Fallout Equestria: Lineage

Preparations

I for one am not starting to like my followers one bit. They had told me that they had traveled for a long while to find me, so I allowed them a couple days stay here in the carrier. A couple days later, they are still around and now following me everywhere I go, much to my chagrin. I trotted next to Brick, looking annoyed as we made our way down to the cargo bay to help out with more of the salvaging. My followers trailed not too far behind. I had to get them off my back. I had to get my friends together so we can be off to Las Pegasus. Silver Iris seems as much annoyed I was to my followers.

We had tried enjoying a simple cuddling moment out on the deck when she noticed them behind us, just staring. It eventually got creepy to the point where they killed the mood, leaving Iris with no choice but to find something else to do. I had tried discussing with my other friends, but the creepy stalking they had going on with me just made me lose my train of thought. These guys have got to go. I didn’t ask for any followers. Why the hell did a bunch of ponies decide to make me into a cult messiah? They are worse than The Pride!

Trotting next to Brick, we made our way down and was greeted by Bubble Pop at the hangar. The timid mare eventually warmed up to a few of the ponies after apologizing to us all about what she had done. Guillotine was still pissed at her for ratting out Gahilda, but he has to eventually forgive her. But right now, Guillotine was staying as far away from her as possible. I smiled as the cotton candy colored mare trotted over to us with her saddle bag full of salvage. She opened her mouth to say something when she stopped, noticing my followers behind us and suddenly seemed frightened. I sighed. Okay, enough is enough! I turned to my cloaked followers.

“Okay, this has got to stop.” I said. The leader of the bunch, who I found out was named Crispy Crunch, looked at me with a confused expression.

“Stop what?” he asked. I frowned and stomped my hoof on the ground.

“Following me! I gave you a couple of days to stay and rest because I thought you were going to leave after seeing me. Now here you are still following me around! I can’t even think properly without having you lot stare at my back! You have got to go!” I explained, seeing a few ponies, zebra and griffons nodding with me. The cloaked mare, I found out her name is Melon Mellow, spoke.

“Yes, you have graced us with your palace and we are humbly grateful for the Savior letting us stay.” She said with a bow. I rubbed my face, feeling more agitated than before.

“I told you, you can stay for a couple of days and then leave. Not stay and follow me around!” I said.

“But we have yet to begin preparations.” Crispy said.

“Well, maybe you should have thought of that then just follow me around!” I snapped. I blinked then. “What preparations?”

“For the day you will lead us. To punish those that see you threatened or unworthy.” Crispy said.

“Didn’t I say I didn’t want you to cause trouble for anyone?” I said between grit teeth. “I don’t need others to handle my own things! I’m trying to get a carrier up and running for all of us to use as a base and yet I can’t even begin our own preparations because you insist on following me around.”

“And we apologize for it. We really wanted to see if you are as they say you to be.” Crispy said. I arched a brow.

“What are you talking about?” Crispy held out a hoof to me.

“They say you to be one with wisdom. One with cunning skills and ideas.” He said. I looked at Brick, who nodded. I then turned back to them with a smile.

“Well then, how about I give you demonstration?” I asked. My followers exchanged looks before I nodded with my eyes closed. “Brick?” I heard the sound of a clink and a loud popping sound along with yelps of surprise. I turned, opening my eyes and pulled a slightly disoriented Bubble Pop along with me and Brick as we raced down the hangar and quickly vanished into a hall. We didn’t stop until we reached a secluded area. I peeked around the corner to see if they had followed us. I sighed with relief when they hadn’t and turned back to the two. Bubble Pop smiled at me.

“I’m glad I saw it in time to close my eyes.” She said. I nodded with a smile of my own.

“Good job with that flash bang, Brick.” I said. Brick nodded.

“Ayep.” He said. I checked again and quickly ducked back when I saw two of them scanning the hangar. I grit my teeth again.

“Stubborn bastards.” I hissed. “We need to get around them. I need to get all my friends to a spot where they can’t find us.” I looked to see Bubble Pop rub her chin. Then she looked up and I followed her gaze. Vents. I beamed and scooped the timid mare in a hug, making her stiffen. “Good thinking.” She flushed and gave me a sheepish smile. Brick helped the two of us into the vent and I reached my hoof down for Brick to climb in. He shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see if I can find the others. If they see me, I’ll just drop another flashbang.” He said. I shook my head.

“They might know that trick after seeing it the first time. We’ll meet on the bridge. Do your best to avoid them.” I said. He nodded before turning and quietly trotting off. I looked back to Bubble Pop, who seemed to be staring at me and flushing. “Come on, Pop. We have to get to the bridge.” She blinked and quickly nodded. We crawled quietly through the vents. I’m not good with the ventilation paths. It took me a while to figure out where we were. A couple of times, I saw my followers still looking for me. Stubborn bunch indeed.

After a while of getting lost, I stopped and looked out of the vent. I could see Xanthos with a few other people looking over things on the terminal. I smiled. We finally made it to the bridge. I brought my hind leg in and kicked with all my might, making the vent sail across the room and startling the few on the bridge. I hopped out and landed.

“Quiet Fire?” Xanthos asked. I nodded and was about to speak when I felt Bubble Pop land on top of me. I shook away the daze and gave her a small frown. She blinked and gave an embarrassed smile before stepping off of me.

“Yes, it’s me.” I said as I stood up and dusted myself off.

“What were you doing in the vents?” the zebra asked with a rub of his chin. I chuckled a bit.

“Well, you know those cloaked ponies calling themselves my followers?” I asked. They nodded. “Well, I had to get away from them.” I frowned more. “They refuse to let me be. So Me and Brick thought of a way to escape when they weren’t looking.” I noticed them looking at Bubble Pop with suspicion. “Don’t worry. She’s here with me. I need to discuss somethings with her.” Xanthos gave me a curious look before nodding and turning back to the terminal. I looked to Bubble Pop, who was still flushing. Is she okay?

“I-I’m sorry…” she said suddenly. I blinked.

“For what?” I asked. This mare is starting to worry me a little. She was about to reply when the door opened and in walked Comp and Rex with Star next to them.

“Hey, we heard about it from Brick.” Comp said. “Glad to see you finally got rid of them.” I nodded.

“They didn’t see you on the way here?” I asked. They shook their head, making me sigh with relief. “Great, now we just need Iris and Goldenlee to come with Brick and then we can finally discuss our next plan of action.”

It took them at least two hours to gather all my friends into the bridge.

“They started following Iris.” Star said, which made me feel agitated and somewhat threatened that they had followed Iris after giving up on me. Silver Iris kicked back on the captain’s chair while the rest of us gathered around below her.

“So, what’s the plan?” Silver Iris asked. I nodded.

“Right. What we need to do next is head for Las Pegasus.” I looked at my friends as I spoke. “I want to remind you all why we need to. Las Pegasus is out of control with the gang activity.” Comp nickered.

“And we all thought you don’t deal with gangs.” He said. I frowned.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. Listen, for what’s it worth, I’m tired of having to hide from my family’s lineage.” I sighed. “All the running and hiding. I’m sick of it. I want to do something good for once.” My friends gave me worried looks.

“Why the sudden change of heart, dear?” she asked. I walked over to peer out of the cockpit.

“Well, think about it. I’m already noticed by gang heads left and right. I’ve managed to get thousands of inmates to take over an Enclave prisoner carrier. I’ve blown up one of The Pride’s casinos. I’ve pissed off the Enclave not once, but three times.” I gave them a sad smile. “As much as it pains me to say, my ancestor’s habits have caught up to me. New Pegas and DJ Pon3 didn’t help my cause either. My actions are eventually going to catch up to me and bite me on the ass. So I want to be prepared.”

“And to do that, you want to go to Las Pegasus to stop gang riots?” Star asked. I gave him a small nod.

“I… never really thought of gangs as anything really. But after spending time with Popper, Xanthos, Guillotine and the Omaretas, I’m starting to have second thoughts on this whole gang stuff.” I said.

“Sounds like you want to be a part of a gang.” Silver Iris teased. I blinked and looked at her.

“W-what!? Ridiculous! I don’t want to be in a gang!” I saw her sly smile and sighed. “Oh yes, very funny. Tease the mare that has followers stalking me.”

“You know we love you.” Iris said with a snicker. We’ll see how much later. I agreed with the horned pony before turning back to my friends.

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I want to at least do something to help LittlePip. She has too much going on as is and Sombra had already saw through the plan she had played out. It’s the reason she and her friends went into hiding.” I smiled when Star gave that look of understanding.

“I see. So you want to create a big enough distraction so Sombra can focus on you and give LittlePip time for a counter plan.” I gave him a nod.

“Smart ponies.” Iris said with a smile.

“Then why didn’t you say so before?” Goldenlee asked. I frowned.

“What do you think? Cloaked ponies that had been following me around for a while.” I rubbed my chin. “I still don’t know what they are up to. But I sure as hell not gonna let them try anything on our turf.” I noticed the sly smirks coming from my friends. Did I say something funny? I can’t believe my friends are agitating me more than my followers! I could feel the gears in my brain overheat.

“Look, if you wanted to be in a gang, you could have just said so.” Comp said coolly. I grit my teeth. What is wrong with them? This is all so frustrating! I shook my head and began pacing.

“I never want to be in a gang. I just want to be a normal pony with normal needs.” I said. I stopped and cocked my head. Did I really just call myself normal? To my friends snickering and my chagrin, that was a yes. I shook my head. “Look, can you please bear with me on this!”

“Of course, dear.” Goldenlee said. I gave them a skeptical look before continuing.

“So, create a distraction so LittlePip can have time to come up with another counter plan. After that, we still need to find my father’s reports and recordings. We still need to find Brick’s friend. We still need to figure out Comp’s memory loss.” I rubbed my chin. “And I also have a sneaky suspicion that the Enclave aren’t only looking for Rex and Iris, but also LittlePip. So, if we can use this carrier and get it up and running, we might be able to access the main HQ for the Enclave and get them on us. That’ll give LittlePip more breathing room to think.” I looked at my friends who were giving me concerned looks. “What?”

“Umm… Courier. Don’t you think it’s a bad thing to have every single group and gang after you?” Star asked. I nodded.

“If it gives LittlePip the time to come up with another plan, then yes. How are you guys not seeing it?” I asked, feeling my frustration build.

“Dear, I believe you are putting too much burdens to bear.” She said. I shook my head.

“Please, after what I’ve been through? It will be nothing.” I said.

“Courier, are you sure you thought about this all the way?” Comp asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great plan. But shouldn’t we take it apart little by little?” I arched a brow.

“Of course I have thought about it. Why wouldn’t I think of it as a plan if I hadn’t?” I said. I must have fumed.

“Dear, why don’t you take it slow? You are putting too mu-.” I cut Goldenlee off with a stomp of my hoof.

“Look, I don’t care if I get the entire Wasteland on me. I just want to make sure LittlePip gets the breathing room she needs so we can stop Sombra from waking the Maidens.” I snorted. “Hell, my brother woke mine up. I’ve seen what she is capable of. We all have. I for one don’t want to wait any longer for Sombra to do something.” I furrowed my brows and rubbed my chin. “Unless I can find some way to get Sombra to notice me with Din’s power.” But how? I don’t want to unleash Din on the entire Wasteland. I don’t want to have myself be taken over. There has to be a way to get Sombra to notice me. I didn’t show it, but I had been surprised the few times I had used Din’s power and hadn’t seen Sombra shown up at all. The last time was when he had inflicted the feeling of death on me in my dream.

So, I would have expected Sombra to at least show up after or during when Viper provoked me to free Din. And it bugged me. It truly bugged me that he hadn’t shown himself after that. My guess was he is still trying to get LittlePip to unintentionally help with the Maidens. What also had been driving me nuts was what he had done to my brother. I hadn’t heard anything about the Demon of the Wasteland in a while. What did Sombra do to my brother?

I blinked and noticed my friends giving me the same concerned expression.

“Dear, maybe you should ease off a little on the thinking.” Goldenlee said. I shook my head.

“I can’t. I have to be on guard at all times. If I lose my train of thought for a second, I’m afraid something might go terribly wrong.” I said. I pointed a hoof at Bubble Pop, making her blink in confusion. “Hell, if I did stop thinking, who knows what the inmates will do to her. Some still haven’t forgiven her and I want to make sure that she’s safe too.” She flushed bright red through her cotton candy colored face. “I also want to make sure my followers leave and not have to bother us again.” I ruffled my mane. “So many things to do. So little time. I want to get them out of here so we can prepare more.”

“Courier.” Star said. I continued.

“And once I do, we meet in front of the hangar with necessary supplies for our trip to Las Pegasus.”

“Courier.” Brick said. I still continued.

“When we do get to Las Pegasus, we check up on the gangs. See if we can get them to calm down. Then after that, we need to find more of my father’s reports and-.”

“Courier!” my friends said in unison. I stopped and looked at them in confusion.

“What?” I asked.

“You need to relax.” Iris said. I shook my head, feeling more agitated.

“I can’t! How can any of you not see that? If I stop, then something bad is going to happen!” I said.

“Courier, you really need to relax.” Star said. Okay, that’s it. I stomped my hoof and felt the warmth on my head.

“Why do you guys not understand? I have everything planned out!” I said raising my voice a little. I noticed the small crowd back away from me and my friends looked more worried. “Why do you insist on me relaxing?”

“Courier, you need to calm down. Relax.” Iris said. I balked, feeling more frustrated.

“Now you’re telling me to calm down? What is with you all?? I thought you were my friends!”

“Dear, we are. And we are being your friends now. We need you to relax.” Goldenlee said sternly. I was really starting to hate that word now.

“Stop telling me to relax!” I shouted. I breathed heavily, feeling the warmth on my head dissipate. I was still feeling frustrated. I couldn’t stand to be around these ponies right now. I have so many things to do and now my friends are getting on my back too! I said nothing and stomped out of the bridge, leaving my friends to their own worries. I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but they were really starting to piss me off. I gritted my teeth. I need a drink. I need to hit something. Somepony. Anything! I stomped out onto the deck and saw to my annoyance, my followers.

“Savior?” Melon asked. I said nothing. “We have been looking for you.” She smiled now. “I’m glad to see you are safe.” My eye twitched.

“Why do you guys insist!?” I shouted. She blinked and shifted a little.

“I-Is something wrong? Have we done something to upset the messiah?” she asked. I stomped my hoof, feeling the warmth on my head again. The small group she was with shuffled back with murmurs of surprise. Melon’s eyes widened. “The mane of fire… She, who is the Savior, also bears the blessing of the maiden.” She said with an awe dropped jaw. I said nothing and let the fire spread around them in a small circle.

“Stop following me!! I don’t want anything to happen to anyone. But if you continue to pester me or my friends any further, then I’ll make sure your cult will be disbanded.” I must have gave her the murderous look, for she instantly looked on in fear.

“I… I knew I would do something to upset the Savior.” She stepped forward. “V-very well, Savior. I accept the punishment you shall give me. I have done a sin against the Savior.” She gave me a stern look. “I’m ready.” I bit my lip in frustration. What the hell is this mare talking about?? I closed my eyes and looked away, feeling the warmth die down. When I opened my eyes again, the fire was no longer there. Melon seemed surprised.

“Like I said… I don’t want anything to happen to anyone. Unless for a good cause.” I knew I would regret saying this later. Melon eased the tension she had built up and gave a shaky sigh.

“I will not upset you again, Savior. I shall accept the second chance to heart. Hail the Savior!” she said. Her group repeated. I groaned and pushed past them. I wasn’t surprised when they had started following me. I just ignored them and their blind religious ways. Maybe I should just go back to lowering my notoriety after all. But I can’t. I have to give the edge for LittlePip. My head was starting to hurt. For the past couple of days, I had constantly thought of certain scenarios I could use to make myself more notable with Sombra.

All my scenarios have been for naught. All either had me and my friends end up being killed or taken captive with no way out and others had been the destruction of a group or ponies I know. I grumbled when I actually came up with a scenario that just put me back in the stalemate. At this point, my head was killing me. But I didn’t stop. I glanced back at the cloaked ponies quietly following me. I've got to get them to leave. Whatever they were hoping for, they weren’t going to get it if they kept following me. But how can I get them to leave? No matter how much I plead and beg, they seem to just take the idea and throw it away. The only other option left was to get them to come with us and ditch them in the never ending blizzards The Empire has. But then if something bad had happened to them, it would be all my fault.

And I don’t want to have a dead cult of ponies because they so foolishly followed me to their deaths on my hooves. I turned the corners and found myself standing on the morphed bridge of where Iris’s clones had once been. A hole where Din had cut a part of the ship with that strange magic loomed overhead. Seeing this brought back the memories of being provoked and feeling sorry for Iris as well as being mad at her. I looked back to see the cloaked followers still behind me. I grumbled more and continued on trotting down the hall and away from the melted clone lab.

I couldn’t sleep at all. The next day proved to be the most harrowing experience I had. Dogger had finally gotten the supplies needed to start rebuilding parts of the carrier. I looked over a diagram Cream had made, showing us what really needed to be replace and what we should worry about. Turns out, we had a lot of things to worry about than much needing to be replaced. So I rounded up groups of ponies, zebra and griffons. Ghost Pepper and her group were to aid the dogs in fixing the chambers where gas had apparently leaked out. Piffon was to lead his group to the bottom levels and repair the air filters. Guillotine was to take his group to the engines and replace the burnt out crystal fuses with the ones that came from Europa. They wore special suites to protect themselves from the radiation that was down there. Xanthos was to handle the data encrypting team with Shining Star being a guide.

That left me and Bubble Pop to gather a group and start cleaning out the rest of the hangar of the remaining supplies. I gathered the strongest I could find along with Iris, Brick and Comp steering Rex and a few others that I had seen that could lift more than two crates of salvage. Unfortunately, my followers stuck around again and watched from the sidelines as I led my group to pick out what was garbage and what was useful. I notice Bubble Pop having a keen eye for some of the salvage that seemed useless and then explaining its properties to us. We had found a lot of gilded stuff and only a few bits and pieces that could help in the repairing.

I motioned for two earth ponies to haul three crates down the ramp when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and balked when I saw Heart and Bell smiling at me.

“Sisters? What are you doing here?!” I asked.

“We came to check up on you.” Heart said. Check up on me?

“You mean to tell me that you went through snowwolf infested plains to check up on me?” I asked.

“Those nice doggies led us to the town!” Bell squeaked. Heart nodded.

“But I thought you guys were at Wheatfield Acres?” I said. Heart held up her PipBuck and showed me the message I had sent to everyone that was worried about me. I flushed and rubbed the back of my head. “O-oh.”

“We haven’t heard from you in weeks.” Heart said as she lowered her muffler a bit. “Stall has been keeping up with me. But you, of all ponies, haven’t been keeping up with me at all.” She chuckled now and looked over to the working ponies. “And here we find you leading ponies to rebuild a carrier.” I blinked.

“Wait, how do you know we are trying to rebuild it?” I asked. Heart nodded towards the town.

“Caravans have been coming and going now thanks to you and what you have done.” She said. “We all saw a giant ship coming from the sky and vanish over a mountain. New Pegas had said everyone from The Strip to The Empire saw it. And then a couple days later, we here how The Empire’s own ‘Savior of the Roads’ emerged and had begun reconstruction with the aid of not just Snow Dogs, but with griffons and zebra.” She explained. A couple of days? I checked the map on my PipBuck. I noticed we were at least a good three day trot from Stableton. Wow, who would have thought?

“You are amazing, sis!” Bell squeaked again. I gave her a sheepish smile and waved my hoof.

“I-I’m nothing special.” I said. Heart gave me an arch brow.

“Exploding a gang’s casino. Riding a timberwolf and defeating another timberwolf with an Enclave operative and shaming the Enclave all the same. Disappearing for a few weeks and realizing after the carrier had come crashing down that you had been held captive and managed to take it over?” I said nothing but blinked. I then sighed.

“I really wish you all would stop listening to that DJ. He’s been following my exploits ever since Route 15.” I said. Heart shook her head.

“I’m glad he has. Do you realize how much we’ve been through since you had been held captive for a few weeks?” she asked. Bell furrowed her brows before shrugging.

“I wasn’t worried. I knew Curry can take on an entire Enclave carrier.” She said. Heart gave her a glare, making her feign a smile and wave at her before turning back to me.

“I really didn’t think you, my dear sister, to be the one caught up in all this.” she said. I nodded.

“Karma can be a bitch at times.” I said, glaring at the two ponies on my shoulders who seem to be preoccupying themselves with a game of Go Fish.

“Karma or not, you should know better!” Heart said. I smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, sis. I’m a tough mare.” I said. She arched a brow.

“Hey, Quiet Fire.” A voice said. I turned to see Piffon hauling two tanks on his back. “Think these tanks will do?” I looked at one and studied the symbol on the tank. I smiled and nodded.

“Yes, Piffon. Those would be perfect.” I said. He nodded before taking off, leaving me to face my sisters, who were giving me questioning looks. “What?”

“Quiet Fire?” Bell asked. I blinked and rubbed the back of my head.

“Oh yeah. While I was a prisoner on the carrier, I had been dubbed ‘Quiet Fire’ to the gangs and inmates.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Why?” Heart asked. I gave her a sheepish smile.

“W-well… ever since I got captured, I had to plan a way out of the mess. So I decided playing mute for weeks.” I smiled and looked back at the busy ponies, zebra and griffons. “It’s because for a few weeks I played mute. And they put fire in the name because of my mane.”

“Interesting.” Heart said with a small nod. I sighed.

“What do you want, sis?” I groaned. As happy as I was to see my sisters, I was also getting annoyed because I wanted to get back to work.

“An explanation. What had happened to you all those weeks.” She said. I looked at them with a frown.

“Alright. I’ll tell you.” And so I did. I told them everything that had happened on the carrier. When I was finished, Bell looked star struck and Heart seemed impressed.

“Well, you certainly have dad’s way of going about things.” She said. I cocked my head.

“I do?” I hadn’t really thought about it. Heart nodded.

“You have mother’s looks, but I can see dad with your eyes.” She said. I gently held up a hoof and put it to my right eye. Mom had said the same thing before her dementia acted up. I gave a sad look and bowed my head.

“How’s mom?” I asked.

“Didn’t you go see her after the town had been saved?” Heart asked, looking a bit startled. I shook my head, feeling more ashamed. The last time I saw her, she was in the middle of being raped by a raider. I had told a couple of couriers to make sure she was safe before I butchered my mom’s rapist in the middle of the town. After that and Din nearly burning the town along with the mayor’s plan on selling out the town to the Cacophony, I hadn’t really stopped by and check on her. My ears drooped. After all that, I hadn’t gone to check up on mom. I had instantly went back out with my friends to find more of dad’s reports.

“I’m sorry…” I said. Heart nodded.

“You shouldn’t tell me that. She has been worried sick about you.” She said sternly. I winced. “Curry, please. When you get the chance, check up on her. We are all worried for her.” I nodded.

“I’ll… when I get the chance, I will.” I turned back to the working groups of the carrier. “But right now, I have to plan on getting this thing up and running before heading to Las Pegasus and stop the gangs there.” I hissed as I felt a good bop on my head. I glared at Heart, rubbing my head. “Why is everypony aiming for my head!?”

“Because you need to have sense knocked into you.” She returned my glare. “Courier, are you willing to let our family’s lineage be placed onto your hooves?” I looked down at my hooves and nodded.

“New Pegas made sure of that.” I muttered. Heart bopped me on the head again. I rubbed my head. “Are you guys trying to give me a concussion?”

“Courier, New Pegas hasn’t done anything. He doesn’t know of our family’s history. He and DJ Pon3 are just telling the truth how it is. It’s you that has been making them tell the Wasteland about you.” She said. I shook my head.

“The first time was unavoidable! After that, New Pegas had been following my exploits ever since!” I grit my teeth. “I didn’t ask for it!”

“Well, you probably should have. And now you have a cult dedicated to your ‘ideals’.” She said motioning at the cloaked ponies past a few workers that had stopped to watch us argue. I snorted.

“They are fools!” I said. “I tried getting them to leave, but they are refusing to let their religion of me go!”

“S-sisters?” Bell stammered. We ignored her.

“Have you, Curry? Or are you also basking in the new found fame you had created for yourself?” Heart said with a frown. I stomped my hoof hard on the metallic floor, catching the attention of everyone around us.

“Like I said… I didn’t ask for it!” I said between grit teeth.

“What about all those years of keeping our lineage a secret?” she asked. I gave her a sarcastic look.

“Gee, you want to just shout it to the world?” I said.

“I have done no such thing. You have set yourself up for that.” She said.

“Curry? Heart?” Bell squeaked. We continued to ignore her. My sister was really starting to get on my nerves.

“How are you not getting it!?” I began pacing. “Of course I still want to keep our lineage a secret. But no, here we are talking about it in front of everyone.”

“Only because you caught their attention.” She said.

“Oh yeah? Then what about you? You are literally becoming the hypocrite.” I retorted.

“I’m no such thing!” she said, bristling. I smirked. I always know when to hit the sore spots on her.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that, sis.” I said.

“How are you so blind by this?!” she scoffed. I chuckled and looked at her with a challenging smirk.

“Blind? I’m blind? Here we are, in the middle of a hangar with a bunch of captives that the Enclave had kept for years and now here you are telling me I should back away from this?” I shook my head. “Sorry, sister. But I plan on following through with this plan.”

“What kind of plan is that? Having an entire carrier at your disposal to threaten ponies and get them to behave?” I bristled now.

“I’m doing the exact opposite. I’m trying to get the attention of a very bad pony so he can get off of LittlePip’s back!” I said.

“Why on earth do you want to catch the attention of a bad pony when you have plenty of them looking for you?” Heart retorted.

“I’m not the only one he’s after!” I shouted. “He’s been going after me because I’m one of the Maidens of the Stars! Have you forgotten Pleasant Town?” She balked.

“Y-you mean to say that, that wasn’t arcane magic?” she asked. I shook my head furiously.

“You know how well I can do arcane. Oh right, I can’t do any arcane magic. Lyon already has that taken care of.” I rubbed my face, still feeling agitated. “I had been possessed by a fire spirit named Din. She was the reason why the carrier fell from the sky. I wasn’t planning on destroying the damn thing!”

“But you were planning to take it over anyway?” she said. I nodded.

“Of course! How else was I and thousands of innocent people were going to get back to the Wastes? I had a plan set in motion and I plan on seeing it through.” I said.

“And what are you going to do after that?” Heart said.

“Easy, we go to Las Pegasus. Get the gangs to calm down. Then I help my friends while finding dad’s reports and recordings that he had for some reason left around the Wasteland.” I retorted.

“And have you fully thought about it at all?” she asked. I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it.

“I have… I think.” I finally said.

“Curry, please listen to me.” Heart said. “You need to back away now. You are handling too much by yourself.” I bristled more.

“I’m not doing this by myself! My friends are also in on this plan!” I said.

“Courier!” I looked up to see a grim looking Iris. “You need to listen to her.” I balked.

“Iris!? Why!? We can do this! We can knock all these things out with this carrier!” I said.

“So you really haven’t.” Heart said. I snorted.

“I’m trying to think!” I said. “I had been! I’ve been trying to find the perfect solution so none of us are dead or injured!”

“And have you’ve come up with one yet?” Heart asked.

“No! I haven’t! Which is why I’m still trying to think!” I said. I ruffled my mane. “And it’s getting really hard too when I have a dumb cult constantly following me and now I have you and my friends being on my back! Why won’t you just let me be in peace!?”

“We are trying too. Which is why you need to relax.” Iris said. I must have fumed from the ears.

“Why are you all telling me too!? If I let my guard down for a second, we won’t see what could hit us! Sombra might pull something and we might not know what to do! Which is why I need to think so he won’t have that chance too! But it’s becoming more and more difficult because everyone is trying to get me to back away from the plan!” I glared at Heart. “And if you came all this way to try and tell me to back away, then you can forget it. Go back to your vacation. I have stuff to do.” With that, I turned and was about to get the staring crowd back to work when I felt myself being turned around and felt something smack me hard across the cheek and into a crate.

I shook away the daze, hearing murmurs of surprise and looked to Heart. She shook her left hoof and glared at me.

“You leave me no choice, Courier.” She said. I smirked, rubbing my muzzle at the newly formed blood and stood up.

“Them’s fightin’ words.” I said as I stood up. More murmurs and chatter spoke up. Me and Heart circled as the crowd began to form a circle.

“Guys, stop!” Iris said as she landed in between us.

“Back off, Iris.” I said. “This is between me and my sister.” Iris looked at me with a grim stare.

“No, I won’t let it come to this.” she said. I scoffed.

“You and the rest keep trying to get me away from the plan. Can’t you see I’m trying to protect everyone?” Me and Heart still circled, now with Iris in the middle.

“Courier, you have to understand. We know you want to protect everyone, but you need to relax.”

“How about you get out of the way and let me handle this.” I snapped. She narrowed her eyes.

“Iris.” Heart spoke. “Please move. I have to teach my dear sister a thing or two about the mind.” Iris was ready to protest, when she stopped and gritted her teeth.

“Fine.” She said before taking off and hovering over us. When she did, I instantly galloped forward, taking my sister by surprise and planted two swings to her face, sending her stumbling. I bobbed in place as Heart rubbed her muzzle and glared at me.

“Oh. It. Is. On.” She said. I gave her a smirk. She charged and I ducked for the gut blow. But Heart seemed ready for it, for she strafed me with a spin and gave a good applebuck to my side. I went sailing past the crowd and out onto the ramp of the hangar. I stood up, wincing at the pain. I had to give my sister the benefit of the doubt. Since both of us are couriers trained in combat, we were also unicorns specializing in magic. Mine being illusion and hers was shadow magic. She could us the shadows to transport herself to the nearest shadow or even manipulate the shadows of her foes. She was instantly on me in a blink of an eye.

I quickly kicked up my hindlegs under her and tossed her over me. I stood up and crouched low. She rolled and landed upright. I saw her horn glow and my shadow suddenly turned into tendrils. They wrapped around my body and held me in place. I struggled to pull away. Heart walked over to me.

“I won’t ask you again, sister. Now back away before you get yourself hurt or even worse.” She said.

“I’m not hurting anything.” I grinned. “But I won’t mind slugging you.” I conjured a copy behind her, made her tap her shoulder. She turned with stock surprise. My copy planted a hoof to her face again and the force made her lose the hold on my shadow. The tendrils fell back into the ground as my shadow. She gritted her teeth.

“Dammit.” She muttered. I chuckled.

“You’re slipping, sis.” I taunted. I don’t care what had happened anymore. If my sister was going to beat me into submission to back away, then I was going to fight back so it won’t happen. I blinked, feeling something loom over me. I turned and gapped, seeing shadowed tendrils lift a carte up and dump heavy contents on me. I fell to the floor and felt myself being buried underneath the pile. My back stung. But at the same time I smirked. My sister was in for a surprise.

“Look at you. You are so caught up in all this that you hadn’t even noticed an attack like that. Maybe you really should just drop everything completely.” She said.

“On the contrary, sis.” I said as I stood up, the wreckage on my back falling off of me. “You just gave me an opportunity.” I grinned and my four copies shot out of the pile, surrounding Heart.

“Four?” she balked. I stepped away from the pile and moved towards them. “I see you’ve been brushing up on your illusion magic, sister.” I stopped and blinked. Why was she smirking? I knew why when I jumped slightly at the sight of the faceless shadow doppelgänger rush me. I moved out of the way and bobbed in place as my sister's shadow copy moved and swung. I blocked and retaliated with a shove and a good hoof stomp to her chest. The shadow splattered to the floor. I turned and gritted my teeth, seeing more shadow copies engaging my own copies.

“And I can see you’ve been brushing up as well.” I said. I rushed as did Heart. I swung my hoof, she blocked. She swung hers, I blocked. We went back and forth, grazing each other slightly. My sister had a strange graceful fighting style when it came to melee for her. I’ve seen her use it on a few stragglers that were putting the moves on her and came out without a single scratch on her. But me? Oh, we both felt the frustration of not even landing a single good blow in our exchange. I guess those other times were just lucky hits. Our crowd began cheering. But we ignored them as we kept exchanging blow after blow.

“Stubborn mare!” Heart said. I smirked, seeing her leave an opening to her side. I ducked, strafed and landed a hoof to her side, making her grunt and stumble. I wasn’t going to let her retaliate from that. I instantly conjured another copy and made her deliver another good blow to her side. She stumbled away again and again I had conjured a copy to give another good blow. She was soon being hit back and forth like a pinball between my four copies. She tried retaliating a few times, but my copy would easily side step it and slug her. Seeing her disgruntled, I smirked and rushed in, rearing back after a copy had gave her another good slug, I brought my hoof down across her head, sending her to the floor. The crowd let out a cheer.

“Give up?” I said. Heart looked tired, but she still pressed on.

“A lady never gives up.” She said. I blinked, seeing a shadow copy of Heart jump over her and tackle me. I grit my teeth, tossing the shadow over me. But when I did, the shadow suddenly melted onto my hooves. I tried pulling away, but it felt like being stuck to cement. The next thing I knew, my sister’s hooves phased through the shadow and kept swinging across my cheek. I heard the crowd cheer again. I had enough of this. I felt the warmth surround me and I smirked, seeing Heart gape and back away. Her shadow was gone in a fiery blast. I stood up now, small flames dancing around me.

“You are really starting to piss me off!” I said. Heart said nothing and looked at me with a calculative look.

“Look at you, Courier. So obsessed with trying to find a way to deal with a problem when you apparently can’t handle my thoughts.” She said. I scoffed.

“Obsessed? I’m not the one who keeps constantly checking up on everyone while on deliveries.” I said.

“I worry about you, Courier. You know that.” She said.

“Well, I don’t need you to worry about me. I’ve come this far, Heart. I’m not going to back away now.” I said.

“What exactly have you gone so far for?” she asked.

“None of your business!” I retorted, seeing the flames creep towards her and then slowly form a small circle of fire around her. The crowd was no longer cheering. “I can handle my own self. I don’t need you to constantly worry about me!”

“I’m your sister! It’s what I’m supposed to do!” she retorted. “What about your friends then? Have you heard their thoughts on the plan?”

“They have. And they made it clear that they want to get me to back away from this. I won’t let that happen. People are in danger and if I don’t do something about it, it’ll be…” I stopped.

“It’ll be what, sister?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. I hesitated. Why couldn’t I find the words? “So, you’ve come this far, thought of absolutely everything to make sure this goes off without a hitch. But do you think you can really save everyone? If so, why are you doing it all by yourself? You need to listen to your friends, Courier. To us! We are saying it because we are worried about you.” I shook my head and stomped my hoof, the flames rose as I did.

“No! I can save everyone! If I can be one step ahead of Sombra, then everyone is safe. I just know it!” I said.

“But you are trying to think too much into it! At that rate, you’re only going to get people killed.” She said. I roared and charged her. She stood her ground as I stopped and looked her dead in the eyes.

“I can save them! I know I can! I won’t stop until Sombra is foiled and I come out victorious in the end.” I said.

“That obsession is going to get everyone killed, Curry!” she said. “If you want to truly save people, then you need to listen to your friends and family! You are thinking too much and putting all of it on yourself to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. What you’re doing is hurting yourself! How can you save everyone if you are hurting yourself?” I opened my mouth to retort, then closed it. What? Hurting myself?

“How?” I asked. She gave me a stern look as she spoke.

“You are trying to fight a good fight. I respect you for that. But you have got to back away from the thinking. You’re not the only one with brains, Curry.” She looked over to the baffled crowd around us. “I’m sure there are plenty of others who can think just as much as you do. It isn’t always about you!”  I blinked, feeling the flames die. Really? I was being selfish again? I looked over to the ponies, griffons and zebra around us. They looked worriedly at me. I caught my friends looking at me with the same look my sister was giving me. I suddenly felt myself being hugged by my sister. “You need to step back and let other’s do the thinking.”

I said nothing. Was I really being that selfish? I looked to see Bell streaming with tears. I gapped. I was. And my little sister had watched me become that selfish mare.

I had been a monster to my sister not once, but twice now. Bell sniffled before bawling and galloping over to us in a hug. I can’t believe it. I had thought I was doing the right thing, had planned everything. But in the end, I had taken it upon myself to make sure I was the only one who could be the brains of the operation. In truth, I had been selfish. It also didn’t help to have a cult following me either. I still had no idea why they still followed me and what preparations they are planning for. I was thinking so many things. I had thought to plan ahead of Sombra. I wanted the entire world on me so LittlePip could have the breathing room she needed. But I was also putting more and more on myself that it had made me think a little more than I should.

Now that I realized it, I suddenly felt tired. I hadn’t really gotten any decent sleep in the past two days and a cult hadn’t helped my cause by following me around. I really had taken it upon myself to make sure that nothing bad ever happens. But I guess I have to face facts. Some things can’t always be saved. My sister gave me a look that told me to stop thinking. But I hesitated. I didn’t want to stop. No one can make me stop. As if reading my mind, she gave me another look that told me to ease off. When I did, I suddenly slumped and leaned heavily on her.

I’m tired. So very tired.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” I said weakly. Heart stroked my mane while Bell held my forehoof tightly, sniffling. “I’m sorry for being so… so selfish…”

“I’m glad you finally realize it.” Heart said. She smiled at me. “You must remember, a lady is never selfish.” I gave a weak chuckle before slumping more.

“Only you would have that policy.” I rasped. Wow, was I really that tired? My throbbing head told me otherwise. I had been constantly thinking that I lost decent sleep because I was selfish. Thinking that only I could see the future we were going into when I don’t know anything about the future at all. I felt Bell nuzzle my fore hoof, still sniffling. I slid it out of her grasp and stroked her mane. “I’m sorry, Bell… I didn’t mean to upset you.” She took a moment before she finally looked up at me.

“D-don’t ever… fight again like that…” she sobbed slightly.

“I promise, Bell.” Heart said. I nodded.

“I promise too.” I said. She wiped away the tears and smiled at us.

“Good. I don’t like it when you two fight…” she said. I looked at Heart, who nodded.

“We do it because we worry about one another. It’s what siblings do.” She said.

“B-but I don’t want to fight you two…” she said. “I don’t want to fight Stall and I don’t want to fight Lyon…. I just want us to be happy…” Oh Goddesses, I’m so sorry Bell. She never really had gotten the chance to experience anything like a normal family would. We had always been doing our job and making ends meet. Bell is the only one of the five of us that had never gotten to experience family issues. And after seeing me and Heart fight, I could tell, she didn’t think of it like in her fantasy. A fantasy. I remember the day we found out about Bell having the ability to use astral magic.

She still doesn’t know how to control any magic yet. She had told us that it comes and goes. Can she see the future? Oh Goddesses, I didn’t even want her to think of it. If the future had turned out bad, she would be able to see the end of all of us. I felt myself cry and looked at her.

“Bell.” I said. She looked at me with sad teary eyes. “Whatever fantasy you have. You hold onto it. Don’t ever let it go. Because that fantasy may end up becoming true.” Bell said nothing but nodded.

Yet again, I had been oblivious to the thoughts of others. Only this time, it wasn’t Iris who snapped me out of it. It was these two ponies that I call my sisters that had done just that. Goddesses I’m such a wreck.

Footnote Max Level!