Fallout Equestria: Joker

Chapter Two

The caves outside of the stable went further into the ground than I had originally thought. The long walk from the second stable door up to the surface took at least a half hour to complete with no other lights except for my pipbuck light and Glitch's headlamp. He whined softly hovering alongside me while we got closer to the exit to the cave "I know, boy but I couldn't think of any other way of handling the situation. You could have stayed behind. The heart would have taken care of you". He blurted out a protesting mess of garbled static but I knew what he meant "Yeah, you're right. She wouldn't know to fix you if you needed repairs." He nodded and continued to hover along. We exited the cave and looked out upon the wasteland for the first time. The scorched landscape which had been a home of friendship and comradery, now it was an empty and hollow place. I looked up at the sky, the gray cloud cover didn’t help my mood at all. I felt a sudden sadness in my heart as I took in the sights "How could they... ". I shook my head. What was the point of asking such a question? Who would really know the reasons ponies had for fighting? Not just the ministry mares but the citizens, the soldiers and other leaders who ponies trusted to give them hope. Glitch nudged me and broke my train of thought. Sighing softly, I patted his casing "Come on, Glitch let's see if we can pick up mom's trail".

He nodded and hovered off while I checked the map function on my pipbuck "Hmm... Wait." I looked at one location. One of the many names I constantly heard during my school days: Ponyville. Of all the places, I could have found, the first one had to be Ponyville. I looked around and spotted a trail heading across the fields "Okay, my first day begins". With that, I started walking east to Ponyville. The former home of the Ministry Mares themselves. I wondered what their lives were like before the war. Before all the hate and conflict. After an hour-long stroll I looked up at the nearby hill and saw a barn surrounded by apple trees. No doubt who's home it was. Getting closer to the front gate I looked up at the sign: Sweet Apple Acres. The sadness hit me again. I wasn't sure if I was overly sensitive or what but I couldn't help thinking of all the lives that were lost. Not just ponies but zebras, griffins, dragons, and the other creatures who were involved with the war effort. I hung my head a bit and continued moving towards the town

I stopped and looked up at the barn as well as the farmhouse next to it. Thinking back to Dizty's survival guide I remembered one tip she mentioned a few times. Scavenging: Always look for anything that could save your life" Perhaps I could find something inside which may be of use to me.

I trotted up to the house and sighed while followed behind me. The radiation meter on my pipbuck began to click away when we passed some irradiated patches. No doubt this was common around here. Luckily mom had given me some insurance to ensure I would survive against radiation poisoning. Once I was just outside the front door of the house I reached up to push the door open then I heard some voices around the corner "Pops, are you sure there's something here we can use to trade?"

My eyes shot to the corner of the house where an earth pony walked into view. The mud brown stallion, covered in a full suit of leather armor like my own was looking back the way he came speaking to whoever spoke to him first

Pops "This used to be Applejack's home. Big Mac and Applebloom lived here too, so yes I am certain" he turned and saw me taking a huge step back "Ah shit. Somepony got here first!"

"What!" a young unicorn darted around the corner and looked at me. Her green eyes locked onto mine while her cheeks turned pink. Her coat was a dark caramel brown with a salty white mane. Didn't see her cutie mark, nor the stallion's since they wore full body armor. She said smiled a bit "He's cute."

The one she called Pops rolled his eyes "Kids always falling for the first one you see"

He stepped in front of her as he kept his eyes trained on me "All right, son. We don't want any trouble. The house is your claim. We'll head elsewhere."

The mare looked at him "Pops! Are you nuts!? We can take this guy! He may be cute but he's just one pony. Backdraft could eat him in two bites". She pulled out a .357 magnum and aimed it at me "Look here blue boy! We've been trekking all over these hills and we are not going away empty hooved!".

Pops knocked the gun to the ground and shot her an evil glare "What have I said about drawing your gun on non-hostile pony!?"

She whimpered and took a step back "Only draw your gun if they draw first"

Pops nodded "Exactly. We aren't raiders. We don't kill if there's no reason to"

I raised a hoof "um would it be a bad idea to point out I could have shot first during this whole moment between you guys?".

Both sets of eyes were on me as Pops started to smile then broke into a soft chuckle "Ha-ha! You know what? You're right. Here I am running my mouth and you're sitting there patiently waiting for this old mule to shut up"

The mare rolled her eyes "He still has a point. We'd be dead because you went into Father Mode again"

Pops snorted "Well excuse me for trying to make sure you grow up to be an old mare someday". He looked at me again then pointed a good at the collar of my stable barding which stuck out from under the armor I was wearing "You a stable pony?"

I blinked and nodded slowly "Yes, I was. I just left mine a few hours ago,"

The mare's ears shoot up as she looked at me "You left a stable? Why the hell would you do something so stupid!? "

Her reaction caught me off guard. I just look at her trying to think of a response "Well if I'm being honest I couldn't stand living in my stable anymore. I had to leave."

She gave me a deadpanned expression "So you gave up a safe haven for a life of a constant hell and an unending need to fight for your life? You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you?

"Excuse me?". What was this mare's deal? The first thing I've said to anyone and this mare has an attitude right off the bat.

Pops stepped in and smacked her over the head with his hoof "That's his decision and you have no right to judge him!"

She rubbed the spot where he struck her and glared at him "I Just don't get why anypony would give up the safety of a stable and willingly throw themselves into this hellhole the rest of us call home! Maybe I should go over to his stable and see if I get his room since he's no longer using it". She looked over at me and smiled "You wouldn’t mind, would you?"

I shook my head “I don't have time for this" I looked over Pops who had the expression of someone who was so very done with the situation in which I could sympathize "Why don't we split whatever we find and call it even?"

His ears shot up as he looked me dead in the eye "Are you serious son? I mean you got here first.”

I nodded "I'm sure. No way in hell I could possibly carry a lot on my own."

The mare shrugged it off "Eh, it's better than nothing." she stepped forward "You got a name stranger? You can call me Salt"

I nodded "I'm Cobalt.”

Salt smiled a bit then her attention was drawn to something that walked up behind me "Hey Backdraft! Did you find anything over in the barn?".

"Nope, just a bunch of old rakes and other crap".

I felt a warm gust of air against the back of my neck. My head spun around on a pivot to see who had just spoken. It was a dragon! An actual fucking dragon! I couldn't help but freak out as I started to back off the front steps "HE'S A DRAGON!!?" now it made sense why Salt said 'Two bites'

Salt giggles as she grabbed me with her magic and held me in place "Relax Blue boy he's with us. This is Backdraft our bodyguard and muscle"

Backdraft was at least 8 ft in height and I didn't wanna guess his weight. His scales looked like someone cobbled a bunch of coal together. His eyes a bright burning amber that felt like they were looking right into my soul. He let out a small laugh crossing his arms "That kind of reaction never gets old"

I just stood there staring as my eyes drifted from the dragon himself to the minigun strapped to his back. I could feel my pupils dilate when I started to get closer "Is that an MK-7 chain gun? I didn't think I'd ever see one outside of the old catalogs in my stable!"

He smiled and grabbed the gun's grip bringing to bare "Yes, it is. I named her Chainsaw". Chainsaw was right. The barrels were wrapped around with barb wire down the length and three serrated blades were mounted on the end. This weapon was built to destroy!

I smiled and looked it over starting with the motor "Man, you really put some work into this baby." he had changed the motors and most of the internal components "Where did you find it?"

Backdraft set it down on the ground "Old military base to the west of here about three years ago. Found her still attached to a crashed vertibuck. Had to rip off the damn thing but I fixed her up with some of the salvage we found that same day. She hasn't left my side since that day

The smile on my face kept getting wider like I was some colt "Can I say I'm honestly freaking jealous right now!?". Something inside the motor caught my eye. It was a holo-cassette lodged into a tight space "What's that?" I pointed at the holo-cassette

Backdraft looked at it "Oh that? That was something we found at the base. I slid it in there because it kept rattling when I fired it. Completely forgot it was in there"

I held up my pipbuck "I got a player right here." I gave him a big smile "Wanna hear what's on it?". Salt and Pops sat down next to me on both sides

Salt "okay, let's see what's on this thing.”

She lifted the cassette out with her magic as I opened the top slot of my pipbuck and hit play. Two entries popped up on my display.

Project: Cogarth Chassis blueprint

(Audio recording)

I selected the first entry and hit enter. My screen started to light up with a barrage of letters and numbers. I've seen this once before "Bad news. This first one is encrypted. My pipbuck doesn't have the software necessary to read it

Salt "Well shit. What about the other thing?"

"Yeah hold on." I moved the cursor over to the second entry and hit play

The recording crackled a bit then a stallion’s voice was heard "... Fuck! Fuck me running! Shit! *heavy panting* ... Fuck, what was I thinking bringing this in here? OK, let's try this again. Hello, my name is Brass Bell. I am a soldier at the Trotton Military base to the far west of Ponyville. Well, I won't be anymore once they find out I snuck this cassette in here. Listen, whoever finds this. The data on the cassette must not find its way back to Rising Star. You hear me? She cannot be allowed to get it back! I pray who or whatever finds this tape has the better sense to just leave it where it lies. Don't bother trying to break it! She did something to it and it's virtually indestructible! Please. Don't let her find the cassette!"

Some other ponies were heard in the background "Fuck! They found me! This is Brass Bell, signing off!" the recording ended with gunshots

We all sat there staring at my pipbuck while the name Rising Star repeated itself "OK, that was kind of ominous"

Salt snapped at me "Kind of!? You heard the guy on the tape!" She yanked the cassette from my pipbuck and threw it to the ground picking up her .357 from earlier "This thing has to go!!" she took aim and let off four shots. Each round bounced off the cassette and ricocheted into the bark of the dead apple trees surrounding the house.

We looked at the cassette when the dust settled while Salt stared in disbelief "Not a single scratch

Backdraft stood up and walked over picking up the tape then popped it into his mouth. He tried to bit the tape in half and sadly didn't do any better than Salt's gunshots. He started to get frustrated and bite even harder until we heard a small crack. One of his teeth hit the ground as he spits out the tape and held his mouth with a tear in his eyes. Salt took the tape and rolled it around "Damn. Not even his teeth did anything? It's just plastic! No way it could have stayed in one piece after all of this!". Glitch beeped as he nudged my shoulder

I looked up at him "What's wrong glitch?"

He chimed out "I hear music!" using a mixture of various audio recordings I programmed into his memory so he could form some phrases. I started to hear it too. Some bizarre Oompa music

My ears shot up tilting in all directions until I found the direction of the source. Another spritebot bobbing along blaring some festive Oompa music from its speaker. My head tilted to the side watching it drift back into the woods, I couldn't help but look at Pops. He raised his hoof "I know what you're gonna ask. Those spritebots are constantly wandering around the wasteland playing that music all over the place. Gets old real fast"

I don't think I could ever get used to that music so I got up and began moving towards the house "Yeah, I see what you..." the music stopped playing and I stood there. A feeling in the back of my mind was telling me this could be a very bad idea; however, I could not stop from turning around and seeing the spritebot just hovering in the woods staring at me and everypony else. Pops, Salt, and Backdraft all gawked at it like Glitch and I was.

Backdraft gripped the handle of the chainsaw "That's never happened before. These just fly around and play that damn music!" the spines on his back started to flare up "It's starting to piss me off!"

Pops placed a hoof on his shoulder "Easy, Son. We don't wanna attract raiders from Ponyville."

The word 'Raiders' got my attention. I looked at Pops while he kept an eye on the ominously silent spritebot "You said raiders. What are they?"

Pops looked at me for a split second and then back at the spritebot while Glitch hovered over to it beeping inquiry trying to get it to respond to him "Raiders are the worse kind of ponies. They steal, rape, kill and plunder anyone or anything they see. If you got something they want they'll take it from you. Some of them aren’t very bright but then again there are ones like the Sledge you need to watch out for"

"The Sledge?". I was pretty this wasn't the time for questions but I had to ask him while I had the time

He nodded "Yeah, The Sledge is one of the biggest Raider bosses of the west. Some say the guy was born from a dragon's brood but has the form of a pony. Insanely strong and just as smart. Some will go to say it's a damn mare!"

Backdraft "One story I've heard the Sledge got the name from taking down a dragon with nothing more than a damn sledgehammer, no armor, and no help. Just one pony. The gang running with him just sat back and watched

As soon as I looked at Backdraft after I heard what he said the spritebot resumed its previous task bobbing along the trail heading towards the woods. Every one of us just stood there waiting for someone or something to happen. Pops broke the silence when he kicked the front door in "Okay! Backdraft, you, and cobalt will check the downstairs. Salt and I will check the upstairs. Remember the rule: You find something, you whistle. Got it?"

They both nodded as he looked at me "Cobalt, you find anything you think has some value or some use to it. You can have it. But if possible I want an even split. Agreed?"

I nodded and walked over to Backdraft as he used his breath to weld a piece of metal into where they hid the holo-cassette in the Chainsaw "So what's the story with the Sledge?"

Backdraft looked at me as he closed the Chainsaw's casing "Years ago, A bandit leader called Ripper ruled over the area west of here. He was a dragon much like me. Using fear and intimidation to control his gang along with the surrounding areas. That was until... The Sledge stepped up to challenge him"

"He was said to be this dark yellow and skinny little pony with no cutie mark. He wasn't even wearing any armor and the only weapon he had on him was just a regular Sledgehammer! But no one stopped him." He drew a picture of the fight in the dirt with his claw. I watched him, imagining the fight inside my own head "He said that Ripper was just a coward and didn't have any right to lead. So, he challenged him to a duel. The Sledge against Ripper and his whole gang

While I listened to the story we had entered the house and began looking around. So far, we discovered nothing but some rusted shoes, pie tins, and gardening tools from before the war "The guy took on the whole gang?"

Backdraft nodded "Yeah, Ripper laughed at the whole thing thinking the guy was trying to be funny. The sledge threw a barrel at his face. Which really pissed him off. He gave the order for his gang to open fire right there on the spot" he picked up a few of the pie tins and chucked them at the wall making them bounce back towards us "He shook the bullets off like they were dandruff

“After the dust settled they saw the sledge just standing there. An evil smirk growing across his face. He reached up and five finger-like appendages popped out of his hoof when he grabbed his hammer. 'It's my turn.' that's all he said before the whole gang started to swarm him armed with every blunt and the sharp object they could find. Then you see nothing but red mist as the Sledge took them out with just his hooves and that one hammer. Flesh ripping, bones breaking and the sledge covered in blood from head to hoof. Not one single raider left a mark on him. Then Ripper jumped into the fight armed with his signature dual ripper saw blades. The motors roaring as the blades did nothing to the sledge but make him chuckle

"Ripper was getting pissed at this point. Finally, he tried to bite his head off. Lost half of his teeth when they broke off and the Sledge yanked more of them out. Ripper couldn't believe this was happening. He tried to fly away. However, the Sledge himself grabbed his tail and yanked him back down into the ground then hopped on his chest holding his hammer at Ripper's head. It was this moment the Sledge showed the world his favorite method of execution: The Golf Swing

"Golf swing?" I asked him when I thought back to the old classroom when we were learning about the various prewar sports activities they played. Golf was one a few I didn't really grasp the concept of the rules. He nodded when he opened a cabinet in the kitchen

"That's right. He pins you to the ground with his hind leg, holds the sledgehammer next to your head like it was a 9 iron and swings it pretending he's playing golf." he shuddered a bit "I’ve seen the bodies of a caravan who ran into Sledge and his group. It was not pretty"

Just the image in my head was enough to make me lose any kind of appetite I had. Man, this guy sounded like a real piece of work. Note to self: avoid the sledge if possible. However, I couldn't fight my growing curiosity of the guy. I kept wondering what he looked like and if the story has any truth to it at all.

Salt called to front the top of the stairs "Hey guys! You should come look at this! We found a terminal with a recorded message. Looks like Cobalt wasn't the first one to leave his stable."

Should I really be surprised that I'm not the first? The both of us started up the stairs as I looked around at the rooms of the house, I started to picture the Apple family. Happy and carefree during a much simpler time in Equestria. Once again, my oversensitive heart started to feel heavy inside my chest

Salt watched me from the doorway and tilted her head "Hey Cobalt. You OK?".

I nodded and looked up at her "Might seem stupid but I can't help but wonder how things would have been if things hadn't occurred as they did"

Pops called out from the room while he tapped at the terminal's keyboard "Can't help what happened, Son! They had every chance to prevent all this from happening but they choose to let their prejudice guide them. Trust me when I say. Learn from the Past, live in the present.

With a sigh, I walked into the room and my eyes instantly went to the terminal sitting on the desk near the window "Anything on it?"

Pops nodded "Yeah. An audio recording left here a while ago. Pretty recent from what I can tell" he hit play and the words came pouring out of the speaker

To any pony who has left Stable Two in search of me:

Please, go home. I am doing what I have to do. The Overmare understands, even if she can never agree, and I hope one day you will too. I will not be back. Do not look for me. Do not endanger yourself further for my sake. Please forgive me.

Velvet Remedy

I felt like I had heard the voice of an angel. Velvet Remedy, her voice was almost like an angelic chorus. She left her stable like I did. Whatever her reasons were I'm sure they were worth it. At least I hope they were. I walked up to Pop's side "Is that all that's on here?"

Pops "No, there's one more file among all the corrupted data but the damn thing is encrypted. We need the file from both terminals that sent and received the file to open it.

I looked at the file and shook my head "Leave it. Something tells me it's best to leave it alone." glitch flew in and beeped inquirly looking around the room "There's nothing here boy. I think we should make our way from here." I looked over at Pops "Do you know the ghoul pegasus named Ditzy Doo?"

He gave me a hearty chuckle "Of course I know her. We do some trading every so often when I pass her shop in New Appleloosa.

"New Appleloosa? Where is that?"

Pops stood up and walked over as he pointed at my pipbuck "Open up your map and I'll point it out for you"

I did as he asked waiting for him to mark my map with the location of New Appleloosa. Salt watched as she sat down on the nearby bed giving me a slightly worried look. I met her gaze and tilted my head. Was there something wrong? She and I met just met.

Pops nodded and patted my shoulder "There you go! Take this route here and you'll be there in a couple of days". He smiled and went back to scavenging through the house.

I took the moment to walk over to Salt and looked her in the eye "Are you OK?"

She looked back at me and sighed shaking her head "No, I'm not. If you leave I'm gonna be stuck with that old geezer and the walking furnace all over again

I was a bit surprised at her answer "What's wrong with Backdraft and Pops?"

She looked at me and placed her hoof over mine "There's nothing wrong with them. It's just.. " her face started to turn reddish pink "... It's not often I get to see another pony aside from raiders and slavers." she started to lean in closer "Especially one who's close to my age"

My eyes shot wide open when I got the hint of what she was saying. I yanked my hoof away and blushed a bit while my breathing started to get faster "Listen Salt. You're a cute mare but we've only met and I barely know anything about you"

Salt jumped onto her hooves "So why not travel with us and we can learn about each other together?”

I shook my head "I can't. There's something I need to do. I wish I could travel with you but I have somepony I want to find first"

Her expression started to turn sour in a split second. She stomped her hoof on the floor and snapped at me "Who the fuck is so important you have to throw yourself into this hellhole!? At least tell me who you're looking for!”

"My Mom". My answer instantly doused the fire in her eyes. A sudden sadness took its place. I reached up and rubbed her cheek "I have to find my mom. She's out here somewhere waiting for me. Please understand. I don't wanna hurt your feelings but I can't stay. I need to go"

She sighed and leaned into my touch "A guy like could wind up dead out here"

She looked up at me and kissed me catching me off guard like the Overmare did before I left. I froze up blushing so bright my face could have been a Hearth's Warming decoration. She giggled and walked out of the room leaving me there alone.

"Just come back alive OK?" she smiled and left the room.

Once again, I was dumbfounded by how easily I attracted both Salt and Dancing Heart. Did I have some kind of charm on me or was I cursed? I never liked the attention others gave me and seeing how two mares seemed so easily attached to me. Glitch beeped inquirly as he nudged my head. Finally, I regained the ability to speak "I understand... nothing.

I heard Pops chuckling in the doorway "You got the look of somepony who hasn't kissed a mare before"

I looked at him and felt my face getting redder "Usually the other pony expects it!" I shook my head after some unwanted thoughts and images started to come to mind "Does she do this often?"

He shook his head "Not usually. But it's not like he doesn't go looking for some young stud when we hit the bigger settlements." He trotted over and stood next to me "So you're looking for your mom huh?"

After I sat down I gave him a nod "Yeah, she contacted me recently and I've been trying to pick up her trail. The only clue I have is where Dizty saw her." I looked out of the window praying I'd see her flying by. "I should have asked her before I left the stable"

Pops watched me for a moment as he rubbed his chin "Last I saw her she was heading west towards the hills. I think she was heading to your stable if I remember right."

My ears popped up when I heard him mention my stable "Of Course! She'll probably fly pass this way! We can flag her down when she does!" I smiled again and darted out of the room heading down the stairs and out into the yard gathering some dried up chunks of wood or anything that would burn. A fire might would do the trick.

Pops followed me outside and instantly took notice of what I was doing "Whoa! Hold on son! That's a bad idea right there

"You light a big ol' fire out here and you could set the whole orchard ablaze. Not to mention give off a big damn beacon to any slavers or raiders in the area. Last time I checked Ponyville was lousy with raiders."

Pops once again saved my ass. A bright fire would definitely invite the wrong crowd to the house. Plus the sun was still up. At least it seemed like it. I looked up at the cloud and narrowed my eyes "So how soon do you think the clouds are gonna stay like that?"

Pops gave me a look of confusion and sighed shaking his head "If you think you're gonna see the sun anytime soon you better think again. Nopony around here has ever seen the sun”

"Haven't seen the sun? How could anyone...?" once again I was asking a dumb question. The Enclave did this. They covered the skies and abandoned Equestria after the Megaspells destroyed Cloudsdale. I sat down and sighed "I'm sorry. My mind had been set to a completely different picture of the wasteland than this." I gave him a hollow smile "Pretty naïve, isn't it?

Pops smiled as he came up and patted my shoulder "You're not the first one son. Trust me." he smiled and reached into his pack "Let's see if I can spot little Miss Ditzy before she passes over us."

I nodded and stood up "Thanks." I looked around for the others while Glitch "Any idea where Salt and Backdraft went to?"

Pops "Salt is setting up some beds for us to rest here for the night. Backdraft went into the woods to gather some wood for a fire to cook with later. You're welcome to stay if you want. At least for the night”

I rejected his offer "Thanks, Pops but I have my mom to find and I can't risk losing the chance to ask Ditzy about her."

Backdraft called out from the woods "POPS!! we need some help over here! Ditzy's stuck in a tree!"

Pops looked in the direction from where Backdraft's was coming from "Speak of the devil". He and I both broke into a sprint into the woods. Didn't take long for us to find Ditzy hanging by the reins of her sky wagon as she looked down at us and give us a sheepish smile. The chalkboard in her mouth read "I just don't know what went wrong"

I looked up at the sky wagon. The angle it was sitting at told me she had to have spun out while flying "Ditzy, How did this happen?"

She wiped her chalkboard clean and scribbled a new message "Wind blew some leaves in my eyes"

Wiped the board clean again and wrote

"Flew right into a tree branch, panicked and lost control”

Backdraft wasted no time climbing up the trunk of the tree and cuts her loose from the harness of the sky wagon. She dropped a couple of feet before catching herself in mid-air hovering for a minute then landed on the ground in front us

Pops "Perhaps you should come rest up back at the house before we try getting your wagon free." he offered her his hoof.

She dropped her head shaking it then backed away a little. Pops raised his eyebrow "No? Come on, Dizty you'll be safe with us... " I placed my hoof on his shoulder and looked him in the eye

"The Apples were some of her good friends. I don't think she wants to experience any bad memories from the past". I turned my attention to Ditzy who smiled and scribbled on her chalkboard

"It's Okay. It's just hard sometimes. So many good memories of my home in Ponyville."

She wiped it clean and scribbled again

"Breaks my heart to see it torn apart by the raider who lived there"

I blinked for a second "Wait. Lived? As in they're gone?"

She nodded "A gray unicorn filly came through a few days and saved me along with a few others. She was kinda awesome in her own way"

"A gray filly?" Was it Velvet from the recording at the house or somepony else altogether. Okay, let's add this to a growing list of curiosities I've uncovered so far

But it's gonna have to wait. I trotted closer to her while she wiped her board clean "Could you tell me where you saw my mom when she hired you? I would greatly appreciate it if you can tell me."

She nodded and scribbled on her chalkboard. Waiting for her answer was killing me. "She came to my store in New Appleloosa, But she didn't stay for very long."

"Was she alone or did you see if she was traveling with anypony?" The image of her being out here in this wasteland was bad enough to get my anxiety to an all-time high again

Once again she nodded "She was with a stallion. I think I overheard his name when someone called him Bleeding Heart. One of the biggest stallions I've ever seen”

"Bleeding Heart..." I looked over at Pops "Have you heard that name before?"

He nodded and smiled "Traded with him on a few occasions. I know exactly where your mom could be"

My whole mood turned around when he said those words. Now it was my turn to surprise somepony with an uncomfortable action. I grabbed Pops hugging him like I just won a prize or something "THANK YOU!!!" he didn't feel all that comfortable with a full grown stallion hugging him and giggling like a colt

"N-no problem Son. If you'd let me go and show me your map again I can point the settlement out for you". He started to squirm trying to pull away.

I released him and showed him my map still smiling like an idiot "Mom, I'm finally going to see her”

Pops pointed to a location at a location on the western of the map "There you go. You should have no problem reaching it within the week." he then pointed at Ponyville next "And if Dizty is right you should scavenge for some supplies before heading out. You never know what you'll find"

I nodded "Thanks, Pops." I got up and began heading back to the house "I'm gonna go say goodbye to Salt first."

Pops smiled "Yeah, you do that. There is no worse hell than an angry mare". He turned around and looked up at the Skywagon. "That's gonna be a pain in the ass to get down"

Backdraft looked down from the branch he perches himself on "Any ideas on how we're gonna get it down?"

"I got a few" Pops replied before they went into a full discussion of removing Ditzy's wagon from the tree

Ten minutes later I had reached the house. I spotted Salt inside the front door tossing out some trash she was cleaning out of the room everyone was gonna be sleeping in. She sighed and wiped her brow "This is gonna take longer than I thought". Her ears perked up when she heard the crunching of the dead leaves under my hooves and looked right at me with a big smile "Hey! I was wondering if you left or not. I cleared out a spot inside for you if you wanna stick around."

Oh man, I didn't wanna hurt her feelings telling her I was leaving already. Not after she went through the trouble to do this for me. My mom was out there and I had to follow the clues I've been given so far before things went cold. I hung my head a bit "Salt, I'm sorry but I won't be staying. I just found out where my mom is

Here I was waiting for her to snap at me too. Just like Heart did. But we just stood there until finally "Go find her, Cobalt." I looked up and saw her smiling a little but I could tell she wasn't happy about the news

"You're not mad?" I asked her

She shook her head "Don't get the wrong idea. I hate that you're going. I really do but what can I really say which would change your mind." she sat down in front of me and touched my chin with her hoof "It's your mom. You have to go, make sure she's safe" she leaned in kissing me again. I didn't feel awkward this time. When she broke the kiss and smiled I chuckled a bit "Go, Cobalt. Find your mom. Then maybe we'll meet up later down the road"

I slowly nodded and pulled up a map on my pipbuck "Maybe this will help" I told her how to find my stable and everyone who was a charge there. "Go talk to them and you could help establish some trade routes they could use. Might get your own room if you're lucky"

Her eyes lit up with hope "Oh Goddesses! My own room." she said almost dreamily "Now that's something to look forward to!

She jumped up and ran inside leaving me out in the yard. I blinked watching the door for a couple of minutes until she came out with her .357 magnum levitated next to her. She placed it in my hooves "Take Clipper. You might need some extra firepower when your other weapon uses up all the ammo you got"

"Clipper?" The gun was well maintained. The metal had been polished and the grip looked like almost brand new. Salt really took care of this gun.

She nodded when I asked about the name "Yeah, I gave it the name when I was a filly. I got lucky and clipped the wings off of a boat sprite without killing it from 35 yards away." She smiled looking at it "Kept it for good luck after that. Now it fan bring you luck”

I smiled again "Thanks. Hope we can meet up again at Stable 18". I gave her a hug then turned towards the main gate for Ponyville.

"Goodbye". She waved slowly while her smile faded from her. I hated doing this again but I have to find my mom first. For some answers more than anything else. Once I reached the main road I looked back towards the house. Pops, Salt, Dizty and Backdraft had gathered in front of the house waving at me. Seemed like the perfect setting for a family photo. I waved back and looked towards the town "Let's see what I dig up". With one step I began walking into a new chapter of my life. However, I couldn't help but feel as though I'm heading towards trouble.

A half hour later we reached Ponyville's main street. All the buildings crumbling apart as time ravaged them. I looked over at one store my pipbuck named Carousel Boutique. One side of the building had blown completely away. From the gaping hole, I noticed the inside didn't fare any better "Guess that gray pony had one hell of a fight here. What do you think..." Glitch screamed out as he grabbed my tail and yanked me back on my flank "OW! What the fuck Glitch!?". I flicked my tail to make sure he didn't pull any hairs out. He hovered over to a mound of dirt and pointed at the blinking light. Okay, I owed Glitch for this one. "A mine?" Looking over the road I was standing on I saw several others hidden in the loose soil "Minefield. Great

I stood up and took a closer look but I kept a good distance away from it so I didn't set it off "The Guide said non-detonated mines can make for some good trading." The advice I'm certain Pops would agree with. I looked up at Glitch "Think you can disarm it Glitch?"

He nodded and extended his arms scraping away the dirt then began working on the mine itself. While he did that one of the spritebots from before was getting close. I don't see how anyone could put up with that being repeated all the time. Then it stopped. Both I and Glitch looked up. The spritebots was looking right us. I narrowed my eyes and got closer "OK, who is controlling this thing? No way in hell this is random"

The damn thing spoke, "You're a perceptive one". My eyes widen and I leaped back a foot or two drawing my pistol. I didn't actually expect a response from it

I sat there panting a second before standing up and moving closer to the spritebot. I signaled Glitch to keep working in the mines in case we needed them "Who are you? Why the hell are you following me?"

The spritebot tilted to the side "Following you? I hadn't intended to. I just overheard you were down here from the ponies at the farmhouse and I switched over to the closest spritebots near here."

I blinked for a second "Are you an AI or something?"

The voice chuckled a bit "No, No. Call me Watcher. I hack into these things to look around and communicate with anypony I see along the way. Which brings me to you when I heard you were coming to Ponyville."

"Why track me down?" I asked him as I looked over the spritebot. It had definitely seen better days. Looked like it needed some serious maintenance.

"Well I was going to warn you about the mines but it seems I am too late since your friend over there is digging up a few of them"

Glitch beeped happily when he disarmed his fourth mine.

I smiled as he started working on the fifth "Appreciate the thought but we got this covered" I looked at him "So you've been keeping tabs on things around here with these little spritebots?"

"That's right."

I nodded "OK then. How long have you been doing this exactly?"

"A long time. I'm getting the feeling you don't exactly trust me"

"No, I don't. After something came up back at my stable I'm not exactly willing to trust a stranger right now."

"Fair enough. So what could I possibly do to earn your trust?". Earn my trust? Did he really expect me to trust someone I couldn't even see? He was hiding somewhere behind a terminal controlling the spritebots. However, I might be able to get some answers.

"Ever heard of Project Cogarth?". I could only imagine his reaction

"Project Cogarth? That was an old pipe dream back during the war. How did you find out about it?”

"Some scavengers found this" I pulled the holo-cassette from my pipbuck and held it up in my teeth "I played it from my Pipbuck and it has some file on it for the project. From the file name I'm guessing it was part of a set." I placed it on my hoof and looked at it "Weird part was a message on it. Someone left a recording telling anyone to keep it from Rising star."

Watcher "Rising Star? Are you sure that's the name you heard?"

I looked up at him and nodded "Yes, it was. Do you know she was?"

I heard him sign from the speaker "Yes, I did know. But that's a story for another day. I'm almost out of time"

"Time?"

"Yeah, I can only stay on one of these things for so long. I'll find you later... " The speaker crackled when the music began playing again and the spritebot hovered away. Glitch came over to me and placed nine mines next to me. He beeped at me but my attention was focused on the holo-cassette

He said it was a pipe dream. What kind of project was it? How did it fail and who was Rising Star? An even better question was who exactly is Watcher? Either he was a ghoul like Dizty or he had some access to some history files of some kind. Either way, my curiosity of this project was starting to grate away my desire to find my mom. So I need to quit stalling and find her fast. I looked at Glitch and the mines with a small smile "Good Boy, Glitch. I got a feeling we can trade these in someplace for something good”

He nodded and flew over to a building looking inside. The radio on my pipbuck gave off some static as I stood up to follow him. I looked my pipbuck and sat down before changing over to the radio. It was picking up two different broadcasts. One was some radio station and the other looked like an emergency broadcast. I switched over to the emergency broadcast first. I hoped this wasn't the stable already for help, Unlikely as it was.

".... Please send help! {messase repeats} Hello, My name is Black Panzer! I am being chased by slavers and have been wounded. I have no medical supplies or food. I am broadcasting my location with this message. It's near the west end of Ponyville. Please send help! {message repeats}" my map was updated with the location mentioned in the recording

Somepony needed help, but could I possibly do to help anyone out? I've only been out here for several hours and have learned nothing about the wasteland with the exception of scavenging for anything I could use or trade. However, I can't just walk away either. "Glitch, I need you to hide someplace and wait for me"

He gave me a confused chirp

"Trust me, boy. Now go hide". He nodded and grabbed the mines hovering to an old bakery close by. Sugar Cube Corner, the sign hanging over the door while the rest of the outside looked like someone batted it with a club. The years have been kind. I took in a deep breath then took off in the direction of the broadcast

The west end of the town didn't look any better. Every house or building boarded up and tagged with spray paint to mark any homes with unsafe living conditions. A few of the doors had the word 'Traitor' sprayed across the front of them. My imagination was fast at work recreating the scenes that occurred here. Ponies being dragged from their homes. Fathers, mothers and other loved ones. So many of the same questions went my mind. Ones which I was 100% had already been asked countless times before. The most asked question of them all: Why? Why let things get so far? Why not seek a better way? It didn't matter, though. The deeds have been done and nothing else remained. So now the ponies who survived the apocalypse and all those who came after they were fighting to survive. I was now among them and this was my chance to find the mother who left me behind. The answers she had to my questions were all I cared about.

I moved through the street keeping my ear to the recorded message. When I first got it the audio had some static to it. 5he closer I got to it the clearer the audio became. Finally, my search led me to a small makeshift shelter which had been set up in one of the old market stalls. A tarp wrapped around the wooden frame, the smoke of a burning fire coming from a hole in the top and the faint green glow of a terminal shining out of the shade. I couldn't see any sign of the pony who had recorded the message. If he still lived at all. Grabbing the Judge from its holster I crept towards the makeshift shelter. I flicked my tongue over the safety to make sure it would fire. Inching closer I saw the hind leg of a pony coming into my view. Fearing the worst I moved even closer. My heart was pounding so fast I imagined it leaping into my throat at any second

I kept moving closer seeing more of the pony inside. A blanket had been thrown over it so I didn't see a cutie mark or any other part of the body that wasn't below the knee joint. I reached a hoof forward and slid it under the edge of the blanket to lift it. Something had snapped behind me, my head spun around to see the butt of a shotgun hitting me in the face and knocked me flat to the ground. My leg fell over the pony's body, it was cold as ice. I looked at the face and saw some signs of decay. The pony was dead. I looked behind me and saw the owner of the shotgun. A unicorn stallion looked right at me as he cocked his weapon aiming it at me "Looks like I caught a fish out of water”

I was mentally screaming at myself for letting Somepony get the drop on me like this. The corpse under the blanket was just bait for a trap, and here I am the rat. The unicorn placed the barrel if the shotgun against my throat and pushed back the collar of the armor. He looked at the 18 sew into my stable barding and narrowed his eyes "You know a butch named Dancing Heart?"

How the hell did he know the Overmare's name? My eyes looked into his while my heart started to beat faster with each second. Eventually, he smiled at me and pulled his gun back "I thought as much. Chains would love to have a word with you". Then he whipped me in the face with the butt of the gun. I blacked out and faded away from the real world.

I found myself having the same dream again as I always have, yet I could sense a greater difference this time around. I woke up the same way I always have. Laying down on the crisp grass as it tickled my belly, but I was a full grown stallion this time. I began to panic a little as I pushed myself up, looking around at the scenery around I noticed some key differences from the dream I always had. The sun was eclipsed, the clouds moved like a stream over stones. My breathing hastened, my heart pounding in my chest, and the all too familiar fear creeping inside my mind all over again. The colt from my dreams. He was here I could feel it. "But where..."

"Hello, cobalt." His voice was eerily smooth like silk against your skin. It was the kind of voice you'd have if you wanted to be able to seduce any mare you can think of. I slowly turned around and found the figure from my dream standing a few yards away smiling "Well, Didn't think you'd find your way here so soon

"Here? Where is 'here'?" my body was getting heavier by the second. I couldn't move, couldn't stop shaking, and my breathing started to become erratic. The doppelganger only smiled and turn around walking towards a shadow which enveloped his entire body.

"You'll find out soon enough but for now you need to wake up. You have some friends who wanna speak to you"

"Friends? I don't know anyone..."

The shadow leaped at me. I felt the shock of cold water splashing across my face. I shot up and gasps wiping the water from my eyes. I blinked trying to see who threw the water on and I saw the unicorn with the shotgun from earlier "Alright, stable boy. Listen up. I have an offer for you and if you comply it'll be a lot easier on you if you tell me what I want to know."

I looked at him panting as I narrowed my eyes a bit "If I don't?"

He smirked at me "Then I ship you off with the other slaves."

Captured by slavers on my first day. I knew this wasn't going to end well for anyone. Especially me