Fallout Equestria: Joker

The Sledge, the one pony I did not want to meet so soon in the wasteland. He just stared down at us while Poppy crouched down and gritted her teeth "Alright ponies, listen up! We're going to get what supplies we can scavenge from the camp and get the slaves out of here. I do not want them caught in the crossfire."

Panzer looked at her and then at me "What about Cobalt? He helped all of us escape." he pointed out and moved in between Poppy and me so she couldn't try anything."

She glared at him and scoffed "Not my problem. Give him to the sledge for all I care." Poppy turned and bolted into the camp "Move Ponies!!!" the Rangers followed her.

Panzer watched her leave and groaned "Cobalt. Don't move and keep an eye on them. I'll be back". He took off leaving me alone.

I tried to catch his tail in my teeth "Hey!!! What about me!?" I was alone again. I just stood there and felt my heart sink into my stomach. They had abandoned me. Even Glitch was gone. Glitch, I had forgotten all about him in the chaos. I doubted he was in good condition after everything. What the hell was I going to do now? I heard some hoof steps behind me in the loose sand. I turned around and noticed a gunmetal gray earth pony moving towards me

"Hmm.. they left in a hurry." It was a stallion carrying a large metal crate on his back. It looked like the perfect size to stuff Panzer inside of it which seemed like an idea since he ditched me. The stallion stopped and couple feet away from me and stared at me with his good eye. The other eye was covered with an eye patch. I gulped a bit "Are you the stallion who set off the explosions?" he asked me in a dark tone. I was shaking badly. I had to have looked pathetic to this guy. Like a foal who got lost in the woods. Slowly I nodded. I had been told raiders and slavers were often partners. Closing my eyes, I waited for him to shoot me, kick me or strike me down. Instead, he dropped the crate at my hooves and smiled "Then the Sledge offers these supplies for saving us a whole ass load of trouble dealing with these bastards."

I blinked in confusion and tilted my head "What?"

I said my boss wants you to have these supplies as a thank you for killing Iron's little club here." he chuckled and walked passed me looking over the aftermath of my failed plan. Each of the bodies reduced to piles of blood, flesh and shattered bone. Everypony was searching them to find anything useful that may have survived. When they saw the stallion walk into view, they scattered fleeing the camp. The stallion nodded as he kicked one of the corpses over onto it's back "I gotta say. You surprised us. We've been camped out on that hill for two days watching you work. My boss was impressed when you got those tin suits to help out."
I looked at him. Was he complimenting everything I did? After shaking the thought from my head, I searched the area myself to see if I could spot Panzer, Glitch or Crackshot's saddlebags. I heard whining nearby. "Glitch!" I took off in the direction of his whining. Running through the field of unintentional carnage I had created I jumped over some the ruined corpses until I found Glitch trying to lift Crackshot's saddlebags but he could barely get himself off the ground. He collapsed into the dirt the moment I ran to his side "Hang on boy! I'll figure something out!!" My nerves and anxiety were steadily getting worse with each second. Glitch was a machine, and he could easily get a new power source, but I was acting like I was losing a sibling I never had. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, I was pathetic, crying over a machine. The stallion had stood by watching me bawl like a foal who just lost his toy. He didn't say a word until I finally looked up and saw him.

"Your tears are wasted here, son. If you're crying because you had to kill a few piece of shit slavers, then you're not gonna last long in this place." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I pushed myself up and stared at him
"Who, what, and why I cry for is none of your fucking business." he gave me a surprised look when I said it. I stomped my hoof "I don't care if you have no love for these ponies, but it was not my intention to kill them. Now if your boss has a problem with what I say then you can tell him exactly what I said, and I'll invite him down here to settle the matter personally!"

"Are you retarded or something? Do you know who you're talking about kid?"

I smirked at him "He's the Sledge right? One of the biggest badass raiders from what I've heard. Unless of course there's no truth to the rumors. He scoffed and shook his head

"Whatever kid. Enjoy the rations. Hope you live long enough to see tomorrow." he walked back towards his group. I stood there watching him approaching the sledge. The Sledge just looked down at me and shook his head. It looked like he was laughing too. They both waved at me and began moving away from the camp. Guess I had completed what they came to do. No point in dwelling on this now. I've got to get Glitch a new power source and find out where the hell I am. Picking up glitch with my teeth and grabbing Crackshot's saddlebags throwing them over my back I ran back towards the crate. I hoped The Sledge was smart enough to leave me something worth while. I was somewhat surprised no one tried to claim it while I was gone. I could hear my heart beat in my ears at this point. It seemed like I was losing my mind in all this... if I had a mind to lose. I placed a hoof on the lid, then somepony calling my name made me jump ten feet away

"Cobalt!!" I spun around to find Panzer running towards me. He had gathered some of the weapons that were left behind. Which from my point of view wasn't a whole lot. He ran up to me and looked at the crate "Are you crazy? That came from the Sledge. He may have rigged it to explode or something."

I blinked and looked at the crate "How do you know for sure? It could be supplies we need right now. I did accomplish their task for them after all."

He sighed and shook his head "I don't trust raiders OK. I came from a farm on the other side of the wasteland. We were attacked on a regular basis because we could grow the food and they couldn't. I'm sorry cobalt but I can't put that kind of trust into something like this"

I just looked at him and sighed "I can't turn down any supplies I can use. I have somepony I'm trying to find." I moved towards the supplies while he stood there and watched

"Who the hell is worth the risk of opening a possibly booby-trapped crate!?" he snapped at me.

I looked back at him and took a deep breath before I answered "My Mom. She's out here somewhere, and I need to find her."
His ears went flat for my answer, he slowly looked away from me while I continued towards the crate. I reached up and touched the lid. If he were right then, he'd have every right to say I was an idiot. All I can do now is hope for the best. Then I saw Panzer place his hoof on the lid as well.

"If you're after your mom. Then let me help" he looked at me with a pained expression "I know what it feels like to lose somepony you love" It shocked me that he changed his mind so quickly, but I hadn't the time to ask for his reasons. I nodded and we both opened the crate together. I clenched my eyes shut waiting for an explosion of some kind. Nothing... I slowly opened one eye to view the contents of the crate. There was a random assortment of ammo obviously, Some leather armor, healing potions, three doses of Rad-a-way, as well as food and water. They had also included some scrap metal and various items I couldn't identify right away. Panzer just stared at the contents of the crate

"Well, this is a bit new. Raiders rarely carry food like this on them. It looks like it came straight from the farm."

I tilted my head and examined the oddly shaped fruits and vegetables inside the crate "How can you tell?"

"Trust me I know home-grown. I grew up on this" he grabbed one fruit and held it on his hoof. It was a light purple and resembled a vine of grapes "Mutfruit." he said and took a bite. The crunch sounded fresh to me.

I looked inside and began digging around through the scrap parts they had inside. I smiled and pulled out two spark batteries.
"Yes! I can get Glitch will be up and running yet!!"

Panzer looked at me and then at Glitch taking a bite of his mutfruit "Awe man. I like the little guy. Can you get him back online?"

I nodded and opened the back panel that covered Glitch's power source "Yeah, I just need to replace the original power supply I outfitted him with then insert these batteries. Hopefully...." I was stopped mid sentence by the sounds of that obnoxious music the other spritebots were playing.

Panzer groaned and began looking all around us "Goddesses, I hate that music!!" he walked over to a corpse and started to slip the battle saddle off of it. The music stopped making him freeze in place as he slid the saddle onto his back "It stopped?"

"Wait here, Panzer. It's a friend" I got up, set glitch on the ground an
d started to walk towards the last direction the music was playing. I could hear the faint hum of spritebot jets when I rounded the largest tent "Watcher, Is that you?"

Watcher "Hey Cobalt! It seems you've had a pretty rough time lately."

I scoffed "Rough... That's the understatement of the year"

"Heh, yeah guess you're right. Quite a bit has happened since we last spoke. When I got wind someone had taken out a whole gang of slavers I had my concerns."

"You figured I got caught in the crossfire?"

"More or less. I would hate to see another good pony die out here" the spritebot got closer and got down to eye level with me "What exactly happened to you when I left you in Ponyville?"

With a heavy sigh, I sat down and told him the full story including my failed plan. "So you never intended to kill them? That's good."

I blinked and looked at him "How the hell is that good? Matter of fact. How the fuck did you know what happened here so damn fast? Even with all those spritebots, you couldn't have... " my eyes widen when a creeping suspension snaked it's way into my mind "You're with the Sledge are you?"

"Whoa, hang on Cobalt! I'm not with those raiders." I glared at him and got up making him fly backward "OK! I was watching from the spritebots that passed by the area, but I couldn't get myself involved."

"Why not? You could have something aside from acting as a damned spy with that machine!" I snapped pointing at the hacked spritebot "Give me one damn good reason why you couldn't have done something to help me!!"

"Because if you can't depend on your strengths, then there's no point in helping at all."

"What?"

"Cobalt, this is the wasteland. If you can't find your own strength to survive, then you're as good as dead. You're much more then you make yourself to be. But you have to see it for yourself." I just stared at him. What kind of worth does somepony like me have that would make me different from everyone else? I didn't feel like I meant anything other than a damn nuisance.

"I'm not special Watcher. You better get that straight! I want you to stay the fuck away from me, understand? If I see another one of these things with you behind it, I will track you down and shove it up your flank you got me?"

He just bobbed in the air while I hung my head down to the ground "Cobalt, I hope you survive out here. I truly do. But for now, maybe you can use this spritebot to get Glitch up and running again." The spritebot started to sputter and fell to the ground. It surprised me a bit he'd do that after I had just said to him. Oh well, what is done is done. I grabbed the lifeless hunk of metal and made my way back to Glitch. Panzer stood by him and the supplies waiting for me to come back. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow

"Are you okay?"

I dropped the spritebot next to Glitch and grabbed a screwdriver in my mouth "I'm fine. I just need a second to transplant the power cell over to Glitch, and we can get out of here."

He just looked at me "Cobalt, what happened? I can see you're pissed at something."

I waved him off "It's nothing. Just keep an eye out please."

He narrowed his eyes "Fine." It took the better part of an hour to change things over. I had no idea how this new power cell worked; I just hoped it was going to be enough for Glitch. I had no idea what this system was. All I could figure out was where to connect the wires and how to attach the new power source to Glitch's frame. Panzer made his way back after I had tightened the last screw in place "Alright, Cobalt. Why did you dodge my question earlier? You looked like you were gonna shoot me next."

With a heavy sigh, I shook my head. I didn't have the right to treat him like that after what he went through before I arrived here. I looked up at him "I discovered someone I had met before falling into that trap had been watching us. Someone other than the Sledge."

His expression turned sour in an instant, "And he did nothing to help us? Can't say I'm surprised. Most of the ponies out here only care for themselves," he sat down and looked around a bit " Any idea where he might be watching us from?"

"I don't think he's anywhere near here." I pointed over at the spritebot I disassembled "He hacked that spritebot and had been watching us through it." I turned back to Glitch with a screwdriver in my mouth "He said I wouldn't have learned my worth if he had helped in any way."

Panzer just looked at me for several seconds before he nodded a bit "Despite how fucked up it was for him to be just watching us. He did have a point Cobalt"

My ears shot up and I looked up at him "Excuse me? How in what way did he have a point, Panzer? Please enlighten me." with a shake of his head he looked down at me

"Because if not for that big brain of yours cooking up that escape plan, aside from the fact it didn't work out as you hoped it would. We would be dead right now. You saved both our asses and all those slaves from Iron Chains." he smiled and patted my shoulder "You got a lot more going for you then may think."

I blinked a few times and looked down at Glitch, who was still as stone. The plan completely backfired on me. Yeah, we survived but at what cost? I tried to dismiss the fact I was going to kill someone at some point but not so soon after leaving my stable. It was all too much. I just hung my head "Panzer, do you think we didn't have any other choice with Iron and his gang?"

He chuckled "Kid, there is no other choice with Slavers. They don't know any other way to live. Sometimes there are some things you can't help no matter what you do."

A part of me wanted to believe we could have found another way. I wanted to believe that wasn't the only option. Some of them had to have wanted a different life. Glitch sat on my lap while I held the screwdriver in my mouth. I shook the thoughts from my head and went back to work "I don't believe you. There is always another way."

Panzer looked at me and shrugged before he stood up and watched over me so I could work on Glitch in peace. Once I had the power cell install I took the receiver from Watcher's spritebot and installed it onto Glitch as well. Might make it easier for him to contact me. I still wanted to give him a piece of my mind and I had more questions about Project Cogarth.

I slipped Glitch's casing back into place and plugged my pipbuck into the interface to restart him "Panzer, you know more of the wasteland than I do. Is there you heard of Project Cogarth?" given his association with the Rangers he seemed like the best pony to ask at the time.

He looked at me and then down at the ground thinking "Hmm, I've never heard of it. I do know of a place where we can possibly find some answers though. The Taberoo Technical Institution."

"Taberoo? I didn't see any records of it in my stable." however considering the circumstances of my stable I can't say I'm surprised. They were more concerned with the mental fuck-ups of ponies then where or when they lived. "Okay, Taberoo it is. You know the way?"

He nodded "yeah, I got my stash hidden near the town along with my power armor."

I blinked and looked at him "You have Power Armor?"

He chuckled a bit "Well, yeah. I wasn't called Panzer for no reason." he nodded towards the West "It's further west of here. Hate to say it but we'll have to sneak into the Sledges turf to get there"

I groaned and fell flat to the ground "Anything! I would go through anything but that. Who knows what that psycho has lurking around out there.”

Panzer "It's our only option Cobalt. Either that or we could take a long way around and go through feral infested tunnels."

I couldn't argue back "Let's dredge through Sledge's backyard then."
Glitch groaned as he slowly came to life. I looked down at him and smiled "It worked!"

Glitch thrilled as he hovered upward and bobbed a bit while he looked around. He gave a happy beep before he started jetting around Panzer and I both. I couldn't help but smile when I looked at Panzer "Let's get going. We might actually find some answers in that institute."

He nodded and began our journey to the west. I looked over Judge and Clipper. Both of the guns had a few smudges but nothing serious. To that, I also grabbed the comic Crackshot had on him. A small trophy for my somewhat successful plan. I didn't want to wait any longer to see my mom but maybe I could learn something worthwhile about Cogarth and it's purpose. Until then we kept going west.

We walked for about 5 hours before Panzer started to survey the landscape around us "We should be able to see the mini-mart where I got my stash any time now. we'll also have a place to rest. I'm pretty sure you could use a minute to process everything that happened."

I could say every line that would tell him that I was okay. One hitch though, Panzer wasn't a dummy. He knew I hadn't accepted what happened. With a heavy sigh, I just hung my head "I can't stop shaking.my mind keeps replaying the image of those ponies I killed."

"Slaver ponies." he quickly corrected me. "They got what was coming to them and I wish we still had a chance to end Iron along with them but we can't change the past." he looked down at me "I know you're not used to killing but you'd best learn to deal with it. If you get backed into a corner and your only option is to kill the pony who put you in that position...."

"I get it. I won't have a choice."

"You won't." he stopped and placed a hoof on my shoulder "I respect that you tried to seek a different path. You're a much better pony then I am for trying. Anyone else I wouldn't have been surprised if they just pulled the trigger and left it at that." I looked at him when he smiled softly "I can respect a guy like you. Stay you Cobalt. But keep it mind not everything will go as you plan it. You have to leave some room for mistakes and other surprises."

My thoughts shifted to the holo-cassettes
I found so far. One of them caused whatever device it was inserted into to go nuts and malfunction. Even my pipbuck wasn't safe. With a heavy sigh, I just hung my head "I don't want any more surprises. Especially the kind that could cost us our lives."

He gave me a playful tap on my shoulder and smiled "Relax, we'll make it I promise. Now if we push forward we can reach stash before the dark sets in." he pointed to a cluster of buildings in the distance which I expected to be the mini-mart along with a few motels around it "it's right through there."

I looked at the buildings and tilted my head to the side "That's it?"

"The Slurp and trot mini-mart. Found some decent salvage my first time through here." he started towards the mini-mart. Glitch thrilled and followed after him not long before I followed suit "We should be able to pick up a few more bits of something useful if you and Glitch help look around. I still need some scrap metal to fix my power armor."

I nodded. Remembering the advice of the survival guide, Pops, and Salt at well. Sometimes rummaging through old ruins like these might save your life. My train of thought was broken when I bumped into Panzer who had abruptly stopped again. I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong but I hear a distinct ringing coming from the mini-mart "What is that?"

"My stash. Someone's trying to break into it. they must have tripped the bank's own alarm" he explained before veering off in another direction

"how do you know they haven't already broken in?

"We'd be seeing smoke from the explosion"

I blinked staring at his back "Explosion? You set up a bomb in there!?"

He looked back at me and nodded "I stashed all my stuff inside the bank vault. The whole thing is thick enough to withstand the blast. I set up enough c4 to give these a nasty shock or a scar if they live through it." we entered a building through the back door and made our way to the front. I took a moment to examine the decor of the place. Colorful characters painted on the walls, a children's play area next to registers, and deflated balloons tied to a table. The bones of fillies, colts, and full grown ponies scattered across the floor. Some of them seemed to point towards the kitchen
. No doubt they were heading to the lead-lined refrigerator for protection against the mega-spells. My eyes scanned along the walls until I saw a poster

Cheese Sandwich's Party Pizzeria.

I shook my head at the thought of how many fillies and colts died in this place. I continued to follow Panzer to the window. Across the parking lot, we saw two mustard yellow ponies to tinkering away with whatever Panzer used to lock up his stash. He said it was all inside a safe but something told me he had something more keeping it safe aside from the explosives.

One of the ponies yelled out of frustration and threw her tools at the walls "Fuck this shit! There's no way we can get inside. That ranger had to have left some kind of trap inside

"Like what? We already found all the grenades he rigged inside the gate. Can't be much else he could have done." her partner a stallion with a pocket watch for a cutie mark, the mare's was a wristwatch. I looked at the pair and noticed they looked abnormally the same. Like twins. I turned over to Panzer who was shaking his head

"Shit Shit Shit!" he muttered to himself "After I broke from the Rangers I didn't have time to set up any other defenses. They were chasing me all over the place. I was lucky to find this place with the bank safe. Now, what am I gonna do!?"

I watched him and then the twins again "I can draw them away"

He looked at me and punched me in the shoulder "Are you nuts!? Iron's gang was one thing, this is another. Cobalt you don't have any kind of a damn plan do you!?

"I'll think of something. Just get in there when I get their attention." I jumped into the open and charged at the stallion. When he looked up I rammed into his side, however, I quickly learned he was much stronger than I was so it only made him stumble while I bounced backward a couple of feet.

"Ow! Little bastard!" The stallion looked at me and raised an eyebrow "Where the hell did a stable pony come from?"

The mare got up and grabbed a crowbar into her teeth "Who cares!? He could be worth some big caps!"

With that, I needed to run "Fuck me this was stupid!" I took off across the parking lot towards the far building away from Panzer's location giving him the perfect chance to get to his armor and get it fixed up. I only hoped I wasn't going to get myself killed for this
. I dove into a small bakery then crawled behind the dust covered display case just before the twin ponies ran in after me.

"Okay, Tock. Remember we take him alive. I heard Iron would pay a big bounty for stable ponies." The mare instructing whom I had assumed to be her brother at this point

He huffed and looked around on the opposite side of the room "Why would he care for ponies like that anyways? Not like they're useful for anything aside from tripping traps or target practice"

"What does it matter!?" the mare spat at him "Just find the son of a mule and let's get the reward on him. Might be worth more then what that ranger hid inside the bank safe anyways.”
I needed a way to escape from this mess. I began racking my brain to think of a solution. I slowly peeked around the corner of the counter. I noticed both of the twins carried a portion of the grenades which I suspected were part of Panzer's trap. Tock wore a double barrel shotgun on his side. His sister wielded a simple crowbar. I looked around the room to find something I use to get past them. Over the twins, I noticed three sacks of 200-year-old flour. With a quick motion, I grabbed the Judge in my mouth and loaded a fresh clip. I jumped out into view unloading the clip on the sacks of flour blasting them with the flour and blinding them for a brief moment. Both of the twins began swearing, Tock fired off both the rounds he had loaded into his shotgun which grazed my left hind leg. I had never felt such pain before. The sting nearly made me fall forward but I only stumbled around a bit
. One fact I hated about myself: I was never the physical type of pony. I couldn't run more than a couple of minutes before my body started to collapse from under me. I stopped and turned towards the bakery waiting for the twins to emerge and focus their attention on me. The mare sprang into view first while her brother was still coughing up stale flour "You asshole. You think you can make fools out of the Clock Twins!?"

I cocked my brow "Clock twins? So with everything I've seen and heard I'm guessing your name is Tick?"

Tick smirked at me "That's right. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. We're not very popular around here. Of course, if we can open that bank safe and turn you in for that big juicy reward we'll be moving up in the world"

I gave her my best cocky smirk going into character "You said Iron Chains was offering the reward? I'm sorry to say but I dismantled his operation several hours ago. I doubt he's going to be offering any kind of reward in the near future.

She gawked at me. Her eye started to twitch a bit "You what? There is no way in hell you could have killed him....

"I didn't say I killed him. I just said I said I dismantled his operation. As far as I know it's just him, his little pet and a back stabbing second in command." I continued to smile at her knowing full well it was making her angry but that was anger I could use to my advantage
. Taking a brief moment to look around I noticed her brother wasn't anywhere to be seen. Most likely sneaking around to get me by surprise. It would have been a good idea.

*snap*

He yelled up as he went to grab me, I went flat against the ground. He flew towards Tick who went wide eyed just before the moment of impact. While they were scrambling around I made my way back to the bakery and looked around for something to set up a trap for these guys. My eye caught the perfect thing: Cooking Oil. There was a straight line leading from the door to the over which looked just big enough for them to fit in. I could feel the smirk on my face when I knew I had the perfect plan to trap these ponies. Despite it was more from desperation than anything else
I heard the thundering hooves behind me which made my head spin to the door to the bakery. It was Panzer wearing his power armor. A suit of power armor missing half of its plating. I went to ask him the question but he raised a hoof to stop me "Don't ask. Now, where are those punks at?

"They're right behind me." I jumped behind the counter and grabbed a bottle of oil "Grab a bottle and help me out." he looked at me with a confused expression but he shrugged and grabbed a bottle drenching the floor with a thick coat of oil leading right up to the oven. "Alright, all we need to do is wait. Get ready to pin them inside"

"Cobalt, what exactly are you planning to do with these thieves? I'm suspecting you're gonna let them live"

"I am. But after we see what kind of information they may have. Every little bit can help if I'm going to find our anything about Project Cogarth or any details about my mom"

I could feel Panzer glaring at me "You have any idea how random it would be to find the two ponies with all the information we could possibly need? I think you fried your brain when we got away from Iron's camp"

I shoot him a look "Just help me out damn it. I don't care if it's just rumors I want to learn all that I can about the region so I don't get caught looking stupid or something." he just shrugged and kicked the fridge over so we could shove it against the oven.

"Those thieves are taking a long time to get here" he pointed out. My ears perked up and I looked towards the front door "You're right..." I did not like this. After all the talking between me and Panzer, they should have been on top of us. Then we heard some shuffling on in the back of the bakery. Fuck me sideways, they came in through the back. Panzer pulled me out of sight "I'll be the bait this time. You just wait here and get ready to push." I just stared at him and slowly nodded. He had a lot more protection than I did and he had better fire power too. He nodded back at me and took off into the kitchen firing his 50 mm cannon to get their attention. This plan was starting to be a waste of time. I shook the thought from my head. I wasn't going to survive anything thinking like that. I got ready leaning against the refrigerator waiting for Panzer. He bolted from the kitchen with the twins behind him. As soon as he hit the door he stopped and leaned forward on his front hooves and bucked his back legs landing a blow on both the twins sending them sliding into the oven. I started to push making very little progress until Panzer stepped in and helped me pin the twins between it and the oven. The sister yelled out as her leg was caught in between the two "Mother Fucker!!! I'm gonna kill you two!!!
Panzer chuckled a bit "Yeah, good luck with that."
She growls trying to wiggle her hoof free while I watched her. After several seconds she looked at me through the crack and glared at me "What the fuck are you looking at?"

I just smiled and tilted my head "I was just wondering if there is any gas to cook with in that oven"

She blinked at me "What! Hold on a minute! You can't just kill us!"

"I didn't say we were gonna kill you. I said cook which means you'd be alive the whole time

Panzer grabbed my shoulder "Cobalt!! What the hell!!?

I just stared blankly at him until I shook the haze from my head "Wha.... What happened? I blacked out for a second"
Panzer "You blacked out? Cobalt, you seemed well aware of what you were saying." Was I? For a brief moment, I felt that voice from my dreams cloud my mind and speak through me. Did Igunshotsay something that cold and heartless?

I looked at the mare. Her eyes said it all. She was genuinely afraid that I would do that. Maybe I could use that to my advantage "Well we don't have any other use for them? I mean using them as targets would be a bit cliche and boring.

The stallion blurted out "WE HAVE SOME INFOR... OW!!!" he fell back after his sister Tick elbowed him in the nose

"Not in my fucking ear asswipe!!!"

I gave Panzer a nudge at his leg and whispered "we can take this chance to learn what they know and you can verify if you've heard it already.
Panzer looked at me and nodded before he moved from Tick's line of sight. "OK, you have any information you said? What kind of information?"
Tick sighed rubbing her ear still "We know a few big time players in the region. Ones that have been in a deadlock for years now."
I nodded "Like who?"
"OK, there's a new chapter of the Rangers that came into the area several months ago. They don't have a base that we know of yet." Panzer was listening and he nodded to confirm her story. "Then there's Lashing Whip and her slavers. Absolute worst pony you could ever cross."

"Slavers? What about Iron Chains?" was he some other slaver no pony knew about yet? Or was it something else entirely? Then I heard the twins burst into a raging bit of laughter

Tock "Haha! That wannabe? He's nothing but one of Whip's lackeys

Tick covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing so hard. This just earned a lot of confusion from both myself and Panzer who cocked his brow at the twins reaction "Wait, so he's some big boss?"

Tock "Hell no, Iron has been trying to establish his own group for years but he never gets anywhere. Recently we heard he tried to set up at the edge of the Sledge's turf thinking nopony would notice."

Tick "Any time the Sledge leaves his camp is a very bad sign. We watched his whole troop moving towards the camp four days ago. Haven't seen or heard anything about them since

I thought back to the moment I laid eyes on the Sledge himself. Was he really that terrifying of a raider? "Are the ponies around here truly scared of the Sledge?"
Tock "Buddy, the day you see the sledge throw a stable door like a Goddesses damned frisbee then you'd be scared too!" he chimed in and made me do a double take

"A stable door?" I asked while Tick nodded
Tick "Yeah, my idiot brother here shot the guy in the head, the bullet bounced off his forehead, pissed him off to no end. We were chased into the Stable-Tec regional office and tried to hide in the damn display are they had in the lobby. I guess it was meant to be some kind of method to draw in business.
Tock "Uh... Sis? I'm pretty the Sledge is a mare."

Tick looked at him. I could feel her brow furrowing "How could you possibly know that?"
Tock turned away at that point "I kinda noticed something downstairs was missing if the Sledge was a stallion." Tick gave him a disgusted groan "Ugh! Why in Celestia's mane were looking down there, to begin with!!? You know what never mind I don't want to know. The bottom line is The Sledge is not a pony you want to make your enemy. Trust me. Avoid the nutcase anyway you can."

I slowly nodded "And you said this was at the Stable-Tec regional office?" she nodded "Any chance you can mark the location on my pipbuck?"

Tick "Why would want the location? There's nothing of value out there except a bunch of computers."

I smiled at her "You'd be surprised what some ponies consider to be valuable. Now then. Unless you wanna get roasted with some a lime glaze I'd like to have the location, please."

With a whimper, she banged her head on the refrigerator "It's just outside of Taberoo. You can see the whole town from the hill it sits on. But I don't you'll find anything worth selling out there. Half the rooms were locked with terminals."

Couldn't I stop myself from smiling "Terminal controlled locks Eh? I don't think that'll be an issue... " my sentence trailed off when I noticed a blinking red light inside the oven. "What is that?"

The twins looked at it and then each other "We didn't know it was on." Tick had explained while Tock pulled it out of his saddlebags "A chick named Canvas gave it to us. Said it was in the case of an emergency if we got caught by anyone. Said something about the special plastic inside. Whatever the hell that means."

Special Plastic? Man, these two has to be the most.... I couldn't think of a single word to describe them. I smiled and leaned forward "Could I see the device please?"

Tock looked at me and extended his leg out with the device on his hoof. It was a half inch wider than his hoof in diameter. With a swift movement, I grabbed it into my mouth and darted into the kitchen throwing it into what used to be the freezer then spun on my hind legs running back to the front lobby of the store only to have the shockwave throw me into the wall. I hit the floor like a lump of clay and blacked out
. had no idea how long I had been out. But I woke up with one hell of a headache and my ears ringing like crazy. My eyes struggled to focus when I opened them. My body didn't want to move and I couldn't blame it. After all that I had been through I'm shocked I survived as long as I have. I tried to look around to see where I was. I felt the fabric under me with my hoof and hit the metal rod at the edge. It was a cot. Anyone could have guessed it. I started to push myself up before Panzer called out to me "Hold on there soldier. You took a pretty nasty blow to the head. You should lay back down and rest
." He walked up and placed a bottle of Sparkle Cola on the floor next to the cot. My head hit the wadded up bundle of cloth which I quickly learned it was my stable barding.

"How long was I out?" I asked him struggling to keep my eyes open.

"A couple of hours. After you discovered that bomb the twins helped me look after your wounds before they left."

I slowly turned my gaze to him "So they're okay?"

"As far as I know. They left a while ago. They wanted to get some answers from this Canvas character. She gave another bomb to the sister which I don't get the point of it when they glued at the hip"

"Who said they didn't split up every now and then?"

"Hmm, you're right." I was glad he didn't argue with me. I was too exhausted to think of anything to say back. He got up and went to the door "Regardless they're gone and we can rest for the night. You've been through enough I'm sure. I'll be in the next room working on my power armor. Call me if you need anything. And Cobalt?"

I looked up at him and blinked a couple of times "Yeah?"

"I never properly thanked you for saving my sorry ass. So I'm gonna help you in your mission. So when you wake up you tell me exactly what I need to do." he looked at me and smiled "I shouldn't have doubted you and you shouldn't doubt yourself." with that he left the room. Glitch beeped a few times giving me a start and made me look straight up above my head

"Oh Glitch. I thought you may have gotten hurt in the blast”
He floated down and landed on the pillow giving me a sad whine. I lifted my hoof to pat him on the top of his casing "I know, boy. I was scared too." slowly a small realization hit me "I'm terrified Glitch. We have no idea what's out there and what's going to happen to us." rolling onto my back was a chore in my current state and I didn't think I'd staying like this for very long. Staring at the ceiling I started to really consider my options. Do I go look for my mom or solve this puzzle called Cogarth? What the hell was it and what did it do? I grabbed my head groaning "Too many questions at once!! Somepony just make my brain turn off please!!" right then I began hearing my mom's voice from Glitch's speaker. Her voice... It could calm the storm in my head. A tear streamed down my cheek when I smiled at him "Thanks, Boy"
I rolled towards him and closed my eyes letting the music lull me away to sleep. After everything, I could use the rest. One.... Two.... Three..... Gone.

The cold. The same cold I felt within my nightmares shot up my spine shocking me awake. I jumped up onto all four hooves in a panic looking around "This place.... How did I get here again?"

"You're dreaming again, Cobalt" I sighed and shook my head. The voice again. Of course, he'd ruin a peaceful moment like this

"What do you want?" I wanted to ask since I had no other options. But I only got silence
"I said what do you want!!!" I started screaming. This thing wasn't something natural. I've seen it so many times in my nightmares and now I was hearing its voice while I was awake. This wasn't something I wanted. I hated it, hated being afraid and most of all feeling like it was watching everything through my eyes. I grabbed my head ready to scream again. Tears streaming down my cheeks once more "Please! Just tell me what you want!!" hoof steps. I was hearing hoof steps coming towards me. Slowly I looked up and saw the stallion once again. He bared all of my features including my scar. He said nothing and just stared at me with his hollow eyes
I growled and slammed my hoof down "ANSWER ME!!" the ground beneath my hooves began to crumble and break away from under me. I stepped away from the crumbling edge until I bumped into something behind me. I turned around to look and I saw the stallion behind me. He smiled and grabbed my shoulders "I want you to wake up." he pushed me into the hole. I couldn't even scream while I fell into the darkness.
Then from nowhere, I landed face first on the floor. The pain was more annoying than anything else. I pushed myself up and looked around "What..."
I was still in the same room Panzer left me in. I could only shake my head "What the hell does he mean wake up?" Asking out loud probably wasn't the best idea. But it didn't mean I was closer to an answer. Finally I got up and stretched my legs a bit "Hey Glitch you awake?" He beeped and sprang into the air "Good. Because we're gonna step outside for some air”

He gave me a confused glance as I grabbed the Judge from my pack "Just follow me." I walked over to the door and slowly pushed it open while it made a slight squeak. I am a bit afraid that I may have woke up Panzer I braced myself for his scolding. Luckily all that came was a raspy snore while he laid passed out next to his power armor. I inched my way into the room and gazed at his armor "Whoa..." it was nothing like I had seen in the archives back in the stable. Panzer had heavily modified this bad boy to a whole new levelA 50mm cannon mounted on the left, a grenade launcher on the right, the helmet looked like it had been modified for the best accuracy possible. I reached up and rubbed my down the leg. Pistons, gears, and servos. Just imagining this thing in action made drift into a day dream. Glitch tapped my shoulder and brought me back to the real world. I looked at him and nodded. I spent too much time here anyways. I needed some air. Didn't take long for me to find the doorI stepped out and looked around the bank where Panzer had set up his stash. The vault was definitely a worthwhile choice to hide his gear. Thick steel walls, a door that reminded me of the stable's entrance, and a chain link fence to close on the outside. Would make anyone think they had a chance to get in here. I sighed heavily and made my way outside. The moment I hit the sidewalk I heard that all too familiar music playing before it stopped "Hello Watcher."

"Hello, Cobalt.... I see you're still in one piece" he said.

I just looked at him "Yeah, if I can't depend on my own strength when the moment comes then what good am I?" looking at the empty buildings I started to think of the times this place had ponies coming and going. Never aware of the day things would go to shit "Watcher, those ponies I killed. I'm never going to
forget their faces."

Watcher "Cobalt, Listen to me. You can't let these moments drag you down. You had no choice but to do what was necessary to escape and set the slaves free. Believe me when I say you're not the first one to do this. There will always be a time where you can't talk your way out of a situation. You have to take action and make a decision if you live or die. You want to see your mom again don't you?"I nodded "I do. More than anything." then the memory flashed in my mind "Watcher!" my head spun around "I found a second holo-cassette linked to Project Cogarth"

"A second one? I'm guessing it's hard to break as well?"

I nodded "There's something on it which made my pipbuck glitch when the bombs went off. I think it was a virus of some kind."

"I don't think it was a virus Cobalt. I'm gonna look into it from my end. I'll come look for you when I find something"

"Please do...." Felt like I was begging at this point. The music began playing as the spritebot went about its business. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to find my mom, wanted to learn more of Project Cogarth, but I couldn't do any of that until I learned how to survive out here. Nothing in a book was going to teach me. Got to learn it myself. I got up and began moving towards the bakery where we had cornered the twins earlier that day. Might be good salvage inside Panzer and the twins might have missed. I took a second to find a sign with the name of the place on it. It wasn't something I could explain but knowing the name helped me stay calm. I always had an unhealthy sense of curiosity since I was a colt, and there it was on the ground

"Grade A Cupcakes!!"

The name made me smile a bit. It was a bit amusing in a sense. I started to head inside then I heard a loud clattering around the corner of the building. I quickly grabbed the Judge and turned off the safety moving towards the source of the noise. I had hoped it wasn't something I was going to regret messing with. I don't need a lecture from Panzer. Rounding the corner my sights fell upon Tick, the sister of the clock twins. She gasps reaching up to me mouthing the word 'Help'Glitch and I raced over to her. I grabbed her in my hooves and lifted her up against me her blood smearing all over my legs. I didn't care. I looked her over to find the wound. On her chest was a bullet wound "You've been shot. Hold on I can help!" I had no idea how to treat a sore throat let alone a bullet wound. She shook her head and tried to point towards the road. The trial of blood she left behind was leading in the same direction. Not a second passed before she died. Her entire body slowly went limp as she exhaled her last breath. I shook her a bit "Hey! Don't die on me!! Not now!!It was pointless. She was already gone and I couldn't bring her back. Looking at the trail of blood I could only make one guess who was at the other end. Whether her brother was the shooter or not I couldn't say at this time. I sat her down and grabbed the Judge in my mouth and took off the safety "Let's go glitch. I have a feeling we're gonna find trouble at the other end."

"Panzer?" he asked me using my voice. Maybe he was right. We were going to need help.

"Go get him. Tell him to follow the blood." I started to follow the blood as Glitch gave me a confirming beep and flew off. My mind was reeling with. images of every horrible thing I could imagine. However, the reality was much crueler compared the fantasies we came up with. I followed the trail all the way to the road leaving the mini-mart parking lot. It had to be at least a 15 or 20-minute walk from where I found Tick. She endured so much more pain pushing her body to pull itself as far as she got. Then I found the end of theThe end of the blood trail. Tock was laying on the ground, his skull blasted up at the back, his gray matter all over their belongings, and the blood from him, as well as Tick's, pooled together on the asphalt. Moving closer I took a good look at the entry wound. Eight dead between his eyes. I looked up and began looking around for a high vantage point from where a sniper could set up such a shot. The only thing I noticed was a few ruined buildings nearby. The closest one looked like a hotel for travelers to spend the night. With a quick inspection to make sure my gun was loaded I broke into a short sprint towards the apartments. The moonlight shined down through the clouds down on top of the building. Within a second a shadow leaped from one of the windows and took off flying. I stopped dead in my tracks following it until it vanished into the night. "What the hell...?" Within a second of me opening my mouth, I felt the weight of something touching my shoulder. The idiot inside of me spun around and fired off two rounds at the thing touching me. Then the sparks from the ricochet as they bounce off Panzer's helmet snapped me back to my senses. He stumbled back and shook his head before looking at me "Damn it Cobalt!! Watch where you're firing damn it. You're lucky I'm wearing my helmet or you'd be short a new friend right now." he took his helmet off to examine the damage. I just stood there in shock. I nearly killed him. The one pony who was willing to follow me down whatever road I was traveling and I came close to blowing his head off.

"Panzer, I'm so...." I went to apologize but he stuck his hoof up and shook his head

"Don't. You did what anypony else would have done in a moment like this. I'm just glad to know you got some good reflexes with that pistol of yours”I just sighed "Yeah, good reflexes." I looked up at the apartments "Something flew from the higher floors of that building. I think we got a pegasus sniper flying around here"

He blinked and looked at me "How do you know it was a pegasus?"

"It flew off just before you showed up. Never seen anyone with such a dark coat and you're the most somber pony I've ever seen." I looked at him as he slid his helmet back on.

"Okay, then. Let's go see what we can find. He had to have a sniper's nest set up in one of the rooms. Even a rookie would have had some kind of set up. However...." he looked at Tock's body "I don't see why someone would go through the trouble to take these two out. They're just small game thieves."Might be some clues in the nest you mentioned." I took a step and my hoof landed on a fallen stop sign. The center of the sign was dented from what looked like a gunshot. I blinked and looked at the pole where it once sat at the top of it. "He shot the sign too?"

Panzer "That wouldn't make any sense. Too many shots would have given his position away to them. Unless..."

I turned back to him "Unless what?" he pushed past me and headed towards the apartments "Panzer?"

"Follow me. I got a feeling I know who made the shotWithout delay I followed him up to the apartments. The walk felt like it was taking longer since my eyes were looking at everything but what was ahead of me. The remains of ponies who tried to escape the fallout from the mega-spells, one couple was cuddled next to their foals inside of a bus stop. My mind was drifting to what I imagined to be their last moments. Loved ones holding each other until the very end. The father kissing his children on the head telling them things would be alright and they would always be together. Their mother's last words to them saying things like 'Mama loves you' and 'Daddy is going nowhere'. I wanted to cry for them. For whatever reason, I could think of I wanted to show that I cared for these ponies. Ones I had never met or ever will meet. Panzer's voice caught my ear "You have to ignore them, Cobalt. You're gonna get yourself killed weeping for the dead"I just looked at him and back at the family "How can anyone be so numb to this?"

"I've spent my whole life out here. You haven't been here a week yet. Trust me. You learn to block it out after a couple of days scavenging in buildings like these"He kept walking towards the apartments. I stood there looking at the family of corpses. I don't think I'd ever understand how Panzer can ignore the scenery around him but I couldn't. I notice so much more in a day than most ponies would see, hear, or smell within a week. Remembering back in the stable I recalled a moment where I tracked down Dancing Heart by her perfume from the mess hall to her office. Nearly gave her a heart attack when she came out a second laterI chuckled a bit and followed behind Panzer. This was not something which would be easy for me. I broke into a short sprint towards catch up to Panzer as he entered the main office.

Once we were inside we began to look around instinctively for any scrap we could come back for later. My eye caught the faint glow of a terminal screen sitting behind the counter. Within a second I had plugged my pipbuck into the terminal and began hacking it. Panzer looked at me and walked up looking over my shoulder "Expect to find something Cobalt?"

I nodded scrolling over the various options and tried the first possible match. Strike one. "Yeah, might be a safe in here with some valuables we can trade off later." tried my second choice: Strike two

He nodded "Hmm... Smart thinking. You keep at it and I'll go look at the rooms upstairs. Give a shout if you find anything worthwhile." He instructed while he made his way up the stairs. I stayed right there with my eyes glued to the screen. Which most would say I could go blind being so close to itI saw one entry that seemed a bit out of place, Niami. I scrolled over to it and hit enter. That did it! There were three entries on the main screen.

Check-ins
Reservations
Personal Diary: Corporal Pepper Spray.

I scrolled down to the personal diary. Whoever Pepper Spray was she left a pretty extensive diary. I downloaded everything onto my pipbuck for later. Glitch bumped my shoulder and turned towards the manager's office. Inside I saw the obvious green glow of another terminal. A small part of me was hoping there was something more worthwhile on it. Not that I wasn't curious about the diary of Pepper. But it had to wait. I trotted inside and looked around. The first sight that struck my eyes was the massive pile of lewd magazines scattered all over the floor. Tin cans, Sparkle Cola bottles, half eaten Cram, wrappers from Fancy Buck snack cakes.... I could go a whole day listing the trash scattered around the office. No doubt the manager was an absolute pig.

Upon further inspection, I saw a couch with the body of the manager clutching three bags of prewar bits. Glad to see he had his priorities in order. Over on the desk was his terminal. I took a seat in his chair and tapped on the keyboard. Wasn't locked, Thank Luna for that. He had the same set up as Pepper's terminal in the lobby. He left an audio file on it as well. I hit play just for the sake of curiosity

"Okay, I figured I might as well record this for the sake of covering my ass. My name is Brass Tax. I am the Manager of the Lucky Trails Apartment Complex. I am making this recording to support my claims that one of my employees could be a zebra sympathizer. She's been with conspiring with a so-called defector named Niami. I have some evidence to confirm my claims. I..." *Rising air raid alarm rising in the background* "What the hell?"
*Phone rings* "Damn it! Hello?!! Oak, what is going on out there? Yes, I'm at the office! What's going... What? Manehatten was hit. Wasn't your sister up there? Oh fuck. Listen, get the kids and we're leaving for the stable. What? The fuck do you mean you already left? YOU FUCKING BITCH!! YOU STUPID CUNT! After all, I've done for you!! Fuck!!!"

After the recording ended I just sat there blinking "Well, that was interesting." I turned it off and got up. He claimed Pepper spray was a traitor and his family left him behind for the safety of the stable. Seemed like he was a real family guy to me. I got turned off the terminal and got up walking towards the stairs "I hope Panzer found something upstairs”I reached the top floor and found Panzer shining his headlamp into every room that had an open window "Damn it. Where would he set up a vantage point?" he turned and shined the light on me "Cobalt? Did you find anything interesting down in the lobby?"

I shielded my eyes and nodded "Yeah, Somepony's diary. I'll listen to it later. Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I did. A half bottle of whiskey and a spent shell casing. He was definitely here." he turned around and trotted down the hallway "Follow me." without any delay I followed Panzer towards the farthest room and walked inside. My eyes immediately shot down to the floor when I saw a mixture of talon marks and paw prints. It wasn't a pegasus but a griffin. Next, to them, I saw a couple of black feathers when Panzer shined his headlamp on them "Sigfried, Death's raven. He's been a legend long before me and the other rangers moved into the area"I looked up at him "Who is he? Some kind of mercenary?"

He shrugged "No idea. But rumors indicate he's never missed a target and can fire a round from any angle. He killed the twins from this room." he walked over to the window and shined a light on the street "the twins were standing 200 yards away. But they couldn't be hit at the same time from a straight shot from this window."

I remembered the stop sign "Unless he bounced it off a hard metal surface."

Panzer nodded "Exactly. Bullet hit the stop sign, struck Tock in the head, Tick was hit in her lung making her bleed out and he didn't have to move from this spot. I found the whiskey half empty so that tells me he must have had a drink before he took off. Could be the reason you caught a glimpse of him" he reached down, picked up a holo-cassette with his hoof and held it over to me "Plus I found this. You're the only one with pipbuck so you'll have to play it”I nodded and grabbed the holo-cassette sliding it the player on my pipbuck.

A mare's voice came out. Goddesses it was like nails on a chalkboard
"Hello Sigfried, I have another job for you. A pair of twins has offered to help us with a small task I've been trying to accomplish on my own. No surprise that I've had no luck. I can't stand working with the sledge's little gang. But that doesn't matter own. The twins have promised to 'take a look around'. Hehe no doubt they'll take a shot at Suzy while she comes back to camp, in which case that'll help get everyone's attention on Stable-Tec's regional office"

I stopped the tape and looked at Panzer "Suzy? Does the Sledge employe griffins too??"

He shrugged "Wouldn't be surprised if he did? But didn't the twins say they took a shot at the Sledge himself? Where did this Suzy come from?"

"Body double maybe?" I suggested and he just shrugged againI shrugged back and hit the play button again

"The minute the twins do their job get rid of them. Don't worry about if they make contact with anyone. It'll draw more idiots for us to complete the task Cogarth has set for us. I'll contact you again when I have some work for you"

Both Panzer and I were staring at my pipbuck. The task that Cogarth has set out for them? Was the project some kind of artificial intelligence that had been left behind from the war? Damn it! I was really started to hate getting more questions to answer than actual answers. I sighed and looked up at Panzer "What the hell is going on with these ponies?"

He got up and nodded at the door "Let's head for now. With a brief rest, we can continue towards Taberoo. As far as what's going on with everyone? I have no damn clue. But we may be heading into a major shit storm in the middle of it. Let's go." he walked out of the room and I followed him without missing a beat. Something in my guy told me he was right. We were heading into something big. How big? That was a question that I couldn't possibly answer.

End of chapter 4