After we slept -though I suspect I was the only one sleeping- in the burnt-out remains of a hotel Shadow lead the way towards what he called an SPP tower. What that stood for, he wouldn’t tell me. But I guess it isn’t really that important what it's called, we just needed to get inside, grab what we needed, and leave.

It took most of an uneventful day to get there, my PipBuck told me the travel time was five hours and twenty five minutes. Though it felt more like a whole year with the company I was keeping. Shadow was almost just that, a shadow. Silently following behind me. Every now and then he’d ask if I needed a water break or a rest stop. He never did drink or eat anything himself, nor did he rest, always standing guard.

The SPP tower was just as Midnight Rain described: A giant fucking tower standing proudly in the middle of the wasteland. It’s white walls only slightly tarnished by time.

Finding the front door was easy, getting the door to open was the hard part. The stupid thing was locked with a number pad. I tried every combination I could think of but the damn thing wouldn’t open! Just as I was about to try shooting out the lock, Shadow pushed me out of the way with a comment about me almost setting off an alarm and typed in a five digit code. The door unlocked with a sinister hiss.

Who is this guy?

That mystery would have to wait until later, I had some radio parts to find!

The inside of the tower was made up of about a dozen floors, each with a purpose forgotten by time. Any and all radio equipment would probably be at the top of the tower, so that’s where I went. Shadow decided to remain by the door, his expression unreadable through his red aviators.

There was one floor however, that still resembled its original use; an armory.

What is an armory doing in a radio tower?

Well, there wasn’t a time limit on the radio equipment, might as well answer one question today.

It was the only floor without windows, and also the only floor where the lights still worked. There must be an emergency generator somewhere inside, still pumping energy after two hundred years of neglect. Most of the space was taken up by rows and rows of weapons and armour that didn’t fit me. The back was a small barracks of sorts, lockers lined one side while bunk beds covered the other. A terminal was situated on the left wall, I would have to check that out before I left.

The place was well stocked, so I nabbed a few metal apples as well as a new carbine and some ammo for it. I tried my talon at opening the lockers but to no avail save for the final one which wasn’t even locked. Inside were two things: the biggest sniper rifle I had ever seen and a small statuette of a rainbow Pegasus.

The rifle had to be at least a 50 Caliber judging by the magazine well, it was midnight black with a small red dragon decal on each side by the trigger. The word Ifrinn was inscribed in cursive upon the end of the very long barrel.

That must be it’s name, Ifrinn. I wonder what it means?

After stashing the huge weapon in my Inventory I took a closer look at the statuette. The second I touched it I felt a rush of energy, I suddenly felt able to fly faster than the sound barrier! Then the moment passed and most of the feeling ebbed away, leaving only a trace amount of the strange surge of power. I now had the feeling that I was not alone, though whomever was with me did not intend to harm me, but to help. It was quite comforting to say the least. At the bottom of the pedestal on which the vibrant mare proudly stood were the words Be awesome! I carefully placed it in my Inventory along with a bunch of ammo for Ifrinn and trotted over to the terminal.

As luck would have it the thing still worked, booting up with a low hum. The only things on it were a few audio files and a Data spreadsheet. Downloading the audio logs for later I rummaged around the armory for anything else useful and returned to the stairs, intent on completing my mission.

Just as I suspected the top floor was a giant communication room. There were three big tv screens covering the front wall, below that lay a huge board of buttons and sliders and keyboards. On either side of the board was my quarry; boxes upon boxes of radios, audio consoles, and automation software.

After grabbing not a few of these things I turned to the control board. I was tech savvy enough to find the on button and get the whole thing running. Fiddling with all the buttons somehow got the tower connected to a signal labeled Tenpony Tower. A female voice came through the speakers.

“Hello? Who is this? I don’t think I’ve seen the IP address of this tower before. Hold on, I’ll have visual in a second.”

Surprised, I sat there speechless for a moment, before shaking my head I realized I had been spoken to.

“Hi, I’m Blitz, I came here looking for radio parts and somehow got this thing on”

“My name is Homage, I’m DJ Pon3’s assistant.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“DJ Pon3? Who’s that?”
Before who I assumed was a mare could respond, the middle screen flickered to life. Showing me the image of a grey unicorn with a blue mane and tail and vibrant brown eyes who was indeed a mare. She was apparently speechless at the sight of me.

“Sweet Celestia you’re a hippogriff! I’ve only seen your kind in books! Where is the rest of your species? How well can you fly? Can you touch clouds like Pegasi? Are you all that amazing shade of blue or is it just you?”

It was my turn to be speechless.

“Wait, hold on, what? I’m sorry, I only got about half of all that.”

“Oh! Sorry, I just got a little excited. How about a couple more relevant questions, how did you get this tower running, and where is this tower?”

I informed her that all I did was mess around with the controls and the system connected. And that I was in Neigh Orleans.

“I’m sorry to cut this short Homage. But I have to get back to Marebon Street before dark, my friend Shadow says it’s not safe to travel at night.”

“Oh! Yes, that’s a good idea, thank you for fixing this radio tower! I can now broadcast my music to this part of the wasteland!”

“You’re welcome, have a good day!”

“Same to you Blitz!”

And with that I took the stairs all the way down to Shadow, who was exactly where I had left him. As I came down the last few steps he turned to face me with an irritated expression on his face.

“You took too long, we’ll have to walk through the night on the final stretch of the journey. Did you get what you needed?” I nodded and followed him out of the tower as the door closed behind us with a loud clunk!!

I had found my radio parts, as well as a new gun and an interesting statuette. And with only a few hours of daylight left we were headed back to Marebon Street.

Footnote:
In a rich colt’s world: progress 75/10,000 Quest time limit: 30 days remaining.

Author's Note

This chapter was really fun for me to write. And now with Christmas Break started there will hopefully be an increase in chapters I can pump out! Hope you all are enjoying my story and if you have any feedback please let me know down in the comments. Again thank you to Kkat for creating this amazing sandbox for so many to play in.

-ABloodthirstyUnicorn