Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter twenty-five: Ain’t no rest…

That hit it took against the container did a little bit more than I thought. The pair of exhaust ports were crimped like a spent tube to toothpaste, and as I fumbled with it on the workbench, I could hear a rattling inside. Back at the shop was a perfect place to work on both the suit, and fume over the finer details of our little excursion.

We’d kicked the rangers off their hill. Though like Tumble said before we made our way back here, they’d return in time. I had a breather till that time came, and I already knew what would follow when they came knocking on the door. Snatchback wasn’t going to take No for an answer. I knew he was going to be coming my way, and now he knew I wouldn’t go quietly. If he wanted to take me, it’d have to be by force.

Force I’d happily return if I could get this damn vent open!

Clank!

The pliers I was using to pull the ports open slipped free for the tenth time by now, but with this go it gave me an opening I could work with. Taking the end of a metal pipe, I slide it inside with my horns’ aura, and started pushing against the outer walls to the exhaust. It was tedious work, yet as any artisan would tell you. Losing yourself in your craft was strangely calming.

Something my friends were also losing themselves in around town. Every pony needed a hobby after all, even in this world. Otherwise, you’d probably go insane, and start eating ponies. Deacon had mentioned seeing Lack Luster, as Tumble trotted along with him a while back. Though I had to wonder what kinda hobby a hellhound could get into. In any case they were out of the shop, and I had all the tools to myself to work.

“I can see why they want ya,” a voice called out, and Alimite came through the kitchen area joining me, “though it’s certainly not for your cautious nature.”

In my defense, I didn’t plan on sticking that close to the bomb… “Deacon might have planted it faster than I expected.”

“And yet you still found the time to work on your suit.”

Yeah, she had me there, “I could install this one on the fly… perse.”

The mare took a seat on the stool, and watched as I continued working. This port was almost done, and once again would take me in to the skies. Instead of, you know, blowing up on me. A few more pulls of the outer wall set it right, now there was just one more to take care of. The second exhaust port wasn’t as damaged as the first, but more than enough to keep me grounded. At least I could get the pipe in this one without stretching it apart first.

Alimite for once, didn’t lend a helping hoof. She might have missed me taking my own glances at her, but I caught those eyes lost in my own work. The mare was a wonder when it came to everything defensive, and even handy with a shotgun. Though the line was probably drawn on things that could cause me to crash and burn.

Her eyes however, were starting to wander, “Now what did you find here?”

Come again? Oh, that thing, “It’s another kind of matrix for the suit, a little gift procured it from the rangers,” of course I meant stole, but procured sounded better. Her hooves continued to examine the stone, all the while I kept my own at work as she started to levitate it up closer, “it has to be something important, otherwise somepony wouldn’t-”

Zap!

With a clench of her horn, Alimite pulled back leaving the stone to fall back on to the work bench, “-have put a spell encryption on it,” not the right time to snicker at her. Though could you blame me?

“That’s not funny…” her hoof cradled the small singe on the tip of her horn, and I watched the blood begin to fill her cheeks. I don’t know, it kinda was to me, “if its locked, then how do you plan on using it?”

There ya are… with the second vent straightened out, I turned my attention to the housing. Past the access port I found what caused that rattling all the way here. The thrust talisman inside had to be held aloft off those inner walls, giving it free space to drive the air around it as intended. To do so, the designers used anchor springs to allow a bit of give. All but one of which had broken away, and left the stone rocking back and forth inside.

Thankfully, I could work and teach at the same time, “oh… I have my ways,” now could I go in to a long lecture about these things? Hell yeah I could! We had to sit through a whole class on them to secure our work back in the day. Although after having to listen to it all told by a colt who had the personality of a corn flake. I’ll take a hard pass on that idea, “Zebras couldn’t use magic on their own, but they had spies that could and were sympathetic. So, to counter some items like memory orbs or matrixes could only be accessed if you drew the encryption off first.”

Wire, I needed wire, and I know I’d seen some around here somewhere… My hooves started rummaging through the various containers this place had to offer. One perk of being the towns mechanic, you got all the junk you could ask for.

“While enchantments on a stone can be drained, it’s just tricky at times. Try to take too little and you take nothing at all… spell remains,” Found ya! The spool of locking wire was nearly out, though it had the thickness I needed. Taking out whatever it had left, I started wrapping it round a pen sitting across the bench. I’m not surprised some of those raiders had gotten crafty, leave any pony around long enough and they’ll start throwing stuff together to see what happens. After the wire was wound tightly enough, I pulled it clean of my makeshift mold. Cheap? Trashy? And liable to break? Try all of the above, but it’d worked for my purposes, “Take too much, it’ll go on the defense… and spell remains.”

“But all I did was pick it up?” she pushed the stone away a bit more, with her hooves this time.

“It doesn’t care,” I couldn’t help but pass her another smirk, “all it knew was that magic was holding it, and it said no.”

After about ten more of those springs were made, I headed back over to the thruster pack. Locking wire was pliable, and I had to fix that. With the liberal application of magic, damn near anything was possible, and with a steady shot of heat going through them. Those springs actually lived up to their name, holding their shape like a champ.

“Still doesn’t answer my question,” I glanced over to her again while attaching one of the new springs to the anchor points of the stone, “how are you going to use it?”

Oh right, that question… sorry, lost in a lecture, “By draining the spell holding the encryption, very carefully,” yeah, she didn’t look to by buying that, “again, it’s tricky, and will take some time… but might be worth it.”

I mean, you wouldn’t put something like this under lockdown if it wasn’t important after all. Holding another pair of springs aloft with my horn, they quickly found their place back inside supporting the talisman. To air on the side of caution, those extra springs found their home intertwined with one another. Funny how something so intricate could be undone by just a broken spring. You’d think they would have made these things more resilient, but I wasn’t the one who designed em. Then again, they probably didn’t imagine the user taking a beating from a Balefire Egg.

Another half dozen attachments later, and the talisman was back in business. The thruster pack I picked up and carted over to the suit. It was as easy to reattach as it was in the field, so at least those connections hadn’t been damaged. According to the Pip-Buck, all systems were nominal, and I wasn’t the only one who could tell.

“Field test?” Alimite asked as she leaned in closer to the screen, and looked positively giddy at the thought.

I was hard pressed to deny that from her, and granted after any repair a test should be warranted… though there were other matters to attend to, “maybe later,” her lips turned into a pout before my eyes, “don’t worry, I’ll grab ya to see first,” awe there’s that smile.

With a more graceful horn, I tugged the matrix back and looked it over. Alimite looked almost jealous that it hadn’t shocked me, but that was liable to happen at any point. Enveloped in my aura, I could feel the charge inside. Ever so slowly, my own arcane gift started to tug away at it… little by little… I could almost feel it trying to resist or judge whether or not I was hostile.

Either case, that wasn’t something I’d find out just letting it sit around. It’d take time, and was something I could chip away at. The worst part was I didn’t know the strength of the unicorn that’d put the enchantment on it, for all I knew it could be drained and usable in a day, or three months from now.

Ornate armor flickered through my head, as did the flash of an AMR, and just like that I saw a suit of power armor drop in front of me…

Zap!

My reaction was a little more zealous than Alimites’, and my hooves found themselves thrown a good two feet in the air. Both myself and the stone met the ground at the same time, though now I had one rather amused mare looking down on me.

“Oh good, I’m not the only one,” she snickered back at me, alright I deserved that. With that jab out of the way, her hoof reached down and helped me up.

“Yeah… it’s something that requires concentration.”

“Well… I can let you be if that would help?”

“No!” okay, that was a bit overenthusiastic for a reply, “It’s not you, just… other things going on in my head,” yeah that sounded cryptic.

Most other ponies I knew, which wasn’t many mind you, would probably have brushed it off and left anyway. Alimite however, pulled the stool in closer and got comfortable crossing her hooves as I put the stone back up. With the other hatch to the thruster pack open, I examined the second talisman and was happy to see it still in place. There didn’t need to be a repeat to that incident, so any of those leftover springs were wrapped around the originals… for ya know, safety.

Though it was quiet, too quiet… I looked just over the open port, and still sitting there with her eyes on mine was the mare. Alimite stared at me, I stared at her, and all it took was a sigh for me to snap out of it… mares were stubborn.

Particularly this one.

“Elder Snatchback was there at the port…” I started off, and I saw her lean in a bit more, “after everything was said and done with, the Cadance started pulling out, and to see us off was that bastard atop his ship.”

Alimite gave me a small shrug, but didn’t respond with anything past that. “He could have taken that shot,” just as he likely did with Tungsten, “but he never did, we just watched one another as he got away.” Maybe if I had a few more of those eggs I could have turned that sub into a tomb, but that would have just trapped them here in the area.

“They want you, remember?” a fact I was getting really tired of hearing again, and again, “apparently destroying an entire base of theirs wasn’t enough for them to throw the towel in.”

Which surprised me, Snatchback wanted me executed after I was out of my suit at the mill. Though even when I was right in his sights, he didn’t pull the trigger. Change of heart? Doubtful. If anything, he might have seen more than enough potential to warrant more of an effort to get me in their ranks. That much alone worried me of how far they’d go now under his order, if not for my skills, at the very least retaliation.

“Although given the trouble I heard you caused at the port, that taken alive idea might change soon,” She had a fair point there, eventually I would be far too much of a hassle to get ahold of. Just like Tungsten said, dead weight, “they’ll still have to track you down in the end, especially if this Snatchback wants to make it so personal,” she closed the thrusters hatch almost on my hooves, and I just looked at her, “Till that time comes take a break, clear your head, and don’t think about the rangers… they’ll get what's coming to em, that I’m sure of.”

Why did it sound so much more believable coming from her?

‘Right, because this is a mare that believes in ya,’ in fact, both herself and Tungsten did. One of them enough to risk his own life to save mine, and paid the price for it. She was right though, dwelling on them wouldn’t help my concentration. Neither would sitting cooped up in a work shop all day. Hobby or not, some ‘fresh air’ was needed from time to time.

The suit was sealed up, and with the matrix there next to it still, I went over to the bay door. “Well… care to join me then?” before I’d even finished, Alimite was there with me heading out into town, “I’m curious to see what Riff’s gotten into since we got back.”

“Oh, I can answer that,” she trotted ahead down the road, leaving me to play catch up.

Not as much time had passed as I once thought, there was still the whole afternoon of heavily overcast daylight to be spent. All around ponies bustled through the town doing this and that, trading goods, patching up holes in buildings, or carting their own wears through. Amongst them were a few faces I’d met already, the pack of youth before that cornered me… and right on their heels was Spade chasing them down.

The gaggle of kids shot past myself and Alimite, far out of site before I even turned around. Somepony had gotten on Spades’ nerves, and from the short time I met her. That wasn’t a place those kids would want to be.

It wasn’t far past the outer perimeter of the town that I saw what the mare had meant. Slathered in dirt and grime by one of the towers, was the hellhound living up to her origins with a few sections of timber slung across her shoulder. The fine-tuned claws of hers dug through the soil with ease, as chunks of it were withdrawn to leave gaping holes. Like a well-oiled machine, a timber pillar from her shoulder sunk into the hole, and the removed dirt Riff packed tightly around their base.

With another done, she moved on to the next marker a pony had held up, repeating the process. Behind her three or four ponies pulled planks of wood and metal, lining them against those posts as well as the towers to be nailed together. The newly erected walls weren’t the only additions to the town. Even the guard posts got some extra slabs of metal to keep the guard up there safe and sound. Butter Crisp looked all too happy to be putting that metal sheeting in place.

“Now if only they’d have more ponies on guard,” the numbers Miss Crisp had told me weren’t anything to be proud of, and a guard post was useless without the guard.

“Actually… last I checked Walker is also having his guards be a part of the normal rounds between posts,” Alimite chimed in, and my two cents was shot down instantly.

Though how did it take this long to have those on patrol inside the town limits apart of perimeter duty? Hell, if nothing really did happen this far out in the middle of nowhere, I’d take guard duty over sitting in a shack with nothing to do. At the least then I’d be moving around, “So… there’s more guns looking over the area, and now more eyes as well,” Riff finally sighted me, and flashed those teeth at me in a grin. She was enjoying this kind of dirty, not the covered in rotting pony guts kind.

Passing by them, we both took a tour of the other towers that had been reworked as well as the makings of a wall between them, and much like the one we just saw still in that process. These ones gave the pony there on watch a bit more protection. Plates of metal adorned the outside of the loft, and for quite a few of them the tower itself was nearly spacious enough to hold an additional pony or extra ammunition should the need arise.

“How had no pony made these changes before?” I asked aloud, looking to the work that had been done in less than a day or so.

“No pony really saw the need,” Alimite looked about as sick of that answer as I was, and she’d been dealing with it for years, “many get complacent when they’re out here in the peace and quiet. There isn’t a thing to go bump in the night,” till something does, “Though with the wonderful assistance of some newcomers… it’s not just ponies like myself doing all the odd jobs.”

Gee, I wonder who those fluttering lashes could be talking about?

“I mean sure they all want to maintain this place, but that’s just maintain, not make any better,” our hooves turned back towards the rest of the town, as she led the way. “Progress spurs progress, and seeing one group go the extra mile to help out kicks another group of ponies into high gear… lovely domino effect, ain’t it?”

Domino effect indeed, they had better protection, and more guards looking across the land. Compared to most other places I’d passed through, this town lived up to that name. Just how much could it grow till somepony put it on the wastelands radar? It had to be a stroke of luck that it wasn’t there already. Then again, the more it grew, the more I’d like to believe the ponies that called this place home would stand to defend it. Well… ponies, and other creatures.

Speaking of other creatures, what had you’d gotten in to?

Deacon stood outside Lusters’ shack looking over what I had to guess was a patient. My little medical understand was enough to know that legs shouldn’t bend that way, and the mare on the front porch knew it as well. Regardless of her grunting and moans, the gryphon didn’t flinch and went to work. I heard the crunch of bone a few times as that limb was straightened out, and my own stomach did a few summersaults.

Alimite beside me shared much the same sentiment, and turned her head away from the operation taking place. The door to the shack opened up, though where I expected the young Luster to pop out, instead I got Tumble playing nurse. The tray she carried held enough chems to almost put the mare asleep, and Deacon shot those needles in to his patients’ hooves as fast as my own pump. Her crying went to bubbling and sobs, though at a certain point I doubted she’d have felt the leg being amputated.

Yet as much as my jaw line was breaking from the sounds of bone still being set. Deacon never relented; his face held the same grin he’d worn when I first noticed him at the shack. Even as his face met mine, he held that smile. Maybe in a different life he’d have been a doctor, or at the very least a combat medic.

Hmm… medic sounded more suited for him, I couldn’t see the gryphon lasting in a pristine white coat for long. “Whelp, it’s nice to know Deacon found his little niche here in town… apart from patching my ass up,” with a quick nod said gryphon got back to putting those splints on the leg, and we got back to our walk.

“Tumble too,” she added, and our hooves went on towards the bridge.

Huh? We already made a full trip around town?... time flies I guess, but I felt like doing maybe another lap or two. The suit wasn’t going anywhere, and I doubted any pony would try to tinker with it while I was- the sound of something shattering answered my thoughts. Alimite and myself broke in to a full sprint towards the shop, and with the least amount of grace I’d seen in her the mare knocked the door open with a shoulder.

Alright, nothing on fire, nothing shooting us, nothing explod- “Mom!” her yell cut me off, and I followed the mare towards Winter on the ground.

Both our horns reached out and lifted the mare too her hooves, and instantly I started looking her over. Breathing? Check. Heart rate normal? Felt like it. Bleeding from her head? Nope that’s not supposed to happen. Responsive? “Ya can put me down…” signature eye roll, also check.

Winter was back on her hooves and standing, but as my eyes wandered, I steadily got the picture of things. Step stool knocked over to one side, shattered stack of jars, and a bloody smear across the makeshift counter. Her kin was already pulling bandages out from one of those cabinets, and with all the fuss I’d expect, Winter was doing her best to hold her daughter off.

“I’m alright now, ya hear?” she protested, but Winter forgot where Alimite got her stubbornness.

“Yeah… good luck with that,” I started lifting up some of the broken glass from the floor, “Took a fall did ya?”

Her eyes widened for a moment at mine, before wincing back shut after a splash of alcohol against her brow, “Like I said before, just one perk of getting old in the wastes…”

And like before, I saw her hoof start trembling, before she held it against the counter. Winter was as stubborn as mares came back in the day, and living out in this world hadn’t softened that side of her in the slightest. If I had been the one treating her, she might have just batted me away. Though, Alimite hadn’t seemed to notice what her mom had pulled, and I wasn’t about to open that can of worms… not yet anyway.

“Well now… am I gonna have to safety proof your shop?” and there was the playful, murder glare I had hoped to get. Alimite too even joined in the look, and together the two shared a small chuckle.

“I swear I’ll weld ya in that suit of yours…”

“Oh please, like I couldn’t cut myself out?” I grinned back at her, glad that I was at least getting humor out of her.

Another slam to the front door drew all three of us, and standing in the doorway was one I’d only met but once. Although, I was all too familiar with that face of worry the mare wore as she heaved breaths in and out of her chest.

“Help…” Ashburn choked, before falling to the ground.

Any pain or tremble Winter might have had was washed away, and she went to the mares’ side holding her up. Her chest was rising, and those eye of hers still looked between the three of us. Yet, every time she tried to speak all we got was the cracking of an old radio. Wait… that’d do it, if her lips were flaking that bad, I didn’t want to know how parched her throat was.

Hoisting a mug of water from the kitchens sink over, it might have been dirty, but it was enough to get her going. The mare choked down the whole container in half a gulp, before Alimite took the hint and went back to the kitchen, “Raiders… jumped our caravan… at night,” never a good sign when it started with them. Alimite pulled up alongside her with a sizable canteen, and started metering the liquid so she didn’t choke, “Took one colt hostage… Tanker.”

The mare likely ran through the night just to get that information to us, and her voice was proving it. No matter the amount of water she slugged down, it never seemed like enough for her to get more than a word or two out at a time.

“Want caps…” the mare gulped down the remains of the canteen, before taking her gasping breath, “five hundred, at Stonewall Treatment Plant…”

Between the M.W.T. and M.A.S. Ministry Mare’s, I couldn’t tell which one to kiss first for this tech. Nearly as soon as those words left her lips, like other locations before it, that plant lit up along my map.

Winter lifted the mare up to her hooves and brought her over to one of those couches in the room to lay on, before passing myself a look that I could read all too well. She knew what had to be done, and who would be the ones to do it. Let’s see I had a location, a target, and an objective. Now all I needed was a team to help complete it.

“I know the place, and the colt,” Alimite chimed in, and immediately started heading towards the stairs, “Let me grab my gun, and I’ll round up the others,” she peeked past the stair well to myself, “meet ya here in the garage?”

Took the words right out of my mouth, “See ya’ll in ten…” never a dull day, was it?

***

As creative as they might be at times, Raiders weren’t exactly the smartest bunch in the wastes. They gave us an ultimatum with the price for a pony’s head, yet didn’t bother to give a timetable at all to bring it by, or even a due date… not that I’m complaining mind you. If anything, it just meant they wouldn’t know when we’d be there.

If they were hoping for caps, they’d be sorely mistaken. How many times did this kind of ransom work? Kidnappings were all too common I’d imagine, but I couldn’t imagine the raiders staying true to their word to release a captive peacefully. So instead, we were bringing other payment… like shells.

“I didn’t remember it being under raider control,” Alimite muttered to myself at the head of our little party, “I mean it’s been a bit since I was there last, but there wasn’t really anything of value there they’d want.”

Treatment Plant… hmm, “Machinery? Maybe,” I offered to her. Perhaps one in their group was smart enough to get it working for their benefit.

“Ahh… doubtful, sewage plant mind you,” right… all the scrubbers in the world wouldn’t clean away radiation. Even if it did, they were next to useless if the water wasn’t flowing through those pipes. So, unless the raiders were gonna start farming, I was at a loss, “I wouldn’t even make the stretch to say for easy defense.”

Understandable, there wasn’t a large need during the war for Equestria to guard its own literal crap. While I tried to process what the raiders might have need of such a place, if there was one besides to keep their heads dry. Alimites’ eyes went back forward, and all of use followed along the trail she carved.

Travel in all the silence of the wastes wasn’t just boring, it was downright creepy at times. Billboards with propaganda still visible across them didn’t help the creep factor, everything from a tarnished Pinkie Pie encouraging reporting suspicious bad ponies, to Miss Fluttershy asking for volunteers in the Ministry of Peace. There was one way to break the silence however, besides wasting ammunition.

A few clicks later brought out far softer sounds than what I last played. Not the rock or pop I was used to back in the day, this was a bit more classical. An eerily similar peace to the scenery around us… oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. Not like I could phone in a request for the DJ.

So instead, I listened.

My hooves clacked against the ground song in and song out. I’m pretty sure the DJ had their entire station on shuffle, or they might not have the pick of the crop when it came to music out here. Probably both in all honesty, but it did make for a surprise at the end of every track. What was I gonna get next? Yakish Metal? Maybe some orchestra thrown in? Southern Equestrian twang? Who knows!

No matter what it was the armored stomps found a way to fit the tune. Some of the more electronic dance music of the city a few times now brought my heart throbbing from the bass alone.

“And that there wastelanders is just something from a very old, old, old friend of mine,” There’s the DJ! I’m surprised it took em this long to get actually on the airwaves, it’s only been… shit how long since we left? I didn’t bother looking at the clock on my PB, I could already see it was nearing dusk, “Speaking of old friend… our Rogue Ranger’s at it again out there.”

Oh boy, here we go… “Latest word on the street is the port those other rangers had been calling home went up in smoke not too long ago,” if by smoke you mean an entire pier blown to bits and fuel lines being ruptured to spill flaming liquid everywhere, then yes, “in a rather spectacular fashion I might add, even if you’re passing by south of Tall Tale you might be able to see it glowing.”

If that place was still burning then there were bigger problems at hoof. I wanted to kick the rangers off their hill, not burn down a city! “All things considered, I kinda wanna start a scoreboard here… Rogue five, to Gunners and Rangers nil!” yeah, nil… if you didn’t count Lock beating the crap out of me, and the Paladin biting the dust, “in other news, Tall Tale Boarding School dropped its own flags and those Gunners that once called it home have kicked rocks.”

Huh? We never finished clearing that place out, the gunners separated my group and Lock was just toying with me more than anything. Yet, they still walked away from it? “I know Rogue was there as well… but reports of his involvement are,” I could hear the papers shuffling behind the mic, “unclear…”

Understatement.

“Regardless, it’s time for some of us to go back to school if you’re looking for a new place to scavenge,” how much of that was my doing, I didn’t know. Lock might have figured we wouldn’t fall for that trick twice, and she was smart to think so… something I didn’t like, “and before I get back to our regularly scheduled programs, a message for Rogue,” and what might that be? “Hoofhold or not, some of those rangers might not have been at the port when ya cleared it, and there are others that operate in the area… keep your wits about ya.”

Yeah, I’ll keep that in my back pocket, “until next time fillies, gentlecolts, and every other critter out there, this is DJ-Pon3 signing off!” I’d kill to know how this radio pony had eyes and ears in enough places to learn half of what they did.

Alimites’ hooves came to a stop just ahead of mine, and my chest nearly careened in to her flank. Her eyes went around not to any of us, but to the surrounding area, the sky, and everything else in between. Wide open area, with only the husk of what once was some sort of trading post maybe, but also not a thing on my E.F.S… so what was she getting at?

“It’s not the best of locations,” she took a deep breath, “but it’s better than completely in the open.”

Aren’t there more pressing matters? “What about, I don’t know, the hostage?” you’d think I wouldn’t have to remind her of that.

“We’re still several miles out from the plant, and by the time we got there it’d be early morning,” Alimite didn’t have to explain more than that, “I’d rather fight raiders after some shuteye, and they wouldn’t expect us to have the caps so soon,” and yet, she still explained.

Shot down like part of the Equestrian Wonderbolts… before I could even admit she had a point; Tumble was already breaking off splinters of the trading post into kindling, and homing her sights across the open ground. That mare was on the hunt for grub, and Riff shared the same interest as her muzzle perked up to the air sniffing out prey.

We had been walking the better majority of the day, and although I’d have rather rescued the settler in one go. A full stomach and restful night would make it just a little bit easier, “Alrighty then… I’ll take first watch.”