Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter thirty-five: On the horizon

Note to self… learn a drying spell. That cryo grenade Deacon used left more water in Locks IF-451 than I thought, hell I could probably wash my hooves with all that I flushed out. At least it was drying, in pieces that I’d have to assemble tomorrow granted, but still drying.

That left me with one more thing to work on, trying to figure out how to fenagle this swivel joint onto the suit. Lock had made it look so easy, but I wasn’t familiar with the design. It didn’t look like it was thrown together from available parts. This had to be manufactured at some point… prototype maybe? Not in my department. I already had a matrix that was on the back burner right now, this at least I could work on sooner rather than later.

Then again, all the changes to the suit with upgrading hadn’t exactly kept it in warranty. The swivel itself was simple enough. Mounted to the suit, and ran down through wires to the matrix and helmet, with a smaller gem of its own. Literally look, and shoot. It was finding a place to rig it that was the hard part.

Along the back between the shoulder blades? Na that might put a round in my head more than anything… unless. My eyes scoured the shop, and after a tug of my horn I pulled out some of the scrap metal laying around. If I couldn’t find a place to put it now, I’d just have to change the swivel itself.

With some extra help of my horn, I started plying on the metal framework. As the scraps joined in on it, the arm began to stretch out just past self-induced headshot range, and I reinforced it. What I’d be holding now would have bit more of a kick than 5.56 after all. I already had the incinerator for one side, and the Anti-dragon autocannon taking up the other. My shotty needed a place to call home now, and that’s just what I was about to give it.

It was stretched out, doubled in strength with some extra metal work, and after a quick weld of magic fitted in place. A push from my hoof moved it around some, and while it wasn’t as flexible like Locks’ contraption. Now that it was holding the full weight of the shotty, it’d still serve my purpose just fine.

All that’s left was to make the connections. The flank opened up, and while I guided the wire into place the matrix accepted it willingly, as I made some final connections. No fuss, no buss, not even a zap… why couldn’t that matrix be this easy? The encrypted gem still laid across the counter where I’d left it, and I could almost feel it mocking me. I’ll get to you, don’t you wor-

Zap.

Ouch… okay, maybe a little fuss.

Riffs’ snoring in the other room wasn’t exactly what one pictured as ideal working conditions, though she was dog tired after today… no pun intended. She had the right to sleep where ever her paws lead her. That just happened to be right through the front door, and onto the sofa. Perfect hearing distance from me in the shop.

“Well, you’re up late…” and apparently perfect to hide an approaching mare. Alimite popped up from the front of the shop and joined me with bags still waning under her eyes. How had she not met the same fate as the hound? “Couldn’t keep this to tomorrow?”

I mean, I could have, and I wanted to… but now I felt like there were more pressing matters. Something was on the horizon, and if Watchers words were anything to go off of. I could be on the clock and not even know it. This suit was going to be my ticket to see things through, and I needed it in top shape with every advantage I could get.

“Couldn’t sleep…” that was a lie, and she knew it. Alimite was waiting on me to say more, but I was too busy running wires up to the helmet, and she at least knew well enough to let me do my thing.

Underneath some of the plating they went, and through the conduit for the visor. There were all sorts of attachments for these things back in the war that were in development. Night vision, targeting HUD, hell even one to clean the food a pony ate… how that worked with the helmet on, I didn’t know. The point is, that meant there were plenty of places to make these connections.

Place, crimp, and… tac… the gem inside the swivel kicked to life as the entire gimble stiffened. A tug of my hooves pulled the helmet off, and I donned it for a look around. The display was limited while not inside the suit, but one thing was new. I could see the crosshairs of the shotty added on to not only the visor, but track from my eyes as well.

“Hmm… so a shotgun, a cannon, and now the incinerator,” Alimite smiled as she admired the parts laden over the table, and although the gun was unloaded, I still didn’t want to point the barrel her way. “You might have been able to win the war single hoofed.”

“Well, it seemed a bit more fitting for my name, but thank you…” my helmet found its home back on the collar, and now I had to sit face to face with the mare. She was smiling, but that was the kind of smile I’d seen in Lilac before, one that she inadvertently passed on to her daughter, “It’s that obvious, isn’t it?”

“Mom knew you well, and I’d like to think I have you figured out all the same… you really do throw yourself at your work when upset,” she started to snicker at me, and honestly, she was right, “so what is it? What’s on your mind?”

Oh… this was gonna be a can of worms to open. I thought I was paranoid from just a beeping sound, but the more time I had to think about it, the more it made sense. I was last sighted at the prison, that was broadcast across all the radio. After a short while there’s a flash off in the distance, and thinking on it now, it was in the same area as the prison.

Fast forward to Watcher running into me and Deacon, and him mentioning the prison being leveled by something like a balefire missile. Out of every group in the wasteland, who would have the time, resources, and motive to level an entire compound… all to kill one pony?

“…the Rangers?” she looked about as skeptical as I first thought it was.

“Yes… who else would it be?” there’s no way the prison had a reactor keeping it going, and if that was the last location the rangers hear I was at. They might have thought I decided to turn that prison into a home, “That wasn’t just an explosion, it was a message…”

At first, she started to shake her head. “Do you really think the rangers have that much of an ego problem they’d-” my look was enough to answer that question for her, “okay yeah you’re right with that.”

That wasn’t the biggest thing that worried me though, these weren’t guns on a ship like I originally thought. This was something that had an engine and could fly across the whole damned country if somepony programed it to. It wasn’t a matter of days or hours between launch and impact, it was only minutes… the Crystal Empire might have been ‘out’ of the war, but they still armed themselves well to ensure their ability to retaliate.

A retaliation that wouldn’t even give a warning.

“And if they find this place, then its game over,” they wouldn’t need a massive army to overrun the town, or even an artillery bombardment. No, they’d just need a small patrol to spot me, and call in the next strike. We wouldn’t know what hit us until we’d turned to ash.

Snatchback wasn’t taking any prisoners with this go, and he was far past the phase of trying to convert me… at least I think he was. Showing off the power he held might have been another trick to try and sway me to their side, that or this was more the scorched earth part of his plan. He already had the sub, and the missiles still worked. All they needed was a location.

That idea sent a chill down my spine, and I could see I wasn’t the only one. As if all at once I saw it flash in Alimites’ eyes as well, she lived knowing what the rangers had become for far longer than I did. If they had the chance to wipe me off the playing field, she knew they’d take it without hesitation if they couldn’t recruit me.

After a quick stretch, the mare plopped herself beside me as I put the finishing touches on the suit. She was silent for some time, before I heard her hushed sigh, “do yourself a favor,” I looked over to her shy smile, “… after the rangers are put behind ya, maybe find a different hobby besides pissing off bands of ponies?” ahh that was the same caring smile I gave to her mother all too often.

Yeah, I’ll work on checking out the Wasteland Vacation Guidebook sometime. “I think I can take a breather for a bit.”

My chuckled earned me one in return, “you better… but what's the next step?”

“I’ll need to find out where they are first…” and I already knew where to start for that one, after all, they were stationed here at one of the ports.

“And I’m imagining a trip after that?” she was starting to put the pieces together all too quickly, smart mare.

“Well, I know they’re not local… and with armaments like that they could be anywhere,” try across the whole country if they wanted, maybe I would end up paying the DJ a visit after all, “It’s about time that chapter of the Rangers was put in the history books.”

If ponies still would even write those, “… you think that’ll be enough?”

“Maybe… but putting a bullet in the Elder will sure be a start,” it’ll at least make me feel a whole lot better, “like I should have done with Lock.”

…You ever have one of those moments when you say something you should have held in? Yeah, this was one of those. Alimite looked at me with all the confusion I’d expected her to have. As far as she knew, it was a fight to the death from start to finish. One that ended with Lock meeting her demise, but an end that could have come sooner. Whelp, no point in hiding it now am I right? Though I feel like I should put the helmet back on, just in case.

“… when I should have at least.”

“You killed her though?”

“Yes… but I tried to spare her at first,” it sounds far stupider out loud than I thought…

Spare the mare that has hunted you through the wastes, sent her own siblings to end you, blew you half way to hell, and caused numerous deaths in the town. Crazy am I right? I wasn’t sure if Alimite as seething, or if she was still just confused. Either way, her silence wasn’t all that welcome.

Least I could do was answer her unasked question, “She was broken, and defeated… it didn’t feel like self-defense or even survival with her in front of me like that,” it just felt like straight up murder, “I wanted to pull the trigger, in Celestias’ name I should have, but I held back… I thought maybe she could stand her troops down, leave, and end it,” There had already been enough bloodshed for one day, hell more than one, but was that the only reason?

I think now I really knew why, mercy might have been the reason at the time, but there was something else to it the more I thought about it, “… I’ve been trying to be some sort of hero out here, like the rangers were in my day, and I’d like to think they would have done the same,” at least some of them, “… If only to have some semblance of peace.”

Snatchback would have buried her, Bleak Burrow as well without a thought, but Tungsten would have had some reservations. Lock might not have gone free under his care, though she’d probably live to see another day. Likely in a cell, but still alive. He showed kindness by giving me this suit all those moons ago, and again by setting me free which cost him his own life, even when I spit in the face of his ideals. It’s the very reason I was sitting here now, and extending that stretch of compassion to Lock was the closest thing I could get to repaying such benevolence.

I felt her hoof rest on my shoulder, and I waited for the punch in the jaw… I had a knack for that sort of thing. I was willing to let Lock go free with her tail between her legs, after all she’d done. Bombed their town, killed numerous of her friends, and done untold things to ponies I probably never met.

I almost wanted her to hit me, “That has to be the most idiotic, thickskulled, asinine…” I deserved that much for playing by the rules of my time, “and noblest thing I’ve ever heard of.” I could reboot matrixes all the live long day, but was there a doctor in the house to reboot my head and make sure I heard that right?! Deacon was asleep, and Tumble probably close by him at that, but I didn’t need his help right now like I thought. Alimite just sat there and looked at me with that fleeting beam on her face, “still was a stupid idea…” why did that still feel like a complement? “But… my kind of stupid.”

Thank…? You?!

Before I could react, her lips were on my own and I felt my body lock up like another cryo grenade went off at my- stop making weapon references! I was still waiting for the punch to come, but this was so much more welcome. Without my control my hooves seemed to get their own idea and wrapped up around her shoulders, pulling her in a bit tighter.

A small giggle erupted from her throat in our embrace, and we both struggled to stay upright on our flanks. I thought being in the helmet could get hot, at least this time around I wasn’t the only one, as I felt that heat radiating off her face from the blush filling it.

Sadly, the need for air caught both our attentions, and we pulled back from one another in a gasp. Her eyes fluttered at mine, and I knew I had the dumbest expression a pony could muster… what do you expect? It’s been almost two centuries since I’ve had a kiss?!

“… They really don’t make them like they used to,” she finished off, and curled up to me a bit tighter than before. I thought working on the suit with Riff in the distance was a distraction, this however, was a very welcome one at that. “You’re a good colt there, Wild… maybe a tad too good for the wasteland,” still not sure if that’s a complement, “but don’t change because of it.”

With those words of encouragement, how could I? “I don’t plan on it…”

“Good… I’ll get my wrench if you do,” she meant it as a joke, but I knew deep down it was a threat. If my trio were awake right now, this would have been the prime time to pop in and say I told you so. The shop however, remained silent… oh thank the goddess. “Then do you have an idea where to start looking?”

Just another box to check on my still fairly large list of How to dismantle the Rangers, “Well… they were stationed at the port, fair bet they have some information there.”

“And I’ll be joining you then,” okay, as stubborn as I learned her to be, that still surprised me. The town had more than enough work to be done, I didn’t expect her to- “as much work as there might need to be done they can manage repairs while I’m gone, Riff will probably be helping with structures, while Deacon and Tumble take care of the medical field…” check, check, and check on all accounts. She was right, “you have something to finish, that means you’ll need somepony to watch your back, besides…” Alimite slipped in a wink, “I said I’d keep an eye on you.”

Self-made engineer, repair pony, daughter, and now mind reader… it was really hard to argue with that logic. “I’ll be sure to fill them in then in the morning,” sorry Riff in advance for making you haul all the weight.

“And when will you be going to bed?”

That was a loaded question… let’s see here check the connections of the gun joint, do a once over of the incinerator and all its parts, add more metal to the hopper so it can repair, and make more excuses for the mare so you can keep working…

“Just finishing up,” yeah, I’ll keep telling myself that.

All she gave me in return was a short giggle, much like when we first met. “Boys and their toys…” she turned toward the helmet, and gave it a peck on its cheek. Somehow, I managed to feel that on my own, “please get some sleep soon…” places to go, ponies to see, bad ponies to actually shoot, I know the- “and if you’d like, my bed is warm… might be a bit more comfortable for you.”

Were the burns along my coat on fire again, or was it just me?

Was it possible to blow a nerve ending?

Could a pony get tongue tied enough to choke?

Who knows the answer to any of those questions! I sure don’t! “Much… obliged.” I managed that much through a few working synapsis.

Alimite trailed off out the room, and I was left stumped… did I really need to check all of that before going to join her? Yes, yes I did. Last thing I wanted was to fail in combat. The swivel joints weren’t colliding with the new extensions I added, and on the plus side I wouldn’t be shooting myself in the back of the head.

Incinerator was… dry? Ish… the fuel passing through it should clear out the rest of the water from its lines. It’d be nice to have a bit of fire at my hooves again, hopefully this one I didn’t have to throw away like before.

Next on the list, metal. After its fight with Lock, the suit was hungry for more. Whatever I could muster around me started pulling out and breaking down to what I could, as I shoved it inside. That matrix was next on the list of things to shove inside it, I wonder how much more scrap it’d need to maintain itself once it-

Ting.

That… wasn’t metal? Whatever I had left in my aura went into the hopper, and my eyes turned towards a small bag on the ground. I’d placed it there after getting back from the prison, and never took the time to look through it. After all, the mare it’d come from could wait, but now it had my attention.

With it now in my grasp, I lifted and spilled the bulk of it over into my hooves. Well, aren’t you curious? The pristine stone was as clear as day, more than the wastes had probably seen in a while, but its enchantment still flowed through and left off that typical radiant light. I’d heard about these before, the Ministry of Moral had a whole article of them at one time or another… hard to believe memory orbs still survived in a place like this.

From what I knew, they held the memories of a pony from one section in time. I mean, the name kinda gave that away, but its not like they gave a preview of what was instore. If I had to guess, this was from Lock… duh. The stored memories of the Brigadier, I should have out right smashed it then and there on principal alone.

But she allowed her last breaths to be spent, trying to give me this… “too good for the wastes,” I muttered, that pretty much sums it up. I didn’t know how these things worked really, but as I grabbed it with my horn, I could feel it starting to pull on me like I did the encryption.

If only to hear her last thoughts, I let go…

000

Oh… this was, weird… my eyes were fluttering, but I wasn’t at the wheel anymore. All I could sense was what the pony I was inside experienced, and got to see the world around me from their own eyes. I hadn’t felt this short since I was a wee- where the hell is my penis?!

Yep, that was gone! If I had to guess it was probably the Brigadier. So, this is what it was like being a mare, or a younger mare at least. Even sitting on this chair, I felt small, as other ponies passed me by… just how old was she now? How old was she when I done her in? The gunners that milled about didn’t pay much attention to the filly, and those that did quickly put their own gaze back forward.

Was that pity in them?

“Lo-o-o-ock… can we yet?” there was a tug to my, or her, hoof. Sitting beside us was a filly even younger than she was. Wait a minute… I remembered those eyes, and I was the last thing they saw while the mare was alive. Hard to imagine at one point Barrel was just another school age filly, but this time instead of pointing an AMR, she was pouting. It looked like somepony had been mean to her on the playground… so innocent looking, compared to what I experienced.

“Easy now, Barrel…” Lock hushed her with a hoof pat to the head, far fonder than I’d pictured she was capable of, “They’ll come grab us when they’re ready…”

“If they even remembered we’re out here,” a huff of frustration to Locks’ side brought out her hoof as she smacked a colt in the back of the head… I hadn’t ever really seen his face besides a grin, but if I had to put caps on it.

Stock had joined in the memory. Lock was hidden behind her own eyes, but the up-and-coming colt looked as if he’d been in a few scrapes all his own. Scars lined up and down his face, and from the patchwork of scars along the coat, I’d have to guess he played a bit too much with explosives… how fitting. Those scars were likely nothing compared to what he picked up in the wastes after growing into that armor of his, no wonder he wore the helmet to hide it all.

“I don’t need any lip from you, Stock,” she snapped, and I watched the colt shrink back into the chair, “Not now of all times… play nice with sis.” Barrel stuck her tongue out at him, but Lock ignored that as her brother exchanged the same gesture.

A creek next to them brought Locks’ attention back behind her, and in the open door stood the cleanest gunner I’d ever seen… his scrubs almost made him look the part. He didn’t say a word to them, all he gave in return was a jerk of his head, and the three little ponies obeyed following him into the room.

Or… hallway, a very dark messy hallway.

I could hear other ponies moaning out in pain from the doors along either side of us, but the mare ignored them. Her vision wasn’t set on the colt they were following, but to the door at the far end. She took a step, and I could feel her heart miss its own as she did. Lock was nervous, or excited maybe, but in a place like this I doubted there was any good news to be had.

The pony that guided us held the door open to the final room, and after the trio entered, both Stock and Barrel jumped out of the corner of Locks eye from the door closing on their flanks. The mare herself however, remained still, her vision trained on the bed.

This colt had seen better days… he looked more bandages than pony, but his face remained clear. Under the wrappings were the edges of plating sticking out, what good was it to have bandages on if you were still armored up? The same pony skull I’d seen on their armor, hung in a necklace around his neck, tattered around all the markings of a pony who’d experienced his fair share of combat. One of his eyes was missing, but the other looked down upon the mare, as he patted the side of his bed.

Like a dog calling, Lock and her siblings hopped to, and joined him there. “Now… what’s that look for?” he smiled at them, but I could see the hollowness inside. He wanted to sound cheerful, but the tone was lost on her ears, “You act like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Both me and Lock probably thought the same thing, in a day or two, we might just have, “What did they say, dad?”

Dad?! They still had those in the wastes? Even in this ragtag group of upgraded raiders?... of course they did, ponies didn’t just appear out of thin air. Though to think that somepony would take the time to really be a father in their ranks… I was at a loss for words. What must it be like to lead not only a band of thugs, but with your own children in their mists as well?

Dad didn’t look any at ease from that question, “Oh the usual…” he began to cough, and from the armor under his bandages I could see it stretching along his skin as it tore clean. Fresh blood started to mat the gauze, but even with a small shriek from Barrel, the colt kept his smile and stroked her mane with a hoof trying to put her at ease. Was… that plating fused to him? “Canterlot’s a hell of a vacation these days you know.”

No, I don’t know, but the mare sure did. Together like this I got to feel that shiver run down her spine, “You knew that already!” she shouted, as a tear begged to roll down her cheek, “yet you still went! Why?!” and just like that I added the capital as a place to stay well clear of.

“You know why… Lock,” the smile of his began to falter, and the mare held back her torrent as I felt the words choke in her throat. “I had to see if I could find her, anything, for ya’ll.” Another coughing fit met with blood trickling from his lips, and with a hoof he wiped it away.

“And… now what?” she asked in a tamer voice, “Now that you’re like this, what about us? What are we going to do?”

Once again, the colt put on a happy face. He was in pain, having metal plating stretch along your body like that would do it to a pony. Yet the clench in his jaw I could see kept him from shouting it out in front of the bunch, “Exactly what I prepared you all to become…”

His hoof lifted up the necklace as it slid up and over his head, and for a moment he stared at it. Part of me hoped I could find a memory orb of this guy, to know what was going through is mind right now, but I could see it already in his eyes. Just like Winter had, he knew the clock was up.

Lock had put that together just like I did, “No… I can’t!” she shouted at him, stomping her hoof into the cushion. Yet that didn’t stop him from draping the necklace over her, as it fell to her chest, the mare held it in one hoof. It was as damaged as the colt was, but it managed to escape whatever he was exposed to and made him one with his armor, “I-I-I… I’m not ready!”

“Brigadier Lock!” his voice boomed, and resonated off the walls. Her frame spoke to her name, as it froze in place, with her siblings matching. “You’ll never be ready, until you take that leap and find out…” with a flip of a switch, his eyes went from superior, back to that of a father. “Now, can you accept your first orders?”

Something was brewing in the filly, something she couldn’t put into words. Though part of me could… thrust into a position she felt ill-equipped for, without a clue as what to do next, or what choices to make. It was similar to when I’d stepped out of that stable, all I knew was to go home, and keep a promise… Lock sniffled, but nodded her head.

“Good… as acting leader of this band, I place you, and your siblings in charge,” Her eyes shot open at those words, but the mare stood firm, “but more importantly… I want you to promise me you’ll watch over one another, keep each other safe,” tall order for a filly who wouldn’t have even gone on her first date at this age, “lead your fellow gunners as not just a team… but like the family you three are…” no amount of swallowing would get the knot in her throat out, and I could feel her starting to choke on it, “do you accept these responsibilities?”

I couldn’t exactly hear her thoughts from in here, but I could feel the pounding of a headache starting to work its way up. She wanted to run, but if there was anything I knew of the mare I saw… no part of herself would take that route.

Finally, the mare found her voice, “Yes… I do.”

That warmed him up a bit, and his forehooves spread out. The trio didn’t need to be asked twice, and all three almost fell onto his chest. Barrel was already sobbing at this point, and Stock wasn’t far behind her. Might have come off as cold outside this room, but he was still just a colt. As he let those tears fall, out the corner of the fillies eye I could see him patting his younger sisters back in solace. Lock however, held her ground as the eldest.

She wanted to let the water works flow freely, but something held her back, “I’m so damn proud of you three,” even her dad held back a sniff. Now I knew where she got it from, “for all the dullness of the wastes…” Lock brought her head back to look him in the eye, as hers remained clouded, “you three brought color to my world… I love you.”

As if it was timed, the three spoke in unison, “I love you too, dad.”

There’s where Lock found her breaking point, and joined her siblings in a storm of tears.

000

Okay! That wasn’t something I planned on getting used to any time soon. I awoke back up on the floor of the shop, and through my body I felt the wave of emotion a filly had just experienced still lingering. According to my Pip-Buck only half an hour had passed, but it could have been the whole night…

I sat there for minutes longer, contemplating what I’d just seen. It’s one thing to read a memoir of a pony, another thing entirely to hear a recording. Though to see it through their eyes, really does put their life into perspective. In that time I got to see my enemy for something else entirely, compared to the picture I’d painted of them.

Three little ponies, saying goodbye to their father, and taking the weight of command from his shoulders on to their own.

Three little ponies, born into a band of killers, with only themselves to truly watch over one another.

Three little ponies, who by nothing but chance, I snuffed out…

The orb had found itself at my stomach, but from here on the ground I could see inside the bag and what else it held. My horn pulled free a necklace that now I could put meaning to, and a parchment wrapped up in its leather cord… unwinding it gave me only one message from the mare.

“For what it’s worth,” I read it to no pony but myself. Lock knew it was going to end, one way or another. I had to wonder, if she was victorious, how long would she have been able to go on without them? In the end, I did give her one thing, the chance to see them again, “…Your welcome, Lock,” I answered her thanks long past due.

My hopper was still feeding the repair talisman, and now with nothing left to do, my time had finally come. All three items found their place back in the bag, and as I tiptoed down the stairs, I made sure to be stealthy enough so the pair down here wouldn’t awake. Along with the coffee mug the bag joined them, was it to keep them close? Absolutely not, Lock was the last mare I needed close in any sense.

Yet at the same time, she didn’t deserve to be forgotten.

She was a killer, plain and simple. Her entire band of gunners were no better, with all the trouble they’d caused out here. If any other pony knew the meaning to them, the necklace would probably be melted down into a bullet to shoot the next in their ranks. At the heart of it though, when you took away all the killing, and bloodshed… it was just three siblings, trying to protect one another.

I kept my stealth going as I went back through the shop and into the main home, Riff had managed to toss herself onto the ground, but that wasn’t enough to wake her. Up the stairs I went, and as I approached the offered door, I waited to hear Alimite asking what took me so-… nope, sound asleep.

Just like I should be, slithering in to join her. I heard a coo from the mare as I put my weight on the worn in mattress, and she tucked herself in a bit closer to my chest. Lock I didn’t want to be anywhere near, but this mare?

This… I could keep my head above water for.

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk: “Steel Chariot”- Fear the Tank Pony… oh wait, that’s you! Equestrian engineering had out done itself, and you get to taste the fruits of their labor. Your Power Armor can now hold two heavy weapons on either side, with a third light weapon on a Line-by-Sight gimbal along the shoulder.