Fallout Equestria: The Wilderness

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Restricted Access
Chapter 2 - Top Priority
Chapter 3 - Enrollment
Chapter 4 - Taking Back What's Ours
Chapter 5 - Trust
Prologue

Chapter 1 - Restricted Access

Most ponies would believe that being Overmare was one of the best jobs in the entire stable. Being the head of authority, everything in the Stable being unrestricted to you. Not only that, but everything you wanted you had. Compared to what most ponies saw stable life like, the Overmare always seemed to have the easiest job. Yep, being Overmare sounded like it was great. There couldn’t be that much wrong with all that power.

Well there sure as hell was. At least to Broken Record, Overmare of Stable 17, there was plenty wrong with being in her position. Sure, you got all the authority in the stable, but that meant everypony came knocking on your door saying they need you to do something. She had heard it all, from foals complaining about bullies to tech crew complaining about circuits and other things she didn’t understand. She felt like the amount of work she had to do aged her five years ahead, but she was only eighteen. In fact, she was the youngest Overmare in Stable 17’s history.

That was the other thing, she was really young compared to most of the Overmares and Overstallions that had been in Stable 17. Before her was eighty-nine year old stable farmer Apple Core. Since no exact family carried the job of being overmare a random drawing happened when the old one either died or retired. Apple Core was fifty-three when she was chosen, and the stallion that was before her was sixty-five. Broken Record was only sixteen when she was chosen, meaning that not only did she have longer to wait until given the option to retire but she was also subjected to the many Stallions who wanted her.

Due to her age, and her beauty compared to all the other Overmares, countless Stallions had come to her offering dates. A few stallions had gone a little too far, and now she always had security at her door in case anyway tried to come in while she was sleeping. She was lucky she didn’t fall asleep during that night, because she didn’t want to think what that creeper had wanted to do with her. That being said there was a certain few stallions that had managed to get her attention and she has dated again. In the end her heart had fallen to the stables young and newest rookie in the maintenance department, Locket. They both shared a lot of interest and was the one pony that had ever to really grab her heart. He always came by to her office after work and she had told the guard at the door that it was okay to let him in.

She did admit that there was one specific charm to being overmare of Stable 17. She had always loved being the one to greet every trader from the outside as well as welcome back dwellers who went outside on small pilgrimages. She had always loved hearing the stories about the outside world, but being Overmare she was not allowed to leave the dull interior of the stable. She dreamed though, that when she had done it for the ten years required of every Overmare in Stable 17 she will set out for a three year long expedition through the wasteland. Only then she feel happy about spending the rest of her life in the stable.

Today however she was sitting in the Overmare offices listening to yet another security officer complain to her. She listen to the babbling officer while she swirled around her spoon in her cup with her dark grey coated hoof, the other one messing a piece of her black mane that had fallen in front of her eyes. This had been the fifth complaint in the past three days, all about the same exact subject.

“We have no idea what is behind that door and to make it worse you haven’t made any attempts to try and even unlock it,” The officer argued to the young Overmare, barely being able to pay attention to the same rant she had heard yesterday. “We have no idea what’s behind that door and here you are sitting in your chair stirring your Celestia damn tea. Who knows what’s could be in there, and ponies are getting suspicious that you are trying to hide something from them. You don’t want to end up with the entire Stable knocking on your door angry,” He stopped pacing as he looked at Broken Record. “Are you even listening to me?”

She could understand his frustration with her, but it wasn’t her fault he had no idea how to open the strange door marked “Restricted Area”. It had showed up about five days ago, a small earthquake had loosened up part of the wall and revealed a strange door behind it. Broken Record didn’t hear about it until the day after, and according to her PipBuck’s map there shouldn't even be a door there.

Many of the ponies in the stable have started a ghost story that there was a scary creature on the other side of the door, but it seem like it was starting to get to ponies heads. She was wondering what was on the side of that door, but for an entirely different reason. Nothing that Apple Core told her in her training or initiation said anything about a strange door. Hell, not even the Overmare’s personal terminal said anything about this. If there was something beyond that door, she wanted to know exactly what it is.

“Yeah I’m listening,” Broken Record said to the officer in a bored manner. “Look, I’m just as worried about what’s beyond that door as you are but I can’t do anything about it at the moment. I already tried using my personal access code to open the door and it didn’t work. Nothing in the past four Overmare’s terminals says anything about a walled of door, and we already have our best tech ponies on trying to look at the older ones. So far nothing has come up and until we know what’s going I can’t make a decision. If I find out anything I will tell you okay,”

The officer knew not to push it with Broken Record, when she was this way she could snap easily. If there was something the ponies knew about Broken Record, it was that when you make her snap she won’t go back to normal until she sleeps. Seeing that she was in that exact mode he decided the best thing to do was nod his head and leave. Click came from the door as he left, a notice to her that it had been locked by the guard outside.

Happy that he was gone, Broken Record gripped the spoon in her teacup in her mouth and placed it on the table. She took a sip from the cup of tea, a smile growing on her face as she put it down. Her time alone was always one of the best times of her day, the other being the time she spent with Locket. She turned the PipBuck on and tuned into the radio as she sat in her office.

“And that was Ink Spot with It’s All Over But The Crying, one of my personal favorites,” She heard the radio Stallion say, placing the PipBuck on the desk as she happily listened to it. “Now, I’ve been running this for a while now and… Actually now that I think about it ever since Broken Record was chosen as Overmare. Anyways I can’t tell you how sad it is for me to not hear her voice on here, but I’m sure as soon as she gets the chance she will be back to running this station. So, in honor of our great young Overmare, here is the Wasteland Wailers with Dare Master,”

Hearing the radio stallion say her name reminded her of when she use to run the radio. That use to be her job in the stable, and she loved it. Back then it was just her and all the music that had been culminated over the years of ponies going out to the wasteland. She had discovered the Wasteland Wailers in her last year as the radio mare before becoming the Overmare and she had fallen in love with them in that time.

Being the stables radio mare wasn’t just her job, but it was her talent. She wasn’t the best when it came to standing in front of crowds and when she got behind the microphone for the first time she felt like an entirely different pony. She quickly gained her talent and cutie mark, a microphone with an old music player behind it. She really did wait for the day when she could get back to that room and feel confident again, it would be amazing. She dreamed of it every night.

“Overmare,” Broken Record turned her attention to the door as she heard a familiar voice on the other side of it. “A certain somepony is here to see you,”

The door suddenly opened revealing her guard standing behind yellow Pegasus Stallion with Silver mane and tail. There he was, the love of her life standing right before his eyes, and visiting earlier than usual. She smiled as Locket stepped into the room and the sliding door closed behind him leaving the two of them alone.

“You're here rather early,” Broken Record said in a sassy voice. “Did something come up or did you miss me just that much?”

“Boss gave me a break,” He answered simply. “He said I could take a small break from working on the the stables door repairs. It’s been crazy trying to get everything up to speed after the earthquake a few days ago. Hell we still need to check the water and air filters as well as the vaults wiring. I never have to work this much,” He sighed as he looked at Broken Record with an affectionate smile. “So how is the mare of my life doing,”

“Very much the same as you,” Broken Record replied. “Ponies are acting completely crazy, they think that there some sort of monster behind that door. Sure we have no idea what’s in there, sure, but I don’t think Stable-tech would hide anything dangerous down here without telling us. The worst part about it though is that they think I’m hiding something from them,”

“They have all the right to be suspicious,” Locket shrugged his shoulders in reply. “But I agree. What are the chance Stable-Tech would do something that could have the possibility of harming. They were saving our lives, if any lives were lost it ain’t their fault,”

“I wish the scientist would just finish up so we could learn what it is,” Broken Record said, rubbing her forehead in frustration. “I mean, how hard could it be to decode an old run down terminal. Shouldn’t they have found something by now?”

Locket never liked seeing Broken Record like this, it was sad. The thing was that she was like this most of the time, she absolutely hated her job. The thing is that she was getting depressed more and more as she continued being Overmare. Locket knew it wasn’t entirely fair for her to be in this position, he hated the random draw as much as most ponies their age. Of course without a leader the Stable wouldn’t survive, and because of that the random drawing was necessary.

“Sorry to hear it,” Locket said, his ears folded back. “But do you ever think there was a reason that it was walled up, do you think Stable-tech wanted us to find out what was behind there. If none of the past Overmares know anything about it the best course of action would be to just wall it up again,”

“Ponies would still talk about it and I would probably just end up in warmer water than I already am,” Broken Record replied, pouring a second cup of tea. “Want any?” Locket nodded as he sat down on the opposite end of the desk and grabbed the cup with the end of his wing. “You do have a point, what if they never finished the construction in that area of the Stable when the mega spells had fallen and it’s all radiated in there. It could pose some health risks for the Stable. Ugh, the more I think about it the more I realize how much of a pain that stupid door is,”

Locket quickly chugged down the cup of tea as Record kept on speaking. She may not have realized it, but she was actually a really good leader considering how she acts about being one. She may not have enjoyed being the Overmare of Stable 17, but she was good at it none the less. Locket can’t count how many things Broken Record had changed the Stable for the better. She was the one who had pick the current radio stallion as well, he was an old friend hers from school in the stable.

“I don’t think we have to worry too much to worry about when it comes to radiation,” Locket reassured the Overmare. “Stable 17 was built in what the survivors on the surface call The Wilderness, one of the least populated areas in Equestria. No megaspell targeted anything around here. The worst that could happen is that radiation from the other mega spells was brought up this way, even then it’s not enough to kill a pony. Maybe minor radiation sickness but still,”

A knock came from the door suddenly and diverted the two ponies attention. “Locket, your boss is here. He says your break is over,”

Locket took a sigh as he set the once full cup of tea down on the table. “Gotta go honey,” He said as he got up from the seat. “Need to get back to work. I will see you tonight,” He kissed Broken Record on the forehead before turning around and heading to the door, only turning around to say one last thing. “And please sweetie, try and stay happy,”

The door opened and Locket stepped outside before it closed behind him. Broken Record simply stared at where the Stallion previously was, daydreaming about the two of them. The only thing that brought her back to reality was her stomach rumbling, she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and never had a chance to grab anything between her duties. She decided that now was a better time than any to have some lunch. She grabbed her PipBuck up from off the desk and put back on her hoof, making sure it was secure before she headed out the door.

She opened the door and walked out. She looked at the guard she had posted at her door before heading any further. “I’ll be getting some lunch, feel free to take a good break,”

“Thanks ma'am,” The guard said with a salute to the Overmare. He placed his security equipment on the ground near the door before casting a protection spell over it to make sure no one touched it. After that he walked off down a hallway to the right of the current one.

Broken Record took a different direction, heading down the hallway she was already on. As she went along she studied the many ponies working on the piping and electrical work in the Stable. They all greeted the Overmare and said that repairs are going, but Broken Record did pay much attention. All her mind was thinking about was what was for lunch.

This is what the past few days have been like, a bunch of ponies working on repairing the Stable because of that stupid earthquake. Stable 17 was nowhere near one of Equestria’s fault lines. According to ponies who have been to the surface, Stable 17 rested under Stallion Mountain in the north eastern end of Equestria. Ponies above the vault called the land the Wilderness for the extensive amount of forests around them. It was suppose to look beautiful and still very stable compared to most of Equestria.

As the work ponies fell behind her she took a right into a room with a nice red and white tile floor. Stretched across the room are at least a dozen cafeteria tables, ponies seated at some of them having nice conversations. At the far end of the room stands a small counter with an orange earth pony with a white mane and tail. Broken Record walked over to the counter as the pony finished serving another.

“Good afternoon Overmare,” The pony said in a cheerful manner. “Having another hard morning?”

“Tell me about it Carrot Cake,” Broken Record groaned, putting her hooves on the counter in exhaustion. “This has to be the worst week of my life. First the earthquake and that strange door and the repairing and, ugh, I just want a break,” She put her face up to the counter in annoyance. “I wish I took all of Apple Core’s listens more seriously,”

“This coming from a pony who skipped the GOAT and got the job of their dreams,” Carrot Cake replied. “If only I had your luck, but look where I ended up for skipping it. Some job I got. Anyways what can I get for you today,”

“Just a salad please,” Broken Record ordered, Carrot Cake nodded as she started making the meal. “And I’ll completely admit that I didn’t expect to be put in the spot I did. I honestly expected to be stuck in janitor duty or something but instead I end up as radio mare. Also, if you think anything about your job, just remember that you would have ended up in the same position I did if you got this job,”

“Maybe you have a point,” Carrot Cake said as she pulled a bowl of salad up onto the counter. It was covered in Italian dressing, the Overmare’s favorite “Here’s your salad Overmare, just the way you like it,”

“Thank you,” She said as she took it and balanced it on her head. “Have a good day,”

“You to,” Carrot Cake smiled and waved as Broken Record walked over to the nearest table and sat down.

As she ate she was reminded of the day she had actually skipped the GOAT. The GOAT was some sort of test that everyone took so they ended up in the right place to work. Broken Record never really understood the purpose of it and a group of students had decided to try and skip it. They had succeeded, even the teacher agreed that the test wasn’t totally necessary and that he could tweek it to there liking. What we didn’t know was that the stable had jobs planned for students who did it. Broken Record got lucky and her parents managed to end up convincing the Overmare to give her one that was fitting. That’s how she ended up as the radio mare that the Stable knew her as.

Still got grounded for two months for doing it though Broken Record thought to herself. They weren’t that happy about it. I miss them, haven’t seen them since they left on that expedition two years ago.

“Miss Overmare,” Broken Record looked up from her salad to the young colt standing near her. “Sorry to interrupt you but me and a few of my friends heard something weird. It was coming from the other side of that strange door,”

Broken Record’s eyes widen at the last two words, quickly putting down her salad and got up from her seat. “Are your friends still there?”

“I came to grab you,” The colt said. “They’re still there and are waiting for me,”

Without thinking Broken Record quickly ran out of the cafeteria and through the hallways of the Stable, ponies watching in confusion at the unusual haste. She weaved through the corridors with ease, having memorized the layout from the PipBucks map, no matter how hard it was to read the local map at times. She took a quick shortcut through the med bay, not listening to the doctor as he asked what was going on. She really had no idea who much attention she had gotten. After many endless corridors she came to a group of foals standing outside a door half hidden in the wall with the words “Restricted area” on it.

“Overmare!” They all shouted in join as the rushed over and hugged Broken Record’s hooves.

“What’s going on?” She asked in disbelief at the sudden act of affection. “I heard that you ponies heard something strange,”

“Yes we did,” A unicorn filly with a pink mane and blue coat said as she looked up at Broken Record. “Patchworks, the filly right there, heard something that sounded like a ponies coming from the other side of this door. She called us over and while we heard nothing at first we heard something screaming from the other side of the door. It wasn’t just me, we all heard it,”

The foals all nodded their head in agreement as they continued hugging the Overmare in fear. Broken Record’s belief that something was off with that door only grew more as she heard this. A scream, these foals said they heard a scream coming from the other side. Part of her thought this was a prank, but the fear and agreement between all these foals dashed any thoughts of that. This was real, it was all too real.

“Can someone here tell me exactly what they heard,” Broken Record pleaded, hoping for more information.

“I-I can miss,” Broken Record looked at the pony that the filly had pointed out as Patchworks. She had a white coat with a spot of brown fur around her eye, and a tail and mane of the same brown hair. “W-when I first heard it, I-it sounded like somepony was c-calling for help. I-it sounded like it was in p-pain, and I-I didn’t know what was going on. T-then I heard that scream, he sounded like something was hurting him. I-I think he’s dead,”

A look of sympathy grew onto Broken Records face. “Don’t worry,” Broken Record said, giving the young filly a hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything, but I promise you that no matter what happens that door won’t open. Now get back to class before the teacher wonders where you are,”

The foals all gave a nod to the Overmare before running off down the hall. Broken Record felt bad for what they heard, to be shown reality in such a way was sad and terrifying. Not only that, but if they really were hearing somepony getting killed on the other side of that door, then the entire vault could be in charge. She made a note to put a guard at the door when she gets the chance, to make sure whatever was in there couldn’t get out.

She turned around to go back to her office when she was stopped by a sudden thud behind her. She looked behind her to see that no one was there, but she heard yet another thud coming from somewhere. That when she realized it was coming from the door. No way the foals were making that up, she was hearing it herself. She walked back over to the door and looked at it curiously.

“Hello?” She asked confused, “Is anypony there?”

… No answer.

She got no response from whatever was on the other side on the door. Not only that, but whatever was banging on the door had stopped. Broken Record was starting to freak out a little from this, what the hell was going on? One week of this door being here and nothing happens, but suddenly foals hear the scream of a pony and Broken Record hears something banging against the door. Why was this happening now?

Creeped out, Broken Record turned away and made her way back to her office. This was going to haunt her for the rest of the day, she knew. That sound alone was enough to put her on edge, and the thought of something breaking out of that door and killing her was way too real. She tried the best to not show how she was feeling as she went through the halls.

“Record?” The Overmare stopped as she saw carrot cake coming towards her. “Is everything alright? I saw you suddenly run off and I had no idea what you were doing and-”

“Calm Carrot,” Broken Record said. “Take a deep breath,” Carrot did as she was told and took in a deep breath. “And exhale,” Carrot exhaled as directed, calmed down from her earlier rush and worry. “Don’t worry everything's okay. Some foals heard something at that weird door is all. I’m going to go ask the security head if he can put someone to watch it,”

“They… heard something?” Carrot Cake asked, tilting her head confused. “You sure it isn’t a prank?”

“I heard something to,” Broken Record admitted, “Something was banging on the door really hard… or was try to knock it down. Whatever the reason we need to make sure whatever is behind there stays where it is,”

“Something was trying to get out?” Carrot Cake asked surprised as the two of them started walking down the hall together. “Do you think it’s a pony,”

“I don’t think so,” Broken Record replied, wishing that she agreed. “From what the foals said, they heard something screaming from the other side that sounded like a pony. I think that whatever is on the other side of the door must have killed that pony from what the foal said,”

“That’s horrible,” Carrot Cake’s eyes were wide with shock, “But doesn’t that mean that there are other ponies beyond that door. They’re going to be stuck in there with that thing, whatever it is,”

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Broken Records ear flatten as she spoke. “The Overmare’s code doesn’t work and if there was something with those ponies on the other side of the door then no doubt they had some sort of experience with weapon or maybe something to keep it contained. We have nothing we can do but hope we are safe on this side of the door,”

Things were silent for a second before Carrot Cake spoke up again. “I’m leaving today for the Wilderness, are you coming?” She asked the Overmare.

“Sorry Carrot but I can’t,” Broken Record said still sad. “You know how it is being Overmare, I can’t leave the Stable. I may not enjoy my position, but I’m not going to leave this place without someone to take it’s place, and no one wants my position,” She placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “I’m sorry Carrot Cake,”

“It’s okay,” Carrot Cake said with a sympathetic smile. “I understand. I need to go pack before the big sending off ceremony. I’ll be back in two years though, so don’t worry,”

The two friends hugged each other, a tear rolling down Broken Records cheek as it occurred. As the separated, Carrot Cake made her way down a hallway to the left as Broken Record went straight. She tried to hide the obvious tears rolling down her face at the thought of her best friend leaving without her, but Broken Record knew that she couldn’t just leave Stable 17 in the state it was in.

She walked back to her office to see her guard arriving back as well. Her guard gave her a salute as she walk back into her office. As she walked back in she looked down through a glass window at the stables door. She could see Locket messing with something on the top of the stable door, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Leaving the stable was a big deal, it was a show of courage to ponies who had decided to go on an “expedition” as the stables ponies called it. Later today Carrot Cake would be leaving Stable 17. Feeling tired from the events that had unfolded today, she said over the speaker to her guard that she was going to rest for a bit and to not wake. With a confident “Yes ma’am” from the guard she crawled into her bed and quickly fell asleep.

As Broken Record woke up from her nap, she checked her PipBuck to see what time it was. It was currently eight forty-five at night, five hours after Carrot Cake would have left for the surface. She wish she didn’t miss it, but she was so tired from a weeks worth of ponies arguing and bickering about repair and that stupid door that she couldn’t sleep most of the time. In fact this was the best sleep she’s gotten in a long time.

As she looked outside to the stable door below and realized immediately that something wasn’t right. The stable door had been left open, not only was that dangerous for the stable but was also very strange. Usually the ponies at the stables door was really good at only opening the door when needed, but she noticed that the pony at the doors controls was sleeping.

Getting out of bed she went over to the doors speaker to call her guard. “Security we have a problem down at the Stables doors,” She called over the intercom. “Somepony has left the stable door open,” She waited a few second before realizing she wasn’t for some reason getting an answer back. “Stable security this is the Overmare, the Stable door has been left open,”

Still she got no answer from the Stable’s Security room. Broken Record was baffled at what was happening, they were never this bad at there job. Sure they had a few inept guards but they always at least answered her calls. She was the Overmare for crying out loud, why aren’t they answering her back. If this wasn’t security she would have the ability to report this, but how could she report the ones that weren’t listening in the first place.

Deciding she would have to close the Stable door herself she went back to her bed and grabbed her PipBuck. Putting it firmly around her hoof she walked over to the door and opened it. What she found as she opened the door enraged her. The pipes and electrical wiring for most of the vault seemed to have been punctured. She went to look to the guard at her door for an explanation but stopped before she could even say the first word.

They were lying there on the floor with what looked a stab wound in their chest. Broken Record stepped back a bit at the sight of this, not having an clue what to say anymore. How did this happen? Deciding to get a closer look at the guard she slowly stepped closer to it and lifted the security helm of the pony. The guard had a look of shock on his face, but his eyes didn’t move at all. Broken Record didn’t need to check anymore to tell that they were dead.

Taking the 10.mm pistol they had in case whatever killed him wasn’t dead. She checked his body, even though it made her feel sick robbing the dead, to see if they had any extra bullets on them. Sadly the guard didn’t seem to have any, which was understandable considering how little the guns in the stable are actually used. As she stood up she gripped the pistol in her mouth and aimed down the sights, overall the gun felt comfortable. She grabbed the saddlebag that the guard had been wearing and strapped it to herself, putting the pistol in the saddlebag.

As she went through the now destroyed Stable 17 she wondered exactly what had happened. Why was she not awoken from the damage caused by all of this? Most importantly, what had caused this in the first place? She had a feeling in her gut but didn’t want to believe it. Maybe something got into the Stable, but then why wasn’t she killed by any of those creatures she had heard about on the surface. While she hated to think of it, the possibility that her gut was right was most likely true.

As she ran down the halls of the stable she kept an eye on the EFS, which she had never needed to use before. It felt disorienting at first as her vision adjusted to the PipBucks actions. So far the EFS showed that the stable was enemy free, there didn’t appear to be anything really in it. That only made her feel more scared at what was happening. It proved that whatever killed her guard wasn’t feral.

That wasn’t the only thing that was scaring her. As she ran through the halls of Stable 17 she saw the decaying bodies of ponies all around her. It was frightening, seeing the dead bodies of ponies she had loved all around her. She held back tears as she ran through the hallways, trying to find somepony alive. As she reached the cafeteria, any hope that any pony left in the Stable was still alive was dashed. The amount of bodies that were in the room was rather unimaginable.

From elderly mares and stallions to the foals she had met at the door, it seemed like half the stable had taken shelter in here. No doubt they were trying to hide from whatever had attacked them. As she looked at all the bodies around her, all small part of her was glad to see that none of them bared resemblance to Carrot Cake. So this must have happened after she had left. The thought of her best friend escaping kept Broken Record from breaking into tears, something that was really hard at the moment.

Broken Record walked out of the room, not able to bear the sight of all the dead bodies. As she did, she fell to the ground crying. “Why did this happen?” She asked, even though she knew she wouldn’t get an answer. “I never asked for this, why would you do this,”

She didn't know who she was really speaking to, but blaming it on someone for some reason made her feel better. She wiped the tears off her face and stood back off. Sitting there and crying was going to do anything, she needed to know for sure what was going on. She walked in the direction that she remembered that weird door being in and hoped to see it closed. The only company she had was the eerie silence of the stable and the static coming from the PipBucks radio.

As she reached the strange door, her eyes widened and fear. The door had been busted clean open, it rested a few feet from where it once stood. Without a thought she walked up to the door and looked inside of it. The room standing in front of her looked like some sort of research lab, not like the ones Stable 17 held. There was the body of a pony with a metallic pipe sticking through his body, blood had poured out from the injury.

Part of Broken Record said to turn back, to get away from this door and get out of the stable now. Yet she didn’t, she wanted to know what was going on behind this door. The thought that this had been in the Stable all along scared her, but the question she asked is why was it here. Surely something in the research lab could tell her why.

As she stepped in she looked around to see many dents in the wall, supposedly whatever they were experimenting on had tried to escape. There were other bodies with injuries she didn’t even want to know about, the puddles of blood was enough to make her sick. She held in the urge to vomit as she walked into a side room.

This side room had some sort of tube at the end of it, the glass broken by something that must have been contained in it. On the side of the room Broken Record was on she saw a terminal on a elevated platform. It must of had information on whatever was going on in here.

She walked over to the terminal and tried to enter it, only to be greeted by a password screen. She didn’t have a password and she doubted that the ponies in here kept it on a holotape or sheet of paper. They probably knew the password from memory. Luckily, she didn’t need a password in order to get in, she had her PipBuck with her.

She remembered being told by Apple Core that the Overmare’s special PipBuck, the same one all Overmares and Overstallions before her had used, had an override code for all equipment in the vault. This meant she could manually override the current password with her own without any problem, but that was only if this was Stable-tech technology. Broken Record, took a small cord out of her PipBuck and put it into a port on the side of the terminal. Looking down at the PipBuck, she selected a prompt to override the password and watched as strange numbers danced in front of her. After a couple of seconds the terminal entered in the personal code that Broken Record had used as Overmare.

Pressing the enter button on the terminal she smiled as she saw the standard terminal screen. She went down until she saw a file saying “Research logs” on it and once again pressed the enter button. As she enter she saw that only two dates were still on the terminal, the others all seemed corrupted. Clicking on the the first research log, she started to read the contents in it.

Experiment 17 has started to show signs of resistance against us. Whenever we try to take him out of his cell he active tries to kill us, the only reason we are still alive is because of the shock pistols. That being said, this is rather intriguing in terms of discovery. Experiment 17 is started to show signs of intelligence and has proven himself able to say smaller words. No doubt as time goes on he will become a fully intelligent being and we might just be able to introduce him to the rest of the stable. We’ve been working on this project for over fifty years, if the Overmare was to find out Experiment 17 would be killed. We still have yet to teach him about self defense, but until he shows us we can trust him we will not be able to.

So this entire thing started before Broken Record was even born? From the sounds of it these ponies must have been normal members of the stable, most likely the stable scientist. What was this Experiment 17 they were working on, was it some kind of machine to help the Stable? Why would they keep something like this from the rest of the stable? She didn’t know the answer, but she did know that this Experiment 17 was what caused all of this. She still wasn’t sure why it didn't kill her, but she didn’t care. Heading down to the other working research log she read it with more curiosity than before.

I had to lock the door, but no doubt by the time I’m finished Experiment 17 will have busted the door down. We didn’t need to teach him anything to defend himself, he taught himself overnight. We’ve been trapped in here ever since that stupid earthquake and Experiment 17 has grown more and more resentful as time goes on. Just an hour ago he started killing us, and I know it’s only a matter of time until he escapes into the stable. If any of you in the Stable are still alive, we are so sorry for what we caused.

A feeling of frustration came over Broken Record as she read this. She looked to her left to see the body of a pony with several bullets to the head and stomach. They wanted her to forgive them? They did this without her consent, and the entire stable ended up paying for it in the end. The only two that she knew was alive was herself and Carrot Cake.

“You damn idiots.” She whispered to the dead corpse to her left. “What purpose did you have for doing this?”

She tried reading the other research logs but found that they were somewhat ruined, maybe from the attack that had taken place. Once again she turned to her PipBuck for aid, downloading it onto the device and - thanks to once again a special Overmare feature - started running a decryption scan of the data. The reason the PipBuck had the device was mostly to keep the Stable safe in case any crimes happened, but most Overmares had forgotten about it due to lack of activity in the stable. The only reason she even knew the feature existed was because of the door once again, the same door that held the machine that killed almost everypony in the stable.

“Experiment 17,” She said to herself heading out of the hidden research facility. “I’m going to find you, somehow, and you are going to pay for what you did,”

As Broken Record approached the still open door to Stable 17, she gazed at the pony that had been working over at the door operator. She knew now that he was dead, and most likely Locket was among the dead. She didn’t look for him, she didn’t want to cry in front of his dead body. She knew exactly what she had to do, and it was right outside that door.

In truth she knew nothing about The Wilderness, except that it’s a rare beauty in a dead world. She had heard about the NCR from ponies who have gone to the surface, and their ideals. She wasn’t exactly sure whether she could trust them or not, but she would need to find ponies she could trust when she got outside. In this case, that meant finding Carrot Cake. She is the only one Broken Record was sure had escaped.

As she neared the Stable door, she was blinded by the outside light. However, she kept moving onward knowing that there was nothing left for her in Stable 17. Her mind was only on one thing at the moment, and that was finding her friend Carrot Cake. She was as prepared as she could be, walking through the light as the radio had suddenly turned into a new radio station. She knew it then…

… She had entered The Wilderness.

LEVEL UP!

New Perk - Overmare privilege: That’s a cool PipBuck you got there, the chance of a successful override has increased by 15%.

Author's Note

And so it begins, a long journey that I hope will make this at least somewhat different then most FoE fanfics. I'll be honest, I feel so much more comfortable writing this compared False Guilt, mainly because using The Wilderness instead of the normal Equestrian Wasteland actually gives me a lot to work with.

Now allow me to say here that many of the factors present in the Wasteland won't be present such as the Steel Rangers, I have some new and different groups planned out for this series, so I hope your prepared. Also, in case any of you are wondering exactly when this takes place in the timeline, it's twenty years after the original. I originally planned it to be a few years before Littlepips story but decided that it would be fun using the NCR in some shenanigans in the story.

Anyways, please comment, like, and follow to keep up to date on this stories and go check out some of my other stories such as Fallout Equestria: False Guilt if you are looking for a bit more of a normal FoE fanfic and Pony Souls which I'm having fun writing right now.

Chapter 2 - Top Priority

“Good evening everypony and this is EQ here with Wilderness Radio. It’s another beautiful night here in the town of Marechester and no doubt it’s just as beautiful out there for the rest of you. Now I have some great news for you all coming from the sherif of the Wilderness forest preservation committee saying that yet another Hellhound has been dealt with. Jeez, that’s the fourth one this week by the looks of it but hey, Nopony I think can complain about there being another Wasteland creature dead. We here in The Wilderness don’t need those around now do we?”

As Broken Record touched the surface for the first time in her life she was blinded by the moon's glimmer. When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she was amazed at what I saw. Before today the only plants she had ever seen was in small pots in Stable 17’s lab, but less than a minute out here and already Broken Record had seen more plants than in my entire life underground. The amount of trees not only around her but also in the distance was crazy. From how high up she was, she must have be able to see into the rest of the Equestria from up from there.

Curious she looked behind her and up the mountain she was on. Ponies weren’t kidding when they said that Stable 17 was located on a mountain. She looked right up above her at what must have been some sort of monorail device leading to the top of the mountain. Maybe if she had time later she would ride it up and see what there is. That being said it only seem to lead halfway up the mountain. Follow the monorail with her eyes she spotted what must have been the place to board the monorail. It wasn’t that hard to make out since it was all green fields in front of her. It was already dark out, and this place was probably the safest to crash for the night in her general vaginitis. Not that she was particularly tired, but she has heard about the things that come out in the night.

Deciding that this place was the best area to start asking she slowly made her way down. As she did she studied what must have been some sort of town in the distance at the base of another mountain. It was smaller than the one she was currently on, but lights seemed to be on everywhere over there. Perhaps that’s where Carrot Cake was heading? She shook the thought from her mind, right now the most important thing was getting to the bottom of the mountain.

From what her PipBuck said she was indeed in an area named Stallion mountain. Interesting name, that was for sure, but from the looks of things on her PipBucks map there were multiple possible towns around her at the moment. Some were somewhat bigger than others, but none of them compared to the size of Canterlot or Manehattan. Then again, that’s what she heard about The Wilderness, it wasn’t densely populated and that’s what saved it in the end. To think that this was above ground all along and they had never even known. Broken Record alway thought that emended radiation would have at least carried over from one of the other areas that had been hit.

As she reached the bottom of the moment a notification from her PipBuck suddenly popped up in front of her. Apparently she was now in an area called, the “Stallion Mountain Sun Pub”. It was an interesting name, but if there was a bar nearby then there was ponies to talk to. No doubt Carrot Cake had stopped here before heading out. Of course, considering how many hours have past since she had left there was no way to catch up with her tonight. All Broken Record hoped was that she could find her.

As she reached the bottom of the lift she looked to see a small platform standing in front of her. On the left stood a small building with some interesting equipment in there that included a terminal and multiple switches. It must have been controls for the gondola or whatever. However, taking a closer look at the “gondolas” she had mention she realized that they were more like rather large seats with bars attached to a wire. She looked back up at the mountain realizing that the “gondola” line ran through multiple small T-shaped towers as they went up.

She walked over to the door and tried her best to open it, only for her effort to be stopped by a pony coming out of a building she hadn’t even realized was there. “The doors locked you know,” Broken Record’s attention was drawn over to a green unicorn mare with orange and red mane and tail. The ponies cutie mark was that of leaf with fall colors on it. “No lift rides until morning, and I am the only pony allowed in that room. Wait, are you from Stable 17?”

Facing the mare Broken Record was put into an awkward situation. She felt like she wasn’t suppose to be here at the moment. It was the pony that really gave her the vibe, but the fact that her first action as soon as she got out to The Wilderness was breaking into a place she doesn’t belong in was wrong. Stupid, what was she even thinking?

“S-sorry,” Broken Record said backing away from the control room door. “I didn’t think anypony would be here. Please forgive me,”

The pony laughed at the reaction Broken Record gave her. Clearly she didn’t mean anything bad to the Broken Record, but that did make her feel any better about what she had just done. Not just that but she was rather embarrassed by the action. Her ears flattened against her head and she struggled to keep eye contact. The other pony however clearly didn’t care about that.

“It’s okay,” She responded. “I understand considering the stable suit you have on right now, you have no idea what it’s like up here. I considered that since most second time visitors from Stable 17 don’t act like that at all. Be lucky you were wearing that stable suit and PipBuck or else I would have had to call Pine Needle from the Mountain Village and no one enjoy that including him,” She paused for a second as she came up to Broken Record and held her hoof out. “Nice to meet you, the names Leaf Peeper and I run the Stallion Mountain Sun Pub, that’s the building right there,”

Leaf Peeper pointed behind her at a large building with a porch and balcony. It seemed to be really old but held up rather well for it’s age. The porch was rather small, just leading to the door that lead to the inside of the building. There was also a small little cabin Broken Record saw near it with the faded words “waffle cabin” on it. There was a few picnic benches in front of the cabin, the metal bars that held them together must have been replaced because they looked shiny compared to the woods quality.

“You a traveler needing a place to stay for the night?” Leaf Peeper said in an advertiser voice. “You want a good drink of The Wilderness’ great Long Prance beer? Or are you a stable dweller looking for a place to learn about the Wilderness? This is the place to do it. The great food of a restaurant, the friendliness of an inn, and the relaxation of a pub all in one,” She took a breath as she finished her self advertisement. “We would have called it something different but I can’t think of a name that combines the three,”

“Well I’m Broken Record,” Broken Record said introducing herself to Leaf Peeper. “Ex-Overmare of stable 17 as well as Ex-Radio mare for stable 17. Truth is, I’m the last pony that will ever be coming out of that stable,”

Leaf Peeper tilted her head in confusion at what Broken Record had just said. “What do you mean by Ex-Overmare?” She asked. “And what do you mean when you say that you are the last pony coming out of Stable 17?”

Broken Record let out a sigh as Leaf Peeper asked that last question. She was in a way hoping Leaf Peeper would have been one of those ponies who just accept things. Sadly, Broken Record had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t, and it was probably a good idea to tell her. Even if Broken Record didn’t now, no doubt Leaf Peeper would keep asking her until she is finally forced to give in.

“Something happened,” Broken Record said. “Something happened and I don’t know exactly what. One week ago we had a pretty bad earthquake and a damaged a lot of the piping and wiring in the stable. Not only that, but we found this weird door in the stable that we didn’t even know about,” Broken Record halted for a second, it was hard for her to speak about tonight's events. “Something called Experiment 17… killed them. It killed everypony in the stable except for me and my friend Carrot Cake who had left for an expedition out here probably just an hour or two before it happened. I’m trying to find her, did you meet her by any chance,”

“Carrot Cake,” Leaf Peeper said to herself, putting her hoof on her chin as she tried to remember. “Oh, I remember her. Wanna talk inside, I can get you a drink if you want to,” She started walking away before stopping and turn around with a strange smile. “and I’m sorry to hear about what happened in the stable. I’m feel terrible about it I do it’s just, I have never been able to express sadness for some reason,”

Broken Record didn’t need anything more than the constant smile on Leaf Peepers face to tell it was true. That being said, Peeper’s desperate attempt to sound sad didn’t bode well with Record, and made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Of course she was also the only lead Broken Record had for finding Carrot Cake and without any clue on where else to go she followed Leaf Peeper inside.

As Broken Record entered the actual pub she was rather amazed at the looks of it. To the right looked like what was once an old and cafeteria of some sort. There was a wooden countertop with multiple indents in it to probably place food into. Behind it stood what looked like some old cooking tools that were attached to some sort of piping. In front of the counter tops stood even more picnic tables that seemed surprisingly younger compared to the rest of the building. To the left of her was a small room with a newer looking couch and two other leather chairs of the same quality. In front of Broken Record was two other rooms. One was on the current floor and seemed to be more relaxing then the entrance and the other was merely stairs that led up to another door.

Leaf Peeper lead Broken Record into the other room on the ground floor “That’s just the entrance,” She told her guest. ”This is the actual pub in here,”

As Broken Record entered the room stopped, her jaw figuratively dropped to the floor and she simply stared in amazement. In front of her stood a small but relatively lively room with music blasting throughout. The music game from a radio on a counter, which held several bottles of wine, beer, rum, and every other alcoholic drink you could think of. To someone who didn’t grow up in a stable and was bounded by an age limit as well, this would have likely been a dream. The walls were covered in fresh teal paint and the floor was in much better shape than at the entrance. A comfy sofa sat against the far left side of the wall with two tables in front of it. There was also a nice fire going on the far wall of the room.

Two other ponies we're currently in the room, both of which seemed at least a little drunk. Leaf Peeper simply motioned Broken Record over to the bar stand as she went behind it. Broken Record’s ears and eyes were both on the music coming from the radio. Some of the music sounded familiar, but there was also some other tracks she didn’t recognize.

“You love it as well huh,” Leaf Peeper asked Broken Record, who was unknowingly tap her hooves to the beat of the song. “EQ is amazing, she runs the radio station down in Marechester and is probably the most authority we have here next to the Green Mountain Colts. She’s become a bit of a role model here in the Wilderness. I think she likes the attention she gets. As a fellow radio mare you must agree,”

“Not really,” Broken Record admitted. “You don’t really get a lot of attention as radio mare in a stable. Everypony is so busy working and doing other things I barely got any physical attention. I personally find that better since I do really care for attention and have… stress issues,” Things fell silent for a second before Broken Record finally spoke up again. “So you told me you met Carrot Cake,”

“Orange pony with a white mane and tail,” Leaf Peeper asked really quickly, getting a nod from Broken Record in response. “Yep, she was here probably three hours ago if memory serves me. Nice pony, but that’s expected considering she’s from a stable. She talked for about an hour before leaving for the Mountain Village west of here, said she was excited to explore. You could head out now but it’s to dark to really see the road. Besides it’s a close enough walk where you can get there in about an hour. The next closest town from there is Ponville at the base of the mountain,”

Broken Record looked out at the pitch blackness outside. “Guess you have a point,” Her ears flattened again as she realized just how late it was. Checking her PipBuck it was currently nine twenty-five at night. “Well since I’m going to be stuck here for a bit is there anything you can tell me about The Wilderness,”

“There’s a lot of things I could tell you,” Leaf Peeper said. “Since this is your first time here however allow me to first explain some law. Truthfully there isn’t any main center of authority here in The Wilderness but without one we would probably be part of the New Canterlot Republic. In that case the Green Mountain Colts are seen by many ponies as the main authority here. They aren’t your lazy politicians talking endlessly about Luna knows what, they actually get things done and has two simple rules. No pony can commit murder on another citizen and no pony can break into another's home,”

“Sounds pretty simple to me,” Broken Record replied.

“Well that’s only the basic law of The Wilderness,” Leaf Peeper said in a ’on the contrary’ kinda way way. “Different towns have different laws. We still use bottle caps since we don’t have a way to produce bits like the NCR does, and even then it’s still very iffy on whether they will adopt bits back. That being said whenever you head into a new town try and be at least a little cautious and try not to do anything extremely risky,”

“Wow,” Broken Record said surprised. “I didn’t think it would be that lawful,”

“Well when you are trying to prove that you can protect a large area like this then you kinda have to be at least somewhat lawful,” Leaf Peeper explained “This is still just a rumor and the radio mare EQ won’t say anything until it’s actually confirmed or denied but there’s actually talks of the Green Mountain Colts forming an alliance with the New Canterlot Republic. With all the wasteland ponies and creatures that are taking up residence ponies are believing that they might actually consider working together not as one country but just as protection until we have enough strength to defend ourselves,”

“I guess that makes since,” Broken Record said trying to sound like she understood, in reality she was somewhat confused. “So are there any other towns besides from the Mountain Village and Ponville that I should know of in any way?”

“Only two immediate ones that I can think of,” Leaf Peeper answered. “Marechester which is at the base of Equinox mountain to the west is one of the best towns still functioning after the mega spells. You’ll find many things here in The Wilderness can be found around there, that’s how we got these new floors placed in,” She tapped a hoof on the fresh wooden floors under her. “They are a main source of the recently started reconstruction program to try and get The Wilderness up to tip top shape. The other town - or city in this case - that I can think of is Trutland. It’s almost completely abandoned by all the ponies in The Wilderness, in fact the only ponies I think live there are raiders and such. I have also heard that a few Alicorns have taken up place there, and trust me when I say you don’t want to deal with an Alicorn,”

Broken Record was shocked by that last bit, through the ever present smile of Leaf Peeper she could tell that she was being completely serious about the Alicorn thing. She had heard about there being more Alicorns than before on the surface and Broken Record didn’t fully believe it at the time. It was an entirely different thing here it from a pony who had lived on the surface for her whole life. It gave the words more fear and more realism. In the end Broken Record simply hoped that she didn’t ever come face to face with one, considering that she was an Earth Pony and had no way to defend against magic.

A sudden yawn escaped Broken Record and watched as Leaf Peeper took out keys, almost as if she had predicted it. “Take the spare room,” She said to the Overmare. “Up the stairs and first room on the left, you can’t miss it. Also, I understand you want to find your friend but I have to teach you how to use a gun before you leave. Don’t want the possibility of you dieing out there,”

“Thank you,” Broken Record replied to Leaf Peeper, not having any problem with being taught self defense. “You have no idea what this means to me,”

As Broken Record sat there in bed she thought about everything that had happened in the past two hours. It was hard to believe she was out here. She wanted to feel excited about it but yet couldn’t, not after what happened. She managed to control the rage building up inside of her. It wouldn’t do any good to angry right now, no matter how much she wanted to. She stayed calm as she looked out the window at the stars. Looking up at the sky she saw the moon for the first real time. It was beautiful, glowing above her with all the stars in the sky. She recalled the stories she had heard about Luna and Nightmare Moon.

“Are you still out there?” She asked the moon, wanting an answer. “Of course not, otherwise the Equestrian Wasteland wouldn’t exist and The Wilderness would still be part of Equestria. In spirit at least? Are you still with our kind in spirit Princess Luna?”

The moon wouldn’t give her an answer, and Broken Record didn’t expect any different. She thought about what Leaf Peeper told her at the bar before she came up here. If the NCR were indeed coming to The Wilderness then they must know about what happened to Luna. Was she the leader, no that couldn't be true. Something deep within Broken Record told her that wasn’t true, she knew that Luna wasn’t alive. That didn’t fill her eagerness to learn what happened.

Still, she had no plan on going into the Wasteland. It was probably for all she knew dead and barren. Okay maybe barren was a bit too far considering ponies still lived there but it had to be at least somewhat dead. Still, she couldn’t think about going out there and living for the life of it. The radiation, large and deadly creatures (at least more than in the Wilderness), and who knows what else scared her just thinking about it.

As she was busy trying to think up every reason not to go into the Equestrian Wasteland a notification came up on her PipBuck. Looking at it she realized that her PipBuck had managed to decode one of the research logs that had been in the secret lab. If she was to learn about Experiment 17 and hopefully defeat it. Hopefully one of the logs had something for turning it off or destroying it, maybe a backup in case it went haywire. Of course if it had a backup they would have used it when it tried to kill them… right? Knowing that her best hope at learning what happened was through these logs, she opened up the recently decoded one and read it.

The stupid earthquake jammed the Celestia damn door. Without the ability to reach out to the other ponies in the stable we are stuck in here forced to eat whatever we have. That’s not the worst of it, Experiment 17 is STILL actively trying to kill us, even though he has no idea how. He’s pretty threatening when he speaks and wants out of here, but we can’t do that just yet. Hopfu-

It just cut off, the entire log just seemed to stop. Checking the date it was logged, it was actually the first day anypony had noticed the door was even there. That being said, whoever the idiot that was typing entered the log without finishing it, meaning that it wasn’t an error of the PipBuck. The random letters at the very end of the log told her that something scared the writer or that he fell asleep during typing, most likely the former.

It frustrated Broken Record immensely, not being able to know what they were about. She felt her ears ringing let an alarm clock as she tossed her pillow across the room. She was in almost blind hate at what had just happened, and she felt toyed with over the log entry. Her vision started to haze a bit in front of her, and soon she realized exactly what she was doing.

Shaking her head back and forth she tried to get the ringing out of her head, and after what felt like an hour of shaking it faded away. As her vision fully returned to her she found herself breathing heavily. It was reminder of something to her, something she ultimately regretted not just because it was wrong, but it made ponies fear her. She didn’t want to be seen that way out here, she didn’t want that side of her to be shown. Mostly though, Broken Record didn’t want to be reminded of that day she made one of the worst mistakes in her life. Falling down onto the bed Broken Record simply curled up and cried until she fell asleep.

The morning sun hit Broken Record right in the face as Leaf Peeper pulled the curtains away with magic. Record groaned as she slowly woke up, Leaf Peeper leaving the room without a word. By the time Broken Record had her eyes open it had been at least twenty minutes since she first woken up. She stood up in the bed and stretched as she tried to get the sleep out of her.

As she finally became fully conscious about her surroundings, she looked in front of her to see that the pillow she had thrown last night was back on her bed. Not only that, but she looked behind her to see the curtain opened, which had been closed by Leaf Peeper during the night. Broken Record realized also was under the comforter that had been under her when she fell asleep. After a quick blink she put a hoof to her face to feel multiple tear tracks on her face.

“How much did I cry last night?” She asked herself.

She was distracted from her own question by the rumbling of her stomach. Jumping of the bed she grabbed her saddlebag, which rested beside the bed, and opened the door to her room. As she made her way downstairs she spotted one of the two ponies passed out on the floor with an empty bottle of alcoholic apple cider on the floor next to him. Deciding not to wake him, turn to the right and walked into the main room of the pub.

“Good morning Broken Record,” Leaf Peeper said as she wiped down a spill on one of the tables from last night. “Um, is it okay if I just call you Record? Wait no, that doesn’t really flow off the tongue. What about Overmare? I know it’s more of a title but still,”

“Do whatever you like,” Broken Record replied. “Have you been think of this for sometime?”

“It’s just that your name doesn’t really flow that well when spoken,” Leaf Peeper addressed. “But if you are okay with anything than Overmare it is,”

Broken Record was surprised at Leaf Peepers choice of name, especially considering she wasn’t really an Overmare anymore. Broken Record had to admit though, she always prefer the name of Radio mare and Overmare better to her real one. As Leaf Peeper said, it rolled of the tongue much better then Broken Record surely did. That didn’t mean Broken Record didn't want to get rid of her name, she liked it but it was just hard to say multiple times.

“Anyways I made some pancakes if you want any,” Leaf Peeper said pointing to the counter she had been behind last night. “Since you have only been out here a day you don’t have to pay. Just know that after this you will have to pay caps for anything else,”

Broken Record nodded in understanding as she went over to the counter. Pulling out a stool she sat at the counter and study the pancake closely. It wasn’t that she thought it was poisoned or anything, but after being Overmare for two years she had for some reason gotten really picky when it came to food. That being said they looked like completely normally Blueberry pancakes, and with a smile on her face she dug in viciously. While she never showed it in Stable 17’s cafeteria, she was one of the messiest eaters ever. The blueberry stained the sides of her mouth and crumbs of pancake rolled of the plate and onto the floor. It was devoured in about a minute and Broken Record leaned on the table as Leaf Peeper brought her a napkin.

Taking the napkin she wiped a good portion of the blueberry off of her face before tossing it into the trash. Hoping of her chair she went to the window and looked outside. It was bright, not like the sometimes dim lights of the stable, it was different. She could see much more than she did last night. The trees stretched even farther than she had originally thought on the other side of the road. Mountains and mountains of green trees went into the distance with small clearings sometimes being visible. In those clearing she saw what looked like buildings huddled close together on the side of them. It was amazing, how had she gone her entire life without seeing this.

Looking to her left she saw more trees of in the distance, but it seemed to suddenly dissolve at some point. As she looked closer she started to see what looked like a dead world to the west of her, behind another mountain and town. That was it, the Wasteland that most of Equestria had become. How did the NCR ever live out there, why didn’t they ever try and take this place? Of course she wouldn’t argue about there not being a major superpower or anything to live with.

“It crazy huh,” Broken Record looked to the left of her to see Leaf Peeper looking as well. “Almost everywhere you look see green and then you look past Marechester and Mount Equinox and you see dead land. It’s so sad, but if the NCR really does live out there then there must be someplace else like this right?”

“I guess,” Broken Record considered. “Leaf Peeper, how long ago did the NCR form,”

Leaf Peeper put a hoof under her muzzle as she thought about the question. After a second she respond with the same cheery voice she always had. “Probably twenty years ago, maybe more maybe less. No pony here in The Wilderness really seems to know when they were formed. Then again I don’t know any pony who has ever been out there besides for possibly EQ,” She walked over to the door leading outside. “Since your done eating and I can clean later, you ready for some target practice Overmare?”

Broken Record nodded her head, making her way over to the door as Leaf Peeper held it open for her. As she stepped outside the pub, she felt something that she had never even knew existed, warmth. The warmth of the sun in the sky above her, it felt wonderful. This was the first time she had ever seen it and she was plenty amazed at it. It felt comforting, like a blanket on a cold winter night. She didn’t realize exactly why ponies held Celestia in such high regard till now.

“Wonderful isn’t it,” Leaf Peeper said with a more natural smile on her face. “The heat of the sun on your coat, the wind blowing through your mane. It’s what made me want to set the pub on up here. The view and the breeze alone was good, but the sun always just seems to hit the right spot on your body,” As Broken Record came on up to her side Leaf Peeper held out a hoof. “Mind if I see your gun,”

Broken Record took out the 10mm pistol as Leaf Peeper looked at it and sighed. Despite the smile on her face Broken Record could tell she was disappointed. “Is something wrong with the gun,”

“You don’t really expect raider attacks or anything do ya,” Leaf Peeper replied. “This here 10mm wasn’t meant to kill ponies, it was only ever meant to kill Radroaches as far as I’m aware. It can kill those buggers in one hit but if I remember what the gunmen in the village said it would take four bullets to even crack the skull,”

She dropped the gun to the ground and pulled one out of a box to the right of her. Broken Record eyed it curiously as Leaf Peeper put some rounds into the gun. The handle seemed to be made out of wood, and the nose of the pistol was shorter than the 10mm. It had a barrel reload instead of a magazine like she was use to seeing. As Leaf Peeper finished reloading she handed it to Broken Record.

“If you are going on out there you will need this,” Leaf Peeper said happily. “Woodchuck revolver, standard weaponry here in The Wilderness but it definitely gets the job done. It’s not as comfortable to grip but the best things usually aren’t. How about you take a shot, I’ll coach you through it,”

Looking down at the slope below her, Broken Record realized that Leaf Peeper had targets set up down it. A few of them were closer to her but there was a few that was at least a good fifteen feet from her. Broken Record gripped the Woodchuck Revolver in her mouth, which she agreed wasn’t very comfortable, and eyed the targets. Before she could fire Leaf Peeper came over to her side and quickly pointed to the gun's trigger. Nodding her head Broken Record looked back down the range. She eyed the target carefully before finally pulling the gun's trigger.

She watched as a clink sound came from one of the targets in front of her. Looking at Leaf Peeper the unicorn motioned her head to the targets. Aiming back down at them she fired shots one after another, three more hitting the targets before she was down to one bullet. As the last bullet circles around to be fired Broken Record felt her PipBuck act up strangely. Before her she saw percentages labeled in green, highlighting the targets. Without a thought she took a chance at the farthest target and fired off a bullet. As the numbers faded away she heard a slight clink sound again, this time farther away from her.

Out of bullets, Broken Record put the gun down as she looked at Leaf Peeper, who was looking through a pair of binoculars down at the field. “Looks like the farther away you fired the less accurate you became,” She said. “You barely managed to hit the last target and even then the bullet didn’t hit as hard as it would at close range,” Putting the binoculars down she looked at Broken Record. “Well Overmare I think that weapon is a perfect fit for you then. Keep it, I’ll give you some ammo for it,”

Broken Record looked at Leaf Peeper confused. “Why? isn’t it your gun?”

“Only a spare,” Leaf Peeper responded to her as she handed Broken Record a small box full of 45. cal bullets. “I keep an extra few around in case anyone comes out of the stable. Since you ponies don’t know much about combat I need to at least make sure you know how to use a weapon correctly. You definitely learned fast, but considering how fast Carrot Cake learned I’m not surprised. She’s got an unnatural talent for firearms that pony,” As she closed the box and locked it she turned around to see Broken Record had already put the revolver and bullets away. “Hope you don’t mind if I come with you to Stallion Mountain Village. I have somepony I need to talk to and I have somepony that might be able to help you out as well,”

Broken Record nodded her head as she saw Leaf Peeper put a large rifle with a strap out and through it around her back. Without another word the two headed down the road to the nearby town. Please tell me she’s there Broken Record thought to herself Please tell me she hasn’t gotten into trouble at all.

As the two ponies reached town the looked to see a large group of ponies surrounding two ponies. Pushing there way through the crowd Broken Record took a look at the two ponies they were all surrounding. One was a Pegasus mare with a blue coat and purple mane clad in strange looking armor with two similarly garbed ponies behind her. The other was a green Unicorn stallion with a brown mane and tail clad in an old fashion revolutionary war hat and garb with a strange looking rifle on his back. Behind him was two pony in full metallic suits with mini guns attached to their backs. Whatever these two were arguing about, it was clearly something serious.

“Look mister Pine Needle it not that hard really,” The Pegasus mare said in an almost seductive voice. “All we are asking for is residence in town for the night and food. We already turned our weapons when we entered town, isn’t that enough for a raider to do to show at least some friendship,”

“Do you think I care,” The Unicorn Stallion said in a much harsh voice than expected. “I’m not giving you a chance considering all the trouble that raiders have been for us. Not only that but do you think I would really make an exception for ponies who have previously tried murder us all. Now I will only say this once more, leave before I let my sergeants here have fun with you,”

The raider didn’t take that nicely aggressively stepping forward. “Why you mother-,” She was caught off guard at the sounds of the metallic ponies spinning up there mini guns. Quickly stepping back she looked to the two ponies behind her and motioned them away from the crowd. “You’ll regret this Pine, you will all regret this,”

As she pushed the crowd away from her Broken Record watched as the group surrounding the two ponies dispersed. The unicorn stallion had a smug look on his face and turned to Broken Record and Leaf Peeper. He motioned the two ponies behind him away before coming up to Leaf Peeper and shaking her hoof.

“Sorry you had to see that,” Pine Needle said to Leaf Peeper. “I didn’t expect you to be coming to town today, and with company no less,”

“Well you know me,” Leaf Peeper said. “I’m full of surprises. Anyways Pine Needles, this is Overmare Broken Record from Stable 17. Overmare, this is Pine Needles, one of the three commanders of the Green Mountain Colts,”

Pine Needles looked over at the Overmare, who felt a little uncomfortable in his presence. It wasn’t that he was scaring her in anyway, she was just scared of what he might do considering the guns his sergeants had.

“Is something wrong?” Broken Record asked after a second of him looking her over.

“Oh nothing,” Pine Needles said. “I just expected the Overmare to be more professional… and not have blueberry stains on the sides of her mouth,” He shook his head as he changed the topic of discussion. “Anyways if the Overmare is out here then you must have something important to tell me. We can talk about it at my office,”

He started to walk away and Broken Record looked to Leaf Peeper who was holding out another napkin. Taking it she quickly wiped the rest of the blueberry that wasn’t stained to her coat and vault suit off. Handing it back to Leaf Peeper she bid the young bartender farewell as she hurried after Pine Needles.

Author's Note

In case any of you don't get why I gave Leaf Peeper that name, allow me to explain real quickly. Leaf Peepers are people who come to Vermont to watch the folliage in the fall. As for the Green Mountain Colts, it's basically a play on the revelutionary war group called the Green Mountain Boys. Since there lead Ethan Allen lived in what would be part of Vermont later I thought that this was the perfect way to put a none Steel Rangers or Enclave group into the story. Now they won't be the only group in the story of course but I just wanted to explain it to people who don't know much about Vermont or have never been there. With that please like, comment, and follow to keep track of this story and check out some of my others as well.

Chapter 3 - Enrollment

“Now, before we start playing some music I quickly just want to say something. So for those of you who have been listening for a while, you know that I hate being a bearer of bad news. That beings said, with what’s recently happened in Troster I feel like I have to give my sympathy to all those who have family members living there. All I can say is that I hope they are all okay and that the Green Mountain Colts will quickly have this problem resolved,”

As Broken Record walked with Pine Needle through the Mountain Village, she looked at the new location she was in. Condos lined the right side of the street in bright red paint trying to hide the centuries old wood. The Windows seemed rather new compared to the conditions of the condos. Broken Record could help but feel the Overmare in her wanting to start commanding ponies to rebuild them, but she knew she had no authority here. It was going to be hard getting that out of her head.

The village was a lot different then the Stable, especially when it came to the ponies that had inhabited it. In the Stable's, most of the ponies seemed nice or at least acted nice around here, but out here was different. She saw multiple ponies in the same garb as Pine Needle and had even seen one more of the metallic ponies wandering around. The ponies themselves seem to be much more on edge with things and she even saw a street brawl break out between two of them on her way here. For such a lovely place it was kinda sad not to see ponies cheerful and happy.

Of course that might have been because Broken Record didn’t know any different. Ever since she was eight ponies had always happy when she's around, but she knew they were afraid. Everyone was excited when Broken Record became Overmare not just because of her age, but because ponies are afraid of her and will listen to everything she says. It hadn’t always been that way though, not before she-

Don’t think about it She thought to herself putting her through to the side of her mind. She stay calm and happy and no one will believe any different. They don’t need to see the other me.

“You okay there Overmare?” Pine Needles said, making Broken Record internally groan at the name. “You’ve been staring off for sometime now and just now I saw a tear roll down your eye,”

Checking to see if he was right she put a hoof to her left cheek, but felt it was dry. Then she went and did the same thing with her right cheek and sure enough she felt the area that a tear had fallen down from her face. It happened almost naturally to her, something that she never liked. Wiping it away she looked back at Pine Needles with a fake smile.

“Everything's okay,” She said in an overly cheerful manor. “Just can’t stop thinking about what happened in Stable 17. I’m sure you would know more then anyone that I wouldn’t be out here if something went wrong,” Pine Needles simply nodded before looking back in front of him. “So were you originally from around here? You definitely seem to fit in rather well,”

“I’m from Manehatten in the Wasteland,” Pine Needle answered. “Lived there for the first ten years of my life. I got seperated from my parents at some point then, I don’t exactly remember where. I came here to the Wilderness in search for them, only to end up even more lost than before. Then the Green Mountain Colts found me and well, I guess you can say there my new family. I never gave up hope that my mom and dad are alive, but I’m sure they are nowhere close to us,”

“So you lost your parents to,” Broken Record asked rhetorically. “Mine left when I became Overmare two years. They were only suppose to be gone for a year from what they told me. I’m worried something got them, possibly killed them,”

“I hope you find them then,” Pine Needle said as he looked up at the left, Broken Record followed his eyes as they locked at a gigantic building above them. “That’s the marketplace up there, you can find most things from weapons to food up there. If you have enough caps you can even buy a house out here if you truly wish. My office is at the bottom of it,”

He turned into a rather large parking lot as Broken Record looked up at the building jaw dropped. This was something you never saw in the Stable, a gigantic red building on the top of the mountain with ponies of all kinds flowing in and out of it. Stairs led up through it to the other side, and she made a note to check it out when she was done. Ponies could be seen on ladders working on it, and unlike everywhere else in the village this was obviously brand new wood that covered the building. Clearly ponies cared deeply about this building, considering the amount of ponies that went up and down the stairs. Above it she could see some more of those lifts as Leaf Peeper called it making there way up and down the mountain.

Their destination however was a small door at the base of the mountain with a sign over it. As she got closer to it she saw the words “Mayor Office” posted over the door. So Pine Needles was the mayor? She had to say she wasn’t very surprise due to his status as a member of the Green Mountain Colts but still. Considering how casual he was, she was still shocked at his position.

“Not the first time I’ve seen a stable dweller wear that face,” He chuckled as he looked back. “I bet stable life much be pretty dull compared to what you’ve heard of it out here. I’ve heard some interesting stories from the ponies before you that came out of 17. Having to wait so long to retire from Overmare must be depressing,”

“You have no idea what life is like in there,” Broken Record said. “Sure it was built to keep us safe from the mega spells but why have them if they never landed here in the first place. There is nothing that we have to protect ourselves from… or at least that’s what I had always thought,”

Pine Needle opened the door with his magic and motioned Broken Record to head inside. Doing as he said, she headed into the small hallway that now surrounded her, water pipes lining the wall. It gave her memories of the Stable being in here, almost like she had never left home. Pine Needle walked up in front of Broken Record and headed into a door on the left.

Walking in after him Broken Record looked around at the room they currently sat in. In front of her stood a desk with a chair on both sides of it made out maple wood. Boxes of files lined the sides of the room, some on the floor while others were placed on shelves. The room itself was filled with what she believed was either brick or cement, she couldn’t really tell.

“Have a seat,” Pine Needle asked as he sat down on the far side of the table. “I think there's a lot we need to talk about,”

Broken Record nodded as she sat down in the chair, which was rather comfortable for being made of wood. “I got to say, this is a rather strange place to have the mayor's office. Probably don’t get much business down here considering just how out of the way it is,”

“You’d be surprise,” He stated as he settled down. “So I know that Leaf Peeper sent you to me because you need my help with something but I first need you to sign this for me,” He used his magic to float a file out of one of the boxes and onto the table. Opening it Broken Record saw that it was some sort of form. “Since we try our best to run as a separate functioning country, we therefore need to keep track of any pony that comes here whether it’s a Stable Dweller such as yourself of an immigrant from the Wasteland. I know this is probably the last thing on your mind but know that it’s the difference between knowing a citizen from a raider,”

Broken Record simply nodded and Pine Needle turned the file around and passed it over to her. Grabbing a pen, she looked at the form in front of her, quickly skimming it over. It was all the basic things: name, gender, date of birth, all the things you would expect from one. After reading them over she wrote down the proper information. Afterwords she slid the file back over to Pine Needle who used his magic to close it and put it back on the shelf.

“Thank you,” Pine Needles said as he turned back to Broken Record. “Know that that’s out of the way I think it’s time I listen to what you have to say. I may be repeated myself when I say this but obviously something's wrong if the Overmare is out here and not in the stable. So, what exactly happened?”

“Stable 17 was attacked from the inside,” Broken Record explained to Pine Needles, whose eyes were already wide from shock at that single sentence. “I was asleep during the entire thing but something called Experiment 17 killed everypony in the stable except for me and my friend Carrot Cake. Carrot Cake left the stable probably only an hour before this thing killed everypony. The worst part about it, it was our own scientist that fucked this up. I don’t know why or how or even who was involved in making it but I know that they caused it,” Wiping a tear coming down her face she looked down at her hooves, almost ready to cry. “I came out here to find my friend and I don’t even know where to start looking,”

“You said her name was Carrot Cake?” Pine Needles asked, making sure he got the name right. Broken Record nodded and he went back to his files as he took out another one. Looking at it for a second he closed it and turned back to Broken Record. “Well that definitely is a good reason for you to be out here then. I’m sorry that happened, if I had know I’m sure there was something we could have done. I’ll notify the other commanders about this once I get the opportunity but currently we have another issue on our mind,”

“What’s that?” Broken Record asked curiously.

“You saw the raider I was talking with right?” Broken Record nodded in response to Pine Needles question. “Her name's Small Fry, and the name is completely ironic. She is anything but a small fry, got an entire group of raiders following her. The main problem is that she isn’t stupid despite what she had been asking of me earlier. She’s a big target, got a reward on her head, but the worst part is that she has the entire town of Ponville held hostage. All trade from the town of Marechester comes through there, and if we don’t have their supplies we won’t have things such as food or building materials. Marechester is completely held off from us at the moment. Worst part is that I’m spread so thin because of all the troops they either have capture or killed down there,”

Broken Record listen to what Pine Needles was saying with great interest. So that raider was trying to form some sort of hostage situation with the Green Mountain Colts. No doubt if Pine Needle were to give in to there demands that would be a betrayal of the ponies he works with. Other than finding Carrot Cake, she really had no idea what to do out here. This however, might just be the opportunity she needed to start building a trust and a good relationship with the Green Mountain Colts.

“I could do something about it,” Broken Record said. “I may not be an expert with firearms by any means but the least I could do is try and drive them out of town,”

Pine Needles let out a sigh. “Usually I don’t ask for civilian aid in these situations, but I’m afraid I have no choice at the moment. I’ll tell one of my sergeants to assist you down there, but I also recommend asking Leaf Peeper to come with you. She may be a bartender but she is no stranger to a good gunfight, she’s actually one of us,” He got up out of his chair heading to the door. “Oh, and if you’re looking for Carrot Cake go check the market place. No doubt you will find her there,” He gave a salute to the Overmare. “I wish you the best of luck,”

Heading outside she was caught off guard by Leaf Peeper who was waiting outside. She had a bag full of cooking ingredients slung around her neck along with her rifle. She was still wearing the same smile she had been when Broken Record last saw her, and looked at the Overmare with curiosity.

“So,” She started “Did it go well?”

“Carrot Cakes in town,” Broken Record told Leaf Peeper. “Also, he told me that the Green Mountain Colts are needing someone to take back Ponville. You are actually one of the ponies he said could help me out,” She paused for a second before continuing. “If you're willing to come that is,”

“Surprise it took this long for Pine to get desperate, but considering how low we are getting on supplies I can get it,” Leaf Peeper said. “If the general put me up to this duty I have no reason not to come. He probably already told you but I’m a member as well. Only a private but got a pretty good shot considering the radroaches and bloat sprites that have tried to to make a home in my pub. Anyone else coming with us,”

“A sergeant for what I know of but that’s it,” Broken Record admitted. “Considering all the security you have around here he probably doesn’t have many ponies free at the moment. If that’s the case then it will probably only be the three of us,”

“That’s very little considering how many raiders are with Small Fry,” Leaf Peeper said with some concern. “However I’m not going to judge Pine Needles’ actions. He’s the general after all, not me. So anything you want to do before we leave for Ponville?”

“I want to see Carrot Cake,” Broken Record said. “She deserves to know what happened in Stable 17, and I want her to know that I’m safe,”

“Might as well give you the tour of the market then,” Leaf Peeper said happily as she started off down the lot, Broken Record trailing behind. “It’s incredible the stuff you can get their. They say Stallion mountain was once a sky resort, and a rather popular one at that. When stable-tech came here to the Wilderness they were struck in awe at how beautiful this place was. Want to know the funny part, they didn’t even know this was even a place until they built stable 17. They didn’t even know the Wilderness existed until they came here,”

“Guess that explains why this place wasn’t even noticed by the NCR until five years ago,” Broken Record said shocked at that statement. “Still, there had to be at least something we must have provided to the rest of Equestria, and why were we not even touched by spare radiation,”

“I’ll explain that once we get near the stairs,” Leaf Peeper said.

As they made their way across the parking lot, Broken Record took the time to think about Leaf Peepers small history lesson. It seemed absolutely crazy that Stable-tech didn’t even know that the Wilderness existed. Looking around her though, she could kinda see the reason why. For as far as her vision could tell, there was only trees visible around her in the surrounding landscape, save the rare building or two. Beyond that was a barely visible set of dead trees that went out of her vision. Somepony could easily mistaken this place for a vast forest from leveled ground, and the mountains blocked most vision from anywhere else outside. It seemed secluded from the rest of Equestria.

As they reached the end of the empty parking lot, Broken Record found herself underneath the gigantic building that dominated the outer part of the market. To her right she saw the same stairs that she had past not long ago, which had seemed to rust due to age. Part of her felt dangerously unsafe under the gigantic building, afraid that it might collapse at any moment.

“Over here,” Leaf Peeper motioned to Broken Record. As the Overmare came closer she looked to see a map of Equestria posted on a billboard along with both maps of The Wilderness and Stallion Mountain. “That’s the Wilderness right there,” Leaf Peeper pointed at a forest covered area in the map. “If we were to use the measurements on a normal atlas then we could assume that Manehattan, the closest city to us, is roughly around two hundred and ten miles away. We were so far away when the mega spells hit that it didn’t even matter that the Stable's were built at all,” She started to walk away after explaining everything. “The markets right up here,”

Following Leaf Peeper up the stairs, Broken Record was found once again shocked. Compared to what she had seen of the town earlier, the market was much more crowded. Ponies had shopping bags slung around their necks carrying everything from clothes to food. There was many ponies dressed up similarly to Leaf Peeper around that seemed to be watching the small crowd.

Leaf Peeper motioned Broken Record through the crowd and she found herself suddenly being tossed from side to side. The ponies did there best to let the two through but Broken Record found it hard to stumble into a pony. As she emerged from the crowd, it took her a second to notice Leaf Peeper not far in front of her. She quickly raced to the bartenders side as she started talking.

“Most of the clothing stores can be found down here in here as well as other ordinary things, that’s why it’s so crowded,” She explained as they came up to the base of Stallion mountain. They turn to the right and continued walking up to a building . “This here is the base lodge, most ponies come here to talk and have a nice meal out and about. The food is rather expensive though, so I wouldn’t recommend going here to eat unless you have a lot of caps. This is most likely were your friend will be,”

Record nodded her head and the two walked towards the base lodge. For what seemed so small at first suddenly seemed very big. It was a lot for someone like Broken Record, who had grown up believing that there are only a rather small amount of ponies in the above world, to take in. It by no means a bad thing however, she was glad to see that one place in Equestria had manage to keeps living. The part that did bother her was the fact that bad ponies from the main wasteland had come here.

As they got close enough to make out the ponies sitting outside the lodge Broken Record looked around, trying to find Carrot Cake in the crowd. There was so many ponies out here, and she was almost fooled by how similar some of them looked. Orange coat, different mane and tail. White mane and tail, different coat color. She couldn’t tell who was who anymore out here.

Then she looked into the lodges Windows inside, were less ponies seemed to be eating (Most were enjoying the nice outside weather) and looked at a table in the back. Carrot Cake! She had finally found her sitting inside with another mare who was too busy stuffing her face with a hayburger to pay attention. It wasn’t that hard to recognize her in the end, Carrot Cake was still wearing her stable 17 suit. Before Leaf Peeper was able to ask what she was even doing, Broken Record ran off to the lodges doors.

“Jeez can you chew any louder,” Carrot Cake said covering her ears as the silver coated Pegasus continued eating loudly. “Your worst then Minister Twilight when it comes to eating meals,”

“I told you how bad of an eater I was,” The silver mare said, ketchup dripping from her green mane. “You said you wanted to eat here, and I warned you that I am not a great eater,” Carrot Cake was about to interject but the silver Pegasus replied first. “No, I have no plan on fixing it anytime soon,”

Carrot Cake let out a groan, rubbing her forehead as the pony across from her went back to eating their meal. She had lost her appetite from the pony in front of her, and the thought of throwing up seemed like it was becoming more and more natural to her. If this was what all ponies out here eat like, she may decide to go back to the Stable early.

“Carrot?” She heard her name being called by another pony in the room. “Is that you?”

That voice, she recognized it all to well. Looking over towards the lodge entrance she spotted a familiar grey coated earth pony. She blinked once and then twice thinking she was making things up. Nope, the same pony was still standing there in front of her. A feeling of joy and dread mixed within her at the site of her friend in front of her. She ran over in surprise.

“Record!” She yelled as she ran straight into her friend, hugging her. Record returned the hug, happy to see her friend at last. “W-what are you doing out here, shouldn’t you be running the stable,”

Broken Record’s ears went back as her friend brings up the one thing she hoped she wouldn’t. Carrot’s face went from happiness to sadness as she realized something was wrong. Broken Record looked away for a second, not sure whether to tell her or not, but decided that now was the best time to get it over with.

“Everypony's dead,” She looked to Carrot to see the expected shock in the mare's face. “The stable scientist were working on something called Experiment 17 behind that door. It killed everypony in there, including Locket, I’m not sure why i’m alive… But I am,”

“W-what?” Carrot stood there in utter disbelief. “No… that can’t be right… I was there only yesterday,” Her ears lowered and she turned away Broken Record. “So… you and I are the only two still alive?”

Broken Record nodded her head, even though her friend was looking away from her. Carrot couldn’t keep it in, the tears rolled down her face as she thought about everypony she ever knew. It didn’t make any sense, why would they build something so dangerous in the stable. She collapsed on the floor sobbing, and Broken Record looked away from her in shame.

“I’m sorry,” Broken Record apologized to her friend. “If I had known then I might have been able to stop it from happening at all. I feel just as upset about it as you are,”

“You idiot,” Carrot ran back over and gave Broken Record a soft punch. “Why didn’t you do anything in the first place. I told you so many times that we should wall that thing up but you were so interested in what was behind the stupid door that every ponies dead because of it. Why… why,”

Carrot feel down to the ground cry, not known what else she could possibly do. Broken Record knew this was her fault, she should have known that something wasn’t right when ponies first started complaining. Now, to find out that it was her own stable that was doing this, it hurt her so much. This wasn’t like any of the “social experiments” that Stable-tech had done with the stables, it was ponies own selfish endeavors that caused this. She should have known, she should have done something more.

After a few minutes Carrot Cake managed to stop crying, getting shakingly back up to her hooves and looked at Broken Record. “So this is our home now,” She said “There isn’t any reason for us to go back there,” She gave another hug to Broken Record. “I glad I’m not the only survivor in the end,”

“Me too,” Broken Record hugged her back. After a few seconds they once again let go of each other. “Listen, I know this is sudden but I’m going down to Ponville to stop some raiders. I want to make sure our new home is safe in case any other stables come under similar circumstances. I may not be an Overmare anymore, but I would like it if you stayed here for the time being, I don’t want anything to happen to you,”

“I understand,” Carrot said. “And while we may not be in stable 17 anymore, you’ll alway be considered the Overmare to me. I know it isn’t much but take this,” She takes a book out of her saddlebags and hands it to Broken Record. “Something to keep you busy when traveling,”

Looking at it Broken Record immediately recognizes the pony on the front cover. It was a copy of the first Daring Do book, something that Carrot held very close to her. Broken Record had never been into the books, even with Carrot Cake’s numerous attempts to try. Despite that, she felt like there was more to this than simply reading material. In many ways Broken Record was starting her own extravagant adventure as well, and it may yet help her in one way or another.

“Thanks,” Broken Record said putting the book away in her saddlebag. “Please don’t try anything stupid Carrot Cake. I don’t want to try and bust you out of anything like I had all the time back in the Stable,”

“Don’t worry about me Overmare,” Carrot Cake said with confidence. “Just don’t get yourself killed out there, okay?”

Broken Record nodded in reply, as the two parted ways for the time being.

As Broken Record exited the building she was met with the face of her ally Leaf Peeper. After explaining everything that had happened the two decided it was time to make there way over to the edge of town. When asked exactly why that was the location, Leaf Peeper told her that it was were members usual met up before taking on missions. It was a kind of meeting place of sorts. As the two reached their destination they were greeted by Pine Needle and one of the metal ponies she had seen earlier.

“Good everypony is here,” Pine Needles said as Broken Record and Leaf Peeper faced him. “I going to tell you exactly what you're up against, pay attention because I’m only saying this once,”

“Uh… Sir,” The metal pony said, surprise Broken Record at the things ability to speak. “Are you sure we should let a citizen help us in the endeavor,”

“I know you don’t exactly agree with me Swiss,” Pine Needle replied. “But with the situation we are in do you see any other options. We are low on supplies, have an entire town cut off from of, and trade is being hijacked on the way here. Besides, she’s an Overmare, I’m positive she is more than capable in this situation. Allow me to ask, do you have any better ideas?”

“,,, No sir,” The metal pony responded to the question.

“Exactly,” Pine Needle turned back to Broken Record and Leaf Peeper to break them. “I already told you how Small Fry has an entire raider army hiding somewhere behind her but you should know why. Two things you should know most ponies stereotype raiders as is dumb and brutal. Now if this was any other group of raiders this would be true, but Small Fry grew up in the Wilderness. She wasn’t raised by their savage kind. She’s smarter, stronger, and worst of all is a capable leader,”

“That’s not all,” The metal pony replied to them. “Her raiders are well equipped, and she won’t just sit and let other ponies do the handy work. The only reason she left town earlier was because we could easily take her and her two goons down. However, her raiders are trained on Wilderness instinct, not the Wasteland. Then there's the matter of that weird gun of hers,”

“Oh yeah,” Leaf Peeper said, “I’ve seen that thing before, seems to have some sort of dial inside of it. From what I have heard the higher the number on the dial then the more gruesome the hit is,”

“Allow me to say this is entirely true,” Pine Needles said. “While we argued earlier the ponies who collected their guns had told me more about the gun she has. It’s a shotgun, but it seems self made. Takes normal shotgun shells, but the weirdest part as Peeper here mentioned was that it seems to have a telephone dial built into it. I can’t say exactly what was going on in her mind when designing it, but if I had to take a guess it does indeed have something to do with the impact,”

“That being said we should hope not to find out,” The metallic pony said once again continuing off of Pine Needles. “Not unless we want to meet a bad end,”

Broken Record nodded taking this information in with utmost focus. She had heard about the things wasteland raiders did. They butchered ponies and beat them till they were nothing but blood and bones. It was a sad and tragic fate, but hearing that Small Fry wasn’t like them gave her some concern. She was hoping she was going up against your typical Wasteland raider, not a trained killer and leader. Still, she had already agreed to do this, and she wasn’t backing out now.

“Your goal is nothing short of complete liberation of the town of Ponville,” Pine Needles explained. “Small Fry is holding all citizens hostage and has probably already killed a few. Your main objective is to get civilians out of the town and get them to safety up here. You’ll likely be met with heavy resistance during that time from raiders, don’t hesitate to kill them. Killing Small Fry is only a side objective, but if you get the chance aim for the head got it,”

“Yes sir,” Leaf Peeper replied, Broken Record simply nodded.

“Your proper response Overmare should be ’yes sir’” The metal pony said in disgust at Broken Records response. “It’s a sign of respect got it,”

“Give her a break Cheddar it her first day out here,” Pine Needles said defending the young Overmare.

“But sir,” Cheddar started

“That’s an order sergeant!” Pine Needles stomped the ground with his left hoof in response to his soldier’s disobedience.

Cheddar let out a sigh. “Yes sir,”

Pine Needle showed a small grin as he rested the short disagreement. He then turned back to Leaf Peeper and Broken Record continuing. “You will be working with sergeant Cheddar here, and I promise that he will not cause you any trouble Broken Record. As an Overmare you must have a way of dealing with disobedience yourself,” Broken Record nodded in response. “Good look on your mission soldiers - and Overmare,”

Cheddar and Leaf Peeper saluted him and gave another “Yes sir” before leaving the three ponies.

As Pine Needles went out of audible Cheddar walked up to Broken Record, great distaste for the mare was hidden behind the metal helmet. “You better not try anything funny, or I will report you. I don’t care whether you're an Overmare or not,” He pushed Broken Record to the side, who simply stood there unimpressed.

“What the hell is his problem?” Broken whispered to Leaf Peeper.

“Cheddar’s always like that,” Leaf Peeper responded. “Just let him be, as long as he is in charge everything should be fine,”

Broken Record nodded in responce, following Cheddar as he led the way down the mountain.

“A-are you sure mister Maple? I know you have denied our help before so are you... um, really sure you want our help? Just asking,”

“While I hate to admit it Miss we have no choice at the moment. All the hellhounds and ghouls have been harming citizens and we are stretched thin with security. I know what I said before and I have no interest in becoming a part of your so-called ‘New Canterlot Republic’. That doesn’t mean we can’t at least be allies, and at the moment we need some. Especially with those things now taking up hold,”

“W-well, I don’t know if I’m really able to come on short notice, b-but if you really need us then I guess I wouldn’t mind sending a, um… group to keep track of things while I finish some important things over here,”

“Anything you can send at the moment would be grateful, however we both know that ponies here won’t enjoy it unless there leader shows up. I hope you plan to come eventually, otherwise we won’t be able to make a formal alliance between each other,”

“Yes, I think I understand. It would be nice to know we are welcomed of course, I really do help but ponies these days won’t help unless you show you care,”

“Of course, I’ll put call up my fellow commanders and tell them to expect you in Marechester. I also will tell them to send representatives on our behalf, I hope you understand we are just as busy as you,”

“Yes, I understand. So, um, I guess I will see you in a week or so,”

*Click*

New perk - Dare Master: Danger is around every corner, decreases the damage taken from firearms.

LEVEL UP!

New perk - Team Player: One head is alway better than two, increases the damage done when with a companion as well as that companions damage.

Author's Note

Please leave a like, comment, and follow if your are interested in keeping track on other things I'm doing. I would also really appreciate feedback for this story sense it is kinda experimental in FoE terms. With that, I will see you all on the next upload.

Chapter 4 - Taking Back What's Ours

“I love those dear hearts and gentle people,

Who live in my home town.

Because those dear hearts and gentle people

Will never ever let you down.”

The walk to Ponville was a long and uneventful one, barely anyone talked during the entire thing and according to Leaf Peeper that was good. She told Broken Record that it is best to just keep quiet around Cheddar in order to not tick him off. While Broken Record wished she had a say in things, she honestly did not. The law out here wasn’t hers, and in a way she was bothered by it. She would have immediately sent ponies to resist the raiders, take them down silently before it devolved to this point. She kept her thoughts to herself, Cheddar would probably say something about it if she tried to speak up.

She wanted to feel in charge, that was why she did this in the first place. Instead she felt like she was being pushed around, Cheddar didn’t want her in his sight at all. The only reason she even listened to him was because of the mini gun battle saddle he had on. That thing would rip her apart in an instant, and she would rather not die as soon as she got out here. Besides, she made a promise to Carrot Cake to stay alive and she didn’t intend to break it. Those were the only two things that was keeping Broken Record shooting out.

As they approached the town the first thing Broken Record noticed was the wooden barrier and tower that surrounded the town. These weren’t made by the civilians, she knew it there was two spears with the skulls of ponies on them. The raiders had built a small wall in order to keep ponies who tried to enter out. The watch tower that had been built housed a single pony who has calmly drinking a bottle of Sparkle-cola. It was he had a gun that house a scope and long barrel, obviously meant for much longer range fighting then Broken Record revolver.

“Looks like they set up shop pretty well,” Leaf Peeper said as she and Broken Record peered out from behind a tree. They had taken cover to avoid immediate detection. “Can’t see if there is anypony by the opening in the barrier though,”

“Allow me,” Broken Record said, as she stepped fully out of cover and looked down at the opening. “Two ponies with rather rusty pistols by the looks of it. Both seem to be well armored, nothing I can do from this range,”

“Ok, get back behind the cover,” Cheddar said pissed for one reason or another.

None of them noticed as the pony in the tower put down the now empty Sparkle-Cola and grabbed his gun. Immediately he spotted Broken Records grey coat as she turned around to head back behind the tree. Without a single second after spotting her he pulled the trigger, the bullet going right into her leg as she stumbled forward and out of his side. Instead of turning away, he kept an eye in case Broken Record came out of cover again.

It burned, she stumbled backward in pain at just how badly it hurt. As far as Broken Record knew, nopony had seen here. Small slowly started making its way towards the wound as Leaf Peeper came up to her with a small bandage the pony had. Luckily, the bullet had gone straight through meaning that she didn’t have to worry a lot about infection. It was still an injury though, and that wasn’t going to changed instantly.

“For buck sake,” Cheddar mumbled to himself as he saw the scene before him play out. “This is why you should have never come, we didn’t need the help of a stupid stable dweller like you around here,”

“Lighten up Cheddar,” Leaf Peeper said standing up and looking at the metallic eyes of the armored pony. “She isn’t like the Lightbringer, she wants to help us not ruin our freedom,”

“And you think I care,” Cheddar said pushing Leaf Peeper to the ground. “Not that I would expect any different from a wastelander like you. Stable Dwellers, no matter what they look like are, can not be trust,” He made his way past them with hidden expression of disgust. “It’s no wonder you haven’t gotten a promotion in two years, your criminals like the rest of those Wastelanders,”

He stormed off down into the forest towards Ponville, Leaf Peeper staying behind to care for Broken Records wounds. The overmare held in her anger at the pony, not able to believe what he had said about her and the stables. Why should he care, they had a much better life than she imagined most ponies out here did.

“What the hell is his problem?” Broken Record asked Leaf Peeper once she was sure he couldn’t hear them. “I didn’t do anything wrong,”

“It’s not you who had done something wrong,” Leaf Peeper reassured her. “You are an Overmare, you wouldn’t know what we think about most ponies. You must have heard the story of the Lightbringer though, how she stopped the alicorns and Enclave. In the Wasteland ponies see her as a symbol of hope. Saddly, with good action a bad one is made as well, ponies here see the New Canterlot Republic as that,”

“I thought the Wilderness had no ties to the NCR?” Broken Record said with confusion.

“That’s the problem,” Leaf Peeper responded, as she finally finished bandaging. “The NCR was created to bring Equestria back, and because of all the flora and fauna around here that isn’t radiated ponies think they’ll take over. As much as I hate to admit it, they’re spreading across Equestria is as much evidence as ponies need to call them imperialistic. The ponies here don’t want to be taken over, they want to be a separate country,”

Broken Record knew that feeling, losing your freedom due to a higher power. It was what put her into the role of Overmare, the overseer lotery. When a new Overmare or Overstallion was needed, every pony over the age of fifteen was given a raffle numbers. Like a game of bingo, a number would be call between one and one hundred. If one of the ponies holding a number was called, they were put as the new Overseer whether they wanted to or not. Her number that year had been 7, and what luck it brought her. While no pony doubted her ability to be a leader, she felt under pressure because of how what it cut off from her. It took her loving job, her ability to go out the stable (something she had always wanted), but most importantly it took her away her status as a citizen. Even out here ponies called her Overmare.

“I guess that clears up most of it but there is still one thing I don’t understand,” Broken Record said curious. “Why did Cheddar call you a wastelander, aren’t you a citizen of the Wilderness?”

“Technically yes,” Leaf Peeper answered. “However I wasn’t born here like most ponies. Like Pine Needles I was born in the wasteland, however my family came here to escape the horrors of the world around us. At the time, the NCR hadn’t been founded and ponies were mostly okay with Wastelanders like myself living here. I’m more accepted than more recent ponies that have come here seeking shelter from the dangerous world outside the trees, but that’s because most ponies don’t know about me being a wastelander. Saddly, when you join the Green Mountain Colts everypony else in our little ‘army’ here learns who you are, that didn’t do me favors,”

Broken Records ears dropped at the sound of this, then perked up at the distant sound of gunfire. “Should we go help him?” The Overmare asked.

“It would just make him angrier than he already is,” Leaf Peeper said. “Besides with luck he’ll make a good dent in their numbers for us,”

“And we are going to just let him die?” Broken Record exclaimed with shock. “That doesn’t seem like the right thing to do,”

“Look at it this way,” Leaf Peeper said. “If we go help do you think he would listen to us considering his views on our origins?” Broken Record was left silent, unable to disagree with Leaf Peepers argument. “Exactly, he won’t care if we help him or not, and the number of raiders in Ponville at the moment are more then we can deal with when he is drawing all the attention to us. Our best chance I say is to lay low and wait for the gunfire to die down, then take them by surprise in someway,”

“Okay,” Broken Record said, not really caring about Cheddar anyways. “Lets just wait here until the gunfire dies down,”

They didn’t keep long of how much time had past since the gunfire had started, but Broken Record and Leaf Peeper assumed that it had been about a half an hour. During that time they took the opportunity to make sure Broken Record could still walk okay, and thankfully her limp wasn’t to bad. It stung a little, but it wasn’t nothing she hadn’t been through before, in fact it she barely even noticed she limped. During that time Leaf Peeper had told Broken Record about what the Lightbringer had done, from stopping the alicorns to having a part in the Enclave disbandment. However, she also mentioned that small remnant of the Enclave still remain, hidden somewhere.

When Leaf Peeper asked Broken Record about life in Stable 17, she had been quite. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, she simply didn’t know how to respond. Leaf Peeper said to think about it and the two simply past the time. When the gunfire had stopped Broken Record heard the slight sound of something ringing, including one of the raiders saying to “hold down the fort”. She didn’t exactly get it but this was their only opportunity to strike, while the raiders were still getting back into position.

“We can’t exactly go in like Cheddar did huh?” Broken Record asked looking to see two new guards had replaced the old one. “We don’t have the firepower to do a full on assault, especially with Cheddar dead,”

“Hmmm,” Leaf Peeper eyed the surrounding before looking at the tall wooden barricade. “Follow me,”

Broken Record followed Leaf Peeper as she headed a bit deeper into the nearby woods in order to keep themselves unnoticed. They came up to the wooden barricade that separated them from Ponville, blocking their entry. It was rather stable, each log stuck out of the ground and stayed there with ease. Leaf Peeper tested how well it was dug and found that she couldn’t move it at all. She walked back and forth for a while looking up, it was too high to climb over. Suddenly, an idea came to the unicorn.

“The entire town has to be like this,” Broken Record spoke as the idea came to Leaf Peeper. “Any roaded entrances are probably well guarded and it would put the forest in danger to set it on fire,”

“Overmare,” Leaf Peeper looked to Broken Record, who looked back curious. “I’m going to ask you to please not freak out,”

“Why wou-”

Broken Record was cut off as she was enveloped in a green aura and lifted off the ground. She flailed her hooves searching for the ground that wasn’t under her hooves. Leaf Peeper gently floated the former stable pony over to the wall and raised her over it, keeping Broken Records body as low as possible to avoid being spotted. As Broken Record realized this, she relaxed a little, but still didn’t like the feeling of being off the ground. Thankfully, she was gently lowered until all her hooves were placed firmly on the grass on the other side of the barricade. Looking back she saw a flash of light next to her as Leaf Peeper suddenly appeared with her.

“Please don’t do that again?” Broken Record asked her companion. “I’m not a pegasus, I would prefer not leaving the ground,”

“If there's another way next time something like this happens I will take it,” Leaf Peeper said with her usual smile, which Broken Record had now seen as normal. “But no promises,”

Broken Record nodded and looked at the building that now stood in front of them. It was built with what looked like cement and had a plain white color to it. The roof was flat and a long window took up half of the outer wall. Inside she saw many pre-war commodities such as drinks, food, and a broken slurpee machine with what was probably filled with two hundred years of disgusting goo. It seemed to have been slightly ransacked, but most of the stuff in the shop remained untouched.

“I’ll take the lead,” Leaf Peeper said as she pulled out her rifle. “Just stay behind me and try to make as little noise as possible. The quieter we do this, the less we put the captives at risk,”

Broken Record didn’t need to argue to know Leaf Peeper was right. She never really shot a gun before, and considering how she almost missed most of those targets back at the pub she hoped that she would not have to fight with the revolver. Nonetheless she pulled the Woodchuck Revolver out and followed Leaf Peeper as she walked her way behind another building. They were both rather surprised at the minimal contact with raiders so far. Both ponies thought they would have been swarming this town.

“Do you even know how to use that thing?”

Leaf Peeper held out her hoof as she heard a raider speaking, looking around the corner to see what exactly was going on. Two ponies, one in the same power armor that Cheddar had been wearing, were arguing. The one that wasn’t in the armor was dressed up in selfmade armor that included a helmet with spikes on it as well as some pads you would expect to see on a football or hockey player. He carried a rather unconventional weapon, a lead pipe, on his left side and some sort of small gun on the other which Leaf Peeper barely made out. When she saw the other pony, she had almost believed Cheddar was a double agent (which she would have actually believed in any other case) but the pony inside the power armor stumbled around as if he had never used it.

“Oh sure dude, I remember having this stuff when I worked with the Steel Ranger,” The second raider replied sarcastically. “Do you think I know how to work this stuff? How many raiders do you know can kill a pony in power armor?”

“Got a point,” The raider with the helmet said “Still, I’m going to miss having V around, it may have been scary as shit but you can’t doubt how powerful he was,” Leaf Peeper held back a gasp at the name the raider had mentioned. She recognized the name, or rather the way they had described this V pony. The raider sighed “It’s going to be strange not having him around, I wonder if he’s found a body by now,”

“I hope so,” The armored one replied. “He’s the only reason we even managed to capture this town,”

The two ponies started walking away from Leaf Peeper and Broken Record. Leaf Peeper was gritting her teeth, trying her best to look distressed even though her smile didn’t allow it. Broken Record on the other hand was wonder exactly who this pony they mentioned was. The name V was definitely unusual, but it actually sounded somewhat familiar. Maybe it was a pony who left the stable that she didn’t remember, maybe when she was young. If that was the case then V was most likely just an alias for this pony, it sure sounded like one.

“We need to grab that armor,” Leaf Peeper said as she watched the armored pony head into a nearby repair shop. “I have a little experience with Power Armor from my training when I joined the Green Mountain Colts, that mingun could easily rip anypony apart without effort. The only problem is going to be actually getting it off of him without causing any attention,”

“Is there anything I should about Power Armor other than it turns ponies into killing machines?” Broken Record asked.

“Most of the power armor here was fixed up by ponies,” Leaf Peeper explained. “That being said, we had trouble for the longest time actually getting one to properly work. So we had to make significant changes, it’s now charged through electricity since it’s more accessible than it’s old power sources. Think like a windup car, in order to get it to move you need to pull it back until it has enough power to go forward. Our power armor works in the same way, we got a charging station back up at the mountain village. We changed a lot of things in order to make sure that it could work off electricity. It’s may be lighter and less durable than Steel Ranger armor, but it makes up for that in maneuverability and still being able to use heavy weapons,”

“So we only have so long then before the charge on the power armor runs out,” Leaf Peeper nodded in response to Broken Record question. “Well, if it runs off of electricity, is it possible to maybe overcharge the suit. If we can get him near a lose wire, we could fry the pony on the inside while keeping the suit intact,”

“That… might actually work,” Leaf Peeper said impressed at Broken Records thinking. “I don’t know if the Power Armor would be in good shape but the minigun is simply just strapped onto it with a battle saddle. We detach it, and since earth ponies like you are much stronger than us unicorns we could always strap the minigun to you,”

“If it helps then I’m in,” Broken Record nodded her head.

With the decision made, the two ponies made their way out of cover and over to a nearby brick building. Looking out she saw the raider in the watch tower sitting back again with another bottle of Sparkle-cola. Getting herself back into cover, she took her rifle in her hooves and attached quickly attached a silencer to the end of it. After the silencer was completely twisted on, she leaned back out of cover and looked down the guns sights. She took a long breath in and out to make her shot a bit steadier, and finally caught another glimpse of the raiders head. She pulled the trigger, and the bullet went straight into the raiders head without a single sound. The raider simply collapsed on the floor, none of the nearby raiders noticing.

“I think we’re clear,” Leaf Peeper whispered as she put her rifle away darted across the street as fast as she could.

Broken Record followed behind her, looking to the middle of the street to see a splatter of blood on the ground. She saw what looked like a shotgun shell laying next to it, but there was no body. For all Broken Record could guess, anypony could have died there, and considering that there was no raider bodies in sight either, they seemed to have already disposed of the dead. The streets of the small little town were completely barren save for a few raiders.

It seemed eerily quite, a sensation that Broken Record remembered when she left the stable. Not a single hostage in sight, yet she was sure the towns ponies were still alive somewhere. Where exactly were they, not a single door was guarded inside the town. These raiders had claimed the town and they acted like it was always theres. That was probably the thought that scared Broken Record the most, they hadn’t even seen anypony escape.

Leaf Peeper stopped in front of the main door to the machine shop, Broken Record right behind her. Very quietly the two went inside to the main shop, where they saw lines of tools for building stacked on shelves and behind the checkout counter. Things such as nails and screws laid in a rack in the back of the shop. It seemed rather normal, but they heard the soft sound of somepony knocking on a door. The sound was coming from a locked door behind the counter, and Broken Record almost instinctively jumped the counter and charged head first into the door. She hit the door, but didn’t manage to bust it open. She feel down on her back groaning.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Leaf Peeper said as she made her way to Broken Record. She looked at the terminal that Broken Record had failed to notice next to it. “I’ll have this door open in a second,”

Broken Record got up and rubbed her head, watching as Leaf Peeper desperately tried to unlock the terminal on the wall. It didn’t take long to tell that she wasn’t haven’t an easy time, her smile shrinking until it was almost invisible. A sound rang from the terminal and Leaf Peeper grit her teeth as she was met with failure. She sighed in dissapoint, and Broken Record immediately stepped forward and moved Leaf Peeper over a little bit.

“Allow me to try,” She studied it for a second, looking on the side to see if it had a PipBuck port like the ones in the stable. Sure enough it did. “Time for the Overmare to work her magic,” She took the cord from her PipBuck and put it into the port on the side like she had back in the stable. “Give it a second,” Leaf Peeper was leaning over her shoulder with interest, and watched as a override option suddenly appeared. “Here goes nothing,”

She pressed it and watched as the lines of code passed through the PipBuck. It moved down the lines as quickly as they appeared, searching through various different passwords that had been put into the system. It took much longer to find it here then back in the secret lab in Stable 17, meaning that the password had been reset multiple times before this. That didn’t stop the PipBuck in succeeding however, as it finally rested on the word “Remnants” as the password. Finally into the terminal, Broken Record unlocked the door that had kept on banging as they did.

As the door opened, a mare burst through the door and hit her head on the counter in a similar vein to Broken Record. “Ow,” She held her head as she fell backwards.

Leaf Peeper let out a gasp as she recognized the earth pony in front of her. Her coat was a teal color. A small, chocolate colored, messy mane with a small line of mint colored hair was on top of her head with a similarly colored tail. She was shorter then Broken Record, but she was twenty year old. Her cutie mark was a that of a mint chocolate. Leaf Peeper couldn’t believe her eyes, she had her this mare had died.

“Minty!” She said, making sure her voice wasn’t to loud. The mare looked at Leaf Peeper, still rubbing her head in pain. “Is that really you?”

Anywhere else this question wouldn’t have been necessary, but Leaf Peeper knew this mare. She was her sister, adopted of course but still her sister nonetheless. Having heard the name V spoken by those two raiders earlier she was being cautious. Even if the pony said her name she would have to check once they got back to the village.

“Leafy?” The mare Leaf Peeper called Minty replied, her sister getting a sigh. A sudden realization came to Minty as she realized where they were at the moment. “Sis what are you doing here? How did you get past the-”

A hug from Leaf Peeper stopped Minty’s questions. Her sister was crying, she could hear her sniffling from behind her. Tears filled Leaf Peepers eyes as she hugged her sister, and Minty hugged her back. Broken Record stood there as the scene played out before her, she didn’t know what it was like to have a sister. She could see how much it meant to Leaf Peeper of course, and she could tell how close the two were.

“I… I’m not sure how to feel,” Leaf Peeper said with tears swelling her eyes. “It’s just, I heard you're dead and I’m not sure if I’m really talking to you or a Spark,”

“I know,” Minty said looking at her sister. “I would have died when these raiders took over town if it wasn’t for this room. I think even they thought I was dead, but somepony locked the door behind me. They told me that I would be safe in here,”

“Wait,” Leaf Peeper looked at her confused. “Are you saying that one of the raiders locked you in here to keep you alive,”

“I didn’t see who it was, I only know that they saved my flank,” Minty sounded more desperate there, making Leaf Peeper uncomfortable.

“Is it possible to keep this till later,” Both ponies looked back at Broken Record, who had gone from happy to impatient in a matter of seconds. “We are still in a raider infested town with a job to do,”

Leaf Peeper couldn’t argue with Broken Records statement, it was true after all. They were still in enemy territory with the objective of taking the raiders down and freeing the captives. Leaf Peeper looked back at her sister, who was waiting for her response. She had her reasons to be questioning her sister, it wouldn’t be the first time she had seen a pony come back from the dead. Of course, that could wait till later.

“Mint,” Leaf Peeper turned back to her sister. “Stay here until me and Broken Record finish our job. I’ll be back I promise,”

Mint gave a nod to her sister, one that made Leaf Peeper believe that her sister may be telling the truth. She was torn, not able to tell if she was really speaking to the pony she had known all her life. She didn’t let the thought overwhelm her however. She turned to Broken Record and the two trotted out of the building, leaving Mint for the time being.

The two left the main store and headed to the left were a workshop full of all different mechanical parts. The floor was cluttered with different kinds of broken machines, long since overdue to be fixed. At the far end of it, Broken Record and Leaf Peeper spotted the raider who now inhabited Cheddar’s power armor. He was tinkering with something at a workstation, and was too busy to notice anything going on around him. That being said, there was nothing that wasn’t anything in the workshop that could shock and fry the power armor.

“So, you have a plan B?” Broken Record asked Leaf Peeper. “Looks like shocking him is not an option,”

Leaf Peeper looked back Broken Record and her smile turned smug to the Overmare. She raised her hoof to show that it was glowing with the same orange glow that her horn did when she had levitated her earlier. Broken Record saw sparks emitting from the bottom of her hoof, realizing that the unicorn was somehow breaking everything she knew about magic. The magic unicorns used usually came out of horns, but Leaf Peeper was somehow able to do it through her hoof.

“How are you-”

“Doing magic through my hoof instead of my horn?” Leaf Peeper finished Broken Records question. “It’s complicated, but I will try to explain it as quickly and efficiently as possible. You see, everypony has magic including earth ponies, the main problem is that with you and pegasi you don’t have any extra magic to spare in your body. Unicorns are born with a lack of magic, but as we grow older it becomes more and more, storing itself in the horn. All that magic is literally just extra energy that the body needs to expel in some matter. Our bodies make it so much faster than pegasi or earth ponies do that it’s even possible for magic outburst to happen,”

“What does that have to do with using magic through your hooves?” Broken Record asked, not getting what Leaf Peeper said.

“It’s not trained by many ponies because of how dangerous but it is possible to transfer that extra magic into parts of a unicorn's body naturally,” Leaf Peeper finally explained. “Being able to control the magic in our body is rather difficult and dangerous, as I mentioned earlier. Doing so could mess up organs and blood flow, as well as cause mental damage as well. My family is one of only a few to perfect the methods of inner magic control. I can explain more when we get back to the mountain village,”

Broken Record nodded, the entire thing had interested her greatly, but Leaf Peeper was right. They had a job to do and even she was getting off task now. Broken Record followed Leaf Peeper into the workshop trying to be as quiet as possible. Broken Record watched what was under her feet to make sure she didn’t step on anything that could possibly grab his attention. As they came within an inch of the raider, he finally turned around to be met with the Leaf Peepers face.

“Who-”

He was cut off as Leaf Peeper put her electrical hoof on a softer part of his body, hitting what must have been the circuit for the Power Armor. Sparks flew out of the suit and the raider screamed in pain as Leaf Peeper electrocuted him. After a couple of seconds the Power Armor fell to the ground, the pony inside it dead. Shots started firing outside the workshop as the other raiders heard the scream of their comrade. Broken Record backed up as she heard the shots get closer and closer to them. She felt something heavy hit her back and she looked back to see Leaf Peeper had taken the miniguns off of the power armor and had put it on her.

“Ready to show these raiders we mean business?” Leaf Peeper asked as she took out her rifle. Broken Record gave a nod in reply, “I can shield us from bullets from a short time but you are doing most of the work. Remember, only shoot when a raider is in sight and not to use up what ammo is left in that thing,”

Both ponies looked forward to see bullets start flying past them, Leaf Peeper quickly putting up a orange colored shield. As two raiders appeared from the corner of the workshop Leaf Peeper dropped the shield and fired two bullets, both hitting the first raider as he collapsed to the ground. Broken Record aimed at the second one who got back into cover as soon as he saw the gun she was carrying. With no ponies in front of them the two ran forward out of the shop, Leaf Peeper looking to the second raider as the exited and knocking him unconscious with the back of her rifle. Only seconds later did bullets come flying at them again from both sides, Leaf Peeper barely having time to put the shield back up.

“How many or on your side?” Leaf Peeper asked Broken Record as they went back to back. She counted the raiders that were in her field of view. “I count six,”

“Same over here,” Broken Record replied as she kept the miniguns running just under firing speed. “What’s the plan Leaf?”

“I can take three or so on this side, but I need to drop the shield in order for my bullets to hit them. You take down as many as you can on your side before the fire gets too heavy, got it?” Broken Record nodded in response, her attention now completely on the raiders firing at her. “Wait for it,” The gunfire slowly died down, and most of the raiders were caught reloading. “Now!”

The shield dropped and Broken Record fired at the raiders in front of her. It quickly teared through the two raiders in the middle, sending the others scrambling for cover. A bullet hit Broken Record in the shoulder and she stopped firing as she moved to the side, holding in the pain. Leaf Peeper did the same, having taken down only two of the raiders that had fired at her. The two took cover on the other side of a building across from the machine shop, raiders closing in on their location.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Broken Record said, hiding the fear that she was feeling.

“Four are down, which means we only have eight more to deal with,” Leaf Peeper replied, holding her rifle at the ready. “We can still take them as long as we don’t get cornered,”

“So we just take down the rest remaining?” Broken Record asked, “No big plan of any kind,”

She was answered as a bullet flew inches away from her face, almost hitting her in the head. She went back through the alleyway while Leaf Peeper shot the raider that had targeted them. Not long after did more raiders appear firing from behind her, and she found herself retreating into the alleyway as well. They came back out onto the street and found themselves once again running to the machine shop. The two took cover behind the walls of the repair area, and Broken Record found herself closing her eyes, believing they weren’t going to make it out.

Then both ponies heard the sound of a gun, one not like rifles and pistols the raiders had been using. It was louder, making it seem more powerful than anything else. Broken Record opened her eyes at the sound of the shot and looked outside. She didn’t see anypony new, but she did see the sight of a raider now dead in the streets. It was then she saw the glimmer of something off in the distance, and she narrowed her eyes to try and make out what it was. As soon as the glimmer came another raider fell dead in the streets, meaning that whoever this was is not on there side.

Leaf Peeper simply watched as Broken Record once again revved up the miniguns. She looked down the streets as the raiders were now shooting at whatever was killing them. Taking the chance she stepped out of cover and looked down the streets and fired the miniguns. They easily ripped through the raiders, and with all of them distraction none of them had time to change targets. After a minute the miniguns clicked, showing they were all out of ammo. She turned around to see a raider rushing towards her, only for it to drop dead on the ground.

Leaf Peeper finally looked out from her hiding place, looking down the road in shock. They were dead, not a single raider was still alive. She didn’t quite understand it, but she didn’t fully care. No more raiders showed up, meaning that they had managed to eliminate them. Her eyes looked off in the direction she had heard the loud shot come from. She didn’t see anything or anyone, not even the glimmer of the barrel of a gun like Broken Record had.

“Do you know who that was?” Broken Record asked, just as curious as Leaf Peeper was.

“No,” She replied, looking away from the empty street and back to her ally. “But it seems they are on our side, whoever they are. At least the raiders seem to be gone,”

“Right,” Broken Record said with a smile. “Come on, let’s find everypony and set up communication with the mountain village,”

Leaf Peeper nodded and the two ponies got back to work, glad for the fighting to be over.

Not far in the distance, a pony watched the two as they made their way into a nearby shop. He had been watching the entire thing with curiosity, only taking action in order to continue observing Broken Record. She looked so familiar, or in this case she looked to familiar for his liking. Yet, her actions spoke against his thoughts of her, despite the only difference between her and the pony he was thinking of physically was gender. It didn’t help considering the name she heard Leaf Peeper using for the pony.

“Broken Record,” He said to himself in a southern accent, “What is a dead enclave scientist doing out here,” He lower the scope of his gun, thinking about what he had just seen. “It’s probably nothing, but I should continue watching just in case. No doubt if that is her then the sparks will show up,”

“Are you sure about this miss Fluttershy? I can’t think about what those ponies will do if you go,”

“Well… It’s not like we could, you know, leave them there. They need our help Feline, and I would prefer if you get there to start helping. Sorry if this is asking too much at the moment,”

“No, it’s okay. I’m just not so sure if you should be heading over, we know how they think about us, stable dwelllers, and even just Littlepip in general. I’m just concerned,”

“I understand, but it’s important that I show up or else I don’t think this would work out so well. Please Feline, just promise me you will help them,”

“Of course Fluttershy, and Please be careful on your journey over,”

Click

Author's Note

Please like, comment, and follow if you enjoy this story. Please give me some feedback as well to try and improve my writing in the future.

Chapter 5 - Trust

Moments after the events in Ponville, Pine Needles had received word from one of his recruits that a transmission was waiting from Commander Maple Leaf. Maple’s family had been the ones who started up the Green Mountain Colts after the mega spells were dropped in Equestria. They helped keep the Wilderness together long after Celestia and Luna died, and from one member of the family to the next, they had manage to keep the Wilderness separate and out of harm from the Wasteland.

Out of the other two commanders, Pine Needles was the one Maple trusted most. However, a transmission coming straight from Maple almost never happened. He prefered to talk face to face with others rather than the usual and was liked highly by the ponies he protected. No doubt if he wasn’t coming to talk in person with Pine Needles it meant one of two things. Either something had come up suddenly that he had to use the radio in order to communicate it in time or it was something the public couldn’t know about. Usually it was the former of the two.

In order to keep it out of public reach, the radio station at Stallion mountain was placed at the very top. The only way to get to it, if you didn’t want to take a good long hike, was the gondola at the base of the mountain. The only ponies allowed on the gondola were members of the Green Mountain Colts. That was currently where Pine Needles was, in one of the gondola cars heading to the top. The only pony accompanying him was the recruit who had told him about the transmission.

“Did he tell you what he needed to talk to me about,” Pine Needles asked, speaking to said recruit.

“No sir,” The recruit replied, shaking his head. “All he said was that it was important and you were the one I was to tell it to,”

Pine Needle stared out the gondola and into the distance. He saw a sight that always made him uncomfortable when riding, the wasteland. He could feel his heartbeat quicken just looking at it, old memories tried flooding there way to his mind. He shook his head, clearing the thought out of his old life. That wasn’t who he was, he was a pony of the Wilderness and he always would be. He had never seen a pony from the NCR, but he hope they were as considerate as the offers they made suggested. He wouldn’t take any chance in dealing with them, however, that was Maples affairs and not his.

The gondola came to a stop as they reached the top of Stallion mountain, Pine Needles getting off first followed by the recruit. He was saluted by the pony in the station, but ultimately ignored it making his way to the wooden building not far away. It looked like a treehouse, in fact if it wasn’t for the large antenna on the very top it would have been one. This was the radio station, placed up here out of public eye and in range of any and all radio stations from the Wilderness to Manehattan. He had heard some of his recruits talk about the Manehattan radio station, but not enough to get him interested.

He climbed the stairs and walked in, the recruit standing outside in ordered to give the higher up some privacy. Pine Needles sat down at a desk on the far side of the room and put the microphone close to his muzzle. Turning to a small radio like machine, he turned the dial as it tuned in and out of multiple radio stations, most weren’t even in the Wilderness. After a small amount of turning the dial he finally found the signal he was looking for.

“This is commander Maple to commander Pine, do you read me?” The radio station came in crystal clear, and most importantly they were the only ones that would be able to hear it. “I repeat, this is commander Maple to commander Pine, do you read me?”

“Loud and clear sir,” Pine Needle replied with a smile on his face. “Been awhile since I last saw you sir, let alone since you used the radio. It’s nice to hear you again,”

“It’s good to hear you too Pines,” Pine Needles could hear his fellow commander laugh a little as he spoke. “Heard that we have two new stable dwellers from stable 17 in the Wilderness now. I assume you made sure other ponies have been treating them with respect, wouldn’t want to make a bad opinion,”

“Well the first one that came out definitely seems to be fitting in rather well,” Pine replied, his manor shifting to a more serious tone. “The second one however, I will admit she makes me a bit nervous. She’s got a good head on her shoulders from what I see, but something about her just makes me uncomfortable. Also sir, I should tell you that everypony else in Stable 17 is dead. Apparently they were attacked from the inside,”

The radio fell silent for a second, a common move that happened whenever Maple heard something he couldn’t fully grasp at first. Pine Needles couldn’t blame him, who would have ever heard about another pony in a stable killing the others. It reminded him of stories he heard about a pony in the Wasteland. He shivered as he thought about it, he didn’t want to here the stories of that time again.

“I… I see,” Maple was in complete disbelief on the other side of the radio. “Listen Pines, she came to you to talk about that, it’s only fair that you deal with that. She came to you, not me, understand?”

“Of course sir,” Pine Needle answered.

“In any case I guess it’s about time I got down to business and explain exactly why I’ve called you over transmission,” Pine could hear Maple let out a breath on the other side of the radio, an action that Pine Needles already knew meant something bad. “The reason I’ve calmed you is because I made a deal with some ponies, and I won’t be able to show up to greet them when they arrive. We are still dealing with the ghouls and Hellhounds here in Troster and until we have them cleared out I won’t be able to. That being said, I ask you to not judge me for the action I took,”

Those words unsettled Pine Needles. He knew fully well what his fellow commander was talking about, but he couldn’t believe it. “Excuse me sir but… exactly who did you make a deal with?”

The radio fell silent again, this time Maple was simply preparing to answer. He was unsure of his own decision, even though in the end he knew it was the only available option. Pine Needles waited patiently for Maple to respond, having often seen this when discussing rather difficult matters with Maple. He was aware of what Maple was probably doing before and during this. Maple was most likely very tense at the moment, pacing a little unsure of exactly what to say. Of course, Pine Needle knew his fellow command would give the answer sooner or later.

“I made a deal with Fluttershy of the New Canterlot Republic,” He finally admitted. “She is willing to offer us temporary defense as we build up our army, her advisors are also willing to help in that area as well. In exchange, we open up trading routes with them and allow export from our home to there’s. Pines, this is the reason I needed to ask you to do this,”

This time it was Pine Needle who feel silent. This wasn’t something unnatural for Maple, to take a risky idea or more often a risky decision. It was unnatural for the idea or decision to be this risky however. He had almost thought he was making stuff up when he heard those words, but no matter how much he hated to admit it they were true. While he personally had nothing against the NCR, many of the other ponies in the Wilderness did. If they were to step in, it could potentially lead to another war. That was not only something Pine Needles didn’t want, but was something he knew they couldn’t win.

“I-I’m sorry sir but would you mind explaining to me this,” Pine Needle asked nervously. Honestly he didn’t want to know the answer in case his guess was right.

“I can understand why you are nervous,” He heard Maple start on the other end of the radio. “Truthfully, I was unsure about this decision myself. In the end though, we don’t have the military or political force to really make any say in much. Imagine what might happen if we are taken over by another country we aren’t even aware of, we don’t have the military force to hold them back. Besides, we have to remember that while we may be different countries now, both the NCR and the Wilderness were part of Equestria. If we didn’t except this things will only get worse,”

In truth, Pine Needles guess was wrong, and he realized that what Maple said was true. The past few years had been proven to be a test against the Wilderness and there power as a separate nation. While EQ over the radio talked about the heroic actions by killing a dangerous creature or stopping a group of raiders (which he was sure he would hear about the actions in Ponville later on) they struggled to keep up their recruits. They had a low population, one of the lowest populated areas back when Equestria was fighting the war. That hadn’t changed, if they were to combat an enemy it would need to.

“I won’t argue sir,” Pine Needle said, knowing that it was impossible to change Maples actions. “But other ponies in the Wilderness will. We both know how they think about the NCR, and no doubt they won’t act well because of it. Don’t you think that might be a problem?”

“I’ve already thought of that,” Maple replied “We both know that ponies from the Wasteland have come here in the past and have been welcome, so I asked Fluttershy if she knew anypony that has. Luckily, she has a personal connection to a rising star that has performed multiple times here. I think you know who I’m talking about,”

“You mean Feline?” Pine Needle asked.

“Yes,”

Anypony in the Wilderness would know Feline by this point. She was a gryphon, and a shockingly nice one compared to most of her kind. Feline was a singer, and a rather talented one at that, having played in parts of the NCR and across most of the Wilderness. She had gained a bit of fame from her performances, but she was more well known in the Wilderness, her fame in the Equestrian Wasteland being overshadowed by Velvet Remedy.

“I don’t exactly get what your plan is,” Pine Needle replied. “She’s a singer, not a politician. How do you think she can help us?”

“It’s not exactly Feline that is going to help us, but Fluttershy is sending her over to us with some information on how to get started,” Maple explained “Besides, she feels like it would be best if the NCR stayed low key at first to not attract unwanted attention,”

“So why are you asking me to help out?” Pine Needle asked.

“You're originally from the Wasteland,” Maple answered. “I think it would be best if we sent a pony with some experience dealing with Wastelanders. I would also recommend asking the two stable ponies as well. I heard one of them was an Overmare and they are just as much leaders as you and I,”

It was impossible to not see some of the reasoning behind what Maple was saying. Broken Record, while chosen at random, was an Overmare and seemed like she was willing to make a difference. If Carrot Cake and Broken Record were willing to help out like he believed, then they wouldn’t hesitate to help. He also realized that it would help in showing the coming politics that they do care about stable dwellers, something that he knew the NCR would probably not be okay with.

“I’ll ask them to help out,” Pine Needle finally replied after a slight pause. “Oh, and the Overmare you are talking about, Broken Record, she told me that a machine killed the other ponies in the stable. I think she referred to it as Experiment 17, in other words we can rule out either of them being a spark,”

“I never believed they were,” Maple replied. “I’ll leave this to you Pine, make sure this plan succeeds,”

“Of course sir,”

The apartment that Carrot Cake had rented was already unpacked from the night before. She had to thank Pine for loaning her the money to buy it, as she had no idea about what the currency in the Wilderness was. The apartment was relatively small, but it did have a second floor that contained a bedroom and bathroom. The main floor held a living room that seemed to double as the dining room, with a kitchen in the back. It wasn't much, but she figured she wouldn't be spending a lot of time in here anyways.

She sat down on the couch and pulled out a map, putting it down on the coffee table. In most cases she would have used her PipBuck, but its map wasn't very detailed. The map showed a overview of the Wilderness, the very edge of it showed Equinox mountain. That was the edge of the Wilderness, everything after that was all either dead or somewhat irradiated. There wasn't many big cities on the map, the biggest one she saw was the city of Trutland which she had been told had been abandoned. It really made her wonder what was there that had made everypony abandon it. No stable could house in entire city, she knew that.

“So if I travel through Ponville into Marechester I can get to Trutland,” She said to herself. “Yes, that seems like it might be the best route at the moment. Guess I just have to wait for Ponville to be clear of those raiders,”

Carrot Cake got up from her seat and made her way over to table holding a light and small radio next to it. She went up to it and turn it on, finding nothing better to do it the given moment. The radio made a loud buzzing noise and she was forced to turn it down as it hurt her ears. As the volume was lowered she started shifting through the frequency till she came to a radio station, one that was different than the one she heard on the Wilderness radio station.

“That's right everypony, the NCR and Wilderness are actually going to be meeting in a week to discuss issues. I think we can all agree on how shocking this news is, considering how they have seen us in the past, but who's going to complain with having allies?” The voice had the same kind of high energy and excitement that the pony named EQ did, but the tone seemed different. Not only that, but it seemed like she had somehow manage to get ahold of the Wasteland radio station considering the way this pony was responding. “Now the NCR has said that citizens won't be allowed to crossover yet, and from what I heard they will be there in a week. Also concerning the Wilderness I just heard from the Star Gryphon Feline Grander that she will be doing a show there tomorrow. All of you wastelanders who are fans of her will no doubt want to see that show, which if my good friend has told me correctly will be at the Sprixie bar in Marecheseter. We will be streaming the event so I hope you are all excited to hear some incredible singing,”

As the pony on the radio finished she heard the singing of an unfamiliar pony, which gave her the time to try and register what she had heard. If she was thinking correctly, this must have been the Tenpony Tower radio station she had managed to grab ahold of. The voice, whoever they were, seemed to have some sort of connection with EQ, if the word ‘friend’ was anything to go be. If that was the case then it was no wonder she was able to pick up the radio channel, obviously EQ and this pony had some sort of connection.

Then thing of course that interested Carrot Cake the most was the name of the so called ‘Star Gryphon’ that she had mentioned. There was going to be a concert at Marechester, and from what it sounded like this was big deal. Carrot Cake had never seen a gryphon, she had never even seen a concert in her life. It filled her with excitement, she had to see this. It was a kind of excitement she had never felt in Stable 17, nothing big really ever happened. In fact the earthquake was the biggest event she ever remembered before she left.

She was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, looking back. She ran to the door and opened it to see Pine Needles standing in front of her. “Hello, Carrot Cake. I ‘m sorry to interrupt you but to speak to you quickly?”

“Oh… of course,” Carrot Cake responded, letting Pine Needles in. He nodded his head in thanks and made his way inside. “What is it you want you talk about? Did you learn something about what happened in Stable 17? Is Broken Record okay?”

“Your friend is alright,” He reassured her. “Don’t worry. In fact I have received news that the raiders in Ponville has been dealt with,” Carrot Cake let a reassuring sigh as she heard this. “Actually, I was hoping you and the Overmare could help me with something important. We have some ponies coming from the wasteland,”

“The NCR members?” Carrot Cake asked. “I just heard about that on the radio. Did you know it was possible to obtain the radio signals from the Wasteland over here?”

“Yes I do, it’s how EQ receives her music,” Pine Needle explained, grateful that she already knew. “Some of it at least, certain artists such as Velvet Remedy and Sweetie Bell have been given to us by short visits from the radio mare over there. Goes under the name of DJ-PON3, only EQ knows her real name. That being said I am getting off topic. I am asking you to come with me to discuss the matters,”

“Sorry Pine Needle but you're not talking to the right pony,” Carrot Cake responded. “I’m a cafeteria mare, I don’t have experience being a leader like Broken Record. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the right pony for this job,”

As she spoke, Pine Needles eyes caught onto something that interested him. On a shelf he spotted an old hat; A stetson hat to be specific. Something hit him, seeing that hat. He should have realized it as soon as he had seen Carrot Cake’s name on the registration form. It was something he couldn’t believe, and he honestly didn’t even after seeing the hat. He had to check to make sure.

“Carrot Cake,” He said as he took the hat down “Is this your hat by any chance,”

“Yes it is,” She answered, nodding her head as she spoke. “My mom told me that it was a gift from to our family by one of our ancestors. My family had connections to the Ministry of Morals, very directly in fact. They were told by a Stable-tech pony that the Zebra Empire had launched mega spells and to leave. My family was given this hat by the Stable-tech pony, to remember them by,”

“That Stable-tech pony,” Pine Needles replied, he turned around and held the hat. “If she gave you a hat like this… it must have been Apple Bloom,” Carrot Cake’s body suddenly felt cold as Pine Needles mentioned the name. She recognized it from school in the stable, of course everypony in Stable 17 knew about Apple Bloom and Stable-tech. “Apple Bloom was the one who oversaw development of the stables here in the Wilderness. She was involved in Stable 17 the most out of all of them. It makes since now, the Cake family, the ones who minister Pinkie Pie use to work with, must have come here,”

Carrot Cake never even thought about it, and who really would have. She knew that her family had a close relation to the minister, but not that close. Not only that, but the she never even thought of the hat as anything else other than a heirloom. The very fact that it belong to the sister of the Minister of Wartime Technology, even just the fact that it came from somepony as important as Apple Bloom made it much more than an heirloom. She suddenly walked up to Pine Needles and snatched the stetson from his hooves. She put it on her head, feeling as if she was somepony else as she did. Her mind felt as if she was being played by Pine Needles, which it actually wasn’t, but she honestly didn’t care.

“I change my mind,” She said, the hat falling forward as it was a little big on her. “I’ll do whatever I can to help, I promise. Trust me when I say I have never broken a promise in my life,”

Pine Needles was thrown completely off guard by this sudden change in attitude, taking a step back. He always had an interest in Equestrian history, and he was just making a wild conclusion based on what Carrot Cake had said. He wasn’t going to say anything against Carrot Cake suddenly wanting to help him however. He gave her a smile as she adjusted the hat back a bit.

“Well we should make our way to Ponville,” He said. “It’s going to be dark soon and we have a ways to walk,”

The past few hours in Ponville had been rather busy, and Broken Record once again found herself in the leader position as she help with rebuilding. This time, however, she was fully okay with taken the role. It wasn’t like being Overmare, where everypony went to her to complain about every little thing. Instead she found herself actively participating with the activity around her. Taking down the barricades, helping in burying the bodies, help those who the raiders had injured, this is what she always expected to be doing as a leader.

Leaf Peeper on the other hand had grown more and more concerned about her sister. It wasn’t the kind of concerned where Leaf Peeper was concerned about Mints choices, it was the kind of concerned where Leaf Peeper felt something was being kept a secret. It had gotten to the point where she had actually asked Broken Record to help her. Broken Record assumed that all it would take was a quickly talk to Mint and that was it.

The three ponies, Leaf Peeper dragging Mint with a rope due to reasons, made there way to a building that was empty. Broken Record immediately realized that this was more than just a simply problem. That was only cemented as Leaf Peeper bounded Mint to a chair leaving her unable to escape. Broken Record felt that Leaf Peeper had gone a little too far at this point.

“Um… Leaf Peeper?” She turned to the unicorn with worry. “I think you may be taking this a little too far,”

“For what I’m doing this would probably be considered going easy on her,” Leaf Peeper replied, “Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen some pony come back from the dead. I need to make sure this is really my sister talking to me and not something that’s pretending to be her,” Leaf Peeper turned back to her sister, Mint, and walked up to her. Mint knew exactly what was going through her sister's mind right now. “Mint, if that really is you talking to me right now, I want you to show me some evidence that this isn’t a Spark or Changeling I’m talking to right now,”

“Two years ago you and me went into Trutland to find some replacement raiders that had been attacking Marechester,” Mint said, Leaf Peeper’s gaze on her showing that she wasn’t fully convinced. “They hurt you really badly, but that unicorn, Kip I believe her name was. She and that machine save us from them. They helped you get better, I remember that was the first time you and I came in contact with Small Fry, you wanted to kill her badly,”

At the name of the unicorn, Leaf Peeper’s gaze soften a little, bit still was stern. She let out a sigh as she spoke. “At least I knew it's you and not a Changeling, but that doesn’t prove you don’t have a Spark inside of you. Listen to me Mint, I want you to tell me the truth of what really happened during the attack. A pony from here managed to escape to the mountain village and said that you got shot in the head, yet here you are standing in front of me. Please Mint, tell me that they were wrong, tell me you didn’t die,”

“I told you what happened,” Mint replied. “I got locked in by a raider, I think they were trying to hide me for some reason. I don’t know why but they did. I think that raider might have been saving me for something Small Fry had planned, what that is I don’t know,”

Leaf Peeper was silent for a second, her mind scared at what she realized must have happened. “Mint,” She said. “You don’t even know that’s in you, do you?’ Mint’s eyes showed how scared she was and Broken Record was getting increasingly uncomfortable with where this was going. “I heard that one of the raiders that was in this town called themselves V, a single letter just like the rest of those Sparks,”

Leaf Peeper went into her bag and took out a lighter, and held it close to Mints face. It was there that Broken Record finally snapped, rushing forward and knocking the unlit lighter onto the floor. She pushed Leaf Peeper away from Mint, completely unaware of the sudden glow in Mints eyes. Leaf Peeper did see it however and stared past the Overmare to her sister.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Broken Record yelled, trying to stay calm. “This is your sister and you go ahead and lift a freaking lighter up to her face? Answer me Le-”

“Mint,” Leaf Peeper said shakily to her sister, who was looking at the ground ashamed. Broken Record looked back to see the same thing on her face. “Please don’t tell me… what did you think was…”

Leaf Peeper couldn’t finish a single sentence, and Broken Record simply looked back and forth between the two. She couldn’t understand what was going on at the current moment, and why Mint looked so ashamed of herself. Mint was scared, though her face didn’t show it. Her sister had found out what truly happened, and what had really happened to her during the initial raider attack.

“I’m sorry Leafy,” She said quietly, Leaf Peeper just barely heard her. “I did get shot, and I did in fact die. Not long before the two of you arrive I woke up again, and I knew what had happened,” She started crying as she thought about what would happen if anypony else found out. “Please don’t tell anypony. Please don’t kill me, the Spark seems more interested in just letting me live then taking control of me. I don’t want to die, the Spark doesn’t want to either. It promises to not hurt anypony if it has to take control,”

Leaf Peeper just stood there silently, Broken Record looking to Mint instead for an answer. “What’s this Spark your talking about?”

“Sparks were a secret project by some ponies a few years ago, not long after the NCR formed if I’m correct,” She explained. “When they die, they have the ability to take over another body. They have the option whether to let the ponies soul still control the body, or whether to take complete control of it and expel the soul forcefully. This Spark, Mark V it calls itself, it wants me to go on living my life. It’s jealous of the relationship I have with Leaf Peeper from the memories it’s seen. However, she knows it would also be unfair to ruin that relation between us,”

Leaf Peeper’s fear started to fade, her emotions taking over as she realized it was her sister talking. Without a warning she pushed Broken Record to the side and gave her sister a hug. She undid the knot around the chair and the ropes fell to the ground loosely, giving Mint the ability to hug Leaf Peeper. Broken Record simply watched as this unfolded, a tear falling down her face and under her muzzle.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” Leaf Peeper said as the two stopped hugging. “I-its just… most Sparks want to simply kill us ponies. I don’t fully understand why this Mark V is different but I don’t need further proof to tell who it is standing in front of me,” She turned back to Broken Record. “Sorry to bring you into this, but if you hadn’t interfered who knows what I would have done,”

“I’m just glad everything is okay now,” Broken Record replied. “Anyways we should probably get back to the other ponies in case they need our help with anything else,”

Leaf Peeper and Mint nodded their heads and made their way out of the building.

The pegasus was still on the tree watching the busy town of Ponville as it got back on it’s hooves. He let out a small smile at the work going on, even though he still couldn’t get his mind off of how similar Broken Record looked to somepony else. That being said the actions between the two were so different that he simply played it off at the moment as a coincidence. He sat there comfortable, having heard Homage’s announcement of the NCR coming to the Wilderness. He was happy to hear it in a way, it was hope that these two “nations” could work together, and the last thing he wanted was to start another fight.

He watched as two ponies entered town, one had a stable garb on while the other was easily made out as Pine Needles. He watched as they approached Broken Record, Leaf Peeper, and Mint with curiosity. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but could tell that it must have been important. He hadn’t seen Broken Record’s stable garb earlier that day, which had completely cemented that she was a different pony then who he was thinking of. He simply watched from the distance as the scene played out in front of him.

“This is a risky move Maple is making,” Leaf Peeper said after hearing what Pine Needle had come to talk to them about. “It's not that I disagree with his actions at all, the very opposite in fact, it's just not a move I would call safe,”

“I'm just as worried as your are about this Leaf Peeper,” Pine Needle said reassuringly, “But we need ponies who can make a good first impression. Thats why Im asking Broken Record and Carrot Cake to be our ambassadors of sorts. I would like it if you and your sister stayed here to help with reconstruction if you wouldn't mind,” Leaf Peeper nodded in reply at this and Pine Needles shifted his attention to Broken Record. “I'm sorry to put this onto you so suddenly but I really don't think I have a choice. Besides Carrot Cake here had told me about how you use to be the stables radio mare and I thought it would be nice for you to meet EQ,”

“I don't mind at all,” Broken Record told Pine Needle. “In fact I was actually interested in meeting this EQ anyway. I like the energy she gives off on the radio and if there really is going to be a concert held at the same time the NCR is coming I wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity. Besides I told you that I was willing to do anything I can to help, I'm not about to turn my back on this small country no matter what happens,”

Pine Needle was impressed by Broken Records enthusiasm. I wasn't like the one he saw in EQ, but more like the one he heard from the ponies who came onto the wasteland radio from time to time. She had a feeling of hope inside of her, and if that could unite the ponies of the wasteland then it could save the ponies of the Wilderness. It wasn't something most ponies would have wanted to hear him say, but the hate for the stable dwellers were usually more passive compared to that of the NCR.

“Well we should get there as soon as possible,” Pine Needles explained. “I've seen how fast Feline flies, and no doubt she will be here sooner than anypony expects,”

With no objections Broken Record bid farewell to Leaf Peeper and Mint before heading with Pine Needle and Carrot Cake out of town.

“It's going to be nice to finally meet you Homage. We’ve been talking to each other for so long this way I didn’t think we would ever get to meet,”

“Well it’s going to be nice seeing meeting you as well, never met a pony who shared the same kind of radio spirit before. Not to mention that it will give me a change of scenery, I’m kinda tired of seeing the same thing over and over again,”

“I can only imagine. I move around the Wilderness so much that I never get bored. Must not be the same living there,”

“Actually the main reason I was calling was to ask you a question,”

“Really? What is it,”

“Do you think the Wilderness is going to respond well to the Concerts ‘special guest’?”

Prologue

War… War never changes

Such was the same even after the Zebra Empire bomb most of Equestria. What came next was a war of survival, a war to live our lives. It was that way for more than two hundred years, with small stories of heroism across the Equestrian Wasteland. While those may have shaped certain aspects of the Wasteland, it didn’t have the same effect that the Lightbringer did. She managed to unite it and bring what some thought would be an era of newfound peace.

In many cases it was true, the New Canterlot Republic proved itself to be a very stable government. They broke up the New Pegasus Enclave and brought something that the Wasteland hadn’t seen in so long, hope. They were a symbol of hope for Equestria, that it could be formed again, and with the elements of harmony they seem to be steering in the right direction.

However, unknown to everyone else, there was one place that the NCR had failed to gain the trust of. The Wilderness, the true last standing area of the wasteland. Covered in green forest and beautiful mountains, it's lack of overall significance to Equestria had kept it from being a major target during the war. While ponies took shelter in Stable's, they had no idea that they would totally avoid the mega spells.

Those who stayed above ground found themselves at a state of loss, with no government they had no power. Yet, from what I’ve heard, the Wilderness has stood united and more powerful then before the war. They didn’t need the NCR, proving that they would be fine, and so the NCR stayed out. For many years this was the way things went, but with the NCR expanding their territory, raiders, slaver, and many of the creatures from the wasteland started taking up refuge in the world above.

For us in Stable 17, we’ve heard the stories about the surface. Ponies have come up and back down to the vault on occasion and have brought back many things for the stable. We had a great life down here, but something tells me that’s about to change. An earthquake larger than any we’ve had has majorly damaged the stable, and we have found something that we didn't even know existed.

Author's Note

Yes, another story for me to work. I wanted to do something a bit different with this FoE fanfic and decided "Hey, why not base the locations on Vermont?" Interesting choice but since I live here I thought it would be a great way to bring something knew and different to the FoE community. So with that, I hope you enjoy Fallout Equestria: The Wilderness.