Outer Worlds: Equestria

Outer Worlds: Equestria

Chapter 5: Free Bird(Well, KittyBird)

I took a moment to look at the gryphon hen. She had a sparrow head, her soft brown feathers looked as if they were stained with oil and grease. Her brow was knitted together in worry, and I could see that her body language was indicating that she would love to be anywhere other than where she was right now. She didn’t want to be noticed, she wanted to disappear, and I could see that if she could sneak out that she would. Unfortunately her soft tan engineer uniform, which seemed to be a pair of overalls, made small metallic clicks when she tried to move slowly.

“Ms. Ironclaw, please remain where you are,” Dirty Bit said, “There is still the subject of your performance review that we must address.”

I studied him for a moment, “So, you want me to go back to Day Dream’s camp, tell them that I need their power regulator, that you’re sorry, and please come home,” I said, “That’s it?”

He smiled, “Well not entirely,” he admitted, “Unfortunately in order to get the power regulator you will have to shut the power off for their camp. It’s wasted on them in truth. They contribute nothing, and thus they are receiving shelter, power, and protection completely for free. Such a thing is practically sacrilege.”

I looked at him, how could things be this different? Shelter, protection, and food were basic necessities. Before I left on the Luna Seven those things were offered on Equestria to anyone that didn’t have the ability to get them on their own. Sure, it meant usually living inside of a Followers compound, but that option was better than starving to death. How could something like that be happening here.

“Isn’t there another power regulator that exists somewhere else? Maybe one inside of a marauder stronghold, or something like that?”

He looked at me, “Possibly,” he admitted, “I’ve heard that one of the first settlements on Equestria II was connected to the Geothermal Power Plant that was created.”

He looked at me for a moment, “I won’t lie, having the marauders dealt with would be a wonderful bonus, but there is no telling if that settlement even had a power regulator. In truth it was rushed, designed, and set down for the sole purpose to ensure that the terraforming actually held. It was an experiment, and likely it would be a directly connected to the Geothermal Plant without the power regulator,” he sighed, “It’s a dangerous thing to do, but if a company can’t be certain if the terraforming will actually hold there’s little reason to follow safety regulations.”

“Miss Captain, ma’am, that ain’t quite right,” the gryphon hen said, “Every settlement has a power regulator. Got to, cause if they don’t then it’s too much of a chance that it’ll start a catastrophic power collapse across all settlements. Then you’d have a super charged community, and well, all it’d take is for a single short to make the entire thing go off like some bomb.”

“Ms. Ironclaw, you are dangerously close to losing your station,” he said before looking at me, “Captain, if our engineer is right, that settlement is crawling with marauders. I’m sure that you’re more than capable of dealing with a few, maybe even a dozen, but our own Security Chief has stated that she estimates that there are at least fifty marauders living there. It’s why we have the safety of our walls, why we have guards posted at every entrance, and why we even have guards overlooking the cemetery. I couldn’t in good conscious ask you to turn off their power, deal with them, and remove that power regulator. Especially when an easier mark is available, and it would potentially boost the productivity of our community.”

I studied him, shook my head at his suggestion, and then looked at the Gryphon hen that had suggested it. I had to fix the ship. Well, in truth I could ignore it and just attempt to make a living here, on this planet, but what good would that be? Besides, Baldwin was on the Luna Seven, and so were thousands of other ponies. I couldn’t leave them like that forever. I needed to help them. Sure, my main motivation for doing so would be to save Baldwin, but even if he hadn’t been there I doubt that I would have been able to leave everyone else to their doom. It wouldn’t be right. It certainly didn’t feel right. I knew that there was no chance that I would leave my friend, or the other ponies, on the Luna Seven on purpose.

I was going to free them, and that meant getting the ship flying again. Of course afterward it also meant contacting Spark Gap. I smiled as I continued to look at the gryphon hen. The idea was beginning to bubble and percolate in my brain. I couldn’t get over the absolute glee that it gave me.

“Could she possibly come with me?” I asked, “I need a guide to the plant, and I’m sure that you’d like to have someone that is experienced with machinery there to actually divert power.”

He studied her for a moment, “Hmmmm,” he said, “I suppose.”

He closed his eyes, “Very well, Ms Ironclaw, your evaluation will be put on hold until such time that you are returned to us.”

She nodded, and I watched as she walked toward the elevator. He cleared his throat and I studied him, “All I ask is that you consider the town itself. Without the production met that we are supposed to meet, Spacey's Favorite will eventually close the cannery. If that happens then they will have absolutely no problem in letting everycreature drift to the winds,” he said, “Everycreature here needs structure, even our engineer.”

I gave a nod, walked toward the elevator, and flipped the switch for it to back toward the ground. I let out a small sigh of relief as we descended. I didn’t like Dirty Bit because he reminded me far too much of my own mother. I certainly didn’t need another version of her telling me how much she was disappointed in me right before throwing me out. I looked to see the gryphon hen, and I could see the soft violet eyes she had. They were lovely, and she gave a soft cough.

“Ma’am,” she said, “thank you. My name is Gilda, Gilda Ironclaw, and it’s a pleasure to met you.”

I smiled, “It’s a pleasure Gilda,” I said, “Do you mind me using your first name?”

She smiled, “I’m fine with it,” she said, “Although, I gotta ask, why did you ask for me to escort you? Diverting the power ain’t no different than getting into the terminal, selecting yes or no, and that’s it. It’s pretty much automated.”

My grin couldn’t be any wider, “Because I’ve dealt with assholes all of my life, and Dirty Bit seems to be one of the biggest I’ve had the displeasure of meeting.”

She grinned, “He is a little bit of one,” she said, “Oh, oh law, I’ve done it now. I’ve talked about the boss. Oh, that’s a week’s pay right there!”

I looked at her, and I realized that she wasn’t kidding. Her body language practically screamed worry and fear. I gently nudged her, “Hey,” I said, “I’m not going to tell that idiot up there anything. So you're safe.”

She shook her head, “You don’t get it,” she said, “There are folks here that will turn a body in just so that they get a little extra pay. Well, not the Earth Ponies, because they probably talk about Mr. Bit all of the time, but the pegasi, and unicorns will in a second. I’m fairly sure that if it meant that they would get a little extra the other gryphons would too.”

I stood there and shook my head, “Yeah, that’s dumb,” I said, “I mean really, that’s completely idiotic.”

She looked at me like I’d grown a second head, and I resisted the urge to face hoof, “Doing that kind of thing makes it so that none of you can depend on one another, and it makes it a very emotionally toxic place to live.”

She stood looking at me like I had suddenly bent over, lifted my tail, and somehow the Lightbringer herself managed to squeeze out of my ass and say that everything was a dream. I sighed, “Is this really how things have been for you?”

She nodded, “Yeah, it’s kind of the way things work around here.”

I shook my head. From what I’ve seen this entire society was crazy. The entire thing was insane beyond what I’d consider normal levels. Ponies, no anycreature, shouldn’t be ratting each other out in order to make a few extra bits! It was completely insane! I couldn’t for the life of me understand why their society was like this. Sure, competition was good, but only if it was friendly. The kind that caused this kind of place was insane, and it needed to be discarded quickly. I could only hope that maybe when Spark Gap did what he needed to that things would change.

I stopped trying to think about, and we started to head toward the gate when she stopped, “Ummm, do you mind if we go and ask a fella I know about this?” she asked, “I mean, it don’t feel right to do what Mr. Bit suggested, but I’d like to get another say so.”

I nodded, and she led me toward a tall building. It was absolutely beautiful, and it actually reminded me of the chapel in Chapel. The difference was that there weren’t pictures of Luna and Celestia in the windows. Instead what I saw was a weirdly happy and smiling Nightmare Moon, holding a can of fish, and licking her chops all at the same time.

“Is… is this a chapel?” I asked, “Because if so, then you all worship Nightmare Moon?”

She looked at me, “Who’s Nightmare Moon?” she asked, “That’s the Moon Mare, Spacey’s Favorite Mascot.”

I looked at the picture again. Their mascot was Nightmare Moon. It was actually the evil being that took over Princess Luna ages ago. A story that was so old when I was a filly that it was practically believed to be nothing more than just some silly story made up. If it hadn’t been for old pictures from Pre War Equestria I wouldn’t have actually believed it. In a way it made some twisted sense. From what I’d seen Spacey’s Favorite wasn’t exactly a noble institution. They seemed more concerned with making a bit then they did with the general well being of their employees. Maybe I wasn’t the best one to point this out. After all, growing up my life wasn’t exactly a life spent working from sunup to sunset. I know that on the social ladder we weren’t as high as my mother wanted, but we were comfortable. In truth I know I was raised in a fairly privileged home.

From what I’d seen so far my privileged home would have been considered elite here. Still, we walked toward the building, and I figured we were going to go inside, but instead she led me to the side where a silver gray stallion with a white mane stood. I could tell that this was his natural colors, because there were no age lines on his face. He looked tired, but then I’d noticed that everycreature around here looked incredibly tired.

“Mr. Buttersworth, sir,” she said, “Do, ummm, do you have a moment?”

He gave her a smile, “Gilda, I have all of the time in the world. Since I cannot hold my sermons inside of the temple without my flock paying an outrageous fee, then I see no reason to check into my office. As such I’ve taken to holding sermons out here, in the open, as per allowed by their own employee handbook.”

I liked him. He had absolutely no problem in using their rules and regulations against them, and the fact that he had a sort of rugged charm didn’t hurt. He looked toward me and gave a slight nod, “So, what brings you by today?” he asked, “Did you need to hear a sermon, or was it something else on your mind?”

She shook her head, “Well something else, but it’s kind of a spiritual question,” she said, “Mr. Bit told the Captain here that she could have the power regulator out of the camp that Day Dream has set up for her ponies. But there’s another one in that big marauder’s camp. It don’t seem right to turn the power out on ponies that are just trying to survive.”

He nodded, “I see,” he said, “Your decision isn’t an easy one, not in the slightest, but I believe that I can give some insight.”

He walked near us, and I smelled old tobacco on him as he took a seat right in front of me. “I’m sure that if you’ve met Day Dream already, she’s asked you to take the regulator from here, and I know Bit asked you to take hers. Not just because Gilda said so, but because that’s his way,” he said, “But you have a third option, and one that is better and worse than either other. For the most part the marauders don’t care about power, although they do use some of the facilities in the old settlement. The problem is that if you cut off their power they will flock to the settlements that have it. That means here, and Day Dream’s camp.”

He sighed, “The walls will protect Standing Water for a while, but Day Dreams folks will be overrun in a few days. The easy answer is to turn off the power to her camp, send the workers back here, and hope for the best,” he said before he smiled, “But the right answer is to clear out the marauders, every last one of them, turn off the power to that settlement, take their power regulator, and then tell Mr. Bit to suck your metaphorical dick.”

I expected to hear a gasp, but when I looked at Gilda her beak was hanging open. I could see her left eye twitching, and it looked almost like someone had said something about the Princesses back in Chapel. But his words about Mr. Bit were fitting, at least to me. Personally, I believed that I would need to use that phrase. Perhaps it would be different. I could imagine myself saying along the lines of if I had a dick this would be where I’d tell you to suck it.

I was fine with the idea of that. In truth, the idea of clearing out the entire settlement that the marauders were using didn’t upset me. From what I’d seen the marauders weren’t ponies. They weren’t anything other than distrurbed, twisted, and vicious animals. Their entire existence seemed to be focused around killing, raping, and rampant destruction. What I’d seen done to Sugar Sweet was more than enough to tell me that redemption wasn’t on the table. They had purposefully used her, placed a landmine under her, and kept her there for however long it was that she showed up.

I saw Buttersworth rubbing his chin, “Actually, I believe that I should accompany the both of you,” he said, “One, there’s always the chance that some of my flock that was forced to leave Standing Water might be out there in danger, and two, I fear that there’s little I can actually do to make things better for everycreature here. Perhaps I can find something out there that will help.”

I nodded, “It’s okay with me,” I said, “Welcome.”

Gilda looked at him, “Ummm, Mr. Buttersworth, sir, you ain’t gonna get into trouble, are you?”

He shook his head, “Nope, it will be fine,” she said, “I’m not returning. When I leave here, I leave for good. Whatever happens, whatever comes, I believe the good I will do has to be outside of the walls of Standing Water.”

He walked with us, and I noticed his shirt. It was a rich blue with little gold fringes, there were a few small emblems that seemed to go down the forelegs of the shirt, but what really stood out was the emblem of Nightmare Moon. She was more contemplative than she had been on the sign for Standing Water. On the sign for Standing Water she had looked silly, almost like a joke, but here she looked as if she was deciding if she should destroy or save. Oddly, it made me wonder if the real Nightmare Moon had wondered the same thing. If she wanted to save or destroy everypony.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that while I knew some of the old stories I actually knew more about legendary heroes that had saved Equestria from the brink of complete oblivion. What I knew of Celestia and Luna was more or less a few footnotes in the history books I’d read. I knew that Celestia ruled for a thousand years of peace, Nightmare Moon returned, the ministry mares fought her, turned her into Luna, and then I knew that the Ministry Mares had done some adventures, most of which was glossed over, before they created the Ministries.

Even the Ministries themselves was mostly glossed over, but there was entire sections talking about Littlepip, Velvet Remedy, Calamity, Steelhooves, Xenith, Gawd Grimfeathers, Blackjack aka the Security Mare, Puppysmiles aka the Ghost of the Big 52, and quite a bit on Hired Gun. There were stories on the Applejack Rangers, which before I boarded the Luna Seven they were still a thing. They were the military branch of Equestria. Since being here I hadn’t seen one of them.

The fog of worry quickly was swept away, and I almost felt as if it was a little blue pegasus with a rainbow mane that had done it. That same pegasus was reminding me that I had a chance to be absolutely awesome and keep two communities alive. That I could be twenty percent cooler than either of the short sighted leaders and actually do something for the people in both places. With that thought I checked my rifles. The Hunters Helper Junior, which I just took to calling shorty, was still in really good condition. I looked at Gilda, and I passed the rifle toward her with my magic. She took it, looked at it, and then looked at me.

“Trust me,” I said, “You’re going to need that.”

I looked at Buttersworth, but he shook his head, and I watched as he reached back toward the edge of his shirt. He pulled out what looked like a simple pistol. I noticed that it looked similar to the revolver that I’d found, but it wasn’t nearly as well built. It looked as if there were plastic parts in it, almost as if it had been designed to fail after repeated use.

“I’ve got a couple of weapons,” he said after putting it back, “Although I wish that I still had my battlesaddle from when I was a guard.”

I thought about what he said, and then I realized that must have been what the marauder had been wearing with those magical beam weapons. While it certainly seemed like a good idea, especially for a pony that wasn’t an Unicorn, I could see how it could be problematic. That marauder’s weapons got damaged, and when she tried to use them they exploded and turned her into a pile of ash. I had to imagine that using a regular rifle might end up with similar results, except instead of being turned to ash a pony would have several new holes from the explosion.

We got to the gates of Standing Water, and they opened for us. When they did I noticed that Buttersworth took something off of his shirt. It looked like a small button, something that could easily be removed by an Earth Pony with their lips, and then he dropped it beside the Pegasus mare that was standing guard. She looked at him for a moment, then at the button, and finally back up at him.

He grinned at her, “It’s quitting time.”

She shook her head, “Sir, if you leave without that button you will not be welcomed back as a resident. All you will ever be is guest or traveling merchant at best.”

He nodded, “When I said quitting time I meant it,” he said, “Good luck Raindrops, I hope that you do well.”

She looked at the ground, “Mr. Buttersworth,” she said, “Sir, please, reconsider. There’s a lot of folks here that need you. They need your presence in this place. For many just you being here is enough.”

I watched the exchange, and then I saw his smile, “And my leaving might give them the strength to do what’s right for themselves.”

With that we walked out of the gate, and I looked around. I wasn’t sure where the marauder’s settlement was, but if it was one of the first ones built then it stood to reason that they built the Geothermal Plant near it. I looked over at Gilda.

“Where’s the Geothermal Plant?”

Mr. Buttersworth looked at me, “Don’t we need to find the marauder’s settlement first?”

I nodded, “Sure, but we don’t know exactly where it is, and Dirty Bit didn’t tell me either,” I said, “However he did say that it was one of the first settlements, and I’ve got to figure that it was likely built close to the Geothermal Plant.”

He smiled, “Or next to the terraforming equipment.”

I looked at him, “Terrawhatnow?”

He shook his head, “When Equestria II was first settled they had to set up Terraforming equipment in order to make it livable for the common pony. Most towns, and the Geothermal Plant, were constructed near it,” he said, “It’s likely that the settlement is between the two, but I’d imagine that it’s closer to the equipment instead of the plant itself.”

I nodded, “Okay, where’s the equipment?”

He pointed toward the east, and I looked where he pointed. In the distance there was something that I had mistakenly thought was a rocket. I had looked at it once, figured that it was either a rocket, or an old statue of one, and put it out of my mind. Instead it was the very equipment that was used to make this world livable. In truth his suggestion made sense. If I was sending ponies, and well any other creature, to get a world ready I’d likely build the first settlement as close to the equipment that was doing that as possible.

With that we began our trek toward the terraforming equipment. The road itself began to end, and I noticed that like everywhere else the road seemed to be built from the same rubberized brick. The brick itself seemed to be well made, but at the same time it didn’t seem like it would have been the first choice I’d used. For one, there were stones all over the place. Entire hillsides seemed to be made of a curved and blocked stone that looked perfect for cutting. Most of Chapel’s roads were cobblestone, and for the most part they had lasted an exceptionally long time.

These rubberized brick roads looked as if the brick were fairly easy to pull out. In fact there had been entire sections where I’d seen several bricks that had been pried out of the road and thrown to the side. After a moment I looked over at Gilda.

“So, why don’t they use some of that stone over there to make the road?” I asked, “There’s plenty of it, and it seems to me that it would just be a matter of cutting the stone, setting it, and then leaving it.”

She shook her head, “Can’t do. First, you have to get permission from Spacey’s Favorite to use the stone, then pay to use it, and then you’ve got to pay for an instructor to come out and teach the proper way to cut it, polish it, and finally lay it,” she said, “It’s cheaper to buy their road kits and have them lay it for free.”

I stopped for a moment, “Wait, doesn’t anyone in town know how to cut stones?”

She nodded, “Sure, the tombstone maker, the brick former, and our statue maker. All three know how to make and polish stone.”

“So, why can’t they do it?”

She looked at me like I’d grown another head, “Ummm, cause those would be road stones, not statues, not bricks, and not tombstones,” she said, “‘Sides, ain’t a one of them got a road builder license.”

I shook my head, “Okay, is it hard to get one?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I guess not,” she said, “It’s mostly just puttin’ in a form that says that you can build roads.”

“Okay,” I said, “Why doesn’t one of them do that?”

She looked at me again, “‘Cause they ain’t road builders,” she replied, “I mean you know that none of their jobs got road anything in them, right?”

This was making my head hurt. They had the folks with the skills to make more roads, better roads, but they didn’t have a license. They could get the license, but they wouldn’t because they weren’t trained and didn’t have it in their job title. So instead they would live with crappy roads because it was cheaper than being trained to do it, but they already had the training, but it wouldn’t work because it wasn’t specified toward roads! Ugh, this entire thing made my head hurt, and I decided that I wasn’t going to ask about building roads anymore.

I noticed that she had ended up creating a sling for shorty and slipped it over her shoulder. I was glad that she was keeping it close, and hopefully she would be able to get to it when everything went sideways. It wasn’t that I wanted it to go sideways, but there was far too great of a chance for it to. We topped a hill, and as I looked down I saw the settlement in the distance. I floated the rifle that I’d collected at the maintenance area in front of me and looked through the scope. It magnified quite a bit and I could make out several marauders. There was a fire pit, and above it was something large. I studied, and I realized that they had a pony, one that was screaming and trying to get loose! I took careful aim, and fired the first shot. The gun was incredibly quiet. It wasn’t completely silent, but instead of the loud crack of the shot being fired there was a small pouff sound.

I watched as it hit the marauder and he let out a scream as his entire body glowed a brilliant red and then he burned away in the same flash. It wasn’t like the energy weapon. The light became brighter in places, and he didn’t just turn to a pile of ash. He fell after a moment, and there was a smoking corpse. The other marauders seemed to gather near the corpse. There wasn’t much movement, and I took another shot. Once again the marauder screamed, this time a mare, and she collapsed into a smoking husk as well.

That caused the marauders to go into action. Now they were shouting, looking around frantically, but I was far enough away that I doubted that they could even see me. I fired again, hitting another, causing him to do the same as the others. I used my Eye Dentity Scanner to slow things down, aim, and fire. The first four shots hit four different marauders, and each shot had been a killing shot. But as many as I shot there were more, oh so many more, that were scrambling to find us.

Finally one of them seemed to have a moment of clarity and fired a shot toward where I had fired from. The shot was wide, and missed all of us by a mile, but it was enough to make Gilda give a little shout of shock. That clued them all in to where we were. They began moving toward us, each of them firing in our direction, and I found myself reloading and ducking for cover. The idea had been sound at first. Of course it had been in an attempt to save a pony that likely was going to be very much dead before we could get down there. Luckily I wasn’t the only one firing now. Buttersworth was a fantastic shot himself, and I saw him take out six with as many shots. Each one had been either in the neck or head.

To be perfectly honest he was damned, and he seemed to eject the magazine from the pistol, loaded another, and went back to firing. Gilda seemed to hit a marauder every third shot. It seemed that she didn’t have the benefit of an Eye-Dentity Scanner, and that would need to be something that we would need to take care off. Finally the last two marauders turned, and ran back toward the settlement, and we moved after them. Getting down to the old settlement itself I noticed two or three newer looking protectron ponies. Well, they had been newer, but now they looked as if they had bits of plate steel bolted and welded to their frames. They turned toward us and I aimed and shot the first through the head.

It sparked and I could smell the acrid smell of the circuits and wires burning. The other two shot bolts of lightning toward us, and one came close to me. It struck a crate near me, and the crate exploded into shrapnel of rubber and metal. The shrapnel struck me, lifted me off of the ground, and slammed me hard against an overturned ruined automated forklift. I groaned as I stood up, levitated out the inhaler, and breathed in the healing medicine. I felt the wounds closing, and I looked to see that Buttersworth and Gilda had finished taking out the other two protectron ponies, or rather Gilda had used her skill as an engineer to disassemble one before it could do anything to us.

The other lay in a smoking heap, and I decided to not worry about asking. We went through the settlement, looking for the other marauders, and we found them. Oddly enough one of them had a small ball in his mouth. He spat it out into his hoof, and I fired at the ball itself. He screamed as it exploded, and the explosion left little more than bloody chunks of both of them. We began moving through the settlement. The pony that had been screaming was loose, and I found out that Gilda had saved him. He was hurt, there were burn marks on him, places that would take a long time to heal, and he had knife wounds where they had been cutting into him, but he was alive.

I learned that he’d left Standing Water, and had traveled here because he heard that there was a small spacecraft left over from when the planet was first terraformed. He’d planned on finding it, seeing if it could work, and if it couldn’t he was going to claim salvage rights on it. We looked through the small settlement, and I found what looked like a First Aid building. Going inside there were places with pony bones, but there was also a small area marked for first aid assistance. He stood there, and a moment later a light covered him. When it did, a tube moved down over him, and it filled with a greenish liquid. After a few moments it lifted off of him and he looked better.

There were scars on him, from the cuts and the burns, but otherwise he looked good. He thanked us, looked around, and then ran out. I wasn’t sure where he was going, but I hoped he either made it Day Dream’s camp or Standing Water. We left the First Aid building, and from there I saw a large building with the emblem of a lighting bolt on the front. We walked in, and inside I saw a large machine with what looked like a small glowing box in front of it. Gilda walked toward it, and smiled. She pointed toward a bump that was poking out of the box itself. I walked up near her and looked at the bump that had a small handle.

“Captain, that’s your power regulator,” she said, “And this one looks better than the one at Standing Water.”

I nodded. We couldn’t just pull it, but we were that much closer to fixing the Non-Responsible. With as much trouble as we had gone through, so far, and as much as I had been side tracked, I figured that the worst that could happen had happened. After all, it wasn’t like the universe had a let’s fuck with Slim Chance gun that was cocked, loaded, shoved up my ass, and ready to fire. Gilda happily led me toward the Geothermal plant, and for once it looked as if the universe had given me a break. We snuck through a busted part of the gate, and once inside I saw four charred bodies of marauders. I found some ammunition near them, and then I checked the guard’s shed.

Going inside I saw a suit of armor in an open locker. I took it, checked it twice, and put it on. The armor surprisingly fit like a glove. The helmet inside glowed for a second, and then I saw a stream of ones and zeros for a few seconds. When they cleared it was like having my Eye-Dentity Scanner, but the field was updated, and it seemed to work perfectly. I moved out, wearing the armor, and a protectron pony, similar to the ones with the marauders, stopped near me. It seemed to study me for a moment.

“Guard, level 4, access, outer perimeter, inner hall, company break room, restroom, and guard shack,” it said, “Welcome, please report inside for orientation.”

I started to walk, but it turned toward both Gilda and Buttersworth, “Stop, you are trespassing on Spacey’s Favorite property.”

I cleared my throat, “Actually, they are both here as inspectors.”

It looked at me, “Inspectors noted, please proceed, the fourth level guard will pass you over to the chief of operations once inside.”

We stepped inside, and I had hoped to find some living ponies, what I found were bodies. They were each skinned, wings and horns were missing from Pegasi and Unicorns. I shook, looking at the bodies laying around. Slowly I moved through the building, looking at the bloody hoofprints, until we came to a room where there was a guard that had blood smeared on his armor, he turned toward us, his eyes visible in the visor, and they looked yellow like urine. He giggled madly for a moment.

“All three,” he giggled, “All three for me, more wings, horn, and stronger hooves.”

I stood there, raised the rifle and fired. The bullet hit his visor, causing it to shatter, making him scream a second before the bullet ripped through his right eye, and busted through the back of the helmet. I watched as he hit the ground, and around him was a collection of pills. I looked at the pills, stopping for a moment to see the bottle. It was soft green, a yellow label with the smiling face of Nightmare Moon on the front of it, and under it was Ever Pep Pill. I lifted it in my magic and read the small writing under the name.

Enjoy this test batch of Ever Pep Pills! Yes, this pills will give you the energy to up your productivity, sore to the heights of your career, and enjoy the funds that come with it. Please report how it affected you to your local Spacey’s Favorite Research Associate.

I left the pills, uncertain of them, and we moved past the body of the guard that went marauder. Gilda moved us toward the terminal, and I activated it. Once it was up the terminal indicated the three locations, along with two others that we hadn’t been to, and I selected the settlement we had been earlier. The power stopped to it, and soon it was indicated as off. With that off I looked at Gilda.

She stood there, and grinned, “Ummm, Captain, could you use, maybe an engineer on your ship?” she asked, “I always wanted to work on one, and honestly, there ain’t much holding me here.”

I nodded, “Sure,” I said, “Buttersworth, do you want to come along?”

He gave a nod, “Actually I would,” he said, “I feel that I could potentially do more good by finding out if the rest of the colony is in the same shape as Standing Water. If so, I’d like to see what I can do to help those suffering.”

I nodded, and together we headed back to the Non-Responsible. Boarding the ship Sweet Kisses welcomed us, and I installed the Power Regulator. The ship began to light up, and then I heard doors opening throughout it. A moment later I headed toward the bridge and saw one of the screens light up. There was Spark Gap on it.

“Oh good, you’re not dead, and you don’t look as if you’ve suffered any liquidacion either. Well, this is news for celebration!” he exclaimed, “Since you’ve managed to find a ship, and promptly made yourself captain, then it means that you should be able to get what we need to revive the rest of the colonists from the Luna Seven. The main chemical we need is a very special one that actually is quite old.”

The screen split and I saw a building in the middle of a small town. The building itself looked mostly deserted. Spark Gap grinned at me, “The chemical is Hyberdixium, it was created on Pre-War Earth by the Ministry of Peace to keep foals in status for extended periods of time. Since most of the foals that would be in the suspended animation tanks would be alive, but in kept in a state right before death they were preserved, perfectly, and could be revived with minor complications.,” he said, “The issue is that it is exceptionally difficult to create, control, and stabilize Hyberdixium. The building I’m showing you is a former reception, and lab, for Auntie Frosted Cake’s Pastries and Healthcare. It’s possible they have it there, but even if they don’t it’s likely the information of where to find it will be on their terminals.”

I looked at the town, “Why is it abandoned?”

He grinned, “That’s the other thing it is located on Majesty.”

I heard everyone else suck in a breath, “What’s the problem with that?”

You’ve unlocked Faithful Friendship: While accompanied by a companion you will have access to that Companion’s special perks, but more than that their presence will make you want to be better. Receive a +2 to your charamisa, luck, and special skills while in the presence of a companion.