Outer Worlds: Equestria

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 12: Consequences

The snooty mare that we’d managed to save from the marauders was crying, curled up into a ball, and doing her best to not be noticed. It took my family member, grandmare, eh Red Eye Damn it, it took Blackjack a few seconds to put together that something had happened to her. It took her even less time to calmly talk to the mare, offer her something, and within seconds that mare was out like a light.

I watched the entire exchange happen in less than ten minutes. The snooty mare was out like a light and Blackjack was back toward where we were standing. I watched as she pulled an older bottle from somewhere behind where she had been standing. The bottle resembled old bottles of whiskey that I’d seen before boarding the Luna Seven. She uncorked it, took a swig of it, and then passed it to me. I took a sniff and realized that this was exceptionally aged whiskey, took a small swig, and it felt like liquid fire was traveling down my tongue, down my throat, and on its way to wage war with my stomach. I passed the bottle back to her and she took a moment to look at Gilda.

“Never really had a problem with Gryphons,” she said, “So, wanna drink?”

Gilda nodded, took a swig from the bottle and I watched as her eyes practically went cross as she swallowed it down. She quickly passed it back.

“Strong!” she croaked out with a cough.

Blackjack gave a small laugh, “Yeah, by now it’s strong enough to degrease an engine,” she said with the humor of the situation strong in her voice, “So, I’m sure you’ve got a story to tell, so why not tell it.”

I looked at her, and for the next hour I told her the entire story. I talked about my mother, Baldwin Apple that was on the Luna Seven, joining up to make something of my life, the Luna Seven being left to drift aimlessly, being saved by Spark Gap, and then I filled her in on everything else that happened. She took every single word, all of it, and then she shook her head.

“Well, I’ve got to say that your mother was a piece of work. I’m glad that I didn’t meet her,” she said sounding disappointed, “I don’t know where that kind of attitude came from, maybe it was P21, or maybe it was just some other pony that joined into the genetic pool.”

She then looked at me, “Regardless, I’m glad that you’ve made it, and it sounds like you’ve got a chance to be a big damn hero,” she grinned and it was unsettling, “The way I see it you’ve got yourself two choices. The first is simple. Leave your friend and the rest of the other settlers on the ship to drift, and then try to make a life for yourself.”

I looked at her in disbelief, “Ummm, I can’t do that.”

She nodded, “And that’s another reason I know that you’re my grandfoal. I know because I couldn’t do it either. I doubt that I’d do anything too smart, but I’d try to do what was right. But you are lucky. P21 was one of the smartest ponies I ever knew. He knew how to hack into terminals, pick locks, and he was super sneaky. You’ve got part of him in you, and that means you’ve got his smarts. So you can do something right and smart.”

The idea that she believed that I was smart seemed shocking to me. Growing up I had been expected to attempt to make passing grades, but mostly I realized that I was being groomed so that some old stallion could snatch me up, marry me, supply my mother with bits, and have legal access to some barely legal tail. The idea that she had been prepared to do that to me, to basically sell my hoof in marriage to somepony I didn’t know, it didn’t sit well with me. It was more or less treating me like the corporations treated their employees.

In the end I wanted something better. But my grandmare was right. I had a chance to do something right. I wasn’t sure if it would be smart, but I was sure that I would do my best. I looked at the mare that was out of it, “We’ve got to get back to Fallen,” I said looking at her, “Do you want to join us?”

She smiled, “Well, I’m thinking about packing up the store, and moving off world. Majesty’s a good place, and I’ll likely end back up here, but there’s certainly other places.”

I looked at the several large jars of bottle caps she had, “Not sure that you can spend caps though.”

She laughed, “Oh, trust me I can spend caps. It’s one of the few currencies that’s carried over everywhere. Most ponies just don’t realize it. Besides, I swore that one day I’d get more caps than that little cap monger, and I’ve been doing a fair job of it.”

I smiled, “I assume that there’s a good story there.”

She laughed, “There is, and if you have a few minutes I’ll give you short version.”

For the half hour I listened about my several greats grandfather, my I suppose she’d be my other several greats grandmother, the other ponies that she’d met, and finally I heard about Charity. I learned about Governor Charity, her actions that helped tame the wild Wasteland through trade, and how she managed to make things far more fair. But this was a story that I didn’t know. I didn’t know that she charged every pony for practically everything. That there had been a putting up with dumb ponies tax, and specifically a putting up with Blackjack Tax.

When she finished she looked at me, at the security armor I had, and a few moments later she came back with what looked to be an exceptionally dated suit of police armor. She had me shift out of my security armor, and then she had me squeeze into Hoofington Police Ballistic Armor. My Eye Dentity Scanner picked it up, and I realized that it was heads and shoulders above the security armor I’d found. She took the security armor, studied it, and began picking off pieces of it. I watched as she basically tore it apart, taking the faux leather, the simple plastic weave, and elastic bands before trashing the rest of it. She then attached those to what looked like some old Equestrian Military Armor and sat it aside with a sign that said Genuine Pre-War Military Armor, grade B - 250 caps.

There were so many questions that I had. How did she know the grade of the armor, why was she charging two hundred and fifty caps, and then I saw the old Pipbuck she was wearing. It was similar to the one that Smog was wearing. I could only imagine that it had a decent enough organizational program that handled most of the categorizing and pricing for her. But regardless despite the stories, the talking, and getting to know her she had never actually answered if she wanted to go back to Fallen with me.

“So, do you want to come to Fallen?”

She shook her head, “I’ve been there, once, and I did business with a decent gryphon,” she said, “But I wasn’t lying when I said that it’s time that I think about getting off world. I’ll likely be here for another month, maybe, and then I’ll load up and head toward another place. I’m thinking about maybe going to the Earthquaker.”

I had remembered Sweet Kisses talking about. She’d said that it had originally been a ship, like the Luna Seven, that had crashed on an ice planet, and that it was the only safe place on the planet because it generated a ton of heat that kept some strange spider creatures away.

“Is there a reason?”

She looked at me and grinned, “Oh, there’s tons of reasons, none of them good, but I like to play card games, and so far the only ones worth having have been there.”

I looked at her like she was insane. The reason she was willing to up and leave was to play cards? What was the point in that? Really? She had established herself here, and then she was just going to go? And what would she spend as money? The caps that she was charging? Seriously, nopony seemed to use bottle caps as money. She looked at me after a few moments, and I felt her gently touch my forehead.

“You’re young, at least in comparison,” she said, “Believe me when I say that I’ve been around far longer than any of the colonies. There’s very few beings that have been around as long as I have, and at a certain point a pony simply has seen and done everything that there is to do.”

I looked at her in disbelief, “What about the corporations, the Luna Seven, the colonists, and saving everypony?”

She gave me a tired smile, “I did that already,” she said wistfully, “Ages ago. It’s time for a new hero to take up the causes.”

She looked at me again, “But I don’t want you thinking that I don’t care. If it really gets too hard for you, come find me. I’ll either be here or on the Earthquaker. If it’s too difficult, find me and I’ll come help. That’s a promise.”

I felt a little relief, but at the same time I understood what she was saying. The Security Mare had done her job, and now she was enjoying an incredibly lengthy retirement. It didn’t sit well with me though. The stories I had heard of our ancestor had all told of how brave she was, how she went out of her way to help ponies with an almost suicidal abandonment, and how she tried to bring some sense of law and order to the Wasteland. The mare I was getting to know seemed more interested in card games, running a store, and collecting bottle caps so that she could beat somepony that likely had been dead for ages.

I continued to sit on my haunches, trying to figure her out, trying to figure out why she would be like this, and something seemed to click inside of my head. It was as if I was actually seeing everything for the first time. I knew that she had a cutie mark of a Queen of Spades and an Ace of Spades. It wasn’t there. There was no cutie mark on her. Her flank was as bare as a young foal that hadn’t had the chance to get theirs yet.

Something had taken it from her, and I had to wonder if that didn’t change her some. I looked toward my own flank that was now covered by armor. I know that I’d feel pretty terrible if I woke and found my own cutie mark gone. Where hers had been a winning hand in a game of blackjack mine was something of a winning hand in a game of poker. Three Aces, one of hearts, one of Clubs, and one of Diamonds along with a pair of eights, one of hearts and one of Spades, graced my flank. A dead mare’s hoof was what it was normally called. It fit my name well enough. It was a winning hand, most of the time, but there was a slim damn chance that somepony was going to get out of it without some trouble.

She sighed after a moment, “It happened a very long time ago,” she said, “But it didn’t change me.”

She smiled at me, “The only thing that changed me was time. I have lived for a very long time,” she said as she dug around behind her and brought out a book, “Take this with you. It’s old, but the story in it is important. Believe me, you’re going to want to read it and understand what happened.”

I nodded as I floated the book over to me. It was certainly large, bound in what looked like old Stable-Tec security barding that had been repurposed, and it had a faint smell of moldy food. My nose crinkled as I smelled it and I saw her smile.

“Yeah, that looks like Mom’s expression too,” she said with a small laugh, “You’re welcomed to come here when you want, and after everything is said and done maybe we can get to know each other more.”

A thought crossed my mind, and slowly it began to take hold. I claimed Taffyta, it was my settlement, and more to the point I planned on bringing the settlers down to it. Well, I had originally planned on bringing the settlers down to it. I still could do so, and she could stay there. Hell, if she wanted I could make it so that the entire township worked on bottle caps. It’d be weird as hell, but maybe it would be worth it. With that I tried to channel Velvet Remendy and gave my best and brightest smile.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me.

“I see now how mom always knew when I was up to something,” she said, “Okay, out with it.”

I rolled my eyes, “Do you know Taffyta?” I asked, “Because apparently I own it. And we could sure use a mare that knows Security, maybe runs a little junk shop, likes to play cards…”

She grinned, “I know the settlement, and you claimed it huh?” she asked, “Alright, I can resettle there I suppose. At least for a while. So, who are you going to fill the settlement with?”

I smiled, “The settlers from the Luna Seven, all of them,” I said with glee, “It’d be a perfect place for them.”

She considered it for a moment, “Not perfect, but certainly better than some options. Okay, I’ll help get it in shape, but my store will only accept bottle caps.”

I grinned, “How about the whole settlement work off of bottle caps?”

She nodded, “That works.”

I felt a sense of relief. While she might not be the security mare anymore at least she would be present to help watch the settlers. On top of that I had to believe that she would want the settlement to thrive. After all if it did well then that would only make it a more desirable place to live. With any luck Spark Gap could use the lab that existed there to help fix the huge number of problems that existed for everyone.

I knew the idea was a little foolish. The problems I'd seen weren't just going to go away. The damage that had been done to every creature by the corporations was staggering. It would take a massive undertaking to just start the healing, but apparently I had some Earth Pony in me, and I knew that Earth Ponies didn't back down from a problem.

They attacked it en masse and beat it down. At the moment that was my idea. The settlers, Spark Gap, and myself would hopefully be enough to get it going. Taffyta was a damned good beginning, but that was just it. It was just the beginning. I had a basic idea that what would come afterward would be changing all of the colony, and hopefully changing it for the better.

After the basic ideas of her place in the Settlement, of which I was surprised that she agreed to take up the job of Security Chief, I began to gather up the few things she had handed over, including the much better armor. She gave me a soft smile.

“It’ll be good to act like Security again,” she said wistfully, “Maybe it’ll be something that I do for a good long while.”

I didn’t ask what she meant. I understood that eventually I would grow old, die, and when that happened she would be alone again. Hopefully there would be some foals before then. A family that she could connect herself to would be something that I suspected would help her handle her exceptionally long life. Part of me wondered how long it was that she had left. From what I’d seen she hadn’t really ever aged.

She smiled at me as I carried the now passed out fancy mare, and walked next to Gilda. Going back through the cave wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t that I would be opposed to it, but between the mouth of the cave, and the room of the cavern there wasn’t much chance of Gilda flying us back up the way we came. We walked out, and there was an excited squawk from my engineer. She moved toward what I thought was a regular rock, and then she stepped behind it.

“Captain!” she shouted happily, “Ya gotta see this!”

I moved forward, looking at what it was that had caused Gilda to sound so excited. There before me was what looked like a small boxy room. She was standing inside of it, her eyes wide in excitement.

“Captain, this here is an honest to the Moon Mare herself first generation Spacey Favorite’s Turbo Lift!” she chirped with absolutely no attempt at containing any of her excitement, “I thought that they were all taken apart for parts since they were the only thing that lasted f’ver!”

I looked at the elevator, “That’s a really small elevator.”

She looked at me in confusion, “Small, but Captain she’s a whole six inches wider than the elevator back at Standing Water. Why, there’s room enough for us to be in here, with her on one of us, and we wouldn’t even touch on the way up.”

I glanced at it again, “It’s not going to break down, right?”

She smiled, “Nope, last f’ver. Everything’s here, and I bet that it could make the trip a hundred times a day without a problem.”

I sighed, climbed into it, and moments later the door closed. The elevator began to take off, heading up what was obviously a shaft that went to the top of the mountain, and moments later we were looking at Smog and Buttersworth.

“Where did the two of you… What is that?”

I looked at Smog, seeing his confusion, “Elevator, apparently it was hidden in the rocks.”

“Who puts anything in rocks?”

A gray Earth Pony Mare that was with the group cleared her throat, “Rocks are amazing, I have over three thousand poems about rocks, all from my Great Grandmare, and I will recite them.”

The rest of the group shook their heads, “Please, don’t,” an older stallion said timidly, “While we respect her place as the mare that made Auntie Frosted Cakes Geological Study and Quarry possible, I don’t think any of us really want to revisit the mind of Maud Pie.”

The last name of Pie seemed familiar to me, and suddenly almost as if there was a pink pointing it out I realized that it was the same last name as the Mare of the Ministry of Morale. I wondered if this mare was related. Maybe it would be worth attempting to find out later. Going back down the mountain was far less interesting than going up had been. The corpses of pretty much everything we had killed lay where they had fallen, but I could already see some small scavengers making their way out to what had to be the easiest meal they’d come across.

Getting to the bottom of the mountain we led the tourists back to Fallen. We entered the gates, headed to Gunt’s store, and once there I checked in. I completely expected to see a deduction of payment for what happened to the snooty mare. It would make sense. After all she’d suffered something terrible, granted it was because she was being an idiot and wouldn’t listen, but still she had suffered.

Instead Gunt looked them over, his expression, as far as I could tell, seemed pleased, and he nodded to me.

“Very good, I finish improving and repairing weapons, outfit you with more ammunition, and give the rest to you in bits, good yes?”

I nodded, “That’s fine, but since she was attacked, aren’t you going to deduct anything?”

He looked at the mare that was still sleeping, “I assume she did not listen, yes?”

I nodded, “Yeah, she wouldn’t listen and then she fell into Discord’s Mawl.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “No deduction, tourists instructed to listen to guide, informed for safety, sign waiver, for you full pay, her, she have nightmares forever, but alive.”

He studied me for a moment, “You see something huh?” he asked his voice hinted at a bit of excitement, “White mare, red and black mane, odd, a bit insane, only want to trade in bottle caps?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I found her,” I answered looking at him with some hesitation, “She helped with her.”

He gave a nod, “Then I pay in bits and bottle caps,” he replied with a shrug, “Mare good for business, helps protect tourists too stupid to listen to guide. Bottle caps to spend with her, bits to spend here.”

He counted out six hundred bits, and then he lifted a large sack of bottle caps. If I had to guess there was at least three times the amount of bottle caps in the sack then there were bits he’d counted out. He pushed the sack to me, “Mare only one who trades in bottle caps, unless of course another settlement opens,” his voice was one of confidence, “Could be such a settlement goes against norms, trades in bottle caps, produces things that make caps worth more than bits. If happen I hope leader of settlement remember Gunt, and Fallen, in their future trades.”

I didn’t know how he knew, but I more than understood the meaning. He wanted to be in on the ground floor of Taffyta’s trading, and since he’d helped out as much as he had I had no problem letting him set up shop there so to speak.

You’ve unlocked the Exchange Perk! Now you’re able to set up exchanges between the various currencies. When exchanging you will see a greater value for your preferred currency. In addition All Merchants will now pay you in your preferred currency in addition to the normal payment posted on all transactions.