Fallout Equestria: Endless Horizon

Chapter 3: Wastelander's Welcome

Atop the mountain near the southern equestrian border, seemingly untouched since the war was a research facility. The sprawling complex consisted of four separate concrete buildings, interconnected by tunnels and hallways. A collection of solar panels on the roof strained to keep the building lit with what little sunlight they could grasp through the cloud curtain.

That got me thinking. The Equestrian army had no problem powering this remote facility using something other than coal, so why fight a war over it? Surely they could have used this technology to maintain their way of life. Didn’t they want peace? Or did the zebras continue to push? I remembered from history class there were peace talks between the two countries, but I could never be bothered to pay attention. Ugh, curse my fickle attention span!

The automap feature on my Pipbuck labelled the place, “Awesome R&D Outpost, #3” on the map. How the wrist machine had any idea what this place was, I didn’t have a clue. Magic probably? I wondered if I might want to work on my computer skills. And who in their right minds names a building “awesome” anyway? Was it really that awesome? Maybe the pony who named it was just full of themselves.

The front of the compound was a massive asphalt surface for landing sky carriages, still hosting many rusted-out sky carriages that transported the workers there. The Skystar rested in an open area in the middle, the sun crystals stealing what energy they could through breaks in the cloud curtain.

The buildings were in amazing condition for their advanced age. I could make out the yellow glow of functional lights through the mostly intact windows. Even the parking lot was partly lit by clusters of hardy streetlights. With the sun steadily falling towards the horizon, we'd be taking full advantage of the building's power.

Specter believed that his long-lost mare had made her way to this facility, though I can’t imagine for what reason. It was very out of the way, and he said she was a unicorn. He kept glancing at his Pipbuck, then back up to where I imagined his EFS would sit. He was watching out for something...

It did make me wonder what the buck's relationship with this wayward mare was. He was going to significant lengths to try and find her but refused to go into detail about their relationship. Perhaps some kind of forbidden love, like from Nocturna and the Zebra Prince! I loved when my sister read me that one

Regardless of why she’d be here or how he’d know, I told him I’d help find this missing girl if he helped fix my ship. He’d helped me get the parts, and I spent the afternoon fixing my ship. I wasn’t about to go back on the deal I made.

I did however take a brief break to make a few upgrades to my barding. It was nice, comfy and stylish, but offered very little protection. I fashioned some of the newly acquired scrap metal into armour plates, and fit them in between the fabric. Just some light disks along my sides and breasts, I didn't want to slow my flying too much.

We stood (Specter stood, I hovered) on the crumbled tarmac of the parking lot, facing the main entrance. The door was wide open, left for us by some long-gone lockpicking expert. I was thankful for their help, as my lockpicking skills left a lot to be desired. I didn’t have the steady claws for it.

We trotted towards the entrance, keeping a careful eye on our surroundings. Something in the parking lot with us threw me off, something that had no business being there. I narrowed my eyes at it over my left shoulder and turned to face it. Specter's eyes flashed to where I was looking but saw no sign of danger. One of the sky carriages looked different from the rest. It was similar enough; sleek, long, pegasus pulled, but distinctly different. The sky blue paint was vibrant and untarnished by the desolate wastes around it, with brilliant green swirls running front to back. Near the back end, the swirl widened to form around a logo. No... A flag.

My heart stopped as I pressed my hand to the cool, intact metal frame of the vessel. My body went still as I tried to make sense of it. The flag. A trident with proud wings unfurled on either side. The same flag that was stencilled on the bow of my ship. That flew at the heart of my hometown. The sky carriage belonged to Hippogriffia. There was only one group of ponies I knew who could have left it behind.

The scouts were here. Right where I stood. For one reason or another, they left something behind. I was happy to find evidence of my late parents so soon after arriving, but it was bittersweet. Was it left behind because it wasn't needed? Or was it left to rust because they lost the griff that was supposed to pull it?

It was magical, in a way. Somehow, among the endless expanse of Equestria, I'd stumbled upon another hippogriff ship. It seemed impossible for me to end up here, in their hoofsteps. But somehow I was. It was one hell of a coincidence. I knew my parents and their team were long dead, sent on a hopeless mission to try and salvage our home. But seeing that they were here, finding proof that they didn't just leave me behind... It lit a fire in my heart. A small dim little flame, but it was something.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I stepped away from the carriage and sniffled. So many emotions; happiness, sadness, confusion. One crept in along the rest, a shadow whispering fears into my soul. What if I went into that building to find Specter's friend, Scarlet, only to find the remains of my family? Is that something I could deal with? What if whatever killed them was waiting for me, hungry to put an end to my family line and my species?

My hooves turned to lead. My wings refused to function. Could I handle finding more dead loved ones? Could I somehow survive the wasteland on my own, when it took the lives of so many of my people already? Such an impossible task for a young fragile hippogriff. And yet, I was the only one who could do it. If I didn't try to move forward, everyone would die anyway.

I pulled my goggles off and dried them on my barding. The world was a mess of blurred shapes and unfocused colours until I pulled them back over my eyes. If I found my family inside, any of my people, then I could return them to the planet. All the pain and suffering I'd have to endure would be worth knowing that they were laid to rest.

While I dealt with the emotional tidal wave pounding against the fortress around my heart, Specter was making sure the area was clear. I appreciated him giving me space and making sure we were safe while I tried to fend off my own inner demons.

I decided to check the sky wagon before heading into the building. If it had any clues about what was inside, or what happened to my family I needed to find them. The rear hatch was left ajar, so with a hoof from Specter and an old signpost we were able to pry it open. My companion remained outside, more focused on his nicotine fix than uncovering the secrets of the distant past. Or out of respect of the possible loss of life here. For some reason, I doubted it was the latter.

The interior of the carriage was dusty but well organized. The beds on either wall were neatly made, with desks at the ends. Each held a terminal, though after all this time only one of them had any life left in it. I could have gotten the other one wired to a spark battery, but I didn’t have one with me. At the back of the living area were a few storage lockers, as well as a small counter with a hotplate setup.

The desks had metal placks above them, each with a chillingly familiar name etched into it. Seatide on one side of the room, Jet Breeze on the other.

Seatide and Jet Breeze.

My parents had shared this living space, likely with my father being the one to pull it. Did something happen to him that forced the team to leave it behind? Or was it something else?

Wait… Awesome R&D. AWESOME! Oh, Spirits!

I suddenly felt very dumb. The facility's name wasn’t calling itself awesome, it was run by the Ministry of Awesome! One of the six Ministries that worked towards the war effort, parts of the government! I facepalmed at my denseness. I was supposed to be the smart hippogriff! It was the one thing I was good for!

The ministry must have been involved in some kind of research that my people thought could be beneficial to them. I know they wanted to find a remedy to the climate crisis. Perhaps weather control? The MoA was run by a Pegasus if I wasn’t mistaken, though I couldn’t for the life of me remember her name… The shy one!

Unimportant. Focus Aella, back on task!

The lockers were all empty, save for a can of long-expired tuna in the bottom of one. The only way I’d be getting clues was to try and get into the working terminal. My mother's terminal. I wasn’t much of a computer expert, but it was worth a shot. I got lucky sometimes. When I wasn’t being kicked off important missions for gross negligence, getting hit by lightning, or being attacked by giant birds.

...Shut up.

I jacked my Pipbuck into the terminal and pull up the computers… Code? Colonel? It’s something, another way in! I was confronted with lines of scrambled, meaningless code, with the odd word or phrase mixed into it. Among them hid the elusive password that would give me access to my mother's secrets.

After searching for a moment, I found it. It was the only one that made any sense. A name pulled from a past, forgotten after so many years. Seeing it again felt like a blade slipped between my ribs. I grimaced as I selected it.

-🖂︎🖂︎🖂︎-

Stratus.

Just like that, the functions and data of the terminal were open to me. There was only one file left on the system. The rest had been deleted ages ago. I vaguely remembered something about recovering deleted files from school, but the information was just out of reach. A skill that I'd never quite clicked with, and was now forced to suffer without.

Without any other choices, I opened the lone file.

Recon report, Equestrian Wasteland, day 11.

We arrived at the research facility after several days of searching and countless setbacks. It was a lot of annoying backtracking, but it was worth it. The compound appears to still be intact. Jetstream and his team just finished restoring power to the main structure. It’ll make it easier for the scouts to make their way through. Then we’ll go in to take a look around.

We lost power to one of our larger sky wagons yesterday. Someone hit us with a spark... thing. It wasn’t even a real grenade! They rigged a spark battery cluster with an emitter. The thing overloaded the entire system. The Flux Regulator assembly is shot to hell. The breaker failed and the grenade shorted it. We’re going to use the one from this wagon to get things going again. I’ll be sad to leave it behind, but it’s fine. We didn’t need the private quarters, to begin with. We’re not spending much time together these days anyway.

I’m really hoping that we’ll find what we’re looking for in this facility, but I doubt it. The place was in the process of being repurposed for weapons research and assembly a few months before the war ended. Their research probably didn’t show the results they wanted.

I miss the kids. I’m hoping we’ll be able to wrap this up soon, and we can go home to them. But we won’t go back without finding a solution. I want my kids to thrive, and I don’t think they can do that on the meagre rations the farms are producing. We need to fix our climate problem. Or get rid of the Blood Ash altogether.

-Recon field report 4, Specialist Seatide Uni 24

--files successfully transferred to external storage--

*** *** ***

Tears ran down my face as I read the decade-old logs. Long forgotten feelings clawed their way to the surface, threatening to drown me under the torrent of emotional chaos and heart-aching memories. I always told myself that I'd gotten over it all, but I knew all I'd done was bury it under a mountain of work and responsibility. I wasn't ready to deal with any of it, and it was all so long ago... They left me. They left to try and find a way to help everyone, but they'd still left. I was too weak, too fragile to try and face it all.

I gave myself a few minutes to cry before I forced myself back to work. Crying about it was pointless, and I hardly had time for a pity party. I composed myself as quickly as I could and trotted back into the wasteland.

The stench of tobacco burned at my back as I stepped out of the hatch. Of course, Specter had a smoke hanging from his lips, with a small pile of cigarette butts piled around his hooves. Had I been in there long enough for him to need so many? Or had he burned through them out of mere boredom, like a wood-burning stove? I didn't know anyone who smoked, so I wasn't sure what was expected with the terrible habit.

Specter took another drag before he bothered to acknowledge my return. He eyed me with a neutral expression, somehow impossible to read. The energy around him was… thick, cloudy. I couldn’t feel anything. Maybe earth pony magic felt different than most other races? I know they weren't unicorns but they had innate magic, anything with a soul did. Maybe the unusual fog was something about him in particular.

“One of yours, then?” He asked in his gruff voice. I averted my gaze as I nodded. “Welp… Be ready for what’s inside. This ain’t no Stable, but the Wasteland is rarely kind to good folk.”

I clenched my claws into fists with a shaky breath. “I understand… I’ll be fine." I lied. "If we find any bodies we'll need to send them off.” He grunted in response. He’d already seen me send off the remains of Clover and her father at Stable 24. Hippogriffs typically sent their bodies into the sea. When we can’t do that, we burn them. Something I think we picked up from our Zebra neighbours.

“Now, my Scarlet, she’s unwell. She’s been through a lot, and she might have hit the chems a little hard. Real jumpy. Whatever happens, don’t hurt her. That shouldn’t be a problem for you…” He smiled at me as he spat out the butt of his cigarette, and stomped on it out with his forehoof. “You’re not the killing type.”

The interior of the facility wasn’t as well preserved as I’d first thought. Most of the furniture was decayed into heaps. The paint, and in some places the walls themselves were chipped and cracked. Most of the lights worked thanks to my father, so I could at least see without my PipBuck.

I had been excited to see the advanced Equestrian technology that had been developed here. Whatever it had been must have been amazing stuff to attract the attention of my parent's team. I was quickly let down. The building I was sifting through was only full of offices and rotting paperwork. The administrative building.

I couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk like this all of the time, working on budgets and supply requisitions all the time, making small talk by the bone dry water cooler. I was not a blue-collar griff, I was sure of that. I liked to move, do different things, and most importantly feel useful. Working in a place like this would strip the spark right out of my soul.

On the bright side, it was more spacious than the Stable. I could stretch out my wings and even glide through some of the larger hallways. That coupled with all of the posters about pegasi and their invaluable part in the war, suggested this facility was mostly run by fliers like me.

One poster had a photo of a blue mare in black armour, with her rainbow mane hanging down loosely. “Join the MoA, make a difference!” it shouted at me. That sparked a memory deep in my brain. Rainbows rainbow... Rainbow Dash! The Ministry of Awesome leader. And some kind of aerial fighter, if the poster was to be believed.

As I continued I did my best to avoid going into any of the cubicles or offices. Sometimes I’d cut through them to get around blocked doorways and caved in rooms. The once-private spaces were like crypts, housing the bones of the ponies who’d worked and died there.

The fridge and cupboards in the break room were completely bare. The facility was far from any mega spell detonation, so the ponies had been stranded on the mountain when the megaspells went off, left to starve to death when food ran out. Most of the bodies were earth ponies or unicorns, but some pegasi were left behind as well. Why wouldn’t The Enclave let all of these pegasi into their cloud cities? Perhaps they stayed by choice, wishing to die with their friends.

A creepy, angry-looking zebra with a flaming knife in her muzzle watched over the kitchen, eyes following me like a creepy art piece. The poster cautioned me to ‘Be armed, be aware.’ It was unsettling, pushing me to leave the room sooner. Perhaps that was the point?

Several of the terminals still worked, but their data was useless. A memo about some misplaced magical ammo that they were trying to locate, and a few complaints about the automated security acting strangely. If the logs had the Mt. Aris seal, I would have been sure they could have been some messages on my own terminal.

Most of the ponies here had been working to reorganize the facility, converting it to a weapons manufacturing facility. There were several logs from after the world ended, but I didn’t have the stomach to read them. I couldn't bring myself to listen to the final moments of the poor pony skeletons.

There were no real threats in the building. The odd giant mantis or radroach. Nothing I couldn’t handle with my talons. The turrets on many of the ceilings made me a bit uneasy as they tracked me with the quiet whine of machinery. The security was still guarding the building and thankfully didn't see me as a problem.

The turrets were of basic design, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Less moving parts means less stuff to break. These machines still running after 200 years were a brilliant example of that. That also probably meant they could take a beating, which made me wary of them.

My EFS complained that I was out of range from The Skystar’s network. In the absence of my ship's signal, I opted to scan the airwaves, hopefully, to find some music to listen to. It wouldn't give me access to Core or my ship, but it would keep me entertained. Besides, I'd never heard Equestrian music before. It could be good!

I was disappointed to find a lack of music available. Several stations played the senseless pings and bops of Morse Code. A few others played the rhythmic static that the ships AI CORE recognized as encrypted transmissions, which we agreed probably weren't worth the time or energy to decrypt.

Click

That was enough radio. No sense in wasting my time trying to wrap my head around a bunch of prewar stations. They must have missed the 'world ended, nobodies listening!' memo.

Without music to occupy myself, I was left with only my thoughts for entertainment. My mind wandered to how unusual a lot of the décor of the place was, a nice break from its darker recesses. Back home we didn’t have posters or anything advertising our armies or peace corps, people just joined if they wanted to. It seemed somewhat manipulative, on the part of the government. I guess that’s war...

I noticed a theme in the building. Many of the artwork and posters revolved around either pony superiority, or zebra inferiority. Back home most of our street art was about self-expression, doing what made you happy, and caring for one another. A particular poster caught my eye. The caption read, ‘Better Wiped than Striped! Join the Equestrian Armed Forces Today!’ The background showed a group of zebras with evil grins and wild eyes, showered in blood.

The Equestrian government had to have known Zebras weren’t blood-thirsty killers. They were just people, getting by. I knew plenty of Zebras and Ponies. They were no different than Hippogriffs. Sure, our anatomy is vastly different, but we all had the same heart.

The scent of oil and rusted metal hit me like a wall as I went through the hallway into the second building. I grinned as I happily followed my nose to the source. The large warehouse had been completely converted to a weapons manufacturing facility. Conveyor Belts and metalworking equipment were set up in rows, with bullet presses and workbenches against the side walls. The equipment must have been brand new when the war ended. All of the tools were cleaned to a shine, coated in a thin layer of oil to keep from rusting.

A dumb smile graced my beak as I walked the rows. They had a lovely drill press, table, band, and reciprocating saws, welders, soldering equipment, and every size and shape of screw you could ever want or need. I giggled, unable to keep myself from slipping a set of brand new(for the wasteland) drill bits, and a set of nails and screws.

There were shelving units on the back wall, covering it from floor to ceiling. Drums of oil and powder were on the bottom, with various metal bars and ingots stored higher up. Brass, nickel, iron, and oh! Some copper wire quickly found its way into my saddlebags.

I didn’t see any practical use for the other materials or tools I’d found, but that didn’t stop them from finding a new home with me. I’d find a use for them at some point! I swear. If not, they’d be a reminder of one of my first wasteland adventures. Maybe find someone who could use them. Anything was better than them sitting alone, forever.

Tucked back in the corner of the room there was a large enclosed cargo lift. The steel box was rusted and worn, but structurally sound. The machine was out of place in the building, likely leftover from whatever the building was before. The elevator's buttons flickered and waned as they struggled to stay powered after years of neglect.

My claw hovered in front of the worn control panel for a moment. The basement could be full of anything. Flesh-eating ghouls, blood-thirsty insects… Horrors that I’d never dreamed of. I’d dealt with a few messed up, hard to kill ethereal beasts back home… But I was never alone. There was always someone there to back me up, lead the attack, tell me what to do. Help me up when I fell.

But I couldn’t just wait around either. Specter and his friend were counting on me, and I couldn’t let either of them down! We were supposed to look everywhere, and the basement was part of everywhere! Stairs would be better, but I had yet to see any.

With a shaky breath, I pushed the button.

The elevator lowered itself a few inches and gave an awkward lurch. My breath was caught in my throat as my wings reflexively unfurled. It didn't do me any good. A deafening snap from above. Then I was in freefall. My instinct was to fly away from the plummeting platform. The last thing I remember was ringing in my ears as I slammed into the metal roof.

*** *** ***

I woke to the taste of copper. My beak ached against the cold metal floor. I felt like I'd flown face-first into a brick wall. Not that I'd ever done that! That would be totally dumb.

My limbs burned in protest as I pulled myself into a sitting position. I was sprawled out in the now mangled elevator. The doors were half-open, bend inwards from the impact. I squinted as I tried to adjust to the bright light shining in through the gap.

I tapped my PipBuck to the status screen. I was battered and bruised, but none of my bones were broken. Id' bitten my tongue on the way down, and one of my talons was cracked. My flight goggles were worst for wear, sporting a long crack through the left lens. If I'd fallen more than a few stories, the goose egg on my head would have been a crack in my skull.

“I need to be more careful… I almost died because I wanted to explore down here…. UGH! I’m so stupid!” I got back on all fours and gave my wings a flap. Sore, countless feathers ruffled or displaced, but no sprains.

I had to duck under the crumpled door to squeeze out into the hallway. It was unlike any basement I’d seen. The corridors were wide and tall, made from pearl white metal. Strings of gemlights ran across the top corners, giving everything a blue tint. I smiled with a beat of my wings. It was large enough to fly through! Assuming my body wasn’t in pain from falling down an elevator shaft. Which it was.

Ow.

Step.

Ow.

Step.

Ow.

Step.

My limbs weren't shy about how they felt, sending shocks of pain through me with each step. It was nothing compared to the crash the day before or my battle with the firehawk. The most annoying thing was that it was completely preventable, caused purely by my stupidity. Somehow that made it feel worse.

I was following one of the coloured lines painted along the floor. An effort to make the overcomplicated layout of the sublevel easier to understand. The yellow line was labelled weapons development, and the blue was cloud development. I always forgot that ponies took the weather into their own hooves, rather than work with the nature spirits like the zebras, or let the world be like griffons. The red line went to robotics!

Naturally, I followed the red one, as it was my favourite colour. Just because I'm a genius doesn't mean I'm wise.

The basement used the same hydraulic doors as stable-tec, with the minor difference of having a lightning bolt flanked with blue wings painted on them. Some kind of crest or logo.

The robotics wing was an engineer's dream! A massive rotunda loaded with the most advanced robotics and terminals that pre-war Equestria could buy. It was divided into four separate workspaces by furniture and workstations, creating a vague but noticeable difference between the areas. The workspace near the door was bare, save for a few tables and a pallet stacked with crates. The next section had three workbenches near the center of the room, with robot charging pods against the wall. In the center of the projects, section sat a neatly organized desk.

The area was set up for work on some kind of next-gen robotic warrior. Several of the pods still housed the terrifying prototypes. The one in the pod nearest to me housed a six-legged bot, like an ant. The body went straight up, reminding me of the bipeds from the plains. It had two sockets on each side, mounting points for either limbs or weapons. The head was on top naturally, with a single eye in the center.

The limbs connected into similar mounting points... The ponies here had been engineering completely modular battle robots! NOt just battle, with this much utility they could be used for anything! Apple picking, medicine, heavy lifting, and… Killing people. Primarily killing people...

Several of the mountable weapons were on the workbenches. Flame Spitters, Missile launchers, Nova Surge Canons. Devastating weapons I’d never want anywhere near me. The bottom parts were swappable too! Wheels, treads, even levitation talisman!

With technology of that caliber, I wondered what kind of stuff the zebras cooked up to fight back. To be able to counter this… Well, I guess they were able to rain balefire down on the entire country, so they figured out one way at least.

According to the desks' terminal development had been going well, with several prototypes passing field tests. The pegasus who was leading the project had been moving to his lab in Cloudsdale to continue his work in some massive promotion. He didn’t feel it was worth the effort to move his older models, instead suggesting they be reprogrammed to act as guards for the base. Thank the spirits that didn’t happen. Those things would tear me in two. Sad he moved to Cloudsdale before the zebras blew it out of the sky though...

I downloaded the designs that had been left on the terminal to my PipBuck, just in case. The tech could come in handy at home when things got back to normal! Or at least it was something to add to CORE's database.

The third section was completely packed away, leaving very little evidence of what was being worked on behind. Judging by the alcohol bottles and balloons leftover, their research must have gone well. I even spotted a few empty dash inhalers laying on the ground under the desk. Apparently, it was quite the party, though I doubt their supervisors would have approved. Mine definitely wouldn’t have.

The final section was by far the most interesting. A cyan light flowed from the glass window of one of the charging pods, illuminating an unusual metal sphere inside. A grill made up the face, with four blue wings attached to the sides. A little antenna was sat above that, slicked backwards. Bellow its speaker/face was a silver-looking wand with a variety of gems embedded along it. It seemed to be a magical energy weapon, but it wasn't like anything I'd ever seen.

I trotted over to it and pressed my hand against the glass. There was something about it... almost beckoning me towards it. I felt sorry for the little bot, left here alone through the centuries. There had to be a way to release him...

I moved to the desk nearby. It was a mess of moldy meal trays and empty cola bottles. I brushed the age-old trash aside, wrinkling my nose at the strong acrid scent. It was the most disgusting workspace I'd ever seen. I moved to log in when the terminal gave me pause. It wasn't made from any normal metal or polymer, but rather some kind of grey spongy substance. I pressed firmer against it, beak half-open. It was almost like...

“Whoa!” I leaped back a bit as my talon phased into the material. It was clouds! The computer was clouds! Who builds a terminal out of clouds? Why!? I'd heard in school that the Equestrian Airforce had developed cloud interfaces for increased security, but I'd never believed it! I was caught up in a fit of giggles as I logged into the unprotected computer. It was a good thing I was a flier, most creatures can't walk on or interact with clouds.

Huh... That was my first time touching a cloud. Somehow it was strangely familiar. Back home the clouds were toxic, carrying radiation, Blood Ash, or other terrible megaspell horrors. They were best avoided.

My PipBuck started copying the terminals data the moment I jack in, hungry for the mysterious information saved on it. While it did its job, I combed through the files manually for anything of interest. The advanced device was loaded with project logs, blueprints, and personal correspondence.

-🖂︎🖂︎🖂︎-

Project CMD, entry 19

The Climate Management Devices show limited ability to alter the local weather, about equivalent to a quarter of a pegasus. We’ve tried to increase their power output through various methods, but with little success. We boosted one bot's efficiency by about 300% by adding a second spell matrix but this made the Sprite Bot too heavy to fly properly. The MoA wants to get large-scale weather control figured out. This doesn’t look like the way to do it. The weather spell takes too much power from the robots' systems, and we aren’t able to scale them up. Maybe if we had the resources to develop some other kind of flying drone, we could make something work. It was a lot more cost-effective to buy Sprite-Bots from the MoM. Even if we made new drones, the scale we would need to deploy them is insane. We’ll keep testing, but if the other project has managed to bear some fruit… Rainbow will retire this facility. Just like she did with me.

Project CMD(CLOSED), entry 24

The project is done. We’re all laid off. I at least managed to have them keep prototype 4 online, Blue Rumble. It was the closest I came to figuring it out… They promised to ship him to me when they start packing up this area. They haven't asked any questions, thank Celestia. This is the best I could do.

-Thunderlane

*** *** ***

The equestrians were researching alternate means of weather control. Or one of their ministries was. My people hoped something they learned could help us lengthen the growing seasons. My parents had been right to come here, unsurprisingly. A shame the research didn’t pan out. Maybe they had luck looking into the “other project.”

Normally this was when I would see if there was anything useful I could take with me. Or just anything that looked kinda cool. But the robot forgotten in his pod had my attention. It'd be wrong to leave him behind, waiting forever for Thunderlane to come back for him. He deserved to be free.

A few button taps on the computer and the charging station slid open. Blue Rumble's wings whirred to life. The little sphere fluttered out of his confinement, beeping curiously as he scanned the area around him. His sensors settled on me for a moment. He dove behind a workbench with an anxious beep

I frowned a bit as I watched the anxious droid hide. He'd been alone waiting for so long, just to wake up to a creature he'd probably never seen. I'd probably be on edge too. "Hi there. My name is Aella, Aella Breeze. You're Blue Rumble, right? I was exploring and found you in there... It didn't feel right to leave you behind. Are you alright?" I spoke softly from behind the terminal, giving Rumble its space.

He peaked out from his hiding spot, his speaker and little antenna visible. I gave it a gentle smile. "Your creator cared about you a lot. Thunderlane wouldn't have wanted you to stay down here forever. I was wondering if maybe you could come with me? If you want to! See, I'm on a mission to save my people and if I'm being honest I am in way over my head! I could use the help..."

It floated out from behind the bench, moving to hover in front of me at eye level. A sad, lonely and frightened beep flowed from its speakers. It communicated better without words than most creatures I knew could with them. I looked down at the floor and sighed. "Yeah... I'm sorry. Thunderlane is gone. Probably for more than a hundred years. I know I could never replace him, but maybe you'd wanna be my friend?"

The weather drone let out a loud, determined beep. I released a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. I was worried the little bot wouldn't like me or want to come with me, and I hadn't even realized it. I stepped towards him and nuzzled his speaker. The mesh was soft against my beak, feeling more like fabric than the metal it was actually made from. "You know, the most powerful Hippogriff Scrawls usually kept familiars to help with their purpose. I haven't studied in a long time, and you're not alive in the strictest sense, but I bet we can help each other out!"

Blue Rumble bobbed up and down, beeping in agreement.

"Amazing! Well Rumble, can I call you Rumble? Our first mission is to find somepony who's in trouble!"

*** *** ***

My muscles ached as I cantered through the endless hallways of the basement. The pain was manageable, so long as I was careful about how I moved. I was tempted to dig through the bag of chems in my saddle bag for a pick-me-up but decided it wasn't worth it. The pain wasn't crippling, and I'd been using them too much as it was. If it was still bothering me later I'd take something.

We wandered the basement for nearly an hour trying to find a stairwell. It was a maze of storage rooms and nonsensical hallways. They had lines leading to different areas, but nothing marking a stairwell! Why? Useless pre-war ponies, with their priorities all backwards. I was done with basements, I just wanted to leave!

Cloud Development was strange even to my standards. Pearl white pipes connected various pieces of equipment. Some shaped like giant upside-down funnels, some that looked like giant microwaves. A few of the machines were connected with clear tubing, full of what appeared to be liquid rainbows. A few drops of colourful sludge fell to my forehead from an overhead pipe, making me wrinkle my beak. I wondered what rainbows tasted like as I wiped my forehead clean.

One of the machines had broken down over the countless years, left to spew cloudy fog that obscured the high ceiling and left everything uncomfortably damp.

The silly ponies who built the place had the stairwell in the back of cloud development. How was anyone supposed to find it tucked away back there? Did they try to hide it on purpose? Ugh, I couldn’t wait to get out of that basement.

As I trotted to the stairwell entrance, a yellow blip appeared on my EFS compass. It was straight ahead of me, definitely inside the stairwell. Or three stories up. As Specter said, PipBucks didn't understand elevation. My EFS proved to be accurate. Under the stairs, crouched behind a stack of storage containers was a green pair of eyes peeking out at me. They darted behind the steel boxes when our eyes met.

I smiled at the stranger and stood at the opposite end of the stairwell. Rumble hovered loudly next to me, letting out a series of curious beeps. “Hey, are you ok? You don’t need to hide, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Aella. Aella Breeze. Do you need help?” I was pretty sure this was the mare Specter was looking for, as I couldn’t imagine anypony else being there.

The crates slide out, revealing a red unicorn with a short orange and blue mane hanging over her face. She wore tattered rags with metal plates and clipboards crudely strapped along her barrel and chest. Her mane and coat were dirty and matted. A strangely thick, metal choker was snug on her neck. Her horn shimmered with a red aura, matching the magic around a broom handle with a crude blade bolted to the end.

“I like your spear. It’s crafty to make a weapon yourself when you don’t have one. It’s a bit simple for my taste, but making things is what I do kinda?” She was dressed strangely compared to Specter, with far more bruises and wounds covering what little of her body was visible.

She quirked an eyebrow at me. She wasn't surprised when I first appeared, but my demeanour definitely threw her off. She kept most of her body behind the boxes as we talked. “Are you a talon? I’ve never seen anything like you before. Why are you here?”

I brushed a pile of spilled tools from under me and sat back on my haunches. Rumble continued to flutter along beside me. He was very accurately named. His wings let off a bit of a high rumble as they worked to keep him airborne. He beeped a response at her that I didn't quite understand.

“I’m not a Talon. Or at least, I don’t think I am? I’m a Hippogriff. We’re from a land far to the south, past the zebra lands. I’m here trying to find medicine for my people. Well, I’m in Equestria for it. I’m here in this building because I promised this Stallion I met, Specter, that I’d help him find someone, in exchange for helping repair my airship. You wouldn’t happen to be Scarlet, would you?”

She chuckled a bit and nodded. “I am Scarlet. But I’m not going anywhere. Not with Specter, at least.” She nickered, flipping her mane. “Sorry about this.”

THUD

Hot, brutal pain erupted through my skull as I fell forward. Then I was on the floor. The pain in my head was unbearable. Worse than I'd ever experienced. I could hardly think through it. My EFS flashed a warning. My head was crippled. I'd already figured that out myself.

The empty toolbox clanged against the floor next to me. There was a spot of blood stuck to the side. I felt dizzy and nauseous. The toolbox attacked me! Was it mad I didn't clean up all of its tools? Or because I moved it to sit down? I struggled to piece it together as I clung to consciousness.

Rumble beeped as it fluttered next to my head. It did not attempt to defend me from the toolbox assassin. He just kept quiet watch over me as I sprawled out on the cold floor.

Scarlet's hoof slammed down in front of my beak, splattering blood on my face. My blood.

Aw feathers.

"Ahh, they never see that levitating-something-up-behind-you trick coming." She sighed and looked down at me. “It’s nothing personal. Really. I heard that you were a good pon-er-person, in with a bad crowd. But until I can make sure that’s true, I’m not taking chances.”

So she attacked me! That... made more sense than a haunted toolbox. I suddenly felt very stupid. And so, so sleepy. Despite her hostile actions, she was still a yellow, none hostile mark on my EFS. Was my PipBuck broken? She attacked me!

Her pink glow pulled a shot of med-x from my bag and stuck it into my thigh. I was already weak. tired. The addition of drugs sent me over the edge. I lost feeling in my limbs. My vision became fuzzy and my bind slowed. Despite my best efforts, the world fell away.

*** *** ***

I sat on a recently restored couch, smelling strong of cleaning chemicals and old leather. Aqua was stretched out on the floor across the living room, with her nose buried in a book as always. Since our parents had gone out on assignment, she’d started putting even more energy into her studies. Likely wanting to impress mother when she got back with some new magic.

The pink little mare grunted, laser-focused on the book. Her horn flickered a few times before she managed a solid aura around it. The page of the book glowed to match, giving the pages a greenish hue as she flipped to the next one.

I gaped at her silently for a moment, in awe of her growing magical ability. Just weeks ago she hadn’t been able to do any at all, now she was learning levitation. I’d seen mom do magic dozens of times, but this was different. It felt stronger, more pure. I’m not sure I can describe it.

“Aqua, you’re getting so good at your magic!” I giggled and clapped at her success. Without meaning to I unfurled my wings, sending the lamb by the couch crashing to the floor. I recoiled as the delicate bulb and ceramic shattered, letting out a loud caw. “O-oh. Ops…” I fidgeted anxiously with my talons for a moment, before realizing that our Mother wasn’t there to punish me for it. I was safe for now. “B-between that and your skills with shapeshifting, you have to be one of the most powerful unicorns ever!”

She smiled softly at me and shook her head. “I appreciate the praise, but I have a ways to go before that. I’ve been reading about all the best unicorns of Equestria. They’re amazing. Starswirl figured out time magic! And then there’s teleportation, and healing, so many possibilities! Even mom is capable of some impressive feats of magic, and she was never formally trained! Anyway, how are your studies coming along?”

My ears slumped at her question, and I crossed my arms. “It… could be better. I understand the basics I guess, but… I don’t know, making the glyphs work together to cause new and more complex effects? I can’t wrap my head around it. Magic is hard! I try to make the magic get along, but it’s like it’s wrestling against itself! I know how important it is that we have unicorns and scrawls to do work around the city. I know that mama really wants me to be magic like you and her, but… I think maybe I’m just not.” I choke up a bit, half whispering the last sentence. I couldn’t even meet my sister's eyes, just keeping them cast down at the floor tiles.

The older filly trotted over and plopped down on the couch next to me. Despite being older, I was already a bit larger than she was. Ponies didn’t get as big as hippogriffs. My sister giggled and wrapped her forehooves around me. “Mom and Dad will love you no matter what you do. You’ll find your calling! Maybe you’ll learn to have more control over your transformations, and learn to do powerful magic with Glyphs! But if you go on to do something else, they’ll be just as proud. And so will I.” She nuzzled against my beak, making me smile. She always was able to make me smile.

“T-thanks… I know they love me, I just want to do amazing things like them… Imagine if they got back from their work trip, and I could do more complex spell work! Like a fireball, or...or something. Or shapeshift into them! That’d be so cool.”

She nodded and pulled out of the hug, petting my crimson wing with her hoof. Crimson... My coat should be light purple. I hadn't been red in so long...

My sister interrupted my thoughts. “We’ll figure something out, Stratus. Maybe you’ll find your calling when you go to intern at Skya. You shouldn’t worry so much about it, though. We’re still young, just do whatever makes you happy. The rest can come later.”

I nod a bit and get off of the couch. “I guess. I’m going to go stretch my wings. I’ll be back by dinner. Don’t practice too hard.” I smiled over my shoulder as I cantered out.

Outside the door wasn’t the bustling village I grew up in. It was the Stable 24 Atrium. Aqua was on the floor, obscured by flickering lights. The screams and moans of mad ghouls mixed with her cries, as half a dozen of them descended on her. Blood. Gore. Limbs. Everywhere. All I could do was scream.

*** *** ***

I woke with a start, in an unfamiliar place. I was sweaty and gross. My eyes were puffed up, and my cheeks were damp. I'd been crying in my sleep. Even awake the nightmare tore at the edges of my mind, threatening to torment me again. I'd been in Equestria two days and the wasteland was already digging its claws into my psyche. Or worse, my own problems were finding a way to dig their way out.

I groaned and pulled my goggles from my forehead over my eyes. The prescription glass brought the world into clear view

The couch I was laid out on was like the one from my dream, though this one was filthy and rotting. I recognized the space as the break area at the edge of weapons development. There was a couch, a couple of chairs, and then an eating area with a fridge and toaster oven. Behind my couch were a dozen workbenches, all covered in tools and half-finished projects. Gems, spell matrixes, spark packs and other random devices were scattered all over storage shelves and tables. At the edge of a room was a somewhat short gun range, complete with zebra targets at the end

The throbbing of my head and body had dulled. An empty potion bottle lay on its side on the table beside me. I had no idea why my captor would waste the healing magic on me, but I was thankful. She'd given me a pretty bad concussion. I really needed to stop hitting my head...

The audible beat of Rumble's wings played nearby as he watched over me. He let out a happy beep as I sat up. He was worried, but he hadn't tried to help me. Did it not understand what was happening? Maybe he was going off my EFS to tell what was hostile and what wasn't. The buggy spell wouldn't have told him she was a danger.

Speaking of unicorns who attacked me, Scarlet sat on the loveseat next to me. She’d dragged over one of the functional terminals in the room and was now typing away on it. It took me a second to realize my PipBuck was plugged into the machine. She'd accessed my PipBuck! Without permission!!!

I reached over and unplugged the device from her terminal, its access cable retracting safely into its casing. I cradled the device to my chest, focusing on controlling my breathing.

She didn't realize I was up until I leapt in to protect my property. She was too engrossed in the act of invading my privacy. “I’m not very good with terminals, not something I ever worked with when I was a kid. Took me forever to figure out how to access your PipBucks files with it. This seemed like the easiest way to see your intentions, without possibly being manipulated. I’m sorry for invading your privacy though… and for hitting you. From what I could read and understand you seem like a good mare.”

I was unconscious for three hours, giving even the most novice user plenty of time to read through a few PipBuck files. “What did you read…?” I asked slowly. There was nothing too embarrassing on my PipBuck, aside from some more… unique works of Fiction to keep me company on lonely nights. Even so, the invasion of privacy left me feeling incredibly vulnerable.

“Not a lot honestly. Most of it was just gibberish. Numbers and symbols. But I found some messages between you and your sister. You love her. She takes care of you. I think… I hope that no one who cares so deeply for their family can be all bad. Once I had an idea of who you were, I gave you the healing potion.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much all encrypted,” I said as I pulled myself into a sitting position. My head still throbbed, but otherwise, I didn’t feel too terrible. “Thanks for healing me, I guess. I get why you did this… Sort of. But please don’t go through my private things again without asking. You can't just attack people and go through their things.” The part where she mentioned me falling in with a bad crowd clicked. And how she seemed afraid of him before... “Specter isn’t a good Stallion, is he?”

My feathered ears laid back as she told me about the pony I’d been travelling with. The pony I healed, fed, and let into my home. “Specter’s a slaver. Worst kind of wasteland scum. I escaped from a caravan that was bringing a group of us north about a week ago, but I couldn’t get anypony else out. I was hoping to find a weapon or something I could use to help them… I didn’t actually believe you two would be here.”

The collar she was wearing wasn’t some kind of armour piece or fashion statement. It was a bomb collar like the zebras had used on their prisoners of war. Ugh, if I had remembered it sooner I would have known! She’d manage to disarm the thing, but it was still bolted onto her neck.

I was so blind. I’d been travelling with this stranger for over a day! The way he acted, his outlook on life, so many red flags I missed. He could have hurt me! He probably planned too! I clenched my claws tightly. “I-II’ll do what I can to help. But first, we need to get back to my ship, and find them.”

She got to her hooves. “We should get moving then if your head’s up to it. The sooner we free those slaves, the better. None of them deserve this… especially the foals.”

I trot after her, Rumble in tow. “They take children…?” The thought was heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine what kind of work Slavers would need children for. Enslaving grown ponies were more than vile enough, but to do that to innocent foals? Taking their futures from them?

“They started disappearing a few years ago. Any child left on their own for too long in Trottingham just seems to disappear. No idea who's snatchin’ an’ buying ‘em up. Ponies have their theories, but it’s mostly just brahmin shit.” She sighed. “Without knowing where they all end up, there’s no saving them. But this group I was corralled with… We can still save them.

“Listen, we can’t fight Specter. Even with your fancy magic gun. He isn’t normal! He’s strong, he doesn’t get tired. His wounds never keep him down long. I don’t know what it is about him, but he’s bad news. If we can avoid a firefight, we should.”

*** *** ***

bratatatatatatatat

Scarlet and I dove behind the cubicles for cover. I was on the right side of the hall and her on the left. We made it partway through admin before the turrets whirled to life without warning. The firestorm of bullets they'd spit at us had gone wide, but now we were trapped.

Pistol in hand, I tried to peek out and line up a shot. I was met with a wall of lead death headed towards me. I chirped and dove back behind the desk. Bullets tore through the dividers of the cubical, peppering the desk and wall behind me.

Scarlet was waving her hoof at me, wincing every time a round struck her own desk. “Give me the gun, I can shoot over!” She shouted. I nodded and slid the gun across the floor to the mare. Her red aura floated my trusty gun over her cover to return fire. After a series of shots that probably missed, the barrel of the pistol flickered and dimmed.

She pulled the pistol closer and studied it. She looked it over once, twice, struggling to figure out how to reload the advanced weapon. I sighed. Shouting over the gunfire I explained, “It’s a spark resonance pistol, it recharges itself! Just, give it a second.” She groaned and facehoofed, muttering something about hating energy weapons.

Rumble peaked out from our barricade and let out an angry beep, drawing the attention of the turrets. The little bot let out a rather catchy battle song as the gems along its wand glowed. A rainbow-coloured bolt of energy fired from his weapon, slamming into the turret's base. The turret smoked and sparked, but continued to function.

Rumble let out a distressed beep as several rounds slammed into his faceplate. The Spritebot crashed to the floor like a bag of apples. There were a few scuff marks along with his grill, but no holes or large dents. It... wasn't even damaged. Did he faint? Did Thunderlane build a robot that can faint?

While the turrets turned their attention towards the enigmatic robot Scarlet peaked out of her cover. Quickly taking aim at the now damaged turret, launched a volley of magic into the magnificent murder machine. The turret exploded in a shower of sparks and shards, blasting a hail of shrapnel through the room.

Scarlet fell back with a yelp, clutching her ear. Or rather what was left of it. The tip of her ear lay in a puddle of gore on the floor behind her. My pistol tumbled into the hallway between us as her red aura evaporated.

Without thinking I launched myself into the hallway, grabbing for the fallen weapon. I let out a furious cry as I tumbled beside Scarlet. The turret peppered the hallway and desk with rounds as it tried to take me out. I looked at the mare beside me anxiously, but she waved me off.

“Don’t worry about me, kill that fucking thing!” She scorned. Not willing to disobey the order of someone who just lost a body part, I obliged. My gun only had a few shots charged, so I had to make them count. My novice aim couldn’t hold up to Scarlets, but maybe…

Against my better judgment, I pulled a long syringe out of my saddlepack. My Pipbucks inventory labelled it as Steady, a drug designed to limit muscle tremors and the like. If it would let me aim well enough to get out of this, then I felt it was worth a shot. I didn't even think about it as I lined the needle up and pumped the clear fluid into my veins.

It didn’t hit the same way other drugs I’d used did. There was no high, no euphoria. My perception and cognition were the same. I just felt calmer. Calmer than I’d felt in years. The usual bit of shakiness I always had in my body calmed for the first time, letting me aim like never before. My anxiety was gone, allowing my determination and confidence to shine through.

With my newfound steadiness, I queued up a shot to the barrel and a shot to the combat inhibitor. my chance to hit was above 80%! I’d never had it that high before. This drug was definitely something! I was basically a sharpshooter!

The pair of magical beams struck true. Sparks rained down as the turret squealed loudly. After a moment, the red light on my EFS winked out. It was dead. I smiled down at the pistol in my talons, the trusty weapon pulsing softly.

A groan reminded me that Scarlet was still there, and still wounded. She was getting to her hooves, with some bandages wrapped tightly around what was left at her ear. My own ears dipped a bit as I saw the state of it, but she merely shrugged. “I’m fine, it’s hardly a flesh wound. Nothing I can’t handle.”

I wasn’t convinced but nodded anyway. “The security was disarmed when we got here. Why would it turn on?”

She shrugged and started heading down the hall. “No idea. The Wasteland usually does its best to kill ya.” I followed her, keeping an eye on my EFS compass in case anything else decided to try to end us. “Best guess? Specter knows you’re a turncoat and he’s trying to get the machines to do his dirty work.”

That was a troublesome thought. If he had the computer knowledge to control the security system, he could cause a lot of problems for us.

I trotted over to Rumble and picked him up. He wasn’t online yet but was undamaged. It was possible his batteries died, or the hits knocked something loose. I’d try to reboot him when we got back to the ship. For now, I tucked him into my nearly overflowing saddlebags.

We faced a couple more turrets on our way out of the facility, but they were easy to take down. With my accuracy and the help of EFS, I could usually take them out before they realized we were there.

There was a safe in one of the offices I managed to get open. My new companion was very amused that I used a claw to pick it, rather than a bobby pin. Inside we found a stack of numbered papers, a box of shells, a double-barrel shotgun that somepony had sawed-off, something called a stealth buck, and a plushie.

The plushie was a cute little pegasus, with an orange coat and purple mane a bit darker than mine. The hind hooves were embroidered; one with the Stable-tec logo, a gear, and the other with the name 'Scootaloo.' It was a stuffy modelled after one of the founders of Stable-tec! So cute!!! I tucked her away in my saddlebag to keep her safe.

Now that Scarlet was armed with the newfound firearm, we both felt a lot better. She had no problem gunning down any turrets we came across. I did my best to help, but even on steady I couldn’t match the seasoned wastelanders accuracy. After nearly an hour we managed to half fight and half sneak our way back to the entrance. The fact that we hadn’t run into Specter yet worried me, but not nearly as much as what might happen when we find him.

Unfortunately, I got my answer as we stepped outside. He was standing in the parking lot, halfway between us and the skiff. All I could really make out in the sparse lighting was his silhouette. I had no doubt he could see us clearly though. A red glow came from his muzzle, accompanied by the scent of tobacco on the wind.

Scarlet and I froze when he came into view. She brought her shotgun up in her magic, gritting her teeth as she faced down the cruel pony. I was less sure of myself as I drew my pistol and levelled it at the stallion, the ammo charge automatically appearing at the corner of my vision.

The buck merely chuckled as we levelled our weapons at him, unphased as always. “I figured something like this could happen… That Hippogriff is quite the talker. I kind of assumed you’d shoot her.” He said with a nod towards Scarlet “Of course I took precautions. You don’t live as long as I have without coming prepared.” He stomped his Pipbuck hoof twice.

All of a sudden a tall drone dropped between us and Specter, landing effortlessly on 6 spider-like legs. A large machine gun was mounted on either side of its gunmetal grey body, fed massive amounts of ammo from belts connected to its back. The light on its head turned a bright red, mirroring its EFS marker. I recognized it instantly, the same terrifying robot I’d seen in the basement charging.

“Meet the Hellbringer X-01. The finest combination of Arcane technology since the megaspells. These babies would have left the zebra infantry in ruins if they got to production. Try to have fun, and let me know about any weaknesses if you live.” The ponies smug look shimmered for a moment before he seemed to vanish completely. Even my EFS couldn’t see him.

“Coward!” Scarlet shouted. Her horn flared brightly as a magical spear joined her readied shotgun. The semitranslucent pink weapon definitely looked impressive, but I doubted it would deter the murder machine before us

The bots' weapons were fixed on us, and none of the ruined sky carriages was close enough to take cover behind. Thinking fast I barreled into Scarlet, nearly knocking her to the ground. I wrapped my claws around the mare, my wings unfurling. The Hellbringers guns opened up, tearing apart the parking lot where we’d just been

Scarlet let out a shocked cry as I beat my wings, dragging her into the open air with me. Having an extra dimension to work with made dancing around the Hellbringers shots a lot more feasible. For about 30 seconds. The advanced arcane technology was catching on to my flight style, learning to predict my movements faster than I would have thought possible.

A throbbing pain forced itself into my side, forcing me to bank back towards the building without meaning to. I let out a pained sigh as I levelled out, breathing heavily. The crude armour plate I’d sewn into my barding kept the bullet from piercing, but the force still pushed right into me. I had conflicting feelings of hating the wasteland for shooting me for the first time and being glad it wasn’t a weapon back home that would probably turn me to ash.

Scarlet and I screamed as we started to fall, her in fear and me in pain. A thousand tiny knives stab into my right-wing as the bullets tore easily through the fragile, unarmored tissue. With only one usable wing the best I could do was steer us to land on top of the admin building, hopefully out of reach from the robotic monstrosity. I wrapped my arms and good wing around the smaller pony, doing my best to shield her before the moment of impact.

More cries of pain were forced out of me as we skidded and rolled across the tough tar roof. Scarlet flew from my grip, landing in a heap just off to the side. After a few painfully long seconds, we both came to a stop.

All I could do was lay there and try to catch my breath. The pain and stress of it all made me want to curl up and hide under my wings. But then I’d never get anywhere. I’d die on that roof, and no one would ever know what happened to me.

After a minute of existential dread fighting my fear of being shot to death, I sat up to check my wounds. I was missing chunks of my coat, the skin underneath terribly road rashed. They were flesh wounds, but they hurt terribly. With my wing shot up on top of that...

Scarlet groaned as she got back to her hooves, rubbing her head. “Ugh I was not made to fly...” She muttered as she dusted herself off, then trotted over to me. She looked better than I did, only having a few spots of road rash on her hooves. Her tattered barding was even worse for wear, hardly keeping on her body properly. She did her best to pull it around herself.

“Thanks for the save… I don’t know how that would have gone if you hadn’t acted so fast. Are you gonna be alright? Your wing doesn't look very good…” She looked at my bloodstained feathers with a frown.

I pulled out a roll of healing bandages from my saddlebag and started wrapping my wounds. “I’ll be fine, I’ve been through far worse.” I hissed as I put pressure on my bullet-riddled wing. “We won't be flying off of this roof though.” I was having a hard time with the first aid. Some of them were in places that were hard to reach, and it wasn’t easy to wrap them tightly with my talons threatening to cut them into ribbons if I made a mistake.

I heard a sigh from behind me as the bandages were enveloped in a pink glow. I let go of them, allowing the strips to magically wrap themselves around my wounds. “You really don’t know what you’re doing out here, huh?” She took a seat across from me, her horn shimmering. After a minute, my wing was wrapped in the now stickily red bandages. She continued to wrap my road rash as she spoke. “Don’t feel bad though. None of us knows completely what we’re doing. That’s why so few wastelanders work alone. It’s scary, being in the wasteland on your own for the first time. I get why you stuck around with the first pony that wandered your way.”

“Yeah… Um, thank you.”

While she got to work patching up her own wounds, I took a look around the roof. It was the best way I had to distract myself from the pain. There were several skylights that let me see into the admin building. With security online, it would be harder to make our way through the building. My EFS was lit up with all the turrets below us, and several moving ticks of red. Hopefully just radroaches. It was likely that the Hellbringer would be roaming the halls for us as well.

At the very least, the door leading back into the building was barred. We wouldn’t have to worry about a gun-wielding tank bot gunning us down for the moment.

As Scarlet finished dressing her wounds, she asked how we could take out the robotic beast we were faced with. I smiled at her a bit. “I have a plan, actually! It’s a bit technical, but as long as you help me deal with the turrets and stuff…-”

She returned the smile with a grin. “I can deal with those, I still have this busted-up thing.” She floated up the double barrel I’d scavenged for her. “I’ll take out the baddies, you do the brain work.”

“Deal.”

Footnotes:
Welcome to level 4!

Perk added: Wasters Welcome. You’ve learned one thing from your time in the wasteland so far, and that’s to be onguard. You gain plus one Perception when outdoors, (Or in areas large enough to fly in) while out of combat

Companion perk: Automotorn Affiliate. +10% damage to automated security, as long as Blue Rumble is in the party (No, he doesn’t count as being in the party if he’s unconscious.)

Author's Note

Thanks for reading <3