Fallout Equestria: Renegades

“You may be deceived if you trust too much,

But you will live in torment if you

Don’t trust enough.”

-Frank Crane.

“Hey out there in Cascadia, this is Refuge coming at you with the latest news,” the mare’s voice said over the radio as I stirred in my new barracks. It was the day after the failed assassination attempt on Elder Mandrake and I had been moved to the Initiate barracks. “The reports coming from out East of the clean-up continue to pour in. With the ashfall from the eruption having recently finished, it seems that they’ve got some unexpected help out in the Mountains. With everything that’s been going on it is nice to know that there are some ponies out there willing to lend a hoof.”

I groaned a little as my eyes fluttered open and I looked around at the other Initiates. Some of them were listening to the radio while others were playing cards or chess. I swung my legs around and got to my hooves as I shook my head clear a little.

Last night had been a whirlwind of activity after the would-be assassin was taken into custody. I had been questioned as to why I had been the only one to realize that the assassin was there. Rose had convinced them that everything was okay and that it had been a fluke, so I had been escorted to the barracks.

So here I was, waking up for the first time in my barracks. I sighed a little and looked at the other Initiate mares as music played on the radio.

“Hey rookie,” a voice said from in front of me and I snapped back to attention. Standing in front of me was an Earth Pony mare with grey fur and a black mane. She gave me a slight smile, which surprised me a little. “I heard about what happened last night. How are you feeling?”

“Okay I guess,” I replied with a shrug before adding with a chuckle. “I didn’t exactly expect to save the Elder on my first day.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anypony would have expected that,” the mare said before offering me her hoof. “My name is Dust, I’m the Senior Initiate here. I usually meet with the new initiates, but with everything going on last night we didn’t want to bother you.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so... nice,” I said as I blinked a little. “I’m used to everypony kind of treating me differently since I’m a Unicorn. I didn’t exactly have a lot of good experiences with my previous comrades.”

"Ah yes, they probably see you as the token Unicorn more than anything else, don't they?" Dust asked and I nodded a little. "Yeah, I'm not going to lie and say it won't be like that here. Becoming a Knight in the Steel Rangers is a cutthroat business. Though, you do have a good chance of making it."

"Right, because of the war with Applejack's Rangers," I said with a nod as I remembered what Rose had told me.

"And of course the Raiders, there are a lot of problems in Cascadia," Dust reminded me. "And with what's going on out East with tensions about to boil over in Neigh Orleans from everything that I've heard. Equestria is in a sorry state all around, there's hardly any point in giving another pony trouble just because they've got a horn."

I smiled a little at that and gave her a slight nod before offering my hoof again. "Thanks, Dust, that really means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," Dust said as we shook hooves for a moment. "So, if I may ask, how did you actually know that he was a threat? I mean there had to have been a lot of ponies out there with an Eyes Forward Sparkle that could've picked it up but they didn't."

"Honestly? I'm not even sure myself," I said as I levitated up my PipBuck and fit it onto my leg. I blinked a little as the EFS re-appeared over my vision. "Honestly something about this whole thing is still a bit weird and confusing to me. Maybe it was a fluke of the system, or maybe there's something else entirely. I'm not even sure how these things work beyond what they taught us."

"The way I see it, the spell works by determining who would be a threat to you personally based on different factors," Dust said as she raised her own PipBuck. "There could be any number of reasons why it decided to pick him up as a hostile. Or maybe it was just a fluke like you said. Either way, you stopped him from killing the Elder, that's something a lot of ponies are going to remember."

"Yeah, you're right," I said as I secured my new Initiate robes. "But I still have to wonder about it. Maybe it's nothing."

"Hey, we're going to head down to the Commissary before training starts, why don't you join us," Dust offered. "It might do you some good."

"Maybe I'll join you there later," I replied. "I want to get some fresh air, you know? Take some time to think about everything that's happened. If I have time I'll meet you there later."

"Sounds good," Dust said as she headed over to the trainees that were playing chess. I smiled a little as I got up and headed out of the barracks.

Right now I had only one thing on my mind. I had to go to the Parade Grounds and see if I could find something about what had happened. Something about this whole thing didn't sit right with me the more I thought about it. A common mercenary shouldn't have been able to get that close to the Elder, not without help.

So what was really going on here? And was it tied to what the ponies had said the other day?

00000

I headed out onto the Parade Grounds, they were still mostly cleared out other than a few ponies here and there. I waved at them, trying to look like I belonged here even if I didn't. I started by searching around the area where the assassin had fired the shot and knelt down at the spot where he had been.

There were still signs of a struggle there where the others had tackled him to the ground. I examined it carefully for a moment, brushing the dirt out of the way as I tried to remember what kind of gun he had used. It had been a pistol so there might be some...

Yes! Right there, there was a spent shell casing buried in the dirt, it had to have been obscured by the struggle as I carefully picked it up in my magical aura and examined it. It looked like any other spent casing I had ever seen really, nothing special. There were a few numbers etched into it that I didn't recognize, but...

"Hey Nova, what are you doing here?" A voice said from behind me and I nearly jumped out of my coat and spun around to find Cocoa standing there. "I thought you'd be with your new bunkmates or something."

"Eh, I just wanted to look into something is all," I said as I levitated the shell casing into my bags quickly. "What about you? What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, the Head Scribe asked me to get a few things out of the library," Cocoa answered as she nodded to a building on the far end of the parade grounds. "I'm just heading there now, I didn't think I'd run into you here though. Are you reliving the moment where you saved the Elder or something?"

"Or something, yeah..." I said as I looked at her for a moment and then back towards the building. "I'm just thinking really. With everything that's going on, I haven't had a lot of time to just stop and think. Something about all of this just feels off sometimes."

"Don't worry about it, everypony feels that way from time to time," Cocoa replied with a smile. "You just need to do your best and hope that is enough."

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said with a soft smile. “I’m glad I’ve got you for a friend, Cocoa.”

“I’m glad to be your friend,” Cocoa said with a nod. “I should get to the library though, see you later?”

“Sure,” I said as I went back to looking around. If there really was something going on around here I didn’t want to drag her into it. I glanced at the bullet casing again for a moment, something about it still felt off.

So I just had to figure out how I was going to find out what. So then my next stop would have to be the armory, maybe I could find some valuable information there as to what I was dealing with here.

I just had to hope I’d be able to find whatever it was.

00000

I glanced around as I entered the armory. I didn’t want to draw any attention from Proctor Bangle. I had no doubt that he would be able to help me, but given that I had no idea what was going on here, telling him what I had found would only cause problems.

There was a number on the bullet casing that I had managed to find. If I could find something similar in the ammo stores it might give me an idea of exactly what was going on here. I glanced around and started checking the ammunition for anything that looked like the casing I had found.

It didn’t take long to find it. There were boxes of rounds of ammunition on the far wall that matched up perfectly to what I was looking at. The tips of them shone with a blue crystal light in the dim light of the armory. There were several missing rounds and when I compared the numbers, the one I had was one of the missing rounds.

But that really didn’t make sense, these weren’t just any rounds, these were non-lethals. Essentially, they were bullets meant to knock the target out for a few hours, was this the same bullet that had been used to shoot at the Elder? The Parade Grounds were often cleaned, so I doubted that they were old.

So, exactly why had a bullet from our armory been used? Something about all of this felt off to me, but I didn’t know how I was even going to get answers.

“Can I help you?” A stallion’s voice said from behind me and I nearly jumped from shock as I dropped the box on the ground scattering the bullets.

“Sorry, sorry!” I quickly said as I tried to gather up the bullets. I glanced back at me at the robes wearing Unicorn with an orange coat and black mane. “I was just checking some ammunition for Dust. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Don’t worry, here let me help you out,” Bangle said as he helped me gather up the ammunition. “Seems strange that she’s having you count non-lethals though. Usually those are reserved for use in combat simulations. I don’t believe you are meant to go through those yet.”

“Yeah, well, uh,” I started to say, trying to figure out a quick explanation. “I was looking for a few things and must’ve grabbed the wrong box.”

“I see,” Bangle commented as he eyed me suspiciously for a moment. He went back to gathering up the bullets that had scattered and frowned a moment. “That’s odd.”

“What’s odd?” I asked him, though I had an idea of what he was talking about already.

“There are missing rounds here,” the Quartermaster said as he looked around. “There hasn’t been a need for Non-Lethals in weeks. The armorers shouldn’t have needed to make any more, so these shouldn’t be missing.”

I blinked a little, I had expected Bangle to know something, but that implied that he was just as in the dark as I was. I considered showing him the bullet casing for a moment, but that would just raise more questions for him.

Questions I didn’t have the answers to.

“Yeah, I noticed the same thing when I was looking in there,” I said. “I thought it was weird, but I didn’t take any of them.”

“I’ll look into this, something weird is going on,” Bangle said. “You should finish up whatever you’re doing here. The armory is normally off limits to Initiates.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” I said with a slight nod. I quickly looked over more of the bullets to try and keep up the image. I wasn’t about to let him suspect me, at least. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I was going to get answers, somehow.

But right now I needed to go back to Dust for training.

00000

I levitated up my rifle and looked down at the sites at the target. I pulled the trigger but my bullets missed the center of the target where I had been trying to aim. I groaned a little as I lowered the rifle and took out the magazine and put in another one.

“Initiate Nova, you’re distracted,” Dust said as she trotted over to me. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” I replied as I adjusted the sights a moment and levitated the rifle back up again. “I’m not sure I can talk about it right now. Just, with everything that’s going on I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“I understand, focus though,” Dust told me. “You can’t let yourself get distracted like this. If you’re distracted in battle, then it could cost you your life or your team’s.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said as I straightened up my rifle again and leveled it at the target once more. I took a deep breath and prepared to fire again, I didn’t want to seem distracted right now, but it was hard to not.

I fired several more shots into the target. This time I hit it in the center of mass three times, but the rest of my shots missed. I took a deep breath as I lowered the rifle again and glanced at the other Initiates. Most of them were doing better than me, but I was only one of two newbies so it was understandable I guess.

I looked at Dust who gave me a nod. I practiced a few more shots, doing the best I could as I lowered my rifle again to change magazines. We were going to be running the obstacle course next, and I just had to hope that everything would be okay.

“Initiate Nova,” a voice said from behind me, nearly making me jump as I turned my head. Paladin Knives was standing behind me, he had his usual stern look on his face that made me gulp a little.

Was I in trouble? Did he find out I was snooping around the armory when I wasn’t supposed to be? This was bad, and I didn’t know what I was going to do to explain myself.

“Uh, yes High Paladin Knives?” I asked with a gulp.

“Come with me, Elder Mandrake wants to see you,” Knives said coldly. “You’re expected, come with me.”

I gulped a little at that. How exactly was I going to explain what had happened? What even did Elder Mandrake want from me? This had to be connected to the attempted assassination attempt somehow, otherwise he wouldn’t need to see me.

I was a bit more afraid than anything else. I wasn’t even sure what he was going to say or what I was going to do. So there was really only one thing I could do.

“Yes sir,” I said as I walked out of the training room with him.

00000

I felt like I was in trouble somehow, being led through the base. A few ponies eyed me curiously given I was an Initiate being led by Paladin Knives. This was making more and more uncomfortable as we walked, especially as I noticed Rose walking towards us.

“Crusader Rose,” Knives said as he eyed Rose from behind his helmet.

“High Paladin Knives,” Rose said simply as she trotted next to Knives. “I was not expecting to be called by the Elder.”

Rose had been called too? That I hadn’t expected to be honest, something about this suddenly made me feel more nervous. If Rose was here, they might want to talk to her about something I did or something. Rose glanced back at me and gave me a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry Nova, everything will be okay,” she reassured me. Knives didn’t react to that as we kept walking towards the Elder’s office. Something about the way she said that made me feel a little better at least.

“What does he even want to talk to us about?” I asked finally. “Is there a problem?”

“Elder Mandrake will explain everything once we arrive,” Knives answered. “It would be better to wait until then and do not question it, Initiate.”

“Yes sir,” I said as we reached the building. I was led through the doors past Knights and Paladins who were working on different things. None of them even noticed as we went past until we finally reached the center of the building where the Elder’s office was.

The door was opened and Elder Mandrake was seated behind a desk where he was working on something. We waited for him to say something, but he continued to work. The old Earth Pony stallion finally put his pen down and glanced up at us.

“Initiate Nova,” Mandrake finally commented as he stood up from his desk. “I wanted to thank you formally for helping me before with the assassin. If you hadn’t stepped in when you had, then that assassin would have killed me for sure. I apologize for your treatment, but I’m sure you understand given recent events.”

Oh, he just wanted to thank me. That was kind of odd and felt kind of anti-climactic really, especially after I had been so worried. I smiled a little and gave him a slight nod.

“It was my honor,” I replied. “And yes, I completely understand. I probably would’ve done the same if I was in your shoes. Is there anything else?”

“Initiate…” Knives started to say.

“No, no, it's completely understandable given how she was brought here,” Mandrake told him dismissively. “I also wanted to discuss the reports from your recent mission.”

Oh… crap. Did he somehow know about what had happened when I encountered the Raiders? Or had they found the mares who I had let escape? I was trying not to look scared, but deep down I was terrified. I glanced at Rose who didn’t exactly look comfortable either, but she remained silent.

“Yes, what about it sir?” I asked. “I thought I was given approval to become an Initiate after that.”

“Crusader Kale and Knight Violet gave you both glowing reports, that much is true,” Mandrake answered as he glanced at the papers for a moment. “Though I am concerned about your encounter with two of the Raiders as well as the report on the Slavers. Exactly what happened during those times, Initiate?”

“I was investigating areas for enemy combatants, sir,” I said. It wasn’t a complete lie, but I wasn’t sure if I should tell him everything yet. “I ran into two Raiders in the boat. There was also a pair of Slavers in the house that I removed, but they didn’t have any ponies there. That was everything that happened, sir.”

“I see,” Mandrake said as he folded his forehooves for a moment. “Yes, that does seem consistent with what we know from the others. Are you certain that nothing else happened during those times?”

Did somepony go and check the house that I had investigated after I left? I shook my head, I had to be imagining things, right?

“No, nothing happened other than that,” I said with a shake of my head. “It was pretty uneventful, other than fighting the Slavers I mean. There wasn’t anypony else in the area.”

“I see, well that does fit what we know already,” Mandrake replied. He nodded a little as he went over some of the reports. “Alright then. If there is nothing else of note then you may return to your duties.”

I paused a moment at that. A lot of things were going through my mind at the moment. Part of me wanted to go and talk to the guy who had shot at the Elder. But he wouldn’t just let me do it. Right now I needed some sort of plan to get into them. I just had to hope that there was some sort of way to do it.

“No sir, there’s nothing else,” I said calmly.

“Excellent, be on your way then, Crusader Rose, escort her out,” Mandrake said as I walked out with Rose.

“Are you okay, Nova?” Rose asked as she looked at me. It was funny actually, while she was older, I was a little taller than her. “You seem a bit distracted.”

I glanced around after I was sure that nopony was in listening distance. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to talk to her about this though. Or even if I should, even if she was my mother I was still scared.

“Yes, everything is fine,” I lied. I hated to have to lie to her, especially about this kind of thing but right now I wasn’t sure how she would react.

I just hoped that all of this was just my imagination. This whole thing could just be nothing more than somepony trying to trick me. That made sense, right?

Right?

“Alright, but you can still talk to me if something is wrong,” Rose said reassuringly. “You may be an Initiate now, but I’m still your mother. I'm worried about you.”

“Thanks, but it really is fine,” I replied. “I have been a bit distracted by the recent mission. Given that was my first real mission you know.”

“Yeah, I understand, the same thing happened when I went on my first mission,” Rose said. “Don’t worry about it. Do you want to go back to my quarters? I can explain the situation to the head of your unit.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” I quickly said. “I should get back to them actually. Thank you for offering.”

“Okay,” Rose replied. She adjusted her helmet again and walked off towards her unit. She paused for a moment and looked back at me for a moment. “I love you, Nova. Take care, okay?”

“Okay, I love you too,” I replied with a smile.

She nodded as she walked away. I took a deep breath and started back towards the training area. There was still a lot on my mind right now. But I knew that I was going to figure this out somehow.

I just had to talk to the assassin somehow.

00000

There was no way in Tartarus that this was actually going to work.

I was heading into the brig with a tray of food. It had taken some convincing to get the page to give it to me. She had been sent to give the prisoner his meal, so here I was doing her job instead.

I took a deep breath as the Scribe in charge looked up at me with a scowl. “I’m here to bring the prisoner their food,” I quickly said.

“Page Jazz was supposed to bring it,” the Scribe commented. “Where did she go?”

“She had a family emergency,” I lied. I wasn’t a great liar so I had to hope that he wouldn’t question it. “I was in the area so I offered to take care of it. It’s not really a big deal, right?”

“Curious that the pony who foiled the assassination attempt would volunteer to feed him,” the Scribe commented. “That isn’t the job of an Initiate. So how about you tell me why you’re really here?”

“Well... uh… you see…” I stuttered out. I needed a quick explanation for my lie. “I wanted to… uh…”

“Let me guess, you wanted to gloat?” The Scribe asked. “I mean you stopped his plan. I would want to gloat about that too. Technically it’s against regulation, but you did save the Elder so I think we can let it slide this time. You can go inside, but don’t take too long,”

I nodded and quickly headed into the holding area. I couldn’t believe I actually made this work. I opened the door and headed inside.

The assassin was a Unicorn stallion that had been stripped of his armor. He had cuts and bruises on his body. He looked at me, one of his eyes were swollen shut as he snorted painfully.

“Not much of an interrogation technique,” he muttered. “Send the mare who stopped me with my food. Just leave it on the floor through the slot. I’m not going to talk to you.”

“You’re a mercenary, right?” I asked after I shut the door behind me and took a seat across from him. “Someone had to hire you for that hit. Why don’t you tell me who sent you?”

“And why would I do that?” He asked with a snort. “You’re not very good at this interrogation thing, you know that right?”

“I’m not here to interrogate you, I’m…” I sighed. How was I going to explain this to him? Would he even believe me? This was all one big risk and I didn’t like it, but I didn’t have much of a choice if I wanted to get any sort of answers. I glanced around before speaking quietly to him “Look, I heard some things recently, and I found the bullet casing you left behind.”

“Seems like an odd oversight for the Steel Rangers to have had,” the mercenary snorted. “I guess they’re slipping. So, what does it matter? You found a spent casing.”

“I found a spent casing that came from a non-lethal bullet,” I pointed out. “One that came from the stores belonging to the Steel Rangers. You weren’t shooting to kill, that would’ve knocked him out for what, a few hours? It wouldn’t have worked out for you, so why take a shot at him?”

“Look lady, all I did was take a job,” the stallion retorted. “It’s just like you said. I’m a mercenary, I do what I’m paid to do. I’m not exactly on the up and up here. So, why do you care so much about this anyway? I thought the lot of you were all convinced that he was infalible or something.”

“Let’s just say I’ve had a few things shake my faith recently,” I answered as I shook my head a little. “So, who hired you? With everything that’s going on around here, I’m sure I can think of a few ponies that would want him dead. I’m not sure I can think of anypony who would want to make it look like he’s dead.”

“Well, this is either a very good interrogation technique or you’re telling the truth,” the stallion laughed as he eyed me with his good eye. “So, do you mind telling me what’s got one of the Steel Rangers’ Initiates all flustered?”

“I saw and heard some... things recently,” I replied. “Things that are hard for me to just explain away. I don’t know exactly what the truth is about this place anymore, and given that you’re still alive, you’re the best chance I’ve got right now to find out the truth.”

“Let me guess, the little raid on the northern port,” the stallion replied and I nodded. “Yeah, I heard about that. I had some buddies working for those Raiders, but the folks there were scum. Look, you want my advice?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll take your advice I suppose,” I snorted. I didn’t like having to get advice from this guy, but like I said it was my best chance.

“Get out of this place,” he said simply. “And I ain’t just talking about the port. This whole city is sitting on a powder keg as strong as a Balefire bomb. The Raider gangs are all at each other’s throats and innocent ponies get caught in the crossfire. And your little group of Steel Rangers and the cold war you’re waging with the Applejack’s Rangers are making things worse. It is only a matter of time before this whole city is on fire.”

“Thanks for reassuring me,” I said sarcastically.

“Tell me what you saw and heard,” he said simply. He listened as I talked about what happened in the port as quietly as possible. I was not about to risk being overheard. “I see… well, like I said, get out of here. If not out of the city, you need to run for Haven or Lunar City. You’re stuck in a bad situation here, and it’s a good way to get a bullet between your eyes. Especially if you know that much already.”

I paused a little at that. How exactly was I going to actually take this? The assassin closed his eyes as he leaned back. Apparently I wasn’t going to get much more out of him, at least not without asking more questions.

“Why do I need to run away from the base?” I finally asked.

“You’re being lied to, and like I said you’re sitting on a powder keg,” he replied as he shook his head a little. “I don’t give a damn about you to be honest. You probably cost me my payment and my life. This whole thing isn’t worth the caps I’m getting paid for this messed up job.”

“Yeah, well there’s not exactly anything I can do about that,” I pointed out. “So, why don’t you tell me who hired you? You shouldn’t have any loyalty to them.”

“I don’t,” the stallion snorted. “But I don’t trust you either. You could be lying to me about all of this to get the information out of me. So, here’s how it’s gonna be. You’re gonna help me get out of this place. When you help me get out, I’ll give you a few more answers. Then we split up and you run off into the city because we both know the Rangers aren’t gonna let you get away with it. Or you could just forget about all of it and I’ll be dragged out into the parade grounds and executed.”

I blinked a little at that. Was this my only chance to actually get answers on what’s going on around here? I knew I couldn’t just ask anypony about it, so I wasn’t sure what to do to be honest.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” I admitted. “I don’t know how to do a jailbreak.”

“Then just run, I don’t even care at this point,” the stallion shrugged. “But if you run, can you pass a message on to a pony for me?”

“Who’s that?” I asked, suddenly very curious. I had to wonder what exactly he had in mind for me to pass on and to who.

“There’s a pony in Haven named Coffee Cream,” he replied. “I need you to tell her what happened to me if I don’t make it out. If you’re being honest with what you’re telling me, then you need to get out of here before it’s too late for you too.”

“I’ll… think about it,” I said as I thought about what he was saying. With everything that had happened, I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Maybe I really should get out of here, but what would Rose think of me if I escaped? What would the rest of the Rangers think? “I promise, if I leave I’ll get the message to Coffee Cream.”

“That’s all I can ask for at this point,” the stallion said as he leaned back. “You might want to leave before they start to get suspicious. You’re treading in dangerous waters here.”

I nodded a little before I headed out of the holding area. I glanced at the Scribe in charge for a moment and gave him a nod before I pushed the door open and headed outside.

I was going to have to think about this, and there was only one option that occurred to me at the moment. I had to go talk to my mother.

00000

“Nova, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Rose commented as I walked into her quarters. “Is everything okay? How’s your training going?”

“Oh, you know, as well as it can be,” I replied as I sat down on the couch. “I’ve just had a lot to think about lately to be honest. Things have been very complicated really. I just needed somepony to talk to.”

“Of course,” Rose said with a gentle smile as she took a seat next to me. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. Honestly this was going to take a lot of explaining and honestly I wasn’t even sure how much I was really going to be able to tell her.

“Alright then, let’s talk,” Rose said with a reassuring smile. “Are you still bothered by what happened at the ceremony?”

“Among other things, yeah,” I admitted as I shook my head a little. This was honestly going to be hard to explain to her without worrying her even more. “And what happened on my first mission as well. Just, with everything that’s going on, I honestly don’t know what to think about all of this.”

“Everypony has a crisis of conscience at least once in their life,” Rose sighed as she placed her hoof gently on mine. “The decisions you make aren’t always going to be easy. At the end of the day, as a soldier you’re going to have to decide what you’re going to stand for. A good place to start may be to find your virtue.”

“My virtue?” I asked. She had mentioned this once or twice, but she had never quite explained it to me.

“A virtue is something that defines you as a pony, like the Elements of Harmony of old,” Rose answered. “It’s not really part of the usual training regimen of the Steel Rangers admittedly. But it’s something to think about and may define what kind of soldier you’re going to be.”

"Yeah... that kind of makes sense..." I said as I thought about it a moment and leaned back. I remembered the three ponies that I had saved from the Slavers, that had been my first real instinct in that situation. Maybe that meant something about what she was talking about.

“I’ll keep that in mind, I guess,” I continued as I shrugged a little. I honestly wasn’t sure exactly what to think about that, but it was as good advice as any. “Still, I’m a bit nervous about a lot. I’m not sure if I should tell you though.”

“If you don’t want to tell me, it's fine,” Rose said with a nod. “But you know you can trust me, right? If there’s something you want to let off your chest, I’ll listen.”

I thought about it for a long moment. Rose was not my birth mother, I had known that ever since I was young when she told me that she had taken me in after a battle in my home Stable. It hadn’t been easy to accept, but Rose was my mother. Maybe I really could trust her with this information, even if it made me a little uneasy.

I took a deep breath and told her what had happened before. Rose frowned a little as she listened, letting me finish my story before she said anything.

“I see, now I understand why you weren’t sure about telling me about this,” Rose said as she stroked her chin thoughtfully for a moment. “I have to admit that would be enough to give anypony pause about what’s going on around here. Are you sure that it was a non-lethal round that was used?”

“Positive, I checked it against the armory’s stock of the rounds,” I replied. “I admit it sounds a bit unlikely.”

“No, unfortunately I don’t doubt it that much,” Rose told me with a sigh. “Listen, Nova, I know that you have a lot of things you’re worried about. It’s up to you what you want to do at this point to be honest. Though, I would suggest not staging a jailbreak, that’s not exactly going to win things over with the Elder.”

“Yeah, I realize that,” I replied. “So, what do you think I should do?”

“If you don’t feel like you should stay in the Steel Rangers, maybe it’s for the best,” Rose sighed. “Look I don’t know everything about what’s going on, we’re both just soldiers right now. The choice is yours to make if you want to leave the Rangers or not. This is not an easy choice for you to make, especially with how you were raised, but I will understand whatever choice you make.”

“What will you do if I make the choice to leave?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet, but I do know that I’m not going to tell the Elder, that’s what’s best for you I know that right now,” Rose answered. “But I honestly don’t think you should go out there alone. As I said though, you can’t just break the assassin out of jail, your decision is going to be hard. I just hope that you make the right decision.”

I smiled softly as I hugged Rose tightly. “Thank you… I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do just yet. But still, you gave me a lot to think about. But at the same time, I don’t want to leave you behind here… your my mother after all.”

“Yeah, I know, but I have to let you go, I believe in you,” Rose replied. She was crying a little, I could feel the tears falling down onto my shoulder. “I don’t want you to leave either. You might be grown up, but you’re still my daughter… I think you should follow your heart, and do what you believe is right.”

“Yeah… okay…” I said as I took a deep breath. “I’ll make a decision soon. I just, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Hopefully, whatever I do will be the right choice.”

“I know it will be,” Rose reassured me. “Nova, I’m proud of the mare you’ve become. I know this isn’t going to be easy for you, but you’re not going to have to do this alone. I’m going to help you out as best I can, which admittedly isn’t going to be a whole lot… Nova, there will always be a place for you as long as I’m here. I promise that you’re going to be okay. Like I said, find friends and your virtue. And know that I’m always going to be with you in spirit…”

“I’d rather have you physically there with me,” I muttered as she placed her hoof gently on my shoulder. “I’m afraid of going out on my own like this. But at the same time, I don’t think I should stay here either…”

“I think you should do whatever you believe is right,” Rose told me. She paused for a moment as she thought about what to say next. “Nova, I promise that somehow I will be there for you. Just whatever you do, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise,” I said softly. “Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“I would if I could, but it’s much easier to pass off an Initiate leaving than a Crusader,” Rose answered with a sigh. “But I promise that I’m going to figure out a way to help you along your way.”

“Okay…” I said softly. I had a lot to think about right now, I didn’t even know where I was going to start other than maybe heading for Haven.

And exactly how was I going to actually take her advice? I glanced down at my PipBuck for a moment and took a deep breath. I had something else I was going to have to do before I could even think about that.

“Do you mind if I stay here for a little while?” I finally asked.

“Of course, stay here as long as you want,” Rose answered as I headed into the back.

I took a deep breath as I started to remove my PipBuck. I was going to have to figure out how to remove the tracking on the PipBuck. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I had a plan at least for how I was going to do this.

At least, I hoped I had a plan.

00000

I quietly made my way out of the commissary that night. I had grabbed what food and other supplies I could, and was now heading towards the armory. I had finally made the decision, I was going to leave, and probably never come back, at least if I was lucky. I had to get out of this place and hope that I wasn’t going to get into trouble.

Who am I kidding? The moment that they realized I was gone, they were probably going to send out ponies to search the island for me. That meant that I had to do everything I could to get off this island, the only question that remained was how. There were a few boats here, but they were all well guarded and secure.

So, what was I going to do now? The best I could do was get some weapons and medicine, that wasn’t going to be easy to say the least. The Steel Rangers kept this kind of thing under lock and key, but I was at least going to be able to figure this out.

Or, at least I hoped I would.

“Nova, are you okay?” Cocoa asked from behind me as I jumped in shock. “What are you doing here out past curfew?”

“Uh…” I said as I brushed my mane a little, suddenly very nervous. I honestly wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to explain this to my fellow Unicorn. “I don’t know, what are you doing out here?”

“I was checking some things for the Head Scribe,” Cocoa answered. “I’m heading back to my barracks. But you should still not be out here.”

“Yeah, I just… uh…” I said quickly, trying to think of an explanation. “I went to visit my mom and I was a bit late leaving. I figured I should probably head back to my barracks, you know?”

“Right,” Cocoa replied, she didn’t sound convinced at all. That figured, really, she had always been much better at seeing through my lies ever since we were fillies. “Which is why you were heading in the opposite direction of the barracks.”

I flinched a little at that, I just had to hope she couldn’t see that in the darkness. This really wasn’t my evening, and I was pretty sure that I shouldn’t tell her the truth either.

“I was… uh… taking the scenic route,” I lied. “I just wanted to get some fresh air, you know now that all the ash has finally dissipated.”

“Riiiight,” Cocoa replied with a shake of her head. “Yeah, I’m not buying it for one minute. Why don’t you tell me the truth already, or maybe I’ll report this to Paladin Knives.”

“Look, I…” I said and took a deep breath. “Cocoa, if I tell you the truth you’ll probably tell him anyway. I’d rather not hurt you, and things are going to get very… difficult for me, and anypony who knows…”

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Cocoa asked softly. I flinched a little at my friend’s words, I hated to have to admit it to anypony, especially to her. “I guess I kind of always knew you were going to leave someday. You never really fit in around here.”

“It’s not that I didn’t fit in…” I said softly. “I did everything I could to fit in, to be something more, and I think that I succeded. But things have changed, I don’t know if I can stay here any longer given some recent events. But I also don’t want to get you into trouble for letting me go.”

Cocoa paused for a moment and sighed a little. “Knock me out.”

“What?” I asked, suddenly very confused.

“You heard me, knock me out and I can tell them I tried to stop you,” Cocoa said. “Look, I don’t like it either, but we have to make it look good if they realize you escaped and we crossed paths. I’m sorry you have to do this, but we really don’t have much of a choice at this point…”

“Okay, I’m sorry…” I said as I levitated up a stick. I hated to do this, but I got a quick idea of exactly how much force I needed to use as I brought it down on her head. Cocoa crumpled to the ground unconscious and I checked her over quickly, she was still breathing at least, so that was a good sign.

From there I ran off towards the armory, I had to hurry if I wanted to do this, and I still had one last stop to make.

00000

I checked the clip on my rifle, I had grabbed it from the armory and loaded up on ammo including non-lethals. If I had to fight my way out of this, I wasn’t going to kill anypony at least until I got out of the base.

I quietly made my way towards the holding cells. I ducked into the shadows for a moment as I saw a patrol on the move nearby. I didn’t even dare breathe as I waited for them to pass by.

I finally let the breath out as they made their way around the corner. I started walking again, checking my ammo once more as I reached the entrance to the holding area. I only had one shot at this, and I was going to have to be careful, there was no way I was going to be able to talk my way into it this time.

I pushed the door to the holding area open as I gripped my rifle with my telekinesis. There would be at least two guards inside, and I had to take them out quickly if I wanted to do this. As I stepped through the door I entered SATS and targeted the nearest guards, taking them each out with one shot as they crumpled down from the enchantment on the bullets.

I checked them for a moment, they were knocked out, just like they were supposed to be. I started walking towards the holding cells when a third guard stepped into view drinking a bottle of Sparkle-Cola.

“What the hell…” The Guard said as he dropped his bottle and reached for his weapon. “Hold it right there! I’m not going to…”

And then I took him down with a quick shot. I muttered a quick thank you for the suppressor that I had grabbed from the armory. I quickly checked my EFS again as I made my way through, there wasn’t any sign of any other guards around at least, and those non-lethals would knock them out for a few hours.

“Well, I didn’t think I’d see you again,” the assassin commented as I approached his holding cell. He glanced up from where he was lying and looked at me. “Guess this means that you’re leaving this place. Are you going to try and break me out?”

“Yeah, well I don’t have any way off the island, so I need your help,” I muttered as I grabbed the keys and started to unlock the door to the cell. “You do have a way off the island, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a boat that can cross the bay,” the Unicorn said as he got up and headed over to the cell door. “I’m guessing this means that you’ve come to your senses. What are you going to do from here?”

“Get off this island, run to Haven or Lunar City maybe,” I replied with a shrug. “After that I don’t know to be honest. I’m kind of playing it by ear right now, I just need a way off this island first.”

“Well, get me out of here and I’ll get you to Seaddle proper,” the former prisoner said as he headed to a locker nearby. He opened up the locker and took out some items and bags before he looked back at me. “Why did you come after me? You should’ve just left the base.”

“Like I said, I don’t have a boat…” I muttered and sighed a little. “Let’s get out of here, okay? The last thing we need is to get caught by the next shift.”

“Right,” the stallion said as I levitated a pistol over to him. “Let’s get going.”

I nodded as we headed out of the holding area quickly. I knew we didn’t have long before we were discovered, so we had to move fast if we were going to get out of the fort.

00000

“What’s your name, kid?” The stallion asked me as we approached the outer wall.

“Nova,” I answered as I glanced up at the guard tower where a pony was keeping an eye on things. “Alright, I’m going to create a distraction, you get over the wall and I’ll be right behind you.”

“Gold Dust,” the stallion said all of a sudden. “That’s my name, whatever your plan is it better be a good one. The last thing we both need right now is to be caught by your former allies”

I gulped a little at that. He was right of course, I was putting us both at risk by doing this. I just had to hope that my plan actually would work. I adjusted my weapons and levitated up a detonator for a P-4 charge I had set up on the other side of the complex. It was far enough away, but we would still have to move quickly.

I hit the detonator button and waited a moment. Then another moment passed, and I realized that nothing was happening. I hit the side of it a little with my hoof, trying to get it to set off the explosions, and it still didn’t work.

“Dead switch, huh?” Gold Dust said as he facehooved at that. “Because of course it won’t just be as simple as doing that. Please tell me you have a Plan B.”

“I had to move fast, I didn’t have time to get a Plan B,” I hissed at the stallion. “We’re going to have to figure something out and fast.”

“Idiot,” Gold Dust muttered as he glanced up at the wall. I had picked this spot because it was the weakest point in the compound’s security. “You really are green, you always need to have a Plan B.”

“What are you going to do about it?” I hissed back at him. “We need to get out of here and the longer we stand here the higher risk we are in at being caught.”

“Look, kid, the Wasteland hasn’t torn you down yet,” Gold Dust said as he cocked his gun. He took out a crumpled up piece of paper and threw it at me. “Get out of here while the getting is good. Get to Haven if you want, but my advice is get as far East as you can before this place blows sky high. Get to New Pegasus or Junction Town, I don’t care at this point.”

“What are you…” I started to say before he trotted down the wall before finally breaking into a run and firing several shots into the air, shouting at the top of his lungs as he did. “Of course… that’s one way to make a distraction.”

I grabbed the paper off the ground and levitated myself off the ground and over the wall once I was sure it was safe. I was on the other side of the wall and broke out into a run away from the compound.

And into the unknown.

00000

I finally stopped running in a clearing a good distance away from the Fort. I checked my PipBuck, I wasn’t too far away from the coast at this point, but without Gold Dust I honestly had no idea where I was going. I rested against the tree and fell down onto the ground, there was only two ways off of the island, and both of them were currently cut off to me.

Maybe I should turn back at this point, nopony other than Gold Dust and Cocoa had actually seen me, right? I could probably bluff my way through this if I actually got a chance. I just shook my head at that though, there was no way I could turn back now, not with all my doubts, I had to get out into the world just like he had said.

I just had to figure out how I was going to go now.

“Well, somepony is stuck out here all alone,” a mare’s voice said, causing me to jump. I glanced up and drew my weapon, preparing for a fight with a pony from a member of the Steel Rangers.

Instead standing there was a pony dressed in wastelander clothing with a hood pulled slightly over her face. What I could see in the dim light from Luna’s Moon was a grey mare with a red and yellow mane in front of her eyes and a Unicorn’s horn.

Yeah, definitely not Steel Rangers. But that didn’t rule out anything else as I gripped my rifle, preparing to draw it.

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not here to hurt you, Blue,” the strange mare said as she raised her hooves defensively.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“Neither enemy, nor friend, at least for now,” the mare said as she backed off a little. “Let me guess, the Steel Rangers being up in a tizzy is your doing?”

“Partially, yes,” I said as I loosened my grip on the gun a bit. “How do you know about what’s going on over there?”

“I know a lot of things, Blue,” the Unicorn laughed. “But I’m not at liberty to discuss my sources, a pony like you should understand that. So, what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a sigh. “I had a boat to get to Seaddle because of Gold Dust, but he’s either dead or captured again probably. I’m stuck on this island until I starve or get captured again.”

“Be more optimistic,” the odd mare said with a roll of her eyes. “Maybe you have everything you need with you already. I’m sure that Gold Dust thought of this possibility if he was actually interested in getting off the island. Think back, did anything happen that could be a clue as to where you’re supposed to go?”

I thought about it for a moment as I remembered everything that he had said. Nothing immediately jumped to mind, what kind of clue was I even trying to remember? There wasn’t exactly anything obvious, was there?

Then I mentally slapped myself, I had nearly forgotten about it in the rush to escape. I levitated out the crumpled up piece of paper that he had thrown at me. Written on it in pretty sloppy hoof writing was a set of coordinates. And when I compared it to the map, yeah, they were on the island and not too far away at that.

“Yes, this is it!” I said excitedly as I checked it. I had to get moving quickly if I wanted to reach it without being detected. “Thank you, Miss…”

When I turned back to look at the odd Unicorn she was gone. I turned on my light briefly, and oddly there were no signs of her even being there. No hoofprints, no signs of disturbed grass or anything, it was like she was a ghost.

But that didn’t make sense, who was she? I shook my head and started walking again towards the coordinates, using the EFS’ compass in order to keep track of where I was going.

I just hoped that Gold Dust had made it out of this, somehow.

00000

“What the hell? Who are you?” The pony demanded as I made my way out of the forest near the location. She was dressed in Wastelander gear and had a cigarette dangling from her mouth in shock as she saw me. “You, blue, what are you thinking coming out here?”

“Uh…” I said as I checked the map. Yeah I was definitely in the right spot, there wasn’t much of a boat, just a fairly small craft that looked like it could maybe hold three ponies if we were lucky. “You see, uh…”

The mare sighed a little as she looked me over. “Did Gold Dust send you?” She asked and I nodded a little. She groaned as she tossed her cigarette into the water and brushed her mane back. “Figures, he tells me to come here every night around this time and he doesn’t even bother showing up himself. What’s your story, blue?”

Blue, calling me that again, I swear sometimes I wish I was a different color, or at least two different colors. “I’m on the run from some dangerous ponies,” I answered, it wasn’t a lie I just didn’t feel like she needed to know the whole truth. “I saved Gold Dust from imprisonment and he ran off to distract the ponies from me. He gave me the coordinates to this boat, I was hoping you could get me out of here.”

She looked at me for a moment and sighed a little. “Look, I’ll give Gold Dust an hour to get here and then we’ll shove off. But I’m not doing this for free, that stallion owes me caps. You want off Braybridge, you need to pay up. 50 Caps or trade, up front.”

I gulped a little at that. I had gathered up what caps I managed to save, but that would be most of them. Still, if it meant actually getting off the island. “Fine, I’ll pay.”

“Good, make yourself comfortable, there’s not a lot of room,” the mare said as I poured out the caps into a small bag and levitated it over to her. She grinned and pocketed the caps before leaning back in her seat. “Do you know how to row a boat?”

“Uh, a little,” I answered as I looked at the boat. It was outfitted with a small sail and there were two sets of oars attached to it. “Why?”

“Because unless you can propel this boat across the bay we might need it,” the mare snorted as she raised a hoof. “There’s not much wind tonight so we might have to row if Gold Dust isn’t here.”

“Because of course,” I sighed as I leaned back in the boat. I checked my PipBuck for a moment, there were no signs of being followed by the Steel Rangers. If I was lucky they thought that Gold Dust had somehow broken out on his own and weren’t coming after me.

I honestly had no idea how long my luck was going to hold out. So for now, I just put my earbuds into my ears and tuned back into Refuge’s Radio Station.

“This is Refuge speaking to you late in the evening,” Refuge’s voice said over the radio. For a moment I swore that her voice sounded familiar, but then again I had heard her many times on the radio, so that was probably it. “My friends out there in Cascadia, I’ve got some news about the latest out of Haven. I wish I could tell you that it’s all good, but unfortunately the wall was briefly breached by the Raider forces under the Warlord Glaive, however they were repelled by the local militia forces. There are further rumors about an attack on Applejack’s Rangers forces within Seaddle itself during a trip to Lunar City. Paladin Victory said that they’re not concerned about further attacks on the way back, but has asked for militia support at least to the edge of the city.”

Applejack’s Rangers seemed to be having problems, well they deserved it really. Especially with all the problems they had been causing with us. Even if I didn’t trust the Steel Rangers right now, I wasn’t exactly eager to trust Applejack’s Rangers either.

“But we do have some good news,” Refuge continued. “General Aries has pledged further supplies in the wake of the attacks on supply trains from the East. The General has pledged further support to help root out the Raider problem within the city, promising that there will be no tolerance for such actions against the ponies of Cascadia. Now, here’s the music to start off the rest of your evening from Velvet Remedy, it’s Starting Over.”

“Step out into the sunlight,
Emerging from the past,
To breathe the breezy morning air at last.

We walk the sunken highways,
We wander riven roads,
The emptiness becoming our abode.”

It felt like only a few minutes before the hour finally passed. I opened my eyes to see the mare starting to push off from the shore, adjusting a rifle in her hooves.

“No sign of Gold Dust?” I asked and she shook her head before tossing the rifle to me. “In case we run into pirates or something?”

“Hardly, I’d rather not run into any mutated sea life,” the mare said as she adjusted the sail. The wind had picked up again as we started across the bay. “It’s going to take a couple of hours to reach safety on shore.”

“Of course it will be,” I muttered as I checked the rifle. It was older and less well maintained than what I was used to, but it would do the trick at least. “Do you get attacked on the bay often?”

“Not often, but I’d rather be better safe than sorry,” the mare said as she adjusted the sail. “Keep an eye out still.”

I nodded as the boat started across the bay. I held the rifle in my telekinesis for a moment, keeping an eye on the EFS as I did. We moved in silence for a while, there was nothing but the sound of the waves hitting the hull of the boat. I felt myself starting to drift off for a moment before suddenly there was the sound of something impacting the bottom of the boat.

“What the…” I muttered as I sat up. “What was that?”

“Quiet… get ready,” the boat mare said as I levitated up the rifle. For a moment I thought nothing was going to happen and then the boat shook again. I looked at my EFS and a red mark had come up on it, whatever this thing was it was not friendly. “Steady… steady…”

There was a sudden splash as something burst out of the water. A swarm of tentacles surrounded the boat, trying to grab at us as I fired a shot only to have it hit the water. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t going to let us go without a fight.

Finally in the dim light from my horn I managed to get a good look at the thing that was actually attacking us. It was fairly large, nearly as big as a pony with tentacles that were wrapped around the bow of the boat. We were being pulled down a little as I felt water around my hooves and I raised my rifle at its head.

“Aim for the eye!” The Boat mare shouted.

It took me a moment to spot the large creature’s eye. I lined it up and entered EFS before firing several shots into its head, catching it in the eye. The creature’s grip on the boat finally weakened as it fell into the water with another splash.

“What was that thing?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“Mutant Giant Octopus,” the mare replied as I lowered the rifle. She nodded over to two of the oars and grabbed the other two. “Start rowing, somepony or something probably heard those shots and I’d rather get to shore before they come after us.”

“Got it,” I said as I gripped the two oars. It took me a moment to get used to rowing as we started towards shore again.

This was going to be a long night.

LEVEL UP!

Perk Received: Navigator of the Seas.
Details: You’ve gotten a better understanding of the water in the area around Seaddle. You get a bonus to speech checks with certain ponies as well as a bonus to attacks on sea creatures.