Fallout Equestria: Endless Horizon

Fallout Equestria: Endless Horizon

Chapter 16: Axel Grease

Scarlet found us the perfect place to set the ship down, hidden from prying eyes. A valley a few kilometres from a terrifyingly large balefire crater. Seeing the absolute destruction the zebra weapons could reap was as humbling as it was distressing. Stories of how megaspells decimated ponies and zebras alike didn't come close to seeing the effects first claw. Even the megaspell that slowly suffocated Mt. Aris didn't compare to the radioactive crater spread out below. A lake of lifeless ash and rubble that may never recover.

I tried not to let it sour my good mood.

The valley we landed in was just as devoid of life. Once upon a time, a beautiful blue river provided endless fresh water for all the plants and animals of the canyon. Now it’s just a gaping wound on the planet's surface. A shadow of what it once was. I was horrified to learn that the valley was destroyed long before the war. Not by an exchange of terrible arcane destruction, but by pony expansion. They built a dam upstream to provide nearby towns with fresh water and energy. While the ponies prospered, the ecosystem downstream dwindled and died.

It reminded me of a story my mother told me once. A Kelpie, a living spirit of water, grew so frustrated watching pony greed poison the land and corrupt the spirits that she lashed out in anger. She summoned a great wave to wash away the ponies she hated so much but was stopped by Princess Celestia, and send away. As a final act of rebellion, the living spirit made a deal with her unseen cousins to strike a final blow. For her life and her magic, the land around her grave would be impervious to pony magic. A small sliver of the natural world the Equestrians could never control.

Were the Equestrias the villains of their story? Did they regret the damage they did to the once great ecosystem? Or did they find solace in providing for the lives the dam allowed them to nurture, the ponies, livestock, and plants it allowed them to care for? If I was in their place, I’d try not to think about it at all.

"It's about a days trot to vanhoover from here, then another two days after that. Everyone pack for nine to be safe." Scarlet ordered as we made final preparations. Sky was in charge of carrying the extra food and ammo, citing that his earth pony strength would be more than able to handle the added weight.

I ditched the tattered mess that was once my armour-plated barding, swapping it for a far more comfortable green utility jacket from my closet, with extra padding sewn onto the more vital spots. It was nothing compared to the barding with plates I was using before, but it was more practical. I didn’t have the stamina to spend the next three days trotting with steel plates weighing me down.

Once everyone was geared up, we trotted out into the great unknown toward the Rockhoof Mountains.

*** *** ***

Vanhoover was a sight to see, even after 200 years of neglect. We saw the skyline from kilometres away, shining brilliantly in the light. (pre)Modern buildings of glass and steel, surrounded by beautiful parks, the finest restaurants, and all the biking, snowboarding, and clubbing you’d ever need! Well, that’s what the posters said anyway. The reality was far more sombre. The city of excess and vanity asked a lot of the ponies who lived in it, but the longer the war waged on the less they had to give. Soon the money and sweat the city needed to run was too much. Businesses closed, prices rose, and the ponies were forced to leave in search of greener pastures.

The government bought up the area for nothing, only to find a wealth of natural resources in the nearby mountains. Abandoned buildings were converted to living quarters, and mines opened up. Metal foundries were built. Like a phoenix, the dead city rose from its ashes to become a powerhouse of industry. A hub of metal and stonework the papers nicknamed ‘Little Filly’. There was even coal found in the mountain! Not enough to sate Equestrias hunger for the fuel for more than a fortnight, but more than enough to act as a reserve. The coal was left untouched in the maze of mineshafts below for decades, waiting to aid in national emergencies for a nation long dead.

Until the wasteland settlement of Little Filly was formed. It was further up the mountain than the prewar city it was named for, around the still-operational fallout shelter that saved their ancestors. They made use of the coal and other materials to build their homes and businesses and eventually entered into a trade agreement with the coastal city of Bliss, trading fuel and steel for fish and crops. After Bliss saved the somewhat secluded settlement from a terrible Steel Ranger assault, they swore loyalty to the larger, far more powerful city and were renamed; Eden.

Scarlet felt Bliss forced Eden into giving up their independence, and changed the name to further assert their control. The theory certainly didn’t leave me with a positive view of Bliss.

We skirted along the edge of the city, passing through the suburbs and more historical areas. Most of the wooden buildings and historical sights were rotted into collapsed heaps, or dangerous hovels no one larger than a foal dared scavenge. Of course, that didn’t stop stupid scavengers or desperate explorers from trying. Stupid desperate explorers like my crew and I! And because the wasteland always gives with both talons, that wasn’t our only problem.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I cried over a roar of gunfire. Every time I thought I’d seen all the wastelands horrors it had to up the ante like a greedy brat! How were ruthless raiders, smelly slavers, and rabid robots not enough!? Did we really need to add terrifying termites to the tally!?

Grotesque, cat-sized, tumour-ridden termites! Mutated ant-like creatures with bulbous heads, and horrid yellowish-green chitin, with razor-sharp pincers that glistened like steel! Dozens. Hundreds swarmed us! It didn’t matter how many we shot stomped and stabbed. More would crawl over the dead to take their place! The hallways of the rickety building weren’t built for flying, forcing us to soar single-file so we didn’t clip each other's wings. At the very least, a strong wingbeat could fling any pouncing creatures back into their hoard of violent, bloodthirsty friends.

“Why why why did it have to be bugs!” I squawked between feeble breaths. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to balance flying through the small space with attacking the vile critters with my claws or pistol. It's hard to keep calm with an army of nightmares swarming behind you.

“It was a calculated risk!” Scarlet barked back over the blasts of her shotgun. “They had an exhibit on the alicorn amulet!

“It was a flux replica, Scar!” Sky snapped back as he peppered the buggy moshpit with 10mm fire. After burning down the Astral lab, he decided to carry less spicy weapons to use.

Our gunfire was futile as we made our retreat. Every creature we killed was replaced by three more. Endless waves of bugs angered at our intrusion. Sky and I could mostly keep away from the gross critters with our wings, but Scarlet couldn’t fly. She barely managed to keep ahead of the hungry horde, one misstep away from being torn apart by the little terrors. Free was able to keep away from the biting creatures for the most part, but couldn’t do anything to help either. His battle saddle could only fire forward, making his carbine useless.

“You know I wanna learn more about magic, it could have bee-Ugh, dammit I’m trying to have a conversation!” Several radmites (my PipBuck named them?) lept onto Scarlet’s back, only to find themselves skewered on my friend's ethereal spear.

“Ok, I get that we trotted right into their home but do they gotta be so-OW!” I let out a shriek as a pair of mandibles bit into my hoof. A well-aimed kick from the other leg sent the vile bug careening back to its ground-bound friends. SATS sent blue bolts of arcane light searing through my attacker, ensuring that it wouldn’t make a meal of me again. The wound felt hot and was growing hotter. My wings and legs felt heavier as I struggled to glide through the tight hallways. “Minor venom poisoning” flashed in my vision.

Scarlet said to never fight on your enemy's terms. But I couldn’t figure out how we could take control of the situation! Nothing we’d thrown at them even gave them pause! Free couldn’t hit them with his rifle, and Sky wasn’t using his pistol for fear of burning the place down!

Burn... It was crazy and stupid, but in all my favourite stories the truly dumb plans often worked the best. “Sky, burn them!” I squawked.

The green alicorn took aim before the order left my beak. Twin bursts of enchanted bullets spawned a wall of hot flames between us and our attackers. They squealed, burned. and cracked under the heat. The bugs that weren’t torched immediately were driven back by the pony-high flames.

The dry, dead walls and floorboards caught fire like sawdust. Mere seconds passed before the fire was an uncontrollable torrent, dead set on consuming all in its path. Scarlet cried out as the flames licked at her heels, but it was the least of her worries. “So many magical relics…” The unicorn lamented as we fled.

“Can’t use them if we’re buggy-breakfast!” Free pointed out from ahead. The pegasus effortlessly led us down hallways and through corridors, recalling the layout of the place with ease.

Meanwhile, the air grew hot. Smoke snaked its way through the building. After half a minute we burst out into the open air of the city's main street, ready to charge toward our next obstacle.

*** *** ***

“I thought you’re supposed to be the level-headed one. What was that about!?” Sky snapped as we trotted over patches of ice on the broken road.

The familiar chill in the air left me strangely homesick. Winters back home could be more than 8 months on a bad year and were the main cause of our food shortages. Still, it was nostalgic. There was always something special about the first snowfall of the year. It left everything so bright and beautiful. It was only early autumn in Equestria by my best guess, but the mountains didn’t care. The spirits were intent to bless them with snow and frost.

I was lucky. My thick coat and warm feathers were perfectly designed for harsh Mt. Aris winters. My friends were less lucky. Scarlet and Free did their best to fashion scarves and hats from scavenged fabric as we travelled. Sky strangely didn’t mind the cold at all. He was almost excited as he explained to me how alicorns were designed to brave all manner of harsh conditions, from extreme climate to toxic waste and deadly poison. He’d never even been sick before!

As we moved further into the city, the wooden museums and lodges became fewer and farther between, replaced by steel foundries and stone mills. They were far less pretty to look at, but at least there was some plant life in the mountains to enjoy! Trees and plants grew proudly from the cold ground, adding a nice fluttering feeling to the calming energy of the mountain.

“I know, I lost my head… I’ve always been fascinated by magic, but I never had the chance to learn it. I hoped maybe something in there would help me.” Sky opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off.“Yes, I’ve tried spellbooks and scrolls. I can barely read as it is. Book learning is not my style.”

“Which of you reads minds again?” Free chimed in with a goofy grin. Scarlet rolled her eyes and gave the buck a good kick in the flank. She stood a bit taller as he stumbled, thwarted by a patch of ice.

“Nice job featherbrain.” Scarlet said through a fit of laughter. “Don’t they teach you to walk properly up in the clouds?” The pegasus nickered and rolled his eyes.

I stretched out my wings as my friends bickered, feeling the wind moving around me. It was faster than before, coming in gusts instead of steady breezes. A chill ran through me as I gazed up at the heavy white clouds floating above the mountain's peak.

“There’s a storm coming.”

*** *** ***

Blizzards are dangerous. Without proper shelter, the elements will kill you in hours. I was younger than Snowflake when I learned the terrifying power nature had over us. Scarlet, Mother, and I were at the table studying when the news came over the radio. A group of fledglings from the settlement of Hydra were brave or dumb enough to venture out during a winter storm. The foals thought they were stronger than the weather spirits and braver than their parents who feared the world beyond the spawling hydroponics facility. Six months later a repo team found their bodies huddled in a ruined home, their winter apparel nowhere to be found. The storm tricked them into removing their protective layers by burning their skin.

The cold isn’t all you need to worry about, either. Dehydration is the next concern. In theory snow and icy water is safe to drink, but it’s another falsehood. It’ll freeze you from the inside out. Just as bad was visibility. Without Eyes Forward Sparkle to guide you you’d be effectively blind. Unable to see your own claw through the blowing snow. Someone 5 metres away may as well be across the world. You couldn’t see or hear them.

In the following months, the schools required students to watch blizzard safety videos every week. The terrifying power of the natural world burned itself into my eyelids and found its way deep into my nightmares. I had no wish to experience it first hoof.

“We’ve got a while before the storm hits. Four hours at best.” I guessed as we trotted towards the Vanhoover Power Station. It was pleasantly simplistic in design. A warehouse-sized brick building, with a bank of pony-sized transformers along the side that connected it to power lines. I could hear the click and groan of several water wheels around the backside of the building, turned by a steady stream of runoff from up the mountain. Electric lights shun through many of the building's windows, occasionally being obscured as a shadow passed by. It was definitely the right place.

And a great place to lie low and wait out the weather, while enjoying the good company of an interesting stranger! A mechanic with the skill to refit Free for a new prosthetic, even! An impromptu slumber party to escape the weather!

The inside of the building was paradise. To my friends, it was a junkyard, but I knew better. Spark batteries with chargers littered the floor. Metal shelves held enough wire spools to power an entire city! Boxes of capacitors, resistors, and talisman were stacked floor to ceiling in the corner! Shelves of flux regulators, hydraulics and servo motors, even a stripped power armour frame! Countless bins of scrap metal and electronics, all likely the result of countless years scavenging the ruined city.

Most interesting was the pill bottle-sized power cell glowing at the center of the sitting area. It was connected to a voltmeter that, like most of the equipment present was only partly functional. The arm spun endlessly around the dial, forever counting upwards.

The area near the door had been converted into a living area, though it looked more like a workspace. Just a few 100 square feet separated from the rest of the warehouse by tall steel shelves littered with scrap and spare parts. Beyond them was an energy plant, not unlike an abandoned one I once scavenged along the straight back in hippogriffia. Large spinning rods came in from outside, connecting to turbines that almost reached the roof. Of the four turbines, only one was functioning as designed. The other three were still and lifeless, seized up or gutted for parts. No energy, kinetic or otherwise, had moved through them in a very long time. Wires from the good generator ran into a battery bank that took up most of the left wall, which I assumed then connected to the transformers outside.

It was a treasure trove! My ultimate fantasy laid out on rusty tables and musty furniture! And at the heart of it all, a scruffy, brown and gray-coloured pony hunched over a workbench with a set of forceps in his muzzle. He had shaggy mud-coloured hair and wore tattered overalls, and sat in a fancy metal chair. A monocle with a sturdy flux-polymer frame was fixed over his left eye. Possibly a magnifying glass to help him repair the circuit board laid out in front of him.

“One sec.” The buck said as he carefully adjusted the spell matrix he was repairing. With a small sigh, he sat the tweezers down and looked over his shoulders at us. The stallion's ears were long and narrow, and his muzzle was wider. He looked nothing like any pony I’d ever seen. Then the gears clicked into place. He wasn’t a pony at all! He was a donkey!

“Wasn’ expectin’ guests today, ‘specially with the storm coming in. Could work out though… If yall are up for running a bit of an errand for me. ‘Course I can pay ya.” He grunted as he turned back to grab the spell matrix off his workbench. What I thought was a desk chair of some kind rolled back from his desk to greet us in the cozy (to me and only me, I found out later) living space with a soft whir. It was some kind of homemade mobility aid! The chair sat on 8 wells, controlled by a simple joystick.

“Come along.” The gruff donkey said with a wave of his hoof. “We can chat while I work. Gotta install this right quick.” We followed the buck further into the plant, my eyes wandering from his well-engineered wheelchair to the rest of the hydro plant. Back near the battery banks sat a metal box the size of an auto wagon, with tall pillars jutting out of the top. Streaks of rainbow lightning bounced between the four posts on top of it, working hard to produce and transform the arcane power into usable electricity. It was like the spark reactors I’d seen in Stable 24, but much smaller. The leads from the Spark generator connected to a fusebox on the wall to power the rest of the facility. All the power produced here was probably sent up the hill, likely to Eden itself.

I watched as the lame mechanic quickly installed the new board. The mechanisms inside creaked and hissed as it rumbled through its cycle. The magic from the device made my mane itch and my feathers tingle. The arks were strong, but unrefined and without purpose. The bolts between the pillars were inconsistent and wild. The chip the Donkey was repairing must have been a regulator or controller.

The part was a bandaid, at best. It wouldn’t fix everything wrong with it. The proof of concept simply wasn’t built to last long-term. “You’re little prototype is amazing… I wish there was some way to save it.” I said solemnly.

Scarlet stepped between the repair Donkey before he could respond. “Actually, we’re here for our friend.” She motioned towards Free, who was rubbing where his cybernetic met his flesh silently. “He’s got a bad leg, and we heard you might be able to help. But then we noticed the storm… so how about a trade? Your errand for some repair work and safe harbour?”

The buck rolled over to take a look, motioning for Free to show him the leg. “I got it a few years ago, as part of a military program.” He explained, grimacing as the mechanic turned and bent the limb thoughtfully. Free hadn’t been big on us ‘wasiting time’ on getting his limb fixed when we could be finding a medical marvel, but we hadn’t given him much choice. My sister Aqua told me the worst patients were other medical professionals, and Free proved her right.

The buck tsked. “Sloppy. And terribly lazy. No tissue regeneration, no nerve dampening… Joints are tight, connectors are aluminum… It’s an inch too long! Pile o’ hell hound shit. I can’t rightly let the buck trot around on this thing… So you got a deal.

“I need you to head down to the amusement factory. I ain’t got machine oil, and as you can hear it’s got my genny throwing a fit. Will need some to rebuild this scrap heap too, no offence buck. It won’t be near this flashy or high-tech, but it won’t hurt, and it’ll get you where you gotta go. Ya’ll go get the oil while I get started. Once the genny is back up to par I can turn the heat on. We can wait out this Celestia-forsaken storm in comfort.” I didn’t realize until he mentioned it, but it was barely a few degrees warmer in the plant than it was outside. “Better than burning the waste oil for heat like I planned. Warm, but not great for my old lungs.” The buck chucked.

“Sounds like a deal. I’m Scarlet, and you just met Free. This is our alicorn guard Sky, and Aella is our resident repair pony. Hence the stary-eyed look at all of your scavenged junk.”

“T-this stuff isn’t junk, Scarlet!” I squawked, jumping in to defend the fine amazing collection. “I don’t know much about caps, but I know tech. I could almost build a second airship with all the equipment and scrap in here! If there’s a dragon mechanic out there, this is what its hoard looks like!”

Scarlet chuckled and rolled her eyes. A soft nuzzle from Sky and a telepathic update on the coming storm reminded the unicorn to get back to business. Scarlet was the only one of us who didn’t have the magic to feel the changes in the weather. She couldn’t feel the pressure building in the air, sapping the heat from everything it could touch.

“Names Axel.” The donkey muttered, eyes focused on our medics' cybernetic. “Amusement Factories three blocks up, on the left. Can’t miss it. Oil should be at the loading dock. Gots a trolly out front to load the barrel’s onta. Just watch yerselves in there, alright? Weird place. Safe so long as ya stay focused and don’t dottle.”

“That’s ominous…” Sky muttered softly, narrowing his eyes at the Donkey. I got a bit dizzy as the alicorn's mind pressed against mine less gently than usual. “I don’t trust this Donkey, Aella. I can only read pony minds, (and yours for some reason.) We have no idea if he’s trustworthy or not!”

I thought back at him with an unavoidable eye roll. “The Watcher vouched for the skill and character of this repair pony. While I don’t know the Spritebot hacker from Mistmane, Scarlet trusts him, and The Lightbringer knows him! That’s good enough for me. I trust them.” The alicorn nickered over the telepathic link but didn’t complain further.

Axel looked towards me and pointed a hoof at the generator struggling behind him. “You says this old girl is dying. Figure that out just from lookin’?”

I felt like a breezie under the questioning gaze of the elder mechanic. Someone who’d been fixing and tinkering since before my parents were born. Did I inadvertently question his ability? Or was he just testing my own? Either way, I couldn’t help but second-guess myself as I stammered. “I-I um… Well, it’s just… The spark core is pretty weak… And it feels like the actuator for the ugh coolant system is… umm, seized. I haven't heard the cooling system cycle, it’s just stuck on. Even with the um, control board repaired it won't… Run well… That slight hitch whenever she starts a new cycle umm… It sounds like the gem-flux electrolyte is trying to move backwards in the system for a second. The ugh, diaphragm pump must be worn on one side… allowing for some backflow…”

The buck raised an eyebrow as he held his stare. “And you got all that from listening to her for a half-second?” I gave a slow nod. “How? You ever work on a spark reactor?”

“I’ve been working on machines all my life. I haven’t done much work on spark reactors since we use pulse generators and reactors back home, but I know how they work. Just… When I’m around a machine, working on it, taking it apart, listening to it, it’s like… I don’t know, there’s this feeling. The machine knows what’s wrong with itself, it’s just you need to know how to listen to what it tells you… I um… I know it sounds stupid…”

Axel chuckled and shook his head. “Not at all, kid. Seen and heard way weirder stuff in my time. You’ve got a gift few creatures can dream of. Countless creatures spend lives developin. Trust your instincts, little bird. They’ll lead you right.”

“I… Um… Thank you…?” I gaped at the donkey, more confused than ever. What did he mean? Did my sensitivity to magic help me repair magical things? Or was there something more… Spiritual awareness maybe? I’d only really had that as a fledgling, and my parents and the elders dismissed it. That couldn’t be it. Maybe technology was my purpose, granting me a magical connection to them? No, that was a pony/cutie mark thing, hippogriffs don’t have that kind of innate magic. Intuition then. That was it. Ponies did tend to scoff at things as simple as intuition…

*** *** ***

The amusement factory failed to live up to its name. I expected a colourful building where ponies merrily worked to bring joy and friendship to the once-great nation! In reality, it looked exactly like the rest of the ruined factories that once drove Equestria’s booming industry. An endless sea of grey. Grey walls, grey desks, grey chairs, and grey tools. Even grey computers! I pouted as I looked around the uninspired lobby. Would it have killed them to add a mural or something?

There was at least one spot of colour in the drab building. Four stone pedestals were set up on either side of the entrance, to display the company's most anticipated products of the year. A joy buzzer enchanted with actual joy, something called a party pistol, a grenade that blows bubbles, (I was starting to sense a theme) and a… targeting talisman? How could that possibly be used as a toy?

The silver ring with a sapphire embedded in the center certainly didn’t belong with the other objects. I moved for a closer look while Sky and Scarlet toyed around with the party pistol, which apparently used confetti as its munitions. I dusted off the inscription, which was far longer than the others.

With the help of facilities like The Amusement Factory, beating the zebra filth has been a breeze! Thanks to manufacturing facilities like this, our Steel Rangers, Pegasi combatants, and brave hoof soldiers have the tools they need to stand against bloodthirsty zebra warriors! This display is to thank the tireless efforts of the workers here for doing their part in the war effort! You don’t need power armour to be a hero!

Well, that was… something. It never failed to disappoint me how xenophobic the ponies and zebras of the past grew through the trying times of their war. And… seriously? They had a toy company making talismans for the war? Didn’t they have enough factories already? This entire town was full of them! Fillydelphia was even larger! Its industry was built around the war. How many weapons could they possibly need?

I groaned and turned toward my friends. No sense in questioning the actions of ponies long dead, especially when we had better things to do. “Let's get moving. I don’t want to get caught by that storm.

Strangely I found it colder inside the factory. Not the normal cold that bites at your flesh, though. It was like the cold was deep inside of me, and I was just slowly growing more aware of it. Shaking hooves and chattering teeth next to me suggested I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

Thanks to a handy map Axel shared to my Pip-Buck, navigating the frosty hallways of the dead factory was easy breezy! We were in the office and admin, so we just had to head through the factory floor to the loading bay.

I was thankful for it. Somehow it was even colder in the factory than it’d been outside. Not the normal cold that bites at your flesh, though. It was more like the cold was inside of me already, and I was just slowly growing more aware of it. Shaking hooves and chattering teeth next to me suggested I wasn’t the only one who noticed. The less time we spent in the strangely ice-charged building, the better.

The factory floor must have been amazing before the war. A perfectly organized assembly line designed to maximize productivity and efficiency. The scent of motor oil and metal was pleasantly familiar, even if the oil was long past due and the iron was more rust than actual metal. “Flux… Liquid Rubber… Resin…” I read aloud as I trotted down a row of open barrels. The contents of them all looked the same, a putrid, vomit-coloured sludge.

Most fascinating were the toys and gadgets in various stages of construction. A shiny wheel on a stick that glowed and whistled as it spun, a rubber sack that made farting sounds when sat on, a gun that fired cotton candy, and even…

“-Oh dear spirits, no way!” I cawed and soared several rows over, to a bin flooding with grey cartridges. I grabbed the cleanest one I could find and seated it into my PipBuck. It slid into the peripheral slot without complaint, just like a holotape. I giggled like a filly as the Pipbuck status screen was replaced with the picture of a red mare in suspenders.

My friends sighed as I took off without explanation, following along at their own pace. Sky rolled his eyes at my thoughts and nickered, while Scarlet trotted up and read over my shoulder. “Mare-I/O? What the hell is a Mare-I/O?”

My wings fluttered as I eagerly explained. “It’s an interactive video game from before the war! A few companies wanted to make them on PipBucks and other mobile terminals so you could take them with you! The market for PipBucks in Canterlot blew up, and they thought things like this would make them more appealing to the general public.”

I chirped as Sky bapped me with his wing. “As fun as it is watching you nerd out over old prewar toys Captain, it’s getting colder by the minute. If you and Scar wanna freeze to death, that’s your prerogative. But I’m not explaining to Free how you two died when I get back.” The blunt reminder made me wince, but of course, he was right. We had a job to do, and little time to do it.

“R-right… Right, sorry. Let me just…” I pocketed half a dozen of the better-looking game cartridges for safekeeping, then started towards the other end of the factory floor. Sky followed behind me, with Scarlet in the back. “Loading bay is this way, it shouldn’t take long to-”

“Ow, what the hell?” Sky narrowed his eyes at Scarlet over his shoulder, levitating a cracked Mare-I/O game next to him. “Oh, I’m getting you back for that.” Scarlet yelped as she batted away the weaponized cartridge with her ethereal spear spell.

“What was that for!?” The glowing spear stabbed several inches into the concrete before evaporating. The annoyed and confused look on her face spread to Sky, who was now glancing around nervously.

“The game thing hit me! I thought… But you didn’t-. So what the fuck…”

“Maybe it was a ghost.” Scarlet nickered as she trotted past the confused buck. “ It’s probably nothing. Now come on, I’m freezing my tail off.”

Sky begrudgingly followed, but his confusion remained. He kept glancing back and looking around, worried we were being followed. I moved to walk next to him and pat his shoulder with a wing. “It was probably nothing, Sky. EFS is clear, and if it was a pony you’d hear them thinking. Axel did say weird stuff happened in this place. Hell, could be a degraded levitation or wind talisman that kicked it up. I’ve seen weirder stuff happen with old tech.”

He chucked slowly and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right, Captain. I’m acting a bit foalish.”

“It isn’t foalish to be on your guard, Sky. But right now our biggest enemy is the weather, not a flying prewar toy.” Scarlet giggled.

The oil was where Axel said it’d be, wasting away on storage shelves at the back of an eerily empty loading dock. The husk of a rotted-out shipping wagon sat abandoned at the far end of the bay, waiting to ship out stock that would never be constructed.

The lubricant wasn’t what I expected. 40 gallons, ((which my Pippy thankfully informed me was 150 litres)) of slightly smelly oil made from a mix of vegetables. No idea if they used it over petroleum because it was cheaper, or simply because Equestria lacked natural oil reserves.

Still, oil was oil! It wouldn’t freeze easily, and it’d keep the metal parts from rubbing or rusting. I was trying to figure out the best way to move the heavy containers when the rising voices of my friends derailed my train of thought.

“I’m far from an expert, but I know magic is not that simple. There’s a reason unicorns never try this; it isn’t safe! I understand dual casting is how you and your sisters got shit done in unity, but this ain’t unity. I’m just a unicorn, Sky! And not a great example of one. If the spell rebounds, I could lose my horn!” Scarlet slammed her hoove on the stone floor in aggravation and huffed.

My presence was forgotten as the two argued about how to move the oil. Though I don’t know how the verbal brawl started, it was clearly heating up. Sky remained impressively composed as he countered.

“We don’t need to be in unity! I dual cast with my sisters a bunch post-unity. With us linked telepathically, it’ll be simple.” The buck nickered. Then he slumped and gave the slave collar-clad mare an understanding, slightly sombre look. “Unless... you don’t have the magic to do it. My telepathy will negate most of the energy loss from messily mixing magic, but if you feel too weak to manage even with that out of the way, I understand. Not all ponies can be great and powerful like Twilight Sparkle or The Destroyer. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

With an aggravated nicker, Scarlet's fate was sealed. The way Sky fed into her competitive nature and fascination with magic made it impossible to refuse. The mind-reading alicorn had laid out the perfect bait. He caught her hook, line, and sinker.

The scarlet mare reared up on her hind legs and touched her horn to the towering alicorns. A magically charged spark arced between their horns, as the energy potential between the two creatures balanced out. As one, their magical horns flared to life. At first, the magical auras pushed into one another, battling for the spotlight. After a minute though, the tension in both ponies' muscles slackened. Their magic mixed into a brilliant blue hue. I beautiful harmony like nothing I’d ever felt. It wasn’t overpowering as I’d expected, but soft and malleable.

I beamed as the drums were wrapped in that beautiful glow, and carried all at once to the dolly. The glow shifted from the barrels to the dolly itself, shifting the straps to secure the load in place. It was a brilliant display of mighty telekinesis, (level 1.) It was nothing compared to the excitement in her eyes. Seeing her so genuinely happy and carefree for a change made my heart smile. She deserved to be that happy every day. All of my friends did.

The threw her arms around Midnight Sky in a gleeful fit of laughter. Before I knew it, a blue aura of magic pulled me into the pony pile, wrapped tightly in soft fur and warm feathers. We giggled and nuzzled as the ex-slave processed what she’d done. A feat she thought was an impossible dream.

The flicker behind her eyes spread to us all. Hope. Because if Scarlet could do what she thought impossible, there was no reason the rest of us couldn’t. Sky could stop the ponies that killed his sisters. I could save my people. Free could live happy, and pain-free.

With the magic of friendship, we could do anything.

*** *** ***

“Come on, you stupid door! Open up!” Sky bellowed as he bucked the steel door again. The alicorn's earth pony strength was no match for whatever blocked it off. It was the fifth door we tried in an hour. Trying to force them open was useless. It felt like kicking a brick wall. That didn’t stop our hotheaded friend from trying though.

“You’re going to tire yourself out, Sir-bucks-a-lot. We gotta find a place to bed down, and get a fire going. It’s only going to get colder in here…” Scarlet said through chattering lips. We were out of the wind, but it was already below freezing. “When the storm passes, we’ll find another way out. Assuming Free and Axel don’t figure out a way to help us first.”

“The hell they will! That donkey led us into a trap. Free’s probably on a spit, and we’ll be next after you two freeze to death! We gotta focus on getting out of this place! Then we can find him, and-”

“Enough!” My wings unfurled dramatically as I raised my voice, forcing both ponies to quiet themselves and step back. They were shocked to see me raise my voice, though their expressions quickly turned sheepish as they waited for me to continue. I hissed at nothing in particular as I went on.

“I doubt the Donkey had anything to do with this. I trust Scarlet, and both she and the Lightbringer trust Watcher, so when The Watcher says Axel is a good person, I believe it. All we know for sure is that We need to get comfy and stay warm. At this point, if we got the door open, we’d just die in the blizzard.” Sky nickered. He was annoyed but respected my authority enough not to argue. Scarlet on the other hoof gave a firm nod. “Midnight Skies, since you have enough energy to buck at doors all night long, why don’t you kick some furniture into firewood while we find a place to rest?”

*** *** ***

I didn’t enjoy being in charge. I know the adage, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” but even a metaphorical captain's hat carried more weight than I expected. On the right was an irritable alicorn, upset with me for not taking his side. To the right was a prideful unicorn wearing a smug look when she thought I wasn’t looking.

I was in the middle, and I didn’t like it one bit. But I couldn’t have not said something! Scarlet was right! We had to hunker down and keep warm until the storm passed. We couldn’t afford to waste our energy trying to run into the bloodthirsty blizzard!

So I lead my unusually quiet friends through the decrepit building for a decent enough place to camp for the night. The building was unnaturally lifeless. The old, somewhat weather-resistant building was an ideal place for bugs and other critters to take cover from a blizzard. Still, not a single tick on my EFS.

As if the creep factor wasn’t enough already, my eyes were playing tricks on me. The shadows cast by my PipBuck and Scarlet's horn danced around corners or took on strange shapes when I wasn’t looking. Gusts of wind and creaks echoed through the halls that sounded eerily like muffled conversation or the whining of long ruined machinery.

It was probably nothing. An anxious, exhausted mind looking for patterns where there weren't any. After the long uphill trot to Vanhoover, it made sense. It also explained why Sky was on edge and Scarlet's magic kept flickering. We just needed to cozy up and rest. Everything would be better in the morning.

“Hmmm… Up there looks fine.” I gestured at the windows overlooking the factory floor with a wing. “The way it overlooks the factory reminds me of an overmares office in a stable. It’s gotta be the supervisor's office. That should be perfect.”

Getting to stay in a supervisor's office, like some kind of big shot! And they said I’d never be in an office until I pulled myself together, hah! Even if it was in very different circumstances.

A metal staircase along the back wall led to the office's entrance; a simple metal door. “Cheese Sandwich, CEO” was stencilled on the door in comic sans. The office was larger than average. Colourful posters decorated the walls, everything from advertisements for comedy shows and public appearances to weird motivational ones depicting small animals hanging from tree branches. A shelf behind the Ceo’s desk was littered with all manor of keepsakes and tchotchkes. Everything from a jar of water labelled ‘Yakyakastan snowball’ to sandstone from Breezewood Canyon. There was even a beautifully crafted ocean flute, a hippogriff instrument made from a screw-shell. The runes scrawled into the spiralling horn-like surface meant not only was it a hippogriff relic, but it was one made by a high elder. Amazing.

It was in better condition than the rest of the building, lacking the weak, rotted flooring, and the potent, mould-riddled scent. The cracked glass of the window provided enough ventilation for a fire, too. While Sky gathered wood, I crafted and lit a claw-full of oil lamps from scrap fabric and sparkle cola bottles. The cold claws of the blizzard didn’t stand a chance.

When Sky got back, I already had a steel drum cleaned out and cut in half. We could make a barrel fire, just like Axel had! He trotted next to me and dumped the pile of wood scrap next to my barrel, then without a word, trotted into a back corner to set up his bedroll.

I raised an eyebrow as I watched him unpack for a minute. Was he still upset with me from before? He seemed to have a thick skin when it came to hearing the less-than-charming thoughts others had about him and his species, so that didn’t seem likely. Normally he was really respectful, even going so far as to refer to me as Captain. He always had anger in him, hidden behind his pride and armoured barding, but it was never a problem. Now, the cold shoulder he gave me was bitter as the howling wind outside.

Scarlet wasn’t doing much better. She’d grown unusually quiet since Midnight Sky’s outburst, keeping her eyes downcast as she meandered along behind us. The air of confidence and determination that usually surrounded her turned melancholy and meek.

Was it me? It wasn’t unusual for me to annoy or offend someone without meaning to. I could be blunt sometimes… Though my friends were also quite candid when it came to me doing something stupid, so they’d probably tell me. I could ask, but that might just make things worse… Perhaps it wasn’t my fault? It could be the weather and the stress of being trapped! The long day of trotting! Maybe for once, the problem wasn’t me!

I mulled over the possibilities as I stacked the wood up in the barrel. Had I taken a sip of their canteens without asking? Maybe they were disappointed with the food selection on the Skystar. Scarlet bought supplies before we left Vision, but the selection was quite limited. I could ask everyone what they like to eat! Maybe decorate their rooms a bit! Surely that would cheer them up.

Some warmth would help everyone's moods as well! The wood however didn’t seem very interested in burning. An annoyed hiss grew the attention of my friends as I struggled to draw flames from the wood. It was fighting me, refusing to light. I tried the runes for heat, fire, and energy. It all failed. Sky showed some interest in runic magic when I told him about it that morning, but the disobedient scratches weren’t having it. The marks flared to life for a moment, only for the light to flicker and die. I always had trouble controlling runes, but having them outright refuse to activate? Could they even do that!? It was disheartening, to say the least.

“Here, I’ll do this too,” Sky muttered. He cantered over with a pack of matches held in his midnight blue magic. “How’s it supposed to work?” He asked as he struck a match, starting the fire the old-fashioned way. “Too tired?” He was still moody, but his curiosity outweighed it.

I wrapped my wings around myself and shivered against the vicious cold, thankful for the fire growing before us. “Our magic doesn’t work that way. The runes are like… a language. It tells the spirits what you want to happen or what you wanna do. As long as a scrawl's will is strong enough, they’ll follow the instructions. I’ve never been good at complex commands… They’re supposed to be basic in text, with the finer details in the subtext, and I’m bad at that. They don’t always listen to me, either. Still, I’ve never failed at it like this. It’s like they read the message, but couldn’t even be bothered to respond. ”

Sky nodded as his telepathy searched for the words I left unsaid. My parents and the elders had countless theories for why my magic didn’t work. I didn’t mind the exploration until he brushed against the nightmares I’d been having lately. He pulled back the instant he felt my anger and anxiety at the intrusion. But for some reason… did he look even angrier with me?

The alicorn's eyes narrowed as he nickered, quickly confirming my suspicions. “You can’t keep hiding from your own bullshit. I am so tired of holding your hoof and coddling you!” Sky stomped in frustration, making me stumble back with a wince. Suddenly my body was shaking. A muted note of fear and anxiety screamed in my chest. I felt like I was gonna throw up. My mouth was like a desert, while my friend's tongue was sharp as broken sea glass.

“So your parents were shitty, big fucking deal! We all have shitty parents! My mother was a genocidal megalomaniac! Scarlet’s dash-fiend of a mom sold her into slavery! You don’t see us moping about it all the time! You need to deal with your shit!” Each word was another needle stabbing into my heart.

I hadn’t realized… I was so distracted I hadn’t even thought to care about their pasts beyond what I already knew. I was so selfish and so focused on saving my own people, I neglected the first real friends I ever had.

Just as quickly as it appeared, the fire in the alicorn's eyes smouldered, and the blood drained from his face. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. His ghostly expression looked right through me. He was stunned and shocked into silence by the words he said. And by who heard them.

Over my shoulder, Scarlet sat up in her bedroll. She was silent. Motionless. Uncomfortably corpse-like. Amber eyes glistened in the flicking light. The snaps of burning wood were the only sound.

Sky dropped a bombshell. In a fit of anger, he revealed one of the countless secrets his telepathy cursed him with knowing. Something private and traumatic about my dearest friend. We were already on edge, but that pushed us over.

There are three ways most creatures react to anxiety: Fight, flight, or freeze. Scarlet's choice was clear as she fled from the room, her panicked mind deciding the frigid building was preferable to being near me. I sprang to my hooves and called after her, but she was already gone.

When I moved to follow a midnight blue energy threw me back, sending me sprawling across the filthy, cold floor. “No.” My alicorn friend hissed in a threatening voice, trotting to the door. His eyes seemed to glow in the light of his horn. “I fucked up, I’ll deal with it. No sense in you running out and getting yourself killed. Let the real wastelanders handle it. Stay here and have a picnic with your rock or something.” His tone was more bitter than the icy floor below. Before I could recover from the verbal assault, he was gone too.

Maybe he had a point… I was just a technician. It’d never been my place to make decisions, risk my life to help others or go on adventures. I did as I was told. Fixed what others broke. That was my place.

Or rather, it was… before I came to the wasteland. Before I saw the horrors and wonders fallen Equestria had to offer. I survived daring feats. I helped save a settlement from dehydration! I helped found another. So many adventures I could have never imagined. I changed so many people's lives in just two weeks. It was terrifying… emotional. It pushed my limits and threatened to shatter me. But it didn’t.

I was capable of so much more than I thought possible. I could be a warrior, a leader, a captain, and most importantly a friend. I couldn’t have done any of it alone. My new friends were always there for me. To prop me up, teach me, protect and console me.

The feelings of doubt and inadequacy that tried to wear on me were unfounded. After hearing about my adventures on the radio, meeting with Prime, and changing Trottingham and the surrounding area for the better, I knew it. So why had I felt so afraid and unsure? Why was Sky’s anger clouding his judgement? How had Scarlet gone from my protective and headstrong right wing to a meek and depressed fly on the wall?

It couldn’t be our exhaustion. I knew that all along, but it was an easy explanation. Someone was off about the building. Axel had warned us it was unusual, and I noticed its strange vibe when I entered. Something was there. It trapped us and picked at our insecurities until we pushed one another apart. It saw how much stronger my friends and I were together before even I did.

I had to find them.

Footnotes:
Welcome to level 14!

Perk added: Practised sense: Your ability to feel magical energy around you has increased! This increased intuition grants you +1 perception while outside combat, and unique dialogue options with some individuals.