Fallout Equestria: Steelheart
Written By: CyberDutchman
Edited By: JC

Chapter 7: Purpose and Trials

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor an individual perfected without trials..."

"For the love of- would you hold still already?"

"Not a chance!" I yelled in frustrated panic while a pair of orderlies fought to hold me to the examination table. The doctor, an old peach unicorn called Scribe Preserve (apparently after the jam and not for how ancient and crinkly he looked. Could have fooled me) sighed and levitated an empty surgical tray into the air then down on my head. Hard.

"We could have done this easily. The rest of your group were a joy to work with," I barely heard him say gruffly over the sudden ringing in my ears. "But not you. I've dealt with worse before but never over a damned physical exam! Do you not want that brace off or something?"

Yeah, a physical exam where he wanted to get touchy between my legs! Not about to happen! I was getting out of here, Elder Dawn's request to get my leg checked be damned. Just as soon as the room stopped spinning.

"Isn't there some code or oath about not causing patients harm you psycho?!" I shouted weakly, arching my back and kicking my legs up with everything I had left. One orderly was tossed cursing up into the armature-mounted lamp over the table which promptly sprung them back down across me with a resounding "Umph!" from both of us.

"Yes, a century or two back. Now they're more like guidelines." A shadow fell over me and I opened my eyes just in time to see the tray come back for round two.

When I slowly crawled back to consciousness I was still on the same exam table. On the other side of the room Preserve and a Scribe mare in the matching white robes of a medic talked over a small table in muted tones. I rolled over and immediately regretted it when my head ached sharply. A rough examination revealed a large and very tender bump in the center of my forehead.

"You couldn't fix this too?" I asked the pair while pointing at the recent damage.

"Ah, good. You're awake. Consider that a lesson in not fighting your physician. It can be hazardous to your health," Preserve said as he walked over with a clipboard held in his magic. "I completed the physical and wanted to talk to you about what I found."

I rolled over until I could sit upright on the low table while ignoring the stabbing pain in my head as best I could. I gave the doc the best one eyed glare I could while the other was shut tight against the light from the surgery lamp shining down on me. "So, how soon then can I get this brace off? Or do I need to get it replaced with something more sturdy until my leg's healed?"

Scribe Preserve grimaced and glanced at the mare beside him. "You will need to get it replaced with something more sturdy, yes."

I sighed as he confirmed my assessment. "Dang. How long will I-"

"Unfortunately because you're never going to walk again without it. I'm sorry."

I froze, the gears in my head slipping past one another and spinning wildly. I tried to speak but only managed strangled gasps and clicks. "W-What?" I finally got out.

"Your pelvis is effectively shattered on one side. There are signs of acute trauma underneath a larger area of blunt force damage. Tell me, can you feel that leg?"

I stared at him then turned to look at my supported leg. I moved it back and forth, really focusing as I worked it. To my shock and infinite horror I could feel it flexing, sorta, but couldn't feel it brushing against the table as it moved. It was as if somepony had injected Med-X into my entire leg.

"Nerve damage. Happens rarely with healing potions, especially old and improperly sealed ones. The effects get diluted over the years by contamination from the air. Let me guess, you took Med-X first?" I nodded mechanically as the memory of Spell jabbing a needle into my flank came back to haunt me. "You'd probably be fine if you hadn't done that. That worn out potion didn't know whether your nerves were supposed to be deadened or not so it flipped a coin on which way was right and you didn't luck out. The only nerves working right are the ones that weren't damaged when you drank the thing. Consider yourself lucky you have any motion in your leg at all. Could easily be the other way around, right up through the rest of you if it had been stronger." He paused to let me take in the news.

"A new potion?" I asked in vain hope. Hope that crashed and burned when he shook his head.

"As far as any potion out there is concerned, you've been healed. Your body believes it and the magic will believe it too, however wrong it might be. Damned bone and nerve damage is always the worst. The first a potion doesn't do anythin' for and the second is too easy for it to mess up."

I looked past him at the x-ray sheet hung on a lit board on the far wall. Tears welled up in my eyes at how mangled my hip was. Nothing but ghostly silhouettes of bone fragments everywhere right down into the upper leg. It looked more like a border map of the world than a medical print.

"Sonny, just be glad you're moving and that your stable apparently had some good stock to work with. Your group's probably the healthiest bunch I've seen in years. 'Cept for you and that little mare none of you all look like you just marched through hell's own country."

A dark and uninvited sense of anger welled up. Somehow it didn't seem fair that almost nopony else had gotten injured in our escape, like the Waste had it in just for me when it snuck in but hadn't had the chance to finish the job. Me and one other small pony who'd got caught up in-

"Spell! Where is she? What's wrong?"

"Oh, is she a friend of yours?"

"No, she's my boss. She'll kill me if she dies."

"You do realize-"

"I know what I said. SHE'LL STILL DO IT."

"Riiiiiight... you sure his head was fine?" The other Scribe medic nodded, though with a concerned glance at me. It didn't bother me. They didn't know Spell. Her last breath would be spent on a scream of rage loud enough to make me bleed to death from the ears if that's what it took. "She's fine physically, got the burns and cuts healed up quickly but..."

"But what?" I asked after the pause went on a little too long.

He sighed and finished, "But she hasn't woken up yet. Looks like she might be in a coma or possibly something worse, especially from how crazy a spell scan of her mind came out. Part of me wants to know what happened to her so I can try to help if she wakes up. Rest of me wants to keep her sedated till I'm gone and it becomes somepony else's problem to figure out and try to fix."

"You mean 'when she wakes up'? 'When', right?"

He gave me a firm look and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "If. I need to check on her so if you want to see her I'd suggest coming back later. Elder Dawn called while you were out, told me to tell you to head to the armory, figure out your kit and a new brace with the Knight Smith. You can visit afterwards if the Elder doesn't send you on some scavenger hunt immediately."

He and the other Scribe got up and began filing away my charts while I got up off the exam bed. As I walked out the door I just barely heard Preserve mutter darkly at the medic. "Can you believe he outranks both of us? Elder's finally lost it..."

I was beginning to wonder if I was going through Ranger hazing as I stood in front of the massive safe door with the words "Armory" painted across it. I couldn't see any mechanical aids or motors to move it, only a large wheel and a couple handles. I sighed and grimaced at my newest problem before shrugging. This wasn't as bad as Spell's method for welcoming new members by way of overcharging a supercapacitor and tossing it at them with a yell of "Hey, catch!"

To my surprise the giant door proved to be supremely well oiled and balanced and opened smoothly without a detectable sound. Though, any sound it did make was competing with those coming from inside and and handily losing. The Armory was a hive of activity with welding torches, buzz saws, and indicator lights going on and off like fireflies throughout the cavernous space. One sound cut through all the others like a knife.

"Watch tha' output, WATCH THA'-" BOOM "-well I told ye to watch the output. Fix it up and try again."

Off to one side a column of grey smoke flickering with motes of magic light and electrical arcs rose over a group of singed ponies in heavy robes and welding masks, most of who were now coughing violently. One in the back with a simple plastic face shield looked over their shoulder at me with a frown.

"Close the damn door, ye're letting a draft in. Wait a second... yer a civilian! What're ye doin' in 'ere? Didn't ye see the signs saying 'Rangers Only' in great big bloody letters out front? Go on, out with ye!" Great, more odd accents. I especially loved when they were shouting out me. Made them so much easier to understand.

"Sorry, Elder Dawn sent me down to get 'kitted out'?"

The large pony, a well muscled earthpony mare I discovered when she flipped up her visor, squinted at me in disbelief. "Yer havin' a go at me, right? Oh Goddess... yer not. No... I don't believe it... Elder's finally aff her heid..." she said while hanging her head, causing her frazzled red mane to spill over her her orange face. She looked me over then gestured me towards a tidy area of floor in the center of the room set up as an open air office. "So yer the new bigjob Inquisitor aye? The Elder called about yew earlier but I was expectin' something a taaaaaaad different. Had to look up what the fookin' hell an Inquisitor even is after she hung up. Not sure why we need one but Elder's orders and all that."

"I think she wanted-" I began before a very large and metallic tasting hoof shoved it's way into my mouth. She leaned in close, her dull green eyes giving me a distinctly deadpan look.

"Did I sound like I wanted te know? Right, no, I didn'. That's 'tween you and the Elder. Tryin' te figure out what the bigjobs upstairs are thinkin' just gives me a headache. Anyways, I'm Knight Smith Glowing Furnace and this is my little castle," she said while sweeping her hoof around us. The fact that it was the one stuck in my jaw nearly sent me flying. "Now what can I do ye for?"

I recoiled instinctively at how she strung together "do" and "you" in that order as well as her implication that it would be some kind of payment for whatever she was giving me. "Excuse me?"

She rolled her dull blue eyes with a smirk. "I asked ye whaddya need? Bloody Lowland tossers, the lot of ye, can' even understand when somepony's speakin' te ya clearly."

I breathed a very relieved sigh when she insulted me instead of coming on to me. "Lowland? You mean like a Stable?"

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh, yer a fookin' Stable pony! Well that's just fookin' grand! No wonder ye can't speak clearly for shite! Yer more Lowland than a Lowlander!"

"I'm so confused," I said with absolute honesty. Glowing Furnace erupted with laughter and tapped me on the back. Well, tried to at any rate. I hadn't really taken notice before but the way her work robes moved and stretched revealed she was easily as muscled as Titan Steel if not more so despite being only slightly taller than me. Her tap very nearly bludgeoned me to the ground.

"Spoken like a true Lowland tosser. To answer yer question, I'm descended from a long line o' Highlanders what gives me my melodic accent and charmin' wit. You-" She pointed at me before sweeping her hoof over my head, forcing me to duck quickly. "-the rest of the city, and the entire fookin' Wastes as well, are Lowlanders"

"Highlander?" I said while rubbing more aching shoulder. Apparently I was going to be just as carelessly bruised and battered up here as I'd been back in 63. Suddenly wurm digestion was starting to sound downright pleasant.

She rolled her eyes then nodded. "Aye, from the Smoky Mountain Clans. Well one o' them. What used to be one o' them, after all the End Times kinda makes it hard to keep in touch with extended family. Especially if ye don't know if they're still livin'. Had a full three of us in the original Ranger postin' here and only lost one when everythin' went to shite so we made up a sizeable part of the foundin' contingent."

"Two out of fifteen?" I asked with a small grin. She rolled her eyes once more sans smirk and gave me a small shove that knocked the air out of my lungs.

"It's better'n just one. I said it was sizeable, not huge. Too bad too, I'm part of a dyin' breed. Not many o' us still speak by singin' and I probably wouldn't if I hadn't apprenticed under Granddaddy Blast Furnace."

"Your grandfather?" I hazarded.

"Oh, yer a perceptive one aren't ye? Fine nosy Inquisitor material fer sure." Wait, did I insult her somehow? What did I say? "Yeah, there's been a Furnace in charge of the Armory since the start and a good thing too. None of this shite would still be running if it weren't fer us," she said while kicking a pile of scrap components lying next to a fold up table. "And that brings us back round to where we started. So, whaddya need?" Oh, uh, yeah. I guess we had gotten a little off track there.

I drew myself up with as much presence and poise as I could and replied, "No idea. What have you got?"

The sound of Furnace's forehead denting the table between us echoed around the room for a long time.

Why did everypony seem to always misunderstand was I said? Take Knight Smith Furnace for example. I thought I'd said I was unfamiliar with what all Rangers went into the field with and wanted to know what was advised.

Furnace believed I'd said I was an idiot who was going to die the second I stepped passed the gate and promptly shot myself.

We'd gotten past my brace with promises (highly skeptical promises but promises nonetheless) to see what she could do with my ideas. Especially after I took away her argument that I didn't need anything so over-engineered by having Preserve send down a copy of my X-Ray with his assistant who I learned was named Barley Stream. The Knight Smith had taken one look at the printout then looked at me and said she'd add extra on. With that out of the way we'd come to *sigh* my weapon.

"Yeah, you'll be strikin' terror into the hearts o' raiders and beasties everywhere with yer fear of guns and inability to swing anything larger than a kitchen knife around," Furnace muttered loudly while hiding her eyes behind a hoof. "Celestia, protect this poor lad fer he knows not what absolute shite he's gettin' himself into."

"Thanks, really motivating," I said glumly at how bad this was going. It turned out I had an instinctual reaction to get far away from the sound of gunfire now. The revving of miniguns in particular could get me to freeze in a cold sweat. All together it meant my aim was terrible and my focus was worse. I wasn't any better with melee because I couldn't pivot around my backlegs to get any force behind my swings. I also had the aim of a geriatric schizophrenic with plenty of cuts on my forelegs to prove it.

"Wasn't supposed te be. Yer shite at this, plain and simple. Fookin' hell... I'd be worried about sending you after a damned radroach!"

I didn't know what that was but by her tone I guessed it wasn't anything dangerous. "Damn it, I killed that wurm without these problems so why am I having to deal with this only just now?"

Furnace's booming laughter filled the space again as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Killed a wurm! Oh fuck me, that's pure magic right there! You killing a... yer serious." She stared at me as I felt the need to give her disbelief an annoyed eyebrow raise. "It was you?" I nodded. "How the fuck did ye do that?! I thought it was the Paladin, or maybe one of the Crusaders!"

"Didn't they send you my rivet gun?" I asked with dwindling patience.

"Yer rivet wha- Oh! So that's what that pile o' scrap they dumped on me yesterday was! Wait, yer telling me you killed a wurm, a fookin' Bruiser no less, with a rivet gun? How the fuck..."

I huffed as she continued to batter my diminutive pride down even smaller. "If you have it I'll show you."

"Aye, we've got it. Haven't even started takin' it apart 'cause I thought it was scrap. Lead on ye mincin' laddie. This I've gotta see."

True to her word it was in the exact same shape as it had been after being removed when we arrived. I started explaining what I'd had in mind in modifying it, pausing every now and then as she called over another Smith or Scribe to listen as well. It was a good thing I was talking tech or else I would have been increasingly uncomfortable with the growing crowd. At the end the Knight Smith all but demanded we remove the talismans first. She tossed one under a magnifying glass and spent a solid five minutes twisting it this way and that before giggling like a crazed madmare.

"Oooh fuck me, this is pure barry! A right belter of a piece! This put a rivet through a wall? Through a Sparker's leg and dome without stoppin'?" I nodded with growing concern as her grin grew ever larger. "Gear, yer a numpty but yer the best kind: the kind tha' brings me quality goodies to get me gash good and soaked!"

I coughed and hacked at the terrible imagery that sprung to mind. She was objectively good looking and I'd always appreciated strong or muscled mares, particularly as work partners. But she went so far into the kind of territory I didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole that I was finding all new ways to be disturbed. I seemed to be alone in the opinion as the others around me laughed at what must have been a normal display from her. My reaction only served to make them laugh harder. Thankfully Furnace was too busy fawning over the force talisman to notice. I had no way of knowing how'd she react. For whatever reason mares and stallions took way too much offense when I said I had no interest in doing anything like that with them.

"Well, that's good. I guess. I, uh, had some ideas on making it better, easier to find ammo and higher projectile speed, that sort of thing. We'll have to tear it down and rebuild the saddle to make room for the brace but that shouldn't-"

"FECK THAT!" Furnace shouted while pointing a hoof at me.

"Oh goddess, what did I say this time..." I groaned out as my shoulders drooped. She stalked up to me and pushed her face into mine, muzzle to muzzle.

"Yer not seriously thinking of trying te put this heavy bastard back on like ye had it are ye?"

My ears shot back at her incriminating tone. "Well I was until just now."

She pulled back and dramatically shook her head. "Oh Gear you great daft wallaper. What do you think would happen if ye tried that?" I had no idea what she was implying and made sure my expression said as much. "Ye'd make it half way te the next town before something happened to yer brace and it gave out and dumped all tha' weight on yer gimp leg. Ye think it's bad now just think o' what that'd do to it."

"Wait, it can't be that bad. Otherwise how would the power armor stay-"

"The Ranger armor has repair talismans built in ya numpty!" Oh, right. Their helmets and suits had stitched themselves back together when they took hits back in the Stable. "We've only got thirteen o' those after we lost two in a massive cock up a century or so back. They stay in the armor and we don't have the right materials te make more. The gear we outfit the squads with breaks down all the time! It's why most of them are trained in how te make them work again off scrap and prayers! Sometimes even just the prayers!"

"Huh. Well that's not great."

She facehoofed. "Yeah, no shite! Yer not gonna have that sort of structure te work with since the Elder said yer the special daisy outside the normal chain so we've gotta figure out something else. We can make it lighter but I'm not sure we can make it light enough for that leg te hold it if the brace quits on ye."

I sighed heavily and looked at my trusty and very busted rivet gun. Yesterday had been eye opening and today was feeling far more soul crushing. First the medical exam and now thi-

I frowned as something flashed across my mind. What was it, what was it... oh. Ohhhhhhh. That might work.

"Furnace? I need a favor?"

Furnace cocked her head to the side. "Depends. What is it?"

I gave her a grin that she recoiled from. It was good to see somepony else do it instead of me for once. "I need metal, tools, and a plasma torch."

"Gear, are ye fuckin' done yet? You've been at it for hours. Oh, and Preserve says te stop bargin' in or he'll introduce you te the tray again, whatever the fuck that means."

"Good, he won't have to. I'm done."

"Finally! Mate, jus' what the fuck have you-" she fell silent as I stepped out from behind the protective screens and shields and lifted the welding mask up to give her my cockiest grin. "Goddess... the fuck is that thing?" she asked while contorting her face in disgust. "Gear, I don't think ye understand the how a gun's supposed to work."

"No?" I asked snarkily. I brought my hoof up and pressed one of the stubs on the shoulder of my new pack. A two piece arm like the one that held the heavy exam lamp in Preserve's clinic unfolded itself and swung a long, almost featureless box out in front of me, placing a grip with a mouth trigger in front of my face and pointing the open circle of the barrel at the Knight Smith.

"Celestia's chebs! The fuck is that thing?!"

"My new force rifle. It's just a more compact rivet gun built for nails. They're more common and I can carry more. At least I hope they are. That's what the drum over here is for. It's heavy though so I needed something to hold it up but I can't use the pack like you said. Then I remembered the arm holding up the heavy lamp in the clinic and found another one in the dentist section that worked even better. Copied how they worked and attached the rifle to them and then attached that to a pack that put the connection over my shoulders. That was still heavy so I copied the brace to each leg and then connected it all together with springs and dampers and then-"

"Fuck me Gear, I didn't need a damn dissertation. That just looks like a massive pain in the arse with how much shite you've got- ...Gear?"

"Yes?" I asked while fiddling with the resistance of some of the air shocks.

"How much of the scrap back there did ye use?"

"Oh, uh, most of it I think. Especially the springs and magic batteries. You're running low on cables too."

"------"

"What? Sorry, I didn't catch that. Do you have some place I can test it out?" I looked around then noticed a couple scribes hunched over a long rifle near a long lane with aged and perforated mannequins at the far end. "Perfect, let's see how this works," I said as I pressed the tabs to collapse the arm back into its compact form then made a beeline for the makeshift firing range at the back of the old bank vault. I popped the arm in and out a couple times to make sure it worked well on the move then left it out as I reached the firing line. Besides the mannequins at the far end of the range there were a number of rudimentary figures made out of barrels, scrap, and old sacks. I grabbed the rifle grip in my mouth and sighted on the nearest one. I breathed in and out to calm my nerves then slipped my tongue around the trigger and lightly pulled back.

"GEAR HEART, YOU DAMN THIEVIN' BASTA-" a familiar voice shouted behind me just before the rifle let out a loud whine and the wall and the target dummies in front of me exploded in a cloud of dust. Silence fell over the space as the faint "zip" of the weapon's firing echoed into nothing. I coughed as the dust cloud began settling and opened a squinting eye. The targets were gone with nothing recognizable left besides their bases while the thick vault wall behind them was pockmarked with hundreds of glowing red dents that quickly cooled with a faint popping sound. I frowned at the rifle in my mouth and gave it a small shake. When the drum of nails failed to rattle I let go with a grimace.

"Dang, should have thought of that. I only wanted the one shot. Need to add some kind of... interrupt or something so it doesn't dump them all at once. Though that could be useful I suppose... maybe some kind of selector to choose between the two?" A shadow fell over my right side and the rifle and I turned to find the Knight Smith staring open mouthed at the results of my test. "What do you think Furnace?"

She slowly turned, glacially slowly even, then looked back and forth between me, my rifle and support pack, and the target range. Me, gun, targets. Targets, gun, me. Suddenly her hooves shot out and hugged me close while she spun around in a pirouette. "I think yer my new favorite daft, thievin' numpty!" she said with a manic giggle. For my part I was desperately trying to pull away and prevent her monstrous muscles from crushing me or my experiment or getting anywhere lower down my flank- LIKE THAT.

"Too close, too close, TOO CLOSE! LET GO! FURNACE!"

Furnace and the other technicians had thrown themselves into perfecting my design after I gave them my original sketches and had suggested a number of small fixes and improvements that we agreed would be needed before I went outside the Castle again. I'd kept my Stable suit and vest, though Furnace had insisted that I get them recolored so they didn't stand out as much. Now the suit was mostly black with some blue trim left by areas of un-dyed fabric while the vest was now grey with red trim around the leg holes.

It was a little too dark for my liking but Furnace had said, and I quote, "That's the point you loony dolt! Did ye see rainbows and flowers out in the the Waste?"

She'd topped it off with a long coat, more of a cloak really with how thin it was, that concealed the front braces in the sleeves and hung over most of the remaining frame and back braces and had an extra sleeve stitched on top to conceal most of the armature. Furnace knew what she was talking about because when I'd looked in a mirror I'd have sworn I was just in from the Waste with a junk rifle strapped on my back out of the way. I was almost ready to head out now. There was just one thing I needed to do before I left. I stepped back through the door of the clinic once more and immediately ducked as a familiar tray went flying overhead.

"I told you if you came here again to- oh, looks like you're finished. Here to see your frie- your boss?" he corrected with a smirk. He really didn't understand. Sure, I respected Spell. But I feared her way, WAY more. "You're just in time. She's got some other visitors from your group so go on in."

"Yeah, good to see you too Doc. Thanks for missing the throw. Who else came by?"

"Didn't mean to miss, my eyes are just getting old. There's a big fellow, a Handy, and a unicorn mare with a sunflower. Real sweet thing," he added with a blissful smile. I rolled my eyes with a single chuckle and thought to myself Yeah, she'll have that effect on you. I'm not sure she shouldn't have gotten a Cutie Mark that was nothing but smiles instead. I walked past Preserve and through the open door to the care center. It was as clean as anywhere in the Waste got and the wallpaper was only barely peeling off. Three familiar figures stood or floated around a bed set against one wall and the small figure in it. All three looked up as my new four-legged frame flexed quietly when I walked in. Titan cocked his head to the side with a confused look while Sunflower stared at me in either surprise or shock, I couldn't tell which. Manesworth couldn't seem to decide where to look and his three eyes were switching between us all randomly.

"Gear? Where have you been all day? ...and what are you wearing?" she asked softly.

"New uniform apparently. Complete with fancy new brace and backups," I replied, lifting the bad leg high enough that the coat fell to the side and revealed the sleeker, sturdier version.

Sun smiled and said, "I'm glad. I was worried that one I made was going to break before too long and hurt you."

I waved a dismissive hoof. "It was fine, just needed to get a little sturdier. I'm guessing Scribe Preserve showed you the x-ray then?"

She nodded while tears beaded up in her eyes. Titan nodded as well and stepped up to place a hoof on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Gear. This is pretty close to hell but we wouldn't be here at all without you. You paid way too much to make sure of that."

"It's fine Titan, everyone always said I was more machine than pony right? Well now that's more accurate." He gave me a weird look that for some reason almost seemed pitying. No idea why, I was nearly in love with the new gear. I'd had a hoof in bringing it together which made it a part of me in every way I could think of. Titan tapped my shoulder again then gave the rifle a curious glance.

"Huh. What's that?"

"Oh! This is the new model," I said, unhinging the arm and letting it float the rifle out in front of me (safety engaged. Furnace had been very adamant about making sure there was no way it could fire accidentally after the "accident". She'd said she'd take the repair costs out of my paycheck, whatever that was). Everyone stared for a few moments before Sunflower started sputtering.

"Gear! Why do you still have that thing?!" she hissed.

"Because it would be suicide to go outside without it?" Oh, and apparently I was afraid of normal guns. Mostly miniguns. Couldn't forget that fun fact.

Sun's eyes shot open and she rushed over and started shaking me in her hooves. "Wait, you're going back out there? Gear! Why would you do that?! Didn't the Rangers say you could become a Scribe like us? You didn't turn them down did you?"

I placed my hooves on her shoulder and gave her a small shake in turn. She twitched and tried to push them away, sniffling all the while. "Elder Dawn gave me a different choice, one which we both thought I would be better for. She made me an Inquisitor."

"A what?" asked Titan.

I paused awkwardly for a second. I hadn't yet looked up what the role used to do myself so all I had to go on was what the Elder had told me. "It's outside the normal Order. Mostly going out and finding old technologies that could prove dangerous to the Rangers and the city. Things like the source of the signal that corrupted the Overframe. I'm going to find it and the rest of them and make sure they can't do the same thing to us here that they did to sixty three."

"Isn't that what the Rangers already do?"

"Kind of? The Rangers are focused on securing all advanced technology but the Inquisitors tracked it down when it was hidden intentionally or meant to be used against the Rangers. It's less power armor and numbers and more investigating and quiet."

"So you're going to be a Ranger spy then," Titan said with a sigh. I wasn't sure why he seemed so upset, it sounded a lot safer and less likely to cause trouble than the other way. The Elder had decided I was suited for it and it was what I had to do if I wanted to keep the survivors and everypony else safe so I would do it. I needed to be out there, searching for a solution, and the resources of the Rangers would increase my chances, both of finding anything and living to bring it back. If I had to be an Inquisitor to for that to happen then that was perfect.

"Gear, don't. Please. We need you here-" Sun started to say until Titan placed a hoof in front of her and shook his head.

"Sunflower, stop. I've seen that look a few times and heard about it from Spell even more. He's set on this." Wait, heard about what? Still confused over here. A little help? Anypony? No? No.

"Gear... fine. Go out there and get yourself killed," Sun said through pursed lips as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Sun, if I don't we might all get killed. The city is safer but it's not immune-" I never got to finish. Sun dashed around me and out he door. Preserve watched her leave then saw me standing in the doorway. He rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing before. I prepared to chase after her, tell her to find ways to fit in here, look for the gardens, go back to doing what she'd enjoyed doing while I was out on assignments. A cough from Titan stopped me.

"Give her time. She almost lost- ... she's lost a lot recently. We all have. I'm... glad you've been able to fit in so well already," he said.

"Yeah. But the Stable was a better home than this," I said while stepping up and looking back down at Spell, sleeping in what might be her death bed because of a mistake we'd both made. Titan joined me in silence for a bit.

"Gear, I understand why you're doing this and I'm not going to tell you not to. I don't have the right to, not after you were the one that fought everything. Hell, I'm even hoping you can do it. You've already proven you can handle more than anypony else I know. Just... be careful and don't die trying to be a hero. Make sure you come back. For all of us. For Sunflower."

I gave him the best lopsided smile I could muster. "I'm not in any hurry to die. Besides, this isn't really hero stuff. I'm not leading an army or rescuing princesses or fighting evil kings. I'm going to be switching off or sabotaging old, malfunctioning tech. I'll be back. Just do your thing and keep everyone together. Keep leading like you have so far."

Titan frowned and faced me. "Like I have? Gear, none of us-"

"Inquisitor Gear Heart? I'm afraid I have something that requires your attention." I looked over my shoulder to find Elder Dawn standing in the doorway. "I apologize for the interruption but it is time critical."

I quickly turned and bent down next to Spell. "Boss, I really hope you don't hate me when you wake up. Well, hate me more. I'm going to fix things, whatever it takes." Make it up to you for killing the Overframe and our home. I couldn't say it out loud. Not yet. "I'm ready," I said as I looked towards the Elder, pausing to give Titan a nod and smile for his support. He sighed and did the same.

"I'm surprised you're throwing me into the middle of things already," I said to her as we walked briskly down the hall, my supports giving off very faint pops now and then.

"Quick note, please address me as Elder. Not so much because I mind but because the rest of the order does and you're a part of it now, however removed from the normal it may be." She waited till I nodded in acknowledgement then continued, "We just received a tip that a fight broke out in a bar in Bronclyn with a number of deaths. Sadly common for the city. Not so common was the manner of two of the deaths. The victims were vaporized to ash."

I nearly tripped over my hooves in surprise (which would have been disasterous considering how much weight was hooked up to me) and quickly apologized. "Sorry, getting used to the new gear and brace."

"Yes, I heard from Preserve about the need for it. I'm sorry for the loss."

"Not your fault Elder. I'm using the brace to make up for it so it's not a huge problem."

Elder Dawn paused, giving me a confused and concerned look, her eyes searching for... something. What that something was, I didn't have a clue in the least. A disappointingly normal state for me. I leaned away from her slightly to get some reprieve from the intense examination and to hide my shame at still not understanding others like I wanted.

"You truly do mean that, don't you?" Her eyes widened slightly. "Goddesses... you lose the ability to use a leg and within a day you're past it. I've had seasoned Crusaders suffer similarly and lose all capacity to continue, withdraw in on themselves till there's nothing left. More than that, you lost your home and within a day find an entire new purpose with dedication and focus. I've seen entire towns displaced without a single pony ever coming to grips with the loss!" Her mouth tightened into a thin smile while her eyes continued to bore into mine. "I may have gotten far, far more than I had hoped with you Inquisitor Gear Heart. Your resolve, that will to push on through the pains, chains, and shackles of your condition and the events that define your past. That, that is what the Wastes need more than anything. The resolve to do away with the demons of our past and create ourselves anew, again and again till we cannot be broken again," she proclaimed, her voice rising slightly till by the end her words were echoing back to us through the hall.

"It's not- I mean, thank you." I think? I had thought the Elder to be more like me, level and not given to those strong emotions everypony else seemed to always have. But that... that was more impassioned than anything I'd ever heard before, even more than Sunflower's admission to me the morning of the horror in our home.

"But back to the matter at hoof," Elder Dawn said evenly, her impassive expression and cool demeanor returned from out of the blue. Or the gray out here in the MidWaste I suppose.

"Oh, uh, right. So a plasma blast then? Or was it a laser?" I asked, trying to remember what we had been talking about just prior to her tangent.

The Elder gave me a critical look and an arched brow. A few moments later she twitched her head and said, "I see your Stable was familiar with energy weapons."

This time I did stop as I thought back to our escape from the Gallery and the Gutsys that had been firing at us. I shuddered mildly and nodded. "We had security Handy models with projectors. We were warned not to mess with them and their tools or else that might happen to us." I rushed to catch back up with the Elder, thankful for the new external support frame and how it barely put any strain on me.

"Ah, good. You won't be going in without experience or the proper level of caution then," she said with relief.

"Going in where?"

"We've had reason to believe that there is an underground cartel that moves and sells advanced weapons throughout the city and the surrounding farmlands. Every now and then we'll find a hired guard or mercenary carrying one and confiscate it but the number has stayed stable for far too long without somepony maintaining the supply. The trail back to that supplier has run cold every time before but this time we're hoping we can get out in front of it. Given the tip this was most likely a trade deal that went bad after one side or the other got greedy. Find the supplier that was there and contact us over your PipBuck on this frequency when you do," she said while pulling a slip of paper from her coat and passing it to me. "Keep an eye on them and we'll send a squad to aid you in securing those weapons. I considered having them on stand-by in case you needed them immediately but Knight Smith Furnace seems to think you won't need that. In fact, I'd say you've left quite the impression on her," she said with a sly smirk.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "More like she left one on me. Nearly broke me and the frame in two." The Elder laughed sharply and nodded.

"Yes, she'll do that. But she knows her stuff and if she's inclined to give you room then so am I. A squad following however far behind would draw unwanted attention and potentially alert the supplier to you. Crusader Lily has the details on where you'll be going. She'll be waiting for you at the gate."

"Lily?"

"The tip came in through a family member of one of her squad that was at the bar. They'll be the ones waiting for your word to move in." I nodded, thankful for at least something familiar on my first outing in unfamiliar territory. "I have high hopes for you Inquisitor. Use those skills of yours, think in ways others don't, use that resolve." She stamped her hoof once on the floor for emphasis, raising her chin to look down her nose at me. Then her expression softened and she reached a hoof up to my shoulder. "But be careful, be safe, and don't be a hero. I need you for other missions of much greater importance than this matter."

"Yes Elder, I'll do what I can."

It was no more than an hour later that I found myself standing outside one of the dirtiest looking buildings I'd seen. The walls were grimy and grey where they weren't speckled with dried blood, vomit, and other things I couldn't identify and didn't want to. The ponies that passed by shot me curious looks until my scowl made them hurry on their way. I didn't even have to force it. This was one of the worst experiences of my life, hooves down. Everypony had glared at me on the way, whispered, pointed, jostled, pushed, and shoved. None apologized.

I looked down at my Pipbuck again as if willing the the map to change and tell me that the Blindshine, the bar from the tip, was anywhere else than in front of me. Sadly, the map tag refused to budge. My Pipbuck's apparent clairvoyance about post apocalyptic businesses and streets only served to aggravate me more. I'd said I was done not understanding the things around me and as soon as I got back I was digging into the code to figure out how it worked so it didn't surprise me again. Right now though I had an assignment to finish.

I walked up to the front door, past a number of mares draped in thin fabric who were way too interested in me for my liking, and pushed it open. The room beyond was filled with acrid smoke and the smell of sour beer and tangy liquor. Oh, and puke and blood and other things I couldn't identify and didn't want to. At least they were consistent. Every pony turned to look at me with half lidded stares and suspicious glares. I put on my Sixty Three mask and pretended they were normal ponies from Sixty Three. It worked just as well here and they turned away from the invisible pony in the doorway. Then the door closed behind me and my nerves took over with glee. I had no idea what to do next. I welded my mask in place and found a seat in a darker corner of the room where a low table let me sit without revealing my support frame. I nearly panicked when the chair squelched under me and I couldn't stop myself from twitching and hacking in disgust. Apparently that was normal though because no one took notice other than a table of ponies playing cards who chuckled to themselves before going back to their game. I shoved the feeling of revulsion deep down inside me and took stock.

Okay Gear, you're here. So, what the hell do you do now? Hmmmmm... you need a lead.

Obviously.

Wait, who was... Oh Goddess, I'm snarking myself now?

Seems like it.

Great, got any actual advice?

Yeah, don't get caught. Everyone's armed to the teeth. Here's a reminder for a quick moment of panic.

My inner dialogue was scarily accurate as a slow pan of my eyes revealed pistols, rifles, and shotguns everywhere. No scorching or ash though. It was too much to hope the piles were still there, they would have been cleared out for business-as-usual to resume, but that sort of energy would have left a mark. That meant it must have taken place on another floor or more likely given the layout of the place, a private room. Unfortunately Lily's squad member wouldn't tell me who had given her the tip because she didn't want to put them in danger (her expression had also made it clear she had no confidence I could do this without getting caught. Huge confidence boost on my first assignment).

Well, the Elder said to think like myself and not everypony else so... how do I do that? Ummmmm... okay, let's put this in familiar terms. Say the Overframe was asking me to investigate something that had happened in a department while her sensors were down. Where would I start? ... with the department head. The owner or someone close was who I needed... and a long look around said my best chance was the bartender. Otherwise known as the ugliest, gruffest unicorn stallion I'd ever seen currently pouring shots with his mouth revealing a full set of steel teeth with matching metal eye patch. I didn't want to get closer to him than I had to but couldn't think of a better option that wouldn't raise suspicions. The next time a place opened up at the bar in front of him I slid into it as surreptitiously as I could.

"Yeah? What de'yeah want?" he asked with infinite boredom and a lazy look which revealed one of his eyes was a half decent glass copy of the other. Half being the key word there. I turned my mask to "mild interest" and looked at the shelves with their various bottles behind him.

Crap.

None of them were hard cider. What the heck was in them if it wasn't cider? Apples, that's what you made alcohol from right? That's what we did in 63- ...oh. Oh damn. I hadn't seen a single apple tree, or living tree for that matter, since I'd left the Stable. No telling what they use out here and whether I'd live through trying it. I'd seen signs depicting meat for sale in the market- I hid a dry heave behind a cough and shook my head for clarity and distraction from the awful place my thoughts had been heading.

Quick, listen for what anyone else is ordering, it'll have to do. Just... don't think about what might be in it.

"Shot of... Dragonfire."

He gave me a very scrutinizing one-eyed glance then shrugged and began pulling bottles off the shelves. I realized I might have made a mistake when the sixth bottle came down and knew I'd made one when he tossed a small pebble into the mix and it burst into green fire that made my PipBuck click ominously.

"Anything else?" he asked while putting all of the ingredients to my imminent death back where they'd come from.

Thank you timely way out! "Yeah, heard there was a fight here from a Ranger initiate. Energy weapons used. Was wondering if you knew where I could find the ponies that used them." There was a faint clink as he dropped the last bottle a little more heavily onto the shelf than the others. He turned that same one-eyed look back at me with a definite glower now. I had a sudden impression that one, I had once again said the wrong thing and two, I was still going to die from the shot he poured only now it would be from him shoving it through the back of my head.

"You got a lot of nerve coming in here and asking for anything, Ranger Boy. I'd suggest you get before I let everyone know we've got unwelcome company."

Okay, so he didn't like Rangers. Thankfully, I wasn't one. Well, a normal one. "I'm not a Ranger. They kicked me out of the Castle when I said I wouldn't be a Scribe." Half truth, nearly as good as a whole truth for getting ponies to ease off on interrogating me.

"You expect me to believe that with all the crap you're hauling around? Like they'd ever let you go with so much as a battery," he growled while a HUGE revolver floated up from under the bar and lay across the top while pointing at me. I hadn't even seen him cast the spell! I nervously glanced at his horn and realized it was ever so faintly glowing in a ghostly white that hardly stood out from his grey horn. That was just cheating!

"I uh- I bought the stuff off them before they kicked me out."

"Now I know you're lying. Rangers never sell nothing, don't care about caps. So now you've got till the count of three. One-"

"Didn't have caps so I sold them the information from my Stable!" I quickly added while lifting my leg just high enough to pass my Pipbuck through the cloak, trying to hide the support frame under it as much as I could. He paused in counting and gave it a long hard look. I rolled the selector knob against the bar top and flipped through the status screens to prove it was real. He narrowed his eyes then lowered the revolver down to the bar, no longer floating but still pointing at my chest.

"So, guess that's the latest rumor confirmed. Kicked you out huh? What, you insult them or something? Castle not up to your high Stable tastes in living?" he said with a sneer. I really didn't like this guy.

"They gave me a choice to join or leave," I replied.

"So you left huh?" No, I hadn't. All I'd said was they'd given me a choice and he'd filled in the rest with his own emotions and biases. Picking the right words so others would hear what they wanted to, especially if those words were completely honest and true, was a trick I'd picked up to get out of awkward situations back in the Stable. Good to know it still worked here. "Good choice. They'd have taken everything from you before long just like with this city."

"Well, I'm outside now and I'm looking for the group with the advanced guns."

He arched an eyebrow and chewed his cheek for a second. "Think you might be in a bit over your head Stable Boy. You don't seem like the dealing type." At least he didn't spit the new nickname like he had the first.

"I'm not. I'm the fixing and building type. I was a technician in my Stable, robots, electronics, that sort. There's nothing like that in the Burbs for me to do. Fixing up laser and plasma guns sounds a lot better than the alternatives around here."

He gave a small appraising nod and licked his lips with a thick, sickly looking tongue. "I'll give ya this, at least you didn't say some shit about how you're the toughest ganger to ever stumble in from the Wastes or how you've killed a hundred stallions. If you're looking for real work and you've got the skills I can point you in the right direction. For a fee obviously."

"How much?" I asked apprehensively. Lily had said the city and Burbs worked on a barter system of favor for favor and I didn't want to know what kind of work that might entail for this sleaze of a pony. Thankfully he just asked for money.

"Two hundred caps."

A lot of money. Don't even get me started on the local currency either. I could have jury rigged something to pop out sheet metal caps in a day. Only hard part would have been the paint and printing. How they managed to get by with something that flimsy...

"Two hundred? That's most of what I have left! I may be new here but I've seen top end rifles go for less at the market."

He hissed out a laugh. "You want to play with the big boys, you take big boy risks. Besides, if you can actually do what you say then that'll be chump change for you before too long." Really? Just how big was this smuggling ring? Or was he exaggerating just to get the money? It didn't matter, the caps were provided by Elder Dawn and the weapons were the priority.

"Fine," I said, hoofing out the caps onto the bar. He counted them then dropped them into a lock box. He leaned in close and I copied him hesitantly (his breath was a physical force of repulsion) while he glanced around quickly. "I let them do their deals here in exchange for a small take. Never been with them to their place before but they've had me send other ponies there. Old warehouse on the inner edge of the Burb, right across the river from the city. Just ask to see Good Business."

I blinked. "Good Business? Is that his real name?"

"How the fuck should I know?" he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Probably some title he made up for himself to make sure everypony got the message about how he runs things. There, I've told you what you wanted. Now finish your drink and get out of here before you draw in trouble." I looked down at the forgotten concoction and gulped. It was still on fire even if my Pipbuck had stopped clicking and the color had only gotten darker since he'd poured it. I saw no way out of drinking it without also pissing this guy off, a move I thought would probably be bad for my health just as much as the drink, so I tipped him my best fake thankful nod and tossed it back.

You ever have one of those- whaddya call em- days! Days where everything- I mean EVERYTHING- seems to be going well? I was having a week- no, sorry, a day, yeah, a day- like that. Today, I mean. Got my new gear, got my first job, and so far it was going pretty good! Pretty good... yeah, pretty good. I wasn't even caring that ponies kept bumping into me while I followed the bartand- barend- bartender, yeah, the bartender's directions to Good Business's place. That bartender, he was a pretty good guy. Name was... well damn, I don't think I ever asked him. I should go back and ask, be polite like I should go back and ask. Yeah, I'll go back and ask. A good guy.

A complete asshole. Sold me something called Addictol with what I had left. Turns out I "can't hold my shit" and got addicted. One shot. Addicted on the first shot, that shouldn't be physically possible. That's what he said too, just to add insult to injury. I want to call bullshit except my Pipbuck was saying I had both side effects of the anti-drug drug and diminishing withdrawal effects. Oh, and a splitting headache and nausea and a very empty and aching stomach but the Pipbuck didn't think those were worth mentioning.

That was the terrible shape I was in when I finally reached the warehouse later that day as dusk, or rather the darker shade of sky that passed for night on the surface, set in. Thank Celestia I hadn't actually made it here earlier and instead lost my mind enough to go back to the shithole bar to get the assholes name. Never did get it. Glad for that.

I glanced over the top of some old, rusted barrels stacked in the shadows of an alley across from the target warehouse. The lights over the large slide doors made my head hurt even worse despite how far away they were and I cursed my past self to the last level of Tartarus for the damn shot of doom.

With my eyes squinted to thin lines I could make out a unicorn lounging or leaning to either side of the loading doors, one whistling a tune while the other smoked a cigarette slowly and methodically. When I dropped behind the barrels a glint caught my eye and I looked back, shifting around until I caught it again and noticed the hidden assault rifle under a stack of cardboard at the hooves of the smoker. If it wasn't an energy weapons ring it was still uninviting and that meant I was interested in it. Hidden places might mean hidden tech. Hopefully...

I circled around the building a few more times, looking it over while staying in any shadows I could find. I had a couple close calls including one memorable one where I was hiding in a covered drainage ditch and one of the guards decided he needed to empty his bladder just before I passed under the grate he chose. If he'd looked down at all we'd have had a very personal and infinitely awkward moment before all hell broke loose. Thankfully he hadn't and that remained the highlight of my search.

Soon after I was certain I'd seen every nook and cranny of the outside and chose my entryway: a battered exterior fan in the wall opposite a low flat roof on the nearest set of mostly intact ruins. A few more minutes saw me to the top and a few more found me with a makeshift bridge of boards and wire extended out to just below the ancient and unmoving fan.

As I stepped out on it I realized something critical I hadn't been taking into account: I might not be feeling the weight of my frame and rifle but it still weighed something and that something combined with my own weight caused the wood to crack ominously as I reached the halfway mark. With a hissed curse I stalked forward quickly and landed with surprisingly little noise on the far end of the bridge just as the bottom board cracked apart. I dropped down to the sheet metal roof of the warehouse and froze, waiting for the two guards to come and investigate.

But they never did and soon I heard one of them say something that earned an sharp chuckle from the other. I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly started to work on the grate of the decrepit fan. A minute or so later the grating was down, the fan was disassembled, and I had an open if dim way in. When I got back I was going to find some way to thank Furnace for including tool holders in the frame's legs.

My nerves were screaming at every tiny pop and creak as I stepped through the the long fan casing. Still, none of them were more than squeaks and no alarms or shouts followed afterwards. I was in the clear as I lowered myself down to the catwalk below the fan inside and turned to look at the inside of the warehouse.

Or I would have if I hadn't come face to face with the glowing muzzle of a laser pistol. I looked over the weapon at a brown unicorn with a goldenrod muzzle and mane wearing a spotless black and copper pinstripe suit and a pair of bright sunglasses with small circular lenses and matching copper rims. He leaned his head forward to look over the tops of them at me and smirked with undisguised humor.

"You know, Screech and Spine had a running bet on when you'd finally make it in and funnily neither of them won. They both guessed short. So what took you? Old Steel Jaw said you left his place hours ago. Not good business being so late."

* * * * * * * * *

Equipment Perk: Support Power Frame. Your carrying capacity is doubled and the Strength requirement for all weapons is halved when your frame is equipped. Without it your carrying capacity is halved.

New Perk: A Little Sensitive. You and chems are an energetic mix. All effects from using chems are increased by 50% but you also become addicted to them 50% faster and all negative effects are doubled.

Author's Note

Whoo! Despite a road trip, a family visit, and more car troubles this is near record pace! Hope you all enjoy!

This is far enough along now that I'd like to thank Kkat for making this incredible world. I'd gone through a lot of great stories here but FoE was the one that made me want to add on to it and got me into writing. Thanks for what you've given us and thanks to everyone that's decided to keep up with this little addition to that world.