Fallout: Equestria - Common Ground

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Broken Dam

A change had come over New Pegasus. When we’d been here before, the pegasi hadn’t seemed to care about the Steel Ranger invasion of the Commonwealth. Now, however, patrol flights came and went endlessly from the settlement. At first, I was a bit worried that fighting had reignited between the Dashite Enclave and the Consortium, but those fears proved to be unfounded. The relationship between the pegasi and the pondroids and scientists was still icy, but no longer overtly hostile. The rise in alertness was most likely caused by developments in the north.

Though the Commonwealth Crooner could no longer be viewed as reliable, his radio broadcasts were still the best way to gain news about what was going on in Pleasure Coast. (News about the rest of the Commonwealth was suspended while the Steel Rangers occupied the city and the Crooner’s contacts couldn’t reach him.) Despite the bias of his reports, information on the situation could be gleaned from them. The Steel Rangers had either completed their pacification of the coastal city or had succeeded enough that they were beginning to strike out into the Commonwealth. The patrols only reached the area immediately around Pleasure Coast so far, but the fact that they’d established it as a staging ground proved that they were capable of and willing to prosecute a larger campaign in the Commonwealth. Their full intentions had not been expressed in specifics, but the Dashites were right to be worried that the Steel Rangers would come for them.

The reason Rael and I had returned to New Pegasus rather than flying directly to Shearpoint now that we’d found von Plume’s treasure was twofold. The last time we’d been here, the rumors had been that a large number of ponies (ghoulified, most likely) had escaped Pleasure Coast and were congregating on the coast near Castoway. I wanted to see who had made it out, looking particularly for Summer Sunrise and those we’d had to part ways with in the tunnels beneath the city on our escape with Lurk. Flying directly there from von Plume’s vault would have taken us past Griffonstone and the ominous miasma that surrounded the split mountain, so we’d have had to detour anyway. While we were bending south, we might as well stop in New Pegasus and follow the Iron Valley to the coast.

The other reason for our indirect route was what I’d taken from von Plume’s vault. In addition to a pair of gold bars to prove the wealth of von Plume was real, I’d also taken the “Certificate of Inheritance”. Clearly, it was meant to serve as proof that its bearer had found the treasure and was entitled to it and the 5% share of income from every business in Pleasure Coast. The map on one side of the bizarre poker chip depicted a marked location in the city; presumably, this was where it needed to be inserted for whatever technology was within it to work. It might have just been a way to secure that share of income, but I held out hope that perhaps von Plume had included some other functionality in it—such as defenses for the city that might help see the Steel Rangers off. I was planning to sneak in and try it, if Pleasure Coast didn’t look too dangerous when we got there.

“Doc?” I heard the voice of Mereskimmer as I was concluding my purchase of microspark cells for my starscatter gun, and I turned to see the power armored pegasus standing in the street. “I should have known you’d be here in these times. Although, I’d more expect you to be in Pleasure Coast right now, trying to take on the Steel Rangers yourself.”

“Well, I’m working on it,” I admitted.

“Of course,” Mereskimmer said with what at first seemed to be amusement, but as she remained silent seemed to turn to melancholy. “If you would, take some advice. It is admirable to fight for others, but you cannot be everywhere. You cannot do everything. You cannot help everypony. If you continuously put yourself in harm’s way, eventually harm will find you; and the way that you comport yourself, that harm is nearly certain to be death. Take care, Doc. You have much more to give the Commonwealth than your death.”

“Believe me, I know,” I said, but even with her helmet closed, Mereskimmer looked skeptical. “I want to retire from all this business, but every time I try, something crops up. What am I supposed to do? Stand by and do nothing?”

“I understand,” Mereskimmer sighed. “It is difficult being unable to take action. The Dashite Enclave moves to a war footing, but our course remains uncertain. The Executive Council debates whether we should take offensive action and bring the fight to the Steel Rangers, or focus on securing our territory and wait for them to come to us.”

“The defensive posture didn’t serve you well in your war with the Consortium,” Rael pointed out, and Mereskimmer hmphed.

“But neither did the offensive option prove to be the right move in the end. You fought against it, even going to the President to stop it,” Mereskimmer mused. “We will fight the Steel Rangers, but when?”

“I don’t suppose I—” I started to offer, but Mereskimmer raised a hoof to cut me off.

“No,” she said, “I don’t think the Executive Council is ready to hear what you have to say.”

“Well, when the time is right, let me know,” I said. “You can find me fighting the Steel Rangers.”

“I have no doubt,” the pegasus said. “And Doc, remember what I said. Keep yourself safe.”

***

On our mission west through the Iron Valley, Rael and I didn’t stop … much. Usually it was just at night when we’d either camp where my hopper and Rael’s wings had taken us, or a settlement if one was handy. We had to refuel in settlements every so often, but other than that, there were only two other notable stops we made on our way to the coast.

The first was at the Castle, where I confirmed that the Dogs of War remained in place, they and the former Castle automatons keeping Orthros boxed up. The existence of the Castle, other than as a place nobody wanted to go, was fortunately not common knowledge and might have been safe from Steel Ranger attention. But for all I knew, they’d brought Equestrian records detailing locations of pony tech factories in the Commonwealth and would stop in, even if they didn’t know exactly what treasures—or horrors—were squirreled away here. I intended to keep it that way, and Rael and I made some minor alterations to the Dogs’ programming to prioritize defense against the Steel Rangers if they attempted to breach the Castle.

The other notable stop was Charity’s Reach. What I’d seen in the settlement the last time I’d visited had been unsettling, and both Rael and I wanted to see if the griffins had corrected things or if they’d gotten even worse. Unfortunately, as we approached, it seemed to be the latter. A high wall surrounded the town, with guards posted on top. The mandatory donation to enter town was even steeper than before, and the town guard who extorted it was even more forceful. A gloom like that over Griffonstone seemed to hang over the town, and I found myself wanting to be gone almost as soon as I’d entered.

I might have left immediately had it not been for the griffin who beckoned urgently from the shadows between rail cars as I passed by. He led Rael and me down the alley before ducking into a building constructed from cargo containers shoved against and stacked atop each other. Hesitantly I followed, wary of an ambush given that FITS showed a small crowd inside the building. I didn’t see any weapons among the griffins congregated within as I entered, but numbers weren’t on my side even if they were all unarmed.

“You’re Doc Silverarm, aren’t you?” asked the griffin who’d led us in from the street.

“I am,” I admitted. Clearly some in the Iron Valley had listened to Radio PC, making my efforts to spread it worthwhile.

“Are you here to help us?” another griffin asked, a hen with a very owlish look about her.

“I just thought I would see what’s going on. What happened to this place?”

“Priestess Giselda,” another griffin answered.

“She’s taken everything for the church,” another added, “Yet she gives us nothing in return, claiming it’s being ‘held in trust’ for good works when she deigns to do them.”

“And still she demands more,” the one who caught my attention originally said.

“Why don’t you refuse her?” I asked, fearing I knew the answer.

“All her tithes are mandatory now, and if we don’t give, she sends her enforcers to take it anyway and inflict punishment for uncharitableness,” a griffin said.

“Surely together you could all stand up to her,” I said.

“We couldn’t do that!” the owlish griffin said, looking scandalized. “She’s the priestess.”

“We wouldn’t dare act against her ourselves, but you could. Or you,” the first griffin said, referring to Rael. “A fellow preacher might be able to talk sense into her.”

“I’m not a preacher yet, just an acolyte,” Rael said sheepishly.

“But as an outsider, you might have a chance of convincing her to cease this madness,” the griffin said as he turned back to me.

“I don’t think so,” I said regretfully. “I already tried that the last time I was here, and she wasn’t receptive. I doubt she’ll be any more reasonable now. I might never have given that advice to Geraldine if I knew this was what it would lead to.”

“You acted with good intentions, and Geraldine used your advice for good; but Giselda has taken what was meant for good and turned it to evil,” the owlish griffin said.

“If you can’t stand up to Giselda, why not leave?” I asked.

“And go where?” a griffin in the back demanded.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “There are plenty of other towns in the Iron Valley alone, including some in the east that have lost lives and could use an influx of griffins. I think New Pegasus would welcome you.”

There was some grumbling about the idea of coming under pegasus leadership, but most of the noise coming from the group seemed to be indecipherable whispers.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could do more to help,” I said. “I should go.”

***

Many of the griffins of Charity’s Reach did end up leaving the town, but not how I’d expected. They caught up to Rael and me about a day and a half out, following us as a group. Well, following me, really. Somehow they’d gotten the idea that my travels would eventually lead them somewhere good and safe. Things must have been even worse than they’d admitted in Charity’s Reach if they considered following a pony who’d only lived in the Commonwealth a little over a year to be a preferable alternative. No matter how I tried to explain that my path led to conflict with the Steel Rangers in Pleasure Coast and I had no desire for followers, they wouldn’t go away.

I thought that maybe when we reached Castoway they would finally leave me and settle in the waterlogged city, but it turned out to be a vain hope. Daff was no help. Although she did agree the griffins could stay in her part of the city if they wished, she mostly just laughed at the situation I’d gotten myself into—leadership when I’d never wanted it, much like her. Her consolidation of power in Castoway seemed to be going well, though. Over half of the city was now controlled by her clique of freelancers, and she was at work clearing out or subjugating the remaining warlords. The griffins of Charity’s Reach could have joined her army, but none of them wanted to live in Castoway, so I was still stuck with them.

They were still following me when I reached another group of refugees. Those who’d fled Pleasure Coast and made it across the coastal wastes had not entered Castoway either, though I wasn’t sure whether that was by choice or because the ponies of Castoway didn’t want a sudden influx of ghouls and griffins. Instead, they’d settled to the north, at a point on the coast where the road and rails branched off. There was nowhere here for ships to dock, but it was a port all the same. A large warehouse and several smaller outbuildings were clustered around an airship mooring tower, presumably constructed as an alternative to Castoway before the infeasibility of transporting large amounts of cargo via airship to anywhere other than the roosts was realized.

There wasn’t much to the little settlement on the coast, since the Pleasure Coasters had fled without the chance to bring much with them. Many of them were ghouls, but there were also quite a few ponies and griffins. I was surprised by the latter since I expected griffins to head inland or to a nearby roost, but Pleasure Coast griffins were an independent lot, and heading inland might look too much like running to Grand Marshal Gideon and his Commonwealth. The refugees had managed to acquire weapons, but not nearly enough to arm everyone, though some of the ghouls seemed content enough to give up their firearms to the griffins from Charity’s Reach as they started to mingle. Despite surviving and escaping, there was a look of defeat about them, especially among the ghouls, who had never been terribly motivated to fight for their unlives to start with.

My impression from the refugee camp was generally not good. They had escaped, but a sense seemed to pervade that it was only a temporary reprieve. There was no aura of victory, and no clear idea of what to do next. Food was hard to come by, but nobody seemed interested in finding more to secure their futures. They were directionless, and that couldn’t lead anywhere good.

“Doc!” Summer Sunrise called out to me as I rounded the mooring tower. I was glad to see he was still alive, or as alive as a ghoul could be considered.

“I’m glad you made it,” I said as he trotted up. “I wasn’t expecting so many to have made it out.”

“Pleasure Coast is a big city,” he said, leaving unsaid that there were many more who hadn’t escaped the Steel Ranger occupation. “If y’re here, I take it y’r audience wi’ th’ grand marshal di’n’t go well.”

“He wouldn’t lift a claw to help,” I grimaced. “But I have a plan to change his mind.”

“Don’t you always?” Summer Sunrise asked rhetorically.

“What’s going on here?” I asked, but before the ghoul doctor could give me the lowdown, the wind shifted and the sound of thrumming propellors caught everyone’s attention.

Several griffins lifted off, and I ran to climb the mooring tower. Rael and Summer Sunrise followed, until we were a couple of floors up and could see out over the surrounding outbuildings. Coming from the north was a Steel Ranger airskiff.

“They’ve come t’ finish us off,” Summer Sunrise said under his breath.

“Rael! Fly back to Castoway as fast as you can and get Daff!” I ordered the startled griffin. “Her army’s guns may be the only thing that can chase the Steel Rangers off.”

“Right!” Rael said before taking off for the south, simple robes flapping and the symbol of Rok around his neck swinging wildly as he spun in midair.

“And th’ rest o’ us?” Summer Sunrise asked once Rael had gone. “I admire y’r spirit, but w’ can’t beat ‘em, Doc, and they’re not goin’ t’ wait ‘til reinforcements get here t’ attack.”

“No, we can’t beat them,” I admitted as I checked my weapons. “But we can slow them down, make them hesitate, give Daff time to get here. There won’t be very many in that skiff, and while we probably wouldn’t be able to defeat them even with Daff’s help, we can scare them enough that they reconsider risking detaching from the Indefatigable to hunt you down and head back north. It won’t be an unconditional victory, but it’ll be a victory on our terms, and that’s good enough for now.”

I hadn’t realized how loud I’d been speaking to Summer, but it had been loud enough to draw the attention of the others around us. My little impromptu speech seemed to have done some good. No longer did all the ponies and griffins look ready to run, and many had even started to look determined to fight. Well, that was good enough for now, too.

I found myself in charge of getting everyone lined up and ready to fight, positioning ponies and griffins in advantageous places. The airskiff certainly seemed to be coming right for us, but for all I knew, they were just scouting out Castoway and had no idea that the refugees from Pleasure Coast were here. Everybody was to remain hidden until it was clear that the Steel Rangers were prepared to attack. Not that we’d actually be hidden from the Eyes-Forward-Sparkle spell built into their armor, but hopefully they at least wouldn’t know who was here and would pass by.

Either who was here was already known or didn’t matter to them, for the airskiff slowed to a halt over the yard without mooring itself. The deck-mounted guns perforated the roof of the warehouse while a Steel Ranger squad began to descend on cables. Casting ERSaTS, I fired up at the mechanisms holding the cables, as did other sharpshooters concealed in other outbuildings. It took several shots from my battle rifle, including several misses, but I was successful in breaking one of the cables. The Steel Ranger attached to it fell from a height that even his ancient armor wasn’t guaranteed to save him from. He did manage to survive it, landing heavily and cracking tarmac, as did another Steel Ranger that was shot down, but a third who had her cable broken landed on her neck and didn’t get up.

Bullets, grenades, and missiles flew through the air as the two grounded Steel Rangers opened up on us Their companions soon joined them, landing safely and allowing the cables to rise back to the deck to lower more Steel Rangers. I tried to stay on my hooves, constantly moving as I shot back, but the weapons the Rangers used had broad effects; they only needed to aim in generally the right direction to hit their targets. I used my magic to teleport me out of the way of anything certain to seriously wound or kill me and cast ERSaTS whenever I needed an extra burst of speed to escape or an opportunity to get in a hit.

My weapons (and those of the Pleasure Coasters and Charity’s Reachers) were largely ineffective against the Steel Ranger armor, but bit by bit, we might chip them down or get lucky. One shot I made during ERSaTS hit the missile of a Steel Ranger while it was still leaving the rack and caused an explosive chain reaction that took out the entire left side of his armor. Another desperate shot with Big Iron when a Steel Ranger and I were nearly face to face managed to punch through his helmet’s eye lens and drop him permanently.

However, those were the exceptions, and mostly I just tried to stay alive long enough for help from Castoway to come. I found cover whenever possible, but as the fight went on, there was increasingly less of it around. Steel Ranger missiles and grenades flattened buildings, and sustained fire from their miniguns chewed through even concrete walls given enough time. I had to make my own cover multiple times, conjuring up a shield spell to save myself or another fighter who was in harm’s way. The spell was effective at stopping bullets for a bit, and it even dissipated explosions, though incompletely; whoever was behind it was still blown back even if they were safe from fragmentation. The spell was also draining, and I could feel my magical reserves slipping away, something I’d never really had to think about before.

As I’d surmised, there wasn’t a large force of Steel Rangers aboard the skiff, but there were still more than we could possibly deal with alone. None of our weapons had much impact on them, or on the skiff, which I thought would be key to convincing them to retreat. Not that we wanted to bring the skiff down, since that would just strand the Steel Rangers here with us. But, if we could do enough damage to it that they feared losing it, that just might convince them to limp back to the Indefatigable and leave us alone. We had enough trouble just damaging the Steel Rangers on the ground, though. Grenades were mildly effective, but what I wouldn’t give for some metal zap apples, or the novasurge grenades that the Dashite Enclave and the Consortium had.

While I was bemoaning our lack of effective weaponry, I was pulling up shield after shield to deflect the shots of a Steel Ranger crusader’s grenade launcher minigun to protect myself and a ghoulified pegasus mare missing one her wings.

“Ah, so you are the magic one,” the Steel Ranger’s speakers crackled as she ceased firing at us.

We both tried to run, taking advantage of the Steel Ranger’s unexpected pause. As I turned back just before slipping around the warehouse, which had fallen in on one side due to the fighting, the Steel Ranger produced a transparent orb filled with shadows and crackling orange energy from her armor’s compartments and threw it at me. By instinct more than anything else, I summoned a shield. At first, I thought I’d simply reached my magical limit, but later I’d learn better. The orb passed right through the shield and landed at my hooves, shattering and releasing a wave of energy that pulsed over me.

Three things happened at once. My magical shield immediately collapsed, disintegrating into sparkling mist. My starscatter gun failed to levitate, the glow of my grip around it dissipating and allowing it to clatter to the ground. Those both seemed minor events compared to the third thing that befell me. All my wounds from the fight that I’d mended with healing potions or spells opened back up and I stumbled to the ground, blood seeping from a dozen holes. I tried to reach for the healing potions that remained in my saddlebags, but I could feel nothing; no magic.

“That’s the end of that, unicorn,” the Steel Ranger said as she loomed over me and then stamped down with a heavily armored hoof on my horn.

It was with a grinding agony that I felt the bone snap a third of the way up its length from my skull. However, there was no magical discharge as there had been when the Dogs of War had broken my horn. The Steel Ranger had taken all my magic away, I hoped temporarily, but with this injury, perhaps permanently. That wasn’t foremost in mind at the moment, for the breaking of my horn was not the only new injury inflicted on me. As the Steel Ranger’s hoof came down, it continued to carry my horn with it, and the point impaled my right eye. I screamed at the pain, something I was still capable of doing without magic; perhaps the only thing right now.

Everything was so hot and cold and dark and bright at the same time. I was having trouble focusing myself through the pain and the welling blood. I had the sense that the Steel Ranger was still looming over me, ready to finish the job, but I never got to see it. My mind mercifully fled from consciousness before the fatal blow was dealt.

[Max Level Reached]
New Quest: Broken – Put yourself back together … however you can.
New Trait Added: One-Eyed – You’ve lost an eye, which has a profound impact on your ability to perceive by sight. -3 to Perception and -50% to all skills that rely upon visual perception.
New Trait Added: Broken Horn – A unicorn’s pride is their horn, and how they channel their magic, but yours has been broken. Magic is now extremely difficult for you to control, even simple and instinctual spells such as levitation. You will often be unable to cast any spells and risk a magical explosion if you do succeed in channeling magic. -90% to all Magic skills and -75% to any non-Magic skill that you rely on levitation for.
Perception -3* (3)
Alteration Magic +4 -42** (5)
Athletics +4 (53)
Barter +2 (127)
Big Guns -65** (21)
Enchanting -31** (3)
Energy Weapons +4 -55* -41** (14)
Explosives +3 -60* -46** (15)
Illusion Magic -37** (4)
Lockpick -89** (29)
Manipulation Magic +4 -50** (5)
Medicine +2 (129)
Melee Weapons -80** (27)
Pilot +6 -40* (41)
Repair +1 (126)
Small Guns +1 -75* -56** (19)
Sneak +2 (120)
Speech +3 (131)
Survival +5 (117)

*One-Eyed
**Broken Horn