Fallout Equstria: Lost future

Chapters

ch1 Fire and death
ch2 the evershut stable
ch3 new foes and... friends?
ch4 harsh past and surprising future
ch5 starting the journey
ch 6 Suit of iron and heart of ice
ch7 Head in the clouds
ch9 Little ruby lie
ch8 Official Business

ch1 Fire and death

Lost Future: Rebirth of Equestria

Chapter 1: fire and death
It has been said that war never changes but that’s a bold faced lie. If war never changed the ponies would have still been fighting each other with sticks and stones. They wouldn’t have made ever more dangerous weapons, wouldn’t have started armies and wars, and wouldn’t have killed the whole world.
Unlike war the motives for the act never changed much over the centuries of the world’s existence, some creature would see some other creature with something it wanted or doing or saying something it didn’t like and they would fight over it.
As the years passed the fights became larger and larger and involved more and more creatures eventually becoming wars, but throughout it all the motives never changed. Greed and the difference of opinion were what had and would continue to cause war since time immemorial.
Still there were some who resisted war and its horrors. Who said that peace should be the only option but their cry’s fell on deaf ears and there was war and the world was laid waste because of it. One of the areas hardest hit by the sad and terrible war was the once beautiful land of Equestria a land formally full of wonder and magic now a barren and sad wasteland bereft of its former luster.
The scorched and pathetic country was and is home to a race of beings called ponies. These creatures were equine in base and stood quadrupedal on hooves anywhere for four to six feet tall when fully grown, they had tails and manes and long muzzles with forward facing eyes and pointed triangle ears on top of their heads.
In the land of Equestria there were four types of ponies the most common of which was the earth-ponies, hardy, forward thinking , and very industrious. The regale and mystical unicorns are rarer with the magical power of their horns and their natural affinity toward knowledge and learning they are some of the most adept at magiscience technology.
Though once more common the pegesi mostly fled up into the clouds and tower bunkers after the war abandoning all others in order to save themselves. With wings and the ability to touch and mold clouds as if they were solid objects they are sleek, speedy, incredibly good aerial fighters though they can sometimes act rashly.
The fourth and final type of ponies, the alicorns, are the rarest. So rare that some ponies say that they never existed in the first place. They had all the powers and traits of the other three and were the strongest and wisest of all ponies.
Before the war the land of Equestria was ruled be two said alicorns. Back then the land had known peace for over a thousand years and was protected and guided by the two princess sisters and six famous pony heroes. Even after the war started the ponies of Equestria knew that the great protectors of the land would keep them safe and win the war.
In response the princess founded six ministries and put the heroes of Equestria in charge of them. However two years after the war’s start, the princesses and their heroes left the now decrepit castle of canterlot on an important mission only to disappear entirely along with the town they were in.
The loss of the lands greatest leaders was a terrible blow to Equestria but the ponies kept going, praying that their guardians would return and bring a swift end to the war, their prayers would be answered but not in the way they wanted.
In the final days it became clear to tall that looked that the princesses and their champions would not be returning.
They searched desperately for someone to lead them, to protect them, to bring them victory. But it was not to be, mere days before their greatest projects were finished the megaspells were cast, the bombs were dropped, and their fate was sealed. Equestria, and much of the rest of the world, was all but whipped away in an orgy of balefire and death.
Not all ponies died with their great nation, some were spared, either by hiding in magically protected buildings and areas of the land that were not hit or only barely touched by the balefire that ravaged to world or but staying in great underground bunkers called stables.
In the stables the ponies were protected from the balefire and the magical radiation of the apocalypse and it gave them everything they needed to live conferrable, relatively happy lives.
The stables were meant to shield pony-kind and keep them safe till the land was safe and healed. It had been so long since some stables were opened that entire generations never knew there was an outside.
It was in one such stable that our story begins, stable 22, a name that would one day be known all over Equestria. In it was a small, lonely pony with no friends and few options in life.
Unaware shi and hir future companions would play an important role in the rebirth of the land of Equestria. That pony happens to be me, my name’s Snowy Flanks and this is my story.

ch2 the evershut stable

Chapter 2: the ever shut stable
“Wake up you have to get out of here. My father’s men are looking for you .”
If there was one word that could describe stable 22 it was routine, you got up in the morning, if you were old enough to have a job you went and did it or if you were too young for one you went to school. Then afterward you went back to your room and found whatever kind of diversion you could then you went to bed then got up and did it all over again.
That was what you did, every day, your whole life. Because you see you couldn’t do anything ells, you were born in the stable everyone was born in the stable and, like everyone ells, you were going to die there because you couldn’t leave because the door wouldn’t open.
It wasn’t that the door was broken, far from it; it was however that there was nothing to leave to. The stable, its residents had been told, had been sealed up on the night the bombs fell and that now it was simply adrift in a great sea of nothingness.
Opening the door would mean that all the stable residents would be sucked into that nothingness and die, that deterrent worked very well till one fateful day when everything changed.
*** *** ***
Routine, I hated routine. I was going to be late for school again but any way I could break up the routine was ok by me so I hadn’t minded that sneaking in to the cafeteria before it was open for lunch and taking some sweets was going to make me late.
But something was wrong as I galloped up from the cafeteria and towards maintenance where an air duct would take me right to the front of the school.
There were lots of ponies galloping back forth between maintenance and the stable entry-way where the technicians were busy trying to fix some kind of problem with the stable door.
There were klaxons going off and the overmare was in heated conversation with the head tec and the chief of security, she motioned them up to her office then saw me standing there in the hall. She narrowed her eyes and said “you here! Snowy Flaks isn’t it, you had best run along to school now.” Then she turned back to the other two ponies.
I winced and rushed off quickly, I hated when people used that name it always sounded kind of mocking to me. Personally I would preferred that my friends call me Snow which wasn’t hard seeing as I didn’t have any.
Starting to head to school I suddenly stopped short. Something was going on, something that was obviously very important but that the overmare didn’t want other ponies to know too much about. My curiosity piqued I changed course and trotted off in the direction of the overmare’s office.
On the way I caught sight of myself in the mirror above the sink in an open filly’s bathroom, somepony had forgotten to close the door and I wished they hadn’t, every time I saw a mirror I had to go look at myself and every time I did I cringed.
Coming to a stop I turned and went inside to look at the mirror. As if on cue I winced again looking over myself, it wasn’t that I hated how I looked I just thought I could be better.
Personally I thought I had some nice curves if a bit of a small frame for fourteen and I loved my silver eyes, mane, and tail. Even if I did have some extra…parts that are kinda embarrassing. I was especially fond of my new cutie mark.
A cutie mark, for those who dint know, is a mark on the flanks that Everypony gets when he or she finds out what makes them special.
Mine had only show up a day ago; it had come with a piercing headache. A headache I might add that had yet to go away. Everypony ells said looked like a glowing star but I thought looked, unfortunately, like a snowflake with a gold light around it.
On the other hoof it was very hard being the only daughter of the only two other pegesi in the stable, that and my coat was weird. It was grey all the way to my hind quarters where it changed into white specks and then pure white for my flanks which is how I got my name.
Looking down at my right forehoof I caught sight of my pipbuck, this wonderful device still amazes me. Everypony in the stable had one and there was a great deal of things it could do, it can track the date and time, show you where you are with its auto map feature, monitor your health and show the items in your possession, put up an E.F.S. (eyes forward sparkle) which shows your health, a compass with waypoints and markers for ponies and creatures around the wearer, and whether or not they are friendly, and can even help in combat with the S.A.T.S. or stable-tec arcane targeting spell along with many other functions.
Blinking I realized I’d been in the bathroom for over ten minutes staring at myself in the mirror. Knowing I had to hurry I quickly trotted out of the restroom and hurried to the overmare’s office, even with my detour I made it with enough to hide in the overmare’s large cabinet by her desk and terminal.
As the overmare came in I hunkered down and stayed as quiet as I could and waited for the three ponies to get into the room but only the overmare and the security chief walked in.
The head tec must have gone somewhere ells or still been busy. Holding my breath I waited. “Oh what are we going to do about this?” asked the overmare, a caramel colored unicorn with a lavender mane.
The chief, a large grey earth-pony with black smoke for a mane and tail grunted “I don’t know Miss Caramel you’re the one with the orders from stable-tec and the knowledge of what’s out there.”
What the chief said next nearly stopped my brain. “I didn’t even know it was possible to hack into the stable from the outside.” The overmare shook her head and nickered in frustration saying “As I already told you chief Stonewall it’s very possible it’s just hard, whoever tried to do that was a very skilled terminal hacker.”
Chief Stonewall snorted, clearly worried that somepony wanted in bad enough to learn how to hack into stable-tec equipment “well what about the cameras outside the door and the shelter concealing it they must have seen something right?”
The overmare shook her head again “No unfortunately something, some kind of magic no doubt, kept me from getting a good look at the perpetrator.”
I was just sitting there in the cabinet; slack jawed, thinking that I must have misheard them. The chief pawed a hoof at the ground nervously “Um Miss Caramel you don’t think this has anything to do with th…” The overmare cut him off with a steely glare “No. You know good and well they said no one would know they were here and that their experiments were disposed of and the affects would wear off soon. I know the birth of the little one was a shock but that’s still no reason to doubt them.”
She sighed heavily “What we need to worry about right now is how where going to keep all this quiet, you know as well as I do that if word of this gets out it would be disastrous. If anypony ever found out the truth about this or even worse saw what was on my terminal there would be panic and outrage, they would want to throw the stable door wide and we can’t let them do that, now what do you suggest we do?”
The overmare and the head of security then began arguing about how to cover up the event but I wasn’t listening anymore. I was just sitting there my mind in freefall thinking ‘O-outside how could the hack have come from outside and what was this thing on her terminal the overmare wanted to keep hidden?’ I didn’t know what was going on but I had a plan to find out.
Waiting until the overmare and the chief left then slowly creeping out into the room I looked around and then locked the door and rushed to the terminal in the room, I’m by no means an expert hacker but the password was the same as the password in the security room, it was easy and had never changed.
The pass code was 12345. I sighed in exasperation “You would think that the overmare of all ponies would think to put a better password on her terminal.”
Quickly I went to the camera records and deleted the one of me entering the room and set the camera to shut off till I got done finding what I wanted to find.
After a bit of searching I found it, there was a folder that was also pass worded this one was much harder and I’d almost got locked out three separate times before getting it. ‘This had better be worth it.’ I thought in a haughtily then looked at folder, my eyes went from file to file as my jaw dropped. “This can’t be true it’s got to be some kind of sick joke!”
What I was staring at changed everything and made me wonder just what ells the overmare was keeping from the ponies of stable 22. It also gave me a plan, one that made me want to jump for joy. But now was not the time and this was not the place.
Never mind that there was no way I could pull it off alone. I was going to need the help of a friend…to bad I don’t have any “Wait there is somepony who might help me I just hope I can find and convince him.”
*** *** ***
It was several hours later in the stable and I was hiding in the empty school anxiously awaiting the arrival of the one pony in the stable that might help me. “I know I saw him go this way” I said, my voice thick with worry.
Thankfully I soon heard the clopping of hooves as a black coated unicorn who looked to be at most twenty three with a deep green mane and tail and wearing stable-tec maintenance barding walked by my hiding place.
I hoped that the pony could see me as I waved my forelegs at him franticly, I had hoped I wouldn’t have to come out of the school since it was one of the only rooms in the stable without any cameras in it.
Luck was with me though as the older pony walked into the school saying “Um hello your name’s Snowy Flanks right, what are you doing in here at this hour and why are you waving me over?” I blushed nervously and said “Oh um hey Emerald Fire I was just in the area and w…” the older pony stopped me with a wave “Don’t go calling me that, only my boss calls me that and he’s a jerk, call me Emerald.”
I blushed again and felt like a foal but I was determined “Fine I’ll call you Emerald but you have to stop saying Snowy Flanks just call me Snow or simply Snowy at the very least.” Emerald nodded “Ok I can do that… but why, what’s wrong with your name” now it was my turn to wave the question away “Look don’t worry about that right now. You were at the er… incident this morning do you know what was going on?”
The black unicorn shook his head, his mane flitting back and forth like green fire “No not really, there was a fault with the stable door’s console. We stopped the door form opening but before we could find where the fault came from our boss dismissed us.”
I nodded “I’m not that surprised; the head tec pulled you away because the overmare order him to.” Eyes widening the unicorn stammered “w-what… what are you talking about, why would she want to do that?”
I wasn’t quite sure how to tell him the truth. So I went with the direct approach “Well you see she did it because she wanted as few ponies knowing the truth as possible. You see she didn’t want word to get out because the ‘fault’ was actually a hacking attempt and the attempt came from… outside.”
Emerald looked completely perplexed “what do you mean hacking attempt and outside where, like outside this school?”
I pawed at the ground nervously with a hoof, he didn’t understand and who could blame him, every pony was taught from a young age; there was no outside, you were born in the stable, you lived in the stable, and you would die in the stable…there was never an alternative. At least not until now “no that’s not what I mean.” I said slowly “I mean for outside the stable.”
The unicorn standing before me looked stricken, like his whole world had just been blown to smithereens. He clopped back a step and stammered out “N-n-n-no that can’t be true you must be mistaken must have heard the overmare wrong! I mean there isn’t any outside you know that as well as I do.”
Shaking my mane sadly I regarded the pony before me, I hated seeing this unicorn so distressed when he had been nicer to me than any other pony in the stable… including my parents. For a moment that I was worried that I may have gone too far too fast and that Emerald wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore… or worse that he might go to the overmare.
Trying to dissuade him from doing either option I explained “I swear it’s true I heard it from the overmare herself and even more than that I have proof. There was a file hidden on the overmare’s terminal, I found it and… oh Emerald it had TONES of data about the outside. Camera views from outside the door, views for the structure… or wants left of it that conceals the stable, and all kinds of biological data from sensors placed around the building.”
I shuddered a bit and gathered what was left of my resolve before continuing “I downloaded all of it to my pipbuck, I know it was wrong to steal it. But as soon as I saw it I knew I had to use it to get out of here, out of this tomb… but I can’t do it by myself. That’s why I came to you I need help to get out of the stable and you’re the only pony who’s ever been nice to me.” I was shaking now and about to burst into tears “You don’t have to come with me but I can’t get out of here without you so please I’ll do anything you want, just please help me escape!”
Emerald looked stunned then began pacing back and forth rapidly “So let me get this straight the overmare has been lying to us from day one and you found out about it and now you want to use that knowledge to go outside of the safety of the stable. You want to leave here and go out into the unknown?”
“Yes.” I was hardly paying attention. I was starting to think that it was a bad idea that I brought this to his attention as he was now pacing worse than ever.
Form this angle I could see his cutie mark, maintenance barding like all other stable-issue clothing has a clear plastic port on the wearer’s hips so other ponies could see their cutie mark. Emerald’s was a large gemstone awash in green flames...in my humble opinion if fit him well. I was snapped form hir reverie by a sharp question
“Why?” Emerald asked uncertainly “Why do you want to leave so bad?” I looked down for a second then stepped forward, determined “Because except for you no one in the stable likes me, not even my parents.”
The unicorn opened his muzzle to speak but I cut him off “Don’t start, you don’t know them. They hate me, I can tell every time they talk to me and even more than that just look at this place, it’s solemn, grey, and cramped. Even the atrium is only two stories tall. I’m a pegasus I don’t belong here. Mom and dad may not care about it but I don’t want to live here all my life then die here alone and without friends, I want to spread my wings and fly for the first time, I want to see the sky… I want to be free.”
Despite my best efforts I was crying now and shaking quietly with small sobs. Emerald stared at me, looking close to tears himself “Fine.”
I blinked for several seconds, sure I had misheard that “W-what did you say just now?”
“I said I would help you escape. But I’m coming with you, there’s no way I would let a filly as young as you are go out there alone.” I couldn’t be certain but I think my heart exploded with joy, I then proceeded to pounce the unicorn and hug him as tightly as I could “Oh thank you thank you thank you!”
Emerald just blushed “Um… don’t mention it, now do you have a plan on how to do this.” I smiled mischievously “of course I do.” I then proceeded to fill him in on the plan.
*** *** ***
That evening I was running around my room at top speed trying to find everything we would need on the trip out. After filling Emerald in on the plan and then arguing with him over the finer details I snuck all over the stable gathering all the items I could that might be helpful.
I had just finished packing my saddlepack and putting it under my bed when there was a knock at my room’s door, this gave me pause as it didn’t sound like the dull disinterested knock of my parents.
No this knock was urgent and incessant, one meant to not be ignored, realizing this I opened the door and was shocked and more than a little worried to see the overmare herself trotting into my room.
“Good evening Snowy I was just making the rounds, talking to all the stable residents. The incident with the door this morning has every one on edge.” the overmare said, her tone was calm but I could sense something behind it.
Whinnying nervously I replied “Oh well that’s very nice of you Miss Overmare but I’m really no problem here.”
“Are you sure there dear?” the overmare asked eyes narrowing as she spied the strap of my saddlepack sticking out from under the bed “The fault with the door was very frightening and you were right in the middle of it. We wouldn’t want anypony to do something… rash out of fear would we?”
I gulped loudly “Um n-no of course not that would be… bad but don’t you worry about me Miss Overmare I’m perfectly fine, really.” The much older unicorn mare tore her eyes form the strap of the backpack and gave a slight nod “Of course dear whatever you say. But you know if you ever need to talk to somepony I’ll be in my office.”
Then she turned and walked out leaving my mind awash in new fears. Sitting on my bed I was more nervous than ever, the overmare had come to see me. Did that mean that she had found out what I was planning, and she had called me Snowy… just Snowy.
The overmare had never done that before, did that mean that Emerald had given me up? “No if was the case I would already have been dragged down to the holding cells.” I reminded myself. Even so the overmare definitely knew something was going on so we would have to put their plan into action tonight.
*** *** ***
It was late at night at the stable and nearly everypony was closed up in their rooms asleep. crouched in the darkness of the stable atrium looking out into the entryway where the large door was locked shut I was struck with two conclusions, the first was that if I never heard the buzzing of the dim stable night lights again it would still be too soon, and the second was that we were completely screwed.
Two armed stable guards were stationed right in front of the Celestia-dammed door, this brought…complications.
A slight sound brought me back to reality, looking to my right I saw the black form of Emerald Fire crouched down behind one of the atrium’s many support pillars, he waved to me and I nodded back. Knowing that I would have to get over to him I hoped up into the air and flew over to the unicorn, hovering for a second before landing so I would make as little noise as possible.
Emerald’s eyes widened in shock as he turned and suddenly found himself muzzle to muzzle me, to his credit he didn’t do anything dumb like scream at the top of his lungs. Instead he just shuddered and said “Gah don’t do that! I hate it when ponies sneak up on me and besides wasn’t that a dangerous move there are guards in there you know.”
I just grinned, it was possible I was a bit smugger than was really warranted but I’d never impressed another pony before and I wanted to savor it “No it wasn’t. I flew over the lip of the door and the ponies on the second floor are all asleep so no one saw me. As for the guards I have an idea but I’ll need you to distract them for a minute.”
The black unicorn looked frightened “Um I don’t know about that what if they start shooting the moment I walk up?”
I waved the notion off “There’s no way they would shoot a maintenance pony that might be there under the overmare’s orders. Look I just need you to talk to them for two minuets tops, it’ll be a cinch.” patting him on the shoulder and smiling I tried to be reassuring.
One look at his face told me I had convinced him. So with a reluctant sigh he nodded and walked up to the stable entrance while the I zoomed back to the other side of the room and started working on the grating of the air duct that connected to two rooms.
Crawling inside I could hear the guards shout something and Emerald reply to them. A quick crawl led me to the other grate. Popping it open I heard the guard start to say something, I wasn’t going to let them finish as I hopped out of the duct and flew up behind the two unsuspecting ponies.
There was a thud and a crack as both ponies slid to the floor in lifeless lumps. Behind them I stood wide-eyed and panting, the splintered remains of a baseball bat handle, the only birthday present I ever got, clenched in my teeth.
Emerald was stunned “Snow what did you do!” It took me a moment to understand the black pony, and to spit out the bat splinters “What…oh I hit them over the head with a baseball bat what does it look like I did? It’s not like they were just going to let us open the door , now put in the override code I got from the overmare’s files while see if they have anything on them we might need.”
Emerald blinked, it seemed he wasn’t used to seeing such a young pony take charge and bark out orders. As he went to the stable door control panel he asked “are you sure they’re going to be ok you hit them kinda hard?”
I didn’t answer as I was busy relieving the guards of all there useful possessions, they didn’t have much other than their guns.
They were pre war tec high quality 12mm pistols with laser guides on the under-barrel mount, I grabbed one and all the ammo from both, it was doubtful Emerald would be ok with shooting somepony yet but I had snuck into the security room firing range enough times that I could… if I had to.
While busy scavenging I looked behind myself at the unicorn. He was shaking with fear and his pack was nowhere big enough for all the supplies he would need.
Trying to calm Emerald down I replied to his earlier question “They will be fine their just knocked out. Now how is the door override coming?” Emerald sighed weekly “I’ve got it done now I just have to pull the access lever and we can go”
“Ok then. Pull the lever and lets…” Before I could finish my sentence a voice rang out behind us in the entryway “Please don’t do that.”
We turned and saw the overmare standing behind us flanked by another six guard ponies, raising my gun and the guards did the same but the overmare waved them off making them lower their weapons. “Snowy it makes me very sad to see you do this, I know you’ve had a hard time here in the stable and you want to be free. But this isn’t the answer.”
The overmare said wearily “I can’t just let the door be opened, it’s too dangerous, so please I’m begging you not to do this.” I shook my head not about to come this far for nothing. Putting the gun into my saddle bags I replied “No I won’t be dissuaded now. I know what’s out there now and I refuse to die in this metal coffin without over getting to spread my wings. Emerald can stay if he wants to but I’m going through that door.”
Looking into my silver eyes the caramel colored mare must have seen something because her shoulders drooped in resignation “Very well.” She said “I know better than to think I can change your mind, I’ve seen that look before. I understand why you want your freedom, I really do, and for what it’s worth I’m sorry.”
With that she used her magic to pull out a strange wand with a small pink gem on the front and point it at me. Before either Emerald or I could react there was a loud *ZORCH* as pink lightning shot from the gem.
My body seized up as the lightning hit me, the room spun and I fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Vaguely I heard somepony shouting something; it must have been Emerald, followed by another shot from the wand.
There was another dull thud as the guard ponies swarmed our two lifeless bodies, one of them grabbed the gun I had taken but the overmare shook her head saying “No let her keep it she will need it more than we will.”
Footnote: level up
New perk: stealth flyer- - you can minimize the noise your wings make. Making harder for your foes to hear the death from above (flying now gives smaller penalties to stealth)
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch3 new foes and... friends?

Chapter 3: New foes and… friends?
“I’ve never seen you before.” “Kid your smarter than ya look.”
Darkness… that’s all there was, wait no there was breathing too. Who was breathing and why?
It took my brain much longer than my body to return from the land of the dead, opening my eyes I had been expecting to see the smiling faces of the goddesses ready to take me up in their embrace. Instead my returning vision was greeted with grey metallic walls.
The breathing, I realized, had been my own. Sitting up with a groan I took stalk of my surroundings, there was a long metal hallway that led to a staircase and a large trapdoor while behind me the great stable door stood shut like it always was. “But if the door is shut how did I get out here… wherever here is. More importantly how am I still alive and where is Emerald?”
Before I could think too much about it there was flashing light on my pipbuck, it was a new message. Pressing play the voice of the overmare rang out in the silence
“Hello Snowy, I’m truly sorry I had to stun you but I couldn’t let you leave the stable… at least not without finding out why. You see Snowy its orders from stable-tec that are keeping us trapped here they ordered the first overmare of stable 22 to not open the stable door without express permission from stable-tec.
If we do open the door without their orders they said they would destroy the stable with high explosives buried under its foundation. I wasn’t ready to risk the stable and all the ponies inside. However when I saw that look in your eyes I knew you would try and leave no matter how great the consequences so I decided to open the stable one more time and let you out.
I know you must hate me right now, and I can’t blame you, but I need you. You have to find stable-tec’s headquarters and find a way to make the stable safe. Till then you are banished and cannot return. ”
I listened quietly, my mood worsening. So the same overmare who stunned me and Emerald then banished us now had a job for me. It was very tempting to just scream, to cry, and to buck all the stable residents straight to the moon. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen, even after all that happened, in my heart of hearts I was going to try and help them.
“Well I won’t get very far just sitting here.” I said and walked up to the stairs. Emerging from the trapdoor I found myself in a small room that looked like the shop in the stable. Two things that were immediately apparent, there was nothing on the shelves or the old coolers and there were ponies that must live here.
I thought that they might be able to help me but those thoughts were squashed as the front door opened and one of the ponies started talking “I’m telling you those guy what came out of the sky were scary as hell. Not to mention they came and got that unicorn before we could play with him” the voice in the other room seemed to brighten “Although I bet you there’s still other ponies down there and if that one got out then maybe we can get in and have some fun.”
It suddenly struck me that I didn’t think I wanted to meet these ponies, they sounded mean. Sneaking out the back door I looked for cover on the front of the building but there wasn’t anything other than some small rocks. So I did the only thing I could, I took wing and flew, really flew, for the first time.
The flight was short lived as I crashed almost immediately, thankfully right in front of the ruins of a town, unfortunately the ponies in the small shop heard the noise and started running after me. Pulling myself up from the dust I took cover behind the small wall of one of the more ruined builds and brought my pistol to bear as a shot rang out and pain lanced up my cheek.
The ponies chasing me looked horrifying. There were three of them, all earth-ponies, one was grey and had some kind of old shotgun in some kind of saddle, another was a black pony with a scar all down one side of his face. He was carrying a small handgun in his mouth like I was; the third had half of its coat missing but the part that was left looked blue under the dirt and blood.
I aimed down the sights as best I could, holding guns in your mouth is hard, but didn’t fire, there was blood flowing from my cheek but they were sill ponies, at least I think they were ponies so I had to try diplomacy so I pulled the pistol out of my mouth with a fetlock “Wait please don’t fire. I don’t know where I am so can you help me?” I asked.
“Oh we’ll help you sweetie, just you come over here and we’ll have lots of fun.” the black pony shouted as he raised his handgun *bang* my leg exploded in pain and my vision flared with red.
So much for diplomacy, I put the gun back, flicked the safety off, and fired *bang, bang, bang * the first pony, the one with the shotgun, suddenly found himself with a 12mm bullet in his eye as the one who had shouted screamed as his shoulder and chest blossomed with red. I panned my gun towards the third pony but my vision was started to swim and grow dark. I was firing rapidly but my rounds went wide. The half coated pony surged forward, rusty ax held high.
*POW* the raider’s head exploded, dimly aware that the shot didn’t come from my gun I tried to find the source of it. But before I could my vision lurched and I slipped back into blackness.
I groaned as I came back for the second time in… was it the same day, it was hard to tell. Somepony was talking but I couldn’t make out the words “Hello …….. hear me? Please tell...you’re …there.”
Opening my eyes my gaze was locked with a cute earth-pony with a blue coat and a black mane and tail. She was wearing a leather duster and patchwork clothes, there was a rifle on her back in another saddle-thing and I could see a pistol on her foreleg as she stared down at me, her aqua colored eyes wide in worry as she spoke softly “You with me again?” I nodded a little “Good now I’m going to have to take you’re barding off.”
My eyes went wide “Wait what! No you can’t do that please.” The blue mare blinked saying “What’s wrong you’ve been shot and I need to see if the round is still in you so I can help. Look we’re both fillies so I’ve seen it before, your safe I promise.” Blushing like a foal I replied “Uh…ok.”
I had wanted to say no but the pain was too great, I had to let this cute pony help me. “Ok then just relax and it will be ok.” The older pony smiled trying her best to ease my nervousness “Ok then just let me look… yep looks like the bullet went right through without hitting anything important. Take this healing potion and I’ll bandage you up.”
Downing the potion I whinnied as the healing magic washed over me, my cheek wound mended right up and the one in my thigh closed enough for the magic bandages to stop the bleeding. “Um thank you for helping me but who are you and what were those… things chasing me?”
Smiling sweetly at seeing my pain ease away the mare spoke “Huh? Oh right my name’s Glitter Lens nice to meet ya. As for those ponies, haven’t you ever seen a raider before?” As Glitter helped me to my feet and started to walk with me through the decrepit bones of the former town I blushed “No I haven’t. Why were they attacking me, I just got out of my stable I couldn’t have done anything to them.”
At this realization the pretty blue mare stopped and had to hold on to me as she asked “Wait you said stable, are you telling me you came out of the stable down there?”
Nodding slowly I affirmed “Yep I lived down there my whole life till I…” I winced a little at the remaining pain as Glitter and I took the weapons and ammo from the dead raiders “Anyway I lived there till I found out there was still a world out here. After hearing the truth I had to come out and be free.”
Glitter’s eyebrows rose in disbelief “You came out here to the wasteland, but your way too young to be out here on your own. Although I must admit after seeing you in action you know how to handle yourself.”
If I didn’t have a leg wound I probably would have been prancing with pride, as it was I just grinned bashfully “Thanks for the… complement but I wasn’t alone. There was another pony with me, a unicorn, but I don’t know where he went.” Glitter frowned “A unicorn, I don’t know anything about that but if he came out here first he may be in Baleville.”
“Baleville?” I questioned “Is that a settlement of some kind?” The blue mare nodded and smiled “Yep that’s my home, nice town just north of here. When we get there we’ll have Anesthesia look at your leg.” Taking that in I felt relief flow through my body. After seeing those raider ponies I had thought that there was no civilization anywhere in Equestria… or what was left of it.
As we came up to the big walls I had only one comment “It’s…bigger than I expected.” And it was, Baleville turned out to be a large town with walls made of old sky chariots and abandoned train cars, on top of said walls were guard ponies.
One of them saw me and Glitter and waived at us as the large gate opened up. The blue mare giggled at the look of wonder on my face “Well what do ya think. It’s not quite as clean or high tec as you’re stable but its home.”
Once inside my wonder over the town didn’t decrease in the slightest. There were three levels all connected by ramps. There were houses and shops all about the edges of the town, in the center however was a large crater of some kind and inside was some object that was casting up a blue and purple glow.
I couldn’t see what was causing the light show but it was dazzling. Seeing that I was entranced Glitter gently pulled on my arm “Hey come on now we have to go see Anesthesia. Once we’re done there I’ll take you on the full tour ok?”
I winced as the pain in my leg finally cut through my awe. Once we got to the towns small clinic we met Anesthesia who, it turned out, preferred to just be called Ana.
The older pink unicorn mare was kindly but stern, she took one glance at my leg and gave me a look that only a doctor can give to a patient, the kind that makes me feel like it was my fault I was injured. As Ana used her horn’s magic on my leg I took the opportunity to check out the building, it was small and sparsely decorated, only two beds and some small medical boxes, their pink and yellow crosses matching Ana’s dress.
The older mare smiled sweetly “Well you’re going to be just fine sweetie, just give me a second and I’ll use a healing spell on it.” “Praise the goddess that’s good to know.” The smile I had on my lips died as Ana’s face tightened “What… what did I say?”
The medical pony looked toward Glitter for help but the blue Earth-pony but she was busy face-hoofing. Seeing that she was alone Ana spoke up “Well uh you see it might not be a good idea to praise those two ponies around others. Many ponies feel to this day that the so-called goddesses abandoned Equestria.”
My mind could not accept that fact so instead of arguing I simply asked “You’re kidding right?” The door opened “Nope she’s telling the truth little one.” said a gravelly voice from the entryway.
All of our heads turned and I glimpsed Glitter’s eyes light up “Daddy!” At the door the Thing stood as the blue pony rushed into its forelegs and gave it a hug “hey there sweetie I’m glad to be back. Now who is this you brought here with you.”
Giggling like a foal Glitter replied “Oh hir, shi followed me home can we keep hir.” The creature looked like a pony… if the pony had lost some of its skin and a good portion of its mane, catching my stare the pony…thing smiled “What never seen a ghoul-pony before?”
After I calmed myself I found that the ghouls name was Lawman. He was the mayor/sheriff of Baleville although till today he was leading a caravan out to small hamlet called New Doge Junction.
Before we went on the tour I asked of the ponies in the clinic could explain some things to me “First off why do ponies hate the goddesses?”
Lawman looked me over before replying “Well let’s see, how much do you know about history after the war started?” Thinking about it I realized it wasn’t very much, the stable’s records of history during the war were extremely sketchy. After saying what I did know the ghoul nodded and continued “Like you said a few years after the war started the princesses and the heroes of Equestria went to a small town called Ponyville for the start of some secret mission only to disappear entirely along with the town. What you don’t know is what happened afterward.”
I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer but I asked anyway “So what happened after the town disappeared?” Glitter picked up where her father left off “Well it’s said that one pony crawled out of the Ponyville crater. From what we can tell his name was Shadow Hooves, after returning to Canterlot and finding the castle blocked by the Goddesses’ magic he convinced the acting head’s of the six ministries to move their operations to Manehattan. After that Shadow Hooves used the ministries to run Equestria for the next eleven years till the megaspells went off.”
This was a lot to take in and it would seem that I would be learning new facts about the wasteland and about Equestria’s history for a while. “So that’s why ponies think the goddesses betrayed them, because they disappeared with the town.”
The ghoul smiled grimly “Yep that’s pretty much the reason.” I was about to argue about how silly and petty that sounded when Glitter cut me off with a wave of her hoof “Now hold on a minute. before we worry to much about that we have other things to take care of first...right Snowah."
*** *** ***
I was still fuming as we left the clinic to do other things in town. Glitter must have thought the look on my face was priceless because she wouldn't stop laughing
Realizing how silly I looked I blushed and slowed my step down to a walk “So where are we going? You already showed me the bar and the diner.” Glitter smiled well we’re heading down to the crater so we can go to the Baleville Emporium. We need to get you a battle-saddle.”
I was about to ask her what a battle-saddle was when we got to the bottom of town and I saw the glowing blue and purple orb laying there. “What is this thing… it’s beautiful.” Glitter pushed her foreleg over my eyes saying “That thing isn’t beautiful it’s a balefire bomb… and don’t look directly at it you’ll get entranced by its magic.”
I swear I felt my blood turn to ice, tearing my eyes away from it I stared at Glitter in disbelief “You have an undetonated balefire bomb sitting in the middle of your town! Are you ponies insane!?” Seeing that I was about to run as far away from the town as fast as I could Glitter put her hoof on my shoulder “Hold on there Snowy, it’s ok the things been deactivated.”
I squinted my eyes to keep from being entranced the thing and glanced to where she was pointing. There was a small object with a picture of some kind of gear on the outside of the bomb, seeing that there was an inscription I read aloud “No Boom 5000 by Clara Cog.” Glitter smiled at me in a reassuring way saying “Clara’s the owner of the emporium and is kind of a tinkerer; she’s a good mare if a bit of an airhead.”
Trying to put my mind off the megaspell sitting in the center of town I asked the question I had meant to ask before the distraction “So can you tell me what a battle-saddle is and why I would need one?”
For a second the mare looked confused but she quickly regained her composure “Oh right, I forgot you never saw one. We earth-ponies and pegesi use battle-saddles to hold guns that are too big for our mouths since we can’t use magic like unicorns.” That seemed simple enough to understand, the actual device on the other hoof didn’t.
As she went on to explain the use of a battle-saddle I had to marvel at earth-pony engineering “So let’s see if I understand… you flick the bit up from the side, you tug the bit backwards to cock the gun, and then you bite down on the bit to fire.”
Glitter nodded “Eyep then ya just pull the bit back again to work the guns action… unless it’s a semi or fully automatic gun. For semiautomatics you just bite down again and for automatic guns just hold the bit down.” Ok that was easy enough to understand “And I just push the toggle on the saddle to reload right?” “Eyep” Glitter affirmed. I was about to ask more about the internal workings of the things when we came to the shop and words failed me.
The store looked like somepony had gotten a train car drunk and had it mate with a sky-chariot and an industrial chimney, then used the resulting offspring as a building. I heard Glitter beside me laughing her plot off at the look on my muzzle “I told you she was a bit of a tinkerer.” Thinking that calling her a bit of a tinkerer was an understatement I walked in shop’s front door.
Inside we were greeted by a cheerful and bubbly mare’s voice “Hello and welcome to… oh hi Glitter who’s your new little filly friend?”The shops interior was just as jumbled and cluttered as its outside but at present I was too busy getting a hoofshake form the shop’s owner to notice.
The mare in front of me looked the part of an inviter and shop owner, she was bright yellow and wore a grease stained jumpsuit, and her short red mane and tail were tied back to keep them clean.
After getting the introductions over with we started to barter for a battle-saddle and I found out that ponies used bottle caps for money…for some reason. Clara didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t have any money as she offered me the best battle-saddle she had in stock “This one here is a real gem. It’s got room for two guns, uses a magi-science field instead of mechanical parts to work, and it even has subspace ammo storage. So you can just feed in ammo and it will be stored in a gemstone till it gets loaded.”
I wasn’t sure I knew how the barter system worked but I did know there was no way I could afford that thing. Clara obviously read my mind as she spoke up before I could argue “Now don’t worry about payment, I have a job I need done that you could help with. You do that and we’ll call it even, ill even throw in some weapons and leather armored barding for free.”
*** *** ***
After putting the lever-action rifle form Clara and the shotgun I got from the raider into my new battle-saddle and putting on my armor we found ourselves outside of Bucktown.
Lawman had found us after we left the emporium. There was a job he needed done and he was going to be heading back to New Doge Junction, there had been some kind of creature that had come out of the Everfree Forest and the small hamlet had called for aid.
Unfortunately Baleville’s water purifier had been on its last legs and had picked that exact day to finally give up the ghost. All we had to do was go to the Bucktown School and find its purifier and scavenge the parts form it.
The only problem was that the northern part of Bucktown was raider territory and several of them were holed up in the school. With that in mind we were low to the ground hiding behind a crumbling building across the street from the school, I wasn’t sure I was ready to have to kill another pony but the town needed those parts.
Glitter was crouching next to me looking through her flip-over rifle scope “how many do you see?” At my question the young mare flipped up her scope and looked over at me “Well as far as I can see there are two at the front door and I saw a few more through the windows so I’d say no more than thirteen.” She said and then nudged me with a forehoof “Are you sure that your ready to do this I could go in by myself if you want.”
Truthfully I didn’t want to go in at all but Glitter needed my help and after she saved my life there was no way I would let her down. “Let’s go be heroes.”
Being heroes, as it turns out, is a lot harder and more frightening than the comic books make it seem. At first it had been a breeze, Glitter took out the two guards and we bust in through the front doors. In front of us were two surprised raider ponies, I wasn’t sure I wanted to kill but I didn’t have any choice.
Turning to face the first pony I hit S.A.T.S. and put two rounds on the first and a third on the second one. *Pow* the fist raider went down, a 30.30 round lodged in his brain. My second and third shots weren’t so lucky only grazing the raider, my targeting spell was still recharging so I did the only thing I could, biting down on the left bit of my battle-saddle my shotgun roared to life.
The raider’s forehoof and chest exploded in red just before he could bring his own gun to bear. Looking to my right I saw Glitter dispatching two other raiders who had rushed in to help with her revolver. Rushing through the hallways we cut a swath through the raiders, alone or in groups of two or three they weren’t very dangerous.
But eventually the last five of them had us pinned down in a narrow hallway and they were shooting at us… a lot. “I’m starting to think that busting in through the front door was a dumb idea.” Glitter said with the smuggest grin I had ever seen.
I wanted to hit her, and point out that while it was my idea she was the one who went along with it, when I felt a lance of fire hit my breast.
Looking down I saw blood leaking from a hole in my armor, one of the bullets the raider were shooting had gone through the thin table we were using for cover. There was a lot of pain but my pipbuck’s medical spell told me the round hadn’t hit anything vital, still we needed to get out of here before one of the raiders got lucky
“Glitter we need to… go… I’ve been shot.” I heard the mare next to me give a loud swear then pull something from her saddlebag, it looked like a metal apple with a ring in the stem, grunting she heaved herself up and tossed the thing in her mouth.
“Um Glitter what was…” there was a huge explosion “Celestia fuck me gently what was that!!” The blue pony was giving that smug smile again “That…my stable dwelling friend was a high explosive grenade, I had hoped to save it but we have to get you patched up.”
Once we made sure the raiders were dead I found myself lying on my side in the same hallway and screaming like I never had before. Glitter stood above me with a pair of tweezes held in her mouth and her muzzle splashed with my blood “Hod on I amos got it.”
There was a small clack and I felt something more than just the tweezers being pulled out of me, it hurt a lot but I managed to keep form screaming again. Downing the healing potion Glitter hoofed me I managed to pull myself to my hooves “would you care to tell me why you had to dig around in… me before letting me heal?”
My companion looked angry for a second before she seemed to relax and replied “Because if I just gave you the potion the bullet would still be in you, a pony can get by with lead in them but that one was close to your vitals and could have shifted. Now come on we need to find that purifier so we can get back to Baleville and have Anesthesia look at you.” It was a bit hard to walk as I wasn’t completely healed but I staggered to follow after Glitter.
We found the thing as well as every weapon, bullet, and valuable the raiders had on them and headed back to Baleville hoping that we didn’t hit anymore raiders.
Footnote: level up
Skill notes:
Flying now at 25

Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch4 harsh past and surprising future

Chapter 4: harsh past and surprising future

We had made it back to Baleville and had given the parts to Rustbucket, a red and orange earth-pony with a paradoxically clean sliver bucket for a cutie mark, so he could fix up the purifier while Glitter and I went to her house to rest up and recover.
The house had used to belong to her adoptive father Lawman but as he was mostly on the road with caravans now he let her have it. It was a large shack at the back of the town made of a train car and lots of sheet metal.
Sitting on the one bed I decided it was time to ask the question that had been bugging me since the firefight “Hey Glitter, how come we needed to fix the purifier? Is all the water out here in the wasteland irradiated?”
My blue mare friend jumped up to lay down next to me “Na not all the water or plants are tainted, it’s been two hundred years, but some places still have lots of taint and this place is one of them. We’re not sure what exactly but something leaking out of the Everfree Forest taints and irradiates all the ground water around here so we have to purify it.”
That seemed to makes sense, to me at least, and I was about to pester her some more to learn about this taint that was in the ground water when I felt her hoof brush my side. Looking over I saw her staring at me with an intense worry in her eyes “Snowy… are you going to be ok? Ya’ve only been out here for a day and you… well.”
One day out of the stable and I had already killed seven ponies. I thought about a raider’s head blowing apart in the slow-motion of S.A.T.S. and came to the conclusion that… no I was not ok. But Glitter had killed more than I have and she looked ok so I decided to just say “yep… I’m fine… just fine.”
The blue mare looked as if she wanted to argue with me but then she saw just how exhausted I was when I leaned over to grab an apple from the nightstand and fell off the bed flat on my face. Glitter helped me back onto the bed “Oops sorry I forgot you aren’t used to fighting ponies all day. Ya look worn out so let’s get some sleep.” she said as she started to ease off my barding.
My eyes bulged and I skittered away from her, almost falling back off the bed “Um wait were going to be sleeping in the same room? Isn’t there anywhere ells to sleep at, like maybe an inn or something?” Glitter’s confusion was evident on her face but I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as her, she was a mare… a cute mare.
“What’s wrong Snowy I have already seen naked so there’s nothing to worry about.” I started to stammer out some response when the blue mare’s eyes widened “Oh…Oh! I understand what the problem is. You don’t have to worry about that hun it’s not a problem.”
It took another ten minutes to convince me that Glitter was ok with the fact that I liked mares and thought she was pretty. After helping me out of my leather barding and talking off her outfit my friend slid under the covers with me and snuggled up to my back, I had to admit that while the act made me intensely embarrassed it did feel really nice to have somepony so close to me.
I felt breath on my mane as Glitter lifted her head up above mine and asked “Are ya sure you’re ok Snowy? I know how hard the fist kill can be especially to one so young and your shaking way more than a pony with a crush so talk to me.”
I still wasn’t quite ready to talk about my murder spree so instead I said “Um well I’m just worried about Emerald no one saw him in town and he wasn’t in the school.” Glitter didn’t looked convinced but replied “Well he’s got to be out there somewhere so we should find him soon. If you’re sure your ok it’s time to get some sleep.” Nodding to her I laid back on my pillow and Glitter put her foreleg over my side, this made me blush but I ignored it and went to sleep.
*** *** ***
At fist my sleep was uninterrupted but soon my slumber was marred by visions filled with dead raider ponies. Their body’s blossomed in red, their heads exploded in gore, their chests heaved up and down as they gasped their last breaths.
I tried to escape to… somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t the scene of horror before me but no matter how hard I ran I couldn’t get away from them.
Soon the raiders stopped dying and slowly rose to their hooves and began to shamble towards me saying “You killed us Snowy, we’re dead now all because of you. Are you happy now Snowy, now that we’re dead?” They crowded around me trapping me in a circle, as one they screamed, swore, and gurgled at me.
I curled up into a ball as they tightened their circle my body shaking in terror as I cried out “I’m sorry I’m sorry! Go away, leave me alone I’m sorry I killed you!”
Suddenly the screams and gurgles stopped and the most beautiful voice I had ever heard called out softly “Shhh hush now little one it will be ok.” A large warm hoof gently touched my shoulder as my quivering stopped; looking up at the hoof’s owner my eyes bulged in disbelief. Before me stood the two goddesses I had prayed to since I was a foal.
My mouth opened but no sound came out, I tried harder but… nothing. The goddesses just smiled at me as Luna spoke this time, the midnight blue alicorn’s voice as beautiful as hir sisters but slightly less mature sounding “Hush now little pony don’t try to talk. You’re not quite strong enough for that just know that it will be ok.”
Calming for a moment I caught sight of the room around us, it was a large and elegantly dressed hall with two large gold thrones that the princesses sat on in front of me. It looked a lot like throne room in canterlot but there was one major difference, on either side of the hall were large windows full of light that showed lots of ponies and… more alicorns walking, flying, and playing together.
Looking back at the goddesses I saw that both of them were smiling at me but also crying softly as Celestia lifted her hoof from my shoulder and then gathered me to her chest for a warm soft hug. Luna joined in and I thought I might just explode from joy, but then I thought about what I had done this very day, all the ponies I had killed and I suddenly felt that I didn’t deserve to be held like this. As that realization sunk in I found that while I couldn’t talk I could cry and so I did, I sobbed silently and tried to pull away from the two princesses.
Seeing this Celestia took a hoof from around me and used it to bring my tear filled silver eyes to her gorgeous amethyst pair “Shhh now my little pony it will be ok we’re not mad at you, we’re just sad that there are so many ponies that are so full of hate. I’m sorry you had to do what you did but I can promise my sister and I will be here for you.”
Luna smiled at me as well using her velvety soft wing-tip to dry my tears “My sister is right little Snowy we will be here when you need us, but right now you have to wake up.”
Confusion ran through me, why would I want to wake up this hug was the happiest I’ve ever been.
As if reading my mind Celestia nuzzled my forehead and whispered into my ear “There is still much you need to learn little one and you need to see that while we can’t be with you in the wastes you won’t be alone.”
Suddenly the world shifted and I found myself in some other pony’s forelegs. Glitter was holding me tightly and nuzzling my ear while I cried into her coat.
Sniffling myself into silence I looked up into her aqua eyes “I…I’m sorry. I just couldn’t talk about it… I was so scared.”
I felt Glitter rub my cheek with a forehoof as she replied quietly “Hey now that’s ok I know it’s hard to come to terms with it sometimes.” Rubbing my teary eyes I asked “How can you be so ok with it? I … I feel like I’m a bad pony.”
Glitter pulled me back into her chest and nuzzled the top of my head before replying “Well the truth of it is that ah been fighting raiders for a while now so I’m more used to killing than you are. But more than that dad used to take me out hunting all the time, in fact that’s how I got this.”
Looking at her flank I saw that a rifle scope, its lens glittering in the sun, was her cutie-mark. The blue mare beamed at her flank.
My curiosity was piqued so I asked her about it “Dad and I were hunting for some radhog meat to sell and we had gone real close to the Everfree forest. I was back up on the small ridge by the town and he was below me when all the sudden a big timberwolf charged out of the forest and attacked dad. I had tried to get a clean shot but he was holding it off with his hooves and a knife so he kept getting in the way.”
I was on the edge of the bed as I waited for her to continue “I kept looking down my scope, hoping that dad would move or do something when all of the sudden dad fell flat on his back and I got a clear shot. The thing was as soon as I could see the timberwolf everything just kinda slowed down and I found I could pick my shots while time just seemed to crawl by.”
My brain reeled at the prospect that this earth pony could do something naturally that I could only do with the help of my pipbuck’s targeting spell. Then again after what had happened when I got my own cutiemark I probably couldn’t argue with her story. As if reading my mind Glitter nudged my shoulder with a forehoof “Well you heard my fascinating story so now you get to tell me yours.”
Saying that my story was nowhere as exciting as hers didn’t deter her so I gave in “Well it only happened three days ago so I haven’t really had time to think about it very much. It all started just before school when I was heading to class.”
That day had started much like any other; I was running late for school and had been just about to go inside when Bolts and his gang of miscreants stepped in front of the door and blocked me. Bolts was a unicorn buck a few years older than I was and was a complete jerk, he and his gang terrorized all the young foals of the stable but I had always been his favorite target because to him I was a freak.
After stopping me he started on his whole tirade about me and my parents which wasn’t anything new. At least until he attacked me that is. Since I didn’t know a thing about magic at the time I haven’t a clue as to what spell he used but his horn glowed a bright orange and a ball of flame shot out of it. My wings were the only thing that saved me form getting cooked as they snapped open and I almost hit the ceiling. Once that happened security swarmed in from all over and dragged Bolts away as he was screaming at me that he knew what I was. After that my parents and the overmare showed up and everyone was yelling at everyone so to get away from it I ran off down to the orchard where we grow our apples and hunkered down just wanting to feel better and not feel like a freak, that’s when the weirdest thing happened.
Glitter’s eyebrow rose with curiosity as she asked me to continue. Truthfully I wasn’t exactly sure what happened I but I explained anyway “It started to snow in the orchard. There were artificial clouds in the orchard but the only thing they could do was cover the fake sun and occasionally rain a little.”
The blue mare looked incredulous but after thinking for a second she seemed to have an idea “So ya made it snow somehow. Well ya are a pegasus, ain’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
I had heard that a long time ago that pegesi had controlled the weather by moving and even walking on clouds but I hadn’t even touched them so I didn’t think that was the case. Besides if that was what happened it wouldn’t have explained the strange surge I felt flowing through me or the fact that when everyone made it down to the orchard and my parents saw what was happening they had a look of absolute hatred on their faces.
After that story we both seemed to look for something to say till Glitter nudged my shoulder saying “So what exactly were ya dreaming about? Ya were shaking like mad and screaming then ya just got all calm and started to cry and whimper about how somepony shouldn’t be so nice to ya.”
Deciding that it couldn’t hurt talk about it I told her everything about the dream I had. After asking me a few more questions about it Glitter dropped the subject but I noticed that she looked confused as she went to sleep and with a little time to calm myself down I fallowed her in the land of dreams
*** *** ***
That morning it took us a little while to get going as I still didn’t sleep to well after wakening up. But eventually we started off towards the job Clara had given us. As I thought about the yellow mare I had an idea that would help if we ran into trouble with raiders or somepony ells.
Breaking off from Glitter I headed back into town with a promise to meet up with her outside of the Super Pony-Mart in Bucktown. I had two stops to make and as much as I would love to get Anesthesia look at my head and see if she could stop my headache I needed caps to do it so first it was off to Clara’s.
Once inside the emporium the yellow mare and I got down to bartering. Most of the gear and guns we got from the raiders was complete crap but I did manage to get her to repair my armor and install an add-on into my battle-saddle. Clara smiled over at me “You be careful with the addition to your battle-saddle. We wouldn’t want to have anypony get hurt accidentally right?”
I smiled and thanked the kind but slightly ditzy mare then made my way over to Baleville’s clinic so Ana could look at my head and make it stop hurting so much. As I entered the elder pink pony gave me the same scathing look “Hello there Snowy I don’t suppose your coming in here to tell me that you decided to stop adventuring and getting shot at.”
I wasn’t sure if I should be frightened or angry but before I could really say anything Ana continued her speech “I do understand that life is very tough out here in the wastes but you’re just a little filly.”
“Well yes but…”
“You’ve only been out of your stable one day and you have already killed at least half a dozen ponies.”
“But I didn’t have a…”
“Not to mention been seriously wounded twice.”
Sensing a pause in her rant I finally got a word in edgewise “I understand that you’re worried about me Miss Ana but I have to try and find my friend Emerald and do the job Clara gave me.”
The older mare seemed taken aback for a second before she continued undauntedly “Somepony ells can do those things, your just a filly you shouldn’t be out searching the waists for a ghost or leaving other ponies in pools of their own…”
I had had enough, slamming my forehoof down I practically screamed at the medical pony “SHUT UP!! Do you think I like what I had to do because I don’t, I hate it, I had nightmares about it but what was I supposed to do let them kill me?! I don’t like having to kill ponies but that won’t stop me from finding my friend and helping anypony who needs It.” as I ended my outburst the dam finally broke and I curled up began to sob.
Suddenly I felt a hoof on my mane “I... I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that it’s just that I don’t want to see another young filly get hurt.”
Feeling rather embarrassed at how hateful I had been I hid my face behind my hooves as I squeaked out a reply between sniffles “W-well if you wanted to keep me from getting h-hurt I think you’re a little late. But I’m sorry I shouted at you like that it just scares me that I could do something like that… and it was so, so easy. It was like I was back at the stable’s practice range all I had to do was line up the sights, tongue the trigger and bam… except it wasn't paper targets this time it was ponies.”
The older mare was looking more embarrassed by the second my continued distress “Um I do understand what you mean, I remember the nightmares I had after I killed my first pony… they weren’t pleasant.”
I was about to ask her when she would have had to kill somepony but another thought struck me as curious so I decided to ask her about it “Hey miss Ana you said you didn’t want to see another filly hurt so was there one that you knew?”
“Well yes actually, the story behind it is one that still pains me to this day but I suppose I owe you an explanation for my outburst.”
“Oh no you don’t have to tell if it’s going to upset you.”
She looked like somepony was stabbing her in the heart but she smiled tiredly at me none the less “Thanks sweetie but I really should talk about it. She was my niece, my sister and I lived in a larger town out east called Freetown. It was an ok town but a bit too rough and tumble to raise a family so when we had enough bottlecaps between us we planned to move out west where there wasn’t as much trouble.”
Suddenly she stopped mid story and glanced confusedly at me “Uh not to be rude but I just realized, why are you here?”
“Um well I was here because of my head; it’s been hurting for days and just seems to be getting worse.”
Ana nodded and promised to look at my head after she finished her story “But before we could leave the wasteland got my sister. She…s-she was out by the Everfree forest when she ran into a patch of… killing-joke.”
Curious about the name I asked “I don’t mean to interrupt you but what in Equestria is killing-joke?”
“Well you’ve heard of poison-joke right?” when I answered yes she continued “Killing-joke is what happens when the flower is exposed to large amounts of magical radiation. As a side effect it becomes much more deadly.”
The thought that there just wasn’t any good left in the waists crept through my head at that morbid little fact… but no that wasn’t true, look at Glitter and the ponies of Baleville and Emerald… wherever he was, there was good in the waists it was just a lot harder to find.
“She always said she wanted to help pony medical science, it was the reason we got into being medical ponies. Well the joke thought it would be funny to have her help by spawning a new, incurable, disease in her. After that it only took a day and a half for it to finish her off.”
“Oh Miss Ana I’m so sorry! I never had a sister but I couldn’t imagine losing her if I did.”
“It’s ok Snowy it was a long time ago and she was a grown pony who knew the dangers of the Everfree…her daughter on the other hoof.”
The medical pony took a second to calm herself “After my sister’s death Shimmer Blue, her daughter, got more and more depressed and despondent. I tried my best to cheer her up but nothing worked so finally I decided we would move out west like I and my sister were planning. Shimmer Blue was extremely upset at first but after I told her it was because her mother wanted her to grow up in a place where she could be happy and help everypony she could she agreed wholeheartedly.”
Ana suddenly stopped in her tale to sigh heavily and gaze at the floor “I just wish she hadn’t taken my words so much to heart.”
I leaned forward to lay my hoof on her shoulder to comfort the grieving mare “Please tell me what happened her.”
“We had signed on with a caravan heading west to Baleville and had only been on the road two days when we ran into an abandoned carriage full of goods. Since the carriage wasn’t destroyed and nothing appeared to be missing it didn’t look like raiders so we crowded around it to see if we could salvage anything. But while we were doing that another pony crept up to us and got my niece’s attention. I don’t know what he said but he must have asked for help because she ran off with him right away and by the time I noticed she was long gone. We did manage to track her down but when we got there we found… w-w-we found… OH GODESSES!”
The mare before me broke into open sobs and it my turn to comfort her. Eventually she ran out of steam and just slumped into me, I was feeling like such a mule for making her go through this story but before I could even bother asking her to stop she pushed herself off me and continued
“We found out that it wasn’t a pony at all, the imposter had been a changeling and it had drained her completely dry.”
“Hang on I thought changelings fed on emotions like love or fear?” I asked in confusion
She smiled grimly “They do but the can also feed directly off a pony’s life force. It fills them up faster than emotions but it will kill the pony their feeding off of. Needless to say when I figured out the truth I personally slaughtered the thing but…but killing it didn’t bring back my Shimmer. After I lost her too I just wandered without purpose till I wound up here. When I became the town’s doctor I swore I wouldn’t let any other fillies get hurt if I could help it then you came along and well… here we are.”
“I’m sorry Ana I didn’t mean to upset you so much.”
For a second I thought she might break down again but she seemed to steel herself and instead smiled pleasantly at me “It’s ok Snowy the fault was mine, I got so caught up in protecting fillies I forgot that sometimes those fillies need to be out there in the wastes so they can help and protect other ponies. Look at you for instance out of the stable but a day and you already saved the town and I know you will go to the ends of Equestria to find your friend.”
My cheeks grew rosy as I listened, sure I had helped Glitter get the purifier parts but she had done most of the work. And looking for Emerald was just something anypony should do for a friend right?
Ana just smiled at my blush “Be modest all you want but you’ve done more for this town in two days than I ever did. I’m sorry for snapping at you like I did it was uncalled for, now how about we take a look at that head of yours.”
I let myself relax onto the bed while Ana busied herself readying a scanning spell to see what was wrong with me. Admittedly it was nice to find out why she was so upset with me but the mare did have one thing right I was quickly becoming a mass murder, and while it was more or less self-defense and the goddesses in my dreams said they weren’t mad at me for it I was still upset that I had to kill so much.
But before I could get to down on myself I felt the warm tingle of the medical pony’s magic on my head “Ok now just try to relax it will probably take me a while to… wait… this can’t be right.”
Feeling Ana’s magic abruptly cut off I looked over to see her backing hurriedly away, her eyes wide with worry. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she finally spoke up “U-um Snowy… w-what are you?”
“I’m a pegasus silly… why… is something wrong.”
Still seeming worried she replied “N-no nothing’s wrong my spell just malfunctioned a bit that’s all. You should be just fine so don’t worry… but please be more careful out there ok?”
There was definitely something she wasn’t telling me but seeing as I just got on her good side… more or less I really didn’t want to press the issue, besides one lecture a day is enough.
I was slightly surprised to find that Glitter had waited on me. As I approached she stopped tapping her hoof and gave me a slightly scathing look “Where the hay have ya been?”
“Well uh I went to get something for my battle-saddle and sell some stuff then I went over to Ana to have her look at my head.”
“Why did it take so long are you really that thick skulled?”
Frowning slightly I nudged her with a forehoof “No… she just kinda had a… grievance she wanted to express.”
She frowned back at me and seemed to ponder for a second before replying “Let me guess she was upset because you’re a filly?”
When I nodded my head Glitter sagged slightly “Well come on we need to get going so let’s talk on the way.”
*** *** ***
As we made our way through the battered skeletal remains of Bucktown for the second time I explained my argument with Ana while Glitter recounted her own encounter with the medical pony. Turns out she was only a little older than I was when she met the older mare but Ana never said much on account of Lawman.
“That reminds me.” I said hoping, I wasn’t stepping on another social landmine “I was meaning to ask you… is Lawman you’re…”
Glitter chuckled at my nervousness “Ma real dad? Naw I don’t remember where ah came from or ma real parents. Ah was only a little filly when Dad found me outside of the Everfree Forest of all places.”
While I wondered to myself what Glitters real parents were like I felt her bump my side “Well” she said with a mischievous grin “I told a bit about my life so now it’s your turn. I want to hear what life was like in a stable.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what to say other than life in the stable sucked but I always got the feeling it could have sucked more.
At my friends confused glance I decided I should go into more detail. “Life in the stable was pre set, you when where the overmare wanted, when the overmare wanted. There was a set time for work and school, set times for meals, even set times for relaxation, it was all set up and made routine… I hated it.”
Glitter tilted her head slightly “So uh… what happened if ya broke the routine?”
“Well I didn’t get caught much since my small frame meant I could slip into the ventilation system by when most ponies violated stable law they would get sent to ‘the box’.”
The Blue mare chuckled softly “The box huh? That don’t sound too bad.”
I frowned darkly at her; the box was much nastier than it appeared to be. I still remembered the time our teacher was caught drinking in class…her pale and huge eyes as they drug her off gave me nightmares. I found out why it was terrifying when I got in there… it hadn’t been a punishment or anything, the security guards never did more than give me a stern talking-to for some reason, but instead I found it by accident while crawling through the vents.
‘The box’ as it was called was small steel room near the stable’s reactor… at least I think it was steel, one of the things that made it so bad was a magical darkness spell you couldn’t see your own forehooves even whit your pip-buck’s light on. I found that out when I tried to activate it and fell into the room, I couldn’t see my muzzle let alone the vent, so I started trotting around franticly and that’s when the noises started. To this day I’m not sure if the sound was from the reactor or some other spell but as I ran around there was a terrible roaring and grinding noise. It scared me so bad I lost my bladder and started flying into the walls.
Glitter put a hoof on me “Whoa easy there Snowy, just relax ok. Look ya don’t have to tell me any more I think ah got it… besides there’s the Super-pony Mart.”
The building was only one story and looked like it had been through hell, most of the walls had bullet holes of various sizes and all the glass in the windows and doors was shattered. However I was more interested in the fire built in the store’s parking lot and the two raider ponies standing beside it, they hadn’t spotted us but if we stayed in the open they just might.
As we slid ourselves down into the ditch at the other side of the road from the store Glitter braced her forehooves on the side and flicked down her scope. She was just about to pull the trigger when I taped her shoulder and she looked over at me “What?”
“Don’t take the shot. The glass on the whole front of the building is gone so any raiders inside will hear you.”
The mare raised a brow “Inside, outside does it matter? We still need to get through them to get what we want.”
“Well yes but if they have any ponies locked up inside they might kill them before we can get to them. So we need to take these two out quietly.”
“Raiders don’t usually take prisoners… unless there for ‘entertainment’ but.” she sighed “I suppose your right but how do we get them. I do have a suppresser for my rifle but it’s bolt-action so I couldn’t get them both.”
I smiled and flapped my wings “Just let me get airborne and wait for my signal.”
The wind rustled my mane as I hovered over the raider pony’s heads. It had taken me a while to find a spot where they wouldn’t see my takeoff but now that I flutter over their heads it became apparent that raiders, like most non-flyers, never thought to look up.
Waving my hoof I snapped my wings shut and plummeted down onto the head of the earth-pony raider, his neck snapping with a sick crack as my rear hooves connected with him. His body fell flat as I rolled off him onto my hooves and spun around to face the other raider. The other buck, a unicorn, gaped at me for a second but still had the sense to levitate up the shotgun he had leaning on some rubble… not that I did him much good as there was a dull thunk and half his head disappeared.
As Glitter made her way up to me I checked over the dead raider’s shotgun but it was near broken and was cambered in twenty-gauge not twelve. Still I took the shells he had on him as my companion checked the other raider. We both froze as we heard a gruff voice form inside the shop “HEY!! You fuckers keep it down out there or Thorn will geld your asses when she gets back!”
We glanced at each other and decided we should wait till they were all dealt with before we looted. Creeping soundlessly up to the door I noticed several posters, I had seen some at the school but all of them were torn or unreadable. These seemed in much better condition except for one that had been painted over.
Remember bad ponies are everywhere so report any suspicious activity!
The M.O.M is always watching and we will find the bad ponies.
Poster made by the M.O.I
The one that had painted over read
End the tyranny!
Down with the ministries!
Join the Free Equestrian Legion today!
Making a mental note to ask about that later I crept up to the shattered door and poked my head inside. If the outside looked bad the inside was worse, the shelves were mostly destroyed and what was left of the produce was littered all over the floor. Off to the left of the destroyed check-out lanes was a small hallway that seemed to, at one time, house bathrooms. On top of one of the destroyed shelves and milling around an open space were several raiders.
Nodding over to Glitter she sighed readied her rifle and I taped the second toggle on my battle-saddle as my shotgun kicked the shell from the chamber and loaded in another one. Steadying myself I rolled behind the checkout counter as I heard the crack of Glitter’s rifle and saw the pony on the Shelves fall with a crash. The other raiders in the store grabbed the weapons and charged the front door. Sliding out from the counter I tongued the right bit of my saddle making my pump-action coughed out a cone of steel spikes from the flechette shell I loaded into it, the leading raider went down in a bloody heap as several spikes sunk into the skin of the three fallowing him causing them jump for cover.
Unfortunately before I could take aim again two more raiders, both unicorns, galloped in from farther in the store levitated weapons at the ready. I was really getting tired of the whole magic thing, I mean it must be nice to have but it really unbalances the playing field. There wasn’t any cover as they both opened fire with a pistol and a SMG, thankfully my armor held up better this time taking the impact of most of the rounds with only one or two punching through while Glitter’s rifle cracked again and the SMG raider fell with hole in his chest. The second unicorn tried to backpedal while reloading his pistol, as his magic clicked the slide catch open I wheeled to him and entered my targeting spell putting two shots from my rifle into his shoulder and neck.
The other three raiders had just started to peak from their cover when Glitter ran up to me, kicking the bit of her battle-saddle down in favor of her revolver for close combat. Pulling the bit back I ejected the spent shell and loaded buck-shot from the tube. Seeing one of the raiders start to charge I leveled my shotgun till I was forced back into cover by the wild firing of the other two. Hearing the pony getting closer the blue mare beside me twisted so that when the buck hopped up on top of the chewed up counter he got all six of her .45caliber slugs in his throat.
While my companions tongued open her revolver’s cylinder to reload I decided to go on the offensive, rolling from cover I charged down the two remaining foes. One of them loading a revolver of his own, without the good sense to do so from cover, I took him down with a burst of twelve-gauge pellets. The final pony franticly turned to me trying to bring his rifle to bear but I was much to close now and the shot missed by a mile. Deciding to save ammo I instead pivoted on my forehooves and kicked my back legs out right into his face. I heard the same crack as before and he fell to the ground twitching.
I was shocked as Glitter limped up to me, I had thought I was the only one hit but she had taken a grazing shot to the chest and a small caliber round to the leg. Fortunately her wounds, like mine, were minor so she just tossed me a healing potion as she drank one herself while we got down to looting. We had barely started when a tiny anguished cry echoed through the place. As one we rush toward the bathroom that appeared to have been its source, I arrived first and was greeted by a sight which still haunts me to this day.
Chained up in the mare’s room was a little earth-pony filly even younger than I was and covered in filth. What I could see of her coat was deep blue… except for the areas around her mouth and flanks; they were stained yellow, brown, red, and worst of all white. I rushed forward and took the traumatized little pony in my hooves as I heard Glitter walk in behind me and swear “Sweet sky-fucking Celestia NO!”
Looking over at her I saw a look on her face that promised slow and painful death to anypony in her way. I was about to say something when the little one griped me tighter and wailed into my chest “Please my momma you have to save my momma! The mean lady said if I let them play with me she wouldn’t hurt my momma, please you have to find her!”
Checking my E.F.S I thought of something, the rider had mentored some mare named Thorn and the little filly talked about a mean lady but all the dead raiders were male… and if there went any females among them that meant, I heard hoofsteps and raised voices as my Eyes Forward Sparkle flamed with red “Well fuck”
*** *** ***
I had changed my mind I didn’t just dislike magic I hated it, especially when that magic was holding an assault rifle which pinned me behind the door of the bathroom. Glitter had made a break before the shooting started, nearly getting her head blown off in the process, and was now across the hall from me. I looked out into the hall at my shotgun lying where the same sniper had sheared it from my battle-saddle as I had tried to cover Glitter. There was no way I could get out the door to use my rifle so I just shrugged the torn saddle from my shoulders and drew my pistol from its holster all the while thinking about how Clara was going to kill me.
Seeing a hoof-wave I looked over to see the blue mare’s rifle braced with her hooves as she slid around the door to fire. When I went to cover her I was surprised to see that in my distraction one of the raiders had gotten close to us with an upraised crowbar. My friend tried to reline her shot but there was a loud crack and she fell to the floor with a scream as her stomach splashed red. The crowbar raider continued to close as I hit S.A.T.S and put ten rounds into his body as it skidded past her in a heap. Turning my gun to the other two my heart went cold when I heard the small clink and saw the locked slide of my empty gun. The sniper pony, a female unicorn with half the coat on her face missing, smiled grotesquely and lined up another shot at my friend
I’m not sure to this day if I caused it or if it was just blind luck but whatever the case I felt a strange electrical surge run through my body like it had at the stable as one thought went from my very core to my lips “NO!”. Suddenly a glittering golden wall cover the whole hallway in front of us as I ran to Glitter in time to see her chug down all she could get of a healing potion. Turning my head back to the wall I was surprised to see both the rifle and sniper rounds bouncing off it, looking out at the two raiders a new feeling replaced the desperation I had been feeling, anger, I was going to make them pay for what they did. The glittering wall dissipated and the same glow outlined the shelf the sniper was on as it was pulled out from under her then dropped on her flailing body with a satisfying crunch and shriek.
The last raider’s eyes bulged in fear as I advanced on him my shotgun floating beside me. He dropped the weapon and fell to his knees begging for mercy. Seeing the buck up close gave me pause, he didn’t look much older than I was and I just couldn’t bring myself to kill a young colt so I racked my pump-action and pointed it at the door, not needing to be told twice he fled screaming something about the goddesses trying to kill him as I continued my advance.
Finally I arrived at the trapped mare that had been the leader as she screamed at me “Fuck you stupid mule! When I get out of here I’ll fuck’n gut you!” Not saying anything I just pushed the muzzle against her forehead making her grin psychotically “Do it then ya fuck if ya got the courage.”
I pressed my gun more firmly against her but hesitated, I had just spared a pony that was helpless now I was going to kill one? Sliding my gun back I whispered softly “No…I – I’m not an executioner.”
The mare just laughed “Typical weakling, guess you just don’t hav…”
That was all she got out before her head disappeared in red mist. Glitter trotted up beside me, her rifle back in her saddle and the little filly in tow “She might not be but I certainly am.” She spat out at the corpse. I had expected the filly to be scared of all the bodies but she didn’t even seem to notice them, instead she was looking at me, her eyes filled with something close to wonder. I was about to say something when Glitter looked at me, her own eyes going round, and answered my unasked question “Um Snowy she’s starring at w-well at your horn.”
“My…WHAT!”
Footnote: Level up
Quest perk added: Alicorn blood- - a sudden surge in power reveled your hidden heritage and given you some unique advantages with it (+1 to all s.p.e.c.i.a.l. attributes. skill scores now go up based on use. unlocks magic and flying skills regardless of original body type.
New perk: rapid reload- - with quick reflexes you can put a round in the camber when it counts (all guns now reload 45% faster.)
Skill notes:
Magic skill unlocked!
Magic now at 25
New spells:
Telekinesis - level 2
Shield spell - level 2

Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch5 starting the journey

Chapter 5: starting the journey
“I wish Twilight would go on epic adventures more often… best night’s sleep I’ve had in a week.”

I stared at Glitter in disbelief until I finally heard the soft hum coming from my own head and felt the strangely warm current flowing through me. Dropping the shotgun with a clatter I rushed back into the bathroom and hurriedly stared into the cracked and dirty mirror.
Staring back at me was a pony I didn’t recognize, my coat had changed, the front part having gone from grey to midnight blue including my wings and my new… horn. The long spiraling appendage stood proudly atop my head, my mane and tail were also different turning bright gold with a long streak of deep blue in the middle. Even my eyes were a different color, changing to a strong amethyst shade of purple. Only my cutiemark remained the same, the golden snowflake reassuring me that I was still myself.
My companion rounded the doorway and nudged me worriedly “Uh Snowah ya are still you ain’t ya?”
I smiled grimly and concentrated watching as the sink head shimmered in the golden glow of my newfound magic and turned itself on causing it to sputter and cough dirty water before I shut it off and replied “Ya Glitter I’m still me but I don’t have a clue what happened and I’m kinda scared.”
“Well now hold up second, don’t get all worked up just yet. Let’s wait till we get back and see Ana before we get worried ok? For now let’s just get what we came fer.”
I nodded smiled up at her “By the way Glitter what’s with the twang in your voice, you don’t have it all the time.”
“Oh that. It’s just something ah picked up over the years, usually only happens when I’m stressed.”
After that Glitter and the little filly waited outside while I searched the store. Confirming my worst fears I found the foal’s mother… or what was left of her in the old pharmacy which the raiders had taken to using as a kitchen. The same room held the twisted black remains of the utility robot Clara wanted scavenged. Crawling in between its many arms I popped open the small hatch near the base and looked inside, luckily most of the internal components had fared better than its outer casing. Popping out the components I needed I looked around for some kind of blanket.
As I was still getting used to having magic I took me a bit to wrap the dead mare in the blanket and move it outside. Glitter saw the blood on the cloth and moved to hide it from the little filly but before she could move the small pony walked up to me “T-that’s my momma isn’t it?”
I didn’t have it in my heart to lie to the girl so I just nodded sadly and said “What’s your name?”
The little pony looked like she wanted to cry but just couldn’t anymore “Blueberry… Blueberry Pie and my momma’s … was Peach Cobbler.”
“Well Blueberry my friend Glitter and I will take your mother back to town and give her a proper resting place then find a place for you to stay ok?”
The little foal blushed “That’s very nice of you princess.”
*** *** ***
The trip back to Baleville was mostly uneventful till we got back to the town. Once there I used Glitters’ jacket to hide my wings and while Glitter went to see to Peach we headed directly to Ana’s clinic. Once there I finally slid the jacket off, I had expected the older mare to be frightened instead all I got was a “So I was right.”
I gasped in disbelief “You knew this would happen!!”
“Not exactly no, when I examined you there was a strange scar on your forehead with an odd lump underneath it. When I scanned the lump imagine my surprise when I detected a magic well, and not a small one either. ”
I just stared at her mouth agape. My exasperation was only made worse when Blueberry nudged my leg “What’s wrong princess is there something bad happening?”
The little filly had been doing that since I, well, changed. She seemed convinced that I was one of the, as she put it, magical pretty princess ponies come back to make everything better. Seeing my frustration the medical mare just smirked before saying “The little one dose have a point, you have a lot in common with our former leaders. I mean just look at your unique anatomy .”
“But that just can’t be right I mean both my parents were pegesi.”
“That may be true but there must be a reason for the scar at least.”
Thinking over it for a time I was reminded of the one routine in stable 22 that I couldn’t get away from. I went on to explain that once every year I had to go to medical and have them cut off what they called a mutation with a laser.
Ana looked over what I had to guess were notes she had taken of me before responding “I have the feeling that you were an alicorn form birth and your parents had just removed your horn every time it had try to re grow. Which is also the reason your magic is so strong for never using it, it built up inside your even though you didn’t have a horn.”
“Well ok I’d like to ask so many more questions but I need you to take a look at this little filly, we found her in the Super Pony-Mart and she’s had a really tough time.” I said looking over the small pony; we had cleaned her up as best we could with the water we brought with us but she still looked horrible.
As my words sunk in the older pony held out a hoof smiling tenderly “Come here sweetheart let’s give you a nice warm bath and a soft bed to rest in ok?”
Blueberry looked extremely apprehensive but at my insistent nudge she relented and let Ana ushered her into the other room behind her clinic. While herding the girl into her home Ana looked over her should at me “If you want some answers to your questions come back later in the meantime I’ll try and help this little one.”
After I slid Glitter’s coat back over my wings and flanks I crept out the door unsure of what to do next, I wasn’t ready to go see Clara just yet and ponies were starting to give me strange looks. Thankfully at that exact moment my friend trotted up to me. She looked like she’d seen better days, there were large shadows under her eyes and her mane was all tangled up but she tried to grin reassuringly none the less “Hey there Snowy ya kinda look like hell. Then again I probably don’t look to much better how about we head home and get some rest.”
Sleep sounded like the best thing ever to me right then so I had no objections as we walked slowly towards Glitters house. But as we opened the front door a cold, feminine voice graced our ears “Well hello it’s nice to finally meet you… sister.”
Glitter and I both braced ourselves for a fight while we stared down at the cloaked figure sitting at the dining room table. I kicked my battle-saddles reloading toggle and Glitter drew her revolver and yelled “Who the hay are you and how did ya get in my house?!”
The pony just raised a white hoof dismissively “I didn’t come here to fight and I wasn’t talking to you worthless earth-pony I was talking to my sister.”
Making sure I had the remains of mi saddle trained on her I edged myself forward “Look I don’t know who you are but I’ve never had a sister.”
“Are you sure about that dear sister? I think you might be mistaken!” the mare exclaimed and threw off her cloak.
Before I left the stable I thought there were only 3 alicorns in Equestria, the two goddesses a younger one named Cadence. Then I changed into one and now another one was looking right at me, her white coat and reddish-orange mane gleaming and her red eyes staring at us coldly. But something about her seemed… off, her body was too thick and her wings and horn were smaller than mine. Deciding I should try and get answers press forward again, flicking the safety on my saddle as I went “Ok listen… um Sister I don’t know who you are but what do you want with me?”
“If you must know I wasn’t looking for you specifically. I was the one trying to get into the stable but the ponies I was after were your parents. I knew them from a before the war and I had tracked them down to that stable.”
I’m not exactly sure but I think my mind exploded, twice, at that news but there was no way I would take it at face value “Hang on a second, there’s no way you could know my parents that long ago and besides up till now the stable door never opened. Also you expect me to believe you when you haven’t even said your name.”
The alicorn sneered down at me “My name is Solaris and you’re telling me your parents never told you how old they really were. As for the door are you going to believe the overmare, the same one that tossed you out in the cold?”
Glitter suddenly cut in and asked the question I had been about to “So if your form two hundred years ago where have you been all this time.”
Instead of answering the alicorn turned her back to us, growling angrily “Enough silly questions I came here to tell you to come to the Ponyville crater. There you will meet the one who sent me.”
Before either of us could act there was a flash of red light and she was gone. I glanced back at glitter as she put the revolver from her fetlock into its holster. “So you saw her to right, I’m not crazy am I?”
The mare just sighed heavily “Well she was defiantly real. I don’t have a clue about what she said but right now all I want to do is sleep those healing potion fixed me up but I’m still exhausted. Besides it’s getting kinda late and Clara has probably closed up shop so let’s just get some rest.”
“Um Glitter are you sure you’re ok with me staying in your bed, I mean I do kinda have a crush on you.”
“Snowy I’ve been out here a long time comparatively so I’ve seen all kinds of ponies. It doesn’t bother me if ya like mares, and the fact that you like me is rather flattering so don’t get so worked up about it ok.”
With that settled we walked into bathroom and took turns showering (thank the goddesses for working plumbing) then clambered into bed. That night more nightmares plagued me but by morning I had still managed to get some sleep. However the new day brought with it another new change. I wasn’t sure how early it was since the sky was covered with clouds, I would later find out that it was the work of the pegesi but at the time hadn’t even thought to ask Glitter about it. Suddenly there was somepony shaking me “Hey snowy something has happened to ya wake up.”
Groggily I shifted myself up and opened my eyes to look at her worried gaze “What’s going on Glitter I’m trying to sleep here.”
“Snowy your body changed back… well kinda… go look.”
Since I wasn’t about get anymore sleep I headed back into the bathroom. Gazing into the mirror I gasped at my changed appearance, I still had my horn but my color had gone back to normal in my coat and eyes but my mane and tail had remained the same. Going back to the bedroom I shrugged over at Glitter as I had no more clue than she did. Setting the problem aside for now Glitter sat down for breakfast but as I wasn’t very hungry I decided to head to check on Ana and Blueberry with a promise to meet at Clara’s later.
Once at the clinic the pink medical pony greeted me as I slid off Glitters jacket “Hello there Snowy, Blueberry is asleep in the back but I think you’re more interested why your body changed.”
“Well yes I am wondering about that but what about that but what about Blueberry?”
Ana sighed and sat down at her desk “Well she had a very rough time and she’s all broken up about her mother but after a long bath and a nice long rest I think she’ll be ok.”
I was glad to hear that the little filly was going to be ok, not right away but eventually. Afterward Ana sat me down and went on to explain that my transformations were directly tied to me magic well. As alicorns age and grow in power their body’s change slightly. My changes were more drastic because of my parents their lineage was clashing with my true form; more or less the one I had changed into the yesterday.
She looked like she wanted to continue but I cut her off “Not to be rude but how do you know so much about alicorns?”
“Well the truth is that I…” the rest of her sentence was stopped as the door swung open and somepony walked it. “I thought I’d find you here Snowy.” said the ghoul-pony at the entryway.
I balked as he stared at me “L-Lawman I can explain and…”
He held up a hoof to silence me “Don’t get your tail in a knot Snowy I just came to talk. I get back in town and find out somepony new showed up with my daughter. So I go and track her down and she tells me it’s you and you’re an alicorn. Now that wouldn’t be a problem but you need to hear this.”
Going over to a shelf by Ana’s desk he began fiddling with an old radio “Ana why don’t you have this thing on.”
“Well it might be because this is a clinic and my patients like it quiet while they heal.”
Lawman’s reply was lost as a new male voice sparked to life over the radio “Hello there children, this is DJ Pon3 and its time for some news! First up it looks like two brave ponies, one of whom was the pony that crawled out of the stable I told you about yesterday, cleared out the raider nests in Bucktown so it should be a lot safer to travel through now and it should give all those nasty raiders something to think about, so if you’re listening out there nice work you two! On a slightly more worrying note it looks like some ponies have been seeing… if you can believe this, alicorns out in the wasteland. Now I know what you’re thinking and its true ponies see wired things all the time but this is way to frequent to be a coincidence. So far none of the sighted alicorns have tried to make any kind of contact so we’ll just have to wait and see but sill if ya see one keep a gun close just in case. This is DJ Pon3 signing off.”
Then the voice cut out and was replaced with an old Sweetie Belle song I had heard back in the stable. The old ghoul looked at me heavily “Well I’m sure you can see the problem. I know you’re not a danger but other ponies might not agree with me. So Glitter will square up everything with Clara and then you should head out of town.”
Was he serous about me leaving? This was my, well, home ever since I’d gotten out of the stable this was the only place of civilization I had found and now he wants me to leave?
As if reading my mind the ghoul patted my shoulder “Look you don’t have to stay gone for good but I’m going to need time to get everypony calmed down about you. Besides my daughter already said she was going to go with you.”
Ok so aside from the fact that I lost my home I guess we could have gone worse. When Lawman left the room I glanced nervously at Ana “Um well I guess I was going to ask you this anyway but I was wondering if you would take care of little Blueberry.”
Ana blinked at me “W-well I guess… I could. I have always wanted a second chance but what if I can’t protect her like I couldn’t protect Shimmer.”
“Look Ana if anypony can help that poor little filly it’s you. She needs a home and somepony to help her. Besides shimmer wanted to help everypony don’t you want to do the same?”
The older mare looked taken aback for a second “You’re right Snowy… I wanted to help little fillies and now there’s one here who needs it. You be careful on your trip to… where are you going anyway?”
Truthfully was I wasn’t sure but that alicorn had told me to head to Ponyville so it seemed as good a place as any to start. Saying my goodbyes to Ana and Blueberry when she woke up I headed out of town for the last time for a long while and waited for Glitter to catch up. The blue mare trotted up to me later carrying a large pack slung over her back. After giving me the assault rifle form the raiders and a 9mm pistol to replace my empty 12mm she showed me the newest purchase form Clara, a new harness and saddlebag for me to use.
Slipping on the new gear as well as my much-repaired armor I slid the rifle and shotgun into the harness slots. I had decided to sell the lever-action when we came to a new town. Stowing the rest of my gear I caught a glimpse of Glitter in my old battle-saddle. Apparently she had convinced Clara t let her keep it after the shopkeeper had repaired it, cursing me under her breath the whole time, and had even gotten a 9mm smg to use with it on her left side.
My companion stepped up beside me, gazing at the half-demolished buildings in Bucktown, and nudged my side with hers saying “Well Snowy I’m sorry about all this but now that DJ Pon3 talking about alicorns ponies in town would get edgy when they found out about you. But I guess the only thing we need to worry about now is where to go now?”
“You probably won’t like this but I think we should head towards the Ponyville Crater like Solaris told us to.”
“Are you serious? That girl was a mule, besides you actually want to go all the way around to it?”
I sighed, pushing a hoof to my face “Look sure she was rude but she knows things about me and I want to find out what they are, and what do you mean all the way around can’t we just go straight to it?”
“Snowy, unless you want to cut through all the way through the middle of the Everfree Forest we’re going to have to go the long way to the east.”
The Everfree… I had read about the place back in stable. It was supposed to be a dark forest full of strange phenomenon and deadly creatures… and that was before the war. Somehow I doubted that all the magical radiation did it any good so it looked like the long way for us. With that we headed out toward the small shanty of Freetown, the first stop on our journey. The place used to a slaver stronghold but the ‘property’ rose up and took the place over.
*** *** ***
Let me take a moment here to talk about the sky and what was wrong with it. When I had first come out of the stable and seen the sky above me I was being chased by raiders so I wasn’t too worried about it at the time. Even after that I was too busy getting used to the waists to care. But after I found out that it had been covered in clouds since before the war, and that the pegesi had caused it I was more than a little distraught. One of the main reasons I wanted out of the stable was to fly in the sky and now I couldn’t even do that, but as they say no use crying over spilled milk right.
*** *** ***
Glitter and I had made good time out form Baleville and I decided now was as good a time as any to ask “Hey Glitter remember those posters outside of the Super Pony-mart?”
“Yep they was fer the Ministry O’ Morale if I remember correctly, what about em?”
“Well if that was the M.O.M. where was Pinkie Pie? Wasn’t she the ministry mare for that one?”
Glitter nodded slightly “It’s true that Pinkie was one of the ministry mares but after they disappeared and that Shadowhooves guy took over he made a big deal about honoring the missing ponies from Ponyville. But not even a year after that he moved all the ministries to Manehatten and completely closed the Ministry of Peace. In the process of that he suppressed all mention of the six mares and even the princesses.”
“So you mean to tell me that he tried to make ponies think he…” the rest of my sentence was cut off by a sharp crack and the sound of heavy bullet passing right above my head. We both dove behind a large rock by the road we had been on for cover. Having been on the road for a day and a half this was the first hostile thing we’ve come across save for a radhog and a few blotsprites. Kicking my E.F.S. on I spotted a single red bar, from the angle of the bar it looked to be on the left side of the road, which meant the shooter was holed up in the Everfree.
As I relayed this to Glitter she kicked to loading toggle on her saddle saying “Well ya got a plan Snowy cause that sniper is a crack shot and we have no clue where in the forest he is.”
Truthfully I had nothing of the sort but that had never stopped me before. After a few moments of thought I hashed out something that was both foolish and risky, a.k.a. exactly my style, nodding over to Glitter I explained “Ok so I’m going to draw his fire and when you see him shoot take him down.”
Glitter’s mouth hung open for a full three seconds before she closed it “Snowy what are you thinking! Even putting aside the fact that it will be extremely hard with all that cover how do you plan on drawing his fire?”
In response I slid my new assault rifle form its slot in my harness and fluttered my wings. I’m pretty sure that were we not being shot at the blue mare would have bucked me in the face… but it wasn’t like she had any ides so she grudgingly agreed to my plan. Giving her the cheekiest smile I could I pulled the charging lever on my rifle and flared my wings open, launching into a steep climb.
I rolled out of my climb not a moment too soon as another shot whizzed past my wing. Aiming a gun with magic is hard for somepony not used to it, firing the thing even more so, but with the practice I had it didn’t take much for me line up the sights and squeeze the trigger. The I.F.-30 hornet chattered to life, spraying the trees where the bar on my E.F.S. was with fire.
The rifle only had a twenty round magazine, which drained much faster than I would have liked. Hearing the telltale clink I snapped my wings closed plummeting toward the earth as the sniper opened up again on the spot I had been a second ago. This time however he fired one shot to may as there was another, softer crack and the firing stopped.
Banking from the dive and setting myself down I pulled a fresh mag from my saddle pouch and quickly swapped out the dry one. Advancing on the large body I found out our attacker wasn’t a pony or a male.
Coming up next to me Glitter whistled softly at the body of the combat armored griffin before us, I had never seen one of the things but she seemed to recognize the emblem on her armor “This griffin was a member of Talon Company…. Great because that’s just what we need.”
Feeling a little bit foolish I asked what that was supposed to mean. My friend started digging through her gear as she replied “Their mercenaries, before the war they were solders for hire and not much has changed since then. If we have talons coming after us somepony wants you dead… bad.”
The griffin’s name had been Claudia according to her dog-tags which, aside from a sniper rifle and small letter, were the only things on her. Glitter slung the rifle over her back; it was semi-auto and would make a nice replacement for her own rifle though she seemed very hesitant when I mention it. Setting aside the issue for now we gathered up our gear, dug a small grave for the griffin topped with a rock with her dog-tags on it and got back on the road.
*** *** ***
It was late in the evening when we finally stopped for the night. We had travelled hard after the sniper and had made fairly good time, we had finally reached the edge of the Everfree on our left and on the right I could see the skeletal remains of the city of Hoofington. As I set out my bedroll and started working on getting a fire going (ignore everything I said about you before magic, your awesome ok) I noticed my friend shrugging her saddle off looking more glum than I really though was necessary, a testament to me getting used to the whole killing things concept and probably not a good one either, and decided to confront her about it “Hey Glitter what’s on your mind you seem way more shook up than usual.”
Sitting down onto her bed the mare slumped slightly “It’s about the Claudia.”
I had figured as much, after the fight she had been acting strangely “What about her? Was there some reason you wanted to bury her before we left?”
“Well yes there was. You probably didn’t notice this but she was a young griffin and her armor had been recently painted so she was most likely a new recruit to the Talons. For all we know it was her first mission… it just doesn’t seem fair is all.”
I could understand the sentiment but something didn’t fit, however I decided to let the sensitive topic go for the moment and changed tact “Ok so what about her rifle, it shoots faster than yours and it uses a heavier round to, so why don’t you want to use it?”
Rather than answer me the earth-pony grabbed her rifle and tossed it over to me. Looking at the body of the rifle I noticed a small silver plate with the inscription to: the sheriff Eagle Eye form: the grateful ponies of Doge Junction. “Eagle Eye who is that supposed to be?”
Glitter joined me and took the rifle back “You know him as Lawman. Back before the bombs he was a sheriff in Doge junction, a small town west of Appaloosa. They gave him the gun after he stopped some zebra sympathizers form using the town as a test bed for a toxic gas they had developed.”
“So your dad was a hero, that’s amazing!”
“Well… something like that. Not a year later the apocalypse happened and the zebras hit the town with small megaspell, burnt it to the ground. Dad got lucky and just turned into a ghoul, everypony ells died. After that dad wandered the waists, met some good ponies, plenty of bad ones, set up a town, and raised me.”
Seeing my horrified face she nudged my shoulder “Now don’t get all freaked out there’s nothing you can do about it now, it happened two hundred years ago. Besides you have a point, dad wouldn’t want anypony to die because I’m too stubborn to take a better weapon.”
I agreed to take fist watch while Glitter caught some much needed rest. I had yet to tell her that I hardly needed any sleep, and much more worryingly didn’t seem to need to eat anymore. Turning on my E.F.S. and scanning the area my eyes fell on the rifle glitter had laid next to her, I didn’t want her to lose her father’s legacy but I couldn’t turn on gun into another could it? Inspiration struck and I grinned impishly down at the sleeping blue figure.
When my companion woke up for her watch I decided to spring my surprise on her, it had taken me most of the night and I’m surprised nothing attacked us while I was distracted but I had finished it.
Sideling up to Glitter I pushed the griffin’s rifle up to her saying “Take a look at this.”
The mare was about to respond when she looked at the rifle’s stock and saw the small silver letters inlayed in it which read Eagle Eye. Glitter looked torn between slapping me for damaging her father’s gun or kissing me for the gift so she split the difference by hugging me while hitting me upside the head. Chuckling to myself I laid down on my bedroll and tried to find some peaceful sleep.
At first I had nightmares every time tried to sleep. This time however my dreams turned out much better, it had started with me running through some strange green meadow before shifting to plant me in front of the two goddesses once more. Princess Celestia smiled at me warmly “hello my little pony.”
I looked up at them skeptically, I’d had dreams about the princesses after that first night but they had all been just normal dreams, though this did seem much sharper and clearer than the others “Is it really your princess I…” the realization that I had just spoke made me clap a hoof over my mouth.
The two alicorns just smiled and stepped down from their thrones to stand closer to me. Celestia nuzzled my face gently “Yes little Snowy your strong enough to speak to us here. It makes me proud to see your true self now.”
Looking myself over I realized I had changed back to how I looked during my first transformation “Princess please I have so many questions. Like what am I, where are we, how did I get here, and why am I an alicorn?”
Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder, her blue eyes locking onto mine saying “Calm down little one, we understand your confused but our time here is limited so we will try to get as much answered as we can. First off this is our home, the land we came to Equestria from. It has gone by many names but most just call it the everafter.”
The older sister nodded in agreement before answering herself “As for what you are the answer is simple, you are an alicorn like we are. But how you came to be this way we cannot say, that is a question for your sires.”
Suddenly both sisters looked strangely pained for a moment. Before I could ask Luna explained “Forgive us Snowy, we are very weak as we are now and we cannot stay any longer. Hopefully we will see each other soon till then remember that we love you.”
“Why me though? What makes me so special?”
Celestia smiled sadly even as my vision began to fade “Because my little pony you’re our d…”
*** *** ***
I woke with a start, squinting my eyes at the morning sun, and almost smacked my head into Glitters face as she pressed my hooves down into my shoulders “What happed? What are you pinning me down to the bed for Glitter?”
Seeing me relax the mare visibly calmed herself “I’m not sure you were fast asleep talking to somepony then you got really upset and started thrashing around like you were trying to grab something.”
“Oh sorry about that I was having another dream about the goddesses.”
“Like the first one you had before we left Baleville?”
I nodded and got to my hooves determined to get ahold of myself. After tossing an apple to Glitter and snacking on another one myself we gathered our gear and headed out. At this point we were heading north instead of east still keeping the forest on our left. I was still thinking about the dream and what Celestia’s last statement could have meant when another red bar flashed on my E.F.S. and I was bowled over by terrifying animal. The thing had the body of a wolf but the head and tail of a snake and it was coming back for a second pass.
Suddenly Glitter jumped in front of me biting down on her battle-saddle’s bit spraying the thing with her S.M.G. the small rounds did little more than slow it down as it barreled into her. Watching the two of them sail over me I got to my hooves and rounded on the struggling pair, hitting S.A.T.S. I slipped my rifle from the harness and put a precise three round burst into its side before taking wing to lead it away.
This time however flying wasn’t enough as after flying for less than a minute I felt burning pain erupt from my back leg where the thing had jumped up to bite me. We collapsed to the ground in a heap while I struggled to bring my shotgun up from its harness underneath me sure I was about to die. I had just managed to bring up my pump-action when the thing jerked suddenly and fell to the side of me twitching slightly before lying still, its breathing going slow and even.
A new feminine voice caught my attention “Stay where you are and don’t move!”
Searching for its source my gaze fell on a strange white unicorn, she was dressed in some kind of pink and yellow armor and holding two glowing energy weapons in a blue field of magic. I tried to stand but my back leg apparently had other ideas as it collapsed immediately and my pip-buck flashed all kinds of pretty toxin warnings at me.
When I collapsed the unicorn seemed to lose whatever distrust she had in me and rushed up to my side. She connected my pip-buck to a similar device on her own leg as her eyes seemed to scan over what I assumed were my pip-buck’s medical reports “Shit this is bad hang on a second I need to find the other pony you were with.”
Pulling the chord out of the connecter she rushed off to find help. I was seeing black spots by the time I head the two mares coming back and ass the got up to me I collapsed completely and passed out.
I awoke to the steady beep of a heart monitor, my head ached and my body felt like it had been hit with several hammers but a least I was alive to complain about it. Seeing me stir the same white mare with the short cropped blue mane approached the bed I was lying in “Um hello there Snowy I’m glad to see you made it.”
“Where am I and is Glitter all right?”
“Yes your friend is fine; in fact you suffered much worse wounds than she did. By the way my name is Ruby, Ruby Cross.”
Nodding my head I took a look at the room I was in, it appeared to be a clinic like Ana’s but much bigger “So you aren’t freaked out by my… looks”
“To be honest I was at first but after your companion explained your case to me while I was treating her injuries I find myself more intrigued than anything ells.”
I tried to pull myself up a bit but my body was still too weak to move much and something was wrong with my back right leg, I could feel the weight of the blanket atop it but not the texture or warmth of it.
Sensing my growing unease Ruby put a comforting hoof on my mane saying “Speaking of injuries I have some… well … some bad news. I was able to repair the torn muscles and blood vessels in your leg but… the monster that bit you is called a nightstalker, they were abominations made after the war and they have an extremely poisonous bite.”
“Ok but what does that have to do with my leg and where is Glitter? Shouldn’t she be here to make sure I’m ok?”
“She has been, you have been unconscious for three days and she only just now left your side to get some rest at my insistence. As for your leg, adult nightstalkers are able to regulate the dose of venom they inject with each bite. But the one that attacked you was an adolescent and it injected all the venom it had into you so by the time I had healed your physical wounds the poison had already spread and I had to… remove the tissue damaged by the venom.”
I didn’t like where this was going but I asked anyway “U-um how much did you have to… uh remove?”
The unicorn medic looked at me sadly “All of it.”
I think it took a full ten minutes before what she said fully sunk in. finding strength I didn’t know I had I yanked to blanket off my lower body to revile the dull white metal cylinder where my leg should have been. The prosthetic was similar in shape to pony’s leg but lightly thinner and painted a color white not far off form my own flanks.
The white mare nudged me with her head to pull my eyes away saying “Sorry I couldn’t get you anything newer but that was all I had on such short notice. The actual prosthetic go’s all the way to your hip but I managed to save the skin on your flank and cutiemark.”
“S-so I’m like a robot now or what?”
“Nothing like that you just have a prosthetic leg aside form that your completely normal… well normal for an alicorn. Try to relax and I’ll go tell Glitter you’re awake.”
Trying to think of something to do while I waited on my friend I checked my pip-buck and found DJ Pon3’s radio station. Flicking it on I let the masculine voice wash over me for the second time this week “Listen up children DJ Pon3 here, giving a bite of news ta keep you going through the day. Fist up it looks like somepony or something has gathered itself an army in Buckland and is laying siege to the Vanguard forces up in Manehatten, maybe that will teach those snooty bunch of gun-nuts a lesson they won’t soon forget. In other new those strange alicorn sightings have been getting more and more frequent with some sources saying that one went over to Trottingham to talk with the not-goddesses broadcasting out of the city. While other say one came up to them claiming to be, get this, Fluttershy reincarnated. I tell ya folks it just gets weirder every day, anyway here’s Sapphire Shores singing the sun can’t hide forever.”
Coming out of my reverie I noticed Glitter hovering worriedly by my bed “Snowy I’m so glad you’re awake! How are ya doing with… everything?”
“Well aside from the fact that I’ve got a tin can for a leg I could be doing worse.”
Ruby walked up to stand behind my friend and checked me over one more time saying “I’m rather curious as to why you didn’t use your shield spell. I had thought all alicorns could do it naturally.”
Thinking back to Super Pony-mart I remembered the golden wall of energy in front of us but had no clue how to replicate it now. Unlike telekinesis it just didn’t seem to come naturally to me.
As I explained this the medical mare replied “Well if that’s the case I’m going to have to teach you because the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened three days ago.”
Promising to do my best to learn the spell Ruby left letting Glitter and I talk alone for a while before she too went upstairs to let me rest.
*** *** ***
It took a full five days for me to recover and learn how to walk again and another week before I was able to go anywhere long-distance. I spent most of the time getting to know Ruby and the clinic’s guard, Barricade. The rest was spent getting used to changing the spark-batteries in my leg, maintain its joints, and reading over the note I got from the griffin’s body. The little slip of paper didn’t have much interesting on it other than the signature of D. unfortunately I didn’t know any ponies who’s name started with D so even that wasn’t any help
At the end of the twelfth day Ruby walked into the room Glitter and I had been staying in “I have a favor to ask if you’re feeling up for travel.”
I had finally used to my leg enough to be thinking about travel so my friend and I said yes.
“Good I need you two to come with me up to Freetown. I usually get a patient or two from there every couple of days, but nopony has showed up since before you got here so something has to be wrong. I would go by myself but if there’s trouble I’ll need backup and Barricade needs to watch over the clinic.”
With that she left us to go get ready while we grabbed our own gear and weapons. Checking my map I saw that Freetown was only a day’s walk form the place it had helpfully labeled Ruby’s Clinic.
After my first day outside I had stopped trying to figure out how my pip-buck knew everything it did, if only to keep from going mad. Putting on our armor and slinging up our weapons the three of us head steadily up to the north and Freetown.
Once we got close to the town it immediately something was very wrong with the town, part of the outer wall was collapsed and there were large smoke towers snaking into the sky. Putting on an extra boost of speed my companions and I rushed in through the blown-open gate to see if anypony could be helped… we needn’t have bothered.
Inside the town was a wreck and everypony inside, even the children, had been dead for a least a day. The buildings were covered in holes and scorch marks and the main road was pockmarked with craters. Glitter rushed up to me as a sat staring hollow-eyed at the corpse of a colt, not even old enough to have his cutiemark, lying in the street. Pressing my face up to meet hers she looked over all the destruction saying “What do ya think coulda done all this? It looks a mite bit high-tech for raiders?”
Ruby’s voice, dipped in cold fury, pierced the silence behind us “It wasn’t raiders Glitter it was the Vanguard, goddesses damn them the Vanguard did all this.”
Footnote: level up
Quest perk added: cyberpony rank 1- you have augmented your natural ability’s with a little bit of cyborg technology (+1 to endurance and +5 damage resistance)
Skill notes:
Stealth now at 25
Guns now at 25
(Authors note: well here we go everypony this is where things start to take off and get a little bit crazy, and hopefully even more enjoyable. Sorry for the kind of generic first few chapters I hadn’t quite finished 4 when my friend convinced me to post this but not things should pick up a bit. A big thanks to all my readers and fans, your enjoyment of the story and comments keep me writing.
One last thing I will be removing the sex tag form this story as of now. Instead when it happens, and it will trust me, I’m going to put the clop in a second story called Fallout Equestria: Lost Future- moments of intimacy.
If you need to contact me you can do so on Fimfiction.net of at snowyflanks@yahoo.com
Thanks again, Snowy)
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch 6 Suit of iron and heart of ice

Chapter 6: Suit of iron and heart of ice

The Vanguard… I had heard them mentioned on a few of the DJ’s broadcasts but this was the first pony I’d met that knew anything about them. I tuned to ask Ruby what she meant by that but bars appearing on my E.F.S. caught my attention. There were six of them, all red, and they were coming right for us. Not wanting a repeat of the nightstalker I put my shield up immediately and dove in front of my companions, drawing my rifle as I did, just as six armored figures charged around the corner a deep mechanical voice shouting “Hooves up raiders! Move an inch and you die!”
The ponies in front of us were the most well-armed and armored I had ever seen. Five of them wore heavy combat armor and had assault-rifles trained at us, either in battle-saddles or floating in magic. Pony number six on the other hoof was geared up differently, at first I thought it was a robot or some kind of walking tank, but upon closer inspection it appeared to be a pony in a fully enclosed suit of magical armor. Seconds slipped by until the command of hold was given and all the ponies relaxed their stances, their bars going from red to blue in an instant, and the same deep voice issued form the suited pony “ This area is under Vanguard control. What business doses an alicorn and her servants have in this ghost town.”
I lowered my rifle form their faces but didn’t drop the orb golden energy around me. These guys had way too much firepower form me to drop my guard completely “My name is Snowy Flanks and we came out here because we thought the town might be in trouble.”
I would have continued but a strangely familiar voice shattered my train of thought “Snowy? …is that really you?”
A unicorn to the right of the armor suited pony pulled off his helmet revealing deep green mane and eyes the color of his namesake; I managed to breathe out a single word through my shock “Emerald.”
The suited stallion’s head snapped to his right “Scribe Emerald Fire you did not mention having a relationship with an abomination upon your recruitment.”
Emerald looked stunned and sputtered at the other stallion “But Orange Peel she wasn’t like this the last time I saw her.”
Orange Peel rounded on the younger, I think, stallion “You will address me as Paladin Orange Peel at all times or I will have you detained back at base! Do I make myself clear?!”
He turned sharply back to us “You and your ilk aren’t welcome here monster. This town was hit by raiders and we’ve been sent in to clean up the mess and start a forward position here so take your slaves and go.”
I wasn’t sure what was more insulting, the fact that he called my companions slaves, or that I was apparently a monster. But before I could utter a single word Ruby walked forward around the slightly obscuring light of my shield saying “Hit by raiders hmm, is that what your elder told you Orange Peel. I suppose he also told you how they got access to heavy energy weapons and artillery cannons.”
The knight stared at Ruby for a full ten seconds “Just who do you think you are to…” he looked closer at her cutiemark, I couldn’t see him blanch under his helmet and visor but I could practically feel it “Y-you… your that traitor! Everypony open fire now!”
Suddenly all the bars on my E.F.S. but Emerald’s flashed back to red and just like that the battle was on
*** *** ***
As I rolled and spun around the truly obscene amount of fire coming up at me I had to wonder if every group of ponies I met out here was going to try and shoot me.
When the fight broke out Ruby had moved faster than anypony I had ever seen, throwing herself to the side and drawing her laser pistols in one smooth motion, firing two pink beams that struck the two ponies farthest to the right sending them to the ground and turning their bars back to blue.
Glitter had ran backwards from me as three of the four reaming Vanguard opened up on us with their rifles and a minigun seated on left of Orange’s armor and was now hunkering behind the corner of a small shack. My shield had held for a full second and a half before Orange Peel stopped shooting and the other gun on his integrated saddle, the largest rifle I had ever seen, snapped with the sound of thunder and put a clean hole the size of my horn through it before it disintegrated entirely.
Realizing I was well and truly bucked if I stayed on the ground I had thrown myself into the air and now here I was using all of my (limited) aerial tricks to keep from being tuned into a pony full of holes. Orange was staying on me with his minigun while the other two were peppering away at the corner Glitter hid behind and I had no idea where Ruby had gotten to, also if I ever found the pony that invented miniguns and then thought to put them on armored suits I would kill them.
Deciding it was more than time to go on the attack I rolled over the top and screamed down at the three remaining hostile Vanguard below me. Reigniting my shield to soak up the bullets I skimmed over their heads my rifle all but useless as it pattered against their armor.
Thankfully Glitter managed to get off a shot from Eagle Eye, the loud crack capped by a scream as the round slipped under one of the ceramic plates and into the leg of the Vanguard on the left of Orange.
As the other two turned back to her I spun back around and made a second pass. This time however Orange Peel was ready for me his giant rifle thundered a second time and grazed my wing, had my shield not been up the force would have torn it form its socket. Even with the shield it knocked me off course and right into a building.
Picking myself up from the shards of glass and wood that used to be a window I heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs and more shooting outside, the gunfire punctuated by electrical zaps from Ruby’s pistols. Turning to face the stairs I pulled my shotgun loose, rifle having dropped when I lost concentration, and tried to raise my shield. I was so exhausted however that all I managed to do was nearly drop my shotgun. Suddenly the pony burst into the room and I thanked the goddesses it was Emerald.
The unicorn kept his gun trained on me as he advanced saying “Snowy what the hay happened to you since I left?”
I looked behind myself at the two blue bars slowly edging backwards out of my sight and being pursued by a red bar that was probably Orange Peel “Now Emerald! You really want to discuss this now!”
“Ok fine we’ll talk about it later then but if you and your friends want to get out of this alive you’ll have to deal with Orange. The other Initiates will listen when I tell them to run for it but not while he’s alive and he won’t stop till your all dead.”
Testing my wing I found it still worked but was incredibly sore “Well I hope you have an idea how to do that because none of our weapons can even scratch him.”
“Um I… uh… wait I have this.” he reached into his bradding and pulled out a… grenade… a standard grenade.
*** *** ***
Checking outside the window I saw Emerald rush across the street to help tend to the injured unicorn with the soldier who had stayed behind when Paladin Orange had run off. Slipping quietly out of the window I spread my wings, wincing at the sudden pain form the injured one and flew off toward the sound of gunfire and tearing sheet-metal praying it didn’t stop before I got there.
Winging over the town I caught up with my friends. They had fallen back into a small metal house which was now getting torn to shreds under the paladin’s minigun. He suddenly rounded on me and opened up with his rifle. The massive bullets cut the air around me as I slid around into a dive, I wasn’t sure if he was low on ammo or just wanted to kill me with one shot but I wasn’t about to stop. Drawing my wings closed I rolled in the air bringing my back legs in line with the paladin’s face and lifting the left one just before I hit.
When I connected with his visor I felt my hoof, my metal hoof, deform just a bit from the impact. Springing back off the stunned stallion I landed heavily on my hooves and surveyed the damage. All the force I could muster… had barely cracked the suits visor, ok this armor was just plain cheating! Regardless of how fair it was the paladin was starting pull himself together so it was now or never.
Using what little magic I had left in me I shoved Emerald’s grenade up against the spider-webbed visor and tugged out the pin. Orange pressed himself slightly forward seeming to try and stare down the grenade “You little mule, I should have made sure you were dead first.”
“Well I guess that’s the last mistake you’ll ever make then.”
The stallion chuckled grimly “Right of course it is. Let me tell you something little monster, I’ve fought abominations like you for years and even though you’re a freak you just don’t have it in you to kill me.”
Looking directly into his helmet covered eyes I used the most crazed smile I could manage “Guess again.” and pulled the stem.
*** *** ***
The explosion knocked me on my back and threw shrapnel everywhere. Much to my abject terror the one thing it didn’t do was put down Paladin Orange Peel, who still upright and looking right at me. Well maybe not looking… you had to have eyes that still worked to do that. But whit the E.F.S. he no doubt had in his armor it hardly mattered in the long run, I was completely bucked.
Rolling back up to my hooves I stared at the ruined eyes of the Vanguard through the shattered visor. For what little I could see his coat was orange just like his name and I wondered what cutiemark he might have. I never got the chance to find out as the barrels on his minigun began to rotate… then stopped completely with a sharp metallic whine. The same sound came from the rifle on his left; somehow the shrapnel had managed to disable both of his weapons. The stallion just snorted in disgust and lowered his head saying “Fine then well do this the hard way you little freak!”
Kicking himself forward the paladin charged towards me. My legs were exhausted and my wing had finally called it quits so I had to stop him. As the stallion bore down on me I reached for the one weapon I still had that I could use without magic, my dinky little 9mm pistol. He was almost on top of me when I raised the gun kicked on S.A.T.S. and put every ounce of energy the spell had into his face.
It was about a minute later when I opened my eyes and realized I had still been pulling the trigger even after the gun was empty. Glancing I saw the body of Paladin Orange Peel sprawled out at my hooves, his body having skidded to a stop after I turned his face into an empty red and white hole.
S.A.T.S. had saved me but looking down at that oozing wound was just too much. Dropping my gun and lurching sideways I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the dirt. Feeling a hoof on my shoulder I glanced over at Ruby’s concerned muzzle “Snowy look at me, he’s dead, it’s over.”
“I-I know… i-it was just… never mind. Look I have questions for you and I expect answers.”
The white unicorn nodded “You’ll get them… some of them. But right now theirs somepony who wants to talk to you and the last thing you need to do is puke all over him.”
At my confused look she gestured over to house she and Glitter had been hiding in. The blue mare had also come out and was now in an apparent staring contest with the closest thing I had to a friend in the stable. Hobbling over to bullet-riddled shack Glitter let the scribe inside and gestured for me to follow him in.
Stumbling inside I saw Emerald sitting in a half-destroyed chair looking anywhere but me “Snowy are you… going to be ok?”
“I’m just tired. I think I used up all my magic but once I get some rest and my hoof looked at I should be fine.”
Emerald pushed himself up and trotted slowly over to me “I already sent the initiates back out of town once I join the we’ll cut around Green Meadows and head back to Fetlock. For now though, I have some time, let me have a look at that leg.”
Surprisingly the bed seemed to be the only thing in the room not torn to shreds so I lay back on my side to let him have a look. Taking the opportunity I looked him over, he seemed… different which probably didn’t mean much compared to me but he still looked surer of himself.
As he checked over my leg I caught him glancing repeatedly at my horn and the different color of my mane and tail. Pausing for a second to fiddle with something he pointed a hoof at my horn “So are you going to tell me when… that… happened to you?”
“Believe it or not I was an alicorn since the day I as born, my parents just had my horn removed.”
He stopped working and stared at me “How is that even possible Snowy? I know horns regrow but it usually takes a large amount of time.”
“That’s true but thankfully we escaped right before they were going to remove it again.”
“Ok fine so you’re an alicorn now for some reason but what about your leg. The replacement is in good condition form being two hundred years old but how did you…”
I cut him off with a glare that tuned into a wince as he gingerly removed a piece of shrapnel that had lodged itself into the joint if my knee “Hold on know if you want the answer to that you’d better tell me what happened to you? Why did you leave me there all alone and how did you hook up with these Vanguard jerks.”
“I can’t explain it all right now, I have to get back to base and report the paladin’s death. I will come and find you later and then I’ll answer all your questions ok?”
“Fine but how will you find me?”
He pointed down to my pip-buck with a hoof “I have your pip-buck’s tag, I can find you anywhere with that. It’s actually the reason I’m here at all. I saw your tag close to this town so after we cleaned up the place I was going to go looking for you.”
With that he turned and walked out the door telling me to get some rest and let my friends handle things for a while.
As much as my tired body wanted to listen to him I couldn’t just let my companions do all the work. Slogging back outside I joined my friends we set to the task. It took most of the day but by that night we had gathered all the bodies in town and buried anypony with a name we could find and put the rest to light in a huge pyre. Even though it was well passed night by the time we finished our grisly task but none of us wanted to stay in this dead town so we made our way outside and set up camp for the night.
*** *** ***
The next day we finally got back to the clinic. I hadn’t slept the night before so when we got inside I went straight to sleep. Well almost straight to sleep Ruby insisted on removing my leg once I had lain down to make repairs on the slightly deformed hoof.
My strange and disjointed dreams were interrupted by Glitter nudging me with a hoof “Hey get up Snowy. You were crying in your sleep again, more bad dreams?”
Reaching up I felt the puffiness of my eyes and chuckled glumly “Oh sorry I guess I’ve been doing that a lot.”
“Look don’t worry about it ok? Besides I have your leg here with me and I brought you breakfast. Just because you don’t need to eat doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
Blushing at being caught I reattached my leg and under the mare’s watchful eye ate the food she had brought up. I still wasn’t too keen on the idea of eating two hundred year old food, even if it had enough magical preservatives to keep it relatively fresh for another century or two. But considering the alternative was eating meat from animals like a lot of ponies had turned to I decided I shouldn’t complain about it too much, especially if Glitter continued to force me to eat even though I didn’t need to.
After breakfast we caught up with Ruby in the small office she kept on the ground floor. Slipping herself behind the desk she looked down at the terminal sitting atop it “Well you wanted to ask me questions Snowy now’s the time.”
“All right fine, first off just who are the Vanguard and how in Equestria do they know you?”
“Well first off before we get to that I think congratulations are in order. I’m pretty sure you’re the only pony in history to take out a power-armored Steel Ranger with a grenade and a pistol.”
The name conjured up a memory, half buried and musty with age, to the forefront of my mind “Wait you said Steel Ranger? Weren’t they part of old Equestria’s military?”
“Yes they were the elite troops of Equestria’s ground forces. Hand-picked and clad in heavily reinforced, magically powered armor they were the best the Ministry of Arcane Science and Ministry of War-time Technology had to offer and were notoriously hard to put down.”
Thinking back to the fight two days ago I tended to agree. If it hadn’t been for my prosthetic leg I don’t think we would have gotten out of there. “So they survived even after to war?”
“In a manner of speaking, the ministry hubs in Manehatten and some of the other major cities survived the balefire bombs and megaspells. After the dust settled the remaining leaders of the ministries came together and formed what most ponies today known as the Vanguard.”
Glitter suddenly raised a hoof and cut in “OK that ah can understand but if they’re from the ministries then what is their problem with us now? It ain’t like we’re monsters or nuthin so why is everything ah hear about them bad news, not ta mention what they did to that town.”
The white unicorn sighed and began tapping slowly on her keyboard before replying “What you have to remember is that after Ponyville disappeared the ponies who took over the ministries were nothing like Twilight and her friends. They never cared about ending the war just winning it, thus why the Ministry of Peace was gutted and closed down. Shadow Hooves was no better, after declaring that the goddesses had abandoned everypony he set up a kind of duel society.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean Ruby? And why do you know about the Vanguard at all?”
“That… is one of the few things I won’t discus. Sorry for cutting off so suddenly but a lady must have some… secrets, besides I have some things I want to give you.”
With that she pulled my forehoof up to the computer and connected my pip-buck to the machine. A small chime alerted me the files she was transferring over to me looking them over I realized they were all audio recordings dating back two hundred years. Before I could ask her about them she slid something else arcos the table saying “Take this too, you’ll see why when you get to Ponyville.”
Looking down I realized she had given me one of the strange energy pistols she had been using. Lifting it with my magic I realized just how customized it was, the body was yellow with light pink stripes around the sides and a large butterfly in the center of either side of the gun. The grip and trigger were molded to fit comfortably in the mouth and the entire weapon was extremely light for its size.
Ruby smiled softly as I admired the gun “That was given to me by a very important pony in my life so take good care of it ok?”
“But Ruby if it’s so important why are you giving it to me and what’s with the recordings you gave me?”
“I’m not going with you Snowy. Somepony has to run this clinic and besides if you’re going anywhere near the Vanguard that’s not someplace I want to be.”
*** *** ***
six hours later we were well on our way up north. Cutting around Freetown added a full day to the three I would take to reach Green Meadows but neither of us wanted to go anywhere near that place for a while. We had tried to push Ruby into coming with us but the unicorn could be surprisingly stubborn when she wanted to and even after an hour of talking and a bit of shouting it was still just to two of us. However she left us with one last parting gift, a strange new spell she called a glamor that somehow would change my appearance
Trying to think of a something to pass the time while we walked I flicked on the first of the recordings Ruby gave me and the stressed and nervous voice of a young mare greeted our ears
“U-um hello there… um computer, my new boss said I should record a journal to help with everything that’s happened. S-so here go’s its May the sixth and my name is Nurse Rosepetal. I guess I should start from the beginning… I still can’t Ponyville is gone, I mean completely gone, it’s already been a week but I still can’t honestly believe it.
Even with the princesses there as well as the ministry mares the whole place just vanished. Now the Ministries are scrambling to try and keep it under-wraps, though I think it’s kind of a moot point now. But in their defense I’ve never seen everypony this frightened, even the ponies I ran into form the M.O.I. were scared and it’s their job to be cool under pressure.
I can barely force myself to think about it in one fell swoop of… something I lost not only my, um, boss Doctor Red Heart but Fluttershy, the pony who possibly cared more about everything’s wellbeing than anypony short of the princesses too. I’m going to shut this off now I… can’t talk any more right now.”
When the recording ended Glitter glanced over at me saying “Well that was kinda morbid weren’t it Snowah.”
Nodding my assent I shut off the recording before the next one started. I could only imagine how frightening it must have been to everypony living at the time, suddenly the heroes of Equestria were gone along with the goddesses themselves. So far the recordings didn’t show any of the supposed insight Ruby mentioned but I would wait till we had listened to them all before judging.
Watching the mostly obscured sun slowly sink behind the wall of clouds that made up the sky it looked like we should find a place to sleep. Checking my map I noticed a small building my pip-buck had labeled ‘Fields farm’. Pointing it out to my friend we turned off to the east and headed towards the place hoping it wasn’t infested with raiders… or worse.
As the building gained clarity with our approach it did appear to be and old farmstead with a mostly barren crop field and a farmhouse so patched I wondered how much of the original home remained. Before we could get any closer to the place a gravelly voice rang out form the buildings front door “Hold it right there you two! Who are ya and what do ya want here?”
I could see a rifle floating half obscured in a window and could make out the faint sound of it being loaded. Wanting to come away form an encounter without getting shot at for once I decided I should try diplomacy first saying “Hold on their sir we don’t mean you any harm we’re just looking for a place to sleep.”
“Don’t you sir me young missy how am ah supposed to believe you with all that firepower ya got on ya. Fer all ah know yawl could be workin them mean fellers to come harass us some more.”
I was trying to figure out what he could have possibly meant and how to respond to it when another voice, still a little gravelly but lighter and softer, called out form another window on the second floor “Oh for Celestia’s mane Berry if ya’d open good eye ya might realize they ain’t from that tin-can brigade. Now hurry up and get the door.”
“What are ya talkin bout ya daft mare I don’t see no… land sakes! Hold on their princess ah’ll be right there.”
Glitter and I looked at each other nervously; they had obviously recognized me as an alicorn and since that led to them letting us inside it didn’t appear to be a bad thing. Still it always pays to be cautious so with a bit of trepidation we slowly made our way up towards the now open screen door. Walking our way into the dimly lit living room we were greeted by the home’s unicorn ghoul owners.
The closest one, the stallion, spoke first “Howdy their yer highness ah’m powerful sorry about the misunderstanden earlier but lately there been some miscreants coming round and causing us problems.”
Taking a step back I looked to ghouls over. The stallion’s coat was entirely gone and most of his straw colored mane had followed suit. One of his eyes looked milky white while the other was a soft pinkish red I assumed that the milky one was the reason he didn’t notice my horn right away. In stark contrast the mare still had bits of her pink coat and large portions of her soft white mane and tail. I could even make out her cutiemark, a strange flower I couldn’t identify, and her royal blue eyes sparkled with something akin to barely suppressed giddiness.
Realizing they were waiting on us I replied “Hello my name’s Snowy and this is my friend Glitter Lens. Don’t worry earlier I’m just glad I didn’t get shot… again, and please don’t call me your highness I’m not a princess or anything.”
The unicorn just waved off my remark “Nonsense yer an alicorn ain’t ya, which makes ya royalty in our book. Names Strawberry Fields and this here’s ma wife Petunia and this.” He waved his hoof to indicate the empty fields behind us “Is Sugar Berry Farms… or at least what’s left of it. Regardless yer very welcome in our home so please make yerselves comfortable.”
We sat ourselves on one of the many couches in the room while the couple sat on another across form us. Still curious I asked if they had seen or heard about the other alicorns around the wasteland at which the pink mare snorted derisively “Ya mean those pale imitations DJ Pon3’s been talking about lately. Thrust me sugar cube ah’ve been around long enough ta see the genuine article and they ain’t it. You on the other hoof look like ya could be one of the princesses’ long lost daughters. Speaking of which where did ya come from anyway if ya don’t mind me asking?”
Deciding it couldn’t hurt I told them my story, from the stable till now. I was about to question them about what Equestria was like before the wasteland but Glitter suddenly asked her own question “So uh pardon ma asking but ya’ll don’t sound like no unicorns ah’ve ever met.”
Strawberry chuckled a little “Yep ah suppose that’s true. But seeing as ah was raised in Appaloosa by some o’ the Apple family it’s been a hard habit ta break.”
The pink ghoul nodded “And thanks ta him ah’ve been doing it ever since ah married him. Speaking of old habits ah’ve been neglecting mah manners let mah get ya something ta eat.”
*** *** ***
Dinner with Strawberry and Petunia was much more pleasant than I had initially feared, the salad they fed us was the best I’d ever tasted and the conversation was nothing short of fascinating. Strawberry explained about how he had been an orphan and had been adopted by Candy Apple and her husband, living in Appaloosa and meeting Petunia.
“So then after ah finally convinced her ta marry me she decides she wants to move way out east and start a farm in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong up till the megaspells went off all our strawberries grew perfectly here, but still it was a bit of a shift when it happened.”
Petunia snorted into her salad “A bit of a shift? Way ah remember ya was cryin like a foal because ah wanted to leave your beloved Appaloosa. But enough of our bickering how was yer meal?”
“It was some of the best food I’ve ever tasted honestly. Though I am curious how you got fresh produce all the way out here.”
“Oh well Petunia and ah sometimes go up ta Green Meadows if we need anything, we just live out here because it’s our home and… well as old as we are its knida nice ta have some peace and quiet princess.”
After dinner Petunia took the plates away to clean and her husband showed us up to our rooms. The farmhouse was more than big enough to accommodate us so we quickly found rooms beside each other.
Once laying down however sleep proved elusive to me, I wasn’t sure what was in that food as it had tasted fine but something about it didn’t sit well with me at all. Since it was clear I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep anytime soon I decided to check over my gear and ammunition. Everything seemed more or less in good condition though I was going to have to get better armor if I was going to be fighting more like the Vanguard. Ammunition on the other hoof was slightly more troubling I had plenty of shotgun shells and magazines for my pistol but I only had two and a half mags left or my hornet and not a single weapon that could even come close to piercing steel ranger armor. Not to mention that Glitter had used almost all her ammo in the fight at Freetown so all in all we were cutting it a little close with our supplies. As I was going to need more of a distraction I slipped on the second recording of Rosepetal
“Well hello there journal it’s me again. There have been some interesting developments since my first recording and I suppose I should talk about them. First off there was somepony who survived whatever happened to Ponyville, his name Shadow Hooves and supposedly he was some sort of adviser for the princesses.
Other than that the Canterlot palace has been completely enclosed in a shield since the princesses disappeared. Nopony knows if any of the staff or guards were inside, although Princess Cadence hasn’t been seen since the shield went up but I’m not too worried because if anypony can find a way through the barrier is one of the princesses.
Well there also was talk of who’s going to run Equestria now that the princesses and the ministry mares are gone. Personally I couldn’t care less, because once the zebras figure out all of our leaders are gone they’ll just hit us with megaspells while everypony is running around scared.
Huh I didn’t realize I had gotten so cynical, I guess I just miss Doctor Red Heart. My life hasn’t been the same without…well it’s not like anypony else is going to read this so I guess I can tell you she was my marefriend. Anyway I’m going to go to bed now I’m just depressing myself.”
It kind of saddened me to think about being a pony trying to cope with a country suddenly leaderless. In a state like that I could see how easy it must have been for Shadow Hooves to take control of Equestria. Looking outside I realized it was well into the night and I should probably get some sleep sooner or later.
*** *** ***
The next morning I awoke unusually early to the sound of hushed voices just outside my room.
“We can’t do this Berry and you know it.”
“But Petunia what else is we supposed ta do? Ifen they come back and we ain’t got the mare they wanted they’ll kill us without question. Not ta mention they said they’d be here in less than two hours.”
Realizing what that meant I pushed myself from the bed and began readying my gear while calling out to the ghouls in the hallway “You know it’s not polite to talk about somepony behind their backs.”
Both ghouls shoved open the door staring at me in disbelief. I slid on the rest of my gear and pulled my rifle from its sling while the unicorns started stammering explanations “Save it. I’m guessing you drugged me and Glitter with plans to get the Vanguard to take us and leave you alone right?”
“What were supposed to do? They are going to kill us if we don’t give you over them. I don’t wasn’t to betray you princess but I can’t just let them murder us.”
Ok I could understand not wanting to die but I was kinda confused as to how they even came into contact with the Vanguard. When I asked they explained that a couple of Steel Rangers has shown up four hours before we did and demanded that they capture me. However much as I wanted to help them I wasn’t about to get taken by the Vanguard, but without some kind of heavier firepower we stood no chance against power-armor.
As I pushed the couple to wake my friend and get themselves ready to leave. While they were getting ready I searched about franticly for something I could use to beat the Vanguard but short of dropping the house on them, which still probably wouldn’t work I came up empty hooved. I really wished Emerald was there with us, while his special talent was with technology not magic but he still probably knew way more spells than I did. Back in the stable he would… wait a minute… back in the stable was where I got my cutiemark by making it snow… with magic, and if I could make it snow then. I had an idea, it was about as well thought out as most of my ideas but it was the only thing I could think of that might work.
*** *** ***
I stood on top of the old farm house waiting for the Steel Rangers, my horn aglow in golden magic. I had no clue if my idea would even work but it was worth a try. Glitter had taken a bit to wake up but now she was heading south with Strawberry and his wife, I had to fight hard to convince her to take them to Ruby’s but if my plan failed spectacularly I didn’t want somepony other than me getting hurt.
Even with my concentration focused on the spell I hoped I was doing right the Vanguard, and Steel Rangers in particular, never seemed too keen on the concept of subtly so it wasn’t hard to spot the eight power-armored ponies moving in formation form the north. Clenching my eyes shut I pushed more energy into the spell, adding an overglow to my horn and pushing the clouds above me a little tighter together even as the rangers got close enough to see me and fanned out in a semi-circle, aiming their weapons at my still form.
The ranger in the center of the group’s mechanical voice called harshly up to me “Attention alicorn cease your magic immediately or we will open fire on you.”
“Sorry but I’m kind in the middle of something so you should come back later. Besides you won’t shoot me.”
The stallion huffed slightly saying “Oh really what makes you so sure of that?”
Grinning slightly I pushed even more magic into my horn, I had no idea if I would even be able to walk after this but I had already started so no turning back now “It’s simple really. You bothered to take the time to hire some ghouls to drug and foal-nap me which was something you wouldn’t waist time on. So how about we start this conversation again with you telling my why you’re suddenly so interested in getting your hooves on me?”
“That matter is classified and I don’t have to tell you anything monster. Now come down peacefully or, orders or not, I will kill you then find your companions and kill them too.”
I shook my head a little “Boy are you guys always this pissy or do I just bring it out in you? Anyway mister grumpy I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me your name before I decide if I’m going to surrender.”
Grunting in displeasure the stallion replied “My name, freak, is Paladin Steelshot now stop your spell or I’ll kill you now.”
“Ya know I don’t know why you call yourselves Steel Rangers and Paladins and stuff like that. Because to me all you really seem like is a bunch of bullies in big suits of metal armor with big guns. But you know I have another name for bullies in metal armor.”
Steelshot chuckled softly “Oh really and what would that be monster.”
“I call them lightning rods.”
The assorted Steel Rangers glanced nervously about suddenly noticing how dark the cloud ceiling had gotten, how much static was in the air… and how bright my horn was glowing. As one I heard their weapons start firing but it was much too late. With a devilish grin I let loose the spell in my horn and unleashed hell.
Having never been in a storm before in my live nothing could have prepared me for the, brightness, the noise, and the sheer force of eight lightning bolts hitting the ground simultaneously. The shockwave took my legs right out from under me even as I heard the terrible cries from the rangers down below. But I had no time to bask in my success as I started to quite quickly towards the edge of the roof without enough strength to even open my wings it looked like I was in for a two story fall. Thankfully fate chose to spare me the pain of impact and I blacked out.
Footnote: level up
New perk: winged castor—you have learned to hold your concentration even while flapping for your life (removes concentration penalty for magic while flying)
Skill notes:
Magic now at 50
New spells:
Glamor - level 1 (lets you change small parts of your body to look different. Must be maintained with magic)
Summon storm – level one (call up to eight bolts of lightning from the sky)
(Authors note: so the plot thickens. Sorry for this one taking a little longer to finish guys my life can be kinda hectic not to mention my dyslexia makes typing a real bitch sometimes. Hopefully I’ll have one chapter out every 5 to 7 days but I might take some weeks off to rest up and work on other stories.
Anyhow thanks again to everypony who read, comment, or up-voted my story it really means a lot. Also thanks to Kkat for making F.o.E. in the first place.
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch7 Head in the clouds

Chapter 7: Head in the clouds

When I finally woke up from playing storm-bringer it felt like my whole body had been run through the stable’s waste disposal. It also occurred to me that I was spending a fair amount of my time in the waists either injured or unconscious, I seriously hoped it was wasn’t going to be any more common than it already was but I doubted I would have any more luck than I did at not getting shot at.
Pulling myself back to the situation at hoof I tried, unsuccessfully, to move my hooves or even open my eyes. I wasn’t sure how long I had been laying on the ground but I knew I couldn’t stay there as pleasant an idea as that was at the moment. Failing to move a second time I decided I would have to use magic to move myself, reaching inside I tried pulling energy to my horn and instantly regretted it. The moment I connected to my magic well it felt like my head was trying to rip itself off.
As I realized I wasn’t going anywhere for a bit I tried to get my bearings any way that didn’t involve me moving. So I did the only thing I could I inhaled a big breath through my nose, that… was a mistake. The area I was in smelled of death and smelled it reeked, like whatever had died had been laying there for a day or two. Had I not been exhausted I would have vomited, as it was I just groaned heavily.
Before I could contemplate to long on how awful rotting pony smelled I heard somepony approaching me with… wings? Craning my ears I caught the tell-tale flap of wing beats which mostly ruled out the Vanguard since I hadn’t seen a single pegasus with them. As they drew closer though I began to worry about their intent, from what little I could hear they were coming straight for me but those thoughts were pushed aside as I felt them land gently next to me and push a small tablet into my mouth with not hooves but magic.
While I tried to figure out who it was that was helping me I absentmindedly chewed up the tablet and tried to swallow. Looking back I realize how insane of an idea that was, I mean I had no idea where that tablet came from or what it did but at the time I was so exhausted and sore I wasn’t thinking clearly. After managing to swallow the chewed up fragments I felt a strange heat buildup in my body and a sudden unexpected burst of energy. Groaning a bit as even the pain in my horn dulled somewhat I was just beginning to wonder why somepony like Solaris would help me when I was bombarded by the cheeriest voice you could possibly imagine “Hey there sis! Boy you sure know how to throw a party!”
Using my newfound bit of strength my eyes snapped open and I found myself muzzle to muzzle the bubbliest alicorn I had ever seen, possibly even the bubbliest pony I had ever seen. Popping my chapped lips back open I questioned “W-who are you and how did you find me?”
The cyan filly pulled back in confusion for a moment “Huh? OH right I forgot the introductions! Hi big sis my name’s Zephyr and well… I guess I already know who you are.”
“Um… look Zephyr it’s not like I don’t appreciate… whatever it was you did but I’m telling you I never had any siblings.”
Slowly struggling to my hooves I took a moment to look over the strange pony as she seemed to ponder over what I had said. She was smaller than Solaris and her horn was shorter but her wings at least were the same size. The cyan color of her coat went well with her poofy white mane and tail while her soft pink eyes shimmered with what could only be described as unbridled giddiness. Seeing me stumble a bit as I pushed upright Zephyr enveloped me in a pink field of telekinesis and started hovering me towards the battered farmhouse. As we made our way into the building the cyan mare took a moment to stare at me “So Solaris really didn’t fill you in on anything did she?” at my confused headshake she sighed “Darn that grumpyhooves that’s just like her. Well it would take a bit too long to explain it all now and besides we need to get you inside. After whatever it was you did you must have a nasty burnout.”
I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about but oh it felt wonderfully nice to lie on a bed after being outside for who knows how long. Looking over slightly I caught sight of her digging around through her saddlebags “Hey Zephyr I do have one question for you if ya don’t mind. What was that tablet you gave me?”
“Hmm? Oh right that was a sparkle tablet, twilight invented them before she vanished. Their designed to add a little bit of charge to a pony’s magic well and ease the horn stress caused by magical burnout.”
“I’m guessing that burnout is what, Aha, I’m going through right now.”
The alicorn nodded and pushed me back on the bed while pressing a fresh apple up to my mouth. I would have complained that I could do it myself but I was still weak and the pain in my horn had only lessened somewhat. After I took a bite form the apple Zephyr pushed it into my hooves so I could eat it while walked back outside to move those burned rangers. Trying to keep eating the apple my exhaustion got the better of me and I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
*** *** ***
I awoke sometime later to a familiar voice and a hoof jogging my shoulder “Hey there Snowy you awake yet?”
Popping my eyes open I’m greeted by the nervously smiling face of a friend “Glitter when did you get here!”
“A few hours ago actually that really… bouncy alicorn let me in. Speaking of which what are you thinking of letting her get close to you like that? I know she seems all right but you don’t have any idea what it is she wants from us.”
I pointed out that when she found me I was more or less comatose so if she had wanted to do something bad then would be the time. It also didn’t hurt that even now I could just barely move my legs and wings so I was in no position to fight her. This realization seemed to cow the mare a little and she blushed a bit before turning as the cyan alicorn from before stepped back through. Noticing I was awake she pushed herself into a nearby chair saying “Well I finished getting rid of all the bodies out front. Speaking of which I’m really curious what you used on them, when I popped one of their helmets the pony looked burnt to a crisp. So come on and spill, I want to know what you used to fricassee eight steel rangers.”
Grunting a bit I pushed myself further up on my pillow “Well I did the only thing I could think of at the time which was it them with lightning. By the way how long is this burnout thing going to last and what is it anyway?”
My friend looked impressed and a bit scared but Zephyr’s reaction seemed more worrisome. The alicorn looked nervous and almost disbelieving “You mean you hit all of them with magic lightning?”
Her statement confused me more than anything and when she went on to elaborate it just made things worse. I had no idea alicorns could shoot lightning from their horns but I had the feeling that wasn’t what I had done to the ranger so I tried my best to explain what had happened. My explanation barely got past the first sentence when the cyan pony practically shoved a hoof in my mouth to quiet me saying “Wait you mean you actually managed to pull clouds to you and called lightning down from the sky! I… what made you think you could even do it?”
I looked over at my friend “Well it kinda came to me after I thought about my cutiemark. Glitter you remember the story I told you about it right?”
The mare started at my question, seeming a bit confused “Uh yes I do but what does that have to do with this situation?”
“Wow Glitter, pay attention much? I got my mark when I made it snow in the stable’s apple orchard so I figure if I could make clouds snow maybe I could make them do other things. The rest of my not so brilliant plan just kinda spiraled off from that.”
Zephyr looked like I was trying to tell her that Princess Celestia had a fetish for bananas. If her jaw got any lower if would have probably hit the floor but thankfully she seemed to snap back to reality after a moment “T- that’s insane Solaris can’t even do that, no pony should be able to do that! Manipulating weather is one of the few things unicorn magic can’t do, at least not very well, so how is it that you were able to pull it off?”
In truth I was just a confused about it as she was so I decided shelve that little question for later and instead brought up my earlier query about magical burnout. According to Zephyr burnout happens when a unicorn uses a spell that requires most or all of their magic well. After that happens their body and magic well are drained and they can’t use any magic till they recover. Given how I was feeling I was inclined to agree with her my body hurt like I had been running for days and I couldn’t even use simple telekinesis let alone anything more difficult.
Thinking back to Zephyr’s appearance I remembered how the pill she had given had helped me feel a little better so I asked her for another. The alicorn had seemed a little confused and even scared during my story but now she was perking up again her smile was back and her eyes were bright. Even her mane seemed to be bouncing, that was when I realized that she was bouncing, directly in front of us, in place, for no apparent reason. That… had me confused I’ll admit but I didn’t have time to think about it too much as she was already replying in a rush of words “Ooh sorry big sis but I can’t give another one ya see their super addictive. Not to mention if ya take too many of them it’ll keep your magic well from replenishing naturally and that would be really, really bad. I mean then you wouldn’t be able to use any magic unless you take them all the time and I can’t imagine where you would find enough cause their really rare. But you know they’re not nearly as addictive as Party Time Mint-all’s but then again how could they be I mean those things are good. Have you ever tried them they make you the life of the party and supper happy and…”
“Zephyr!!”
“Huh… oh sorry was I rambling again? I tend to do that sometimes if I get excited about something.”
The mare in front of us da been bouncing faster and faster as she spoke till she was nearly vibrating which is when I had shouted at her. Now she seemed more or less back to normal so I decided now would be the best time to find something out that had been nagging at me. But before I could manage it the earth-pony sitting beside me jumped a bit in her chair and nervously looked over at me “Hey Snowy I really hate to do this but I have to leave.”
“What! But you just got here why do you have to go anywhere?”
Glitter fidgeted around nervously, glancing over at the alicorn next to us “Well I didn’t want to say anything but the um ghouls we saved asked me to help them get to the next town. So I was leading them there but decided to try and find you for a moment. I’d like to stay but they need my help ya know?”
I would have tried to argue or at least go with her but the pain in my head and the look Zephyr gave me told me I wasn’t going anywhere for at least another day. So I conceded defeat and let her head out on her way, I was confused why the Fields’ would need to go stay somewhere ells but it occurred to me that I didn’t know how Ruby felt about ghouls so there might have been a problem.
As soon as she left I realized I had no idea what to do for the rest of the time I would be weak and Zephyr’s suggestion of a party didn’t sound to appealing at the moment. Pushing my forehoof up I checked over my pip-buck, thankfully it seemed to have weathered the fall mostly unscathed so I popped on the third recording of Nurse Rosepetal.
“Well here go’s it’s me again and this is my third journal entry. Allot has happened since the last time I recorded so I’ll try and get it all covered. First off the debate, I you could call it that is over and that Shadow Hooves guy is supposed to be running things now. Nopony has seen princess Cadence since the shield went up around the palace so I’m guessing that’s where she is but I was more surprised that prince Blueblood didn’t try and take over. He had always been complaining about how his aunts ran things but he took one look at Shadow Hooves and ran for the hills… what a coward.
I even go to meet Shadow Hooves the other day. I had been at the Manehatten hub for the M.O.P. when he came in. apparently he had been taking tours of all the Ministry hubs to try and get a feel for them. He seemed… odd when I met him, he was very kind and polite and he spouted off a whole bunch of stuff about making a memorial for the victims of the Ponyville incident and winning the war in their honor but something was just kinda… off about hem the whole time like there was something he was hiding.
In any event I suppose it’s obvious by now that we haven’t been blown up in a zebra attack yet. I’ve no idea how but the M.O.I. managed to stem the flow of information and kept the zebras in the dark about everything. I’m not really sure what to do now though, now that the shock has disappeared everypony is pulling themselves back together and continuing the war like nothing happened.
But I…I just can’t p-pretend it didn’t happen I lost the two p-ponies I cared the most about in Ponyville… and e-everypony else just wants to forget…
Red Heart… I… I miss you so m-much and… I can’t do this right now I s-should go back to work.”
Blinking a bit I realized I was crying a little by the end of the recording and I was suddenly glad I didn’t have a special somepony back in the stable. The opening door snapped me back to reality, I hadn’t realized Zephyr had left the room during the recoding but my face must have betrayed me because she bounced over and put a hoof over my shoulder “Aww its ok sis what’s got you so down? Was it that mare on your pip-buck or something and who was she anyway?”
“Her name was Rosepetal Zephyr she was a nurse in the M.O.P. 200 years ago.”
The alicorn hugged me a little tighter and used a hoof to wipe my tears “How come she sounded so sad then? I wasn’t trying to listen in because that would be rude but I did hear a little bit and she seemed real upset about something and now that something has you upset too.”
“Well you see she lost her special somepony in whatever happened in Ponyville and it just made me think of how sad I would be if I had somepony I cared about and I couldn’t ever see them again. That’s why I’m glad I never really made friends in the stable. The closest I ever came was Emerald and at least he’s out here with me.”
For a little while we stayed like that and I have to admit as odd as it was it felt kinds nice to have somepony trying to comfort me. After a few minutes though she pushed away and gently bonked me on the head saying that I shouldn’t be so sad and that I still needed sleep. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how tired I still was so after thanking her again for the help I lay back on my pillow and was out in moments.
*** *** ***
The second day passed much like the first and by the end of it I was more or less back to my old self. Though my horn wouldn’t be calling down anymore lightning yet but it was a start. Hearing Zephyr come through the door I slid myself up on the pillows just as she entered and glanced over at me “Hey big sis you’re looking way better today.”
“I do feel much better honestly; I won’t be lifting this house with magic but I’m more or less back to my old self.” I noticed she had her saddlebags back on which she hadn’t used since we met “Are you going somewhere already I was hoping you could stay a bit longer. Speaking of which I never asked you what you were doing out here in the first place I you don’t mind telling me.”
I was really being serious about wanting her to stay, sure she was insanely bubbly and bouncy but she had this infectious charm that made you have to like her. That charm disappeared at my questions however. I had seen her confused and even scared but at that moment she seemed to visibly deflate, her smile vanished, she stopped bouncing, and even her mane and tail seemed to slump “Um ya I have to get back soon sis. If I stay much longer Solaris will come looking for me and you don’t need that grumpyhooves here while you’re trying to get better. As for what I was doing… well I didn’t find you by accident… I was sent here to…” she frowned miserably as she slid a large silver, gem encrusted revolver from her bags “Sorry big sis… I was sent here to try and kill you.”
*** *** ***
Having guns pointed at you in the waists was almost an everyday thing but seeing somepony like Zephyr holding a weapon still unsettled me for a moment “Y-you what!”
The mare looked thoroughly disgusted with herself as she replied “I… I have to try and kill you sis. Solaris is tracking your movements, I don’t know how but she is, and when she saw that you had stopped for a while she sent me out here to… to test you and see what your capable of.”
I had no idea why that mule of an alicorn would want me dead but I had more pressing issues at the moment that I had to worry about. Zephyr looked like she wanted to fling the gun out the window instead of use it so I assumed I could talk her down but I had to think quickly.
Casting my mind around I quickly made a plan “Wait! Zephyr if you’re just here to test me then we don’t have to fight.”
The alicorn hesitated for a moment, taking a small step backwards, and raised an eyebrow in confusion “What do you mean? Is there something I could do instead, I can’t just leave so please if you have an idea please let me know.”
“Well you already saw that I can call down lightning so why not just go back and tell her that. It is something she would want to hear right?”
Zephyr looked like I’d told her hearths’ warming had come early, relief spread over her features and she pulled the shaking gun from my face. I let myself relax as well while she slid the gun back into her bag so it was surprising when she threw her hooves around me crying “T- thanks big sis I… I really didn’t want to have to fight you. I hate fighting but I have to do what she tells me… it’s not fair and… and I hope you can forgive me.”
A few hours had passed since Zephyr had regained her composure and left. Packing my gear up I was about to follow her since I had been here for at least three days since the Vanguard showed up. Slinging everything back on I walked out the door one final time before walking a few feet and taking to the air heading northwest.
It felt wonderful to stretch my wings after two days in bed and the night air was cool and refreshing. The night was dark even with the moon, what little you could see of it through the clouds, appearing to be full but my vision seemed sharper than it had been before so the shadows held no secrets from me.
Flapping my wings I gained a little altitude till I was just under the cloud ceiling and continued on my way. Green Meadows was a day away from the old farmhouse but that was by hoof with my wings I figured it would only take most of the night to get there.
Realizing I had some time to kill I tried to find something to occupy myself when a thought struck me. I was flying, I had time to myself, and I didn’t have anypony with me which meant I could do something special, I could finally see the sky.
Pulling myself into a climb I braced for a moment and pushed above the clouds.
*** *** ***
It was breathtaking, I had wondered for a time if the sky would actually be like it was in my story books but the truth was it was even better. My wings failed me and had I not been able to walk on them I would have fallen right back through the clouds as I gazed up at the majesty of Luna’s night.
Above me uncountable stars sparkled in hundreds if not thousands of patterns I couldn’t begin to name and in the center of it all the great alabaster disk of the moon made its graceful arc through the sky.
For a while I just sat there basking in the star’s glow and trying to figure out how the cloud underneath me managed to feel rock solid and wonderfully soft simultaneously. Gazing up at the vastness of the night I took some time to ponder over what little explanation I could get out of Zephyr once she had calmed down.
According to her she and I were related though not through blood. She had said that near the end of the war there was a large amount of ponies that were not happy with how Shadow Hooves was running Equestria so the Ministry of Arcane Science formed a secretive project to make alicorns like the missing princess. Both Zephyr and Solaris were some of the results of that project and somehow it also had something to do with my transformation.
I had a hard time believing that two hundred year old M.A.S. experiment was responsible for me but Zephyr had said that I would have to ask the pissy white alicorn I first met if I wanted more info. Seeing as I had no idea where she was and she did try to have me killed I figured my questions would have to wait.
I had just pulled myself to my hooves deciding to get back to my flight towards town when I heard the flapping of wings and saw two specks heading in my direction fast.
When I had made it outside and found out almost all pegesi had hidden themselves above the clouds I had thought about how I would meet them. Of all the scenarios that had played in my head none of them involved me diving into the clouds to try and avoid the fast approaching figures. Checking my E.F.S. the bars that represented the ponies were blue but that didn’t mean they would stay that way. While I was debating about if I should run a cool, slightly mechanical female voice cut through the night “Uh… you know we can see you through the clouds right? Just come out without any weapons and nopony has to get hurt.”
Too late I realized that if they were here then they must have known where I was before arriving here. Figuring it couldn’t hurt I activated the glamor spell Ruby had taught me and shivered as I felt the ripple of energy pass over me then slowly pushed myself back above the cloud I was in.
It took me a moment to realize that the two armored figures in front of me were in fact pegesi. Whereas the Steele Rangers armor was large and bulky this stuff was sleek and light with ceramics used instead of metal. Taking a moment to look at one another the pony on my left, the female, spoke up to break the silence “You’re not from Thunderhead and your crude armor reeks of dirt-pony so would you care to identify yourself and explain what you’re doing in Enclave airspace?”
“Um well I have no idea what the Enclave is but I’m sorry for being in your… airspace was it? Anyway my name is Snowy Flanks and I’m not a dirt-pony at least I don’t think I am? I did come from a stable though if that’s what you mean.”
I could practically hear the slight *thunk* of their mouths hitting the bottoms of their helmets. Realizing how insane I must have just sounded I tried to rephrase my statement when the mare cut me off “Look I would call liar… but nopony this oblivious could be lying. In any case we need to talk but we can’t do it here so I recommend you follow us back down.”
A slight feeling of unease crept over me as followed the two pegesi back through the clouds and towards a building that looked to have been a station on an old railway. Once inside the other one closed the door and flicked a switch on the wall causing some old lights to flicker to life. The room appeared to have been converted into some sort of domicile, there were storage chests for weapons and gear, two beds, a table, a bathroom, and even an impromptu kitchen.
Glancing about the room I brought my vision back to the mare in front of me just as she popped off her helmet. Her orange coat went well with her cute brown mane and eyes, though the cute effect was lost somewhat with the large scar down her right eye. As she sat her helmet on one of the beds the other pegasus moved to stand next to her. Before I could ask any questions the orange mare gave me a slightly reassuring smile “Well I suppose we should get this started, I’m 1st Lieutenant Windy Wings of the 1st Neighvarro Special Operations Division and this is Corporal Stormcloud, he’s also of the 1st S.O.D.”
When she indicated the pony on her left he just pawed at the floor a bit and nodded slightly which was one of the few things I hadn’t been expecting form them. Seeming to notice my look the mare just chuckled a moment before saying “Don’t mind him he just has a tendency to get nervous around other mares, especially the ones he finds kinda cute. Regardless how about you drop that spell you got up and show us what you really look like.”
I was planning on picking my jaw up off the floor when I was blindsided by a comment from Stormcloud “Mom! Don’t say things like that in front of the… oh… uh oops.”
“Wait… you two are related and how could you possibly know about me?! I have a spell to hide my horn so… how?”
The mare just chuckled and nudged the other pony’s shoulder “Yep Storm here is my boy, mothers got to look after her son somehow right? Also even if I didn’t already have a pretty good idea who you are I could still tell. You carry yourself with the confidence of somepony with magic.”
My feelings of unease came back with a vengeance but like before they were the ones with the weird gem tipped things on their armor. I wasn’t sure if they were guns of some sort and I didn’t want to find out. Besides if Windy knew who I was from the start and wanted me dead she probably would have killed me so against my better judgment I let the spell drop around me saying “Well here you go but I still want to ask some questions. Like what the Enclave is and how you know me.”
“Well the easiest way to explain it is that the Enclave is more or less the pegesi governmental power here above the clouds. Like the Vanguard we’re remnants of old Equestria, in this case pegesi and a small number of unicorns that were caught in the bio-domes when the bombs dropped.”
“That explanation certainly asked more questions than it answered. Look I don’t mean to be rude but you’re going to have to give me way more detail.”
Windy nodded and offered me a seat at her table before taking one herself and even getting Storm to join us. Once seated the stallion finally removed his helmet and set it on the table. He had most of the looks of his mother except for his eyes, his shiny forest green eyes… and the crimson blush on his cheeks. Nudging her son’s shoulder again and smirking slightly the orange mare continued her explanation “I’ll try my best but a lot of our history is classified to anypony not in the Enclave. I suppose the easiest place to start is the bio-domes, as I’m sure you know once the war got bad enough Stable-Tec started work on the stables to keep ponies safe if the worst happened. Since you’ve been in one you’d know that they weren’t made with pegesi in mind so when the Ministry Of Awesome, which was founded by Rainbow Dash, spent most of their time and resources to make something better.”
*** *** ***
The concept of the Bio-Domes, large landmasses with towns and even city’s on them surrounded by a magic shield and floating up in the sky, fascinated me to no end. “But hang on; if they built all of them in the sky wouldn’t the zebras have been able to find them easily?”
Before the mare could even begin to formulate and answer there was a small crackling noise and a tiny voice came from her discarded helmet “1st Lieutenant come in this is Thunderhead base. Have you dealt with the intruder yet, if so return to base immediately. I repeat if the threat has been neutralized return to base immediately.”
Walking over to the bed the mare made a quick reply into her helmet and turned back to us “Damn looks like I’m out of time. Something’s come up and H.Q. wants up topside on the double so we’ll have to continue this later but first take my advice, stay below the clouds. While the Enclave isn’t your enemy they certainly aren’t your friends either, so if you go back up there and meet another group of pegesi they might still attack you.”
With that the two flyers hurriedly left and I was once again alone. Feeling frustrated that I mostly just got more questions out of that conversation I slipped out the door and, making sure to push the lock back on, took wing once again.
Once more the night air swirled around me as I processed what little I had learned from Windy. At the very least I knew that there were still ponies above the clouds and that they must exist in a relatively large number. On the other hoof though I was extremely worried about the surveillance they were doing on me, even more so since I didn’t know how it worked but there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment so I just kept flying.
*** *** ***
Winging my way to the north the flight was relaxing and uneventful, something which I was extremely grateful for given my recent amount of excitement. The relaxing properties of flight were muted somewhat by my own racing thoughts; it would appear the four separate groups were interested in me. There was the Vanguard who wanted me captured for some reason, the mysterious pony named D who sent a merc after me, my supposed sisters who seemed to want to hug me and kill me in equal measure, and finally the Enclave who so far were just monitoring me.
Slowing down I catch sight of a tall building on the horizon. It was at least ten stories tall and must have been well built to survive this long. Below it noticed the indistinct shape of a much smaller complex of some kind but I was still too far away to make it out.
Not wanting to be caught with my horn hanging out so to speak I landed and reactivated the disguise spell, feeling that strange tingle wash over my head I pressed forward. I stopped my trot as I came to a fork in the road. Above me a large two-part sign jutted out of the darkness of what I assumed to be early morning.
Glancing at the rusty and pitted sign I caught the name of Green Meadows on the first one. I started to trot on through but stopped myself long enough to look over the second sign, whereas Green Meadows looked at least freshly painted if not freshly repaired the second sigh had all of its original lettering scratched out and replaced by a small crudely written word Horntown.
Making a note to examine the other town at a later date I kept walking till the sun started to rise behind the clouds and the building came into focus. It seemed like it had been a very nice resort at one time though its grandeur had been lessoned by years of neglect and a massive hole in a corner of the sixth floor. Getting closer to the building I could see that a small wall had been built around the tower.
My advance came to a sudden halt when I was greeted by three heavily armed earth-ponies standing at either side and on top of what had to be the gate into the town. I heard the distinctive sound of rounds being pushed into chambers as I finished my approach and the stallion on the mounted gun above the gated barked out gruffly “What do you want featherbrain? We already made it clear we don’t want no Enclave here so why don’t you just turn around and go back where ya came from.”
Sizing up the opposition it didn’t take long to realize I was a bit outclassed. Sure I could drop my spell and bring my rifle to bear but that would utterly defeat the purpose of my disguise anyway, with that in mind all I had at my disposal was my tiny little pea shooter. Taking these factors into account I figured I should at least try to talk to them “Um excuse me sir but I believe you’re mistaken. I’m not part of the Enclave; all I want is just a place to rest after being on the road.”
“Oh you don’t say. Listen how in Equestria am I supposed to believe a pegasus I’ve never seen before. If you want to rest here you’ll have to give me a pretty good excuse.”
Before I could reply a second stallion trotted into view atop the wall saying “Well I’d like to think that the fact that she’s not wearing any power armor or carrying around a huge buck-off magical energy weapon was all the proof you needed Scattershot but I guess you just too thick to see it.”
I could see the pony on the mounted gun round angrily on the other stallion as the two of them began a heated, if whispered, conversation. The other two just stood there with their battle-saddles trained on me while we waited for them to finish because, honestly, where was I going to go?
*** *** ***
Much sooner than I expected the gate slowly opened and I got a good look at the buck that had come, more or less, to my defense. His deep black coat and blue-green eyes went well with his smooth voice though the odd green of his mane and tail was slightly off putting. Giving a ghost of a smile he ushered me inside and introduced himself as Dusk.
Heading inside the large building I was caught by just how extravagant the place seemed to be. Sure it was about two hundred years out of date and slightly worn but the large lobby we found ourselves in was still the ritziest place I had ever been bar none. My head spun as I tried to inspect every part of the room at once. From the large lounge area with its multiple chairs and tables to the smattering of shops and a small café set into the walls of the building, all of it decked out in marble and expensive looking wood.
Everywhere around me ponies dressed in what would have been high fashion before the war went about their daily business. Although it would have been easier to enjoy the pomp and grandeur if it wert for the fact that everypony in the place seemed to be staring at me like I had some kind of plague (which would have been a valid concern now that I think about it) and all the armed earth-ponies working a security looked like they were a hairsbreadth from turning me to Swiss cheese.
Sensing my unease at the situation Dusk chuckled a bit and led me up a large staircase to what appeared to be a small metal room set in the wall. At my questioning look the stallion stepped inside and motioned for me to follow, once I did the door closed behind me and at press of a button the room began to move “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen an elevator before Snowy.”
Pulling myself from behind him I blushed scarlet, in truth I hadn’t seen anything like it before as there were none in the stable and every building I had been in thus far was under three stories. Hearing that Dusk put a hoof on my shoulder and explained how the thing worked. As I listened to the explanation a sudden thought jumped out at me “Hey Dusk I was wondering so far I’ve just seen earth-ponies here.”
The black stallion rubbed a hoof through his mane nervously “Well that would be because there are only earth-ponies here in Green Meadows.”
“How did you manage that I know pegesi are rare but shouldn’t there be at least one unicorn here or something?”
Before he could answer the elevator stopped and the door opened into a room with a large desk and two hallways leading off on either side. The mare sitting at the desk had the decency to not stare at me in slack-jawed terror but she still looked nervous none the less. Dusk strode into the room saying “Hey there Lily this mare is here on the Mayor’s orders and she needs a room all right?”
With that he spun on his hoof and after bidding me farewell with the promise to speak later he left me there alone. Giving my own nervous laugh I took a few steps forward “Well hello there miss my names Snowy. Sorry to barge in on you like this I really could use a room and I have plenty of bottle caps for payment.”
The white mare blinked a few times before turning to me “Uh… well it’s nice to meet you Snowy I’m Calla Lily but everypony just calls me Lily. Anyway welcome to the Green Meadow inn. Don’t worry about payment if Dusk says you’re here to see the mayor I’ll get my bottle caps.”
“Um actually Dusk never told me why he let me in come to think of it.”
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation “That doesn’t surprise me very much to be honest. He doesn’t seem like a bad stallion but there’s something strange about him. Anyway I’ve got plenty of free rooms so let’s get you a place to sleep.”
As she stood up from her haunches and walked around the desk I heard a sound from her I was all too familiar with. A slight added weight to one hoof and a tiny metallic clunk, the same noise came from my own prosthetic hoof. Sure enough when she rounded the side I caught the telltale gleam of steel on her back right leg. Catching my stare the mare just sighed “Bet you’re glad to know you’re not the only pony with a bit of metal in them hmm.”
Leading me down the hallway I tried my best not to stare at her prosthetic leg… or her the way her curled yellow-orange tail was… never mind. Eventually we made our way to a room far down the hall and Lily took a key from the chain on her neck and set it in my hoof, looking at the keys on her neck and counting how many doors we passed it was pretty clear she didn’t get many visitors.
Walking inside I was surprised when she fallowed me in and hoped on my bed saying “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get yours?”
“Well I suppose it’s ok if I can do the same. It wasn’t anything exciting or anything I just got into a bad tussle with a nightstalker.”
She waited till I sat next to her replying “Well mine has a bit of a story behind it, in fact it actually has a lot to do with my cutiemark here.”
Looking down I was greeted by the picture of a revolver with a long stemmed calla lily wound around the barrel and cylinder “I got this when I was very young unfortunately. Back then I was living with my grandmother in a small town out west of Manehatten when one day a group of raiders attacked us trying to steal our food and supplies. Once they got into town they started killing everypony and I was scared but I didn’t want them to hurt my grandma so in desperation I grabbed my father’s old revolvers from the mantle for when they came to my house. That was the day I killed my first pony.”
“Wait how were you able to use two pistols at once?”
The mare grinned slightly, her teal eyes shining with mischief, and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially “I’m not going to tell ya… yet. Got to save some surprises right?”
“Regardless after the town pulled itself back together I started practicing with my guns as much as I could, trying to get better at using them, and when I came of age I set out on my own. See some of the raiders that attacked my town survived and got out when the fight turned against them. So full of vengeful anger I set out to find them.”
*** *** ***
Listening to her tale of vengeance I was reminded once again how unforgiving the wasteland could be. It also occurred to me just how much I didn’t have a goal out here, at first I had just wanted freedom but now the closest thing I had to a mission was trying to find Glitter and Emerald. Technically I was still heading to Ponyville though I was becoming increasingly unsure if that was a wise thing to do. However since I had no clue where my friends were other than Glitter saying she would be here somewhere it seemed like I was still headed towards the strange crater… right after I found out what the mayor wanted from me.
Lily apparently noticed my lack of attentiveness as I suddenly felt a small nudge and turned to see her walking out of the room saying “I’m sure you have a lot on your mind. I’ll finish the story another time. Meanwhile you should try and get some rest; if the mayor wants to see you you’re probably going to need it.”
Hearing the door close I quickly walked over and flipped the lock before letting my disguise drop and falling back on the bed. I had been resting a fair amount the last two days but my mind was swirling with all the information I had been given so some sleep sounded nice.
Pulling my gear off my head hit the pillow and I drifted off into a restful sleep.
Footnote: 26% to next level
(Authors note: first off I’d like to apologize to everypony for taking so long. Real life got in the way fallowed by some massive writers block and the start of a second project. Regardless of this chapter eight will take much less time than this and should be out next Saturday.
Secondly thanks for the likes and favorites from everypony. Also don’t forget to post some comment I’d love to hear what you guys think.
Anyway thanks for the patience everybody, hope to see ya soon.)
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me

ch9 Little ruby lie

Chapter 9: Little Ruby Lie
I awoke the next morning to hushed voices in the room behind me. After the fight I found that one of the buildings had been some kind of bunkhouse that the raiders had been sleeping in. I had pulled the two survivors into the back and had, myself, slept in a reception area in the front. Sleeping on an old mattress laid over a desk wasn’t the best nights rest I’d ever had still I had other things to worry about.
Trotting over to the door I listened to the voices of the two young ponies just behind it. I considered drawing a weapon but figured it would be counterintuitive; I didn’t want to fight them if I could help it. So instead I lifted a hoof to the door and knocked.
The ponies inside immediately went quiet before a tiny, terrified voice floated through the door “H-hello… who’s there?”
“My name is Snowy Flanks and I’m not going to hurt you. So long as you don’t try to harm me all I want is to talk.”
I wasn’t sure they would believe me but I had to try anyway. Pushing the door open the two foals backed away slowly, their eyes full of fear. Slowly levitating my combat harness off I flung it back into the next room saying “See now I’m unarmed to so why don’t we just talk for a while.”
Standing in front of his younger sister the brown colt tried to put on a brave face, though the affect was ruined by the shaking in his legs “What d-do you want from us then? Everypony else is dead and we don’t have anything of value anyway.”
“Well I don’t know about that, the rocket launcher they used on us has to be worth some bottle caps. Besides I’m not here for valuables I just want to know what you two are doing out here with raiders.”
At this they seemed confused “Raiders… what are you talking about Princess?”
I felt ice stab my chest “They… t-they weren’t raiders? But… I…” But what? The only proof I had that they had been raiders was the word of a mare I didn’t know and the fact that they shot at me which wasn’t really all that much to go on.
Before I could get to worrying to badly the little pink coated filly finally spoke “Come on Dusty they may not have been riders but they weren’t much better. Remember the time they let that mare die because she was an earth-pony.”
The brown colt turned sharply to face his sister “Well ok that’s true but what were we supposed to do! They may not have been good ponies but they’re the only ones who were trying to give that bitch what she deserves.”
Not wanting to watch two foals fight and still needing some answers I stepped in-between them “Ok hang on then, if they weren’t raiders then who were they?”
The small filly replied nervously “They were members of the Free Horntown Militia.”
Horntown… I remember the name, vaguely, from the sign next to the path to Green Meadows. So if that was a town what was their militia doing raiding trade from the mayor? I still needed more answers before I could get anywhere.
Slumping tiredly onto one of the torn beds slipping my head between my hooves “Listen I don’t mean to sound rude but could you please slow down and explain things. I have a lot on my mind right now.”
“Uh sure Princess, I guess we should explain why we’re here.”
*** *** ***
After listening to their story I managed to piece together that Horntown was a settlement made entirely of unicorns. That would explain why there were only earth-ponies in Green Meadows but judging from what I heard former was in much worse shape than the latter.
That still left the problem of what to do with Dusty and Shimmer. The made it clear they didn’t want to go back home and I wasn’t about to just leave them out here, regardless of whether Sidewinder was telling the truth or not I didn’t think the Vanguard would leave them alone.
So that meant I’d have to take them with me. Not something I was looking forward to since I was going to try and get somepony to talk to the one group she didn’t want to see.
Part of me wanted to go question the mayor to see just how much she knew about this but the fact was I didn’t have the time, blood, or ammunition to go charging off after another mystery. If there were groups of unicorns trying to destabilize the Mayor’s hold of the area it wasn’t exactly my problem, and I had enough of them to go around anyway.
Turning back to the two foals “Alright then listen. I’m not going to leave you two here so you’re going to come with me to the south.”
“T-to the south why are we going there?”
They seemed unsure and really who could blame them, I had just literally swooped in and told them they were coming with me.
Wanting to allay their worry I decided to explain “There’s a pony there I have to talk to and it’s a safe place for you two to stay.”
Dusty looked about ready to refuse when the little filly behind him took a step forward “Dusty I think we should go with her.”
The colts jaw just about hit the floor as he rounded on his sister “But why!?”
“I know that you’re upset at mom and dad and want to fix things but we can’t keep doing this. This group of ponies didn’t want to hurt us but what if that weren’t the case or even worse what if they wanted us to kill other ponies?”
I could tell by the look on his face the colt hadn’t thought of that. Still with things more or less resolved now I could get them to a place of, relative, safety while I tried to find a more permanent solution.
Letting them take the time gather up their things if stepped back into the front office and pulled my own gear back on before looking over the meager loot I’d pulled from the unicorns outside.
Most of it was in poor repair and just about all of the weapons were low caliber pop-guns. Still the launcher was still worth some caps even without any rockets and I could use their worthless armor to patch up the new holes in my own abused set. Thankfully the group had hat least managed to get their hooves on a real treasure, an I.F. 46 Falcon.
It was an improvement on my rifle in just about every way, it had a larger magazine and was more accurate and that particular model even had a rail system for mounting attachments.
Setting down to work on my armor I checked over the gun, I would need to replace the barrel with the one in my current rifle but other than that it was in remarkably good shape. Putting it aside from now I got back to the task at hoof, my armor was thrashed once again and this time their wasn’t that much I could do. The leather plates were at this point more patch than leather and most of the straps were in tatters.
Unfortunately I didn’t have too many options for a replacement, though when I thought about it I was kind of glad. Back in the stable I never would have even thought about wearing something made from animal skin, just another sign that I had changed.
Finishing up what repairs I could on my gear I had just turned around to see the two foals step into the room behind me when the sound of flapping wings and red bars on my E.F.S. alerted me to our impending company.
Something about the wing-beats was odd though, they seemed slower and heavier than a pony’s. Unlike the shop I had been in yesterday the building we were in now only had one window in the front, close by the door so after telling the two foals to step back into the bedroom I crawled my way over the said window.
Sitting underneath the window I listened to the flapping stop as our uninvited guests landed with an odd clattering noise. Hearing the sound of guns priming I took a second to peak outside and I finally realized what our company was… and why we were screwed.
*** *** ***
Griffins… the first one I had ever seen up-close had been dead after nearly succeeding in blowing my head off. Now there were four of them and if the symbols on their armor were any indication they were also from Talon-company.
Seeing the worry in the eyes of my newest companions I tried my best to find a way out. I really didn’t want to fight the Talons but I couldn’t just sit there and wait, desperately shuffling through my inventory I found something I had almost forgot about… Angle’s Mercy.
Ruby had given me the gun when I left for Ponyville and I hadn’t even thought about it till now. Though I wasn’t used to using energy weapons it was the only thing I had to could end the confrontation quickly.
While I readied the weapon the griffins steadily approached the door. I only had a few spare spark batteries and without any healing potions I wasn’t going to be flying anywhere.
Inserting one of my six total batteries I heard the comforting hum of the gun charging up when suddenly one of the mercs shouted “We know you’re in there so why don’t you come on out. I found Claudia; since you actually took the time to bury her I promise ill make it quick and clean.”
I on the other hoof had other ideas, listening to them step closer I motioned for the foals hide and flung the door open.
My adversaries were surprised by the sudden movement, giving me the moment I needed point the gun in the general direction of one of them and push what I hoped was the trigger.
There wasn’t any recoil when it fired and the pinkish-red beam arced out, catching one of the griffins full in the face and dropping him.
The other three reacted instantly, opening fire on the door with a roar of thunder. I tucked my head back inside as the doorframe erupted in splintered wood.
Personally I’d have liked stay in cover but I couldn’t just let them keep shooting at us. Flicking my shield back on I slipped back around the corner and peppered the three remaining griffins, managing to bring down another before the remaining two returned fire.
Instead of falling back however I pressed forward under the onslaught, waiting till one of them reloaded before firing the last of the energy from the gun’s spark-battery and taking down the third griffin leaving only the fourth with the light machinegun standing.
My shield sparked and stuttered dangerously and Angle’s Mercy dropped to the ground as I concentrated all my remaining magic on keeping my protection up. I continued my forward charge, I didn’t have the strength to levitate up another gun and since I couldn’t fly that left only one option. As I cleared the last few feet my shield finally broke and several bullets tore into my body but I wasn’t about to be turned away now, pushing with all the strength I had left in my hind legs I launched myself at the started bird-lion.
The sickening sound of pierced flesh greeted me as I thudded, horn first, into the startled griffin. I can still remember the shock in his eyes as he stared down at horn sticking out of his throat, he gargled out something unintelligible as his gun fell with a clatter.
Pulling my horn out with a yank I took a few shaking steps back from the wounded griffin. Surprisingly he wasn’t dead, through sheer chance I had managed not to mortally wound him though he was bleeding out fast.
I wasn’t very far behind him to be honest, after taking several more pieces of led into my body I wasn’t going to be running any marathons.
That being said I didn’t want him to die like that so I rushed forward and began franticly searching through his belongings. Luckily I managed to find a healing potion quickly and though I didn’t give it to him so much as drain it into his open throat the wound began closing none the less.
Satisfied that I had managed to keep the thing from dyeing I turned around to find my new companions when everything started to get… fuzzy. I didn’t know it at the time but I had lost so much blood at that point from my wounds that I came very close to dyeing anyway. Not that any of that mattered to me at the time as I was much too busy passing out.
*** *** ***
I awoke sometime later lying back on some sort of sled and watching the, very blurry, cloud ceiling float by “Ugh… wa… what happened?”
Looking above me I saw the two foals I’d met earlier pulling me down the road, albeit slowly. Hearing my groan Simmer looked behind herself nervously “You’re awake Princess we were really starting to worry about you.”
Dusty grimaced and looked over at his sister “Speak for yourself sis I wasn’t worried at all.”
I got the feeling he was lying but let it slide, motioning for them stop tried to get to my hooves. My head swam and it was lucky that I hadn’t eaten anything lately or I might have thrown up but in the end I managed it.
Walking on shaky legs I helped the two little ponies unhitch themselves from the sleds harness and traded places with them. From the light outside I had been out at least a day and the two foals had pulled both me and all our gear the whole time, they were dead on their hooves and needed to rest.
Slipping myself into one of their harnesses I urged the foals onto the sled and started up where they had left off.
“So exactly how long have I been out anyway?”
Shimmer turned to look up at me while her brother merely grunted and rolled over “About a day and a half as far as we can tell princess.”
“Any sign of the griffons that attacked us?”
The filly shook her head “Not anything so far. How long are they going to be asleep for anyway?”
“I don’t have a clue but I doubt it would be this long so guess we got away. Regardless you just worry about getting some sleep ok?”
Nodding to me the little filly did just that and all at once I was alone. Pausing in my forward walk I lifted up my pipbuck and checked the map, we had skirted around the edges of Green Meadows while I was till out and were well on our way back to Ruby’s. I started walking again as I brought up my E.F.S., there wouldn’t be any more surprises.
While I walked I started checking over my H.U.D. the health bar on my left was at a rather dangerously low number, though with how I felt it wasn’t too surprising. My body felt weak and achy and while I hadn’t tried I didn’t think it would go over to well if I used any magic.
The pace was slow and careful, I still couldn’t fly and I wasn’t about to leave the foals even if I could. Regardless we still made decent time through I soon found myself in front of a familiar building.
The clinic looked the same was when I left but the small strawberry garden beside it was a very welcome change. With a smile I waved a hoof at Barricade as the stallion came towards us from the little shack in front of the door “Snowy! Where in the hay have you been?”
*** *** ***
I wasn’t sure when I passed out in this particular instance but I awoke in a hospital bed, that and a familiar white unicorn at my bed made me think it could have been worse “You know you really should try and get shot less.”
“It’s good to see you too Ruby.”
The mare chuckled and levitated over a tray of food saying “I know you don’t need to eat but you’re going to anyway. Did you know that thanks to, if the foals that came here with you are truthful, two brutal bouts of combat you lost so much blood that were it not for your alicorn heritage you would be dead right now?”
I nodded slightly and levitated up a daisy sandwich, thankfully I didn’t have another burnout but my magic was all weak and sparky. Still the sandwich was good and the water that followed was even better “So I guess I should add another part to the list of times I almost died?”
“Suppose that’s the case but… Snowy where’s Glitter?”
My heart tightened up a tiny bit but I had to be sure “Wait Strawberry and Petunia are here aren’t they?”
“Yes Glitter brought them in about a week ago and then went looking for you but hasn’t come back yet.”
Which meant two important things, firstly that my ghoul friends were ok. Secondly, if my timing was right, it meant that the Glitter I met when I was resting in the farmhouse was an imposter too, probably the same changeling I’d run into in Green Meadows.
Wanting to bring Ruby up to speed I filled her in on everything that had happened in my week long absence, leaving out the part about sidewinder of course.
“It’s… it’s good to know you’ve been keeping busy at least. So you’re saying a changeling was impersonating Glitter… if that’s the case why come back here, other than to drop off the foals?”
I took my time in answering; it gave me time to scope out the room. It looked the same as when I left but I didn’t see Petunia or Strawberry anywhere which probably meant that they and the foals were sleeping on the second floor. To my right I saw a small stand holding what looked like a mostly empty bag of blood, it was probably the reason I was conscious at the moment.
Looking back to Ruby’s nervous face I sighed, it wasn’t going to go well but there wasn’t any point in stalling “I… I need your help Ruby, after I took the job from the mayor and killed most of the… ponies there I was about to be shot when I was saved by a group of Vanguard led by somepony named Sidewinder. He told me that Emerald was in trouble and in order to help him I would have to get somepony Sidewinder wanted to talk to… and that somepony was you Nightshade.”
Ruby paled even whiter at the name and stared at me “So… he let my old name slip did he? Listen, Snowy I… I can explain..”
“Good then do so.”
She tilted her head in confusion “You really want to hear what I have to say?”
“I trust Sidewinder about as far as I can throw him with his armor on, so yes I’ll listen to your explanation but you better not leave anything out.”
Ruby sighed and shifted in her chair to get more comfortable “Very well I guess I should start at the beginning, my real name is Nightshade but I gave it up after I left the Vanguard. Before you ask, I lived there all up until a decade ago.”
“So you grew up in the Vanguard and then left and came out here? If you don’t mind can I ask why?”
The unicorn held up a hoof “Hold on Snowy I’m getting there. The reason I left all has to do with my job in the Vanguard. To… put it bluntly, nightshade is a flower that is used for a deadly poison… which I used often as an assassin.”
I couldn’t believe my ears, the pony who gave me Angles’ Mercy and ran a medical clinic was a killer, it didn’t seem possible. I held my tongue however as she continued “You have to understand in the Vanguard is a lot different than out here. We’re taught from foalhood that the world outside the walls of our cities is nothing but sickness, starvation, and cannibalistic ponies.”
“Fair enough Ruby… but what does that have to do with you being an assassin?”
The unicorn slumped slightly in clear shame “Not everypony believes that the wasteland is all bad, but they are in the minority and the reigning regime doesn’t like hearing any other points of view. There are ponies like me who were used to enforce the ruler’s views on others.”
This was a lot to take in at once but I still had a few questions left “So were you just used on the leader’s political rivals?”
“Unfortunately not so much, we were sent to kill everypony from political activists to bothersome raider leaders. I was picked at a young age for my special talent.”
Ruby turned to her side and looked over at the cross emblazoned on her flanks “This isn’t my real cutiemark you know, I used a spell to change it after I left home. My special talent is actually herbology, mixing plants and fungi together to make all kinds of healing mixtures and lethal poisons. When the military found out about me they snapped me up into their training program.”
I had to admit of all the reasons I expected the Vanguard to be after her this wasn’t one of them. Reaching over I laid my hoof on the unicorn “Look I don’t care what you did in the past. Still I would like to know what you saw that made you leave.”
“Truthfully it had been a long time in coming, at first I believed in the propaganda forced into our minds over and over again. But after while something started to nag at me, all of the ponies we were sent to kill were supposed to be very dangerous but more often than not they just seemed like normal ponies. The breaking point though was much later, when I was sent out to kill a very special target.”
She paused for a moment and I could tell something was getting her very worked up. I didn’t really want her to continue but I needed to know what happened to her so I pressed a hoof to her shoulder and let her gather her thoughts “I should have figured it out when I got my target location, whenever went after “separatists” it was in the rich part of the city but this was in a small residential sector.”
“Ruby I think I know where this is going and I don’t like it.”
She smiled sadly “Exactly… imagine my surprise when I found myself standing in front of my own home. It’d been so long since I’d been there I forgot where it was on a map, never the less mom was there waiting for me like I was a little filly just home from school.”
*** *** ***
“You mean they sent you to kill your own mother?!”
The unicorn nodded shakily, she looked like she was barely keeping herself together but she did her best to keep talking “Yes, I wasn’t given the name of my target beforehand in case I got captured but nopony else lived there so it had to be her. Even worse was that she knew, she shouldn’t have known but when I got there she was waiting for me… and… and she was smiling!”
“Did you find out how she knew you were coming?”
“Yes actually, when I figured out what was going on I just about died on the spot but she hugged me and welcomed me inside. We sat down on the couch and she started explaining, one of her friends had found out that she was my next target and told my mother I was coming. Apparently my bosses thought I was starting to show regret for my actions and questioning my orders, two things you were not allowed to do in my profession, so they had sent me after my own mother to prove my loyalty. Her friend had given her a way out of the city, complete with a place to go to, and urged her to run. She hadn’t though, instead she was sitting opposite me in a chair and telling me my whole life was nothing but a big lie.”
She laughed bitterly and started to tear up “A-all the ponies I had killed had just been for the benefit of the ruling members of the ministries. I wasn’t totally convinced but everything she said made sense… I didn’t know what to do… what can you do when everything you believed was wrong? I wasn’t sure when I started crying b-but when I finally got control of myself my head was in her lap and she was brushing my mane; it felt like I was a little filly again, like somehow she would make it all ok.”
As the mare before me completely broke down I reached over and wrapped her in my hooves. I couldn’t know exactly how she felt but I did know what it was like to find out everything you had been told all your life was nothing but a lie. It was… had to move on past something like that, but she must have to be here so there was still a story to tell. That said I wasn’t about to push her to continue till she’d gotten out her emotions, I may have hardened after leaving the stable but I was far from heartless… at least I hoped I was.
It took her a while to calm down but eventually she regained her composure. Looking up at me she gave a small sad smile saying “Thank you Snowy but I can see the look in your eyes.”
Before I could deny my own thoughts she spoke them aloud “You want to know if, after everything I learned, I still killed my mother.”
“I… did you?”
“No I didn’t have to. We talked for hours and for a moment it felt like I was still a young mare just visiting with my mother, still I knew there was something I was supposed to do. But I couldn’t, not before we talked and centrally not after. I tried to tell her but she just waived it off, she gave me the location she was supposed to get to after leaving the city and then she… s-she.”
She was shaking like a leaf and it looked like she was moments from breaking down completely. I was about to tell her to stop when she wiped a hoof across her eyes and sat herself back up “You have to understand when I move on a target I check the room for anything my target could use as a weapon b-but I didn’t check this time. There was a gun sitting on the end table, it was lying out in the open plain as day and I didn’t even notice, then she took it and said goodbye a-and she… and she…”
*** *** ***
It took several hours for Nightsha… no Ruby to get back her composer. I’d stopped her from continuing; I knew what she was going to say and defiantly knew I didn’t need to hear it, so instead I pressed a hoof to her mouth and pulled her into a tighter hug.
There were still some questions I wanted answered but the mare was in no state to indulge my curiosity and besides I needed to check on everypony else. Slipping out of bed I managed to find the other four ponies staying here out in the new garden by the clinic, Strawberry was tending to some of the tiny plants while Petunia was keeping the little ones entertained with tales of the old world.
The mare noticed my approach and waved me over “Morning Princess it’s good to see ya back on your hooves.”
“Petunia I told you not to call me princess!”
Her mouth cracked into a smile “Ah know that sugarcube but Ah just love the way yoa blush”
I hadn’t realized I had been till she said something and afterward I felt the urge to blush even harder. Pushing it aside I embraced the mare, I was surprised to realize how little it mattered to me that she and her husband had tried sell me out but with the way things were out here and that they didn’t have any choice it didn’t seem like much of an issue.
Pulling away from the mare looked me over saying “Well Ah’m no medical pony so take from this what ya will but ya still look like hell Snowah. Anyway from what the little ones was telling me ya gone and lost Glitter somewhere.”
“Yes unfortunately, from what I can tell she disappeared after she led you back here. Speaking of here I have a favor to ask.”
“Snowah consideren ya didn’t just shoot us or leave to them ruffians Ah’ll do anything ya need ifen ah can.”
I pulled her aside so the little foals wouldn’t hear us “I’m going to be heading back up north tomorrow, and hopefully Ruby will be joining me. I’m not about to send those foals with me so I was hoping you and Strawberry could look after them till I get back.”
“Sure thing sugarcube Ah think we could Berry an me can handle a few little ponies fer a few days.”
For the moment almost everything was settled, I wasn’t sure they would want to stay here with the two ghouls but it was the safest place for them.
As if reading my mind I turned around to find Dusty three inches from me “Hey listen… uh I kinda need to talk to you so… uh follow me.”
The little cold trotted around the building and I slipped around behind him, I wasn’t sure what he could want but I wanted to find out. Rounding the corner I found the brown colt nervously kicking at the dirt “Look P-princess I… I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
Well that sure made everything clear “Sorry? What in Equestria are you sorry for Dusty?”
“For how I’ve been acting ok… I was behaving like a mule. I was just worried for my sister but she was right, it was a bad idea to work with the militia.”
Sure Dusty had been a tittle gruff but I didn’t think he needed to apologize. Before I could say anything however the colt had sprinted off back around the building.”
I hadn’t a clue what his issue was but I felt confidant he’d tell me in time. Besides I need to get back inside, my wing looked a lot better with the fresh bandages on if but it itched like crazy and I didn’t know how long it would take to heal.
Once back inside I found Ruby sitting at her desk gazing wistfully at a picture of a cutely plump silver mare with a kind cheerful face. Catching me standing next to her Ruby blushed and looked away “Ruby is that your mother?”
The mare sighed softly, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes “Yes her name was Sterling Silver, one of the only mares in my family who bucked the trend and became something other than a nurse.”
Come on say something to cheer her up.
“I can see where you got your good looks from.”
Smooth Snowy real smooth.
Ruby sniffled a bit but did crack a smile “Thanks dear though I think you probably could have said that better.”
“Ya… eheheh sorry about that.”
“It’s all right, at least it was heartfelt. Anyway I’m sure you didn’t come find me to talk about my looks, I know you have more questions about my past but you’ll have to wait to get them answered, for now we need to head up north and find the Vanguard.”
I was stunned “Wait your actually going to come with me?” I had hoped she would but I never thought it would be that easy.
Ruby sighed and slipped the picture back into her desk “Of course I am Snowy, preferably I’d like to keep as far away from them as I can but this isn’t just about me anymore.” She smile ruefully “besides if I don’t go with you who’s going to patch you up when you get shot again?”
“Hey! It’s not my fault ponies like to shoot me ok… ugh fine but I don’t have much ammo left and my armor has bit the big one so we’re going to need fresh supplies.”
The white unicorn nodded saying “I think I have something that could help with the armor problem but for ammo we either need to back to Baleville or head up to Horntown. For now though you get some rest while I get my own gear ready.”
I nodded and trotted out of the room towards the bed.
A few strides from the door my horn lit with magic as Ruby’s voice floated out after me “And don’t even think about scratching that wing!”
Shutting off my magic I blushed and quickly headed for the infirmary.

Author's Note

Hey there Everypony its good to be back. Sorry about taking so long on this chapter, I hit a wall made out of writers blocks.

ch8 Official Business

Chapter 8: Official Business
With my mind as jumbled as it was it didn’t surprise me when my dreams were jumbled and chaotic. They bounced at random from topic to topic much faster than I could keep up. It was somewhat surprising then when my dreamscape shifted and I found myself once again in the brightly lit throne room where I had dreamed about the goddesses.
The room was familiar to me but the pony waiting for me gave pause. For the first time since I had been there Princess Luna sat alone on the throne. Her mane was still flowing but much more slowly than normal and she looked exhausted. Still as I took a step forward she smiled tiredly at me and even chuckled a bit when I bowed “We welcome thee dear Snowy Flanks. It brings us happiness to see that thou art well and we would like to apologize for our raged demeanor.”
Nervously I glanced around the room “Thank you Princess but what’s wrong with you, where is your sister, and why are you… talking like that.”
Blushing profusely Princess Luna ran a hoof through her mane “We beg thine forgiveness but we… that is to say I cannot help it. We… I, am very weak and it has caused… me to slip into the old ways of speech. But worry not for me fair Snowy it is our sister that deserves thine concern.”
“I don’t understand princess, what’s happening to you and Princess Celestia? I don’t mean to push you but I just… I have so many questions.”
Seeing the goddess of the night’s legs shake violently as she stood sent a shiver down my spine but she did her best to reassure me “We understand thy curiosity little one. Though we…I am tired I’ll my best to answer them. First however th… you must try and be calm.”
I was determined do as she asked so after taking a moment to collect myself I asked the most pressing question I could think of “Princess you say something has you weak but what is it? Is that why your sister isn’t here?”
“We shall try our best to explain, we’re sure by now that thou have heard of the disaster at Ponyville. Well the one responsible has been gaining power for the last two hundred years and now he’s gotten so strong he has begun affecting us here.”
Something powerful enough was a pretty frightening concept but I still had many questions so I’d have to come back to that one “Does that mean that you’re still alive Princess? How is that even possible when the entire town is nothing but a crater?”
“Just because there is not but a crater there now dose that automatically mean that the town is destroyed?”
Were it any other pony who asked me I would have said no but judging by her mischievous smile I had a feeling she knew something I didn’t. Saying as much I watched the princess nod slightly and step shakily towards one of the massive windows.
Stepping over beside her I gazed out at the massive white walls of a castle and a small town on the edge of a massive forest, at my inquisitive look she the night goddess explained “This is but a projection obviously but this the town of Ponyville as we remember it. Before our disappearance we and the elements of harmony journeyed to the little village as the starting area for a quest that would hopefully bring an end to the fighting. However before we could even start our journey we were betrayed from within and in the fighting our adversary used great sorcery to trap us all in magical, space distorting, bubbles and fling them all across Equestria.”
*** *** ***
I don’t think my heart actually stopped but it felt like it did. Somewhere out in the wasteland the goddesses and the ministry mares were still alive, but before I could really celebrate a little pony in my head reminded me ‘But you don’t know where these bubble things are, how many there are, or even what they look like. Beside how were you planning to get them out, with the magic you don’t know?’
After explaining in detail where that pony should go to voice further statements I took a moment to look over Luna. She looked more tired every time I saw her but I still couldn’t help but feel safe and protected standing next to her. With a start I realized I had moved up beside her and hadn’t even realized it.
The dusky alicorn smiled warmly and nuzzled my blushing face gently. Before I could reply to the affection she answered my unasked questions as if reading my mind “We are sorry Snowy but We don’t know the locations of the distortion spheres but when the spell first took affect we… that is to say my sister and I used our own magic to observe the spell. Form that tiny glimpse we can tell th… you that there are eight of them, aside from that We cannot give thee any more information.”
Well that didn’t help matters any but I still had to try, I mean how often does a pony find out that two of the princesses and some of the greatest heroes of Equestria were still out there… somewhere.
Still if I was ever going to do anything about it I’d need more information “So Princess you said that you caught a glimpse of the spell? If that’s the case do you know what it is and how to break it?”
“Indeed We do our little pony; the spell was crafted by our own Ministry of Arcane Sciences for the Ministry of Peace. It was a spell for keeping ponies safe till they could be treated called crystalline slumber.”
Listening to the princess describe the effects of the spell and its use I was reminded once again how crazy magic really was. A spell that transmuted a pony’s body into nigh- indestructible crystal while also putting their mind into a dreamless sleep with the ability to turn them back to normal as soon as they reached a hospital seemed so farfetched that I wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t Luna saying it.
“So you’re saying that you, your sister, and the ministry mares are scattered all across Equestria trapped in bubbles and in a magical sleep thanks to that spell?”
“That is… more or less an accurate assumption yes.”
There was something off about her response but seeing how weak she was I decided not to press her about it. Regardless I now had a purpose; I was going to find all of the distortion spheres because if anything could help the wasteland it was the princesses and the elements of harmony. With that in mind I still had one question I need to ask “Ok Princess now that I know what the spell is how do I break it?”
Luna seemed lost in thought for a moment before replying “Well first thou would need to enter the distortion sphere which should is something thou may do by touching it with thy horn. As for the spell itself, there is a counter-spell though we doubt it will work, our adversary would have been foalish indeed not to have altered the spell against it. Do not despair however as there is another way, the one who trapped us was indeed powerful We don’t think they were strong enough to enact both spells at once on so large a scale. To that end We believe there must have been some kind of objects hidden in the town before we ever arrived designed to unleash the crystalline slumber upon activation, if thou canst find and destroy them thou could possibly break the spell.”
After telling me this Luna shuddered slightly before slumping to the floor and gazing at me sadly “We… I apologize Snowy buy my time here is up. I wish I could stay longer but… so very tired.”
My heart ached to see the princess like this so I quickly bade her farewell before closing my eyes and letting my dreams return to whisk me away into sleep.
*** *** ***
I awoke sometime later to the sound of a hoof tapping my door. Letting out a response in a language made of yawns and mumbling I was most of the way to the door before I realized my glamor wasn’t up. After fixing that problem I opened the portal to be greeted by cool smile of dusk as the earth-pony wished me good morning and asked me to follow him.
As he tuned on his hind leg and walked away I hurried to catch up with him. After checking to make sure I was behind him he slowed his pace slightly saying “I apologize for waking you so early and not giving you a chance at breakfast but the mayor is eager to see you and she isn’t a pony to keep waiting.”
The unease in my mind was almost palpable, I had no idea what this mayor wanted or even what kind of pony she way and I was just going walk into a meeting with her.
That being said I also got the feeling I didn’t have much choice in the matter. I was most likely only let in here because the mayor wanted something from me and I doubted my welcome would last long if I didn’t at least talk to her. Resining myself a bit I let Dusk lead me back through the lobby and into the elevator.
After pressing the button for the topmost floor Dusk turned to face me “Now meeting the mayor can be a little unnerving at times but she is very special to the community so treat her with respect.”
Reaching the top of the building we stepped out into a small waiting room with a few chairs and a desk and a large door across the room. Letting us inside after seeing Dusk the young secretary tried, and failed not to stare at me but I brushed it off as the pony beside me announced our arrival and I had to gape at the sight before me.
*** *** ***
When the black pony beside me announced our arrival I barely had time to take in the extremely opulent office before the high-backed leather chair spun around dramatically, the pony sitting in it bringing their hooves down on the desk in front of them with a thud, and I came face to face with the fourth ghoul I’d met in the wastes.
Her tan coat was much more intact than any ghoul I had seen though her pink mane was a little patchy. Staring down at us her cold azure eyes I had the feeling that she was a shrewd pony who only took calculated risks and was at that very moment deciding if I was worth it.
Apparently I passed the test since after a moment or two she pulled her hooves back into a more reserved posture and spoke with the confidence of somepony used to holding public office “Welcome to Green Meadows Miss Flanks I trust you slept well.”
I didn’t remember telling anypony my last name but decided not to bring it up just yet “Yes actually, the bed was very soft and Calla Lily was a great host. For the moment however I’d like to know why you called me in here Miss… um?”
“As the mayor of the town I would prefer to be addressed as such.”
Ok that answered that question. I got the feeling that I wasn’t going to get any information I didn’t absolutely need and while I didn’t like it there also wasn’t much choice “Very well Miss. Mayor now let’s get back to my first question if we could.”
The ghoul smiled slightly “A pony who doesn’t waste time getting down to business, I like that. Sine you asked there are several threats faceting this community, threats that must be dealt with, but also threats I don’t feel comfortable using my security force to stop.”
“And that’s where I come in right? You want me to deal with these problems for you.”
She chuckled softly “It’s good to see that you’re not a moron. Simply put you seem like somepony who can take care of a problem and you have ability’s that my guards do not. So yes I want you to work for me to deal with these threats, I’ll pay you well and also give you a place to stay at the inn.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to take the jobs, the last thing I needed was another big faction to worry about, but I also had no idea what to do next otherwise. Despite the fact that I knew that there was something she wasn’t telling me and that she made my skin crawl like no other I decided I’d see if the jobs were worth my while.
Apparently I had been thinking a bit too openly as she smiled when I reached a decision “The first task is short and simple, there are a group of raiders in an old rest area north of us. They had been living up in Fetlock but the Vanguard pushed them down here where they began harassing caravans when they went out to trade. As such I want them eliminated.”
“Well that sounds easy enough, what’s the catch?”
I saw a faint glimmer of something bordering on pride in her eyes as she replied “The catch as you say is the second job since in deals with the very reason the raiders were pushed south to begin with.”
Wait but she said that… oh buck me hard
As if reading my mind she continued “I’m sure you noticed the large hole in my glorious building. It was caused by a vanguard artillery cannon. In their infinite wisdom they decided that when they pushed south from Manehatten to cover their flanks they would destroy any raiders they displaced with heavy firepower. As you can see their extremely long of the mark, most of the shots landed away from the building but I’d rather not risk a second hit. I want those guns silenced and I don’t care how you do it.”
After that she waved us off with a dismissive hoof saying “After your done come back and we’ll discuss payment and the third task I have for you.”
*** *** ***
Walking back to my room at the inn my head was once again drowning in thoughts. The mayor had ostensibly given the job to me so the town wouldn’t be targeted in any retaliation. However given the fact that the Vanguard wouldn’t care if I was acting under her orders of not this all stank of her testing to see what I was capable of and if I could be bought.
Still it was bottle caps I could use and a place to stay while I came up with a better idea of what to do next other than look for my friends.
On that note I thought over the groups of ponies I had met since I left the stable. The Vanguard and I probably weren’t going to be buddying up anytime soon, that being said they obviously wanted me for something even if I didn’t know what it was.
Then there was the Enclave. One would think I’d be happy to learn there were more pegesi out here but really I was more angry than anything. It aggravated me that I knew even less about them than I did about the Vanguard but there wasn’t any way learn more unless I went back above the clouds which I wasn’t about to do after Windy’s warning. What I did know is that they were monitoring me and my movements, though again I hadn’t a clue as to how or why.
Frustrated by my lack of knowledge I tossed myself on the bed with an exasperated sigh, there had to be somepony I could ask about this kind of stuff but at the moment all I could think of was Solaris and at this point I trusted her about as far as I could throw her without magic.
I was so lost in thought I almost didn’t hear the knock at my door. Slipping wearily off my bed I trotted over and popped the door open, nearly colliding with the first welcome sight I had all day.
Glitter stood in the hallway with a sheepish smile and her hat in her hooves. Resisting the urge to hug her I put on the best face of cool indifference I could saying “Well well took you long enough to get here didn’t it?”
“I apologize Snowy, and I’m very sorry for running off like I did back at the farmhouse but I had to get the ghouls to safety you understand.”
Her response struck me as all kinds of wrong but I wasn’t about to say anything just yet. Instead I moved to the side and let her into the room. It was then that I noticed it, she had on her coat, and clothes, and even her hat but there was something crucial she was very obviously lacking.
Deciding once again not to use the direct approach I walked over to the miniature fridge I had in my room. I had seen devices like this in the stable though why one was here I hadn’t thought to ask. Pulling some food from it I sat down opposite her at the small table on the far wall “Ok that’s fine but what took you so long to find me in the first place?”
I caught sight of her fidgeting in her chair as she responded “Well I was really worried about making sure you were all right but when I decided to turn back the sky started to act very strange. It started to move, not like it was drifting but like somepony was actually pulling at the clouds. Of course at the time I didn’t know it was you so I was understandably scared.”
Ok I’ll admit that explanation did make a certain amount of sense, I myself wasn’t sure I could pull that stunt off till I did it. Still something was seriously off with her so I told her to continue, hoping to figure out the issue.
“So I waited for a day or two till everything calmed down then I went back to the farm house. When I got there and found that other alicorn I feared the worst but thankfully you were still all right.”
Nodding a bit I though back to her surprise appearance on how awkward the conversation with Zephyr must have been beforehoof “That part I remember but where did you go after you left?”
She looked more uncomfortable by the second “W-well after that I got my things together and led those ghouls up here to rest… and even found a room for myself. Then I just waited for you to get here so… so if you want to get technical y-you were the one who took your sweet time in getting here.”
I had heard enough, there was something incredibly fishy going on here and it was time to do something about it. Doping my line questioning to help put her at ease I waited till we finished our meal and she went to leave before going over to my gear like I was checking to see where ever thing was.
Hearing her place a hoof on the door leaver I quickly asked if she could lend me a hoof in trying to find something. I could almost taste the reluctance with which she agreed, as she stepped back towards me I made sure I was ready before saying “You know Glitter there’s one major problem with your story.”
I felt her draw up short “Um… r-really and what exactly would that be?”
“I’m the only non-earth-pony in Green Meadows.” With that I spun to face her catching sight of the panic in her eyes as, for the first time in weeks, my shotgun roared to life,
*** *** ***
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I fired two shells from my pump-action as fast as I could work it. But I’ll tell you one thing, I wasn’t expecting there to be a bright flash of green light and a hideous shriek.
By the time that the first pink and yellow striped hull of the beanbag shell had it the floor my friend had vanished and in her place lay a terrifying creature that looked like someone had taken a unicorn, fused it with a beetle then drilled holes in its legs.
The thing shudder, hissing in pain and anger, as it tried to shake out the cobwebs in in head. Realizing I didn’t have time I sprang on top of it nuzzling my shotgun barrel to its cheek. As it looked up, blue eyes wide with fear, I tried my best to place where I had seen it before. I knew it looked familiar but in my own panicked mind I was drawing a blank.
Suddenly I heard a rapid hammering on my door and a panicked voice shouting “Snowy! What in the bucking name of Tartarus is going on in there?!”
There may have been more but I didn’t hear it because as soon as I dropped my guard I got a solid hoof to the temple. Seeing stars I wasn’t anywhere near ready for its two back hooves to slam into my chest and send me crashing into the wall. The last thing I heard was a startled shout and a few more gunshots.
*** *** ***
I was more than a bit groggy and in a fair amount of pain when I came to. My head was throbbing and my breast felt like it was on fire but thankfully nothing felt broken.
Groaning slightly I was stunned for a moment as I felt a damp cloth press over one side of my forehead. Shifting my eyes to the left was confused to see Calla Lily sitting at my bedside wiping me with a rag. Smelling at my return to consciousness she pressed the cloth a bit more firmly over my left eye “Glad to see you’re awake finally, I was getting a bit worried. It’s also nice to know I’m not the only pony with a secret.”
What secret was she talking about? It took me a moment before I remember my shotgun… I had been using my shotgun, and to do that I needed magic, and to use magic I had to…
Confirming my worst fear I felt her nudge the spiral appendage above my head with a giggle. Seeming to sense my unease she patted my reassuringly on the leg while running the rag over my head again “Listen Snowy if your horn was a problem with me I would have already called the guards. I’ll admit I’m curious about where it came from and why I didn’t see it. But before we trade secrets why don’t you tell me what a changeling was doing in your room.”
As if turning on a light bulb it clicked, that thing had been a changeling. I had seen them in some of the books and things I’d read back in the stable though they were a lot more intimidating up close.
Just after that realization came a second, after that thing had knocked me across the room it had bolted out the door… right into the mare next to me. Tensing a little I looked her over but she seemed to be fine. Seemingly following my gaze she smiled a little saying “Don’t you worry about me none, he was more concerned about getting away than fighting me. Still think I managed to put a bullet in him though.”
To emphasize her point a beautiful long barreled revolver floated up next to her. But why was it floating? It couldn’t have been me, my aura was gold and I wasn’t using magic. Also why was a bit of her hair glowing “If I’m going to ask about your secrets it’s only fair I tell ya mine.” she said as she pulled her mane to the side.
As it turns out I was in point of fact the second non-earth-pony in town if her white horn was any indication. But something was wrong with it, it looked small and brittle “Um Lily what’s wrong with your horn?”
It took me a full three seconds to realize how incredibly tactless I had just been and I very nearly shoved a hoof in my mouth as though trying to take it back.
For her part the mare just giggle at my display before replying sadly “It looks like that because its stunted after growing back.”
Setting down the gun and rag the stunted unicorn peered intently at what I had to assume was an open wound on my head before whistling softly “Boy you sure it that wall hard, if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a changeling I’d consider making you pay for that giant horn-hole in the wall.”
Oddly that comment struck me as funny and I soon found myself laughing uncontrollably. Shortly after Lily joined in and we both sat there a while laughing like madponies. After finally managing to regain my composure I realized that you shouldn’t laugh with a bruised up chest. None the less was glad that the tension between us had gone.
Managing to settle down herself the white mare leaned back in her chair as though trying to think up the best start to her story.
“Well like I told you before, after training as best I could I left home in search of the raiders that hurt my town. They weren’t exactly hard to find and soon enough I had them all dead and accounted for. You would think that after that I would have just gone home right… well I didn’t.”
From the glint in her eyes I guessed that it wasn’t because she couldn’t.
Taking a second to adjust in her seat she continued “I got my cutiemark after helping to save my town but I didn’t understand what it meant till I got my revenge. After seeing all the ponies I’d helped when killing those raiders I realized my talent wasn’t just killing but bringing peace with my guns. So I travelled all over the wastes, from Stalliongrad all the way down to Hoofington, fighting raiders and slavers and other nefarious ponies and for a while it worked out great. Everywhere I went ponies got to live their lives without fear and I even managed to start a small group of ponies, called the Sentinels dedicated to stopping evil in the wastes like I was.”
From what I had seen of the wastes so far I could sense a huge but coming on in her story. Wanting to head it off at the pass I decided to inquire what went wrong first.
“I pissed off the wrong pony is what. When you do what I did you tend to make a lot of enemies, some smarter than others, and it was one of them that finally got the better of me. He had been the head of a group of slavers out at Appaloosa before we stopped him. All his men were dealt with but the mule was a crafty one and managed to escape, we should have gone after him but we were more worried about his former property so we didn’t… it was a decision that still haunts me.”
*** *** ***
While I listened to Lily explaining exactly how the stallion had gathered together anypony he could find slowly kill off all of her friends and eventually capture her it was hard to believe that there could be somepony full of that much hate. In my time outside the stable I’d met plenty of raiders and other ponies made of anger but something like that took a special brand of monster.
Trying her best to look casual she finished up her story “After he got his hooves on me… well you can guess what happened. When he finished he had taken my friends, my home, my horn and even my virginity, but my will proved a bit harder to surmount.”
“But how in Equestria did you escape!”
At this her smile turned frightening “The fool underestimated how much a pony can do if they needed to. I was determined to payback for my friends he’d had killed and there was no way I would let him win. So when he simply chained me to a wall by my hind leg I took my chances… pony teeth might not be as sharp as a dragon’s but they get the job done.”
My body went cold for a moment, it was almost impossible comprehend what she was saying but I could tell it was no lie. I couldn’t imagine having to do something like that.
Looking over I could see she was having a hard time continuing. Trying to keep her from breaking down decided to start my tale and seeing as she was honest with me, at least as far as I could tell, I decided not to hide anything.
By the time I finished I wasn’t the only one with big eyes. I didn’t think my story was anywhere near as exciting as hers but she seemed to disagree,
“So you’re telling me that you came out of your stable and within two weeks you turned into and alicorn and lost one of your legs? I have to say that you don’t waste any time do you?”
I had to admit my own story did sound more than a little incredulous but since I was there I knew it to be true “ I know it sound kind of crazy, especially my conversations with the princesses. I mean even I don’t know for sure if they even happened or if I was just dreaming.”
“Well I’ll admit it does sound a little hard to swallow but you in fact an alicorn and I’ve seen all kinds of strange things in my journey in the waists so who can say really.”
Having somepony tell me I wasn’t necessarily crazy felt real good. I wasn’t even sure why I opened up to her, maybe it was her prosthetic hoof, or the fact that she apparently had a secrete of her own, or maybe it was something else entirely… I didn’t know but I was incredibly glad I did.
Biting her lip a moment she looked me over “While it certainly was an interesting story it still doesn’t explain why a changeling was in here trying to pass off as a friend of yours.”
That part had me stumped I’ll admit. Up till that point I’d never even seen a changeling up close so when one beat me senseless in less than ten seconds I was… let’s just say eager to find out who they were and why they wanted me.
As I pulled myself from the bed it took a moment to orient myself. My chest still throbbed a bit though my head felt much better. Standing up I made to grab my gear and head out and was surprised when Lily stopped me saying “Don’t even bother trying to look for him that changeling could look like anypony so there’s no way you’d find them unless they wanted you to.”
“All right fine but what do you suggest I do then?”
While levitating her gun and rag out the door in front of her she turned back for a moment and advised me to go on like nothing was wrong while she looked into the matter. I was understandably hesitant to not try and find him, I didn’t like having to look over my shoulder all the time, but the truth was I had no clue how to even start searching for… stallion? I think she said it was male bit I wasn’t sure.
Deciding to follow her advice for now I loaded my gear back up, put my glamor back up, and headed to the elevator. Everypony in the lobby stared at me still but it appeared that word had spread that I was on a mission from the mayor as I was allowed to leave unmolested.
*** *** ***
I hadn’t realized just far north I had come. I was used to rocks and trees but here I could see homes and the massive city of Manehatten far in the distance.
Even though I was still a ways from the city I could clearly make out the sprawling suburb of Fetlock. Taking my first steps forward I started road toward the rest-stop where the raiders were supposed to be.
I could have just flown there but I didn’t want them to know I was coming, no point in getting shot if you don’t need to, so instead I chose to just hoof it.
It took more than two hours but the payoff was worth it. As I crawled up to the three buildings that made up the rest area none of the assembled raiders seemed to have any idea I was there. Now the only hitch in my plan is that were about twenty of them! I might have been able to handle half that number, if I was feeling a little generous with myself, but I had no idea how to deal with all of them.
My situation was only made worse by the fact that there wasn’t any cover between my hiding spot by the road and the building at the rest-stop.
The only solution I could come up with, besides running back to town with my tail between my legs, was trying to get on the roof of one of the buildings. From there I could start picking off raiders at will. My plan as formed up as it would ever be I dropped my spell, pulled out my rifle, and took to the air.
Flying hard to the nearest roof I almost took a bullet to the face and had to snap into a quick dive as the ponies below realized what was going on. Unfortunately my dive put me on a collision course with the roof and I landed a lot harder than I would have liked.
Still I was on the roof now I just had to figure out what to do next. Pulling myself up I could already hear the sounds of bullets pinging of the small wall the roof had, I pulled my rifle back from where it landed and peaked over the edge. Most of the raider-ponies were arrayed around me, either firing wildly at my position or running into the building itself, but some were rushing off in the opposite direction. Lifting up for a moment I opened up on the fleeing raiders, my rifle fire killed two and wounded a third before I was forced to duck back down.
Loading a fresh mag into my rifle I chanced a peek over the wall. Several raiders appeared to be going inside the building I was on. Quickly scanning the roof I realized my mistake, of the four roofs I could land on I had picked the one with a trap door leading down… buck me.
*** *** ***
The first raider to burst through the door ran face first into my shotgun. The buckshot tore through his face and he fell back with a strangled cry. I had plenty of shells but I didn’t know how may were going to be following him so I had to get of the roof.
Rushing over I jumped into the trap-door and collided into another raider. Thankfully my hooves connected first sending the stallion tumbling back with me right after. As I thudded to the bottom of the stairway leading up I scrambled for cover behind some shelves, taking a few rounds to the side for my trouble, in what appeared to be a small store. Bullets ricocheted all around me so I lifted my shotgun over the top and fired blind.
Four shells later I peeked out to the side and caught sight of two dead and dying raiders bleeding out on the floor. I advanced cautiously towards the fallen ponies when a tiny clatter alerted me to a presence behind me.
Whirling around I found myself facing a young filly and colt in patched armor and crude weapons. Seeing me turn they immediately dropped their guns in terror with the stallion saying “Please princess don’t hurt my sister!”
Before I could I even reply I heard a strange hissing sound and saw something flying towards the window of the store. Rushing towards the two ponies I threw my shield my around the three of us as the world exploded.
I still remembered when Glitter had used the first grenade I had seen but it was nothing compared to the rocket launcher the raiders had dug up from somewhere. Pulling myself to my hooves I looked out at the rubble that used to be a shop, there was a huge hole in the front and the counter and most of the shelves were smoking wrecks.
Outside I could see another ten or so ponies milling outside. Beside me I caught sight of the two other unicorns coming back their senses, my shield had held against the blast but they still seemed dazed. I realized I’d have to keep them out of harm’s way, raider or no they were unarmed and way too young to be out here, so I quickly pushed them to the floor and dropped my shield before making yet another foalish move and charging out of the building.
Up till that point I hadn’t engaged in too much hoof-to- hoof combat. Diving into the middle of the group I kicked out my metal hoof and heard the satisfying crack of it connecting with another pony’s jaw. Twisting over on my front hooves I brought both back legs down on the head of a second mare.
The other raiders took a second to react to my sudden presence among them before charging in to join the melee. All of my opponents were unicorns and it became more and more of a challenge to keep ahead of them. Finally realizing I was getting in over my head I spread my wings and leapt into the air before
Pain! I had felt pain many times but it was nothing compared to the agony flowing through my body as one of the remaining raiders saw my attempted escape and stopped it with jagged spear through my wing. Crashing back to the ground I flung my shield back up in a desperate attempt to keep them away from me even as they swarmed towards my bleeding form.
The spear weighed heavily on my wing and there was no way I could fly, my shield was already starting to flicker and I was exhausted. Pulling out my shotgun I prepared for a last stand so it was surprising to hear the thundering of charging hooves and shouting of other ponies.
At first I thought it was more raiders come to finish me off till I heard the telltale whir of miniguns and saw the gleaming grey power armor of the other reason I was sent out here.
Suddenly the air around my bubble was filled with lead, blood, and the screams of dying ponies. It was over in seconds as the vanguard troops fanned out in front of me.
Not about to drop my only protection I used what little magic I had left to shakily levitate every gun I could find on the corpses and point them in front of me. They hadn’t done the raiders any good but who knew I might have even been able to dent their armor before I was a smear on the ground.
As it turns out it wasn’t necessary as the pony at the center of the group took a step forward saying “Well he was right. You’re just as powerful, determined, and dense as Emerald said you’d be.”
Hearing my friends name made me lower the weapons back to the ground and in return all of the vanguard ponies eased out of their aggressive stances, with the commander going so far as to take his helmet off revealing a heavily scared grey head and shockingly bright orange mane “The names Paladin Sidewinder. How about you put that shield down missy and we talk like civilized folk. I swear on my life we won’t try anything funny, aside from maybe trying to get that hunk of wood and rusty metal out of your wing.”
“How do you know about me and Emerald and why in Celestia’s mane should I trust you?”
The older stallion sighed gruffly “Listen I don’t want to do this the hard way but your friends in trouble and if you want to help him you’re going to have to trust me.”
That got my attention. I wasn’t sure I was ready to believe him further but I decided it couldn’t hurt to hear what he had to say. Giving a few more moments to decided I finally let my shield drop “All right then I’ll listen to what you want to say.”
I could see he looked visibly relieved “Well all right then let’s get down to business.”
*** *** ***
Moving with my freshly bandaged wing was still awkward but still I couldn’t really complain too much seeing as the two young ponies I had met earlier were still unconscious in the room behind me.
I had come back in after the talk with Sidewinder to find them both conked out; they seemed unhurt if a bit under fed so I assumed the explosion just hit them harder than it hit me.
But as I lay there on the ratty mattress and tried my best not to pick at my injured wing my only thoughts were on me new goal. I was going to find a pony by the name of Nightshade or as I knew her Ruby Cross.

Footnote: level up
Skill notes
Unarmed now at 25

(Authors notes: Well here we go everypony sorry it to so long but this one was entirely my own fault. I got guildwars 2 when it came out and my productivity took a major hit after that.
That being said I should be more on time in to future though I won’t give an exact date so I don’t jinx it.
Anyway thanks for sticking with me and have a good time.)