((This is not the final Edition! I Plan on retouching the chapter later on!))

Fallout Equestria: Aftershock
Chapter 1
Induction Fallout

"It is the WORSE POSSIBLE THING EVER!"

<->

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"

"Wake up son! No time for sleeping now!" As I heard dad's words I slowly stirred up from unconsciousness as the armor came out of sleep mode as well as the Mana Core kick into live mode.

Than came to the sudden realisation that the Stable's alarm was blaring loudly above our head, I blinked and quickly looked around to see my father hurry and attach a large boltgun coloured box to my battle saddle left side, and pull a belt of live 14.5mm Rounds to the receiver of the massive IS-AT14 Anti-Machine Rifle that is attached to my right side, clasping it in!

"W-What... Whats going on dad?!" I shouted nervously looking around in panic as I tried to move... But the armor refused to bulge! I looked up at my Head up display of my helmet and i noticed these words blinking in red.

'Manual Failsafe Lockdown Activated! 30 Minutes before disengage!'

"No time for words son! Just remember what we taught you alright?! DO YOU COPY?!" He shouted vehemently at me as my mother hurried out of the storage room and attached a few more smaller box to my Steel Ranger T45c Armor.

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" I shouted in a reflex but that didn't stop my worry one bit, I looked around nervously as I noticed the Stable's light fluctuating oddly, even flickering, a sign of an unstable Power Generator. "Um, dad..... Who's w-" I was cut short when the sound of a teleporting pony happen in front of us by the door that leads out of our room followed by the sickened splotch of flesh against metal grating. I blanched out.

There lay my sister Steelheart, missing both her left fore and left hind legs. She looked up weakly at us with glassy eyes wheezing "T-they made it...P-pass the Atrium..... K-killing anyone... The----They..... Come....... S-sorry." Then her head landed on the floor in a wet thump letting out one last pained sigh.

A moment of silence happened followed by the unstable rumbling coming from beneath us and the room shook quite a bit this brought my parents out of shock as I kept my eyes lock upon my beloved big sister that was now dead. They kissed than joined their horns together and concentrated their spell together and both looked at me, Dad was too concentrated on the spell in the casting. But Mom spoke.

"We love you Sparky.... You're our pride...." She sniffed as the ground rumbled louder than suddenly the speaker blaring the alarm changed on tone with a warning.

'Warning! Warning! Generator Meltdown in progress! Evacuated Stable 281 Now! This is not a Drill!"

"Our last gift to you my goof of an adorable Son..... Life and freedom." Mom spoke calmly as she closed her eyes putting the last bit of her magic to the spell.

The ground started quaking heavily and the door to the room started glowing purple hot quickly and to my horror... it exploded in as a purple tendrilous flame bursted into our living quarter. I wanted to reach out to my parents as the flame swallowed them. Before I could hear their screams suddenly my vision of reality warped and faded to black as their spell kicked in, knocking me unconscious in the process.

*+*

I groaned as I looked around me, I was in the abyss of a lucid not yet complete dream. I looked around, completely surrounded by utter darkness than a voice resonated all around me.

"You have awoken.... Good. I am glad and relieved to know that not all my children died in this... Folly." Suddenly she materialized right in front of me, I couldn't help to stare in awe at the beauty of dear Goddess Luna appearing, but not quite right. She had an unyielding appearance to her, her coat was alabaster and glowing, her abyssal blue mane was flowing to the invisible wind, and she was covered in a nightmarish looking armor but what struck me to the core was her slitted eyes they looked like they were piercing through my very soul.

"Goddess L-Luna?" I said hesitantly.

As I said that name she burst into a soft laughter as she looked at me calmly and spoke again. "No.... Not quite.. but far from right. I am not Luna. My name is Penance. But you may know me under a different name: P.I.S.T.G." Than she added. "What was inside of it actually. I was what powered your Stable, endless nightmare energies coming from a broken fragment of Luna's Darkness. Nightmare Moon..."

I couldn't help it... My jaw dropped as I looked up at Penance. "Y-You... Are... Well.. Were..... our source of energies?" My mind was on the verge of derping.

"Indeed.... But it wasn't until around... A century ago before I gained sentience and developed into... A being of my own. And you, young Sparkplug are the last of my children. The last living essence of Stable 281." She said as she quietly sized me up and down. "You are still alive.... But suffer from a severe case of Induction poisoning. Lucky you.... You won't melt into a pile of fleshes like the last pony that suffered this case of poisoning, after all you are my Catalyst now. I am now using your Pipbuck as a soul jar to remain fully anchored to you. Unfortunately I had to use a living soul to make it happen and the last pony to have died in the Stable before that tragedy... Became my unwilling tool to do so. She and I are now part of your Pipbuck Matrix."

My eyes went wide.... Last person to died in Stable 281 before the Meltdown.... "S-Steelheart?"

Penance quietly nodded and sighed calmly. "All I wished for my children is to live in peace while they kept me in an healthy condition... But the black armored pegasi that invaded our beloved Stable decided otherwise. I do not know their motives but their hooves were guided by a corrupted soul, but now is not the time for retribution." She looked directly into my eyes. "You must recover, become stronger, heal your wounds and live on as... Stable 281 now live on in your heart. Do not bother returning to it, it is nothing more than just a scar on the surface of Equus now. You'll find only death there." Penance stopped speaking than looked up and around.

"You are stirring up now, its time to wake up my child." Suddenly Penance phased out of my void full dream.

*-*

The first thing that came to me was the sound of the wind whiplashing at my surrounding. I groaned painfully, I felt horrible as if my body was about to boil into... something. As i opened my eyes and looked around me the first thing that came to my attention was that my armor was in Lockdown Mode. Wich mean it have absorbed a massive concussion blast.

"D-...... Disengage Lockdown." I spoked with a strained voice, coughing a couples of times as well.

'Lockdown Disengaged! Have a safe day Sergeant.'

Great... Did my armor gotten a case of snark from the blast? I carefully looked left and right, luckily my Pipbuck was still functioning as my eye forward sparkle was still active and giving me a sense of orientation thanks to that integrated compass. As I looked East, all i was seeing were broken landscape that lead to a distant mountain. I look West, nothing of interest except a few pole that had dangling cables from them and a light in the distance. Then something struck me. It was endless grey clouds beneath me... and rubble and stones above me.

"What the hay?...." I looked around than quickly discovered that I was dangling from a rusted cable that got wedged-stuck between my right hind leg exo-fetlock armor articulation. "Great...." I carefully begun to squirm around. Bad move.

I grunted loudly as i slammed into the wooden pole that held the rusted cable I was the prisoner of and groaned "That gonna be sore tomorrow...." I grumbled than looked around for something to free myself with than my AM Rifle cannon caught my attention.

"Well... Not the smartest thing i've done in a while but... Oh well." I told myself, like if anyone was listening to me anyway.

I aimed the Rifle cannon at the pole. I ain't no physician but heck.... why not? Than i bit down onto the trigger inside my helmet.

'BOOM!'

Okay... Jackhammer complained how loud his gun was some time but heck... Glad my helmet filtered most of the decibels in that blast. But again, when it comes to stupidity, I'm an elite.

The Pole cracked and bent around before spinning, my eyes went wide as I went spinning as the pole went down crashing into the top of a motorwagon wreckage.

'Snap!'

"Oh BUCK!" Then I was sent slinging into a not so glorious glide over a few more wreckages before hitting the rear of a Trailerwagon, bursting through the back shutter of it and into a pile of dried rotten boxes followed by the sounds of breaking glasses.

I was upside down again, but on the ground this time, I groaned painfully as my armor Mana Core finally kicked in and the hud activated revealing the few problems with my armor.

'Armor Motivator Damaged at 10%'
'Medical Assistance Required Severed Poisoning from Unknown Radiation detected in user's organism.'
'Engaging Armor Auto-Repair System! Please store additional salvaged metal and steel into the appropriate armor compartment! Current Stock Available: 87% After Repair Estimation: 67%!'

Good... More things to address later. Suddenly i blinked as a bottle rolled in my sight it rolled around until the label became obvious.

"Cool..... I landed on a mountain of Sparkle Colas." A quick look around confirmed that to me. I somehow landed in the back of a shipping trailerwagon. After a quick rustling about I quickly stood back up, looking around the cart before moving to a rack near the destroyed shutter and rummaged through the moldy paper with my telekinetic magic.

"Next Shipment..... Los Alicorness Manemart.... Huh...." I tossed the manifest aside and quickly looked through a few of the undamaged box of the shipment, quickly collecting over 76 Sparkle Colas and stored them in my Armor's magical storage compartment.

"The Overmare would have killed me if I took that many Cola from the Cafeteria..." I snickered and hopped out of the trailerwagon before looking South, and my eyes went wide as I looked at the massive purple mushroom cloud in the distance. I hesitated but than slowly raised my pipbuck to look down at it, in a reflex until I realised it was covered in the armor's plating, I sighed at my own foalishness before bringing up the pipbuck screen to my helmet's HUD.

I shuffled through the feature quietly before bringing up the map and slowly started dragging the map south. Then I stopped, my eyes frozen at the name of the Location of Stable 281.

<>

I shuddered a bit and whimpered closing my eyes as a wave of emotion crushed trough me like a tidal. I sniffed a few times as I started crying inside of my armor.

They were all gone, Mom, Dad, Sis... and... Everypony else..... Stable 281... Gone.

I let out a griefing scream of anger and pain as I turned around and in my fury apple bucked a nearby wreckage, the armor hydraulic tensed and acted accordingly sending a powerful blast into the vehicule, sending it flipping upside down against the roadside, leaning against a groaning cable pole.

They will pay. Whoever attacked Stable 281 will pay. I snarled and stumbled a bit to the side, glaring to the mushroom cloud one last time before slumping down onto my rear, allowing the emotion to wash away slowly.

"Well Look'it here! Y'all! We got ourselve a tin can!" I quickly looked around to see a group of 3 Ponies atop of Buswagon they were all cladded in rubbish, studded and spiked barding. 2 stallions and 1 mare.

"Shit and i forgot my can opener at home!" The mare said cackling maniacaly, her mane was stiled in a messed up mohawk and her barding was mostly chains and road signs. What was most disturbing of her was the pony skull attached to her chest piece and the Unicorn horns colelction dangling on her side.

"'NOUGH! About that I'm fucking hungry and i'm sure the Meatcan have alot of goodies to eat!" Said the stallion on the opposite side to the first one shouted angrily with a walled eye expression wich made me question his intellect 'stability'. He seemed to be wearing some sort of motorwagon tires barding.

I quickly spun around to face them in a reflex. "So much for a kind welcome to the surface. Look everypony! I mean you all no harm! I j-" Than the mare cut me.

"No harm?! WHat the fuck is this joke?! Is there a cute little foal inside that armor? Please say yes!... I' didn't rape something still living in quite a while!" She shouted at me before gowing into a mad laughter.

The first stallion spoke again. "Oh this is soooo good! Not only your a Tin Can.. But your also Canned Good! That make even better! AT HIM BOYS!" He than jumped off the buswagon and charged me, while the other stalion that was to his right started flanking the mare, stood up cackling like a manical freak atop the bus aiming some sort of makeshift weapon at me and pulling the trigger.

I grunted and stumbled back as 10mm rounds started clinking loudly upon my armor. I quickly looked up and gasped as i realised their 'leader' was charging at me with a sledgehammer. I quickly braced myself and started charging forward him as well, he was mad but not afraid, he was also imposing for a stallion, bigger than his flunkies that I did not pay attention to right now. As he started shouting a battlecry. In an unexpected reflex I jumped up trying to jump overhim like I used to do back in my training against my sister, but a problem quickly showed up.

I was in my Steel Ranger Armor, this time. Instead of jumping over him I simply jump-dive at him, crashing into him hard, followed by a bonechilling gurgling noise. As I paid attention to what happened. My eyes could not believe what was going on.

'Sledgehammer' was literaly.... Deep throated by my AM Rifle cannon, flailing maddly with wide eyes.

"OH! SLEDGE GOT IT GOOD!" Shouted the mad raider mare. Suddenly my HUD picked up a warning from her as she hoofed up a apple-shaped grenade and again my reflex kicked in!

I quickly spun the flailing raider around and shouted loudly "SORRY!!!!!!" than bite down the trigger. It is safe to said that... my makeshift supressor muffled the sound well.... But my field of view turned into a cloud of red. Followed by the explosion of the grenade and the agonizing scream of the madmare.

As the cloud dissipated all that was left of Sledge was his head upside down impaled onto my AM Rifle cannon his eyes glassy but stuck in a state of panic. I took a deep breather and cringingly started pushing the head off the cannon and went flopping down into the dirt. "...Ew gross."

I sighed calmly but than something in the back of my mind snapped. Wait... Where's the third?....

Suddenly a intense wave of pain stabbed into my side I yepled and quickly glance at the wall-eyed earth pony stallion that was holding a spear in his mouth, the tip of it was burried into my side between the jointing, I groaned in utter pain.

"YOU KILLED MY FRIENDS YOU AS-" He started shouting at me but I did not let him finish his sentence as I spun around and apple bucked him in the face combining my strength and the armor's hydraulic, the result was a brutal splatter. I quickly glanced around to look at my hoofwork, just to see an headless body flying off and crashin off roughly into another wreckage.

I groaned again as i quickly looked around than at my EFS. Than I double take at it again and groaned "Stupid me.... Why did i not think to look at my EFS when they showed up..." I grunted and flopped to my side and with my magic. I bit my lips as i extracted the spear from my side and growled. I had a good pain resistance for concussive blow but when it come to physical puncture or slashing it still hurted like Tartarus.

As I was about to discard the spear I stopped than slowly brought the spear closer looked at the bloodied purple tip of it. Than slowly looked at my sight. Okay... Now I've seen it all.. somehow my blood turned from red to purple? What else could go wrong? That it start raining chocolate milk?.

Suddenly a roar came from the sky followed by droplet of water and than a hard on shower.

"Me and my..... STUPID MOUTH." I groaned and carefully stood back up suckling in the pain from my wound, than something on my Armor HUD popped.

'Moderate Injury Analyse complete, injecting Healing Potion. Reserve remaining: 11%'

Another thing to add to my long list of problem! Note to self: Need to find more potions. I sighed than brought up my pipbuck overlay to my Helmet HUD and looked at the map , scrolling up North and stopped at a marker as I zoomed a bit out of the region.

<>

Boneyard?... I quickly climbed up the Buswagon looking north....

All I could see up the highway was countless more motorwagons of all sorts that tried to escape the city wich was now a massive cluster of broken skyscrappers and skeletal frames remnant of some of them. I looked North East and brought up my pipbuck map and rolled North East on it.

<>

My wild guess is where the Zebran Balefire bomb landed. As i looked at the crate in the far away distance, a strange sickly green glowing storm was constantly raging above it. Then i remembered something and looked back West toward the light in the distance, and slowly went and hopped off the buswagon and plowed trough the highway side rail as I started to trot toward the light in the distance...

A moment later I arrived at the said light wich turned out to be a campfire with... Blood, lots of blood around it and 2 corpse. I carefully trotted over to the first one as the last light of Celestia's sun glimpsed over the horizon and Dusk gave place to night it was kind of too hard to discern the feature. In a reflex I turned on my helmet's light and looked down and gasped in shock. These were not dead ponies, but dead zebras they were saturated with bullet holes. I looked around and found a bullet casing lifting it up.

10mm Bullets. Must have been the madponies hoofwork. I looked up at the two bodies carefully, a mare and a stallion. I sighed.

"Poor bastard... Might have not even deserve it." I commented to myself as I trudged over a rucksack and started to scrounge trough it. I quickly stopped as I caught movement from the corner of my eye, comming from the zebra mare's body. Could it be?...

As I approached the body I quickly noticed something out of place, her forelegs were higher and had something between them, with a mechanical fetlock of my armor, I carefully brushed aside revealing what the item was.

A small zebra filly, curled into a ball and shaking. I carefully decreased the intensity of my Helmet's light until it was dim before carefully unclasping and removing the lock of my helmet and removed it, carefully setting it down , keeping the light on the shaking filly. I sat down on my armored haunches.

"Hey..... You can come out now... I'm not going to hurt you, I'm a good pony...." I stopped a moment before adding. "A Good pony who took care of the bad ponies that did this to your... parents?"

After a long moment of silence, the filly's head poked up slowly, her big amber-coloured eyes looking up at me, wide and glossy from exhaustion and crying. She gasped and went back into hiding a moment before poking back up looking at me, scared and completly terrorized.

"Look i'm not a bad pony! Believe me, I know my eyes look glowy and scary but... its not so bad..." I carefully took up my helmet in my hoof and turned the visor so i can look at my own reflection in the polarised lens of it. "I'm no b- WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY EYES?!" The filly squeaked and went back into hiding from my sudden outburst but I was too absorbed by my eyes appearance. The white of my eyes was completely black now and my glowing blue iris now had slitted pupils.

I quickly tossed my helmet aside shuddering, hiding my face from the filly wincing. "S-sorry! Didn't know I got freakier!" I said with a calm whimper.

For a moment nothing happened than I heard a rustling followed by a bit of movement on my armor, I slowly turned my head back to look right into the eyes of a now curious filly, our eyes were just inches away from one another she had an awed expression. I remained still for a moment before she climbed on top of my pauldron with dexterity and slid down onto my back between tucking herself away close to my Armor's power pack and the large chain of 14mm Rounds that went from the box to my left flank to the gun on my right flank. and muttered something in zebrican before trailing off to sleep.

I mentally wondered what she said and sighed as I carefully stood up, making sure not to disturb my newest 'passenger'. I went back to scrounge trough the rucksack, finding a small doll and a few other mementos that I carefully with respect stashed away in my armor's storage unit.

As i was about to leave I stopped and looked back at the dead zebras around the campfire. I let out a pained sigh as I trotted back toward the corpses, I delicately levitated them together up right into the campfire before moving the remain of the rucksack over them as everything goes to blaze. I looked back over my shoulder, the zebra filly on my back was still asleep, twitching a few times than I looked back toward the funeral pire before speaking.

"May the Goddesses ease your passing. May Celestia guide you back to your ancestral land, May Luna keep you from the coldness of the dark and may Nightmare Moon show you mercy..."

Suddenly my eyes went wide at my last bit of prayer. Since when did I start preaching the folly of Luna?. But a voice in the back of my mind spoke. the familiar voice of Penance.

I blinked. Madness? Is this why somepony down in Stable 281 sometime went into hysterical fits? I pondered.

I nodded calmly, looking one last time at the pyre before grabbing my helmet up and sliding it back on, locking it tight to my neck guard and adjusting the collar of my armor. I slowly begin to trot off in silence, heading toward Los Alicorn ruins. The Boneyard.

Looking one last time at the pyre, I knew what my next goal was in this devastated world. Right the wrong. Aint that right Sis?... Goddesses I already misses them all already...

***

It was later in the middle of the night that I started to feel exhaustion get the better of me, despite the armor's assistance my trotting turn into trudging. I've decided to stop and have a quick look around, I was back on the Highway to the Boneyard and I was heading to an Equestrian Army checkpoint up the road, abandonned by the look of it and further up ahead I spotted some lights in the distance, multiples of them, I brought down the tactical monocle of my helmet with my TK and look trough it, zooming onto the glares of the light in the distance.

All I could see was multiple of two-headed bovines around a pole by a makeshift wall that surrounded some sort of makeshift town made out of various pieces rigged together into the shapes of homes and other building, there was also 2 ponies guarding the mane gate, 1 earth pony, and 1 unicorn. A quick look at their equipment showed sign of salvaged and refurbished Equestrian Army combat armor pieces together and repaired with bits of steel and scrapping. I quickly mentally took a note they looked nothing like the madponies from before and they both looked utterly bored.

I decided to proceed and trotted over the military checkpoint, looking over my pauldron cautiously to make sure the zebra filly was still resting, I nodded in satisfaction as it was the case. As I arrived to the checkpoint, I quickly spotted 2 sandbags cover on both side of the roads, a mobile military trailerwagon with a bunch of antennas and dishes on top of it, remembering one of Jackhammer's logs it must have been one of those mobile Equestrian HQ. Approaching the first cover of sandbag and spotted some rusted out ammo boxes behind it, first one was locked, I didn't have anything to open it up and thought about using my AM Rifle to blast it open but I kept in mind there was a sleeping filly on my back now and also that the noise may attract some undesirables, than I noticed the other box was unlocked, I gave it a swift tap on the latche with my right foreleg's exohoove onto the clasp, the box flipped open revealing an old shoddy mouth-held army knife and a dozen of 5.56mm Rounds. I quickly grabbed it all up, storing the ammo in my armor storage unit and brought the knife up to my eyes, examining it.

"Hrm... If I can find a decently shaped flint I'm sure I can bring back your beauty..." I whispered to the knife quietly before sliding it into the armor storage unit as well then proceed to look around the checkpoint.

After scrounging trough some Military Motorwagon, I scavenged some water bottles, some canned foods and a few MRE that still looked edible after test-opening one of them and eating its content. I went up to have a look around of the Mobile HQ and spotted an old rotten box and... right next to it an abandoned steel ranger armor!... I hurried close to it and took a quick look at it and grumbled. The armor was baddly rusted and damaged, missing a few pieces on it as well, showing the frame beneath it.

"Not even my Assembly spell could fix that... Some of the pieces are beyond repair.... hrm, the helmet would have been salvagable if it wasn't for that busted lens and missing rebreather tubes." I quickly used my TK and carefully unclasped the armor's right pauldron off looking at it. "The silver coating as faded but... I guess I can try and give it a good repolish and I'm sure I can use it as spare pauldron even if they are of the T51a variants..." I quickly folded the pauldron and attached it to the hooks on the side of my AM-Rifle Ammo box that is attached to the other side of my armor-mounted battle saddle.

A quick overlook of the armor so far shown that the chest piece was completely ruined and eaten up by the rust. It was truely a damn shame considering it was a T51 Steel Ranger Armor, an armor variant that I truely adored. As for the frame of the armor itself, the rust completely jammed its articulation, the servos were completely busted and the motivator was fried. I carefully moved around and examined the armor power pack and gasped in surprise! The Mana Core was still there in 2 light in the quadrant of it were still lighten up, sign that there was still around 50% of energies left in it!

It took me a bit to wrestle it out of the suit, that was until the zebra filly woken up and noticed what I was doing, she then quickly looked around and opened my armor storage unite and snuck inside of it... completly, I was a bit worried for her due to the magical nature of my storage unit, until she suddenly crawled out of it with the shoddy army knife in her mouth and went on to expertly slide it in a wedge between the steel ranger armor power pack and the mana core, carefully leaning to the right then to the left before a pop is heard followed by a release whistle and the mana core slid out of the socket.

"Whoa... Nice job kid!" I smiled at the filly before moving over and grabbing the mana core in my TK and carefully floated it back into my storage unit. Then I looked over at the filly, despite exhaustion she gave me a weak smile with the army knife in her mouth it looked just plain adorable?... "Well for your help, you can keep that knife but, I'll have to sharpen it so it can be of use for ya in the future."

She nodded and carefully looked around the wrecked steel ranger armor and started removing the leather strapping from the hinds legs of it than slid down on her rump and begun working on something with them.

Well... At least she seems to understand equestrian. "Hrm." I looked around and trudged up the ramp into the Mobile HQ looking around it, lots of wrecked Terminals except one in a corner that was still glowing its mellow green color and a rack of rusted out weapons on a wall by the entrance. A quick glance around revealed more ammo boxes too.

I walked over to the rifles in the rack and took a quick look at them and smirked as I commented to myself out loud. "Ah. LAA 5.56 Water-Cooled Assault Rifle. Ironshod's competitor sure took pride in these little heavily modifiable toys." I carefully levitated one of them to my eyes examining it. I nodded as I carefully levitated all of them out of the rack with my TK and started dismantling them for parts, keeping the usable one while discarding the useless one. I sorted them out before attaching them with a fishnet I salvaged from the HQ's celling and attached it to the ammo box of my battle saddle beneath the salvaged pauldron and I looked over to the ammo boxes, taking a mental note to look at them later.

I moved over to the terminal and to my surprise it was logged in, I quickly looked at the logs and went to the two last recorded log and pressed the play button.

<< Initializing Log 74.>>
"Corporal Poptart here... What the hay is going on out there?! It's total panic! Ponies try to leave the city while the military wants to get in! The Major Lemon Pie went AWOL and the Master Sergeant Apple Rig just left out of the blue with a note saying that he went to look for his family on the City's outskirt! Now I'm all stuck alone here with a bunch of privates doing the workhorse job! Damn this job!"

<>

<>

"Poptart here... Screw this! Screw EVERYTHING! Report indicated Cloudsdale got blown and Canterlot got gas'd with the same pink stuff that struck Littlehorn! Even the Princesses are reported killed! Fuck this! Me and the boys all agreed to go AWOL too, Sarge had the right idea, he never showed back here at the checkpoint and he was our last Steel Ranger around here! Damn it all! Those Zebra cunts fucked us all over as well as those half-witted ministry mares! We are DONE! Fuck the War! Fuck everything and everyponies that started it! We are out boys! May the Princesses souls have mercy on all those who read this message and leave the city's perimeter as quick as possible, report says a zebran balefire warhead got launched from the sea and is heading directly for Los Alicorn! Does fucking stripes!..."

<>

I just stared at the screen lost in my thoughts pondering. Wait... Wayward Grand Pa Apple Rig was last stationed here?! I let out an exhausted sigh.

Suddenly a tap on the back of my helmet brought me out of my stupor, I looked around as a black striped white blur hopped from my back and next to me on the floor, with the knife still in her mouth she looked up at me then pointed behind me, I gave a quick glance at the room and my jaw dropped in utter bafflement inside my helmet, she had unlocked all the ammo boxes as well as the lockers in the corner of the HQ! She already salvaged most munitions and dumped them in my storage unit while I was absorbed by the terminal's logs.

I trudged over to the locker and looked at the names on them, I respectfully closed the one of the soldiers from the Logs than went to open the one with the initial "A.R." written on it, inside of it i started to scrounge trough the abandoned belonging.

The first thing that struck me when I opened the locker was the picture in the inner door. Even if it was somewhat faded a bit, the locker door seems to have helped in preserving it.

It was a picture of Apple Rig in the very same T45d I am currently wearing without the helmet with a big smile and his right foreleg around the same lovely unicorn mare with reading glasses in her ministry of wartime technologies lab coat. Lavender Gearheart. Both giving a warm smile to the camera Lavender was gravid in appearance, obviously pregnant when the time this picture was taken.

I carefully dislodged the picture, looking at it carefully with a weak smile, I sniffled a little. The Zebra filly was back on top of my steel ranger armor power pack and was staring over my shoulder as she finally spoke.

"Pretty..." She said in a softly accented equestrian.

"Indeed they are cute together," I said in a calm serene tone before opening my storage unit and carefully attached the picture to the inner casing before closing it. A quick last look into the locker told me that most of the items in here were molded and rotten, I carefully levitated a few bits of rubbish out of the locked and gasped in surprise at my discovery.

At the bottom of the locked was a half-open rotten cardboard box and inside of it were 2 unused Mana Core with their quadrants full! I sent a quiet thanks to my Ancestor before quickly stashing the Cores in my storage unit as well then my armor beeped!

<>

I quickly levitated 2 Sparkle Colas out of my storage unit, carefully uncapping them with my TK and offering one of them to the filly and took one for myself. Taking a brief sip from it savoring the flat carroty taste of the brown liquid before looking over at the filly. "So... Whats your name kid?" I asked with a lazy smile.

"I.." She looked down. "I am Nima... Papa and Mama always said.. Not to speak or trust strangers. But you. You are good pony." She gave me an unsure small smile then added. "With freaky dragon eyes like maiden of the stars." She nodded. "But you are stallion, so that mean you can't be her!" She gave yet another firm nods and gave me a stoic smile before going on and chugging the sparkle cola into her mouth, drinking down the carroty liquid.

I chuckled quietly at her. "Well... Nice to meet'cha Nima. I'm Sparkplug. I carefully sat down on my haunches and moved an exohoof across my forehead, brushing my blue mane out of my sight and sighed. "Sorry about your Mom and Dad by the way... I'm sure they must have been good p-zebras." I quickly corrected myself and gave her a sincere smile.

Suddenly her eyes went wide and tears begin to form in the, she quickly shook her head and let a quiet whimper before replying. "I... Thank you Sparkplug. They were indeed nice.. Still ache in my chest, knowing they are gone." She went on and finish her sparkle cola in silence.

I couldn't help but admire her for having the courage to speak with me and also the fact that even if unpolished her equestrian was a melody to the ears. I gave her a brief smile before standing and stretching up making the hydraulic in the armor whistle a bit! Even with that cumbersome armor on, it felt good to stretches.

"Hop on Nima! As much as I like to relax a lot and just being a lazy douche at a time! I'd rather spent my night somewhere safe th-." I stopped speaking and noticed a red blip on my EFS's compass I quickly turned in the direction of it and as my compass arrow was right beneath the blip a number appeared and was quickly decreasing. In a reflex, I spun around the door and aimed my AM-Rifle at the entrance of the Mobile HQ. Nima took it as a cue and jumped onto my back, hiding behind the power pack of my armor, I quickly flung my helmet on and locked it. The target was now a meter away and was moving closer and slammed by the entrance!

"Alright, you motherfucking raiders!" Came a raspy yet familiar voice from the recording. "Not a move or I'll blow your fucking heads off!"

I hesitated a moment before answering. "C-Corporal Poptart?"

"...The Fuck?" Came the raspy voice than his blip on my EFS turned from red to white, I relaxed as the soldier walked up the ramp into the HQ.

To my shock what was in front of me was a walking corpse in military fatigue and a badly dented helmet with cloudy milky eyes gazing in my direction. He looked at me in utter bafflement, obviously, my armor made quite an impression on him.

"Well, I'll be!... A motherfucking steel ranger!... Damn kid... They gave ya the clankiest of them suit heh? Haven't seen one of them t45 in ages!" The zombie pony said with a big grin then his expression went serious. "Now what the fuck are you doing in my old house?! Ain't nothing techie in here to steal anymore! Now Git!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy now Cor- Err I mean Mister Poptart! I'm not here to steal tech... Stuff... Augh... What I'm here for... Okay! In all honesty, I was salvaging!." I replied with a hint of shame in my voice.

For a moment the zombie pony glared at me before he gave somewhat a calm smile. "T'least your sincere kiddo." He then gave me a frown. "Now would you please remove that damn helmet, it's rude to speak to somepony I can't see the face off!"

I quickly complied, unlocking and removing my helmet pulling it off revealing my face to the zombie pony.

"Well, I'll be... Damn Apple Rig?... Did you sprout a bloody horn and the fuck is with the freaky eyes?! Wait Apple Rig ain't that coat coloration! Who the fuck are you and why do yeh look just like the old sarge?!" The zombie pony rasped angrily.

"B-because Apple Rig... Is my Ancestor?" I replied with an innocent grin.

For a moment the zombie Poptart just stared at me before his jaw opened than closed again, he let out a relaxed sigh "Damn... And I thought the old sarge died in the blast..." He then looked the armor over quietly and took note of the newest decals. "I guess he actually made it into 281 heh?... He always said that if shit hit the fan that he'd bail out of service and abuse of his authority to get his family in the safety of a Stable... Well glad to see that he made it and considering he avoided getting turn into this..." He pointed himself. "I guess he's a goner huh?"

"Yeah.... 170 years of something right?" I said with pure curiosity.

Poptart absentmindedly blinked to me before sighing. "Well... I guess so. And you being here.. and that big bad purple mushroom in the South... I guess something bad happened to the Stable over yonder huh?"

I nodded. "Stable 281 is gone. Generator Meltdown and that mushroom you saw is the result of it." I said solemnly and added. "Happened right when a bunch of black power armored pegasi stormed the Stable."

Poptart flinched at this "Them fucking featherbrains?!... Damn Son, don't know what you did to get those whack job Enclave pissed at ya! But I ain't want no part of this! And I pray the Goddesses that they don't return here... Heh after all when that big Purple Mushroom exploded, Saw one of them' badly damaged raptor fly above the Boneyard and went crashing East somewhere the Desolate Arids between the Boneyard. Its a big dust bowl and a big mess of radscorp's Only thing that go across that place are well-armed caravan and they mostly stick to the Long Lane 16"

"Desolate Arids huh? Might go there myself, maybe there is some answer for me in that wreckage." I added.

"Don't kid. Uh huh, not worth it. The Desolate Arids have their name for a reason. Anyponies that went there never came back. Nowadays the folks prefer to go around the Arids considering its the nesting ground of the Emperor Radscorpions, meanest radscorpions I ever encountered, heck even seen one of them slicing clean trough a hellhound! Damn! It was so gory..." He shuddered.

"Okay." I nodded calmly.

"But!... There may be a way for ya across the Desolate Arids! The Long Lane 16 that stops by a Mana-Refueling Station between here and the eastern transit to central Equestria! As for the Station its called The Middle Lane Station. Don't know if it's still standin' but I guess you could give it a check if your bold enough to do the trip! Oh and considering your suit of armor, I'd recommend avoiding the Steel Ranger patrols of the Boneyard and also the Steel Demons... They might take an x-tra interest n' ya." Poptart snorted with a rotten toothy grins

"Why? I replied.... and also. What are you?.. What is a Hellhound and What in the hay is a Steel Demon?!" I asked curiously as I sat back on my haunches, Nima was peeking from below one of my foreleg warily at the ghoul but remained quiet and hidden.

"What am I?!" Poptart burst into a laughter. "You really do are canned good aren't ya son? Oh well. Better now then never! Well, kid... I'm a ghoul, and a ghoul... is... Well to put it crudely and rudely: A animated corpse. We are ponies that were unlucky enough to not have found a cozy place in one of them' Stables and not so lucky enough to die from the balefire radiation blast..." He sighed dejectedly. "As for Hellhounds, well somehow the Diamond Dogs won the genetic mutation shindigs and turned into a beastly monster with claws so big that they could open your armor like a can opener!... As for the Steel Demons. Those bastards are nothing more than Steel Rangers turned full on raiders! I heard stories that a cou happened with the Los Alicorn Steel Ranger Chapter, the 'Elder' got six feet under and half the group turned into a bloodthirsty bastard, as for the rest they kept to their old code or something and moved to a bunker facility North East of the Boneyard."

"Sorry," I said in a reflex to his first response.

"Oh don't be." Poptart snorted "Well I guess I'm lucky enough I didn't go feral like the rest of my unit..."

"Feral?..." I said with curiosity.

"Oh... That's another sob story about the Waste. Well, son... A feral is... A pony like me. But without the chatting, add more groaning, moaning and roaring instead and they are out for fresh 'meat'. They are nothing more than savage beasts. The only right thing to do about them is put them out of their misery. Keep that in mind kid." He said morbidly before sighing. "It's the only act of mercy one can do for a feral. Never forget it."

"Understood and thanks for all the info and the time you gave to us Poptart,"I said with a calm smile.

"Us?...." The ghoul frowned and tilted his head.

Suddenly the zebra filly's head poked from above my shoulder with a curious gleam in her eyes, eyeing the ghoul.

"Well I'll be! A tiny stripes!" The ghoul rasped into a laughter than he blinked and frowned. "Wait.. I remember that filly! She passed the checkpoint yesterday with her parents! From what I heard they were fleeing the Extremists and wanted to make themselves a better live elsewhere in the Equestrian Wasteland!"

The filly looked down obviously pained by the words said, I sighed calmly and spoke for her. "That's because.." My tone got somber the glow of my iris brightened with anger as I spoke. "Raiders got to them. Nima survived the encounter... And she's now under my protection." I nodded firmly.

In a response, the filly muttered something in zebrican and hugged my neck.

"Sorry to hear son... The Wasteland has always been an unforgiving place and from what that girl just said in her native language, I'm afraid to tell ya you will have to care for her upbringing!" The old ghoul said with a calm smile to me.

"Well... Guess its a way of fate telling me I have to make up for all my laziness back at the Stables." I sighed than blinked, looking at Poptart. "Wait.. you understood what she said? What did she just said?!"

Poptart burst into laughter before grinning. "She called you. 'New Papa'." He said with a smug grin before sighing. "Well, you take care of that stripes, kid. Some ponies out there did not forget the involvement of the Stripes in Equestria's end. Keep that in mind, lots of jerks out there that hold a stupid grudge toward zebras and also toward us ghouls... You'll find out soon enough." He'd nodded. "Well then, was nice speaking to ya Sparky boy. But I need to return to G-Haven. After all, I'm the mayor there, and no can't tell ya where it is. Only ghouls are allowed over there! OH and before I go... Be proud of that armor, and your old man, Rig. He was nice, not like the scums that made up the upper echelons of the Equestrian Army...." He grunted and sighed. "Maybe we'll speak again someday kids! Stay safe out there!" He said turning around and walking off, waving a hoof.

"Yeah... See ya, Corporal." I nodded and sighed, looking over at Nima. Who looked back at me. "So... I'm your new papa huh?"

She blushed and just went hiding under the bullet belt between my AM Rifle and my Ammo box. I snorted and chuckled at her reaction before shaking my head. before speaking "Time to move on I guess. No point at staying in this Mobile HQ."

I carefully strapped my helmet back onto my head and looked at my pipbuck display in my helmet, carefully opening the map and scrolling North to the outskirt of the Boneyard and stopped on a point of interested.

<>

I put a Compass pin on it and quickly looked around my pipbuck interface than blinked as something struck me. Is there still a radio in the Equestrian Waste? I clicked on the radio button and 3 Radio showed.

I blinked and curiously clicked the Emergency signal.

'Click!'

"This is not a drill! I repeat! This is not a drill! The worse as come to past! A Balefire Missile is on its way to hit Los Alicorn! All residents are requested to leave the city Immediately! This Message will repeat! In 10 secondes!"

I quickly turned it off and looked around and noticed it was coming from my location. I walked up to the distress beacon attached to the wall of the Mobile HQ and noticed that the activation Lever was missing. I rolled my eyes and raised my right exohoof up... Then slammed it right into the beacon pannel! A loud pop followed by a fizzle was heard as I extracted the hoof from the panel and looked at the Radio tab of my pipbuck and nodded in satisfaction as the L.A.E.E. signal was gone.

Then I left the Mobile HQ heading toward the pin on my E.F.S. Compass that indicated Ridgeway town. Meanwhile, I clicked on a different radio. This time i chose Lost Hill Bunker 17.

'Click!'

First, it was static but the voices started to speak.

"Hey!... Scribes Mantle! Something weird just happened!" A voice said.

An elderly mare voice replied. "What is it this time Paladin Boldwill?" She said with a tired tone in her voice.

"You know that Emergency signal going on at the Southern outskirt of Los Alicorn? It just went off the air! And from last I heard it was coming from that old military checkpoint from down south on the main highway!" Boldwill replied.

"And?..." Said the annoyed voice of the old mare named Mantle.

"You know what went off in the south a couple of hours ago?." Said Boldwill sheepishly.

"Yes that so-called 'purple' balefire explosion! Why would that bother you? Might have just been the radiation of that thing that put that annoying beacon out of its misery!" She moaned in annoyment.

"Actually Ma'am... With all due respect, I doubt radiation would have triggered the Mobile HQ Sensor units and considering how abrupt the signal ended... I'd say somepony gave a good Hoofslam at the Beacon." The Paladin said hesitantly.

I blanched out under my helmet. "Shit..."

"EUGH! Fine! Take Initiate Lamprey and go out there and INVESTIGATE! But keep in mind our resource are limited!" The old mare whined than suddely stopped. "Wait a sec... Paladin Boldwill! Someone is listening in on us!"

"What?! This is a secure channel! How can it be possible? Is it the Steel Demons?" Boldwill said with a tone of worry.

"Negative, just a seconde... There you go... Ah! Found the Culprit! Hrm... Matriculation... Steel Ranger Master Sergeant Apple Rig... Alright, Mister Rig I would like to request from you that you stay still while we 'retrieve' you!" Said the mare with a hint of amusement.

I blinked and looked at Nima who was listening too. "Um... Oh ho... Should I say something?"

She smirked and shrugged then, set a hoof on her chin before she gives a playful grin to me and nodded.

"Alright... Um..." I carefully clicked on the responder of my helmet and spoke. "Um Hello?..."

"Hey, you! You! Having fun on listening in on encrypted channels?" Said the Paladin with a hint of snark in his tone.

"Quiet Paladin! Let me handle this! Alright, Wastelander! You have in your possession something that belongs to us: Your Armor, surrender it to us and we promise no harms will be done to you." Said Scribe Mantle coldly.

I blinked and grimace and quickly replied. "So!..... RUDE!" At this reply, Nima rolled onto my back laughing and she wasn't the only one, Boldwill started laughing too over the communication.

"Look like we got a funny one Master Scribe!" the Paladin replied with a chuckle.

"ORDER!" Mantle shouted trough the communication. "Last chance! Surrender the armor to us Wastelander."

"Negative Ma'am. I won't surrender my heirloom to you 'Scribe' keep in mind that you're asking me to part way with something that belonged to my family for generations. So, Yes! Over my dead cold body. My ancestor may have served diligently within the Steel Ranger but me? From what I've heard all you care about is technologies. Do you want it? Come and get it!" I snarled into my helmet responder while I kept trudging and getting slowly closer to Ridgetown.

"Oh my! I believe we hit the jackpot with this one Scribe Mantle!" Said Boldwill jokingly.

Mantle groaned and replied. "Fine, Paladin Boldwill! You and Initiate Lamprey! You are under direct order to find that fool and bring that derelict armor by force to the bunker! And you Wastelander! You'll regret crossing the Steel Rangers." She snarled over the communication.

"You dare call yourself Steel Ranger? 'Scribe' Mantle." I coldly said. "Considering what I heard about you lot, you perverted the code of Applejack. For that, I will do whatever is in my power to put you back in your place, you hag." I said venomously.

Mantle gasped. "W-what did you call me brat?!.." Then her tone went cold. "What... is... your... name..."

I smirked "Stable Ranger Sergeant Sparkplug, Matricule SR-2-81." I said with a sheepish grin. "Keep that in mind you silly scribbling hag." I quickly clicked myself on mute and put my signal in phantom mode trough my military pipbuck and listened in.

"OH DARE HE! OH DARE HE?! Nopony speak to me like this EVER AND NEVER! Paladin Boldwill! Find him! Kill him!- No, wait! Subdue him and bring him to me!" She snarled loudly.

"With all due respect Master Scribe Mantle... Sparkplug ain't a raider Name... And um... SR-2-81 Stable 281... Was the place that turned into a purple mushroom cloud." Boldwill added.

Suddenly Mantle hesitated to respond at the realization of what the Knight said. She sighed and grumble. "That change everything, a stable dweller in an old suit of T45d. Hrm... Let me search the registry of Equestria Military log..." After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "That brat wasn't lying to us!... Well now so a Steel Ranger that went AWOL truely ended in Stable 281 huh? Thought these rumors were only a joke.. But the suit ID. and its authenticity confirm it all! Palading!" She shouted.

"Ma'am!" Replied Boldwill.

"You are under the specific order to grab both Initiate Lamprey and Scribe Linen track the Stable 281 survivor and detain him and bring him right here! And proceed with extreme precaution, you may be dealing with a pony that may have followed a vigorous military training by tradition!" Mantle said firmly.

"Yes, Ma'am! We are already geared and moving out now!"

I clicked the signal off and sighed. "Well, this oughta be interesting..."

Nima nodded.

***

As I approached Ridgeway town's main gate I carefully disengaged my AM-Rifle, the massive cannon, came louse and folded upward and clipped onto the top of the Rifle's receiver in a folded position and carefully turned on my helmet's headlight at a dim power level to show my non-hostile intention.

The first guard to sport me was the Earth Pony stallion who quickly raised his old refurbished LAA 556 Rifle at me and shouted. "Halt Steel Ranger! State your business with Ridgeway Town!" He demanded.

"Whoa easy there, I'm not with those goons nor I am with those Steel Demons maniacs," I replied and added. "I'm just here to get some rest and sell some stuff and perhaps buy some as well, I don't have any bits thought if there is a toll to pay to enter this town?"

Both guards relaxed and the unicorn mare spoke. "Well good to know, can't be too cautious here, especially in the outer rim of the Boneyard.." She said with a small smile then snickered. "And seriously?... Bits? From what sinkhole are you from, Tin can?"

"Stable 281." I simply said.

The mare stopped laughing and both guards blinked and looked at each other than the stallion spoke. "Are you for real?... I mean... On last new DJP0N-3 said that Stable turned into a massive gaping glowing hole South of here, and considering the big purple mushroom we all seen from the town itself... I didn't think anyone could survive that!"

I nodded. "As real as I live, well I guess I got lucky when the Stable reactor got into a meltdown, my parents combined their magic together and teleported me far away from the Stable...." I said bitterly remembering the last moment I spent with both my parents.

The unicorn mare looked at me in utter bafflement than said. "Synchronise spell casting! This is crazy!. Awesome but still! CRAZY! I don't know how your parents pulled it off but damn! ....Awesome..."

I carefully unlocked and removed my helmet attaching it to my right pauldron loophole, meanwhile, Nima flopped on my left pauldron, looking at the 2 guards curiously. The first to react to that was the stallion.

"Whoa, freaky eyes!!" He then looked at the zebra filly "Nima?!" He gasped. "What are you doing here?! Where are you, parents?"

Nima looked down biting her lower lip muttering something in zebrican before moving to hide under my AM's munition belt. I decided to speak for her.

"Her family camp got hit by Raiders pretty hard. Found her in the ruins of their camps and she stuck with me ever since." I said sternly, stomping and exohoof into the dirt beneath me to affirm myself to the 2 guards.

The unicorn mare was the first to react "Oh those poor souls... All they were doing is getting away from the madness of the Boneyard after they defected from the Extremists..." She sighed looking down for a moment before looking back up at me with a very calm expression. "Please take good care of her. We here are Ridgeway Town can't commit ourself to raising orphans, this is a trader town after all and resources are always being spent and gained here. So we can't do anything to help her."

"Well, I am her adoptive father now?... So I guess you won't have to worry about that Missy?..."

"Greymist." She said calmly, removing her guard helmet, revealing a mottle grey mane and a light blue coat, despite a number of scars on her face she was a cute pony to look at. "I know it doesn't man much to you but. Thanks for looking after little Nima from now on... " She looked at the name on my collar. "Mister Steel Ranger Sergeant Sparkplug. That's long one..."

Both I and the stallion guard snorted at her comment before I replied to her. "Just Sparkplug or Spark like my friends call me." I smiled at her calmly.

She giggled and nodded then both guards went to both sides of the gates and synchronisingly pressed buttons, the gate lifted up. then the stallion spoke. "Enjoy your stay in Ridgeway Town, Spark and stay out of trouble, the Saloon is in the middle of the town if you need a place to boose up or sleep, right at the entrance here is the guard's barrack and sheriff, next to the Saloon is the general store if you need anything, also don't go in the western part of town, its restricted as it is the facility of the trader's consortium and to the Eastern side of the town is the Smithy's Shop run by Shellshock. Just watch out she's one twigged mare." he said with a nods.

"Thank you, guys," I said calmly before walking in, that didn't stop them from eyeing in awe at my suit of power armor as I stepped in they closed the gate behind me.

"...Wish I had one of those suits.." The Stallion said.

Graymist replied with snark. "And get the Steel Ranger and the Steel Demons all over you? Pfeh. Too much trouble." She giggled as their conversation died out as the gate came fully down.

***

Ridgeway Town was like I've seen from the distance, a town build with containers, makeshift walls and wagons parts, it was very late and there was not even a single pony in the street beside the ever-vigilant guards of the town, I made sure to give them a curt nod to most of them I passed by some returned it, others gave me a warry look due to my freaky eyes or the zebra riding on the back of my armor.

As I approached the Saloon, I came to realise how even at this time of the night it is still the liveliest place in the town, music came from the inside as well as a few chatter and laughter of ponies, I smiled to myself at the idea of a place of no worry and happiness in the middle of the desolate wasteland.

I carefully stepped inside and when I did everypony inside went silent and all looked at me, the only sound that was heard was the radio playing a Sweetie Belle music. I blinked and quietly made my way to the bar counter. Well, as quiet as one can be with a heavy suit of power armor, considering each of my steps was very noisy added to the echo of the wood on wich I stepped on! The Barkeeper mare kept a warry gaze on me as I carefully sat on my haunches next to a stool, considering my armor weight I thought it was the wisest to not sit on something that could bent or get crushed.

I looked left and right and sighed quietly looking at everypony eyeing me, I swallowed and tried to relax and gave an uneasy smile at the barkeeper, she quirked an eyebrow at me obviously waiting for something.

"Um...... I'd like a beer and a room... Please?." I said with a sheepish grin.

Those words were all that it took to break the silences as everypony and griffins in the room went back to chat with one another, the Barkeeper sighed and spoke.

"It will be 5 Caps for the beer and 15 caps for the room, actually.... 30 caps for the room since you'll be sleeping in the backroom workshop considering that suit of armor" The middle-aged earth pony mare said as she went back cleaning a mug before moving to grab a beer from the not functioning fridge behind her.

"What are the Caps for?" I blurted out.

Suddenly the whole saloon when silent again. Here it comes... Suddenly everysingle patrons, including the griffins burst out in laughter, even the barkeeper did before she calmed down first.

"Your a silly one aren't ya? Dragon Eyes?" She sighed as she calmed down. "Considering those neat little Stable decals on that armor of yours I guess you're from that Stable down south that went Balefire. Stable 281, That 281 blazon is on your armor's pauldron sure is a dead give away."

"Dragon Eyes?!.. Oh... Right, that weird genetic condition that most of my Stablemates had." I half-lied to her, well its true we had glowing eyes but not slitted pupils.

"Anyway, caps are... Well, caps? Bottlecaps to be more precise, they are your today's Equestrian Wasteland currency as far as I am aware. The name's Rumsnake by the way." The Dark Tan-Coated mare said blowing a bang away from her cream-colored mane. "And keep the boose, first one always in the house. Not sure how you gonna afford your room thought."

I quickly came to the hard realization that I was completely broke and after a moment of pondering I asked. "H-how much is a Sparkle Cola?'

"5 Caps" She said as she went to clean the counter with an old rag, not even looking at me until she heard a large clinking noise on the counter, she looked up and her eyes nearly bawled out of her skull as she stared at the mountain of Sparkle Colas I set on the counter, my storage unit still wide open, Nima's head poking out of it, wiping a sweat away from her forehead from helping me unload them.

"65 Sparkle Colas. They are all yours for the mundane price of 4 caps each!" I said giving a sheepish grin at Ramsnake.

The chatter in the bar stopped and one of the grif shouted. "Where the fuck did he get all that soda?!" Nima gave a quiet shrug to the griffin.

Rumsnake finally coughed and looked at the pile of Sparkle Colas. "Well seems to be all in good condition." After a thoughtful moment, she conceded. "Deal." She went down under the counter and fished out a bag of caps and dropped it in front of me on the counter. "260 Caps."

I nodded and grabbed the caps up, then proceed to pull out 35 caps and dropped them on the counter before smiling heaving into the back room. "Thank you Rumsnake!"

Rumsnake protested. "The Boose was on the house, you dummy!. Oh well. Not that I'm complaining she grabbed the caps and shouted "Oak Stump! We got an unexpected shipping of Sparkle Colas! Get your rumps down there and help me store them!" A grunt came from upstair.

***

I sighed calmly as I stepped into the Saloon's workshop, a fizzling distillery was in a corner while on another side of the workshop there was a workbench and a weapon maintenance table. There was also a bunkbed hanging from the wall.

Nima jumped out of my storage unit and went up into the bunkbed and curled up into a ball on it as she went to sleep, meanwhile I approached the weapon maintenance table while yawning and unclipped the weapon parts fishnet from my AM's ammo box, setting them down on the table, I hummed quietly as I grabbed a piece of iron whool and being to scrub each weapon parts hard, removing as much rust as I can from them hopefully improving their prizes for the general store, I also begun to assemble some together.

3 Hours later I had 2 refurbished and improved LAA-556 Assault Rifle and some spare parts for them brought back to decent condition, I took the liberty to retrofit some reflex sight onto the 2 rifles and removed the water-cooled barrels and replaced them with some jury-rigged air-cooled one. I was nearly spent, exhausted and barely awake. I yawned loudly and proceeded to the workbench, detaching the 2 Pauldrons from the top of the AM's Ammo box and went to scrub them clean from rust before proceeding to rummage in my armor storage unit pulling out a can of silver coating and begun to re-apply a new coat to the pauldron, trying my best to remain awake not to ruin my work, I yawned yet again as I pulled out a can of primer armor paint and sprayed the pauldron back to their factory coloring.

After my work was down I simply yawned and my head lolled forward as I felt into slumber. I was still stuck in that armor anyway thanks to that jammed valve in the power pack...

***

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk:

Steel Toughness Rank 1
"As long as you are encased in a Steel Ranger armor, only an idiot would charge at you. Physical Damage Resistance Threshold Increased by 15%! and an Extra 35% If the pony charging at you have below 5 Intelligence... Seriously? What kind of moron charge a walking tank with a pool cue?"

Gun Nuts Rank 1
"You spent most of your colthood your nose in a gun magazine! Shame on you!"

Quest Perk:

Induction Unicorn:
"You have mutated beyond the nature of the standard of Stable 281 unique mutation! Radiation no longer harm you but drive you histerical depending on the severity of your radiation poisoning! You also have gained a sharp sight!"

New Quests!:

1: Pay Back! Part 1
"Investigate the Enclave Raptor Crash Site in the Desolate Arids."
2: Kiss my shiny metal Flank!.
"Get those annoying Steel Rangers off your back."
3: Papa?
"Find out more about your adoptive yet adorable zebra daughter."

Author's Note

Woo! Took me a while to finish that chapter, I already started working on Chapter 2, and yes there are some grammar issues with my story, I'm still working on improving the textes with grammarly until I get an actual editor!