Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Wasteland, Part 2

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"Continuing the discussion of how things got to how they are now, Slowtrot explained how the ministries tried to help keep everypony calm and how that made things worse

Mainly the Ministry of Peace, Image and Moral were the biggest offenders, from how Slowtrot explained. If a pony was feeling stressed, depressed, or just a bit unhappy, the M.o.P. would regularly issue out pills to help make a pony feel better and all for free. The M.o.I. was constantly changing out books, posters and any other information for the sake of the war. It mostly left Slowtreot confused on what actually happened even a year back. As for the M.o.M. they were around every corner to remind ponies to be happy. They even visited ponies to make sure they were actually happy, or that pony would have to be taken to get personalized help.

Just imagining it, when that war ended, it must have been utter chaos. A whole nation of drug-addicted ponies, who have a confused idea of their history, were likely considerably paranoid and repressed. The raiders every pony feared, they weren't born, they were forged." ~ Azure Dice

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My mouth was dry and I had a headache. Two clear signs that I had a bit too much to drink last night. Fortunately, it looked like I made it back to the small shack that I was renting out just outside the gunrunners compound.

What sounded like a saw blade next to my ear caught me off guard. I looked over my shoulder to see Dead Axle on her back, drooling and snoring with a pleased expression on her face.

“Right. That happened,” I said to myself as I got up.

The small room gave me little space to move around. Almost everything I touched made some kind of noise. Despite that, Dead didn’t wake. She just kept on snoring with a dumb grin on her face.

I checked my things to make sure nopony stole anything. This is something everypony reminded me to watch out for. I normally kept my things with the Gunrunners so I was a bit worried, but fortunately everything was still here.

I picked up Chekhov's Promise. The gun still weighed heavy in my hooves, even when empty. I even checked, pulling back the slide to see if any bullet came out.

Nothing.

With a sigh, I let the slide go, making a clunk noise as the slide returned to its normal position.

Dead stopped snoring and jolted up, which startled me.

“Oh fuck! We didn’t, did we?” she asked, sounding worried.

“We could just pretend we didn’t,” I answered sheepishly.

A long groan came from Dead Axle before she slapped her face and got up onto all four hooves.

“I’m sure I can make an excuse, but it’s not like nopony will care. I just got to be careful when collecting tha Silphium.”

“Silphium?” I asked.

She trotted up to me, collecting her clan vest. “It’s one of the only plants we bother cultivating, though it’s more that we just randomly plant it all over the place. It makes great seasoning and smells good, but we mainly use it to keep ourselves from getting pregnant.”

My mind did a loop as I realized that we hadn't said protection… wait, is there any protection out in the wasteland?

“Well thank Celestia for that,” I said with an exacerbated sigh.

She bumped me. “Oh, afraid of having a little you running sound? I thought you softies liked having the little fuckers.”

I bumped her back. “Don’t get me wrong now. I’d like to have a family of my own, but there's just too much going on right now to do that. Anyways, we barely know each other. You really want to get pregnant after that drunken affair?”

Dead made a gagging motion before chuckling. “Ya… no. The mom thing is going to be Live’s thing, not mine. I would rather be the badass aunty who gives the foal all the sweets before sending the bastard home.”

“You would make a terrifying aunt,” I told her.

We laughed.

Putting my jacket back on, I still had to ask. “So, what does that make us?”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know. We ain't lovers. That was just a one-night thing, so don’t get a big head about it. Okay?”

“Alright. I was just making sure, that's all. As you know, I’m not the best at reading mares,” I confessed, feeling a bit relieved, but also disappointed.

“I can see that,” Dead said as she turned around and then bumped her flank with mine. “But, I wouldn't mind saying we're friends.”

She gave me a wink and a wiggle of her flank. “But before I go swipe that plant, maybe we can have one more go. Ya know. Help a friend scratch an itch.”

Thinking about it for a short moment, I figured why not. She was asking, after all.

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As we entered the Gunrunner compounded, I was now questioning if I had made a smart idea since Dead Axle still had a dumb smile on her face.

At the reception desk was the old balding griffin Hardballer who was cleaning a very stylish looking gun…

“Isn't that a Griffinstone Typewriter!?” I asked in surprise. The thing looking right out of an old movie, from the boxy frame, wooden buttstock, wooden grip, angled wooden foregrip, and topping it off was the iconic large drum magazine.

I saw a small smile form at the edge of Hardballer’s beak. “You are correct. The GM .45 Submachine Gun, officially named the Griffinstone Typewriter because my ancestors wanted every creature to know who made this work of art.”

He did a little pose with the gun, holding it upwards with a talon on each grip. If he had a fedora, he would have looked right out of an old silver screen Shadow Spade movie.

Curiously, I wanted to know how old that gun was. “So is that from the war? I remember that they were used when Celestia was in charge.”

Hardballer shook his head. “No. I made this one back before Redeye’s time. My grandpappy had a real one from the war and gave it to my brother before he passed. Now it’s kept just as a relic for all of us to look at but never touch.”

He patted his SMG. “But this baby, I make sure to feed her and take her for walks every now and then. Isn't that right “Gabby?”

Dead Axle snorted. “You named your gun Gabby?”

Pulling back the charging handle of the “Gabby”, it made a heavy clunk, making the two of us flinch.

“Gabby was the griffin responsible for a lot of the advancements that Griffinstone Mechanics made in arms development. She was also responsible for the development of the GAR, the Gabby Automatic Rifle which helped counter the zebra gatling guns.” Hardballer lowered his SMG “This model I made is actually based on her own version of the Griffinstone Typewriter. She simplified the gun to an ingenious degree. Making it blowback operated, using an aluminum frame, and a few were made to shoot the more commonly used 10mm round. I’ve made a few of the 10mm ones with pony hooves in mind as the ammunition is still cheaper to spray and pray with.”

“Right. Gabby it is,” Dead accepted with a nod.

The name finally rang a bell. “Oh! You're talking about the ambassador for Griffionstone, Gabriella. Right.? I heard she was involved with almost everything going on in Griffinstone during the war. It was almost like she was good at everything.”

Hardballer put his Gabby down and leaned back in his seat. “Hard to tell with how many holes there are in the historical records. She’s more of a folk hero for Griffinstone than anything, though strangely too cheerful and giving in most of those tales. Still, it fills me with pride to know that she is our folk hero and always inspiring me to do my best when I was still young.”

I smirked. “Imagine you being young. It’s hard to believe.”

“Ya ya. Even my bones don’t remember being young anymore,” Hardballer said as he waved me off dismissively. “So you're here to do some work?”

“Ya, but I also want to check and see if Star is here. She said she wanted to tell us something last night,” I informed the old griffin.

“In the garage. You just missed her and Harp,” He told me before his eyes glanced at Dead Axle. “You can go too. it seems whoever sold you those guns didn’t know they had something good among the junk.”

Dead smiled with excitement. “Oh, nice!”

_______________________________________________________

Predictably, Longslide was in the garage working on the Smuggler. He looked like he was attaching a strange looking magical beam weapon to the gunner nest. Star and Harp were here too, along with Bridget and two of Longslide's kids.

Trotting over, I asked. “What is he putting on the Smuggler?”

Harp glanced over at me before answering. “A prototype gatling beam gun. Turns out the Gunrunners has an old blueprint for a gun called a beam sweeper. It uses rotating-beam talismans to consistently fire without overtaxing the talismans. Javelin figured if they used the talismans from the three enclave beam guns they had and placed them into a rotating system, along with a focus cristal, then they would have a reliable beam gun for the Smuggler.”

“Does it work?” Dead asked.

“Well, in yesterday's testing, it did, though we had to keep the talisman rotation down so that we can fire it at a higher power without burning out a talisman. It’s no beam minigun, but as the Smugglers turret, it should work.” Harp explained.

I heard a loud whine sound as Longslide aimed the beam turret and fired it at a makeshift turret. I don’t know what Harp was getting at when she said they turned the rotation down, but it seemed that it fired well fast enough to make me not want to be shot at by it.

After a moment, the firing stopped along with the whining noise the gun made. Jumping off the Smuggler, Longslide landed near us, looking as happy as the cat that caught the canary. “The thing just needs a proper gun platform and some insulation for the wires, but overall, I say the thing is good as a proper gun.”

“That's so cool! Dad, can I fire it next!” Longslisd’s son excitedly cheered as he jumped over to the Smuggler.

“After I finished the gun's body,” he said before turning to Harp. “I got to say, with your help, I’ve managed to possibly take years off of development for this. Once you have those new Talismans done, I’ll be able to try and make that beam shotgun.”

Now I cocked an eyebrow at that. “A beam what now?”

“Star got some smoky quartz gemstones the other night. I’ve been turning them into alright beam talismans. Nothing like the ones from the old beam guns, but good enough for short-range scatter fire,” Harp explained.

“I soo what one!” Dead exclaimed excitedly.

Seeing the beam gun in action was actually exciting. During the war, they were rarely seen outside advanced robots and pegasus troops. Several civilian beam guns were sold out on the market, but to say they were expensive was an understatement.

I soon remembered why I was here. “Oh, Star, you said you wanted to tell me something last night?”

Star's ears perked up, but she didn’t look all that happy about it.

“Right, that…” She said. She looked a bit dejected.

Harp quickly caught on. “What? Did something bad happen?Does it have something to do with that odd mare yesterday?”

“Well, kind of ya.” Star nervously scratched her leg as she looked over to Bridget. She saw that her daughter was busy playing on the Smuggler with her cousins.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly before telling us what she wanted to say. “I decided to not go with Victoria. It’s the better option for me, as I would be able to provide for Bridget without holding her back, but it didn’t feel right. Maybe it was how the Bishop wanted to use me and Harp as a tool, or how Victoria wanted to sacrifice Harp and attack Slowtrot. I just couldn't bring myself to tell Victoria yes.”

Harp raised her hoof. “Wait. Who is this Bishop? And… can you be more clear?”

Star nodded. “Alright, a bit more detail. I can do that.”

It wasn't a long story, and Star managed to tell us enough that we understood, except she avoided the one part we didn’t want to hear. What caught my attention was Victoria's plan on going to rapture and meet Thorn. As it seemed, the only way to get to Thorn was through this Pope, who lived on Avalon, a city floating in the Luna Sea.

I checked my pipbuck map. I saw the marker left for me by the Lutesses. It was out in the ocean.

Harp looked a bit worried, placing a hoof on Star’s shoulder. “Aren't you worried? There's no way Victoria, or that bishop, won’t do something.”

Star just smiled. “I’m more worried about you, little miss popular. Whatever comes for me, I can deal with it.”

She turned to Longslide who looked like he was having a hard time understanding any of what she had said. One of his talons was covering his face, almost expecting the question. “Speaking of shit coming my way, could you tweak my gun? It started having trouble shooting near the last bullets.”

Longslide sighed as he took his talon off his face, now looking annoyed. “That's because the rusted gun is a garbage gun. The thing is made to be belt fed for crying out loud! You’d might as well use a pipe SMG. At least those things are meant to be cheap.”

“Maybe Hardballer can lend her one of his Griffinstone Typewriters. He did say he made a few 10mm ones for ponies to use,” I suggested.

A mocking laugh came from Longslide. “Not going to happen. Those guns are works of art. They’re far above what she could ever afford.”

I felt another bump from Dead Axle as she spoke up. “What about those threshers the old griff said he found among the pipe guns?”

Both Harp and Star looked over at us curiously.

“You mean those rifles? Let me go grab one,” Longslide said as he trotted over to a crate.

Trotting back, he presented us with a fairly large rifle that was clearly made from pipes and scrap metal, yet looked quite strong despite looking junky.

Dead gasped and grabbed the rifle. “It’s a fucking Redeye rifle! This thing is the shit!”

“Language,” Star and Longsled scolded in unison.

“Oh chill,” Dead responded with a roll of her eyes.

Looking at it, I still didn’t see why she got so excited over the gun. I mean, even the stock was just a shovel handle. “What a Redeye rifle?”

Dead Axle smiled as she practically shoved the rifle in my face. “It’s Redeye’s last fuck you to the wasteland, that’s what!”

Fortunately, Longslide decided to step in and take the rifle away. “It’s the last gun my dad made for Redeye before that asshole died. Both him and my Uncle had been tasked with making a proper gun that was to be as solder proof as possible, and that’s the result. It’s based on a minotaur design. It’s chambered in 7.62mm just like the minotaurs used. The guns are still junk, but not like the pipe rifles or rust guns. It’s the gun dad used to kill the enclave soldiers that killed my mother.”

He flipped the gun around, showing us a stamp in the frame that had “GR” on it.

“Likely this gun saw action during the battle for Fillydelphia with the enclave. Unfortunately none of them are wing leader guns, those had the bypass talismans installed in them, allowing them to shoot right through power armor.” he explained.

“It’s not going to cost more to get the rifles fixed up, is it?” Dead checked.

Longslide shook his head. “No. Actually, they're the easiest guns to fix up.” He cracked a smile. “Actually, since you're here, can you deliver the Redeye rifles ahead of the rest of the guns? The pipe guns will be ready tomorrow, but Pops wants these guns out of town sooner than later. Sheriff Ashy is bound to confiscate and destroy them if she found out we have any.”

Dead nodded. “Sure! I know Elder Papa will love to get his hooves on a new one. His last one was given off as a gift.”

With that Longslide trotted back over to the crate, taking out a few more of the rifles, and putting them in a long box.

Harp and Star trotted over to the foals, joining them with playing on the Smuggler.

I turned to Dead Axle, who had a satisfied smirk on her face. “Well, this is turning out to be a good business deal for your clan.”

She bumped my flank again. “Getting laid by a stallion and getting my hooves on a sweet ass gun? Hell yeah, this is a good day!”

I rubbed the back of my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Hey now. I do have a name.”

She laughed, giving me a playful jab. “That you do. Maybe we can go for another round before I go. Seeing that gun has got me a bit in the mood.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. You Desperado mares do seem to like that stuff.”

“That we do. It is our lives,” Dead said before giving me another jab. “Say, ya never gave a proper answer to Transmission last night. You danced around the question and whatnot. Truthfully now, would ya fuck Live Axle if she was interested?”

Great! This question again. But, unlike before, I did feel like I could be more honest and blunt about it.

“If she was interested, ya,” I answered. “I’d sleep with her. That softer side of her is cute. It reminds me a bit of how ponies used to be, though wrapped in spiky armor.”

She gave me a mischievous grin. “Good to know. Next time she is in town, you should go on a proper date with her. I’ll even swipe some extra Silphium for her.”

Narrowing my eyes at Dead Axle, I wasn’t sure what her game was here. “If you’re going to use me to mess with your sister, please don’t.”

“Anyways, isn’t it a bit odd to try and get your sister to have sex with a stallion you just had sex with?” I asked.

Dead then fluttered her eyes at me and licked her lips. “Maybe, but I like to think of it as testing the goods first.”

“Anyways, at least with you, she won’t have any expectations of a real relationship. That means no broken heart. She gets to have her cherry popped, and then you two can have your romantic goodbye.”

I think I was understanding what she was on about, but I still didn’t like the idea of using me to get her sister her first time without strings attached.

Sighing, I gave Dead an annoyed but friendly bump. “I think it’s a bad idea. You're only going to piss Live off trying that.”

“Well that all aside, I’ve got to go and talk with Quicktrot. Try to get some questions answered.”

She gave me a bump back. “Alright. Just wait for me outside first. I still got an itch you need to scratch.”

_______________________________________________________

Looking at the entrance of Blue Skies entryway, I rubbed my sore ear in the hopes that there were no bite marks on it. “Why do mares love biting so much?” I complained to myself, a question I knew they would ever answer me.

At least my time with Dead Axle filled me with enough confidence to come this far, along with a more clear head on my shoulders.

I had originally planned on trotting in and shouting for Qicktrot in the hopes to force her to me, but now I think a calmer plan should work just fine. Anyways, that doppelgänger gave me the perfect weapon to use against her.

Trotting over to one of the guards, I saw a dirty pony in a ragged looking suit and fedora. It made sense as the Desperados were no longer working with them, but this pony seemed too weak to do much but stand around.

“You! I’m here to see my… sister.” Calling her that felt bitter and slimy, but I knew it should get results.

The thin guard cocked an eyebrow at me then looked over at the other guard at the gate before addressing me. “What now? Who are you?”

I gave a dramatic sigh, making it good and loud. “I swear the quality of the ponies she hires gets worse every year. At least the Desperados knew who I am without me needing to remind them. My name is Slowtrot. Sounds familiar, right? Now go get me an escort to see Quicktrot, your boss!”

The guard gave me a confused look as if I was some mad pony, which I probably was. But Fragment already played this card on me, so I had to flow through with it.

I clapped my hooves together condescending, acting like a stereotypical stuck up rich pony from the comedy films back in my time. “Chop-chop, now. I don’t have all day. Or is your brain as shriveled as your body?”

The guard snarled at me as he took a more aggressive stance. I may have failed that speech check a bit too hard.

Though I may have brought my guns and all with me, I was not ready for an actual fight.

A sharp whistle got my and the guards’ attention. A worn down looking pegasus mare in a suit was standing just past the entrance. “Ahh, the less than sane brother. The boss is quite annoyed at the moment. Mainly because you're still around.”

“Well, she can overdose on dash for all I care, but not before I have a chat with her,” I told the mare and trotted past the guards. “I assume you will be my escort again?”

She gave me a yellow-toothed smile. “Of course. Anything to get this farce over as soon as possible.”

A flicker in my E.F.S. hud display gave way to S.A.T.S being forced on. Fragment appeared over the pegasus mare. She was still in that straight jacket like a lab coat, looking rather crossed, and somehow having dark bags under her eyes.

“It’s a tragedy that you survived that raider nest. Truly it is,” she spoke to me with her digital voice.

She gave a long yawn and produced a large pillow to rest her head on. “You know how much work I’ve been doing because of those damn gangers pulling out of their deal with me? The new mercenaries may be cheep, but fuck are they annoying to organize.”

From the pillow, Fragment glared at me. I could feel a deep hatred from her, not that I cared. “But if you want to bother me, I can suffer a few minutes of it, but you better not waste my time. Our deal still stands, but don’t think my patience is infinite. I may have all the time in the world, unlike you, but I am still a busy mare.”

She flickered out of existence and time resumed its normal flow.

Looking around as I was led to Fragments train carts, I could see that not too much had changed other than the Desperados no longer being here. In their places were even more ponies in dirty suits. Some of them with armor under the suits, and many of them armed with pistols and pipe like clubs. There were also other ponies doing the more menial labor, who looked in worse shape than the suit ponies and avoided eye contact with everypony nearby.

It gave me a bad feeling.

In front of the train cart entrance was a large unicorn stallion. He was in far better shape than most of the ponies here, and in much cleaner clothes. He had a clean black suit with a white undershirt and black tie, all topped off with some really dark shades over his eyes. “Now he looks right out of the Ponies in Black movie. Does he have a crazy magical gun too?”

The stallion ignored me as he hopped the train car door.

The pegasus mare chuckled. “He's got a plasma defender pistol, so if you ever want to be turned to green goo, then please do pick a fight with him. I’ll get one of the idiots to clean your melted mess off the floor.”

“Ya… no. I heard they were notorious for only half melting a pony, making them wish they were dead,” I told her as I trotted inside. The door quickly closed behind me.

Again I was in the waiting room, and again it gave me a less than comfortable nostalgia feeling. Not feeling like waiting, I trotted over to the door to get right to business.

“Wrong door!” the intercom called out. “Idiot!”

Turning around, I trotted to the other door to get right to business.

Quicktrot Fragment’s office was the same as before, with two rows of filing cabinets and terminal screens on each of them. They were all on this time. Each screen had an eye looking at me. A different eye for each screen.

“Right. You're a creepy bitch. I get it.” I told Fragment as I trotted over to her desk.

“It’s how I relax. I mean, we all must have our hobbies,” the pony behind the desk said. Her voice was strained and wispy.

Turning her chair around, I saw that the mare she possesed was looking even worse than last time. The mane had thinned, making the failed attempt at a mechanical eye visible and the boils around it had popped, thus leaking puss down her cheek. The mares body also looked more frail, not helped by several missing patches of fur.

“As you can see, I’ve been needing some relaxation.” I saw that several teeth were missing as Quicktrot spoke.

Maybe it was because of the raidr stable, or possibly I was expecting to see something like this, but I was not shocked in the least. The gruesome sight was horrifying in all regards, yet I felt numb to it.

I did feel sorry for the poor pony she had possessed and for the pony she will possess next.

Sighing in annoyance, I told her, “You really are a monster, but you don’t need me to remind you of that.”

The screen on the desk terminal turned on, and Quicktrots doppelgänger form appeared on it. “No. No, you don’t,” she said before my E.F.S. flickered and she popped out of the screen and grew to the size of a normal mare. “So what do you want to talk about? There are so many things I don’t feel like saying to you.”

“Fist of…” I wanted to bring up Thorn, but I needed to confirm something else first. “Were you behind the Blood Moon Raider? Did you send them after Harp?”

Quicktrot gasped, placing a hoof on her nonexistent heart. “Send out raiders? Goodness me, no. They are sooo unreliable. They are like using a sledgehammer to drive in a nail while attempting brain surgery. One fuck up of a glorious mess.”

She leaned back on her desk, reaching over to rub the cheek of her decaying host. “Though the Blood Moons were good at capturing mares mostly intact. They even broke the mares in for me, free of charge. Ain't that dandy of them?”

I swallowed my disgust as I glared at the abomination. “So you did have involvement with them, then.”

“Well, they did buy all the shit chems we could not quite sell in town. Though they did take a few of my agents for their own fun before any dialogue could start. Fortunately they were replaceable assets.” She turned back to look at me, a smug smile on her face. “There was this time where some fool wanted some new mare in town for himself and came asking one of my agents for a deal. Well, Blue Skies can't be breaking all the rules. There’s a limit to everything, so I had my agent sell the pony information to those who would.”

I swung my hoof right up to her face, but Quicktrot didn’t flinch. Not like I could even touch her. “So you are responsible for this whole damn mess!” I accused.

Quicktrot shrugged at me. “A bit. What are you going to do about it? Tell the sheriff again?” Her smug smile only seemed to get even smugger.

She leaned in, passing through my hoof. “We both know what will happen if you do that now. Don’t we?”

Taking a step back so that she wouldn't get too close, I took a moment to calm down and think rationally. I was only here to ask questions, not take fruitless actions.

“Ya, we do,” I agreed with her.

She excitedly clapped her hooves together. “Oh good, good, good. If the same thing happened like last time… well that would be boring… No. Actually, it would be funnier the second time around. Still, I rather have you stay out of my mane. Keep you somewhere I don’t have to be.”

Quicktrot took a step back and floated up onto her desk and sat with her back legs crossed. “Now I presume you want to talk about Thorn as well?” she guessed correctly, then started rubbing her temples, clearly annoyed. “And no, I had no clue that bitch was still alive, or what she is up to.”

“Yes, Thorn…” I pondered for a moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase the question. “What do you know about Rapture, and how was Stable-Tec involved?”

She rolled her eyes. “That. Yes. I do hold a few memories of that. Thorn did guard such memories so jealousy from Pinky Pie, so she stored them in me whenever the Ministry mare came knocking.”

Giving her desk a kick, all the terminal screens flickered. The faces of many different ponies appeared on them. I recognized some of them. More specifically; the six ministry mares, the CEO’s of stabletech, Luna, and Fleetfoot. The rest were unknown to me.

“At the time everypony was playing their little games, there were so many secrets and misinformation that it became hard to know fiction from fact.” She gave her hooves a clap. The screens switched to just Schootaloo and Fleetfoot. “What I know about that memory you saw for some damn reason? Thorn managed to wedgie herself into the lives of several ponies connected to the Ministry mares at their most vulnerable moments.”

The screens shifted again to even more ponies I didn’t know, but Fleetfoot stayed, now flanked by two ‘E’s “Fleetfoot never hated Rainbow Dash, but once trust was lost, it's hard to regain. The enclave was the perfect tool for keeping them from fixing their relationship, and that gave Thorn a strong political ally. The main goal was to keep the ministers as distracted as possible, as well as be part of Thorn’s own information network. Who knew the Enclave would survive as the only political party among the Pegusus? Trust me, Thorn had no bigger plan than for the Enclave to be a… thorn in the ministries hoof.”

Again the screens flickered as they switched to Schootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and Applebloom. “As for Stable-Tec, most intriguing. Once disillusioned, twice a great pawn. Poor Scootaloo. So angry and filled with betrayal. She wanted to be Rainbow Dash's sidekick, her trusted friend, and probably her successor. But Rainbow Dash banned her from the Ministry of Awesome. She even cut contact with her out of the blue. Now the ministry mare was, in truth, protecting her number one fan, but fortunately for Thorn, Rainbow Dash is an idiot.”

One of the screens shifted. This one showed Schootaloo having tea as seen through the eyes of what I guess was Thorn. Schootaloo’s voice came out of the screen. “I just wanted RD to trust me. To let me help her. She didn’t have to shut me out. Not like that.”

Another screen shifted, showing another image of Scootaloo who looked quite angry. “Your right! It’s this damned war and the ponies who started it! Why do they keep making us fight in their fucking cunt waving contest?” Scootaloo said abrasively.

A third screen shifted. This time Scootaloo had a near empty bottle of wild pegasus whisky in her hooves. “They’re all the same. All of them. No matter how much I try and tell them that this war is wrong, it will be the end of us all, and they still want to fight. Maybe you're right. Maybe starting over is the best idea.”

“But wouldn't ponies just make the same mistakes as before?” the voice of Thorn spoke up.

Scootaloo nodded. “Ya… ya… ya… that’s right! They would just do this all over again. No, worse… they will do this again.”

“You mean the... princesses?” Thorn said clearly, calmly, and coldy.

“Celestia ruled for a thousand years,” Scootaloo said, pointing her bottle at Thorn. “Her and Luna can live forever, so what's stopping them from just doing what they’ve done before? Yeah! Fuck them all! We don’t need any of them. Not the princesses, not the ministries, and not… not… not Rainbow… Dash.” Scootaloo began to cry right before all the screens turned off.

Looking back at Fragment, she was playing with her mane, giving me a satisfied smug smile before she continued. “Truthfully, it wasn’t all Thorn handiwork. She was just the best at manipulating others, so she was used to get poor little Scootaloo under the Office of Inter-Ministry Affaires control. Of course, she also carefully planted her own hatred for Equestria into the mares head. More as a joke than anything else. But that did give her access to a lot of Stable-Tec secrets, though unfortunately, Applebloom caught wind of it all. Thorn knew that the younger apple would attempt to fix all of Scootaloo’s mistakes before they got found out.”

I remember that part. Of how the 2600… how Fragment was used to try and lure Applebloom to the R&D Stable so that Thorn could kill her.

“And Rapture?” I asked.

Again, Fragment shrugged. “Not all that much, really. All I know is that Scootaloo was delivering any surplus materials to Thorn’s dropoff for some OIA project involving a deep-sea listening post. She never talked about the details with anypony. It’s all bits and pieces. What I do know is that she had far more materials and personnel sent there then What should she have been getting? From what we saw in Victoria Memorise, she made sure whoever was sent down there could easily expand the project far past a simple listening post.”

“Like a damn city!” I growled at her.

“Makes me really want to take a look. How wonderful it must be to live down there,” Fragment mused with a gleeful look on her face which quickly turned to disgust. “Unfortunately she's down there, and you alone are a huge headache.”

Feeling that it was nearly time to go, I had one last question. “So, that pony who got the raiders to go after Harp… where is he?”

Fragment vanished and her host began to move again. “I believe he had a run-in with some local raider gangs. It was quite ugly with how he died. Oh, how an unfortunate way to die, I do hope the sheriff will deals with those ruffians soon.”

An eerie laugh came from Quicktrot. One that made me very uneasy.

Turning to leave, I didn’t say anything more. No threats or complaints. It would all be wasted on an abominable monster like her.

_______________________________________________________

-Reputation-

-Desperados-

Somepony has further put in a good word for Slowtrot among the Desperados. There may be some of them who will want to have a talk with him. Just keep an eye out if there's any shotguns involved.