Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 3A
Chapter 4
Chapter 4A
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
What a Fright
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Finale
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 10
GUESS WHO'S BACK?!

Chapter 2

“I...I...” I stammered, looking around in horror at the sight before me. The parking lot lay in ruin, rusted out sky wagons littered the area. What had once been a beautiful park across the street was a blackened hole, the twisted wreckage of a slide and swing set lay just outside what I was realizing was a blast crater. The buildings that had surrounded the facility were even worse, crumbling in on themselves, scorched piles of rubble...it was like I was looking at hell itself. Skeletons littered the streets, in the distance I could hear gunfire and explosions. The sky was an almost solid sheet of cloud.

“Things got bad, real bad.” Crackshot said, patting my shoulder gently.

“I never thought things would reach this point...I thought common sense would prevail and we'd emerge on the far side as a better world...greater unity than we'd ever known in the past, take all the technology that had come from the war effort and put it to peaceful use.” I fought to hold back tears but my voice was breaking down pretty quickly and I knew I'd lose it.

“I'm sorry Sugarcube. I just don't know what went wrong.” Crackshot shook her head sadly and moved towards the one sky wagon that seemed to still be in a functional state. It was covered in rust spots and looked like it might fall apart at a moments notice.

“Come on everypony lets blow this Popsicle stand.” Brute Force said, pushing me on before I could sink any lower in my feelings. The sky wagon was quite the sight, two turrets sat on either side of the wagon, mounted to the windows, which had been fitted with steel slats to aim out of and minimizing the ability for someone outside to hit the gunner inside. I slid the box I carried into the back and under a bench where other boxes sat, Brute Force sliding his box in beside mine. Ruby pushed past quickly and hopped into the pilot harness in the front. The front had been armoured as well to keep someone from easily tagging the pilot. “I've never seen a sky wagon like this.” I marveled.

“Yeah these are actually a newer thing, one of the few technologies that came about after the war. The Enclave made em. Ruby stole this one when she was banished.” Crackshot explained. “And before you ask, I'll explain the Enclave later...for now I'll just tell you it's the pegasus military.” I had been about to ask but just nodded for the time being.

“Alright, everypony ready?” Ruby called as the sky wagon started forward across the lot and then up into the air.

I started to sit on one of the small benches that lined the walls along the inside of the wagon but was thrown to the ground, along with Crackshot and Brute Force, as Ruby pulled hard to the side.

“We got a problem!” Ruby yelled. “We got bots and Slavers shootin' it out down there and some of em have decided we need to be dragged into it.” She paused as she lurched down quickly, a missile exploding just above us. “GET ON THE CELESTIA LOVING TURRETS!”

Brute Force grabbed the closest gun to himself and opened fire after only a moment of looking for his targets. I moved to the turret beside him but he shoved me to the other side. “You take the left.” He said, looking to Crackshot, who took up the turret beside him and opened fire as well.

I glared at him for a moment but moved to another turret and looked down, I could see dozens of robo ponies and various automated sentinels I didn't even recognize. “Geeze they came a long way in two months with robotics. I recognize some of these from basic prototype schematics.” I grabbed the turret and opened fire on them, watching the bullets rain down on them, causing some of the smaller ones to spark and in some cases explode. “This...is...taking...too...long...” I grumbled. Between Ruby having to dodge back and fourth and the armour plating of the robots we were getting nowhere fast. I stopped firing and pulled open the turret control.

“What the hay are you doing?!” Crackshot yelled at me as I started pulling piece after piece from the guns.

“Don't worry!” I said, waving a hoof at her. I slid one of the crates out from under the bench and pulled two mean looking rifles with blue banding on them out of the box and, with practiced ease, pulled the weapons apart. “Sorry about these ones.” I started combining pieces of the rifles into the turret as fast as my magic would allow and soon I had it snapped shut again, taking a cable and running it to my pipbuck.

“COME ON!” Ruby roared at me.

“Alright alright, don't get your mane in a knot!” I pressed down the triggers and the machine started to whine to life as it charged up. “Aaaaaaand...BOOM!” I cried as the machines reached a high point, and then sputtered and died.

“FUCKSAKE CANE!” Brute Force roared, turning to take up the other turret.

“No.” I stared intently at the turret for a moment. “I can fix this!” I turned and bucked the turret hard with my back legs and the turret whined to life and began firing pulses of blue energy that rained down on the robots, causing them to start whining in kind and most of them chugged to a stop, many of them sparking and exploding. “HA!” I cried triumphantly as Ruby quickly darted towards the opening I'd made through the robotic combatants. We pulled away from the remaining attackers and soon we were sailing through clear skies.

“That...was stupid.” Brute Force growled at me as he flopped on one of the benches.

“But genius. I can't imagine anypony else being able to field strip two EM disruptors and mounting them into a turret.” Crackshot smiled widely, a sight I knew would haunt my dreams.

“My marefriend was a good teacher.” I smiled warmly.

“But why the pipbuck interface?” She asked, holding up the interface cable I had added to the turret.

“S.A.T.S. is WAY more accurate than pony eyes, and since the gun fires in an expanding cone it didn't need to use an excess amount of power to take out multiple targets.” I grinned.

“Just amazing...” Crackshot sighed.

“Hey, mind if I borrow you two for a minute?” Ruby called back from the cockpit. “No offense Cane you just can't answer the questions I have unless you know the coordinates for our mobile base.” She laughed.

“Why don't you just try and get some rest?” Brute Force said, gesturing to the bench as he stood and moved to the cockpit with Crackshot.

“Yeah why not.” I nodded. I took the chance to sit and look out the windows at the land below, black dead trees littered the landscape, burnt out buildings, collapsed ruins of homes, bones all over...there were a few small camps here and there but many of them were either abandoned or had some rather mean looking ponies in em, and though many looked up at us, no pony else seemed stupid enough to take a shot at us, I even saw what looked like small traveling groups, 3 or 4 ponies walking with...cows? They looked like cows but we were pretty high up and something seemed off about them but I just couldn't put my hoof on it.

“Hello?” The voice snapped me out of my entranced study of the landscape and I looked up to the cockpit, but the three were still talking quietly. Turning back to the window I saw there was now a pegasus flying along beside us, a cloak covering what appeared to be a power armored form, from tail to wing tips to their head. The armor was painted a mix of purples and dark blues..

“Hey guys! We've got company!” I called, turning back to the cockpit, and Brute Force was back at my side in an instant, but turning back I saw that the skies were again empty and a quick glance around the immediate area with my EFS revealed no marks outside of the three green ones that corresponded to my companions.

Crackshot came out and looked out the windows too. “Nothing there...” She said, looking at me curiously.

“There was a pegasus. I coulda sworn.” I sighed, settling back down onto the bench.

“Don't worry about it.” Brute Force said, moving back towards the cockpit. “There's lotsa pegasi around, if it ain't shootin' at us I don't care.”

I sighed and settled down on the bench again, sorting through the few things I'd taken with me from my office. I hoped I'd be able to come back and get some other stuff, but for the time being I had what was most important, or at least what I felt was most important. I pulled the note from Rosalea out again and unfolded it. Of course it was no different than the first time I'd looked at it. A simple note with a simple apology and that was it...I turned it over a few times in the hopes of spotting something I might have missed, but besides being worn and yellowed from age, it was just a note.

“Why'd you get so mad at him for trying to take up the other turret beside you?” I heard Crackshot muttering to Brute Force. I probably wasn't supposed to hear them so I just continued to busy myself with sorting inspecting the few things I had on me.

“The slavers were on the right, the robots on the left. He...” Brute Force paused and sighed. “He's a 200 year old, pre-apocalypse pony, he's probably never had to take a life, I just...didn't want him to have to start now. He may have helped build those robots, but we're practically drowning in the blood of all the ponies we've killed I just didn't want to propel him to that point so quickly. I'm sorry I know it sounds stupid.”

“Not at all.” Crackshot said, patting his shoulder. “We try to protect our children from the horrors of the wasteland as best we can for as long as we can, he might not be a foal but no pony should have to be poisoned by the wasteland, yet each and every one of us is eventually.” She nuzzled his cheek gently and stepped back.

“I know...thanks Grandmare...” Brute Force smirked softly.

“I'm your great great Grandmare and don't you forget it.” Crackshot laughed.

“Yeah well that's a mouthful so I'll stick to Crackshot.” He broke into a full on grin as I finally look up at them.

“Well that's a terrifying sight, don't smile often I take it?” I asked, taking a chance on the joke, and though Brute Force glowered at me Crackshot and Ruby both laughed loudly.

“He's got you down.” Ruby said, looking back at Brute Force.

“I hope he'll get me down...” Ruby and Crackshot both said at the same time, Ruby's voice taking on a sultry tone and Crackshot's a rather demonic version of a sultry tone. Ruby stopped talking and now Brute Force laughed with Crackshot. I looked at both of them kind of confused.

“Don't worry Cane I'm not flirting with you.” Crackshot said, moving back out of the cockpit. “I've long since passed my prime. Ruby is just very predictable.”

“AM NOT!” Ruby cried in a hurt voice.

“Am so!” Brute Force called back, laughing all the harder as he settled on a bench again.

Crackshot looked at the small pile of stuff I had pulled out of the saddlebags. The note, the memory orbs, the picture of my proposal to Rosalea, the bag of caps and the almost full bottle of wild pegasus.

“I remember hearing about that.” She said, pointing to the engagement picture. “First party in Ponyville in years to actually have any of the ministry mares in attendance.” She moved and sat beside me, looking towards the cockpit for a moment before she leaned in close. “20 caps says she invites you to the bar once we're landed and settled, 20 more says she gets drunk and cries on your shoulder, and whatever is left in there says she invites you back to her place for a 'sleepover' party.” She chuckled quietly.

I sighed and shook my head, tapping the photo gently. “For me this wasn't even a month ago. I haven't even had a chance to grieve, let alone be in a place where I'm ready to get back in the saddle.”

“Well just remember that when you're almost too drunk to stand later tonight.” Crackshot smirked, looking at the rest of the stuff. “And these?” She asked, pointing to the memory orbs.

“Well,” I levitated the first one, my name etched into it “This is mine, it's full of notes and schematics I was planning and didn't want to forget, I have a bad tendency to be struck by inspiration at weird times so I would store them in an orb just in case so I could come back to them. This one I have no idea.” I said, lifting the second one.

“Well don't let us stop you.” Crackshot said. “We've got about an hour before we reach our base and it's easier to ask you to lose yourself in a memory orb than it is to drug you so you don't see where the base is...” She said seriously.

“I...uhh, I guess?” I said dumbly. “And if this one doesn't prove to be very long I can always go through the other one. I know there's at least a few hours worth of memories stored in there.” I levitated the orb up and touched it to my horn.

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

Well this was weird. I'd never been in an orb that wasn't mine...I...my host, was moving through the halls of the R&D facility. I --I'll just say I until I know who I'm in-- I moved through the corridors, it seemed to be late at night, there was almost nopony else around except for a few guards who just nodded as I passed them in the halls. I walked through a few labs, still shiny and filled with technology, checking each room one after the other, but everyone seemed to have gone home. I sighed more than a few times, clearly my ride was upset about something. I poked through a few smaller side rooms and even a supply closet.
Finally I made my way down the main hall; past the server rooms, two scientists inside waving as I passed, moving past the door marked 'Armoury' and into the mare’s changing room. I walked along the area quickly to see if there was anyone around and slumped into one of the stall showers, closing my eyes and just letting the hot water run along my body. I hadn't realized just how stressed out this body was until the hot water started to work it's magic on the knotted muscles and sore joints.

I let out a soft groan of relief, suddenly realizing I was occupying a mare's body. The whole going into the mare's change room to shower probably should have been a clue, but I was a little slow on those kind of things. What can I say? After what felt like an eternity of just sitting in the hot water, I stood back and shook off HARD. Ignoring the towels that were sitting in a cabinet at the end of the shower stalls, stretching out my wings—oh, I'm a Pegasus—and moving back into the main area. I moved to the door of the change room, a red hoof reaching up and locking it. Moving back past the benches and the lockers, and into a dressing room on the opposite side of the showers. Coming to a stop in front of one of a row of full body mirrors, and I realized I was looking at Rosalea... I was IN Rosalea... I'd had fantasies about this, except I had no control over her body which helped no one. She also looked exhausted. The shower had relaxed her, and she at least looked somewhat refreshed. At least compared to what I knew she'd have looked like just a few moments earlier.

“Alright Cane.” She said, it was weird to feel my mouth moving and her voice coming out. “I don't know what's happened to you but I don't believe for an instant that you took off just because of some failed zebra attack.” She looked angry and hurt and confused and sad all at once. “I know you're going to show up again and we're going to laugh about all this, but the higher ups are furious that you took off. I wish you'd come home.” She hugged herself with her wings and sighed deeply. “Cane I...I hope I'm just worrying for nothing.” She broke down and sobbed for a moment before she composed herself again. “Cane...I'm pregnant.” She smiled weakly. “This isn't how I was going to tell you, but if you really are...are gone.” She fought back fresh tears. “You need to know, I don't know whats happened to you but you damned sure better get back here soon or so help me Celestia I will tear this world apart to find you and I'll build it back up on top of you.” She glared but sniffled and sighed. “Please come home safe Cane... I.... I love you... I'm going to leave this for you in your office; but what am I telling you for? If you're watching this you obviously found it or I gave it to you...” She sighed and pressed her hooves to her face for a moment shaking a little. “DAMMIT CANE WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?” She roared and the orb blanked out as she stood up again and started to storm off.

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

I woke with a start, finding I was still laying on the bench in the sky wagon but we were no longer moving, Ruby was standing over me grinning.

“You're cute when you sleep.” She cooed, nudging my side. “Come on, we landed 20 minutes ago and there's a whole group of doctors salivating to get their hooves on you.” She smirked.

“A what?” I whined, pushing myself up and off the bench, pocketing the memory orb quickly. “Why do a whole group of doctors want to get their hooves on me?”

“You're a 200 year old non ghoul unicorn, they want to see how your body holds up compared to the immunologically compromised ponies of today. We've all grown up with radiation and taint, our bodies are wrecked compared to yours. They probably just want blood and mane samples and stuff.” She shrugged, looking at me curiously. “You look a wreck sir.” She said, sitting down beside me. “I take it you didn't like the orb?”

I sighed and shook my head. “It was from Rosalea. She was upset that I was gone. VERY upset.” I looked up at her sadly and shook my head to try and keep the tears at bay. “She was pregnant.” I said quietly, unable to speak above a whisper, lest I break down into open sobbing. “She was pregnant and had to face the end of the world without me. Whoever knows what happened to them? We didn't put ourselves into the Stable lottery because we refused to believe the world would end like this.”

“Well a lot of pegasi headed for the skies when Cloudsdayle was destroyed before they closed up the sky, I'm sure you noticed that earlier?” I nodded. “So maybe they got somewhere safe and lived happy, as normal as possible, lives in the clouds. I know that life up there is much easier than it is down here, but it's very oppressive living under the Enclave's rule.” She sat down beside me and wrapped a wing around me gently. That was the last straw for me, that gentle touch of soft feathers I had taken for granted with Rosalea, I broke down and started to sob, my head sinking down onto Ruby's shoulder as I allowed all the pent up anguish at my situation to crash down on me all at once, which drew a few questioning looks from the ponies in the unloading bay. Ruby just glared at them and extended her other wing, hitting the button to seal the door.

I hadn't cried this hard at any point in my life. I don't think if you combined every instance of me crying in my entire life and tripled it would it have equaled this one. I wrapped my front legs around her and just hugged her close and cried. It didn't matter that I barely knew her, it didn't matter that I had WAY worse problems to worry about, all that mattered was that I had no more family, no more friends, I found out I was supposed to be a father, only to lose that too, all that mattered was the gentle embrace of the pegasus beside me. The soft gentle touch of feathers against my face and mane. It was the only familiar thing I could cling to. It was either that or my guns, and I didn't even want to think about what might happen if I tried to find comfort in those. She hummed softly and rocked me gently side to side.

I just held her, long after I ran out of tears and just sat and shook softly. She started to sing quietly when my sobs tapered off and I fell quiet. “Hush now quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” She sang, stroking my mane. I finally got my breathing under control and slowly lifted my head, my eyes a swollen puffy mess from crying, the shoulder of her armour soaked with tears.

“I...I'm sorry.” I said softly, slowly getting my feelings under control again.

“Don't worry about it Sugar.” She smiled warmly, leaning forward and kissing the tip of my horn. “You can buy me a drink at the bar later.”

I chuckled softly, guess that was 20 caps to Crackshot. “Come on get your face cleaned up and I'll take you to see the doctors.” She said, standing again and stretching.

I nodded and took a few minutes to get myself looking presentable again before following her out of the wagon.

Outside the wagon was amazing. We were in a docking bay with about 3 dozen sky wagons lined up on raised platforms arranged in a horseshoe shape, the center filled with crates and dollies, ponies bustling about cataloging and sorting and moving cargo constantly. A few looked at us as we emerged but none stared for very long, Ruby's angry glare daring anypony to look for too long or say anything rude. The whole area looked like an old military base, and this was the underground take off area, the roof even had the same linked shutter doors that I remembered from the few bases I'd seen. I asked Ruby about it and she got a sheepish look on her face.

“Yeah we might have kinda lied about the base being mobile. We were actually discussing how we were going to explain the fact we brought somepony back with us. But you have a vast knowledge of computers and robotics, that should be all they need to convince the higher ups to let you stay on.”

“They being Crackshot and Brute Force?” I asked, looking at her as we moved from the docking area into a tight hallway. There was barely enough room for us to walk side by side though it widened into a main area, ponies bustling about with boxes or paper work and even weapons and armour.

“Exactly.” She nodded.

“So can I ask you a question?” I looked back to her again after taking in the larger main area.

“Of course.”

“Why do you call Brute Force Brutus?”

“Oh...” She smiled a little. “It's actually kinda morbid.” She said seriously, I nodded. “When we were younger we snuck out to go check out a factory a mile or so away, we figured since it was so close that it had already been picked clean. Instead we found a group of zebra scavengers. I wanted to just head back but Brute Force jumped them, they never saw it coming, he took down all 6 of them by himself with just a pair of knives, all he got were a few cuts and a single bullet wound. So I nicknamed him Brutus after the Zebra that assassinated a Caesar thousands of years ago.”

“Yes I know that story.” I said, smiling a little. “You're right, it is morbid but it's accurate.”

“And he has an affinity for it so we just kept it.” She nodded, stopping in front of a pair of double doors with three pink butterflies on it. “Well, we're here.” She smiled, opening the door and nudging me inside. “Remember just behave yourself and I'll be waiting for you right here when you're done.”

“Yeah I know.” I trailed off when I saw three unicorn doctors look up at me with grins that bordered on psychotic. “Umm, maybe you'll stay with me?” I asked, turning to look at Ruby, but she hadn't come through the door with me and I couldn't see her through the small round windows.

“Ah you must be Sugarcane.” One of them said, coming over and and putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Come in come in, I can't tell you how excited we are to see you!”

“Oh boy.”

//////////

“Emergency quarantine procedures in effect in Medical bay” Blared a voice over the PA system across the base as I darted out of the medical bay, struggling to pull my barding back into place almost tackling Ruby as I did.

“What the hell Sugar?” Ruby demanded, stumbling backwards and barely keeping herself from falling over. “Why did the computer enable quarantine?” She asked, watching the shudder slam shut over the door I had just run out of.

“It didn't, I did.” I said, grabbing her in my magic and pulling her along quickly down the hall as I slung my saddlebags back into place. “The lock down will lift in 10 minutes. I wasn't gonna let them keep poking and sampling me.” I grimaced, sticking my tongue out as we moved into the main foyer again, a number of medical staff hurrying past us to try and help with the quarantine.

“How bad could it have been?” She snorted, smacking the back of my head. “And lemme go! I can walk on my own.”

The magic field around her dropped and she straightened herself out, falling into place beside me and starting on again.

“Now, how bad could it have been?” She asked again, looking over at me again.

“It was just bad okay?” I asked, shaking my head.

“Unacceptable. You either tell me or I'm taking you back there to ask the doctors to their faces.” She paused and gestured to the right. “Come on.” She again guided me down a narrow hallway, going through another pair of double doors, this one had a music note and a martini glass on it. Inside was clearly originally a room set up very much like the medical bay, but it had been overhauled and converted into a bar, a dozen or so ponies scattered about at tables, a green earth pony tending the bar. She nudged me to a table in the corner and waved to the bartender who nodded. “So come on, lets hear it, they're not gonna find us tucked back here for a while at least.” She said, settling into the chair beside me.

“I just got very fed up very quickly.” I said, shrugging. “They wanted to know all about my dietary habits, allergies, history of family illness. They took radiation readings, blood and mane samples, poked and prodded me all over. They wanted to know about my sex life...” I blushed a little as the bartender came over and put down a tray with a green bottle and two glasses. I floated them off and he smiled.

“Thanks, I always get dirty looks when I use my mouth for moving cups and things.” He said, starting off once Ruby handed him a small stack of bottlecaps.

Ruby took the bottle in her mouth and poured some thick green liquid into each glass. “What is it?” I asked, floating the cup up to my muzzle and sniffing it curiously. It smelled like lighter fluid, and moved around in the cup like snot.

“Umm...” she looked at the bottle for a moment, turning it with her wings to examine each side. “It's uhh,” She tilted the bottle back and looked at the bottom. “It's green.” She shrugged, setting the bottle back and downing the glass, retching a little and grinning. “And STRONG.”

I downed mine and almost threw up, it tasted worse than it smelled and I had to fight the most violent coughing fit I'd ever had and every desire in my body to throw up something so vile, so I quickly downed another to give the first shot in my stomach some reinforcements against my body's desire to remove it.

After two more Ruby grinning widely. “You're my kind of stallion.” She said, finishing her third shot. “Crackshot doesn't drink because she has a hole in her stomach that leaks when she drinks any liquids, and Brutus is a light weight. Just drinks buckweiser and Sweet Apple Acre's Hard Cider.” She sighed, resting her head on my shoulder. “So what happened next?” She asked, looking up at me.

“The doctor said he would be right back and he went into the back room where the other two doctors had gone with the other samples they'd taken. I saw one of the nurses preparing a reproductive fluid extraction device...” I said, shuddering and downing another drink with a grimace.

She snorted and covered her face with a wing. “The fake vagina with the big bottle on the end?”

I blushed furiously and nodded. “So I quickly hacked the computer in the room I was in, triggered the lock down and bolted and here we are.”

“Oh Sugar.” She said, swatting my face with a wing and giggling “I heard tell they made it from plans found in the medical database, and then modified it with some TOYS found in an old store a few miles from here...” She chuckled. “Maybe I'll go ask to borrow it and you and I can go back to my place and you can compare the two...” She whispered, pressing firmer to my neck and actually kissing me gently before shifting back to just resting against me. “You know you probably could have just said no.”

“Yeah well they weren't really big on taking no for an answer when they were talking about wanting bone marrow samples, and those actually HURT, unlike an orgasm, which is what the other doctor was going back to prepare for, if I hadn't been able to hack the computer I'd have probably have had to SHOOT my way out of the medical bay.” I said, resting my head on top of hers, I was feeling a good buzz from the green liquor and was at least feeling more comfortable with her. She was so similar to Rosalea my foggy brain was all to happy to take comfort from her presence.

“Oh well don't look now but...” She pointed a wing towards the door as some very pissed off doctors wandered into the bar. I sunk lower so my face was hidden behind her wing. “Come on Sugar, we can go this way...” She got up, keeping her wings askew to keep me covered as we moved towards a small door at the back of the bar. I grabbed the green bottle and floated it along behind, pulling it close quickly and tucking it into my saddlebags. She pressed me through the door and I found we were in a small cleaning room from the look of it. “Alright up you go.” She gestured to a vent in the roof that didn't have a cover.

“Are you kidding?” I groaned, my vision swimming as I tried to focus on the roof.

“It's only a few feet and we can drop down into the hallway beyond.” She said, pushing against my rump towards a stack of crates that seemed perfectly placed for reaching the vent.

I groaned with the effort of focusing and made my way up slowly, staggering once and catching myself with my magic, I might not have been able to fly with my magic but I could at least keep myself upright. I reached the vent and squirmed in quickly, crawling along for a moment and stopping while I waited to make sure that Ruby got in alright.

I felt her warm breath on my tail and she nudged me again. “Go go go.” She hissed. “I don't wanna stare at your ass forever, you'll come to another gap in the vent with no grate and you can just drop down.”

I pressed forward and soon enough came to said gap. I peered down, the hallway was dimly lit and I quickly slipped down, catching myself again and landing quietly. I reached up with my magic and lowered Ruby down until she could spread her wings and land herself.

“Come on.” She said, hurrying down the hallway and around a corner. I followed her until she stopped in front of a blue door and unlocking it with a small key from her saddlebags. “Now just get inside and shut up.” She opened the door and moved inside. I followed and she closed the door behind me. I was surprised to find myself in a small living quarters, a double bed sitting against one wall and a desk and lamp on the opposite side of it with a chair in front of the desk and another beside it, a second small door sitting in the gap between the wall and the desk. Clothes and books and random stuff littered the whole room. It looked well lived in, that was a polite way of putting it.

“Your place?” I asked, noting the patchwork armour that sat in a pile at the end of the bed and the random dresses and hats that were strewn around.

“Was it the key I used to unlock the door that gave it away?” She laughed, pressing her face into my saddlebag and coming out with the booze again. She tilted her head back and took a long swig, spitting the bottle out onto the desk and hacking and coughing.

I laughed and took up the bottle, slamming the rest of it down and sighing, fighting with every ounce of willpower I had not to throw up violently. “Light weight.” I teased, setting the bottle down and pulling the Wild Pegasus out of my bag, at least with this I knew what I was getting into, and 200 years aged probably gave it a hell of an added kick. I popped the top and took a sip, grinning and taking a bigger one. 200 years had done well for this fine booze, it was silky smooth and tasted like heaven, immediately calming my stomach and filling me with a happy warmth. I floated the bottle over to Ruby, who had stumbled to the bed and collapsed dramatically, shaking it in her face. “You know you want some, it's better than the green.” I grinned, coming over and sitting down on the end of the bed. She reached up with just her head, like a foal reaching desperately for a bottle of milk.

She whimpered and finally reached up with her wings and held the bottle still, tilting it and pouring the booze into her mouth.

“Awe see Rosie, there's a good girl.” I laughed, the slip up in names seeming to be missed by both of us as I took the bottle back and set it on the desk. “And you know what good girls get.” I leaned in and kissed her deeply. I felt her breath catch but she relaxed into it after a moment and wrapped her wings around me, holding me close. I felt the stirring in my loins and shifted, running my forelegs down her sides, but as my hoof passed over her flank I stopped short, feeling the burns on her skin as I passed over her cutie mark and along the area her skin bumped out from the dashite brand. I broke the kiss and pulled back against her wings.

She whined softly. “Don't stop now. Please Sugar.” She whispered, her voice cracking a little with aroused desperation.
“I can't do this.” I said, shaking my head and drawing away from her. “I'm sorry Ruby. I shouldn't have let my mind get away from me.”

She sighed and pulled her wings open so I could get up off the bed. “It's okay Sugar, I understand.” She said sadly.

A knock at the door interrupted my response and Ruby composed herself before moving to answer the door. I hopped down and moved to sit in the chair by the desk.

She opened the door. “Hel...” She was cut short as a cattle prod drove into her neck and a white unicorn magic field wrapped around her, throwing her backwards so she crashed down on the bed.

“HEY!” I lurched up and tried to pull my guns out, but I was too drunk to focus properly and instead they just clattered to the ground. Two very furious looking doctors from the medical bay pushed into the room, closing the door behind them. A stallion with a dark purple coat and green tail stood blocking the door as the mare with a black coat and white mane marched forward. “W...what do you want?” I demanded, trying desperately to draw some kind of weapon.

“You made us look like idiots.” She hissed, the cattle prod sparking in her magical grip as she shoved it into my chest, ZAP. I screamed in pain as my limbs spasmed and I fell to my knees, my whole body burning in pain. “The boss wants samples...” She held the cattle prod out again. “He,” ZAP “Will,” ZAP “Get,” ZAP “Them!” ZAP ZAP ZAP.

The last shock threw me backwards into the desk, the Wild Pegasus bottle falling over, pouring down, running down my muzzle and dripping into my mouth as I lay still, panting hard, trying to control my twitching limbs.

“Gauze...relax you don't wanna fry his brain.” The stallion grunted, grabbing the cattle prod in his own magical field and yanking it away from her. “Just get to work so we can get out of here.” He said, moving to Ruby on the bed.

“Don't you hurt her...” I groaned as the stallion adjusted her gently to lay down on the bed, a needle floating out of his saddlebag and injecting into her neck. She whimpered and went completely limp.

“She's not the one you need to worry about.” The mare in front of me growled.

She reached into her own saddlebags and withdrew another needle, the sperm collector, and something that looked like a cross between a muzzle and the filter mask of an environmental suit. She took the muzzle thing in her grip again and forced it over my head, which tugged roughly when it came up against the sticky booze that had soaked it. I didn't have the energy to resist and drawing a breath resulted in my lungs burning as I inhaled some chemical that had been put into the intake filter of the mask, which just made the room spin worse. She took the needle and plunged it into my neck, making me gasp, which just put more of the chemicals from the mask into my system, the world going black at the edges.

After a moment I felt the strangest sensation, even as my world was plunging into blackness I could feel myself growing aroused. The mare rolled me on my side and smiled. “Good boy...aw a good BIG boy.” She chuckled darkly. “I'm sure Ruby would have enjoyed a ride with you, and as far as you'll remember she did.” She hissed in my ear. The last thing I felt was the sensation of the collector sliding into place and gripping firmly before my whole world went dark and I fell away from existence.

//////////

A loud banging woke me at some point later, my head pounding with a hangover and everything hurt. Ruby groaned and snuggled closer to me. I looked down at her and groaned myself, pieces of the night before coming back to me. Escaping the medical bay, hiding out in the bar, getting drunk with Ruby, ducking out and coming back to her place, drinking more...I vaguely remembered kissing her but everything was a blur. We certainly smelled like we'd enjoyed the previous night...and my head hurt too much to feel guilty just yet. My saddlebags and barding lay in a heap on one of the chairs by the desk.

I lurched out of the bed and stumbled to the door. “WHAT?!” I yelled at the the ponies on the other side, only to come face to face with a startled looking Crackshot and Brute Force.

It took only a moment for Crackshot's surprise to wear off and she fell back, laughing. “I KNEW IT!” She said, pushing herself up and shaking a hoof at me. “You two got drunk and hooked up! Pay up!” She demanded. I shook my head. “In a bit, my head hurts too much to use magic.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Shut up, shut the door and come back to bed, I'm cold!” Ruby whined, pressing one of her wings down over her face to block out the light from the hallway.

Brute Force pushed past me with a smirk, closing the door once Crackshot came in and climbed onto the bed, putting a hoof over Ruby's side and kissing her wing gently. “That's nice Sugar...leave those two idiots to themselves for now, we'll meet up with them later.”

“Aw now that's just not nice.” Brute Force said, making Ruby yelp and shove him back with her wing, sending him falling backwards onto the end of the bed. He laughed and pushed himself up, getting off the bed.

“You two need to get cleaned up.” Crackshot said, looking between the two of us, or possibly at both of us at once, with those milky white eyes I couldn't tell where she was looking at any given time.

“The council wants to meet with Cane to see if he really does have the skills we claim he has...”

I cut her off as I smiled. “Locking down the medical bay doesn't count?” I asked.

“It actually does count as a point in your favor but it's not enough. Now as I was going to say, they want to see if you really do have the skills we claim you have and you don't want to meet with them smelling like sex and a bar floor.”

I grinned sheepishly and Ruby rolled off the bed. “Just get out you two...” She grumbled, moving to the other door, revealing a small simple bathroom with a stand up shower.

“Just don't start up a new round of tail grinding in there.” Crackshot said, moving back to the door and heading back into the hallway with Brute Force in tow, closing it again and just leaving us alone.

Ruby smiled sheepishly and nuzzled my cheek, which was still sticky with spilled booze. “How the hell did we manage to soak your head in Wild Pegasus anyway?” She asked, moving into the bathroom and turning on the shower. My pipbuck clicked softly as the water started to fall, but it was nothing severe, and I was going to start getting exposed to it constantly soon enough so why not start now.

“I honestly have no clue. We obviously had more fun than we realized.” I said, getting under the warm water and sighing, washing the booze from my head first and foremost.

Ruby pushed in beside me, cuddling close, she had to, there was barely enough room for the two of us in the small stall. She pressed her head to my neck and just stood there with a contented grin. “Things could have gone worse you know...” She muttered. “We might have decided to leave you back in the warehouse.”

“Well I'm glad you didn't.”

“Me too Sugar...me too...”

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Mare Killer-- In combat, you do +10% damage against female opponents. Outside of combat, you'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex.

Chapter 3

I was almost sad to get out of that shower, but I was supposed to meet with this council to determine my usefulness to the organization and I was starting to feel guilty about Rosalea. I know she's long gone, but I hadn't even had a chance to mourn properly yet and I was already getting back in bed with another pony? That just didn't seem right.

I left Ruby in the shower with the promise she'd be the first pony I checked in with once I was finished with the council, and dried myself off with one of the pink towels that sat on a small bar beside the sink. I was officially irradiated by the wasteland so I was hoping I was useless to the medical staff now, of course knowing doctors, who's to say they wouldn't want to monitor me over days, or weeks, or months and see how I adapt to circumstances. I hate doctors...probably why I became one. Well that wasn't fair I suppose. I was a computer engineer, I had a doctorate in theoretical computational nanoscience, which was helpful to exactly ZERO ponies in the wasteland, unless somepony had cybernetic implants with regenerative capabilities. And the odds of that were probably about the same as getting nothing but Royal Flushes for a whole game of poker. “I'm probably better off sticking with blackjack...” I muttered to myself as I came out of the cramped hall and into the main foyer.

“What about blackjack?” Crackshot asked, coming up beside me as I wandered through the foyer.

“Better chance of having cybernetic implants with regenerative abilities in blackjack.” I summarized, though I was lost in thought and didn't even notice she'd walked up, and considering she was supposed to be escorting me to the council chamber I shouldn't have just kept wandering but I did until she yanked on my tail. I blinked in surprise and looked over at her. “Oh hi...” I smiled dumbly. “Didn't see you there.”

“You weren't seeing much of anything.” She chuckled. “You often fall into trances like that?” She asked, guiding me out of the foyer and into another identical hallway like all the others I'd seen so far.

“Yeah when I get to working problems out in my head I tend to lose myself in it and I can just wander aimlessly. I'm at my most energetic when my mind has a problem to work on. I'm like Sherclop Holmes like that I guess.”

Crackshot gave me a blank look.

“Sherclop Holmes?” I asked again. “A Stallion from Lundyon? Solves mysteries? Matches wits with the evil Professor Poniarty? Works with a Doctor Trotson? You're from the same time as me and you've never heard of the Sherclop Holmes books?” I stopped and looked at her in amazement. She shook her head and her face got more ashen, what I could only assume was the ghoul version of a blush.

“I wasn't much of a reader alright?” She sighed, looking at the ground and pawing idly at the floor plating.

“They made movies...dozens of movies and TV shows...There were some fairly popular ones made just before the war broke out? Starred Robert Pony Jr?”

“Was he in Iron Buck?” She asked, at least recognizing the name and brightening up a bit as we started down the hall again.

“Yeah and Iron Buck Two and Three...” I added, nodding. “He was in the Sherclop movies just after each Iron Mare movie...”

“And he was in the Neighvengers?” She asked.

“Yeah still as Pony Stark.” I said.

“Eh I preferred Thorse.” She shrugged. I face hoofed and just continued down the hall.

“The ladies always do...” I laughed. “Iron Buck appeals to nerds like me. A super cool, super genius that gets all the ladies, Thorse was the big blond muscle bound brute that made the ladies weak in the knees.” I said, rolling my eyes a little.

“Actually I found Loki really got my engines revved.” She grinned, again the haunting image filling my mind, along with a desire to maybe drink myself unconscious every night to ensure I didn't dream of that face.

“Well I understand he had a thing for being a mare himself sometimes. In ancient mythology he's actually supposed to have given birth to an eight legged foal that he named Sleipnir.”

“Geeze you're a hell of an egghead.” She laughed, patting my shoulder and shaking her head. “I'm glad you're here Cane. It's nice having somepony else to talk to about the past. It helps keep me grounded, and I find that's more and more important with each passing day.”

“Keeps you grounded? Why is that so important?”

“Oh, yeah I guess, once again, it's something you're not familiar with.” She sighed and smiled kind of sadly. “You see ghoul ponies come in two distinct flavors...” She began.

“Rotting flesh and 'dear Celestia kill me now I can't believe I got some of it in my mouth?” Brute Force asked, coming up the hall behind us and laughing loudly.

“Actually the first flavor is Cherry.” She said, rolling her eyes and looking back at me.

“See there's ghouls like me and Ditzy Doo, and the ones in Meatlocker, we're all ponies who have been irradiated and transformed into this zombie pony looking shambling pile of gross you see before you.” She explained. “Exposure to the radiation after the bombs fell. The plus side being that I can heal from radiation and I'm fucking immortal.” She said, thumping her chest proudly. “At least as long as you don't shoot my head off.” She added. “Anyway, then there are the FERAL ghouls...they've lost their minds, they really ARE just basically mindless wandering zombies who'd just as soon eat you as look at you. For ghoul ponies like me it's important to have things to keep you anchored to your senses. When the bombs fell I managed to save my family from ghoulification by sacrificing myself. Got them into a small fallout shelter we'd built under the back yard, I got pinned when part of the house collapsed on top of me. We weren't near enough to any of the bombs for the radiation to kill me, but it sure as hell mutated me something fierce, obviously. The only thing that kept me going was keeping an eye on the shelter entrance to make sure that nopony tried to disturb it. 15 years just me and my trusty repeater rifle keeping watch over their home. Imagine my surprise when the door opened again all those years later that my daughter and son-in-law would emerge with a grandfoal in tow, barely 3 years old. Their water purification talisman had broken and they needed a new one and rather than just one going out they decided it best to all go together. The first one to find me was the young foal. He wasn't scared of me, he'd never seen another real pony before so he didn't realize my looks were totally normal. 'Hi I'm Crackshot.' He'd said to me, how it warmed my heart to know they'd named their son after me. Of course when my daughter, Fallen Harp, so named because she was born in a music store and I broke a VERY expensive Harp when I went into labor, saw me she screamed and fainted dead away. My Son-in-law, thank goodness, had the good sense to keep a calm head and talk to me. It took very little for him to realize who I was and I have never been happier than when he freed me from my prison and took me into their home. After I'd rested, I went out and got a new water talisman, and I've stood as the protector of the family ever since. Grandfoal after grandfoal after grandfoal.” She finished, gesturing to Brute Force. “Of course my luck had to run out sooner or later and I end up with a Stallion stealer.” She said.

“I'm not gay Grandmare...” He grumbled, rolling his eyes like an embarrassed teenager. “I just haven't met the right mare yet.”

“When I was your age every Stallion on the block was trying plow any field they could find.” Crackshot countered.

“When you were my age you got food from a store and paid with bits, now we mostly get food from blown out buildings and usually pay with bullets. You also had condoms so pregnancy wasn't such a worry from a random hook up.” Brute Force looked at me with a coy smile and my heart sank at the thought.

“I don't think I could deal with a foal...” I choked out, looking at my hooves nervously.

Crackshot smacked Brute...you know what? I'm just going to start calling him Brutus, these are my memoirs and I don't feel like continuing to type Brute Force, I seriously doubt anypony else will ever find this book, let alone sit and read the whole thing, why waste the space?

Crackshot smacked Brutus upside the head and glared at him. “Don't tease the poor boy.” She turned back to me and put a hoof on my shoulder again. “We don't have condoms anymore, but we have implants that women or men can get to prevent pregnancy, and Ruby has had one since she was old enough to get it. So you don't need to worry about a foal any time soon.”

I sighed deeply in relief and glared death at Brutus. “Seriously that's not funny.” I growled at him, moving down the hall again.

“Funny is in the eye of the beholder.” Brutus countered with a smug smirk.

“Well maybe I'll cast Magic Missile on it.” I said, my mouth speaking before my brain could filter and I blushed.

“You can shoot magic missiles?” Crackshot asked. “I've heard of ponies using their horns to make magic bullets, but never something as complex as a Magic Missile.”

“Never mind.” I muttered, blushing worse. “Now where is this meeting? We've been wandering for like an hour.” I grumbled, trying to change topics.

“OH your meeting got pushed till this afternoon.” Crackshot said. “Another caravan arrived, about 20 minutes before we met back up, with some badly needed medical supplies so the council members postponed so they could receive the supplies and get them sorted and put away in the medical wing and see to aiding some desperate ponies as soon as possible.”

“Fair enough.” I sighed. I just really wanted this meeting to be over so that I could hopefully get to work with Crackshot and Brutus and Ruby on their scavenging team. Ruby had asked me earlier in the shower if I wanted to join their team. I told her I had assumed I'd have to apply or something, which had made her laugh hysterically.

“Oh Sugar...” She'd grinned, kissing my horn gently. “We WANT you on the team. Brutus is a good computer hacker but from what I've seen you're the best of the best and that's what we need. You help us get at the really really rare stuff and we get to be higher and higher ranked scavengers.”

“Higher ranked?” I'd asked.

“Yeah higher ranked scavengers get better quarters, better pay, better equipment. Did you notice that our sky wagon was the shittiest piece of shit in that hanger?”

“I guess I did yeah.”

“Well better rank, better wagon.” She explained. “More space, nicer benches, better turrets, though after the modifications you did to that one turret maybe we should call dibs on that one all the same.”

“Well with time I could modify the turrets to be able to fire a few different kinds of ammo depending on the need that arises.” I offered. “I know I'm not the best weapons tech, but those turrets are very computer heavy and THAT I'm good at...”

“So why is your cutie mark a DNA strand?” She asked, nudging my flank with hers.

“I...don't really know for sure. My brother and I created and programmed a computer capable of gene typing every pony race, when we were just kids, they called us prodigies.” I blushed madly, it wasn't a story I usually liked to tell, made me sound egotistical I thought. “It was a huge breakthrough in genetics and computational capabilities. I'd have figured on a computer or a keyboard or something, but no...DNA strand. My brother, Star Venture, he ran the whole company, didn't get to do as much engineering work, but he enjoyed the thrill of arguing with bureaucrats and negotiating with other companies. He and our father used to fight all the time, they were both pros. He got a cutie mark with three lines of binary code. The two of us, at the same time, and for computer work, our father couldn't have been prouder.” I sighed and shifted out of the water slowly. “I have to go to meet with the council now, Crackshot is meeting me in the foyer.”

“Alright see you later Apples.” She'd said. Wait...Apples? No she'd called me Sugar. Why did I think apples? Why can I taste apples?

I blinked and looked around in shock, realizing I had a half eaten apple floating in front of me, well it was small and a much darker red, almost black, wrapped in my own magic. I was sitting in the bar again, Crackshot across from me and Brutus in the chair between us on the right. “What happened?” I asked, swallowing the mouthful of fruit, which I found was radically different from the apples I was used to, bitter and tart, but still at least tasting like an apple somewhat.

Both of them burst out laughing and shook their heads. “You drifted off into your own world again in the hallway and we decided to go for breakfast so we sort of guided you along, you even ordered the three apples.”

I looked down at the plate, there was only an apple and a half left, I'd eaten an entire apple without noticing. Of course I'd eaten whole meals some times when I was really really deep in my work back home. I looked at Crackshot, who had a plate with something that looked like hay on it with some kind of green...syrup? Green something runny. Brutus had what looked like thin strips of meat?

“Are you eating MEAT?” I asked in amazement, looking from the plate to Brutus and back again.

“Eeyup.” He nodded, sliding the plate closer. It made my stomach turn a bit. “It's called bacon.” He said, grinning. “It is the greatest thing in all the wasteland. Try just one piece and if you hate it I'll buy you breakfast every day for a week, like it and I'll be content knowing I converted another to the church of bacon.”

“Church of bacon?” I asked, levitating a strip slowly and looking at it curiously. “It's just that good?”

He nodded and Crackshot shook her head. “You young'uns and eating meat, I just don't understand it.” She sighed.

“I'm at most a few years younger than you.” I chuckled, taking a tentative bite of the bacon and chewing it slowly.

Brutus watched quietly for a moment as my face broke in a slow grin and I popped the rest of the piece into my mouth.

“Best thing ever?” Brutus asked and I nodded happily.

“I can see how a church could be formed around this, it's the food of the heavens.” I sighed, licking my lips.

“Good because I didn't want to have to spend the caps to buy you breakfast every day.” He laughed.

“Ooo speaking of caps...” Crackshot said, smirking at me.

“Oh yeah...” I pulled out the small bag of bottlecaps and poured them out onto the table carefully. I scooped up 20 caps and put them back into the bag, then slid the rest over to her. “She didn't cry on my shoulder.” I said, sticking my tongue out as she pocketed the rest.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” She nodded.

“So what is bacon from?” I asked, looking at Brutus.

“Rad-hog.” He grinned. “Mutated pigs and boars and hogs roam the wasteland...they make for good eats.”

I grimaced a little and my stomach churned at the thought of what those must look like.

“Don't think about it and it gets easier.” Brutus smirked, seeing the look on my face.

I just nodded and sat back, sighing a little.

A green filly unicorn, too young to even have her cutie mark yet, came dashing into the bar and paused for a moment, looking around before coming over to our table. “Mommy asked me to come tell you they're ready for you.” She said.

“Thanks CB.” Brutus grinned. He floated three strips of bacon off the plate and slid the rest of the plate to her. “Don't tell your momma or she'll kill me.” He winked, the filly breaking into a big grin and nodding before starting in on the bacon without a moment of hesitation, starting off once Crackshot and I had gotten up from the table and I grabbed my last apple and followed quickly, the filly waving a happy goodbye as she flopped back in the chair and burped loudly and contently.

“CB?” I asked, looking at my two friends curiously.

“Concussive Blast.” Crackshot answered. “Her mom is EB. Explosive Blast. HER father was Baelfire Blast and the first one was actually Flavor Blast...she ran a bunch of juice stores and stands back before the war. When the war came along she changed her name to Fiery Blast after she lost her husband to one and started the tradition of naming their children after explosions.”

“I remember Flavor Blast...” I said, nodding slowly. “She opened her...fourth store in a mall by the office.”

Crackshot nodded and fell into silence as we started towards the end of the hallway.

I was starting to feel nervous again as we moved to the main foyer again and stopped in front of a large wooden door with the word 'council chamber' carved into the door itself. Now given it was well written, it was still very crude looking compared to if it had a plaque on it. I gulped nervously and looked to the other two. “Don't even worry about it, we got your back.” Brutus says, polishing off the last of the bacon as he opens the door. Inside sat a half dozen ponies, two earth ponies, two unicorns and two pegasi, sitting in a semi circle all facing the door. The doors closed behind me and Brutus and Crackshot stood on either side of the door inside, standing quietly.

“Hello Doctor Sugarcane.” One of the Earth ponies said, standing up and looking down at me. “I am Explosive Blast, the head of the council and your judge. Brute Force and his team have put you forward as a computer and robotics expert and after the stunt you pulled in Medical I must say I am already impressed with your work. However if it was that easy the whole wasteland would want to work for us.” She smirked. “So we have a few more tests for you to see if you are worthy of joining our esteemed ranks. We are going to try and keep this short as Brute Force's team is supposed to leave again in the morning for another scavenging operation and it's another robotics facility so your skills would be most appreciated by him I'm sure. Do you have any questions before we begin?”

“Umm, well I didn't want to pry I guess, but I don't even know what your organization is. What you do, what your policies are, your rules...I don't even know what your group is called...”

She sighs. “We're just The Collective...we collect, and there's a whole group of us...We're an organization without a cool acronym.”

“Oh yes.” I nodded. “An OWCA...I heard most of your members don't do much.” Crackshot snorted softly to suppress a laugh.

Explosive however seemed a little offended and I shook my head, in fact no pony else would clue in at all.

“I'm sorry it was a joke, but I think I'm 200 years late for making it.” I apologized.

“We're an organization mostly of scavengers, obviously. We go out and gather supplies, and sell them to trader caravans and ponies passing through. We won't deal with slavers or raiders or bandits but we won't hesitate to put them down if they become an issue. We are one of the best armed and defended groups in the wasteland.” She finished.

“Well you sound to be an admirable group and if the ponies I've met so far are an indication of the norm then I think I'll enjoy working with you.” I smiled.

“Good then we can begin.” She nodded. One of the pegasi reached back and threw a lever with his wing and the floor in front of the desks opened and another table rose up, on top of it sat a computer, a metal lock box with no visible access point, just a single pipbuck cable coming from the back of it, as well as a box that looked like it had been ripped from the control mechanism of a door, probably another locking system, and finally a pegasus cloud computer.

“If you can hack these four devices we will take you on into our organization.

I sighed and nodded, stepping up to the first basic computer I shook out my forelegs, this is what I did, I was in my element with this. I poked at the system for a moment, pulling up the command prompt showing the piles of junk code symbols, a few words popping up here and there. I set to work, looking at the words intently, none of them really striking me as a secure password, of course this was a test so who knows. The council shifted in their seats so they could see me working. I selected one word and the computer buzzed at me so I closed out the program and loaded back in, this time sifting through the junk code to locate a number of glitches I used to strip away some of the random words until finally. “BEEP” The computer chirped and a green light bathed my face as a simple smiley appeared.

“Good, next.” Explosive said, gesturing to the small box. I lifted it with my magic and turned it over slowly. “What's in it?” I asked curiously, looking up at them but they shrugged.

“We've had it in our possession a long time, no one has been able to open it.” Explosive said, smirking a little.

“Oh, well in that case I get to keep the contents.” I said seriously. “Obviously it can't be very important if nopony has been able to open the box the whole time you've had it.” I added before any of them could argue the point with me, however the glares spoke volumes. “How about this, if it's a weapon you keep it, if it's anything else I keep it?” I offered.

Explosive glared at me intently for a moment but finally nodded.

“Alright good.” I plugged the cable into my pipbuck and the display chirped, popping up with a puzzle. “Are you kidding?” I laughed. “This is what stumped your best minds?” I looked up at the worried faces in the group, only Explosive's again looking offended. “It's not dangerous...it's someone's personal safe, it's probably just got papers in it, it's not some demonic puzzle that's going to unleash horrible mutated ponies from hell.” I sighed and returned to the screen, spinning the small digital box on the screen and slowly twisting pieces until it slid apart in two pieces and the box snapped open. “See?” I picked up the box with my magic and flipped it open to reveal a small statuette with a familiar pink pony on it, grinning ear to ear. 'Awareness! It was under 'E'!' Written into the base. I felt a rush of energy course from my horn to my tail and my vision swam for a moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------ooo-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was standing in the warehouse, looking at the pod's master console, a clipboard floating beside me.

“So did she look like she was going to faint?” A voice asked. I broke into a big grin and looked over at Rosalea.

“I think she's so excited she might burst if this works. Which is saying something for Miss Fluttershy.”

“MISS Fluttershy? I don't think she likes such titles. Minister Fluttershy maybe...your grand ministerial Mareness Fluttershy?” Rosa laughed.

“Don't tease.” I said, looking back to her again. “I don't even know how she functions on a day to day basis, she's scared of everything, poor thing.”

“POOR THING?!” Rosa laughed all the harder, falling back in a heap. “Oh Cane...my sweet adorable Cane...She's one of the seven most powerful mares in Equestria, adored and probably even feared given her friendship with Pinkie Pie.” She rolled over and stood up, wrapping her wings around me and hugging me close. “I really think the only poor thing you need to think about is gonna be you if you're late again tonight, because I have some good news for you.” She nuzzled my mane and kissed it softly.

“If you're in the mood I'm sure I could just take you right here on the command console, or we could pop into one of the pods.” I teased, catching the faintest scent of her...desire. “Only Eagle Eye is here on security right now, and I've heard he likes to watch.”

She moved back and smacked my rump with her wing. “That's not funny. I'm a delicate lady and I deserve to be pampered and waited on by my loving fiancee Horn and Hoof.”

“Oh of course a proper lady how could I forget...” I rolled my eyes a little at her. “So I should just return that saddle and riding crop?” If it was possible for the Pink pegasus to blush she managed it somehow. “Aww aren't you cute.” I laughed, turning back to the console. “I just have to finish my work and I'll be home.”

“Well are you going to be much longer?” She asked.

“Half an hour?” I shrugged, going back to the diagnostic screen in front of me and writing on the clipboard as the information displayed from the test, slowly sinking into scientist mode again.

“Better be, or I'm coming back with a lasso and dragging your ass home.” She leaned over and kissed me before heading out of the warehouse. Things started to get fuzzy again and I heard a scream from somewhere. “ZEBRAS! BOMBING THE CITY!”

~The boss wants samples. HE. WILL. GET. THEM~ ZAP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------ooo-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I screamed and leaped up, not realizing I'd collapsed at some point. Brutus and Crackshot stood over me looking very concerned, jumping back in surprise when I screamed, the other ponies around the room looking concerned as well.

“Are you okay?” Crackshot asked, looking worried while Brutus helped me steady myself.

“Yeah I'm fine...what's everypony looking at?” I muttered, trying to play it off casually. I looked at the little pink statue on the ground and lifted it up, turning it over slowly, inspecting it for any explanation for what had just happened, but it was just a statue, so I slid it into my pack. “How long was I out?” I asked Crackshot quietly.

“Out? You just sort of fell down and then hopped right back up a second later, I thought maybe you'd tripped or you were so nervous your legs gave out.”

I looked at Crackshot, trying to hide my surprise, then turned back to the council. “I'm really sorry. I have no idea what happened.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Alright lets do this.” I nodded, moving back to the table.

“You sure Sugarcube?” Crackshot asked.

“I'm sure we can recess this session until you have had a chance to go to medical...” “NO!” I snapped, feeling a wash of fear at the mere mention and shook my head furiously.

“I'm fine.” I held up my pipbuck health screen, which showed no serious issues. “See? I'm right as rain, lets keep going.” I said, bursting with nervous energy, probably coming off a little manic from the looks I got from everypony else.

“Sorry...” I said, taking a deep breath and taking a moment to gather myself. “I'm good to continue.” I moved back to the table and all the others returned to their previous positions.

I looked at the lock from the door, it was an audio lock. I tapped the pad and the machine chirped out a firm little tune. “It's an old war training song...” I said, smiling softly. “Lets get down to business, to defeat Zebras. Did they send me fillies, and not, stallions. You're the saddest bunch I ever met, and you can bet, before we're through, mister I'll make a buck, out of you.” The machine chirped again and the panel snapped loudly where the locks would normally disengage.

“Impressive.” One of the other unicorns commented, getting nods from the others. “And you have a beautiful singing voice.” Another complimented me, making me blush.

“Alright...last test.” Explosive said, looking at the cloud computer with a proud smirk again.

I nodded and looked at the computer a moment before closing my eyes. Seemed that a number of spells were lost over the centuries so this should impress. I focused my magic, blue light spilling out of my horn, then a burst of overcharge as the magic enveloped my body for a moment and I opened my eyes again as it faded before I stepped forward and started to type away on the cloud computer, watching the shocked looks of the ponies around me as I worked with ease, this one was barely encrypted and I had it hacked a moment later.

“How... How did you...?” Explosive stammered, coming into the central area and waving her hoof through the computer to make sure it was still just cloud.

“Cloud Walking Spell. Taught to me by Twilight Sparkle.” I grinned. Okay so I'd actually learned it from a BOOK she'd written about unique spells that had helped her over the years. I had also picked up teleportation and a magical energy bolt discharge I could probably use as a weapon in a pinch.

“Well.” Explosive said after a minute, her face finally softening. “Welcome to The Collective.” The pegasus flipped the switch again and the table lowered out of sight.

The council all rose and applauded, which just made me blush all the worse.

“Doctor Sugarcane, I hereby grant you the title of 'scavenger first class' along with the access and accommodations that affords you.” Explosive said. “Though I suspect that if you want access to something in the computers there is little we can do to stop you from accessing it. Brute Force, you can show him the way to his new accommodations?” Brutus nodded.

I grinned stupidly for a moment, looking at the other ponies. “That's great.” I said slowly. “Is that good? Scavenger First Class?” I looked back at my friends, both looking happy.

“It means you're the same rank as me.” Brutus said.

“As a founding member of The Collective the ranks don't apply to me.” Crackshot said. “Technically I'm the head of the council.” She added nonchalantly.

“Wait WHAT?!” I asked. “YOU'RE in charge of this group? Then what was the whole dog and pony show for? I thought I'd already proved myself to you guys.”

Crackshot smirks and shrugs. “Wouldn't have been anywhere near as fun if I hadn't gotten to watch you squirm under the pressure.”

“You suck.” I sighed, shaking my head and turning as Brutus opened the door, leading me back outside. Ruby sat on a bench across from the door. “How'd it go?!” She asked, leaping into the air and soaring across to us.

“I'm a Scavenger First Class.” I beamed proudly, but saw the look of horror on Brutus's face as Crackshot face palmed. “What?” I looked at them then back to Rose, who's face had fallen, and grown angry.

“She's only a Scavenger Second Class, you outrank her.” Brutus muttered. “She's gonna...” He was cut off as Ruby screamed.

“EXPLOSIVE BLAST YOU GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE!” She bellowed, flying past us into the council chamber, her wing clipping the door and slamming it shut behind her as she continued to scream.

“Should we stop her?” I asked in horror, looking from the door to my friends and back.

“Uh, no.” Brutus said simply, shaking his head vigorously. “We don't want her mad at US too. Geeze Cane you just had to go open your big mouth.”

“Well how was I supposed to know I outrank her? Scavenger First Class is the only rank I've even HEARD, how do I know that's not the base level?”

“I'm in CHARGE of the team.” Brutus said. “If I'm in charge that must mean I outrank Ruby.”

“And if we're equals that means...” I trailed off and groaned. “I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay Cane. She'll yell and scream and be mad when she comes out and we'll have to listen to her complain but by morning she'll be fine again.” Crackshot said.

“She won't be mad at you? Since you're in charge and all?” I asked Crackshot.

“Nah she knows I don't make any of those decisions anymore.” She shrugged.

The door opened and Ruby was ejected with a burst of green magical energy, the door slamming shut behind her.

“YOU ASSHOLES!” She roared, wheeling back on us, panting hard and shaking her head furiously. “I need a drink.” She grumbled, starting down the hallway in a huff.

Brutus sighed and just moved to follow her.

“I'll go.” Crackshot says, moving in front of us. “Show Cane to his quarters for now. You guys can join us in a bit.”

“Alright, don't let her get too weepy.” Brutus said. “She's no good in bed when she's drunk and weepy.” He said to me with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Leave the poor thing alone.” I said.

“A little defensive aren't we?” Brutus asked. “You haven't even known her for 24 hours and you've already slept with her AND you're suddenly an expert?”

“I just. I feel bad for her. It must be tough getting passed up for a promotion by someone brand new. I mean I didn't even realize it was so complex. I sort of pictured the wasteland being more anarchy and struggling to survive. I didn't expect the whole business structure of the past to stick around.”

“Well for the most part it IS anarchy and struggling to survive. Between the Raiders and Bandits, Red Eye's Slavers and those fucking Alicorns of his you're damned lucky WE found you and not one of them.”

“Look this really isn't about the state of the wasteland, it's the fact that you keep talking about Ruby like she's a whore!” I snapped, suddenly feeling very angry, and very protective of the pink Pegasus. If there were a psychiatrist around they'd probably have pointed out that Ruby wasn't Rosalea and that I was most likely projecting my feelings for my lost fiancee onto Ruby since the two shared so many similarities and now I do know that was the case after...well I'm getting ahead of myself.

“Ruby is my best friend.” Brutus said flatly, his face clearly not impressed but somewhat understanding. “We have known each other since we were foals. We grew up together, we know each other better than most married couples, I could tell you when she learned to talk, I could tell you when she learned to fly, and she could tell you the magic I learned and the order I learned it in, I'm one of the few ponies who knows what her cutie mark used to be.”

“But I thought she was banished from the sky cities?” I asked. “Isn't that what the brand is for?”

“She was born down here, her parents were already Dashites.” He sighed and paused outside a door. “This is kind of a long story.”

I shrugged. “I don't have anything else to do.”

He opened the door and revealed the room beyond. It looked very much like Ruby's, only clean, and about triple the space. The bed sat at the back in the same position, but it was flanked by a bedside table on either side, a pair of couches in the right corner from the door, facing each other so ponies could sit and talk. The bathroom door was in the same place, obviously the rooms were all built from a basic uniform plan, which made sense for a military base. The bathroom I could see beyond the door was bigger than Ruby's too. There was a desk and two chairs opposite the couches with just some papers and pens and pencils. “I'm going to have to go back to the facility so I can clean out my office and move it here since I don't have anything to bring from a home anymore.”

“I'm sure we can arrange that yeah.” Brutus said, moving to the couch and sitting down. I followed suit and sat across from him. “So I'll try to explain as best I can without boring you.”

“I am so fascinated by this world I don't think I could be bored by anything you have to tell me.” I said, settling in.

“Alright, well, after the start of the end a Zebra Megaspell Missile destroyed Cloudsdayle. The Pegasi were beyond devastated. The decided to remove themselves from the equation. They recalled all the pegasus people that were on the ground, troops, civilians, everyone, and closed up the sky. A lot of them didn't want to go. They felt the war was their responsibility just as much as the Earth ponies and unicorns. Ponies like Rainbow Dash fought on down here, called the Pegasus council a bunch of cowards, turned away from them. They branded Rainbow Dash as their greatest traitor so now when a pegasus decides to leave the skies they are branded with a bastardized mockery of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, destroying that pony's cutie mark in the process.” He paused and sighed. “They became the Enclave, probably the last true bastion of stable government on the planet. Ruby's parents disagreed with the Enclave and came down here to try to help ponies. They wanted to open the skies again, join those down here again. They were branded Dashites and cast out. They came here since this used to be a Pegasus airfield. They found the Collective and Crackshot gave them a home here in exchange for finally having fliers that could use the sky wagons. Since then about three dozen more Pegasi have found their way here. Ruby was born a few years later. They used to tell her all about the home they'd left, they wanted her to understand her heritage even if she didn't get to see it. One day when she was about 15 years old she decided that she wanted to go up there and try and convince them to let her parents come home. She could see how sad it made them that they weren't allowed to go home. Instead they humiliated her by imprisoning her, making her a spectacle in front of thousands of others, showing those that lived above how terrible things were below by making her up to look like some kind of homeless emaciated prostitute, then they branded her a Dashite too and threw her out too. Worse still when she got back she found out her parents had been killed in an attack by Red Eye's slavers. She sank into a hell of a depression. Became a mean alcoholic, really self destructive. I would stay with her constantly, terrified she'd go too far. But something happened and she seemed to snap out of it one day, Said she knew it was terrible, the wasteland was a terrible place but she couldn't let her whole world become her bed. She forced herself into action. I know deep down she hurts every day, but she covers it with her flirtation and her drinking. I know she acts more like a crazy teenager but it's all just a mask to hide how sad she is. Insane outbursts like what you saw earlier are just a coping mechanism, and the only reason I tease her the way I do is because when I do I can hear her laugh a little, or bat her eyes teasingly and I can know that she feels a little better knowing I'm here and that I understand her on the deepest level of friendship. I love her.” He paused and looked at me a moment. “Well I don't LOVE her LOVE her, I love her like a sister. I would give my life for her.” He corrected quickly.

“That's okay, I wasn't gonna say anything.” I smirked, getting up when there was a knock at the door. I felt really apprehensive for some reason but I opened the door, greeted by a stupidly grinning Ruby who was leaning against a very dour looking Crackshot. “Forget something?” She asked coldly.

“Oh geez I'm so sorry Crackshot.” I said, wrapping the drunk pegasus in my magic and levitating her over to the bed, setting her down.

“Aww come on Cane, at leasht wait until the party poopersh leave.” Ruby giggled, slurring pretty badly rolling to the side and trying to push herself up, holding her wings out to try and balance, only to fall forward into the pillows under her. “Seriously Ruby just try to relax.” I sighed.

“You're not drunk so you better not get any ideas.” Crackshot said seriously.

“I swear I never would.” I promised. “I am a perfect gentlebuck.” I sighed a little. “I think last night was most likely just a one time thing. I was scared, I was vulnerable, I was emotionally devastated and I was VERY drunk.” I admitted. “Besides, it's barely late afternoon...” I smiled. “It's not like I'm getting ready to crawl into bed. I'll let her sleep it off for a few hours and soak her down with a cold shower and she'll be right as rain for a late dinner.”

“Sure she will.” Brutus laughed, starting out into the hall. “I have to go prep the ship for our next mission. We're supposed to hit up an old munitions foundry a few miles from your old office, and it'll give us the chance to go back and get your things from there too so you can move in properly.”

I felt soft wings wrap around me as Ruby pulled herself over the edge of the bed to hug me from behind, then yelped when she bit my tail to pull herself further forward. “Seriously?” I sighed, lifting her up in my magic again and sliding her back up the bed.

Crackshot smirked and shook her head. “Alright well I'm going to go help Brutus... Please don't make me regret this.” She said, heading out after the orange Unicorn.

“I pro...ack!” I was cut off as the drunk red pegasus dropped on top of me like a lead weight, managing to fly all of 2 feet before collapsing. “Seriously Ruby?” I sighed, rolling over and pushing her off to lay on the ground beside me.

“I'm shorry.” She pouted, looking at me with big sad eyes.

“It's alright.” I said, lifting her up again and setting her back on the bed. “Why don't you try to sleep for a few hours while I arrange my meager possessions?”

“Aww but Shugar, doncha wanna play bucking bronco? Or pin the...” She paused and leaned over the edge of the bed and threw up on the floor. “On the pony?” She finished, wiping her mouth with a wing and trying to give me her best seductive smile, which was pretty terrible.

“No I really don't...and even if I had, throwing up on my new floor isn't the way to endear yourself to me.” I said, glad to be able to basically scoop up the mess with my magic and carry it well in front of me to dispose out the window in the next room. I found a mop in a small closet in the bathroom and washed the floor quickly.

“Now please...PLEASE just relax for a bit?” I asked once I put the mop away.

“Only if you'll come lie with me.” She pouted again, gesturing to the spot beside her with her wing.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my hoof. “If you promise to sleep I'll lie down with you until you do.” I said, getting up and laying down beside her. “Seriously we've only known each other for about 22 hours, how do I keep ending up in bed with you?”

“Cuz I'm sexy and willing, and cuz you have a weakness for pink and red pegasi.” She giggled.

“Yeah I suppose I do, now sleep.” I said, nudging her head down. She smiled softly, shifting and cuddling down on my side, falling asleep soon enough.

“Thank goodness...” I sighed, shifting to slide out of the bed again, only to find myself kind of pinned in place by the sleeping pegasus. “Aw come on!” I groaned, squirming to try and free myself but she was like a complete dead weight. I wrapped her in my magic and slid her carefully to the side, sliding free. I went back to emptying the random stuff from my saddlebags, keeping just my weapons, but I was interrupted by another knock at the door. “Wow that was fast.” I moved to the door, opening expecting to see Crackshot or Brutus, instead I found myself face to face with a black unicorn mare, her white mane pulled back and braided, I thought I vaguely recognized her from the medical bay, and for some reason I found myself starting to kind of panic. “Can I help you?” I asked.

“Boss wants to talk with you.” She says flatly, floating some weird looking gun up in my face, it looked like someone had taken an old spray paint gun and modified it with pieces from a crossbow.

“Hey now...” THUNK. I was cut off as a dart fired silently out of the device and embedded itself in my neck. “Wha...” I stumbled back a bit and blacked out in a matter of moments.

When I came to I was strapped to a chair, pressed back so my back was straight against the back of the chair, it was insanely uncomfortable. Clamps wrapped around all my legs holding me in place, as well as two around my torso and one around my neck. It was completely dark and I couldn't see or hear a thing. I felt weak, drained and miserable. I tried to generated a ball of light but it fizzled and only made my head pound.

“What's the matter Doctor Sugarcane?” A deep voice boomed. “I heard tell you were a great magic user, and you can't even make a simple light spell? Allow me.” Two holes opened in the roof about 50 feet in front of me and about 100 feet up, light cast down onto two cages sitting slightly sunk into the ground, about two dozen ponies were crammed into the cages, cowering in terror. Unfortunately my pipbuck also started chattering away with rad warnings when the holes in the ceiling opened. A moment later burning golden green ooze poured from the holes into the cages below, the terrified ponies crying out in what must have been the worst pain imaginable as the baelfire poured down onto them, transforming them into two massive burning pits of twisted light, the magical energy of the fire causing the ponies to burn slowly, writhing and screaming. The two hellish torches lit up a massive raised stage between them. A throne sat at the top, the twisted light flickering over it's occupant. It looked like a unicorn, but the way the stage sat caused shadows to flicker and dance, it didn't help that he had a hood pulled down.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” I screamed, thrashing against the restraints. “HOW COULD YOU JUST KILL ALL THOSE PONIES?! If it's to scare me I'm already fairly terrified by the way my life has ended up, I don't need to see dozens of innocents killed just to make it worse.” I choked out, the smell of burning flesh reaching my nose and making me sick to my stomach and stinging my eyes.

“Oh poor naive Sugarcane.” He laughed darkly. “I just needed to see you for myself. To know it was really you. I have read so much about you. You're something of an inspiration to me. I have worked with computers and robotics my whole life, using your work as my muse. To know you are still alive, it fills me with hope for the future.” He said. “You made me the pony I am today.”

“I made you a murdering psychopath?” I cried, tears running down my cheeks from the burning stink, not to mention the soul shattering sight of the still screaming pits. “I don't think so. If you got that idea from MY work you were reading it wrong.”

“Oh Cane, don't be that way. I want to be your friend. We could rule the whole wasteland together. I could use a head scientist.” He said.

“Are you fucking insane?” I actually managed a bitter laugh. “Two days ago I was just a scientist in a M.O.P. Funded research facility. I had a fiancee and a normal stable life. Then I wake up yesterday and I find out 200 years have gone by, the whole world has gone to hell and the devil himself wants to offer me a job?!” I could feel my voice growing hysterical with rage. “I just want to be left alone to mourn my losses and try to make a life with my new friends and new job, if you're going to kill me get it over with so I can be with Rosalea again.”

“What? I thought you and Ruby were having so much fun together.” He cackled. “Of course that might be the magical manipulation of your emotions too. But I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not going to kill you. You're going to be important to me soon. And even in the Everafter you won't find peace. Your precious Rosalea was a weapons designer, if anypony is in hell it's her. Of course the world is full of surprises, so who knows where she might have ended up in her next life?”

I struggled fruitlessly against the restraints. “Let me out of here and face me like a Buck!” I demanded. “I'll fucking kill you for what you've done!”

“Oh tut tut my little pony, so angry.” He chuckled, coming down the stairs slowly. He walked up to me and I felt the fight drain out of me as I got a proper look at him. His face was mostly just skull, red robotic eyes stared out at me, his body still mostly covered by the cloak her wore. A horn with no more skin than the rest of his face stuck out, sharpened to a deadly point, it crackled with an aura of black magical energy. I had never seen a pony with a black aura. “A...Are you the slaver Red Eye?” I asked softly. “Am I Red Eye?” He laughed darkly. “That two bit hack WISHES he had my skills and resources.” He sighed and shook his head. “Don't worry about who I am. Just relax, we'll meet again and on much better terms than this...” The horn came down and touched mine. I screamed as pain burned from horn to tail, everything burned so badly, I felt like I was being torn apart in every direction at the same time. Every atom of my body screamed in pain. “Now you know how the ponies in the torch pits feel.” He growled darkly as the world goes black again.

//////////

I sat up and screamed, louder than I had ever screamed in my life. I was in my bedroom still. In the same spot I had been earlier. “What the hell was that?” Ruby's voice came from the bathroom and I looked over to see her emerging, a towel draped over her back and wings.

“I...I...I...” I stammered, fighting to hold back tears. I could still smell the stink of the burning flesh of the ponies in the torch pits, my body tingled from the pain it had just been in.

“Cane are you alright?” She came over and sat down beside me.

“I just had the worst nightmare.” I whispered, hugging her close and weeping into her neck.

“Oh Sugar it's okay...” She said, stroking my head gently, nuzzling me lovingly. “I'm here for you. Just deep breaths and it'll pass...” She shifted us back on the bed and laid me down again, laying against my back she wrapped her wings around both of us and hugged me close, rubbing my shoulders.

That unfortunately was interrupted by the door flying open and Brutus and Crackshot leaping into the room, Brutus had spiked shoes over his front hooves that sparked with electricity and Crackshot wore what looked like a very old battle saddle, a repeater rifle in one slot, a shotgun in the other. And both found themselves facing down Ebony and Ivory faster than they could react.

“OH SWEET CELESTIA CANE!” Brutus cried out, falling back a bit. I had rolled over on top of Ruby to shield her from the unknown ponies bursting into the room. Of course I had ended up with my back pressed to her with my guns floating in front of me, and I had been kind of enjoying her massage despite my emotional wreck so I was...stimulated...which was rather prominent when I rolled over to put myself between them and Ruby.

“Oh geeze you guys...” I sighed, lowering the guns and flopping back into my stomach on the bed.

“Come on man I don't wanna see that.” Brutus groaned, clanking his...power hooves I guess..? And they powered off.

“I could stand to see a little more.” Crackshot smirked.

“A passerby said they heard a scream like somepony was being tortured.” Brutus said, giving Crackshot a dirty look.

“Yeah I'm sorry.” I said softly, sliding the guns back into their holsters and sitting up slowly now that I had my body under control again. “I had the craziest nightmare and woke up kind of violently.”

Ruby kissed my horn and smiled. “It's okay now though.”

I nodded and smiled kind of lamely at the other two.

“Well we came to get you for dinner.” Crackshot said.

“Maybe we should take a walk outside for a bit first?” Ruby suggested. “Let Cane get some fresh air?”

Brutus sighed and his stomach growled loudly but he just nodded. “Sure.”

They lead me up the hallway and to a set of double doors opposite the main foyer. Again they were identical to all the other sets I'd seen, but these ones lead outside, such as it was.

We walked out onto what had once been an airfield. It had been cleared and cleaned a long time ago. Sentries walked the perimeter, some with battle saddles, some with guns wrapped in levitation fields. Pegasi flew overhead covering a much greater distance. A number of sentry turrets sat in watch towers spreading out around the building. Talk about heavily fortified. We wandered out just past the barriers, Brutus and Crackshot telling me about the town beyond and how it had survived well past the Apocalypse, only to be lost a hundred years later to raiders. We were just passing through the parking lot of a small strip mall when I paused. “Umm I hate to interrupt this lovely walk but I have to just pop into the little colts room.” I said, gesturing towards one of the shops.

Brutus snorted and shrugged. “You're better off just going around the corner.” He gestured towards the end of the strip. “ The rest rooms out here are VERY irradiated and if there's one place on your whole body you don't wanna be getting extra rads it's your junk.” He laughed.

“True enough.” I nodded, starting for the far side of the strip mall.

“Want me to come hold it for you?” Ruby called, giggling softly. “My wings are nice and soft.”

“I'll pass thanks.” I called back. “Maybe later, I bet your wings are better than hoofing it myself.”

This got a laugh from all of them as I vanished around the corner. I moved a little further back down the wall.

“Excuse me?” A metallic voice asked. I jumped and twisted in the air, Ebony and Ivory drawn and pointed at...a Spritebot?

“Hello little Spritebot.” I said, lowering the guns slowly. “They really made some advancements to your guys before the end. The last model I saw of you guys you only played music.”

“Oh they still do that.” The speaker crackled. “My name's Watcher. I've just learned to tap into the Spritebot network to monitor the Wasteland. You're Doctor Sugarcane right?” He asked, the little robot bobbing back and fourth slowly.

“Uhh yeah, how come everypony seems to know me?” I asked.

“Well you designed the computer system that most of the wasteland runs on, not to mention your work on the protectaponies and the robo-brain project.” I could almost hear the excitement in his voice despite the robotic filter.

“I'm really nothing special.” I blushed, shaking my head slowly. I also sucked at compliments it seemed, again something my brother had always taken for us, I was too shy and bashful to just take somepony's praise and leave well enough alone.

“I'm hoping you can help me with a problem.” Watcher said, skipping past any arguments about what I'd said.

“I'll try my best.” I nodded.

“There's a caravan about a mile out from here on their way to the collective base up the road.”

“That's where I just came from.” I said

“Okay well I'd like you to go meet up with them please?” He asked.

“They in trouble?”

“Not that I've seen but the area that far out of the base is a worrying location and I hate to see anypony getting hurt when I could reach out to help in some way.”

“Well I don't know about my companions but I'm always willing to help out a pony in need.” I said.

“Alright perfect, thanks so much.” He sounded very happy. My pipbuck chirped and a location marker appeared on my EFS. “And, uhh, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention me for the time being?” He asked.

“Hey Sugar what's taking you so long?” Ruby called, coming around the corner behind me. The Spritebot let out a burst of static and started playing music again as it floated away. “Oh, you found one of the many entertainments of the Wasteland.” She chuckled.

“Yeah I remember when those first came into use...” I said softly, watching it go curiously. “People thought Pinkie Pie used them to monitor the whole country.”

“Well they do have some seriously sophisticated monitoring equipment on board yeah.” She nodded. “I've taken down a few in my time, kids usually use them as moving targets when they're first learning to use weapons. There seems to be a limitless supply of the damned things.” She said, watching it float off down the road.

“I saw a group of ponies off in the distance, a caravan heading this way.” I said nonchalantly. “Should we go out and meet them? It didn't look like there were many of them and from what you guys told me it can be pretty dangerous out there.”

“What do you mean you saw a group of ponies? From where?” She asked, looking at me like I was crazy. I gestured to a staircase going up the side of the building beside me. “I was gonna go up there and pee off it.” I said, blushing a little, what a strange lie, why not just curious to see further? “Because I thought it would be funny.” I added, seeing the insane look I was getting from Ruby. “And I wanted to see if I could hit the Spritebot...” This wasn't helping.

“Right...Anyway sure we'll go meet up with them.” She nodded, turning to head back.

“Umm I just have to finish.” I admitted sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes and started back.

I finished my business quickly and hurried to return.

“Seriously.” Brutus sighed, shaking his head. “Don't try to piss on a Spritebot when you've got other people waiting for you. Come out here some time when you have a few hours to kill.”

Crackshot just looked displeased as we started back to the main road. “Ruby says you saw a caravan coming in?” She asked after a minute of silence.

“Yeah about a mile out.” I said. “I'd hate to see anypony get hurt traveling through the more worrisome places out beyond our protection when we could go make sure they make it.”

“A good reason.” Brutus nodded, heading up the street, taking us further from our base.

Unfortunately as we closed the distance on the caravan we came upon a terrible sight, they were under attack! A unicorn mare was running full tilt up the street towards us, a shotgun levitated in her magic, firing backwards, two foals, probably barely a few weeks old sitting in baby saddles on either side of her, the backs of which had been reenforced against bullet fire, both in tears. There was a...a something...a two headed cow? That the unicorn was pushing along in front of her, pots and pans and boxes and all kinds of equipment strapped to it's back as it ran in terror. Just beyond them two Earth ponies were struggling against snarling snapping creatures that all too closely resembled Crackshot.

“The fuck?” I pulled out Ebony and Ivory, the two guns starting to spin in my magic field, the little indicators blinking on.

“Feral ghouls.” Crackshot said, turning slightly and firing her battle saddle, the carbine roaring as the projectile obliterated the head of the one of the attackers. “They really are zombie ponies, don't you worry none about taking them out.”

“HURRY UP!” Brutus yelled at the approaching group as we tore down the street towards them. Ruby soared into the air and grabbed at the top of the cow things cargo, lifting up to take some of the weight off the creature so it could hurry along.

“Much obliged deary.” One of the heads said to her as the rest of us hurried down the hill. I aimed and fired at one of the ghouls as it circled wide to try and come at the surrounded two from another angle, I wasn't a good shot though and even from this far S.A.T.S. would have been useless. However the bullet did get the creatures attention and it rushed us full on, forgetting the other two. However it met Brutus first and he planted himself on the ground, spinning and bucking the creature as hard as he could with his back legs, the power hooves sparking and hurling the creature backwards, though the body was torn apart from the discharge so it went a few different directions.

When we finally got close enough I slipped into S.A.T.S. and took a moment to assess the situation. The two Earth ponies were side to side, both with just simple weapons which did little more than annoy the creatures attacking them. Six ghouls still surrounded them, and I just realized that four more were registering on my EFS. I looked up and my S.A.T.S. locked onto the group about a hundred yards back, the setting sun had obscured my view of them. I switched back to the closer group for the moment and targeted their legs. My odds of hitting their torso's was my best bet, but I wanted to cripple them so they'd stop attacking the other two, and I had the feeling shots to their flanks would just piss them off more. I fired four times, two shots from each gun, but my aim really did suck because only one of them struck, hitting one of the ghouls on the right, however it must have been a hell of a hit because even as time began to speed up again the ghoul was consumed by flame and crumbled into ash.

“Nice shootin Tex.” Crackshot said, even as she casually dropped two more with barely a glance in their directions.

“There's four more on the horizon.” I said.

“MMPH!” Came Ruby's reply from above us. She had a grenade launcher in her mouth, where she'd gotten it I had no idea but with a quick succession of THUNK THUNK THUNK, followed by a timed series of explosions the four red marks on my EFS winked out.

Brutus jumped over the two Earth ponies, tackling two of the remaining three, his hooves discharging against their skulls even as he smashed the two of them together.

The last one leaped towards me and I smashed it in the side of the head with my pistols, unable to aim and fire quickly enough. It rolled a few times before it popped back up, hissing and spitting at me. I gasped softly when I saw the cutie mark on it's side, a computer keyboard with random keys missing. The ghoul I was staring down had been a research assistant for one of my university professors. His cutie mark had been very very distinct. He used to tell the new students that he'd smashed a keyboard over the head of one of the smart asses in the class that had just graduated. Course truth be told he'd actually repaired his father's computer when he was young after his sister had eaten some of the keys when she was a baby.

“Partition? It's me, Sugarcane!” I said to the snarling beast. “Come on dude you gotta snap out of this!” But he just charged me. I knocked him aside again and a blast from Crackshot dropped him hard and fast, blood and bits of Celestia knows what splattering my body.

“There's no reasoning with them when they get to this point.” Crackshot said sadly, patting my shoulder.

I felt queasy and sat down quickly, putting a hoof to my mouth and praying to keep myself composed.

“You okay?” Ruby asked, landing beside me and rubbing my back with her wing.

“I...I've never killed another pony before.” I whispered, feeling my stomach churn violently.

“And you still haven't.” Brutus said firmly, coming over and looking down at me. “Those aren't ponies anymore. Once they lose their minds they are just mindless monsters who'll kill any and all ponies they come across. Look.” He gestured to the caravan, the group had gotten back together and the Unicorn and one of the Earth ponies were hugging the foals tightly and crying together. The other Earth pony stood quietly with the cow thing, looking haggard but otherwise unhurt as he tucked a grenade launcher, oh that's where Ruby had gotten it from, back into a crate with a few more launchers and a pile of ammo for them. “Would you rather all of them dead, or some mindless killing machines?”

I just shook my head, finally losing my battle as I turned and threw up into the ditch beside me. “I just don't know what I'd do if push came to shove.” I sighed.

“Well come on, lets get you back to the base.” Ruby said, hugging me close. “It's getting late and we have a big day tomorrow.” She smiled warmly.

“You're right.” I said, pushing myself up slowly, managing to shake off the rest of my sick to my stomach feeling.

“Bullet Storm said he'll give us a good personal discount on their stuff before they unload at the base.” Ruby said. “Which is good because I saw the cutest saddle in one of those boxes when I was getting the grenade launcher. Though it's got these weird little hoops on the bottom I wasn't sure the purpose of.”

“Just what you need.” Brutus snorted. “More sexy clothes.”

I was about to tell him off again but I remembered what he'd said about the sex jokes.

“Well I DO look awesome in a saddle.” I grinned.

“Oh I bet you do.” Crackshot laughs. “I bet they make you at least 20% cooler.”

We all got to share a laugh at that as we moved back to the caravan to escort them the rest of the way to the base.

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Gunslinger-- While using a pistol (or similar one-hoofed weapon), your chance to hit in S.A.T.S. is increased by 25%. As with all perks that increase your chance to hit in S.A.T.S., this bonus is multiplicative, not additive.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 3A

Chapter 3A:
(So this is just a short bit of filler between chapter 3 and 4. Originally I had chapter 4 starting with their departure the next morning but damned if I didn't find myself suddenly needing to write out the stuff with the foals and the purchasing of the ammo and new armour before they headed out. As well as putting some pieces in place for some future conversations and encounters with other ponies.)

We got back to the base without incident, Ruby, it turned out, really liked foals, and they liked her. She chatted and played with the foals until we reached the perimeter of the bases defenses, then she scooped them out of their carriers and bounced them along on her wings, which delighted the children more than I could imagine. They kept rubbing at her soft feathers and giggling to each other.

"Your marefriend is good at that." Hail Storm, the unicorn, said, moving to walk beside me.

"Yeah she is." I smiled, watching the pink pegasus play with the babies, none of them seeming to have a care in the world. Wait...when had I started thinking of Ruby as my marefriend?

The confused thought must have shown on my face because Hail Storm looked at me seriously now. “Don't worry, one day the two of you will be ready to have children of your own. I know it's a harsh world we live in, but you just don't know the joy of life until you create one of your own.” She smiled. “Or two in my case.”

“Yeah I know.” I sighed. “I just haven't thought of her as a Marefriend before.” I said. “But suddenly that seems to make perfect sense. Maybe I'm crazy and she's gonna get bored of me.”

“I dunno, I've seen the way she looks at you, she comforts you without hesitation, she has this barely concealed joy in her eyes whenever she looks at you. I'd say she's pretty in love.”

“We barely know each other.” I laughed softly. “I've only been here for a little over a day.”

“Really?” She asked in amazement. “Well I don't normally use the term 'soul-mate' but from the way you two look at each other I'd say it's possible.”

“It's weird.” I said, looking at Hail Storm. “I had a nightmare earlier, this horrible monster told me he was manipulating my emotions to love her. I mean I've been thinking about this whole thing and I see a lot of the parallels. I think it was my fears of this world manifesting. Ponies burned in baelfire, crazy robotic ghoul ponies with no remorse. " I said quietly, though none of my friends were close enough to hear me, Ruby was already in the courtyard, the foals on the ground on either side of her, her wings extended protectively over them, Crackshot was deep in conservation with one of the earth ponies, Bullet Storm, the foal's father, about the weapons they were carrying, versus the ones they were selling Brutus and the other earth pony moved silently at the rear acting as guards.

"It certainly sums this hell hole up pretty well yeah." She said. " And you were really frozen for 200 years? I can't imagine how you managed to cope so well."

"I was lucky my friends found me when they did. Slavers were closing in on the facility and I'd have either been captured or killed."

"Well I think you should talk to your friends about your nightmare. It'll give you some added perspective to hear what they have to say. Maybe an evil pony really is reaching out to you through your dreams." She laughed darkly. "Weirder things exist in this world than we could ever know of. I mean look at the Brahmin.” She gestures to the two headed cow, ahh so that's what they were called. “Have you seen the Alicorns yet?”

“No I haven't. Ponies keep mentioning them but no one has really gotten into it yet.” I said. “When I was alive there were only three alicorns we really knew of, Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence, though I suppose it's possible there were more.”

"Now we don't really know much about these alicorns. They don't speak, they just kind of drift. Sometimes you'll see em with Redeye's slavers, other times escorting a pony or two. They just have this creepy aura, I never wanna get anywhere near one." She shuddered. We had caught up to Ruby, who was sitting beside the base doors with the foals cuddled up on either side of her, sound asleep, her wings holding them close and keeping them warm.

"Shh." She said sternly, looking at us seriously. Hail just smiled. "that saves me the trouble." She said, gently levitating the foals up and into the baby carrier again, suppressing a yawn of her own.

"Any chance you have free rooms for the road weary pony?" Bullet Storm asked, coming up beside us and nuzzling against Hail's cheek.

"If we don't, you can stay in my quarters and I'll stay with Cane." Ruby said, batting her eyes at me.

"Maybe they should stay in MY quarters, and I'll stay with you." I said, not only were my quarters bigger, but they were mostly empty so there was less for the foals to break or hurt themselves on, and Ruby's was kind of a mess. "They can push the couches together and make a makeshift crib for the foals."

“Ooo a real bed, and all to ourselves?” Hail smiled. “I couldn't ask for more right now if I tried.”

“Seriously you two.” Crackshot laughed. “Cane hasn't even been here two days and you'll be sleeping together for the THIRD TIME.”

“Bite me.” Ruby and I answered at the same time, which got a laugh from everypony else. Unfortunately it woke the foals and they weren't too pleased about it, going from a gentle groan to full on tears in a matter of seconds.

“Come on, I'll show you to Cane's room.” Crackshot said to Hail. “You had some purchases to make?” She said to the rest of us as they started inside.

“Oh right!” Ruby's eyes lit up again. “I wanna buy that beautiful saddle you have.” She said, gesturing to it with her wing.
“Take it with my thanks.” Hail said. “You saved our lives, it's the least we can do.” She vanished inside with Crackshot.
Bullet storm pulled the saddle down from the pile of supplies the brahmen carried and passed it over to Ruby. She squealed softly and twirled it in her wings. “It's so cute I love it!” She flipped it over and pokes at the straps curiously. “Do you know what these are for?” She asked Bullet Storm, gesturing to the line of rings that connected the rear strap to the middle strap.
“No clue sorry.” He shrugged. “The buck we bought it from sold it to us with a lot of other adult novelties that we unloaded a few towns back, no one wanted that one though. Someponies looked at it and would snicker and laugh but no takers.”
“Well I love it! The rings come off easy enough. Just cut this strip of fabric here and they'll slide right out.” She drifted off into a conversation with herself about how she wanted to modify the saddle.

“I'd love some different 10mm clips if you got em.” I said. “And I'll pay for them.” I added, catching an odd glare from Brutus, as though I was gonna just expect free ammo.

“Yeah sure, what kinds?” Bullet Storm asked, pulling clips from a box.

“Umm I don't actually know all the different kinds of ammo. It was kind of my fiancee's department. She'd just give me the clips and I'd use them.” I admitted.

“The pegasus with the weird saddle fixation is an arms expert? Just ask her then.” Bullet Storm said.

“Uhh no, my fiancee is dead.” I said quietly.

“Oh, sorry.” Bullet pulled a number of clips out, setting them out in front of me. “Standard clip.” He gestured to the first. “Explosive.” He pointed to one with red bands around the bullets. “Electro-Magnetic” Blue bands, “Toxin” Green, “Anti-Personnel, they break into little flesh tearing fletchets” Black.

“My guns are modified to fire laser and plasma bolts along with the normal bullet. Do you know if these specialty bullets would still work?” I asked.

“Well if it doesn't hurt the normal bullets I don't see any reason it would affect these either, they're just normal bullets technically until they reach their targets and then it triggers their secondary effect.”

“Well I suppose I'll take 4 clips of the normal ammo and just one of each of the others just in case my guns don't care for em. I don't wanna risk wrecking the guns too badly, because I don't have the skill or the equipment to repair them properly if they break.”

He nodded and piled the ammo clips together. “How's 250 caps sound?”

I had no idea how that sounded, I still had no real understanding of the monetary value of the bottle caps. I looked dumbly at Brutus and he nodded.

“Sure.” I smiled, pulling up my inventory in my pipbuck and it floated out the bottlecaps, which was when I realized I only had 20.
“Oh...uhh...guess I'm a little short on it.” I laughed, embarrassed.

“Well you got OTHER stuff on you don't you? It's not feasible to be cash only in the wasteland.” Bullet Storm smirked. I poked through my inventory and realized that the valuation system was still working, the currency was set to WLC, Wasteland Caps I guessed, and all the random odds and ends I had picked up all had their value in caps laid out beside them. “Wow, I kind of wish I had worked for Stable-Tec now. This Pipbuck is so far ahead of anything else we worked with I don't even know what to think sometimes. How the hell does it know the currency rate?” I asked but the other ponies just shrugged.

“Most of us don't use pipbucks, it's just a system you learn naturally over the years.” Brutus said.

“You had FOUR the first day I met you.” I countered.

“Yeah but only for the data decryption of the information I'd downloaded, which amazingly is STILL running.” He said.

“Well yeah my brother wrote the encryption. He was damned good at that sort of thing.” I said, sorting through the stuff in my inventory.

I had picked up a lot of random odds and ends when we'd been walking through the mall earlier and I paused on a pair of what I'd thought were metal apples for a table centerpiece, I had planned on using them to decorate my quarters, however the pipbuck informed me they were grenades. Well I guess I was kind of oblivious to a lot of technology. Rosalea hadn't worked with grenades since before I met her, one of her university professors had blown himself up by accident in front of the whole class while explaining how to safely disassemble a grenade and it had left her pretty scarred. My pipbuck valued them at 200 caps each. “How about these?” I asked, taking them in my magic and floating them over to him.

“Well they're worth more than what I'm offering you.” He said. “How about I give you this too?” He digs into another box and comes up with utility barding very similar to mine, only bulkier. “It's been armoured.” He explained, flipping it inside out to show me where armour plates had been added to the inside and then covered with the usual padding so they weren't uncomfortable. “Those plus the 20 caps you have.” He finished.

Again I looked up at Brutus and again he nodded. “Alright sounds fair.” I said, also pulling out the caps. He opened the box with the grenade launchers in them and I floated the grenades into it while he took the caps and tucked them into his own pack along with a lot more of them.

A group of Earth Ponies came out of the entrance and came across to us. “Bullet Storm?” One asked, looking at him.
“Yeah?” He replied. “Your wife told us you would be out here, we're here to trade and unload your cargo.”

“Perfect.” Bullet Storm nodded. “I'll finish up here and then go get some rest too. Celestia knows I need it.” He turned to his guard who had stood back talking to Brutus. “Dart why don't you head in too? I'm more than safe out here.”

“Sure Brute Force here said I can crash at his place to give you guys some space.” Dart replied and the two of them started inside. Ruby stopped her delighting at the saddle to grin up at Brutus. “Don't wreck him too hard.” She winked at them. Dart blushed furiously and hurried inside, Brutus just glared at Ruby and continued inside.

“So he really is gay?” I asked softly once they were out of sight, coming and sitting down beside Ruby.

“Of course he is.” She giggled, resting her head on my shoulder, wrapping a wing around my back.

“So why does say he isn't?”

“I think he's kind of embarrassed about it. But I think he just really does it around Crackshot because he doesn't want to be the one to end their family line. She's been a part of that family forever, obviously, and he doesn't want her to have no one when he's gone.”

“Well he doesn't have to have a marefriend to have a child.” I said matter of factly. “I'm sure somepony would help him have a foal of his own.”

“Oh somepony will.” She nodded knowingly. “I promised him if he ever found a buck he really loved and they wanted to settle down and have a family I'd carry a baby for them. Just so long as I get to play with the baby and help raise them.”

"Well you two are best friends so who am I to try and stand in the way of a promise so deep and profound?"

"Damned straight." She smirked. "You wanna see a way to wreck a relationship with me it'd be trying to run my life."

“You really love kids don't you?” I asked, looking over at her again curiously.

“I do. They're so young and innocent and untainted by this awful world we're trapped in. They've never killed somepony else just to save their own lives. They don't hate me for representing a race of ponies that have all but abandoned the surface world. They are so amazed by every new thing they see and hear and feel and to see the joy on their little faces just helps me forget how terrible everything really is.” She sighed deeply and snuggled closer to me. “Probably a big part of the reason I'm so attracted to you.” She laughed quietly. “Innocent and untainted, never killed somepony else, don't hate me, a thing for pegasi.”

“Well surely the other ponies here don't HATE you just for being a pegasus.” I said, shifting and standing up to head inside with her.

“Well they don't come right out and say it, but you can see it in their eyes, ponies who just hate the fact that there is a whole world above the clouds that they aren't allowed to be a part of, thinking we're idiots for leaving safety and stability behind to live here instead.”

“With a passion.” She said simply as we moved through the halls of the base, making our way back to her quarters, pausing outside the door.

“Well that sucks. Hopefully we'll be able to somehow be able to convince them to come back and join the rest of the world down here. They could probably do a lot of good for the world. Course I could always enchant a bunch of ponies with the cloud walking spell and we could go up there and plead our case too.” I said thoughtfully.

“Two hundred years how many ponies do you think have tried to appeal to the Enclave council?” She sighed sadly, shaking her head. “They don't want to be reasoned with, explained to, shown, anything, they want to be left in their safety in the clouds and the rest of us be damned.”

I removed my barding and sat on the bed, using my magic to move the guns and ammo into the pockets on the new armoured barding I'd bought, setting the sword aside for the moment with Ebony and Ivory so that I could try to figure out a way to make holsters in the new barding for holding the weapons, since the ones on my current set weren't exactly easily removed and transplanted, and whomever had armoured this set had removed the superfluous loops of fabric so I had no place to sit the sword either.

“There's a unicorn that works in the sky wagon bay that doubles as a tailor, you can take it to her tomorrow and get her to fix up the holsters.” Ruby said, crawling onto the bed behind me, the saddle slipped on over top of her wings, pinning them down. “I have to admit, this isn't as comfortable as I'd hoped it would be.” She said, shifting side to side. I could hear the saddle sliding around on her back.

“You probably just didn't tighten it properly.” I suggested, turning back to her and admiring her for a moment. “Actually you look kind of silly...it really does look too big on you.” I laughed a little, only to get smacked in the muzzle with the saddle as she tugged it off and threw it at me.

“You wear it then smart-ass.” She grumbled.

“Aww come on Ruby, don't be that way.” I said, lifting the saddle and lowering it onto my back, sliding the straps around and into place. “See? I look awesome.” I beamed. It was a surprisingly good fit. The weird line of rings jingled against my more sensitive areas and I blushed a little, laughing quietly. “Ruby...” I looked up at the pegasus again and smiled dumbly. “This saddle, is designed for a stallion I think. These rings seem like their meant to keep a stallion...at attention.” She looked at me in confusion. “You know, down below.” I added and it was like I could see the light click on.

“Oh...OH!” Her eyes went wide and she fell back laughing. “No wonder none of the other ponies wanted it.”

I levitated it off and put it on her desk. “Well you can take it to that tailor tomorrow too and ask them to remove those...things.” I muttered, crawling back into the bed and flopping down into the pillows and grinning up at Ruby.

“And just what do you think you're doing?” She asked, looking at me seriously.

“Umm, getting ready for bed?” I asked, pointing to my discarded clothing.

“And what makes you think you just get to sleep in my bed with me?”

“It hasn't been a problem before so I just assumed it wouldn't be now?”

“We have a mission in the morning.” She said flatly. “So I need a proper night's sleep. No foolin' around, no hoofin' each other, no lewd conversation.”

“Hey I'm a complete gentlebuck!” I said seriously. “We got drunk and hooked up once. You got drunk and threw up beside my bed and passed out on it the second time, there was no fooling around then and there won't be any now if you don't want there to be.” I said. “Or I can just go sleep on the couch.” I shrugged.

She looked at me intently for a moment and then nodded and settled down beside me once her things were off. I sighed and rolled my eyes, reaching out with my magic and switching off the lights, rolling over and cuddling into the pillows. Ruby rolled close and leaned in, kissing me sweetly, her wing coming to rest on my side. “I'm glad you're not just some sex starved pervert.” She whispered, her wing slipping down along my flank and against my underside. “We only need ONE in this bed.” She kissed me a few more times and let her wing just trail teasingly up and down against me. “Well goodnight.” She says brightly, rolling over and pulling a pillow between the two of us.

I knew the rooms were soundproofed but I had a feeling my frustrated and disheartened groan could be felt by every guy on the base who I'm sure suddenly felt a sympathetic ache for my predicament, even if they didn't know why.

Footnote: 25% to next level.
This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The whole next morning was kind of a blur, getting up, getting ready, going to see if the tailor could mend my new barding before we left, breakfast, and finally arriving to load and prep the sky wagon, my first official mission with the Collective.

When we arrived Crackshot and Brutus were already hard at work loading empty crates and supplies into the wagon. Brutus was moving with quite the bounce in his step. “Well somepony seems to have had a good night.” Ruby teased him.

“Oh yeah, slept like a log.” Crackshot said, stretching as she came out of the wagon. “Nice of you two to join us, we've only been working for an hour already.”

“Sorry, Bulletstorm gave me some new armoured barding and I wanted to find out if I could get it mended to add a proper holding spot for my sword.” I gestured to the newly added loops that the scabbard sat comfortably in on my back. “It's a lot better than the belt loops.” I wrapped the sword in my magic and drew it quickly out, spun it around in front of me and sheathed it again. “Smooth as butter.” I grinned.

“Good, because you might need it.” Crackshot said. “We're going back to your office to get the rest of your stuff, Ruby and Brutus are going on to the ammo foundry, we're going to meet up with them once we're finished, help them finish and head back together by nightfall, sound good?”

“Sounds perfect. I wanted the chance to get into Rosa's office and find out if there's anything else I can learn about what might have happened to me, and her, and the rest of my family and friends, find out if I have great great grandchildren somewhere in the wasteland too.”

Crackshot nodded, pushing another set of crates into the wagon and securing them under the far bench. “Well lets get going everypony.” Brutus said and we set to work finishing loading the wagon with supplies and within 20 minutes we were launched and soaring through the air back to my old office. Crackshot and I sat and talked mostly about the potential of outfitting the turrets with more specialized abilities.

“Well if I have the time and we don't get shot at while I'm working...” I said thoughtfully, looking over the turrets. “I'm not the best with regular old guns and ammo, the electromagnetic upgrade I did on this one involved a lot more computer work than actual weapon work. But I suppose with enough time I could make the upgrades work. Probably even create a computer program to automate the turrets, make em more accurate. Brutus what are you doing with those Pipbucks you had before?”

“They're still running decryption, we don't have a lot of spare processing power for stuff like that.”

“Oh, well alright, I suppose I could help with that too. Get the decryption going properly, even finish it if I can.”

“Well when we get back we'll go over the weapons we have at our disposal and see what you can come up with alright?” Crackshot asked. I nodded and continued to look at the turrets, then turned to my pipbuck and pulled up a blank work document, not a feature most Pipbucks had of course, but the science division had made modifications to the ones they sent to Ministry research facilities in the interest of 'sharing knowledge' which was just their way of saying they wanted to be in the loop when technological advancements were made so they could have a crack at it. I started to work on the beginnings of a computer program for automating the turrets, because targeting software was hardwired into most systems to prevent them from being stolen and applied to someone else's systems, so I couldn't just copy it out of the turrets back at the office. I unhooked the EMP turret and plugged into it while I worked on my program and had gotten it to the point that the turret would rotate by itself and even move up and down when Crackshot nudged me. “Hey, we're here.” She laughed. “You really do get lost in your work don't you?”

I looked up and saw my office outside the window. “Oh wow. Sorry, yeah I'm really bad for it.” I sighed, disconnecting the Pipbuck, switching the turret back to it's manual mode and starting out of the wagon.

“Don't load up too heavily.” Brutus said. “We got the important stuff from here last time and we're going to be hopefully bringing back a lot of stuff from the ammo foundry.”

“Essentials only.” Crackshot nodded. I moved up to the cockpit and leaned down, kissing Ruby gently. “Behave yourself while I'm gone so you can misbehave with me later.” I winked.

Ruby actually blushed a little and nodded. “Yes master.” She laughed, managing to cover her moment of weakness well.

“You want a kiss from me too before we go Ruby?” Crackshot asked.

“Pass, you smell like death and you probably taste just as bad.” Ruby retorted.

“Aww that's not nice.” I said sadly as I pulled a pair of crates out from under the bench and floated them out to sit beside the entrance to the office. “Come'ere.” I grabbed Crackshot and kissed her deeply before anypony could react. Alright so she tasted like a dead body too...I managed to suppress my desire to puke and held the kiss for a full ten seconds before I pulled away and started out of the wagon, bumping her flank and moving to open the front doors. The look of shock on all their faces was totally worth it though, each and every one of them looked like they might faint, and Crackshot almost looked smug.

“Well, see you two later.” She smirked, grabbing a pack of medical supplies and getting out of the wagon and hitting the door close button behind her. It slid shut and the wagon just sat there for a moment before it finally lifted into the air and soared off, wrapping around the building and vanishing.

“Alright it's safe, they're gone.” Crackshot said, coming back over to me and grinning. I wretched and gagged hard, spitting and rubbing my tongue against the leg of my barding. I pulled a box of Mintals from the medical supplies and floated one out. “Normally I don't like these things but under the circumstances...” I popped it in my mouth, crushing it and rubbing it all over my mouth before spitting the chalky mess out in the hopes of minimizing the effects of the drug, feeling smarter didn't make it a good thing after all. “YOU TASTE LIKE A CORPSE!” I groaned, collapsing in a heap.

She roared with laughter and shook her head. “Of course I taste like a corpse! I basically am, but that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The looks on their faces were so worth it. Cane I can't thank you enough for that. It takes more courage to pucker up and kiss a ghoul than it does to face down a gun sometimes.”

“Well if anypony asks we'll call it a moment of temporary insanity.” I said, pushing myself up to my hooves again and grabbing up the boxes in my magic and starting inside. “Of course we can just play it off as me being the biggest bad ass in the whole collective too I suppose.” I chuckled.

“We'll see I suppose.” She nodded, moving into the main hallway and we moved slowly through the building, using my EFS to make sure the building was still abandoned, and aside from some MASSIVE cockroaches, Radroaches Crackshot told me, the building was just as empty as when we'd left a few days earlier.

“I'll go through things down here, you get your things from upstairs.” She said, gesturing to the staircase on the far side of the warehouse.

“Yeah alright, if you need anything just holler.” I said, floating one of the crates up and starting up the stairs. I stopped in front of my office and set the crate down, moving inside the computer powered up again. “Welcome back Doctor Cane, your last visit was 50 hours ago.” The computer chimed as it powered back on. “There has been 100 terabytes of data physically removed from the storage servers as well as an additional 50 terabytes copied onto Stable-Tec standard issue Pip-Buck units, all attempts to contact security and local authorities has failed.”

“I know.” I said offhandedly as I rounded up the pictures and bundled them carefully together on my desk, taking files out of drawers and piling them onto the desk too. “We have had a serious security breach and for security reasons we had to pull the system critical data without advanced notification to avoid the possibility of outside forces further compromising the safety of the data.” I took a few prototype robotic prosthetic legs and added them to the growing pile. “We are relocating to another for protection, I trust I'll be able to count on you to keep an eye on things here in case things go wrong?”

“Acquiring security control. Control established. Unknown entity on level one, preparing for extermination.”

“No no wait, show me the unknown.” I said, moving to the monitors. The central monitor flickered and brought up a video feed of Crackshot, she was emptying one of her saddlebags into the cargo crate, ammo and caps and a few random metal and electronic scraps falling into the bin before she rearranged it into a proper neatly stored stack.

“Target is not a hostile, designate target 'Crackshot', ally, clearance level Alpha, full security override, all sites.”

“Confirmed.” There was a moments pause.

“Good afternoon Ms. Crackshot.” The computer voice echoed out over the PA system making the ghoul jump. “This is your first visit to the system. I am the Registered Omega System Auto-comp. You can call me Rosa.” I blushed a little and hit the button for the mic on my computer.

“Sorry Crackshot, I gave you authorization for the system so the turrets wouldn't fry you, I didn't expect the computer to greet you over the P.A. System.”

“S'fine.” She called back. “Just scared the crap out of me. And really? ROSA? You named your computer after your fiancee? I'm all for romance and sentimentality but that's a little weird isn't it?”

“Actually the real Rosa named the computer not me, I just never got around to changing it since I didn't hear the name very often.”

“Well whatever just hurry up, I've only got a few more rooms to go through and I already have a decent pile of caps and ammo, and actually a few discarded guns. Nothing fancy but they'll sell.”

“Wow, I'd have thought you cleaned this place out really well the first time.”

“Sometimes we miss stuff, sometimes new stuff just seems to show up.” She shrugged. “I don't really like to over think it.”

“Unable to authorize user 'Crackshot' for Delta site, system removed from network.” ROSA reported.

“Alright, that's fine, just keep trying and report back to me next time I come back, otherwise I'll go to the Delta site and check on the connection in a few days.” I said to the computer.

“Affirmative.” It replied simply.

“Hurry!” Crackshot called again before I switched off the monitors again.

I took the last few odds and ends from my office and loaded them into the crate, then moved into the hall, closing the doors behind me, for what I thought was going to be the last time, and moved up the hall, stopping in front of Rosalea's office. I pressed a hoof to the control pad and the music chimed.

“Years ago, when I was younger, I kind of liked a filly I knew. She was mine and we were sweethearts, that was then, but then it's true. I'm in love with a faerie tale even though it hurts. 'Cause I don't care if I lose my mind, I'm already cursed.” I sang back to the machine and the door beeped and opened.

“I never can get over how nice your voice is.” Crackshot said, making me jump.

“Geeze don't sneak up on a buck like that, you could give me a heart attack.” I sighed, shaking my head.

“I know, I'm sorry.” She smirked. “Seriously though, you're taking too long.”

“We've only been here two hours, how am I taking too long?” I rolled my eyes and started into the office.

“Hello Doctor Cane.” Rosa's computer chirped, this one in my voice. “It has been...ERROR COMPUTATIONAL STACK OVERFLOW...hours since your last log in. Rosa isn't here right now, would you care to wait?”

“No thanks, I'm just here to pick up some things for her.”

“Very well. How was your wedding? I regret being unable to attend.”

“The wedding was cancelled.” I replied flatly, taking pictures from her mantle and starting to look through the prototype weaponry she had left on the shelves before moving to the computer and starting to download schematics from her private servers.

“Oh that's a shame.” The computer said, then went silent.

“Do they have some kind of artificial intelligence?” Crackshot asked curiously, moving along another shelf of weaponry, her eyes sparkling, though most were either worthless, or nonfunctional prototypes.

“No, they have basic conversation subroutines and our calenders, so they make half hearted attempts at small talk sometimes.” I shrugged, finding the plans for a number of weapons and bringing them up onto the screen. “What do you think?” I showed Crackshot the schematics on the screen, one monitor showed some kind of metal framework with a gem powered engine at the back of it. “That's the 'Multiple Iteration Release Valve, it was only experimental. Meant to fire 8 Balefire eggs at the same time, like a shotgun.” The second monitor showed a cone with orange rings wrapped around it every few inches, a silver ball on the tip and a much larger silver orb on the back end, glowing with a number of glyph markings. “The Technologically Enhanced Super Lightening Array. Builds up a static charge inside the cone and focuses it out the small orb at the front, firing pure electricity.” On the third screen I pulled up a screen that looked like it was a pair of shotguns, each with an indicator light on the hilt like Ebony and Ivory. “And a pair of shotguns capable of firing laser and plasma bolts, couldn't make em work because of the spread of the shots, wrecked the guns in a few clips.” I finished downloading the plans and moved on to a pair of lockers at the back of the room. “Hey. I bet I know what would make you feel better about being late.” I grinned, looking back at Crackshot, who came over quickly, her face getting serious as she looked at the lockers.

I reached out with my magic and unlocked the first one, floating out a massive metal frame work, it looked more like a gem powered slingshot than a weapon. I also took a specialty modified battle saddle with a port on the back for holding the massive framework as well as an ammo container with 5 balefire eggs inside.

Crackshot looked like she might cry. “W...what is it?” She asked softly, marveling at the device in my magical grasp.

“It's a fatbuck.” I laughed. “Able to fire balefire eggs about 200 yards, this is the first version of the Experimental MIRV plans in Rosa's computer. To a normal pony it's an awesome long range deterrent, for you not only could you seriously weaken a target but also rush the target after firing and fight them in a healing field of radiation.” I floated all of them into the crate and moved to the next locker. “But wait there's more, if you call now we'll also throw in...” I pulled open the locker and revealed two more guns. “The recharger pistol and recharger rifle.” I said, pulling them down and floating them out for Crackshot to look at. “They run on a recharging electro static talisman, much like the ones that are used to power pipbucks, they have basically unlimited power, however they have to build a charge and don't pack quite as much punch as a normal laser pistol or rifle.”

Crackshot just stood stupidly for a minute as she gawked at them.

“And they're all yours in exchange for your forgiveness for me taking so long.” I finished after waiting a minute for her to speak, and really it's not like I would be any good with weapons like these, someone with an appreciation for them needed to have them. “Come on Crackshot, say something or I'm going to assume you've gone feral and put you down.”

She looked from the guns to the launcher in the crate and back to me, making a soft squeal of delight and tackled me in a huge hug, the guns clattering to the ground as I lost my grip, and unfortunately for me, a huge kiss, with more tongue than I'd have liked, which was really no tongue at all. “Oh Cane you know how to spoil a girl. If I still had working sex organs I'd be using them on you right now.” She coos, standing up and lifting the pistol in her mouth. The indicator light blinked on and she fired a couple times into the wall, dancing back and fourth with glee as the line of blaster shots scorched the wall perfectly. She set it down and pulled the revolver from it's quick draw holster at her side, tossing it into the crate and taking the recharger pistol back up and slid it into place before doing the same with the repeater rifle in her battles addle.

Meanwhile I was still sitting in a disgusted heap on the floor, my tongue hanging out of my mouth.

“Oh snap out of it you moron.” She laughed, nudging me hard, making me snap out of it.

“Come on Crackshot.” I groaned, licking my leg in the vain hope of getting the taste out of my mouth. I didn't want to put any more mintals in my mouth so I just dealt with the rest of the taste. “No offense but you really do taste gross...we gotta find you a ghoul buck you can mack on.”

She smirked and moved back to the desk, sitting down in the chair. “Speaking of ghoul bucks, Hail Storm told me last night you had quite a nightmare about one?” She asked.

“Oh she mentioned that did she?” I sighed. “What's the world coming to that you can't tell a complete stranger about the problems you're having without them blabbing it to your friends.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Crackshot asked. “And if you're planning on saying no, know that I won't accept that as an answer.” She smirked.

“I suppose.” I walked around the office and sat in one of the chairs in front of Rosa's desk. “I had a nightmare...”

*******************

Crackshot sat quietly while I told her everything I could remember, being bound to the chair, the pit of burning ponies used as torches to light the staircase, the monstrosity that came down those stairs and talked to me like I was some kind of hero to him, the whole thing made me sick to even think about, let alone to lay out all the gory details.

When I finally finished she whistled softly. “That's a hell of a story Cane. And a very familiar one too.” She sat thoughtfully for a minute before banging the desk. “ I remember!” She grinned. “Your dream sounds like a scene from the movie 'The Fiery Pit', tied to a chair, burning pony torches, the bad guy telling the good guy he was their inspiration. Yeah it's one of the most iconic scenes in the whole film.”

“I've never seen it.” I said, looking at her curiously.

“You've never seen a sci-fi classic like 'The Fiery Pit' and you give me crap for not reading Sherclop Holmes?” She laughed.

“Well I was never really big on older movies.” I shrugged. “Some of the monster movie classics, like Flankenstein, or adventure movies like Daring Doo, but I worked with computers and robots all day, I didn't really have any interest in Science fiction movies because the technology was too outlandish, or worse was totally out of date. I just couldn't get into them.”

“What about Iron Mare?” She countered.

“Power Armour.” I shrugged. “Not just a possibility, but an actual thing we have.”

“Thorse?”

“Technically mythology, but I was lucky enough to have met Princesses Luna AND Celestia at a Grand Galloping Gala one year so somepony like Thorse isn't that much of a stretch.”

“Captain Equestria?”

“Cap AND Hulk both came about from a magic potion that enhanced them to the super hero level, technically it would have just been a super form of steroids and I had heard tell from some of my contacts that Twilight Sparkle was researching something very similar herself towards the end of the war. And Gryf-Eye and Buck Widow weren't super powered in anyway, just very very skilled.” I finished.

“Alright alright, I think we're getting off track here. The point is, nightmares are terrible scary things, and from the sounds of it you might just have been manifesting all your terrors about the world you've found yourself in, but I'm no expert on the subject. But the fact that you say you've never seen the movie makes it a hell of a coincidence that you dreamed the same scene.”

I floated the crate out into the hallway and shrugged. “I just don't know what you tell you. It's what happened. It was so terrifying I don't think I'll ever forget it. The smell of burning pony isn't something that fades with time. Could we maybe talk about this later? I want to meet up with the others, go home and maybe drink myself stupid.”

“Sure Cane.” Crackshot said kind of sadly, moving to follow me out of the office. “But you're gonna talk to Ruby about it tonight too because, despite all odds, you two seem to be developing a meaningful relationship, and a relationship isn't worth a pile of used tissue paper if you can't share things like that. And I'm going to ask Ruby in the morning to make sure you did it.” She said seriously as we moved down the stairs and I scooped up the second crate in my magic.

“I will. I promise.” I said. “Cross my heart, hope to fly.” I nodded, closing the doors behind us and moving away from the building and we headed up and away from the business district and into the outlying neighborhoods, such as they still were.

*******************

“Are you bucking kidding me?!” I cried as I dropped the crates, scrambling towards the crumbling ruins of a nearby house, bullets pinging around behind me. Crackshot was just ahead, already behind some poor cover, turning and firing out at the attackers, covering me as I scrambled for cover myself. We had gone a good hour without incident, just walking and chatting about old movies when a shotgun blast had knocked one of the crates to the side and we suddenly found ourselves under attack so we bolted for the closest cover, which was the house. I cried out in pain, falling and rolling the rest of the way when a bullet pierced my flank. It hurt terribly, not as bad the pain I remembered from the nightmare but it didn't vanish after a few seconds either.

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.” I whimpered, pulling myself the rest of the way out of sight trying not to look at the blood running down my backside, staining my tail first a somewhat orange shade before just turning dark with blood.

“You'll survive.” Crackshot said, firing back at our attackers again. “Get a healing potion out of my saddlebags and down it quick.”

I did as I was told, downing the deep purple bottle and sighing as the pain faded. I turned my head and watched the wound mend, the bullet being forced out, clattering to the ground.

“That...was horrifying to watch.” I muttered, lifting the bullet up and examining it, the blood still dripping it off of it.

“We have bigger problems.” Crackshot snapped at me.

“Hold your fire.” We could hear one of the ponies outside say to the others. “COME OUT AND SURRENDER YOURSELVES! YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO SERVE IN RED EYE'S CAMP!” The magically enhanced voice of a unicorn boomed at us as the weapons fire died down.

“CHOSE THIS!” Crackshot cried back, turning and firing out at them. I drew Ebony and Ivory and started spinning them quickly to build up a charge before floating them up and opening fire blindly in the direction of the attackers. I pulled back my guns and set them down for a moment, scooping up the crates and pulling them towards us quickly, swinging one to the side to knock one of the attackers away as he tried to sneak up on it.

“It looks like there's at least 6 or 7 of them.” I said, moving my head around slowly and reading the EFS display. “I saw a couple unicorns and earth ponies, but no pegasi.” I opened the crates and floated out the Fatbuck. “Alright, lets see how this baby can handle...” I floated a balefire egg into the launcher and leaned out, slipping into S.A.T.S. and aiming towards the one pony I had just thrown off from the crate, a few of them seemed to be gathering around the same spot to press the attack on us, but before I fired I realized there was a green mark on my EFS, one of the ponies wasn't part of their group, maybe they were attacking this other pony and not rallying to press on to us. Dropping out of S.A.T.S. I pulled Crackshot back before she could throw a grenade, clamping down on it with my magic and hurling it into the sky where it exploded harmlessly.

“There's a non-hostile out there.” I said quickly, turning to look outside when I heard the cries and smacks of somepony getting the beat down. Looking towards where the slavers had been there was only one pony now, the green marked one. I emerged slowly with Crackshot beside me, Ebony and Ivory in front of me.

Our rescuer came up towards us, a pegasus in purple power armour...the same pegasus I'd seen from the sky wagon the other day maybe?

“Are you two alright?” Mare asked, a synthesizer masked Mare's voice so we couldn't tell if it was a buck or a mare in the armour.

“We're fine, thank you very much.” Crackshot said, nodding her head. “And who do we have to thank for saving us?”

“I'm Mare-Do-Well.” They replied.

“You're kidding!” Crackshot said in amazement.

“What?” I looked from one to the other hoping for an explanation.

“The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well roams the wasteland helping anypony who needs it. She, or he, comes down, saves the day and is gone just as fast.” Crackshot said quietly, not taking her eyes off the pegasus.

“Think nothing of it.” Mare-Do-Well replied. “It's what I do. And Doctor Sugarcane has only been here a few days, it wouldn't be fair for him to die so soon.”

“Really? You know me too? I can't be THAT famous.” I blushed and shook my head, digging at the ground in embarrassment.

“I know OF you yes.” Mare-Do-Well said, turning to Crackshot. “Where are you two going?”

“Ammo foundry a few miles North.” She replied.

“I shall see you safely there then.” He...She...It...turned and started away from the house. I looked dumbly at them walk away for a moment before quickly moving back inside to round up our stuff and float the crates up after me and hurrying to catch up, only to find Crackshot looting the bodies of the ponies Mare-Do-Well had felled.

“Really? Corpse robbing too?” I sighed, setting the crate down beside Crackshot.

“Of course corpse LOOTING too!” She replied. “All these guns and armour just lying here for somepony else to come across and sell? I don't think so.” She stripped them of their weapons and armour first, digging through saddlebags and taking up some healing potions and drugs, along with a few bottlecaps. She offered all of them to Mare-Do-Well who declined all of them in turn. Finally we were again packed up and on our way.

I tried repeatedly to strike up a conversation with our escort but Mare-Do-Well was a pony of few words and eventually I just moved back to walking with Crackshot, falling into a discussion about Red Eye and his operation, and while I could understand the desire to build a safe new Equestria Red Eye's methods made me sick, they reminded me all too much of the pony I'd seen in my nightmares, and the fact that the one in my nightmare said he was WORSE than Red Eye made me worry all the more.

After an hour or so the ammo foundry came into view and soon enough we could see Ruby and Brutus were moving back and fourth, loading crates into the sky wagon.

“Hey guys!” I called as we got closer. Brutus looked up, his shotgun snapping to aim until he saw us and lowered it again. “Bout time you guys caught up!” He said as we came up to them. “What took you so long?”

“Ran into some slavers.” Crackshot said.

“Nothing we couldn't handle with the help of our new friend.” I said, gesturing to the side.

“New...friend?” Ruby asked. “Is your new friend invisible?” She looked around and leaned in closer. “Do you see him now? Is he a big pink elephant? Does he want a peanut?” She giggled, moving back to the sky wagon to finish securing some of the crates.

“What? No.” I turned and looked around but Mare-Do-Well was gone.

“We were saved by the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.” Crackshot said.

“Mare-Do-Well is just an urban legend.” Brutus said. “A hero made up in the time before the war that ponies nowadays got their hooves on and made into something to tell children to give them false hope for the wasteland.”

“No, Made-Do-Well was real, saved us from the slavers, made sure we got here safe. He's a pegasus in purple power armor, it's even been painted to look like the Mare-Do-Well I remember from when I was young.” I countered

“Course you were, now help us finish loading these crates so we can get home, I wanna make it back before dark.” He said, gesturing to the setting sun. Crackshot just shook her head and moved to the sky wagon, helping Ruby secure the crates while Brutus and I loaded the bigger ones into place and secured them as well with heavier duty straps and soon enough we were airborne and on our way home again. Once we were well on our way I moved into the cockpit and sat down beside Ruby.

“So we need to talk.” I said, looking over at her.

She looked back at me, looking kind of worried. “You found Rosa alive and you're breaking up with me?” She asks, genuine concern in her voice.

“What? No...Did you see us arrive with Rosa?” I asked. “Not like if I'd found her I'd have left her. No no, I just wanted to talk to you to get your opinion on the nightmare I had the other night.”

“Oh, so you're not breaking up with me?” She sighed looking very relieved.

“Are we a thing that can be broken up?” I asked curiously.

“Oh...well...I guess? I dunno? Maybe I was jumping the gun there?” She blushed furiously and I laughed softly, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

“Don't worry, I think we're a thing that can be broken up, and no I'm not breaking up.” I said.

“Okay good. You don't want to break up with the pilot.” She smiled meekly.

“You're so cute.” I chuckled.

“You two are making me sick!” Brutus called from the back. I reached out and closed the cockpit door with a hoof.

“We also can't fool around up here while I'm flying, just because I'm strapped into this harness doesn't mean I'm trapped.” She smirked.

“Seriously, did I not JUST say that I wanted to talk about the nightmare I had? Who said anything about fooling around?” I rolled my eyes and sat beside her again.

“I know sweet thing, I'm just teasing.”

“Yeah well maybe I'll tease you.” I said stupidly, then reached out with my magic and locked the harness release on Ruby's side and moved behind her and kissed her back down to her tail.

“Don't you dare!” She whines, squirming helplessly in the harness.

“Your voice says no no, but something in the air says yes yes.” I cooed, kissing her tail once more before moving back and settling down beside her. “Seriously, like I'd do that while you're trying to fly, that's not fair.”

She glared at me and shook her head. “Jerk.” She pouted, again embarrassed.

“We'll call us even for last night.” I said, grinning at her. “Can we talk about my dream now?”

“Yeah we can.” She sighed.

So while we flew home I told my story for the third time...

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: Gives you your own personal guardian angel... armed with a fully loaded battle saddle. With this perk, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well appears occasionally in S.A.T.S. mode to lend a hand, with deadly efficiency.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 4A

Chapter 4A:

(So again this was intended as the start to the actual chapter and somehow got away from me. Personally I blame Avatar: The Last Airbender. I decided to watch through the series for the first time and everything was going fine, until the Fire Nation attacked and suddenly I found I couldn't split my attention between the show and writing like I could with most shows. So once I get through the rest of the series I'll get the rest of it done up properly again. I'm sorry.)

Ruby said very similar things to what Crackshot and Hailstorm had said about my nightmare, my worries about the wasteland projecting themselves. It didn't really help matters any so I just left it alone.

The next week of my life was fairly uneventful, though not completely uneventful as you'll see. It turned out that when we returned with the Fatbuck and the plans for the other weapons the council was so excited they promoted our team, Rank C to Rank B, which meant a fancy new sky wagon, which meant we upgraded from a totally rusted piece of shit to just a normal piece of shit. But it was twenty percent bigger and had six turrets instead of just four so over the next week while Brutus, Ruby and Crackshot did some supply runs closer to home I set about upgrading our new transport. I removed the EM pieces from our old wagon and reassembled the turret back to it's original specs, then moved them into the new wagon. One by one I upgraded the turrets, first stripping and upgrading them to be capable of multiple ammo output. Each retained their original bullet abilities, but again I upgraded one to fire EM bursts, another with a flamethrower between the turret barrels for more close quarters work, another I fitted with a poison talisman and a tank and hose system that I filled with just simple water, any water would work with it that was the best part, ground water, rain water, radioactive sludge from a stagnant puddle, load it into the tank and the gun would fire streams of corrosive poison, maybe I'd missed my calling with weapons design...Of course I'd thought that too soon and the poison tank exploded in my face. Luckily it had been almost empty, of course I'd still woken up in the infirmary, feeling like I'd been crushed by a falling sky wagon and with a vile taste of blood and vomit still burning in my mouth. Ruby sat beside my bed asleep. It had to be late because the lights were dim and I couldn't hear much movement beyond the curtain that separated me from the rest of the room. I saw a jug of water on the side table and floated a ball of water out of it and into my mouth, swishing it around and rising my mouth out well then spitting it up into the air, catching it with my magic and putting it into the bucket beside the bed. From the look of wear on it the bucket had clearly seen a lot of action.

“Hey...” I croaked at Ruby, reaching out a hoof and nudging her gently. My voice sounded terrible.

She stirred slowly and opened her eyes. “Oh thank Celestia you're awake.” She grinned, getting up and leaning over me. “How do you feel?” She put a wing to my forehead and nodded. “Your fever has broken.”

“I feel like a million bucks.” I muttered, rolling back into place and dropping my head into the pillows again.

“That bad eh?” She sighed, leaning down and kissing my lips gently. Wow, that was love right there...I had to taste at least as bad as Crackshot right now but she just smiled and stepped back. “You blew your ass up pretty bad. Poisoned yourself even worse with that talisman.” She looked exhausted and very worried.

“Yeah, not part of the plan I swear.” I sighed, shaking my head slowly. “Rosa and Venture used to say that the project wasn't complete unless I blew something up, and myself in the process.” I smiled, trying to make her at least smile, though it didn't work. “How long have I been out?”

“Two days.” She said, sitting down again.

“Well that's not so bad, I put myself in the hospital for a month during the beginnings of the Cryo program. I had a freeze talisman burst while I was installing it in the first prototype pod, I ended up with severe frostbite on my forelegs, head and neck, almost lost one of my legs to it. But I bounced back and we got the project up and running and we might even have gotten it fully approved and funded, I haven't been able to find out everything that happened after I was frozen.”

She smiled sadly and nodded. “Well you're lucky, the doctors said if the system had been fully loaded you'd probably be dead, as it is you're only a little scarred in the face, and missing some of your coat on your neck, but your armour did a damned good job of protecting you. The doctors are going to want to keep you under observation for at least another day. They said once you wake up it was just a matter of making sure you were okay and they'd release you.”

The curtain parted and a black mare with a white mane came in quietly. “Glad to see you're awake Doctor Sugarcane. I'm Nurse Gauze, we haven't really had a chance to meet since you ran out and locked down the medical area.”

I blushed a little and looking down at my hooves. “I'm sorry about that, I just have a thing about being poked and prodded so much.”

She smiled a little and shrugged. “It's fine, no real harm done, how are you feeling?”

“Like I could take on the whole of Red Eye's army. Wanna let me outta here so I can go do just that?” I grinned, giving my best bad ass look.

She chuckled and shook her head. “Not until at least tomorrow night.” She said. “You had a whole poison weapon system explode on you, and thanks to the fact that it's YOUR proprietary design it was crazy hard to make sure you were alright when you were brought in, which was gross by the way, so much vomit and blood, half conscious, screaming and throwing yourself around. Brute Force had to carry you in a magic field until we could get you sedated.” She sneered a little and sighed. “It'll make a great weapon that's for sure.”

“I'm sorry if I made a mess or wrecked anything.” I said quietly.

“Don't worry about it, I'm a professional, if things get out of hand I have my trusty cattle prod to keep things in check.” She said.

“He will get them!” ZAP!

I shuddered as I remembered the strange half memory that had come along with the memories the Pinkie Pie statue had given me, I felt a wave of fresh nausea and fear sweep through my body, but I suppressed it and just nodded.

“I'll behave.” I said meekly, not really sure what had terrified me so badly. Ruby gave me an odd look and then turned to Gauze curiously.

“Uhh I wouldn't expect you to do otherwise Doctor Sugarcane.” Gauze said slowly as I looked back up at her, looking like a beaten foal, course given what I had to look like at the moment I had to look even more pathetic. “I didn't mean I'd use it on you, just that I've had to in the past.”

“Use it on Sugar?” Ruby asked in surprise.

“What? Who said that?” Gauze asked defensively. “I didn't mean I used it ON Doctor Sugarcane, I meant I've used it on other patients before.” She explained quickly, suddenly looking very flustered. “I have to get back to my rounds, get some sleep and we should be able to get you out of here tomorrow.” She said, hurrying out past the curtain again.

“That...was weird.” Ruby said, watching Gauze's shadow hurry down the row and out of sight.

“You're telling me.” I muttered, laying back again, still feeling weird about the whole thing.

“Don't worry.” Ruby leaned over and kissed my horn gently. “We'll get you out of here tomorrow and I'll take you home and you can have a nice long shower and I'll help you get all cleaned up and make sure you haven't suffered any serious damage.” She winked and nuzzled my cheek.

“If that was supposed to be flirtatious it kind of fell flat.” I chuckled, nuzzling her in return.

“Look I've been worried sick about you for two days, forgive me if I'm not able to make a good sexual innuendo right now.” She countered, smacking my face with a wing. “Now shut up and get some sleep.” She said, moving back to sit in the chair again and stretching out.

Despite myself I found sleep an easily reached point and was gone in a matter of minutes, of course it meant I missed it when Ruby got up and left me.

////////////

“Hey...Hey wake up Cane.” A soft husky voice whispered in my ear. I groaned and squirmed in the bed, not wanting to wake up.

“Leave me 'lone.” I muttered, turning my head and pressing into the pillows more.

“Aww come on wake up I wanna fool around a bit before work.” A muzzle pressed to my neck and nuzzled me gently. “Please...just for a few minutes?”

I groaned louder and opened my eyes, only to find a dead face right in front of me, jaw agape, tongue hanging out. I screamed and threw myself backwards, falling out of the bed and to the ground, landing hard on my back. Crackshot pulled her head back from where it had been right in front of my face as she and Brutus roared with laughter.

“Sweet Celestia's solar powered anal emissions you gave me a heart attack!” I cried, making them laugh all the harder.

“Where did you pick up language like that?” Ruby asked, coming through the curtain, a tray with four plates of food on it balanced on her wings. Brutus lifted the tray up and off her back, setting it on the bedside table while Ruby came over and helped me up and back onto the bed.

“Uhh I overheard one of the techs in the Sky Wagon bay use that one the other day and I was looking for an excuse to try it out, that seemed like the best time.” I replied, floating an apple up off the plate I assumed was mine, since I always had apples for breakfast, despite a new found love of bacon I tried not to eat it too often.

“Well it doesn't really suit you.” Crackshot said, sitting back and taking her plate, again hay with the weird green sauce.

“I gotta ask, what's the green sauce?” I asked curiously.

“Oh it's delicious.” She grinned, taking a big bite. “It's a peppermint sauce from before the war that spent 200 years absorbing radiation after the warehouse where it was kept was partially blown up by a mega spell missile. I'd offer you some but your teeth might melt.” She chuckled, taking another bite.

“Yeah I think I'll pass.” I chuckled, biting into my apple.

“So aside from the totally fucked up poison turret how far from finished are you?” Brutus asked as he munched down on his own food, again lots of bacon. “Because I don't want to have to spend a lot of time cleaning that thing out every other week unless it's to unload supplies.”

“Was the damage bad?” I asked, cringing a little at the thought.

“Nah, not that bad, some poisoned water, the deck plating is a little corroded but nothing we can't work around. The turret only burst it's casing, it can still just be shut like normal. Now how much more work?” he asked again.

“Well I wanted to automate the turrets but I need pip bucks for that unless you want to sacrifice space in the wagon to outfit a computer server that can run the software.”

“Not really no.” He said, shaking his head.

“Maybe we can find some pip bucks or something?” Ruby asked.

“They're fairly rare outside of the stables.” I explained. “The only reason I have one is because Stable-Tec gave them to my brother as a good will gesture in the hopes that he'd reciprocate when we invented something substantial.”

“We got ours from a stable out west. They decided to shut it down when their water talisman failed and everypony there moved out into the wasteland and started a town. They still used the stable for housing and such but they became a big caravan town and they came through here a few years back and we scored a dozen or so of them, but the council only lends them out to teams who need them. We're all proficient in our various weapons so we don't normally use them. I only had those because we tend to find massive databases in those old research buildings. Once they finish their decryption, if they ever finish, they go back into rotation for other teams to use.”

“Oh shit I forgot I said I'd work on the decryption, and here I am wasting my time upgrading our new ride...” I blushed a little and felt more than a little ashamed.

“Oh no no, don't even worry about it.” Crackshot said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “We're heading out on another mission in two days and we need all the extras we can get.”

“Oh good because I'm going crazy in here and I only remember a few hours of it.” I chuckled.

“Well with luck you'll be gone in a few hours, tonight at the latest.” A purple stallion unicorn said as he passed through the curtain. “Now that you've recovered and you're clearly eating I don't see much reason to keep you beyond running some tests to make one hundred percent sure the poison is totally out of your system.”

“No...fluid extraction?” I asked seriously.

“Of course not.” He said, shaking his head quickly. “I do not want to deal with the fallout of trying that again. The computer still spits out errors from time to time because of whatever you did.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” I laughed, again feeling a surge of embarrassment. “I can fix it before I leave, I promise.”

“If you could that would be great.” He nodded. “Now I'll leave you to your breakfast and I'll be back in an hour.” Then he was gone again. We just sat back for the moment and enjoyed breakfast.

////////////

Luckily for me the rest of my time in the medical bay went smoothly. They cleared me to leave and after fixing the glitch in the computer that was causing their issues I was out the door and on my way as fast as I could. I was a little disappointed that my face was a little pockmarked where the acidic poison had burned away the hair, but at least it was nothing terrible and Ruby was happy to hear that my voice wasn't going to suffer for it, which just left me feeling awkward about it again.

Ruby walked along beside me, wing wrapped around my back, keeping me close.

“The Storms left last night, I know you've basically been sleeping in the Wagon bay but your room is all yours again.” She said, heading towards the living area.

“Oh good. I just want a shower and a nap in a proper bed and then I'll finish up my work on the wagon in time for us to head out.”

“You gonna want company?” She grinned impishly.

“Uhh would you hate me if I said no?” I asked softly.

“Of course not.” She laughed, stopping in front of the door to my quarters.

“Okay, then I'll be back to work in...4 or 5 hours?” I said, looking at the clock on my pipbuck, glad to have it back on.

“Alright, I'll check up on you later, make sure you actually eat.” She smiled, leaning in and kissing me gently. “Just don't strain yourself.”

“I promise I won't strain myself.” I said, returning the kiss.

“Alright.” She turned and started down the hallway, then paused and looked back, the relief in her eyes still very clear. “I love you Cane...” She said softly.

My eyes got wide, I felt an odd swell of embarrassment, confusion, not to mention a wicked case of butterflies. My hesitation made Ruby blush furiously. “S...Sorry.” She stammered, starting off again in a rush.

“No wait!” I cried, hurrying behind her and grabbing her tail with my magic, pulling her back to me. “I love you too.” I said, grinning happily and kissing her passionately. Sure I could feel this massive swelling of guilt and some part of my heart breaking at the thought of Rosa, but a bigger part of me swelled with more happiness than I thought I'd ever feel for another mare again. “M...Maybe I could use some company...” I whispered, breaking the kiss only long enough to offer before kissing her again.

“Gross! Get a room you two!” A young buck said as he walked past, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

“Yeah I think that's a good idea.” Ruby nodded and we started back up the hall to my room.

Needless to say I didn't make it back to the Sky Wagon that night...

Footnote: 50% to next level

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

(Okay, I've bested Avatar: The Last Airbender, AND The Legend of Korra, and *shudders* The M. Night Shyamalan abomination of a live action movie...so there should be no more short term distractions, cuz I'm sure everypony was really worried about that, I'm lookin' at you Alamut :D)

Alright, so I got back to work the NEXT day. The wagon had fared well despite the ruptured turret, though some of the deck plating and parts of the wall had been covered over with reinforcement since the poison had time to eat into the metal while everypony worried about me, I was lucky, the tank had ruptured first, spraying me with mostly water that had only minimal contact with the poison talisman, and moments later, as I'd stumbled out of the wagon, the talisman compartment had burst open too as the water that had flowed into the compartment had turned poison and eaten through the casing, only to deposit it's payload into the water on the floor, which had sat for almost a full day, hence the terrible corrosion on the floor but the minimal damage to my pretty pretty self. Undeterred after the accident I threw myself back into my work, though while working on the poison turret I did so from the door of the sky wagon, using only my magic this time, and with a glass barrier between the turret and the rest of the wagon. However I didn't run into any more incidents with the poison upgrades and soon enough I moved on to a missile launcher upgrade and finally the last one I modified with pieces of the other turrets I had removed, making this one able to fire much faster, not to mention the addition of two more barrels to fire from and making the turret partially self-reparable, if certain parts of it were damaged the computer in it could cycle out the broken parts for replacements culled from the others. I liked to think that Rosa would have been proud of my work, of course if she had been here it would have been her doing the upgrades and I would probably be buried in the decryption of the server data like I kept promising, however she wasn't and so I did the best I could and I was proud of my work.

A soft whistle came from the entrance of the wagon and I pulled myself out from under the quad turret and looked up at Brutus, Concussive Blast sitting on his back, a plate of bacon and pancakes floating along in front of him and both of them with strips of the meat in their mouths. “You been in here all night?” He asked, swallowing back the bacon.

“No no,” I paused, looking at the clock on my Pipbuck, my face falling a little. “All day and night actually. I didn't realize how much time had passed.” I sighed, floating a pancake off Brutus's plate and rolling two strips of bacon into it before popping the whole thing in my mouth.

“Oh sure just help yourself.” He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. CB hopped off his back and sat on one of the benches, continuing to eat her own food.

“What with the squirt?”I asked, looking from the green filly to Brutus.

“She's coming with us on our next scavenging run. Gotta get that cutie mark sometime.” Brutus explained.

CB nodded and burped into her hooves, at least it wasn't the echoing kind she'd managed the first time.

“I got 40 caps says I get a gun.” She said.

“And I put down 200 it's a screw driver or bobby pin or something. CB is a pro lock picker.”

“You place bets on cutie marks?” I asked in amazement.

“Yeah everypony gets them eventually, why not make it more fun?”

“When I was little you had a PARTY to celebrate your cutie mark.” I said flatly.

“Oh I still get a Cute-ceanera. But where's the fun in just a party when you could make some cold hard caps?”

“Odds are better the more specific I am?” I asked, looking at Brutus who nodded. “Alright, I got 50 caps says she gets a rainbow.”

CB gasped. “GROSS!” She faked an elaborate swoon and fell to the floor of the wagon. “Could you IMAGINE?” She cried, looking up at Brutus and grinning.

Brutus smirked and rolled his eyes. “Get up squirt, we gotta go get you ready. Cane you about done with the upgrades? I wanna head out as soon as possible and get back before night fall.” He said, ushering the little filly out of the wagon for the time being, pausing only to wait for my reply.

“Yeah I'm almost done, we can head out whenever and I can get the last of the work done on the turrets while we're in the air if I have to.” I said, rolling back under the quad turret and got back to work.

“Alright good.” He said, and was gone from sight. I was only alone for an hour or so before I was again broken out of my focused work by the sound of Ruby landing out front of the Wagon, laughing at Crackshot, who was right behind her, for having beaten the ghoul to the Wagon.

I crawled out from under the turret again and was about to greet the two mares when I found a ruby red rump dropped onto my chest. “What's up chicken butt?” Ruby asked, leaning back on my chest and kissing my cheek.

“Can't...breathe...” I wheezed, her prompt posterior planting had knocked the wind out of me.

“Bet that's not the first time he's said that to you.” Crackshot laughed.

“Are you calling me FAT?!” Ruby asked indignantly, shifting her bony butt back and forth, a loud CRACK from my ribcage finally making her jump up. “Oops...” She grinned sheepishly.

“Yeah oops.” I groaned, rubbing my chest with my forelegs. Whatever she had done hadn't actually caused any harm from what I could tell, and my Pipbuck supported this fact.

“Well clearly you're a little chunkier than you should be if you're crushing the poor buck's chest like that.” Crackshot teased. “You need a healing potion?” She asked me, barely managing to keep the grin out of her face.

“Nah I should be fine.” I said, putting a lot of strain into my voice and wheezing a little, which just made Ruby look all the more chagrined.

“What the hay are you three doing?” Brutus asked as he came into the Wagon, followed closely by a very heavily armoured CB.

“Wow she's got better armour than I do.” I said. “Assuming that's still CB in there and not a robotic stand in.”

“The only stand in is gonna be you! Standing in a PUDDLE of your own urine when you see how amazing I am.” CB replied angrily from behind the armoured helmet.

Brutus laughed. “She's gonna fit in perfectly isn't she?” He asked, tugging her helmet off for the time being. “Might as well get comfy, we're flying to an old grocery store a few miles north.”

“Perfect I'm almost done the modifications to the last turret.” I said, shifting to slide back under the machine.

“Why's this one taken so much longer?” Crackshot asked, Ruby moving to the cockpit and strapping herself in before signaling we were ready to launch, the massive doors overhead starting to groan and slide open before we started up and into the early afternoon sky...

“This one I put a little more effort into than the others. The others I modified to have secondary weapons. Flamethrowers, poison throwers, a missile launcher, EMP rounds. But this one I'm just increasing the abilities of the turret itself, four barrels instead of two, basic self repair functionality, it needed to have a lot more work done inside to add in the two extra barrels and link them into the ammo feed, and since I don't have any pipbucks OR a repair talisman I had to install a computer and write the software for the turret to self repair, I also managed to make it the only turret that can target and fire on it's own, though it needs to be fed the targeting parameters for each engagement so that they can distinguish between us and the enemies it's supposed to shoot, it's called an IFF system...”

“That means 'Identify Friend/Foe system.' All the robots have them.” CB interrupted, grinning at her knowledge.

“Yes it does.” I said, nodding to her before I turned back to Brutus and Crackshot. “I have all of us permanently programmed into the system.” I paused and looked at CB for a moment, then turned back to the turret and slid open a panel, revealing the screen and keyboard of the computer inside. I typed away for a few minutes. “Okay CB is added too.” I nodded.

“Just make sure you're totally finished.” Brutus said, turning to CB. “And you, my little pony, have homework you're still expected to do.” He said, floating a book and pencil from his saddlebags and setting them down in front of the filly. “You're on your first scavenging mission, you're expected to keep a journal and write a report on the whole experience, even if you don't get your cutie mark from it.”

“Augh! Come on Brutus.” The little green unicorn whined. “I'm so excited, I don't wanna be writing the whole time, what if I miss the action?”

“You won't miss any action. We're going to a grocery store to look for supplies, we shouldn't find any problems, maybe some bloatsprites and radroaches for you to take some shots at if you're lucky, but other than that there won't be much.”

Oh how wrong he was...

////////////

“STAY DOWN SQUIRT!” Brutus yelled at CB as bullets pinged off the side of the shelf we'd ducked behind. We'd arrived at the grocery store no problem, landed on the roof and made our way into the main area of the store, and found it was occupied by a group of about twelve to fifteen raiders, my pipbuck unfortunately unable to differentiate between a raider and a radroach we had still approached with caution, only to find that they had rigged the stairs to the roof with a trip wire, which CB had stumbled over, that caused a satchel of grenades attached to the roof to unhook and fall, their pins pulling at the same time and falling to the floor, the blast only kept from tearing us apart by Brutus's quick reaction speed, wrapping them in a force field and pushing them further from us, though the blast had still roused the raiders below and we'd had to make a mad dash down an aisle for cover.

CB was pressed against the shelf between Brutus and I, huddled as close to me as she could get without pushing me right over, her head pressed as far down into my side as she could manage. Crackshot had taken up a spot on a pile of crates and was doing her best to try and pick off targets with her Recharger Rifle, but they hid very well. Ruby was circling back and forth rapidly along the roof, calling out targets to Crackshot, dodging and ducking up and down as fast as she could, avoiding the attempted shots of the raiders. I had Ebony and Ivory in the air above my head, firing half blindly, able only to use my EFS to get an approximation of where the raiders were positioned, Ruby's positioning only helping slightly for me, and though Brutus and Crackshot managed to hit some of the raiders they got reinforcements from the front of the store, sentries in the parking lot joining the fray. I saw a protectapony sitting in a charging bay behind the front desk and I'd seen three or four more around the perimeter of the store, towards the end of the war most major chain stores had robotic sentry defenses.

“If we can get to the terminal I can turn on the store security system and toast these guys!” I yelled to Brutus as an explosion blew out a chunk of floor beside Crackshot, sending her tumbling down off her perch. Amazingly CB threw herself across the floor and caught Crackshot before she could hit the ground, half using her body, half using magic.

Crackshot twisted herself upright and sighed deeply. “Thanks squirt, I owe you one.” She said.

In a mad dash we made our way to the counter and dove behind it. Crackshot and Brutus covered me as I crawled over to the computer console, pulling the keyboard down to type on it from the floor. “Wanna take a crack at picking that?” I asked CB, gesturing to locked security cabinet.

“Is now really the time for that?” CB asked in shock.

“Hey you never know, you might find the codes to the computer terminal before I can hack into it, it's faster to try both.” I explained, already typing furiously on the keyboard. CB set to work on the locked cabinet as fast as she could.

“Got it!” We cried in unison a moment later, the boot up for the protectaponies appearing as the cabinet swung open in CB's magical grasp.

“What the what?” She sighed. “There's just caps and some grenades.” She floated them out, there were 6 grenades, one of each kind of grenade, there weren't even shelves in the thing, just these items sitting on the floor of the big metal box.

“Take em and throw em that way!” Crackshot yelled, gesturing towards the shelves.

CB levitated the grenades and pulled the pins from them one at a time quickly and threw them all at once. They scattered around the approximate location of the raiders and, with only a moments hesitation between each, went off. A burst of blue electo magnetic energy, which made me glad I hadn't started the protectaponies yet, then a blast of green plasma, a ball of fire, the flash and BANG of the aptly named flash bang, and surprisingly a flash of bright red as what looked like a wave of laser energy lanced out. Amazingly my EFS indicated she had only gotten two of the raiders, the yells of rage telling the rest of my group just that.

Ruby cried out from above, a net fired from below wrapping around her, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“NO!” I yelled, watching her fall, the red indicators on my EFS closing in on her quickly. I ran to try and help her but Brutus grabbed me by the tail in a magic field and pulled me back. “Don't you dare.” He snapped. “We're not giving them two hostages.”

“I have to help her!”

“And you will, just stay down and shut up and we'll get out of this!”

The raiders stopped firing and Brutus chanced a glance above the counter. Three of the raiders were coming towards us, Ruby, still in the net, wrapped in a light blue magic field of the lead unicorn. “Here's the deal. You active the robots for us so we can have automated defenses and we let your mare friend here go.”

“Fuck off!” Brutus retorted. “You kill us the second we activate the system.”

“That's a chance you just have to take.” The pegasus laughed.

“No, here's the deal.” I called out, making Brutus glare at me but I just glared back before I stood up. “You let my friends go, Ruby included.” I gestured to her. “Once they're in the sky wagon and away I'll activate the protectaponies for you. Disagree and I will activate their self destruct and level this whole building. According to the computer there's two dozen of these robots around the building, that's more than enough to blow out the walls and bring the whole place down.”

“You're bluffing!” The pegasus called back, though there was a barely concealed look of amazement in his eyes, probably that I was even entertaining his request.

“Try me. You'd be amazed what you'll do for love.” This earned more shocked looks from my friends than from the raiders. “I don't even have to MOVE from this spot, my magic hits the button and we're all toast.”

I glared coldly at the unicorn leader, managing to keep my face set firmly. He stared back for a minute before his resolve finally faltered. “Fine...let em go.” He said, lowering the net holding Ruby and releasing her. She leaped over to us and tackled me.

“You're not allowed to throw your life away for me!” She snaps, slapping me hard across the face with a wing, tears brimming in her eyes.

“I'm not throwing anything away I promise.” I said, rubbing my cheek. “Grab one of those blank memory orbs from under the counter.” I gestured to the box and Brutus complied, floating it up and out to me. “Hold this.” I held out the keyboard and he took it. “If they try anything just press the F4 button.” I told him, gesturing to it with my horn. He nodded and turned back to the raiders. I held the orb to my horn, quickly filling it, it only took a few moments, before pulling back again and passing it back to Brutus and taking back the keyboard. “Now go. Check the orb once you're gone.” I whispered to him. The raiders had all emerged from their hiding places and they cleared the way through the main aisle, the pathway to the back of the store open and ready now.

“I'm going to kill myself if you die, just so I can kick your ass all the way to the Everafter.” Ruby snapped, trying to fight back tears as she got up and started away with Brutus, CB and Crackshot.

Once they were gone, my EFS no longer registering the green marks they represented, the unicorn turned back to me. “Now, activate the robots and you can get your ass out of here.” He sneered, the look on his face and the all too ready weapons of the other ponies telling me exactly what would happen when they came online.

“You need somepony at each of the stations to boot up the individual units, this just starts the process and this one.” I gestured to the protectapony in the charging bay beside me. “The command travels to pod two and doesn't continue until pod 2 is confirmed and activated, it keeps the system from shorting out.” I explained.

He studied me for a moment then sighed and nodded. “Fine, everypony spread out, there's more robot ports then there are us so you'll just have to run between some of em.” They moved about the store quickly, positioning themselves between two terminals each so that they could move to the next as fast as possible.

“There now get it done.” The unicorn said, turning back to me again.

“Oh thank Celestia.” I sighed, shaking my head.

“For what?” He asked coldly.

“That you guys really are as stupid as you look.” I hit some buttons on the keyboard rapidly before flinging the keyboard at the unicorn, hitting the shocked stallion right in his stupid face. Before he could even react I drew Ebony and Ivory and fired at him, throwing myself backwards and using my magic to pull the cabinet CB had unlocked down on top of me, drawing the guns close as the doors of all the protectapony charge stations swung open at the same time.

“Please present employee Identification.” Echoed around the whole building from each of the robots. “Failure to produce employee identification in the next ten...” *BAM* Somepony panicked and fired, blowing up one of the protectaponies.

“Lethal force authorized.” The sound of laser weapons and grenades filled the whole area for a few minutes, interspersed with cries for help and screams of pain. Soon silence filled the whole area except for the mechanical whine of the protectaponies walking. “Area secure, commencing standard patrol routes.” I heard the robot behind the counter move off after a moment. I lifted the cabinet up and looked around slowly, grimacing at the sight of the unicorn who had moments before been holding Ruby hostage and whom I wanted to force as much harm upon as I could. Now he lay in a smoking heap, his forelegs and part of his chest blasted off, his head twisted almost completely backwards, his horn cracked and broken, held onto his head with just a sliver of bone still in place keeping it from falling away completely. I could see the green mark just above his leg where my plasma shot had hit him and liquified the muscle and bone in his leg, which had stopped him from running when the protectapony had opened fire on him. I grimaced and felt my stomach lurch hard. Quickly grabbing an empty mop bucket from the corner behind the counter I threw up violently, glad now that I had only eaten a little bit of Brutus's breakfast. I just sat and let my stomach wretch and twist at the sight and the smell of the dead raider. I hadn't liked it when we'd fought the feral ghouls, but this was even worse. These were living breathing ponies before I snuffed out their lives. And even if they were terrible ponies who deserved to be put down I didn't like the thought of being responsible, especially this unicorn in front of me, who I had personally ensured the death of. Tears welled up in my eyes and I just sat and cried into the mess in the bucket, unable to move away for fear I'd throw up again. I heard the roof door clatter open again and grabbed the pipbuck link for the computer terminal and quickly uploaded the IFF program from the Sky Wagon turret so that the protectaponies didn't fry my returning friends, then returned to my new friend the mop bucket and threw up again. Ruby was the first to reach me.

“YOU SELFISH CELESTIA DAMNED ASSHOLE!” She screamed from above, soaring down towards me. “YOU SCARED THE FUCK OUT OF ME! I DON'T CARE IF YOU DID TELL BRUTUS TO COME BACK IN THAT ORB I THOUGHT YOU WERE...” She trailed off when she realized I wasn't really listening, just crying into the bucket, the looked down at the dead raider behind her, noting the plasma damaged limb and the black gun at my side, putting the pieces together quickly. “...And you threw away the last of your innocence to protect us...oh Sugar I'm so sorry.” She said softly, coming over and sitting down beside me, wrapping a wing around me and holding me close, letting me cry into her shoulder again. It seemed to be something I did all too often. Crackshot showed up next, looked at us and then turned back again quickly.

“You two go check out the pharmacy in the back, I'll get started out here.” She said to Brutus. CB sat on his back again, but her helmet was on backwards, a hole cut in the top to allow her horn to stick out.

“I can't see anything!” She cried, flailing her forelegs in the air.

“And it's gonna STAY that way. You're too young to be seeing the state of this place.” Brutus said, tugging her helmet back down with his magic as she tried to remove it. They started for the back and once they were out of sight Crackshot came back.

“I'm sorry Cane.” Crackshot said, coming around the counter and sitting down in front of me, sliding the mop bucket aside. “You're first time is never easy, and I hate to say this, but it does get easier.” She reached out and hugged me in her forelegs. Despite the smell I had nothing left in my stomach except a little heave and that just came off as a hicough.

“I'm sure I'll be okay...” I whispered after a minute, finally moving back from both of the mare's grips and standing up slowly. Crackshot dug into her pack and pulled out a bottle of fresh water and tossed it to me. I caught it in my magic and opened it, happy to be able to wash out my mouth, spitting out the first few sips into the mop bucket before downing the rest of the bottle and putting the empty into my saddlebag so it could be reused when we got back to the base. Lifting Ebony from it's spot on the floor I aimed at the mess in the mop bucket and fired, the whole thing turning into a glowing green mess of goo. Another shot from Ivory and the mess, bucket and all, evaporated into a pile of ash. Nodding to myself I slid the pistols back into their holsters and flopped back down onto my rump, sighing deeply.

“Well that's one way to deal with the mess.” Ruby laughed softly. Crackshot chuckled a little and just nodded. I think they were both kind of unsure about what to say or do next since I still hadn't done anything else.

“Lets...get these bodies outside so that CB can help with the inventorying. Ruby maybe go take over the pharmacy scavenging for Brutus so he can come help me move bodies with his magic?” I asked.

“Sure sounds good.” She nodded, getting up and going to do just that.

“And I'll actually get to work inventorying out here.” Crackshot said.

“You know, with the protectaponies up and running now we could look at setting this place up as a storage facility or a remote base or something. It's pretty damned secure, and I could reprogram the protectaponies for caravan recognition and expand their patrol routes...” Crackshot cut me of, putting a hoof to my muzzle.

“Maybe down the road, but for now I don't think you need to start planning ANOTHER project.” She said seriously. “I have no problem with your desire to make things better for The Collective, but right now you have 5 more turrets in the sky wagon that need to be automated and you promised you'd work on the deciphering of the data Brutus brought back from your facility, not to mention your obligations to this team.”

I listened and nodded slowly after a minute. “You're right, I'm sorry, when I get upset or nervous I can bury myself in my work, I'll try and keep myself focused on the short term work.”

“Good, now lets get to work.” She said, stepping back. I stretched a little and moved out from behind the counter, steeling myself as best I could against the sight of the dead raiders. Brutus arrived a moment later.

“So we're moving em outside?” He asked.

“Yeah, if nothing else I want to cremate the remains.” I said seriously.

“Sure.” He said simply, no trace of ire or sarcasm in his voice.

Over the next half hour we rounded up the bodies of the raiders, there had been seventeen, including the four Crackshot had managed to pick off in the initial fire fight and the two CB had nailed with grenades, though nopony had had the heart to tell her she'd killed two of the raiders, I was already an emotional basket case over what I'd done and I was a grown buck with a decent amount of control over my emotions, none of us wanted to tell her and risk having her get upset and run off, or melt down, or anything like that so we just chose not to bring it up, and if she did, just to tell her that she startled them but didn't hurt anypony.

Soon we had them piled together outside and a few jets of fire from a flame thrower we'd found in a closet in the old security room and the whole pile was alight in a massive funeral pyre. I watched it for a while, Brutus and Crackshot had gone back inside to help Ruby and CB with the inventorying and packing of the supplies we wanted to take back first. I found I was unable to tear myself away from the sight, my stomach still churning, but nothing more to come up for it.

“It's good to see somepony still mourning the deaths of others, even if they were fallen enemies.” I jumped and turned to see a spritebot floating beside me.

“Dammit Watcher, don't sneak up on me like that, I don't have enough energy left in me to deal with a bad shock to my system.”

“Sorry about that. I just wanted to thank you for the other day. Helping that caravan I mean.”

“You knew they were gonna come under attack?” I asked, looking over at the floating bot which just bobbed in the air silently. “I can't see you shaking or nodding your head you know.”

“Oh right, yeah sorry, I did know they would get attacked. There's an old abandoned subway station that seems to be a ghoul nest. I saw the ghouls coming out from there and started stalking the caravan. I would have warned them but they didn't have a chance of reaching the base before being overtaken, so I went looking for reinforcements instead.”

“Why not just TELL me they were in trouble. They had foals with them, what if we hadn't gotten there in time?” I asked, fighting to suppress the building anger I felt.

“What if you hadn't gone to help them? I couldn't risk you not going.”

“I'm not in charge of anything you know. If Brute Force had said no, we would have gone back to the base no questions asked. If I'd gone back and said 'somepony is in trouble we need to go help' it would have been a full tilt dash to help them. Keeping the whole truth from me made matters worse for those ponies. From now on you want my help you tell me everything or I'm out.” I said, looking at the spritebot seriously. “I will make it my mission to reprogram every spritebot I come across to transmit your location to me whenever you link into one of them and I will find you and kick your pony ass from your base to mine, got it?”

He was silent for a minute and I thought maybe he'd broken contact, but last time he'd done that the bot had switched back to music and floated off. “I swear I will.” He answered finally.

“Pinkie Pie swear?” I asked, suddenly realizing the fact he'd have no clue what I was talking about.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He replied, which surprised me.

“You're a ghoul? I wouldn't expect anypony nowadays to know how to pinkie pie swear.”

“I'm something like that yeah. Now that that's out of the way, I was hoping I could ask you another favor?” He asked, the hesitation all too obvious even with the robotic voice.

“Which is what?” I looked back to the pyre and let the anger I'd felt melt back into the weird hollow sadness that had been there first.

“Can you go to that subway station and clear it out? It would make one of your main trade routes a lot safer and everypony would appreciate it. I don't know why The Collective hasn't done that yet.”

“I'll see what we can do about it.” I said simply, not really sure what else I could say. It was Brutus' decision in the end so we'd see what happened.

With a burst of static the drone of the parasprite polka replaced his voice and again the robot was off on it's own aimless path.

“Hey, we got work to do in here.” Brutus called. “I know you're upset and all but you gotta come help, there's a ton of stuff to load up and take back.”

“Yeah I'm coming.” I said quickly, watching the spritebot for a moment before moving off from the pyre to go back inside.

//////////

Three hours later we were fully loaded and heading back. Rather than trying to do more work on the turrets I just settled into a bench and worked on the automation system on my pipbuck. CB settled down beside me, helmet happily discarded, writing about the amazing fight against the raiders and how she had gotten to throw grenades. Soon enough though the little filly was cuddled up against my side sound asleep.

“Long day for such a little thing.” Crackshot said, coming from the cockpit and sitting on the bench opposite us.

“Long day for all of us I think.” I said, CB snuggling her head into my mane and sighing contently.

“Well we all made it out alive and we got some serious supplies to bring back and that's what matters in the end, and you seem to have made a new friend out of the process.” She chuckled.

“Yeah I think when you're huddled against somepony for dear life you tend to find yourself much more comfortable with said pony going forward. Friendship under fire or something like that.”

“Well she held up amazingly well considering how insane things got.”

“Yeah she did a good job alright.” I nodded.

“We'll be landing soon.” Brutus said, coming back from the cockpit himself. He looked at CB and smiled. “Good to know she'll have other ponies she'll bug besides me down the road.” He comes over and leans down beside her and licks up the side of her face. “Time to wake up little one.”

“Aww Brutus gross!” She whines, turning and wiping her face on my neck.

“Hey! I don't want his slobber all over me!” I cried, pulling away quickly. CB shifted to try and get away from Brutus but he wrapped a foreleg around her as soon as I moved away and he slid her to the edge, dumping her to the floor, Crackshot fighting hard to keep from breaking into a fit of laughter at the whole process.

“COME ON!” She yelled, rolling over and getting back up to her feet and glaring death at the orange unicorn.

“We're almost home, your momma is gonna be waiting for us and I'm not carrying you out while you sleep, you're a big girl now you can walk under your own power and I don't want her thinking you died while we were gone if she sees us carrying you out.”

“Jerk.” She pouts, moving to the back of the wagon and sitting on another bench, leaning against the wall and keeping an eye on him.

“I coulda done without getting second-hoof licked by you.” I said flatly.

Brutus just laughed and shrugged. “How was I supposed to know she'd do that?”

“Maybe you could have nudged her or poked her or even started talking loudly.” I replied, trying to rub my neck against my barding.

“Coulda, but where's the fun in that?” He countered. We came into view of the base and the massive doors groaned open as we descended, landing in our new berth, a handful of works rushing up to meet us and unload our supplies, Explosive Blast hanging back from the rest while we unloaded, though there was some obvious concern on her face as we disembarked.

“MOM! MOM! You shoulda seen! It was SO COOL!” The green filly darted out between the workers and slid to a stop in front of her mother. “We got attacked by raiders and we had to fight them and I found these grenades and I got to throw them and they went BOOM! BAM! BANG!” She danced back and fourth, making balls of light with her horn and making them pop with each sound effect. “And then Cane made us leave and he stayed with the raiders and turned on their robots but when we came back the raiders were gone and all the robots had turned on and then Ruby said that Cane threw up, which is totally gross, but I didn't see it so I don't care.”

She finally stopped for a breath and EB took the chance to put a hoof to her daughter's lips. “That's all great, but it's very late and you need to get to bed young lady, we can talk about this in the morning alright?”

“Aww but Mom! I slept on the way back! I wanna stay up and go to the bar with the rest of the team!” CB whined, stamping her hooves.

“I promise we're not going to the bar tonight CB.” Ruby said, yawning and leaning against me as we came down the ramp of the wagon. “I've been flying for a long time and I'm very very tired. We'll all go for breakfast tomorrow okay?” She asked, looking more at EB for approval.

“I think that sounds like a great idea.” The earth pony said, nodding and looking back to CB. “Now lets get you home to bed alright?”

The little filly slumped in defeat and nodded. “Fine, lets go.” She said, falling into line with her mother and starting out of the loading bay.

“Wow, children can pull off heartbroken like nopony else eh?” Ruby asked, watching the other two leave.

“I know, they are master manipulators.” I laughed.

“Alright, time for bed.” Crackshot said, coming up behind us and nudging between the two of us. “Can I have a goodnight kiss?” She asked me, batting what was left of her eyelashes at me.

“I'm gonna pass this time.” I said. “We promised CB we wouldn't go to the bar tonight and I don't wanna have to go there to burn my mouth clean.”

“There's bleach in all the supply closets.” Brutus offered, moving away from the unloaders.

“Ooo that might work.” I rolled my eyes and turned to Ruby. “Bed now?”

“Bed now.” She nodded and we started off.

“So Ruby, can I ask you a personal question?” I asked once we were out of the loading bay and into the relatively empty hallways.

“Sure.” She smiled up at me, slowing a little as we walked.

“Well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to...” I stammered, blushing a little.

“What?” She asked, looking at me in amazement. “I can't imagine what you could possibly ask that would require so much worry in your pretty face.”

I blushed even worse and simply blurted “What was your cutie mark?” I let out a deep breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and stopped, looking down at the ground.

“Ahh.” She said simply, drawing to a stop in front of me. She lifted my head with a wing and smiled warmly. “It was a scarab beetle.” She gestured to the dashite mark on her flank. “You can still see part of the antenna and the carapace in the middle.” And she was right, when I looked I could still make it out pretty clearly. “I wanted to be an archeologist or a paleontologist, I love history, especially mythology and ancient civilizations. Probably a big part of the reason I like YOU so much.” She giggled. “You're living history.”

“Really? I wouldn't have pegged you as a history buff.” I chuckled as we started down the hall again.

“Oh yeah, anything and everything I could read. Zebra star stories, mythical creatures like Harpies and Humans and Jabberwocks, not to mention the belief that there weren't always unicorns and pegasi...”

“I haven't heard that one.” I interrupted, of course, I didn't know a lot about ancient history so I only had vague knowledge of any of it from movies and comics and most of it was glamorized.

“Yeah it's the belief that originally we were all Earth Ponies, families specializing in different things, farming, crafting, building, science, and the magic was more of a general thing that all ponies used to make themselves better at their jobs.” She explained. “And over the generations the ponies who specialized in science and studying the magic and how it works developed horns as a focal point for their magic and soon enough they learned how to wield it like you can today. Starswirl The Bearded might have pioneered most of the magic we know these days but a lot of it goes all the way back to original unicorns and just experimenting.”

“And pegasi?” I asked, pausing to open the door to my quarters, letting her in and following behind, closing and locking the door with my magic.

“Their story doesn't come from the same place, but it's said that the first flyer was a young stallion, madly in love with a mare from a rival village. One tribe were the Peg and the other were the Asus. They were never allowed to be together and a massive canyon divided the two villages so they couldn't easily sneak away. Every night he'd pray to Celestia for help and every morning he woke and found nothing had changed. But finally one morning he woke with an inspiration. He made wings, out of cloth and pieces of wood and made a harness that flapped the wings as he pumped his forelegs. After building it in secret and testing to make sure it worked he sent a messenger pigeon to his beloved to tell her that he was coming that night to rescue her. He flew out across the canyon in the dead of night and the two met at the appointed time and place and he took her up on his back and they started off. But a terrible storm had been brewing that evening and it started to get horribly windy, but being so young and reckless and desperate to get away they risked the weather and set off. But no sooner had they started over the canyon than a gust of wind tore one of his wings and they hurtled down into the canyon, dashed on the rocks at the bottom. In the morning the two villages saw what had happened and all were moved to tears by the tragedy and cried out to Celestia for help, and though she could do nothing for the lost lovers she gave the ponies of the two villages wings so they could fly down and get the bodies from the canyon, and to allow them to travel between the two villages with ease, allowing them to trade and become allies and friends, mastering flight and soon enough they were intermarrying and the two villages became one. They called out to Celestia once again, asking her how they could ever thank her for uniting their once fractured lives, and so she asked them to stand as the guardians of the clouds, to make sure all of Equstria got the water it needed for crops and plants and animals, and that no wild storm as had taken the lovers would ever come again. They agreed and Celestia took up the village and turned it into a massive cloud, creating the city of Cloudsdayle and officially entrusting the clouds to the Pegasi.” She finally finished. By now we were settled into bed and she was resting her head against my neck, eyes closed and already half asleep.

“Wow...that's...amazing.” I said slowly, trying to take the whole story in.

“Mmhm. Sleep now.” She said, pressing closer and going quiet.

“M'kay.” I replied, settling in and going to sleep myself.

//////////

“WAKE UP!” A young voice bellowed and I suddenly found myself robbed of my blissful sleep as a green blur leapt to the bed and crashed down on top of me. “LOOKLOOKLOOKLOOKLOOK!” CB rolled back and fourth between me and Ruby. Brutus stood in the doorway grinning silently. I grabbed the filly in my magic and lifted her up into the air, setting her down on the floor beside the bed.

Ruby groaned and rolled onto her side, propping herself up on my chest and looking down at the CB. “What do you want squirt?” She asked, sounding just as annoyed as I felt.

“LOOK!” She twisted and showed us her flank, a cutie mark now adorned her side, what looked like a Zap Apple with rainbow waves of color coming off of it, of course we all knew it was a grenade and explosive fire but even still...

“That means I won!” I shot up in the bed and Brutus finally laughed. “Yeah you did.” He floats a bag into the air and tosses it across to me. “5000 caps you won.”

“Really? The odds were a hundred to one she'd get a rainbow?”

“Things like rainbows don't pop up in cutie marks very often anymore, so the odds weren't exactly in your favor.” Brutus sighed. CB was still dancing back and fourth excitedly on the floor.

“Hey how did you even get in here?” I asked after a moment of watching the excited filly dancing.

“Uhh did you miss the part where I'm really good with lock picking?” She asked, looking at me like I was the biggest moron in the world.

“Oh of course, how could I forget?” I sighed, rubbing my face with my fore hooves and slid out of bed slowly. “It's not even 9AM yet!” I groaned, looking at the clock on my pipbuck.

“So what? Breakfast now!” CB said, hurrying back to the door to stand with Brutus, who again just grinned.

Ruby groaned and flopped back on the bed, covering her face with her wings. “Maybe I don't want kids yet.”

“I'm feeling that too.” I nodded. “We'll catch up.” I said to them, closing the door quickly before they could protest, then I slid the couch in front of it to keep CB from just opening it again.

“But just look at all the money you made off of it.” Ruby said, poking through the bag Brutus had given me. “Maybe you could look at getting a certain mare something nice.” She said casually, batting her eyes at me.

“You're right, I should give some of it to Explosive Blast to put towards CB's education in explosives and demolition.” I said, scooping the bag of caps up off the bed and floating it into my wall safe, closing and locking it.

“Uhh not what I meant.” Ruby said bitterly, rolling off the bed and moving to the bathroom door, closing it in my face.

“Alright so that wasn't funny I guess.” I muttered to myself, waiting for her to finish.

////////////

We arrived 40 or so minutes later, Crackshot, Brutus and EB were all sitting at a table talking, CB was racing around the bar like a chicken with it's head cut off, showing her cutie mark to everypony that would listen, and most who wouldn't. The ponies that lived and worked here seemed genuinely excited for her, some that I recognized from caravans were polite enough to fake their interest, and the ponies that I had no clue seemed smart enough to at least acknowledge the filly so as to not upset her and risk upsetting the wide range of friends and companions she had on the base. When she saw Ruby and I arrive she squeed and tore away from the group she'd been harassing and raced up to us, the table she'd just left looking very grateful that she was somepony else's problem now.

“What took you two so long?!” She demanded, racing around us and sliding to a stop in front of us again and falling into place beside us as we walked to the table.

“When you're an adult you want to make sure you shower every day so that you don't start to stink.” I said simply, sitting down beside Brutus, Ruby sitting beside me and CB taking the empty seat between her mother and Crackshot.

“Yeah that's what it is.” Crackshot said with a knowing smirk. “A nice long shower is just what two adults need.”

Ruby just rolled her eyes and grumbled to herself.

“I got in trouble for making a joke about how I was going to spend my winnings.” I explained. “Somepony wasn't too impressed with it and decided she'd just hole up in the bathroom for half an hour 'getting ready' to go for breakfast.”

“Ooo somepony got in trouble.” CB said in a little singsong voice, giggling and rocking in her chair. “You're supposed to spend your money on your very special somepony and then on yourself.” She informed me. “You shouldn't be greedy.”

“And I'll remember that for next time.” I said to the green filly.

“Brutus and Crackshot were just finishing telling me about your mission.” EB said. “It was incredibly brave of you to risk you life like that to save everypony else on the team.”

“It's no less than they would have done for me.” I replied quickly, again blushing and deflecting a simple compliment.

“Don't be so sure of that. I talked to some caravaneers about it, seems the raiders in the grocery store were just following a pattern. If they manage to capture and or corner a group stupid enough to sneak onto their turf, they'd do the same thing. Demand they reactivate the robots and when they can't, gun em all down. I don't think they actually expected to have somepony who was able to do it.” EB explained. “I guess only a few ponies before you were able to get out of it with the help of some serious firepower and started getting the word out.”

“And we didn't know because...?” Brutus asked.

“It's new news. Only started hearing about it in the last few days, and they didn't have specifics, it was just a rumor of a rumor from a pony who heard it from a pony who heard it from a pony.”

“Well at least it was nipped in the bud.” Crackshot said.

“So, somepony finally got their cutie mark.” The bartender said, coming up to the table to take our order. I still wasn't sure why the bartender doubled as the waiter, but who was I to complain?

“Yeah I did! It's a Zap Apple!” She said proudly, hopping up on the chair and showing him.

“That's great little one, now what do you want for breakfast?”

“Bacon and pancakes!” She said without a moments hesitation. EB glared at her and started to protest but was cut off by CB. “Mom...” She said simply, gesturing to her cutie mark with her horn and EB just sighed and nodded.

“I'll have the same.” Brutus said.

“The usual.” Crackshot said.

“Pancakes and apples.” I said

“Same.” Ruby said and the bartender was off again.

“So what do you have planned for your next mission?” EB asked Brutus.

“We don't have anything just yet, I was thinking it might be good to give Cane some downtime to work on the computer encryption, we're obviously getting nowhere with it, it's been almost a month and we've come up totally empty except for old lunch menus.”

“Uhh I might have something.” I said.

“Oh?” Brutus looked over at me curiously. “And that would be?”

“Well I've been looking at the ghoul attacks that seem to happen so often when caravans come in from the northern highway, I think they're coming from an old subway station that's out that way. I think we should go out there and take a look. If that proves to be the case we can clear out the ghouls in there and make the path here that much safer for caravans. If I'm wrong we might find some good loot down there, and I promise no matter what we find I'll give the decryption program my full attention as of the start of next week.”

“Fair enough.” EB nodded. “Brutus what do you think?”

“I think it sounds like a plan.” He said, smiling at me for a moment before turning back to her. “We'll head out first thing tomorrow.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan. If you want to take any of the guards?” She asks.

“Nah we'll fair fine on our own.” Crackshot said. “We're way better as a small team than with too many ponies running around causing noise to draw the ferals, and I'm a ghoul too so I have the benefit of them NOT trying to eat my face.” She grinned.

“That you do, course it might be an improvement in your case.” I said, rolling my eyes as the bartender returned with a tray of plates balanced on his back. Everypony looked kind of horrified but Crackshot broke in a fit of laughter that startled the bartender, spilling the plates all over the floor, which just made everypony else crack up.

Footnote: Level up, companion level up (Concussive Blast)

Perk added: (Sugarcane): Robotics Expert: With the Robotics Expert perk, you do an additional 25% damage to any robot. Also, sneaking up on a hostile robot undetected and activating it will put the robot into a permanent shutdown state.

(Concussive Blast): Explosive Expert: You are an expert when it comes to the fine art of handling explosives. They always go off when they're supposed to, as well as causing extra damage.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

“But Bruuutuuussss!” CB whined as we prepped the Sky Wagon to leave the next day. She was standing outside the ramp, again dressed in her armoured suit, having arrived with the expectation that she was coming with us, which Brutus was having none of, seeing as this was more a combat mission and not a simple scavenging mission.

“But nothing pipsqueak, you still have school to do, you don't get to be on the team until you finish school. Your cutie mark trip is an exception.”

“But other ponies get like a whole week!”

“But other ponies don't normally get their cutie mark on their first trip out either, and they still go to school in between trips.”

“But that's not fair!” She cried.

“But life isn't fair.” Brutus countered.

“But...but...” CB whimpered, knowing she'd lost the fight.

“Seriously you two have 'but' on the brain don't you?” I asked, coming back out of the wagon after securing some medical supplies. Since this wasn't technically a scavenging mission we were only taking a few crates, mostly we had ammo and meds. “I can understand Brutus's love of butt, however you are too young to worry about that yet, and seriously if you keep it up, you'll end up with butthurt.” I said to CB, earning a dirty look from Brutus and a very confused look from the green filly, and a laugh from Ruby and Crackshot inside the sky wagon.

“What's butthurt?” CB asked, looking worried.

“It is the worst possible thing!” I said seriously. “Now you go back home and get changed for school.” I said to her. She finally caved and nodded.

“Fine I'll go to school, but I'm not changing!” She turned and stormed off. I watched the little green indicator on my EFS, it shifted back as though to head towards the doors, but then diverted to the right quickly, the doors not opening first to show she had left. I followed the green indicator as it moved around the outside of the hanger and slowly moved towards us again. I walked around the sky wagon just in time to see a yellow tail vanish underneath it. I leaned down and cleared my throat loudly, grabbing CB in my magic and sliding her back out from under the wagon.

She smiled sheepishly. “Can't blame a filly for trying?” She asked.

I kept my face neutral as I carried her to the doors and deposited her in the hallway. “I can see you.” I said, pointing to my pipbuck.

“Oh yeah, that Eyes Forward thingy.” She grumbles.

“Now...class, march.” I said, pointing down the hall and watching her go until she vanished around the corner.

I moved back into the hanger and looked to the guard sitting in the little booth.

“She comes back tell her you're calling her mom on her would ya?”

The guard laughed and nodded. “Poor thing, so excited and stuck going to school.”

“Well it's important, especially in this day and age.”

“True enough. Don't worry she won't get past me.” The guard said. He came out and pressed a button beside the door and a green light blinked on above the door.

“Now...” He opened the door and it chimeed loudly. “No sneaking.” He smiled.

“Perfect, thanks.” I said, heading back to the sky wagon.

“That's not funny.” Brutus said.

“What's not funny?” I asked nonchalantly, levitating my saddlebags over my back, my pipbuck chirping as it added the contents to the inventory screen. “You're the one who wanted her going to school first, and I completely agree, for one thing this isn't a mission for somepony so young to come on, and for another I of all ponies agree with you that school is more important. If it weren't for the years I spent in school I wouldn't have anywhere near the knowledge and skills I have, not to mention I'd have never met Rosa and I would probably have been working at a fast food joint when the bombs fell.”

“I meant the gay jokes.” He said flatly.

“What gay jokes? You have a thing for butts. I also have a thing for butts. Have you seen Ruby's butt? I could look at it all day!” I said just in time for the red mare to emerge from inside the sky wagon.

“I feel that I've walked into the wrong part of this conversation.”

“Brutus thinks I was making gay jokes because I said he likes butts, however I was just saying that I also liked butts and I used yours as my primary example. As it happens to be my favorite.” I grinned.

“Oh well when you put it like that.” She rolled her eyes and I got a face full of wing and then she was heading back into the sky wagon.

“Seriously you three, it's like dealing with a bunch of foals.” Crackshot said, leaning out of the door to the sky wagon.

“You're older than all of us put together, we ARE a bunch of foals compared to you.”

“Speak for yourself. I'll have you know that I'm actually only 5 years younger than Crackshot.” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah so there.” Crackshot added.

“Now who's acting like a foal?” Ruby asked, smirking a little and moving inside. “Now can we get going? We're burning daylight.”

Brutus and I finished loading the last few supplies and soon enough we were on our way. Ruby had installed a radio in the cockpit so we now had music playing while we flew, really helped break up the silence. I was sitting in the space between the pilot and co-pilot harnesses, listening to two beautiful mare voices singing about the mysteries of life. I discovered that my pipbuck, while great with the data storage and project building and computer coding, the radio card was fairly simplistic and had to be tuned manually, which was why I'd never found any radio stations. I poked through the airwaves and found a couple stations, though most of the dial was static, though it also had a transmitter, which was apparently a rare thing for a pipbuck according to Brutus, though it made sense, my pipbuck was supposed to be for research so it stood to reason that the transmitter could be used to communicate with somepony else quickly about a discovery, or a need to call for supplies or help.

“And that was Sweetie Belle and Sapphire Shores singing 'There Must be More to Life Than This.' Again huge thanks to my special benefactors the Stable Dweller and her Toaster Repairpony for bringing me these. How about a little more Sapphire Shores? I thought you'd say that.” The announcer said happily before another song started.

“See? DJ Pon3 is a Buck.” Ruby said, turning to look at me.

“Really? That's DJ Pon3?” I asked, looking at the radio. “I must be an inherited title or something because he doesn't sound like a ghoul, and I met Vinyl Scratch. We were thinking about having her DJ our wedding reme...” I trailed off as I looked up at Ruby and blushed. “S...sorry. Rosa and I were thinking about it.” I said softly.

“S'okay, don't beat yourself up over it.” Ruby said simply, turning back to look outside, though I had the feeling she was probably more hurt by the statement than she let on.

“So who's this 'Stable Dweller' he was talking about?” I asked, figuring maybe it was somepony else like Mare-Do-Well and wanting desperately to change the subject.

“Not really sure. She's a pony from a Stable, hence the name, she's been going all over the Wasteland, fighting slavers and righting wrongs and triumphing over evil. She's some kind of one pony wrecking ball for justice.” Brutus said excitedly.

“Yeah she's something else. Supposedly she dropped a whole train car on one of those Celestia damned alicorn monsters.” I was still unclear on these 'monster alicorns' but I figured I'd tackle one subject at a time, and since I had never really thought to ask about the alicorns before and nopony had volunteered the information I figured it couldn't be THAT important.

“That's amazing.” I said after a moment. “I can only lift about 300 pounds in my magic, forget a whole train car.”

“I can manage 400.” Brutus smirked.

“Hey now boys it's not a who's bigger contest.” Ruby said. “Besides I can pull this whole Sky Wagon, while it's fully loaded, with magic.” She laughed.

“She's got us there.” Brutus sighed.

“Yeah she does, but that's fine.” I shrugged. I moved to the window and looked out at the horizon. “What's that?” I asked, smoke was rising from beyond some hills a short distance away.

“Not sure...big fire maybe?” Crackshot asked, looking through one of the other turret slats beside me.

“This just in my little ponies.” Pon3 said, coming back as the song faded out. “It seems the town of Clopton has gone silent. If anypony out there is close by could you go and check it out and let old DJ Pon3 know what's what? Thanks, now back to the music.” Another song started but we were otherwise occupied now.

“Alright so I'm guessing that's Clopton?” I asked, point towards the smoke. Crackshot pulled out a map of the area and laid it out quickly on the floor.

“Eeyup.” She sighed a minute later, looking up at us sadly. “We gotta go don't we?” she asked hopefully.

“Of course we do!” I said, then paused and looked back at Brutus. “Don't we?”

“Of course we do!” He said. “Like it's even a question. Feral ghouls be damned, they'll keep for another day, we gotta go see what happened and help anypony we might be able to.”

So with that we were off.

//////////

“Oh sweet Celestia...” Brutus said softly as we came down and landed. The whole town was scorched. Most of the buildings were burnt to the ground, burned bodies littered the streets, some still burning. The one building still basically in tact was the town hall. It was made of stone so it stood up to the attempts to burn it, though there were chunks that had clearly been blown out by grenades. The smell was terrible. Burned, cooked flesh, burnt hair, and who knew what else.

“Oh wow...I was not prepared for this...” I groaned, trying not to throw up. I managed to keep my stomach under control this time, and though I was glad for it, I also realized it was probably a sign I was growing accustomed to these horrors, which I didn't like at all.

We moved slowly up the main road towards the town hall at the end. I used my EFS to check all around us, but there were no indicators on it besides my friends.

“All the better we didn't bring CB along.” Ruby said softly, pressing her face into my neck when we passed a group of all too small bodies outside of what we assumed had been a school. I nuzzled her gently once we were far enough past the building and she drew back slowly to walk beside me again, looking very shaken.

“Hold on.” I stopped short as we got closer to the town hall. “There's somepony in there.” I said, my voice getting quiet as I drew Ebony and Ivory.

“Just one?” Crackshot asked, coming up on the other side of me.

I looked the building over slowly and nodded. “It's a green indicator though. Not hostile.”

“Well better safe than sorry.” Brutus said, bumping his power hooves together which started to spark.

We moved up the stairs slowly and into the main lobby. The desks and doors and everything else made of wood was either burnt to ash or still smoking on the ground. The green indicator was moving back and fourth in front of my vision but I couldn't tell if it was on this floor or the one above, I heard no noise to tell me either way. We moved down a hall slowly and emerged in what had to have been the meeting room, rows of burnt benches lined the first part of the room, a still burning platform sat in front of us, a stone podium now on it's side and in two pieces. Where once the Equestrian flag would have hung a banner was placed instead. It was a reddish brown, like drying blood. Right in the middle was a logo of a flame, the center of which was a skull, to the right of the flame was a hoof, to the left a horn, and above it a pair of wings.

“What the fuck...” Crackshot said softly, looking around the room in amazement.

“It's the banner of the Pyro Pony Collective.” A voice answered behind us.

Almost as one our whole group jumped and turned in midair, weapons drawn.

“I don't even understand how you have made it this long if you're that unaware of your surroundings.” Mare-Do-Well said, coming out of the hallway and walking towards us.

Ruby spit her revolver back into it's holster.“Don't sneak up on us like that!” She cried. “We might have shot you!”

“Uhh hello? Power armour.” Mare-Do-Well said, knocking a hoof against the plated chest. “Eventually you'd punch through it, but not without a lot of time and I'm sure you'd have realized your mistake before that.”

“What are you doing here?” Brutus asked, watching the new arrival intently.

“Investigating same as you.” Mare-Do-Well shrugged.

“Are you a female or a male?” Crackshot asked flatly.

“What? What's it to you?”

“You're not the same Mare-Do-Well we met last time.” Crackshot replied.

“Excuse me?”

“The last Mare-Do-Well we met was quiet and grumpy and walked like a Stallion. You're chatty and sarcastic and you walk like a mare.”

“Well you can say I'm a mare then.” Mare-Do-Well said sarcastically and I got the feeling she was rolling her eyes behind the helmet. “It is IN my name you know.”

“You don't live as long as I have without learning to read ponies a lot of different ways.” Crackshot said coldly.

“Girls, girls!” Brutus said, putting himself between the two. “We have more pressing matters here than your egos.” He turned to Mare-Do-Well. “Now what can you tell us about what happened here?”

“The Pyro Collective are a cult, they believe in purifying the world to start anew and they let very little get in their way. From what I've heard they only avoid the really big organizations, they attack smaller places like this, leave no survivors so there's nopony left to tell anypony else about them.”

“So why do you know so much about them?” I asked, finally sliding my pistols back into their holsters.

“I have connections.” She replied simply.

“Oh that's helpful.” I grumbled.

“I didn't say it was. However I believe I have something you'll find interesting Doctor Sugarcane.” She said. She slid open a panel on the fore hoof of her armour, revealing a pipbuck underneath. She flipped through her inventory and floated out what looked like a crystal tube. The base of it was a cube, about the size of a foal's wooden toy block, then it stretched up into a cylinder and rounded off at the top. My name was etched into the base.

“What is it?” Ruby asked curiously.

“It's a second generation Memory Storage Unit.” I said, wrapping it in my magic and floating it over to us. “They work just like memory orbs, only instead of simply allowing you to view the memories stored within, these are actually somewhat interactive. You download kind of a basic AI version of yourself into the orb and set up a series of predetermined events that will occur within it. So you can talk to ponies within it and even do things, but the program will always play out the way it's designed to. They were called Memory Cubes. You know instead of memory Orbs?”

“I've never heard of them.” Crackshot said. “And yeah, I think that's kind of obvious, though they don't really look like cubes, the name is pretty self explanatory.”

“They weren't put into major production. Pinkie Pie was having them developed as a means of interrogating prisoners without actually hurting their physical bodies. Force them into one of these, they can be tortured and abused and even murdered, and then it ends and they're back in their cells unharmed and ready to go into another one.” Mare-Do-Well answered before I could. “Problem is they can only store about 45 minutes total of data, can only be imprinted once, and it puts a huge strain on the pony creating the world within. So they were discontinued, the remaining blanks were divided between the ministries and sent off. They crop up from time to time across the wasteland, but most of them have been imprinted with interactive pornography.”

“What a waste of such a great technology.” I said sadly, looking over the device curiously.

“Well why don't you look and see what's on it?” Brutus asked. “If it's got your name I doubt it's porn.”

“Now's not the time.” I said, putting it into my saddlebag for the time being, my pipbuck chirped and filed it away, Quest updated 'Ghosts of the Past.' appeared in the corner of my vision but I ignored it too. “We have to get out of here and see if we can get a hold of Pon3 to let him know what happened. What else can you tell us Mare-Do-Well?” I asked, looking back to the purple armoured pony.

“Not much unfortunately. This was a peaceful town, nothing special about it. The Pyro Ponies simply don't like anything that isn't them.”

“Fuck.” Was Brutus's only response and he started out of the meeting room and into the hall beyond.

“I'm sorry.” Crackshot said. “He doesn't like the destruction of the world to begin with, let alone senseless murder of innocents.” She hurried after him.

“As we should all feel.” Mare-Do-Well said, looking back to me and Ruby now. “You two make a nice couple.”

“Umm thank you?” Ruby said awkwardly. It was a bizarre segway.

“It's important to have love and trusting companionship in this train wreck of a world so make sure you watch out for each other.” She turned and leaped through a hole in the wall and after a moment flew off into the air.

“Well that all fell apart kind of quickly.” I said, turning and looking at Ruby. “I've never thought of Brutus as the sentimental type.”

“He's...complicated.” She sighed, shaking her head.

“Well I thought he killed a bunch of Zebras and that's how he got his name, doesn't really strike me as a 'worrying about others' attitude.”

“It's complicated.” She said simply.

“The whole thing seems to be complicated.” I said with some annoyance.

“Look, it's not my place to tell you about Brutus. You want to analyze him you ask him.” She snapped, turning and leaping out the same hole Mare-Do-Well had gone out and she was gone.

“For fucksake...” I sighed, turning and leaving quickly. I headed back to the sky wagon, I didn't know where Ruby had ended up, but I could see Brutus and Crackshot moving through the streets double checking anything they could seemingly think of.

I moved to the cockpit and took the radio, turning DJ Pon3 back on while I settled down in front of the quad turret and popped out the computer, glad now that I had left most of the computer functions still intact.

Hooking my pipbuck up to the computer I started the transmitter and sent a trace along the signal coming from the radio. The signal buzzed away for a few minutes, a digital map scrolling along the screen, stopping on a building a few hundred miles away. 'Tenpony Tower' popped up on the screen, my pipbuck chirping as it added the location to it's own internal map system. A few more radio signals appeared on the building, so I locked on to the one signal that showed as both broadcaster and receiver and after a moment of using the computer and the massive metal framework of the sky wagon to amplify the signal I connected. Amazingly the screen of information vanished and was replaced with a video feed of the other end. I saw a very advanced looking transmission array, bank after bank of computers, I had to admit I was jealous of the setup. I missed working with computers like these. My jealous admiration was interrupted when a grey unicorn walked across my field of vision, floating a stack of records along in front of her.

“Umm, excuse me.” I said softly, making her jump back in surprise, the records falling to the ground.

“Don't do that!” She sighed, scooping up the records and setting them down. “How does every pony that wanders into one of those towers always end up with me?” She turns back and looks at the monitor and I realized she could see me.

“You're not in one of the towers.” She said after a moment.

“Nope I'm in my Sky Wagon.” I replied simply, turning the computer monitor so she could see the rest of the wagon.

“How're you transmitting to me?”

“I'm a clever pony?” I asked, laughing sheepishly. “I kinda hacked the transmission network and traced DJ Pon3's broadcast back to it's point of origin.”

“This is a Ministry...” She started

“Of Arcane Sciences Emergency Broadcast Station.” I finished. “I know.”

“So you should also know it's extremely secure and it's not simply 'hacked' into as you say.”

“I'm VERY good with computers.” I smiled.

She stared at me another moment as if deciding what to do next. “Who are you?” She asked finally.

“I'm Doctor Sugarcane, and you are?”

“I'm Homage.”

“I was hoping to speak to DJ Pon3?”

“He's busy, I'm his assistant.” She was still staring at me intently and then it finally seemed to click. “You're the pre-war computer and robotics expert!” She said loudly. “I heard rumors about you but I couldn't get any confirmation. Are you really from before the war? What happened? Why aren't you a ghoul? Where have you been hiding the last two months? Where did you get a sky wagon? Where are you? What's going on?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, one question at a time.” I laughed, sitting back.

“Okay right right sorry. I've heard about you but it's all just been rumors, got a bit of information from the Storm family, but they seemed kinda reluctant about giving up information.”

“Well I'm glad to know they can keep a LITTLE of my privacy.” I chuckled.

“Alright.” She sighed, and shook her head. “Are you really from before the war? And if so, what happened to you?”

“Yes I'm from before the war.” I paused, thinking about my response. “That's not right, I'm from before the apocalypse, the war was well under way by the time I came into my work, as for what happened. I don't really know. Something happened to me and I ended up in a cryo pod. One minute I'm working at my terminal taking readings, the next I'm waking up and it's been 200 years.”

“Wow.” She had floated up a pencil and was writing down the information I gave her. “So where have been? What happened after you woke up?”

I gave her a brief run down of my meeting my friends and ending up working for the Collective.

“Which covers most of my questions.” She smiled, writing furiously. The record that had been playing on the radio was coming to an end and she looked up at the computers behind her.

“Crap...” She turned and looked back at me intently for a minute. “Alright well you've told me the truth so I suppose it's only fair I repay you, but it's a secret alright?” She asked seriously before sliding over to the broadcasting equipment, taking up a microphone in her magic. I hadn't even realized she was sitting in a chair.

“Welcome back wasteland!” She cried into the microphone, her voice taking on the deep masculine tone of Pon3. Of course she was the DJ, I hadn't seen anypony else in the studio while I was talking to her. “This is real exciting stuff my little ponies, remember when I mentioned the computer pony from the war? Turns out HE came to ME in the end! How's that for amazing? Of course who wouldn't want to talk to me?” She laughed and hit a button and the screen jumped so I was facing her again, she'd moved the signal to the console she was working on.

“So Robo-Doc, tell us about how you're finding life now that the world has gone all to hell.” She said seriously.

“Uhh, well it's been a big adjustment for me. The time I left behind was still, well I guess it's hard to say normal, almost all the ponies listening have only known this their whole lives so this is normal. I had a home, I had a family, friends, safety. It's been a big adjustment to get used to this world. I was lucky enough to find friends and safety when I woke up here and I think I might just find family too.”

“Oh? You got a very special somepony out there? Some lucky mare or buck you come home to every night?” Pon3 asked.

“Yeah I do.” I nodded. “She's great, I'm really lucky to have her.” I smiled.

“What's she like? Tell us about her!”

“Uhh, she's a pegsus, her coat is the most beautiful shade of pink, she has these happy green eyes that I could just lose myself in for days.”

“You love her like nopony else? You just want to hold her and kiss her and tell her you love her? Maybe settle down and have some foals, raise a family?” Homage asked, the deep voice barely even registering as strange anymore.

“I could see myself doing that yeah.” I nodded. “I can't think of a better way to spend my life in the wasteland than with her, I love her more than anypony I've ever known.” Which was really saying something considering Rosalea.

I looked up at the screen and Homage had the weirdest look on her face, like a mix of shock and utter adoration. “We'll be back with some news in just a few minutes but first one more by Sweetie Bell.” She said quickly, another record starting.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“Umm...turn around...” Homage whispered, looking a little more horrified.

I started to turn around when...WHAM!

I tumbled backwards, eyes clenched shut in terror, as something plowed into me. The turret, pipbuck still attached both to me and it, pulled sideways and I found myself in a weird heap, my foreleg pulled out towards the turret as the cord reached the end of it's length. Whatever had hit me had come to a stop on top of me and I braced myself for the worst when I felt, really one of the last things I'd have thought...lips, pressing against mine happily. I opened my eyes slowly and realized Ruby was on top of me, kissing me passionately, and Homage was howling with laughter.

“I...buh...wha...?” Was all I could stammer as Ruby sat back beside me and grinned.

“W...why do you think...think I asked you about your mare...friend...” Homage asked, laughing hysterically, almost falling out of her chair. “She floated up behind you and I switched gears right away. Might not have been funny if she WASN'T your marefriend, but so worth it!”

I sat up and moved back over to the turret so the cords didn't tear from the computer, straightening it back into it's original position. “Very funny.” I sighed.

Ruby moved over and looked at the computer screen curiously, sitting down beside me. “So you're DJ Pon3? I guess you really are a mare.”

“I am, but it's a secret!” She said quickly. “Please don't tell anypony else, it'd make my life miserable if word got out.” She groaned and shook her head. “How do I keep ending up being found out? Seriously, two hundred years of DJ Pon3s, none of em had this problem, I've done it three times now.” She sighed.

“Don't worry, your secret is safe with us.” I said and Ruby nodded in agreement.

“Oh okay, so I'm guessing you didn't call to chat?” Homage asked, flipping a record behind her without even looking, another song coming on as the last one faded away.

“Uhh no.” I said, taking on a serious tone. “We're in Clopton.”

“Oh.” Her face immediately got serious. “So, how bad is it?”

“Bad.” Brutus said, coming up to the back of the Wagon. “Who're you?” He asked, looking at the screen.

“This is Homage, she's DJ Pon3's assistant.” Ruby said.

“Tell him it was this group called the Pyro Pony Collective.” Brutus said seriously. He looked like he was bursting with barely restrained rage.

“Really? They're actually a thing?” Homage asked in amazement, her pencil flying furiously along the paper without really looking at it.

“Yeah they're actually a thing.” Crackshot said, joining Brutus in the entrance of the Sky Wagon. “Horrible monsters, worse than any slaver or alicorn I've seen. They torture and murder anypony and everypony they come across. Mares, Colts, Fillies, foals, stallions, bucks. It just doesn't matter to them. You aren't one of them, you're dead. The whole town as been destroyed.”

“Dammit. Just what we need. Another mightier than thou Celestia damned group of murderers.” Homage set her pad down. “Well I'll get this information to Pon3 and he'll let the rest of the wasteland know. Cane, it's nice to meet you, glad to know you're more than just rumors and speculation.”

“I'm sure we'll talk again.” I said, disconnecting the pipbuck, the screen switched off and went back to the default turret control system.

“So did you get to talk to DJ Pon3?” Brutus asked, moving into the wagon.

“No he was running the show while we talked to Homage.” I said, shrugging. He hadn't heard the radio, which was good because the interview would have been awkward to explain without blowing Homage's cover.

“Too bad. He sounds handsome.” Crackshot sighed.

“Oh he is.” Ruby said, moving into the cockpit to prep for our departure. “Makes me all warm and tingly in a funny way.” She giggled.

“Aww our little Ruby is finally starting to experience the joy of puberty!” Brutus said, watching the wagon door close. “Soon she'll start getting weird urges and thinking about bucks, next thing you know she'll be in heat and all hell will break loose!” He laughed and sat down on one of the benches.

“Kiss my ass Brutus, oh I forgot, you only do that for stallions.” Ruby countered, making Crackshot finally laugh.

“I find none of this pseudo-sexual commentary humorous.” I said with as serious a face as I could manage, sitting down opposite Brutus and beside Crackshot.

“Oh come on, lighten up.” Brutus said, leaning in and licking my face before I could react.

“Aww Brutus gross!” I whined, doing my best imitation of CB, and promptly turned and wiped my face against Crackshot's neck.

“Hey! I don't want his slobber all over me!” She cried, pulling away quickly, only to slide off the other side of the bench and land on her butt, finally I cracked up too and sat back as Crackshot scrambled back onto the bench, well and embarrassed by the whole situation.

“You three are like a bunch of foals.” Ruby called as we took off back to the base. The ghouls would have to wait for another day.

////////////

Well there wasn't much to tell for the next month. We got back to the base, reported our findings from Clopton...and that was it for me. I'd promised I would work on the decryption program for EB and that's what I did. I fell into a routine just like I had back before the war. I found myself spending more and more time in the labs with the computers, even working on prototype robotics I had never had the chance to build before. I'd spend days on end in the labs. My friends would go out on scavenging missions, coming to check up on me whenever they got back or had a lot of down time, Ruby brought me food and every few days she'd haul my ass out of the lab to get a proper night's sleep. We decided she should just move in with me since I didn't own a lot and my quarters were bigger, it freed up hers for somepony else. It drove me to distraction that I had all this data at my hooves, most of which I had created myself, and it was buried under Star Venture's encryptions, of course there was a reason we'd never been hacked by rivals or Zebras, and the main reason Stable-Tec had made buddy buddy with us. I'm sure they'd tried to steal information from us just like everypony else. I barely noticed the passage of time while I worked, I'd be talking to Brutus one minute and the next I'd realize I was talking to Crackshot and two days had gone by since Brutus had been there. I hadn't even worn my armoured barding or carried my guns in the last 3 weeks, now I just wore my lab coat and pipbuck.

Explosive Blast had come by to check up on my work, and she'd been smart enough to bring CB with her, and that filly would not be ignored for anything, probably the first time I had been truly removed from my work as the green pony bounced excitedly, telling me about how she'd gotten an A+ on her cutie mark journal even though she only had one entry and that her Cute-ceanera was so much fun, I realized I had totally missed it.

“I'm so sorry CB, I didn't mean to miss your big party.” I said, feeling bad.

“What? You didn't miss it.” She laughed. “You didn't talk much, you sat at the table and typed on your pipbuck and a tablet all night but you were there, you and Ruby gave me this.” She turns her head and points to a golden pin in her mane with her cutie mark on it.

“Oh, well I'm glad you like it.” I smiled, looking up at EB curiously.

“Yeah you were there.” She laughed. “So buried in your work Ruby practically had to feed you herself. I can't believe how sunk into your work you can get.”

“Yeah I'm pretty bad for it...never realized I got THAT bad though. I guess before my friends and family were all scientists like me, none of us had children to worry about parties for.” I sighed.

“Well you're not gonna miss the party now right? CB asked expectantly.

“What party?” I asked curiously, looking at the green filly.

“What party?!” She gasped and looked up at her mother in disbelief, then back to me. “It's Ruby's birthday dummy!” She said, waving her forehooves in the air. “We came to get you for it! Brutus said he's been reminding you all week! He even put it into your pipbuck.”

I looked down at the Pipbuck and the reminder was blinking in the corner still. I felt my stomach bottom out, but EB smiled a little. “Don't panic, she knows you're deep in your work, and some of us are on top of it all the same. Hail storm and her family just arrived this morning, I'm sure she has SOMETHING you could buy to give to Ruby.” She gestured out the window and I looked up and saw Hail standing in the hallway.

She saw me and waved. I waved back dumbly and turned to the other two.

“Thanks, I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached.” I sighed. I hurried out of the lab and stopped in front of Hail Storm.

“Well hi there stranger.” She grinned. “I understand it's somepony's birthday and you've forgotten?”

“Yes to both do you have any...” I trailed off as EB came out of the lab with CB on her back. I looked at them a moment then leaned in close, whispering my request into Hail Storm's ear.

She giggled a moment and her eyes lit up as she realized what I was asking. “Of course I do, but how much...”

“5000 caps?” I offered before she could finish her sentence.

“Uhh, how about 2500?” She asked.

“Sure, done.” I nodded, getting confused looks from the other two beside me. “Just don't worry about it.” I said to them and started off with Hail Storm. “We'll be at the party as soon as possible!” I called as we rounded a corner.

//////////

After I had picked up my gift for Ruby I left Hail Storm at the door to the bar where the party was already in full swing.

“But what are you going to do?” She asked me curiously as I moved towards the vent in the roof where Ruby and I had snuck out of the bar on that first night.

“Make a big entrance.” I grinned, leaping onto a stack of boxes. “Wow this is a lot easier when you're not drunk.” I said as I pulled myself up into the vent. I'm sure I got an even more confused look from Hail Storm, but I was on my way and last I heard was the bar door slam as she went inside. I moved through the vent and came down quietly into the closet, though it was so noisy in the bar it hardly mattered. I slipped out into the shadows of the wall and looked around. The music was being played through the sound system of the base, a system I had spent the last month working with and had all the access I could need for it. I moved towards the stage where the main speakers were set up and tucked Ruby's gift into the pocket of my lab coat. Ruby was sitting at a table in the middle of the bar with EB, Brutus and Crackshot, ponies all around talking to her, wishing her a happy birthday, giving her small gifts. CB and a few other younger ponies were a table over playing games and having the time of their lives. Ruby was all smiles and thanks, but she looked up at the door constantly, and the clock above it, and I could see how sad she was that I wasn't there yet, so as the song came to an end I made my move. I hit the button and took over the light controls and the music, keeping another song from starting and plunging the whole bar into darkness. I moved onto the stage quickly before anypony could panic and my horn lit up the stage as I cast a voice amplification spell.

I sang loudly, my voice echoing around the bar, everypony turning towards the stage as the lights came up with a tap of my pipbuck, the song itself starting over the music system. Ruby had turned to the stage and looked beyond shocked, my other friends looked fairly amazed too considering how much of a fight I usually put up when it came to singing. Hail Storm had just been in the middle of saying hello to Ruby and her jaw looked like it might fall off.

Ponies around the bar started to clap and cheer and point to Ruby, who had actually managed to blush so hard she was almost blood red.

I started making my way off the stage towards Ruby's table slowly. Ponies were cheering and pushing her, trying to get her to move, but she seemed glued to her seat as I closed the distance slowly, coming up short and looking at the table of young ponies.

I sang on, looking at CB curiously, like I was speaking right to her. She giggled like crazy and pointed to Ruby. I looked up at her and grinned, like the thought hadn't even occurred to me before. Finally I pulled her up off her seat to stand in front of me. She had tears in her eyes and was using every bit of effort she could not to cry.

“Can anypony find me...” I knelt in front of her slowly as I brought the song to an end and everypony in the bar knew exactly what was coming as Ruby finally started crying.

“Somepony to...love...?” I finished, the music fading out to silence, I kept my voice amplified as I smiled up at Ruby.

“Ruby Star, you've been there for me since the day I woke up and found myself lost in this wasteland. You've been my best friend and my closest companion and I couldn't be happier than I tell somepony else that you're my marefriend.” I smiled a little when I caught a look of realization from Hail Storm that I was referring to her. “You're my very special somepony and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you...” I floated the box out of my pocket and opened it to reveal the gold and platinum wing band I had bought from Hail Storm. “Ruby...will you marry me?” I asked, floating the band up out of the little box.

“Oh Sugar...” She gasped, fighting to speak. “...Of course I will.” Everypony in the bar broke out into huge cheers as I snapped open the band and wrapped it around the base of Ruby's left wing, locking it into place, careful not to pinch any feathers. I was barely able to finish before she was pulling me to my hooves and kissing me passionately, her muzzle wet with tears.

Everypony buzzed around, congratulating us and wishing us well and just generally being happy for us.
The night was winding down and we were sitting at the table still, eating the last of the birthday cake, most of the guests had left but Ruby was content to just sit and cuddle me, and I was happy to let her, we'd been drinking for the last few hours so I was probably just as much a prop at this point as I was somepony to cuddle.

“You know that totally shouldn't count as a birthday present.” Brutus said with a smirk.

“Oh shut it.” Crackshot said smacking him upside the head.

“Oh no no, he's right.” I said. “ I have a birthday present for Ruby too.”

“What? Why have I been sitting here assuming I already had your gift?” She demands, sitting up and looking at me intently, only wavering a little as she did.

“Well it was a present I wanted to give you...when we were alone...” I smiled.

“Aww but I want my friends to see it too! Come on Sugar, that's not fair I want to share it with them too!” She whined, but trailed off when she caught the look in my face, not to mention in Brutus and Crackshot's faces.

“Oh...OH...I'm such an idiot.” She laughs as she clues in, burying her face in my mane.

“It's okay honey, I know you're probably pretty drunk right now. I forgive you.” I said, wrapping a hoof around her and hugging her close.

“Why don't we let you two get to bed?” Crackshot asked, smiling and getting up off the bench. “I could use a good night's sleep and after all of the excitement of tonight my old bones are aching. Walk me home dummy.” She said to Brutus, grabbing his tail in her teeth and pulling him away from the bench and the rest of his drink. He floated the glass after him and downed it quickly before getting up reluctantly and following Crackshot out of the bar.

“Wanna do it in the bar?” Ruby asked quietly.

“Not really no, for one thing there's still a dozen odd ponies in here, for another I don't think it's fair to leave THAT kind of mess for somepony else to clean up.” I chuckled.

“Alright fine, lets go home.” She sighed, pushing herself up slowly, using her wings to balance herself as I got up and we started off. I wasn't really drunk, just happily buzzed.

“It's nice to not have to try and sneak out through the vents when I'm drunk.” I said as we made our way through the halls.

“Yeah it is. Everything is nice isn't it?” She asked. “Open up.” She snapped at the door. One of the projects I had started was installing voice locks on the doors of the personal quarters, only a handful of them had been installed so far, mine was of course the prototype because it had let me be close to Ruby for a while when I was working on the installation.

The door opened and let us into our quarters. It was funny to see, the place had become a fusion of styles. My desk was stacked with papers and plans and a now upgraded computer terminal, some of the shelves holding the non-working prototypes I had brought back from my old office.The floor and couches were a mess of Ruby's clothes, which I still didn't understand considering how little clothing she wore besides her armour

“Now...about this birthday present...” Ruby grinned, pushing the door closed with one of her hooves as she came over and pressed her face to my neck, kissing it gently. “I think I should start and you can save my present for a little later.” She muttered, looking up at me to make sure I was okay with that. My only answer was to sit back on the bed happily.

“It's nice to have your whole life organized again isn't it?” She asked softly.

“I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have everything stable and right where I wanted it.” I nodded.

If only I'd know what was to come that night...

Footnote: Level up

Perk added: Certified Tech: Your knowledge of robotic components allows you to break them more easily and salvage their mechanical corpses.

Companion Perk Added: Whiskey Ruby: No negative effects from Alcohol, whiskey and wasteland tequila. Temporarily increases Damage Threshold.

(So I kinda need to apologize for my story thus far. Everything I've written up to this point has been the intro of the story. Setting up the characters, the relationships, the group dynamics, all that. Some things have been created along the way that I wasn't expecting but I feel that the story has been made better for it. The next chapter of my story is actually the beginning, where things start to happen and the storyline really gets into motion. I'm probably going to go back and overhaul the chapter listings on the websites and condense it into one or two posts with the chapter breaks still within, but I thank you for bearing with me through this rather long dragged out set up. You can blame the book 'The Passage' which did something similar for it's introduction and which is to blame for my story having it's introduction the way it was. To those of you who said I shouldn't rush things, I hope you realize the irony of your statements now haha. Also the reason I haven't had any cover art is because the cover my sister drew for me would have been a major spoiler. It'll go up along with the next chapter. Thank you for your continued interest in my story and I hope to keep making it better. :D)

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

I woke with a start in the middle of the night to the wailing of the alarms. I had only ever heard them during a few evacuation practices.

Ruby groaned and pressed her way underneath my side to try and get away from the noise. “I'm gonna kill EB for scheduling this when I have such a wicked hangover.”

“There's no practice scheduled tonight.” I said, sitting up and hurrying over the computer at the desk. I pulled up an alert status and swore quietly. “We're under attack.”

This got Ruby going. “You're joking!”

I was already floating my armour up off the arm of the couch and pulling it into place. “Do I look like I'm joking?” I asked flatly, grabbing Ebony and then Ivory, tossing them into their holsters. Ruby jumped up quickly and grabbed her armour off the floor by the bathroom door and was dressed and ready by the time I had double checked the computer information and grabbed my saddlebags.

We hurried out into the hall, which was empty, the alarms echoing painfully in our ears. “WE HAVE TO GET TO THE HANGER!” Ruby yelled in my ear. “I'M SUPPOSED TO REPORT THERE TO EVACUATE PONIES!”

I just nodded and we rushed down the hallway. Turning the corner to the main foyer I slid to a stop, staring in horror at sight before me. All the decorations were burning, plants and paintings and even a few bodies. “Shit shit shit shit shit.” I groaned. I wasn't ready for this kind of problem. I drew my pistols and popped the clips, putting anti-personnel clips in to replace the standard ammo and moved forward. We hadn't even cleared the foyer when we ran into our first problem. Two guards and EB were struggling with a black and red clad unicorn. He wore a battle saddle with twin flame throwers, the bit in his mouth and the sway of his body expertly laying down suppressing flame, keeping the security ponies from advancing on his position.

Coming to a stop behind the guards I threw up a force field along the walls and pushed forward towards the other unicorn, his own grey magic field coming up but when another of the guards added his magic to mine we forced the attacker back into the hall. Turning off his flame throwers he instead threw down a pair of grenades and raced off, the guard and I barely covering the grenades before they went off.

“Concussive Blast!” EB said, grabbing my leg in panic. “She slept over at her friend's, we need to get to her.”

“We will, you know the way?” I asked and she nodded vigorously. “Alright lets go. You two, escort Ruby to the hanger so she can evacuate the others.” I said to the guards.

“What? No, I'm going with you!” Ruby snapped.

“No you're not, they need all the pegasi they can get to ensure we evacuate all the ponies we can, now go!” I said, shoving her towards the guards with my magic.

“No Sugar please!” She cried, pressing helplessly against the magic barrier.

“Ruby please go, I'll be fine.” I said, EB and I turning and hurrying down the hall, leaving Ruby smashing helplessly against the barrier, which the unicorn guard took over as I vanished around the corner.

“She's gonna be so mad at you.” EB said as we tore down the hall.

“I know, but I don't want to see her getting hurt, and then others getting hurt because of it.” I sighed.

“She'll forgive you too.” EB added as we slid to a halt at a junction. We were face to face with two pyro ponies, one of them might have been the one from the hallway but they all looked so similar, most of their colouring seemed to be matted by ash and it was just too tough to tell. Both seeming surprised by our appearance. I dropped into S.A.T.S. taking the chance to assess the situation. The two attackers were standing side by side, filling the hallway space because of their bodies and the flame thrower equipped battle saddles. Picking my targets I let out a slow breath as I came back out of S.A.T.S. and fired, a bullet from each gun firing out, puncturing the tanks on the flamers on each pyro's outer side, between them and the wall. The weapons ruptured almost simultaneously, throwing them into each other as I threw up a shield around them, the flames consuming the whole space, I strained to keep the field from rupturing, which would have consumed EB and I in flame as well. When it died again I felt my stomach lurch at the sight of the burnt bones and twisted metal where only seconds ago had been living ponies, but I didn't have time to mourn or be sick, we needed to save CB. We rushed down the hallway, jumping carefully over the chard bodies and hurried on. Smoke was starting to fill every hall and it seemed more and more of the rooms we passed were smashed open and just burning holes in the wall.

As we came around the last junction we saw CB running madly through the hall in a panic about to round the corner at the far end of the hall. “CONCUSSIVE BLAST YOU GET OVER HERE NOW YOUNG LADY!” EB roared. CB slid to a stop and turned around, breaking down into tears as she saw us. “Mommy!” She tore down the hallway and slid to a stop in front of us. “We got attacked by this big scary pony in black armour and he killed Trance and Shock wave!” She bawled into her mother's side as she pressed against her.

“Don't worry honey, we're going to get you to the hanger and get out of here.” She said, lifting CB up onto her back. The filly wrapped her forelegs around EB's neck and cuddled her tightly.

“LOOKOUT!” CB suddenly screeched, pointing down the hall where we had just come from.

I turned just in time to see a grenade hurling towards us from a unicorn at the end of the hall, two more leaving the unicorn's magic grip as the first arrived. I tried to throw up my shield but the grenade exploded right against it and ruptured the field, lifting me up and throwing me backwards through the air, Ebony and Ivory flying off who knows where in the confusion. I felt the fire burn along the side of my body, I know I screamed in pain, but everything seemed to move in slow motion as I struck CB, still on her mother's back and knocking EB over onto her side. I wrapped my forelegs around her as we tumbled through the air. I twisted and came down hard on my back, CB held against my chest as I fell to my side. The second and third grenades soared through the air, contacting and exploding against the first resistance they met...EB.

The blast threw her backwards over top of us and she came down hard, a mess of burnt flesh and bloody pulp.

“MOMMY!” CB cried, struggling against my grasp.

“No CB stay here!” I said, hugging her tighter as I looked back to Explosive Blast, seeing the green indicator on my E.F.S. wink out. The green filly struggled and cried and managed to pull away from me, dashing down the hall to her mother's body. I was too badly injured to stop her, I couldn't focus enough to generate any magic either.

“Mommy! Mommy wake up!” She cried, shaking EB but the Earth pony was long gone, far outside of anypony's ability to help them. CB sank down, sobbing into her mother's side.

My attention was drawn from CB when a red leg drove into my burnt side. I cried out in pain and looked up at the unicorn beside me. He was dressed almost exactly like the others we'd come across, but his armor was sleeker, better maintained. The flame throwers he wore were different models. One was a standard Flame thrower, the other appeared to have been modified to launch burning balls of napalm. He didn't wear a full helmet either, but instead goggles over his eyes and a respirator over his muzzle.

“You are a lucky unicorn.” The stallion said, speaking not to me but to CB. Pressing hard against me, he continued forward, ignoring my cry of pain. He walked up behind CB and wrapped a magic field around her, lifting her into the air.

“NO! LEMME GO!” She screamed, squirming helplessly

“I'm going to take you home with me, raise you and train you to serve in the Pyro Pony Collective.” He laughed.

“Put her down!” I croaked, barely managing to grip Ebony in my weak magic field, but I couldn't focus on it and aiming at the same time and it fell back to the ground.

“Here's how we're going to start.” He said, dropping CB back on top of her mother. “You're going to learn powerful magic, you'll become a great warrior.” He said to CB, turning back to me he fired the Napalm launcher and I closed my eyes, expecting the searing pain of the fire any second. After a moment I opened my eyes again and saw the ball of gelatinous fire floating a foot away from me, wrapped in the red magic field of the pyro. He pulled and twisted it, out from a ball into a cube, then a pyramid, then a cylinder, then into a long thin string that he brandished like a whip, bringing it down along my chest and side. I screamed in agony as the fire burst against me.

“STOP IT!” CB cried, tears streaming down her face as she lunged at the pyro, knocking him in the side and shoving him into the wall, but it did nothing more than cause him to break his magical grip on the whip, which burnt me worse when it dropped on me.

“Oh come now little one!” He laughed, grabbing her in his magic field again and holding her beside him. “Watch as I snuff out your father's life.” He growled.

“HE'S NOT MY DADDY YOU MORON!” CB cried, squirming helplessly as a jet of fire shot out of the other flame thrower.

Again I closed my eyes and braced for a burning end, and again I found nothing. This time though I also heard the pyro pony swear loudly.

“What the fuck are you doing stupid filly?” He snapped.

I opened my eyes and saw CB, eyes closed and bright green light engulfing her horn as she held the flame back.

“Let go of that flame you stupid foal.” The pyro snapped, shaking CB hard in his magic field, but she didn't let up for even a second.

“Put...me...down...” She said, voice cold and quiet.

“If I don't?” He asks threateningly, the magical field seeming to compress around her. She groaned and pressed back, trying to stand again in the field against the pressure.

“You're gonna regret it.” She answered.

“Ooo, big scary filly.” He laughed, his own magic growing more intense.

“Put...me...DOWN!” She screamed, the light from her horn became so intense that it turned to pure white, her eyes opening again, the same white light shining from them as she pulled away from the pyro, his magic field shattered and she leaped down to the ground again, the flame in her grasp wrapping into a ball that she slowly extinguished. She gestured her head to the side, her green aura wrapping around the pyro just before he was smashed hard into the wall behind her, then floated up to the ceiling and smashed to the ground. I could hear bones break in his chest as he collapsed to the ground.

“Are you alright?” She asked me softly, eyes and horn still burning with magical energy. I had only ever read of ponies going into magically induced overdrives like this a few times in all of history and most of those were from when Twilight Sparkle tapped into her element of magic.

All I could do was shake my head slowly, I could feel the blood matting my armour to my side, the pain was beyond words and I was struggling just to stay conscious. She pulled open one of my saddlebags and floated out a pair of healing potions. Removing the caps she used her magic to lift the liquid out of the bottles and carefully held my head and ran the magical medicines down into my mouth. Immediately I felt the pain lessen and the wounds mending somewhat along my side. CB moved along my side and pressed her horn to the wound and I felt the pain lessened all the more, though it was still considerable.

“I'll fucking kill you!” The pyro roared from behind us. He'd downed a potion of his own while CB had been tending to me and he opened fire on us without hesitation. Without missing a beat CB threw up a shield and with a loud rending noise the roof above the pyro collapsed as a water pipe exploded down, soaking him, extinguishing the flames and dousing the pilot lights on the flamers. With the shield still in place to direct the flow of the water, the pyro was swept down the hallway by the sudden torrent of water. I hadn't realized we had such serious water pipes running through the base.

CB staggered back, the light of the magical energy fading from her horn and eyes and she collapsed on the floor beside me with a groan. “My head hurts.” She muttered before passing out completely against me.

I had recovered enough that I could push myself to my hooves again and, grabbing CB and setting her on my back, I started for the hanger again. I paused long enough to grab Ebony off the floor again from where I had dropped it, but I couldn't see where Ivory had gone and I was forced to go on without.

I made my way down the halls quickly, using my EFS to avoid any and all contact with the other hostiles still filling the base. Finally reaching the hanger I saw all the other sky wagons had gone, Brutus and Crackshot stood by ours, waiting with weapons pointed to the doors. The sky wagon had turned sideways so three of the turrets were also pointed at the doors; and circling around I had to maneuver around a dozen or so pyro pony bodies that littered the hall just outside the entrance to the hanger.

“I'm coming in!” I called loudly, just barely managing to amplify my voice with my weak magic.

“Hold your fire!” Brutus called, leaping down and moving towards the doors. I finally let myself slow as I entered the hanger, the exhaustion I had been ignoring crashing down on me. I was still in a lot of pain, though the wounds had mostly healed I'd still lost a lot of blood. Brutus lifted CB off my back. “Is she okay?”

“I think so, she just wore herself out with the most amazing magic show I've seen in my whole life...” I said.

“Where's Explosive Blast?” He asked, looking back to the hallway.

“She...didn't make it.” I continued towards the sky wagon.

“Dammit.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Does CB know?”

“Yeah...we were attacked by this one pony, sleeker nicer armour than any I saw on the others, probably the leader. He caught me off guard with a grenade, I barely survived.” I gestured to the badly burned and blood soaked armour still covering my side. “He threw two more when I went down and they hit EB dead on. CB went nuts and thrashed him.” I staggered up to the sky wagon and Ruby caught me as I started to collapse.

“You're damned lucky you're almost dead or I'd kill you.” She said sternly, helping me into the wagon and onto a bench. “Never, ever, ever leave me like that again, I don't care if somepony has a gun to my head, I come with you.”

“Yes ma'am.” I nodded simply, slumping onto the bench as she headed back to the cockpit, another pegasus already in the co-pilot harness. Brutus set CB down beside me and I held her close. There were half a dozen ponies on the benches, not counting the soldiers on the turrets.

“DOWN!” A guard cried as a ball of napalm burst against the side of the wagon.

“This the pony you were talking about?” Brutus asked, glancing out the turret slats at the pony in the entrance of the hanger.

I groaned and pushed myself up off the bench. Glancing out beside Brutus I saw the pony from before, soaking wet, though his flame throwers were again lit and one of them was firing into the magic field in front of him creating a shield of fire that was actually burning so hot it was melting the bullets firing from the turrets at him.

“I WANT THAT FILLY!” He roared over the sound of the weapons fire.

“COME GET HER!” Brutus called back.

The pyro was making steady progress towards us, our weapons doing nothing, the turrets facing him were the quad gun, the EMP gun and the laser turret, which made sense considering that it seemed up to this point they had been the most effective against the attackers, as shown by the pile of bodies outside the hanger. He was almost to the base of the sky wagon.

“Why haven't we taken off yet?!” Brutus yelled up to the cockpit.

“The heat from that pony's shield is screwing with the temperature sensors!” Ruby yelled back. “By the time we were ready to go he was too close and now the wagon won't launch because it thinks it's overheating!”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.” Brutus growled, firing pointlessly at the pyro.

“Hey Cane, what about using a magic missile?” Crackshot asked.

“I was joking about magic missiles.” I sighed. “It was a nerd joke from an old role playing game.”

“No no no, I'm not THAT dense.” She gestured to the missile launcher.

“It's not facing the right way!” Brutus snapped at her.

“Neither was the missile at the end of Neighvengers.” She answered and my eyes lit up as I caught on.

“Brutus cover me.” I ordered, moving to the doorway, the pyro now at the foot of the ship. Brutus threw up a shield and Crackshot fired the missile turret, the small projectile soaring into the air towards the roof. Grabbing it with my magic I twisted it hard, straining to not lose my grip even as I felt my magic burning out from the effort. Looping it around the room I just barely got it into place and sent it hurling down towards the pyro. He turned just in time for the missile to smash into his backside, his turn now to just barely get a shield up. The blast threw him forward, up the ramp of the sky wagon. Crackshot shoved Brutus and I out of the way as the missile went off, stepping into our place she turned and apple bucked the pyro as hard as she could, the goggles he wore shattering from the impact, throwing him backwards again, tumbling unconscious to the ground and throwing Crackshot forward, crashing into the cockpit, I heard the sickening snap of bones and Brutus cried out as he ran towards her, but I had spent the last of my energy and the whole world spun away into blackness as I felt the sky wagon's engine kick in, the sight of Crackshot's broken twisted body lying in the cockpit as Brutus pushed up to her, then total darkness, and nothing as I passed out.

Footnote: Level up, companion level up (Concussive Blast)

Perk added: Action Buck: Each level of Action Buck gives you an additional AP to spend every combat turn. You can use these generic APs on any task.

Companion Perk added: Raw Magical Power (Concussive Blast): You've discovered your untapped magical potential. Learning spells comes far easier to you than to other ponies and you aren't limited in the kinds of spells you can master. They might not be as powerful as the spells of other ponies, but you have a lot more of them.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

I groaned loudly as the world came crashing back down on me. I kept my eyes closed for the moment. Everything hurt, though at least I seemed to be lying in a bed.

Somepony put a wet cloth on my forehead, draping it around my horn carefully. I slowly opened one eye, finding everything was blurry and unfocused. I could just make out the blotch of red and wings sitting beside me. “Oh Ruby...I had the worst dream.” I muttered. “The base was attacked, dozens of ponies killed, it was miserable.”

“Well don't worry about it.” The soft voice replied, nuzzling my cheek lovingly. “You're safe and sound again here in hospital room 1955.” She cooed.

“Mmhm.” I sighed. Hospital rooms are numbered strangely, this place doesn't even have 19 floors, let alone enough space for 55 separate rooms.The old hospital by the office probably had that many, probably more, I even stayed in 1955 once when I electrocuted myself during a test...“Wait 1955!?” I shot up the in the bed, pain slamming me right back down again. I looked over at the blur and reached up and rubbed my eyes, the blurry pegasus not resolving into Ruby as I'd expected. “Rosalea?” I asked, looking at the red pegasus in amazement. The room wasn't very big, but it was private, which was nice, I hated sharing hospital rooms with other ponies. It had the same bland green tile on the floor and paint on the walls, even the curtains and bedsheets matched, though the blanket covering me was white.

“Are you okay Cane? You've been out for days.” She shifted in the chair and got up again to come over to my side and I realized for the first time she was incredibly pregnant.

“W...what happened?” I asked, trying not to freak out.

“You don't remember? You and Venture were test booting one of the cryo pods and the system overloaded, and blew up in your faces, threw you both over the railings on the second floor down to the warehouse floor below.”

“Shit...is Venture okay?”

“Yeah he woke up a few days ago, he's already up and about, but he had more physical injuries than you.” She said, sitting back in the chair again.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he broke three legs and four ribs. You only broke one leg and cracked two ribs, BUT you came down on your thick skull so that probably accounts for a lot of it.” She chuckled.

I looked down and realized for the first time that my back left leg was in a cast and my torso was bound as well.

“Huh, well yet another thing Venture is better at than me. Worse injuries and he recovered faster.” I smirked, looking over at her. “How are you doing?” I asked, trying to switch to a more serious subject.

“We're fine.” She said, putting her legs to her stomach. “We worried a lot, but it's nothing you haven't done to me a dozen times before, so Candy and Flora weren't too upset.” She smiled. “But you gotta hurry up and get better so we can get you out of here and me into here in a few days.”

“Yes ma'am.” I smiled, laying back properly again. I looked past Rosa to the window behind her, I could see the scattered puffy white clouds and the sunshine streaming down from the sky, how I had missed the sight of a blue sky...but what was this? I could remember with such vivid detail of the wasteland, the friends I'd made, the burning heat and irritating smoke in the air as the base had burned around us, but what made more sense, that I had totally screwed up a cryopod test and ended up in the hospital, or that I had ended up frozen in one of the pods and nopony had ever noticed? I mean we tested them constantly.

“SUGAR! You're finally awake!” A high female voice cried from the doorway. I turned just in time for the beige and brown Earth pony to rush me and hug me tight, making pain shoot through my chest and a cry escaped my lips.

“H...Hi Mom...” I wheezed as she set me down and backed up.

“Sorry Sugar, I've just been so worried. You two boys need to be more careful, I don't care what you're doing or for who, if something truly terrible happens, Celestia knows what I'd do.” She sighed.

“Mom it's really okay.” Another voice said from the doorway. Venture was pushed in in a wheelchair by another familiar Olive green unicorn with a brown mane, our father, Hu-Rah Cane, served in the Equestrian military all the way up to serving in the Canterlot Royal Guard. He'd retired and taken a position as a training Sergent only a few months before the war broke out fully.

“Don't sass your mother.” He said to Venture.

“Yes sir.” Venture sighed, shaking his head. “You look like crap.” He added, looking at me.

“As do you.” I said gesturing to his legs.

“Yeah that's a whole thing.” He shrugged. Dad parked the wheelchair and moved to hug Rosalea.

“How's my favorite daughter-in-law?” He asked, embracing her carefully. She was the one thing I had in my life that my dad seemed truly proud of. Of course she was a weapon designer and he had the rifle she'd made him for his birthday mounted on the wall in his office, so of course he liked her.

“I'm not your daughter-in-law yet Rah.” She smiled, returning his embrace. She, of course, loved having somepony in the family to talk guns with on a practical level. While Venture and I could come up with all these far flung designs, automated systems, fancy deployment engines, ponies like my father were some of her favorite to talk to, real world combat experience and only simple desires, a better scope, bigger clips, mixed ammunition capability...The first time they met the two of them had talked for almost 4 hours. “Plus it's hardly fair to say favorite when I'll be the only one.”

“Give it time.” Venture smirked, but we knew better. Venture would never settle down with just one mare. He loved to play the field, talk up a lady for a whole night, seal the deal and never see her again. Sure a lot of ponies might have seen that as pretty bad, but somehow Venture pulled it off. He mostly said that for our mother's sake, our father knew, Rose and I obviously knew, and I'm sure on some level our mother knew too, but she still liked to play the naive innocent.

“Of course it will dear, you just haven't met the right mare yet.” She smiled, sitting in the chair beside Rosa. “How are you and the foals doing?”

“We're fine.” Rosa said. “It's nothing new to be sitting in the hospital watching this lazy unicorn sleep.” She gestured to me.

“Hey now, I have suffered a terrible injury!” I said with mock indignation.

“I heard you landed on your head, I don't see how that's a terrible anything.” Venture laughed.

“What if I'd cracked my horn?” I asked. “Or suffered dain bramage?” I smirked at Rosa, but she just rolled her eyes. “I could have been a vegetable for the rest of my life and you'd have had to take care of me and tend to me for the rest of my life!”

“We'da taken you out back and shot you.” Dad said with a completely serious face, as always.

“Thanks dad.” I sighed.

“No, I wouldn't have let him do that.” Venture said. “I would have donated your body to science, and then experimented on you when I got it.”

“Oh thanks. I'll remember that if you ever kick the bucket and I need to experiment on the effects of military grade explosives on a dead idiot.” I laughed. “I could write a whole series of papers on that one I bet.”

“I don't know how you deal with them at work.” Mom said, rolling her eyes and looking to Rosa again.

“Oh it's pretty easy, my office is soundproof, so are my labs, and if worse comes to worse, I can always test fire a prototype.”

“Love you too.” I smirked.

“Love? Who said anything about love?” She countered. “I tolerate you because you're smart as a whip and you buy me pretty things.”

“Eh, I'll take it.” I shrugged. I gasped loudly as pain shot through me and I clenched my eyes shut against it, but rather than everypony jumping in surprise like I'd expected I instead heard silence. Opening my eyes slowly as the pain faded I realized the room was devoid of most of it's previous occupants. Only Rosalea still sat beside me, looking annoyed and disappointed. I looked out the window but it was solid black, I couldn't see any stars or street lights or anything, it was like a solid wall of black.

“Dammit this was supposed to hold up longer.” She sighed, standing up. Her body rippled and suddenly she wasn't pregnant anymore.

“W...What the hell is going on?” I asked, all the more confused now.

“Aww Cane come on, you have to know this isn't real.” She said, gesturing around the room.

“I figured.” I sighed in disappointment. “I was hopeful maybe I'd just suffered some terrible concussion when I fell and it had all been a dream.”

“Sorry to break it to ya, but this was just a means of keeping you out of it while we treated your injuries.” She said, shaking her head. “It's just an interactive Memory Cube we created.”

“Well thanks all the same.” I said, noticing the world was slowly fading into blackness.

“Just so you know, it's gonna hurt like a mother bucker when you wake up.” She said, coming over to the bed and embracing me gently. It just wasn't fair...here was my long lost love, I could see her, smell her, talk to her, and yet none of it was real. It broke my heart worse than I had felt the whole time I'd been in the wasteland. As the darkness closed around us I went for broke and kissed her passionately. She even tasted the same...
//////////

This time I cried out in pain, both physical and emotional, as the world crashed back to reality. This was much more the world I had first expected to return to. I was lying on a filthy stained mattress, in a room with blown out windows, though it looked like it had once been some kind of hospital room or something, I was clearly only on the second or third floor from the view outside the window. The sky outside was a miserable grey, a sickening amount of rain pouring from above, making the world outside all the bleaker and more miserable.

“Are you okay?!” Rosa...no Ruby this time, asked, jumping up from the floor beside me. I saw she had been lying on some pillows beside the bed I lay on.

“I...I'm fine. I just hurt like hell.” I groaned, realizing just how in pain my body was. “How did you manage that simulation?” I asked, trying to deflect her thoughts away from her worry about me.

She smiled a little and reached up above me, sliding a recollector off my head. A memory cube sat in the primary slot, but a bunch of wires looped around to two other holders on either side, each containing a memory orb, another braid of wires going around the back and out to a computer on the other side of the bed.

“What did you do to it?” I asked while Ruby sat it down on top of the computer.

“Modified it in an attempt to prolong the usefulness.” A metallic voice beside me said. I turned and realized Mare-Do-Well was sitting in the shadows between the computer and the wall. She walked forward and removed another cable that snaked from the computer to the pipbuck slot on her fore leg, then leaned her head down and Ruby removed a matching modified recollector, though hers sported three memory orbs. “We managed to make it work for five hours instead of just the usual 45 minutes but it required an active user to interface with it, and since you were unconscious and I'm the only other pony with a pipbuck I volunteered.”

“So you were inside the simulation?” I asked, blushing a little at the thought of a stranger bearing witness to such personal interactions as took place within the simulation, even if they were just casual family interactions.

“I was Roselea.” She replied and I blushed even worse.

“What?” Ruby asked, looking from me to Mare-Do-Well. “WHAT?!” She looked back to me, getting a very annoyed look on her face. “Did you do something you shouldn't have?” She asked angrily.

“No no, nothing like that.” Mare-Do-Well said, waving a hoof at Ruby like it was nothing. “He just got very emotional. The construct was based on his memories so it was very realistic to him.”

“That better be all it was.” Ruby said coolly, crossing her forelegs and sitting back, glaring at both of us.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly.” I said.

“Stick a cupcake in his eye.” Mare-Do-Well chuckled and I looked back at her, again surprised to find somepony else who knew how to Pinkie Promise.

“Alright fine.” Ruby said, standing up and moving towards the door. “I'm going to check on CB.” She said, vanishing into the hallway without another word.

“How is CB?” I asked, looking at Mare-Do-Well. “And where did you come from?”

“Well when a mommy pony and a daddy pony love each other very much...” She started.

“Very funny.” I interrupted. “You know what I mean. Geeze you remind of me Rosa, it's no wonder you did such a good job of her in the simulation.”

“She'll be fine. She's been asleep since you fled the base. There's nothing wrong with her, just complete and utter exhaustion as far as we can tell. As for me, it was hard to miss the massive flames coming from your base. I was on my way to investigate and I ran across one of the other Sky Wagons carrying some injured ponies so I redirected them here.”

“And where is here?”

“This is an old Fluttershy medical clinic.”

“As opposed to all the NEW medical clinics Miss Fluttershy is opening.” I rolled my eyes.

“Miss?”

“Long story.” I sighed.

“Anyway, I brought the first sky wagon here, and they gave me the intended meeting place of the others, so I went there and we brought back your wagon and another one once we moved all the injured ponies into them.”

“How bad was it?” I asked.

“You sustained burns over a third of your body...” She paused a moment. “You lost your cutie mark...”

I groaned and laid back, I had meant how bad was the over all evacuation but this was all the worse. “All of it?”

“All that's left is a pair of marks where the top of the double helix sat. I'm sorry Cane.” She said softly.

“Me too...” I sighed, looking down at the blankets quietly.

“The doctors did everything they could to heal your wounds and try to prevent serious scaring, and thanks to some amazing magic and talisman work your hair will grow back, but it's still bad.”

“Can I get up?” I asked, shifting a little, testing how my body felt dealing with movement.

“You probably shouldn't.”

But I was already rolling onto my side and getting out of the bed slowly. My saddlebags sat on the floor beside where Ruby had been lying so I floated out my lab coat and pulled it on. I didn't want to know how bad the injuries under my bandages were right now, I needed to check on my friends.

“What about Crackshot?!” I asked, suddenly remembering how badly she'd gone down when she put down the Pyro pony.

“How do you THINK she is?” A gravely voice asked from the hall and I looked up as the green ghoul walked into the room, looking healthy as the day I met her, which still meant she looked like a shambling corpse, but she was walking and talking and not dead which was something.

“What, you're not even banged up?” I asked in amazement.

“I WAS.” She smirked. “Broke all four legs, split my skull, cracked or broke every rib and ruptured both lungs. Luckily I don't need the lungs anymore, though I still use em unconsciously.” She wheezed for effect. “Soon as we reached the rendezvous Brutus got a couple of ghouls in the town to load me up on a stretcher and into a land wagon and take me out to an old balefire crater a few miles from the town, still pretty badly irradiated out there. I was right as rain by the next morning.”

She had stopped walking a few feet from me and I shifted forward and hugged her tightly.

“Well thanks Cane, I was worried too.” She laughed, returning the embrace.

I moved back and blushed a bit. “Sorry, I just don't like the thought of losing anypony else anymore.”

“Understandable.” She shrugged.

“Can you take me to see CB?”

“Course, come on.”

She lead me out into the hall and down past a number of other rooms, all similar to the one I had left, with injured ponies in them. Crackshot stopped at the door to a smaller room. It had clearly once been meant for younger patients. It had been painted bright orange, though it had faded over the years some parts of the wall near the bottom still showed the colour pretty well. Ruby stood with her back to the door and Brutus lay on a pile of sheets much like Ruby had been in my room, except he was in the corner and clearly very deeply asleep.

“You shouldn't be out of bed.” Ruby said without turning to look back at me.

“I don't do well just laying around letting other ponies take care of me.” I shrugged, coming up beside her. CB lay asleep on the bed. She didn't have any visible injuries or anything beyond a somewhat singed mane. For all the injuries the rest of us had sustained she came away relatively unscathed.

“She's been asleep and unmoving for days.” Crackshot said. “The doctors say there's nothing wrong with her, the machines say she's just asleep, but nothing has worked to wake her. Mare-Do-Well even tried the whole memory orb thing with her too and she didn't respond to it, like she's locked away her mind and we can't get through to it.”

“Well she's been through a really traumatic event.” I sighed, leaning down and nuzzling CB's cheek gently. She didn't react at all to the gesture, not that I had expected her to.

“We all have.” Ruby said, stifling a yawn. “But I know what you mean.” She added before I could argue.

“You should get some sleep Ruby.” Crackshot said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You've been awake almost three days straight.”

She blushed a little but I just smiled and kissed her cheek. “You're allowed to stay awake and worry about your fiancee.” I said

“What? Aren't you the inflated ego.” She snorted. “I've been up worrying about CB.” She said.

“Course you have.” I nodded. “Well you go get some sleep and let me take over worrying about her alright?”

“Yeah...alright.” She said, yawning again. “Where's Mare-Do-Well?” She asked, looking around.

“Oh. I guess we left her back in my room. I didn't even think about her.”

“Well I'm gonna crash there so I guess I'll tell her she's free to leave again. She seemed really worried about us but I guess that's a super hero's job isn't it?”

“I guess.” I shrugged. Despite myself I was feeling exhausted just from the walk down the hallway.

“Alright well I'll talk to you in the morning.” Ruby said, heading out of the room.

“I'm gonna go with her, I want to talk to Mare-Do-Well if she's still here.” Crackshot said, following Ruby out.

Once they were gone I let myself sink down a little, the exhaustion almost overwhelming suddenly. I should have known better than to push myself, but I also knew I couldn't just lie around in my own hospital bed and let others take care of me. I hated it. Even being in the hospital before when the turret had exploded, or even in the fake hospital in the memory cube...I had wanted to get up and go do stuff. Now though I just wanted to sleep. I looked at Brutus and for a moment seriously considered lying down beside him and going to sleep just to see how he reacted to waking up to it, but part of me worried I'd wake up to him cuddling up to me and kissing my mane or something, which just weirded me out. So I went with the other option. “Move it squirt.” I muttered to the sleeping filly in the bed. I slid her carefully to one side of the bed and crawled up beside her, wrapping a foreleg around her and holding her close. “For what it's worth, I'm so sorry. You're in for a lot of hardship in the coming weeks my little pony. Take all the time you need to just sleep away in blissful ignorance.” I kissed her forehead gently and cuddled down beside her, falling asleep pretty quickly myself.

////////////

Next thing I knew I was getting nudged in the cheek. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking away the sleep. It was still miserable and grey outside, but the rain seemed to have at least stopped. I looked down, expecting to see CB squirming to get free of my grasp, but she was still asleep, totally unmoved from where I'd shifted her the night before. I turned my head and looked up at Ruby. “Morning.” I muttered, yawning.

“Come on, I'm going stir crazy, I wanna go back to town and try to get my mind off things.” She walked over to the still sleeping Brutus and smacked him hard in the back. “Wake you lazy lout!” She yelled and he jumped to his feet quickly, still looking tired but awake and looked around at her.

“What?”

“Cane and I are going to town, do you need anything?” She asked in a sweet voice, smiling warmly at him.

“Yeah I need to be left the fuck alone!” He snapped, flopping back onto the makeshift mattress.

I'd already gotten up off the bed and was pulling on my armour, such as it still was, I'd rather have burnt armour showing than burnt skin.

“Aww Brutus don't be like that.” Ruby cooed, getting only angry muttering from our friend now. “Ready?” She asked, turning to me and I just nodded, looking back at CB one more time before starting into the hallway.

Crackshot and Mare-Do-Well were just coming down the hall towards us.

“So you stuck around?” I asked the purple power armour clad pegasus.

“Yeah, helped with security.” She replied simply.

“Bandits see Mare-Do-Well, they tend to shit themselves and run.” Crackshot said proudly. “Is Brutus up yet?”

Ruby just laughed and shook her head. “I gave him a good start, I'd say give him 5 minutes and hit him again.”

“Oh I will.” Crackshot grinned. I realized the strangely haunting face didn't creep me out anymore. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually.

“We're going to town, do you two need anything?” I offered.

“Yeah get me the number of that cute ghoul that took me to the Rad pit when we first got here, he was so hot.” Crackshot laughed.

“Aww gross!” Ruby cried. “He looked like a skeleton with only a tiny bit of muscle left.”

“I said the CUTE one.” Crackshot countered.

“I thought the other one was a mare?” Ruby said in confusion.

“NO! He was just...in touch with his feminine side.”

“Anyway...” I interrupted. “Do you need anything?” I asked, looking at Mare-Do-Well.

“I'm fine.” She shook her head.

I rolled my eyes a little. “I know this might be a futile thing to say but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. I realize you're supposed to be some big hero, silent guardian and protector and all that, but you know just as well as I do that you're just a normal pony under that armour, you need to eat and sleep just like the rest of us and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we're not going to think any less of you or doubt your abilities if you ask me to bring you lunch.”

She regarded me silently for a moment. “I'm fine.” She replied again simply.

“Argh! Fine. At least I offered.” I said, storming off down the hall away from them.

Ruby caught up with me as I walked outside. “Was that really necessary?”

“What? Asking if they needed anything?” I asked flatly

“Trying to force the issue with Mare-Do-Well. It's not like she's going to pop off her helmet to eat if you bring her food.”

“Well for one thing I wouldn't expect her to. I would think she'd wander off into some room to eat in privacy, and for another, it's not like I limited the offer to food. I said do you need 'anything' she could have said 'yeah I need more jewel packs for my laser rifles, or wax for my armour, or a dildo so I can go fuck myself!” I snapped, storming off down the road towards the map marker in the distance.

“What crawled up your ass and died?”

“SHE WAS ROSA!” I yelled, making Ruby jump and look all the more concerned.

“Care to elaborate?” She asked softly.

“That simulation...I was in the hospital, my family was there, she told me my brother and I had been hurt in an explosion. She was sitting there, pregnant to the point of bursting, my mom and dad were there...” My voice was cracking and I was struggling to keep myself from crying. “I thought all this had been a dream. The simulation was all so real. The sights, the smells...I felt TERRIBLE that I had lost myself in some post apocalyptic delusion and let myself fall in love with somepony who didn't exist, I felt horrible through the whole thing that I had betrayed Rosa's trust by loving you...”
Now it was Ruby's turn to look really hurt.

“Now I'm back here and I realize it was all a simulation and I feel all the worse because I betrayed YOU and my feelings are all messed up and I feel like I'm right back where I was that first day I left the office with you and the others. Lost and scared and so unsure of myself and the world around me. It's like somepony hit a big reset button on my mind.” I sighed deeply as I finished my rant and I realized Ruby had stopped a few feet behind me.

I turned and looked at her, she had tears running down her cheeks and was just staring at me intently. “D...Does that mean your feelings for me have changed?” She asked softly.

“What? No of course not.” I said quickly, moving and hugging her close. “I fell pretty hard for you as soon as I saw you dive bombing me from the second floor.”

“But without missing a beat you assumed I was all a dream and abandoned all your feelings for me for Rosalea.”

“Ruby, come on, you have to understand, I was home again, safe and secure and away from all the problems I faced here...”

“Oh so I'm a problem now?!”

“I...I didn't say that!” I stammered, I was terrible at arguing at the best of times and the fact that she was crying didn't help me any.

“Then what are you saying?”

“I miss my friends and family and part of me hates this entire world I've been trapped in and the only thing I have in this whole world to keep me sane is you and I'm not good at arguing and I'm sorry I got upset I know Mare-Do-Well was just trying to help but it filled me with this hope that I had been dreaming but I felt terrible you were gone, but at the same time I felt so happy that Rosa was still alive, now I'm back here and the feelings are the same only reversed and I don't know what to say because I'm a scientist not a romantic and I don't want you to be mad at me but I don't know what to say to make it better!” I blurted the whole thing out and finally sank to the ground, taking a deep breath and trying to regain my composure, letting my head sink down.

I felt a gentle kiss on my horn and I looked up at Ruby who was just smiling down at me. “Good boy, now lets get to town.” She said, turning and starting down the street again.

“Wait, what?” I watched her in confusion for a minute. “I think I was just robbed of the pity party I had going on there.”

“Well you were doing a whole guilt spiral thing.” She called back to me. “ I didn't want you sinking into a depression so I shifted your guilt from being on you to being towards me, got you to express all your feelings and brought you back to a stable level.” She turned and grinned happily at me. “Come on, you woke up back home with your family. I'd feel the same way if I woke up one day and found my parents standing over my bed. It's perfectly understandable as an emotional reaction.”

“Wha? When did you become a psychiatrist?” I asked, getting up and moving to follow her again.

“Who said that? I'm just good at manipulating people.” She said, nuzzling my cheek when I caught up to her. “I got you to propose to me didn't I?”

“Yeah but that was MY idea...”

“Oh was it now?” She teased.

“Yeah I'm pretty sure it was. You looked like you were gonna wet yourself when I lit that stage up.”

“Well...maybe just a little.” She smiled.

“Well come on, lets get going.” I said. Clearly she was the right pony for me, she knew just how to make me feel better...

Footnote: 25% to next level

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

I wasn't sure what I expected when Ruby told me we were going to a small town. For some reason, I was still picturing Ponyville. I hadn't had a chance to see any settlements; traders came to us, we'd never needed to go anywhere unless we were scavenging. There was a hill that looked down at the town from a bit of a distance, giving a good view without risking their security. The town encompassed about 10 city blocks. It was surrounded by a barricade made up of junked train cars, wagons, slabs of concrete, big rocks, and pretty much anything they could fit into place. In the middle was a large apartment building, the living area for almost every pony in town according to Ruby, though there were a number of shops and such that she said ponies both worked out of and lived in. At the gate we were greeted by a purple coated unicorn wearing armoured barding with the word 'security' painted on the side, a small sign sat to the left saying 'welcome to maneville' on the right side sat a small guard house.

“RUBY!” He called happily as we approached, waving to us.

“Ratchet!” She grinned, running up and hugging him.

“How's it going, Beautiful?” He asked, stepping back when she broke the hug. “You went with the injured ponies to the medical center earlier right?”

“Yeah, we arrived really early in the morning and my wagon already had a few injured in it, so we moved out the healthy ones and I took right back off.”

“Well I'm glad you came back, I've missed you.”

“You can buy me a drink and catch me up on your life the last few years.”

“Totally. First bottle of Wild Pegasus is on me.” He grinned. I had just stood back awkwardly for the moment during their exchange, but I took the chance to clear my throat to try and remind them of my presence.

“Oh right.” Ruby grinned, turning back to me. “Cane, this is Ratchet, he's an old buckfriend. Don't be jealous, he's a butt stallion now.”

“A what?”

“I was also Brutus's buckfriend for a while, before I left the collective.” He laughed.

“Ratchet, this is Sugarcane, my fiancee.” She beamed, hugging me close. “So don't go getting any ideas.”

“Oh, you don't need to worry about that,” he said, “I'm married now.”

“No way.” She gasped. “To who?”

“Who do you think?” He laughed. A sharp whistle came from the far side of the gate, and Ratchet's eyes lit up. “Perfect timing!” Hitting a button, the gate slid open to allow us into town. We saw a unicorn stallion coming towards us, with a pair of lunch bags floating along beside him. He was wearing some very fierce looking metal armour, with spikes along the legs and back, a battle saddle with a shotgun in one side, a grenade launcher in the other, plus what had to be a plasma rifle strapped to his back. He was literally able to wield at least three weapons at once with that setup. The armour was well kept but the plates still knocked together, making a kind of banging noise...what was the word for it..?

“Clank!” Ruby giggled.

“That's the one.” I nodded, getting a weird look from Ruby. “Never mind.” I blushed.

The metal clad unicorn smiled warmly. “Ruby, I heard you were in town!” For a minute, I thought my ears were going. His voice was so powerful, but so... feminine. “I couldn't find you! Darling, I'm so happy to see you!” No, I hadn't misheard him. He sounded like a southern mare, I had to stifle a laugh, and was very relieved that no one seemed to hear me. He set the bags down and Ratchet grabbed one of them happily, starting into it without hesitation.

Ruby hugged the newcomer tightly, expertly avoiding the spikes on his armour. “I flew one of the wagons out to the medical centre.”

“Oh, of course you did.” He nodded. He looked up at me and gave me what I could only describe as an evil grin. “Well hell-o, Handsome. Name's Clank, if you need anything while you're in town, and I do mean ANYTHING. You just come on and find me, I'll make sure you're real well taken care of.” He winked at me and was promptly smacked upside the head by bother Ratchet and Ruby. Which, probably hurt them more than him.

“Clank, this is my fiancee. Sugarcane.” Ruby said flatly. “He is strictly hooves off, unless they're MY hooves.” She hugged me tightly for emphasis, I just wheezed, and tried not to cry out in pain when she crushed my wounded side. The whimper that escaped reminded her of that fact and she released me again quickly.

“I'll send Brutus your way if he ever leaves the clinic.” I gasped, trying to recover from Ruby's protective crushing.

“Ooo, I've heard so much about Brute Force.” Clank grinned, looking back at Ratchet, who looked horrified at the thought.

“Nu-uh. Me and Brutus didn't end things on the best of terms. I'd rather not deal with that,” he said, shaking his head fiercely.

“We'll talk about it later.” Clank smirked. “You two headin' into town now, or y'all just here to keep us company?”

“Oh yeah, we're going to see Lily and Fire Bird,” Ruby said.

“Oh good, they'll be happy to see you again, I'm sure,” Ratchet said.

“It's been a long time.” She nodded.

“Well get to it, you still remember the way?” Clank asked.

“Of course.”

“Alright, see you later then,” he said, moving to sit beside Ratchet and get to eating.

“See ya later boys!” Ruby said, starting into town. I just nodded dumbly to them and followed after her quickly.

“What was that all about?” I asked once we were away from them.

“What was what about?”

“The wanting to get rid of us so quickly.”

“Because they were trying to eat lunch, and we were just standing around gabbing.” Ruby shrugged.

“I guess. I just thought that if they hadn't seen you in so long and they were such good friends they'd want to talk for a while.”

She sighed and looked at me coyly for a moment. “They're gonna make out for a while probably... ENJOY each others company, if you get my meaning.”

“You're kidding, while they're on duty?”

“Only Ratchet is on duty. Clank is a caravan guard, he must have just gotten back into town if he's still in his armour. I'm guessing they haven't seen each other in at least a week. You'd have met him a few weeks ago, if you hadn't been buried in your lab work.”

“And you didn't bother mentioning to him that you were engaged back then?”

“I WASN'T engaged back then,” she countered.

“That you had a very special somepony?” I asked in a sappy tone, eliciting a giggle from some fillies in a group of children going the opposite direction of us. I leaned in and kissed Ruby sweetly, cries of 'AUGH' and 'GROSS' from the colts, and 'AWW' and 'CUTE' from the fillies.

Ruby blushed furiously, but she smiled. “And, he didn't mention to me he was married now. We only saw each other for about 15 minutes, because I was actually leaving on a supply run with the others just as they were arriving. They were gone again by the time we got back.” She stopped in front of a three story building with a picture of a phoenix hanging above the door.

“Welcome to my aunt Fire Bird's store,” she said, wandering inside. It was a general shop, a few aisles of food, drink, and basic medicines. A counter sat at the front of the store, a terminal sat across from a cash register. Behind the counter was a locked weapon display and box after box of ammo. A curtained area dividing the display, leading into a back room. A set of stairs lead up to the second floor, which was really only an open walk way around the inside wall of the building. There was a single curtained door on the second floor, the rest was shelf after shelf of books in various states of usability, though most of them looked in excellent condition. A second staircase lead to the top floor, but that was again a full floor, and I couldn't see what was up there.

“Hello?” Ruby called, moving to the counter. “Anypony home?” She stood there for a moment before wandering behind the counter. “Fire Bird? It's Ruby, you here?” She stuck her head through the curtain.

“Should you be wandering around back there?”

“Oh hush, it's fine,” she said, waving a wing at me and vanishing behind the curtain.

“Well hello there, Handsome,” a voice said above me. Looking up I saw a chestnut coloured pegasus mare, floating in the air in the middle of the second floor. I wondered briefly why all these ponies were calling me handsome? Something inside me twisted into a knot, causing me to kick softly at the ground.

“Oh, hello,” I stammered, as the pegasus flew down and landed beside me.

“I really hope you're looking for me,” she cooed, stroking my face with a wing.

“Uhh, you must be Fire Bird,” I said quickly.

“I can be anypony you want,” she whispered, moving back behind the counter.

“No, I'm fine thanks, I'm engaged.”

“Aww well there's no harm in looking.” She shrugged. I could see a lot of family resemblance with Ruby in the personality department that's for sure.

“Uhh Ruby went into the backroom to look for you.”

“She did?” The pegasus moved into the entrance of the backroom. “Hello? Ruby, where are you?” She vanished inside. “Ruby?” She called again, her voice further as she moved further back. I waited a minute before I started to move towards the backroom myself.

“Hi there.” A bubbly voice called from above me. I jumped in surprise and looked up to see a young unicorn looking down at me from the second floor doorway. “You Ruby's friend?”

“Uhh, yeah, she went into the backroom and Fire Bird, I think it was Fire Bird... went to look for her. How big is the backroom?” I asked stupidly, watching the unicorn wander down the stairs to me.

“Really? It's not that big,” she said, looking at the curtain in confusion, moving into the backroom. “Hey! What are you ponies doing back here?” She called, but got no response.

She wandered in further, vanishing past the curtain and I moved quickly to follow her, but a purple Earth Pony popped up in the entrance to the back room. “Hey there hot stuff, care for a romp in the hay?” She asked, batting her eyes at me.

“Not interested.” I said flatly, glaring at her. “I'm worried about Ruby, is she back there or not?” I snapped.

“One second I'll check.” She vanished behind the curtain. “Anypony named Ruby back here?” She called.

“Hey, you're looking for Ruby?” A young pegasus, no older than CB asked, popping out from behind the curtain.

“Yes I am, please get her.”

“You're awful cute when you're mad.” She giggled, vanishing too.

“Come on!” I cried, grabbing the curtain in my magic just as Ruby came out again.

“Hey Sugar, why all the fuss? I was just looking for my aunt.” She sighed. I grabbed her in my magic now and slid her over to me, putting her between me, and the front of the store.

“This place is weird,” I said, keeping an eye on the curtain. “We should just go.”

“Aww Cane, come on, relax,” she said, coming up beside me, and kissing my neck. “Why don't you and me find somewhere quiet to fool around?” She whispered. “I'll help you work out some of that tension.”

“Seriously? Not now,” I grumbled, moving to the curtain and pulling it aside. The backroom wasn't very big at all, in fact I could see all of it save a small bit of space under a staircase that lead upstairs, no pony else was in sight.

“Well have you considered masturbation?” A deeper voice asked me, a voice I recognized as my own. Turning back I was horrified to see myself standing where Ruby had just been.

“OKAY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” I cried falling back in horror.

I...the other me...burst out into a fit of laughter and I heard Ruby join in. Looking up I realized she was perched on the second floor, pressed back almost out of sight, but looking down at me and rolling on her back in laughter.

“LILITH! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TEASING THE CUSTOMERS?!” An angry voice bellowed from the third floor. A chestnut pegasus mare, the same one I'd first seen, appeared at the top of the stairs and started down. The other me kept right on laughing, but with a pulse of green energy I vanished, replaced by a black and green Alicorn looking creature.

“You're a Changling?!” I snapped. Ruby was still laughing, but she drifted down to the ground and hugged the black mare tightly.

“Oh...oh Lil, that was AWESOME.” She managed through renewed fits of laughter, leaning against the other for support.

“Did you see his face?” The other cackled.

“Did I? How could I miss it?” She laughed more. The Chestnut pegasus reached the bottom of the last flight of stairs, and just rolled her eyes at the other two.

“Hello, I'm Fire Bird, I own the Phoenix shop and run the town library,” she said, ignoring them and turning to me. I felt stupid that I was still splayed back on her floor and righted myself quickly.

“Sugarcane, computer nerd and enjoyer of libraries,” I said dumbly.

“I must apologize for my niece and daughter,” she said, putting a hoof to her face as they continued to laugh themselves sick. “They bring out the worst in each other. So if you'd be so kind as to pay them no more mind. How can I help you?”

“Uhh, actually I don't know,” I replied. Now it was my turn to get an annoyed look from Fire Bird.

“W...wait wait...” Ruby said, waving her forehooves. She pushed herself up and sat, giggling a little still, but managing to get herself under control. She took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Remember I told you I had exciting news? Well, Aunt Fire Bird, this is Doctor Sugarcane, my fiancee.” She said proudly. This news obviously surprised both pony and changling.

“Dibs on Mare of Honor!” Lilith said quickly, one of her hooves shooting into the air.

“Also why I was here.” Ruby nodded. “But glad you're already volunteering.”

Fire Bird looked at me intently. “What do you do again?” She asked.

“Uhh, I'm a computer and robotics engineer, I built that.” I said lamely, pointing to the computer sitting behind the counter, connected to the cash register.

“That computer is older than all four of us put together,” she said coldly. Obviously not believing me in the slightest.

“You listen to DJ Pon3 right?” Ruby asked and Lilith nodded vigorously.

“You know how he's been talking about the 'robo-doc' lately? The pony from before the apocalypse?” Fire Bird nodded slowly, and Ruby pointed to me with a wing while I coughed and blushed a little.

“You're kidding.” Lilith said, looking from Ruby to me and back.

“I'm not,” Ruby replied. “Crackshot and Brutus can vouch for it.”

“Hmm... no wonder she's so into you. Living history,” Fire Bird said with a smirk.

“That's exactly what she said,” I replied.

“DJ Pon3 has talked about you like you're the greatest computer expert to ever live ever!” Lilith said.

“Uhh, well I don't know if that is true. In fact, I know it's not true,” I said quickly, blushing all the worse.

“His brother was supposed to be some wiz-colt too,” Ruby said.

“Well, I suppose you're not the worst Ruby could do,” Fire Bird said, shaking her head a little.

“Uhh, thanks?” I said simply, not really sure what else to say.

“Trust me, coming from mom that's a compliment,” Lilith said. I looked back at the changling, and really as an afterthought I tagged her as a priority target in my Pipbuck, so she'd always had a special indicator when she was in range, no more catching me off guard.

“So you're just here to get Lilith and go out to celebrate then?” Fire Bird asked, looking to Ruby.

“You're welcome to come too,” Ruby offered. “Ratchet and Clank are coming too.”

“I think I'll be fine,” she said, shaking her head.

“Well it's not until later tonight, even you close.”

“I'll think about it.”

“Alright, then lets go shopping!” Lilith said, jumping to her hooves.

“Uhh I think I'm gonna stay here,” I said, “I haven't had access to a library in a long time, it'll be nice to look through some books.”

“By all means,” Fire Bird said, gesturing to the stairs.

“Alright then lets go!” Lilith said, pulling Ruby towards the door. “You need a wedding dress!”

“Wha? Lil wait!” She cried, getting pulled along out the door.

Fire Bird chuckled as they vanished, the door closing behind them. “Kids.” She sighed, looking at me for a moment. “She's adopted.”

“What?” I asked, looking from the door to the pegasus behind the counter.

“Lilith. She's adopted.”

“Oh, I see.” I nodded. I hadn't really thought about it. In the world I'd found myself in, I was accepting of most anything.

“Found her when she was just a foal, or whatever you'd call the changling equivalent of a foal. No parents, no bodies, no wreckage, no nothing. Just a scared baby, crying in the middle of a rainstorm.”

“Huh...” I felt the wheels in my head start turning at the idea, I wasn't sure why, but it struck me odd.

“I know you didn't ask or anything but most folks ask sooner or later, so I usually just like to move past it.”

“Well thanks.” I nodded. It was kind of awkward for a moment.

“I guess I'll leave you to the books. If you find any you want just bring em down and call me,” she said, starting for the backroom.

“Yeah thanks.” I smiled and headed upstairs.

//////////

I lost myself in the books. Daring Do, Sherclop Holmes, the big books of computer engineering... I had missed those most of all. After four hours I had ten books stacked up in a pile by the stairs, a number of others had been read, skimmed, deemed unnecessary and put back.

“I don't suppose I could buy these instead of just borrowing them?” I asked Fire Bird when she came back to the counter. “I've read all of them, but I want to read them again, and there's a certain ghoul I want reading them too.”

“You're going to try and get Crackshot to read?” She smirked.

“Yeah, I think I'll try.”

“How 'bout you just hold on to them for as long as you need? And if you lose them, we'll talk about costs to replace them?”

“Fair enough.” I nodded, floating them into my saddlebags while she punched the information into the computer terminal. “So are you coming to the bar?” I asked her once the books were packed away.

“Yeah I suppose I will.” She replied finally.

“Well then shall we?” I asked, opening the door for her with my magic.

“Yes lets.” she said, starting outside. I followed behind and she locked the door and we were off to the bar to meet the others.

Footnote: 50% to next level

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

“Why'd you help them?”

“What? The girls back on the road?”

“Yeah. I mean they tried to rob us.”

“Sugar come on, we're the good guys, we help anypony in trouble. Just because we lost our home doesn't mean we lost our morals.”

“But how did you know they weren't going to hurt you? That it wasn't just a trick?”

“I can read ponies very well, how do you think I can control them so well?”

“I still think you're making that up.”

“I studied a little psychology when I was learning archeology, it wasn't as interesting but I wanted to learn about the causes behind the mentality of famous ponies and their decisions. Between that and a kind of natural attention to detail I got quite good at reading emotions and facial expressions. I'd have thought your EFS marked them as green when they gave up, isn't that how it works?”

“I...I guess I was so focused on what was happening I didn't notice.”

“Well don't beat yourself up too much, you were just worried about me, and I think that's sweet.”

We reached the medical center again with no problem. A few guards had arrived from our original group and had set up a perimeter around the center.

Inside we found Crackshot and Brutus sitting in the foyer, deeply engrossed in some kind of card game I couldn't even begin to understand.

“About time you two got back.” Brutus said, looking up from the table at us.

“Yeah we ran into some friends of Ruby's. We ended up spending a lot more time around town with them than we'd expected.” I replied.

“And you're gone.” Crackshot grinned, flipping a pair of cards, making Brutus groan and slump in his seat. “Ha, better luck next time.” Crackshot laughed, sweeping a pile of bottle caps, as well as the cards, over to her and into her saddlebags.

“Oh good, you two are done playing.” I smiled. “I brought you presents.” I floated two of the books out of my saddlebags and set them down in front of Crackshot. “Flankenstein and the first volume of Sherclop Holmes.”

Crackshot looked at them warily. “I dunno if I can get into books...it's more reserved for eggheads like you...”

“I promise they're good.” I said. “Flankenstein has a big monster, violent angry villagers, crazy scientists. Sherclop Holmes is all just interesting in general.”

She sighed and put the books in her pack. “I'll give them a go tonight.” She nodded.

“That's all I ask.”

“And for the orange unicorn.” Ruby said, setting a blue box in front of him. He floated the lid off and broke into a big grin, lifting the shiny new powerhooves out of the case. “They've been modified to use a few different power cells. I figured since we're limited on our ammo types that would do better for you in the long run. Also...” She gestured to a set of tubes laid out along the front and back of where his hoof would sit inside. “These are little gun chambers, they only hold one 10 mm bullet each, but I figured that it was better than nothing, and what pony is going to expect a bullet from a powerhoof?” She smirked. “You gotta use magic to fire them too so I figured they were the absolute perfect weapon for you.”

“Where did you even find something like this?” He asked, looking them over in wonder.

“A friend of mine actually made them for when he travels as a caravan guard. He was interested in meeting you.” She explained and I had to suppress a laugh.

“Well I'd love to meet anypony that makes weapon modifications this fine.” He nodded happily.

“Any change from CB?” I asked, kind of regrettably since it drained the happiness from the conversation.

“Not so far, she's still asleep, right where we left her.” Brutus sighed, looking towards the hallway sadly.

“Alright, well I'm going to go check on her.” I said, starting off down the hall. I paused outside the door and sighed deeply, it wasn't going to be easy when she woke up again. She was going to be devastated.

Opening the door slowly, I saw her sleeping form on the bed, still unmoved from where I'd left her that morning. Moving to her side I leaned down and nuzzled her gently. This time though, she tensed, ever so slightly, and she relaxed again right away, but not fast enough for me not to notice.

“CB?” I asked softly, and slowly she opened her eyes to look up at me. They were bloodshot and soaked from crying. “How long have you been awake?”

“A...a few hours...” She stammered, fighting to keep from crying again.

“Why didn't you tell anypony? We've been so worried about you.”

“I didn't want to talk to them.” She whispered, shifting and sitting up slowly, though it clearly took a lot of effort to get herself to do so. The sheet where her head had lain was soaked with tears.

“Oh honey...” I sighed, getting up onto the bed and hugging her tightly. She pressed into my side and broke down into tears again, sobbing against me to muffle the noise. She dug into my still sore wounds, but I just bit my lip and ignored it.

“I know it's hard.” I said softly, hugging her, and resting my head against hers. “And I know saying that doesn't mean much. But I lost my mom too, my dad, my brother, and Rosalea...I lost everypony I knew when I got locked in that cryopod. I know it hurts, it hurts so bad that you don't think you'll ever be able to do anything ever again, but I promise you'll start to feel better. You'll never stop hurting, but you'll feel better...” I was the wrong pony to do this, I wasn't good at comforting words at the best of times, let alone when it was a scared filly crying into my coat.

“I just want her back.” She whimpered. “I-I-miss h-her s-s-so much-” she sobbed all the harder and I swear I could hear my heart breaking. “I don't know what I'm gonna do. Where am I gonna live? Who's going to help me with my homework? And make sure I eat! And don't oversleep and miss school! And... and... and...” She had started jabbering at a mile a minute but her train of thought stalled and she broke down into wordless weeping again.

“I know CB, I'm so sorry...” I looked down at the green filly. “We're all here for you. Ruby and I are going to take care of you,” I said. “We'll take care of you and make sure you're safe, and Brutus and Crackshot will be there for you just like they always have. So will everypony else from the Collective, and I promise we'll find the ponies who did this and stop them.” She was quiet for a minute, just sobbing quietly against me, clearly trying to get herself back under control.

“I-I wanna h-help.” She sniffled, looking up at me slowly.

“The best thing you can do right now is to rest, and try to get better.” I said. “We don't even know what we're going to do right now.” She let out a deep sigh and sat back slowly, I think she was finally cried out. “Do you want to go see the others? I know they're all worried about you.”

She looked thoughtful for a minute, reaching up with a hoof and wiping her eyes gently. Finally she nodded and I smiled a little. “Alright, come on my little pony,” I said, getting up and lifting her into the air with my magic, sitting her on my back and heading out of the room.

//////////

Everypony was glad to see CB awake and out of bed, though it was understandably somber. She sat between Brutus and Ruby and just rested against his side quietly. We talked about what the plans were for the next few days.

“I want to go back to the base and look for clues.” Brutus said firmly.

“Seconded.” I nodded. Most of my computer equipment might have been old but it was designed in an era of war, they were designed to take a beating. Sure they were no pipbucks but there was a good chance some of it had survived.

“I think everypony wants to go back and find out what happened.” Crackshot said. “Some of the guards were already talking about it.”

“Well we just need to step up and volunteer then.” Ruby added.

“I'll talk to E...” He trailed off when he felt Cb shift against him. “Sorry little one.” He sighed.

She just shifted off his side and rested against Ruby now instead, her face still blank and impassive.

“We'll talk to the rest of the council and get the plans ironed out. We're still trying to assess all the damage.”

We were interrupted by a pegasus with a sniper rifle. “Excuse me.” He said quietly. “Brute Force if we could borrow you? We have discovered some rather disturbing information and are asking all the remaining team leaders to come in to consult.”

“Oh, of course.” Brutus nodded, getting up and moving to the guard. “I'll be back, don't go running off without me.” He said, heading down the hall.

Everypony got quiet again for a time until CB finally spoke up. “Ruby?” She asked softly, looking up at the pegasus from her spot against her.

“Yes?” She replied, looking down at her.

“Are you and Cane still getting married?”

“Of course we are.” She smiled. “I have friends in town who are helping with it so that we can still focus on getting the collective back in order.”

“Can I help?”

“Of course you can. When we go back to town in a few days you can come with us and you can meet my cousin Lilith. She and my friend Clank are doing all the work so I'm sure they'll love the help.”

“Are you sure you're up for it?” Crackshot asked.

“Yeah, I don't wanna stay here, it's quiet and there's nothing to do.”

“It's probably a good idea to keep busy yes.” Ruby nodded. “Plus it'll free up that room for somepony else.”

“I wanna go back to the base with you.” CB said after a minute.

“I don't think that's a good idea.” I said, a sentiment echoed by the other two.

“I'm not asking.” She said flatly, sitting up and looking at me seriously. “I'm going.”

“It's not our call squirt.” Crackshot said. “It's up to Brutus.”

“What's up to me?” Brutus asked, coming back down the hallway.

“I'm going back to the base with you.” CB said.

Brutus opened his mouth and closed it again, looking at her quietly for a moment before speaking. “We'll have to talk about that later. Cane I need you. I don't know if you can help but we're bringing in all the unicorns on it.”

“Alright.” I nodded, sharing a confused look with Ruby as Brutus and I started away.

“What about me?” CB asked.

“No offense kiddo but we need magically talented ponies.”

“I'm magically talented!” She said, assuming the old indignant CB voice. “I kicked the crap outta that pyro pony! Tell him Cane.”

“Well..she did do that yeah.” I said slowly.

“See? Magically talented!”

“Do you know how to extract memories against somepony's will?” Brutus asked flatly.

“Uhh, no.” CB said, slumping in defeat.

“Don't worry about it CB, it's not a magic just anypony knows, I don't even know if the version I know would work on somepony else. The one I know I've only ever used on myself for note storing.” I said, trying to be cheerful about it, but she just slumped down against Ruby again and went quiet, making me feel terrible all over again.

“Come on Cane.” Brutus said after a minute and I nodded and followed him down the hall.

/////////////////

We went downstairs and through a well guarded hallway.

“What's going on?” I asked, amazed at the amount of effort put forth by the remnant just to guard this hall.

“We caught some traitors.” Brutus said, coming to a stop in front of a storage room door. “They're in there.” He pointed to the door then continued on to another room just down the hall. This had clearly been an administrative office earlier. The surviving 3 members of the council sat at a table with 6 unicorns, already deep in discussion. They paused and looked up at us when we entered.

“Oh Doctor Sugarcane, welcome. Has Brute Force brought you up to speed?”

“Uhh kind of, but he didn't want to get too into detail just in case of others around us.” I said, not sure if Brutus would get in trouble for not being more forthcoming.

“We caught two of the medical staff in contact with the Pyro Pony Collective. Turns out they were part of the reason we were attacked, seems they weren't expecting the attack so soon from the transmission we intercepted, but we haven't been able to trace it at all. We were hoping somepony might know the old memory extraction spells and Brutus said you knew some form of them?”

“Yes but the spells I know aren't the forced kind. The ones I know are for extracting one's own memories or the memories of somepony willing to let you.”

“Well we'll take what we can get.”

“I know a few techniques to make ponies more compliant.” One of the other unicorns said. “I'm sure we can find a way to mix the techniques to get the answers we need.”

“We've moved the recollector equipment down from the room Mare-Do-Well had them set up in and set it up in the room beside the supply room we have them in.”

“Who do we have?” I asked.

“Nurse Gauze and Doctor Feel Good.”

“The black and white nurse?” I asked, remembering her taking care of me in the medical bay after the turret blew up.

“Yes and the doctor is the purple one.” Brutus said.

“Alright, now lets get to work.”

/////////////////////

The night was a long one. I worked with two other unicorns, they were going to conduct the actual interrogation so I spent a good few hours teaching them to extract memories while the recollector was set up and prepped. I didn't have the stomach to interrogate somepony else so forcefully so I was glad they just asked me to teach the other two as best I could. By the time the machines were hooked up and ready to go both the unicorns had mastered the basics and were getting proficient at the few advanced techniques I knew.

“Will you stick around down here in case we need to know more from you?” One asked as he prepared to go into the interrogation room after they had moved the two medical ponies into it.

“Yeah I'll just crash in the empty room at the end of the hall.” I said, pointing to the ajar door with the empty bed visible inside. He nodded and, removing any trace of happiness from his face, walked into the interrogation room, closing the door behind him.

“This is really weird.” I sighed, dropping into the chair beside Brutus. “I mean I know we have to do this but it just doesn't sit well with me.”

“Me neither.” Brutus said, shaking his head. “But you're right we do have to do this. We need to know what happened, we need to stop this from happening again to some other group somewhere else, it's been a long day, why don't you go get some sleep? I'll wake you if there's anything we need you for. I'm sure Ruby would be happy for the company.”

“I already promised the others I'd crash down here so they could come get me right away if they needed me.”

“Alright well go do that then.” He shrugged, sitting back against the wall.

“I'm not gonna wake up to you spooning me am I?” I asked, smirking as I pushed myself up.

“Pft, I could do WAY better than you if I wanted.” He countered.

“I dunno. I met Ratchet back in town.” This made Brutus blush a little.

“His husband wants to meet you by the way.”

“Oh he's married now eh? That's nice.”

“I don't see why you're so secretive about your life, I would think after watching over so many generations of your family it's not like Crackshot is going to disown you. I also know what Ruby promised you and I'm more than willing to support her in that decision if the need should arise.”

He just got all the more flustered and looked down at the ground quietly. “It's not so simple.” He grumbled.

“I know, and I'm not trying to force you or nag you, I'm just saying.” I said, heading down the hall quietly. Yeah it probably wasn't the time to get on his case about his love life, but I felt more awkward about the interrogation than I did about his love life so I focused on it intentionally to try and distract myself. Eventually I managed to get some sleep, but it was to be short lived...

//////////

“Cane, hey Cane, wake up.” Brutus's voice cut through my visions of fire and changlings and I was dragged back to reality.

“What?” I muttered, rubbing my eyes tiredly and looking up at him.

“They're about half done the interrogation,” he said seriously, “But they say they have an orb that's for your eyes only.”

“Oh?” I got up off the bed and shook the exhaustion from my body. A quick glance at my pipbuck showed I'd only been asleep about 3 hours.

I went out into the hallway and one of the unicorns sat in a chair across from the interrogation room. She looked totally exhausted. Sitting beside her were three memory orbs. When she saw me coming she got up and floated one of the orbs out of the container. “We got these from Nurse Gauze.” She said. “I'm sorry to be the one to give you this news but you're gonna want to watch it. You're going to need to talk to Ruby too...”

“What is it?” I asked, suddenly extremely worried. “Did she do something to me when I was in the hospital?”

“No, it's not as bad as all that, but you're still not going to be happy...And I'm sorry about the end of the first memory, I tried to cut it back but without properly calibrated equipment I could only do a rough approximation.” She sighed, looking at the ground quietly.

I took the orb and looked at Brutus and he shrugged. “I guess go crash on the bed again. How long is it?” He asked, looking back at the unicorn.

“It's a few hours all told, it's pieced together from a number of memories.”

“Alright. Well I guess I shouldn't hold off any longer.” I sighed, going back to the bedroom and settling onto the bed. “Again same rules apply. If I wake up and you're doing things to my unconscious body it will not end well for you.” I smirked at Brutus, trying to work out some of my worry over what I'd find in the orb.

“I promise nothing.” He smirked, turning and starting out of the room. I sighed deeply one last time to try and relax my racing heart as I floated the orb up and touched it to my horn.

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Feel Good was standing in a hallway in the base looking at my host.

“I'm positive.” Gauze, my host, replied. “Not only did the boss say he needs genetic samples, which by itself is enough for me to just do it, he locked down the medical bay and made us look like idiots.”

“You came at him with a big rubber vagina and told him you'd hold it for him, what did you expect?” Feel Good snapped.

“He saw it through the window and freaked. I hadn't even finished prepping yet.”

“He's barely been awake again for 12 hours.”

“The boss said to do it. If you don't want to I'm sure I can just do this myself and pass along your lack of participation. I bet that'll go well for you.”

Feel Good glared at her for a moment and then shook his head and steeled himself. “Alright, lets do this.” He reached up and knocked on the door as Gauze floated out a cattle prod, the one I assume she'd been referring to in the hospital.

She sparked it to life as a very drunk Ruby opened the door. “Hel...” She started but as soon as she was visible Gauze struck, the cattle prod shooting forward into Ruby's neck, grabbing her with her white magic and hurling her backwards into the room beyond, which I saw now was her old quarters, where she crashed onto the bed.

“HEY!” Gauze looked over and I saw myself, struggling to draw my guns before the magic field broke and they fell to the ground at my hooves. She started towards me, Feel Good coming in behind her and closing the door behind him.

“W...What do you want?” I was demanding, looking around the room, likely in search of another weapon.

“You made us look like idiots.” She hissed, the cattle prod sparking in her magical grip as she shoved it into my chest, ZAP. I screamed in pain as my limbs spasmed and I fell to my knees. “The boss wants samples...” She held the cattle prod out again. “He,” ZAP “Will,” ZAP “Get,” ZAP “Them!” ZAP ZAP ZAP.

The last shock threw me backwards into the desk, a Wild Pegasus bottle falling over, pouring down, running down my muzzle and dripping into my mouth as I lay still, panting hard.

“Gauze...relax you don't wanna fry his brain.” Feel Good grunted, grabbing the cattle prod in his own magical field and yanking it away from her. “Just get to work so we can get out of here.” He said, moving to Ruby on the bed.

“She's not the one you need to worry about.” Gauze growled down at me. She reached into her own saddlebags and withdrew another needle, the sperm collector, and what I recognized as one of the enviro-suit filter masks, but fitted with some small pads crammed into the air intake . She took the filter in her grip again and forced it over my head with little effort, it was clearly drugged because after a few breaths I went limp on the ground and she broke into a big grin as she floated the needle up and drove it into my neck. She watched for a moment and I'm embarrassed to say I grew very aroused. She then rolled me on my side and smiled. “Good boy...awe a good BIG boy.” She chuckled darkly. “I'm sure Ruby would have enjoyed a ride with you, and as far as you'll remember she did.” She hissed in my ear. I just fell back against the ground silently as she slid the collector over my member and started it going.
“You finished modifying Ruby's memories yet?” She asked, floating me into the air and dumping me on the bed while the device still chugged away. Feel Good had his horn pressed to Ruby's forehead.

“Almost. They're drunk so I'm just removing the attack and fuzzing the rest of the night over. Then I'll do the same to him.”

“Why don't you give them some memories of hooking up?” She asked.

“It's too tough to recreate feelings like that from memory.” He said, shaking his head.

“Well maybe you could have some fresh memories to implant them with?” She asked in a coy voice, kissing his neck and nuzzling it softly. “Just swap out the ponies in the memory for them?”

He smirked a little and nodded. “Yeah I think that'll work.”

She just grinned and turned lifting her front half onto the bed and looked back at him. “Well by all means big boy.” She cooed.

~Oh sweet Celestia take me now~ I cried silently as I felt his hooves come down on her shoulders. The memory started to fade but not before I felt the sensation of his penetration. If I could have thrown up at that moment I would have. I felt a sudden need to apologize to Ruby...

//////////

The memory came back, Gauze was sitting in a small office I didn't recognize. She was sitting in front of a terminal, modified with transmission equipment. She had a memory cube sitting beside the keyboard and was talking to a computer generated pony face with a synthetic gender neutral voice.

“But sir I don't understand why you don't just want me to bring him to you.” She said, clearly frustrated.

“Because he's not ready. In time he will come to me and when that time comes we'll both be ready.”

“So what's the point of this?” She asked, poking the memory cube with a hoof.

“To put the fear of this world into him. He needs to know how fucked up this world is and what he has to look forward to.”

“His friends are strong, they've lived here just as long as we have they know too much, they'll protect him from any serious effects.”

“As long as you have perhaps, but he'll still be terrified. It'll shake him to the core, no matter what his so called friends say to him. How's the bonding project going?”

“We're perfectly on track so far. He has shown a genuine interest. We're setting up events so that they will grow closer together. We're hoping to move to caring about her and even loving her”

“Good. He needs somepony to worry about losing when we make our move, and it helps that she's his great great grand daughter.” He said sarcastically, which was an impressive feat with the robotic voice. “Because you know family is so important to me.”

“Well we'll be ready to make our move in two months just like you wanted Sir. We've slowly brought in your ponies to replace fallen personnel as well as the school teacher, the quartermaster and two other medical staff are your soldiers.”

“Excellent, now go strike some fear into the heart of that unicorn bastard.” He said, the computer monitor going dead.

“Yes sir,” she said bitterly, getting up and floating the memory cube into her pack. She walked slowly through the halls, stopping outside the door to my room and looking around slowly before floating out a tranquilizer gun and knocking on the door. I saw myself open the door. My eyes looked at her curiously for a moment and I recognized the hidden panic. “Can I help you?” I asked.

“Boss wants to talk with you.” She said flatly, floating the gun up and pointing it at me.

“Hey now...” THUNK. I was cut off as a dart fired silently out of the device and embedded itself in my neck. “Wha...” I stumbled back a bit and passed out in a matter of moments.

She floated my limp body into the air, closing the door and setting me down, turning Ruby slightly so I was partially pinned under her.

“Don't know what makes you so special but I'm sure this thing is nightmare incarnate.” She said, floating the cube out and touching it to my horn. I tensed for a moment as a spark leaped from the orb to my horn and then I went limp again. She tucked the orb back into her pack and moved back to the door. “Don't scream too loud.” She smirked, pressing her horn to mine, presumably to strip the memories of the last few moments from my mind. opening the door and peering out slowly before slipping out and closing door behind her, wandering off at a leisurely pace.

Again the memory started to fade away. At least this time it finished with her going into the main foyer...

////////////

I was back in the small office. The Pyro Pony who'd killed EB was standing in front of me and Gauze was freaking out at him, this was obviously taking place in the early moments of the attack on the base.

“We were supposed to have two more weeks!” She snapped at him.

“We were ready sooner.” He replied simply.

“But we're not ready for this.”

“We brought in an extra 12 ponies by commandeering some of the caravans and putting out ponies on them. So the boss decided now was the time to move.”

“I need more time to get my things and get out.” She said, moving towards the doors.

“Oh you can't come with us at the end. We still need somepony on the inside to keep us in the loop. The boss isn't ready for Sugarcane yet.”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!” She demanded.

“Because it's what we do.” He smirked. “This ponies have become too complacent with their lot in life. Relative safety, stable lives, education and training for their children. It's disgusting. We're going to gut this entire building and kill anypony that tries to stop us, then we're going to burn it to the ground, to show we fear no organization. We shall take the children and they will be raised to fight for us, or they will be left to the manticores.”

“You really are a monster.” She said coldly. “Now move it.” She was trembling with fear but was trying to hide it.

“Oh no no, you need to be believable.” He said, turning and bucking her side as hard as he could, sending her end over end until she collided with the far wall and collapsed in a heap. I felt for the second time like I was going to throw up from the dizzying motion, and the pain of both the impact of his hooves and the impact of the wall. This memory began to fade too, but it seemed to be because she blacked out. I don't know how long I was lost in this darkness before...

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

I groaned and rolled over, dry heaving off the edge of the bed. Coming out of the orb had been disorienting and not at all pleasant. My body still ached with pain, both my own real pain and the memory of the pain Gauze had felt. I rolled back and covered my eyes with a leg, waiting for the remembered pain to fade and be replaced with just the dull ache of my real pain.

“You okay?” I jumped in surprise, looking over I realized Ruby and Brutus were standing beside the bed.

“Uhh...I'm fine.” I said, shaking my head. “Just a lot more jarring than I thought.”

“See? It would have been okay.” Brutus said. Ruby rolled her eyes and turned back to me.

“What would have been okay?” I asked, looking from one to the other and back.

“I was...” Ruby blushed a little and sighed. “I was gonna lay down beside you and kiss your neck and Brutus was going to groan softly in your ear so you thought he was taking advantage of you while you were out.”

“Oh...well that's fine then.” I broke into a big grin, probably trying too hard to mask my real emotions. Ruby was my grand daughter...what was I going to do? I still felt the same about her, but our whole relationship suddenly felt so twisted and wrong...and it's not like I could just pretend it wasn't true, the other unicorns had seen these memories themselves, and the council would see at least part of the second and all of the third memories, certainly enough to know what's what.

“I need to talk to them.” I said seriously, looking at Brutus and climbing off the bed.

“Uhh...alright. I'm sure nopony will object.” He said dumbly, clearly surprised by my sudden change in attitude.

“Sugar what was in that orb?” Ruby asked, very concerned herself.

“Remember my first night here? You and I at the bar after I fled the medical bay because they wanted a...sperm sample? We snuck out and went back to your quarters?”

She blushed a little and just nodded.

“How much do you remember after we got back to your place?”

“Uhh, we drank some more, got into the bottle of Wild Pegasus you brought from your office, and we...” She trailed off and glared at Brutus.

“What? Like I don't know what you two do in the privacy of your quarters?” He smirked. “It's nothing I haven't heard from you before.”

“We...made love.” She replied finally.

“Yeah, except we didn't.” I sighed. “Gauze and Feel Good showed up and attacked us. They drugged us and took that sample by force. Then THEY 'made love' on the end of your bed while we were drugged just inches from them and then they implanted their memories of the experience into us.” This made Ruby turn even redder, but this was from rage.

“I'll kill them!” She bellowed, starting to get up off the bed but I nudged her back.

“Remember my nightmare? The demon pony?” I asked and she nodded again.

“It was a memory cube sent to them by their boss. It turns out that they were getting Pyro Ponies onto the staff at our base, slowly replacing key personnel with their own. It's how they managed to seize the base so fast, and one of them brought it along with an order for them to get me into it so that their boss could make me scared of the wasteland.”

“That's fucked up.” Brutus said, shaking his head. “Who the fuck is so interested in you and wrecking your life?”

“No clue, but I'm not happy about it.” I said. “So can you get me in to talk to them?”

“Yeah I'm sure I can I just have to go clear it with the council.” He said, starting for the door. When I didn't move to follow he paused and turned back. “You coming?”

“I'll be there in a second, I still need to talk to Ruby.” Brutus nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

“What's up?” She asked, sitting back on the bed and looking at me curiously. “You still look seriously troubled.”

“I...I...” I sighed deeply, now wasn't the time to tell her she was my grand daughter. I'd have to find a better time and way to address it. We'd been through so much I couldn't just self destruct her whole love life. “I need to apologize...for every time we've ever had sex.” I said after a moment.

She burst out laughing. “Why would you ever need to apologize for that? You're...very good.” She grinned.

“Those memories,” I gestured to the orb, “are Gauze's. The first part of it ends with her and Feel Good...beginning to have sex...”

She looked at me in amazement. “So you felt his...?” I nodded. “Going into you...?” I nodded again. “But into a...” I nodded. “Except you don't have one...”

“So it was the single weirdest experience of my life, and I don't even know what to think of how it feels to you...”

She leaned forward and hugged me close. “It's not weird.” She said, kissing my horn gently. “It's amazing. I might even go so far as to say Earth shattering some times.” She winked. “Maybe one night, when all this crazy-ness is behind us, we'll have a night of pure passion, and each record it into an orb, and we can swap them and see how it feels for the other.”

“Maybe...” Was all I could manage, stepping back and forcing a cocky smile. “I mean I know I'm good, but could I really pleasure myself?”

“You're a guy, I'm sure you've pleasured yourself plenty.” She laughed. We were interrupted by a knock on the door before I could reply. Brutus opened the door again and looked in.

“If you two are finished making kissy faces at each other the council have cleared you to talk to the prisoners.”

I nodded and moved out of Ruby's grasp, heading to the door.

“I'll keep the bed warm for you.” Ruby called in a sultry tone.

“Thanks, I'll be back in a few and I'll make you squeal like a radhog in heat.” Brutus replied and I just laughed as he got a pillow in the face for his effort.

In the hallway Brutus looked at me as we walked. “You're really shaken by what you saw?”

“To my core.” I nodded. “I NEED to know who they're working for. How somepony could have a personal vendetta against me 200 years after my supposed death is beyond me.”

“Well you're going to want to steel yourself before you go in. They aren't in the best shape...the interrogators worked them over pretty badly.”

One of the unicorn interrogators sat tiredly in a chair beside the door. “Do me a favour?” I asked her and she nodded and sat up. “I'm going to try to get answers from them about who they work for...”

“Good luck with that, they haven't really been open about it, in fact Nurse Gauze doesn't seem to even know the name of their boss.”

“All the same, keep an eye on things and when you see me make my move against Gauze I want you to burst in and demand to know what I'm doing, and then I'm going to throw you out without answering, then I'm going to bar the door so nopony else can get in.”

“Why?”

“Because I want Feel Good to be genuinely terrified that I'm going to do something rash to try and get answers. Assuming he doesn't call my bluff I'll get the answers I need.”

“A...Alright.” She nodded, sitting down again, Brutus moving to sit with her.

I stood for a moment before nodding to the guard, who opened the door for me. I walked in and was still horrified at the sight before me. Both unicorns were stripped of their uniforms and chained to vertical tables in what had to be terribly painful positions. Both had been severely beaten, both had had their horns smashed right off their heads, a table with a sink along one wall still held the shattered pieces of bone, the sledgehammer that had been used still sitting beside the table. All sorts of tools sat on another table between where they were chained. ~Sure, we're the good guys~ I thought sarcastically. ~This really conveys that impression.~

“What do you want?” Feel Good asked bitterly. “Haven't you and your friends done enough to us?”

“The ponies that did this to you aren't my friends.” I replied flatly, putting on the best neutral face I could manage. Gauze was clearly in much worse shape than Feel Good, which made sense considering all the memories I'd seen had been from her perspective, she seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness.

“So you saw what they took from her?” He asked. “Come to exact a little revenge for what we did to you and your marefriend? Well here I am, come get some.”

“No no, I wouldn't dream of hurting you.” My voice was completely calm and neutral. “Inflicting pain on somepony to get answers doesn't help. You just start to make things up or agree with what we ask, anything to make the pain stop. At that point the mind can be affected pretty badly and memories can come out wrong. Fractured or incomplete, or memories that the host wants so desperately to be real that maybe they are presented as such in the orb.” A lot of this information was things I had learned from the guidebook that I had gotten the simple spells from. I hadn't bothered getting into the parts about the forced memory removal since at the time I'd never imagined a need for it, and I didn't know how much of the information was still accurate. There had been almost a year and a half from the time I learned the spells to the time the apocalypse happened so there could have been many advancements in the field since then, but Feel Good didn't seem to know any better than I did. “Just give me the name of who you work for and I'll leave again, even try to get the others to give you a chance to rest.”

He just laughed bitterly and looked away from me. I sighed deeply and shook my head, looking at the tools and medical equipment around the room. My eyes settled on a pair of anesthetic gas canisters and the mask sitting on the top, a pair of rubber tubes connecting the first two together. I wasn't a bad guy...I'd never hurt somepony like this...but he didn't know that. Maybe I could bluff my way into an answer...?

I wrapped the tanks in my magic and rolled the trolly over as I walked up to the tables.

“What are you doing?” Feel Good demanded, turning back to me quickly.

“She doesn't remember, but you still know what you did to me on the first night I got here right?” I asked and he nodded slowly. “Well,” I floated the mask off the tank and pressed it to Gauze's muzzle, looping the straps behind her head and tightening it into place. “Assuming you're a real doctor you know that a body need oxygen to survive.” He just glared at me. “I also assume you love Gauze. I'm not pleased to admit it but the memory I got of that first night included the start of your...love making.” I couldn't think of a better way to put it, and I was trying to play this as cold and mean as I could. “So as I said, hurting YOU does nothing, eventually answers come out, maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. Seeing Gauze hurt like this made your stubborn, you were the better buck, those horrible unicorns beating a helpless mare like that to get information out of her...Well that's not how I play.” I turned the gas on and actually heard Gauze sigh in relief as it started to take effect on her body.

The door burst open and the unicorn ran in. “Cane what are you doing?” She demanded, but I grabbed her tail in my magic and slid her out of the room, slamming the door and sliding one of the massive cabinets in front of it, then took hold of the two security cameras and twisted them away so nopony else could see in, no line of sight means no unicorn outside the room could easily move the cabinet to get back into the room.

“W...What are you doing?” Feel Good demanded.

“Remember what you did to me that first night?” I asked and he nodded.

“I'm going to do something similar to Gauze here. Except instead of taking a semen sample from her I'm just going to keep turning the gas up slowly. Eventually we'll hit the point her body becomes oxygen starved and she starts to die.” I grabbed a clock off the far wall and floated it around so Feel Good could see it, setting it down on a counter point towards him I waited until the second indicator ticked past the start of the next minute then twisted the gas valve gently. If this didn't work I knew I'd blown my chance but hopefully...”Every minute you don't give me the name of your boss I'm going to increase the gas by two percent, and I started it on 15 percent to help her with the pain, so we're at 17 percent now.” I said, watching the needle tick along slowly towards the start of the next minute.

He held out amazingly well, I got to almost 60% before he demanded I stop.

“Come on, just give me a name and I'll turn the gas down.” I said simply.

“He'll kill me.” Feel Good choked, tears at the edge of his eyes.

“I'll kill her.” I said flatly and he sobbed loudly, whimpering quiet pleas to let her go. “ANSWER ME!” I roared.

“COAL!” He screamed back, breaking down into tears. “His name is Coal Cane! Now let her go!” I stepped back in shock.

“You're sure?” I asked him and he just nodded, pitiful sparks tumbling from his shattered horn as he tried to turn the gas off, tears falling to the ground. I reached out and turned the gas down and the oxygen up, giving her a good mixture to keep her pain numbed but her body still alive. I slid the cabinet away from the door and Brutus and the unicorn burst into the room.

“You didn't say you were going to block the cameras!” The unicorn snapped at me as she ran back into the room, pausing as she assessed the strange situation she found herself in, one prisoner in tears and the other sedate and asleep. I ignored her and wandered into the hall quietly.

“Cane? What happened?” Brutus asked, following me. “I could only hear what was happening since you blocked the cameras. Who's Coal Cane? He has to be related to you.”

“I...yeah...” I turned and looked at Brutus. “He's my brother.”

Footnote: Level up

Perk Added: Terrifying Presence: You can intimidate foes through dialogue; closing dialogue results in the foe fleeing for 5 seconds.

(So I'm going to be slowing down a little on this story for a while. I'm planning the story still, and I've started work on another (Non Fallout Equestria) story with two other authors so I'm going to be focusing on getting that story started for a bit. One of the other authors is TheKingOfHearts and his story is MLP: Off the Record. It's been doing really well lately so please, if you haven't already, head over and check his story out.)

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

“Wait, what?” Crackshot asked, looking very confused by the information I had just presented. Brutus and I had gotten Ruby and gone upstairs to talk as a team. “You said your brother's name was Star Venture. Who the hell is Coal?”

“Coal was his given name when he was born.” I sighed, sitting down at the table beside CB. The filly had been sitting quietly, lazily flipping through a book on the table in front of her, seemingly barely even noticing it was actually there, she had an odd scent about her but I wasn't sure what it was. It was familiar but I couldn't put a hoof on it. When I sat down she rested against my side, more gently than before, I wondered if one of them had mentioned my injuries. “He changed it to Star Venture when he moved out on his own. He HATED the name. I think he kind of resented my dad for it. When my mom was pregnant with my us, one of our dad's military buddy's wives was having a baby too. They made a bet that whomever had their child first got to pick the name of the others child. So when his child was born first he told my dad he had to name his son Coal, so my dad did. My mother was a simple soul, she didn't know where the name had come from and she just accepted it. When he changed it she never asked why and he never volunteered an answer. Though it took her a long time to get used to calling him by a new name, and if she got upset she'd usually revert to his original name.”

“Alright well that's fine, but why switch back to his old name? Why not stick with his new name, or even come up with yet another new name?” Ruby asked. “He had to know you'd know it was him as soon as you heard his name. I mean that's no way to hide from you.”

“I don't think he is hiding from me. The things I witnessed in this memory orb lead me to believe that he fully intends to meet me when the time is right, whatever that time may be.”

“So what do we do now?” Crackshot asked.

“I think, for now, there's nothing we can do.” I sighed, slumping in my chair, feeling completely drained despite the advances we'd made. “I don't know where to look, I don't know what to do. I mean if I confronted Venture right now? I'd have no clue what to say or think.”

“Well what was he working on before the end?” Crackshot asked.

“Same thing as everypony else, a way to end the war.” I said.

“Well you weren't working on ending the war.” CB said softly, looking up at me.

“That's true.” Ruby nodded.

“Alright, well MOST ponies were working on a way to end the war, I was trying to find a way to help the victims of the war. Venture worked on all kinds of projects, most of them theoretical...trying to strengthen the army through things like robotic or genetic augmentation, building robot soldiers, which we had some success with obviously. He studied cloning...”

“Maybe he's an evil clone!” CB said, sitting up quickly. “He was so sad that you were gone and he grew old so he cloned himself to continue his work searching for you but then one of the clones became EVIL and started doing evil things, and now after so many generations of clones his genetic material is breaking down and he needs you to get fresh compatible DNA to re-sequence to keep himself going!” She seemed to have brightened up a lot in just a few hours.

“Uhh, I suppose anything is possible.” I nodded. When I had been frozen the cloning project was all still theoretical so I doubted he and his team could have progressed all the way to full fledged pony cloning in the two months after I vanished. I floated the book CB was reading off the table and looked at the cover, 'Sci-Fi horror anthology volume 4', no wonder she had such crazy ideas about what might be happening. I set the book back down and she just smiled at me, putting her head down again, and again I caught that odd scent but still couldn't place it.“Venture did most of the administrative work for the company, he only got to spend small amounts of time working on projects he was passionate about. He had a huge team of scientists who worked on his projects for him, depending on how their work went after I was frozen there's any number of things he could be, or plans he might have.”

“So for now our plans should just stay unchanged and we'll head back to what's left of the base and look for clues?” Brutus asked.

“Exactly.” I nodded. “No point worrying about things beyond our control.”

“Alright well we'll leave first thing in the morning.” Brutus said. “I've already cleared it and we're good to go.”

“What about me?” CB asked, sitting up and swaying heavily side to side as she did. “I wanna go too.” I looked down at her, she looked sick, her eyes were glassy and she was swaying gently side to side despite the fact that she was sitting in place.

“CB are you okay?” I asked, reaching up to feel her forehead.

“I'm fine!” She snapped, pushing my foreleg away and lurching to the side and almost falling off the chair to the ground. She groaned and pushed herself up. “I feel funny...” She stumbled towards a trash can and I grabbed her in my magic field, keeping her upright instead of face planting into the can, just in time for her to throw up violently into it, a sickly blue release.

“What in the world?” Ruby hurried over to her side and held the filly carefully, allowing me to release my hold on her.

I moved to get up myself, my back leg coming into contact with something hard under the table and knocking it over. It clattered loudly as it hit the ground and I looked down to discover an empty liquor bottle. It had just the smallest amount of blue liquid still in the bottle. It was the smell I'd picked up coming from CB and I recognized it as the horrible lighter fluid scent of the weird green stuff Ruby and I had drunk my first night here.

“CB!” I demanded, floating the bottle up onto the table. “How much of this did you drink?”

“I dunno...” She muttered, retching into the can. “Maybe half?”

“HALF!?” Ruby cried. “Why on earth would you drink that stuff?”

“Because it's what grown ups always do!” She said, her speech pretty badly slurred. “Ponies die, other ponies get sad, they sit around and get drunk and be sad! My mom died, I'm sad, so I got drunk.”

“Sweetie you're too little for things like this.” I said, looking the bottle over again. “This stuff is too strong, nopony should really be drinking it at all anymore.”

“Well it's all I could find in there.” She pointed to a cabinet in the corner. I opened it and there were a bunch of liquor bottles, all of them either broken or empty.

“CB, I know it's hard.” Brutus said, coming over to sit beside her. “But you need to talk to us about it, you can't just squash it all down and pour booze on it, that makes it worse.”

“I don't wanna talk about it!” CB said, shoving Ruby away and moving away from the trash can and staring down the hallway, leaning against the wall for support.

“Hey now wait a minute.” Brutus said, grabbing her in his magic and starting to pull her back, but she twisted in his grip and her horn flashed green, his magic field shattering, freeing her and she was off again.

“She really is powerful.” Crackshot said softly, watching CB go into the room and slamming the door behind her, a magical energy wrapping around the frame.

“What do we do?” Ruby asked.

“I know this might not sound like the best answer,” Crackshot said, “but just leave her for now. The drinking thing is obviously a problem to be addressed, but right now she is mad and drunk and she's not going to listen to anypony about anything. She's going to wake up in the morning with a Wasteland sized hangover and she's going to answer for her actions then. In the morning you three go to the base, do what you need to do, I'll stay here and talk to CB.”

“Are you sure?” Brutus asked.

“Positive.” Crackshot nodded. “I've dealt with devastated children, I've dealt with kids thinking they're old enough and mature enough to start drinking...” She smirked at Brutus and Ruby, both of whom blushed and laughed nervously. “I'm sure I can talk to CB and help her through things.”

“Thanks Crackshot.” Ruby smiled softly. “I know we're going to take care of her, but it's going to be rough and I'm glad we have you to help.”

“Hey, it takes a village right?” Crackshot asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded, looking at my three friends, I realized I had another problem I needed to deal with.

“Ruby...we need to talk...” I said softly, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

She turned and looked at me curiously. “About CB?”

“No about what I saw in that memory orb...”

“Oh, alright, we'll be back.” She said to Crackshot and Brutus. We walked down the hall and into one of the empty room, closing the door.

“Is it bad?” Ruby asked, sitting down on the bed. I sat down beside her and sighed.

“It's not good...” I rubbed my eyes for a moment, not sure how best to start this conversation.

“Just tell me.” She said, the worry on her face leaking into her voice.

“We're related.” I said flatly, looking up at her. “You're my great great, however many times great, granddaughter, Venture intentionally guided our relationship so that when the time came he could use you as...I don't know, bait, or a hostage, or something to make sure I did something for him when the time came.

“Oh...well that's...weird.” She said softly, looking down at the floor.

“I know. To be fair it's been 200 years and the genetics would be very far apart...”

“But we should probably rethink our relationship all the same?”

“I was thinking that yeah.”

She sat quietly for a moment and I wasn't sure what to say or do, but after a moment my worst fear came to life. She broke down into tears and collapsed into my forelegs. I sighed deeply, hugging her close and just letting her cry. I rested my head against her mane and let my own tears fall. Twenty minutes passed while we just sat together and cried. I felt my mind go kind of numb and just held Ruby quietly as my tears stopped. When she finally stopped to she just sat against me and said nothing for a long time.

Finally she sat up and wiped her eyes. “What about CB?”

“I...I'm just not sure.” I said quietly. “We can still be there for her obviously...we just aren't going to be married while we do it.”

“Yeah...yeah you're right.” She nodded, sitting back slowly, breathing heavily, obviously trying to keep from starting to cry again. She looked so miserable it just broke my heart to know it was basically my fault she was so sad, and I know what you're thinking, it's not my fault, but really I could have said nothing and just gone on with life with her.

“I should go into town...tell my friends to stop planning.” She muttered.

“It's really late...well actually it's really early. I think we should try to get some sleep and you can go into town tomorrow after we get back from the base?”

“Dammit. I forgot about that.” She was clearly very frustrated with the whole situation. “No, no I have to go now, I don't want them wasting more time and money than is necessary.” She said firmly. “I'll sleep there and fly back in the morning for the mission.”

“Shouldn't you run that past Brutus?” I asked as she made her way over to the window and pulled it open.

“I...I can't face him right now...Or Crackshot. I just...tell them something.” Before I could protest she was gone, up into the dark sky and gone from my sight a moment later. I sat back for a time, thinking through my options. Probably best to just go to bed here in the room and nopony would question anything until morning...and that is exactly what I did...after half a bottle of wild pegasus.

////////////

“Hey! Wake up Moron!” A hoof smacked my face, jarring me awake and making me jump back and fall off the far side of the bed.

“The fuck?” I grumbled, pushing myself up, coming face to face with a very annoyed looking Lilith.

“What did you do?” She demanded. “Why did I just spend 3 hours with my Mom and friends comforting my grief stricken cousin?”

“It's not my fault!” I said quickly, moving back before she could try to hit me again. “I found out some bad news and we had to rethink our relationship.”

“So that's why the wedding is cancelled all the sudden?” She asked angrily, getting down off the bed and transforming into a muscular diamond dog. “I will rip you apart if you don't tell me what happened, because she wouldn't, and I won't FORCE her to talk about things she's not comfortable with. YOU on the other hoof I have no qualms about intimidating.”

I glared defiantly at her for a moment but sighed, slumping quietly. “I found out she's my great granddaughter.”

This took her by surprise because the menace left her face and she just looked at me curiously. “Really?”

“Yeah...” I filled her in on the capture and interrogation of Gauze and Feel Good and the information in the orb I had been given. “It's in my saddlebags there if you want to see it for yourself.” I said, gesturing to the bags beside the bed.

She had transformed back while I was telling her the story and now she looked really upset. “I'm sorry I flew off the handle at you. I should have been calmer about the whole thing.”

“It's okay. I'd be protective too.” I said, pushing myself up and getting back onto the bed.

“So it's not necessarily that your relationship is OVER, it's just, changed...delayed...different?” She looked at me curiously.

“I don't know what our relationship is right now. I still love her and I still want to be with her more than anything, but it's just not in the cards right now.” I shook my head sadly.

“Well I'm sorry.” She put a leg around me and hugged me gently. “I guess to make it up to you I'll fill in for Ruby today. She said you guys were going back to your base?”

“Yeah we are, but you can't just fill in for her. Our friends are going to ask too many questions.” I said seriously.

“I think you need to tell them what you saw, it's not fair to leave them in the dark about something so life changing. Besides, Ruby is passed out drunk in my room above the store, so she's not going anywhere today.”

“I think you're right...about telling them I mean.”

I walked out of the room and almost knocked Brutus over as he came down the hall, yawning so he didn't notice me either.

“Oh, morning.” He smiled tiredly. “You two got up early and everyth...” He trailed off when he saw Lilith behind me instead of Ruby. “Uhh...Lil?” He looked at me in confusion.

“Hey Brutus.” She smiled sheepishly.

“Is Crackshot up? We need to talk.” I said.

“Yeah she's in with CB.”

“I'll go get her, you head to the sky wagon and we'll talk there while we prep. Lilith is going to fill in for Ruby.”

“Alright.” Brutus said slowly, looking from me to the Changling and back. “Well come on then.” He said, starting off down the hall. Lilith followed him quickly while I headed over and got Crackshot.

We headed down to the hanger bay and Crackshot smiled when she saw Lilith. “Well hey there you evil black monstrosity.”

“Crackshot! You rotting pile of undead horror, how's it going?” Lilith countered without missing a beat, setting down the crates she had in her magical grasp and moving to hug the ghoul.

“What're you doing here?” She asked curiously, returning the embrace and stepping back as Brutus came up from inside the Wagon.

“Cane is going to tell us.” Brutus said, sitting on the ramp into the wagon. Lilith stepped back and went back to storing the boxes inside the wagon.

“Ruby and I are breaking up.” I said simply.

“What?!” Brutus and Crackshot echoed together. “Why?”

“It's complicated, just calm down and I'll explain.”

“You better have a damned good explanation.” Brutus growled. “I'm not above breaking your stupid face if you fucked up.”

“No, it's nothing either of us did.”

“Well then tell us!” Crackshot demanded.

“The orb that they brought me, with Gauze's memories? It turns out they guided my and Ruby's relationship from our first night here in order to make sure I cared about her enough when the time came for something to happen and I'd sacrifice myself or something to keep her safe, and not only that, she's also my great granddaughter.”

“Really?” Crackshot asked in amazement.

“It seems so yeah. Gauze and Venture were talking about how I'd met her and they were guiding us towards love...Ruby and I talked and we both decided that despite how bad it hurt we should slow things down indefinitely until we could sort it all out. She took off last night and I didn't want to wake you guys up just to worry about her with me when we have to worry about the recovery operations. She flew into town and got wasted and passed out at Firebird's store, so she's sleeping it off and Lilith is here to fill in as our pilot.”

“Well shit,” Brutus sighed, “but you two are 200 years removed from each other, it's not like there'd be a serious genetic issue with it.”

“Would you want to hook up with me just because we're 200 years removed?” Crackshot asked sarcastically, making Brutus grimace.

“No, I guess not.” He said softly, looking at the ground.

“We'll go on this mission, do what we planned on doing and we'll go check on Ruby tonight when we get back. She'll need you guys more than ever right now.” Lilith said, coming over and sitting down beside Brutus.

“Yeah, yeah you're right.” Brutus nods. “Lets get packed up and head out so we can get back as soon as possible. Cane do you know what you need from the base?”

“Yeah, I want to try and scavenge the computer systems and the servers if I can, and I want to try and find Ivory again.” I said, gesturing to the empty holster.

“Alright, Lilith, you and I are going to look for any clues we can find, if any of the bodies of attackers have pipbucks or files of any kind on them we take it all, strip em of weapons and any usable armour and try to see if there is anything else worth scavenging.”

“Sounds good.” Lilith nodded, heading back into the wagon and getting into the pilot's position. It was weird to see someone besides Ruby in that spot.

“I'm going to go back to CB for now.” Crackshot said. “Hurry back.” She sighed deeply. “She's going to be upset all over again when she finds out there's no wedding...I think it was one small thing she had to look forward to.”

“Well I'll talk to her about it when I get back.” I said. “It's not fair to ask you to deal with ALL the grown up problems she's gonna have...I mean who's gonna talk to her when she starts to take an interest in bucks?”

“Well that's a long way off.” Crackshot chuckled. “But yeah I'll leave that one to you. I've done it enough times over the years.”

“Alright well lets head out.” Brutus said, securing the last few crates as the magical engine underneath the wagon whined to life.

“Ready to go!” Lilith called.

“Hurry home.” Crackshot said, waving to us as I got in and the ramp slid shut behind me, the wagon rising into the air and soaring off back towards the remains of our base.

//////////

The base...sweet merciful Celestia the base...It was a smoldering hellhole...The ground around the base was scorched, pockmarked with craters and the bodies of the guards unlucky enough to be caught outside when the infiltrators had turned on them. We landed on what remained of the airstrip outside, none of us wanted to risk landing in the loading bay. When we flew over it the wreckage was even worse. Twisted destroyed platforms, the one we'd taken off from was the most obvious one, the blast from the missile had destroyed the walkway up to the platform, which had teetered and collapsed into the area beneath.

“Alright, we should start out here.” Brutus said as we unloaded. “Cane will you be alright getting to the computer rooms yourself?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I have my trusty Pipbuck to tell me if anything is hanging out in the ruins and it's so quiet out here I'm sure you'll hear it if I fire my gun.”

“Okay, just be careful.” He said, floating a crate over to me, a pile of magical glow sticks inside, which I took and started for the doors.

“I always am.”

Inside was worse than out. Though the meager daylight that made it though the clouds did little anymore to light the world, inside was black. The walls were burnt, none of the lights seemed to be working anymore and the halls were littered with bodies. I had to fight not to be violently ill at the sight of it all, a sight just barely illuminated by the light of my pipbuck. I moved through the halls, pulling out glow sticks and lighting them before setting them down in small alcoves or just tossing them to the floor.

When I finally got to the computer lab I was glad to see the computers were mostly in tact, they were designed to take a beating and take one they had. Some of them were slagged beyond hope but I stripped the hard drives out of the surviving ones, taking any parts I could salvage. I finally came to the counter that ran along the back wall of the room and was amazed to find some of the computers still functional, just the monitors burned out. I moved to the first and powered it down before removing the cables from it and taking the entire computer and adding it to the crate, along with the wires I'd just removed.

“Well well, finally came back I see.” A mechanical voice said, making me almost jump out of my barding. I drew Ebony and whipped around quickly, coming face to face with a computer. The monitor sprang to life and a robotic face appeared. “Hello little brother.”

“Venture?” I stared at the computer in amazement.

“Miss me?”

“Miss you? MISS YOU?! WHAT THE FUCK?! ARE YOU INSANE?!” I screamed at the computer, the pistol in my magical grip still, but forgotten. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You murdered all these ponies and tried to kill me too!” I was so blinded with anger but I had no idea what to do with it all.

“Oh Sugar relax.” He chuckled. “YOU were never in danger.”

“Oh well THAT makes me feel better.” I snapped. “You better tell me what the fuck all this is about.”

“Or what? You'll tell Dad?” He laughed outright this time. “Please Sugar, just trust me when I say you're safe.”

“I don't want SAFETY, I want answers!”

“Well...I suppose you've earned an answer or two...” He said thoughtfully. “Alright, I'll answer TWO questions.”

“What happened to me?” I asked flat out.

“You mean back then?” He asked and I just nodded. “You were frozen in case I needed you.” He said simply.

“So you knew two hundred years ago you might need me...”I said, a statement, not a question. “Which rules out the 'evil clone' theory. CB will be upset I'm sure.”

“Oh, your little filly.” He smirked. “How's she doing without her mommy?”

“None of your damned business.” I snapped. “I'm asking the questions here.”

“Oh yes sir, I'm so sorry sir, how rude of me. Alright, question number two, and make it important.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well that's vague...Alright I can answer just as vaguely. I'm going to save Equestria.”

“Yeah you and everypony else. The Enclave, Red Eye, the Alicorns...everypony just wants to SAVE Equestria, Restore Equestria to a semblance of civilization. I swear Venture I'm gonna find you and I'm going to put you in your place.”

He burst out laughing again. “Put me in my place? Oh Cane, we're not children anymore. I have hundreds of Ponies and Griffons and Sand Dogs working for me, and do you know, I'd kill any of them for talking to me the way you are.”

“I'm not afraid of you Venture.”

“Nor should you be. As I said, you're safe.”

The burning curiosity got the better of me and I blurted out, “Why did you need to manipulate my relationship with Ruby? What the hell gives you the right to mess with our emotions like that? She's my fucking grand daughter and you wanted her as collateral to make sure I'd obey? You're fucking sick! I don't care how far removed our genetics might be, it's fucked up!”

“Oh Sugar, it's so nice to finally get to talk to you face to face, such as my face still is, I've missed having somepony willing to stand up to me, someone to argue with, to spar with mentally, though you're really not on my level anymore...You have so completely failed to grasp the information presented to you, yes I know about Gauze and Feel Good being captured and broken. Bravo with the fake threats to kill Gauze, that was a stroke of genius, but it's a good thing Feel Good didn't know you were bluffing, as I did or you'd not have even known about me yet, and this conversation wouldn't even be taking place. You'd still be blissfully ignorant, of course you still mostly are.” He laughed again and sighed. “I tell you what, I'll give you one more and answer your question. You're a goody four shoes, Sugar, giving you somepony to love and protect ensures you have something to risk losing when my plans all come together, and I am so very close to implementing those. As for Ruby...well maybe you shouldn't worry so much about cancelling your wedding and worry more about...Oops, almost spoiled the ending.” He laughed darkly as the monitor went blank again.

“NO! VENTURE COME BACK! I screamed at the monitor, my rage and unsatisfied curiosity welling up inside me again. “COME BACK!” Ebony floated back up and I unloaded the whole clip into the computer, pieces and sparks flying from it as I screamed madly at it, the gun clicking loudly as I ran out of ammo. The gun fell to the ground as I collapsed in a heap, suddenly so very exhausted...The computer was a smoking pile of slag now, glowing green from the plasma damage.

“Cane? CANE!?” I heard Lilith's voice from the doorway of the computer lab.

“CANE!” Brutus yelled, storming into the lab, shotgun drawn as he rounded the corner and stopped short at the sight of me. “Cane, what happened?” He asks, looking at Ebony on the ground beside me, a small curl of smoke still rising from the barrel, then to the obliterated computer and back to me.

“It...it was Venture.” I said quietly, pushing myself up slowly. “He had remotely tapped into the computer. We talked...I talked, he taunted...” I said bitterly, picking Ebony up and sliding a new clip into it, tossing the empty clip as hard as I could at the remains of the computer. It stuck fast in the piece of metal frame that remained, the metal of the computer softened from the plasma energy, and it stayed sticking out.

“So you trashed the computer? The one we could have used to try and trace him?”

“We couldn't have traced him.” I sighed, turning back to them. “He's too smart for that. I know exactly how he'd have covered his tracks 200 years ago, it's the same way I'd have covered mine, and I know I wouldn't have been able to trace him back then. Given 200 years of advances he has at his disposal there's no way we could find him.”

“Well what do we do now?” Lily asked, coming up behind us.

“We finish what we came for and head home. It's almost noon. If we could be back before dinner that'd be great.”

“I need to go find Ivory, my cargo box is full anyway.” I said quietly, pushing past them and heading back into the hallway.

“Cane...” Lily started but Brutus stopped her, I wasn't stopping for anything anyway and I vanished into the hallway. With all the markers burned away it was hard to navigate the base, but following the still damp ground I finally managed to find the hall we'd faced off against the pyro pony. I stopped short at EB's body and just stood quietly for a long time.

“I'm so sorry...” I said finally. “I should have done more to protect you, but I swear I'll do everything in my power to protect CB.” I had to blink back tears and struggled not to break down completely. I'd spent too much time crying the last two days and I felt like my spirit would crumble if I let it fall again. I lifted up a pair of glow sticks and lit them, tossing them down opposite sides of the hallway. As they soared down I caught a glint of light from a reflection on the ground. Moving over I pushed some debris out of the way and found Ivory laying on the ground, dirty but basically unharmed. “Hello little one.” I smiled softly, floating the gun up and cleaning it off. Sliding it back into the holster I turned to leave.

I paused and looked down at EB again. “Well...I can't just leave you here...” I said quietly, wrapping EB's body in my magic and carrying her through the base. I passed the computer labs again, now quiet and empty, probably forever. Making my way outside Brutus looked up from the wagon, his face falling at the sight of my grizzly cargo. In the light she looked all the worse, burned horribly, parts of her right side bloated and swollen from sitting in the water and dampness for days, the colouring of her coat faded and grey from the ash that had settled on her and caked in as the moisture on the part of her body out of the water had dried. I set her down gently and moved to the dirt just outside of the runway. I wrapped a section of dirt in my magic and lifted it away, creating a hole a few feet deep and setting the dirt down before lowering her gently into the hole, sliding the dirt back and covering it again.

Brutus came to stand beside me. He lifted a piece of rubble from a collapsed wall and set it at the top of the grave as a marker. Leaning close to it his horn lit up and he carved her name along it, then her cutie mark under that, then stood back and just looked at it sadly.

“She was the second pony to know I was gay.” He said softly after a few moments of silence. “She had the craziest crush on me when we were younger, and she was so insanely jealous of my and Ruby's relationship. I had to tell her almost the same day I told Ruby so that she wouldn't be upset.”

“So you're fully opening up about that now?” I asked, looking over at him curiously.

“Yeah, I'm gonna tell Crackshot tonight. I know she won't be surprised but at least it'll be official.”

“Well good for you buddy.” I smiled softly, looking back to the grave. “When we get a chance we should bring CB here to say goodbye properly.”

“We will.” He nodded.

“Hey, if you two are done, we should be getting out of here.” Lily said, landing beside us. “I saw some raiders coming this way and I would rather avoid em.”

“Yeah, lets get out of here.” Brutus said, heading quickly back to the Wagon. I followed all too happily and a few moments later we were in the air and heading back towards the medical center. The raiders took some potshots at us but Brutus kicked on the poison turret and let it rain down on them for a minute and quickly the raiders not only stopped firing but fell back quickly and started away from the base.

“We should go pick up Ruby before we land back at the medical center.” I said to Brutus while we was shutting down the turret again.

“I think you're right, we don't wanna leave her on a binge. Hey Lily...” Brutus called up to the cockpit.

“I heard you.” She interrupted. “You're five feet from me not on the far side of a big room, I can hear you just fine.”

When the medical center came into view she turned slightly and we continued on past it, heading towards the town in the distance.

“Tower, this is Dark Shifter, coming in from the South with a cargo wagon. Need permission to land, over.” She called through the radio as we got closer.

“Request received, please hold.” There was a long moment of silence. “Dark Shifter, how many sides does a circle have?”

Brutus and I looked at each other in confusion but Lily just rolled her eyes. “Two, the inside and the outside, now lemme land Power jack.”

“Roger that, you're clear to land.” I could hear the smile in the controller's voice.

“Thanks Tower.” Lily said, turning the radio off and starting down towards the edge of town. I hadn't realized it when we're approached on foot but there were a dozen or so landing stalls on the far side of the town, I recognized some of the other Sky wagons from our base.

“What was that?” Brutus asked.

“Well it's two things.” Lily said. “It's a safety code. If I had said 'none' he would have directed me to land on pad 12, which is rigged to electrify the a wagon that lands on it, shocking all the occupants unconcious. It's not a pleasant experience but usually you're being held hostage and it's the lesser of two evils.”

“Usually you're being held hostage? How many...” I started

“Three.” She interrupted. “It's also just a long running joke, he's always trying to stump me with questions like that.”

“But what if you don't know the answer?” Brutus asked in shock.

“I make something up if I'm in trouble, I tell him I don't know if I'm safe.”

“What if your guess is right?”

“I...I dunno.” She said, laughing a little. “I've never had that happen...I guess we should work that out.”

///////////

We made our way to the Phoenix store and Lily lead the way inside, she told me Firebird would be just as annoyed with me at first too if Ruby still hadn't sobered up so she went first to intercept her, and it was a good thing she did because Firebird was behind the counter and she looked none too pleased to see me, but Lily stepped towards her and blocked her from coming out to yell at me. “She's upstairs, through the door...” She pointed to the door at the top of the stairs. “Last door on the right.”

I nodded and headed towards the stairs.

“Hey wait.” Firebird said indignantly and I did for a moment but Lily gestured me on.

“Let me explain.” Lily said, launching into the details of what I had learned and what had happened between Ruby and I, but I didn't wait around to listen to it yet again.

I started up the stairs again, Brutus close behind. I paused outside the door and looked back at him. “Gimme a minute?” I asked and he nodded and stepped back.

I opened the door, the lights were out and the curtains were drawn but the light still filtered through. Lily's room was amazing clean and well kept, I figured she would be messier. Ruby lay quietly on the bed, back to the door, under a blanket, a pair of empty Wild Pegasus bottles on the bed side table, not to mention a dozen or so beer cans in a waste basket by the door.

“Ruby?” I asked softly. She grunted but didn't answer otherwise. I closed the door behind me and moved towards the bed. “We need to talk.”

“Don't wanna.” She muttered, pulling the blankets tighter around her.

“I don't want to break up our relationship.” I said, sitting on the bed beside her and putting a hoof on her side. “I love you and I don't think we should worry about our so distantly removed heritage.”

“But Cane, it's not so easy. It's really changed the whole dynamic of our relationship, just...give me time.”

I sighed and stepped back into the hallway and Brutus just looked at me in shock. “What are you doing?”

“I...I'm giving her the space she wanted?” I replied, unsure what the problem was.

“Are you kidding? Get back in there and win her over again. She still loves you, she wants you, you need to do something to sway her back.”

“Like what? I'm not exactly an expert at romance. I fell into my first relationship with Rosalea, if she hadn't made the first move there would have been no move made, and according to Venture my relationship with Ruby was manipulated to make sure it developed into what it is so he could use it to control me. I can't exactly say I'm a serious lady's buck. I'm a nerd, I'm nervous and shy most of the time.”

“Well you didn't seem very nervous or shy when you proposed, you got up and sang in front of dozens of strangers and made a whole spectical of yourself.” He paused and looked from me to the door to my pipbuck and back to me. “You should try singing to her again.”

“What no, I'm not good at that.”

“I hate to tell you this but you're a good singer, we've only told you that a dozen times.”

“No come...” I started but he cut me off.

“Just go and sing something romantic and sappy to her and I'm sure it'll help convince her to take you back.”

“Boy you're just a bundle of helpful advise aren't you?” I sighed. “How many ponies have you wooed again?”

“You might see me as just a brute with a better understanding of beating things than building them but I know you met Ratchet, and I wooed him just fine.” He smirked. He grabbed my leg and pulled it up, flipping through the pipbuck to the music and skimming through it. “Oh this one!” He said finally, pointing to the screen and tapping the song. It popped up and he paused it before it could start. “Now get in there and win her back.”

He shoved me back into the room with a magical shove and I had to put my hooves against the bed to keep from slamming right into it. I turned back and glared at Brutus but he just glared right back at me and pointed to his leg, where the pipbuck sat on mine, then pointed to Ruby.

“Ruby...I...” I stammered, not really sure how to segway a conversation like that.

“Cane please, just leave me alone?”

“Alright, I just want you to know...” I tapped the pipbuck and the music started playing. “On the day I walked away,” I started and she rolled over and looked at me with wide surprised eyes. “All the blue rolled into gray. Now in the dark, alone I lay. Should have stopped, But I could never ever stay.” I took her hooves in mine and lifted her into a sitting position facing me.

“Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright. And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light. Let me love you there, somewhere in the night.” I moved around the bed slowly so I stood at the end of it as I sang. Ruby shifted and sat back on the pillows to watch me as I moved. I saw Firebird and Lily appear in the doorway beside Brutus but he silenced them with a glance before they could interrupt and they just watched quietly.

“Second chances, I wont get. Wouldn’t dare to hope and yet. Everywhere I turn I see your silhouette
Been so long but I never will forget. Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright.
And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light. Let me love you there, somewhere in the night.” Ruby sat in stunned awe as I moved around the bed and I could see the tears starting to appear in her eyes though I just kept going. Didn't want to spoil the mood or anything...

“Time after time, I find that I'm thinking about you. Up on the hill I see you still but I just can’t reach.
Who would answer your prayers? Who would wait by the stairs? Not Me. Not Me.” I actually heard a quiet sob and was surprised to see Firebird crying, her head resting against Brutus's, a foreleg hugging Lily close, both of them seemed just as surprised as me that she was in tears.

“Somewhere in the night, Inside my dreams you burn so bright. And I'm with you there and everything’s alright. Somewhere in the night, Before the darkness turns to light.” As I came to the end of the song I pulled Ruby up off the bed, standing her in front of me. “Let me see your face.” I looked deep into her eyes...”Feel your warm embrace.” I wrapped my legs around her neck and her close. “Let me love you, somewhere in the night.” As I finished singing, and the music continued on for a few moments, I leaned in and kissed her deeply, holding it for a long moment before finally breaking the kiss and stepping back.

She had tears rolling down her cheeks and shook her head slowly. “Dammit Cane, how can I stay upset when you're so damned romantic?” She whispered.

I heard a sob and saw Firebird had melted into a puddle of tears, Brutus barely able to hold her up and Lily actually transformed into a snake for a moment so she could slide out of the death grip her mother had on her.

Ruby cleared her throat loudly, glaring at them.

“Oh sorry, don't mind us.” Brutus said sheepishly, quickly pulling the door closed with his magic.

“Cane, I love you, I really do.” She started, wiping away her own tears. “But I still don't know where my feelings are with our...history...” I felt my heart give a sickening lurch when she said it, but right now I just wanted her back with me, even if we weren't a couple.

“I know. I probably shouldn't have gone for such an over the top display of affection, but Brutus felt it was absolutely necessary to do so.”

“How bout we go back to how things were when we first met?” She asked.

“Binge drinking, then getting drugged and molested by my brother's toadies?” I smiled.

She chuckled and sighed. “I guess our relationship really hit the ground running didn't it? Lets go with friends.” She said. “Good friends, close friends who are going to raise a filly together.”

“What do we tell that filly about the fact that the wedding isn't happening?”

“We tell her we want to wait until everything is settled down again and life gets back to normal so that every pony possible can come to the wedding. She's a good kid, she'll understand our desire to hold off...I hope.” She sighed. “And who knows, maybe the day will come that we do get married.” She smiled, hugging me close and pressing her face to mine for a moment before stepping back. “For now you're okay with just friends?”

“Better than me being lonely and miserable and you being drunk and sad.” I nodded.

She smiled and moved for the door. “Good, then lets head home shall we? I want to see how Crackshot did with CB and her first hangover.”

“Did she really deal with it when you and Brutus got into booze too young?” I asked, opening the door for her, the three in the hallway had gone, headed back downstairs from the look of the trail of tears.

“Yeah, we were only a year or two older than CB, thought it was so cool when we found an old bottle of rum...it didn't end well at all.” She chuckled. “Good thing I've learned to hold my liquor better.”

Any more conversation was cut off as Firebird shot up from the ground floor and practically tackled the both of us in a huge hug. “You two are so beautiful together!” She cried, bawling into Ruby's neck. “I can't believe you just broke out and sang like that, it was so sweet and loving and uninhibited and it's the greatest display of love I have ever seen!”

A huge muscular pegasus followed her up and pulled her away from us. “Come on mom, let em go!” Lily said, her voice deep and manly.

“Geeze that's creepy.” I said, shaking my head and coughing a little.

“Yeah and it never stops being weird.” Ruby said as Lily carried her mother downstairs.

We moved downstairs and Brutus gestured to the door and started outside. We followed him and closed the door behind us. “Lily said we should just go for now. Seems Firebird is an insane romantic and you might have broken her brain with that display.”

“What? I knew she was a romantic but I wouldn't have said insane.” Ruby said.

“Well I dunno, but you saw how she reacted, that's hardly SANE behavior.”

“True enough, lets get out of here.” Ruby said, starting for the gate out of town.

“Actually we flew here.” Brutus said, heading towards the docks. “We did some scavenging at the base, gathered evidence and salvaged some equipment.”

“Oh right, of course.” Ruby said. “Did Lily fly for you?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“She better not have grossed up my harness with her weirdness.”

“I think it's fine?” I said. “It was kind of dripping with green slime but that's nothing too bad right?”

Brutus just laughed.

“Yeah it's about par for the course with her.” Ruby shrugged.

Soon enough we were loaded back into the sky wagon and heading back to the medical center.

Footnote: 50% to next level.

(Sorry for the long break, I know I said I was going to slow down, I just didn't expect to slow down this much haha. I hit upon inspiration for how I want the story to end, All the details and information just sort of came together in a perfect storm of an ending, so I stopped writing this chapter for a week or so while I wrote the ending.)

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

When we returned to the hospital we were greeted by two things, a very smug, very content Crackshot, and an exhausted CB.

“She...she ran me ragged.” CB panted, tearing down the hall to us and collapsing at my hooves, crawling behind them and glaring out at Crackshot from between them, like they would somehow protect her. “Said I couldn't...stop till you...came home...”

Crackshot wandered down the hallway. She was in no rush. Her armour looked completely spotless.

“Aw poor thing, didn't like the day I had planned.” Crackshot laughed.

“She made me clean her armour!” CB cried, “and I had to run laps around the floor, and she kept singing loudly and she's really bad at it. She said I couldn't stop until you came home and now you're home so I can stop right?”

“I've got no problem letting you stop now.” Crackshot said. “I've got nice shiny armour now.”

“Well then I suppose you can stop.” I nodded.

“Finally!” She crawled out from under me and wandered over to the couch, collapsing in a heap.

“So how did the trip back go?” Crackshot asked. “I see you're down one changling and up one pegasus again.”

“It was...exhausting.” Brutus said. “We brought back all the resources we could, Cane gathered up all the computers that still worked...”

“I'm gonna have to rebuild the whole server database.” I interrupted, sighing deeply, wasn't looking forward to that...

“We also buried EB.” Brutus said quietly.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” Crackshot said.

“Well I'm glad we got the chance to do it.”

Ruby left them talking and wrapped a wing around me, guiding me along to the couch, sitting down beside CB. I sat down on the other side of the filly and she sat up straight slowly. “Did you my mom?” She asked softly, though her face was impassive.

“Yeah we did sweetie.” I said. “We buried her outside by the cliff, when we get a chance we'll go see her.”

“That'll be nice.” CB leaned against Ruby and sat quietly for a few minutes, looking off at nothing before speaking up again. “So how are your wedding plans going?”

I cringed a little but Ruby didn't miss a beat. “Actually we've made a few big decisions already.” She started slowly, looking down at CB. “For starters we decided we're going to get married in a few months.”

“Why not sooner?” CB asked, obviously disappointed.

“We need to focus on getting the Collective organized again.” I replied. “We don't want to split our attention between that and the wedding at the same time because then neither will have our full attention and won't be as good as they could be and we want them both to be the best they can be.”

“And weddings take a lot of time and planning.” Ruby added.

“Well, alright.” She sighed but nodded and smiled softly. “If you can wait I can wait.”

“I need to get to work on rebuilding the servers.” I said. “Do you want to come help me? If you aren't too tired I mean.” I asked CB.

“I dunno, it sounds egghead-y to me.” She sighed.

“I promise I'll keep it as simple as possible and you'll learn a minimum of stuff.” I smiled.

“Well alright.” She said, pushing herself up off the couch.

“You wanna come too?” I asked Ruby but she shook her head quickly. “Alright your loss.”

CB and I headed downstairs, passing Crackshot and Brutus, who were deep in discussion, Crackshot's face a mix of 'I knew it' smug and loving gratitude, I had a feeling I knew exactly what they were talking about...

When we reached the sky wagon there was just two techs unloading it slowly. We weren't operating at even 10% capacity so it wasn't a surprise. I grabbed the crate of computer equipment and we headed to an equipment room, CB grabbing up all the cables, casings and pieces I needed and we were off again. One of the main floor rooms, which seemed to have once been an ER, had had it's door marked with my name, since it would be the new temporary home of all my work.

“Alright, put the computer monitors up over there.” I pointed to a desk on the far wall and she started off to set them up. I popped open the crate and started unloading the hard drives, inspecting them properly in the good lighting of the room, sorting out the drives that had worse damage than I'd first realized. I'd come back to those later. Taking the empty computer casings I started lining them up along the wall

“Okay the monitors are all plugged in.” CB said. She had taken the 10 computer monitors and arranged them in a 3X3 arrangement, the 10th monitor sitting on the desk still, in a nice bank, using her magic to embed them in the wall and run the cords out.

“Wow, nice set up.” I whistled softly and came over to the desk with one of the intact computer towers floating beside me, my personal computer from my office, I had never gotten around to hooking it up with all the initial effort I had put into the decryption program, but with this being my new office I was going to get as set up as I could. Along with it I brought a few other parts and started hooking it all together with my magic.

“It's like how they were set up in the security room back home...” She said, leaning in to watch me. “What's that?” She asked, pointing to the box I was hooking the monitors up to.

“I thought you didn't want to learn anything because it's eggheady.”

“I'm just curious.” She shrugged.

“It's a box that'll let me hook all these monitors up to this one computer, that way I can use all the monitors at once for one computer, or look at 10 different things at the same time.” I finished hooking up the cables to the box and then ran a cable from the box to the computer. “Now watch...” I hit the power button after plugging in the tower and the monitors all flashed to life, each one showing the same boot up screen, then it switched to one picture, split up between all the monitors of a DNA Double Helix superimposed over top of a small binary grid.

“Isn't that your cutie mark?” She asked, pointing to the picture as it switched to a log in screen.

“Yeah it was.” I sighed, looking at my scarred flank and shaking my head sadly.

“I'm sorry Cane.” She said quickly. “I haven't had my cutie mark for very long but I'd be heart broken if I lost it...”

“It's okay...it doesn't change who I am.” I said, snapping myself out of the funk I was slipping into. “That is my cutie mark, and the other one is my brother Venture's. We built this computer system together when we were young, we made the program that runs the whole computer and made it easy to use so we could sell it to lots of ponies. Then when the war started, we used it to build robots so that real ponies didn't have to go out and fight.” She nodded, more interested then I would have expected in what I had to say.

“This computer is one of my babies.” I said, patting the tower. “She's my custom built tower that used to sit in my office.” I plugged a microphone into the port on the back and tapped it gently. “Wake up sleepy head.” I said into the microphone and the login page vanished.

“Good evening Doctor Cane.” The computer said through the speakers. “It has been 110 hours since your last terminal log in.”

“Wow it talks?” CB asked. “Who's voice is that?”

“It's my old marefriend Rosalea.” I said, a twinge of sadness passing quickly, I was back to having no marefriend, no romantic prospects...least I had my friends now.

“Oh, she has a pretty voice.” CB smiled. “Do you have any pictures of her?”

“Of course I do.” I nodded. “Computer show me the open folder of Rosa's photos.”

The computer chirped and a folder opened, thumbnails displaying on the monitor on the desk. I tapped on the keyboard for a moment and a number of the photos shot up to the bank of monitors. A picture from her birthday, our family and friends all around as she blew out candles on a cake, the one of me proposing to her, the two of us at the ribbon cutting of the facility, and finally one of her in a beautiful shimmering green dress with a floral patterning on it that made her look all the more like her name. “That's when we went to the Grand Galloping Gala.” I opened another picture from the same night, me sitting at a table looking very uncomfortable in my tuxedo but still managing a smile, Rosa beside me with her head resting on my shoulder, a wing tucked behind me to keep me sitting straight for the photo. On the other side of her, leaning into the picture, looking much more comfortable in the formal wear was my brother. He looked so normal, smiling his goofy smile, making sure he was in the picture to spoil the romantic look of it, not a hint of malice or anger or anything he seemed so full of now...

“Here let me show you something else.” I said, closing out the pictures quickly before I got too carried away over thinking it. “Computer, open new user control profile, name Concussive Blast, standard user permissions.”

“Acknowledged, prepared for new user input, Hello Concussive Blast.” The computer said.

“What?” She looked at me dumbly and I just gestured my head towards the computer. “Uhh...Hello computer?” She said slowly.

“Hello Ms. Concussive Blast.”

“You can call me CB.” She said.

“Acknowledged, user profile name updated Concussive Blast to CB. This is your first log in to this terminal please specify duties or required tasks.”

“Computer,” I interrupted, “show her the games?”

“It has games?” CB grinned. “I've heard of computer games but I've never seen them.”

A list appeared on the screen, literally hundreds of games populated in the list.

“Wow! You really have all these games?” She asked me. “I don't even know where to start.”

“Well just ask the computer for a kind of game and it'll narrow down the list for you, but I need to start putting together these other computers so you behave yourself while I do that alright?”

She just nodded and turned back to the computer. “Show me adventure games?”

I smiled a little and walked off to get to work on the servers.

//////////

I got lost in the work for hours, occasionally looking up when I heard CB yell at a game in frustration. I was about half done when I was interrupted by a loud AHEM. I pulled myself out from under the desk I had been running cable under and looked up at a very angry looking Ruby.

“Something wrong?” I asked slowly, sitting up.

“Do you know what time it is?” She asked flatly.

“Uhh...” I glanced down at my Pipbuck and saw it was 4AM. “Oh geeze, I'm sorry I got lost in my work.” I said pushing myself up to my hooves quickly.

“You I don't care about, her on the other hoof...” She gestured to CB, who I realized for the first time was no longer sitting at the desk furiously trying to figure out another game, but was instead curled up on the chair asleep.

“Crap I'm so so sorry...” I said, moving to the desk and gently lifting CB up in my magic grasp and setting her down on my back, keeping her balanced with my magic. “Computer save and shut down.”

“Of course, good night Doctor Cane.” The computer said, closing the programs and shutting down.

“Alright, lets go.” Ruby said, yawning and heading to the doors. “I'm exhausted and I can't believe you kept her down here this late.”

“I said I was sorry, I get lost in my work, you know that, if no one came to check up on me I'd probably have worked through the night and into the day.”

“I know, but if we're going to be responsible for CB, YOU need to be more focused on things like bed times and making sure she eats.”

“I'm SORRY.” I said firmly. “I don't know what else you want me to say.”

“I don't want you to be SORRY, I don't want you to do it again, you're a father now, you need to grow up.”

“WHAT?! I've been a 'father' for all of 12 hours, you've gotta cut me some slack, and what do you mean 'grow up'? I'm not down here foaling around, I'm assembling a hundred hard drives into a RAID array so I can try and figure out what my brother was working on and stop him before he destroys what little is left of Equestria.”

“Would you two pipe down I'm trying to sleep!” CB snapped, squirming free of my magical grip and jumping down off my back, stifling a yawn. I immediately felt bad, and more than a little awkward at the whole 'father' discussion, but it seemed maybe CB missed that part. It still amazed me how easily she managed to break out of a magic grip, most ponies were stopped hard for at least a minute or two. “Seriously who argues so late at night?” She muttered angrily to herself, starting down the hallway.

“I'm sorry Sugar.” Ruby sighed, yawning herself and shaking her head. “I'm just very tired and worried about making sure CB has as stable a life as possible while we all recover.”

“I know I'm sorry too.” I said quietly. “I spent a lot of time fighting with my parents about my computer work. So did Venture. Until we actually started making money off of it they always told us to quit wasting our time, or to think about real jobs, or to grow up...mostly that was our father, our mom always phrased it much more delicately, 'think about the future just in case it doesn't work out,' things like that.”

“Hey guys I think somepony is in trouble.” CB said, hurrying down the hallway back to us. “I thought I heard somepony try to say 'help' but it was really quiet, then I heard shuffling and a bang.”

Ruby and I hurried up the hallway to her and I saw two indicators appear on my EFS, one green one red. “Shit, there is some threat up ahead.” I said, drawing Ebony and Ivory slowly. “CB stay here.”

I moved up the hallway slowly, stopping at a doorway when the threat indicator swung towards it and threw the door open with a burst of magical energy. Inside an Earth pony I recognized as one of the guards, stood with a pegasus mare pinned to the bed. She was unconscious and his intentions were all too clear. He wore a filter mask like the Pyro ponies and looked up at me with murderous rage, his eyes glazed over and unfocused. “Get out!” He snapped. “You can have her when I'm done!”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Get off her NOW and back the fuck up or I'll put a hole in your head.” Of course the Earth pony just laughed and pushed up off the bed, starting towards me. I leveled the guns to take the shot but a green shell wrapped around him and he was stopped dead in his tracks. I turned and saw CB and Ruby in the doorway, CB was glaring at him intently, her horn glowing brightly.

“Hey! Let me go!” He roared, thrashing against the shield, but it was useless. I grabbed the mask in my own magical grip and pulled it off. “Give that back! I stole it from one of the attackers! It's mine!” He seethed with rage and thrashed helplessly in CB's hold, screaming and fighting, but his breathing slowly calmed and his eyes cleared. “What happened?” He muttered after a minute, then saw the mare on the bed. “CHERRY! Lemme go lemme go lemme go!” He started fighting again desperately, the rage of before replaced with terror and panic.

“CB let him go.” I said after a moment.

She released him and he darted to the bed, lifting the pegasus into his hooves. Her head was bleeding, but not badly. “What happened?” He asked, looking up at us.

“You don't remember?”

“No, I...I was walking down the hall with Cherry, I was showing her the mask I took off one of the attackers back at the base. She thought it would be fun if I wore it while we...” He trailed off, looking up at CB then back to you. “...You know...”

“Yeah I do.” I nodded.

“So we ducked in here, I put on the mask and I remember this wave of numbness, then anger, then it's all a blur and the next thing I knew I was restrained.”

“Ruby, you and CB should go get help for Cherry.” I said to them. She just nodded silently and guided CB out of the room. The filly didn't even try to protest.

“You were in a mad rage when we got here.” I said to him once the others were gone. “You were getting ready to rape her...”

“I WHAT?” He gasped, hugging Cherry all the tighter. “She's my wife, why would I even do that? We were going to have sex anyway...that doesn't even make sense...” He was holding her to his chest protectively, tears running down his cheeks. “Oh Cherry I'm so sorry...” He whispered to her.

I stood guard over them until the others arrived. Two guards took him into custody while some of the medics carefully put her on a stretcher and took her away. Once everypony else had cleared out it was just me and Ruby, she had sent CB to bed with Crackshot when the ghoul had come looking for us. It was almost 6AM now.

“So what do you think?” Ruby asked, sitting down on the bed beside me.

“I don't know...” I was turning the mask over in my hooves, inspecting it, but as far as I could see it was just a rubber respirator. The tubes that came off the sides weren't hooked to anything, the tanks that normally linked to it were worn on the battle saddles of the attackers so there was nothing to them in that regard.

“Maybe he just had seriously repressed sexual issues.”

“I want to say I doubt it, but what do I know? They're married, if he's telling the truth, and she sounded like a very adventurous partner, so I have trouble thinking he wasn't getting enough or had desires he didn't get to fulfill with her...” I floated the mask out of my grip to put away in my saddlebags but stopped when I saw a glint from inside the mask. “Hey look at this...” I brought the mask close again, inside was an intricate glyph, glowing a faint blue, it matched the colour of my magic. “These look like Zebra markings...”

I held the mask out for Ruby to look at and she looked at it curiously. “Huh, weird.”

“Can you read it Ms. Archeologist?” I smiled.

“Some of it.” She nodded, ignoring my sarcasm. “This symbol in the middle means 'male' and the symbol intertwined with it at the bottom means 'female'; I'm sure of that.” She pointed to them with a hoof. “And this one under them means 'rage', I think this one means 'desire' or maybe 'passion', Zebra glyphs are tough to read at the best of times, and these things look like they're an ancient dialect...we should go to town, I'm sure Firebird will have books I can reference to figure these out.”

“What are you two still doing down here?” Brutus asked, coming into the room.

“We're studying the mask the guard was wearing when he attacked the pegasus.” Ruby said simply. “It's got weird Zebra runes in it that you can only see when you hold it in a magic field.”

“Oh? Can I see?” He asked, coming over to the bed.

“Yeah here.” I said, holding it out to him.

He took it in his grip and the glyph vanished for a moment before reappearing, this time in orange.

“Oh that's weird.” Ruby said, pushing close to Brutus now to look into the mask. “It changed.”

“Changed how?”

“Now the male symbol is intertwined with another male symbol.” She muttered, more to herself.

“Makes sense, since Brutus likes the lads not the ladies.”

He grumbled a little but didn't complain like he usually did.

“I suppose it does yeah...'Rage' is still the same but it's not glowing as brightly as it was when you held it. The 'desire' glyph is the same. This one I couldn't read before says 'impurity' I think.” She sighed and sat back. “I just don't think there's anything else I can do with it right now.”

“Well look lets get some sleep and we can go into town early tomorrow. You promised to meet those two back on the road and help them get a new start in town remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Ruby nodded. “That feels like forever ago instead of just two days ago.”

“Well a lot has happened in that time.”

Ruby got up and we headed back upstairs to the section we'd sort of taken over. We talked quietly while we did, though most ponies were getting up now, getting ready for their shifts, or to go into town, or whatever it was they were doing. CB lay on the couch in the main room, curled up asleep. Crackshot sat at the table lazily playing with cards.

“Took you guys long enough.” She said when we get back.

“Sorry, we ran into some delays.” Ruby said, yawning and shaking her head.

“Well go get some sleep.” Brutus said. “I'll make sure I'm kept in the loop about what's happening right now with the guard and I'll make sure they don't do anything rash until you two can finish looking into that mask. I took more of the masks from bodies back at the base. I'll have them brought up so you can take them with you to study too.”

“Thanks.” Ruby nodded. I opened the door to the room we'd laid claim to and stepped inside.

Ruby followed but came up short. “We...should probably sleep in different rooms shouldn't we?” She asked.

I cringed a little, I'd forgotten that particular problem. “Yeah, probably.” I sighed. “You go ahead and take this one, I'll find something else.” I said, hurrying out of the room before she could argue it. I wandered back into the main room and Crackshot looked up from the table again.

“Problem?” She asked.

“Yeah if Ruby and I aren't going to be together we thought it was kind of weird to share a bedroom.”

“Fair enough.” She shrugged.

I was too tired to really put any effort into searching for a proper room so instead I just grabbed a blanket from a cupboard and crawled onto the couch beside CB, adjusting her a little so she didn't take up so much room, then cuddled up next to her and happily fell asleep.

Footnote: 75% to level up.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Shame that sleep doesn't last as long as one hopes, it was about 11:15 when I was woken, barely 4 hours later. I'd probably have slept a lot longer, but at some point CB had ended up cuddled into my hooves and when she woke up she squirmed and shoved at me to try and get away, only to float me into the air and dump me on the ground.

“Hey!” I cried, flailing around to get my legs back under me.

“You weren't letting me go, I'm not a plushie to cuddle.” She said, hopping onto my back and down to the ground.

“You could just ASK next time.” I grumbled, standing up and yawning.

“Nice of you to join us.” Brutus said from the table. He and Crackshot had two piles of masks sitting on the table.

“What are you doing?”

“Cataloging the masks for Ruby. Seeing if they all have the same symbols...”

“What are these?” CB asked, floating one of the masks down.

“Careful.” I said quickly, stepping forward but a wing shot in front of me, Ruby coming in from the other side and kneeling down beside CB.

“Just hold it right there?” Ruby asked. “Don't try to wear it, it's not safe.”

CB nodded and held it out to Ruby.

“This is weird. CB makes another, very different set of runes. The female symbol is the prominent one with the male symbol wrapped around the base, but instead of rage it says 'submission', and this one says 'control'...I think it can sense the type of user holding or wearing the mask and it exerts a specific influence over that user. If Sugar were to put the mask on, it would make him a raging death machine, same with Brutus. If CB put it on it would make her submissive and open to suggestion.”

“Oh well we wouldn't want that would we?” Brutus laughed.

CB glared at the mask and tossed it back up on the table. “I don't think I like these things.” She said, turning away from them quickly.

“Oh don't worry CB we'd never dream of putting them on anypony. They're terrible terrible things, we want to understand them so we can stop the Pyros and make sure they never hurt anypony else.” Crackshot said, hugging the filly gently.

“I know, I still don't like 'em.”

“That's okay, neither do I.” Brutus said, tossing another into the pile.

“I think I've gotten everything I can from these things. We need to go into town and see what we can find in the library.” She said, tucking her little tablet computer back into her pouch.

“Where did you get that tablet?” I asked. “I've only seen you use it once before.”

“I made it.” She smiled, grabbing a mask and adding it to her pack. “We probably just need one or two masks for the trip since they all seem to be the same.”

“Buwah?” Was all I could manage.

“Oh Sugar come on.” She rolled her eyes and kissed my cheek. “I'm kidding. I found it in a library. It's insanely tough to charge it because the battery is 200 years old.”

“Geeze, I was gonna say...” I sighed, shaking my head. “You have far too many redeeming traits...”

“Oh don't worry there's lots about me that's broken.” She smirked. “You'll learn in time.”

“I like to learn.” I returned her smile, part of me knowing I shouldn't be flirting, but a bigger part wanting to so badly.

“ANYWAY...” Brutus interrupted loudly, standing up and grabbing two more masks and shoving them into his own pack. “Lets get a move on.”

//////////

The whole group of us walked down the highway towards town. It was nice to be getting out again as a group, despite our mission, I was glad things had mostly returned to normal. CB was perched happily on Brutus's back, her own armour nice and clean too, another of Crackshot's hangover tasks. Ruby and I walked up front together and Crackshot brought up the rear, though we didn't really need somepony covering our rear, she was insistent. My pipbuck was playing classic rock music, The Hoof Beats, Pon Simon, Neighvana, Foal Fighters, The Beach Bucks...

“Wow this music is so catchy...” CB said, swaying to the music.

“This was the best music.” Crackshot nodded.

“And it's older than you two?” Brutus asked.

“Yeah, when these songs were written we weren't even born yet. Our parents were just foals when some of these were written.”

“Shame DJ Pon3 doesn't play this music, all his stuff is older.”

“That's true. Maybe I should send it to Homage. I mean I connected to their system once before I'm sure I could do it again. They'd probably die to get their hooves on all this old music, and Homage is kinda cute, I bet I could totally score a date with her for giving her all this music.”

“Uhh, excuse me? Your fiancee is RIGHT THERE!” CB said, gesturing to Ruby angrily.

“Oh CB, he's just teasing.” Ruby laughed. We were going to keep that illusion in tact for as long as we could. CB was still emotional even if she did a good job of covering it up.

“He better be. I don't wanna have to smack a buck.” She said seriously.

“I'm just teasing.” I sighed, shaking my head and turning back to the road ahead. Two new green markers appeared on my Pipbuck ahead of us. “We've got company.” I said quietly to Ruby.

“Perfect they're right on time. Guys please don't shoot the two ponies that are gonna jump us in a minute alright?” She asked the rest of the group. They looked at her curiously but all agreed.

“3...2...1...” I muttered, and right on cue a blur leapt from behind a boulder, tackling Ruby in a big hug.

“RUBY!” Sky Wagon grinned down at the pink pegasus and nuzzled her happily. “I am SO glad you showed up, we were afraid you were gonna ditch.”

“Of course not.” Ruby laughed, pushing her off and standing up slowly. Bottle Cap emerged from behind the boulder. She was actually smiling this time though she was still very much reserved compared to her friend.

“Oh you two must be the ones Ruby told us about.” Crackshot said.

“I suppose we are yes.” Wagon nodded happily, getting up again and moving to stand with Cap. “So you're gonna take us into town?”

“There's a few rules but yes.” Ruby nodded.

“Alright...” Cap said suspiciously.

“Firstly, you have to prove to the town you can be useful and that you'll behave. You'll have to do that on your own. Second, my friends Ratchet and Clank are going to watch out for you until you can get settled. Thirdly I'm going to introduce you to my cousin if the town council agrees to let you stay, and she's going to be well paid by me to make sure you two behave.” Ruby explained.

“Yes ma'am.” Wagon nodded, putting on a serious face and saluting.

“Good, then I have just one more request.” She pulled a mask out of her pouch and sat it down. “Bottle Cap would you be so kind as to float this into the air with your magic and hold it with the inside facing me?”

“Uhh why?” Cap asked, stepping forward. “That's kinda weird...”

Ruby was fishing her tablet out of the pack so I spoke up. “We're going into town to investigate these weird Zebra runes...”

“They're GLYPHS.” Ruby interrupted without taking her head out of her pack.

“...Whatever. Weird Zebra GLYPHS that appear inside these masks whenever a unicorn holds it in their magical grasp. Ruby probably just wants to see what appears when a lesbian holds it.”

“I'm bi-sexual.” Cap answered flatly, like the term I'd used was somehow offensive.

“Even better.” Ruby said, setting the tablet on the ground and tapping it with her hoof. “Please?” She asked and the unicorn nodded, begrudgingly floating the mask up for Ruby to look at.

“Oh this is neat.” Ruby grinned. “The female symbol has a male AND female symbol wrapped around it.” She poked at the tablet for a moment then looked back to the mask. “Hmm...Chaos...self destruction...impurity...Wow, I'd say the mask is set to make you kill yourself.”

Cap dropped the mask quickly, jumping back towards Sky.

“Oh sorry sorry.” Ruby said, picking the mask up by a hose and sticking it back into her pack. “It doesn't do anything to affect you unless you actually wear it.”

“You should warn me before you ask me to do something like that.” She snapped.

“Oh Cap you need to lighten up.” Wagon said, kissing her horn gently.

“Can we just go?” Cap asked, pulling away and starting down the road.

“Yeah I've got everything you can give me.” Ruby nodded, putting the rest of her stuff away and starting after her. The rest of us kind of looked at each other but shrugged it off and kept going.

//////////

“Wow, rock and roll is so much better than that weird classic stuff they play on the radio.” Wagon said as we started down towards the entrance of the town, 'Mr. Tambourine Buck' just ended, so I switched off the music.

“Actually that song is considered 'folk' music.” Crackshot said. “A band called The Birds re-sang the song and it had more of a 'rock' feeling to it, but it was still very much like that version.”

“Wow...there's a lot of music out there isn't there?” Wagon asked.

“Yeah there is.” Crackshot grinned. “It's sad we lost so much of it to time and the war.”

“Well I have a few thousand songs on here.” I tapped the Pipbuck. “Soon as we get back I'll see if I can get through to Homage and DJ Pon3 and send the songs on to them to get them on the radio.”

Ratchet waved to us as we got closer and I could swear I saw him blush at the sight of Brutus but he looked fine by the time we got close enough to talk.

“Well hello stranger.” He smiled to Brutus.

“Ratchet...” Brutus simply nodded his head and the other pony looked a little disappointed.

“So this is Sky Wagon and Bottle Cap. They're the ponies I told you about the other day.” Ruby said, pointing to the two, who smiled sheepishly.

“Oh? I remember some mild drunken ramblings about trying to help 'those two cute fillies on the road' but I never caught their names.” Ratchet laughed.

Ruby blushed but just nodded. “So they're going to apply for citizenship here in town and you two will watch out for them?”

“Yeah and Lily is going to make sure they stay in line?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, well you two can wait here with me until Clank gets here to escort you to the town council.”

“Fair enough.” Wagon nodded.

“I'm going to stay here too.” Ruby said. “Just to make sure things go as well as they can. Sugar why don't you and CB go to Firebird's and get together the books we need? Lily has been dying to meet CB.”

“Who's Lily?” CB asked.

“My cousin, you'll love her.”

“She certainly makes an impression.” I nodded.

“She's going to do something like that again.” Ruby said seriously, though I saw the glimmer of humor in her eyes.

“Alright well that's fine, I'll make sure it goes well.”

“Good good.”

“What about us?” Crackshot asked.

“Well since we're taking up some kind of semi-permanent residence in the Medical center we should touch base with the ponies in town who stayed here after the attack and see about getting everypony regrouped out there.” Brutus said.

“Aww are you sure you can't stick around for a while and talk? I know Clank really wants to meet you Brutus.” Ratchet said.

“I suppose we can stay for a bit, not like we have anywhere else to be for the foreseeable future.” He shrugged.

“Alright good plan.” I laughed. “You guys all stay here, CB and I will go do real work, come on squirt.”

CB sighed and hopped down off Brutus's back and fell into line beside me and we started into town.

We entered Firebird's store and again we found it empty.

“Wow they have so much stuff here.” CB said, looking at the rows and rows of stuff for sale.

“They also have hundreds of books upstairs.” I pointed a hoof towards the upstairs and CB looked up at them and smiled.

“Well I guess books are okay too.” She nodded.

“You guess? That hurts. I love books.”

“Well that's fine, books and me are just friends.” CB said, poking around at a display of toys on a shelf.

“Alright well don't make a mess, I'm going to see if I can find Firebird or Lily to help me with the books.”

CB just nodded, she was already lost in her curiosity of the toys.

I wandered back towards the counter. I could see Lily's special marker on my EFS and moved towards the curtain. “Hello?” I called, sticking my head through the curtains. She was sitting on the stairs and waved to me quickly. I moved behind the curtains and over to her. “How does this work?” I asked

She grabbed my leg and pulled me up the stairs into the second floor hallway. “You just stay out of sight, sneak your way around the second floor so you can see the counter clearly.”

“Okay...” I nodded, moving to the doorway that lead out to the books. Lily flashed green and became a young emerald green pegasus filly, about CB's age, then walked out onto the second floor.

“Hi!” I heard her say excitedly.

“Oh hi.” Came CB's equally happy reply.

“I'm Thorn, who're you?”

“I'm CB.”

“Whatcha' doin'?” I saw Lily's indicator move across my vision so she was probably flying down to CB.

“Just looking at the toys while I wait for Cane to get help with the books.”

“Oh? Who's Cane? Your Booooyfriend?” Lily teased.

“No, he's my da...my friend.” Her voice caught and I heard all the mirth drain from her tone, I heard something else, but that might just have been my heart breaking at little for the poor filly.

“Oh well that's fine. Where'd he go?” I had to give Lily props, she was very good at moving away from awkward subjects very quickly.

“Uhh behind the curtain into the backroom I think.”

“Oh?” I saw Lily's indicator move towards the doorway. “Hello anypony back here?”

I heard the curtains rustle and saw a flash of green light, then silence. Finally I saw CB's indicator move towards the curtains and I quietly leaned out and saw her move behind the counter and look through the curtains so I took the chance to move myself out onto the second floor, positioning myself right where Ruby had been that first time. It really was a perfect view.

“What's all the racket?” Lily was on the second floor again, done up as Firebird.

“Oh.” CB jumped back in confusion. “I'm just looking for my friend, he went into the back room to look for Lily and then Thorn went back there and there's no one back there. You're Firebird right? Ruby's aunt? I've seen pictures of you before.”

“Yes I am.” She nodded, coming down the stairs. “Don't worry little one we'll get this figured out.” She lifted CB up and set her on the counter. “Now let me just see what's going on back here.” She wandered behind the curtain and I saw another faint flash of green then I saw Lily, this time as me, emerge from the backroom.

“Hey CB.” She grinned and the little filly looked relieved.

“Don't wander off like that, I was worried! Where'd Firebird and Thorn go?”

“Firebird is supposed to be in the town square meeting with caravaneers, I don't know who Thorn is.”

“What? But they just went into the back room!” CB jumped down and looked into the backroom.

“Come on CB, lets go back and play for a while.” Lily said.

“Nuh-uh, something funny is going on.” CB replied, her horn lighting up so she could see the whole backroom.

Lily flashed again and turned into CB. “Aww come on! You don't want to play alone back there!”

CB flipped through the air at the sound of the voice and screamed in horror. “What...what...what...” Lily broke into a fit of laughter and I couldn't help but do the same. CB looked up and saw me on the second floor.

The humor was short lived for me though because CB broke down into tears just in time for Firebird to come through the front door. “What is going on in here?” She demanded, seeing CB crying and Lily in tears of laughter, and me perched in the victim viewing area. “You two should be ashamed!” She snapped. “I expected better of you DOCTOR Cane.” She said angrily, moving to CB and hugging the filly comfortingly. “Don't worry little one, it's not as bad as it looks.” Firebird glared at Lily who finally transformed back into her normal form.

“You...you're a Changling?” CB asked and Lily nodded. “That's so cool!” CB broke into a big grin and Firebird let her go. “So that's how you meet new ponies? You scare and confuse them?”

“I'm sorry if I upset you.” Lily said seriously.

CB just shook her head. “Don't worry about it, it was funny. Can you turn into anything you want ? Or does it have to be a pony?”

“Oh I can turn into pretty much anything.” She flashed and became a snake, then a Sand Dog, then a zebra, griffon, fish, turtle, dog, cat, phoenix, owl, rabbit and alligator before turning back to herself. “See?” She asked, panting softly. “It can take a lot out of me to change that many times that fast.”

The two of them got lost in a conversation and I realized Firebird was standing beside me looking none too impressed. “You shouldn't do that to her. She's your responsibility now, you have to take care of her and protect her.”

“I know.” I said sheepishly. “I'm just very new to all this and kind of overwhelmed. I guess I'm treating her the way I would want to be treated.”

“You're an adult, it's a very different thing.”

“I know.” I said again. “I'm sorry.”

“Just because you and Ruby aren't getting married anymore doesn't mean that you don't still BOTH have to start acting more like responsible adults for the sake of CB.”

“I know.” Was all I could think to say. I was never very good at being addressed in this way.

“You better.”

“I do.” I nodded. I didn't know what else to do.

“Alright.” She said simply and started to leave.

“I...I need some books.” I said dumbly then recovered. “We found these weird glyphs...” I launched into the story of the guard attacking his wife and everything we had learned so far about the masks and the markings inside them. “...and so Ruby decided our best bet would be to see what kind of books you might have on the subject so we can do more research.”

“Alright. Well I think I can help you.” She nodded. “Give me 10 minutes to go through the books?”

“Sure.” I said. “I'm going to go apologize to CB...”

“That's a good idea.” She turned to the books and left me to go.

I walked downstairs and realized Lily and CB weren't sitting on the floor anymore. I looked around for a moment and realized they'd moved into the back room. I walked towards the curtains and I heard CB sob softly. Sticking my head through the curtains slowly I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out in surprise. CB sat on the couch, forelegs wrapped around Lily's neck and sobbing into her mane. Lily however had changed in EB, a picture of her sitting on the table in front of them. Lily had her own legs wrapped around CB and was talking softly to her. This time I definitely heard my heart breaking. I stepped into the room quietly and as I got closer I could hear CB muttering apologies. “Mommy I'm so sorry I couldn't help you. I should have stopped that guy faster. I shouldn't have gone away for the night...”

Lily was trying to reassure her and offer her consolation. I knelt down and put a hoof on CB's shoulder. “Sweetie look at me...” I said softly and she slowly looked up at me, her face soaked from tears and she sniffled quietly.

“I'm sorry...” She choked. “I-I shouldn't h-have ask-ed her to ch-change.”

“You don't need to be sorry...” I said, floating a tissue out of my bags and wiping her eyes gently. “You have every reason to be sad.”

“I just need...” She paused and looked from me to Lily and back. “One last thing?” She asked Lily quietly and the changling nodded.

CB got up and hugged her close. “I'll be good for Cane and Ruby. Bye Mommy, I love you.” She kissed Lily, who was crying quietly, then nodded and turned back to me as Lily changed back to her normal form slowly. CB hugged me close and just sat and shook gently, all cried out and just trying to compose herself again.

Lily gestured towards the doorway and looked at me questioningly mouthing 'I should go?' I nodded and she floated silently into the air and left us alone.

When CB finally calmed down and relaxed she sat back and looked up at me sadly. “I think I'll be okay...” She said softly, pulling herself back up onto the couch. “Getting a chance to say goodbye made me feel a lot better.”

“Well that's very grown up of you to say, but you don't have to worry about being sad, you're allowed to be sad, you have me and Ruby and Brutus and Crackshot...we'll always make sure you have somepony to hug and cry with.”

“You sure I can't just go back to drinking?” She asked, laughing softly.

“When you're older maybe.” I said sitting beside her on the couch. She rested against me and just got quiet for a long time.

Firebird was just on the far side of the curtain trying to peek in discreetly.

“CB...” I said softly. “Do you feel up to a joke?"

She looked at me curiously but nodded.

"Okay, Grab the curtain with your magic and pull it aside when I say so and shout boo...”

She saw the shadow move around beyond the curtain and smiled and nodded again.

“Now!"

She whipped the curtain to the side and I grabbed Firebird in my own grip and pulled her end over end into the room, crashing her into the couch on the opposite side of CB as we both shouted “BOO!”

Lily was standing just behind the counter, setting a few books down when we did and she burst out laughing as Firebird squirmed to try and recover from what had just happened.

“That's not funny!” The pegasus said, rolling around and righting herself.

“It was pretty funny.” CB grinned.

“Did you need something Firebird?” I asked.

“I...I just wanted to tell you we got all the Zebra Symbology books I have.”

“Oh good thanks.” CB said, hopping off the couch and starting for the entrance of the room.

“So I take it your talk went well?” Firebird asked.

“That it did.” I nodded, watching CB. She was all smiles again, looking at the various books on the other two had put together on the counter and either butchering the names of them or flipping through them and making faces at the pictures inside.

“Children are resilient. It's a hard thing to go through but she's lucky to have you.”

“Rosa always said I'd be good with children since I was basically a big kid myself. I always figured something like that would make me LESS suited to being a parent not BETTER suited.”

“Oh, speaking of being suited...” Firebird said, getting up off the couch. “There's someone else you should talk to about those glyphs.” She dug through a file and came up with a map, rolling it out on a desk. “A Zebra by the name of Xeha. He used to be a tailor, he'd come into town once a month to sell his wares. A few years ago while he was here his village got attacked by the pyro collective. He lost his whole family, everything he had. We offered him a home here and he opened a shop in town selling clothes. About a year ago his grandson showed up looking for him. He'd thought his grandson was killed in the pyro attack along with the rest of his family. They worked together for a few months but the council found out they were using dark magic to try and draw the pyros out so they could get revenge. The council forced them out of town and they've been living here.” She pointed to a spot about an hour from town. “There's a cave down there they set up in.” My pipbuck chirped and added the location to my own map.

“How do you know all this?”

“I have connections.” She replied simply.

“Oh that's helpful.” I grumbled.

“I didn't say it was.” She smirked and I had the oddest sense of deja Vu but I wasn't sure why. “Lily followed them discreetly.” She said finally, shaking her head. “I don't know how much more they might know about Zebra glyphs but it's better than just going through all these books.”

“What's better than just going through these books?” Ruby asked, coming into the backroom. Brutus and Crackshot were looking through the books on the counters curiously and CB was telling them about Lily's transformation prank.

Firebird moved out to the counter, rolling out the map and reexplaining about the zebras outside of town to the rest of the group.

“Alright,” Brutus said, “Ruby, you and Crackshot stay here and go through the books, the rest of us will go to the cave.”

“Uhh...” CB said quietly. “What about me?”

“I said the rest of us were going to the cave.” Brutus said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. CB lit up and danced side to side.

“Hey hey, calm down.” I laughed. “It's a serious trip, you have to be prepared.”

“Do I get a gun?” She asked, making everyone in the room burst out laughing.

“Honey you are WAY too young for a gun.”

“Aww but how do I defend myself?!” She demanded.

“Tell you what pipsqueak how bout we go out back and I'll teach you this.” Lily said, her horn glowing brightly before firing a burst of magical energy that exploded harmlessly against the door of the store. “It's not much but if you get attacked you can knock the gun out of an attackers grip with it and usually stun them enough to get away.”

“I think that's a good compromise.” Ruby said and I nodded so the two headed outside.

“Don't be too long you two we want to move out as soon as possible.” Brutus said.

“Don't worry, 20 minutes she'll be able to do it, 20 more and she'll be good with it, 20 more and she'll be a master.” Lily said, waving and closing the door behind her.

“Alright, so we'll go out, meet with these zebras and then what?” Brutus asked.

“I don't know...” I shrugged. “We get all the information we can and then we come back here and try to figure out where to go from there.”

“Well aren't you a heaping helping of hopeless.” Brutus sighed.

“I'm kinda pulling all this outta my ass right now.” I said sarcastically.

“Hey hey ladies, you're both pretty now stop arguing!” Ruby snapped, pushing between us. “We'll figure the rest out when we get back!” She glared at both of us and we just nodded sheepishly. “Good, now lets get some supplies together and give CB a chance to learn that new spell.”

Firebird broke into a big grin, all to happy to switch to shop owner mode and help us shop.

Footnote: Level up

Perk added: Foal at heart: This perk greatly improves your interactions with children, usually in the form of unique dialogue options.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

We rode out of town an hour later. It had only taken CB half that time to master the concussion spell and the other half perfecting her aim. She had proudly demonstrated this when we first got outside the town and she took out a bloat sprite that was so far away my EFS didn't even register it yet. Now we were heading away from the town and even further still from the medical center. CB sat on my back, a book on magic floating in front of her. The same book I had read, written by Twilight Sparkle, with all the magic she had learned over the years and the most helpful spells. It's how I had learned cloud walking and the ability to use cloud computers. CB would make excited noises every now and then and I could feel her tense on my back with excitement.

"Okay okay. I need to try this..." She hopped off my back and we paused. "Alright." She set the book down and reread it quickly, then closed her eyes, her horn glowing green and in a flash she vanished, reappearing in front of Brutus, making him cry out in surprise and fall back on his haunches, making the rest of us burst out laughing. "That's AWESOME!" CB giggled, dancing back and fourth, her horn glowing again and she vanished, reappearing by the book.
"CB that's great." Crackshot said. "That could be extremely helpful. Reaching places we couldn't otherwise, bypassing locked doors, getting out of danger..."

The little filly just nodded with excitement and teleported back onto my back, making me buckle for a moment before I compensated for the extra weight. "Warn me next time you do that..." I sighed, looking back at her and she just smiled sheepishly. When I turned my head my EFS swept across the horizon with me and I paused when I saw an indicator appear behind us, just blinking into range. It was Lily's custom indicator. Apparently she'd seen fit to follow us.

"CB, why don't you ride with Brutus for a while?" I asked, getting looks from the others. "Ruby and I just need to talk." This got even more confused looks from the adults and conspiratorial giggling from CB.

"SUUUURE, TALK..." CB giggled, getting down and moving to stand with Brutus.

"I promise we'll catch up."

"Alright..." Brutus said, looking from me to Ruby and back again before turning and starting down the road.

Ruby moved to stand with me and then followed me as I started back the way we'd come. "Lily is following us." I said softly to her.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yeah..." We reached the top of a hill and came face to face with the indicator on my pipbuck. Or rather face to helmet... "Mare-Do-Well?" Ruby asked, looking at the power armour covered pony.

"Oh good I was afraid it'd take longer to catch up to your group. I heard from ponies in town you were going out to meet with the zebras in the cave and I thought you might want an extra gun along."

I just glared at her quietly and, even with the armour, she seemed thrown. "Did I assume wrong?" She asked, stepping back at bit.

"Seriously?" I asked flatly.

"Seriously what?" She asked.

"Lily..." I said simply and she took another step back.

"I'm sorry?"

"Lily come on." I rolled my eyes and Ruby looked at her curiously. "I marked you as a high priority target in my pipbuck so that you wouldn't be able to fool me again by changing. You might fool my eyes but not Stable-Tech computers."
She sighs and slumps a little, her helmet hissed and slid open, down around her neck, revealing Lily's face, minus her horn. She flashed green a moment and the horn reappeared.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Ruby snapped. "YOU'RE MARE-DO-WELL?! Firebird would KILL YOU if she knew."

Lily flinched back and blushed, looking down at the ground sheepishly.

"SHE ALREADY KNOWS!" Ruby cried and Lily just nodded gently. "AND SHE LETS YOU GO OUT AND DO THIS?!"

"It's not that simple..." Lily said quietly.

"Hey hey hey!" I said quickly before Ruby could start up again. "Give her a chance to explain." I pushed between them and Ruby stomped back.

"Explain FAST." She snapped.

Lily sighed and sat down. "There's a whole group of us." She started. "There's...two dozen Mare-Do-Wells across the Wasteland. "It's...it's an inherited title..."

Ruby's eyes went wide and she stomped back over to Lily. "So Firebird is a Mare-Do-Well too?"

Lily just nodded.

"She was the MDW we came across in Clopton wasn't she?" I asked and Lily nodded again.

"How do you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Remember she commented on our relationship? Said we made a nice couple?"

"And Firebird is a hopeless romantic." Ruby sighed.

"Who was the first MDW that Crackshot and I met?" I asked. "When we got jumped going to the Ammo Foundry?"

"A buck named Daredevil." She said. "He was the one that told us about you Cane. He's the reason we started popping up so much in your life. To make sure you weren't a threat to Ruby and the others."

"You were the one in the hospital?" I asked.

"I was. I'm sorry for what I put you through with the Rosalea simulation. Ruby told me how much it upset you and I felt terrible that I couldn't apologize for it."

I looked at Ruby and even though she was still very clearly annoyed with the whole thing she was also moved by her cousin's sadness and apologetic nature. "Alright fine." Ruby said finally. "But we're having a serious talk about this with Firebird when we get back."

Lily smiled and stood up again. "Yes ma'am." She nodded.

"Alright well lets get going, we're falling too far behind the others." I said.

Lily nodded again and her helmet came up and started to slide shut, her horn flashing away again as the helmet slid back into place. "You're not going to tell them right?"

"Tell them what?" Ruby asked and Lily laughed softly.

///////////

After a quick run we caught up with the others. Seeing Mare-Do-Well Brutus and Crackshot both understood the fact that I had picked her up on my EFS. CB, on the other hoof, looked like her head was going to explode at the sight of the super hero. She scrambled over to us and stood in front of Mare-Do-Well, studying her intently, with a look of wonder on her face.

"Are you really Mare-Do-Well?" She asked softly.

"I am." She nodded.

"Why're you here?"

"I was going to meet with the same Zebra you're going to see and I came across Ruby and Cane on the road."

"Were they making out? Was it gross?"

"They were and it was." Lily replied and CB burst out laughing.

We continued on towards the mountains, CB pelting Lily with questions about everything from her armour to her weapons to bad guys she'd fought to how many ponies she'd saved...and amazingly Lily had answers for all of them. She was just as excited to talk to CB as CB was to talk to her. She obviously had to really restrain herself to not blow her cover.

When we got close to the cave everyone got quiet and CB fell back to stand with Brutus.

"We should go first." Lily said, nudging me forward. "We have pipbucks."

I nodded and we moved toward the cave entrance. I brought out Ebony and Ivory and spun them slowly in my magic field, the indicators lighting up after a moment.

"Those are nice." Lily said softly, probably trying to break the tension a little.

"Rosa made em." I smiled.

"She seems like she was very nice."

"She was. I miss her every day." I sighed.

The cave curved sharply a short distance inside so it got very dark very fast. I turned on the flashlight on my pipbuck and lit my horn. Lily's pipbuck was covered by the armour on her leg but the eyes on her helmet lit up brightly. We came to a large chamber, none of our lights could even reach the roof.

"Oh I can fix this." CB said, stepping up beside me. Before I could warn her against getting too close her horn lit up brightly and a ball of energy fired off the end, rising into the air and glowing like a small sun, lighting up the whole chamber, a small magical thread running from the light back to CB's horn. A dozen tunnels ran off in different directions, boulders lay all around the area. I realized, seemingly at the same instant as Lily, that there was a zebra colt standing on a boulder in the middle of the room. He wore a battle saddle with a very old shotgun resting in it.

"Don't move!" He ordered, cocking the shotgun.

CB gasped softly and pressed against me. "He's cute..." She whispered. I looked back at her in amazement for a moment but she had slipped behind me.

"We're not looking for trouble, we just want to talk." Lily said, stepping forward. He bit down on the saddle control and unloaded the shotgun into the ground in front of her.

"The next one goes into your face." He snapped, knocking the shotgun to reload it. When he cocked the gun again though I heard a very distinct sound, one I had heard hundreds of times in Rosa's lab, usually followed by a frustrated cry and a crashing noise. It was the sound of the firing pin in the shotgun snapping.

"Please listen." I said, stepping forward now, lowering my pistols and sliding them back into their holsters. "We're not looking for trouble. We're looking for your grandfather?" He bit down on the trigger but there was just a CLICK and nothing more. He looked at the gun in terror and leaped back. "Please wait. We're just here to talk! We're trying to find the Pyros that attacked your village."

He paused and looked back at us slowly. "Really?"

"Yes, we don't want to hurt you or your grandfather. We just need information about some Zebra glyphs we found in these masks we took from the Pyros that attacked our home." Ruby explained, pulling one of the masks out of her pack.

He came over slowly and Ruby tossed the mask to him. It landed on the floor a few feet from him and he looked at it curiously. "It looks like his work yes."

CB grabbed it in her magic field and floated it into the air. "It has these funny symbols in it." She turned the mask to him so he could see the glyph inside.

He looked at them then smiled softly, blushing a little and nods. "Yeah it's one of his. Adaptive control glyphs are his specialty."

CB floated the mask back over to Ruby. Ruby looked at it and giggled softly as she took it from CB's magical grasp and put it away again.

"Alright." The zebra sighed. "Wait here and I'll go get him."

"Hey!" CB ran forward quickly. "Uhh...what's your name?" She asked sheepishly.

"Oh. I'm Xem." He smiled, blushing again.

"Nice to meet you." CB said, grinning in kind. "I'm Concussive Blast, but you can call me CB."

"Uhh CB honey there's time to make introductions when his grandfather gets here too." Crackshot said.

"Oh oh right." CB nodded, backing away. "Sorry."

He nodded and hurried off down a tunnel and out of sight.

"10 caps says he doesn't come back." Crackshot said.

"Nah I think he'll come back." Ruby said, settling down against a wall. "CB, come here." She patted the ground beside her and the filly walked over and sat beside her. The two fell into a quiet conversation that involved a lot of giggling and gasping and blushing.

"Mares are weird." Brutus said, shaking his head. "No offense." He added, looking at Lily. "Assuming you're actually a mare under there."

"I'm whatever you want me to be big guy." She replied, her voice synthesizer dropping as she did, and I couldn't help bursting out laughing.

"You are." Crackshot said, joining us and looking curiously at the armoured changling. "You're a lot more relaxed than you've been in the past."

"Just getting comfortable with you is all." She shrugged.

"Crackshot she's here to help, and she's never been anything BUT helpful, you don't need to be suspicious." I said.

"We don't know who she is, what kind of secret agenda she might have!"

"Whoa whoa whoa." I said quickly, putting my forelegs up defensively. "Where's all this suspicion and hostility coming from all the sudden?"

"Well she always happens to be around when the Pyros are involved! Nopony cares that much about others in this world. She JUST HAPPENED to be in Clopton, she showed up at the hospital after we were attacked, now we're going to meet with the zebra who apparently made the Pyro control masks and she shows up AGAIN."

"The stable dweller does." Brutus countered getting a death glare from the ghoul.

"The stable dweller is over hyped. She doesn't do half what DJ Pon 3 claims." Lily said.

"Wow way to poke holes in an argument in your favor." Brutus sighed.

"Look I don't care what you say there's something suspicious about her." Crackshot said. "Nopony cares about anypony else that much unless their family and I don't see any other pegasi in power armour so you gotta have some other reason to be 'helping' us."

"Crackshot come on..." I started, stepping between them again but got shoved out of the way for my trouble.

"Hey now." Brutus started but he got a smack in the face.

"Oh for Celestia's sake..." Lily snapped and stood up. Her body glowed and a force field shot up around us, obscuring anyone else outside of the field from seeing in.

"How'd you do that?" Crackshot asked, falling back from her spot in front of Lily.

Her helmet hissed and slid open to reveal the changling inside, who was glaring death at Crackshot. "Happy now you old pile of rot?" She snapped, looking like she might cry.

"L...Lilith...You're Mare-Do-Well?" Crackshot stammered. Brutus was fairly shocked too but kept his mouth shut. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It's a SECRET identity you moron." She hissed, standing up and turning away from Crackshot. "I've done nothing but go out of my way to protect you guys, MY FAMILY, if I'd known about the Pyro attack I'd have been at that base so fast your head would have spun."

Crackshot looked from her to Brutus, then to me, her shock fading she saw I didn't share it. "And just how long have YOU known about this?" She demanded.

"Uhh about 30 minutes." I sighed. "When I stopped Ruby on the road it as because I picked up Lily's unique identifier on my pipbuck."

"She has a UNIQUE identifier?" Brutus asked.

"Yeah, after I first met her I didn't want her to transform and sneak up on me again so I tagged her with a unique objective marker, now I know who she is no matter what she looks like. You can fool my eyes and ears, but not the Pipbuck."

"So please...can we just drop it now?" Lily asked, looking more humiliated than I assumed something like this warranted.

"Yeah I think so. I'm sorry I forced your hoof like that Lily." Crackshot said. She was about to continue but the privacy barrier warped and shattered and CB leaped through where it had been, her horn glowing.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?!" She demanded, whipping around and glaring at all of us, pausing when she realized Lily was sitting there, and in Mare-Do-Well's armour.

"Oh come on." Lily groaned, covering her face with her forelegs.

"Lily?" CB lit up and tackled her in a big hug. "This is so awesome you don't even know! You're Mare-Do-Well? That is SO COOL! I mean you were cool before but you're...you're at least 20% cooler now!"

“Well now that the whole world knows...” Lily sighed. “Look you guys can't tell anyone alright? Mom would KILL me if she found out I'd blown my cover.”

“Your mother knows?” Crackshot asked.

“Yeah she's a Mare-Do-Well too...”

“Wow, quiet unassuming Firebird...shouldn't be surprised I guess.” Brutus sighed.

“Yeah so can we just drop it and move on now?” Lily asked, her helmet sliding closed again to cover up her annoyed and anguished face.

“CB, you can't tell anyone.”

“I promise.” The filly nodded quickly.

“Pinkie Pie promise.” Crackshot said.

“I...what?” CB tilted her head back and looked at the ghoul curiously.

“Cross your heart...” Crackshot said.

“Cross my heart.”

“Hope to fly.”

CB looked at her like she was crazy but repeated, “Hope to fly.”

“Stick a cupcake in your eye.” I finished, making the filly all the more confused.

“Stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said. “Is this some old pony thing?”

“Yeah it's some old pony thing.” Crackshot nodded. “It means you have to keep your promise FOREVER.”

“Yeah but...” She started to argue but I cut in. “FOREVVVVERRRR.” Crackshot and I both loomed over CB and she cowered back against Lily.

“F...forever.” She agreed, crawling over Lily's armoured form to put it between her and us.

Crackshot and I both started laughing and CB looked confused and annoyed.

The mirth was short lived because two indicators appeared on my EFS, Lily's too from the way she shot back to her feet.

“They're coming.” Lily said, turning towards the door. She kept CB behind her just in case there were any problems, but
Xem emerged from the tunnel a moment later, helping a zebra along who looked far older than I'd have expected anyone to live to in the wasteland.

He walked to one of the boulders and sat against it, resting heavily against it before looking at our group and sighing deeply before finally speaking. “Hello ponies, how do you do? I am Xeha, and who are you?”

I looked at the others for a moment before I stepped forward. “Hello Xeha, I'm Sugarcane, this is Brute Force, Ruby Star, Crackshot, Concussive Blast and Mare-Do-Well.” I gestured to each one in turn as I spoke their names.

"Ah Sugarcane, Venture's brother from the past, your trials have been long I'm surprised that you last.”

“You know about me? What did my brother tell you? Why did you work for him?” I had to stop myself from getting too worked up. I was glad to finally have a lead and I didn't want to get too carried away.

“These answers I have, these answers and more, ask anything you want, not one I'll ignore.”

“Did you make these?” Ruby asked, pulling the masks out again and putting it down for Zeha to look at.

“These masks are mine, this much is true. I suspect you next want to know how the masks control you?”

“Yes please.” Ruby nodded, taking out her tablet to take notes.

“Sugarcane would you hold this please? Unicorn magic shows the glyphs, allowing me to read them with ease.” He asked.

“Of course.” I nodded, floating the mask up in my magical grip to allow him to look at it.

“A male unicorn you are, this much I could tell, and that red female pegasi cause your heart to swell.” He smiled at Ruby and she blushed deeply. “Being young and so fit, the mask it does say, you are to take what you want and let nothing stand in your way. A glyph for rage, a glyph for lust, your body will burn with anger and tell you to mate, you must.”

“What about the glyph on the left?” Ruby asked. “I couldn't translate that one.”

“Magical prowess is what this one means, Sugarcane is good with magic but not amazing it seems.”

“I'm really good with magic.” CB volunteered before any of us could stop her.

“Are you my dear? Well isn't that neat? Would you care to show me a wondrous, magical feat?”

She broke into a big grin and closed her eyes, ignoring Brutus's protests that she should wait until we were outside. Magic wrapped around her whole body and she floated into the air for a moment before she flipped upside down and soared up to the roof, landing admit the stalactites gracefully.

“When did you learn to do that?” Ruby asked, flying into the air, floating in front of the upside down filly.

“It was in the magic book.” She grinned proudly. “It's not like I could use it outside, I'd float away!”

“Ah little pony, so young and so wise. I'm sure your pegasus friend would have saved you from the skies.” Xeha smiled.

CB glowed again for a moment and floated back down to the floor, landing beside me and leaning against my side. “How do you like them apples?”

“Not as much as the apples from when I was little.” I smirked and Crackshot nodded.

“Little filly, if you would be so kind, take the mask from your father so I can read you, if he doesn't mind.”

CB looked at me quietly for a moment, a pained look in her eyes but she let out a slow breath and it vanished. “He's not my father, he's just my guardian.” She took the mask from my magical grip and held it up to Xeha again.

“A unicorn mare, that much I can see, but with no drive for the love of a pony. A zebra you'd like, a male of my race...” He paused and laughed. “The cave almost glows from the blush on my grandson's face.”

Both children got flustered and embarrassed and Xeha took a moment to compose himself again. “As you are a child the mask seeks to oppress. Your freewill and happiness it will strongly suppress. The glyph of magic, it glows oh so bright, it shines with the power and the strength of Twilight.” CB looked at him in confusion but he continued before she could speak up. “I can give you a list of all the glyphs that can show, that way when you find a new one you will always be in the know.”

“That would be great.” Ruby nodded, tapping away quickly on the tablet to record all the information she'd gotten.

“Why did you agree to help Venture and his Pyros?” Brutus asked.

"The Pyros, one night, came to my village. With hate in their hearts, to loot and to pillage. The pony who lead them, half crystal, half corn; burned and killed, leaving dozens to mourn. They demanded my help, to craft something that would sway, to turn others into allies that before had been prey."

“The pyro that lead them, he was a dirty red unicorn?” Brutus asked.

“Xekron is his name, half crystal half unicorn, it can be seen in his mane.”

“So the leader of the Pyros is named Xekron and he's half crystal pony? I didn't even know there were any crystal ponies left.” Crackshot said.

“When the war really escalated the crystal ponies mostly withdrew back into the crystal kingdom. Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armour took up full protection duties of the kingdom and cut ties to the rest of Equestria.” I explained. “I don't know what might have happened with them after I was frozen to now but that's the last thing I heard was happening.”

“He killed most all the children, he is a terrible buck...”

Xem interrupted before Xeha could continue. “Yes grandfather we understand, but they don't give a fuck.” He said, gesturing to us.

“Hey now, any information we can get is helpful.” Ruby said. “We had nothing before we came here, you've been a bigger help than I could have hoped for.”

“Ruby, my child, come sit and I'll teach, from anger to wild, the glyphs in my reach.”

She nodded and moved to sit with the old zebra and Brutus stepped up beside me. “We still don't know what we're going to do from here...”

“We'll figure that out when we head back to town.” Crackshot said.

“Should we check out the remains of their village?” Lily asked. “If the Pyros just razed it there might not be much but they tend to set up bases around captured areas.”

“Umm Xem is going to show me around the cave.” CB said, looking up at me with a nonchalant gaze, though I could see the excitement in her eyes.

“I suppose. But stay close and come back quickly, we don't know how long it's going to be before we head back and we don't want to have to come looking for you.”

She squeed and nodded happily. “Sure, of course, we'll be back in a bit.” She grabbed the hapless zebra in her magical grasp and hauled him along down the tunnel.

We sat and talked for a while longer, deciding the best course of action would be to return to town for the night and then go to the zebra village and look for more clues.

An hour passed and Lily finally stood again, tucking her tablet away in her pack again. “Alright, I have about as complete a listing of zebra glyphs we could ever hope for.” CB and Xem had returned 15 or so minutes earlier and were sitting together against a far wall, reading through the magic book and giggling to each other, CB occasionally setting the book down and trying out a spell, with varying success. She had just managed to turn a stone into an orange and floated it over to me. “What do you think? I've never seen an orange so I don't know how close this is.”

I took the orange from her. “Well it looks like an orange...” I held it close and sniffed the peel. “It smells like an orange...” I cut into the peel with my magic and peeled it away, revealing...a rock... “Well it was close.” I smiled. I squeezed the rock and was amazed to see juice pour out of it onto the ground. “I'll try to help you with it when we get home and we'll see if you can master it.”

“Sugarcane, a word if I may? Your departure I do not wish to delay.”

“Of course.” I said, walking over and sitting with Xeha. Ruby was picking up the mask and putting it away again and CB was showing the others another attempt to turn a rock into an orange.

“I've a request I wish to make, my grandson I'm hoping along you will take. My end comes soon, I'm not long for this life, and I wish to spare him the pain and the strife.”

“Uhh...well I don't have a problem with it, but Brutus is the leader, it's really up to him.”

“The boss he is, but the leader you are, you are the reason they've gotten so far.”

“I have to talk to the others, I can't make a decision like that unilaterally.” I got up and moved towards my friends.

“Xemnas my boy, come sit at my side, I wish to speak quickly while the others decide.”

Xem looked at his grandfather curiously but walked over and sat down beside him without question.

“What's wrong?” Ruby asked, looking from the zebras to me.

“Xeha wants us to take Xem with us when we leave. He says he's dying and he doesn't want to leave his grandson alone.”

“We don't know that we can trust them.”

“They've been nothing but helpful so far, they don't have any love for Venture and his Pyros, and we can't just leave him alone to fend for himself when his grandfather dies.”

“Please Brutus?” CB asked, giving him her best big sad eyes. “What if you'd just left me all alone after my mom had died?”

Ooo she had him, no chance he'd say no...

He sighed deeply and nodded. “Okay, you're right. We'll take him with us.”

“Thank you!” CB giggled, hugging him tightly.

“Yeah yeah, lemme go!” Brutus gasped, squirming free of the filly's grip.

Xem didn't look pleased with what his grandfather had said to him but he just sat and watched us curiously.

“He can come with us.” Brutus said and though Xeha looked relieved Xem didn't look pleased all the same, though he smiled at CB when he saw her excitement.

“Ruby and Cane, before you two go, I've one more thing I would like to show.”

“Alright?” Ruby said, walking over to Xeha and helped him to his hooves.

Xeha started out of the room and into the tunnel that he and Xem had originally come through. He leaned on Ruby this time and we walked in silence for a time until we came to a smaller cavern that had two beds and some basic gem powered cooking pieces.

“I've a little more to give you, if that is alright, it's not much true, but it might help in the fight.” He moved slowly to a locker and opened it, pulling out a pair of computer hard drives.

“I stole these from the base, on my way out the door, I don't know if they will help, as there were hundreds more.”

“These came right from Venture's base?” I asked, floating them up and examining them to make sure they were still usable. “And there were hundreds more? He must have a massive computer system, I wonder what for.”

Ruby giggled and I looked at her curiously. “You're talking in rhyme you silly corn, I betcha those hard drives are just full of porn.”

Xeha smirked a little. “You've much to learn of speaking in rhyme, it just takes practice and a lot of time.” He also pulled out a small lock box and a blanket from the locker. “These also will be of help, the amulet especially for such a young whelp.” He pulled an amulet from the lock box and set it down. It looked like it was made of silver and was inlaid with a rainbow of gems. “Your magical power it will increase, to a level without cease, but you must beware, your magical strength it can impair, to a point of no repair.”

“So it can make my magic stronger, but it can burn out my magic if I amp it up too much?” I asked and he nodded. I lifted the amulet into the air and saw the gems light up in response to the energy that surrounded it. I slipped it around my neck and slid it down under my armour so it rested between the armour and my body. It was warm to the touch.

“And finally this.” Xeha said, gesturing to the blanket. “An heirloom itself, for wedded bliss. Worry and confusion it removes, love and passion it will infuse. It is meant for Xem on his wedding night, and for him to never get it, I wouldn't feel right. When two are in love, perhaps shy or still new, this blanket will give them problems few. Just lay down beneath with your loving bequeathed, fire and lust will fill both to their peak. Use it yourselves in the meantime if you so wish...” He leaned in closer to me. “That pegasus mare is really a dish.” He whispered loudly and I burst out laughing.

“We'll hold onto it until Xem gets married and we'll give it to him.” Ruby said, ignoring the comments and taking the blanket and putting it into her pack.

“Thank you sweet mare, I can rest without despair, knowing when he needs it, the gift will be there.” Xeha lifted himself slowly into the bed and lay back, closing his eyes. “These bones are so sore, I hope you don't mind if we speak no more. I am so tired, I just need some rest, tell Xem I said goodbye and give him my best.” He drew a deep breath and grew still, the breath slipping out slowly, like a tired sigh, and he was gone. Ruby gasped softly and sobbed, leaning against me. I wrapped a leg around her and held her close.

“Come on Ruby, we should go.” I said quietly and she nodded.

“D...Do we just leave him like this?” She asked.

I was going to suggest we could bury him outside when I heard a soft beeping. With Xeha's laboured breathing gone I could only just barely hear it. I looked inside the locker at the end of his bed and discovered a rather large bomb inside. It had just under 30 minutes and was ticking down slowly.

“Oh my...we should really go.” I said quickly, grabbing Ruby and hurrying out. “He's well taken care of.”

“Wait what?” She asked as I dragged her down the tunnel.

“He's got a rather large bomb set to go off. I'm guessing he started it when he pulled out the blanket.”

“Oh shit.” She pulled away from me and hurried on under her own power.

“Come on everyone it's time we go.” I announced as we returned to the main cavern.

“Wait where is my grandfather?” Xem asked, standing up from his spot beside CB.

“He's resting.” Ruby said. “He told us to just go on from here.”

Xem looked sadly towards the tunnel we'd just come from but nodded and put away the few things he'd taken out of his own pack and in only a few moments we were heading out of the cave and back towards town. When the timer must have finally run out we were well away from the cave, but we still heard the WHOOMP as it went off, a massive dust cloud bursting up from the mountain side and a surprisingly large portion collapsing down around the entrance area. Xem looked back and sobbed quietly. CB looked back sadly and wrapped him in a hug, holding him close. We all just walked along quietly in front of them, giving them as much space as we could. Crackshot still brought up the rear, giving them just as much space.

It was a long quiet walk back to town...

Footnote: 25% to next level

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.
You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily
The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.
If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan
The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

What a Fright

What a Fright:

(So I need to explain a little before you get into this chapter. This is a stand alone story within the War Never Changes story. All my same characters are there, but this story doesn't have a lot of bearing on the main storyline, hence the fact that it has a real name instead of just a chapter header. I had all these ideas i wanted to work into the story involving Rosalea, and then a whole thing about a haunted hospital. I couldn't work out a way to insert these ideas organically into the storyline so it became What a Fright and here we are, my longest chapter to date and it's not even a real chapter :P Anyway I hope you still enjoy it. Apologies to Regolit because this chapter isn't as happy go lucky as most of the rest of the story and I know you've been enjoying the much brighter world I've built so far)

It wasn't a good night...vivid terrible dreams plagued me...I was just lying in bed, looking up at the roof, worried about going back to sleep. The clock on my pipbuck told me it was almost 3A.M. I reflected on the conversation we'd have when we'd gotten back to the store earlier that night. When we'd come back to town it had been late already and the children had wandered off to bed quickly, CB had sat with Xem for hours until he'd fallen asleep. The rest of us had sat down with Firebird to talk about the Mare-Do-Well situation. She wasn't pleased that Lily had blown their cover so completely, but she was chagrined by Ruby's absolute rage at not being told the truth so Lily hadn't suffered too badly for it.

“Ruby, honestly, if Lily had never come into my life, you would have been in her place by now.” Firebird had said. “We have a LOT of enemies in the wasteland and we can't just go around telling anypony who we are. If something happened and for whatever reason they ended up being tortured for information about us, it's worse to know because you can give them answers...and I know that sounds selfish, but it doesn't just jeopardize me or Lily, it jeopardizes the whole MDW network, and all their families and friends...”

“I know...and I'm sorry I got so mad.” Ruby sighed.

I looked blankly at the ceiling while I went over the conversation in my head.

“Sugar?” I heard Ruby's voice through the door and almost jumped out of my bed.

“Uhh yeah? Come on in...” I called, sitting up in the bed.

She opened the door and smiled sheepishly. “I'm sorry to have woken you so late.”

“It's okay, I wasn't asleep. With everything that's been happening I've been having trouble sleeping.”

“Well I have something for you downstairs that might help...” She smiled, though I could see a sadness tugging at her lips and dulling her eyes.

“What is it? You don't seem happy about it...”

“What? Oh no no I'm fine.” She said, shaking it off. “Come on.”

I got up and followed her into the hallway of the store. Firebird had quite a few storage rooms and most of them had been emptied and turned into spare rooms. Emerging on the second floor I was surprised by all the ponies below, a griffon and two zebras as well. The clock on the wall showed it was almost 6A.M. though so it made sense, prepping before heading out with a caravan or something. CB and Xem sat in a corner of the second floor, both of them buried in magic books. Crackshot was sitting in a chair a few feet from them, amazingly reading Sherclop Holmes.

Firebird and Lily were running around below, helping ponies round up supplies, showing weapons and answering questions. Brutus was running the till and making sure no one tried anything funny with the weapons when Firebird took them out of the case. I was so amazed by the hustle and bustle of the store that I didn't even notice when someone landed behind me.

“Hey there tall, cute and nerdy. What's a buck like you doing in a place like this?” This time I did scream, making a lot of the others below look up in confusion for a moment before resuming their shopping. I turned slowly and came face to face with a beautiful pink face I never thought I'd see again...

“Rosalea?” I gasped, falling back on my butt. I looked down again to make sure Lily was still running around the shop then back to the mare in front of me. Her mane was much longer, braided down though it was. She wore a patchwork ceramic armour of some kind and had a battle saddle with pristine looking sniper rifles in them. The rifles had a riveted framework and it was obvious they could be controlled through the pipbuck judging by the dozens of wires that ran from each, along her armour, and to the pipbuck on her leg.

Ruby landed beside her and grinned. “Told ya I had a big surprise for you.”

“I...but...how...you...here...”

“Articulate as ever Cane.” Rosa giggled. “Come on, lets go for a walk, I'll explain everything.”

I got up slowly and followed her downstairs and out of the store. The sun was just coming up but some of the other shops were already in full swing.

“So do you want to try and stammer out more words or should I just talk?” She asked.

“Uhh...go ahead.” I shrugged.

“You went missing, I was pregnant, alone, heartbroken. So mad I wanted to kill you.” She started and I immediately felt terrible. “Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. When you vanished Venture started to change. He got more aggressive about weapons development. He was getting paranoid, angry, always yelling at the staff for small things. Without you there to shout him down and knock some sense into him he just got worse and worse. Your parents took it pretty hard too. Your dad reenlisted and was commanding a couple battalions out on the western front. Your mom got quiet. Spent a lot of time reading and cooking, but never really did much any more,” and now I felt worse, “I got fed up with Venture, took my team and most of our equipment and moved to the gamma site.”

The gamma site was another warehouse we owned that had been mostly storage. We ended up wandering into the bar and settling down at a table. “When things finally started to get really bad I shut it all down, sent everypony home to defend their families to prepare for the worst. Gave them prototypes we'd perfected but never had a chance to implement, told them if things settled down to check in with me in a few weeks, but I knew what was coming...I used your computer access to get into the cryo pod network, decided to freeze myself, set it up so that if there was ever a power spike somewhere in the grid, anywhere from the computer systems coming back on to the surge protectors shutting down from a catastrophic failure, it would send a wake up signal to me. I figured if you came back you'd go back into the computer systems. When you were thawed by your friends it triggered my pod. I found the world in ruins, took some armour and guns and set out to try and find out what had happened. When I heard DJ Pon3 on the radio talking about the pony from the war I knew it had to be you. I traveled all the way to Tenpony tower, met with a lovely unicorn named Homage who pointed me your way, seemed she'd talked to you in Clopton over the radio?” I nodded. “So it was just a matter of making my way here to find you. I was asking around and got pointed towards the Phoenix, ran into Ruby and the next thing I know there you are.”

“What about the baby?” I asked.

Rosa got quiet and shook her head. “I gave her away...I wasn't locking myself away in a vault to hide from our mistakes, but it wasn't fair to her to pay for our mistakes. My cousin's family was guaranteed a spot in vault 49, their son was serving in the military and refused to abandon his post to join them, so they let them take her instead.” She poked at her pipbuck and after a moment a small envelope floated out of her pack. She set it down on the table and slid it towards me. I opened it and pulled out a small stack of pictures, a lilac purple unicorn baby was grinning happily at the camera, some of them by herself, others with Rosa, a few with my parents, one with Rosa's parents and even one of her sitting on Venture's desk. He was smiling and playing with the baby but his eyes didn't reflect his actions.

“Candy?” I asked, looking up at Rosa and she nodded.

“What else would I have called her?” She chuckled.

“You know Ruby is our great grand daughter?”

“Is she?” Rosa smirked. “Well I'd like to get to know her I think.”

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, but we're back together now and we have the rest of our lives ahead of us.” She got up and moved to sit beside me, snuggling into my side. “You smell terrible.” She sighed.

“You don't smell so rosy yourself.”

She chuckled and kissed my cheek. “I missed you so much Cane...you have no idea...”

“I have a pretty good idea.” I replied. “Because I missed you just as much.”

We just sat in silence for a long time, holding each other, enjoying the closeness. Something about the whole thing gave me an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I wrote it off as nerves and ignored it.

“Why don't we head back to the store? I'd like to meet your friends.” Rosa said, standing up from the table slowly.

“Sure, I think that's a great idea, since you're going to be working with them.” I smiled, standing up too. “Assuming your staying of course?”

“Nah, after being apart for 200 years I thought maybe I'd take a trip out to Hoofington and see how they made out in the end.” She rolled her eyes and chuckled and we headed out of the bar.

We returned to the shop and found it was much more to the normal operating level, namely quiet and empty. Everyone was sitting around the counter making plans for breakfast when we walked in.

“Well well, where have you been mister?” CB demanded, giving me a stern look.

“Out with my friend.” I said simply, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Don't lie, you don't have any friends outside of this room.”

“CB, she's IN this room with us.” Xem pointed out and got a death glare of his own from the little filly.

“Everyone, this is Rosa...” I said, the adults looking more than a little shocked.

“THE Rosa?” Crackshot asked quietly.

“THE Rosa.” I nodded.

“Hello everyone.” She smiled nervously.

“Rosa, this is Crackshot, you're her new best friend I'm sure. She's a gun nut.”

“Oh good, we'll have lots to talk about then.” Rosa grinned and Crackshot nodded happily.

“You've obviously met Ruby.”

“We have a lot to talk about young lady.” She said and Ruby blushed a little and nodded.

“This is Brutus, he's in charge of the team. Firebird and Lilith run the store...”

“I'm Concussive Blast.” CB interrupted, marching over and studying Rosa intently. “How are you already Cane's friend? I don't know you, how does he know you?”

“CB...” Ruby started but Rosa waved it off.

“It's okay. I knew Cane in the past. I got frozen just like he did, just in a different place, and when he was woken up, I was woken up too. He's my fiancee.”

The sudden tension in the room couldn't have been cut with a dragon's tooth it was so thick...

“You can't be Cane's fiancee, Ruby is Cane's fiancee.” CB said, matter-of-factually, gesturing to the other pegasus.

“Oh she is is she?” Rosa asked, looking up at us, both looking very sheepish about it. “Well, my mistake.” She shrugged it off and the whole situation was defused.

“Anyway, you two are going to be late for school.” Crackshot said.

“Aww!” CB and Xem both cried in annoyance. “But we want to work with you guys!”

“Look you might be members of this team but every single one of us went to school.” Brutus said, getting more grumbles from the children. “Get going NOW.”

“And don't try to sneak off. The teacher is a changling like me.” Lily said. “He wanders around town before class making sure no one is skipping, he could be ANYONE you see.” Both children looked nervously at each other and then nodded quickly and hurried out of the store.

“So, you're getting married to your grand daughter?” Rosa asked coolly, giving me that flat icy glare she was so good at.

“Uhh actually no.” Ruby said quietly. “When we found out we were related we cancelled the wedding. We haven't told CB yet. She lost her mother when our base was attacked. We're the only family she has now and the only good thing she had going in her life was our wedding and looking forward to it, helping with it, the whole thing. We were afraid telling her the truth would break her.”

“So she's...?” Rosa asked, looking to me.

“CB? She's my adopted daughter, but all of us take care of her.”

“And the zebra?”

“We're still figuring him out. He's a new addition to the team. His name is Xem by the way.” Brutus said.

“So I'm allowed to re-stake my claim on Cane then?” Rosa smiled.

“He's all yours Grandmare.” Ruby chuckled.

“Good cuz I've been desperate to jump your horn since I saw you earlier.” She winked, kissing me deeply.

She even tasted the same...I returned the kiss happily, more happily than I'd have thought possible. I was pretty sure I head Firebird starting to get worked up but Lily pushed her off before she could say anything. I wasn't sure if she was mad that I wasn't with Ruby anymore or if she was getting worked up about the romance, either way I didn't care. She finally broke the kiss and I knew I had a dopey love struck look on my face by the way Rosa smiled when she looked at me again.

“What say we pop out to that apartment in the middle of town?” Rosa whispered in my ear. “I understand the first two floors are hotel rooms. We can see how many guests we disturb with our noisy rekindling of our romance.” I was already nodding before I'd even fully processed what it was she wanted to do.

She was already pulling me along out the door when I caught sight of Ruby's face. She was turning to look at Brutus but I saw the look, the heartbroken sadness that filled her eyes.

“Wait...wait...” I said, pulling away from Rosa.

“What?” Rosa asked, looking back at me and then to Ruby.

“No no...I just...” I looked away from Ruby and back to Rosa, seeing just as much hurt and confusion on her face. “I just need to think about a few things...Just gimme a little time.” I said to Rosa, moving away from her, passing Brutus and Ruby, both of whom looked very surprised by my actions, and heading upstairs and back into the bedroom, dropping onto the bed in a heap.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way...Rosa coming back into my life should have been the greatest moment ever, but here I was conflicted by my feelings for Ruby, feelings I knew I shouldn't have, though they were already there, it wasn't like I could just turn them off...

There was a gentle knock at the door half an hour or so later. “Come in.” I called quietly, sitting up as Rosa came in. She'd removed her ceramic armour and battle saddle and I felt this wave of nostalgia almost crush my heart. I just watched in silence as she went about her business. She had a blanket folded up over her back. She closed the door and walked over to the bed. She sat down beside me and wrapped the blanket around me, then slipped inside and cuddled against me, sliding her wing along my back. She rested her head on my shoulder and kissed my neck gently.

“We shouldn't be doing this...” I whispered, I was still wracked with uncertainty and discomfort, I never thought I'd have an issue like this in my life.

“Are you sure?” She asked, kissing me again.

“Yeah...Rosa please stop...” I said, shifting away from her a bit.

“But I thought this was supposed to help you love me.”

“I do love you...what was supposed to help me love you?” I looked down and realized the blanket she'd wrapped around us was the enchanted blanket Xeha had given us for Xem.

“Rosa what the hell?” I pulled away from her and stood up.

“Dammit Cane, just love me!” She snapped, hopping off the bed and glaring angrily at me. “You're MY fiancee, you're MY Buck. You don't get to go with some stupid tramp.” She shoved me hard and I fell backwards to the ground.

“Rosa what the fuck is wrong with you?” I slid back a bit to put more space between us. I'd never seen her like this...

“What's wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! ALL I WANT IS YOUR LOVE CANE!” She screamed, rearing up and smashing her hooves down on me.

//////////

I shot up in bed and screamed. I sat panting for a long moment, looking around the dark room. I was still in bed, it was still night out...My Pipbuck said it was just after 2 A.M.

“C...Cane?” A soft voice whispered. I looked down at the edge of the bed and realized CB was on the floor beside the bed, cowering back a little.

“I'm sorry sweetie, did I scare you when I screamed? I just had a bad dream is all...”

“I did too...” She said, crawling up to the bedside again and looking up at me with big sad eyes.

“Well what are you doing down there?” I asked, sliding over. She smiled and hopped into the bed.

“It's Nightmare Night...” She said, cuddling up to me.

“Really? But that's great.” I said. “I used to love Nightmare Night.”

Her eyes got wide and she shook her head furiously. “It's the worst night of the year...” We were interrupted by a yell from below. It was Brutus from the sounds of it.

“Should we go check on him?” I asked and she nodded, getting out of the bed again. I followed and we walked downstairs to Brutus's room. We knocked and he told us to come in. He looked much like I must have when I woke up. “Nightmare Night?” I asked curiously and he nodded, throwing off the sheets and rolling out of the bed. We walked downstairs to find the others sitting around a table in the backroom.

“Well isn't this just the party to end all parties?” I asked, taking in all the tired and haggard looking faces around the table. CB walked over and plunked herself down beside Xem, leaning tiredly against him. “So...Nightmare Night...not about candy anymore I take it?” I asked and Crackshot shook her head.

“You mean it really did used to be about candy?” CB asked, yawning out the last few words.

“Yeah it did. Children would dress up and go out and get candy from every house...”

“Nopony would ever believe me when I told them that. Now it's actually a nightmare.” Crackshot said. “Some creature, most think it was a unicorn with strong telepathic abilities that was mutated by Radiation and Taint, haunts dreams tonight, starts off happy and pleasant, then quickly spirals into madness, and the creature feeds on your terror. It happens to everyone in the Wasteland, and it's never on the same day either, keeps anyone from being able to predict it's arrival and just staying up all night to avoid it...”

I sat down between Ruby and Lily and both of them flopped against me. “Ladies please, one at a time, there's enough of me to go around...” I smirked but they both just waved their hooves and kind of grunted at me.

“Only a few ponies have ever seen this creature and survived. It's been said that if you recite the Nightmare Night chant in your dreams she'll appear and swallow your soul.” Crackshot continued, shuddering. “I miss the days when it was all about candy and costumes...”

“So how have these other ponies even seen the monster and survived?” I asked and Crackshot shrugged. “So in all likelihood they had nightmares about the creature and didn't see it at all?” Again Crackshot just shrugged.

Outside there was a blood curdling scream that made everyone at the table jump in surprise.

“What was that?!” CB asked, pressing against Xem, both shaking with fright.

“Just stay here where it's safe.” Brutus said, getting up from the table, grabbing his shotgun from it's holster.

I had left Ebony and Ivory upstairs but Firebird gave me a revolver from her case and I followed Brutus out into the front room of the store, organizing a quick plan and five minutes later we were out the door. There was a group of ponies gathering outside of a medical supply store up the street and we hurried to join them, squirming our way through the crowd.

“He-he fell asleep at the-the d-d-desk in the b-back...” A unicorn mare sobbed into the shoulder of one of her friends. Guards were keeping the crowd back while two medics floated a body out of the home, a white sheet draped over the corpse.

“Wow the response time in this town is amazing...” I said softly and Brutus nodded.

“Constant patrols, medics everywhere...they're fast and efficient...come on, we should get back, there's nothing we can do here...” He explained

I nodded sadly and followed him back towards the house.

As we came up to the store again Clank rounded the corner and hurried towards us. “Hey! Hey!” He called, sliding to a stop quickly beside us. “Please, I need your help! Ratchet is having a nightmare and won't wake up.” He explained in a rush.

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Brutus said quickly. “You can't wake him up at all?” Clank shook his head quickly, looking desperate.

“I don't know what to do, I didn't know who else to go to. The medical staff won't technically come unless it's an actual emergency.”

“It's Nightmare Night and they are probably going to have their hooves full.” Brutus said, moving to the door and going inside the store. “Come on everyone, Ratchet needs our help!”

Ruby was the first to come running out of the back. “What happened?”

“Ratchet is trapped in a nightmare from the sounds of it.” I said. “Ruby I want you to go to the medical centre and get the memory orb machine that you and Mare-Do-Well built.” She nodded and leapt into the air, Lily taking off after her quickly.

CB, Xem and Firebird were out of the store a moment later. “What's happening?” Firebird asked.

“Ratchet is trapped in a nightmare.” Brutus said.

“CB, can you teleport me to the apartment?” I asked and she nodded, moving out from the doorway of the store.

“You guys too?” She asked, looking at Brutus and Clank.

“Only if you can manage it sweetie.” Clank said. She nodded and hopped up on my back, turning and looking towards the apartment building in the middle of town. She closed her eyes and magical energy wrapped around all four of us.

“What about us?” Firebird asked quickly.

“You'll have to find your own way!” CB called. I felt the talisman around my neck warm suddenly with the rush of magical energy and we vanished in a flash, all four of us reappearing not outside the apartment building as I'd expected but actually right in the living room.

“I thought you had to know what the place looked like exactly to teleport somewhere...” Brutus said as Clank rushed off to the bedroom.

“You do...I don't know how I managed that.” CB said curiously, getting down again.

“CB go back to the store and come back with the others.” I said, moving to follow Clank.

“I don't know if I can manage another big group teleport like that.”

“You don't have to, just walk back with them.” She sighed and nodded, vanishing in a flash again.

Ratchet was tossing and turning in bed, groaning and whimpering, his nose was bleeding and he looked like he was in terrible pain. Clank looked helplessly at us. “What do we do?”

“We have to wait for Ruby and Lily to get back with the machine. I should be able to use it to enter Ratchet's dreams and try to help him. If there really is a nightmare night monster it won't be able to escape the memory cube world, and it might just rob them of their powers.”

We jumped when there was a bang on the window, turning to see Lily, Ruby and Firebird all holding the computer and massive tangle of wires and cases with memory orbs in them. Clank opened the window and they came in one at a time with the machine.

“Set it up there.” I said, pointing to a desk beside the bed, pulling all the stuff off the desk quickly and setting it in the corner for the time being. Lily set to work quickly, pulling and straightening wires, running them over to the bed. I booted up the computer and started running the memory program. The hospital was still stored in the orbs, and it'd have to do...I powered up the program and Ruby put the re-collector helmet on his head. As soon as I started the program he grew still and relaxed.

“How'd you manage to get back so fast?” I asked Ruby.

“Mare-Do-Well put the computer into storage here in town without informing us.” Ruby whispered. “They took it when no one was looking.” She looked at Clank, still in hysterics beside the bed, not paying any attention to us. “Believe me I'll be talking with them about it later.” She added.

I nodded and stood up again. “Alright who's coming with me?” I asked, looking around at the group. “Unicorns and changelings can just connect through magic but we have the other helmet too.” I ran the control cables to my pipbuck so I'd be able to keep track of the real world in the memory cube world and shut down the simulation from inside when we were finished or if there was an emergency.

“I'm going.” Lily said, stepping forward. She floated the leg piece of her Mare-Do-Well uniform out of her pack and slid her leg into it. It slid shut and the pipbuck lit up and a moment later she ran another set of cables into her pipbuck.

“I...I...should wait here.” Clank said, sitting beside the bed.

“I'm coming.” Brutus said, stepping over to us from the end of the bed.

“Me too.” Ruby said, pulling on a re-collector helmet. I looked to her and smiled, nodding a little. I took a blank memory orb and slid it into her helmet.

“Someone else should wait for the children to get here.” Firebird said, moving to sit with Clank.

“Well four certainly works, and we've got more than enough magical power between us.” I said, turning to the others.

“Ready?” They nodded and I fired up the machine...

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

The whole world resolved itself slowly. I was in the foyer of the hospital, looking at the fountain in the middle of the massive hub. My vision swam pretty badly for a few moments before finally clearing, I was sitting on a bench. This wasn't like going into a normal memory orb, it was slow and made me really sore. I realized that I was alone in the foyer.

“Brutus?” I called, pausing when I heard my voice. It was still mine, but it was...effeminate...”Hello?” I pressed a hoof to my throat. “The hell...” I got up off the bench slowly and walked over to the water, looking at my reflection and screaming, far more shrill and girly than I'd have liked. “What the fuck is this?!” I hopped up on the ledge and looked at myself fully. My barding was gone, but my skin wasn't burned, my coat was full and intact again, including my cutie mark, though the brand of Rosa's cutie mark was still missing. However there was something much more shocking in the sight...“I'M A FUCKING MARE!?” I looked at my much more shapely body, softer features, no unshaven stubble...I was damned cute too...So much for the nightmare creature not having any control over this world...

“Sugar? Is that you?” I heard Ruby's voice echoing above. Then I saw her circling down from one of the upper levels. She paused in the air beside me, looking at me with a mixture of shock and confusion.

“Oh...my...sweet Celestia...” She giggled, spinning around me rapidly. “You're SO CUTE!” She cackled, poking my side with one hoof, covering her mouth with the other.

“Hey, do you mind?” I snapped, pulling away in annoyance and walking towards the elevators.

“No no I do not.” She said, poking me again. “You walk like a buck.” She said flatly.

“I am a buck!”

“Not with those hips you ain't.” She laughed, coming up beside me and landing before she leaned in close. “I can see your lady parts back there.” She whispered loudly.

“Ruby seriously.” I growled, shaking my head and hitting the call button. “Most of the simulation is set around the 15th floor right?” I asked, watching the indicator work it's way down.

“Yeah, are you sure we should be taking an elevator? Isn't this a nightmare?”

“We're in a memory orb that was constructed to be soothing, I'm thinking that should suppress the powers of the creature.” I said, watching the elevator tick down and finally ding, opening to reveal the spacious elevator, clearly designed to hold a gurney as well as two or three others.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Ruby sighed, getting into the elevator. I got in after her and hit the button for the 15th floor. The elevator doors slid shut and with a small lurch it started upward.

“See? Nothing to worry...” The elevator slammed to a stop and the lights stared flickering off, after a moment leaving us in the dark. “...about...” I sighed.

“You just had to say that didn't you?” Ruby groaned, pressing against me in fright. After a moment the lights snapped back on and I let out a relieved breath. Ruby however, screamed in my ear and I leapt in surprise, turning to see a small filly standing behind us. She had a pure white coat and a long unkempt black mane. Her face seemed to shimmer as it snapped up to look at us, her eyes somehow an even deeper black than her mane. She let out an unearthly howl, it chilled me to the bone, a sound that scared me more than anything I'd seen in the whole wasteland. The sound cut off abruptly and with another strange ripple she vanished.

“The...fuck...was that?” Ruby whispered, clinging tightly to my side in terror.

“I...don't...know...” I muttered in response, both of us jumping when the elevator dinged, opening to reveal what I first thought was another nightmare area, but after a terrified moment I realized it was actually an unfinished hospital floor...

“Sugar...” Ruby said, tapping my shoulder. She pointed to the floor indicator above the buttons. It said '13'

“Oh come on Ruby, you can't seriously be spooked by that?” I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt.

“After what I just saw? Are you kidding? Also...” She gestured to the elevator buttons, the floors went '11-12-14' skipping over 13.

“Well the 13th floor still exists, it's just...” I gestured out of the elevator. “Creepy looking storage...instead of a floor...”

“Can we just go?” Ruby demanded, moving to press the button for 15 again.

“Probably a good idea...” I said, stepping back. Ruby hit the button, but nothing. The doors stayed open and we didn't go anywhere.

“Dammit, oh come on!” She groaned, hitting all the buttons, but nothing happened.

“Well we can't just stay here...” I sighed, looking over at her again and slowly stepping out of the elevator. “We should go find the stairs and head up that way.”

“If I get murdered by some crazy screwball pony ghost I'm gonna haunt the SHIT out of you.” Ruby grumbled, storming out of the elevator to follow me.

“Not if I die too.” I smirked. Ruby didn't seem impressed with that answer and just started down the hallway. The hall turned left a few feet ahead, a massive industrial fan set into the wall on the right, blowing a gentle breeze down the hall as we turned and started down it. “I'm amazed they put all the walls and everything in on this floor. I guess to divide the storage area.”

Ruby looked at me and shook her head. “I can't believe I'm in a memory orb of a place from the past and I'm still stuck wandering a place that looks like an abandoned ruin, with ghosts of all things, with my great great grandfather, who has been turned into a mare...seriously, this is messed up even for the wasteland.” She sighed.

“Well it's a memory cube with a nightmare monster of some kind trapped inside it, so it stands to reason that the creature can still exert some control over the world we're in because the 15th floor, the foyer we just left and a little bit of the outside are all that should exist, whatever this is, the creature must have created it.”

I turned back to the hall in front of us and came to a stop. Three blood red balloons were floating slowly towards us. I put a leg out in front of Ruby and she stopped and looked forward at the balloons. “What? They're just balloons, what could possibly be so bad about that?”

“Well for one thing, this is a nightmare so we should be wary of everything...secondly, I realize you're a pegasus so you might not understand how air displacement works...” This got me a smack upside the head. “...but there's a wind blowing UP the hallway from behind us, so they should be going away from us, not towards us.” Ruby gulped and looked around quickly, a door at our side sat slightly ajar and Ruby grabbed me and hauled tail through the door, slamming it shut behind us and plunging us into darkness. For a moment there was just the sound of us panting softly then a high pitched giggled echoed around the room, making Ruby whimper.

My horn lit up and filled the room with blue light, though I wish it hadn't...the roof was covered in balloons, a deep almost black purple, though because of the blue light of my horn I knew they were the same blood red as the balloons in the hallway. Worse though was the pony sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room. He was dressed up in a clown costume, rainbow stripes running down a full body jumpsuit, a big frilly collar wrapped around his neck, a fake rose in his lapel. His face was powdered white with make up, a rainbow wig covering his head, a white horn just barely jutting out from the wig, which sagged down over his eyes.

He was making balloon animals with his magic, somehow I hadn't seen his magic field before the room lit up, but in all likely-hood it hadn't been there until my magic had lit up the room, in front of him were the skeletal remains of a group of children, each had a balloon on a string tied to a hoof or a horn or a wing, but all the balloons were now deflated and sagged on the ground around the bodies. The clown looked up at us slowly and giggled again, the wig shifted back on his head and Ruby gasped loudly. Instead of eyes he had two big black buttons sewn onto his face, small trickles of dried blood caked into the hair just below the buttons, showing that a needle had pierced his skin over and over to put the buttons in place. Only a unicorn could have managed something like that...or a creature able to manipulate the very world they occupied, which was all the worse because a creature like that could have just changed his eyes into buttons, but this one had clearly gone to the trouble of removing his eyes, sealing them shut and then sewing the buttons in place.

“Why hello there my little ponies.” He giggled, barely speaking above a whisper. “Would you like a balloon animal? My little friends here have been ever so patient so far, I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting just a little longer while I make one for you.”

“Uhh that's okay.” Ruby said quickly, taking a step back.

“Oh you're a pegasus.” He said, his voice raising a little. “Would you float up to the roof and get my balloons down? I'm afraid I'm so very clumsy and I forgot to tie strings to them and they floated out of my reach, but you Pegasi float better than my balloons.” His voice had risen to a normal speaking level now and I stepped forward to put myself between the clown and Ruby.

“Oh and you're a pretty unicorn mare aren't you?” He asked, his voice getting still louder as he walked towards us. “Maybe you could use your magic to float up and get the balloons?”

“Y...You're a unicorn t...too.” Ruby stammered. “Why don't you just pu...pull em down?”

“Because I can't use magic to float of course!” He was almost yelling now. “It's the only way to get up to the ceiling!”

“You can just use your magic to make them come off the roof to you.” Ruby insisted, actually taking on an annoyed tone. “You don't have to float up to them.”

“But that's how it works, you float up and get them!” He was yelling loudly, only a few steps from us now.

“How what works, why do we have to go up to them?” I asked, pressing Ruby back against the door.

“BECAUSE EVERYTHING FLOATS DOWN HERE!” He roared, inches from my face.

“THEN WHY DON'T YOU?!” Ruby screamed back at him. The clown gasped and fell back, exploding in a shower of confetti and the sound of a child's party horn. The balloons on the roof all burst, soaking us completely with their contents. I groaned and wretched a little but realized it wasn't the smell of blood, but the smell of something sweeter. I floated a small puddle off the floor and examined it, but it was still too dark to tell what it was.

“Chocolate...fucking...milk...” Ruby grumbled. I risked putting the tip of my hoof in my mouth and realized she was right, it wasn't even spoiled.

“Still gross.” I sighed, looking around the room slowly. How had the clown been so easily destroyed? I mean it wasn't a computer you could confuse with a logical paradox or anything, but such a simple statement of fact had destroyed it...it sounded familiar...

The lights snapped back on and I jumped. The room was empty now. No skeletons, no clowns, neither of us dripping with chocolate milk...I couldn't even taste it anymore...Just a few dusty boxes in the corner and a single popped balloon sitting in front of a door on the opposite wall from where we'd come in. I grabbed the door in my magic and opened it slowly. Beyond we could see a large area full of boxes, but more importantly we saw Lily, sitting on a box, poking angrily at her pipbuck.

“Lily?” Ruby called softly and the changling jumped. “Geeze don't scare me like that!” She laughed, getting up and coming over to the doorway. “Are you two as lost as...I...am...?” She trailed off when she looked at me. “C...Cane?” Her eyes went wide and I groaned. “Oh my sweet Celestia!” She burst out laughing and fell backwards in a fit of tears. “Y-you're s-so cute!” She howled, rolling around on the floor.

Ruby snorted a little but kept herself composed. “Lily don't you think we have more important things to worry about?”

Lily sat up slowly, giggling and struggling to get herself under control. “Why are you a mare?” She asked quietly, wiping tears from her eyes.

“I don't know, I woke up like this.” I sighed, trying to keep my annoyance in check.

She pushed herself to her feet and with a flash of energy changed into a muscular Earth pony buck and grinned impishly. “Wanna go for a role in the hay? Feel what it's like to be deflowered by a big strong stallion?” She asked, her voice deep and...the rest of her...all too visible...

“Seriously? Are you kidding me? With all the crazy shit that's going on in this place your penis would probably come to life and try to eat us.”

“What crazy shit? I've just been sitting here trying to make my pipbuck work.” She said, transforming back into her normal form. “You being a mare is the first weird thing I've seen.”

“Really?” Ruby asked. “No crazy clowns, no undead fillies? Balloons filled with chocolate milk?”

“Balloons with what now?” She laughed, but when neither of us laughed she got quiet. “Really?” We both just nodded.

“We need to get up to the 15th floor and find Ratchet.”

“Why the 15th floor?”

“It's where I was in the cube. Most of the cube was built up with my memories of the hospital right?” Lily nodded. “Well I only have really clear memories of the lobby, the hallway outside my room and my room, so those are the only places I can imagine us going to.”

“What about this place?” Ruby asked.

“This place, I have no idea.” I sighed. “I'm very freaked out by it. I think it must be a creation of the Nightmare creature.”

“Umm there are stairs over there eh?” Lily asked, pointing to a green stairs sign.

“Couldn't mention that earlier?” Ruby asked.

“I didn't know it was relevant. I was looking for the elevators.” She shrugged.

“You don't wanna take the elevators.” Ruby and I replied in unison.

“Okay okay, I get the message. We'll take the stairs.” She sighed, walking towards the door and pulling it open. She wandered in without a moments hesitation, Ruby and I taking off after her, worried both that we'd be left behind and that something terrible would happen to Lily. We made our way up the stairs, when we passed beyond the 13th floor the lighting seemed to get brighter, the area much nicer. We passed the 14th floor door and continued on. We reached the top of the staircase, the steps only went up a single flight more and then just stopped, and Ruby and I both let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh come on you two, it's just a little creepy, nothing bad is gonna happen.” Lily laughed, walking out onto the main floor. “And why couldn't we take the elevators?” She asked, gesturing towards the two sets of doors at the far end of the hall.

“What? No way the elevators were that close.” Ruby said. “We were no where near that close.”

“Well we did have to go around those creepy balloons.”

“You're really hung up on that aren't you?” Lily sighed. “You're not going to scare me with silly stories like that.”

“We're not TRYING to scare you. It's all true!” Ruby snapped. “Now what way do we go?”

“Uhh this way I think.” I started down the hall with the two falling into step beside me. As we got towards the end of the hall the elevator dinged. “That can't be good...” The doors of both slid open and unleashed a torrent of blood. Lily just barely managed a scream before the wall of blood hit us and swept us all down the hall, back the way we'd come. I tumbled end over end, something slamming into my backside hard and then continuing down the hall with me. After a minute I finally struck the back wall of the hallway and was pinned under whatever had hit me, the torrent of blood keeping it stuck fast to me until the pressure finally died down. I managed to put up a magical barrier and divert the blood away and down the hallway. The thing that had hit me collapsed to the ground and I realized it was another pony, completely soaked in blood. It wasn't breathing but when it fell to the ground it gasped and coughed up mouthfuls of blood.

“Fuck...” It groaned angrily and I looked down at the pony.

“Brutus?”

“Yeah?” He pushed himself up slowly and I realized he's suffered a similar transformation to my own.

“You realize you're a mare?” I asked softly.

“Yeah, I noticed...” He grumbled angrily, his own voice still familiar but just as feminine as mine. The blood finally died down enough that I let the barrier drop while he pushed himself back to his hooves.

“I woke up in the fucking morgue, dozens of bodies, most of em strung up from rusty hooks and chains on the ceiling. I freaked out and took off out of the room. I ran into the elevator and hit the button for the main floor. It stopped, the lights went out and it started raining blood until the whole box was full. I tried everything I could to get out but nothing worked. Just as I started to black out I heard the elevator ding and I was falling through the hallway.” He looked at me and snorted a little. “You're a mare too?” He asked and I just nodded. “Well shit, think Lily and Ruby are somewhere and they're bucks?”

I gestured in the direction the blood had gone and was about to point out that the girls were right there when...

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! THAT'S SO MUCH BLOOD!” Lily screamed from down the hallway. She and Ruby were up at the ceiling to stay above the blood still trickling down. “Cane! Who's that with you?”

“It's Brutus, he's alright.” I called back and the two fliers started back to us quickly. They were both dripping with blood as well, giving Lily an even stranger sheen on her coat, and making Ruby look just horrifying.

Lily landed first and looked Brutus over for a moment. “Are you...a mare too?” She asked, gasping softly when she realized he was and she broke into a fit of laughter again, Ruby lost her own composure and fell down beside Lily, joining her. Despite my annoyance I knew it was still a good thing to help with the stress of the situation.

Brutus just 'harrumphed' at them and wrapped himself in a magic field, shaking himself off furiously to try and remove the blood as best he could. I wrapped myself up and did the same, going from a dripping bloody red mess to a sticky purple mess, my mane still stained blood red. Lily got herself enough under control that she got to her hooves, erecting her own magical bubble and transforming into a pegasus, the burst of magical energy from her transformation throwing the blood off her completely, leaving her totally clean when she dropped the field and changed back.

“Hey, what about me?” Ruby demanded, pushing herself up.

“We all have our own ways, I'm sure you can figure one out on your own.” Brutus said flatly. Lily just shook her head and wrapped Ruby in a magic field letting the pegasus shake off. It left her looking a lot like Rosa and I felt a sad ache in the pit of my stomach for both my lost loves.

“So Brutus, this is every gay buck's dream isn't it?” Ruby asked, smirking at him. “You're a mare so now it isn't weird to like guys.”

“Not really no.” He replied. “And since when is it weird to like guys?” He demanded.

Ruby started to stammer a response but Lily was looking from Brutus to me and back, covering her mouth and giggling.

“What's so funny?” Brutus asked. Lily grabbed both of us in her magic and pushed our heads towards each other.

“You two are just so cute side by side...” She giggled. “Now kiss...”

“Lily seriously, this isn't funny.” I grumbled, turning my head and pulling away. “Now's really not the time for this.”

The changling sighed and dropped her magical grasp. “I suppose you're right. I'm just freaked out...”

“Oh NOW you're freaked out.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “Come on, we really need to get the hell out of here, I'm sticky with blood and and the sooner we end this memory the sooner I can be clean again.”

We moved up the hallway again slowly, keeping an eye on everything. We got back up the hallway and reached the hospital door. I reached out to open it when...

“SUGAR!” We all jumped in surprise at the sudden shout, turning to see my father standing just a few feet behind us. “What are you doing out of your room soldier?”

“Dad this isn't the time.” I found myself saying without even thinking about the fact he was part of the program. “We're busy.”

“Sugar, that explosion nearly killed you and your brother, I don't want you over exerting yourself.” My mother appeared from the other side.

“Guys, it's really okay. I'm fine!”

“Cane...they're a program, you can't argue with them.” Ruby said softly.

“Sugar please get back into bed.” Mom insisted, pulling open the hospital room door. Inside looked like a piece of hell. The walls were thick rusted metal, chains dripping with gore hung from the ceiling.

“NO!” I snapped, pushing back against my father when he tried to push me into the room. Brutus grabbed at him to get him off me but he fell right through him, landing on the ground. Lily tried to grab my mom in a magic field but she walked through it like it was nothing, coming over and grabbing me and pulling me along. “No! Stop! I'm fine!” I screamed, struggling in vain to get away from them. Ruby jumped into the door way and pushed against me but she was pushed up onto her hind legs and fell backwards, the two not even hesitating to step through her and drag me on. There were two beds in the room instead of one like there was supposed to be. Both were horrifying death traps. Rusty spiked chains, thick shackles on the ends, IV poles with sickly glowing green liquids in them. Worse, in the other bed, Ratchet was on his back, chained in place, cut and bruised and bleeding.

“LET...ME...GO!” I screamed, pushing a blast of magical energy outwards like a shield. It threw the two of them off of me and they struck the opposite walls of the room, exploding in a digitized burst of electricity and vanishing.

I ran over to the bed, the others hurrying into the room after me, “Ratchet are you alright?” I started pulling the IV leads from his leg and Lily and Brutus started trying to break the locks with their magic.

“Please...help Clank...” Ratchet wheezed. His eyes were glazed and unfocused, he was looking at the far wall, tears running down his face.

“Clank isn't here.” Ruby said, stroking his head gently. “Just breath deeply and we'll get you out of here as fast as we can.” I pulled the last of the IV lines out and threw the whole pole across the room. Lily and Brutus managed to break the first two shackles around his forelegs and Ruby helped him sit up, holding him close. He kept trying to pull away from Ruby but he didn't have the strength to do more than squirm. When they finally got the other shackles loose Lily transformed into a muscular pegasus and Brutus lifted Ratchet up onto her back.

“You're cute...” Ratchet muttered, his voice slurred and lethargic. “What happened to Clank?”

“I'm a woman.” Lily laughed. “Clank is back home waiting for us to get back with you.”

We moved away from the bed, desperate to get out of that horrible room.

“What do we do now?” Brutus asked.

“We get back to the lobby and I can shut the simulation down with my pipbuck.” I said, moving back to the doorway.

“Well hello Sugarcane.” I looked up for a moment but only caught sight of a black blur as a magical blast hit me and threw me, along with everyone else in the room, backwards. I heard the windows along the back wall shatter and next thing I knew I was flying out into the sky, then a moment later, falling towards the ground. The outside of the hospital only extended about a hundred feet out from the wall of the hospital, just the area you could see beyond the window.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.” I turned and twisted in the air. “I can do this...” I managed to get my hooves under me again.

“Cane!” Ruby was diving towards me but I was already focusing myself and with a burst of energy I slowed my descent and actually landed gently on the ground, that was it...I knew what had to be done, that test right there had proved my theory right...I was ready to face this monster.

Lily, still in the form of the muscular pegasus, landed a moment later, Brutus held in her forelegs, she set him down and then landed beside him. Ratchet hung onto her neck lazily.

“What the hell was that?” Ruby demanded, still hovering in the air.

“I think it was the creature.” Lily said, scanning the area. “This is the edge of the simulation.” She pointed to the wall of white a short distance away.

“Yeah these orbs weren't really meant for wide scale area display.” I explained.

“Well what do we do now? The barrier prevents us from getting around the building to the entrance.” Brutus said, examining the area around the edge of the wall, trying to find a way around it but coming up empty.

“I say we stand and fight.” I said firmly. “I'm sick of being on the defensive, I think we should summon this beast and put it out of our misery.”

“But how do we fight something that can manipulate the world around us?” Ruby asked.

“Oh I've got that figured out too. You helped me figure it out.” I said. “I'm silly for not thinking of it earlier, it's an answer almost as old as I am.”

“Care to fill us in?” Brutus asked.

“Oh come on, it wouldn't be as fun if I shared it.” I laughed.

“Then how are we supposed to help?” Lily asked.

“I'll give you lots of time to piece it together yourselves, I promise. Also I'm going to explain as I go...” I said, moving away from the wall of the hospital, gesturing for the others to follow. Once we were sitting basically at the very edge of the memory I turned to the wall, took a deep breath and called out “Nightmare night! What a fright! Give me something sweet to bite!”

The air seemed to shimmer for a moment and then started to grow dim, slowly oozing to black, starting to swirl around slowly and form into a pony...a tall pony...with wings...and a horn...familiar black armour and astral patterning...

“Finally!” Nightmare Moon cackled, rearing up as lightening flashed in the sky, which grew dim and grey.

“N...Nightmare M...M...Moon...” Lily gulped, falling back slowly.

“You're not Nightmare Moon.” I said flatly. “Show me who you REALLY are.”

“It is my night Sugarcane. I am as you see me.” She replied.

“No you aren't!” I snapped. “I met Princess Luna, and YOU are not Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon was defeated by the wielders of the Elements of Harmony more than 200 years ago and she became Princess Luna again. I don't know what you are, but I'm willing to bet you aren't as old as I am if you don't know that story.”

She glared at me but after a moment black energy wrapped around her and she swirled down into a normal pony size, taking on a familiar red pegasus form.

“Would you prefer me like this?” I found Rosa asking me. “It's not too late to take me up on that offer for a night of fun together.” She said, the marriage blanket rolling out along her back and draping over her sides.

“Don't you DARE pretend to be Rosalea.” I had to breath deeply to keep from playing my hoof too soon out of anger.

“How do you know I'm not?” She giggled. The others in the group seemed too stunned for words at my actions and just watched the exchange intently. “I know what you like Cane.” Chains shot out of the ground and shackles clamped around my hooves, tripping me up and pulling me to the ground.

Brutus stepped forward quickly to help me but another chain shot out and knocked him backwards into the solid white barrier of the edge of the memory.

“I know why Rosa's cutie mark was burned into your flank.” She smirked. “She wasn't just your fiancee...She was your owner. You were in love with her, but she just didn't want to die a lonely nerd. You were cute, you were available...you like being dominated by a mare...you submitted yourself to her as her slave.” She circled me slowly and I twisted to try and keep her in my sights. She came up behind me and put a hoof on my side. “Now you're a cute little mare. Too weak to fight like a big strong buck could...” It was Ruby's turn to try and make a move, leaping up and trying to dive bomb the creature but with a flash of energy her wings vanished and she face planted into the ground.

“If you agree to stay here as my little filly I'll let your friends go.” She offered. “See I REALLY like mares, and I REALLY like you Cane. Stay and play with me Cane, forever and ever and ever.” She whispered, coming around the front of me again. “It's a dream, so we can do anything and everything together.”

“Answer my questions.” I replied flatly, struggling to stand back up.

She growled and with a flash of black energy I found myself looking at a grey pegasus. She had broken shackles around her hooves, one of her wings was mangled and broken beyond repair, though the other looked to be intact, her face was badly burned and if not for the rest of her body being normal, except her broken wing of course, I'd have thought she was a ghoul. “Happy now?” She snapped.

“I don't understand. Who are you?” I asked, hoping beyond hope we could resolve this peacefully.

“My name is Lonesome Heart.” She said, sitting down against the wall of the hospital. She still looked angry but sadness seemed to be creeping into her tone. “I was a slave a hundred years ago. I was terrorized by my owners. Beaten, tortured, my wing broken so I couldn't fly. My life was hell. One day they had me chained up beside their table and they got blackout drunk and I managed to steal the keys to my chains and escaped, but when I fled I got lost. They came after me, they'd put a tracking spell on me so I couldn't get away. They chased me for two days, finally they cornered me in an old M.A.S. Warehouse. I jumped down from a catwalk onto the lid of a massive chemical vat to try and leap down to the ground, but the lid of the vat broke and I fell into these horrible chemicals. They burned and hurt so badly. I could only struggle for a few moments before I lost control of my body and blacked out...I woke up like this.” She said, transforming again, this time into a much more ghoulish form. Her face was melted and scarred. Her body was warped and deformed, though she covered it quickly with a long red and green stripped sweater. “Now you know.” She croaked, her voice deep and emotionless and garbled, like she'd been eating gravel. The chains and shackles fell from me and vanished into the ground.

“Wait a minute...” Lily said, stepping forward. She transformed back into her normal form and held up the pipbuck on her leg, poking through the information.

“What is it?” I asked, turning to look back at her.

“I know that name...” She flipped through the screens and then nodded. “Lonesome Heart...A bounty hunter who specialized in escaped slave retrieval. HE lived a hundred years ago. He was chasing an escaped pegasus slave, cornered her in a M.A.S. Warehouse but she had mined the catwalk, it exploded when he walked over it and it threw him into a vat on the far side of the room. She escaped and was rescued by one of the Mare-Do-Wells of the time.”

“What? You have that information?” Brutus asked in amazement.

“Yeah we keep a database as complete as possible...Any cases the MDWs have worked on since the group was organized. It also helps that she went on to become an MDW herself.” She added.

I turned back to Lonesome Heart and she was smirking evilly. “Oh well...can't win em all. How was I to know you brought such an egghead with you?” She laughed darkly, a pulse of black energy throwing me backwards now, right into Lily and sending both of us end over end. “This party is losing it's flair.” She said, standing up. Black energy lanced out from her sides along the wall. The little black and white filly appeared on one side of her, the evil clown on the other, my parents appearing on either side of them, then Venture, Rosa, Crackshot, CB, EB, Brutus, Ruby, Lily, Firebird, Ratchet and Clank all appeared on either side of her, each with the same demonic grin and each armed to the teeth, their features warped, cut, burned, tortured...each and every one of them a bastardization of their real selves. The black energy shot out in every direction, filling the whole area with blackness.

“That's ENOUGH!” I roared, blue energy shooting out of me much like hers had, pushing back the darkness, throwing the monstrous versions of my friends and family into the wall where they burst into black energy and vanished

“What, how did you do that?” Lonesome Heart demanded. “Nopony has been able to resist me!”

“You're not as old as I am. I have a very good imagination, and a very good set of...weird knowledge.” I said. My horn flashed and I became a buck again, no sticky blood, no injuries, no nothing, back to the way I was when I first woke up in the wasteland, though dressed in my armoured barding, Ebony and Ivory whining in their holsters as they charged automatically, Rose's Thorn appearing in a proper scabbard on my back, a small leather band on either side of the hilt holding it in place so it didn't slide out, the handle itself just a few inches back and to the left of my neck. “I missed this sword.” I said, sliding it out and spinning it around lazily. “I lost the real one in the Pyro attack, I barely got to use it you know. Well I'll make sure it gets a proper workout in here.” I slid the sword back into the scabbard then turned to my friends. My horn flashed again and they were cleaned of the blood as well, Brutus being returned to his proper self as well, complete with armour and power hooves.

Lily was enveloped in energy and when it faded she was in her MDW armour again, “Sweet.” She laughed, the helmet hissing open. She shifted and her battle saddle snapped open, revealing two very mean looking Gatling lasers. “Whoa, these aren't mine.”

“They're yours for now.” I said.

Ruby was back in her armour as well, her wings restored and her own saddle equipped with a pair of shiny new carbines. “Ooo, Crackshot is gonna be mad she missed this.”

Ratchet groaned and pushed himself to his feet. No longer looking like he'd been put through the ringer, he was back in his normal armour, but he sported Clank's battle saddle. “Can somepony please tell me what's going on? Where'd Clank go?” He asked, looking to us.

“I'll explain later, just focus on this for now.” I asked and he nodded, snapping to attention.

“I...I don't understand.” Lonesome Heart whimpered, falling back against the wall.

“When I was young,” I started, “There were these horror movies, scared the daylights out of me until I was older, but I still saw every one of them with my brother and our friends. It was about an evil pony who was murdered by a group of parents who found out he'd been abusing their children. The courts let him off on a technicality, so the parents got together, hunted him down, and burned him alive when they had him cornered. Years later he started haunting the dreams of the children he'd originally abused, first hunting and torturing them, then killing them off one by one until only one was left alive, but she managed to beat him. They made a whole series of these movies, new children, new locations, new more fucked up dream sequences...and in the third movie the children discovered they could fight back. It's just a dream after all, and if you know you're in a dream then you can control the dream.” I gestured my head upwards, no magic this time, just a gesture, and steel bars shot out of the ground around Lonesome Heart, wrapping around her and pinning her to the wall. “They were called the dream warriors, and they bested him in some of the funniest combat in the whole series. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.”

She struggled against the restraints but the shock of the whole situation had still robbed her of her focus.

“See, when Ruby and I were confronted by the clown he was terrifying, but she stood her ground against him and he was destroyed for it. I knew it was familiar but I couldn't remember why. Then when the program of my parents showed up and tried to restrain me I obliterated them just from sheer willpower and resistance to what they wanted. That's when the pieces really started to fall in place. I tested my theory when you threw us out the window up there and when I landed safely I knew I was right. This might be a memory orb, but there are still active minds inside it, and since your power still works I figured mine would too.” I pulsed with energy again and this time it was my turn to make all my friends to appear, their faces and disposition distinctly happier, the weapons were nicer too.

“No...no...no no no no NO!” Lonesome Heart snapped, working up from a whisper to a roar, thrashing against the restraints, shattering them and pushing herself up again. “This is MY world, NOPONY else comes in here dictating the terms of combat.” She pulsed and became Nightmare Moon again, the evil warriors appearing at her side again. I also took the chance to add in a few of the technicians that had been on Rosa's staff, just to balance out my team for the creatures Lonesome Heart had on her side.

“I just did.” I said firmly. “You want me? Come get me!”

She roared and rushed me, all her minions rushing to attack at the same time, my own rushing to meet them, my real friends diving into the fray as well. Lonesome Heart lunged at me and I dodged to the side, pulling Rose's Thorn from it's scabbard at the same time, drawing the sword along her side, cutting through the star armour like it was nothing, which split apart and revealed the tattered sweater she still wore, cutting through that and then splitting the skin underneath, revealing an even more horrifyingly mutilated flank. She flipped backwards and grabbed caught my mane in her teeth, pulling me along as she went, a pulse of black energy and we were gone from the raging battle outside. I found myself tumbling through the air and crashing into a wall on the far side of a hallway, landing upside down, I could see Lonesome Heart stalking down the hall towards me, again her burnt horrifying self, the massive industrial fan on the far end of the hallway. I was back on the 13th floor of the hospital. I flipped around quickly and brandished my sword at her. She stepped back to dodge it and with another pulse of power the roof was covered in blood red balloons again.

“You'll find no chocolate milk in them this time.” She snapped, all the balloons exploding at the same time. I just barely had a chance to throw a shield over myself as some kind of acid poured out of the balloons, hissing against the shield, burning the walls and floor all around me and down the hall as Lonesome Heart moved backwards to the massive fan. “Come and get me if you can.” She called, the acid coating the whole floor with a bubbling unstable mess. But I was a scientist, I knew chemicals well and I knew how to work around them...

I closed my eyes and the roof started crumbling, the massive panels in the ceiling disintegrating into sand, the fluorescent tubes shattering as they fell. While not exactly somepony I'd normally have gone with, the pyro pony, Xekron I think Xeha had called him, appeared in front of me, his flamethrowers spewing streams of fire down the hall. Lonesome Heart cried out in surprise, barely getting her own magic field up as the flames licked at her.

“You bastard!” She grabbed Xekron in her magical grasp and wrapped him into a magic sphere and hurled him down the hallway. He ricocheted off the walls, squirming in terror as he bounced off the wall above me and was yanked down the hall back towards Lonesome Heart. He soared past her and smashed into the industrial fan, screaming in pain as the magic bubble released him and the blades cut into him. After a moment there was a burst of blue magic and he was gone.

“Well so much for that.” Lonesome Heart laughed, turning back, only to find me standing right in front of her. She shrieked and fell back again. “How did you...?”

I gestured to the hallway behind me. The roof panels that had dissolved to the ground had melted and turned to glass when Xekron's fire had passed over it, glassing over the acid eaten wood and blocking out almost all of the acid still sitting on the floor. Sure in the real world it might have taken more time and WAY more heat, but this was a dream world, time was hardly even a factor here.

“Well aren't you clev...er...” She croaked out the last word as Rose's Thorn came up to her neck and bit into her skin, a small trickle of black blood running down the blade. “Do you really think it's so easy to kill me?” She croaked. “I live on in the nightmares of everyone in the wasteland. Every pony, every zebra, even alicorns and Sand Dogs live in terror of my arrival every year, not everyone knows I exist but they still fear me.”

“Oh but see I didn't even realize when I started out that I already have a solution to deal with you. I didn't plan it...it was just an after thought before we even got in here...” With a burst of power the hallway exploded outwards. Rooms flew apart, boxes shattered, their contents scattering in the magical wind I generated. All the materials, all the debris settled against the far walls, leaving just a massive open floor. “This floor isn't part of the memory cube that Lily built with my memories. I only really know the 15th floor and the lobby. I got hurt so much that the room on 15th was like a home away from home.” Sure it was a lie but she didn't know that. “But this, all this, I didn't know, I didn't dream up, I didn't invent. That means this is all YOUR work isn't it?”

She responded by trying to kick me in the groin, only to end up getting her hoof shot by Ivory, which floated at my side out of her sight. She yelped in pain and fell back, the sword cutting along her jaw and down to her neck, drawing a spurt of blood as she fell. “You bastard.” She croaked, clutching at her neck.

I gestured a hoof and my friends appeared around me, just my real friends, not the mental copies. Brutus face planted suddenly, he'd obviously been grappling with someone else in the fight and when I moved them he no longer had the thing he'd been pressing against.

Lily pulled her battle saddle to the side, a burst of laser fire lancing out and burning a line along the far wall. “Geeze how bout a little warning next time?” She snapped, her helmet hissing open.

Ruby had been soaring through the air and slowed to a stop now. “What's going on? Why're we back inside.”

Ratchet spat the battle saddle trigger out of his mouth and looked around in confusion

“Sorry everyone.” I said without turning away from Lonesome Heart. “We're getting ready to leave and I needed all of your here so we could go together.”

“What about her?” Brutus asked, stepping up beside me, lifting a hoof and pointed the pistol chambers of the powerhoof at her, but she was panting hard on the ground, blood still pouring from her jaw

“Don't worry about her. I have that dealt with.” I said coldly, putting a hoof on Brutus's, which he finally lowered. “This part of the simulation isn't in the memory cube. It's in her mind. She created it, it's all her. Lily I want you to take Brutus and Ratchet to leave through your Pipbuck, you hooked yours up to the machine too right?” I asked.

“Yes I did.” She answered.

“But what about you and Ruby?” He asked.

“I need her to help with dealing with our host here. Before we came into the memory, just as an afterthought, I put a blank memory orb into Ruby's re-collector helmet. When we leave, this floor is going to download into that orb and Lonesome Heart here will find herself trapped. No one to torture, no one to torment. No where to go, just a big empty space for the rest of eternity.”

She looked up in horror and gasped loudly. “I'd rather die.” She gurgled out, blood bubbling out of her wound.

“Well it's too bad that's not an option.” I said simply. Lily walked over to stand between Brutus and Ratchet then wrapped a wing around each of their backs and poked at her pipbuck. It squawked and they vanished. Ruby came over to my side and put her wing over me much as Lily had with the other two.

“Please, please don't do this.” Lonesome Heart groaned, looking up at me with pleading eyes, her neck and chest soaked black with blood.

“How many others asked you that same thing?” I asked coldly. “A hundred years of torture and torment, I'm sure hundreds, if not thousands of ponies have begged for their lives and you did NOTHING for them. Why do you deserve any better?” I pressed down on the download command on my pipbuck and the whole world flashed and the whole world started to spin quickly, threatening to make me sick, Lonesome Heart's anguished cry echoing around us as the world was sucked away.

<-=======ooO Ooo=======->

The world crashed back down around us, resolving back into the bedroom quickly. Clank was on the bed, holding Ratchet tightly and crying. Ratchet was patting his back and trying to reassure him. Brutus and Lily were in the middle of bringing the rest of the group up to speed about what had happened when they saw us wake up.

“What happened?” CB asked, jumping over to us.

“It's over.” I said softly, floating the orb out of Ruby's helmet, then taking off the helmet and setting it on the desk for her. She smiled softly and nodded. The orb had a swirling black aura inside it. “We trapped her inside this memory orb.”

“Wow...” CB looked at it curiously but I pulled it away just in case.

“Careful little one, you don't want to get trapped inside that orb.” Crackshot said seriously.

“You said it.” I sighed, pulling a memory orb case off the desk and putting the orb into it, closing it and setting the case on the floor beside me. “I think I'll give this to Mare-Do-Well next time I see her. I get the feeling she has a place for things like this.”

“I've heard she does too.” Lily nodded.

“Hey, why don't we leave these two?” Crackshot asked, gesturing to the still blubbering Clank on the bed.

“Probably a good idea.” Ratchet said. “He's going to be like this for a while...”

Crackshot and Brutus left with CB and Xem right away and the rest of us packed up the computer and left as quickly as possible.

“So what will you do with the memory orb?” I asked, looking at Firebird.

“We have a secure vault we can put it in.” She said simply.

“Cane, can I ask you a question?” Lily asked.

“Of course.” I replied, looking over at her curiously.

“Why did you get Rosa's cutie mark branded into your side? Ruby told me it wasn't even the exact same as Rosa's real cutie mark, you weren't really her love slave were you?”

Firebird snorted a little in shock at such a statement and Ruby just giggled.

“Well I guess you'd know wouldn't you Ruby?” Lily asked, looking to her cousin. “Did he like you to tie him up and call him a naughty pony?” She smirked.

“Oh every night.” She nodded, putting on as serious a face as she could manage. “I had a couple toys that got used on him more in two weeks than I ever used them on myself the whole time I had them. Ask Crackshot about the saddle he bought.” She finally cracked and started laughing.

“Hey come on! That's not fair!” I whined, stamping my feet. “I got the brand because I lost a bet with her. I bet her I could build a robot that could stand up to her new EMP weapons. The thing held for two shots before it exploded. Loser had to get branded with the others cutie mark, but we got kind of drunk and when we went to get it done we didn't do a good job explaining, so I ended up with the brand I had and she got to laugh at me forever.”

“You're kidding.” Ruby asked but I shook my head.

“Really that's what happened.” I said firmly as we walked back into the store.

“What's what happened?” Crackshot asked, coming out from the back room.

“Tell me about this saddle Cane bought?” Lily asked and Crackshot burst out laughing.

“A group of traders came in once, they had this decorative saddle that Ruby wanted, Cane said it would look better on him. Turned out it was meant for slave bucks, to keep their stallion-hood at attention at all times for their masters and mistresses. Had this line of rings along the bottom to do it.”

Lily was in a fit of hysterics by the time Crackshot got to the word 'masters' and even Firebird cracked up.

I just rolled my eyes and suppressed a yawn. “I'm going to bed.” I said, starting for the stairs.

“Me too.” Ruby said, moving to follow.

“I have a store to run still.” Firebird said, still chuckling to herself. “You kids sleep as long as you need.”

“I'll help you out with the store.” Crackshot offered. “Let Lily go get some sleep too. I think she's earned it.”

“Agreed.” Firebird nodded, walking behind the counter, putting the memory orb case under the till. “Someone will come get this later today.”

Lily nodded and moved to follow us upstairs.

We walked out into the hallway and I couldn't have been happier to see my room at the end of the hallway. Memories of the nightmare I'd had earlier filled my head. Rosa coming in, sitting with me, wrapping the blanket around us...My mind trailed off as I thought about that. I knew it hadn't been the real blanket in the dream, and Rosa would have had no way of knowing it existed which should have been an indication right there that something was wrong...but when she put the blanket over us I hadn't felt anything...I had thought it was supposed to put any worries or hesitation from your mind...

“Hey...” I turned and looked at Ruby and Lily, both just about to enter Lily's room to go to sleep.

“Hmm?” Ruby asked, pausing and looking over at me.

“I know this is going to sound weird...but do you have the blanket Xeha gave you for Xem?” I asked.

“Uhh yeah, it's in my pack, why?” She asked, giving me a funny look.

“The nightmare I had about Rosa...she had the blanket...it didn't work the way I thought it would. Can you get it for me? I need to know something.”

She still gave me a funny look but shrugged and went and got the blanket, coming back with it draped over her neck.

“Okay?”

I opened the bedroom door and gestured, the two of them following me. I hopped into the bed and sat up, grabbing the blanket in my magical grasp and floated it off Ruby, unfolding it and laying it over myself. “Lily come sit with me.” I said, floating the blanket up so she could sit down beside me.

“Cane what are you doing?” Ruby demanded firmly.

“Just be ready to pull it off if the need arises okay?” I asked. We hadn't told anyone else about the blanket's magical properties or what it was meant to do, just that it was a gift for Xem when he was grown.

Lily walked over slowly and got up on the bed beside me, sliding under the blanket and pulling it down around herself. She sat there awkwardly for a moment before looking up at me. “Cane this is really weird...” She said, pushing herself up off the bed and walking back to the door. Neither of us had been affected by the magic of the blanket.

“Yeah, sorry Lily, thanks for your help. You can go to bed now. I'm sorry I kept you away from it.”

She just waved her wing at us and left, closing the door behind her.

“Cane's what's the big ide...” Ruby started but I cut her off, “come sit.” I said, lifting the blanket back up.

She looked at me once again like I was insane. “Why would I do that?”

“I need to know...if we're meant for each other.” I said finally. “Lily and I didn't react to the blanket because it's designed for soul mates...the one you're meant to be with forever...and I just need to know...” I tried and failed to hide the sadness and longing in my voice.

Ruby sighed softly and walked over to the bed, sitting beside me and cuddling into my side, wrapping a wing around me. I lowered the blanket over her frame gently and released it.

I heard Ruby gasp softly just moments before I felt a rush of energy course through me, then her lips on my neck, pushing me down to lay on the bed now, rolling off my side to lay beside me, pulling me into another kiss, which I happily returned...Xeha's words echoed in my head, “Just lay down beneath with your loving bequeathed, fire and lust will fill both to their peak.” Maybe this was really a sign we were meant to be together...genetics be damned...I loved Ruby and I was going to stick with her...

Footnote: Level up

Perk Added: Dream Warrior: your mind has been expanded by your encounters with the nightmare monster. Your magical prowess has increased (+25% damage increase, more spells can be learned) your imagination has expanded as well, giving you broader views on problems and the ability to come up with more creative solutions, this affects both combat situations (+1 perception in battle, increased item drop rate) as well as unique dialogue options.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

(Hey, I know this chapter kinda feels like it's all over the place. It jumps from thing to thing really quickly and I feel kinda bad that it goes on like that, but I found a sudden need to compress a number of events into this trip back home because they might not be back for a while ;) I promise, like with the rest of the story, all of it serves a purpose (except the scene at the end of the chapter, that's just showing the family dynamic developing), even the stuff that's not exactly obvious, you know me and laying the roots of an idea that doesn't flower for three or four chapters :D, anyway, that's enough of my awkward explanations. Enjoy, hopefully)

I woke to the sound of my Pipbuck alarm buzzing. Ruby had both her forelegs wrapped around my one and was trying to focus enough to poke the silence button with a hoof. I leaned down and pressed the button with my horn, a trick I'd gotten very good at over the years, and the device went quiet.

“I dunno why you set that.” She grumbled, turning and snuggling back into my chest. At some point in the night the zebra blanket had fallen to the floor. I realized I didn't know how long the effects lasted otherwise, but I was glad it had passed.

“I set it before I knew I was gonna have company. I figured it would be best to get up and do stuff for a few hours before going back to bed to try and not screw up my sleep cycle if at all possible.”

Ruby just grunted and put a wing over my side. “You stay...we sleep...”

I shrugged to myself, not like it was a bad option...Except that with a BANG the bedroom door crashed open and CB flipped through the air with a burst of magical energy, crashing down on top of us. “GUYS! GUYS WAKE UP!” She cried, squirming her way in between us and actually pushing Ruby right out of the bed.

Ruby squawked in surprise as she crashed to the ground. “CB, sweetie, I love you but you gotta stop crashing in like this when we're sleeping...” She glared at the filly while she sat up, pushing the discarded blanket to the side. I had grabbed CB in my magic and set her on the end of the bed while I pulled myself up to sit.

“But we went to school!” She said happily and I realized Xem was standing in the doorway. “Did you know the teacher in town is a changling?”

“Yeah I think Lily mentioned it a few days ago when she was telling me how she learned about her abilities...” I said, yawning.

“He's SO COOL!” She started to launch into a whole explanation of her day but Ruby cut her off.

“CB please, we're still really tired after everything that happened this morning and we just want to catch up on our sleep...”

“This morning?” CB asked curiously. “But Nightmare Night was yesterday! You two have been in here asleep since yesterday afternoon!”

“What? No...” I looked down at my pipbuck and realized the alarm indicator read 29 hours...we had slept through the alarm for more than a full day. “Oh wow...guess it took a lot more out of us than we realized...”

“I don't know what makes you two special. Brutus and Lily got up last night no problem.” She looked between for a moment, then added. “You two smell funny...”

Ruby still managed to blush brightly and I coughed a little. “We don't have easy access to showers, you don't smell so nice either...”

Xem had stepped into the room, standing beside Ruby, I could see on his face that he realized what had happened between us adults, he was a lot less naive of those sorts of things than CB was.“Come on CB, we should go, we have homework to do.” He said.

She nodded and hopped off the bed. She paused when she landed and looked at Xem for a moment, then smiled and leaned in, kissing him firmly on the lips, which he happily returned. Ruby gasped and her wing shot out, shoving to the two of them over, grabbing up the blanket they had been standing on and throwing it to me on the bed. I'd been so shocked by the sight that the blanket had just smacked me in the face before I could react.

“Out you two!” Ruby snapped, while the confused children pulled themselves back up.

“What the hay was that?” CB asked, clearly grossed out with herself.

“I'm not sure...” Xem stammered.

“Did you kiss me?” She asked, looking sternly at the zebra.

“I...I dunno...maybe?”

“AUGH! GROSS!” She cried, storming out of the room in a huff.

Xem looked back at us in confusion, looking at the blanket in my lap that I'd just pulled myself free of. “Is...that my grandfather's blanket? The one from his lock box?”

“Yeah...” Ruby said kind of sheepishly.

“Oh...well I guess it's good to know she feels the same way about me that I feel about her.” He smiled a little.

“Don't over think it Xem, you're still just children.” Ruby said seriously.

“I know...If she is my soul mate I'm not going to do anything that might jeopardize that...and girls are still too weird to figure out.”

“I'm 226 years old and I still don't understand girls.” I grinned.

“Well I should get to my homework.” Xem said, heading out of the room.

Ruby waited until he turned the corner at the end of the hall before turning back to me. “So...should we worry about that?”

“I think we should just make sure the blanket stays out of their reach and the awkwardness of childhood will shield them from most of it.” I laughed, folding up the blanket and sticking it into one of my saddlebags.

“So...only works with soul mates.” Ruby smiled, climbing back onto the bed and nuzzling my cheek. “Guess we should probably stick with this relationship eh?”

“I was thinking it was a good idea yeah.” I nodded, pressing back against her contently.

“So the wedding is back on?” Lily asked from the bedroom door, making both of us jump. She looked excited at the prospect.

“Yeah, I suppose it is.” Ruby nodded and Lily squeed with joy. “I hope Clank gets over smothering Ratchet soon so he can get back to helping me with planning.”

“Don't forget CB.” I added.

The changeling nodded happily. “Of course, can't leave her out of it. She's almost as excited as me and Clank.”

“Clank and I.” Ruby said.

“Clank and you what?” Lily asked, already losing herself in typing away on a computer that sat in the hallway. “Anyway, you two should get up, you've been in here for a day and a half and they're gonna start talking. Also shower because you two stink of sex and sweat and that's gross.” She stuck her tongue out at us for a moment before turning back to the computer. “And we changelings have more sensitive senses of smell than ponies or zebras so it's all the worse for me.”

I grabbed the door in my magic and slammed it quickly.

“Thank you.” Ruby sighed, pushing herself up out of the bed, yawning and stretching. “So what's on the agenda today?”

“I wanna look at those hard drives Xeha gave me. They seem to be intact, so I want to take them back to my nice new lab and inspect them.”

“It's already the afternoon. You sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow morning?”

“I want to get to work as soon as I can. I would have been at it yesterday if not for our unexpected interruption.”

“Well I'm sorry, I hadn't planned on having sex with you for 12 hours.” She smirked.

“I was actually talking about the whole Nightmare Night, saving Ratchet's life thing, but way to make it all about you.” I laughed, kissing her cheek as I started for the door.

“Sure you were.” She sighed, getting up and following. “You know Firebird has a nice big shower?”

“Oh does she now?” I asked, heading into the hallway, closing the bedroom door once Ruby had followed, Lily was already gone from the hallway. “How is it we always seem to end up in the shower?” I grinned.

“Well most normal adults, despite the lack of facilities, still try to shower as often as possible whenever the need arises, and after a long period of fooling around with your soul mate I'd say that's one of the best times to do it. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna go out in public smelling of sex. It gives the wrong impression to the more questionable citizens of the wasteland.”

“I think my sarcasm is starting to rub off on you.” I grinned.

“Play your cards right and I might have something I rub off on you.” She winked.

“Augh! Gross!” This time it was Brutus who said it and I lost it, laughing myself almost sick at the disgusted look on his face. “I thought CB was kidding when she said you two were still in bed, and in bed TOGETHER.”

“Why would I not be in bed with my fiancee?” Ruby asked matter-of-factually.

“More like why WOULD you be in bed with your grandfather?”

“Okay, first, gross, second, he's 6 generations removed from my genetics, that means we only share...” She paused, getting a thoughtful look on her face.

“1.5625% of our genetics, approximately.” I finished and she smiled and nodded.

“So the wedding is back on?”

“Yeah it is.” I nodded. “So I expect a damned good bachelor party.”

“Why're you asking me? It's the best buck's responsibility to plan the bachelor party.”

I just looked at him expectantly, gesturing with a hoof for him to keep going. “So...”

“So...you're asking me to be your best buck?” He asked hesitantly.

“Hey! Prize for the pony in the front row.” I grinned. “I have what? 8 friends in the whole wasteland, it's not like I have a lot of choices, and I'm certainly not going to be asking my brother to do it.”

“Alright, I suppose I can manage something.” He nodded happily, though he still looked bewildered by the whole situation.

“Thanks, now if you don't mind, we're trying to get cleaned up so I can get back to my lab and get to work on trying to find out whats in Venture's hard drives.”

“Oh yeah yeah of course.” He nodded, turning and wandering off, still kind of dazed and confused.

“Was he dropped on his head as a foal?” I asked, looking back at Ruby.

She laughed and shrugged. “He's certainly suffered his fair share of head injuries over the years yeah...anyway, shower.” She said, pushing me on.

//////////

I was glad to be back in my lab, even if it was new and I hadn't spent very long in it so far. It was a very comforting environment. Sitting surrounded by dozens of computers, the hum of each tower, the scent of the ozone lingering in the air from the static electricity...I was never more at ease than in a place like this. Ebony and Ivory above my monitor on a pair of hooks I'd put in. Made them look decorative but also kept them easy to access from anywhere in the room, since I didn't like to wander around with the holsters on. Everyone but Brutus and Lily had come back to the hospital with us. CB and Xem sat at a small table on the far side of the room doing homework, Ruby had gone to meet with some of the council to give them an update on where we were with our Pyro investigation, then to meet up with the unicorns here who had been studying the masks here while we were away.

“So how's it going?” CB's voice made me almost jump out of my chair. I'd been so engrossed in the computer monitor I hadn't even heard her come up, really not a good sign if someone wanted to get the drop on me...

“Uhh it's not going very well so far.” I said, smiling to her as I turned back to the encryption filled monitor. “These are very complex little toys my brother has built.”

“What's all that mean?” She asked, pointing to the screen.

“This is all the data on the hard drives.” I explained, pointing to the small open casing the two drives sat in, wired through another system and then into my main system so any safe guards on the drives wouldn't fry my whole network. “But the computer doesn't know how to read it.”

“But I thought you plugged in hard drives and the computer made them work, like when I helped you set up all these computers.”

“Well it's not that simple, because these drives are from a different kind of computer, so they were programmed to work with that computer and to not let any other computers access them. These computers we use are all from my time...” CB shifted and pulled herself up into the chair, sitting in my lap and looking at the computer curiously. I wrapped my hooves around her and went back to typing. “But these hard drives are brand new, and the computer doesn't know what to do to make them work, so I'm trying to teach the computer what to do with them.” I switched the inputs and showed her the code I'd been writing to try and break the hard drive encryption.

“So all this will make the hard drives work?” She asked, looking at the code intently for a few moments before looking up at me.

“Well not quite. The hard drives work just fine, but they have programing in them that tells them not to work with other computers, so I'm trying to make my computer tell the hard drives it's safe. If I do it wrong the hard drives might break and then we'll lose all the data on them.”

“Oh, well can I watch for a while? I'm all done my homework and Xem said he needed to go for a walk.”

“A walk?” I asked, looking back and realizing that Xem had indeed left. “Was he okay?”

“He seemed fine.” She shrugged. “Just said he needed some air to clear his head after all the stuffy homework in here. I don't think he's comfortable around all the computers. Every time they'd buzz or beep he'd jump or watch them nervously.”

“Well historically Zebra's have been a lot more in tune with nature than ponies. Natural medicines, homes made from simple materials. It wasn't even really until just a few decades before the war that they really started to make technological advances, and even then it was only some parts of the zebra population, not all of them.”

“Oh okay.” She nodded, looking back to the computer screen.

“Are you sure you want to sit and watch me work?” I asked. “It's all pretty boring stuff.”

“No it's fine.” She said. “I want to see for a while, it's interesting.” She cuddled back against me and I just shrugged.

“Alright, well I can get lost in my work, so don't blame me if you end up stuck in my hooves all night while I work.”

She just nodded and I set to work again.

///////////

“Hey.” Again I jumped, dammit I needed to stop losing myself so deeply in my work. “What are you two doing?” Ruby asked, coming up beside us.

“Uhh I'm working on the code trying to break the encryption on the hard drive. She's watching and keeping me...”

“ZzZzZzZz...” I realized CB was asleep in my lap, resting her head against my chest.

“...Company.” I sighed a little. “I warned her it was boring work.”

“Well to be fair it's almost 1 A.M.”

“You're kidding.” I looked down at my pipbuck and sighed. “Poor thing...I wonder how long she's been asleep.”

“CB...” Ruby said softly, nudging her gently.

The filly groaned and opened her eyes slowly. “Wazzat?” She muttered, looking up at her.

“Come on, lets get you to bed.” Ruby smiled.

“Mmhm.” CB nodded. She looked up at me and kissed my cheek. “Night Cane.” She said tiredly, hopping down and starting for the door.

“Good night CB.” I replied, watching her wander out of the room slowly.

Ruby gave me the weirdest look, which reminded me all too much of the crazy love look that Firebird had give Ruby and I. “That might be the cutest thing I've ever seen in the history of ever.” She said, grinning stupidly.

“Yeah well...” I stammered, unable to think of anything to say. It was a sweet gesture after all...

“Anyway, I know it's late, but we have some work to do if you're up for it?”

“Uhh yeah, I should get away from these screens for a while anyway. I have a dozen or so decryption programs ready to go, and they'll take all night unless one of them happens to crack the drives.” I said, pushing myself up from the computer and stretching, my back cracking loudly.

Ruby smirked, taking her turn to kiss my cheek. “That's why I love you Sugar, it's the middle of the night, I tell you we have work to do and you don't make it into a sexual innuendo.”

I looked at her curiously for a moment. “Wait...was it supposed to be innuendo?”

“No, it's actual work.” She laughed, starting for the door. I followed along behind her. “I think we've figured out how to manipulate the glyphs in the masks using unicorn magic. We've been testing it out and we seem to have a grasp of it, I figured you'd want a crack at learning it too.”

“Of course, anything that might help in battle is a must. If we gain the ability to reprogram the masks of attacks in mid battle that would be fantastic.”

“Uhh...well about that...” She said, looking at me kind of sheepishly.

“What about it?” I asked flatly.

“We...kinda need to test if we're right...but nopony is brave enough to put on one of the masks and let us try...”

I sighed deeply and looked at her quietly, doing the best extremely unimpressed face I could.

“Come on! PLEASE?” She gave me big puppy dog eyes. “I'll...I'll...I'll make you cup cakes!”

I gave her a very confused look now.

“I don't know how, I don't know if the ingredients still exist, but I will find a way to make you cup cakes!”

I shook my head and just nodded. “Sure, why not, I'd love to risk myself for cup cakes.”

She broke into a big grin, hugging me tightly. “I promise Sugar, even if it takes me a decade I will find a way to make you cup cakes.”

“Alright alright, I already agreed.” I laughed, squirming free. “Come on, it's getting late.”

“It's not GETTING late, it IS late.” She smirked and continued on. We walked into a lab at the end of the hall, Brutus and three other unicorns stood around a table with a small pile of masks on it.

“When'd you get back?” I asked him.

“About an hour ago, brought the rest of the masks and some extra equipment from Firebird's for the tests. You're going to let us experiment on you?”

I just nodded.

“You're a braver buck than I am.” Brutus said to me, shaking his head a little.

“I've always known that.” I grinned, trying to put on a cocky brave front, but when I saw the elaborate set of shackles and chains that I knew I was meant to occupy it still worried me.

“Alright well I suppose we should get to work.” One of the unicorns said, and I just nodded. They took me over to the set of chains and started opening the whole set up, then I stood in the middle while they put them back in place, wrapping the chains around me, snapping the shackles into place and locking everything to the floor. When they were done I had just enough slack to stand up straight, though I'd be able to sit or even lie down with no problem. Ruby came over to me now, a small glowing ring in her hooves.

“What's that?” I asked, looking at it curiously.

“It's a magical suppression ring. Slavers use them to control a unicorn's magic, though usually it's connected to the rest of their outfit so it can't be removed so easily.” She slipped it down over my horn and I felt a wave of nausea as the warm feeling of my magic drained from my body, leaving me feeling very weak...I suddenly had this horrible fear of Venture having an army of changelings I didn't know about and I had just walked into a terrible trap, but Ruby just stepped back and smiled encouragingly.

“Good luck.” She said, kissing me for a moment before she stepped back to the table to stand with the others.

“Alright, we're going to start with the default glyph set of each mask configuration we've identified in order to establish a base line.” One of the unicorns said.

Ruby picked up one of the masks and came over to me, smiling still as she slipped the mask over my head and securing it before stepping back quickly. At first I didn't feel anything, but when I drew my first breath I felt it, a wave of magical energy seeping through my body, my worry and fear giving way to unbridled rage, the sight of Ruby making me burn with lust. I wanted nothing more than to get free, kill everypony else in the room and take her until she broke in two. I felt like I was speaking, but maybe it was just a silent whisper, I could feel my lips moving but couldn't hear any sound. I thrashed against the restraints in a desperate, but pointless, attempt to free myself, trying to focus my magic on the chains, but with the suppressor in place it was useless.

Finally after what felt like forever Ruby stepped forward slowly and pulled the mask off my face, looking saddened and horrified. I know I screamed at her, even trying to lunge forward towards her, the rage still burned in me for a few moments before I fell back on my haunches and sat panting hard as all the anger and hatred vanished. I realized I was still very much aroused, and blushing brightly, slid all the way down to the ground, muttering apologies.

“It's okay...it's okay...” Ruby kept saying, lifting me up and hugging me close. She was shaking and I knew had I had to have been saying terrible things when that mask was on.

“Should we stop?” Brutus asked me.

“No no, we've already started, no point making you restart the whole experiment with somepony else.” I sighed.

“Alright.” Ruby smiled softly, stepping back slowly.

“Ready to keep going?” Brutus asked, lifting another mask off the table and walking over to me.

“Y...Yeah.” I nodded, taking a deep breath and standing up straight again. He lifted the mask up and pulled it over my head, then stepped back. I stood for a moment before taking another breath. This felt radically different from the first one. I felt the energy drain from my whole body, no desire to do anything, go anywhere...I just wanted to lay down and die...I realized I WAS laying down, Ruby and Brutus both stood over me, looking worried. At least I think they looked worried, everything was blurry and I just couldn't be bothered. I felt really bad that I was such a horrible pony, I just needed to die and make life easier on my friends...though I felt bad that I would be leaving Brutus alone in this world. He was so cute...wait Brutus was cute? Well it was his mask so I suppose it made sense that I ended up with feelings for bucks...All the more reason to kill myself instead of breaking Ruby's heart again...

The whole world snapped back into clear reality suddenly and I didn't feel so bad. Brutus was putting the mask back on the table, Ruby was writing on her tablet computer. “H...Hey...” I called quietly, feeling ridiculously drained. “Little help?”

“Oh, sure.” Brutus said, coming over and helping me back to my hooves.

“Thanks babe.” I smiled, leaning over and kissing him deeply on the lips, much to the shock of the everypony in the room, especially Brutus, who stood in place until the last effects of the glyphs dissipated and I pulled away. “Oh...Oh sorry...” I blushed brightly. Everypony was silent and the tension was thick in the room...Until Ruby broke out into fits of hysterical laughter.

“I...I can't believe you did that!” She fell over laughing. “T...That was the...the most romantic kiss I've seen in my life, and it's my fiancee kissing my best friend! Oh...oh just wait till Crackshot hears!”

“Ruby, relax...” Brutus sighed, blushing just as badly as me. “It was a fluke, just because of the mask...”

She finally got herself under control and we resumed the tests. It didn't get much better from there. Another of the unicorns was a lesbian, which was a weird experience because I was already a big fan of mares, but I felt the strangest desire to experiment with sex toys...and in places that didn't exist on my body...Another was straight like me, but instead of rage I felt an emptiness inside, and all the feelings of anger and betrayal I had towards Venture melted away. We finally got through all the main tests and I was exhausted, we hadn't even started the manipulation tests yet.

“I...I don't suppose we could wait until morning to finish these?” I asked, panting hard, unable to bring myself to stand anymore for the time being. “I'm tired, I'm awkwardly horny and I have the most insanely conflicting emotions. I just want to hug Ruby and cry for a few hours.”

“Yeah I think so.” One of the unicorns said. “We didn't realize how physically draining this process was, so we should break for a while. Though we have a lot to work with so far.”

“You sure you want MY comfort?” Ruby grinned. “I'm sure Brutus would be happy to keep you company.”

“At this point I'd just take a warm body and kind word.” I said flatly. Brutus came over and pulled the magic suppressor from my horn, then started undoing the chains. “I am sorry about that.” I said to him.

“Don't worry about it Cane. You're under going some pretty radical changes when you put on those masks so it doesn't surprise me that you aren't totally right in the head,” he smirked, “and really I've had worse kisses than that.”

He finally got all the chains undone and Ruby came over, having just finished packing up her equipment. “Come on my brave beautiful stallion, lets get you to bed.” She grinned, wrapping a wing around me. I was too tired to even make a joke or try to say anything to Brutus besides “G'night” and started out of the room, leaning tiredly against her as we walked. “I'm sorry if I said anything mean.” I said to her once we were out of the room and by ourselves. I was surprised to see it was almost 6AM now, according to the clock on the wall.

“Sugar, I have NEVER been spoken to in my life, the way you spoke to me earlier, but I don't blame you for a moment. I know you didn't mean those things you said and I know you are sorry for each and every one of them.”

“I can't remember what I said. At the time I wasn't even sure if I was talking. I kind of remember thinking I might have just been muttering under my breath...”

She laughed and shook her head. “You were screaming at the top of your lungs. Made fun of me for being a Dashite, mocked my parents, called Brutus all kinds of names...which made the romantic kiss all the funnier.” She added. We wandered into the bedroom she's laid claim to and I saw my stuff had been moved from the room I'd been in. “Want me to lay out the wedding blanket and help you work through some of those confusing emotions and awkward arousal?” She asked, helping me sit on the bed.

“Honestly, no.” I sighed, flopping back on the bed. “I've had enough emotional manipulation from Zebra magic today.”

“Then you'll love this.” Ruby dug into her pack and pulled out a mask, setting it on the bed. I floated it up curiously and saw it contained no glyphs at all. “We figured out how to remove the glyph marks completely. Totally changes our ability to infiltrate the group if we can ever pin their location down.” She turned off the bedroom light, moving back to the bed just by the light of my glowing horn and got into bed beside me, taking the mask and setting it on the bedside table. “For now, why don't you get some sleep? You've had a messed up sleep schedule the last few days and it can't be doing you any good with all the extra pressure you've been under.”

“Thanks Ruby...I don't know what I'd do without you...” I said, snuggling contently into her forelegs and nuzzling my face into her neck.

“Wither and die most likely.” She laughed quietly, hugging me close. I smiled and wrapped a leg around her, drifting off to sleep in a matter of moments...

When I woke it was about 4PM the same day, Ruby was gone from the bedroom, my body felt a lot better and my mind wasn't so bogged down with crushing sadness fighting against blind rage for control of my emotions.

I spent a few more minutes just laying in bed, then finally rolled out from under the warm covers and headed back to my lab. I was amazed to find the system flashing 'unlock 50% complete' on the main monitor. That meant it had cracked one of the hard drives. I pulled up the file directory, eager to get to work studying the contents, but when I started scrolling through the files I couldn't help but break out laughing, 200 years and here I was, sitting looking at a side of Venture I'd have thought long dead...

“What's so funny?” I turned and saw Ruby, Xem and CB coming up behind me.

“Look at this.” I gestured to the screen, still with a big silly grin plastered on my face.

“You broke the encryption on the hard drives?” Ruby asked, leaning in and looking at the screen curiously. “I don't know what any of this means...” She shrugged, looking back to me.

“I broke into one of the hard drives, but this was the easy one. These...” I gestured to the dozens and dozens of directories. “Are TV shows.”

“What?” Xem asked blankly.

“Wait, I remember Crackshot telling me about those...TV shows were things you watched and they weren't real?”

“For the most part yes. Sometimes they were shows about ponies real lives, but those were generally really dumb...But you see when Venture and I worked we missed a BUNCH of TV shows we watched, so we'd record them onto hard drives, and we'd make time to watch a few episodes of this or that when we were working late into the night together, this is one of those hard drives, or at least the contents are from one of those hard drives, this thing is almost brand new, which means he went out of his way to keep them.” In that moment I genuinely missed Venture again for the first time in a long time.

“So what do all these folders mean?” CB asked, looking curiously at the list.

“Well Venture was very organized when it came to things like this.” I lifted CB up and set her in my lap. Xem grabbed two other chairs and offered one to Ruby. She smiled and sat down on one side of me, Xem sitting on the other. “So this is a list of TV shows.” I gestured to the list on the screen. “These ones are movies.” I opened another screen and showed her that list, but switched back to the TV shows. “So now all these folders are different kinds of shows. Anime, cartoons, documentaries, dramas, Fantasy, news, Sci-fi, sports...Though sports was more his thing than mine.”

I clicked open the cartoon folder. “These are shows for children, all shows either drawn by hoof, or animated by computer.” They were all enthralled by the information. “So each of these has dozens of episodes of shows to watch... Duck tails, Darkwing Duck, My little Horsy, Tail Spin...lots of others.” I clicked back and selected the Sci-Fi folder. “There was a lot of talk about going into space, building massive ships the traveled between planets, meeting weird and wonderful aliens from other planets...some of it was amazing. These here were the best.”

“Firefly? Like the bug?” CB asked, looking up at me.

“Kind of.” I shrugged.

“What's a Star Gate?” Xem asked, looking very concerned.

“Are there shows about the other 8 Deep Space things?” Ruby asked.

“How come that folder says Lost when it's right there?”

“What's the difference between a normal leap and a Quantum one? Is that like the cola?”

“Guys guys!” I yelled, trying to silence them before they could continue. “They're just the names of different shows, you're over thinking it.”

“Sorry...” CB muttered, looking down at the ground.

“It's okay, I know it's exciting to see something like this but you just have to go a little slower, how about I start off with a movie and we'll go from there?” They all nodded.

“Alright perfect. Ruby, I want you and Xem to go round up some food, Sparkle-Cola, whatever candy you can get your hooves on, CB I want you to go swipe one of those couches from the waiting room, the one that's shaped like an L, I have to reorganize my office a little to make this work, if you come across Brutus and Crackshot invite them too, I'm sure Crackshot will have a field day with this.” Again the group nodded and the children hurried out of the room, laughing together as they vanished from sight.

“So how's the work going on the masks?” I asked Ruby before she could leave. I had the hub of monitors on the wall wrapped in my magic and was in the process of reconfiguring it already.

“Pretty well actually. After we left they kept working and we're pretty sure they have it mastered, but they're leaving it for the time being, they said they didn't want to press you too hard too fast...what are you doing?” She asked when the monitors floated into the air and started to break apart.

“I'm...making some...changes...” I said slowly, focusing on my work. The casings of the monitors pulled away and the rest of it started to come together, sitting now as one huge monitor, pieces of the casings breaking apart and wrapping around it. I floated a roll of duct tape out of a drawer and with some expert work had the whole thing together again and hanging on the wall, all the cables now wrapped together and no visible sign of the mess I had made of the back of the monitors.

“Wow...that's something else.” She laughed. “Anyway, I should go help Xem.” She said, heading out herself.

Crackshot showed up with Xem and Ruby when they came back, all of them loaded up with junk food. “Cane...don't lie to me now...did you really get TV?” She asked hopefully.

“I really did. That hard drive contains 500 movies, hundreds of TV shows and thousands of songs.”

She got kind of teary eyed and looked at the directory on the massive monitor. “I have never been so happy that you came into my life as I am right now.” Crackshot said, hugging me tightly, actually getting teary eyed.

“Uhh...thanks?” I muttered stupidly, patting her back. She stepped back and moved out of the way when CB came in with the couch and set it on the ground just in front of the island.

“Woo!” Crackshot leapt up and crashed down on the middle of the couch. “I haven't watched a movie in 200 years, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this.”

“Iron Buck?” I asked and Crackshot squeed with delight, making the others look at her like she was insane.

“I promise, Crackshot not withstanding, this movie IS awesome.” I smirked, pulling up the movie and starting it before moving to the doors, closing them and turning off the lights, moving back to the couch and sitting down, Ruby sat beside me and cuddled up, Xem sitting on the opposite side to me, all of us surprised to see CB sit beside him and rest against him, much like Ruby did with me, but the movie started and we just settled in to watch it. Everyone 'ooo'd' and 'ahh'd' throughout it, Crackshot repeatedly struggled not to blurt things out ahead of time but they quickly learned that the good stuff was coming whenever Crackshot snorted or gasped.

Part way through the movie it paused and a message flashed up 'Decryption 100% complete.' “Ooo, the other hard drive is done.” Of course I was shouted down by all the others in the room when the movie paused. “Yeah yeah, hold on, hold on!” I laughed, getting up off the couch. I pulled the hard drive out and got the movie going again, taking the hard drive and moving to sit at another computer behind the others so I could still watch while I worked. I reached out with my magic and grabbed some of the junk food from the couch, floating it over to me and setting it down beside the monitor. Okay, NOW I was the most comfortable I could be.

I started going through the files, a lot of it was old schematics, financial reports, resource requests...it looked like Venture had kept almost all the old data...and almost all of it was useless. I found a folder of news articles, most of them dated after I had been frozen and started reading through them, finding they all shared a common theme. “No way...I don't know...how this could work...”

“What is it?” I jumped and swore softly.

“Seriously, if we get attacked while I'm in my lab, I'll just end up dead won't I?” I sighed, turning and looking at Ruby. “These articles...They talk about Princess Luna approving some new mega-spell project that Venture was going to head up, but it was top secret...Massive amounts of Bits from the royal coffers were put into this project, a huge transfer of personnel and equipment to Sugar-Star Enterprises...”

“Your company was called Sugar-Star?” Ruby smirked.

“Yeah...you didn't know that?”

“Well...I guess we never really talked about it...you always just called it 'the office' or 'work' I didn't realize I didn't know the name...” She shrugged.

“Anyway...” I laughed, going back to the computer monitor, “there are requisition forms, plans for a massive server network. These plans are the sort of thing we talked about if we ever got unlimited resources, and from the look of it Ven just might have gotten that from the Princess.”

“THAT WAS AWESOME!” CB cried, leaping up off the couch and I looked up and realized the movie was over. “I can't believe I've never seen a movie before! Are they all that good?” She asked, looking over the back of the couch at me.

“Not ALL of them, but we mostly just got the good stuff. Though I have some movies that are SO bad that they're good.”

“How does that work?”

“Quantum Entanglement?” I shrugged and she gave me a confused look.

“No one really knows why B movies are so good when they're so cheesy.” Crackshot said, pushing herself up off the couch and stretching. “It's some kind of movie magic, now come on kiddies, lets get you some dinner and we'll see about watching Iron Buck 2, right Cane?”

I nodded happily and Crackshot's face lit up. “We'll bring you back something.” She said, the three of them heading out of the room. Ruby hung back with me, looking over the documents with me.

“So the goddesses...they really were just regular rulers?” Ruby asked.

“Well yeah.” I said, looking over at her. “They were very powerful alicorns, but they weren't goddesses by any means. They're mother, Queen Faust, she was probably the closest thing to a real goddess in all of Equestrian history, but no pony knows what happened to her.” I turned back to the screen, going over requisition forms one at a time, the minutes dragging on until almost 20 had passed, before I finally found what seemed to be a proper solid lead. “Look at these magic and scientific tomes they had brought in...Teleportation basics, Advanced Teleportation, Quantum Tunneling, Wormhole Theory, Star Swirl the Bearded's unabridged magical texts, volumes 1 to 28, Sub-molecular Displacement...holy shit...”

“What does it all mean?” Ruby asked.

“It means they were working on some kind of teleportation mega-spell, it might even be how they manage to overwhelm whole settlements now. Presumably he has the spell up and running by now. He can probably move his whole army anywhere in the wasteland in a matter of minutes.” I stood up from the desk and paced slowly for a moment, taking a chance to get the next movie up and ready for the others. “Tomorrow...we NEED to go to the old zebra settlement and look for clues.”

“I'll talk to Brutus, we'll get it all put together.” Ruby nodded, looking back at the doors as the others returned.

“The food choices weren't fantastic...” Crackshot started but CB leapt past her, a couple of plates of food in her grip.

“BACON!” She cried, landing in front of me, two of the plates had a small pile of bacon, mashed potatoes and a sliced apple, the other had potatoes, an apple and a half and a piece of cheese about equal to the pile of bacon on the other plates.

“BACON!” I cheered, floating two of the plates out of her grip, giving the non-bacon plate to Ruby, who smiled gratefully.

Crackshot had a big bowl of hay with her weird irradiated sauce on it. Of all the things to make it out of the old base when the Pyros had attacked I couldn't believe two cases of that sauce had been among them, Xem had a plate made up the same as Ruby's.

“Now, movie!” Crackshot said, settling back onto the couch with the children.

“Yes ma'am.” I laughed, starting the movie with a quick magical bump to the main keyboard.

Tomorrow we'd set out for the Zebra settlement. Xem probably wasn't going to be happy about it, but for now...we could just enjoy the movie...

Footnote: 25% to next level

Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

We set out early the next morning. Xem hadn't been thrilled at the thought of going home again after so many years but he knew it was of the utmost importance to us and so he agreed to show us the way all the same. We decided to take the sky wagon so we could travel faster. We'd headed to town first, we needed all the help we could get and we wanted to try and recruit Lily to the cause, she had come with us, wearing just simple metal armour, her MDW armour tucked away in a trunk we'd loaded into the back just in case things got really hairy. I had wired the hard drives into the computer on the Quad turret so I could keep working while we flew. DJ Pon3 was playing on the radio in the cockpit.

"And that last selection goes out to my favorite toaster repair pony, thanks again for bringing me those new records, nothing like mixing up the selection some times. Homage wanted me to let you know that she has a special present for you next time you get a chance to visit, whatever that means. Now how about a few more new tunes?" Homage's voice cut out and another song started.

"Boo!" I called. She screamed and dropped the pile of records in magical grasp. I sat watching her on the monitor directly behind her, grinning like an idiot. I had linked in while she was talking and simply sat waiting for her step away from the mic before I tried to talk.

"Geeze Sugarcane, you scared me half to death." She sighed, picking up her records and setting them down on the desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I, uh, have a present for DJ Pon3." I smiled.

"Oh do you now?" She asked, grinning a little. "I hope you aren't expecting a special present too, because I only like Mares."

"Me too." I nodded and she laughed. "I'm in a sky wagon with..." I turned and looked. "Four mares...Lily do you count as a mare?" I called up to the cockpit.

"It's how I normally how I identify so sure."

"Four mares." I nodded, looking back to the monitor. "Lily is a changeling."

"Ooo the possibilities are endless." She grinned. "You still with that pretty pegasus?"

"I am." I nodded. "We're getting married."

She squeed a little, giggling and blushing as only a mare can when you tell them you're getting married.

"She's flying the sky wagon with Lily..."

"And who's Lily?" She asked.

"Her cousin."

"Her cousin is a changeling? How's that work?"

"You're very curious."

"I'm a news reporter, I collect all information."

"Lily was adopted into the family as a baby."

"Oh that makes sense."

"Anyway..."

"Hey Cane, whatcha doing? Who's this?" CB pushed her way in front of me and looked at the monitor curiously. "Who're you?"

"I'm Homage, who're you?"

"I'm CB, how are you in the turret computer?"

"The what?"

"CB..." I tried but was cut off.

"Yeah we have turrets in the sky wagon and this one has a computer in it. I didn't know it could talk to other ponies."

"Normally it can't..." Again I'm cut off.

"Cane why do you have a little filly with you?"

"I'm part of the team!"

I looked helplessly at the others in the cabin but they were either grinning or just watching, content to stay out of the way.

"I'm responsible for her." I managed, cutting off Homage before she could keep going. "CB sweetie, I really need to finish talking with Homage before we get to the village alright?"

She sighed and nodded. "Fine, you never let me have any fun..." She stepped off the bench and moved back to sit with Xem.

"We could have left you back in town with Firebird." I said and she just waved a dismissive hoof at me.

"Kids..." I sighed. "I don't know what made me think I was ready..."

"So she's your daughter?"

"Adoptive daughter yes. Her mother was killed when the Pyro Collective attacked our base." I said softly, but CB wasn't paying attention anymore anyway. "So Ruby and I decided to take care of her."

"Aw, that's so sweet." She smiled. "Anyway, I'm gonna have to get back to this soon so what did you want to give me?"

"Do the computers there still work properly?" She nodded, "and do they still have working storage?" She nodded again. "Can you set them to receive data from me?" She took a moment to poke at it and then came back and nodded again.

"Alright perfect, now you might want to hold onto something for this part." I smiled, hitting a few buttons on the computer. I heard the computer DING on her end as the files started transferring. She leaned closer and looked at the list curiously. "What are these? There's tons of em."

I broke into a big goofy grin again. "Those are songs."

She looked up at me again, clearly not sure if I was serious. "They're what?"

"Digital copies of music. Those records you have were actually old and out of date before I was born."

"What? Really? But how do these work?" She asked, clearly awestruck as the transfer continued.

"The computers are wired into the sound system, same as the record players. You just use the computer software instead of the turn tables."

"Yeah I have the instruction manual, I'm sure I can find it..." She looked back at me. "I lied...I might have a special present for you if you ever make it out to Tenpony Tower."

"Anything I can do to help." I smirked.

"How many are there?"

"A full months worth of music."

"Meaning?"

"If you were to not speak, no news, no intermissions, no breaks, just played music, one song after another, back to back, it would take you a physical month to play every song just once."

"I...I...I..Cane...You're..." She stammered, looking kind of faint.

"Hey, you're welcome." I smiled. "I might be going to my death soon and I'd hate for all this music to be lost."

"There's so much work to do with these..."

"Well they'll all sort into folders once the files finish sending, all the genres broken down for you, and then again by artist. I suggest starting with the 'Classic Rock' folder and working your way out from there."

"You're the boss." She nodded, watching as it finished, all the files vanishing into a dozen folders. My Pipbuck chirped and showed me the transfer was complete so I cut that link.

"Well try not to weep too much when you listen to the greatest music ever to grace your ears."

"I'll try..." She nodded, already burying herself in the huge list of Artist sub-folders inside the classic rock main folder.

"Start with the Hoof Beats, then the Stones, then The Who..."

"The what?"

"No The Who, I don't have anything by What."

"Huh?"

"They're in the Alt. Rock folder."

"Who?"

"No they're Classic Rock."

"KNOCK IT OFF CANE!" Crackshot snapped, smacking the back of my head, making me lose my concentration and break out laughing. "She doesn't get it and you're just confusing the poor mare."

"I...What?" Homage looked from one to the other.

"It's a very, VERY old joke...it was old before our parents were born." Crackshot explained. "Hoof Beats, the Stones, Queen, The Who, The Eagles, Deaf Leopard, the GUESS who, yes they're different from The Who, Step-in Wolf, The Birds, and Jefferson Skywagon." She finished. "You can make your way through the other music on your own time."

Homage finished writing the list she'd started with me and nodded happily, then looked back at us. "So wait, what makes you think you're going to your death?"

"We're going to investigate a Zebra village that was attacked by the Pyros and see if we can find some clues..."

"Still working on that eh? Well good luck. Lemme know how it turns out. Things aren't going so well out here either. The Enclave looks like they're rallying to attack..."

"Oh shit...well if we finish our stuff I'm sure we can try to come help."

"Hey, it's not your fight."

"It's everyone's fight, we all live here, we're going to stand for being bullied by a bunch of stuck up pegasi who think they're better than us." Crackshot said.

"We are better than you!" Ruby called from the cockpit.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah I do."

"Just fly the wagon."

"Uh...guys, fun as this is I have to get back to work...DJ Pon3'll kill me if he catches me slacking off."

"Yeah yeah of course, you get back to it." I said. "I'll call you if we survive."

"Thanks Sugarcane." She smiled, the screen blanking out.

"Well she seems nice." Crackshot grinned.

"Yeah she does. I guess that Toaster Repair Pony she keeps talking about makes her happy." Ruby said.

"Well we can't all be wasteland DJ's or heroes."

"Who in their right mind specializes in TOASTER repair in the wasteland?" Xem asked.

"No clue, but they're good enough for Homage they're good enough for me." I shrugged. "I couldn't fix a toaster very well."

"You used to build robots for a living."

"Okay so MAYBE I could fix a toaster." I laughed.

"Alright everyone we're coming down one mile south of the village. If there's anyone around that doesn't want to see us we don't want to tip our hoof too soon." Brutus said as the sky wagon made it's way down. We settled in a small ditch and everyone unloaded.

"Crackshot, Xem and CB, you three are going to guard the wagon while we're gone."

"Yes sir." CB saluted, grinning to the zebra beside her.

"Ruby, go with Cane, Lily you come with me. We'll split up when we get into town...major or important looking buildings first, keep an eye out for computers so Cane can have at them for info."

"You got it boss man." Ruby said, coming over and bumping my flank. "You gonna keep me nice and warm on this trip?" She asked me, putting a good amount of emphasis on a sultry voice, wrapping her head around the back of my neck and kissing my jaw.

"You're insane, you know that right Ruby?" Brutus asked, shaking his head.

"Crazy like a fox!" She grinned, pushing herself back and and starting away towards the town in the distance.

//////////

We ran into a problem...a BIG problem.

"There's gotta be dozens of them." Ruby said, peering at the bustling groups in the streets off in the distance. We'd barely made it to the outskirts of the village when we noticed movement. We took up a place on a hill and had found dozens of occupants in the town, all going about seemingly normal daily life, except for the fact that they all had Pyro masks around their necks, or on their faces, they looked like any other wasteland village. Guards patrolled the streets, they didn't seem to have any pegasi, but there were a number of watch towers with 3 or 4 ponies in each, watching every direction.

"I say we go in for a better look." Brutus insisted. We hadn't even reached a point where we'd have broken off into teams so we were all still hunched together.

"I could..." Lily offered, transforming into a green Earth Pony buck. "You have those masks without glyphs right?"

"We didn't bring them." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Didn't think we'd need them, and figured it was more important for the others to learn how to change them so that we could take ponies out of the fight without hurting them, and you'll draw attention without one."

"Dammit..." She flashed and returned to normal.

"There aren't that many of them. I say we attack!" Brutus said, stomping a hoof in the dirt. "We hop in the Skywagon and strafe those mother buckers. They don't have any decent Anti-air weapons that I can see. Those flamers will be USELESS from the distance we attack..." He was cut off when a half dozen sky wagons appeared from the opposite direction. "Or maybe they have their own armada..." He gulped.

They came down towards a clearing on the far side of town and started to drop to the ground, but amazingly vanished from sight as they did.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell?" Crackshot asked, looking through her binoculars.

"Where are they going?" Ruby asked.

"Well spank my ass and call me a filly..." I muttered, looking through my own binoculars, then down at my pipbuck.

One of Ruby's wings came down on my rump. "What is it my little filly?" She grinned.

"It's the Delta site." I gestured to the blank space where the sky wagons had now all vanished.

"The WHAT?"

"When Crackshot and I returned to my office to clean out the rest of the stuff, I authorized Crackshot in the system so it didn't try to kill her. It told me it couldn't authorize her for the Delta site because it had been removed from the network. I figured it had been destroyed, but this is it..." I was scrolling through old data on my pip buck. "I only ever came here once, while it was still being built..." I found an old map of the area around the delta site and it was a small town with a predominantly Zebra population, nodding to myself. "This was supposed to be the 'top secret' facility. The really powerful stuff was made here. Huge power supplies, tons of simple storage that could be converted into offices or labs or anything we needed. It was meant to be as malleable as we needed...and it had a cloaking spell placed on it so no one could find it easily...I don't know why I didn't think about it sooner. I guess when it was first pointed out I didn't even know about Venture, so it didn't occur to me, but this has to be their base of operations. That's why no one could find them. They have a cloaked building, the town just looks like any other town."

"Well what do we do?" Brutus asked.

"We go back to town, we regroup and we come up with a plan. I was ready to scout the town, to scavenge data and supplies, but I was NOT prepared for this."

"Alright, we go back to town then. We'll come up with a new plan and we come back in force."

We withdrew quickly and quietly. When we got back to the sky wagon the others seemed surprised to see us so soon.

"What happened?"

"The whole town is swarming with Pyros. This is their base." Lily said. "It's time to go home for now."

//////////

Brutus, Crackshot and I spent the whole flight back deep in conversation, while I taught them everything I could about the delta site from the data I had on the scavenged hard drives and my own fuzzy memories they came up with the plan of attack for how to take the town.

"We're going to need every solider willing to help, every one willing to take up arms and come with us."

"Well we know everypony in the Collective is on board." Crackshot said.

"Probably anyone else in town that has ended up a refugee or suffered a loss from the pyros will be with us I'm sure."

The skywagon suddenly lurched to a stop and I pitched forward, smacking my horn against the turret computer and cracking the screen.

"Ruby! What the hell?" Brutus demanded, pulling himself back up onto the bench he'd been sitting on.

"You guys need to look outside..." Ruby called. She turned the wagon and the back door opened. We were still hundreds of feet in the air, looking down at Maneville, there were massive smoldering piles all around the town, I could see the main gate lying about 20 feet inside the entrance to the town, small forms ran about frantically, dozens of buildings were on fire or had collapsed completely.

"Fuck..."

Footnote: 50% to next level

Author's Note

Yeah I know I spelled Def Leppard, The Birds and Steppenwolf wrong in the story, THAT'S THE JOKE! :P

This chapter has the distinction of being the only one I wrote completely at the office, and in the span of two days, and all of it completely on FIMfiction. This is the first chapter not to be written on my laptop and then posted to the site...just thought I'd share that little tidbit. :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

We set down hard and fast outside of town. The guard house was nothing more than a pile of ash, two ponies I didn't recognize lay outside the gate in a still drying pool of blood. The gate to the city had been blown open, a half dozen blast marks around the frame showing where the explosives had been placed. We didn't have time to slow down though. Lily was running full tilt into the city in a blind panic and we were struggling to keep up with her. She was so frantic she seemed to completely forget she was able to fly, but changelings were surprisingly fast on the ground as well.

We rounded the corner of one of the blocks, what had been an armour shop was now a blasted out shell, burnt and broken armour pieces scattered around the immediate area, splattered blood on the pieces of window that lay amongst the armour outside, I could only imagine the gore within.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit...” Lily started muttering as we came to the end of the street. The Phoenix was leveled, still smouldering. “No no no no no no!” She finally leapt into the air and raced towards the building, leaving a green trail in her wake. Ruby shot up after her and we ran as fast as we could.

“MOM!? MOM!” Lily screamed, her magic ripping at the debris, tears streaming down her face. CB and I reached her next, trying to pull the debris apart as fast as we could. CB pulled up massive piles of rubble, pulling it all apart carefully before putting it back down. “I can't find her!” Lily cried, prying more and more, but there was so much rubble, so much still burning or smouldering.

“Lily...” Ruby started, putting a hoof on her shoulder but Lily jerked away.

“Just help me!” She yelled, pulling up more and more debris.

“No! Lily...Lily STOP!” Ruby yelled, grabbing her and pulling her back.

Lily turned her head and fired a concussive shot out of her horn right in Ruby's face, but a shield flashed up between them and the shot exploded harmlessly, CB putting up a full barrier between them.

“What the hell was that?” Ruby fell back in shock when the shot exploded but her building anger was short lived when Lily broke down into tears, collapsing in a heap on the ground. CB looked to Ruby for approval before dropping the shield and did once Ruby nodded, before the pink pegasus stepped forward and hugged the weeping changeling.

“Ahem...” I turned slowly and came face to face with...”Mare-Do-Well?” I admit it, my brain stalled out for a minute. She wore armour almost identical to Lily's but clearly older, more worn. It was singed and pock marked pretty badly, most of the damage looked fresh, her helmet snapped open to reveal Firebird, smiling tiredly, looking at Lily sadly.

“MOM!” Lily shot up and tackled the power armoured mare like she weighed nothing. Maintaining their cover didn't matter, the tragedy that still raged around us didn't matter, none of it mattered to Lily. She hugged her mother tightly and just wept.

Firebird hugged her comfortingly, or at least as comfortingly as she could in the thick armour. “Lily, sweetie, it's alright, I'm fine. As soon as the Pyros attacked I ducked out through the basement, suited up and came out in the square, and you know there isn't a flamethrower built that can pierce our armour.”

Lily finally sat back and nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.

“What happened?” Brutus asked. “Besides the obvious I mean...”

“I don't know the full extent of the damage, but it looks like they took the children.”

“Dammit, of course they did.” I snapped. “Remember Xekron tried to take CB when they attacked the collective base?”

“We should focus on helping everypony don't you think?” Crackshot asked, looking at the chaos around us.

“I think for now that's the best we can do. Help survivors, get fires put out, try and figure out how bad the damage is.”

//////////

The rest of the day was a blur...putting out fires, moving debris...moving bodies...The more ponies we talked to the worse things seemed to get. They raided stores, stole all the supplies they could carry...a whole squadron dropped on the school and the changeling teacher had put up a hell of a fight, taking out 5 of them with just his talons, he'd transformed into a dragon, but they had finally put him down, and taken all the children, muzzling them with masks and loading them into the sky wagons. Parents had gathered at the apartment tower, which had weathered the attack surprisingly well, the old brick and stone building very resistant to flame, much like the city hall building in Clopton had been, and as fires were put out and the injured rescued and brought over, slowly the remainder of the town was gathering together, connecting with friends and family to find out who was safe, who was hurt, or worse...

Ratchet and Clank sat together towards the back of the group, both in full armour, both looking exhausted and badly banged up, a half drunk healing potion sitting between them. They were both leaning against each other, looking beyond tired. Ruby and I moved to sit with them. “How are you guys holding up?” She asked when we got close enough.

“As well as can be expected...” Ratchet muttered, looking up tiredly. Clank just nodded and took another drink from the healing potion.

A new set of indicators appeared on my EFS and I turned my head towards an alley that sat between two scorched homes. I looked up and saw Bottle Cap walking slowly towards us, looking kind of like she was in a trance. Her horn was glowing softly to light her path, a baby carrier saddle on her back, two sleeping infants in them. Two vaguely familiar foals...

Ruby shot up from her spot and raced over to them. “Bottle Cap? What happened? Why do you have the Storm's babies?”

“I...I'm not sure...” She wandered past Ruby and sat down beside Ratchet. I realized she had blood coming from her ears and dried around her nose.

“What happened?” I asked again, moving to sit beside her while Ruby gently took the baby carrier from her, checking the foals for any injuries.

“Uhh...There...was a bomb...I think...” She said slowly, looking up at us finally. “There was this terrible bang, a huge flash of light...and I must have blacked out...I came to and they were gone...Sky and the merchants we'd been talking to, the blast had thrown me into a dumpster, the babies had been sleeping inside the house. I could just barely hear them crying...my ears were ringing so badly. I managed to calm them down and I just sort of wandered around till I got here...have you seen Sky? She doesn't do very well on her own...”

“We'll find her, don't worry.” Ruby said and Cap just nodded. “The babies are alright, they don't seem to have any injuries or anything.”

“Think you two could keep an eye on the babies while we try and look around for the Storms?” I asked the two bucks beside us and they nodded.

“We need to do something.” Brutus said, coming up beside me as I started to try and search the crowd. “We know where they've taken the children and the ponies they kidnapped, we need to rally the troops and take the fight to the Pyros for once.”

“I agree, but is it our place to rally these troops? We need to think about this before we go riling everypony into a frenzy. What about the members of the collective at the hospital, they'll want to be informed and given the chance the come in on this too right? Or what about the unicorns working on the mask altering magic? How ready are they? Are they at a point where the spell can be taught out to as many unicorns as possible?”

“I suppose you're right.” He nodded, unfortunately the decision was made for us when...

“HEY EVERYPONY!” CB's voice echoed and we looked up in horror at the platform where they usually had auctions. “WE KNOW WHERE THE PYROS TOOK EVERYONE THEY KIDNAPPED!” CB was standing in the middle of the platform, her horn glowing brightly with the voice amplification spell. Xem stood off to the side looking horrified, he'd obviously tried to stop her right up until she'd started talking to the crowd. “WE CAN GO THERE AND GET THEM BACK!”

The crowd were starting to get riled up quickly and Brutus and I shared a look before he rushed over and jumped up on the stage. “CB that's ENOUGH.” He snapped at her before amplifying his own voice. “LISTEN EVERYONE, WE DO KNOW WHERE THEY'VE TAKEN THEM, BUT WE CAN'T JUST RUSH INTO IT, THEY'RE WELL ARMED AND DEFENDED, IF WE GO OFF HALF COCKED MORE OF US COULD END UP CAPTURED OR KILLED. GIVE US UNTIL MORNING AND WE CAN MAKE SURE WE'RE AS READY AS POSSIBLE TO RESCUE THE CAPTIVES. WE'RE ALREADY WORKING ON A PLAN, WE EVEN HAVE SOME NEW DEFENSES TO IMPLEMENT.” The crowd didn't seem too thrilled with the idea but Brutus pressed on. “LOOK AT THE DESTRUCTION THEY CAUSED TO THE TOWN, HOMES DESTROYED, FAMILIES TORN APART! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO RUN IN THERE WITH NO PLAN OR PREPARATION?” More and more of the crowd seemed to be staying in their places. I could see the wheels spinning in his mind as he tried to figure out where to go to keep the crowd on his side. “ALRIGHT, HERE'S WHAT WE NEED! ALL GUARDS COME TO THE FRONT, ANYONE WHO DOES CARAVAN ESCORT DUTY, OR HAS ANY KIND OF SPECIALIZED FIREARMS TRAINING, BEHIND THEM, ANYONE WITH STANDARD FIREARMS TRAINING AFTER THAT.” The massive group slowly organized itself in row after row of ponies.

“ALRIGHT, ALL UNICORNS WITH A SPECIALTY FOR MAGIC MOVE TO STAND ON THE RIGHT.” The rows reorganized quickly. “ALRIGHT FINALLY ANY PEGASI WHO ARE PART OF THE COLLECTIVE MOVE OUT OF THE GROUP FOR THE MOMENT...” A dozen or so ponies moved out of the group curiously as Brutus walked off the stage.

“Who the hell gave you the right to start mobilizing and organizing our forces?” An Earth pony buck demanded from Brutus as he came off the stage.

“Oh I'm sorry, didn't you want to get your friends and family back?”

“Well I...”

“Did you want me to get back on stage and just tell everypony to go home and let this sort itself out?”

“No...”

“So why don't you shut the fuck up and go back to being a bureaucratic coward?”

“How dare yo...”

“Well you weren't one of the ponies that stepped up when I made the call to arms so I can only assume you didn't want to come with us.”

“What qualifies you...”

“You see those ponies?” He pointed to me and Ruby. “They, along with myself and a few other ponies in the collective are the closest thing to 'experts' on the subject of the Pyros, so if you want to take over and just make shit up by all means go right ahead.” Brutus gestured to the groups he'd just organized. The buck stammered and faltered for a moment before finally just slinking away, muttering bitterly to himself.

“That's what I thought.” Brutus smirked, watching him go for a moment before returning his attention to his new soldiers. “Alright, so here's what we need, “Collective Pegasi! You are going to return to the hospital with Lilith and Ruby and round up anypony who wants to join the fight. Get weapons, wagons and whatever else we need and head back fast as you can. GO!” They saluted him and took off for the Sky wagon bay.

Ruby and Lily looked at each other curiously, because obviously they hadn’t been told that part of the plan, but they shrugged and nodded, saluting Brutus with coy grins and hurrying off after the others.

“Earth Ponies, prep your weapons, spend some time doing some target practice. We’re going to try for as non-lethal an assault as possible. Most of these Pyros are under mind control and we want to free them, not kill them! Unicorns, come with me, we have a spell for reprogramming the masks that control the others, and we need every pony able to learn this spell.” The Earth ponies hurried off to their work, the unicorns stepped forward to fill the gap and Brutus looked to me as I walked up to the group.

“What? I don’t know how to cast the glyph change spell.”

Brutus sighed and set to work as the only teacher…

//////////

Luckily two hours later the first sky wagon returned, bringing the unicorns that had been studying the masks, so they broke the unicorns up into groups and started training them, having the actual masks now to show if they were succeeding or not. Brutus left the training to the unicorns that had spent all the time studying and learning the masks. He took one of the masks and finished teaching me how to cast the spell and then we moved on to other areas. We met with the remaining council members, both of the collective and of the city, and laid out everything we knew of the town we were attacking, of the camouflaged building and of the dangers we were going to be facing. Lily, Ruby, Crackshot and Firebird (Still in her MDW get up, and acting as such) added their own pieces to the puzzle and soon the council was coming up with the best plan of attack, chock points, everything. Despite the arrogant jerk who’d tried to usurp our initial orders to the troops most of the councilors here were trained warriors, soldiers, retired caravan guards…they knew what they were doing and we were happy not to have all the burden on ourselves for once.

“Why don’t you leave the rest of the planning up to us?” One of them said finally once we’d finished giving them all the information we could. “You’ve done more than we could hope for, go get some rest or something. We’re going to reorganize everypony at 0830. It’s 0225 now, you could probably use some sleep. I know we all could, but you guys are going to have the most important part of the job, go crash in the Inn for now.”

I was going to protest but one look at my friends told me I shouldn’t be making that call. “Yeah alright…I think we could all use some sleep…” I could almost hear the sigh of relief from my friends when I said that. Crackshot stayed with the council since she didn’t technically need to sleep, but the rest of us were more than happy to leave the stuffy war room and head downstairs.

“You do realize this might be our last night together?” Lily asked. “We might not all come back from the battle tomorrow...”

“I don't care, you're still not sleeping with my Sugar.” Ruby said, grinning at her cousin.

“Uhh don't I get a say in the matter?” I asked, smirking back at her.

“Nope.” Ruby shook her head. “I expect to be the only mare to share your bed.”

“I'm not technically a mare.” Lily offered with a coy grin.

“What if I want to have a go at him?” Brutus asked. I glanced at Ruby my eyebrows shooting up. I stuck my hoof out in front of me, and pointed at Brutus. I nodded my head furiously, drawing my lips into a curious frown. A look that said 'he has a point, he has a point' without needing the words.

“No!” She said, hugging me defensively. “Only female! Only male too! Only living creature!”

“Cracksh...” Brutus started.

“OR UNDEAD CREATURE!” She cried, struggling not to burst out laughing.

“So when our daughter is born I'll just have to tell her to go sleep on the couch when she has a nightmare? Or when our son is sick he'll just have to cuddle a pillow? That hardly seems fair.” I said, pulling back from her and giving her a serious look.

“They'll be the exception to the rule.” Ruby smiled, kissing my horn and finally starting down the hall again.

“What if I only slept with him while I was you?” Lily asked, flashing green and turning into her cousin.

“That's just weird Lil.” Ruby sighed. “Besides, his pipbuck would tell him it's you.”

“I can take the pipbuck off.” I offered without really thinking and Lily finally broke down into a fit of laughter. Ruby put on her best hurt look but broke down pretty fast. “Alright alright, why don't you two go ahead and see if we can get a room to crash in for a few hours?” Ruby asked. “Lily and I have to make a quick pit stop.”

“Yeah alright.” Brutus nodded, walking on with me as they vanished around another corner.

“Everything seems so calm doesn't it?” I asked. “Can't see outside...the carnage, the ponies preparing to go to war...it's like it's all so far removed from us. How did we end up here?” I sighed.

“Yeah, if I'd known all those months ago that thawing you out would lead to this I might have just left you.” He chuckled.

“You know I never did ask, what made you decide to thaw me out? I mean I know I was the only one alive, but you didn't know who I was, if I would be a help or a hindrance to your cause, why even bother risking it?”

“Honestly?” He asked and I nodded. “I figured since you were still alive and untouched you might have good loot tucked away in your storage compartment...” He glanced at Ebony and Ivory tucked away in their holsters and smiled, “but when I saw you laying inside the pod...I thought you were really cute and let my other head do the thinking. I realized what I'd done and kind of panicked as the pod opened, which is why you ended up with a shotgun in your face...”

I looked at him quietly, not sure if he was serious, and trying my damnedest not to laugh in his face if he was. “Well...that's...creepy.” I said finally and he just blushed. “Don't worry about it Brutus. If circumstances were different, I might be going to find a room to sleep beside you instead of Ruby.” I smiled and, despite myself, leaned up and kissed his horn, much like Ruby always did for me.

He blushed even worse and just looked down at the ground, muttering to himself and hurrying off down the hall.

“Huh...I didn't realize I had the effect on guys...I should ask Ratchet and Clank if they have trouble keeping themselves composed in my presence.” I chuckled to myself and continued on.

The whole central tower had weathered the battle quite well, and the foyer section was hopping with ponies. A lot of them lived right here in the tower, making it probably the best target, but also making it the most defended. It looked like most everypony put out by the attack was either out prepping for the coming battle, something I felt I should still have been doing, or they were making arrangements with friends here. It was amazing to see everypony coming together like this, organizing, planning, sharing, checking on friends and family, making sure they could help...it reminded a lot of the Equestria I had left behind, not this war torn wasteland I now called home. It made me feel a lot better to know that all the good of pony kind hadn't been lost in the war.

Walking into the hotel the unicorn behind the desk looked up and smiled. “Doctor Sugarcane? Grimrock called down and said you wanted two rooms?”

“Uhh, yeah I suppose we do.” I nodded. He pulled two keys off hooks and set them down.

“Thanks.” Brutus swept past, grabbed a key and kept going without looking back, vanishing down the hall quickly.

“Oh...uhh...that's okay, the other one was for him anyway.” I said when the unicorn looked like he was going to go after him. I took the other key, thanked him again and headed off. The room was small and simple, a bed big enough for two, a couch, a table and a small bathroom. I turned off the lights and flopped into the bed, tiredly tugging off my armour, setting Ebony and Ivory on the bedside table, and then just letting the armour fall to the floor before I flopped back to sleep.

Sadly that was short lived when I heard the door squeak as it opened. I opened an eye and looked down at the door. The E.F.S. came back green. “Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

“You don't knock? You just wander in? What if I'd been in the middle of pleasuring myself?”

“It would have been awkward for a moment but I'm sure once I came over and started helping you'd have gotten over it.” She chuckled, closing and locking the door and shedding her own armour before crawling into bed on top of me and cuddling down, kissing my neck lovingly.

“I, uhh, wanted to ask you something.” She said softly, nuzzling against my neck.

“So heavy cuddling and a coy act have to be done first?” I asked, chuckling a little.

“I'm worried you'll freak out...” She admitted, shifting and sitting beside me.

“Well spit it out and we'll see what happens.”

“I want to have a baby.” She blurted out finally, blushing brightly and looking down at her hooves. “I...I went and got the implant removed so I could get pregnant.” She added, barely above a whisper.

“That's where you and Lily went?” I asked and she nodded. “So you figure...” I paused and studied her a moment, trying to think her reasoning through. “...best case scenario, we survive, we have a baby, life is great. You die, I live, we'll never know if you were pregnant anyway. I die, you live, maybe get a baby, maybe don't...or we both die and it doesn't matter.”

“Well don't you just know how to put a romantic spin on things?” She sighed. “Forget I asked, don't worry about it.” She pushed herself up and turned to go. “I'll have the implant put back in tomorrow when we get back from the baaaaaattle...” She trailed off into a groan as my tongue slid along her back side. She turned back and looked at me, and I sat there, tongue still hanging out of my mouth, a curious 'should I stop?' look on my face. I didn't know if it was just the tension of the situation, or simply that I was a guy, but I felt like I had never needed anything so much in my life as I needed her right at that moment.

She sighed and smiled. “Thanks Sugar...” She leaned back towards me but I just tugged her down over my side and kissed her deeply. “Well...if you're sure.” She giggled, breaking the kiss for only a moment before pressing her lips back to mine.

//////////

“Are you sure about this?” Brutus asked as we flew back towards the zebra village early the next morning. His armour was cleaned and ready, a pair of shotguns on his back, his powerhooves armed and loaded.

“As sure as I can be.” I shrugged. “We can't leave the crimes they've committed unpunished.”

“I meant the part where you jump out of a moving sky wagon with a fireworks display strapped to your back.”

“Oh that, yeah I'm questioning the sanity of that one too.” I grinned.

When we had rejoined the attack force a few hours later I had insisted on being given one last chance to reason with Venture, but nopony was willing to risk their hides for so stupid an idea, so instead I came up with this plan.

Our wagon was going to fly over the city and I'd jump out, landing gracefully on the edge of town closest to the field the cloaked base sat in, using a spell CB had taught me. I'd demand to talk to Venture and if he wouldn't, then I'd go to phase two, firing a massive display of Fireworks I had with me, sending the signal for the armada of sky wagons that would be hidden in the valley beyond the town to attack, hopefully not getting killed as I ran for my life back to my friends, and then turn around and charge right back into the fray to fight the ponies I just ran from...yeah I was excited for this...

Ruby had a padded set of armour on, her battle saddle sitting strapped to the wall for the time being until she could unhook from the pilot harness and put the saddle on. Lily was again in the Co-pilot harness, back in her mare-Do-Well armour. Firebird sat on a bench with Xem and CB. She had repainted her armour during the night, it was a gleaming white now, so she'd be able to truly see just how much damage she sustained in the fight. The children sat, looking far too armed for my tastes, but we needed all the help we could get. CB had been properly trained in the use of grenades and plastique, or at least as properly trained as somepony could be in only a few hours. She also had a grenade launcher strapped to her back, a machine pistol in her left holster and a normal one in her right. Xem had a battle saddle on, a shotgun in the left, a hunting carbine in the right, as well as his own bandolier of grenades. It made me genuinely sick to think of them going into battle, and seeing them armed and ready for war just made it worse.

Crackshot stood at one of the turrets, keeping an eye on the skies. She had gone all out for her armaments. Her battle saddle had the recharger rifles I had given her, and she had the Fatbuck close at hoof. She planned on starting the party with a bang, by leveling a whole building.

“Ready?” Ruby called back to us as the back door opened.

“As I can be!” I replied, moving into place. Oh shit it was so far down...

“GO!” Ruby yelled and with a magical shove from Brutus I was soaring down towards the city.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...” I closed my eyes and focused on the spell to slow my descent. I felt the amulet around my neck warm as my magic activated and soon felt my descent slowed significantly. I opened my eyes slowly to find I was drifting downwards slowly, right on target to land at the edge of the 'clearing' the building would be just a few dozen meters in front of me.

Ponies on the ground quickly took notice of me but none seemed to think to take a shot at me as I came down, a little harder than I'd have liked, rolling forward on impact and pushing myself back up quickly.

“VENTURE!” I called towards the base, amplifying my voice magically. “I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! COME OUT AND TALK TO ME! I WANT TO WORK THIS OUT!” I stood silently, not sure what to expect next...a dozen soldiers all stood around me, weapons trained on me, though they were either still shocked by my brash entrance, not to mention my flat out demand to talk to their boss, or they recognized me and had orders not to engage? Either way they made no move against me...Of course there was no response from Venture either...

After a few tense moments there was a shimmer in front of me where the front entrance had to be, and Xekron, the Pyro from the base, emerged. He wore no face mask this time, goggles sat just above his horn, his right eye was scarred and the eye itself a robotic prosthetic, when Crackshot had bucked him out of the sky wagon the broken goggles must have shattered right into his eye.

“So Sugarcane. You finally found your way here. Guess Coal owes me 15 caps. He said you'd be here a week ago.”

“I want to talk to my brother.”

“He doesn't want to talk to you.”

“This madness needs to end!”

“We don't want it to end.”

“You've enslaved hundreds of ponies and murdered countless more.” I gestured to the guards around me, most of whom wore control masks and stood with blank eyes, training their weapons on me on the orders of one of the few in the group who didn't keep his mask on. “Let them go, let them return to their families.”

“Most of their families are either here with them or dead. What's the point of freeing them when they can just stay here with their family while serving a noble cause?”

“There's nothing noble about what you and Venture are doing.”

“There's no way for your to stop us.”

“Do you think I came here without a plan?”

“What? Calling in your cavalry from over the hills? Come on Sugarcane, even you know that you're still outnumbered almost ten to one.”

“I thought you were keeping better tabs on me than that. The cavalry is just part of our attack force.” I said casually. “You don't even realize just how fucked you are.”

“Oh really?”

“Ya really.” I smirked, gathering magical energy into the talisman around my neck so it was ready without my horn glowing to give it away. “Remember Concussive Blast? The filly who kicked your ass back at our base?”

He nodded slowly. “Even her powerful magic will only carry you so far.”

“Oh I know, but her magic doesn't have anything to do with it. See she made a friend. Someone I think she will grow to love over time.”

“No pony is strong enough to pose that much of a threat.”

“I didn't say somepony, I said someONE. A zebra, named Xem.” He just gave me a blank look. “You probably don't know him. His grandfather though, a tailor by the name of Xeha?” This made his eyes go wide. “There's the look I was waiting for.” I drew the magical power out of the talisman and released a burst out energy outwards, wiping the zebra glyphs from the masks of the ponies that surrounded me. Suddenly I was faced with 3 actual guards and 9 very confused ponies. “RUN!” I yelled, hurling the fireworks into the air with my magic and exploding the whole thing with a quick shot, the fireworks soaring upwards and exploding in a beautiful display.

The now freed ponies scattered, shooting at the pyros that had held them captive for so long and in a matter of moments the whole immediate area devolved into a firefight. I dove for cover behind a dumpster with one of the newly freed earth ponies. “I've been enslaved by these bastards for months. How can I thank you?” She asked, reaching up and pulling the mask off.

“Stay and fight with us.” I said, pulling Ebony from the holster and firing towards Xekron, but he had moved from in front of the building and I saw he was taking on two of the freed ponies himself.

“You don't have to tell me twice.” She smirked. “Name's Death-Stroke.” She leaned out and fired her battle saddle at the coming guards. The sky wagons were swooping in low and fast, ponies leaping out and joining the fray.

“Pleasure to meet you.” I said, firing at a group that was coming from down the block to join the fight.

“INCOMING!” I heard CB yell from above. A pair of silver apples whipped down the block and exploded in a massive of plasma energy, liquifying the group I had been shooting at. CB and Xem landed on top of the dumpster.

“What took you?” I asked.

“Traffic was a NIGHTMARE.” CB said dramatically and Xem laughed. “Now, lets fuck shit up!”

“Hey! Language young lady.” I said flatly.

“Oh sorry, let us go disrupt their expected course of action in an explosive way.” CB said in a serious tone, bowing to Xem. “If you would be so good as to escort me my fine stallion?”

“But of course my dear.” Xem replied, bowing in return to her and they leapt down off the dumpster and tore off around a corner, guns blazing.

“She yours?” Death-Stoke asked.

“Yeah she is.” I smiled softly.

“You're lucky to have raised a girl like that. Strong, independent, good with a grenade...”

I paused and reflected on it, but now wasn't the time to be getting into explanations about CB's family. “Thanks.” Was all I came up with.

“Now can WE fuck some shit up?”

“Absolutely!” I grinned wickedly and the two of us finally tore out from behind the dumpster and into the fray.

Our group was very very quickly over running the city. Unicorns shot spells at anypony wearing a mask and they would all, almost without fail, turn on their former allies.

We already controlled the skies, the pegasi that were under pyro control were the first ones the unicorns had freed of mind control, and the loyal pyro pegasi were shot down.

Ruby, Brutus, Crackshot and the rest of our group were pushing up the main street towards the cloaked building, our intention was for at least our group to breach Venture's base, others joining us if the fighting outside could be brought under control.

I made my way towards them from the opposite direction, my horn blazing with power as I wiped one control mask after another, or my guns coming up and dropping unsuspecting pyros.

As I closed the distance with my team a jet of fire lanced across the street, cutting us off and I looked up, seeing Xekron standing on the roof of the building across the street, blood splattered on his armour and face, a mixture of what I assumed was dirt and blood caking his hooves, both flamers in his battle saddle were still blazing with fire. I took a few potshots at him but was forced to fall back into an abandoned store, putting the stone walls of the building between me and him, though it didn't look like he was going to try to pursue me.

I saw my friends duck back from the fire themselves and dash into the alley between this building at the next. I moved through the store, which had long since been picked clean, shooting the lock off the backroom door, I moved into the massive empty storage room in the back just in time to see my friends coming in through a side door.

“Hey guys! Over here!” I called to them, moving past and old desk with a long dead computer terminal sitting on it.

“So what do we do now?” Brutus asked. “Xekron has us pinned pretty firmly in here...”

“We could go out through the shipping door and around?” Crackshot suggested.

“That would leave us too great a distance to cover and not enough knowledge of our enemy's positions.” Lily said, the synthesizer in her helmet switched on, giving her a neutral robotic voice.

“We could blow out the front of the store and make a run for it in the confusion.” CB said, juggling a group of plastic explosives in her magic.

“That might bring this whole place down on top of us.” Xem said and I nodded in agreement.

“What if you just walk out and into the building?” A robotic voice asked behind me and we all jumped.

We turned to see the strange robotic avatar of Venture watching us from the computer I had thought was dead.

“Venture? You'd really let us just waltz in?” I asked sarcastically.

“I have no problem with that. Xekron is the pony you pissed off, not me.” He chuckled.

“Will you talk with me?”

“Of course I will. You're my brother, the least I could do is give you a chance to change your mind and join me.”

“I was going to say the same thing to you...”

“Well why don't you come in and we'll talk about it? I don't have any cola or anything but we can still sit and go over things. I promise you safe access to the facility. Though everypony else out there fighting is going to just have to keep on doing that.”

“Fine, lets do this. I've been waiting a long time to see you face to face again.”

“Such as it is.” He said simply, the monitor winking off.

After a moment a P.A. Blared out a message. “SUGARCANE AND HIS TEAM ARE TO BE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE BASE UNHINDERED! ANY ATTEMPTS TO STOP THEM WILL BE MET WITH THE MASTER'S FULL WRATH!”

We walked out of the store slowly. The strip of flame was still burning on the street and the battle raged around us, but nopony tried to stop us as we walked up the street towards the field that the cloaked building sat in. As we got close the spell that camouflaged the area lowered and the building came into view. It was identical to the old building, except no where near as worn looking as the other had been.

The front doors swung open and we all shared a look.

“I guess this is it?” Brutus asked. “Well if things go south...it's been an honour.” He grinned. Crackshot smacked him upside the head.

“Now's not the time dumb ass.”

And in we went...

Footnote: Maximum level reached.

Finale

Final Chapter:

(Well here it is, the end of the story. I just want to thank everyone for all their input and sticking with me through the whole process. Special thanks to Alamut for being my most involved fan, you've helped shape this story more than you know :D Also just because this is the finale doesn't mean this is the end of the story.)

We entered the building quickly, escaping the madness of the war zone just outside. The whole place was well lit and immaculately kept. It was the first building I'd seen that looked genuinely untouched by the ravages of the war.

“Seriously, no guards and we're just going to waltz right in?” Brutus asked. “You know it's a trap right?”

“Wait wait, how do you know it's a trap?” Lily asked, the helmet of her Mare-Do-Well suit springing open.

“You heard the conversation right?” I asked and she nodded. “Did you hear us fight?” She shook her head.

“It's a trap.” Everyone chimed in at once.

“Alright everyone be ready.” Brutus said. “CB, you and Xem go through the vents, explosives at any major weak points, we want this place coming down HARD when we leave.”

“Yes sir.” The filly and zebra both saluted him, then looked at each other and giggled quietly. CB's horn lit up and she floated into the air for a moment before flipping around and sticking to the roof, pulling open a vent in the ceiling and climbing in before wrapping Xem in a magic field and lifting him up through the vent and out of sight.

“Now that's how you sneak through a vent.” Ruby smirked.

“I'll keep that in mind.” I nodded.

“Lily and Crackshot you two see if you can find the children and free them.” Brutus said and they nodded and started down the hall quickly.

“Alright you two, lets hit it.” Brutus said, reloading his shotgun, his powerhooves still sparking against the ground. Ruby double-checked the gem packs in the Gatling laser and the bullets in her carbine before nodding. I spun Ebony and Ivory around in front of me rapidly until the little indicators lit up nice and bright again.

We started down the hallway and into the building proper. It was the kind of building Venture and I had always talked about having. Every door we passed was another computer server room. He had to have thousands and thousands of computers networked together. Whatever he was planning on doing with this teleportation mega-spell must have required massive computing power.

“Should we be trashing these to slow him down?” Ruby asked when we entered what had to be the 30th server room.

“Probably no point.” I shrugged. “Most of these will be redundancies in case some fail. We could trash dozens of these rooms and it wouldn't even dent his power.”

We continued up the hallway. I didn't like it, the path was too straightforward. We were being led all too readily towards Venture, but there had been no divergences in the path since the actual entrance.

We finally reached a set of stairs leading up and Brutus stepped forward, creating a shield and pushing it along the stairs in front of us in case there were any traps, but we reached the top of the stairs with no incident.

“I don't like this shit at all...” Ruby grumbled.

The hall lead down past another dozen or so server rooms before finally opening into a large area. We were on the second floor, obviously, of what had to be the warehouse section of the building. Computers and machines lined the walls, a walkway wrapping from where we were, all the way around the room, and most of the floor was imprinted with the symbols of a mega-spell, along with dozens of smaller zebra glyphs. I could feel the warmth of the magic enhancement talisman around my neck, tucked under my barding, against my chest. It seemed to be reacting to all the magical energy in the room. On the far side of the area was a small control room with it's blast shutters closed. I could see a ladder leading up to the roof of the room with another doorway, probably to the hallway beyond.

“Alright, you two go left, I'll go right.” Brutus said, moving out slowly and quietly. My EFS didn't indicate anyone else around so I nodded and we started out. Still no sign of anyone anywhere. Outside we could hear the explosions and gunfire still in full swing. We moved quietly around the room, staying well back of the area below us. We finally reached the building on the far side and Brutus called out as loudly as he dared. “One...two...THREE.” We pulled the door on either side open and raced into the room, only to find there was no floor and we tumbled down to the floor below, a ramp throwing us across the floor and dumping us into the middle of the room. Ruby spreading her wings and landing gracefully, Brutus and I barely righting ourselves with our magic and both ending up in a heap on the ground anyway.

“SUGAR!” Venture's robotic voice boomed out of the speakers in the room as a platform lowered from above, landing on top of the fake room. It had dozens of computers more sophisticated than anything I'd ever seen, and something that looked like a cryo pod, though it had been stripped of the equipment that was normally built into it and instead it was wired into all the computers. “What took you so long dear brother?” Venture stood on the platform, Xekron beside him, no goggles, no mask, his mane pushed out of his face, the scar on his muzzle looked all the more menacing, fully uncovered as it was, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to rip us to pieces. He'd obviously cleaned himself up for this encounter because his coat shone with the light one would expect from a crystal pony, even if he was only, as Xeha had said 'a half-breed'. Venture was even more terrible to see face to face. He was some kind of robotic skeleton, surprisingly closer to the monster he'd appeared as in the memory cube than I'd have expected.

“Come down here and look me in the eyes and tell me why...” I said simply. He laughed and leapt off the platform, but instead of just landing he twisted and bucked me with his back legs, sending me backwards into Brutus.

Brutus growled and levelled his shotguns but I waved him off. “This is my fight.”

I pushed myself back up and rushed back at Ven, my horn sparking with concussive bolts, but they just seemed to burst against against his body pointlessly. I leapt up on my hind legs and drove my right fore hoof into the side of his head but he just laughed it off.

“Come on Sugar, do you REALLY think you can take me?” He taunted. “Your magic is weak, your body is weaker...” He was cut off when I returned his first attack, putting magical power behind it as I smashed his chest with my hind legs. I could feel the amulet warming sharply against my chest again. He pushed himself back to his hooves and dove at me, plasma blasts launching out of his eyes, I dodged to the side, rolling past Ruby and Brutus who had fallen back against a wall to try and stay out of the way, and I leapt into the air, magical energy rippling out from underneath me as it propelled me upwards, I turned in midair, my hooves pressing against the ceiling for a moment before I kicked off again, another burst of energy from my hooves as I shot down, my horn sparking and firing a beam of magical energy. Venture was caught in the blast and screamed in pain and terror as the blast enveloped him, the force of the attack slowed my decent and I turned and landed on the ground in front of Brutus and Ruby, panting hard from the strain of the magical output. Ven still stood where the blast had hit him but he wasn't moving, his eyes had dimmed and after a moment the body fell to the side and stopped completely.

Ruby was about to say something when the sound of a slow clap started above us. I looked up, still trying to catch my breath and saw that a new pony had joined Xekron on the platform. This one looked like a protecta-pony, but with pieces from a brain bot too. His skull had a transparent top and I could see his brain inside the jar, floating in faintly glowing liquid, his horn was the only part of him besides his brain that wasn't metal, though I could see thousands of tiny strands going from his horn to all over his brain, thin wires to replace the regular nerves no doubt. He wore a lab coat over the frame but I couldn't imagine it served much of a purpose anymore.

“That...was...beautiful Sugar.” Venture's voice came from the device and I cried out in anger and frustration.

“Did you just Doom-bot me you asshole?!” I screamed, feeling all my strength draining from my body.

“Why yes, yes I suppose I did.” He laughed loudly, his voice echoing around the room. “I haven't thought about Doom-bots in two hundred years...but that's EXACTLY what I did to you.”

“Venture please, stop this now. I don't know what you're planning with this mega-spell but so many have died today, I'm begging you to stop. We could work together to restore the wasteland to it's former glory. There's already so much evil in his world...” I looked up at him, trying to plead with him, knowing it would be futile.

“Just STOP.” Venture snapped. “I'm not interested in what you think or what you want. I've waited 200 years for this moment. I'm not about to have a change of heart, I don't even HAVE a heart anymore.” He laughed.

“What the fuck happened to you Ven?” I sighed, shaking my head. “Mom and Dad would be so disgusted to see what you've become.”

“MOM AND DAD?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?! They HATED me! They blamed me for you running away! Said the pressure got to you because I didn't do enough to help!” He snapped.

“YOU FROZE ME IN A CRYOPOD! It WAS your fault I vanished!” I retorted. His power didn't matter, what he was capable of, or what the pyro beside him would do to me, in that moment he was my brother throwing a tantrum, and this sort of thing was giving me back my strength. “They might not have actually known it was your fault but damn if they didn't know all the same!”

“You vanished and it was like I stopped mattering! They took care of Rosa, of your foal...your son that you never got to meet. They named him Sugar you know that?” He laughed and I felt my anger boil over all the more, compacted by my sadness. “I taught him how to code, I taught him about life before the war, I protected him and took care of him He was more MY son than yours. Probably why Rosa married me a few years later. Even with the world gone all to hell we were protected enough with my set up that we managed.”

“I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” I screamed, finding myself blinded with a burst rage at the thought of him stepping in to care for my family, Ebony and Ivory lighting up as I unloaded both clips at him. They exploded harmlessly against a green shield that sprang up about 20 feet in front of me. “The hell?” I turned and saw an Alicorn sitting underneath where we had come in, our one blind spot in the room...or perhaps she had come in while Venture had us distracted. She had a green tint to her mane and her horn glowed brightly. She wore a control mask and sat expressionless, eyes closed. Venture leapt off the platform and landed in front of me, smirking

“Oh Sugar you're so dramatic.” Venture laughed, hopping down off the platform, the hydraulics’s of his legs hissing as he landed, steam shooting out before he stood back up and walked towards me. “You don't need to worry anymore. Just sit back and watch as I save Equestria.” The platform hissed loudly, much like Venture's legs had only moments ago and it sank the rest of the way, the fake room sliding down with it and seeming to sink into the ground until the platform was flush with the ground.

“H...how did you control an Alicorn?” Brutus asked softly, fixated by the black creature.

“Zebra glyph magic is amazingly powerful, but it took a lot of effort all the same to rear her.” Xekron answered, walking around the platform and starting up the machines on it. “Torture, mind manipulation, memory stripping. The so called 'goddess' put up a hell of a fight to keep her but we got her.”

I stood inches from Venture, separated only by the force field, all my rage, all my confusion, burning to try and get to him, but helpless to do so.

“Oh seriously Sugar, take a few breaths and relax. This is the part of the movie where I'm supposed to start monologuing and you find a way out while I'm stalling, but this is real life, not a movie. So you're only going to get me for as long as it takes the systems to boot.”

“Fight me like a Buck.” I demanded but he ignored me.

“You broke the encryption on the hard drive, you know I'm working on a teleportation spell.” He began, pacing along in front of the shield. “You don't know what it does, but you'll LOVE this.” He said, turning and looking at Brutus, who just glared back. “Equestria is lost, there's no way to fix this world. It's too sick to survive, BUT, what if we could find a place that wasn't destroyed by the ravages of war? Restart anew?”

“The whole world was ravaged by the war.” Ruby answered flatly.

“You're correct my dear it was, but you're not thinking 10th dimensionally.” Venture countered, breaking into a demonic metal grin when he saw my eyes light up with understanding.

“You wouldn't...you couldn't...” I said slowly.

“Couldn't what?” Brutus asked.

“The teleportation spell. It's not designed to move his armies around rapidly to invade towns or bases. It's designed to move them out of this dimension and into another one...one where the war never happened, where he can lay waste to an unsuspecting Equestria and take over the whole world.”

“AND X GETS THE SQUARE!” Venture burst out laughing.

“But the calculations would be insanely complex.” I added and Venture just rolled his robotic eyes.

“I've had two hundred years to work out the math.”

“But the computational power you'd need would be astronomical, you have the storage and power, but not the processing speed...there's no way you made a computer that good, even in two hundred years. Even you're not THAT good.”

“You're right dear brother, I'm not. HOWEVER, Stable-tec WAS that good. This...” he gestured towards the computer systems Xekron was booting up. “Is my very own Crusader computer. I stole the plans almost two years before the end. Built my own. Made some improvements. Used genetic encoding to secure the system against other users, created bio-organic storage, it's beautiful beyond words.”

“But the Crusader needed a living host to be the CPU.” Ruby said, getting surprised looks from all of us. “WHAT? I read stuff!” She snapped, turning her head away from us.

“Obviously I'm not a prime candidate for it, not just because I intend to take over the other world but because I'm not longer pony enough to do it even if I wanted to. However I came across some interesting tech out in a part of the Wasteland called 'The Hoof', used to be Hoofington, remember that place?” Venture asked. “Genetic encoding software much like what I'd made myself. I can use someone genetically similar to me to run the machine.”

“Me.” I said flatly. “I'll kill myself first.”

“Oh no no Sugar. I found out the genetic markers work on a much broader base than that. Remember I said I'd never have bothered waking you up since I had learned I didn't need you anymore.” He stepped back slowly. “No, I could use a descendant of mine, or, amazingly, of yours. Say a great grand daughter?”

I stepped in front of Ruby defensively, Brutus moving to do the same. “You'll have to go through us to get her.” Brutus said, pushing her to the wall.

Venture looked at us curiously. “What?” He burst out laughing. “Oh Sugar, sweet innocent Sugar. What makes you think Ruby is your grand daughter? I never said that. That's weird, like I'd want you hooking up with your descendant.”

“What?” I looked from him to Ruby and back. “But in the memory orb...Gauze said we'd met and they were manipulating our relationship, hoping to work it towards love.”

“I had no control over who found you Sugar. I'll say it for the millionth time, I hadn't planned on ever waking you up. Think about it...You were just on your first day in this hell hole...You met a lot of ponies that day, but who have you met that has bloomed from knowing to liking to loving...?”

The door on the second floor above the platform opened and a familiar sight stepped forward, standing silently with a guard, a blank expression in her eyes, a control mask covering her muzzle.

“CB! NO! Let her go Ven!” I cried, firing pointlessly into the shield again, making Venture burst out laughing. “I'll do it! I'll take her place! Please don't hurt her!”

“Right there.” Venture smirked. “That's the exact reaction I told you you'd have when this day came.”

“Ven please...” I begged, fighting back tears. “She's just a little girl, don't do this to her.” She floated herself into the air and down to the ground below, standing silently beside the control pod. He turned and walked towards the platform, ignoring me.

“DAMMIT VENTURE LET HER GO!” Ruby screamed at him, her Gatling laser opening fire at the shield, but it did nothing.

“Alright little one, into the pod.” Venture said to her. She nodded and hopped into the pod, laying down as it powered on around her, her eyes closing as the ground started to glow, the mega-spell activating. A column of light shot from the middle of the room, spreading open to the size of a sky wagon. I could see another world beyond the gate, but it was a snow filled wasteland.

“Start cycling through the worlds!” Venture called to Xekron, watching the portal with an insane glee.

Ruby finally stopped firing into the shield and looked around in a panic. “Sugar we have to do something!” She said.

“I know I know!” I said, struggling to think of what we could do...something...anything...The portal flashed through worlds, some wastelands, some under water, some frozen...

Whatever Venture was looking for it wasn't coming up quickly enough for him. “FASTER!” He screamed at the Pyro.

I felt the talisman on my chest almost burning with energy as it tapped into the mega-spell. “I know what to do.” I said, looking back at the other two. “I know it's not easy, but stand back.” I closed my eyes and focused my magic directly through the talisman like Xeha had told me, feeling it increasing in strength, adding power from the mega spell to my own before it cycled back to my horn. I fired a massive concussive blast at the shield, but it dissipated on impact. “Dammit it, I need more power.”

“Sugar no.” Ruby said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Xeha said it could burn out your magic!”

“I already lost a family once, I'm not losing another.” I smiled bitterly and kissed Ruby passionately, it was good to know I didn't have to worry about our future together. “You ARE still going to marry me right? Miss pony who is in no way related to me so we don't even need to worry about it being a problem?”

“You're asking NOW?!” She snapped and I just grinned, turning back to the shield and focusing again. I could feel the power of the mega-spell passing through my body, burning my insides with it's intensity as I focused it into my horn. Wave after wave of power condensed into my horn, it felt like my skull would split open from the intensity.

“Brutus! Get ready to throw me to CB when the shield drops!”

I didn't hear his response but I felt his magic wrap around me, along with another surge to the power I was harnessing. Finally I let it out, a massive blast of energy. I heard Ruby scream and the sound of the magical barrier exploding as I was yanked into the air and thrown towards the platform. Reaching out with my forelegs I grabbed CB and continued on, tumbling to the ground and rolling behind one of the computers quickly.

“NO!” I heard Venture cry. “The portal is destabilizing!” I felt wind tearing through the room, ripping violently at me. I clung to CB tightly, holding her to the ground to shield her as I leaned out, just in time to see Venture yanked through the portal before it dissolved in a flash of light, a chunk of ground vanishing along with it, leaving a crater underneath where the portal had been, now just a bright, but fading, light in it's place. Everything went dead silent for a long moment before Xekron backed away from the panel he'd held himself against to keep from being pulled away.

He looked at me and started to back away until he realized Ruby and Brutus were coming up behind him before he bolted for the ladder leading to the second floor, but as he reached the top he came face to face with Crackshot. “Where you going honey? The party is just beginning.” Her rifle fired point blank into his skull and he tumbled off the ladder and crashed to the ground hard, never to move again.

“That's for EB.” She said, leaping to the ground beside him and spitting on him before turning to us. “Looks like I missed a hell of a party...Lily and Xem are getting the children out. They ambushed Xem and CB when they came out of the vents, Xem was knocked out when we found him, but no CB, I see you found her...”

I finally pulled back from CB and pulled the mask off her face quickly. “Come on sweetie, please wake up...” I said, shaking her gently.

She groaned and squirmed against me. “D...daddy?” She muttered, pressing a hoof to her eyes and groaning again.

“No CB it's Cane...” I replied, feeling a huge rush of relief that she was okay.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, smiling softly. “I like mine better.” She said firmly, giving me that 'matter of fact' look she did so well, but she paused and watched me for a moment, her eyes taking on an uncertain worried look. “If that's okay with you?”

“Of course it's okay with me.” I fought an urge to cry and hugged her tightly as Brutus and Ruby came around the corner.

“Cane...” Brutus said softly, putting a hoof on my shoulder.

“What?” I looked up, still grinning stupidly, but his grim face gave me pause. “What?” I asked more seriously, stepping back slowly from CB.

“Your horn...” Ruby said softly, reaching up and touching my forehead and I realized she passed right through where my horn should be.

I reached up and grabbed at my forehead...no horn...just a flat slightly raised part where it had once sat. “I...but...what...?”

Brutus gestured for me to follow and I walked out from behind the computer and he gestured to the Alicorn at the far end of the room. She was pressed to the wall, dead, my horn driven clean through her neck and pinning her to the wall.

“That's why you screamed.” I said softly, looking at Ruby and she nodded.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus my magic but found nothing, no power, no swelling of energy...nothing. I grabbed the chain of the talisman around my neck and pulled it out from under my barding. It was black, the gems in it cracked or shattered completely. “Oh...well shit...”I sighed, slumping heavily.

“It'll be okay Sugar...you don't need magic anymore anyway...you have me and CB to do things for you.”

“That's right Daddy.” CB grinned, hugging me comfortingly.

“Oh thanks for making me sound useless...” I laughed.

“Hey I hate to break up this touching moment but you need to see this.” Crackshot called, standing on the edge of the crater where the portal had been only moments earlier. We walked over and looked down into the pit. In the middle lay the strangest creature I'd ever seen, pale white, mostly hairless skin, a short yellow mane that stopped well before what I was pretty sure was it's neck. It's four legs ended in strange appendages and it wore some kind of armour that had clearly been tailored for it's odd form, it appeared to be unconscious and was bleeding from it's mouth and nose. For a moment I thought maybe passing through the portal had mutated Venture but Ruby gasped softly and started down into the hole quickly.

“Wait Ruby, we don't know if it's safe!” Brutus snapped. “We don't even know what it is!”

“I do...” Ruby said, landing beside it and rolling the strange creature onto it's back. “It's a human...”

Footnote: Game Over.

Please purchase DLC- FoE: War Never Changes: Brother from another Mother to continue.

Epilogue

Epilogue: Ten Years Later:

"Now I know what you're wondering. What happened with the human? Well if I told you that, what would be the point of a second book?" I finished typing on the computer and yawned, stretching and sitting back from the console. I looked over at my daughter, laying on a bench, a pencil in her magic grip, writing the last journal entry for her cutie mark chronicle for school. After all the memories, all the pictures, everything I had with a child, a lilac unicorn, or a purple pegasus...here lay my olive green daughter, Hera, same colour as my father. When she was born we had named her Candy, just as I had always wanted to do, but when she got older she had decided she didn't like the name, too 'sweet and cutesy' as she'd put it, so she'd changed her named to 'Hera.' Oddly it was even the feminine version of Hurah, which had been my father's name, I wondered if she had done it intentionally, but she always said she liked the name 'Hera' and there was no more to it than that...Her cutie mark was a quill, writing out binary code. She was an expert computer programmer, a fast learner, better than me. When she was younger and learning I had told her she would turn it into an art form, and now her cutie mark reflected that.

"So that's the end of the first book?" She asked.

"It is." I nodded, saving the work before turning off the computer.

"Hey, we're coming in you two." Ruby called from the cockpit of the sky wagon. This wasn't a team wagon, our team had long since disbanded, along with the collective. Years earlier after the Gardens of Equestria Megaspell had been fired, helping restore the world. This was our own personal sky wagon, two rows of benches, two automated turrets, no crate storage, it was for moving a family, no raiding a base.

We landed at the sky wagon platform on the edge of town and I moved to the back to open the door while Hera packed up her school things and Ruby powered down the wagon.

"GRANDPA!" Two excited little voices called and two blurs tore away from their parents and up the ramp, tackling me in a big hug.

"Hello my little zonies." I laughed, hugging them tightly. I sat up and looked down at the twin children in my lap, barely 3 years old. Draconic Blast, white with blue stripes, named for Spike the dragon, after he swooped down and saved her pregnant mother with a burst of flame, and Xeha, black with green stripes, named for his father's grandfather.

"Come on you two, let him up, it can't take injuries the way he used to." CB said, walking up the ramp beside Xem. The two children scrambled off of me and with a "Grandma!" they tackled Ruby.

I grinned up at CB and Xem as I pushed myself back to my hooves. "I'm not old you know."

"Old enough." CB smiled, hugging me tightly. She wore full body security armour, there were still a lot of enemies in the wasteland, and this was an important settlement. I looked down at the golden pipbuck on her hoof, the rainbow grenade decal on the corner denoting it's origin as the Element of Magic. That had been quite the experience when the wielders had come together and the jewelry had transformed into pipbucks. Everypony so excited to see what would happen, and I wanted to play with the new pipbucks and see how they worked compared to pony produced ones. "I'm glad you guys came dad. We don't get to see you often enough."

"Well Homage is leaving to see Littlepip in an hour or two so this is the best time to have out meeting, also I think we need to make more of a point of these get togethers. The children should know their family and get to be together. I mean the twins are almost 4, Hera just got her cutie mark, Cam's training is coming along well, he should master his talents any day now, and most importantly, it's my birthday, and Ruby has promised me the best gift I've ever had."

"It will be." Ruby said, coming up behind me, a child balanced on each wing, much to their delight. "Now why don't you tend to your business and I'll see to these three?" Ruby asked, walking past us and out into the sunshine, Hera following quickly.

"I suppose we'll go with them too." Xem said. "We don't need to be there do we?"

"I shouldn't think so, but I hate to think how badly this might go. She was always nervous..."

"You'll be fine dad." CB smiled, kissing my horn gently. "I don't know why you waited this long anyway."

"I'm not one to force myself into others lives with no good reason...unless they thaw me from a cryopod." I smirked.

CB rolled her eyes and walked out of the Sky wagon. "She's in the library, we'll be along in a little while to drop the kids off."

"Thanks." I said, walking down the ramp and starting towards the main building.

I came up to the door of the reading room in the library, it sat open and inside I saw somepony I hadn't expected to ever get to talk to again.

"Hello Ms. Fluttershy." I said softly, walking into the room. The pale yellow Pegasus had her back to the door and was poking through some books on the shelves.

"Oh, um, story time isn't for another 30 minutes." She said without looking back.

"I know, I actually came to talk to you." I said, walking over and sitting down on the carpet in front of the chair that had been positioned for her to sit in.

"Oh?" She turned and looked at me for a long moment, struggling to place my face, and then as if a light had come on. "Doctor Sugarcane?" She set the book down on the side table and sat down in the chair. "How are you here?"

"Well I know it's 200 years too late, but the cryopod program worked." I smiled. "I ended up frozen because of an accident and I woke up here about 10 years ago."

"Oh that's wonderful...I mean...wonderful that the project worked...not that you got frozen."

"I know. I've made due in the wasteland. Made friends, had a family..."

"Oh are you bringing your children for the story?"

"My grandchildren actually."

"You're not old enough for grandchildren..."

"I adopted a young filly a few months after I got here, she was just turning 11. You may have met her. Concussive Blast?"

"Your daughter is the Element of Magic? Oh yes I've had a few chances to meet her, and her husband and children. It makes me so happy to see Zebras and ponies together again..."

"Yeah, they're soul mates...never seen a happier couple. When they first started dating it was almost nauseating how in love they were." I chuckled.

"Well love is always beautiful, even if it is tough."

"True." I nodded, hesitant to press on but, "so how are you?"

She got quiet for a long moment. "I'm...better..."

"Well I won't pry." I said quickly, seeing the darkness in her eyes. "My other daughter and my nephew are coming too, though they're older."

"If CB is your daughter then your nephew is...Camouflage? The half changeling?"

"He's my wife's cousin's son, so for simplicity's sake we just say nephew yes." I nodded.

"So you're in town to get together with your family?"

"I'm meeting with Homage before she goes out on her big date, I've been doing some work for her and since our paths are crossing here I figured it was as good a time as any to give her a progress report."

"Oh, well you should probably go find her, she's going to be leaving soon." Fluttershy said, looking up at the clock on the wall.

"Good point." I stood to leave. "It was nice to get to see you again, I always regretted never being able to tell you we finished the cryo pods."

"Well you must come visit more often."

"I will...I'll see you later Ms. Fluttershy."

"Goodbye Cane." She waved to me and I waved back as I left the room, the first few children arriving for the story.

//////////

"Are you sure this will work?" Homage asked.

"I spent 4 years dissecting Ven's Crusader computer, and I've spent hundreds of hours working on the one Littlepip is interfaced with, I swear it'll work."

Homage and I sat in my sky wagon, a box on the bench in front of me. Inside sat the modified recollector Lily had made. I'd been working on it for almost a year on and off with Hera and Lily. Over the years we had streamlined the device down to a helmet with two cables, one ran into either a pipbuck or a computer built into the bottom of the case the helmet was carried in, and another to plug into an external medium, like another unmodified recollector or a Crusader Computer.

"So how does it work again?"

"You connect it to the interface of the Crusader computer, put in the memory cube..." I pointed to the cube sitting in a pouch inside the box. "And then you put the helmet on, it will load up the world inside the orb. It's a massive bedroom, huge comfy bed in the middle. Ruby and Lily used their...expertise...to select some outfits and toys to equip the room with..." Homage broke into a big grin, "and for whatever reason the electronic counter you wanted will be on the bed side table. Any time there is a loud noise it'll go up by one, and there's a manual reduction button on it, but what in Equestria do you want that for?"

"That's my business." She smirked.

"Also, just in case the program separation doesn't work the way we think it will there's a lovely soundproof room for Princess Celestia to wait in. It has a nice couch, and will be wired to the rest of the system to allow her to continue to monitor the situation outside of the simulation. She also has a kill switch in there in case of emergencies."

"Fair enough." Homage nodded excitedly. "This is going to be WAY better than the original plans we had, Cane you are my hero. You have time and again gone above and beyond for me without asking anything in return. The music, the work on the crusader computer, this interface." She looked like she might break into tears and instead stepped forward and hugged me tightly. "If I weren't in a committed relationship...and not into mares..." She sighed, composing herself before stepping back from the hug, smiling kind of impishly at me now.

"What?"

"DAD!" I jumped and Homage burst out laughing.

I turned and saw Hera's grinning face on the computer monitor. "What? Are you kidding?! How did you hack my system again that fast?"

"Have you met me? I'm just that good." She grinned. "Hi Homage."

"Hi Candy."

"My name is Hera now. Candy is too sweet." She made a face.

"Aww no, that's not how this pony rolls. You are my sweet little Candy Cane." Homage smirked. "I remember holding you as a newborn while your parents were on a tear through tenpony tower."

"A 'tear', my parents?" Hera rolled her eyes.

"I babysat so they could have a night out to themselves."

"Are you done yet?!" I could hear CB's voice on the other side of the monitor.

"Hera...how did you hack my new security so quickly?" I asked flatly.

Hera grinned sheepishly and held up CB's golden pipbuck, which was still attached to CB, and also wired to the computer Hera sat at.

"Oh come on! That's cheating! You aren't allowed to use the Element of Magic to break my computer encryptions. That's like using a laser rifle to light a match."

"Hey fair's fair." Hera shrugged.

"I'll show you fair!" CB snapped, and Hera was shoved out of the frame of the computer as CB replaced her. "Dad seriously, we're ready for you so get over here." Hera's hooves shot up and were trying to shove CB back out of the way but she didn't stand a chance against the older and much stronger mare. "Nice to see you again Homage."

"You too CB." Homage said, waving happily.

CB turned to Hera, still off the screen save her front hooves. "Now unhook me from this computer or I swear I'll end you, I don't care if you are my sister!" The monitor went dead and Homage burst out laughing anew.

"I babysat you one night?" I asked. "That was the best you could come up with?"

"Well I don't know how much of your life you've told her about." Homage said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I don't want to be the one to start the whole 'where did daddy go for 6 months' conversation."

"She knows." I said finally, moving to the packed up recollector and closed up the box again quickly. "Now, you should really get going because you're going to be late for your big date, and you don't want to make a bad impression do you?"

"No sir I do not." She nodded, taking the case and carrying it along beside her. "Thanks again Cane. You'll have made Littlepip's decade with this."

"Just remember it can only run for an hour or so before you have to go out and reset it."

"Fair enough." She nodded, waving goodbye as she headed towards the entrance of the town to the waiting convoy.

//////////

I walked up towards CB and Xem's house, just a street over from the security center where CB worked, Lily sat at the picnic table on the front lawn, Brutus sitting beside her, CB and Xem sat across from them and they all watched the children playing on the other side of the lawn.

"Uncle Cane! You're finally here!" Came an excited young voice and a black blur emerged from the bushes, leaping across the lawn and landing at the gate.

"I'm finally here Cam." I said to the half changeling. He had all the outward appearance of a normal changeling but we had learned early in his life that he didn't quite have the knack for transformation that changelings did.

"Can I show 'em now mom? Can I, can I, can I?" He asked, looking at Lily hopefully.

Lily looked at me for a moment and I shrugged, moving to sit down beside Brutus.

"Sure Cam, go for it."

He broke into a big grin and ran to the front gate again. "Guys come on!" He said to the twins. They looked up at him, pausing their game to watch.

"Alright, and now the great and amazing Camouflage will blow your minds!" He announced. "Watch in wonder as I...DISAPPEAR!" He flashed bright green for a moment and when the light faded he was nowhere to be seen. Except by my ever faithful pipbuck, of course, which showed that he hadn't actually moved.

"WOW! Where did he go?!" DB cried, looking at the table of adults for an explanation.

"It would spoil the trick if we told." CB smiled.

"Now I..." There was another flash and he reappeared. "AM BACK!"

"WOW!" The twins cheered, and we all applauded him. He grinned and ran over to the side of the house, another flash and he vanished again. He wasn't able to transform, but he had perfect chameleon skills, I watched him walk across the wall of the house, completely invisible save for the indicator on my E.F.S. I watched him walk on, and realized CB's head was turning slowly as she watched him walk along too, over behind the twins, and then..."BOO!" He appeared behind them and they cried out and dashed to the table in fright, diving under it and cowering, glaring at him as he burst out laughing.

The front door opened and Lily's wing shot out in front of my face as everyone started to sing 'Happy Birthday.' I felt Ruby come up beside me and lean in close and set something down in front of me.

"AND YOU SMELL LIKE HORSE POOOOOOO!!!!!" The younger children finished, losing themselves to fits of laughter. Lily finally pulled her wing back to reveal...

"Cupcakes!" I gasped, looking from the tray of blue and yellow frosted sweets to Ruby and Hera, both of whom still had flour on their faces.

"I told you I'd make them for you one day." She grinned, leaning in and kissing me, much to the disgust of the children. "I just had to wait for Wheat to be a thing again...also eggs that didn't make them taste horrible..."

"What're cup...cakes?" Cam asked curiously, coming over to look at the tray.

"They're little pieces of happiness." I said, floating one up to my mouth. Ruby looked nervous as I took a bite. They were sweet, perfectly baked, the icing was a little thicker than I liked, and it had kind of an egg-y taste, but overall not bad for what was probably the first fresh batch of cupcakes in 200 years. "They're perfect." I grinned, looking at everyone at the table when I realized they were all watching me. "I hope everyone else is going to eat some too or I'm gonna get a stomach ache." I said slowly and the kids were the first in line, each taking one as I passed them out, biting in and marveling at how delicious they were, moving back to their space opposite the picnic table.

"Am I too late for the party?" A gravely voice asked from the front gate.

"Grandma!" Camo shot up from the ground and ran to the gate, opening it for the new arrival. "You have to see what I can do!"

"Whoa whoa there little one, breathe, gimme a chance to get myself situated." She laughed, walking over to the picnic table. "Sorry, caravan ran into some bandits a few miles west, had to show em what's what and it held us up a few hours."

"That's alright, I'm just glad you made it." I said, hugging her as she came up beside me.

"And cupcakes! Who would have thought the day would come I'd get to see these again?"

"Help yourself." Ruby said, sitting down beside me.

This...This was nice. After so many crazy adventures, so much weird shit, here I sat, family and friends all around me, my children with me, happy, healthy, safe...War might never change, but it seems neither do the ideals of friendship and love, even if they are forgotten for a while.

Author's Note

So this is the official end of book one. When I get book two up and running I'll send messages to everyone who's Favorited the story or commented on it to let ya know it's up :D

Prologue

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...

…there came an era when the ideals of friendship gave way to greed, selfishness, paranoia and a jealous reaping of dwindling space and natural resources. Lands took up arms against their neighbors. The end of the world occurred much as we had predicted -- the world was plunged into an abyss of balefire and dark magic. The details are trivial and pointless. The reasons, as always, purely our own. The world was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing; a magical spark struck by pony hooves quickly raged out of control. Megaspells rained from the skies. Entire lands were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Ponykind was almost extinguished, their spirits becoming part of the ambient radiation that blanketed the lands. A quiet darkness fell across the world...

Prologue

Last thing I remember I was lying in my bed, I couldn't have no more than one or two...

No that's not right...those are the lyrics to a Pon Simon song and that was the first thing he remembers not the last... what was the last thing I remember...I...I was in the warehouse checking the stasis pods...Fluttershy was desperately waiting for my report...we had finally cracked full cryogenic suspension techniques and she wanted to implement them as soon as possible in the hospitals and replace some of the older generation models they were using at her new medical center.
There were screams...Baelfire bombs were exploding around the city! I blinked my eyes to clear the white haze and though the haze faded, the white did not. As my eyes focused I realized I was looking at the soft white light of a resuscitation scanner in the top of a cryo pod...and was laying on the soft black cushioned mat of a cryo pod...and could see the semi-transparent blue lid of a cryo pod above my head...all this coupled with a familiar robotic voice announcing 'stage three cryo thaw completed' lead me to the unfortunately inescapable conclusion that I was in a cryo pod....and yes before you can say it..duh where else could I be?
Alright, don't panic...glancing at myself quickly I assessed my situation as best I could. I was no longer wearing my utility barding, nor my lab coat, and somepony had removed my pipbuck, if I was lucky they would be in the storage compartment of the pod, personal assessment...my head throbbed from my horn to the back of my skull, my dark blue coat was kind of messy but that was nothing new...yellow mane...still a little too long...*sniff* still smelled like machine grease...so whatever had happened to me I had to have gone right into the pod only moments later, I pressed a little against the pillow, since I couldn't move my legs to check, stallionhood still fully in tact...turning a little on my side I could see my cutie mark in the reflection of the lid, a DNA double helix with a crossed wrench and pistol branded underneath. However that still left the question of HOW I had gotten into the damned pod, let alone undressed before I had...we knew short term memory loss could be a side effect, but this was ridiculous...
"Alright Cane...focus..." I muttered, pressing a hoof to my forehead. "Came into the warehouse...it was late...Fluttershy had just called...Everypony else had already left....dammit..." My head started to throb and I had to stop trying to think so hard.
The lid hissed open and I was greeted by two unexpected sights...the familiar roof of the warehouse, now in shambles above me...and the business end of a double barrel shotgun floating in my face, wrapped in a field of orange magic. A fiery orange unicorn with a bright red mane stood about twenty feet away the control console dressed in what looked like some kind of patchwork barding.
"Now you just climb down nice and slow and nopony needs to get hurt." He says, cocking the gun for emphasis.
"Oh boy..."

Chapter 1

"Now hold on a second..." I said, holding my forelegs out. "I don't know what you're doing here but you don't wanna fire that..." *BLAM* I was cut off as the gun discharged into a crate beside the pod which, unfortunately for the unicorn, triggered the automated defenses. "UNAUTHORIZED USE OF FIREARMS DETECTED, LETHAL SUPPRESSION PROTOCOLS IN EFFECT" Boomed the speakers as a half dozen turrets popped out of the roof and opened fire on the hapless unicorn, who just barely managed to dive behind the command console as it opened fire, the shotgun clattering to the ground beside me as he lost his focus on it. I scooped up the gun in my own blue aura and popped the remaining shell out of it before snapping it shut again and setting it on the bed.

"Protocol over ride 1138-alpha, authorization Sugar Cane, deactivate and return to standby!" I called loudly over the din of gun fire, causing the turrets to stop.

"PROTOCOL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED, RETURNING TO STANDBY MODE" The turrets snapped back into their locked positions and slid away again, vanishing just as quickly as they'd appeared.

"You can come out from behind there now..." I called to the other pony.

"You...how did you do that?" He asked, emerging slowly, his face pale with fright.

"My turrets..." I shrugged, grinning. "Turrets, protocol 221-B." The turrets popped back out and opened fire around me, a perfect ring forming around the pod I still sat in without anything coming anywhere near me. He cowered back at the sight but didn't duck back outright. Once the ring was finished the turrets again locked and slid shut. "Now, maybe you'll tell me what the hell is going on? Who are you? What are you doing in here and why does it look like a bomb went off in this place?" I asked, looking around slowly. There was garbage and junk strewn all about, a number of other pods lay smashed and gutted, amazingly mine looked to be the only one still in tact...

"Seriously, answer me!" I demanded, throwing the gun back to him. He caught it in his magic and slid it back into a holster on his back.

"My name's Brute Force." He answered. "I'm scavenging these ruins with my team...and it looks like a bomb went off because they did..." He sighed and rubbed his face with a hoof. "You don't know do you?"

"Obviously not..." I answered, tapping a hoof impatiently.

"The zebras attacked..." A husky female voice answered. I turned to see the new arrival and almost screamed at the horrific sight. "You...wha..." The mare had a pasty sickly green coat and a few tufts of purple mane hung along her neck, her tail was basically just bone, her eyes milky white. "I'm a ghoul yes, go ahead and get it out of your system..." She sighed.

I took the offer and started screaming in horror for a moment, falling backwards out of the pod and sliding backwards. "You...you're a ZOMBIE PONY!"

Brute Force chuckled and shook his head. "Name's Crackshot actually.” She smirked, shaking her head too. “But I know it's not an easy sight to get used to. I been looking at it every day for 200 years and it doesn't get easier...”

“But...but...two...hundred?” I stammered, looking from one to the other.

“I'm afraid so sugercube.” Crackshot nodded sadly. “The zebras attacked all across Equestria, balefire bombs, megaspell missiles...laid waste to the whole world...” She sighed. “I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you're friends and family are all gone, unless you stored others away in these pods that we haven't found yet.”

I shook my head and looked around slowly. “I don't even know how I got into the pod.”

“Okay okay okay.” Brute Force interrupted. “Seriously I have questions of my own. Who are you, what are YOU doing here, how did you turn off the turrets, what do you mean they're YOURS and why shouldn't I just shoot your ass?” He demanded.

“Seriously Brutus?” Crackshot smirked. “You can't piece it together from what you just said?”

“Uhh my name is Sugarcane...you can just call me Cane...I am...was...the lead researcher here. I was in charge of the cryo pod project, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot me in the ass because I'm kinda freaking out and the last thing I want is to get shot.” I sighed deeply, looking miserably sad.

“I'm sorry hon.” Crackshot said, patting my shoulder. “I'm sure it's all a lot to take in...”

“I'm sorry I called you a zombie pony...” I muttered quietly, fighting back tears. My friends, my family, my home...everything gone...

“HEY!” A high happy voice called from the upper levels, a pink blur darting through the air. “SOMEPONY NEEDS TO COME HACK THIS TERMINAL...BRUTUS...oh...hello...” The blur flew down as she bellowed orders, stopping as she realized I was sitting there, resolving into a very pretty pink pegasus with a short red mane. “Who's tall, mopey and handsome?” She asked, looking from me to Brute Force to Crackshot and back to me. “You're cute.” She winked.

“This is Sugarcane...” Crackshot replied softly. “We just thawed him out...” Brute Force cleared his throat. “Sorry, Brutus thawed him out.” She rolled her eyes, which was a weird sight. “He's from...200 years ago...missed the end of the world by just a coupla hours from the sounds of it.”

“Oh, well hiya Sugar baby.” The pink pegasus broke into a wide grin. “Name's Ruby Star, pleased to meetcha.”

I couldn't help but smile a little at her enthusiasm. “You can call me Cane.” I said softly, shaking my head and looking up at her. “Oh hell no.” She said, shaking her head. “Sugar you are and Sugar you shall be.” She laughed. “Now I guess if you're from back then you can open the weird harmonic lock on the door upstairs?”

“HARMONIC lock?” Brute Force asked, looking at her curiously.

“Seriously! I pressed the unlock panel and it played music! I just sort of stood there for a sec, then it played the music again and turrets popped out of the roof and started shooting at me!” She explained, looping through the air. “If it weren't for the fact I was so fast I'da been toast!” She laughed, her voice cracking a little as she landed again and grinned. “Now can you open it or not?” She asked, looking back to me again.

“Yeah yeah little Dashie settle down.” I laughed again.

“What did you call me?” She asked, her voice getting cold and all the happiness draining from her face.

“I'm sorry...she's a friend...well...now she's just somepony that I used to know...” I couldn't help slumping a little as the happiness sort of drained out of the room with her sudden mood swing.

Crackshot smacked her in the back of the head. “He's been on ice for two hundred years dumbass, he doesn't even know what a Dashite IS, let alone know how to use it in a derogatory sense.”

“A what?” I asked, looking between the three of them.

“Long story.” Brute Force said. “Let's just get upstairs and see what we can salvage shall we?” He asked. “You CAN open the door right?” He looked at him and cocked his head towards the door. I nodded.

“Yeah sure...no problem.” I nodded, too stunned by the whole situation to really question their motives. “Just let me...” I turned and pulled open a drawer on the side of the pod, grinning at the sight inside. My utility barding, my lab coat, both of which I pulled on quickly with practiced ease, my pipbuck, the tools to lock it back on and most importantly...”Hello my little babies, did you miss daddy? Daddy missed you, well don't you worry I'm here for you now and we're gonna be a family again...” I levitated the two matching pistols out of the drawer, one shone purest white, like it was made of pearl, the other gleamed a menacing black, looking like it was carved from a chunk of black opal.

Crackshot whistled softly. “Those are beauties Cane.” She nodded.

“Thanks, these are my twin girls, Ebony and Ivory.” I twirled them side to side with my magic, a small indicator light blinking on at the back of the gun, just below where the hammer sat, the guns had no triggers either. Ebony's was green, Ivory's red. “Custom made 10 millimeter pistol frames, arcano-kinetic charger talismans generate power for the plasma and laser energy cells...” I fired at the walls, Ebony spitting a green ball of energy about the size of a gumball, which hit the wall and burst, leaving a small smoking hole, while Ivory fired a red beam, the same as a laser pistol, which scorched the wall only inches away from the pit the plasma shot had dug. “They're also capable of using the standard 10mm ammo types. I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything, but they can only be used by a unicorn...” This made Crackshot sigh sadly. “The guns are fired by focusing magic on a button inside the gun, if you don't know where the button is inside the gun it's useless even to a unicorn...” I spun them around a few more times before sliding them into the holsters on the sides of my utility barding. “My marefriend made them for me for my last...birthday...” And there it was again, my beautiful Rosealea...I'd never see her again, and just like that I'd lost my good mood. “Anyway lets go...” I said flatly, moving towards the stairs leading to the upper levels.

“Okie dokie Loki!” Ruby grinned, leaping back into the air and soaring away towards the hallway above.

“That girl...” Brute Force sighed, shaking his head. “Don't let her get to you...she's kinda touchy but she's a good girl.”

I just nodded and started up the stairs. They were rusty and starting to bend, last I'd seen them they looked brand new. The hallway at the top was littered with junk, discarded clipboards and pencils, dropped coffee cups...it looked like everyone had fled in a damned hurry. “Wow...” I sighed, stopping as I rounded the corner and looked at Ruby standing in front of the door. “Come on come on come on!” She said impatiently, hitting the button. A tune played for a moment and I smiled. “To the town of Appleoosa came a stranger one fine day, hardly spoke to folks around him didn't have too much to say. Nopony dared to ask his business, not one dared to make a slip, the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.” I sang back to the machine. It chirped happily and opened the door.

“Are...you...kidding?” Ruby asked, fighting a fit of laughter.

“I think you have a beautiful singing voice.” Crackshot said, glaring at Ruby as she fell back howling with laughter.

“Well it's more secure than a simple passcode or spoken command...you need to match the pitch and tone to within a certain acceptable level as well as have your voice match...” I walked into the hallway, in here it was much cleaner, well it was REALLY dusty, but not so much refuse scattered about. “Alright...Armoury is that way...” I told them, earning a happy SQUEE from Crackshot who took off quickly. “Computer core?” Brute Force asked. “Same hallway, third door, it's made of bulletproof glass so you can see the servers inside.” He nodded and started off.

“Guess that leaves me to keep YOU company.” Ruby grinned.

“Guess so.” I nodded. “Come on, lets go to my office, I have some stuff I want to pick up if I'm leaving here with you...” I paused and looked at her. “I assume I'm leaving with you..?” I asked, suddenly unsure exactly how that was meant to go down.

“Are you kidding?” She asked. “There's no way we'd leave you behind in a place like this, not only are you, like, the oldest non-ghoul pony in the wasteland you know computers better than any pony I've met...”

“How would you know how good I am with computers?” I asked, stopping in front of a pair of wooden double doors. “All you've seen me do is unlock a door I knew the password to.”

She grinned sheepishly and dug into a saddlebag at her side, drawing out a tablet computer and tapping it on with her wing. On the screen was my personnel file from the archives. “I may have been doing some reading earlier.” I took the tablet from her, wrapping it in my magic and drew it to my face to read. I scrolled through the pages, it talked about my work with computers, robotics development projects...in a box near the top marked 'status' it read: M.I.A. Presumed to have abandoned post after an attempted attack on the city by Zebra infiltrators.

“You went missing about two months before the bombs actually fell...” She explained, taking the tablet back and tucking it away again.

“Oh...I still can't explain that one...” I sighed, looking to the double doors, reaching out for the unlock button I paused and looked at her. “Don't...laugh...” I said seriously, pressing the button. Another little tune played and I let out a slow breath. “Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis? Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong, it's swell to own a stiffy, it's Divine to own a dick, from the tiniest little tagger to the world's biggest prick.” I sang into the speaker. It buzzed and opened, revealing my office inside.

“R...really?” Ruby snorted and collapsed into a heap of laughter on the ground again. “You...you gotta be kidding me!” She managed between fits of laughter. “The Pythons must be rolling in their graves! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

I glared at her and stormed into the office. It was almost exactly as I left it, the back wall lighting up as the three computer screens on my desk turned on automatically. “Welcome back Doctor Cane.” A soft female voice came from the speakers hidden around the room. “It has been...ERROR COMPUTATIONAL STACK OVERFLOW...hours since your last terminal log in.” The feminine voice was replaced by a stock robotic computer voice as it delivered the error, and seamlessly switched back to the female voice.

I sat down at the computer and started downloading data off my private server, ignoring Ruby for the moment while I pulled schematics for computer components, robotics upgrades, as well as all the reports about my disappearance. While the data downloaded into my Pipbuck I levitated out the tools to unscrew the device and put it back on, smiling happily as the EFS popped back into my vision. I watched the downloads finish and then unhooked the pipbuck as Ruby finally made her way into the office.

“I...I'm sorry Sugar...that's just too funny...” She says, wiping tears from her eyes. “Who uses a song like that for a lock? And a female voice for a computer? Lonely much?” She asked, smirking but not laughing.

“It's Rosalea's voice...” I replied flatly, gesturing to a number of pictures sitting along a shelf on one wall while I skimmed readouts on the pods in the warehouse, hoping to find somepony, ANYPONY else who might still be alive down below, but of the 2000 other occupants not a single one was still registering vitals or movement of any kind within. The pictures on the wall made Ruby's smile fade. Pictures of me and Rosalea, a red pegasus, her mane slowly running the spectrum from blood red down to a light happy pink. Pictures of us at parties, picnics, one none too flattering one of her sprawled out on her back on a couch asleep with a her wings stuck out at funny angles and a lamp shade on her head, empty bottles littered the ground in front of the couch.

“That was the morning after we finished celebrating the approval of the Cryo pod program.” I explained when Ruby gave me a look. “I took the picture but I wasn't in a much better state. She HATED it...she'd come in and take it down, I'd print out another one and it'd be right back next time she came in.”

“Her cutie mark is a pistol crossed with a sword...” She said, leaning back and looking at my flank. “ I can't help but notice that you have something similar branded under YOUR cutie mark...” She smirked.

“Yeah...sign of devotion...” I stammered.

“Why doesn't she have one of your double helix?”

“Why don't you kiss my ass?” I grumbled.

“Not till the third date at least.” She winked.

I glared at her and turned back to the shelf. The picture beside the one of the partied out Rosalea I took down to tuck into the saddlebags I'd pulled from a drawer in my desk. It was a party in Ponyville, I had proposed to Rosalea...it had only been a week and a half to me since this picture was taken.

“Whoa, you knew the Ministry Mares?” She asked, gesturing to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the background of the picture. I was kneeling in front of Rosalea, I was dressed as the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, though the mask had been discarded and she was in tears. We were surrounded by dozens of ponies, all of them cheering. “Well I knew Rainbow Dash...she is...was...my second cousin.” I shrugged. “And Fluttershy was actually there on official business to meet with me and my brother to update her about the Cryo pod program.”

My pipbuck chirped and grabbed the picture from me, filing it away inside the bags. An indicator popped up in my vision: Quest added 'Ghosts of The Past.' I pulled it up and saw it marked 'try to find out what happened to your family and friends.'

I shrugged and went to close out the program but flipped to my inventory screen out of curiosity. My saddlebags were full of random stuff I had shoved into them last time I'd used em. “Well I don't think I'll need this stuff...” I laughed, tossing the cups and empty bottles out, followed by a rather large pile of bottlecaps I had been meaning to toss but never got around to.

“WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Ruby yelped, grabbing up the caps. “Dude, you've got a hundred caps here! It's not much but it's something!” She snaps, tossing the caps back into my saddlebags.

“Wait what?” I asked, looking at her curiously.

“Bottlecaps are money.” She said. “Only small thing that's easily rounded up and used.” She explained. “Ooo and you're keeping this too.” She says, tossing me back a bottle of Wild Pegasus.

“Umm alright.” I nodded, pocketing the booze again. “Wait what's this...?” I pulled up a crumpled piece of paper that was marked 'note.' Grabbing it with my magic I unfolded it, unfortunately it did little more than upset and confuse me. 'For what it's worth, I'm sorry Cane' it was signed with a stylized R. “This note is from Rosalea...” I said softly, looking up at Ruby sadly. “I don't know why she wrote it, but it's obvious she wasn't happy about the circumstances...”

“She thought you were a deserter...” Ruby said. “That would upset most anypony...I should know...”

“And what makes you a qualified expert on desertion?” I asked kind of angrily.

She gestured to her cutie mark with a wing. I realized for the first time it had been branded over with a cloud and lightening bolt, it was so covered I couldn't tell what it had once been. “I'm a Dashite...a pegasus that has been branded a traitor and banished from up above...” She explained.

“Oh...” My eyes went wide as I realized. “OH...no wonder you got so upset when I called you Dashie...” I looked down. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you...”

“Hey don't worry about it, we all make mistakes. I assumed you were single remember?” She asked.

“I suppose I am now.” I sighed, not letting my sadness show again. “Come on, we should go find the others.” I tucked the note back into my saddlebags, not like I could do anything about it right now anyway. Pausing I hurried back to the desk and came up with a pair of memory orbs, putting them away too.

“Ooo, lemme guess, memories of you foolin' around with your filly?” Ruby grinned.

“None of your business.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Well it's a good thing we have a recollector onboard the sky wagon, I'm sure you won't mind me watching them?” She asked, moving out into the hallway in front of me. She turned and leaned in close. “I love to watch...” She whispered in my ear, nipping it ever so gently as she moved down the hall, swaying her hips suggestively as she did.

“I...I...wha?” I stammered, closing the door behind me and following her quickly.

Crackshot was going through three crates of ammo and guns like a foal on their birthday. “I have NEVER seen guns in this good condition!” She giggled, a haunting noise you'd expect to hear coming from the darkness between the trees in a forest late at night. “Oh Cane...I think you'll want this back...” She dug into a crate and came up with a sword. I slid it out of the scabbard; it shone with an amazing light and was sharpened to a perfect point. I was surprised to see my name etched into the hilt.

“It's not yours?” Crackshot asked when she saw the look of amazement on my face.

“Never seen it before in my life...” I said, shaking my head. My pipbuck chirped and added it to my inventory 'Rose's Thorn' appeared in the corner of my vision. “Oh...” I smiled softly. “It was Rosalea's...she didn't make swords but she certainly had people on her staff that were able to forge them...”

“His marefriend...” Ruby explained, seeing the confused look on Crackshot's face.

“Your marefriend made these?” Crackshot asked, nudging the box of weapons.

“Yeah...” I nodded. “She designed every single one of em...probably actually made at least half the ones in those boxes.”

“Well sheeeit...” She grins. “I'd go gay for a girl that could make me custom weapons...”

“Well take those with my blessing.” I smiled, sliding the sword back into the scabbard and sliding it through an unused loop on my barding, designed to hold a hammer originally, and slid it down my side, hooking it through an unused belt loop.

“Perfect...” I nodded.

“So we're ready to go?” Brute Force asked, coming back from the server room, two pipbucks on each foreleg and at least 10 hard drives sticking out of one saddlebag.

“Geeze did you take everything on the servers?” I asked. “Most of it is junk encryption data to hide the classified material you know...”

“Yeah these bad boys are running decryption now.” He said, tapping the two lower pipbucks together. “Alright my little ponies, lets hit it.”

I levitated one of the crates for Crackshot and Brute Force took the other and we started out of the building. Brute Force paused at the entrance to the building. “Alright kid...” He paused.

“I'm 200 years older than you...” I smirked.

“Yeah yeah...welcome to the wasteland...” He reached out and pushed the doors open and I stepped out into the real world...

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Computer Whiz--Fail a hack attempt and get locked out of a computer? Not if you're a computer whiz! With this perk, you get a second chance at any computer you were previously locked out of.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The sky, such as it could, was getting dark when we left the store. Fire Bird told me a little more about the town. Started by a caravan company because there was a massive stretch of road with no towns or rest stops so they created the town first as a simple hub, but others had come and it had turned into the town that it was now. The bar was a two floor warehouse, identical to the one that housed my cryopod program. Of course this warehouse had been overhauled heavily. The loading bay doors were all barred except one, which was the entrance now. The raised platform was where the bar itself sat and the main reception area beyond was the storage. The second floor walkways were patrolled by guards, netting set up to keep pegasi from attacking them should something bad happen. The roof had double the number of lights my warehouse had, but they were jury rigged into the electrical system. Ruby sat with Ratchet, Clank and Lilith at a big table in the corner when we arrived, a number of bags sat beside their chairs. All of them were sitting around bridal magazines, giggling and commenting.

“I hope you've saved up a lot of money for this wedding.” Fire Bird said, smirking at the sight of the excited group.

“I have about 3000 caps to my name.” I said, gulping comically for effect. “I have about a million bits in the bank, but that hardly helps anymore.”

“Yeah, not so much.” She said, heading towards the table.

“Oh hey you two.” Ruby grinned when we came up to the table. “I was just gonna come looking for you.”

“I got side tracked with the books.” I said simply. “I found a bunch of books I told Crackshot about so I figured I'd take them and see if I can't get her to try her hoof at reading a book or two.”

“Oh good luck with that Sweetheart.” Clank said, giggling into his hoof. He had changed out of his armour. He was a dusty beige colour and had a buzz cut mane that had been dyed a few different colours.

“I'm sure she'll give it a try for me.” I said. Ratchet got up from his spot beside Ruby so I could sit next to her, moving a spot on the far side of Clank. Fire Bird sat between Clank and Lilith.

“So looks like you did some VERY serious shopping.” Fire Bird said, looking at the bags around the table.

“Oh yes.” Clank replied, grinning ear to ear. “Wedding plans, decorations, clothes, the works.”

“Not to mention all the stuff for the bachelorette party.” Lilith added, smiling wickedly at Ruby, who blushed furiously.

“I'm so sorry.” Ruby muttered, leaning close to me so the others couldn't hear. “I know we weren't exactly planning on having a wedding any time soon, I know we have more important things to worry about short term, but Lilith dragged me out, announced to everyone in the immediate area that I was getting married, Clank heard her and the two of them combined to form some sort of unstoppable wedding planning super monster. I can fight ghouls and slavers, but I cower in terror at those two working on a party...”

“It's okay. I suppose it's good to have people to help with it. We don't exactly have a lot of resources to put it together ourselves. Should I be worried about the bachelorette party stuff?” I added, looking at the dozen or so black bags that Lilith was keeping close to her legs.

“I have no idea...She bought it all while Clank kept me distracted. She won't let me see what she bought or tell me any of it...”

“Well then I won't be angry if you come home that night with anything weird.” I laughed.

“That's good, because she's going to.” Lilith said quietly in my ear, making me jump in surprise. Okay so EFS indicator was no good when she was behind me.

“Don't sneak up on me like that, I'll have a heart attack.” I sighed.

“Aww want me to kiss it better?” She asked, changing into Ruby.

“Hey, keep away from my buck.” Ruby said flatly.

“That other offer is still open.” She said, turning back into me.

“Ooo I might take you up on that one darlin',” Clank purred.

“You are NOT allowed to have sex with him in my body!” I snapped, realizing how silly that statement was, though it was echoed by Ratchet at the same time except he said 'in HIS body' instead, which just made everypony else at the table howl with laughter as the two of us blushed at our reactions and Lily turned back into her normal form.

“Oh come on Sugar, like I would ever let someone else be you in the bedroom.” Clank grinned. “Where's the fun in that?”

“Besides, I like being a male while I'm with a female, not a male while I'm with a male.” Lily said, making Fire Bird glare at her. “Oh come on Mom, don't act like you're disgusted by it, it's just the way it works.”

“The way what works?” I asked, getting 'are you fucking kidding me?' looks from everyone at the table. “What? I don't know that much about Changlings!”

“We're all bi-sexual.” Lily explained. “Only the queen has an actual gender, the rest of us are technically asexual when we're in our normal form, we can choose to act in a more masculine or feminine way but that's mostly just a personality thing. When we mate...” She transformed into a muscular pegasus buck, which clearly excited Ratchet and Clank. “Or...” She flashed with green magic and the pegasus was replaced with a slim beautiful earth pony mare. “Then we spend a few days in this form, and when we know we're pregnant we change back.” She flashed back to normal. “And then we stay with the anatomy of a female until the child is born, at which point we change back to our original non-gender setup back there, it also allows us to have children with real ponies, or griffins, or sand dogs, zebra...really any creatures. We're very genetically flexible like that.” She grinned.

“How do you know all this if you're adopted and raised by a pony?” Again this earned me looks of disbelief. “WHAT?!” I cried.

“Seriously? I've met other changlings before.” She laughed. “One of the teachers at the school is a changling, I learned everything about it from her. Just because I lost my parents at a young age doesn't mean I know nothing of my culture or how I work. You aren't BORN with mastery over the ability to shape-shift any more than unicorns are born able to use magic or pegasi able to fly. I was lucky to still have someone take me in and care for and love me.” She said, hugging Fire Bird gently. “I can only imagine what would have happened to me without a mother.” Fire Bird blushed a little but smiled, returning the hug.

I suddenly realized why her story had struck me as odd, and now it was like my brain had kicked into overdrive as I looked over at Ruby and smiled. “I think we need to talk about something.” I said to her.

“We are talking about something...your clear ignorance of the Changlings.” Ruby smirked.

“We should adopt CB.” I said bluntly, no point in beating around the bush after all. “I mean I know that she'll be cared for by everypony in the group but at the end of the day where is she going to go to sleep, who's going to make sure she does her homework and ensures she doesn't make mistakes with some young buck when she's older? Who's going to be responsible for her life, not just her continued existence?”

Ruby looked at me quietly for a moment and I was worried she might get mad or freak out at the thought. “I...” She paused, clearly thinking things through. “I think that's a good idea.” She said finally, smiling warmly. “Who better to raise her than the smartest pony in the wasteland?” She asked, leaning in and kissing me sweetly. “I think it's wonderful that you want to take on that responsibility.” Everybody else at the table seemed equally impressed with the idea.

I blushed brightly and smiled. “Well I guess in the end it'll be her decision, assuming she wakes up.” I sighed.

“True.” Ruby nodded. “Speaking of which, we should get back soon, it's getting late and I don't want Brutus or Crackshot worrying.”

“So we'll head back after we eat?” I asked, my stomach growling loudly in agreement.

“Yeah I think that's fine.” Ruby said.

//////////

So it was that an hour and a half later, after bidding everybody goodbye and starting off again with all Ruby's new clothes and such tucked away in my saddlebags, which amazingly held it all, and promising we'd be back in a day or two at most to finish the rest of our business in town we were through the gate and headed back to the medical center. Ruby cuddled against me while we walked the stretch of highway. Of course what fun would this story be if we'd just cuddled and talked? About half way back a pair of ponies emerged from behind some rocks off to our side. I had seen them on my EFS and already slipped Ebony out of it's holster, the one sadly empty still. The two finally showed themselves by leaping down from a large boulder. They wore patchwork barding and were very skinny.

“Alright, no funny business just hand over your...” *ZAP * She fell back, the knife floating in her grasp clattering to the ground as Ebony burnt a hole in the ground in front of her. The other one was a pegasus with a pair of non-functional powerhooves on her front hooves and moved to help the unicorn up quickly.

“Really?” Ruby asked, rolling her eyes, not even budging from her spot against me. “You're gonna rob us with barely functional melee weapons? You two have a lot to learn about mugging ponies that's for sure.”

“Come on Cap I told you this was a bad idea.” The pegasus said quickly.

“No it wasn't.” The unicorn, Cap, snapped. Her horn glowed a bright yellow and a bolt of energy fired off of it, exploding harmlessly against a shield I threw up as soon as her horn had started to glow. “DAMMIT!” She cried, collapsing in a defeated heap. At this point Ruby stepped away from me and moved towards them slowly. The pegasus stepped in front of the unicorn protectively.

“I'm not going to hurt you.” Ruby said, shaking her head. “Neither is he.” She gestured to me with a wing. I nodded and holstered Ebony, but kept it in my magical grip.

“What are you going to do with us?” Cap asked bitterly, sitting up slowly.

“If we were going to do anything we'd have done it when you were smashing your way towards us for the last five minutes.” I said, tapping my pipbuck with my other hoof. “One does not simply walk up behind somepony with a pipbuck. We always know.”

“Where are you two from?” Ruby asked.

“The Island of Nun-ya.” Cap replied angrily.

“Oh I've been there.” I answered before Ruby could fall into the insult trap. “It's full name is Nun-ya-business isn't it?”

Cap just glared at the ground, her line spoiled.

“We're just nomads.” The pegasus said. “I'm Sky Wagon, this is Bottle Cap.”

“Friends? Sisters?” Ruby asked. The two exchanged looks and Ruby smiled. “Alright lovers then. Why are you out here trying to rob people? You realize this road is only going to be traveled by caravans or well armed ponies like us?”

“We're desperate.” Sky Wagon said.

“You're 20 minutes from a town, why not go there?”

“Like they'd let us.” Cap snorted.

“We're from a tribe of bandits, we left because we don't want any part of it...”

“That's kind of ironic.” I interrupted.

They ignored me and she continued. “But we're branded with the tribe mark so they won't let us in town. Even if they did, nopony in town would trust us because they'd be constantly afraid we'd do something bad.”

Ruby looked from them to me and back again, clearly deep in thought. Finally she came over to me and grabbed my leg, lifting the pipbuck up to her face. “Hey! You mind?” I asked, stumbling to keep from falling flat on my ass. She ignored me and flipped through to the inventory screen, going through my stuff. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

She finally floated out a few things of food, two healing potions and a small white box from the things she'd bought earlier. She looked up at me and I just nodded, lifting the boxes and floating them over to the other two.

“Here, food to tide you over, some medicine just in case, and something to help keep you warm at night.” Ruby said. Bottle Cap still looked annoyed but Sky Wagon came over and picked up the food and medicine, tucking it into her pack. She looked curiously at the white box, lifting the top of it she squee'd at the sight inside and put the top back on quickly, looking at Bottle Cap with a wicked grin.

“Are you sure it's okay?” She asked, looking back at Ruby.

“I'm positive.” She said, gesturing to me with a wing again and Sky Wagon giggled and nodded, adding the box to her pack.

“We're coming back here in three days, meet us back here then and we'll take you into town with us and see if we can't find somepony to help you alright?” Ruby said. “It's up to you if you want to show or not, but here, in three days, at noon, understood?” Sky Wagon nodded and moved to the still pouting unicorn.

“Come on, we gotta go.” She said excitedly.

“He shot at me, I'm still not happy.” Cap said.

“You will be, now get off your rump and lets go.” Sky Wagon said firmly, grabbing her by the tail and dragging her along for a minute before the unicorn finally gave up and pushed herself back to her hooves and started away slowly.

“See you in three days.” Sky Wagon said, waving to us as they started off.

“What did you give them?” I asked Ruby as we started down the road again.

“Nothing you need to worry yourself about.” She replied simply.

“Oh come on, it's gotta be something interesting.”

“Nope, not really.” She shrugged.

“It was interesting enough that you bought it in the first place.”

“It was just a novelty.” She replied. “Nothing to dwell on, I might tell ya later.”

I just sighed and shook my head, no point trying to argue with her was there? We started up the road again, Ruby cuddling back up to me contently as we continued back.

Footnote: 75% to next level.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

GUESS WHO'S BACK?!

BOOK TWO: Brother From Another Mother is here:

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/77567/foe-war-never-changes-brother-from-another-mother

NEW STORY! FINALLY! LETS GO! GHOSTS OF THE PAST!

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/109629/war-never-changes-ghosts-of-the-past