice down as well. I wasn’t sure why I should, but if Vanilla was trying to keep quiet, it was probably for a good reason. Speaking of good reasons… “What was wrong with me sleeping with Bluejay?” I scrunched up my muzzle at that. “I mean, in the same room as her?”

“Master Eighth Note has sent me a new directive via radio.” In an unexpected move, Vanilla put her hoof on my shoulder and cleared out her throat. When she spoke again, it was in Eighth’s voice. “Sawyer, Vanilla’s reports about you are disconcerting. As somepony who cares about you who also happens to be your boss, I’m giving you an order.” Not only was this creepy, but why was I not surprised that Eighth note could still make my life a living hell all the way across the country? “Stop cowering in your room and try to make some friends on this trip.”

“Friends. Right.” I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me.” Vanilla replied still in Eighth’s voice. Or... was that part of the message? “Anyway, you’re going to be with these ponies for the foreseeable future, so you might as well get to know them. Vanilla will get you started with this task.” Vanilla’s voice cracked and she smiled again, brighter than before. “So!” Thankfully, her voice was back to normal. “You may start…”

I put my hoof on her lips to stop her. “Not interested, Vanilla.” Trying to step beside her, I found her move into my path.

“As your medical caregiver, I am required to inform you that social isolation and antisocial behaviors can be just as damaging to your health as unmitigated consumption of alcohol.” Putting her hoof on my chest, her expression shifted to one of tenderness. “Please, don’t make me restrain and force you to socialize with the others on board.”

“Ugh, fine.” As somepony who would drag their heels on needing to get out of bed in the morning, this was a fight I couldn’t win. “But if I end up pissing some pony off enough that they stab me, that’s on your hooves, not mine.”

“Agreed.” Vanilla nodded and stepped aside. “You may begin your friendship studies in the engine room at the aft end of the ship. Gauge and Matrix don’t get many visitors down there.” Pointing her hoof down toward the cargo bay, she offered her smile again. “Have fun!”

“Yes, fun.” I grumbled and started down the stairs. “Let’s just get this over with…”

So, not only was I literally starting at the bottom to work my way up, I was starting this ‘job’ with the ponies I related with the least. From what anypony had said in the mess hall about Gauge, she seemed like a social recluse more at home in her work than with anypony. As I grunted and opened the door into the cargo bay, all I could think was that this was both an exercise in futility, as well as a colossal waste of time. But hey, it only mattered that I ‘tried’, and at least the bottom of the ship didn’t have windows.

Shutting the door behind me, I looked over to the terminal where the ship's AI usually sat. For once, PAI didn’t bother showing up on it. Far be it for me to understand what it takes to keep this thing above the ground, but…

The whine of the outside engines picked up, and the distinct feeling of us pushing upward came over me. My stomach gurgled in protest at the thought of flying, and I braced myself against one of the wooden crates secured to the wall. It felt like I clung to the side of that box for an hour, sitting and waiting for the horrendous feeling of this metal tomb starting to plummet back to the ground. However, it never came, and after what had probably only been a minute, the feeling of raising disappeared, and the constant drone of the engines holding us up filled the air.

Trotting forward across the cargo bay, I kept my eyes open at the opposite wall. Hidden almost completely behind a large crate near the far corner, was another metal hatch. This one was much smaller than the one coming down from the main stairwell, and proved to be much easier to open. Pulling the door open, it’s hinges were whisper quiet. I pondered about it for a second, as every other door at least had some sort of noise to it, but before I could formulate my own theory, a noise from the cramped hallway inside caught my ear.

“Gauge, you might not want…” PAI’s voice drifted out from the next room.

“Shut it!” Gauge grunted between whines. From the strain she put on those words, I assumed that she was working on something. Stepping into the small hallway beyond the door, I found that it was more cramped than I’d expected. The air in this next room was much hotter than the rest of the ship, and the smell of oils and sounds of machinery came into it’s own the second I was inside. Shutting the door quietly, I cringed as a loud slam preceded a yelp and an enormous metal wrench sliding across the floor to just in front of my hooves. “Son of a…”

“Told you so.” PAI chuckled from what sounded like right next to me. Looking around, I didn’t see a pedestal, but if I had to guess, there was one just on the other side of the wall. “You can’t just force it, you aren’t a young mare anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Gauge replied. A magical aura appeared around the large wrench, and it levitated off the ground and out of my sight. “Hey, do you remember how it is that I don’t tell you how to do your job?” Another metallic groan picked up from across the room. “Damnit, now the auto-trim actuators are acting up again? You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“Gauge, Matrix is well enough versed in how to operate the boiler.” It’s funny, for an AI, she almost sounded genuinely sad. “Why not get him to fix it? To share the burden?”

“Why?” Gauge groaned again. Peeking around the corner of the cramped hallway, I found myself watching as Gauge clamped the large wrench around one of the many many pipes that ran across the far wall and into the end of a cylindrical metal tank. “Because he’s a damn good apprentice and I don’t want to wear him down when I don’t have to.” Hooking her forehooves around the end of the wrench, as well as wrapping her magic around it, she pulled down with all of her strength.

“Yes, but he can’t learn if you die of overexerting yourself first.” PAI sighed again, drawing my attention to the pedestal that sat on the floor near me. Hundreds of different twisting wires ran up from the floor over the sides of the pedestal. Each one joined others in a group that eventually found it’s way along the rim of a shining disk projecting the small pink filly. “And I don’t want you to die, Gauge. You know that, right?” She sniffled, looking like she was… crying digital tears. “You know I love you, right? Don’t you love me too?”

“I do love you too, but…” Gauge sighed, loosening her grip on the giant wrench. As she did, she sat down and stretched out the cyber foreleg that she wore. “If I’m going to die, it might as well be saving something I care about.” Looking down her metal leg, she almost looked as if she were staring right through it at the ground below us. “Pushing myself is the only way I know to keep this old boat running, and I only do that because I love you. Matrix is a good colt, but he’s not ready to take over. I can’t pin this sort of responsibility on him.”

Turning around as slowly as I could, I decided against staying. While it wasn’t exactly ‘quiet’ down here, I didn’t want to give away the fact that I’d been listening to them. I know that Vanilla wanted me to make some friends down here, but something tells me that this is just not the right time for that. Even though it was hard enough to wrap my head around an AI and a real pony being in love…

“Mr. Sawyer has arrived.” PAI’s voice called out clear and concisely from around the corner, and it made my mane stand up on the back of my neck. “I believe he wishes to speak to you.” As jarring as her announcement of my presence was, I could tell that she sounded more than relieved about my intrusion. “Maybe he could convince you to take a break.”

“Fine, I’ll take a fucking break.” Gauge grunted as she looked over to me. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Astrolabe’s glare, but still worse than anything Eighth Note normally gave me. Geeze, after this trip I was going to have to redefine what ‘angry’ really looked like. “You, with me.” Gauge pointed at me as she stood up.

At a trot, she walked straight to the sealed end of a large boiler that sat along the wall next to the imposing, still running reactor. Walking past a few control panels, she jumped up and threw her forehooves onto the old valve on it. With a hard twist of her hooves, the whole mounting for the valve swung outward. Curious to see what was inside, I trotted forward to find that the interior of the old boiler had been repainted and was well lit. It was large enough that a few beds, a desk, and a small refrigerator could fit inside. With a deft leap, Gauge hopped through the opening to the inside.

“An… interesting choice of living quarters.” I commented as I trotted up to the metal door. Even from just sticking my head in, I could feel that the air inside was much cooler. “Huh, would have thought it would have been hotter seeing as it is a boiler.”

The inside actually had quite a homely feeling to it. Floral pattern sheets adorned the twin beds bolted against the wall, and the large oak desk had a shine to it that I never saw outside the Studio back home. Rolls of various blueprints stuck out from every drawer like branches of a dead bush, they lined the walls like pictures in frames, and even the refrigerator had a few pinned onto it. All in all, it was odd to see, but it presented me with the feeling that for as disgruntled as she was, there was a great method to Gauge’s madness in here.

“Yeah, well boilers have great thermal protection, seeing as it’s supposed to keep one side at one temperature, and the other at another.” Gauge grumbled angrily as she opened the door to the small red refrigerator. Inside was a collection of odd drinks and wax paper wrapped foods. “Something which you’re fucking up by leaving the damn door open.” Shooting me an annoyed glare, she rolled her hoof at me. “C’mon, in or out.”

“Oh, sorry.” Hopping inside, I used my magic to swing the door shut behind me. To my surprise, it fit snugly enough that it didn’t open again even without me needing to twist the handles. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I came down here to… get to know you.” I mumbled the last half, not really feeling like this was a great idea in the first place. With how angry everypony on this crew has seemed, ‘friends’ seemed like a longshot, let alone even being considered an acquaintance.

“Oh?” Gauge cocked an eyebrow from over her shoulder and gave me a once over look. “I’m flattered that you’re into older mares like me, but I’m not available.” Her horn glowed, and she pulled out two brown bottles from the fridge. Wiggling one at me in her magic, she held it out to me. “Beer? Cider? What’cha want?”

“Cider, thank you.” I sighed, sitting down with a bit of a blush. “And no, I meant more so as a friend.” Yeah, it sounded even more ridiculous when I said it than when I thought it. All Gauge did was shrug as she exchanged one of the brown bottles in her magic with a clear one that held an amber liquid. “Vanilla told me to go around and get to know everypony instead of hiding in my cabin all day.”

“Robomare up there?” Gauge used her magic to pop both the bottle caps off the drinks before levitating the cider over to me. Taking it in my magic, she gave me the hint of a smile. “She’s a neat unit and all, made PAI plenty jealous when I gave her a look-see.” Putting the bottle to her lips, she took a long draw off of her beer. Giving my cider a snif, I was delighted to smell the wonderful hint of firment in it. After a quick sip, the warm feeling of alcohol in my gut sent a shiver through me that helped me to relax. “Though, whoever made her was either some sick bastard, or one ballsy asshole.”

“Oh?” I cocked my eyebrow at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?” Vanilla’s exact history hadn’t really been spelled out to me, and honestly it’s never been too much of a burning question in my mind. I knew that the Ministry of Peace built her, and that somehow she ended up in Eighth Note’s hooves. That was pretty much it.

“Well, she’s pretty much a one to one representation of a mare.” Gauge stared at me awkwardly as she spoke, only pausing to take another drink. Without thinking, I found myself doing the same. “You know… pretty much one to one functional too…”

I nearly choked on my cider. “What?” Yet again, snorting alcohol never made it taste better, only worse. Don’t know how many times it’s going to take before I stop doing that. “What do you mean? How would you…?”

“I was thorough when I looked her over.” Gauge rolled her eyes. “You mean to tell me, you’ve never noticed? Never been curious about her or anything?”

“No!” I snapped at her. “She’s more like an Aunt to me than anything!” That was just… oh goddesses, now I’m imagining her in my head. “Just… no.” Amid my frantic scrambling to think of anything but Vanilla, I could hear Gauge laughing.

“Will you two keep it down?” A third voice in the room came from next to Gauge. The voice of a colt, it was enough to snap my attention over to it. From under the balled up blanket on the lower bed, a set of young, piercing green eyes glared at me. “It is impossible to sleep when you are blabbering on like that.”

“Matrix, what have I told you about not using your contractions?” Gauge spoke to him like a disappointed mother. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of how Bluejay sounded with Skeleton Key.

“But I do not like them.” The young colt whined, giving out a wide yawn. As he did, he pushed the covers off himself. More frail than any zebra colt I’d ever seen, the black and white striped coat clung tightly to his emaciated ribs. The striped mane he had was spiked with each alternating color pointing either left or right off his head. “I do not need them to work, so I do not use them.”

“Sawyer, meet my young protege, Matrix.” Gauge sighed before taking another drink of her beer. “Matrix, I hope you know that learning contractions will make it a lot easier to talk with strangers. You’ve already mastered terminal coding, you should easily be able to grasp contractions.”

“Yes, I should, but I do not want to.” The zebra colt turned his muzzle up at Gauge and snorted in defiance. If I were that colt’s dad, I’d have smacked him upside the head for that.

“Fine.” Gauge shrugged. “No snack cake after dinner today.” That.. seemed like an odd punishment for somepony that looked so malnourished.

“Awww, what?” He groaned before looking at me, going wide eyed as he looked down at my forehoof. “Oh, is that a pipbuck!?” A wide smile drew across his muzzle. I’d never seen anypony more happy than him to see the beat up computer strapped to me. “Can I see it?”

“No.” Gauge promptly shut his request down. “I know you just woke up, but if you want to do something fun, then you first have to do some work.” Tossing back her head, she let the last of her beer slip down her throat. “Those universal phase detractors aren’t going to clean themselves you know.”

“But I already cleaned those yesterday to get ahead of schedule, remember?” He wined while slumping back onto the blanket around him. “I was going to synchronize the turbo encabulator and the metapolar refractive pilfrometer, but that’ll take hours to do.”

“And?” Guage cocked an eyebrow at him as she set her empty bottle down. “What have I taught you about work before play? You want to see his pipbuck, then you have to work for that reward.”

“Uhhh.” All this talk about my pipbuck was making me feel a bit… uneasy. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Hah.” Guage laughed at that. “Sawyer, you came down here to do what again? Make friends of us?” She offered a smirk that made me uneasy. “Well, unless you can realign a pearl ball bearing ring, or bypass the tankered thermal expansion sprocket on a KT one thousand model spark reactor, there really isn’t much else you can do for us other than let us take a look at your fancy little leg-puter there.”

“Fine, but unless you know how to open it…” I started to say before a soft click from my leg prompted me to look down. A small orange wrench spun through the air as the unchanging pressure clamping my leg since I was only a colt released. The pipbuck split off my leg, levitating off of me in Gauge’s magic. “what… how?” Angrily, it was my turn to glare at her. “Give it back. You can’t just…”

She raised her hoof and cut me off. “Don’t worry, it’ll be better than brand new after we’re done with it.” From atop the upper bunk bed, a small red tool case came floating down to her. She opened it up and pulled several different oddly shaped tools and floated them around her head like a crown. “Besides, Matrix could probably clean up a few redundant files on it. It won’t change any of the functions or make it run any smoother, but it’ll be less prone to failures over the years.”

“Still, you can’t…” I tried to get in, but found the bottle of cider shoved into my muzzle by Gauge’s magic.

“Take this as a sign of ‘friendship’ or whatever. Just let us get to work and come see me at the end of the day, alright?” Gauge rolled her eyes, stopping as they fell on Matrix. “And you, since you’re up, get out there and crack open that Turbo Encabulator.” Shaking my removed pipbuck in front of his face like a trophy, she wore the same smile that Vanilla always held. “You can go over this when you’re finished.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Matrix nodded quickly before scrambling off the bed. In a black and white flash, he’d bolted past me. Without realizing it, I’d used my magic to open the door behind me as he jumped up and through into the hot room beyond.

“Now, as much fun as it’s been, my break is over.” Guage grunted at me while using a rag to wipe down the inner cuff of my pipbuck. “I suggest you leave me to my work.” Looking up to me with a sharp gaze, she didn’t look mad anymore, simply tired. “I’ll bring your pipbuck by your room this evening.”

“Okay.” I nodded and sighed. “Thanks, I guess.” Turning around toward the open door, I reached my hooves up and put them on the warm metal entrance. I paused before climbing my way out, wanting to turn and ask her just exactly how she’d had a pipbuck removal key in the first place, but I stopped myself. From what I knew, there were hundreds of stables across the wasteland, and thirteen probably wasn’t the only one to have failed to open safely over the years.

Before I completely threw myself into a depressive funk, I climbed my way out of their home, and headed back to the door for the cargo bay. While I might not have become instant best friends with the mare, I did at least understand her better now. It’s not that she’s anti social, it’s that she can’t slow down enough to socialize with the others. With technobabble whizzing around between her and Matrix like that, I’d never realized just how little I knew about how to keep any machine running in the wastes. She’s probably the only reason that this ship has stayed airborne at all, and for that, I’m thankful she’s as good as she is.

Still, as I walked through the door into the cargo bay, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for her. I hardly even knew the mare, and yet, I felt I understood her better than anypony else on this ship. Well, maybe with the exception of PAI that is. However, at least Vanilla was right in that respect. Even with only spending the few minutes down there that I did, she’d opened up to me, offered me a drink, and is tuning up my pipbuck for nothing more than the fact that she can. If that’s not something one friend would do for another, I’m not sure what ‘friendship’ even is.

Levitating the last of the cider to my lips, I drank down the rest of the tasty liquid in one gulp. With grip of my magic around the empty bottle, my next stop was the mess hall. As I trotted forward across the cargo bay to the other door, the cooler air in here felt odd against my bare leg. As alien as it felt, oddly enough, it didn’t bother me. Gripping my locket in my magic, I pressed it close to my chest and sighed before opening the door to the main stairwell. I probably felt as calm as I did because I knew that one of the two possessions I’d walked out of stable thirteen with that I called my own, couldn’t be in more capable hooves.

--Chapter End--

“I used to wonder what friendship could be.”

Quests Finished: none

Quests Started: Friend Ship (Part 1)

Levels Earned: none

Perks Earned: none