Outer Worlds: Equestria

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 10: Awareness, it was under E!

After leaving Gunt’s Emporium we began exploring Fallen itself proper. One of the first things we did was make our way toward the landing pad. Once there I found a terminal that would allow me to connect to the Non-Responsible itself at Taffyta and have it come meet us here at Fallen. I did that and in just under three minutes I saw our ship nearing the landing pad. We cleared it, watched it land, and I felt better. If things went pear shaped we could make a break and get out. I didn’t expect things to, but so far I’d found that it was better to be prepared than sorry.

After that we made our way down, and I saw a mare standing on the corner. At first I thought that she could be one of the girls that worked for Gunt, but then I noticed that she wasn’t attempting to solicit anycreature. She was just honestly watching, taking in stock of each individual that passed her. When she laid eyes on us I saw her eyes narrow. As she studied me I studied her. She was another unicorn, a little older than me, but not by much, and she seemed to me that her silver coat and white mane mane and tail weren’t from age. Her green eyes looked odd, and I realized that both of them were synthetic. At some point she had been enhanced. Her armor looked good, but it also looked incredibly clean. There were scratches and pits in it, but each of them looked as if they had oiled and polished with the rest of her armor.

She was dressed like a professional, but the little things about her spoke of the kind of professional she was. She made her way toward me, her synthetic eyes never wavering, never moving, but instead she was completely focused. She stopped and touched my chest with a hoof.

“Captain Slim Chance of the Non-Responsible?”

Her voice was cold, hard, and it had absolutely indication of being remotely soft and gentle.

“Yes,” I said warily, “That’s me.”

She nodded, took a seat on her haunches, and then fished out a fresh cigarette. I watched as she lit it with her horn and then she proceeded to smoke.

“You’ve made a name for yourself,” she said as sharp as the edge of a razor, “At least you’ve made something of a name. You destroyed a major marauder’s camp, took their power regulator and left two opposing settlements operating. One of which was built on what was reported to be a failure.”

I studied her, “Who are you?”

She smiled, “Oh, I have no name,” she said coldly, “Officially I don’t exist, and usually I’m only contacted when there’s someone of notice that has caught the attention of anyone important. Which puzzles me. Because I was enjoying my time being serviced, loving every second I had with my personal servants, when I received a wave over the aether. Apparently someone of notice came to Equestria II.”

She took a long drag from her cigarette, “But what I see before me is a wide eyed little cunt that shouldn’t have woken up.”

Smog growled at her and she smiled, “Oh, have no fear, I’m not foolish enough to do anything here. I’d be dead before I made the gate.”

She got up, “So, I’m offering the only bit of free advice you’re going to get. Stop rocking the boat, or face the consequences.”

She moved off, and her departure left more than a few questions. I wanted to know who it was that had hired her. Her actions and attitude were certainly from someone that seemed to be direct and to the point. She had never once said what would happen. She didn’t say a single threatening word, but none of it mattered. She had effectively let me know what I could expect. She would for all accounts and purposes end us if we continued to anger her currently unknown benefactor. That was the problem here. I wasn’t someone that rolled over easily. I certainly didn’t give in easily either.

Baldwin had said that I was as stubborn as an old oak tree that was planted by a river. He said that no other tree would give an Earth Pony trouble like an old Oak Tree. That it would take an Earth Pony all day to cut it down, then most of the night to cut it up. That the tree was planted hard and firm next to the water, and it would seemingly become harder than steel in order to stay there. I didn’t know much about trees except that some of them grew fruit, but I had to agree that maybe he was onto something with the comparison.

It could be that my river was doing what I considered the right thing, and I wasn’t going to let someone deter me from it. So, if that made me an old oak tree planted by a river, then so be it. Of course I wasn’t stupid either. If she could keep her word then it made her fucking dangerous, and I wasn’t going to get caught facing someone that could be that much of a danger without some protection. The weapons that Gunt was repairing for us was a start, but we would need more.

I had found two of my favorite weapons on a couple of marauders, so maybe I could find some other decent weapons on them as well. Of course that still left armor, and I wasn’t going wear marauder armor again. Their repurposed mining gear didn’t do too well against bullets. Maybe it was okay against blunt objects, but a bullet seemed to go right through it. What I wanted, what I needed, was some really good armor that covered everything.

I’d seen a couple of Applejack’s Rangers, in full power armor, before boarding the Luna Seven, and that was honestly what I really wanted. I wanted to have that kind of armor. Sure, I was certain that there were armor piercing rounds that existed which could tear through those suits of armor, but regular bullets would be stopped. Having something like that would certainly have gone a long way toward making me feel safer.

I was fairly confident that Smog’s own natural scales would protect him from most firepower, and I knew that I needed to find something for Buttersworth and Gilda. The armor that the ponies, and gryphons, here were wearing decent enough armor. It wasn’t the same as the power armor I’d seen before I boarded the Luna Seven, but what they were wearing looked decent enough. It reminded me of the armor the police wore. At the very least it would protect from low grade firearms.

I considered the idea of asking Gunt if he sold combat armor that wasn’t patchworked armor thrown together by marauders. Despite the slightly uncomfortable talk with the mare that more or less promised to kill all of us I began to consider what was to come at this point. I had a checklist of sorts, of course the big goal was saving everypony, well everycreature, aboard the Luna Seven. But there were smaller ones now. I needed to get into the secret lab that Spark Gap told me about, I had this group tour to do for Gunt in order to get enough pay for fixing our weapons, and maybe purchasing some decent armor.

Not getting killed by a strange mare was certainly at the top of the list now as well. As we continued back toward Gunt’s Emporium I saw a couple of ponies come running out of what looked like a mine shaft. One of them was coughing and sputtering, and the other collapsed when they cleared the entrance. A part of me said that this wasn’t my issue. It wasn’t my concern, and to be honest I likely had no reason to get involved. At which point the more compassionate side of quickly knocked that part of me in the back of the head, bent it over, and put a hoof straight up its tailhole while demanding that I see what wsa going on.

I had absolutely no intention of annoying, or disobeying, the more compassionate side of myself. I rushed toward the two ponies, realizing that both of them were stallions, and the one that was lying on the ground looked to be breathing, but out cold. The one that was coughing looked like he could barely breathe at all.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to sound as concerned as I actually felt,, “Is there anything I can do?”

He studied me for a moment, and then he nodded, “Yeah,” he said, “Some idiot decided to use some sprats to deliver a mixture of Sweet-Dreamer, UltraDash, a little Ever Pep Pills mixed together. It was inside of some latex tubing, so the sprats didn’t just get hopped up on it. But whatever the fuck those things were down there that ate the fuckin’ sprats, they got all kinds of hopped up!”

So, there were some large creatures down in the mine, that were suffering some kind of drug induced insanity, and it had been bad enough to send these two out of there with the intention of running for their lives. I took a look toward the landing pad and at the ship. I had been worrying about armor, but then I had some. It wasn’t great armor, but it would work. It had come from Equestria II, the geothermal plant, and it did fit well.

But as I recalled the armor itself was designed only for small arms fire, some stabbing weapons, and some protection from blunt force. It could provide protection, but I wasn’t completely sure. I looked toward the mine tunnel, and I was about to go and at the very least get my armor when I heard the sound. It was a long high pitched scream. The scream sounded as if it was made by a filly that wasn’t quite a mare yet. I saw the stallion that had been coughing look toward the mine.

“Mint Drop!” he shouted in anguish, “she’s still down there!”

That was more than enough for me. I still had my magic, and hopefully that would be enough. I rushed forward heading into the mouth of the mine, and the first thing I smelled when I entered was smoke. It formed heavily around me, and I coughed as I continued forward. I heard steps behind me, and I saw Buttersworth, Gilda, and Smog. Smog looked comfortable, but Gilda and Buttersworth were both wearing something. From what I could see it looked like they were wearing ventilators that were used for mining.

If I would have taken a moment to grabbed one, then I wouldn’t be inhaling so much of this smoke. My eyes widened as I felt around myself with my magic. Like most ponies I pretty much tended to forget about saddlebags. It wasn’t that I didn’t know that I was wearing them, but instead I would just forget about them most of the time. I felt inside of one, pulled out a marauder’s mining mask, and I put it on.

The ventilator inside of the mask began to work, and I could breathe easier. Granted, the air tasted like ass, the inside of the mask smelled like rotted meat, but at least I wasn’t going to die of smoke inhalation. Although, if I was inside of this mask for long I could possibly begin to believe that it was a possibility. Slowly I made my way down the mine, listening for the scream I heard earlier, and as I walked I felt overly warm. I turned a corner and saw a young mare, or perhaps more accurately an older filly, on a ledge. There were several small reptile like creatures, and they were belching flames.

I reached for my rifle out of reflex and cursed myself. Instead I looked around. There were a multitude of broken tools, most of which had sharp edges. I focused on a couple of broken and jagged shovel spades, and using my telekinetic abilities, something every unicorn learned to use, I sent those spades into the back of the first two reptiles’ heads. The spades broke, but not before piercing their heads and imbedding themselves into their brains.

I watched them fall, and I began grabbing other makeshift weapons with my telekinesis. What had been seven of these creatures turned into five, then three, and finally there was one. There weren’t any more shards of broken tools large enough to finish it, but I noticed a collection of barrels that had the same glow as those barrels I’d shot in order to escape from that cave that had Scrumptious in it. It snarled, lunged at me, and I caught it in my telekinetic grasp. I flung it toward the barrels, and it hit them. They didn’t explode, yet, but when it belched fire, that set the barrels off, and the explosion reduced that creature to ash.

I wasn’t sure how long we had been down in the mine, but when we got out I shook my head and tried to get the smell of marauder mask out of my nostrils. It was certainly easier said than done. As I tried to clear the unholy scent of marauder breath I couldn’t help but notice the large gathering. Mint Drop, the older filly we’d ended up saving, was being looked after not by just the stallion that had been coughing and sputtering, but by a rather large group of ponies and even Gunt himself. I could see them checking her, ensuring that she was okay, and then finally a pony I didn’t know, which there were several of them, moved toward me.

She was tall, stocky, and looked like she could have matched an Alicorn for size. I was surprised that she was an Unicorn. After all, while I had known several Unicorns to be fairly tall I hadn’t known that many that were built like they could match an Earth Pony in the strength department. Granted, she wasn’t covered in muscle, but she was obviously powerful in her own right. I couldn’t help but notice the dark purple coat she had, the softer royal blue mane, and the calculating violet eyes that seemed to be studying me.

I followed her into a building, back toward an office, and she took a seat behind a desk. She studied me for a moment before she opened a small refrigerator and floated out what looked like three oddly familiar, exceptionally old, bottles. She brought out a forth, popped the lid from it, and took a deep drink. I could smell the carroty goodness from across the desk, and I popped the lid from my own.

She finished her drink, watched as I drunk, and then looked as the others looked at the two remaining bottles. Seeing the mistake she floated another, which was slightly different, out and placed it on the table as well.

“Now,” she said in a calm, but inquisitive tone, “You’ve come into my town, saved Gunt’s sister, who was stupid enough to get trapped by those mindless beasts, and then you saved a filly that is part of our family. More to the point, I personally have accepted her as my own. So, that leaves me to think that either you are a virtual paragon of nobility and kindness that hasn’t been seen in an exceptionally long time, or you’re playing toward something.”

I shook my head, “I swear,” I said in earnest, “I’m not playing toward anything. I just have a habit of trying to help.”

She nodded, “I see,” she said, “Well, as it stands you are in good company.”

She studied me, and then she floated four suits of armor that had their logo on them, “Welcome to Majesty Signature Corporation,” she said, “We’re a family company, and by that I mean that every single one of our employees are family. We expect loyalty and in return we give it. You are one of us, and as such you will be treated as one of us.”

A faint glow covered her, and I watched as this unicorn turned into an honest to the Lightbringer Alicorn. She gave us a smile, “Loyalty goes both ways,” she said calmly, “I expect all of you to keep my little secret, just as I will promise to keep you as part of our community.”

I looked at her… “L...Luna?” I asked in disbelief, “Are you one of the fabled goddesses?”

She grinned, “Ah,” she said sadly, “That’s a term I have not heard in an exceptionally long time.”

I felt weariness hitting me, and I realized that we had likely been in that mine for about three hours fighting those things, saving that filly, and then finding our way back out. The entire day seemed to wear down on me, but I wanted to talk to this mare.

“Long ago, my mother, all of my kind’s mother, called herself a goddess, and she was technically correct,”she said, her voice sounding sorrowful, “She did not want to be wrong, and she did not want to feel things that would interfere with her commanding of us. It was a mistake, and since that time most of my siblings that have survived have long since realized that there is a need to feel remorse, fear, and pain. Those things teach us.”

She studied me, “I also know your mind. It is not from desire to know, but over time all of us have regained quite a bit of the powers and spells we once all held,” she said while looking at me as if she was a kind and caring mother, “For me the one that has returned the fullest is being able to read minds. I know about the Luna Seven, and I will do what I can.”

I looked at her, “Can’t you just bring it down here and save them?”

She smiled, “Even Celestia and Luna themselves weren’t that powerful,” she said, “Besides, I have to deal with the very real threat of hostile corporate action. They are far worse than one might expect.”

It felt strange for her to say that reaching out into the depths of space, grabbing the Luna Seven, and pulling it down to Majesty would be beyond Luna and Celestia. It was true that I didn’t know as much about them as I did the Lightbringer, the Security Mare, The Ghost of the Big 52, Hired Gun, or Small Fry, but I did know that they were worshipped as goddesses, and I knew that their magic and power was second to nopony else. If they couldn’t bring the Luna Seven here what chance did I have?

The weariness was catching up to me, and I still had to lead the tourists on a tour of Majesty. There were bits to be made, but if I couldn’t save Baldwin what was the point? I felt something, a soft pressure inside of my head, and I looked toward the Alicorn. Time seemed to stop, and as it did I felt everything melt away into blackness. I stood in a barren room, totally black except for a few stars in the distance. She moved toward me, and I could see the caring nature she had.

“My little pony,” she said softly touching me with a wing, “I know from one of the mares that made my mother that normal ponies often did things the fabled goddesses couldn’t do themselves.”

I felt myself pulled into a soft embrace, and the feeling of her feathers were indeed softer than anything I’d ever felt before in my life. It was a hug that I wished I could have had from my mother, but it was something she had denied me. I never knew if it was because she didn’t know how, if she disliked me that much, or if it was because my mother just honestly didn’t feel anything for me.

There was another presence in my mind as well. I had felt it before, the feeling of a little blue pegasus that had swept away the feelings of doubt, and that pegasus joined in on the hug. Slowly everything seemed to change, and I was in the room with everyone, and what had passed between us didn’t take hours or minutes, but instead it seemed as if no time had passed at all. Somehow she had managed to uplift me, comfort me, and she did it all in less than a second. I looked at her and she nodded.

“I have faith in you Captain Chance, and know that the name of Dreamweaver carries weight in certain circles,” she said with a soft smile, “You can use the name when needed. As for the tourists that you are lead, we will inform them that it will be a few hours before the tour can begin. In the meantime, I suggest that you get some much needed rest.”

She led us out and toward a small building, “While you are here you may use this building. I cannot give it to you, because I have gifted it to another, but she has not been back to use it in years, and in truth I doubt that she will return.”

I studied the building, and the four of us walked into it. I wasn’t sure what it was that I was expecting, but a small economy home wasn’t exactly it. The entire building was about the same size as the cargo hold on the Non-Responsible. There was a preformed table that was made into the wall, and beside it were two bench seats that could in theory hold four ponies, gryphons, or any other creature considering that they were extra friendly with one another. There were two stacks of bunk beds, both of them made into the opposing walls, a monitor that was built on the far wall just right of what looked to be a small bathroom. Like on the ship the bathroom was fairly economical in the respect that both the toilet and shower were made together, and finally there was a small kitchenette. The largest thing in the home was the stove and oven. It appeared that a fairly decent meal could be prepared if the food was available.

I moved toward the beds when I noticed an Ace and Queen of Spades on the table. It was odd seeing a single hoof for a game of blackjack, but there it was. I shook my head, looked at the beds, and picked one of the bottom beds. I crawled into it, and no sooner had my head hit the pillow then sweet oblivion found me. Dreams were a strange mix for me. Recently I’d had dreams about the ponies on the Luna Seven, of them silently accusing me of leaving them to forever sleep, to be more or less dead, and on top of that I’d dreamed more often than not of the heroes of the wastes that I’d learned about.

Those dreams had been more or less the same. The one real difference was that now there seemed to be a small blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail that was helping to keep the scarier dreams away. Almost as if she was working overtime to help me. As I slept I found myself not on the Luna Seven, or on Majesty or Equestria II. Instead I was in a Stable. Before me was the Blue Pegasus, and she pushed what looked like a bottle of cola toward me.

“Take a seat kid,” she said confidently, “we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

I studied her, took a seat, and she lifted an apple that was one of the shiniest that I’d ever seen. She bit into it, munched for a moment, and then sighed. Grinning she leaned back on her haunches. I could see how her magenta eyes seemed to be looking into the distant past. She finally looked at me and leaned forward.

“Dreamweaver was right you know,” she said confidently, “I was one of those ponies that went to do things that Celestia couldn’t do. We did the impossible, and then we did it again, and again, and again.”

She studied me for a moment, “You’ve got spirit, and that’s good, you’ll need it, but you’ve got to have more than that. I’ve seen how loyal you are to Baldwin, and that’s going to help, but you’ve got to be ready to do whatever it takes to save those other ponies,” she said as she pressed her hoof onto the table, “You’ve got to, because there isn’t any other pony that is going to do it. It’s going to be you, your crew, and that Spark Gap.”

I looked at her, “You, you were one of the Ministry Mares, weren’t you?”

She laughed, “Yeah, and the job sucked,” she confessed bitterly, “I’d rather have stayed with my friends, and now looking back on it, that was really what we were supposed to do. You’ve got some really good friends now, and like us you’re learning from each other. Don’t let that friendship slip, and don’t forget your other friend.”

I nodded, “So, what do I do?”

She studied me, “Go lead that tour, and trust me, I’ve got a gut feeling that you’re going to find something good out there. Something incredible.”

• You’ve unlocked Unconditional Loyalty: Your companions now will follow you into the very pits of Tartarus itself. When needed each companion will lend their advice, but ultimately they will follow your suggestion. Following their Advice will unlock special dialogue options between companions.