Vault Dweller

Drinking Buddy powered on, then spoke out loud that it's microbrewers and subroutines were all operational, and that it even had an internal bottling mechanism. It was loaded with a Gwinnette Pale Ale recipe, and the last batch of beer was sealed with nitrogen to make it inert, and it only took sixty seconds from the moment it turned on to pump out the lines, cleaning out the dust and excess build-up, by shooting hot water through them. Followed by ice cold water, then finally switching over to pumping beer through its refrigeration system. Despensing a small ice cold beer for Meathead to try, it was poured into a bottle visible held in a metal ring through a small window, then once it was full, the window opened, the bottle tipped out, and a beer was offered. The walking, talking modified-protectron robot had a keg-sized micro-brewery in its chest cavity, with multiple buttons for dispensing different beers.

"" Meathead said, taking the cold bottle from its holder. The window closed and Drinking Buddy remained still, awaiting feedback.

Tasting the beer, Meathead realized this was immediately infinitely better, smoother, and crisper than what was served at the Third Rail.

Five Lakes, New York, Or, was it Finger Lakes? Were there were five lakes at Finger Lakes? Whichever the case, he would ask Nate about it later. The wine growing region was home to some of the finest wines on the East Coast with vineyards dating back pre-Revolutionary War. If some owners sprung for a Mr. Handy unit to monitor the wine storing and aging, then there could be sealed vats of wine ready for consumption, or barrels of 210 year aged wine, but the chance it was all sour vinegar was possible too.

Swallowing the rest of the beer, ""

"Very Good. I appear to be operating at an optimal level. I'm scheduled for delivery, would you care to select the HOME designation?"

""

While not the most ideal way to start a morning, finding Drinking Buddy was a definite bonus. After scouring the rest of the restaurant, which there was a relatively untouched bar on the second level, finding spare recipes to put into Drinking Buddy was a long-term investment. How to restock or resupply the robot was beyond Meathead, and there wasn't exactly an intact owners manual laying around either.

\111/

Walking back to the U.S.S Constitution, and having two more morning beers, there were still three stars visible in the morning sky, with the sun quickly rising and turning the sky orange.

The Giddyup Buttercups were excited to see the new addition to the Executive Suites, but they were excited about most things, quickly tapping and prodding the robot to see all its features.

When he went up to the ship, Thunderstruck was out on the bow, her wings readjusting every so often to keep her steady, as the only thing far below her was Faneuil Hall.

""

She turned around, leaping high up into the air with a few flaps of her wings to clear the railing, then landed on the deck.

"You're back, I need your help. Are you still...you?" She inquired.

""

"I feel fine, but I went out last night and found somepony."

"Oh? Somepony? Who? Is she below deck?"

Pausing to take in his surroundings, Meathead felt the life form below deck and a sour expression came to his face, this was bad.

"Yes. But I need you to make one of those pods."

'<I can tell.>" Meathead thought, "What happened?"

Moving across the deck and pulling the hatch open, they went below deck where Meathead was introduced to Cherry, but the mare in question was in a terrible state. Non-responsive to the outside world, emotionally dead, Meathead tried calling out, but she wouldn't even blink.

""

"Yes they can! It fixed me, and when I came out, I...I actually felt alive!" Placing a hoof to her chest and rubbing small circles to feel her breast. "You helped me, and I...I didn't even recognize myself! I can't remember what I used to look like! When I saw myself after coming out of the pod, I thought it was a sick joke! Cherry Fizz just needs to rest! She needs a warm, safe place, and not to be disturbed. You're the only pony in the whole world who could make something like that for her to recover. Please, make one."

"" Meathead asked, hoping for some sort of response to help better gauge the traumatized mare. ""

"When I found her, she had buried herself in the mud, and kept saying she was dead."

Meathead grizzled at the thought, he didn't even know where to begin unpacking abuse victim's emotional baggage, but he and Thunderstruck were both praying that waking up in a rested body would begin the journey to recovery.

\111/

Cherry was podded, and Meathead used all the excess emotion and energy given to him by Pickman, happy to disgorge the affection and other misplaced emotions into Changeling resin. Pickman was attracted to Nate, or at least, the idea of Nate, since Meathead was the one running about, but this attraction was not in the romantic-lust type of way, more like two apex tiger predators relishing in their place at the top of the food chain, and enamoured with the strength each of them possessed.

It's what drew Pickman to Athena, he realized, he was attracted to power.

"Did that kid make it home safe?" Thunderstruck asked soon after Cherry slipped below the surface of the hastily constructed changleing pod.

"" Meathead replied, omitting what happened to Donny after he arrived at the hotel.

"You look like you wanna say something."

"" Pointing down to the Old State House, she spotted the building. ""

"And then what?"

""

There was a hesitation, and Thunderstruck looked over the railing towards the city. "I wanted to find other ponies that escaped or got out. A lot of us were sold off, but some of my friends were butchered. I found one pony on a spit...roast. While I was rescuing Cherry."

Thunderstruck swallowed, not wanting to think about the smell of...of her friends being smoked over a fire with their rib cages exposed and organs ground up then shoved back into the intestines for sausages, and head boiling in a vat of soup water that would boil over, sending the skin and blood oils over the edge of the pot, causing it to burn on the metal and send black carcinogenic smoke into the air that was once someone Thunderstruck knew, with the smell coating her tongue.

Meathead knocked against the wooden railing, seeing Thunderstruck's eyes come back to focus on him and widen. ""

Pointing across the bay to Libertalia, Thunderstruck recanted her story of how being late meant the death of two ponies from Nuka-World. She saw their bodies from above, killed whatever raiders she could, snuck in and dug Cherry out of the mud she was trying to drown herself in, and then carried her back to the Constitution.

"< I'm going below beck. I'll see you in two hours if you're still here. If you go exploring, stick to the tall buildings, avoid the streets, and watch out for signs of any life. Assume everything will want to kill you and you should be safe, Afterwards, I'm going down to Goodneighbor.>"

"Is it alright that I stay here longer than...now?"

""

"I guess so. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for any other ponies."

""

Thunderstruck sighed, having to relive her time in Nuka-World to answer the question.

"After the raiders took Nuka-World. It was bad. But the first thing the smartest raiders did, was sell off the weaker animals. Pack animals. That was the best we could hope for. Being sold. There were a lot of merchants that used to come through Nuka-World. And for a month or two afterwards, those same merchants would still come through. We still knew where ponies were going, what trade routes they were taking. We would pass along messages by word of mouth."

"

The tan mare nodded, "Yeah. How do you know all that?"

""

"One more thing?"

""

"Why did you call me Thunderstruck?"

""

"It's fine, Thunderstruck is better than anything I've been called in the last year. You still didn't tell me why you chose that name."

""

"I think I'll keep it for now. After waking up I felt like a completely different pony, and it took me a while to realize that it was you to thank. I didn't recognize myself. I feel like a new pony."

""

\111/

Cracking his fingers, and stretching out his neck joints, Meathead checked the doppleganger Nate's appearance. Hopefully in the time they've been seperate, the original twin didn't take on too many scars.

Thunderstruck claimed the leather satchel for herself, and Meathead helped outfit the mare with weapons that were in working condition.

Loading up a bag with six Institute laser pistols and then energy cells into ammo box, they carried everything with them while walking to Goodneighbor.

\111/

Walking from the Constitution to Goodneighbor was quiet, which was exactly how both Meathead and Nate liked it.

"" Meathead said to Thunderstruck.