Fallout Equestria: Endless Horizon

Chapter 6 pt.2: Dr. Fauna's Clinic

Chapter 6 pt.2: Dr. Fauna's Clinic

Name: Flight Sargent Feather Free.
Objective: Asset acquisition: Retrieve radiation medicine.
Location: Whinnies Grove, Southern Trotten Island: 37°17’"N 124°23'34"W.
Local time: 0438 hours.

I don’t normally risk myself like this. Two ponies against an entire building of mutant beasts, all to save a hippogriff who could die anyway… It wasn’t ideal. But when the chance to help them came up I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

How could I not? Aella Breeze and Scarlet Keeper trotted into Whinnies Grove to resupply, only to go out and save the whole town, at great risk to themselves, all because it was the right thing to do. Most creatures simply do whatever they can to scrape by, taking care of their immediate friends or family, so seeing the two mares volunteer to help a settlement of strangers for nothing in return… It was inspiring. Like the stories of wasteland heroes on the radio, but right in front of me.

I think we all start off with dreams of grandeur and heroism. We’re born aching to make our mark and change the world. That’s what drove me to enlist in the Enclave. Hell of a mistake that was. All we did was make the world worse at every turn. A selfish government, run by power-hungry pegasi not worth the wings on their backs.

Aella Breeze is their polar opposite. She has resources and intellect, but she doesn’t use them to justify her superiority or put herself above others. All she wants is to help. She saved Scarlet and a group of slaves from a terrible fate, earning her the undying loyalty of Scarlet herself. She went on to inspire Scarlet to help Whinnies Grove, which inspired me to help Scarlet save her.

She has that spark, that drive, that sense of good that the wasteland is so effective at stifling. Maybe that’s why the ones who often do the most good in our cozy hellhole are always from under or outside of it. Either way, I couldn’t just let her die. Her people need her, and I think the wasteland is a slightly better place with her in it.

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Name: Flight Sargent Feather Free.
Objective: Asset acquisition: Retrieve radiation medicine.
Location: Dr. Fauna’s Clinic, Southern Trotten Island: 41°53'1"N 71°21'8"W.
Local time: 0521 hours.

I wished there was a more simple, more safe way to help Scarlet's friend and get Whinnies Grove back on its hooves. When she first dragged Aella in, I thought it was my chance. The medical facilities on the birds airship were surely state-of-the-art! I could use them to heal her, and get to see first hoof the kind of equipment the sailor brought with her from Hippogriffia. Unfortunately Scarlet had no clue if there were radiations on board, or where they’d even be kept. And of course, neither of us knew how to safely get inside or use any of the equipment within, our hooves were tied. We had to do things the hard way.

Celestia’s sun was just peaking above the horizon when we arrived. Notably early for this time of year, but the sun isn’t exactly held to the princess’s standards anymore. Without the fair princesses to guide them, the sun and moon didn’t care how consistent the day/night cycle was. Life below the cloud curtain can almost make you forget what a mess it is. Hopefully, the wasteland's beasts would be asleep for a few more hours.

Scarlet Keeper, the merchant I offered to accompany on the mission, was as well-equipped as most wastelanders. Dirty, second hoof leather barding and a police issue pump action shotgun, and of course some patchy saddlebags to hold whatever else she brought with her. I expected an ex-merchant to try and carry everything she could with her, but fortunately, the slightly taller unicorn travelled light. Thank Luna for that.

On the other hoof, I had to leave my own medical armor behind. The weight of the composite plates would have slowed us down too much, and I’d be worthless if I was already exhausted when we arrived. I travelled light. A battle saddle with my marksmare carbine strapped into it, and my own saddle bags.

It wasn’t a pleasant flight. The mare on my back squirmed and whimpered the entire time, messing with my balance and making it a lot harder to find favorable headwinds and updrafts. Thank Celestia nopony could see me in the darkness, I probably looked like a drunk turtle.

Scarlet fell from my back with a relieved sigh as we landed on the roof. The way she panted and nuzzled the ground was pretty dramatic, but then unicorns often are. Apparently, she had a bit of anxiety when it came to heights.

While she got reacquainted with the ground I took a moment to ensure my cybernetic hoof was up to the task. I would be hobbled without it, but it’s still a dated piece of trash that doesn’t even fit properly. The thing chews through batteries like a cadet at a hotdog eating contest, and the screen is so small its nearly impossible to see the battery meter without squinting.

And of course, there’s the pain. The device wasn’t built for me, so the space where the augment attaches to my flesh, just above where my knee used to be, wasn’t fitted properly. It’s always swollen and tender, and it can even bleed if I put too much strain on the joint. Nothing some med-x can’t fix.

The roof access door was barred from the outside, a security measure I added the first time I snuck in to grab some medical supplies, after accidentally interrupting a large, angry porcupine’s sunbathing.

The hospital consisted of three floors, with the first and third floors picked to the bone. The store room on second was our only shot at getting the supplies we needed. Where I saw a dark, moldy stairwell the mare saw an opportunity to get to know me better.

“What’s it like up there? In the clouds, I mean. Away from all the dust and death.” The question caught me off guard, nearly sending me sprawling down the shadowy stairs as we descended them. It was a terrible time for small talk, but I couldn’t not answer her. It wasn’t often that a wastelander was interested in learning anything beyond how to make more caps or stay alive.

I pressed a button on the firing bit of my rifle before answering, illuminating the rusted metal stairway with the light on my rifle. “It’s hard to describe. Nothing down here really compares. It’s no paradise if that’s what you’re thinking, especially now that the Light Bringers using the Single Pegasus Project to break up the cloud layer. Different politicians fighting for power, and hungry ‘constituents’ getting by on whatever scraps the clouds will grow. Every part of everyone's life is controlled and regulated. Everyone fighting for more of the pie, never content with the amount they have. I’m from a place called Thunderhead. It was okay while it lasted. It doesn’t exist anymore.

“Honestly? In some ways down here is better. I can go where I want, and work for who I want. Any food I find or buy is mine to have. No pony can tell me how much I get to eat. I never had freedom like that up there.” I raised my bionic leg and sighed. “This thing for instance. It belonged to a member of my platoon before he set off a landmine. I didn’t ask for it, didn’t want it. When I came to a day later, I found it riveted to my stump. A lame soldier was no use to them, and they already had a prosthetic to use. Growing up I patched up my brothers so much, it inspired me to go into medicine. I wanted to help ponies, not just the enclave.”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with the metal limb. “The wasteland was my chance to take my life back. When my Cloudship went down above Fillydelphia, I flew as far as I could and never looked back.”

She considered what I said, but couldn’t think of an appropriate response. It was easy to guess what she wanted to say. “How can you complain about a life where you get three meals a day?” “In the wasteland losing a limb would probably kill you. You’re lucky.” “I’m so sorry, let me play a song on the world's smallest violin.” I preempted any scathing comments.

“What about you? You’re a trader, right? Where are you from?”

The question made Scarlet groan. “I’m just a wastie, ok? I didn’t really grow up anywhere. I was an orphan looking for odd jobs or whatever. The world is a hard fucking place for a filly on her own, and I did the best I could. There’s nothing more to say.”

There was obviously far more to her story. They say every pair of wings in the wasteland has a story, but really everyone did. No one survived the wasteland without going through all manner of hell. It was clear from the metal collar around her neck that her story was a sad one. Of course, I didn’t dare ask about it. Angering grumpy unicorns is an easy way to shorten your lifespan.

The door to the second floor was barricaded from the inside, so the only way to save Scarlet's avian friend was by cutting through the avian wing from the third floor. The habitat stretched upward through the entire building, with doors to each floor inside. Unfortunately, it came with its own unique set of complications.

The scent was the first clue. Death and rot so thick it was practically a fluid. We crept through the mess of a waiting room to a window looking into the avian enclosure. Enough light flickered through a carriage-sized hole in the wall to see the terrors that lurked inside.

Bloodwings. The terrifying apex predators that plague Manehatten. The mutant, pony-sized bats known for their large bodies, and even larger appetites. The vicious creatures were known to attack in swarms, draining the blood of their targets in seconds. The nocturnal creatures hung upside down from perches built throughout the enclosure, and from the roof itself. The few seconds Scarlet and me looked up at them would have been more than enough time for them to us had they been awake.

Piled on the floor of the 30-meter-high room were disgusting piles of rotten meat, body parts, and feces. Even if we could somehow make it down the rickety, metal stairs inside the habitat without waking them, I doubt we’d be able to breathe.

There was no chance of us surviving a fight with them.

We moved into the hallway as quietly as we could, where we could chat without waking them. Scarlet spoke softly, her pale face reflected the fear and worry I felt. “If Aella was here she would build a Bloodwing-eating robot out of a washing machine or a stealthy bomb or some shit. Tell me there’s another way downstairs.”

I frowned and glanced down the hallway behind me, opposite where we came in. “I’ve never been this far in, but the north side of the building should have a second stairwell for fire safety.

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We lasted two minutes before one of the other animals in the building caught our scent. It made for slow work, ducking into closets and bathrooms as we waited for the beasts to pass. We were nearly caught at one point, by an alicorn-sized rabbit with jaundiced-looking skin and covered in horrid tumors. The sight of the poor left me stunned until Scarlet tugged me into a nearby room before we were spotted.

The eerie glow of a terminal in the corner provided some light, letting us more easily investigate the place while we waited for the wascally wabbit to move on. Why was there a powered, active terminal in a building that hadn’t had electricity for decades? I didn’t question it. It could be that I was distracted by the wall of aquariums, but that is not a good excuse for my failed critical thinking. They were filled with green, slimy-looking water and long-dead, partly preserved fish carcasses.

Some movement drew me to one of the aquariums. Intrigued, I tapped the glass. To my shock, a fish was alive inside. A strange redfish with two tails fled into a little castle as I poked the glass. “Wow… How in the hells are you alive, little guy?” Curious, I took a closer look at each of the other tanks. There were just under a dozen alive in total, and all of them were just a little wrong. One's scales glittered like steel as it swam back and forth. Another had no scales at all, instead sporting thin translucent flesh. “They’re like… fish ghouls. I didn’t know anything like this was possible.

Scarlet wasn’t listening. She couldn’t care less about my weird fish discovery. All that interested the mare was the terminal in the corner, which… made much more sense. The terminal could have a map or some information on all the strange mutants. I silently chided myself for getting distracted. A mare's life was on the line.

The only intact file was a note addressed to the clinic's owner.

Dear Doctor Fauna

Got all of the animals that were affected by the magical byproduct spill. Hell of a mess. Fluttershy was in tears seeing the poor babies in such a sorry state. She wanted to stay, but she’s still getting her Ministry organized. With Princess Luna taking over the throne, her and her friends have a lot of work to do helping out. Reminds me a bit of old times, in a strange way. We promised we’d do everything we can to help the animals in her absence. She’s part of the reason we opened this facility, after all.

Whatever is in the animal's system is causing rapid, uncontrolled transformations. I’ve never seen magic like it. Changes in size, intelligence, or appearance. Some more benign changes, extra organs or abilities. One of the fish TELEPORTED out of its enclosure! We tried to scoop it back up and get it back in its tank, but it just kept blinking away! After a few minutes, the poor dear suffocated. How can a fish do such complex magic?

We’re working on developing a spell to get this stuff out of their systems, but even if we can do that these changes are likely permanent. Twilight and her Ministry are already breathing down our necks about our test results, but won’t tell us why she cares so much. I’m not sure we’ll be able to reintroduce them into the local ecosystem safely. No pony is quite sure what we can do for them after they’re treated.

-Kettle Corn

“A fish learned to teleport before me. Why am I not surprised…” Scarlet muttered to herself. I noticed the mare's lips move as she read, silently pronouncing each word syllable by syllable.

I read over the mare's shoulder, finishing the entire message in the time it took the unicorn to finish the last paragraph. I got so caught up in the interesting recount of the past, that I didn’t realize I rested my hoof on Scarlet's shoulder.

Scarlet noticed.

I realized my mistake as she turned towards me and lashed out with her left hoof, striking me square in the chest. Confused and upset, I stumbled back a few feet, clutching my chest with a hoof.

My desire to shout my irritation or strike back went into remission as she stumbled back from me, eyes wide in shock. She was just as surprised she hit me as I was. I assumed the mare had some issues to work out from her time in slavery, but I didn’t think it was so severe, or consider how her time in bondage may affect her.

I spread my wings out and bowed slightly. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have even gotten so close to you, after your recent events. I should have known better.” Scarlet looked cross. Like she couldn’t decide between crying or tearing out my feathers. After an agonizingly long minute, I changed the subject. “I don’t hear anyone in the hall. Are you ready to get moving again?”

“Yeah… Yeah. Let's go.”

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The mutant animals of the hospital were easy to sneak around for the most part, but stealth is time-consuming. That’s fine in most cases, but we were running on borrowed time as it was. The longer we took, the more twitchy and tense Scarlet became.

I saw it countless times in the Enclave. The fear of losing someone important to you is powerful and will leave an undisciplined soldier unfocused and reckless. Every minute we lost not only edged Aella closer to death but made it more likely her companion would make a fatal mistake.

That is why when the unicorn told me her plan, I was skeptical. Only a unicorn could come up with something that crazy, and actually make it work.

Scarlet grinned like a mad mare as a deafening boom echoed from the southern wing. The explosion rocked the building as it tore apart walls and shattered windows. Terrified creatures ran in every direction, some moving to investigate the noise while others fled. Growling and snarling sounded toward the explosion site, mixing with high-pitched screes and flapping, leathery wings.

Scarlet's crazy plan was far from surgical, but it actually worked. She used a bomb made from bottlecaps of all things to blow a hole through the wall separating the rest of the building from the avian wing. The angry, endlessly hungry Bloodwings took out their aggression on the ground animals, filling the building with growls and skrees as they tore each other apart.

The distraction enabled us to slip through the chaos to the stairwell unnoticed, separating us from the frenzied animals with a sturdy metal door.

The plan was crazy but effective. I myself could never come up with such a dangerous plan. The risk to my life is simply too great for me to even see it as an option. But Scarlet was brave, willing to risk being torn apart by the angry creatures if it meant getting back to Aella in time. Such selflessness is liable to get her or someone else killed one day, and yet I couldn’t help but envy it.

When I first left the Enclave, I looked down on wastelanders. Saw them as uneducated, undisciplined barbarians, unable to measure up to even the poorest the pegasi had to offer. After being proven wrong the 20th time, the lesson finally stuck. Anyone who survives the trials of the wasteland is a survivor, a warrior. They’ve all had to overcome great adversity and danger to live their lives, and I’m ashamed of how long it took me to respect that.

Just like them, Scarlet knew what she was doing.

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Name: Flight Sargent Feather Free.
Objective: Asset acquisition: Return medicine to Whinnies Grove
Location: Dr. Fauna’s Clinic, Southern Trotten Island: 41°53'1"N 71°21'8"W.
Local time: 0751 hours.

I’ve never seen so much medicine in one place. Dusty shelves weighed down with potions, drugs, bandages and suture kits. Everything the workers here needed to treat any kind of wound or illness an animal could experience before Equestria fell. And animal medicine is not too far off from pony medicine.

There was an entire shelf dedicated to treating and preventing radiation poisoning, and not a single bag or bottle was out of place. Packets full of orange-colored, (And tasting, for reasons I’ll never understand) RadAway filled most of the space, along with several bottles of Rad Safe, and even half a dozen packs of the lighter-colored radiation treatment Radpurge, RadAways hypoallergenic cousin.

To ponies before the war, these were an afterthought. Something kept around “just in case.” Use cases were rare, and only associated with magical research accidents or powerplant malfunctions. These days a ground pony is lucky if one of these pouches isn’t the difference between life and death.

And it was ours to with as we please. It didn’t belong to the most important politicians, or the most gifted, loyal soldiers. Every sick pony would get what they needed, starting with Aella Breeze.

I pulled a duffle out of my saddlebags and got to looting. Scarlet followed suit, loading her own bags with Radsafe and Radaway, as well as some hyper restoration potions, a long bulky syringe labelled “Hydra,” healing bandages, and over-the-counter painkillers.

When our bags were full, there was still an impressive supply of drugs in the room. Scarlet was annoyed that she couldn’t carry anymore, but I was very insistent that if she packed anymore she’d be walking back to Whinnies Grove. Someone in the future will have the chance to scavenge the life-saving supplies

We had what we needed and more. All that was left was to get back safely. But of course, even the most thoughtfully laid plans never go smoothly.

“Down!” Scarlet hissed softly. She scrambled under the table, with her magical grip pulling me along behind her. I gave her a curious look as we hid under the table, not daring to speak until I knew what was happening. The seasoned scavenger pointed a hoof towards her ear, then out to the hall.

My ears twitched as I focused on the hallway outside. The sounds of battle upstairs had grown silent sometime ago, but there was something… a light buzz at first, but as the seconds lumbered by I could just barely make it out. A muffled conversation. One coming toward us.

I gave the mare a thankful nod as we both strained to listen in. That was the second time she’d saved me from my lack of perception.

“If Her Highness requests more materials for her work and the treatment of our workers, then she will get it! It is not our place to question the necessity of volume or anything else! So we will simply get what she has demanded of us, and return home! If only the drugs would show themselves!” The growling voice of a mare complained.

The gentle clip-clop of at least 8 hooves came down the hallway toward us, blocking our only exit. Our only chance was to stay hidden until they passed, or failing that, attempt to fight the pair of ponies using the doorway as a choke point.

“You are correct, Lady Cinder. We believe that the substances in this disgusting ruin will aid our Mistress in succeeding, as every success seems to bring more power to her and her followers. While we struggle to understand the need to use mere ponies for battle when she has the perfection of my sisters and I at her disposal, it is not our place to question our Godde-we mean Mistress.”

Two ponies entered the room, only visible from the bottom of their barrel down. The first was orange, with highlights of yellow and red throughout. She wore a power hoof on her leg, an arcano-tech gauntlet built to augment the users punching strength. The other pony was much larger, with a perfectly groomed deep purple coat.

The little one was a unique kind of freaky only the wasteland could create. Her irises flickered and glowed like candles as her eyes scanned the room with an uncaring gaze. Her mane and tail matched her heated atheistic; a mess of matted orange and red strands hanging down to her shoulders. The most unsettling part was how clean her coat was. She wore no barding, but not only was her coat clean of dust, she didn’t have a scratch on her. How could an earth pony travel the wastes unarmored and barely armed be so pristine?

Then there was the other one. She was scary in the obvious sense. A walking, talking wasteland legend. Or nightmare. An alicorn. Terrifying creatures made from twisted magic. While they weren’t puppets of their creators anymore, they were still unstable, fanatical creatures with far too much power for their own good. Understanding the danger they pose to the wasteland is the only thing I and the Steel Rangers agree on.

A surge of energy filled the room as her horn shimmered purple, summing balls of light to brighten the room. Even a simple illumination spell with the raw power of an alicorn behind it electrically charged the air. It would be so much harder to fight than any bloodwing. Maybe that’s why “Lady Cinder” was so untouched by her wasteland. Her pet monster was strong enough to protect her from it.

“It appears someone was in here. Some of the products seem to have been misappropriated. We have no doubt it relates to the fighting we heard upstairs on the way in. Perhaps this will be enough too-”

“Absolutely not! If the pony thieves are still in this building, I want their heads! I want those drugs! Her Highness requested that I get everything in here, and I will obey!” The smaller pony reared up to get in the alicorn's face, making her top half disappear from my view.

Rather than responding in words, the larger pony simply floated a small container of mints out from her saddle bag, giving her three of them. That kind of dose would kill anyone other than a longtime addict, or someone with an alicorn level metabolism.

Cinder smiled as she chewed the candy-coated drugs. After swallowing them and taking a long breath, she became far more collected and reasonable. “Gather what you can find. I’ll sweep the building for our wayward scavengers. It’d be a shame if they escaped with so much of the supplies, but we don’t have time to hunt for them. The longer we linger, the more time we have for your sisters from the north have to try and take this shit from us.”

“My sisters are merely doing their best, as shortsighted as they are. But I agree, if the alicorns Count Specter saw were Followers of the Apocalypse, then they’re likely after these supplies.”

I got a good look at the lead mares cutiemark as she left. It left me feeling confused and a little sick. It looked like a burn scar, though there was no way to tell if the mark itself was a burn, or if her original mark had been burned away.

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The alicorn packed up her supplies with impressive speed, even when you take the magic into account. Less than five minutes later she threw her packed duffles across her bag and took off. Once the alicorn was out of sight, Scarlet took off two.

“Scarlet, slow down!” Terror drove the unicorn forward faster than her body should be able to move, making even my toned pegasus form struggle to keep pace. Her pace started out manageable, as she moved cautiously through the building with me at her heels. Until the fighting started somewhere above us. Magical blasts and bursts of lightning rang across the sky, seasoned with the screams and taunts of the combatants. I had no doubt it was the alicorn on alicorn combat the scavengers were worried about. The way the building shook and groaned from their skirmish, it probably wouldn’t survive it much longer.

She moved slowly at first, with the care I expected from her by that point. Then we heard fighting above. Magical blasts and bursts of lightning with screams and taunts peppered in. Alicorn on alicorn combat, just as Cinder and her monster feared. Fighting over medical supplies meant to help creatures bordered on ironic, but it was sad more than anything.

I’m as wary of alicorns as the next sensible pony, but Scarlet bordered on terrified. It was easy to understand why. She was clearly a slave at some point, and Fillydelphia was at the center of Equestria’s slave trade for years. Red Eye employed the most terrifying pony and griffon enforces around to run his operations, but he also had several wings of alicorns under his control. If Scarlet spent time in Filly, Celestia knows the horrors she saw those beasts enact first hoof.

We stopped in front of a pile of desks and furniture blocking off the southern stairwell, opting to take the shorter path knowing we could clear the debris. Scarlet’s magic got to work, levitating the makeshift blockade free so she could run back to the roof.

“Free, we gotta go! Any alicorn willing to fight her own do-gooder sisters is not a pony we can afford to be at odds with. If they find us here, we die. A single spell, and there won’t even be bodies left to find! So we need to get out of here, before we-”

“Address our biases toward the most evolved, powerful, intelligent creatures to exist since the princesses themselves?” The voice rang in our ears as the door swung open, unveiling a smirking green alicorn. Her horn crackled with dark, rainbow-colored energy. “You got the part about not having a chance right. You stole from us, and I am your penance.”

We walked backward slowly as I emptied my rifle in the monster's direction. Of course, there was little point. The shots struck harmlessly against a wall of green energy. Of course, halfway through the clip the fucking thing jammed. The alicorn still wearing that shit-eating grin. “Oh, I just love the way ponies' minds race as they try to find a way to beat me. Once in a while one even has a good idea! Of course, my knowing the idea makes it useless by default. Don’t bother trying little ponies, this is the end for you.”

As a bolt of dark rainbow lightning shot toward Scarlet and me, I was sure we were dead. But as we closed our eyes and held our breaths, nothing happened. We did not writhe in pain as electricity shot through our bodies, just as her past victims had surely done.

When I opened my eyes, there were two more of them. A green alicorn with strange, purple hair and heavy black armor, and a purple one, wearing the ministry of peace symbol on the flank of its barding. Their horns glowed in a mix of green and purple, projecting a magical shield between us and our attacker.

They… were helping us.

Or they were trying. Even working together, they were struggling against the attacking alicorn's magic. They were covered in fresh cuts and burns from their ongoing battle, while the lightning wielder was far less worse for ware. The creatures protecting us were going to lose, and at least one of them knew it.

“Midnight Skies, I’m sorry. This is not a fight we’re fated to win.” Sweat rolled down the purple one's face, struggling even to speak as she focused on her magic.

“No, sister, you-”

The purple alicorn cut its green sister off. “Be safe, and tell the Followers what happened here. Live well.” It blinded us with a powerful flash of purple, and everything was gone.

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Name: Flight Sargent Feather Free.
Objective: Asset acquisition: Return medicine to Whinnies Grove
Location: Whinnies Grove, Southern Trotten Island: 37°17’"N 124°23'34"W..
Local time: 0837 hours.

We were teleported. Before Scarlet and I could even understand what the alicorns were fighting about, what was happening, the entire building was gone. And I felt sick as a dog. I was dizzy and disoriented, and a pegasus should not be able to feel unicorn magic pulsing through their body! Teleporting has to be the worst way to travel. It’s like flying through rings at full speed, but instead of a pony-sized ring, you’re flying through a silly straw! Magic and feathers just do not mix.

The alicorn's spell spat us out in a wheat field near Whinnies Grove, just a short trot from the town gate. Scarlet and I were sprawled out on the ground as we struggled to get our bearings. The alicorn that was blinked with us stood a few feet away, perfectly upright. And perfectly still. Its face was pale as it stared at the horizon, in the direction of the building we just escaped. No doubt reflecting on the purple alicorn that no doubt just gave up its life for the three of us.

Scarlet rose first, the unicorn being more used to wild outbursts of magic. In an impressive act of bravery, she trotted right up to the alicorn and rested a hoof on its shoulder. It blew me away, how willing she was to be close to it given how terrified she was just minutes before. “Thank you... for saving us. I’m sorry about what happened to your friends. But I’d really appreciate knowing what the fuck just happened? Why were you all fighting one another, aren’t you sisters?”

The alicorn sighed and lowered its head. “We are… but not sisters in the way you’re thinking, Scarlet. And family can be complicated. We all want different things, and some of us want someone to follow or want to continue our mother's work. I have no idea what they want or who they’re working with, but I know I need to end them. My sisters can’t have died for nothing. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” The alicorn looked down at Scarlet and smiled. “Knowing they’re working with this Count Specter asshat is useful, so thanks for making the slaver connection for us, cutie.”

That was when I remembered that the monster grieving just feet away could hear my thoughts. Unfortunately being anxious about what I was thinking only made it harder to try and police my thoughts. You can’t be too careful around a sad alicorn. One wrong move, one thought it found annoying, and it could crush my skull under its hooves like a walnut.

Scarlet on the over hoof was blushing from the tiny compliment the alicorn paid her. It knew how vulnerable she was to praise, and had no problem manipulating her with it. “I- um… y-yeah. You’re welcome. Listen, I’d love to stay and chat, but we really gotta go. Our friend has radiation poisoning, and-”

“Go save her. Friends are the most important thing in the world. Whatever you do, protect yours. I gotta go make sure the Followers know what happened here.”

Its wings unfurled as it stood up, readying itself to take off.

“Wait, what’s your name!?” Scarlet asked before it could leave

“I’m Midnight Skies. One of the only alicorn “sisters” who identifies as a brother, so I’m hard to forget. I’ll see you around.”

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Name: Flight Sargent Feather Free.
Objective: Complete.
Location: Whinnies Grove, Southern Trotten Island: 37°17’"N 124°23'34"W..
Local time: 1900 hours.

I’ve decided to join up with Aella Breeze and Scarlet Keeper as a member of their crew. At first, this decision was driven by my desire to help people and the light I could feel from within the two ponies. How genuine their hopes and dreams of saving others were, and how finding the panacea, the cure to all ailments could help restore civilization to the wasteland.

Of course, there is the other reason. Aella Breeze has in her possession a wealth of advanced technology on her person, in the hands of a raider could kill many ponies. But the airship, her so-called “Sky Sailor” creates even more risk. The naive hippogriff doesn’t even seem to realize the threat it poses to the wasteland if it’s weaponized. I can’t even imagine it myself. For the sake of what’s left of Equestria, I will ensure that the ship remains secure, or failing that, destroy it entirely. The pure-hearted nature of hippogriffs had them rarely consider how their casual use of dangerous magical technology could be misused if someone more militaristic or sadistic got ahold of it.

If the technology was reverse-engineered somehow… I don’t even wanna think about it.

And so I’ll join up with the wayward duo, protecting them from the wasteland, and the wasteland from their technology. With a bit more help, we may actually be able to find the holy grail of medicine.

Footnotes:
A level up for reading reading? It can be good for learning new skills, or refining what you already know, but it isn’t enough for a level up. It does give you insight into Feather Frees's motivations, and it gave you and Scarlet something to do together, so that’s something!

Author's Note

Chapter updated! 11/10/23

Streamlined events
Removed third person POV
Fixed error that caused character POV changes to get confusing
Improved password protection
Removed herobrine

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