Fallout Equestria: The Ajax Directive

The thick fog was new. In all the days and nights I had been awake, the only weather I had been familiar with was the constant cloud cover and variants of it.

But after separating from my friends in the middle of the night, the cloud cover around the peaks of the tallest mountains began gradually lowering. At first I hadn't even noticed it, but when the cloud cover descended to just several yards over my head, threatening to completely remove my visibility of the village below, I had a rough decision to make. With no visibility, while I would have perfect invisibility to stay hidden from the search party that had gone out, they would be similarly invisible to me.

Taking a giant gamble, I opened up the map in the back of the lilac plastic binded book, and did my best to remember which mountain it was that would put me where the barrier normally would have been to the clouds above. Surely there was no way that the cloud cover had increased in volume and was covering the entirety of the atmosphere, the colder air was probably just pulling it down.

And my assumptions were right. I was sitting at the designated location, completely awestruck by the sight. The sky above was completely free of clouds, the entire cloud cover had indeed descended right into the valley that held Our Town. A look to the west though, confirmed that it would be very short lived and new clouds, more white in color then sickly grey, were beginning to roll in.

I was hurriedly scribbling in my book, feeling excitement as witnessing this. It was very possible I was the first pony in hundreds of years to see the sky, barren and exposed admist the mountaintops. First I eagerly wrote down my assumption on the cause, cold air in the mountains encouraging the water-filled clouds to settle lower then normal. After all, cold air was dense, and water-filled clouds would surely be dense as well. Then I had to describe the sights.

In the east I could see the dark blue sky giving way to the faintest hint of purple, and the longer I stared the more it looked like a hint of orange was peeking through the visible gaps between the mountains. Ignoring the east, my neck craned back as far as it could, looking at the countless stars in the sky. They hung in the sky, some of the adjusting their brightness with the smallest of twinkles, like a far distant traveler waving a greeting hoof at anypony that would see them. With enough staring my mind started assigning shapes such as triangles, circles, and arrows to the various stars, somehow seeing a new shape with every blink of my eyes.

I fell onto my side, the sight overwhelming me and making me lose my balance. The thought of this sight only being visible to pegasi for the last two centuries felt incredibly selfish. White dots interspersed with the occasional duller red star absolutely put to shame anything I had seen in the last few days, taunting my mind with welcoming stories that blossomed in the sky before vanishing and taking new ones without even shifting above me.

All of these tales above were coupled with a half-moon in the distance, looking generally as I remembered it in my haunting dreams. But now, with my own eyes, I could stare at it and make out distant ridges and craters both remembered and new. The sheer distance that the celestial body kept from the mountain I was standing on made the long and slow climb I had near-blindly taken seem silly. It was simply impossible for pony hooves to touch it, never touch the massive circular valleys and the mountains that surrounded them.

“Could you see these mountains from there?” I mused aloud to myself. Surely if us ponies on Equus could see the mountains on our moon, anypony on the moon could see the same back. Relaxing my neck I rolled onto my back, legs sticking up and bent at the knees as the thoughts of how these mountains would look collided with the stars above, now imagining each red and white dot as a snow-covered or snow-absent peak covering Equus to taunt our circular neighbor. What would Equus look like from the Moon? The ground wasn't totally covered with snowy peaks. Would it appear as a giant dark-grey ball from all the cloud cover, crudely antagonizing the brighter moon with it's muted water-filled color? Or would the colors from beneath the clouds barely shine through, in the same way the sun's light barely shone through the cloudy ceiling?

Speaking of which, the east was now filling up with red, orange now taking its' place as the color seeping from between the mountains. The light of the sun was like a signal to the stars to dim down, each of the ones in the east fading out of existence bit by bit. I could see in the distant east other clouds that were also still high in the sky, signifying that the break in the clouds that had fallen onto the village below was a much more isolated occurrence and was not the norm across the mountains.

Once more I let my gaze trace across the entirety of the dawn sky from east to west, watching the sky slowly lose it's deep purple tint, the dark shade seemingly being pushed behind the advancing westward clouds, the stars. With an exception. I blinked, staring at a piece of sky that should have been no different then anything else above, what looked like a single star popping out of existence, a star that was near the edge of the incoming westwardly clouds.

The unexpectedness of it snapped me out of the stupor the fading night sky had left to me. While getting onto my hooves my gaze stayed focus on that one spot in the distant sky where a light seemingly winked out. The stare only last a few moments before my view toward that westward direction was obscured by the incoming clouds. My thoughts began racing at the possibilities, or more accurately, the one possibility I could think of.

The Pegasi. Spice had told me how the Pegasi had left their isolation in the clouds and descended onto their home in Manehattan and various other spots across the wasteland beyond the mountains. Was it some massive airship like my unicorn friend had told me, making itself invisible in an imperfect way? I grabbed my book and graphite and set my sights on the small cave that the pegasus ghoul had told me about. If it was a Pegasus airship, the last thing I wanted was to be visible and give them reason to descend upon the village.

By the time I had sat down inside the clouds had began to retake the sky over this slice of the mountains. But pegai could walk on clouds, and would probably have ways to climb through them as well. Staying out of sight was the most important thing that could be done, because if they saw me, they would surely scour it up and down.

At least that's how I reasoned my fear to myself, my heart pounding in my chest in concern. Finding a small cave, the mouth of it barely my own heigth, I scurried inside, the darkness surrounding me and giving me enough comfort to start relaxing my heart.

There was just enough room to turn around inside the tiny cave, and my hindquarters kept bumping and rubbing against the rock wall of the cave as I did so. But what really broke my attention was the sliding of my left rear hoof on something that was not rock or ice. It didn't happen until I was almost perfectly facing the entrance of the cave, ready for a head-on confrontation if searching pegasi saw me. I flicked my ear, trying desperately to hear the sound of hooves, wings, or anything else besides the constant white noise of wind flowing around the sides of the mountain.

Comfortable enough to finally check what my hoof slipped on, I quickly looked behind me. It was a book, with pages bound together by a rusted spiral, the rust having compromised the rigidity and making the entire notebook bend significantly upon picking it up.

I took another look out the cave, watching the cloud-cover roll overhead. Still no sounds greeted my ears except for the wind, and any break in that consistency would be impossible to not hear. So I kicked the notebook across the cave floor, letting it stop by my forehooves so I could read it while listening to the outside.

“Day 1 of crossing.

Manehattan was a trade hub before the war, and I've been a bit surprised that few prior cartographers ever tried to use the railways to go back towards the Crystal Empire. I talked with the retired cartographer living in Friendship City outside of Tenpony Tower and while he never attempted to search for the Crystal Empire, he said he met with friends who said that the railways in Northeastern Equestria were generally unreliable if they went into the mountains, no maintenance in 175 years allowing weather to collapse bridges and buying railways.

It's the best way I can think of to search it out though. Railroad bridges would leave pretty distinct trails of wear even if they've totally collapsed, and as long as none of the tunnels cut right into the mountains it should be traceable.

I've followed one of the railways that left Manhattan that was supposed to go straight to the Crystal Empire. The rails are exposed for now.

~Roaming Gaze

I carefully turned the page of the notebook, taking care to not rip the paper from the rusted spiral binder.

Day 3

Came across the first major complication. The railroad went to a bridge that had completely collapsed into a river. It would have been no problem to cross if not for how radioactive it is, the water had a bright green glow to it. My guess is that any latent balefire radiation in these mountains have gradually accumulated in this river. I decided to head north to try and find a way around.

Day 5

I found a crossing point, but that burnt through most of my RadX and Radaway reserves. I'm going to have to hope that I can come across a different way back after I find the railroad again.

Day 7

Yesterday I came across a railroad track again. I didn't think it was the one I was using, but I've decided to follow it anyway. Among cartographers the rumors about secret railways from Canterlot stretching to hidden military sites and living weapons are old as the pegasus cloud cover. If I'm going to restore my water and rad-x reserves I'll need to come across something, even if it's an old military site.

The problem is that today that railroad came to an abrupt end. The rotten wooden wall made it pretty clear that the rail was supposed to stop at that point, rather then an abandoned railway project. But there was no unloading point, not even a small hut to designate a stop, or even a loop so a train could be turned around and facing forward when leaving.

If I can't find any old bases or settlements around here in the next day, I'll have to follow this railroad back to it's origin point, and leave it once I start getting closer to Canterlot. It seems like any shot at finding the Crystal Kingdom is basically over now.

Taking a sip from the canteen I had been given, I couldn't help but frown a bit at how little water was actually left in it. I'd be fine for the day, but at night I'd have to sneak in and find where the water for the Village was stored and get some for myself.

Day 15

I've not written anything in here for a week, and I think I might be trapped in these mountains with no safe way out.

The day after my last entry I came across a small isolated village in these mountains. It seems like they've not had any contact with Equestria since before the war. 'Out Town' is thoroughly filled with crazies that are super welcoming but super pushy in me joining them.

I got to talk with their head mare, who they call Ministry Mare, as if they're not aware of how the Ministry Mares turned Equestria into what it is. When I offered to help connect them to Equestria as a whole their leader freaked out and probably would have ousted me if I didn't suggest trading to make things better. And they need it. They have one of the few operational factories left in Equestria, but all they do is make iron to board up holes in their buildings with it, and their food production barely keeps them malnourished.

The common ponies here are nice though. Made friends with a mare that seemed really interested in hearing what the outside is like.

The worst part is the other ponies, if you could even call them that. They look just like one of us, but are mad. I came across one of them the day before I came across the village, and they didn't even try to talk, just lunged for my throat with his mouth. I encountered another one last night, she snuck up on my camp here and also tried to gnaw me apart. These aren't like feral ghouls. They might be what us cartographers whisper about, wild ponies, descendants of those who fled to the mountains after the war and gradually lost the ability to talk, kidnapping foals from isolated villages and lone travelers.

I turned the page again, revealing not another entry but instead a map. It was similar to the one that the ghoul pegasus had made, but significantly larger in scope and detail. Quickly I pulled my lilac book back out and flipped open to the map, only to be let down by the realization that due to the difference in scope, it wouldn't be practical to transcribe the details of the most noteworthy additions. Locations like the striped line that designated the rail he had come across was beyond the scribbled map's boundaries. Deciding that the information was still valuable, I gripped the piece of graphite in my mouth and pointed an arrow to the southwest. Railroad to Canterlot (?) was all I put down. It was still worth talking with Spice and Amber at a later time about how they got here, and if there was a route other then that old railroad in and out of here.

And how I got here.

Sitting that thought to the side, I turned to the next page in the book. My eyebrow raised at the notice that there was no more 'days' listed in the heading.

Rooted Soil refuses to leave Our Town. In the three months I've been here she insists that it's not safe for her or the child to leave the valley. I don't think she understands that we can't keep our weekly rendezvous up forever, especially when she does give birth to our foal.

It clicked. This was the stallion that I had read about in the dusty room in Soothing Constant's house.

I want to scream at the top of this mountain, scream with sheer joy. Never before had I thought that I would find love, let alone help to bring a child into the world. Every day I find myself leaking tears of joy. I'm sure that they'll be a great child, as her father and mother is.

But the joy doesn't counter the fact that this is a dangerous place to live. The worst part is the noises and the eyes. I've moved to a location high in the mountains in the last week. But I can still hear and see the wild ponies. They all seem to be earth ponies, just blindly staring at my encampments with hollow eyes and chattering teeth. I don't want to tell Rooted Soil about it because it would only convince her that she's right to stay in Our Town, but I fear if they gang up to attack us. At least they don't seem to climb high in the mountains.

The good news is that I've been able to steal enough potatoes and beets from the village below that I now have my own garden up here. It's not remotely big enough to support more then me. But being able to walk above the cloud cover means that it gets way more sunlight then anything grown in Our Town, and most importantly, the soil hasn't been reused so much that it offers no nutrition.

We talked again about leaving. Rooted Soil finally is willing to leave, but she wants to wait until our foal is old enough to walk on their own. That could be the better part of a year. I think the worst part is that it's not anything that I said which made her change her mind, but instead its because ponies in Our Town are spreading rumors about the weird long-dead outsider, that is me, being the father.

I don't know if we'll have that much time though. For whatever reason there's been a change in the guards' shifts and they've spread out into the mountains themselves rather then just hanging on the edges of the town at night.

I turned the next page. Empty. Blank. Nothing else was written down. I began hoofing through the pages a bit faster, accidentally tearing one of the later ones in my haste. Nothing. Just as much nothing as the complete lack of the sound any pegasi search party should have made. With my breath steady, my heart calm, and my ears and eyes primed, I looked outside the cave entrance. It was worth stepping out, first to see if there was any invisible cloud ship on the mountaintop, but also to chase the allure of much needed food, even it it was likely years ago.

I stuffed the rusty and yellow notebook into my satchel. It's abrupt end notebook shouldn't have been a surprise. I already knew what the end result was from rooting in the back of the old notes from the village below.

Hesitantly I stepped outside the cave mouth, noting the return to the depressingly familiar scenery. The clouds had once again seized the sky and there was no evidence of the star-filled night sky that had once taken hold. My eyes scanned the clouds and mountaintops, looking for any sort of abnormalities like a rippling or shifting peak or bulge in the clouds. When my naked eyes couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, I swapped to the scope that had been left by the ghoul, balancing it on my right hoof as I looked in all directions.

Still there was nothing, but I could see the entire village from this height, the ponies of our town appearing like tiny ants at this distance. While the original pony that lived on the top of this mountain likely was content with wistfully staring from a distance at the town his pregnant lover had once been in, it just wasn't practical enough for me, especially if I wanted a vantage point that I could make out specific ponies from with the use of the scope.

I took a look at the rocky ledge I had used to get to this point. There was an option to continue following it upward as it passed the cave's entrance. If there really was a potato and beet farm, even just big enough for one pony, hidden above the clouds it would be a bit risky. There was a distinct chance that the pegasi could see me from above the clouds, but also a chance that the farm could have already been stripped of food. But food was the one thing that I would need to survive. Regardless of what would happen when Silver Sight returned, food massively hampered my ability to do anything.

The clouds hung mere inches from my head, wispy tendrils extending nearly a foot downward from the thicker mass. In curiosity, I reached a forehoof out, attempting to press against the cloud-cover. To my surprise, my hoof just phased right through it, as if I was touching air, the cloud barely reacting to my presence. I took a few more steps forward, poking my head into the white mass. The visibility dropped rapidly, going from being able to see miles to only a few feet from my head. But it didn't move or shift from my presence, even as I continued the uphill trek and my body was surrounded by cold.

Cold, and wet. It didn't take long to notice that along with being extremely dense visibly, it was like being gradually soaked, and I could feel cold drops of water mixing with my already sweat-dampened fur. While it was nice to know that I wouldn't have to worry about the clouds acting like an impenetrable barrier, the knowledge that I would be trudging back down the mountain both wet and cold would put a dampener on my speed as well as body temperature, already needing to pace myself on the ascent and descent so as not to cause undue pressure pain in my joints.

Now how did I know that? I thought to myself. I couldn't remember hiking on mountains anytime recently, because obviously I couldn't exactly remember hiking at all before coming to Our Town. But I had to come from somewhere outside the village. For a moment I thought about the Enclave. Pegasi held up in the clouds. While there were a few pegasi in the village, a new pegasus appearing out of nowhere would definitely arouse suspicion. But maybe an earth pony or unicorn being sent down would catch the inhabitants off guard? If that was my past, I would have ever reason to be familiar with hiking up and down a mountain. Somepony to study the inhabitants and figure out the best way to conquer them?

Warm sunlight broke through my thoughts, my head now sticking out of the top of the clouds. I was caught a bit off guard by the drastic change, raising a hoof and shielding my eyes from the blinding light from the giant yellow orb above me, and the light bouncing off the clouds around. Hesitant to expose myself fully, I scanned this new scenery. Clouds as far as the eye could see, and a few lone black peaks broke through the clouds at various different intervals.

I didn't see any airships, or at least, nothing that I imagined an airship would be. In fact, besides the sun, the rolling expanse of clouds, and the black peaks, I honestly saw nothing. Cautiously, I took a few more steps up, hoping to find the old potatoes.

The ground gave out from under me the moment I cleared the clouds. I hit the ground chin first, and it shifted again beneath my head, my body sliding down without stopping. Instinctively I threw my forelegs out to grab onto the clouds, only to slip through them, and stop only when I was subsumed into wet white moisture again. Carefully, I came back onto all fours, shaking my body and noticing specs of black dust and debris falling from my coat and mane.

Once more, I climbed back through the cloud cover, and looked a bit closer at the mountaintop I was walking on. It was thick and black, and upon closer examination it was made up of nothing but dirt and debris, vaguely reminiscent of the spoil that was left behind from the mining that I had done in the cave prison. Carefully, I planted my forehooves on the sliding surface, feeling the ground made of loose dirt shift beneath me and causing me to sink nearly an inch. A few more labored steps, and more sinking followed.

“Well, at least there's no way an Enclave ship could have landed on this.” I mumbled to myself, looking at the giant mountaintop full of spoil. “How did anypony grow potatoes on this? Or anything, for that matter?” Was the other thing I asked aloud, answered by nothing but the very faint echo of my own voice. Just ascending five feet from the top of the clouds took more energy then most of the hike beforehand. For a moment, I thought of calorie intake. Even if I found potatoes or any other kind of food in this mess, I would likely be running at an energy deficit. With a deep sigh, my breath leaving a small imprint on the massive cone of spoil I was knee-high in, I began to turn around, prepared to start my descent.

Red.

A red pair of dots hung on the edge of the cloud-cover, submerged just enough to hide what it was connected to, but visible enough for me to see. My body instinctively froze, the loose spoil around me shifting and rolling down in small amounts.

The mountaintop became deathly silent as I stared into the small red dots, not much bigger then pony eyes. I shifted my body just a bit, feeling the weight of my satchel and the but-end of the pipe rifle tap against the side of my body, confirming that I was still armed.

The two of us just stood in our locations, staring at eachother wordlessly. Eventually the natural urge to blink and clear my eyes overtook me, and the red eyes vanished. But faintly, through the thick clouds, I could see the pony it was connected to.

“Hey!” I shouted, the pony turning it's back toward me and vanishing back into the cloud cover as it began descending. Shocked at seeing another equine that had followed me for so long, I shouted out again. “Wait!” The spoil shifted around me, but I didn't care, quickly landing my hooves back on the firm mountainside again and descending into the clouds down the small naturally formed path I had taken, desperate to see and talk to the other pony that probably knew of a way to stay fed in these mountains.

Pony wasn't the right word. It was massive, twice my height and size. That was a beast. I stopped abruptly after seeing it's full size, covered with a massive shaggy coat the dragged on the ground behind it as the creature continued it's trek downward.

It's sheer size caused me to stop in my tracks. I dropped onto my stomach, turning my head and biting down on the back of my pipe rifle. By the time I brought it around and had it level, the massive equine beast had turned around a bend, and was vanishing out of my site.

I laid there for several minutes, the chill of the water that had condensed on my fur being the only thing I could notice while I slowly breathed, not carefully watching the edge of the rocky wall that the gigantic equine had vanished around. What did break my stare was the sound of wind swirling around me and the side of the mountain, further chilling me. Carefully I raised back onto all fours and crept toward the bend, staying as silent as I could on the jagged rocks.

Coming to the rock wall, I leaned my body against it and slowly stuck my head out, looking farther down the trail I had just came up mere minutes earlier. Nothing but empty air and the trail. I stepped out of cover and listened as closely as I could for any sound beyond the wind and my hooves on the rock, only to be met with a similar emptiness.

I continued to slowly and cautiously descend back down to the cave that had held the cartographer's notebook, the entire time my ears were primed not for pegasi wingbeats, but the sound of what should have been heavy hoof-falls from a large pony. And just like the pegasi wingbeats, the sound never reached my ears. It was as if the large pony evaporated into the air like the fog from earlier, leaving me doubting my eyes from both the hint of an invisible airship and the sight of the large red-eyed pony on the ground level.

- - - -

Sneaking into the factory was a unique experience. There was only one large doorway into it, big enough for two stallions the size of Iron to walk in and out of while standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Beyond that, however, the only other way in and out was through a large chimney sticking out of the top of the building, where smoke lazily drifted out and was fed into the cloud cover above. Not having a grappling hook or wings to fly with, the door was my only way in.

Looking back over toward the entrance behind me, I couldn't help but smile at how easy it was. Staying crouched low and hiding in the shadows made the entire thing incredibly easy. And now that I was inside, the darkness of the entire factory opened up to me, like a comforting embrace to pull me away from the eyes of other ponies.

The only downside of the encroaching early evening darkness was the lack of light to see anything of value. During the day, the open doorway would provide some cloud-obscured sunlight, but the majority of light that we used to work came from the fires from the glyph and the red hot melting metal. But now?

I could see a faint hint of light deeper into the factory. I could only assume it was candlelight, or some other small and flammable source. Carefully, I crept toward the side of the walls, and falling back on my memory from the one day I did work inside of here, I took great effort to not trip on any chains or walk into any support beams.

Heavy breathing was the only thing that came to my ears, and it became incredibly difficult to successfully sneak toward it's source. As heavy as it was, the sound of my hooves on the metal floor was a bit louder, and it was with great pain that I timed each landing of a hoof onto the metal floor.

The source of the breathing which covered by careful creeping toward the back of the room was Tempered Iron himself. He was standing behind a stack of metal slabs, a familiar lilac book laying open while he scribbled something into it using graphite.

“Iron!” A familiar mare's voice shouted out. “We need to talk!”

Instinctively I crouched down, Mare Ether's voice echoing through the nearly empty facotry. Slowly, carefully, I crawled away from her voice, hoping to loop around and sit at an angle that wouldn't expose me to the two.

“Mare Ether. To who do we owe this-”

“Drop the pretentious act. You know why I'm here.” Her usually bubbly tone had been replaced with a curt one. “Now that everything has finally settled down a bit, it's time that you explain why you let a traitorous outsider into Our Town.”

My ear flicked. Talking about me?

“We have been nothing but honest with you, Mare Ether. We wanted the outsider to be my replacement. Somepony who's not afflicted with-” I stopped my crawling for a moment, concerned that he had gone quiet from hearing me. “The vice of laziness between unequal friends.”

“Laziness isn't our enemy, the outsiders are.” The clacking of the unicorn's hoofs on the floor had subsided, but Iron's had not as he walked closer to her, the distance and the volume of their conversation giving me the confidence to start crawling again.

“Laziness is how we keep Our Town in order, Mare Ether.” A short moment of silence. “Our Factory could run much quicker, and make much more material without burning through so much wax for the flame glyphs. We made an agreement with the last Minsitry Mare that-”

“Beatings and slowness to keep ponies busy and unable to think. We know. You're avoiding the question. I granted you a favor as long as you would back me for succession as Ministry Mare. Why was this your favor?”

A prolonged moment of silence settled over the factory as Tempered Iron didn't answer. At this point I had crawled all the way to the candle-lit table, and the edge of Iron's copy of Glimmers of Truth enticingly caught my eyes. The duo were not moving, and were out of my range of sight...so I knocked the book onto the floor infront of me, hoping that he would have recorded some valuable information.

“We don't want a pony who thinks that laziness and beatings is the only way our factory works. We want a pony that understands why we do it that way, and how to motivate ponies to work harder in the event of a friendship problem. But everypony under us thinks that they are cleverly saving energy and taking beatings while reducing their workload without us knowing. And we let them think it, because it makes for good workers. It does not, however, make for good leaders.”

Rapidly flipping through Iron's book, I came across the last entry, which he had been writing before his current conversation started.

The Ministry Mare has charged us with the duty of hiding the outsider's cutie marks, along with our own. Per her wishes, we have put them in the material storage cave that we retrieved the buck from. Nopony except for the Ministry Mare, myself, and the four ponies we had help move the materials know where the cave is, and those four ponies will not know that her glass book is kept in there.

Somehow, despite our massive misjudgment of character of the sleeping outsider, the Ministry Mare still trusts me, and still is letting us run the factory as we see fit. But we expect that may change if she demands to talk with us.

“Iron, while I appreciate your forethought, you have forgotten something incredibly important. There won't be an Our Town to manage if your actions destroy it. I already have to worry about Woe Tree bucking my authority as Ministry Mare, not to mention trying to thin out Water Margin's guard so he can't move against me.”

I flipped back a few pages, but everything before was merely writings about the output. A door one day, a door-frame another day. He did have a few other more detailed writings, but the only other one regarding myself merely stated that he found me in the storage cave and personally brought me to the doctor at night so nopony would start rumors. While he knew where our marks had been stored, there wasn't even a hint recorded of where to look.

“The only reason I wouldn't have you killed right now-” The sound of telekinetic magic lighting up could barely be heard through the gaps in her words. “-is because I need somepony to help when I finally get new pillars. Don't cause any more problems for me, and I won't cause any for you. Got it?”

“Yes, Mare Ether.”

Unsatisfied with my shuffling through the diary, I slowly made my way out of the candlelight, and into the shadows. Now it was just a matter of waiting on Mare Ether to leave, and I could sneak back into the hidden room to tell my friends the good, and bad, news.

The abnormally heavy pin snapped between my teeth. I had already gone through 7 of the pins, not getting even the smallest amount of play with the lock in the back of the underground room with any of them. Carefully I shifted my hoof, changing the angle of the screwdriver by the smallest amounts once more, as I bent my head down and used my tongue to fish out another heavy pin from the box. The most frustrating part of this lock, I decided as I slipped the pin in once more, rubbing it against the lock's internal pins, was that even with all the shifting that they did, the cylinders acted as if they never fell into place.

I took a step back again, looking at the edges of the double doors. I couldn't just smash or remove the hinges, they were on the other side. Dropping the screwdriver and busted pin on the ground, I raised my right hoof to the single door handle again, pressing my ear against the handle-less door that held the lock and jiggling the handle. It didn't sound like the slight shifting was making any change inside the lock, crushing my hope that maybe just holding the handle at a particular angle would change something.

One more idea came to my mind. “Maybe there's another lock on the other side?” Reaching into my satchel I pulled out the cartographer's notebook and tore one of the yellowed pages off of the rusted binding. Clamping the paper between my teeth, I turned my head sideways and slipped it in, gradually moving the sheet from the bottom to the top.

Even with the lock and handle was the latch, evident by the folding of the paper in my mouth. I pulled my head back a slight amount and kept dragging the paper upwards, and sure enough, my worst possible suspicion were proven true. About an inch and a half above the main latch I could feel another one.

With anger I stepped back and spat out the paper. Unless I had a large battering ram or a lot of explosive force, there was no way that I, or anypony else for that matter, would be able to get through those doors unless it was unlocked on the other side. IN frustration I kicked my rear legs into the air.

My anger was broken by the sounds of rock and dirt moving underhoof. Deciding to ignore the lock for tonight, I put the screwdriver and box of heavy bobbypins back in my satchel, using the moment to check and make sure my pipe rifle was positioned to be quickly drawn if it wasn't my friends coming down. I took a few steps toward the hole, watching a few stray pebbles meet the floor first before the hoof and blue-grey coat of a familiar unicorn broke into the candle-lit view. He gave a rough exhale before planting his fore-hooves once more and dragging himself into the room.

“How hard was it?” I asked, watching as Spice collapsed into the pile of dust at the end of the debris tunnel.

“Getting in here?” The unicorn stopped with a sneeze as the dust floated about from his disturbance. “Or getting the crazies that run this joint to let us live?”

“Both?”

“I hate this town.” Amber remarked, rolling onto her back in the middle of all the dust and starring blankly to the ceiling. “All of the ponies here are crazy.”

“They made sure to take our weapons and armor again and she's still bitching about not having her hammer. But you were right, waking up nearly half of the town by trying to kick down doors in a panic did wonders.” Spice Chaser opened his mouth as if to continue, only to turn his head to the side and aggressively sneeze again from the dust.

“Spice gave the bitch running this dump a big apology about how he was so scared and sorry about being used and manipulated.” The mare turned her head and gave me a dead-eyed look. “Why are you stallions so good at lying all the time anyway?”

“And they gave you enough leeway to sneak out tonight?” I asked as my unicorn friend lit the wax with his horn, letting him dim his magical light source.

“I don't think they had much of a choice.” He responded back, sitting on his haunches. “The little stunt your ghoul friend pulled really had everypony in a tither with no idea what to do.”

“Did anypony hint on weaknesses that we could trap them with?”

“The factory fucker doesn't care about anything beyond those walls.” Swing remarked, still laying on her back and looking at me dully. “Well, I think he has a thing for causing grief as well. I saw that bastard taking his spear to no fewer then three ponies today.” She rolled onto her side, and though her fur I could see a slight blue discoloration on her back. “But I've dealt with worse.”

“Water Margin and Woe Tree only seem to be concerned with security and food itself. Neither of them talked about anything else.” Spice remarked. “Woe in particular took interest in that chocolate, going as far as to discuss distributing it among the villagers until Ether shut her down.”

“What for?” I asked. Even a bit of potential leverage on the Ministry Mare that ran the town would be better then nothing.

“She just said it wasn't a good idea to be distributing outsider's goods like that, because it could upset the ponies. And then she locked it up in her cabinet.” He dropped his eyebrows, automatically assuming what my next question would be. “No, her book with our cutie-marks weren't in there either, I'm positive she's had somepony close to her move them.”

A sigh escaped my lips. “Walk me through your whole interaction with them, surely there's something else that we can take note of beyond their commitment to their roles.”

“That pegasus was half dead when he finally saw us. Probably hasn't slept in three days and he did nothing but run around after we left.” The mare rolled onto her stomach, “Wired, tired buck. He had some of his lackeys escort us to the bitch's house” Amber climbed back onto all fours, referring to Glowing Ether with the 'bitch' comment. “And the four of them all reassembled to ask about whatever had happened. So we gave them the sob story about a horde of raiders advancing and that we just barely escaped in the cover of night.”

The sound of hoofsteps on rock caught my attention, and I held up my hoof, silencing the mare. She opened her mouth to protest, but Spice shook his head, getting his marefriend's attention by tapping his right ear. Quickly I motioned toward the puddle of wax, and followed it up with the motion of dragging my hoof across my neck. Amber was the one closest to it, and in turn was the one to extinguish its' light with a quick breath.

Now surrounded by darkness, I focused a bit more on the sounds outside of the room. It changed from hoofsteps to a dragging sound, one coming from the hole. Whoever it was, they were crawling down to into the room we were in. Faintly a magic light could be seen through the entry hole, light consistent with a unicorn's horn. Carefully I reached to my satchel, biting down on the cool mouthgrip of the pipe rifle as I brought the end of it level with the lone entrance. For a moment I hoped it was my unicorn friend that had come down with me and Fair Smile.

Those hopes were dashed quickly. This was a lanky unicorn, coming down rear first. Just after she extracted herself from the hole she craned her neck, her telekinesis yanking a few large objects down the hole behind her. With her back still turned toward us I took the opportunity to creep forward, stopping once I was just behind her. I pressed the end of the barrel against the top of her spinal cord, making my presence very well known.

The unicorn gave a dejected sigh. “We should have known that you would have snuck back to the village as well.” Woe Tree boldly turned to face me, brightening her horn to illuminate both of us plainly as we looked eye-to-eye. “We guess the story of the raider clan was also fake?”

The gun in my mouth didn't make it that easy to talk. “You're going to tell us everything we want to know.” I muffled around the trigger.

“And if we refuse?” I could see her levitation pulling one of Spice's revolver's through the hole, the black one named Sporus, silently implying the threat of mutually assured destruction.

“Then we'll be the only ones who saw anything, and can tell Mare Ether anything we want.” Spice remarked, stepping just into the edge of the faint light her horn provided. Woe Tree's eyes bounced between Spice and I several times, weighing her options.

“She's got all of our stuff!” Amber shouted, breaking the tense atmosphere. She had her head stuck in the entrance, slowly stepping back and pulling out her hammer in her mouth once more.

Understanding how outnumbered she was, the unicorn sighed in defeat. “Very well. What are you three wanting?” She cut her telekinesis, the revolver dropping into Spice's own magical grip.

Spice and I exchanged a look. We had just been talking about trying to find a weakness or desire to exploit one of the ponies running Our Town, and this opportunity had just dropped in our lap. If Spice knew how to perform with tact, it would be possible to get the information without making the goal too obvious. It was incredibly likely though that she would lie to try and throw us off of any usable information, or even worse, lay out a trap to ensnare us all later.

“Why are you here?” My unicorn friend started.

“We had to store your weapons and armor somewhere.” She coolly remarked, her eyes still level with my own as I kept the end of the gun on her chin. “Only the four of us know of this place.”

“Wait. I came down here earlier, and there were no hoofprints or evidence anypony was in this room before, not with all this dust. There were only a few stray hoofprints in the entering tunnel.” The unicorn rolled her eyes, and charged up her horn, then discharged it, releasing her small buildup of magic into the air and causing a breeze, upsetting the thick dust on the floor and redistributing it on the floor, and in our noses. Spice and Amber found themselves sneezing, I merely held my breath to ensure the unicorn wasn't going to use this as a moment to catch the three of us off guard, only for her to sneeze as well. For all my concern, she was just as vulnerable to the dust as we were.

“Where-” The earth pony mare's question was cut off by an errant sneeze. “Where are our cutie marks!?”

“We don't know.”

“I know that she doesn't know.” I remarked, pulling the gun back from her chin. “I read Tempered Iron's diary early, he was the one charged with hiding them again. But it didn't specify where.”

For the first time since turning around, Woe Tree broke eye contact with me, not moving her head but looking to the side to respond to the other mare in the room who started chanting Iron's name with her same vulgar promise.

I ignored Amber's angry chanting to herself at the mention of his name, choosing instead to press on. “Why do you guys not grow more food?” The unicorn's gaze locked right back with me, one of her eyebrows raising in confusion.

“What?”

“You heard me. Your planting is all messy. Everything is too deep and too close to make decent yields.”

She continued to stare at me for a minute. “You're lying.”

“You have one of the few fertile plots of land in all of the Wastelands.” Spice cut in. “The entire reason we came here was to find places to grow food. And all of the land here is completely wasted.” He lowered his revolver. “Is it for population control, you keep the yields intentionally low to better manage the ponies here?”

“This is how we've done it for years. Why would we change what works?” The unicorn was getting extremely defensive, her face steeling the glare and shooting it at him.

“Because it could be better. Instead of keeping everypony half-starved and barely able to work, you could have everypony here well fed.”

“I...I didn't know.” Her gaze abruptly fell, looking toward the ground as her entire form slumped, as if sapped of energy. I quickly looked at her flanks, seeing the grey equal sign pulse.

“Your mark.” Her head glumly turned toward me as I stashed the pipe rifle back in my pack. “The remarking removes your cutie mark and brands you the same as everypony else. But it also locks any knowledge with your special talent. Why would they lock away the talents of anypony leading the town, especially if it has such a negative impact?”

“To lead, one must learn to follow your friends. This lesson will take all your life to learn.” She gave another depressed sigh. “From Glimmers of Truth. Page 67.”

“So everypony has their marks stripped except for Ether then?”

“No. When we say everypony, we mean everypony. We watched Ether be remarked with our own eyes.” A moment of silence. “Who else's marks did you think was in the book with yours?”

“Why?” Amber remarked as she stepped up next to us. “Why were our marks with yours?”

The unicorn mare gave another sigh, walking over toward the table and lighting the candle wax once more. “Starlight Glimmer was a great mare, truly deserving of the title of Ministry Mare. But she wasn't perfect. She lied to the ponies in her care and kept her own destiny and talents to herself, refusing to mingle with us. When she finally died, it was revealed to those closest to her that rather then the staff of sameness, it was her own magic that let her remove cutiemarks. A fight broke out between those who wanted to restore everyone's cutie-marks, and those who believed in what Glimmer wrote and wanted the spell recreated. In the end the former was ousted, and when the spell was recreated a requirement was that everypony watches everypony's remarking, which was to take place the immediately after they earned their cutie-mark. And in case of emergency, the ponies who help run Our Town will be given their marks back.”

“Why do you not let anypony go then? Let those who want to keep their marks leave and be free?” I interjected.

“The ponies that wanted everyone's marks restored were kicked into the mountains. But would you rather be here where everyone is the same and safe, or out there, where individuality drives ponies mad?” Spice guffawed, the older unicorn's attention turned back to him. “We aren't lying. While it would appear that there is some sense of unity beyond our village, the attacks never stop.”

“Attacks?”

“Individualist Ponies. They look like anypony else, but they lurk on the edges of the mountains, hungry for flesh and stealing the young to make more of themselves. Water Margin's nightly shifts are done to drive them away from here and make sure the citizens of Our Town never know of them.”

“Raiders? We came across a few of them before getting here, only fun in this trip.” Amber idly kicked a forehoof against the floor. “Would have been more fun if they actually screamed profanity or tried using a gun like normal ones though.”

I shook my head. “No. I think I know what she's talking about.” I reached into my satchel and pulled out the dead cartographer's notebook, placing it on the table and gingerly opening it to the entry made before. “For a village that's totally off the map and with no contact with the outside world, these wild ponies are a walking propaganda machine to keep those closest to the Ministry Mare in line.” But this raised one more question, a more personal one. “So why didn't Tempered Iron shoot me?”

“You were the first pony we had come across in years. You still had your cutie mark, unlike the individualists, and Iron was insistent on keeping you alive.” Woe Tree let out a small dry laugh. “Alot of good that did.” The older unicorn then narrowed her eyes, her gaze darting between us two males. “You said you came for food? Why would we let you grow food here to be exported to your village of Manehattan?”

I wasn't sure why she was so aggressively pivoting the conversation, but Spice didn't have any hesitation. “Trade. If your village establishes a connection with Manehattan, there would be things outside of the mountains you would be willing to exchange for food.”

“We grow our own food, live in our own houses, and get our water from a hidden well. What would we possibly need from you?”

“Metal.” Amber and I shouted simultaneously. I look at my fellow earth pony, making a motion with my hoof to encourage her to continue. “Metal. All of your houses have patchworks of pig iron on them.” Her countenance fell a bit and I could see the dark pulsing on her flank. “You...you'll need new metal eventually. I don't think you can just reuse the same bits forever.”

“Amber?” She slowly turned her head toward me, her eyes and face covered with the gaze of death. “If I may?” The normally angry mare just nodded, sitting on her rear once more. “Beyond metal, there are more pressing issues. The pegasi are beginning to leave the clouds, and they've been targeting every town and village they can find. How much longer do you think it will be until they come here?” Woe Tree started to open her mouth in rebuttal, and I cut her off. “The fog this morning is all the proof you should need. In the week I was here there was never any fog or mist, just a constant cloud cover.” Her jaw shut in shock from being reminded. “How much longer will it be until they come here? You saw how much damage one pegasus did the other day, imagine fifty of them.”

“Woe Tree.” Spice picked up from me. “Tenpony Tower and Manehattan has friends in high places. If you want this village to survive, you're going to need help from the outside. But we need land to grow more food.”

The mare took a deep inhale, rolling her eyes and cocking her head back, giving the ceiling a stare. “And what would you have us do?”

That was an in. Spice and I looked at each other, exchanging a smile of confidence. “Prod around with the other ponies. Water Margin, Tempered Iron, even Glowing Ether. Drop hints, refer to the fog and the threat of the pegasi.”

She brought her head level once again, shaking in denial. “They won't care. Ether is young, younger then she should have been when she became Ministry Mare. She only cares about consolidating the village around herself.” The old unicorn gave half a chuckle. “She fancies herself as a new Starlight Glimmer, but wouldn't dare go into the caves to preserve herself, let alone Our Town.” Her eyes opened once more, giving me a disappointed gaze. “If only this happened a year or two ago. Gleaming Beam might have been old, but she would have understood.”

“What about Iron or Margin?” Spice quipped.

“Tempered Iron doesn't care about anything beyond the walls of his factory and the iron hoof he rules with. They are close with Ether, and they will always work with her if she gives him free reign. As for Margin...” She gave a sigh. “The pegasi that secure our village from threats are a strange one. Margin is younger then ourselves and Iron, but older then Ether. His job is the only one that is strictly inherited, aside from the doctor's.”

“That should mean that he would be easier to manipulate, right?” I poised with hope. “If he has always been guaranteed a job, wouldn't he be scared of the threat of losing it to a pegasus invasion?”

She perused her lips for a moment. “Maybe.” A moment of silence. “So you want to see Glowing Ether removed or killed, by us?”

I nodded my head, but it was Spice that got her attention. “Only if you think that you and others can lead this village better.” We both looked at my unicorn friend. “There's no point in trading if it leaves everypony here worse off.”

Woe Tree nodded her head slowly. “We can't believe we're doing this. Ever since birth we've had to dedicate my life to Our Town and the Ministry Mare. Now we have to work against her.”

“Hey!” Amber broke in. “If your conversation is winding down, I want in on this!” She shouted, pointing a hoof at her partner. “You got your talk with the food mare, now I want to get my deal!” Her extended forehoof moved to to older lanky unicorn. “Iron. When You finally move with that pegasus to overthrow the bitch, and I get my cutie mark back, he's mine!”

Woe tilted her head in slight confusion. “As a slave?”

“NO!” She stomped her hoof. “I want to take my maul and spikes, and ruin him so badly not even the ground will take him back!”

Woe Tree sighed. “We take it you don't even want to try and convince him to work with you?”

“I don't care what you have to say or do! Bastard makes shit iron, attacked my coltfriend, and took my cutie-mark! If you have to promise that I'll suck his dick that's fine! I'm not leaving this valley until his blood is on my hooves!”

There was a prolonged moment of silence, the former raider mare had worked herself into quite a tizzy as she heaved, eyes shifting slightly but wildly as if trying fighting to control an ocean of rage. Finally the unicorn mare broke the silence. “We don't know when all of this will happen. Or even how it will be done.” She turned her gaze to the raider armor still laying on the floor. “How about this. We'll keep your weapons here. If we can get Water Margin to work with us on this plan, you two can run back here and grab your stuff for the confrontation.” She faced us stallions once more. “We trust you three are smart enough not to mess with them until it's time?” All three of us nodded, Amber's rage apparently pacified for the moment by the promise. She then turned her head toward me once more. “We'll talk with Water Margin tomorrow.”

“How can I trust you?” I poised, still mulling over the short talk I just had with Spice. “How do we know you're not going to leave here and tell Ether or Margin about us?”

She furrowed her brow in thought. “Tomorrow evening. We typically don't eat with the normal ponies here. We'll invite Water Margin to the communal dining hall after the end of day song. You can listen in yourself.” The lanky unicorn turned her back toward us, finished with the talk and ducking back into the lone entrance.

The three of us all stood in silence, listening to the unicorn as she crawled out of the room and listening as her hoofs clopped against the rock while fading into the distance. Once the sounds were gone I turned toward Spice. “Pretending to care for the wellbeing of the ponies? That was a bold lie.”

Spice recoiled his head back. “Lying? No! I mean it.”

Now it was my turn to tilt my head. “Seriously? You made it sound like if you fail this mission you'd lose your home.”

“I don't want to lose my home that we've worked to for so long.” He slightly shook his head. “But I'd rather be kicked out of Manehattan then live high and mighty off the backs of starving and hurting ponies.” He brought his left forehoof to his chest. “Ponies don't have to live their lives surrounded by lies and manipulation. Besides. My cooking skills and Amber are all I really need to be happy. I'd like to make great confections because that's what I've always wanted, and Tenpony Tower is the best place to do that. But I'd rather live with a clean conscious then a rough one.”

I had no answer. It seemed like a lot of extra hassle for no gain. It's not like he'd have a reason to come back to this village later, why even let it bother him? The ponies here wouldn't have to trust him for anything beyond setting up the details for trading once Ether was out of the picture.

Eight campfires, like the directions of a compass, all surrounding the valley.

I carefully crawled forward, stomach brushing the ground, thinking about the sight after I stepped out of the partially forgotten printing press room. The guards had finally reacted to the promise of a large force, surrounding the entire valley that held Our Town with light, as an early warning beacon. With their pattern changing, I decided to take a risk, and snuck toward one of the flames, curious to see how they had changed so I could properly adapt.

Voices could be heard over the rock I was clambering up. Flattening my body as much as I could against the ground, my pace slowed to a snail's crawl, unwilling to make any noise to reveal myself and skittish about the idea of being illuminated by the flames. But to actually see what was going on, I'd have to compromise some of my visibility to establish an unobstructed line of sight while also hearing what was being said. Reluctantly, I heaved my body forward, the rock I was perched on obscuring the bottom third of my vision but letting me see the fire and the ponies who had lit it.

“-go to the south to light another one. If you mess up this glyph the fire will not ignite.”

Water Margin was lightly flapping his wings, directing two ponies, a earth pony and unicorn duo, to the north. Two other ponies stood to the side, awaiting further instruction.

“Understood!” The duo raise their right legs and saluted, before turning and beginning a trek to the south, a direction that would take then both within a few meters of me. I watched the duo as they trotted past, noting how only one of them had a rifle and neither of them had any other equipment to speak of. Not even a hint of armor or weapons. One of them had a small bag wrapped around their neck with the end of rolled up paper sticking out, but that was as far as it went.

“Dark Meadow and us will head to the north and light the last fire.” The Pegasus pointed to the dark blue unicorn, who stood up and beat his left forehoof on the ground. “Remember. If you see anypony, break the glyph and immediately head back to Our Town.” The remaining unicorn saluted after being given his instruction, and then Water Margin began his move northward, the unicorn armed with their rifle and a similar roll of paper trotting behind as they went into the darkness.

It was just me perched ontop of the boulder looking down on the remaining unicorn now. He didn't have a firearm with him. In fact, he had nothing at all beside the light of the fire. Said fire lacked any source of fuel, reminding me of the glyph-created fire inside of the factory, a magical symbol that would keep fire running for a set period of time after having been ignited.

My eyes stayed locked on the unicorn while I mulled over the reasoning for the plan. Assuming that Woe Tree was correct and that Glowing Ether still assumed there was a large raider army in the mountains, lighting eight beacons would have no practical use. I would have told them where the village was, and such a horde would have just charged straight into the valley, careless of any fires. The unicorn lay down and turned his back to the fire, apparently wanting to get a bit of sleep.

That was the counterpoint. Leaving just one or two ponies at each location just begged for one of them to be attacked by any 'individualist' ponies, or an individual such as myself. It would be extremely easy to sneak down and choke him out, or even put a bullet in his head from my current perch. They wouldn't even get a chance to put out the fire. And this unicorn didn't even have a weapon to fight back with.

I narrowed my eyes in the darkness, crawling backwards from my vantage point and surrounding myself deeper in the shadows, completely hiding from the illumination of the fire. Something else about this didn't seem right. The other two pairs of ponies had been armed, and they were in a pair. Why would they have left this single pony alone?

The sound of shifting rocks broke me out of my thought. Maybe they didn't. I sprung to all four hooves, looking around to find the origin of the sound. It was hard to make out, but I could hear hooves on rock, the noise coming to my left and the source hidden from the light by the hillside. I sprung forward instinctively, prepared for a brief tackle to the ground. Don't let them find you. Was the only thought in my mind.

The moment the pegasus came into sight, I sprung forward for the neck. They opened their wings to bring the rifle level with my head, but before they could line the shot I jumped into them, slamming a forehoof into their neck and tackling them into the ground, trapping them beneath my body with my other forehoof planted on their wing.

Fair Smile gasped in pain upon being smashed onto the ground, and I stopped, horrified at what I had just done. My first friend, choking under my hoof, had already lost the grip on the rifle and was thrashing her forelegs against me.

Achievement Unlocked – I scratch your back – Work with your new friends and a leading pony in Our Town on a deal