Fallout: Equestria - Echoes

Fallout: Equestria

Echoes

Chapter 4: Monsters

<==M M==>

A rainbow maned pegasus pulled off her Shadowbolt beret and threw it onto the empty table in the waiting room. "Glad to be outta that mess." She was in full dress uniform, as I was, but was far more uncomfortable in the prim and proper garb.

"Eeyup." A large earth pony stallion stood impassively by the door. He was handsome, but clearly a farm pony by the indents around his shoulders from wearing a draft collar and his similar discomfort in the dress uniform. He glanced at me before Rainbow Dash spoke again.

"Been a while, Big Mac. How's the army treatin' ya?" While they talked, I walked up to the table and gently floated my own beret next to Rainbow Dash's. They were both black and had different skull based insignia, but the Shadowbolt cover had gold trim while the Battlemage had purple.

"Well enough. Just doin' my part. You?" Big Macintosh’s uniform and mine were a similar mix of khaki and dark green, but Rainbow Dash’s had much more flair in purple and gold.

"I still can't get many pegasus to do the same. If they would just join up in force, we could smash those zebra all the way back to Roam."

After a moment of silence, I turned to find them both looking at me. Rainbow Dash talked first.

"So, you're Ruby Moon, right? Are the unicorns going to step it up like the earth ponies did?" I couldn't help but feel misrepresented here.

"I wouldn't know. I don't exactly stand out like you two do." It may have seemed humble, but it was true. Between the two unicorn ministry mares, there wasn't much of a way for another to get much media spotlight. Not that I wanted it at all.

"Then why are you here?" I wasn't sure if she was trying to insult me or not. By her expectant expression, the intent was an actual question. This mare was rude.

"I was the first unicorn selected to become a battlemage, so I was selected to be the face of the unit." Rainbow Dash got a thoughtful look on her face. It was a little confusing.

"Why isn't your unit more publicized? I know Rarity has done a lot to get the Shadowbolts well known, and the Macintosh’s Marauders are basically heroes of Equestria, but I’ve never heard anything in the media about battlemages. Are you guys a secret or something?"

I looked at them both. The best of their ponykind, right here in front of me. I feel small, even with Big Macintosh's kind look and RD's subtle respect.

"The Ministry of Image and Rarity are excellent at what they do. By showing the Shadowbolts to the public, they inspire every pegasus into being a master of the sky. They play on the pride that if a pegasus joins the military, they will become awesome like you."

She practically whinnied. "That's what Rarity said when she convinced me to let her go public with them. I didn't want to with all the commando stuff we do, but it tripled pegasus recruitment rates. She was right."

I looked at the big stallion, head and shoulders above the two of us. "Big Macintosh is a symbol of earth pony potential. By publicizing his rather astounding successes and deservedly praising him for it, Rarity makes every earth pony believe they can become a hero."

"Ah... thanks?" He shyly nodded his head and scratched the back of his hoof.

Rainbow looked at Big Macintosh for a second before giving me a sideways look. "But why not the battlemages? Why not you?"

"Unicorns aren't made of equal potential. To be quite frank, there is a wide margin between a unicorn such as I and even a respectable unicorn such as Rarity. Don't mistake this for arrogance. It is simply fact that not every unicorn has the potential to become a combat magician. Not half, not even a quarter of all the unicorns in Equestria have the talent to even enter the academy. Of those few, only a fraction are truly talented in magic. Only that fraction can actually become a Battlemage."

Rainbow scoffed. "So there isn't any point in getting their hopes up?"

Nodding, I said, "Exactly. Besides, there is plenty that a unicorn could do without turning their magic into a killing tool."

"What's wrong with that? What makes killing some zebra with magic different than with a gun"

"Firstly, there is a stigma about using magic to kill. We aren’t predators. We didn’t develop our magic to wage war. We use it to sing our soul into our art." I looked down at my hooves. I couldn't look them in the eye. “By killing with magic, we become artists of death.”

Big Macintosh’s face was neutral, but Rainbow Dash was shaking her head. “I don't get it.”

The earth pony spoke before I could. “Killing with the magic that makes you a pony is poison for the soul.”

That was exactly what I would expect a farmer to say. “Well said, Big Macintosh.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, but something in her look made me think she was beginning to understand. “If that’s the first thing, what is the second thing?”

“It’s just so easy.”

The silence made me shiver. For a moment, the kindness and respect was replaced by shock and revulsion.

“So many spells can end life. Simple spells can kill a single zebra and powerful spells can kill many. Before that battle, two days ago, the first battle of my new squad, I was counting how many zebra I had killed. It was twelve.”

Cyan feathers waved at me. “Why count? That’s creepy.”

“I had my reasons, but I don’t count anymore. Two days ago I lost count around three hundred.”

Rainbow mouthed the number. Big Mac just gave me a hard look. I sighed. "I'm a murderer."

"Wait just a second,” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Just because you've killed a lot of zebra doesn't mean you're a murderer. We're defending Equestria. Protecting ponies."

"You are defending Equestria. Both of you. Me... I am killing zebra." Rainbow shook her head and looked to Big Mac for help.

"Way I see it, we all have killed a lot of zebra, which is bad, but we did it for a good reason. We don't want another Littlehorn-" I spun around, hooked a hoof onto a chair and tossed it above the table. My horn flashed and a green bolt flew from my horn to the chair, turning it bright green before the object melted into ashes.

"I want to kill zebra. Defend Equestria? Sure. Protect ponies? When possible. What I do, every day they let me, is kill zebra. That's why Rarity won't touch the Battlemages. She thinks we are monsters." I floated my beret off of the table, shook the ashes off, and place it on my head, the unicorn skull badge clear for them to see. "She's right."

v^V^v

The overcast sky above lacked any remorse. Rain encouraged me to walk quickly but the fading light reminding me that I hadn’t slept since being frozen, and that hadn’t really been sleep at all. I had little to push me in this new world. Forging my way through the terrible weather to recollect my possessions and get money, caps, to start a new life. Trashbin had enlightened me to a few things regarding my possible future. What was I to do? A mercenary for hire? Warlord of Trottingham? Queer old hermit on the hill, scaring off trespassers with fireballs? Maybe I would find Onyx, make amends, and figure out what he has been doing for a dozen and a half decades.

The land was desolate. I encountered little in my trek to the Colliery, and though easy to dispose of the roaches were horrible reminders of the effect radiation had on some creatures. It was only just after killing the creatures that I realized I was being followed. A sprite bot like what Trashbin had told me about was watching from just beyond the hill. If Trashbin had said nothing of it, I would have attacked, believing an enemy was tracking me. Instead, I called out to it.

“A friendly pony told me to keep an eye out for bots like that one.” Standing in the open, shield spell at the ready, I wondered how far I would go trusting strangers like this.

The bot floated sheepishly out from behind the brush. Like Trashbin said, no songs from my time were playing from those old speakers. Only, after a time, a tinny mechanical voice emitted instead.

“I suppose that means you’re a friendly pony?”

Compared to everypony I had met, I’d suspect I was the element of kindness. “I’d like to think so. My name is Ruby Moon.”

“Just like a ghost. You can call me Watcher. How- I mean, well, what’s your story?”

A ghost? This pony, or person at this point, might recognize me. “When the megaspells fell, I entered Stable 45. There, I was frozen until yesterday, which is when I discovered everything has changed.”

“So you are Ruby Moon. That Ruby Moon.”

“Are you still just Watcher to me? Or are you going to tell me your real name?”

There was a longer pause than I liked. “I can’t. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just can’t risk it.”

Nothing spurs curiosity like mysterious denial. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any position to press the matter. “What do you have to say, then? I’ve got business to attend to that may allow me to sleep in a bed sometime this week.”

Another pause. I’ll give him the time he needs, but I wasn’t kidding about sleep. I was going to need it after this adventure. “I’ve got a favor to ask. I don’t have anything to offer, but visit Pony Joe's, just south of here.”

“A donut shop? Don’t tell me that’s your house now.”

The sprite bot shook in the air, an amusing lifelike denial. “No, not a chance. Just take a look, all right?”

I shrugged. “Sure, I will.” I waved and turned to walk away when it spoke up again.

“It’s south of here. That’s north.”

“I know, Watcher, but I’ve already got business. Unless you want to tell me more then I’m going to finish my business first.”

Another pregnant pause, ended not by his voice but a static burst from the speakers ushering in a 170 year old motivational song. I wrinkled my face at the bot before turning back to the north. I didn’t like Watcher’s way of ending conversations.

v^V^v

Standing on the rooftop of a maintenance shed, I stared into the heart of the Clopstone Colliery. It was a large pony made pit roughly three hundred yards at the widest, and almost an oval shape. I was at the southern end, where the facilities to support the Colliery still stood. I couldn't tell how deep the pit was, as water filled the basin to just below the complex.

Hydra were large, dragon-like creatures that normally had three heads and had a ridiculous healing rate. The wasteland, I suspected, did not change those basic facts. Knowing that, I had seen a hydra before the end and it was nothing like the monster that was wandering toward the Colliery. That hydra was entering the pit now, sliding down clear troughs where it frequented.

Diverse coloration was a trait of most dragon like species, but the wildly striped creature before me was especially dizzying. The shine of its scales and their reflection in the water created a kaleidoscope everytime it moved, and I was worried those scales had hardened into magical armor. Each head seemed to have grown far too many teeth, and large fins trailed down each neck, a trait that didn’t belong to the creatures I was familiar with.

Two of the heads went down in the water, doing something I didn't guess. The third was keeping an eye out, and it swept it's gaze across the horizon, spending little time looking at the building I was on. I was basking in the fault of my overconfidence now, no longer certain I could kill the beast. If radiation had increased its healing, gave it magical protection, or mutated its body in ways I couldn’t see then I might fail to kill it.

My hair stood up as the watchful head stared at me- no, below me. I was on the closest building to the pit but I couldn’t see down this edge, where the beast was staring. Whatever it had seen was enough to stop whatever it had been doing. Both heads slowly rose from the water, a glistening rainbow amidst the spectrum of scales. If it weren’t for the misshapen teeth, it might have been beautiful.

I flashed my horn, my surroundings changing to the western ridge of the pit. Clearly downwind of the beast, I was overwhelmed by the smell of fresh fish and rotten eggs. I blocked my nose with a hoof full of my coat and tried to focus on what the hydra had seen.

The southern edge had a road that zigzagged down the cliff with a door maybe a dozen feet above the waterline. In front of this door was a pony wearing black armor. This might be the pony Trashbin had mentioned, but I would have to act fast to prevent my armor from ending up inside that beasts stomach.

I stirred up a lightning spell and zapped the bolt from my horn to the watchful head.

The beast shook, complete surprise causing the shimmering scales to shake the seas of the small lake. The lower heads darted above the water, curving around to face me instead of the mysterious pony in black. I cast another simple spell and a trio of red bolts launched high above me before two darted into the water ahead of the heads, the last burning the nose of the watchful head.

A flash of steam preceded a deluge of water, and two huge open maws lunged at me. I blinked to the other side of the pit, watching the two heads collide where I had been, their rampant teeth ravaging each other. The third head seemed the smartest, as it started searching the area for me while the two bickered over bumping together. While I readied another spell, the watchful head spotted the pony in black, the whole of the hydra moving toward it. My fire bolts unleashed on his head, coming straight from my position. That head turned to me, but the pair were snaking along undistracted, so I teleported behind the pony and started to ready more spells.

Her voice was soft and sweet, which stood out like a clean spot in this wasteland. "-it, damn it, stupid lock, I don't have- whoa, who are you?!"

A half second passed while I finished my spells before I said, "A unicorn who wants what belongs to her."

I let two fire bolts zip from my horn. They flew straight at the heads but dived down into the water, creating a spout between the hydra and us. I unleash a fireball, the burning energy arcing at the walls of water. Two heads burst through the collapsing wall to meet a fiery explosion and cringe, falling back into the water hoping to soothe their burns. The third descends upon us from above and takes in a breath. I activate my shield, encompassing myself and the pony, and the flames of hydra breath engulf us.

The heat is immediately too intense for my taste and two more fire bolts fly out from me, out to either side before arcing around to hit the water just before me, creating a watery shield in the way of the hydra. Much of the water is flashed to steam as the hydra continues its attack, perhaps not realizing what I had done.

From my left a head appears, maw wide. I send a firebolt inside and the head jerks back, the tongue melted. A head on the right smashes into the wall and grinds at us, sending rocks tumbling our way. I feel the strain like a hammer to my horn as they bounce off the shield, but I send a lightning bolt at the base of its neck, burning a hole through to the spine and causing the head to shrivel back.

My eyes narrow as I realize the wounds I've inflicted are healing before my eyes. Exactly what I had feared had turned out to be the case. I'd have to end this in a single blow.

The three heads rose above me, taking in deep breaths. I let fly firebolts, pounding into their necks, and the burning bloody chunks sizzled when they splashed into the water. Dropping my shield and shifting my remaining energy, I put extra force into my next spell. The condensed energy beam shot just above the water, cutting into the breast of the hydra. Meat and bone melted away as I frantically shifted the beam, searching for the heart. I pulled for more magic, but I was starting to run dry just as my vision was beginning to fade, but then a red mist burst from the gaping cuts, matched by the entire hydra slumping and collapsing.

I dropped the spell and let out a baited breath. My reward was the return of clear vision but now I took a panicked breath. The damn creature was falling toward us. Glancing behind me, I saw the pony peeking out from the opened door, her eyes and mouth wide with shock.

"Get inside!" Her gaze snapped to me, not realizing what I had said, but I rushed into the door, pulling her along. The room was dark, so I lit my horn, filling the room with red light, and saw what looked like a storage shed, filled with shovels and wheelbarrows, all of it shaking as what was probably a hydra head smashed into the complex. The supporting structure of the ceiling shook loose and started to collapse around us.

I pushed the mare further from the door as said door was crushed under rock and hydra. "We need to go deeper, find a door," turning and running further while I shouted over the din.

"There, follow me," she ran to the back of the room where a set of double doors stood. I didn't want to risk any delay from them being locked and shot a firebolt at the handle, the metal liquefying instantly. The mare got the message and barreled into the door, knocking it from its hinges and into the winding tunnel beyond. We cantered on through, earth shaking less beneath our hooves as we distanced ourselves from the storage shed. Reaching another double door, the mare turned the handle and we walked in and shut the doors behind us.

We were in an intersection of passageways, with dirt floors but fully fabricated walls and ceiling. There were lights lining the halls, but none were lit, and the light from my horn did not reach more than a few dozen feet down each hall. The only sounds were distant rumbles and our breathing. Mine was quickly recovering, but hers was barely labored. She was a fit one.

I confirmed now that she was wearing my combat barding, and I would need to negotiate with this mare. "Now that we have survived near death together, I believe introductions are in order. I am Ruby Moon, and it a pleasure to meet you." I smiled at her, but she stared back, uncertain.

"Proctor Cashew." Her rigid tone made my smiled slightly drop. "I'm thankful for your assistance. Why did you help me, Ruby Moon?" She started trotting down the left hall. I followed.

"Please, just Ruby. I saw you were in need and I provided my assistance. I was in the area to deal with the hydra, so it was impeccable timing that allowed me to save you."

"Maybe." She stopped at a door a pushed it open, looking inside. Unsatisfied with a locker room, she moved on, as did I. "Or your attack caused the hydra to notice and care that I was there at all." I drew back at her accusation. That certainly wasn’t true, but it struck me that she wasn't very thankful for my actions.

"Setting the matter aside, what brings you to this mine? Risking a hydra's wrath must have an impressive reward." I was actually curious about that. If she was a Steel Ranger, she was probably here for tech, but was there really any sort of tech here that they would want?

The hall ended in a larger room filled with tables and benches lined up from wall to wall with a gap centerline of the room leading to a windowed wall on the far side. The floor was tiled with a linoleum finish that still seemed intact from lack of use. This was a cafeteria.

"That's not your business, outsider. I would advise we separate the moment we leave this facility."

I stopped at what she said. "Oh, now you're asking for my help? You could start by saying the words. Otherwise I might just leave you here to rot with the bones." That made her glance around and notice the dozen pony skeletons scatter throughout the cafeteria.

"How would you do that? Teleport?" Her voice starting sounding a bit shaky.

I smirked. "Of course. But I used a lot of energy fighting that monster. I can't just spare the energy to take you with me." Her eyes spread into saucers.

"Is there something you want?" She was near panic now.

"I want you to relax and be friendly. You do have something I want, but I'm not unwilling to help you first. Since we are on the subject of terms, I want my combat barding."

She looked down at the barding she wore, focusing on the emblem of a unicorn skull with crossed lightning bolts behind it and six six-pointed stars arranged around it. One star was gray while the others were purple.

"But I bought this fair and square. It's mine now."

I shook my head at the wasteland. "Somepony takes a bunch of things from my room and everypony says they bought it fair and square. Look, I'm a pony from before the apocalypse who went to a stable that put me in a stasis pod that woke me up yesterday. I left that barding in my bedroom and some scavenger took it and now you have it. What can I do to get it back?"

She slowly looked me over. "That's a crazy story."

I walked further into the cafeteria, wondering if they had any high preservative foods. "You're a Steel Ranger, right? You ponies are obsessed with the past? Ask me something only a Steel Ranger or a pony in my position would know."

She glanced back at the barding while following me. "What unit insignia is this?"

"Equestrian Guard, First Division, Special Company, Battlemage Unit." Like reciting a mantra. I reached the windows and glanced inside. Cooking facilities to make an army cook proud. Translation: Shelves of boxes of Dandy Colt Apples, Fancy Buck Cakes, and several other foods that could survive a megaspell war. I floated two boxes of the apples out, offering one to Cashew.

She had been staring at me. I'd guess she didn't know that. After seeing the apples she sat at the nearest bench and opened the box. "Who founded the Steel Rangers?" She started munching while I answered.

"Founded?" Not quite how I would phrase their creation. "Applejack initiated the program to better protect our earth pony soldiers in battle." I popped an apple into my mouth, not quite savoring the wasteland flavor.

She was starting to look flustered now. "Who were the alicorn princesses?"

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and Princess Flurry Heart." Is that really not known? Now that I thought about it, the war and the Crystal City's stance on it did drive them apart. Judging by the lack of crystal ponies or knowledge of those two princesses, I would guess that distance did not save them from the apocalypse. "Look, I understand that you acquired my barding with hard earned money. I'm not asking you to just give it to me. I'll do you a favor and in return you give me my barding."

"Okay, but... you're really from before the war? Not like you've lived since then but it was like yesterday?" Her nervousness was transforming to excitement before my eyes.

"Yes. I'd like to not talk about it right now." I was trying to avoid it at all costs, really. I ate another apple to distract me.

She was practically giddy now. "I just have so many questions. They will be so excited to hear about you, this is a much greater discovery than anything I could have found in this place."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I didn't like the sound of being treated like a relic.

Faint music interrupted her response. Like some kind of ghostly radio, Sweetie Belle's sweet voice was slowly approaching us from where we had came. I killed the light from my horn and moved up to behind Cashew. I whispered, "Something's here."

CLICK CLICK. I really didn't like that sound. Not the soft click of Jump Shot's pipbuck radcounter, but a hard click of something hitting the tiled floor. Cashew heard it too, and we both hid behind what cover the tables offered. CLICK. It didn't sound like metal on tile. The sound reminded me of was a bug, but that was a terrifying thought. I decided that any creature that frequents down here would probably be adjusted to see in the dark so I lit my horn with a light spell, this time adjusted to be bright white.

"Radscorpion!" Cashew yelled, identifying the huge insectoid monstrosity before us. Without her I probably would've called it a hideous mutation and to be killed with fire, but with that name I did realize the six legs, perhaps twelve feet from tip to tip, and the two pincers, not quite symmetrical but nearly as large as a pony each, and the tail, arcing over the body with a bulbous end housing a stinger that would surely kill me by impalement long before poison would inhibit me, did make the creature resemble in some horrifying, science experiment kind of way, an emperor scorpion.

The monstrosity shielded its eyes with its claws, proving my hunch, and that gave me time to consider my options. I was low on magic. The assault on my shield along with the extended mazer beam had taken more energy than I should have spent. I had no idea what kind of attacks this radscorpion could handle. Was it's carapace immune to fire? Reflect energy spells? It certainly looked bullet resistant, so my puny pipe submachine gun wasn't going to be much help in actually killing it.

My thought were interrupted by Cashew calling out, "This way," as she ran passed me toward the kitchen. The radscorpion no longer shielded it's eyes and started walking at me and another radscorpion entering the cafeteria. The second one had, for whatever strange reason, a radio on it's back. That was where the song was coming from.

I turned and ran, following Cashew through double dumbwaiter doors in the corner. Cashew was already pushing a large heavy stove, her earth pony strength apparent in that she was actually making progress. I helped by levitating it just enough to be as light as a table, and Cashew quickly pushed it in the way of the door. I also toned down my light to a moderate white. We admired our work for a moment, wondering about two unusual things that I had just noticed. The radscorpions weren't yet attacking us, and the music had just stopped.

A sharp edged claw burst through the serving window, tearing some of the wall apart with it. The claw snapped twice before receding, but what looked like the other claw quickly took its place.

I spared a look at Cashew. She was frightened, but still with me. I guess a proctor had combat training on wasteland monsters? I said quickly, "There going to get through, we have to find another way out."

She looked at me, or rather, my horn. "You just killed a hydra, why can't you kill a radscorpion with your magic?"

"I'm not a wellspring of energy, that hydra took a lot out of me. I would teleport us both out of here, but if I've misjudged the energy I have or there is any kind of interference I could just burn out and then we'd be completely bucked. Now, unless you have a bigger weapon than a ten mil, we need another exit."

She ran to the back of the kitchen, and I faced the slowly shredding wall. I grabbed every metal object larger than a breadbox and pushed it against the wall. The two pairs of claws, one at what was the serving windows and the other tearing apart the stove, were hardly slowed by my efforts. I glanced at my gun. Even it I could hurt them with it, I only had two drums. Maybe 150 rounds?

Cashew swore, drawing my attention. She was running out of a backroom in the opposite corner of the door being torn open, and snapping at her tail was a dirty white radscorpion. I pulled over a shelf of Fancy Buck Cakes when Cashew passed it, running straight away at an empty spot of the wall between the kitchen and the cafeteria. The albino radscorpion smashed apart the shelf, boxes of snack flying to all corners of the room, continuing its charge at Cashew. The legs of the creature fell upon the snacks and it lost just enough control to smash into Cashew and the wall behind her. The fragile wall fell before it like shredded paper and Cashew and the albino tumbled into the room.

I rushed after, taking note that both other radscorpions were too deep into the walls to realize their prey was now beside them. Climbing onto the albino's back, I saw Cashew shaking herself awake between the slowly swinging claws of the albino.

"GET UP AND RUN!" I floated the nearest table into the air and ran down the albino to Cashew, helping her up and pulling her into a canter. The first snap of the albino missed my head by inches, yanking a clump of my curly mane out, causing me to let out a yelp and drop the table early. It clipped Cashew in the flank, but landed in the second albino claw, which crushed the table in two. While I helped Cashew limp out of the room, I floated every loose table and chair into the doorway, hoping the makeshift barricade would hold long enough for us to get away.

Cashew wincing at every step was increasingly audible over the radscorpions tearing apart the makeshift barricade. I gathered as much energy as I thought safe before stopping Cashew and putting my horn to her tender flank. The healing spell did it's work, sealing the gash and hopefully repairing any bone damage in the proper manner. She gave it one test stretch before breathing out a thank you as we cantered off.

"Do you know anything about this facility's layout?" I asked when we stopped at a four way intersection. Despite the good sprint, neither of us were really out of breath, yet. Unfortunately, we couldn't see or hear the radscorpions, so we didn't know how much danger we were still in.

"Not at all. There aren't any structures topside that have any sort of stairs or elevator going down. That's why I wanted in here. It made no sense, and that meant there was some sort of secret. You were alive when this place was active, do you know anything about it?"

I shook my head. "I've never been here, and it never concerned me. I only know of it because I lived in Hollow Shades when I was younger."

She seemed unnerved by that. "Do you know what happened?"

What? I shrugged. She shuddered, then stiffened before wildly looking down every hall.

"This way!" She ran down the safe hall and I stayed on her tail. I heard the snapping of claws and risked a glance behind. I could see the white of the albino behind a black form, one of the others in front of it. They were slightly cramped in the hall, and so we were slightly faster at a sprint. Looking forward, I could see an wide doorway, not five seconds away.

Cashew stopped hard, but I bowled over her right into a cloud of dirt as the black carapace of a radscorpion rose into our path. I raise my light to maximum brightness and focused it onto the creature, causing one claw to shield what must be its eyes. The other claw blindly snapped at where I was; I jumped, my left forehoof stepping onto the claw. Just as the tail stinger thrust toward me I twisted my body and pushed off the claw. The stinger missed but the bulbous end of the tail pushed into me. I latched on and when the tail retracted I was tossed onto the ground behind the radscorpion. Dropping the light to a comfortable level, I looked to see Cashew running over the creature's back.

I scrambled up and through the door. The security checkpoint was quite unexpected, but the solid concrete floor and big red button labelled 'Emergency Shut' were both reassuring. Cashew rushed in through the doorway and rolled to her left. A black claw reached in after her, snapping at where she had been. I slammed the button with my hoof. A steel door with reinforcing rods dropped from the ceiling, smashing the claw to the floor. I heard what must have been radscorpion screams as the door quickly crushed off the claw, letting greenish ichor pool onto the floor.

I dropped my light spell since pressing the button brought the facility to life. White lights lit the room clearly, while a few red lights gave it a ominous tone. The room we were in was clearly a secure entry point, but also had a small forklift driven into a port in the side. Next to the port was a dead light and a viewing window that appeared to be stained with blood. On the console with the door button were dead video screens and the knobs to control them. Opposite the forklift was a door.

This was no plain colliery. "Well, you were right. Secret. I didn't know this kind of facility was here." Cashew nodded as she walked to the door and tried the handle. It opened, surprisingly. The next room was a hall lined with several bunkrooms and another door at the end. After checking each door for traps, we searched the rooms. They were full of things neither of us found useful, with the exception of a box of 10mm rounds that Cashew pocketed into the saddlepack of my barding.

"Returning to our previous conversation, what do I have to do to get my barding back?" She looked down at herself again and sighed.

"I guess I'll return it if you help me return to Stable 26. Oh, or if we find something I like better." She moved on to the next door, opening it and walking into the next room.

Stable 26? Was that the headquarters for the Steel Rangers? Considering her rudeness earlier, I waited before pressing the matter. Following her, we found what looked to be the security checkpoint. We walked around the metal detectors, though Cashew seemed excited to know they were in good condition.

I did press the matter of my stuff. "Any full combat barding should be good enough, right?" We came to our first choice of doors; 'Armory' or 'Operations'. Cashew was too distracted by my comment to be excited about the armory, I guessed.

"Is that all this is? A unicorn unit like the Battlemages doesn't have enchanted barding?" She absently chose the armory door and, finding it locked, starting the process of picking it.

"That combat barding is what we wore early war. As technology developed, such as the Steel Ranger armor, the M.W.T. also developed a suit of light barding for use by recon units. We modified that barding for our use."

Cashew dropped the screwdriver from her mouth and said, "Got it." She put away her tools and opened the door. "Score." That was a correct statement.

Since the area we've seen of the facility were devoid of skeletons, I came to the conclusion the facility was successfully evacuated. This room indicated that they were in such a hurry they left any equipment not already checked out. The armory had a fence halfway into the room, with a gate and a small access door for handing weapons out. This side of the fence was empty, but the other side had a pair of full weapon racks and shelves with barding. Hopefully some full combat barding, but chances were slim.

Cashew heading to the gate, her tools still out. "Why light barding instead of power armor or something else?" Then the screwdriver went in her mouth.

"Weight has a significant impact on teleportation limits. Since that was our primary travel method, we didn't want to add anything that would add strain to our energy reserves." Seeing that she was still working the lock, I kept on going. "Teleporting a pony in power armor is like teleporting two and a half ponies. Typically, Flashpoint would teleport the squad of six battlemages onto the battlefield from behind the lines. If we were all wearing power armor, the strain would feel like 20 or 30 ponies. While Flashpoint had a talent for teleportation, he wasn't a miracle worker."

"Sweet." Cashew put the tools away; the weapon racks weren't locked in any way. We both inspected the treasure, and it was one that I could respect. Four IF-21 Caramel automatic 10mm pistols and two IF-80 Stampede semi-auto 12Ga shotguns; wait, these Caramels only had semi-auto function. That was still more exciting than the barding; only a light security barding, meant for protecting against melee strikes and stabs rather than bullets. I held one out to Cashew, but fully expected the shake of her head. Since I was still unarmored at this point, I removed my coat and put one on. I removed the holsters built into the other three suits and strapped one to myself, giving the other two to Cashew and filling them with the pistols. We both ready slinged the shotguns, with my submachine gun moved to stowed over my back. Into the few pockets our bardings had we stuffed all of the ammunition, which for me was 120 10mm in ten magazines and 40 12Ga.

I put the coat back on over the barding. Didn’t want everypony to identify me as ‘Security.’

Feeling a much greater degree of safety, we entered the unlocked operations room. The first thing to catch my eye was a symbol of four stars on the wall to my left, above a desk with a skeleton sitting behind it. The rest of the room was empty of remains, but full of paperwork. Sections of desks were spread throughout the room, each with a sign that signified which city they were in charge of, I presumed. The Hoofington section was nearly as large as two others, and located next to the desk under the logo, with the Canterlot section next to it.

Cashew let out a yip. "Four Stars Transportation? We've never been able to access any of their facilities before. They are nearly as secure as Stables. Oh, you're from the past, right? What was Four Stars all about? Why the ridiculous security?"

"Sorry, I've heard of them, but never any details. I certainly don't know why they would have a secret headquarters." I was curious about all this secrecy. Not that wartime Equestria wasn't full of secrets, and I had been part of my fair share of them. I trotted up to the desk under the icon. Seeing the skeleton up close, I frowned.

Cashew noticed my look. "What's wrong?" She looked at the body. "She looks like she killed herself. Everypony else got out. I wonder why she stayed."

"She's a zebra," I said simply. There was a gun on the desk, next to where her hoof rested. By her other hoof was a memory orb. Twisting my levitation magic to not activate the orb, I picked it up and inspected it closely. I was very curious what was on it.

Cashew frowned as well, and studied the remains more closely. "How would a zebra be in charge of such a prominent pony organization during the war?"

There was also a terminal on her desk. Cashew booted it up. A security screen appeared and she began typing. Text rolled across the screen as she attempted to hack the terminal. I pocketed the orb and watched.

"That's what's wrong. Four Stars was prominent in name only. Nopony I knew had any idea what they did, besides what their name implied. And no zebra would be able to run a company. Pinkie Pie wouldn't let them take a step without eyes watching. This place makes no sense."

"Done." A single option was on the screen. Cashew looked at me, perplexed. I shrugged, and she selected 'final message'.

The lights switched to red, and a yellow light began to sweep around the room. The wall behind us hissed and split open, revealing a small elevator. From a speaker on the desk a zebra mare speaking equestrian started talking.

"-verride complete. This is my final message to Equestria and the world. I'm so sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn't have been part of this; allowed this to happen." She interrupted herself with a hiccup and a sob. Cashew and I were both alarmed but deadly silent as she continued.

"Whoever gets to hear this, take the elevator to escape. I'd like to think I could save at least one life. If it weren't for Flashpoint we would have saved so many. That bastard." Now I was seriously curious. What in Tartarus did Flashpoint have to do with Four Stars. Cashew's stare was asking me the same thing.

"I hope the bombs kill him, but he did so much damage to our plans... it doesn't matter anymore. We failed. I hope you learn from our mistakes." Another sob, a familiar click- BLAM.

Cashew eyes darted around before settling on the monitor. "Crapbaskets, we need to go. Think we can trust the elevator?"

I glanced at the monitor to see the words 'Self Destruct Initiated' in the center. "No timer, no choice." We dashed in and hit the big red button labeled 'Emergency Surface'.

The doors snapped shut and the room surged up, almost crushing us to the floor and reminding me of when I learned to never let a Shadowbolt drive a skywagon. Cashew looked more stable than I, but we both waited with growing apprehension. The good ending came when the elevator grinded to a halt and the door hissed open to the inside of a storage barn for the actual Colliery. We traded caution for the need to get away from anything currently self-destructing.

Bursting out the barn door we came muzzle to muzzle with a rifle barrel. Behind it was a pegasus stallion in a duster, reared up and holding the pose with his wings to hold the rifle in his hooves like a zebra. His mane, coat, and duster were all shades of brown, with mane darkest and coat lightest, and there seemed to be something under the duster; bags or barding, I couldn’t tell. Nopony moved.

The pegasus spoke first, his voice dry and even with a light drawl. “State yer name and business.”

I decided on the short and sweet version. "We found a secret facility and set off a self destruct system." He shrugged, unconcerned. "It hasn't blown up yet. We have no idea what will happen."

His ears perked up forward, but he shook his head. "Probably nothing. Been a long time; all those prewar systems got a few kinks. I'd wager they tried to self destruct before and nothing happened then neither." His look grew more and more smug as we stared at him in the uneventful silence.

Cashew pawed the dirt and said, "Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean something won't happen. I've messed with enough prewar secrets to know that when something doesn't work out as they planned it, it always malfunctions in the worst way possible."

I gave her a raised eyebrow. "Is that really true?" That would be surprising, considering the precautions we went through, but thinking about how it ended…

“Ya’ll still haven’t given me yer names.” There was still a gun pointed at us.

“My name is Ruby Moon.” The gun lifted immediately.

Cashew said more slowly, “I’m Cashew.”

The stallion had slung his rifle and dropped to all his hooves. “Ah’m Dust Devil. I’ve been sent to find you, a red unicorn mare named Ruby Moon, and bring you, peacefully, to my employer. She claims that you’re an old friend of hers.”

That was supremely curious. “Does she have a name?”

“Moondancer.”

Moondancer. I had known and looked up to her my whole adult life. To know she was alive was both warming and disconcerting. She must also be like Onyx.

Cashew was not distracted by nostalgia and responded first. “That’s nice, but we have business to take care of first.”

Dust shrugged, “Ah’m in no hurry. Moondancer wants to see you, but she didn’t say anything about urgency. She only wanted me to help you figure out the wasteland until you decide to go visit her in Tower.”

How nice of her. “She sent me a wasteland guide?”

He smiled and reached under his coat, revealing a pack that aspired to be like Trashbin’s. From it he pulled a magazine and held it out for me. While I floated it over, he said, “Well, she did send you a Wasteland Survival Guide, but I get yer meaning.”

The guide was a bit of a mess, clearly written in haphazard fashion by some pony named Ditzy Doo. I turned to the pages about trading and sure enough; caps. This book would actually be useful. I put it away as neatly as I could.

We were silent for a few more moments. No rumble. No smoke from the barn hiding the elevator. Maybe it did malfunction? Or worse, we were deceived?

Dust, fully trusting the failure of the self destruct device, eyed our barding and guns. "Did ya'll find some good loot?"

Cashew shook her head. "Oh, no you don’t. This location is off limits to scavengers. I have to report this to the Steel Rangers. With an intact Four Stars headquarters able to be inspected, there is no chance my Elder won't send a platoon to occupy it."

Dust shrugged, disappointed but unconcerned, and looked at me. “So, then, where to, boss.”

“I’d like to check out a place south of here, then head back to Station. Should only be a few hours. Once there Miss Cashew and I will sort something out and then I’m fine with heading to Moondancer.”

Cashew perked up. "Wait, you expect me to go with you? What, am I in your party now?"

I poked her where the battlemage badge was visible beside the shotgun. "I don't want my armor damaged, so you're sticking with me until I convince you to trade it. I'm sure we can accommodate your duties until then."

“Fine.”

v^V^v

"Pony Joes?” Dust Devil said. “Only ponies that ever hole up in a Pony Joes are raiders. Dunno why, just is. No point in talkin', they'll just take the opportunity to shoot us. I think we should leave."

Raiders? That's the name Trashbin had implied to the ponies outside Stable 45's door. They had been aggressive, filthy, and suicidally stupid. I didn't like that there were so many raiders in the wasteland that a popular and incredibly common restaurant had become known as their hangout. I looked at the ranger. "You feel the same way?"

"Absolutely. What he said about Pony Joes is true, and raiders are the only ponies that I believe should be shot on sight. What do you want with this place, anyway?"

Shot on sight did not mean charge blindly in. “Someone told me I would find something here. I want to know what. Dust, can you slip up to the roof and spy some info on the target.”

“As my role of wasteland guide, my official advice is to avoid raiders. Nothing good will come from them.” He went out the back, flying up out of sight.

The Pony Joes was on the edge of Trottingham, which meant it was largely protected from wherever the balefire bomb had detonated. Judging by the faint debris fallen from the tallest buildings I could see, I'd guess the other side of the city, somewhere between the ranger armor factory and the army base. Sensible location for the target. Luckily, the residential areas were across the city. Also known as right here.

Dust came back rather quickly.

“They had live prisoners,” he said in a rush.

My tilted a tiny bit. “What do you mean by live?”

Cashew answered. “Live is a very temporary condition with raiders. They only take prisoners to torture and rape them until they’re bored, and then the prisoners die.”

Anger flooded through me. Anger at the depravity of ponies. At what happened to the world after the megaspells. Mostly anger at Watcher. Had he sent me here to save them? Why didn’t he say so in the first place. My eyes still on Cashew, I realised that if I had went here first, she might be dead. How many would I have saved here? How many will I save now?

I crept up to a window on the ground floor of the train stop, Cashew and Dust behind me. The view wasn’t great, but I didn’t want to attract attention just yet.

The houses around Pony Joes offered little cover, as it seemed they had been damaged by more recent events. If raiders frequented the restaurant, then it made sense to me that it would be a constant battleground. The building itself had a ramshackle wall made largely of debris from the collapsed houses around it. A single guard walked the rampart, but was more often looking in than out, apparently missing out of some activity. Mounted on the wall were pony body parts, some fresh, others less so. I could smell the stench from here, and while I wished I would use the spell to block that sense, I, as a rule, never limited my senses. Besides, this stench would remind me what I'm here to do. The best part was that it was about an hour since we left Clopstone, an hour since I had used any magic. Plenty of time to recharge.

"Dust, take up a position wherever you think is best. Cashew, cover his back. I might need him focused. If he decides to go airborne, help me if you can but stay safe."

She looked a bit hurt by more words. "I'm not baggage, y'know. I should go with you. The scavenger can protect himself."

I only stared at the camp. "I'm teleporting in now."

"What-" Dust started, but I didn't hear the rest. The world flashed around me and I was standing next to the pony on the wall, who was staring into the courtyard of this castle. There, a half dozen raider ponies were laughing at the butchered bodies of a pair of stallions. Another couple of raiders were trying to get into the restaurant itself, but a third, large earth pony was standing in their way. I pressed the shotgun against the head of the low quality guard and blew his head off.

Everypony's eyes were on me. For a moment, no pony moved. I racked the shotgun.

"Every raider is going to die." I said the words loud and clear, with nothing but malice to fill them. Everypony started to move, and I started firing.

The nearest raider, a earth pony mare, light blue under loads of blood and raggedly assembled spiked armor, screamed when my shotgun blew away her forelegs. An earth pony stallion attempting to pull some kind of spear from one of the corpses received a lightning bolt to his head, dropping him next to his victims. A quick unicorn stallion floating a spiked baseball bat in a yellow glow was running up the stairs to the rampart. A burst of flame from my horn had him stumbling off the stairs and writhing in unquenchable fire.

The pony in the door had stepped inside, but everypony else was rushing at me or a weapon to attack me with, so I ran down the length of the rampart, launching a bolt of fire at an earth pony mare with a pistol in her mouth. She dropped, charred ribs smoking, and her pistol went flying. It didn't land as a blue glow encompassed it, but I didn't see the unicorn who had grabbed it.

I jumped off the rampart, landing in front of a earth pony colt, a terrified look in his eyes, and kicked him down before I shot a unicorn stallion whose red coat was indistinguishable from the blood now pooling around his body.

The pistol in the blue glow started shooting at me, forcing me to move, so I ran at the Pony Joes. Before I reached the door, two stallions ran out, one holding another ridiculous pool cue in his mouth, and a unicorn with a pipe that had a crude axe bolted to it. The unicorn received a shotgun blast, rendering his head unusable, while the earth pony was awarded with nearby pebbles accelerated to the speed of sound peppering his body until he stopped moving.

The big earth pony stepped out of the doorway with a single minigun in a unbalanced battle saddle. He opened fire while I rolled away and prepared a shield. He wildly swung the weapon around, not reaching me before my shield appeared between us. I drew both pistols and floated them out of the shield on either side of the spray of bullets. He paused the barrage for a moment, allowing me to see the panic on his face as he started to aim at one of the guns. I shot his leg, causing him to fall and shoot into the air.

CRACK. Dust joined the fight, but I couldn't see who he had shot, only that the floating pistol dropped.

Before the stallion now writhing on the ground could stand, I dropped my shield and walked up to him, holstering one of the pistols but putting the other to his head. He started to snarl, but I pulled the trigger. I wasn’t interested in what he had to say.

I stepped inside to see nothing of the restaurant I once knew remaining. Gore was everywhere, including the mattresses in the corners. The displays for donuts were filled with chunks of what I could only surmise was pony flesh. More body parts decorated the walls and hung from the ceiling. On three tables were the beaten, bruised and bloody remains of ponies. It didn't take a M.A.S. tech to know what had happened to them.

I wished I hadn't killed all of the raiders- wait, I had left the colt alive, and maybe there were others. Moving to the nearest, I put my ear to her mouth.

I heard no breathing.

The next was just as silent-

A cough rasped from the third.

I shot the straps holding her to the table and lifted her in my magic. I gave her a healing spell, first targeting her battered internals. All the damage to her body meant that I couldn't even identify what color her coat was, and I could barely tell that her mane was a bright blue. I considered the anesthesia spell, but I wasn't sure how much blood she had lost. If I put her under, she might not come back up.

A gasp from the door drew my attention. Cashew stood with a hoof over her mouth. She was staring at the mare I was floating. I walked at the door, Cashew backing out, and stepped outside with the still healing mare floating behind me.

Dust stood behind three ponies in the dirt. A brown earth pony stallion, whose red mane might have just been stained with blood. A yellow unicorn mare with a burnt orange mane, cropped short, with Dust's rifle in her back. Finally, the terrified colt, his dark blue mane raggedly resting on a copper coat.

I walked up to them, standing before them. The adult stallion reeled, seeming to be mad or to have suffered a concussion. The mare stared at me, unafraid. The colt looked away, his terror fading. I pulled out a pistol and shot the stallion in the head.

The mare flinched, and Cashew drew a sharp breath beside me. I put the pistol to the mares head. Dust backed out of the splash zone. Pulling the trigger, her head adding to the mess of the courtyard. I stepped up to the colt. He was a blank flank.

"Did you join in the fun?" He didn't respond. "Are you a raider?" Nothing. I jerked his head to face me, and his eyes locked onto mine. "Do you deserve to die?" His eyes looked away. I let him out of my magic and put my gun to his head. I could see his eye twitch when he felt the barrel press against his temple.

I didn't want to kill him. He was young, raised in an environment that taught nothing but violence and hate and death. He had never known anything else, but deserved the chance to know it.

I wanted to kill him. His crimes had been done, and what civility could I have when I allow murderers and rapists to live free? Yet there is no prison to contain them; the harsh setting of the wasteland requires a death to settle a crime. He must die to create the peace we once had.

What would my companions do? The ones who had lived their entire lives dealing with ponies such as this group? Dust, I suspect, would have turned a blind eye and never interacted with the raiders to begin with. He can run, and has nothing of value for them to hold hostage. Cashew would give the colt a chance at redemption. Perhaps the other raiders, too, but I could be wrong about that.

No, my companions will not decide my fate for me. I will take the wasteland head on and cast my own destiny upon it and everypony, every creature who lived within my Equestria. That destiny would offer but one chance to be better. Only one chance before the hammer of Equestria's fury would lay judgement upon your horror.

"One chance. Only one. Find the line of civility and never cross it again, or I will end you."

Footnote: Updated Perk List. Added Perk: Fast Casting -- Casting complex magics can sometimes take too long to make them effective in combat, but you’ve learned how to adjust how your magic interacts with SATS to make them take less time. Wait, you don’t...

Gained Quest Perk: Violent Vigilante -- You are a force of justice and do not take kindly to corruption or violence in Your Equestria. Against filthy slavers and abominable raiders you do +15% damage and have a bonus to hit in SATS. Not that you even use SATS...