The Bomb, Part 1

What’s next? Two little words that you wouldn’t think would be so painful. Celestia’s flaming tits would you be wrong. It’s as if all of creation zeroed in on anyone who ever said that and dumped an entire life time’s worth of shit on their heads. Even worse is when someone says the most damning phrase ever. “Nothing’s going to go wrong.” Immediately, you are jinxed. Nothing will ever go right. Any plans you make, forget ‘em. Any strategies you’ve come up with, dump ‘em down the drain. Anything you plan to make or do will inevitably fail.

Which is why Artemis got several hooves to the rear when he uttered that phrase. While holding a magical bomb with enough oomph to blow Manehatten to the moon and back ten times. And wanting me, me, to plant it in the middle of a Raider operating base. In the middle of a location of Equestria lovingly known as the Glowing Sea. Why is the Glowing Sea? Because when you come out of there, if you come out at all, you will very likely be glowing. Why are Raiders based there? Because they’re all insane and have a lot, and I mean a lot, of rad away.

The other thing they have in abundance? Bullets. Oh, and radiation suits. They really like their radiation suits. Pink ones, yellow ones, blue ones, green ones. And each one had a crude depiction of some sort of job symbol on it. A cross for medical, a pair of guns for sentries, shields for guards, and shields with rifles for “elite guards”, the guys protecting the big wig. A stallion at whose hooves I was currently sitting. Frost had gotten the buck out of here the minute the bullets had started flying. Not to abandon me, but to run back for help.

If Artemis was going to jinx me, he could save me. Feeling a hoof clop against the back of my head, I looked up at my “master” with what I hoped was an apologetic look. “Did you hear me, slut?” He asked and I shook my head, lowering my gaze. He’d been talking? I hadn’t even noticed. “Damn it, I told you to pay attention to what I tell you or you’ll spend a night in the stocks.” He said and I nodded. “Now pay the fuck attention. I have a task for ya.”

I blinked, confused. A task? For me? But… I was a prisoner. Not one of his goons. And then it dawned on me. I was the only mare they’d seen in days that wasn’t someone they were familiar with. I let out an involuntary whimper as the thought of having to take off my radiation suit so his minions could have their way with me crossed my mind. When he whistled, I couldn’t help but jump. The door pushed open and two mares, each wearing masks that lead into medium sized tankards of rad-away resting across their backs, walked in. “First, you’re getting fitted with one of those. Temporarily. Until the Power Armor is finished.”

I blinked yet again. Power Armor? What’s Power Armor? Feeling my Pip-Buck buzz against my leg, I went to look at it and froze. It was wrapped in bindings to hide it from the ponies here. A mare with a crippled foreleg didn’t have to work in the Rad Pit, where the bomb had dropped. She didn’t always get to sit at the side of the Pit Boss, as his favorite. Unless she was a unicorn. Oh wait… lucky me. The two mares walked over to me and a third followed them, hauling a cart with different sized tanks. The third mare was a unicorn like me, but I could see immediately why she wasn’t the favorite. One of her eyes was a sunken pit of black that she didn’t bother covering with an eye patch.

It gave off an eerie glow, proving that she’d been exposed to enough radiation that just being near her, without having to chug at least one of those tanks of rad-away, was sending my pip-buck clicking wildly. Thankfully, the Pit Boss had assumed it was an odd tick that I had developed due to radiation exposure and it was my bones. He wasn’t the smartest stallion I’d ever met. Thankfully, the radiated mare wasn’t hooking me up. The other two were. They levitated the tanks over and set them across my back, the two of them resting snugly against my sides.

After some minor adjusting, they were tight enough so as not to fall off if I was going up a steep hill, but loose enough I could run if I needed to. Once they were situated, the mare on the left stuck a hose in the opening of one of them, which was attached to a small mask that would fit over my mouth, keeping my nose free. If I’m being perfectly honest, the mask looked cool and if it wouldn’t be housing rad-away, I’d keep it. Maybe give it to Frost or Artemis. The right mare followed her colleagues lead and hooked another hose into the mask and other tank.

Plenty of rad-away. What was I going to be doing for him? When the rad-away started flowing, I swallowed a little bit of it before a magical stopper was put in the tanks on both of my sides, the hoses were removed, and small stoppers with levers were wedged onto the hoses before they were replaced. The flow of rad-away stopped and I swallowed what was in the hoses. Immediately, my radiation levels apparently went to zero because even the mild clicking from my pip-buck vanished. Smacking my lips under the mask, I relished the flavor. Carroty. I still loved carrots almost as much as I loved the fact that just calling on Harbinger would give me a weapon now.

Artemis had infused the pistol cannon monster gun into my Pip-Buck via his magic. Effectively, my Pip-Buck was the key that could destroy all of Equestria, as well as the entire planet. What does one mare do with that kind of power? Not let it go her head. I didn’t know what to do with that power. “There. Now, until your power armor is ready, you’ll wear that. You’ll be working in the pit starting tomorrow.”

I paled visibly. Just thinking about the pit had my mane itching. A heavily radiated pit of molten green rock. Stepping into the goo meant the limb had to be amputated or you risked sprouting a whole new you from your hoof. Not something I wanted to do. It also meant death, because the Radiation levels would spike so high even a rad suit would do nothing. Killing the afflicted would be a mercy. Shaking my head slowly, I stared up at him, begging him to reconsider. Anything. Anything but the pit. Even though that was my target.

“Groose, she’s crippled. She’d never survive the pit long.” One of the mares said and the pit boss swung with his left hoof hard enough that I heard the crack of her jaw breaking before she hit the ground. I didn’t dare suck in a breath, I’d be choking on rad-away, but I watched wide eyed as she crumbled to the ground.

“I don’t care. Slut works the pit tomorrow. One of the idiots down there dropped something in the slag, and we need it back.” A shudder ran through my body. I had no desire to get that close to a ghoul pony, especially a male that hadn’t seen a mare in what was likely decades. But I had to go in the pit. Another gift from Artemis, built into my pip-buck, was an anti-rad dive suit. He’d enchanted it to withstand dragon fire temperatures, so diving into molten slag would be easy enough. And safe enough. All I’d have to do is risk getting shot by tearing off the rags concealing my pip-buck, tap the right button and dive, all in the space of about ten seconds.

Why did I want to go to the pit, even after saying I didn’t? My target was in the pit. Part one of a five part weapon. The power source. Yes, taking the power source would mean carrying ten thousand rads worth of power with me until I got back to Spike’s cave, but once there, Artemis would take over. He had a specially designed container that would contain the rads it gave off until I got the rest of the parts.

Four Hours Later.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. He said the suit would protect me. I’ve guzzled half a ton of rad away already.” I thought to myself as I trudged through chest deep toxic ooze. I didn’t dare dip my head under the gunk, since there was a massive hole in the bottom of it, just under my chin. Which left me forced to feel around with my hooves for the device. And pray I didn’t touch the activation button. “Why is there an activation button on a power source Ruby?” some of you might ask yourselves.

“Because it’s part of a bomb that can blow up the planet. The deadly part.” would be my answer. Feeling my hoof connect with something, I swallowed the bile that rose in the back of my throat and lit my horn, lifting it slowly out of the ooze. When it was finally free, I immediately flung it as far away from myself as I could. A skull. Not a pony skull, not even a griffin skull or any other creature. A dragon skull. A young dragon, yeah. Barely my size, but a dragon. They’d sent dragons in here and they’dmelted. Creatures that were fire proof and bomb proof, from what Spike told me, had melted in here.

Suddenly fearing for my life, I lit my horn and just scanned the entire ground below the ooze, lifting everything. When I finally saw the power source, I pulled it over to me, rose up on my hind hooves, and touched the edge of it to my pip-buck, which clicked wildly until it sucked the item in to my storage matrix. “Artemis was really liberal with those gifts… a storage matrix, anti-rad super suit, mega gun as a part of my pip-buck, pills he told me to take only in the most desperate of circumstances… the super suit would be better if the hole patched itself…” even as I thought this, I felt the suit tighten around me slowly before it relaxed. The hole was gone. I couldn’t feel air flowing into the suit anymore, nor was my Pip-buck clicking anymore. Lifting it up, I looked at my suits durability. 100%.

“What? But… but how… I… huh?” I thought as I stored the mega-nuke power source. Shaking my head quickly, I tapped my pip-buck. As agreed, I’d set off a location beacon, Artemis would dive bomb the compound, and we’d teleport the buck out of there. Looking up, I hoped he’d be coming right to me from directly above but didn’t see anything. Until a small pin prick in the clouds slowly started to expand. After not even ten seconds had passed, I could see blue sky and a blazing yellow sun overhead. Hovering there, outlined by the sun, was Artemis. At least, I thought it was Artemis. Either him or Frost.

To say I was terrified in the next few minutes would be an understatement. I’m pretty sure Little Pip or Blackjack would have described what happened next as “utterly fucking terrifying” or “Celestia damned beautiful.” I’ll try and describe what happened in the best detail I can.

I was staring up at my flying friend, wondering just what his or her plan was, when suddenly their wings folded in and they dropped. Fast. As soon as they’d cleared the ring of cloud they’d made, seven different streaks of cloud raced after them. I could barely make it out, but at the head of each of those cloud streaks was a Pegasus. In jet black armor with a single symbol on their flanks. Each of them had what looked like tubes on their sides. Tubes that I’d learned were guns. With how quickly my friend was dropping, it quickly became evident that it was Frost. Wearing an outfit much like the pegasi following her.

“Jump” I heard in my head and jumped as high as I could. Surprisingly high. I was easily higher in the air than the compound itself. Moments before the feeling of gravity gripped me again, Frost scooped me up and we were gone, flying quickly back towards Spike’s cave. Staring back over her shoulder, I watched as the Pegasi that had been following her dive bombed the compound, their guns lightning up the entire area. Slavers lit up and vanished as each lance of light struck them, chains holding prisoners shattered, and the newly freed prisoners ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

“Enclave Hunters. They wear Wonderbolt’s armor in black with a darkened insignia.” Frost said as we flew, fast, back towards Spike’s cave. “Spike, we’re ready.” She said and I looked up just as another beam of light split the clouds, encased us, and suddenly we were stopped in midair before we just weren’t. Frost dropped me carefully onto a plastic mat on the cave floor as she flew over to a shower, doffed her armor, and let Artemis hose her down.

“Did you get it?” Spike asked and I held up the power core. He reached out and took it delicately in his claws, looking it over before the spines on the sides of his head drooped sadly. “It won’t be enough. It’s practically drained.” He said and Artemis looked over at him.

“It’s fine Spike. I honestly didn’t expect it to stay at full power after so long. It should be enough for what I have planned.” He said and Spike nodded and set the power core on the floor near his computer.

“So… what’s next?” I asked as I slipped out of the suit. It peeled off easily, the radiated goop sticking to it more than me. Once I was free, I stepped away from it and lit my horn, tossing it into a corner to be disposed of.

“Next, we rest. You just spent an entire day in the clutches of slavers. You need to relax.” Artemis said and Frost looked up at him.

“He’s right. Rest up while I look for more parts.” The big dragon said as he returned to his computer. “Oh, by the way, Aqua’s awake.”

“Oh. Good.” I said, plastering a smile on my face. “Oh, buck…” I thought to myself.

“Relax. I don’t think she blames you. She’s not mad.” Artemis said in my head and I shot a glare at him.

“Reading minds is not polite.”

“I can’t help it. Go talk to her.” He said and I just sighed and walked over to the bed we’d left Aqua on. She was still laying there, hooves under her chin, watching Spike work.

“Aqua…?”

“Hi Ruby…” She said and I flinched. She’d sounded so happy and hyper when we’d first met. There was no hint of that energy left in her voice. And it was my fault.

“By the way Ruby… this one says he knows you.” Artemis said, pointing with a wing to an older stallion sitting next to the statues of the Ministry Mares. An older stallion with a dark grey coat, black mane and tail, and a hard look in his eyes. Granite Ash. A stallion I’d met some time back. A raider who’d been hunting me.

“Found you.” He said as he stood up and walked towards me. As he approached, I did my best to shrink down and vanish until I was on my belly in front of him. “You make it really hard to find you, Wasteland Jewel.”

Level Up Level 38.

Stealth Pone 1) You are now harder to discover though passing observation. Someone has to be on the look out for something out of the ordinary to find you, even without camouflage.

RADical Healing 1) Ten to Twenty Rads on your Pip-Buck Counter means you heal like a ghoul. Congrats, Bullet's won't kill you now. Maybe.

Rad-sistance 5) The Rad-Suit given to you by Artemis and Spike has left it's mark. You are now 70% more resistant to radiation based ailments.

20% Cooler 1) Enclave no longer openly hunt you. They just openly hate you. And they wont readily come to your aid unless another Pegasus moves first. Good luck, Mini-Dash.

Author's Note

I had a tough time coming up with perks to give to Ruby after this one, so I hope you guys like these ones. They will get upgrades. Eventually. Maybe. Also, I hope I was consistent here. It's been a while because of real life crap going on. It will be a little while longer in a while because I'm moving into a new house soon, so internet will be relatively hard to come by. At least for a little while. Sorry for inconstancy's if there are any, and I hope you all enjoy.