Fallout Equestria: The Walking Shadow

Pain. Pain… Pain… PAIN! “OUCH! OWE, OWE, OWE!!” I screamed, waking up from blissful unconsciousness. It felt like my body was ripping in two.

Poke.

“OUCH!” I screamed again as something, a needle I think, was injected into me and I began to feel… a little bit better, still hurting though.

"Easy Silent, easy. damn, you're 'urt worse than expected," Daisy’s voice said at my side.

Finally, feeling the pain less, I managed to look around. I was just moving my eyes, because my body still hurt. We were in a… tent, two lanterns keeping it well lit, and I think I could see Azure sleeping on a bed just barely out of my sight. I coughed, trying to speak. “Where… where are we?” I managed to say. Speaking made my throat feel like it was cracking, like glass.

"Sum ponies came 'ere after de explosion an' gave us 'elp,” she explained.

“The others?”

“Scythe is in camp gettin' sum grub an' Knives lef wi' Sky an' their current bun. Tuk yisser power armor suit wi' dem back ter Derdy River, oi said they can stay at de place Jane gave yer. 'Ope that's gran' so."

“Of course.”

"An', uh, Silent… don't freak oyt, gran' so?" I started to worry as Daisy grabbed something that was on the floor next to my bed...What she brought up made my heart sink… my PipBuck… The screen smashed in…

“What?! OUCH!” I yelled, clenching myself from my outburst, as I saw Daisy inject another Med-X into my leg. The pain lessened a little, but I levitated my PipBuck up to me, some tears falling. “I’ve had this since I was a filly, everyone in my stable did.”

“Don’t feel too bad, little filly.” I managed to look up, seeing Raza enter the tent. “Hey.”

“Hi Raza,,” I replied. “Don’t suppose you can fix it? Also, why are you here?”

“You kidding? Zebras on the other side of the world probably saw that explosion. And fix a Pipbuck? I’ve never even seen a broken one, all Pipbuck technicians did was keep them shiny and make sure the leather on the inside is well kept and replace it when it tears.” My ears fell. “But, I can give you my old one.” My ears perked up. Raza grabbed a suitcase from behind her and turned it over for me to see after she opened it. Inside was a shiny, chrome colored Pipbuck with what looked like some other things added to it. “Like it? Been working on making the Pipbucks better than they were since I became a ghoul. I added a camera and microphone to take both photos and videos, it can copy and save games from pre-war holodisks onto it, makes your chances of hitting something in S.A.T.S ten percent better, sends and receives radio signals, has an auto hacking function that can break into anything from a terminal to securitron ponies, even through radio frequencies, and I messed around with the coding so it monitors more than just more than just radiation, but your needs for food, water, and sleep as well.”

“Wow…” I said, levitating it over to me. “What else does it monitor?”

“Mutations. If I wore it, it would say ‘Ghoulified.’ Try it on.”

I placed the Pipbuck on. Unlike my old one, this was secured on with a simple clamp lock. I felt a poke in my fetlock, like when This Gun took my DNA, and the Pipbuck booted to life. The screen was… very different than my normal one. The background was white and the words and such were black. I flipped to the personal tab. The sub-tabs were Health, Genetics, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Personal. In personal there was three files: Bomb Defender, Stripped Menace, and Stable Runner. Those are the games… later.

The other main tab was Inventory, sub-tabs were Weapons, Armor, Food, Ammo, and MIC. The last tab, Activities, had Sub-tabs Radio, SOS, Map, Quests, Notes, AV-P, and Hack. It was then that I noticed a small wire that came out from the backside of the Pipbuck. I’ve seen so many terminals with that wire input. I can hack anything! I flipped to the Mutations tab and froze… there were two listed.

Atomic Bombardment

The excessive radiation suddenly taken in to create this mutation must have resulted from surviving an explosion of four or six Megaspells at once. You now can substitute Mana with Radiation when spell casting.

Cousin of The Ghoul

While not Ghoulified, you are now not only less likely to receive radiation sickness, you can actually heal minor injuries by yourself while slightly irradiated.

“Oh… my… stars…” I muttered.

“What?” Raza asked, walking over and looking at my Pipbuck. She laughed. “Well, well. Nice to meet you, ‘cousin.’ She then laughed as she left the tent.

Daisy took a look and whistled. "Those 'ill cum in 'andy."

“Daisy… does this make me a mutant?”

She blew me a raspberry. "Please Silent, yer tink every pony who lives up 'ere is ‘pure.’ Odds are we al' 'av sum sort av mutashun or two. From dohs Ah've met an' experience 'av taught me dat, whatever 'appens ter yisser body, yer are only naw longer yer whaen yer stop actin' loike it."

Huh...she has a point. I mean, I escaped with only two mutations and a broken Pipbuck. Could be worse, I could have been welded with the power armor or have my Pipbuck a permanent part of my leg. “Heh. I guess so. So how long am I going to be in this bed?”

"Doctor says two more days an' yer shud be gran' so." Daisy explained.

“Good. Could use the rest.”

“Excuse me.” Daisy and I looked over to the tents entrance, seeing a pony, stallion, thin build with an orange-yellow coat with a pink mane. “Is there a Silent Whisper here?”

“That’s me?” I say, the stallion trotting over to me and pulling a large yellow envelope out of his saddle bags.

“Package from Luxury.” Daisy immediately tackled the pony. “Gah! Hey, I’m just a courier!” I levitated the package up. Inside was a holodisk that I put into my new pipbuck and listened.

”Hello there, Miss Silent Whisper. I have to admit, stopping my bomb shipment to Dirty River was impressive, but blowing up my Balefire Egg factory? Ha! You got fire, filly, I like that. Tell you what, why don’t we have a chat, one on one? I’ll be unarmed, and it’s only courteous that you do the same. You can bring your allies if you wish, a Miss Red Daisy and Azure Star, but I’d still prefer it if we could talk with a degree of… privacy. And just a warning, if you come with the intent of killing me, then I will have to disagree. I will be unarmed when you visit, but I do know how to break bones and necks with my hooves. If you’re playing this in a Pipbuck, which you should, you’re a stable dweller, then my tower’s location will be added onto your map. And please, be civil, we are both ponies after all.”

The message clicked, signaling it’s end. Luxury's voice was...unique. I never heard that before, it was like Daisy’s accent, only his seemed… I dunno… Like it could carry a rhythm?

My Pipbuck beeped, and my map showed Luxury's tower was just to the west of here. I looked around a bit, and saw that Gearswork was also west of here, really close too! Must be in here since this was Raza’s. Well… guess I know where we’re going next then.

Daisy made me stay three days in this camp to make sure I was healed. With a goodbye to the ponies that all came to help us, Azure, Daisy and I headed off towards Gearswork, Raza telling us to say hi to them for us since she’s apparently still known there. I clicked my Pipbuck to the radio tab and decided to tune in.

”Hello again wasteland wanderers, this is Solo Note here as always here to give you the news that the great DJ PON3 can’t around here! Well you’ll never believe it if it wasn’t for the fact that everypony from here to the edge of the Baltimare waste saw it! I am surprised the world didn’t split in two! Yeas, that’s right, from what we’ve been given, it seems a Balefire Egg factory, a FACTORY, exploded! From a source that came from the camp of good hearted ponies helping whoever lived though that, it seems a certain Tenpony Tower former resident is to blame for starting up that goddess forsaken war factory, and we own what seems to be a prevented war and or invasion by a madpony to one special little filly named Silent Whisper, or as Dirty River’s sheriff is calling her, the Chosen Dweller.

“If ya’ see a mint green unicorn, a dark green earth pony, and a midnight blue pegasus, oh my, please give them ammo, caps, hell, I see them come by I’ll give them my dog Rusty! Cause ponies, these mares are taking on the wasteland, and fucking winning! I got it confirmed that these mares took out a raider hive, and stopped that Luxury from blowing up everypony's favorite muddy village Dirty River, and got them a brand new filter, and the schematics to make them!

“On to less exciting news, raiders, slavers, Steel Rangers, and a weirdo wearing radgator hide have all been seen in the west's of these parts. And sorry to say, only the one with the radgator hide is nice. Now, let’s play some happy music my sis wrote.”

Here in the waste, there’s no kindness, no mercy.

We scavenge, we kill, we do what we can just to get by.

Now here I sing to tell you, a Chosen Dweller walks among you.

Rise from the earth like the hellhounds, she’s leaving a blood trail

And raiders, she’s targeting you.

Your hive has been burned down, your numbers reduced, all thanks to one Chosen Dweller saving us… from you.

You will never see her coming, not even in death. You’ll sit in tartarus wondering. “Hey, who shot me?”

The wasteland’s got a Chosen Dweller, and raiders, she’s got a bullet for each of you.

Her team is deadly, who else would accompany, a fallen angel with the aim to kill ‘em all and an earth pony who’s buck is the least, deadly thing about her.

Put them together and what do we have, the wasteland’s salvation, and a raider’s eternal nightmare.

The fillies and colts will cheer your names, and any pony who want’s to shag ya, heh, they best follow ya forever.

I turned off my Pipbuck, Daisy, Azure and I all exchanging glances. "So… this makes us celebrities?" I asked.

Azure moved her wings to talk… still need to learn that. "I agree, dat song might 'av jist made doin' dees missions 'arder since al' av Baltimare listened ter dat stashun."

“Well… regardless, my stable needs that water talisman and apparently Luxury wants to talk.”

"You… aren't serious aboyt 'eadin' up ter 'is place an' jist...talkin', ye?" Daisy asked.

“I know it’s crazy...probably crazier than what I did three days ago, but you heard his message. He knows how to fight unarmed, I can’t so I’m screwed if I try anything. Invisibility spell or not. Besides… I wanna see what this psychopath looks like.” I grumbled that last part.

It wasn’t a long trot through the wasteland, some music every now and then and a few passers by but that was about all… until.

Daisy, Azure and I all looked ahead of us. What looked, and what probably was, a mutated alligator, was walking slowly towards us… only, there was stuff tied around its back and some kinda holo disk playing Some kind of creepy music.

“...Oi say we shoot dem,” Daisy suggested.

“The news said this pony was friendly,” I add.

“Greetings.” I looked back in front of me. He had been at least a mile ahead of us… now we were booping noses. I yelped, jumping back. The pony under the hide was thin, had a pale coat almost matching the clouded sky, and dark red eyes with bags under them. He was a unicorn. “Are you fillies in the mood for a trade?”

I gulped. “Trade what?”

“What do you need, lass?”

“A gran' guiness,” Daisy muttered.

“A beer you say,” the stallion said, startling Daisy as he pulled out a bottle of what looked like black whiskey. “They call this beauty Death’s Lips down in the swamps of the south. Its creator died making the stuff, and his kin finalized the recipe. Two bits, and she’s yours.”

“Yer mean caps, roi?” Daisy asked, the three of us confused.

“Oh no, I only accept old world currency. My… supplier, has an infatuation with gold, and old world bits are the most common source of it.”

Daisy scoffed, taking out two bits I didn’t even know she had. The stallion took them, then gave her the bottle. “Oi 'av me doubts,” she said. She opened it and took a whiff. She looked like it smelled good, then took a sip… her eyes went wide, then she passed out.

“Ah, not even its makers can handle a single sip without passing out drunk. Heh. She’ll have the mother of all hangovers when she wakes up.”

“If it’s that strong, why sell it so cheap?” I asked, Azure trying to wake up Daisy.

“Why do anything when the land has been twisted into hell?” He answered my question with a question. “I have my life, and you have yours, Chosen Dweller.”

I blushed. “Heh… you heard the radio then…”

“That I did little filly, and here’s a gift from me to you.” He reached behind himself, and pulled out a boxes of ammo, one for This Gun, one for Dragon’s Breath, and ammo for Daisy and Azure’s guns. The boxes weren’t like any I’d seen before. They were… well, they felt wrong.

“What are they?”

The stallion chuckled. “I call them R.I.P rounds. Even the weakest caliber of these special bullets can rip apart hellhounds and Steel Rangers wearing any Power Armor.”

“...How are they made…?”

“Heheh… A special book held knowledge best left alone.” He placed the ammo down and reached back behind himself again, this time pulling out a leather bound book that… just looking at it made me scared. “Passed down from generations in my family since the Great War. It’s guided me when I had no one, kept me alive when I was inches from death, and told me things that would strike fear into the very core of those who heard it. I call him Fuzzy.”

I couldn’t tell if this pony was crazy or telling the truth, all I knew was that that book just felt evil. “Well… thanks for the ammo,” I said, taking them and putting them into my saddle bags.

At that moment, I swear time stopped as the book began to… whisper something. It sounded like gibberish, but the stallion seemed to understand it well. “Oh… Is that right?” He then looked up at me. “Invisibility spell, very nice.”

“How did you…”

“Fuzzy here can see into the core of any and all we come across. And in your core, there is light, and darkness. What was it, in class when it came out?”

“What are you!?”

“Heh, just a pony without a mind with a book that eats gold. Tells the darkest secrets the world holds, and it’s here to offer you one of it’s secrets.”

“I’d rather-”

“Your spell is a twin, invisibility to hide from even the light. Hehehe, well its brother will let you hide from any whose eyes gaze upon the dark. Become a shadow, their shadow… hehehehe, and never fear death or injury while using it. Take over their bodies, learn their secrets, and, if you want… devour their very soul.”

I gulped. “I don’t want to devour souls…” I whimpered.

The stallion laughed. “Well, that’s where ‘no’ isn’t an answer. Fuzzy here knows what you are, little filly. A rare breed, if Fuzzy had you instead of me, oh, the fun you two would have. But time to start learning, Silent Whisper, you mastered one spell, now master its twin. Walk Into The Shadows.” The stallion smiled as the book flew up to my face, opening as the words written within rushed out, traveling through my eyes directly into my brain. It felt like needles were entering my brain as the spell, my spell, felt… complete, a second half now connecting with it… Walking into Shadows…

I screamed, blinking and the stallion, that book… they were gone.

“Grah!” I turned around, seeing Daisy wake up. “Shoot that's gran' stuff!" Daisy cheered, taking another sip, this time not passing out.

“Did… did you see that, Azure?”

The pegasus mare looked at me, then to Daisy, talking with her wings. "Azure says after yer man gave yer dat ammo yer fifty dare, spaced oyt while yer man ranted aboyt somethin' called a cod an' why is't so slimy.” Daisy said, much to my disbelief. “After dat yer man said take 'er 'andy an' lef."

I shook my head. I know that can’t have been real… but… Walk Into Shadows… I shook my head again. My spell is a twin… Now I have both… Whoever, whatever that stallion, and that book are…
I feel like I’m gonna meet them again...and I’m gonna be afraid… very afraid. “Well… let’s get going then, Gearswork isn’t that far away,” I said as we continued our trot… I should have let Daisy shoot him… but… then, would that book just have… attached to me? And, he said it, and he knew what I was… I’m me ...right?

We made it to Gearswork’s front gate, just like Raza said it was… only… it was broken down. As the three of us trotted into town… it was a battleground, and I dunno who won. Robots were broken all over, some ponies were dead here and there, and several… somethings... large, cartoonish muscular ponies, easy twice the height of a normal pony. Most had bullet holes in them all over, others looked blown up.

“What are they?” I asked.

"No idea… they luk loike earth ponies but..." Daisy started, inspecting the corpses of the large things closely.

“Let’s look around, there might be someone,” I said, the three of us keeping fair distance from each other. We were in each other's lines of sight, searching the area of the town.

The more I looked, the more I realized the pony corpses that were around were… odd. Legs made from metal, what looked like tubes made up they eyes of a few, and the few ghoul corpses that were around were… really strange, brains visible with a glass dome where the top of their skulls should be. These ponies… were they largely machine.

There was nothing other than corpses and a few ash piles outside. My brother once told me that magical energy weapons sometimes turned their target to ash or goo. It seemed only things like metals and such survived. I sifted through the ash pile a bit, finding seven caps, four bullets for a gun I didn’t know what it was that looked like big batteries, as well as… as… I don’t know what it was. It looked like a gem, but it was a bright white, even glowed slightly. “Heheheh, killed that one myself.” I jumped, looking up and seeing… him in front of me. “And don’t bother, same rules as last time, fact is, I am not even here.”

“What are you?”

“Due time, due time Silent Whisper. I killed the pony whose ashes you are sifting though, so that gem would appear.”

“What… is it?” I ask, levitating it up.

“A soul.”

“... what…?”

“A soul, in crystal form. Special spells or enchantments kill a pony, animal, forces the soul into a crystal. Perfect for special spells, or to gain power.”

“Power?”

“Hehehe. Each soul is like a Balefire bomb, power and energy just sitting inside each of us. Take that power for yourself.” He then lit up his horn, taking the soul crystal out of my magic. “And embrace power, memories, and more secrets.” He then broke it, a white mist escaping from it and then, he used his magic to force my mouth open as it flowed down my throat. I tried to get away, but his magic was stronger, and he only let go once it all went down.

“Gah!” I coughed, not believing my tongue. That tasted… good, really good… Like the purest white chocolate… and my brain was lurching at the fact it did. “What did…?”

“All that pony’s memories, knowledge, and secrets are now yours. As well as the power that comes with it.”

“What kind of sick power is that?”

“Hehehehe, cast a spell, try it yourself. I’ll be back, enjoy the rush. First times are always the best.”

I blinked, finding myself over the ash pile, as if I was sifting through it the whole time… Damn… did that… really happen. I sighed. “Of course it did…” I muttered, suddenly getting a head rush.

”Sis, I’m setting the locks again!”

“Just remember the passcode is 8949.”

The head rush passed. I looked to my side, seeing a house made from wood and metal. It was… so familiar. It was… this pony’s memories… his home. I walked over to it, seeing a number keypad on the door. “8949,” I entered, the keypad light turning green as the door opened by itself. I walked in, the pony’s soul… their memories of this house playing out before me… I felt all her emotions. Her name at the tip of my tongue… Comet Wrench. Memories from foalhood to adulthood were playing around me like ghosts.

Another head rush.

“Comet… it’s getting worse.”

“No! No, you have to make them better!”

“It’s reached their organs Comet, there’s nothing we can do.

“No… no!”

It passed, her emotions from that memory flooding into me. Her memories lead me upstairs. I was in front of what I assumed, no, what I know was her mother's room. I opened the door. Inside were skeletons, pony skeletons, one positioned upright, sitting, the other positioned sitting on a stool, paint brush in mouth, and a painting, showing a beautiful crimson coated mare with long, straight lapis colored hair, a mechanical front left leg, and two fillies. One with a green coat and crimson mane, and the other a filly with a crimson coat and green mane. At the bottom corner of the painting, “Love you mom, Wrench Brush and Comet Gear, your loving daughters.”

Another rush.

”So doc, what’s making my mom and sis sick?”

“Well… I’m sorry, but it’s not good.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Well, it’s a flesh eating bacteria, we have records from pre-war era that tell us it’s curable… but…”

“But?”

“It’s mutated, its DNA now drastically different than what it once was. I don’t know if we can synthesize a new cure, but we are going to try.”

My legs grew weak, tears filled my eyes. All her pain, loss, I felt it. Then… I imagined my brother and sister in their place.

I fell to the ground crying. Why. WHY!? What did he do to me?! What is he?!?! What am I…

“Silent?” Daisy's voice called out. I then heard hooves run over to me and I managed to see from the corner of my eye that she sat next to me, her hoof stroking my mane. “Waaat 'appened Whisper?”

I sniffled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Can I tell her...what would she think of me… Will she leave, call me a freak? “I… Can I tell you something?”

"What is it silent?" Daisy asked, stroking my back.

“That merchant… the one that took pre war money.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, we were talking… then everything got silent, right after he gave me those bullets. He showed me a book, he knew my whole name.... Said he knew what I was, said if that book had me, it would be better… He knew about my spell… Said it was a twin. His book flew up by itself, opened, and words, symbols, something came out and went through my eyes and engraved themselves into my brain. Then, earlier, I was looking through an ash pile. I found this crystal and he appeared again, out of thin air. Said it was the pony’s soul… he broke it and mist came out… he forced my mouth open as it went down… Daisy, I could remember that pony’s life, her memories in this house… Those skeletons are her mom and sister.”

Daisy took a deep breath. "Silent, oi don't nu much aboyt magic, or anythin' really. Oi lived a simple life, as simple as it can be, but whaen times were 'ard, oi 'ad me mom an' da, Azure, an' whaen mom an' da got away oi 'ad Azure. Nigh, you're in dis wi' us. nigh, oi'm not sure waaat ter tink aboyt dis, so oi'm gonna take yisser ward. Since oi 'enny seen any av dis 'appen, so scon are in me weck sayin' oi don't believe it, but scon are keepin' an open mind. if dis 'appens again, don't be afraid ter tell."

“... Alright. Thanks for listening,” I said, getting back up. She doesn’t fully believe me, but she is open to listening at least.

Azure came in as I was setting myself, looking freaked out and immediately wing talking to Daisy. "You saw wan av dem big things alive?!"

“Those dead things?” I asked.

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go see it then, guns ready.” Azure and Daisy were about to head out. I stopped for a moment, taking an empty clip from This Gun and loading it with those R.I.P Rounds. I loaded it into the gun, and a green energy emitted from it before settling. This Gun felt… different now. I placed it away and that feeling never left.

I ran to catch up with Azure and Daisy, who both were heading towards the largest building in town. It was labeled Town Hall, and there was a sign saying so made from welded pieces of metal. Inside, there was a large, alive version of whatever the corpses were outside. It stood an easy ten heads tall, and had a battle saddle with a very large weapon attached. I… don’t know what it is, but it looks like a version of a mini gun.

When we got close enough, it spotted us. “Hey! You ponies! Come here!” It shouted.

We all looked at eachother, and Daisy gave Azure and I a wink. “Yer cum over 'ere, Dum-Dum." Daisy said, the creature’s face seemed a mix of confused and worried as it walked over to us. “So, waaat ye Dum-Dum?” Daisy asked.

The creature, Dum-Dum as Daisy seems to have called it, face turned stern. “Hey… I take o-or-orders from leader! You don’t tell me things! Earth ponies to me… Me, my… Uh… Earth ponies behind me!”

“Nigh now Dum-Dum, answer me dis, ye an earth pony?” Daisy asked, Dum-Dum getting a confused look.

“I, uh… I Super Pony?”

“Chucker yer 'av wings or a 'orn?”

“Uh… No horn, or wings?”

“Den yer are an earth pony by definishun. So, as two earth ponies, canny we jist blather an' such?”

“Uh… Uh… Umm… Yes?”

“Gran', so yer said you're a Super Pony, waaat are ye at 'ere? an' who is dis master?” Daisy asked.

“Uh. Super Ponies made by leader. Take normal earth ponies… and… um… um, Oh! Take them to make more of us! Us or-ord-ordered to collect more earth ponies. All earth ponies were gathered, and non earth ponies were killed.”

“You killed all these ponies?!” I screamed.

“I, um…”

“Silent,” Daisy said, trotting up to me in a whisper. “Oi nu waaat dum-dum 'ere is brutal, but tink av it dis way, she wus a normal earth pony, jist loike me, an' nigh she's… this. plus, if de earth ponies av dis town are still alive, den she is de only wan who knows wha they are,” Daisy explained.

I took a deep breath. “You’re right… Sorry. I just…”

“'Tis gran' so.” Diasy said, giving me a pat before turning back to Dum-Dum “So, wha did al' yisser lads take de towns ponies ter? Also… why ye still 'ere?”

“Uh, others have camp set in… hole in ground. Can’t miss, has big over cover… thing… over it. I here cause… cause… was told to.”

“You were told to?” I ask. “Like, told to stay here and collect any that wander in here?”

“Uh… no. Just told stay here.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Uhh… Don’t know. Was night, then day, then night, then day again. Umm…”

“A whole day?” I ask, surprised that she stayed in this building for two whole days.

“I… guess.”

“Dum-Dum, answer me dis. Chucker yer want ter stay followin' de leader, or chucker yer want ter be yisser own pony?”

“Um… Uh…”

“Dum-Dum, oi promise, me lads an' oi 'ill be back, yer can tell us yisser answer den, gran' so?” Daisy said, giving Dum-Dum a water bottle and a pre-war apple pie.

With that, we took our leave. “So… We’re saving the ponies. Do you think the others will be that easy?”

“Naw, oi knew it wud be easy ter dayle wi' dum-dum, she wus wearin' a grenade minigun.”

“Seriously?” Daisy nodded. “Damn…”

“But, it wus still fully loaded an' she wasn't wearin' a saddle bags, didn't even 'av a single extra clip. Dat tells me she didn't even join in de reef.”

“How could you tell it was still fully loaded?”

“Dohs 'igh grade weapons 'av a counter on dem. oi saw it, they keep aboyt score rounds. it wus still at score exactly.” She explained.

“So… what does that mean?”

“We'll be findin' oyt.”

Dum-Dum was right. The camp the Super Ponies took the towns ponies to, the ones they didn’t kill, was a metro entrance. We knew this was the place because it had the overhang to block extreme sunlight and rain, and the metal gate that usually kept them closed, as Daisy said, was torn apart. No pony could do that. No normal one, anyway.

Entering, we found ourselves in some sort of make-shift underground fort. The main entrance was guarded by a Super Pony… They were slightly bigger than Dum-Dum, by two or three heads. They also had more… mass, to put it simply. “I got this,” I said, activating my invisibility spell and sneaking over to the guard. I pulled out my Zebra sword and sliced its throat. Its skin was thick, so the blade didn’t go in deep enough, but thankfully the electricity from the blade added to the strength, killing the Super Pony.

With that done, Azure and Daisy came over. After disbanding my spell, we were careful in sneaking further in. Aside from lockers, random metal boxes, and litter, there surprisingly wasn’t much. I was expecting to have run into more Super Ponies or something. It was getting creepy now. The tunnel’s lights were half dead, those that were on anyway, and the corners and such were all just… ominous.

Finally, we spotted an opening. Slowly sneaking towards it, what we saw was… horrifying. From the decor it must have once been a metro hub, turned raider hole turned cage room. The Super Ponies were using the metro carts as the cages. Activating my spell, I did a quick look around the edges of the upper level platform we were on. I saw all of the lower docking level. Six Super Ponies, each with Miniguns. Only two trains were made into cages, though. I went back and told Daisy and Azure what was going on.

“We nade ter be sneaky. Azure's got a silencer for 'er rifle, yer can sneak up ter de ones dat are oyt av sight from de others an' strike. I'll try an' clap if oi can lure dem ter area's wha they won't be seen so yer can dayle wi' dem. Or so Azure can snipe dem from 'ere.”

I nod, Azure readying her rifle as I activated my spell and snuck down the stairway to the loading platform. One of the Super Ponies was partly in a tunnel. I grinned, using that to my advantage as I snuck over to it. I passed it and once I was a fair ways in the tunnel, I grabbed some small rubble and tossed it against the wall. The Super Pony looked my way and walked over. Once it was where I threw the rubble, I thrusted my sword into the back of its skull. A small splatter of blood and the sickening scent of electrified flesh later, the Super Pony was nothing more than ash. To my surprise, there were some caps and a… a… a hoof puppet?

I lifted it out of the ash pile. It was the Stable Tech mascot, a blue coated pony with a blond mane and tail, Stable Tech logo cutie mark, and kinda creepy beady little black eyes. On the back was cloth stitched into the puppet. “My name is Alchemy Breach. Please take care of me.” It read. Must have belonged to a foal… I really hope this Super Pony wasn’t a foal before…

I gulped, putting the puppet away in my saddlebags and sneaking back to the main area. From where I could see, Azure already shot a Super Pony in the head if the headless Super Pony corpse behind one of the cage trams was anything to go by. That must have been a tricky shot.

Looking out, there were still some Super Ponies in a group. Crap, make a noise they all will come over. Think Silent, think!

I… I could try that shadow spell… But, I don’t know. The book made me know how it works, but I don’t know if I’ll be in control… Come on… Think! I looked at the Super Ponies, and as if Celestia herself answered my pleas, my answer was there. A mine was sticking out of a saddle bag one of them was wearing. I smiled wickedly, sneaking over and being careful. The Super Pony with the mine was on the other side of this group.

“So, what we tell Leader about dumb one?” one of the Super Ponies asked.

“Easy, she died in attack,” another replied.

“But, Leader ordered her not fight. He’ll know it’s lie.”

“You know how much she wants to prove her worth. We tell Leader she jumped into the battle when she was told not to, and one of those ro-bo things killed her with a laser weapon. Ash pile.” That made them all laugh. They left Dum-Dum there… on purpose?! Oh, they are so dead.

I snuck quickly to the one with the land mine. Thankfully, they were sitting down, so it was easy to take the mine out. A quick flick of the switch, and it was armed. I placed it back into the Super Pony’s saddle bags and I turned around… and walked into another Super Pony. “Huh?” The Super Pony said, looking down right at me. If not for the spell and the dark environment, it would have seen me instantly.

I made a quick prance to safety before the landmine blew, taking out the Super Pony who had it, and the one I bumped into. Gunfire told me Azure took off her silencer and opened fire on one of them. A high-pitched noise started ringing before another one of Azure’s shots fired, taking the final Super Pony down.

I deactivated my spell and ran to first cage, Daisy and Azure taking the other. “I thought we were goners,” one of the ponies inside said.

“Don’t worry,” I said, picking the lock. In a few swift movements, it clicked and fell off, letting the doors open. “You’re safe now.”

When we arrived back at Gearswork, Daisy announced that it was a Super Pony that told us where to find them. There was mixed responses, but they wanted her out. It was… understandable. When Dum-Dum saw Daisy, she said she didn’t want to follow the leader, but she had to follow someone. It’s how she is. Daisy said to head to Dirty River, and to tell the sheriff, Jane, that we sent her and Dum-Dum could follow Jane. Who wants to mess with a town where a guard is a grenade machine gun wielding Super Pony?

Happy and emotional, Dum-Dum hugged, and nearly broke, Daisy before leaving. Thankfully, my new Pipbuck had its own radio. I decided to see if I could give Jane or somepony in town a heads up. I went to the radio settings, and started broadcasting. “If anypony from Dirty River is listening, this is Silent Whisper, I need to talk with Jane, please respond.” There was some silence, before something came in.

”Holy hell, Silent? What you doing on the radio?” Jane’s voice came from the speaker.

“I’m calling to give you a heads up. We’re sending a friend, of sorts, to Dirty River. She’s… different, might scare the guards, so tell them is a giant earth pony wielding a grenade machine gun is in their sights, she’s friendly. Her name is, well, Daisy named her, so Dum-Dum… you’ll see why…”

There was silence. ”If you were any other pony, Silent, I’d tell you to fuck off and unleash all I had or something like that, but you’ve more than earned my trust, so I’ll tell the guards to keep an eye out for her. As for her name… really Daisy? If she’s sticking to it, I’m just calling her DD. Jane out.

I chuckled, turning the broadcast off and looked around. The surviving towns ponies were cleaning up, separating the dead from the Super Pony corpses. Azure and Daisy were helping. I gave a sigh and full smile, picking up the scraps of battle debris and empty ammo cases. This… is going to be the most relaxing thing I have ever done.