Fallout Equestria: Influx - Under the Red Cloudby Lex the PikachuChaptersPrologueChapter 1: InvitationChapter 2: Toxic WelcomeChapter 3: Tick Tick TICKChapter 4: Old GhostsPrologueFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Prologue “Hey captain, do you smell that?” “I do, private.” A squadron of enclave pegasi escorted a vertibuck heading towards a new research site. Inside, a team of scientists, all clad in lab coats, observed this noticeable change of environment with caution. One of them spoke up. “Captain, this smells like sulphur. Maybe we should go around it.” “We’re already behind schedule because of that storm we had to avoid over the Grogar Mountains. We can’t afford another lengthy detour. We push on.” “I don’t like this, Archimedes,” said another scientist, strapping herself in. “I can smell copper as well.” “I know, Dew Feathers,” agreed Archimedes. “I can smell something else too. Maybe it’s old world gold or something,” piped yet another. “And it’s getting stronger.” The rest of them buckled up, expecting a turbulent flight. Soon, however, they began to hear heavy coughing coming from their escorts, and the pilot. Archimedes rushed to the window and gasped in shock. The sky had turned a deep crimson and all the soldiers outside were hacking and wheezing, as if the air filtration systems in their power armour had somehow failed. “IT BURNS!” “Can’t breathe!” “Captain… CAPTAIN!” Archimedes shouted. All he received in reply was wet coughing. Suddenly, all the guards began to fall out of the sky. Archimedes swore he could see heavy corrosion on their suits. Then, the vertibuck started nosediving. The cabin filled itself with screams of terror, as well as a red mist seeping in through the ventilation ducts. Soon enough, the aircraft was spinning, too, and Archimedes, having stepped out of his seat, found himself being thrown around inside the cab. He crashed and banged against every surface before he violently slammed into one of the windows and smashed right through it. He was immediately assaulted by the toxic air, and so he quickly held his breath. He got his bearings and opened his wings. As he glided, he could see the thick red clouds thin out until an old resort villa and a towering building on a cliff came into view. Although it was incredibly dark under the red cloud, powerful spotlights aimed at the tower illuminated the area below. He soon had to breathe, but luckily found that the sulfuric smell was significantly lesser at this lower altitude. Looking around, he gasped in horror as he watched the aircraft plummet and slam into the top of the tower, exploding violently and sending chunks of debris that rained down onto the villa. He felt a pang of sorrow and guilt, for he knew the two scientists, both of them long-time colleagues and friends, were still inside. He also witnessed three of his security detail slam into the ground all around the villa. The only source of relief came when he caught sight of the last two regain control of their flight and glide their way down to safety near the villa. He coughed and sputtered as he located what appeared to be the largest piece of wreckage and swooped down. Once he landed, he could hear the sound of a bell ringing in the distance, along with a strange howling noise akin to a degraded alarm system. He approached the wreckage and discovered it was part of the storage compartment. He salvaged what he could, including several bottles of water and a couple of sealed canisters of food. Sadly, a majority of other supplies and equipment were too damaged for him to use. Suddenly, the sound of shuffling reached his ears, and he turned around to see what looked like a pony in a dark brown hazmat suit with glowing green goggles, stumbling from around a corner. “What the hell is that?” Archimedes asked himself. The creature continued to approach, and as it got closer, he noticed that it seemed to have what looked like a bear trap strapped to its hoof. “I need to regroup with what’s left of my team and call for help.” He turned tail and ran. Unbeknownst to him, a tall shadowy figure watched from a nearby balcony. “Interesting. This may be the opportunity I have been waiting for.” It grinned darkly. Plans and schemes ran through its head. “Welcome to the Sierra Maredre, my new friend.” Chapter 1: InvitationFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 1: Invitation “I can’t believe it's been ten years already.” My husband and I ascended the stairs of our family home. “Yeah. It's been quite the rollercoaster hasn’t it?” I nodded with a smile, and I couldn’t help but reminisce. At first, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves after we stopped Ironside’s plans for domination. We were hailed as heroes in the Marejave and beyond, thanks to DJ Pon3 singing our praises over the radio. We had our fair share of scares, like when we faced the Illustrious Moon tribe or the Krogoth. There were aspects of our life that took time getting used to, like my body’s ‘upgrades,’ which had inspired locals to coin the term ‘zebrasus’ for my new kind, or Unit-1000 turning out to be Princess Solaris. However, none of that got in the way of what were the best things to happen to me since my rebirth: getting married to the stallion I love, and becoming a mother twice over. First, was our adopted zebra filly, Xian, and then five years later, our twin zebrasi, Ava and Violet. I feared Xian would become jealous when our attention had to go mostly to the twins, but she became the best big sister the twins could’ve ever have asked for. “Crystal, you there?” Fruity asked, waving a hoof in front of my face. I blinked as I came back to reality and giggled. “Heh. Sorry. Got lost in thought there.” “Yeah, you sure did.” He gestured to the ceiling hatch. “What am I looking for up there again?” “Wouldn’t it be easier if I helped you up there?” “No offence, love, but you weigh more than I do and one wrong step up there would have you falling through the ceiling. I really don’t want to see the result of that again, and I doubt the kids would either.” I cringed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well then, we haven’t been up there since we moved in properly. There’ll likely be a lot of old things from before the Collapse that we can sell or break down for components. So, basically, bring down anything you think has any value.” He nodded and fluttered up to the ceiling. He pushed the wooden hatch cover up and aside, and immediately, a thick cloud of dust rained down over him. He coughed and sputtered while I used my wing to wave the dust away. “Well, that’s a year off my life,” Fruity muttered to himself before he pulled himself up into the attic. “There should be a light up there near the hatch.” “Found it.” Light suddenly flooded out of the hatch. “Bloody hell, that’s bright…” I was pleasantly surprised that the light still worked after all this time. “What do you see?” “A whole lotta shit.” “Yeah, I know. Which is why it’s up there. But is there anything of value?” “I’ll get back to you on that. There are so many black bags up here.” I nodded, but then I remembered he couldn’t see me. “I’ll be here.” I heard grunts and the shifting of plastic bags up there. I giggled to myself at some of his mutterings. After about half an hour, we had amassed a fair pile of junk that could be worth a cap or two, and some things that could be used for scrap. I sat on my haunches for a while, waiting for him to show me something else, but I soon realised he hadn’t shown me anything for some time now. “Hey Fruity, you ok up there?” I called with a hint of worry. “Huh, oh shit, yeah. Sorry, got distracted,” He replied hastily. “Distracted? By what?” “Well, your foal pictures.” He chuckled, and I felt a lead weight drop into my stomach. “Oh, please no,” I moaned. “Hehe, you were such an adorable little filly.” He giggled some more at my embarrassment. “Alright, I’ll save these for later. I bet the kids would love to see these.” I hid my face in my wings. “Oh, this is going to be a long night.” “Crys, get ready. This bag is fairly heavy. There’s got to be like ten albums in this.” I stood on my hind legs and held out my forehooves to accept the bag. Fruity peeked over the rim of the hatch to make sure I was ready, and then disappeared again. Moments later, a dirty, dusty old canvas shopping bag was hefted over the threshold and slowly inched down. I could see my husband clutching the handles of the bag in his mouth, gritting his teeth from the strain of the weight. I flapped my wings to bring myself closer and take the bag. He let go once he noticed that I had the bag in my hooves. I squeaked at the sudden weight and nearly fell to the floor, but quickly got control of myself and slowly hovered back down and placed the bag to the side. With everything we had amassed so far, it would take us a day or two to sort them out and take them to the appropriate merchants. “Anything else up there worth bringing down?” “Nothing else really…” He paused. “Hang on a sec, I think I see something near the chimney breast.” I strained my ears to hear what he was doing up there. “There’s a black bin bag hidden in the insulation over here.” I raised an eyebrow at that. A bin bag in the insulation. That sounded very odd. “HOLY SHIT!” “What?!” I squeaked out in surprise. “Look out below!” Said black bin bag fell through the hatch and landed with a smack, spilling out letters and yellowed envelopes and dust onto the floor by my hooves. After a brief coughing fit, and Fruity flapping his wings to land and blow the dust cloud away, I picked up one of the letters in my feathers and gasped in shock. The letter I held was a confidential document from the Ministry of Awesome. With my mother’s name on it. “Oh my stars…” I picked up several more letters. “T-these are my mother’s Ministry letters.” “Yeah, that’s right. Your mum was a member of the M.o.A.” My eyes widened, and I breathed in deeply. “This could be it , Fruity.” The purple pegasus raised a brow. “These letters…” I gestured to the bag. “Something in this bag could lead me to my mother. This could be the thing we’ve been looking for!” “Why don’t you get stuck into that then and I’ll start sorting this shit out.” He gestured to the junkpile. “You sure?” “Of Course. This is important to you.” XXXXX Several hours later. I gasped. The sound of the front door closing startled me awake. Despite how much I wanted to find out what became of my mother, I’d fallen asleep after hours of sorting through boring bills, wage slips, terms and conditions and the sorts. In hindsight, it made sense that the Ministry wouldn’t have sent out anything sensitive by mail and risk it being left out in the public. “Hey mum, we’re home,” Xian called from the hall. I smiled and stood from the kitchen table. “Welcome home, sweetie.” The living room door opened, and my eighteen-year-old daughter walked in. She opened her mouth to say something when two smaller fillies rushed in and clamped their little legs around their mother’s forelegs. “My babies.” I draped a wing around each of them in an embrace, giving each filly a nuzzle. Ava and Violet… I would never stop being grateful to Dr Pear for making me capable of having foals. Xian smiled and wrapped a foreleg around my neck. “Are you ok? You look like you’ve just woken up.” I craned my neck up to give Xian a loving nuzzle on the cheek. She had grown into quite the beautiful mare. Tall, toned, long silky hair, and a soft caring personality that didn’t stop her from fiercely defending those she cares about. “I’m ok sweetie. I guess I dozed off from one too many boring letters.” “Letters?” I motioned towards the kitchen table, covered in old sheets of paper and a half-empty black bin bag. “Where did all those come from?” “From the attic. Your father found them while we were cleaning it out,” I explained. The twins jumped onto the living room sofa and turned on the TV. Nexus had managed to fix it as well as the holotape player, meaning we could watch all the holotapes we found over the years, including some of my favourite TV shows from before the war. “Why are you going through all of those?” She asked. “Well, I’m trying to find clues on what happened to your grandma.” “Oh! Can I help?” I smiled warmly. She was always eager to help if she could. Nexus must’ve rubbed off on her, or so I believed, at least. “Thank you, honey. An extra pair of eyes would help this go quicker.” Xian scanned the room. “Where’s Dad? Why isn’t he helping you?” As if on cue, we heard a dull thud from upstairs. It sounded like it came from the spare room, where Fruity had dragged in all the other stuff. A second later, his colourful profanity trickled through the ceiling. I giggled. “Sorting out the stuff he brought down.” Xian giggled also. Having grown up, she found the majority of his cussing humorous. XXXXX I snorted awake again sometime later. As I lifted my head off my forehooves, I blinked the papers back into focus. The light outside the windows indicated that the sun had begun to set. I groaned in mild annoyance. So much time spent, and so little to show for it. Just then, the living room door opened, and Fruity walked in with Violet riding on his back. Whatever sleep that still clung to my mind was immediately purged as I bolted out of my chair and my eyes searched for Ava. Fruity must’ve figured the reason for my abrupt change of demeanour, for he rushed over to me and draped one of his wings across my back comfortingly. “It’s alright, Crys. Ava is upstairs tormenting Nexus.” I sighed and dropped back down into my chair. “I fell asleep again.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Fruity chuckled as he used his wing to peel a piece of paper off the side of my face. “I can see Xian was just as thrilled.” I looked to the other occupied chair and smiled at the sight of our eldest quietly snoring away, her long-braided mane draped over her face. “Mummy sleepy?” Violet asked as she stood on her hindlegs and propped herself up against the back of her father’s head. “Yes, mummy sleepy.” I giggled and extended one of my wings to gently tickle my daughter’s nose. She giggled and dove back down behind her father’s head to shield herself. “So, no luck I take it?” Fruity inquired. I shook my head with a dejected sigh. “No. Nothing yet but employment letters and wage slips. But I have found a sort of time scale from these letters.” “Time scale?” “Yeah. From what I can see here, my mother had worked for the M.o.A for almost ten or so years before the Collapse.” He took one of the few remaining letters out of the bag with a wing. “I suppose even this was a long shot, huh?” He flicked the envelope away and unfolded the old piece of paper inside. As he did, a smaller slip of decorative paper drifted down onto the table. “Smegging hell!” “What?! What is it?” I squeaked in anticipation. “Dude, this is a letter of invitation addressed to you and your mother for the grand opening of someplace called the Sierra Maredre Casino and Hotel… Wait, there isn’t such a place like that on the Strip.” “Sierra Maredre… Sierra Maredre…” I mumbled to myself as the name rang a bell in my memory, from before my death. I closed my eyes in concentration, and eventually, the memory materialised at the forefront of my mind. My eyes shot open as it all clicked into place. “Ah, I remember now. The Maredre had been announced for construction and was said to be its own separate resort somewhere in the Marejave. I guess they managed to get it built before the Collapse happened,” “Oh definitely, because the date on this letter is no more than a month before the bombs fell.” “Wait, what?!” I snatched the letter out of his wing to read it myself. Dear Cream Éclair, We of the Ministry of Awesome hope this letter finds you well. You have been a valued member of our team here in the Ministry of Awesome for the last several years, and in recognition of your service, we would like to reward you with a full expense paid trip for two weeks at the newly constructed, state-of-the-art Sierra Maredre Casino and Hotel this October. You have also been invited to attend this year’s Grand Galloping Gala that is to be hosted at the Sierra Maredre to coincide with its grand opening. Enclosed within this letter are two tickets. One for yourself and one for your daughter, Crystal Éclair. These tickets will be required to gain entry to the casino and for specific transport routes. The Lunar Eclipse train service has been chartered for passengers from the Marejave region. We hope you will enjoy your stay at the new luxurious casino and hotel, and we look forward to many more years of your loyal service. Yours faithfully. Silver Moonlight. Marejave M.o.A Equine Resources Manager. I looked down at the small decorative paper on the table and plucked it up with my primaries. It was a ticket with my name on it. “Wait, why did it include you? By the time your mother received this, you would’ve been dead for a few years, right?” I nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me, though. When we first moved into this house when I was five, we were still getting letters for the previous owner twenty years later.” “Sounds like my old landlord,” Fruity chuckled. “Dumbass kept sending letters to my flat addressed to the guy that lived there before me.” “Yeah, I guess the M.o.A didn’t update their records properly… or at all.” “Must’ve been painful for your mum though, seeing your name in that.” I sighed sadly. I could only imagine. Fruity cleared his throat as he began to tidy up the table. “So, we got a solid lead to where she may have gone now. Her ticket isn’t here, so we can safely assume she took the trip.” I flipped the letter and ticket over, scanning both thoroughly for an address; neither of them had one. Perhaps the aforementioned transport routes were privy to invitees until the Maredre was open to the general public. Not to mention, the Lunar Eclipse hadn’t been running for two centuries. “So, how do we find out how to get there?” I asked. Fruity rubbed his chin in thought. “Hmm. Maybe somepony at the Golden Oaks would know. I mean, somepony must’ve been there and back in the two hundred years since the Collapse, right?” “Good idea.” I looked out the window. “And it looks like it’d be a good time to go check.” Fruity followed my gaze and nodded. “Should be packed by now.” “Ok, let’s go see if Nexus is up to foal sitting for the next couple of hours.” We walked into the hallway just as Nexus reached the bottom of the stairs. “Ah, Sir. Ma’am. I was just about to come find you.” Nexus had gone through a major change in his life about five years ago. Our trip to find the Crystal Empire had a profound impact on his mentality. Originally, he said he was okay staying as a robot, but being exposed to a loving family everyday made him long for a family of his own. This resulted in him accepting Dr Pear’s offer to have him rebuilt as a Mark 1.5 like myself. He even chose to become a grey-striped zebra, just like me. With his rebirth, he had become more outgoing and even made a few friends outside our family; one of those friendships blossomed into an attraction. We couldn’t have been happier for him and how much he had grown. Fruity chuckled. “We were just coming to find you too, buddy.” “How can I be of service?” “Well you wanted to see us, so what can we do for you?” I asked him. “Well, I wanted to ask if you required my services this evening?” “Got a date with your marefriend lined up?” Fruity asked with a knowing smirk. “Um, yes, sir.” “Dude, how many times? You don’t have to call me ‘sir.’” “At least once more, sir.” “Um, well Nexus, we were hoping you could foalsit the kids this evening, actually. Fruity found a solid lead to where my mother may have gone.” “Ah. Of course I can, ma’am.” “No, you don’t have to drop your plans just for us.” I turned to Fruity. “We could always go tomorrow,” “I understand ma’am, but this is very important to you, so I will not deny you the chance to find out what became of your mother when you have a good chance to find out sooner rather than later.” “Why not invite Killian to join you here tonight then?” Fruity suggested. “That way you still get to spend time with each other and you keep an eye on the twins.” “Thank you, sir. Do you mind if I go now to explain the situation and invite her over?” I shook my head. “No not at all, go ahead. The night is still young.” Nexus then left to meet up with his marefriend. As the front door closed, Fruity turned to me. “While we wait for him to come back, I’m gonna put the twins to bed. Hopefully they’ll stay in bed all night.” I gave him a sad smile. “I hope his commitment and loyalty to us doesn’t get in the way of his relationship with Killian. The last thing I’d want is for him to lose out on love because he feels obligated to keep serving us.” “I understand, honey, but he’s still adjusting too. Being only half-organic means real emotions are still confusing to him. This will be something he’ll have to learn on his own, but we’ll certainly help him if he needs it.” I looked over at Violet, now struggling to keep her eyes open. “Good night sweetie,” I cooed softly, kissing her forehead. “Night, night, mummy.” The young filly yawned. Fruity smiled softly at that, and then cantered up the stairs to put her and Ava to bed. Try, at least. I decided to wake up my eldest. The poor young mare was still sitting at the table with her head in her hooves when I reentered the kitchen. I gently shook her with my wing. “Wake up, Xian. We can’t have you sleeping at the table all night. It’ll be no good for your back.” The teenager groaned and groggily sat up. “Oh, Mum. H-how long have I been asleep?” “Um, a few hours.” She yawned loudly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.” “Think nothing of it, honey, and thank you for trying. Besides, your father found a solid lead just a minute ago.” “Really, that’s awesome!” She chirped, suddenly much more awake. “Yeah, and I hope you don’t mind but we’ll need you to help Nexus in foalsitting your sisters tonight. Your father and I are going to the Golden Oaks to see if they know anything about the Sierra Maredre.” “Is that where your mother went?” “Might be, but it's our only lead. Oh, and Nexus might be bringing his marefriend over. They were supposed to be going out tonight, but you know him, dropping anything to assist us. But at least he does want to be with her.” Xian nodded. “Killian and Nexus work well together. I’m sure she’ll be ok with it, and it’ll be nice to see her again.” The two of us cleared away the remaining rubbish off the table, and I peeled a piece of paper still off my daughter’s face with a laugh. After that, I went upstairs to bid my youngest good night. Violet was thankfully fast asleep, but her sister was restless. Luckily, she calmed down with the promise of a treat in the morning if she went to bed. Fruity was grateful that Ava seemed to listen to me more often than not. Identical or otherwise, their personalities couldn’t be any more different from each other. Once the two were finally settled, we retreated to our bedroom to get ready. It still felt weird to me that we slept in the master bedroom where my parents once slept, even after Fruity told me the house was rightfully mine and I could give Xian my old room. Still, I knew it was better to move on than to let memories of the past affect me. More importantly, my newest discovery might actually explain something that confused me when we took the bedroom for our own. While the rest of the house was more or less as I remembered it, a fair amount of my mother’s belongings were missing. Maybe the lack of my mother’s clothes was because she left for a trip. “We’re only going to the Oak, so I doubt we’ll need our full combat gear,” said Fruity, opening his wardrobe. “Yea, but at this time of night, some thugs might try to be brave and mug us, or some other innocent bystander.” “So, still pack the repellent then?” He pulled out his plasma rifle with the flamer muzzle attachment and slung it across his back. “Repellent… yes.” I shook my head at my husband’s choice of words whilst pulling out my own 45-70 calibre revolver, Lucky 7. “I never realised we had such dexterity in our primary feathers,” Fruity commented as he watched me handle my revolver with a wing like it was a hand. “I don’t think either of us realised it. I mean, I wasn’t born a pegasus and you didn’t have to use your wings like that for your bartending job. Hell, down here you were shown to use things like an Earth Pony, what with bite trigger weapons and battlesaddles,” “True, true; but learning this level of dexterity would’ve made things so much easier.” “Can’t argue with that.” We heard the front door open just as we finished getting dressed. We hurried down stairs to greet Nexus, finding him holding the door open to let in a slightly smaller unicorn mare. Her name was Killian Rose, an ex-Desert Ranger sniper. She had an unfortunate run in with a landmine some time ago, which ultimately cost her left foreleg above the knee, as well as her eyesight in her left eye. She recovered, but the injuries left her unfit to continue serving in her squad. The poor mare’s cream coat was marred with a spider web of scars on her chest and around her leg stump. She also wore an eyepatch most of the time to hide her milky white eye. Her soft pink mane and tail were cut short out of habit, to keep her hair out of her line of sight. Despite all that, she remained strong-willed and loyal to those she cared for. She even developed a stubborn streak and refused to be treated like a helpless victim. When not fighting, she was actually quite the softy. She loved gardening and socialising, but could be a little awkward when communicating; something she and Nexus had in common. “Ah, good evening, Killian. Sorry we interrupted your plans tonight with Nexus,” I greeted. Killian grunted as she hobbled into the hall and leaned herself up against the wall, panting softly. “It’s fine. We didn’t have anything extravagant planned. Just a late-night stroll. But…” Her horn glowed light pink, and a blob of magic formed around her stump. “My prosthetic broke this morning, so I have to go three legged until I can get a replacement. Takes a lot out of me.” “Perhaps Nexus can fix it for you,” Fruity suggested. “My thoughts exactly, sir.” Nexus closed the front door behind him, carrying her prosthetic limb on his back. “Xian will be here, as well. Maybe she can give you a hoof with that leg while you all keep an eye on the twins,” I suggested with a smile. “Thank you,” Killian replied tiredly. “Right. Well, we shouldn’t be too long, but if there are problems, you know to reach me, Nexus.” “Of course, ma’am,” He said, tapping his left ear. I’d taken to wearing a wireless earpiece in my ear. Whenever Nexus or Dr Pear decided to reach out to me via our communication network, I’d hold my ear as if I was using said earpiece, so ponies didn’t think I was talking to myself. “We’ll see you later tonight.” With that, we left the house into the early evening of the Marejave. It only took us a few minutes of leisurely walking to reach the south gate. As we approached, we spotted two Queens on sentry duty, including our good friend, Zatara. We’d become friends since she helped in my rescue from the Illustrious Moon Tribe several years ago. “Good evening, Mr and Mrs Éclair,” Zatara greeted. “Good evening, Zatara. How’ve you been?” I greeted back. “Oh, I’ve been good. Only been on duty for an hour, but it’s been quiet…” “Usually always is.” The other guard mumbled to herself. “…So, you’re heading to Hayside?” “That’s right. We’re going to the Oak.” “Ah, well I hope you enjoy your evening at the bar.” She used her tail to pull the gate open for us. “Thank you. Hope the rest of your shift goes smoothly.” Once we passed through, the large gate slid closed again, and we made our way up the run-down street, being careful not to step into any potholes. The outer regions of Hayside were practically slums, with its fair share of thugs, junkies, and dealers. Most ponies would need an escort if they wanted to avoid the possibility of being jumped and robbed, or worse, murdered. The Queens did a good job of policing the town but the majority of their resources were spent on the inner limits. “Well, at least the road is clear.” Fruity kicked a pebble to the side. I knew Fruity was referring to the time when the ruins of the former primary school littered the streets. I assumed the local salvage shops had cleared it up for whatever reason. “Err, shit, which way was it again to the main road?” Fruity asked. “I swear you’d get lost in our own house if you didn’t already live there.” Fruity stuck out his tongue. I giggled and shook my head. Faust, I love his goofy ass so much. “Ok, numpty, we take the next right at the intersection, then a left by the old fort, and another left to bring us to the gate into the town proper.” “Ok, I’ll try to remember that.” I very gently cuffed the back of his head with my wing. “You better. We come here often enough as it is.” As we passed the old fort, we found a group of three ponies loitering in the middle of the road. My EFS had all three of them flagged as hostile. Great. Thugs or junkies. I waved a wing at Fruity to get his attention while using the other to grasp my revolver. I nodded in their direction to convey my intended message to my husband. He briefly looked towards them and took hold of his own weapon. It was then that one of them noticed us and turned. “Well now, what brings you two to our part of town?” He asked with a sleazy grin. “We’re just passing through,” I spoke evenly. “Well, you gotta pay a fee to pass through here safely.” “We ain’t paying shit to you nobs,” Fruity countered, hefting his rifle in his forehooves and flapping his wings to hover. At Fruity’s defiance, the other two brandished their own weapons: poorly maintained .308 hunting rifles. “Now sir, refusal to pay will result in some hardship to you and your lady.” “Really?” Fruity raised his weapon and fired a stream of plasma fire into the air, illuminating the area in a baleful green. The sight made all three of them gawk and mutter worriedly. “You three are outmatched, and I have a revolver aimed at your head,” I threatened. “Your friends would not like to see what a bullet out of this gun will do to your face.” Fruity levelled his plasma rifle at the head goon. “If you know what’s good for you, fuck off and don’t bother us again.” I cocked back my gun’s hammer. By now, they knew we were serious. “You know what, this is the wrong street. C’mon guys, we should go back,” the head goon hinted calmly. We could tell he was doing everything in his power to keep his face straight. The other two nodded, and they fast-walked right on out. “Heh. Stupid twats,” Fruity snickered as he deactivated his weapon and holstered it. “Gotta give them credit for trying, though,” I giggled back, holstering my revolver. Thankfully, the rest of the walk was peaceful and uneventful. XXXXX Crossing through the gate into inner Hayside felt like using some kind of interdimensional portal. The majority of the buildings here had power and the streetlights were lit, bathing the roads in dull yellow light. Combine that with an even greater population walking the streets, Hayside was suddenly a living town. I smiled at the sight of so many ponies. Hayside and the surrounding Marejave area were becoming safer and more hospitable, so more and more were not afraid to go out at night. A mare spoke as she walked by.“Oh, hey. Welcome back to Hayside. Thank you for all you’ve done for us,” “Uh… You’re welcome,” I replied, keeping my emotions in check. By now, we were thanked by random ponies every time we stepped into Hayside. The praise was flattering, at first. These days, its consistency was annoying to no end. “You do a couple of good things and these ponies don’t shut up about it,” Fruity mumbled. “I know. This is getting ridiculous.” A young Queens guard noticed us. “Oh, good evening Mr. and Mrs. Éclair. Is there anything I can do for you?” “Oh, good evening,” I greeted with a strained smile. “We were just going to the Golden Oak.” “Oh, please don’t let me keep you.” She bowed her head respectfully. “The Oak is very busy tonight, though.” “Perfect. Thanks,” said Fruity. We began making our way up the street towards the golden yellow neon. There stood our destination, close to the gate to New Pegasus. A few minutes later, we arrived at the door. Fruity pushed it open and held it for me, which earned him a peck on his cheek. Such a gentlecolt, when he wants to be. The Queens member wasn’t kidding. Everywhere from the bar to the casino was stuffed to the brim. Most of the crowd appeared to be prospectors and mercenaries, veterans of the wasteland. This was perfect for us; there was a good chance that somepony here knew something about the Maredre. “Good evening, barkeep.” Fruity greeted the stallion behind the bar as he cleaned a class. “Mr. Fruity, nice to see you again. The usual?” “Nah, but thanks.” “Good evening sir,” I smiled. “Good evening Mrs. Éclair. What can I do for you?” “We were hoping to get some information. Maybe somepony here might know something.” “Probably. Some of these drunks can talk shit for hours to anypony who’ll listen.” “Know anypony here that might know something about the Sierra Maredre?” His expression immediately darkened, and he stopped cleaning his glass. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid not.” It was obvious he knew exactly what we were talking about. “Sod this.” Fruity climbed up onto the bar. “Sir, get down-” “Alright, do any of you tossers know anything about the Sierra Maredre Casino?” What came next made me think we had said something bad. The entire room went deathly quiet. “Um, Fruity. Get down, please.” I implored nervously. Suddenly, there was a gruff cough, and an old, white-bearded earth pony stallion stepped out from the crowd. “Here we go…” The bartender groaned and turned away. “Everypony has heard of the Sierra Maredre Casino. We all have. The legends, the curses. Equestria’s most famous stars and performers had been invited to its grand opening. The invitation was supposed to be a sign of… exclusiveness. The opening was supposed to symbolise the path to a better, brighter future. Not just for Equestria, but for everypony that came to its doors. A chance for anypony to start again. The Sierra Maredre never opened, however. The War and the Collapse froze it in time, like a camera going off. The Grand Opening, one big failure for equinity. It’s still out there, in the Marejave Wasteland, preserved, just waiting for somepony to break it open. Hidden beneath a blood-red cloud. A bright, shining beacon attracting treasure hunters to their deaths. Getting to it isn’t the hard part. It’s getting out.” Ok, that painted quite the picture. I immediately felt apprehensive. Had my mother walked into a death trap? “Well, that was descriptive. Have you been there?” Fruity asked. Several patrons started mumbling to him. From the looks on their faces, they were trying to dissuade him from talking more. “I have,” he answered. Ponies around him facehooved and groaned. “Now he’ll be talking about it all night,” muttered one. “Can you tell us how to get there?” I asked, hopeful. He stared at us for a moment before shaking his head. “No. You don’t want to go there.” “I do! It’s a personal matter.” He regarded me for a long moment. Then, he sighed. “By now, it’ll likely be a one-way trip. Escaping the clutches of the Maredre is extremely difficult and costly.” “We’ve dealt with some of the worst things the wasteland can throw at us. Hellhounds, robots; hell, we even survived the Krogoth,” Fruity countered. Mentioning the Krogoth got a few ponies muttering. “I don’t remember how to get there, personally but I can tell you where you can find a map. It’s how I found out about the Maredre myself.” “Where can we find it?” “Head south from the Horseshoe Dam and follow the Coltorado River for about two miles. On the west bank, you’ll find a drainage pipe sticking out the desert floor in a small valley between two hills. The pipe was a secret entrance to an abandoned Steel Ranger bunker. It’s full of things related to the Sierra Maredre, including a map.” “Thank you,” I spoke gratefully. We tried talking to other ponies in regard to this information, but nopony else was willing to talk, and the more we asked about it, the more hostile they became. We decided shortly thereafter to leave. As we stepped out, we almost collided with a patrolling Queens member. “Oh shit! Sorry,” I apologised. “It’s ok, no harm done,” she said. Fruity interrupted. “Oh, wait. Crystal, Miss Queenie is kinda old now, right?” His eyes suddenly went wide. “Uh, didn’t mean to offend.” “It’s fine, sir.” “Ok, cool. Anyway, since she’s been around for a long time, perhaps she knows something. Maybe she could even verify that old codger’s story.” “That’s a good idea.” I turned to the Queens member. “I know it’s getting late, but would Miss Queenie be up for any visitors?” “Normally, no, not at this time of night. But considering it's you two, I think she’d be happy for your visit.” We thanked her and took to the air. We were careful not to go too high, so as not to spook any trigger-happy assholes. Growing peace or otherwise, it was still customary for pegasi to take such a precaution. Regardless, we knew the way to Miss Queenie’s mansion by heart, and we arrived at the old iron gate in just a couple minutes. “Don’t you think it’s a little late to be dropping by?” asked a gate guard as we landed. “Sorry, but it's something of an important matter,” I answered. “Fine. One moment please.” She turned to the brick column beside her and spoke into the intercom. “Miss Queenie, Ma’am. Mr. and Mrs. Éclair are here to see you.” The speaker buzzed, indicating a response. “Yes, ma’am, I know it's late, but they said it's important.” Another buzz later, and the mare used her magic to open the gate. “Ok, she’ll see you.” “Thank you.” She nodded, and we headed through. Just as we reached the top step, the front doors opened with Miss Queenie. The years hadn’t been kind to her lately. Her face was marred by wrinkles, her mane, once a dull purple with streaks of grey, had become entirely white, and she stood on shaky legs. “Well, this is a surprise,” She said, her voice still strong. “What can I do for you at this hour?” I stepped forward and bowed my head. “Sorry to disturb you so late at night. But we’d just been at the Golden Oaks in search of some information and we were hoping you might be able to verify what we’ve been told.” Fruity did the same. “Yeah, sorry about this. We were hoping that you may have heard about or been to the Sierra Maredre.” Her irritation instantly vanished, and was replaced with shock. “Why in the living Tartarus would you want to know about that dreadful place?” I, then, explained to her about my search for my mother’s last known whereabouts after finding the letter of invitation so we set out to find out about the Maredre. “You just want to know if your mother had gone there?” I nodded. She looked very uncomfortable. “Look, normally I wouldn’t talk about the Maredre because it attracts thousands of ponies every year to its doors, and those that can’t brave the journey are the only ones that often come back alive. There’s something sinister about the place that draws in and claims so many lives. I would hate for you to go there just to die, but I can see you are determined, and I can sympathise.” She sighed dejectedly. “Yes, there is a bunker south of the dam with a map. I’d still strongly advise against it, but I can’t force you not to go. At the very least, I insist you go prepared.” “Thank you kindly.” Fruity and I both looked at each other, a silent conversation quickly passing between us. “Don’t worry, Miss Queenie. Considering everything we’ve heard, we don’t intend to go ill-equipped.” We bidded Miss Queenie farewell and returned home, intent on sleeping in. XXXXX The following morning, Fruity and I left the house early. The abandoned Steel Ranger bunker was further south than Tom City, in an area we hadn’t explored. An unknown. Thus, we decided it would be best for Xian to stay home and look after her sisters. Nexus wanted to join us, naturally, but he previously had plans with Killian and we didn’t want him to disappoint her, so we convinced him to stay behind. We hoped to be there and back before the end of the day, anyway. After a short flight to Tom City, we landed outside the ruins around ten in the morning. The town was still just as ruined and broken as the last time we saw it. We often came here to visit Right Bleeding at his shop. “Hey Crys, think Bastard will know something about the Maredre?” I blinked at my husband in confusion before I remembered the rest of Right Bleeding’s name. “Oh right! Good thinking, honey. Maybe he’ll know something more, he tends to know just what we need when we’ve visited previously.” We followed the cracked tarmac surrounding the destroyed town. As we came upon a familiar left hand turn, we halted at the sight that befell us. “When did this happen?” I asked in shock. Right Bleeding’s shop, or what remained of it, looked as bombed out as the rest of the town, a shell of its former self. All that remained were the four corners, what little brickwork that connected to them, and a large pile of debris in the centre. “This doesn't make any sense…” wondered Fruity. We stared in confusion, unable to think up an explanation for this. Then, we sighed in defeat and continued down the road. “Faust, I hope he’s ok,” I said, pushing myself up against my husband. Fruity draped his wing across my back. “I’m sure he’s fine. That old coot seems to be very resourceful, considering the things he’s sold us over the years.” “Ah my friends!” “Ah, shit!” We whirled around to find Right Bleeding behind us with an overstuffed rucksack on his back. “For fuck sake, don’t sneak up on us like that!” I whined. “I’m sorry. Just got back from my suppliers.” he said with a shrug. “You came back? But your shop is…” I stopped when I looked back. To my complete surprise, his shop was there as we remember it. Run down, but intact with partially boarded up windows and all. “What the fuck? I’m sure we just saw that building as a pile of rubble,” Fruity remarked. Right Bleeding chuckled. “I think you two have been out in the sun too long.” “You might be right. Even now, it’s blistering,” Even after ten years in the Marejave, Fruity just couldn’t acclimatise to the desert heat. I watched as he balled up the feathers of his left wing to form a fist like shape before turning to face the early morning sun, shaking his wing up at it and shouting. “Damn you, sun!” I chuckled at my husband’s antics. “As you’re here, can I interest you in something for your travels? Perhaps a sun umbrella?” the old shopkeeper asked. “Uh, sorry. Not this time, but maybe you could help us in another way?” I probed hopefully. “Well that’ll depend on what you want help with.” “You’ve been around a long time, right, Mr. Bastard?” Fruity asked. The old stallion looked at him. He certainly did look much older than when we first met him with his white goatee, his long, white bushy eyebrows, and his now long, white mane against his pale brown fur. “You're a very perceptive young pegasus.” Fruity puffed up in annoyance. I couldn’t help but smile. “We were hoping you could tell us about the Sierra Maredre.” And just like back every time before, Right Bleeding went deathly silent. “Why in Faust’s name do you want to know about that dreadful place?” “It’s a personal matter. We think my mother may have gone there before the Collapse happened.” “Forget about it. Going to the Maredre is not worth your life.” “I need to know. My mum was all I had before I woke up, and she never gave up on me. I have to say goodbye to her!” The old stallion regarded us for a moment, stroking his goatee. “...Alright.” He then proceeded to tell us pretty much everything we’ve already heard, including the bunker we were heading for. “Thank you, but we’ve heard all that already,” Fruity sighed. “There is one other thing I can tell you,” Right Bleeding quickly added. “I’ve heard stories of places that held the location to the Maredre being boobytrapped, so I would advise caution.” “Shit, thanks for the heads up.” “Yeah, thank you for the warning,” I said gratefully. “Of course. I wouldn’t like to lose my best customers.” We resumed our journey south. I briefly pondered on how I could’ve experienced a mirage despite my cybernetic nature. We kept along the road as it circled around town before following it out away and towards the Coltorado River. We stopped at an intersection where leftways would take us towards the dam, and rightways would follow the riverbank. “Ok, we’ll be entering unexplored territory for us from here, so be on your guard,” Fruity warned. I nodded and kept my ears up. We decided not to fly the whole way there to keep us from being spotted by any unknown threats. We continued following the road along the river until it curved away from the bank and towards the hills. “Hmm. Looks like the road is taking us to another ruined town,” Fruity observed as evidence of a settlement came into view. Wooden posts, remnants of brick walls, chassis of burnt out motorised carriages and remnants of old billboards started to litter the landscape. “I do vaguely remember a small town down here. Can’t remember its name, though,” I muttered. As we walked deeper, I heard Fruity gasp. He then shoved me hard until we were both behind a brick wall. “Fruity, what…?!” I began to protest until he practically shoved a hoof into my mouth. “Shhh! Hostiles.” My eyes widened. He removed his hoof and unslung his plasma sniper. I followed his example and unholstered my revolver in preparation for a fight. Fruity crouched down until he was practically laying on his belly, and slowly inched out around the corner of the wall to scope out our enemies. “I count four. Ponies, likely raiders. Two on the hill overlooking the ruins and two down the main road.” I looked for a small hole in the wall that I could peek through. After a good minute, I managed to find one and slowly brought my eye to it. Sure enough, I could see a pair of ponies milling about on the hill beside the town. They seemed to be wearing biker leathers, and each one of them held some form of long-range weapon fitted with scopes. “Ok, I got the two on the hill. Be ready to return fire. Can you see the two down the road?” “Can’t see them from here.” “Ok, well keep an eye out for them.” “Ok.” I tried to get a better view through the hole. While I scanned the main road, I heard the energy discharge from Fruity’s sniper and saw a green bolt of energy shoot up towards the hill. As expected, the two saw the bolt coming and managed to avoid it, but the shout of alarm and rage I heard told me one of them narrowly evaded the shot. Fruity was able to get a second shot off before he dove back behind the wall as two bullets hit our cover. “Wow, their aim is terrible,” Fruity joked. “Neither is yours,” I shot back with a cheeky grin. “At least I have an excuse: plasma bolts are slow.” I laughed. “Still can’t see the other two.” “Keep looking, they should’ve seen those bolts by now.” Fruity rolled back out and took aim. I could see that our enemies had found cover behind some boulders near a cliff. One of the raiders poked his head up in an attempt to take a shot, only to see a sizzling green bolt hurtle right at him. I could hear their cry of pain from afar. The raider clutched the side of his head and rolled on the floor in agony. His comrade shouted something, and the wounded raider accidentally rolled off the edge of the cliff and fell into the rocks below. “One down!” “I see movement on the road!” I called back. I pushed my revolver through the hole to take aim. “Alright, keep them off my back.” Another plasma bolt whizzed through the air. The remaining raider on the cliff shouted a curse before calling down to his two comrades, likely relaying our location. I blinked my eyes and my vision was tinted electric blue, and a reticule appeared. I intended to put all my practising of my cybernetic abilities to good use. At the very least, to save caps on bullets. “This bugger is getting annoying,” Fruity mumbled, unable to land a hit. “Don’t worry, I’ve got the two on the road.” My reticule locked onto the first pony and I pulled the trigger. The revolver let out a thunderous boom, and the resulting bullet exploded the raider’s unprotected head. His companion swore and dove out of sight. My shot must have distracted the raider on the hill, because a plasma bolt finally got his face. Fruity called him a ‘dumbass’ under his breath. “That’s the hill taken care of. Now where’s the last one?” “Lost him behind a wall,” I answered. “Hey, you should be able to find him. You’re wearing your PipBuck, right? Use your Eyes Forward Sparkle.” I rolled my eyes. The Pipbuck was certainly a useful tool, but I didn’t feel the need to constantly use its features everyday, so I couldn’t help it if all its functions slipped my mind every now and then. I concentrated in order to activate my Pipbuck remotely,and moments later, a compass appeared in the bottom left of my HUD. A single red bar indicating a threat slowly moved to the right. “Fruity!” I whispered, using my wing to point in the bar’s direction. “I got him,” Fruity assured quietly. “Gotcha!” The Raider jumped out from behind the wall, expecting to have caught us off guard, but instead, he got his head disintegrated. I gasped when I heard a bang, and I felt something whizz through my tail at the same time the Raider got his head melted. Fruity let out a scream of agony. I turned around quickly to see my husband on his rump, groaning in pain while rubbing his chest. “Oh, thank Faust, I thought you got shot!” “Ow, fuck!” He groaned as he flicked something off his chest. A small compressed piece of metal clattered to his hooves. “I was fucking shot…” “Then thank Celestia you were wearing your ballistic weave shirt!” “Yeah, lucky me. If I meet the guy that invented this shit I’m gonna throttle him. For all the bullet stopping, it still hurt like fucking buggery!” I giggled before my EFS picked up another hostile. “Crap, new contact directly ahead! Down the road!” “Fuck!” We quickly hurried back into cover and began watching for the new threat. Eventually, we could hear heavy hoof falls. “That don’t sound good,” I muttered. “Ah, shit. Power armour,” Fruity said under his breath. “Power armour! Shit we aren’t prepared for that.” “No shit… Wait, looks like it’s not a full suit.” Fruity used a wing to twist a knob on his plasma rifle’s scope. “I see a leg from a P-45, another leg from a P-51, and the body armour from a P-60. The rest is typical raider armour made of scrap.” “And that’s good?” “We have a chance,” He continued observing the armoured raider. “He has nothing protecting the rubber neck seal that connects between his helmet and chest. One of your 45-70s should be able to penetrate it.” “That’ll be a difficult shot to pull off.” “Yeah I know, so I’m gonna distract him for you.” “Wait, what?!” “I’ll keep him… OH SHIT!” Fruity suddenly jumped up and flapped his wings. He then placed all four hooves against my side and gave me a push with all his might, which sent me tumbling over and away from him. The shove also propelled himself in the opposite direction. Just as I rolled back onto my hooves, the section of wall we were hiding behind exploded, with specks of brick and mortar raining down all over us. “He has a fucking Anti-Dragon Cannon!” I felt that little niggle in the back of my head when my electronic brain fed information directly into my brain. Since dragons had been seen aiding the zebras during the war, some Steel Rangers were fitted with 120mm Anti-Dragon Cannons to help combat them. If this guy really did have one, then we were in trouble. “Crystal, you gotta get him in the neck! I’ll draw his fire!” My husband took to the air, firing his weapon at the power-armoured raider. “Fruity wai-” It was too late. I quickly scooped up my revolver and found some new cover. Thankfully, there was a big gap between his helmet and chest armour that left his throat vulnerable. I aimed with intent to kill, but as I did, I caught sight of my husband flying side-to-side. He taunted the raider with hoof gestures and insults between taking pot shots. Then I saw the cannon tilt upwards and fire another shell. “Woah!” Fruity shrieked. The shell whistled past him. “No, Fruity!” I squeaked in terror and hastily went back to aiming. Unfortunately, I rushed my shot, and when I fired, the heavy round impacted his chest armour and ricocheted off. Worse yet, the raider’s attention was drawn to me. “Oh fuck.” I flew away and to another wall for cover. As I did so, the raider fired, and my previous cover was blown away. “Crystal!” I heard Fruity cry for me. “Hey, cunt-head! Up here!” He fired down at him and struck his armoured flank, bringing his attention back to him. I took several deep breaths to calm my rattled nerves, and I peeked out from my new cover to aim once more. My revolver shook in my wing’s grip. I had to focus. If I didn’t, my husband and I could die here, and my kids would be without their parents. “Ok, Crystal. You can do this. Just relax. Just relax.” I whispered to myself, and I brought my other wing around to help steady the revolver. The raider fired his cannon. Fruity pulled up his hindquarters high enough that his rear hooves touched the sides of his head. The shell whizzed by below him. “Almost hit the crown jewels!” I felt the fear rise again, but I kept my breath steady. I couldn’t fail here; too much was on the line. I exhaled, and I pulled the trigger. The Raider suddenly lurched to the side with a new, bleeding hole in his rubber neck seal. Fruity flew over to me and landed while the Raider made some choking gasps. Finally, he slumped forward and fell onto his side, a sizable pool of blood expanding beneath him. “Good shot,” Fruity praised. “That was not fun!” I shouted on the verge of tears. “Hey, hey, it's ok. We’re ok.” He cooed softly, wrapping me up in a tender hug and kissing my cheek. I buried my face into his shoulder and sniffled. Fruity whispered sweet nothings to me while gently rubbing my back. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes until I calmed down and pulled away. “Thanks.” “Are you ok?” He asked worriedly. “Yeah. I was just scared.” “I was too, but we got through it. Everything is fine.” I nodded, and we moved on. We kept our guard up until we cleared the ruins. About a half-hour later, the road curled back towards the desert and away from the hills. A quick look at my PipBuck map showed that we were not far from our destination, and would have to climb over the hills to find it. “What do you think? Should we fly?” Fruity inquired. “Wouldn’t we attract unwanted attention? Isn’t that why we’ve been walking so far?” “Yeah, but if we don’t go too high, it shouldn’t be a problem. Plus, it’ll be quicker to find the bunker instead of going up and down the hills all over.” I couldn’t fault his logic, and frankly, after our run-in with the raiders, I wanted to get all this done as soon as possible. “Alright, but keep your eyes open. I don’t want something to jump us.” “Yes, ma’am!” He mock-saluted, and I rolled my eyes. We both took to the air and took our time flying over the hills, combing over every valley for any sign of the bunker. Eventually, as we passed over a particularly tall hill, we spotted a drainage grate, surrounded by cracked mud. “Hey, what’s that?” Fruity pointed down to it. “Looks a little out of place, don’t you think?” “Yeah, it does. Let’s check it out.” We banked around and came to a landing on the hillside, and trotted the rest of the way down the valley. When we got closer, we could see that the grate was big enough for a pony to fit inside. Upon closer inspection, the Steel Ranger’s insignia was etched into the rim. “This is it!” I squealed happily. “Finally, we might be able to make it home for a late lunch,” said Fruity, licking his lips. “C’mon, let’s get this grate open.” We examined the grate thoroughly. It was pretty rusted, like it hadn’t been moved in a while. “Hmm. Looks like it just lifts off.” Fruity grabbed the grate with his primaries. He braced his legs and heaved, grunting in effort, but the grate didn’t budge. After a good while, he stopped, panting. “Fuck… Little help, please?” “Hehe. Alright, strong pony.” I stepped up beside my husband and grabbed the grate along with him. Fruity counted down from three, and on one, we heaved. The rusted grate bent, and then something unseen broke and the grate came free from the pipe with ease, sending us flying onto our backs. Fruity cursed in annoyance as we stood back up. We peered down the pipe and found a ladder built into the pipe lining, going down a good twenty feet, at least. The climb down wasn’t difficult, with all the ladder rungs still in place. Once we reached the bottom, we found ourselves in a large rectangular room which, interestingly, still had some functioning lighting. It wasn’t great, by any means, but at least we could see. The place was an absolute mess. The corners were piled high with rubbish and the floor was littered with papers and other junk. The concrete walls were covered in rust from the metal supports and rebar. The biggest feature, however, was the massive banner hung up on the wall opposite the ladder and next to a corridor. It depicted the Sierra Maredre, along with a mare dressed in a ball gown that looked very similar to Fleur De Lis. Underneath, it read: “The Sierra Maredre Casino, where dreams and a brighter future await.” “Well, this must be the place,” Fruity stated. “Yeah. Now we just need to find a map.” I stepped up closer to the banner, scanning it for any hidden details while Fruity moved over to the corridor. “Hey, I can see something down there.” “What do you see?” I asked, heading over to him. “Dunno. Looks like an old radio set.” As I joined him, I could see another large room on the other side. In the middle there was a pedestal, with said radio on it. A bright light shone down on it all, almost as if to draw our attention. My cybernetically-enhanced hearing could pick up the radio making odd, crackling sounds. “Perhaps we’ll find something down there,” Fruity suggested. He took a step forward, and as soon as he lifted his hoof, my threat detection system flared brightly in my vision. I was briefly confused, but then I remembered the warning Right Bleeding had told us about boobytraps. “Fruity, wait!” “Huh?” There was a faint snap. Fruity had stepped on a tripwire. “Shit!” My HUD flared brighter before the ventilation ducts above us gushed out a thick red gas. It blasted us in our faces from above, and we immediately began coughing and sputtering. I felt an intense burning in my throat, and then a sensation I was very familiar with in my pre-war life. This gas was some kind of anaesthetic. “We gotta-*cough*-get out of-*hack*-here!” I choked. We whirled around, but the entire room had already become clouded in gas, blinding us. Luckily, my EFS was still able to point in the right direction. I grabbed my husband with a wing and began pulling him with me, even as his movements grew sluggish. “But mummy, I don’t want to go to school today…” He slurred drunkenly, only stopping to cough. “…I want to stay home and bake cookies with you.” “Fruity?” He fell onto his side. “No, Fruity!” “Warning: cognitive function destabilising!” I could feel it. The heaviness in my limbs, the feeling of pins and needles creeping across my body. I had to get out and find help. I struggled to continue towards the drainage pipe. I could just see the sunlight through the red mist. “Warning: system failure imminent!” I gasped and choked on the red gas, and I suddenly felt my legs give out from under me. I collapsed onto the dirty metal floor with a thud. Blackness began to creep its way into the edges of my vision. “No… Not like this,” I whimpered. I saw a shadow cast down from above the pipe entrance. “Help. Please…” I then fell unconscious. Author's Note (Can't believe I forgot to add an Author's Notes...) Hi everypony, thank you for taking the time to read the beginning of my new story. I had originally started an Under the Red Cloud with Broken Steel but I lost interest a couple of chapters in and soon deleted it to begin Influx. This time around I plan to see it through to the end. The scene of Fruity making a fist with his wing and yelling at the sun is actually a reference to a Youtuber i like called UpIsNotJump and this in particular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSp2mf8yrOQ He is a pretty humours Youtuber how has largely reviewed video games but has done some informative videos about climate change and how coffee is made. I would recommend giving him a watch Anyway, thank you all again for reading the beginning of my new fic and I hope you'll enjoy what follows. *Edit 28/02/23* Can't believe i forgot to post a bounce image for this chapter. Here is Nexus as a Mark 1.5. Chapter 2: Toxic WelcomeFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 2: Toxic Welcome [Core System Initialising…] The fog in my mind began to lift. The first sense to come back to me was touch. I could feel a scratchy fabric against my fur, and that I was laying on a cold and hard surface. [Primary Systems Initialising…] Next was my hearing. It started with a low howling, one that would repeat itself every few seconds. Next was my husband’s voice. “Crystal, wake up. Oh please, Celestia, wake up.” Hearing his desperation seemed to kickstart my brain. Memories of what happened rushed back to me. [System Initialisation… Complete] I gasped in shock and bolted upright. I hurriedly looked around until I found my husband standing a few feet away. With my whole body functioning again, I quickly stood up, rushed over and threw my forelegs around his neck in a tight hug, pressing my face into his neck. “Oh Fruity, you’re ok!” Fruity gasped and choked. “Hak! Crystal… Can’t breathe!” I squeaked in embarrassment and quickly let go of the poor stallion. “Sorry.” The pegasus gulped down a deep breath, but then immediately began hacking and coughing. I worriedly, yet gently, held onto him until he recovered. “Are you ok?” He gently waved me off. “Yeah, yeah. Ugh, just something in the air here that stinks.” Now that he mentioned it. I could certainly smell something. Most of it I couldn’t identify, but the main thing I could smell was sulphur. Whatever this cocktail of chemicals was, it burned the inside of our throats with every breath. “This air can’t be good for us.” “It's not, Fruity.” He groaned and sat down hard. It was then I noticed what he was wearing: some sort of dirty white jumpsuit with a red X painted on the back. “What on Equus are you wearing?” “Same shit you are dear.” I looked down, and sure enough, I was in a similar garb. I also took note of the cobblestone road beneath our hooves. “Fruity, where are we?” I asked, standing up on shaky legs. It was dark, like it was the middle of the night dark, and everything was in a shade of red. I turned on the spot, and I could see that we were in a large open space with a large fountain in the middle and roads branching off in all directions. The architecture surrounding us seemed Mareterranean, something I didn’t recognise as local. Fruity coughed and pointed toward the northward road. It seemed to stop at a gate but it was too dark for me to read the sign above it. My gaze crept upwards, and above the red-shingled roofs was a large cliff; and on top of that was a huge, almost pristine tower with powerful spotlights illuminating it on all sides. The lights also lit up the blood red clouds in the sky, the most likely source of the red tint everywhere. As I stared, recognition soon dawned on me. “The Sierra Maredre?!” I cried. I turned to my husband. “How the fuck did we get here?” Fruity shrugged his wings. “Not a clue. I woke up in the fountain there a minute ago.” “Wait, if we’re here then…” I gasped. No pony would know we were here. Out of habit, I brought my hoof to my left ear. The earpiece was missing, but that couldn’t stop me from trying to use my communication system. “What are you doing?” “Trying to reach Nexus.” My attempts however were not getting through. Something seemed to be blocking my signal. “I can’t reach him!” Realising I was on the verge of a panic attack, Fruity hugged me tightly. “Hey, hey. It’ll be ok. Ava and Violet will be in good hooves until we get out of this.” After taking a few deep, yet painful, breaths I managed to calm myself down. “Y-you’re right. Nexus and Xian will make sure the twins will be safe.” “That’s right. There’s no need to worry for now. We can focus on getting out of here and… ah shit.” “What? What is it?” Fruity stared at my neck. “You’re wearing a slave collar.” He then reached up to feel his own neck, and his hoof bumped against a collar of his own. “Fuck. This complicates things.” “Wait a slave collar? The kind that goes boom?” Fruity nodded grimly. “Ok, just what the fuck?” Fruity groaned in annoyance. “Somepony clearly wants us for something if they collared us.” “Yeah, but who?” At that moment, a light blue light on top of the fountain turned on. It grew brighter until a hologram of a wire frame pony appeared. “Holographic technology. That’s new,” I commented. The wireframe pony then faded into a unicorn supermodel that I recognised as Fleur De Lis. Fruity whistled as the holographic Fleur struck her trademark pose and then abruptly vanished with an electric crack. She was replaced with a still image of a pegasus with a wild frizzy mane, dressed in a lab coat. “Oh shit!” Fruity yelled, diving behind the fountain’s rim. “What’s gotten into you?” “He’s fucking Enclave!” Fruity whispered back. Sure enough, I could see the emblem of the Grand Pegasus Enclave on his coat’s collar. I opened my mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a deep, rumbly masculine voice that seemed to buzz out from the fountain. “You two awake? Good. From now on, when I talk, you LISTEN!” “Who are you and what are we doing here?” I immediately yelled at the hologram. “Who I am is not important right this minute. What is important is that you and that Dustwing behind the fountain there listen, and listen well. You are here because of your own greed. You heard the lure of the Sierra Maredre Casino and thought you could take what’s inside for yourself, but little did you know, I was already here.” Fruity popped his head up with a look of confused surprise on his face as he stared up at the flickering hologram. “I have spent too long working to get inside the Sierra Maredre Casino and I will not let some nopony scavengers take it from me. But, as I have found, one pony can’t do it alone, so you will have to gather a team.” “A team? There are other ponies here?” “Yes, collars nine and fourteen. Oh and if you think you can kill each other and take the Sierra Maredre for yourself, then here’s a warning: all your collars are linked. If one of you dies, you all die. If that’s what it takes to get your cooperation, then so be it.” “Wait, wait,” Fruity cried out as he stood up. “So you’re telling us that if one of us dies here, everypony wearing a collar dies as well?” “That is what I just said, Dustwing. Please try to pay attention. It may cost you your life,” the hologram reprimanded. “Fruity, please don’t antagonise him,” I whispered harshly. “You should listen to the winged Stripe. If you cannot perform the tasks I set before you, I will kill you and find somepony else.” Fruity cringed and gently lifted a hoof to his collar, rubbing it nervously. “So, now that I have your full attention, let me tell you what you need to do. Firstly, you will need to gather your team. Find collars nine and fourteen, and bring them here to the fountain. From there, I will relay further instructions to you once they are all gathered. How you find and persuade these ponies to follow you I do not care. Avoid their traps and the local creatures, and be careful of the Red Cloud. You don’t want to be in it for long. You’re no use to me dead, otherwise I will have to rely on the next team.” “Whoa, wait a minute! Traps? Creatures? We don’t have our gear, how are we supposed to defend ourselves?” Fruity yelled. “The Sierra Maredre has a way of screening guests for foreign substances not allowed into the premises and removes them. Your gear will likely be where you were before you came to the Maredre, and besides, it's not like I've left you defenceless. I have left you my old holorifle. The weapon has served me well over the years.” Fruity and I looked around, and eventually, Fruity found the weapon laying on the floor close to where he had woken up. It was practically camouflaged against the cobblestones. “You do this, I’ll let you all go. Oh, and welcome to the Sierra Maredre, in all its glory.” And with that, the hologram faded, and the starlet reappeared. “What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into this time?” Fruity whined, picking up the weapon. “Another madpony’s scheme.” I sighed, I felt reminded of Colonel Ironside’s crusade from so long ago. “Brilliant… So, what’s the plan?” One brief coughing fit later, I looked around. Thankfully, my EFS was still working, so I had two direction markers to work with. One was pointed somewhere down the eastern road, and the other was down the western road. “Hmm. Well, since we don’t want to be here any longer than we have too, maybe we should split up. Each of us finds one of the collared ponies,” I suggested. “Yeah, ok, but we’ll need to take it slow. We don’t know what’ll lie around the corner.” I nodded, and we began to move in opposite directions. I would take the eastern route, and Fruity the west. I suddenly stopped in my tracks, however, when I felt the collar throb and beep. I didn’t understand why, but as I stood there trying to figure it out, I could feel them getting faster. In fear, I turned around to find my husband about fifty feet away, also looking down at his collar, likely feeling the exact same thing. He took several steps towards me, and just as the beeps reached a quick pace, they stopped. He looked between me and his collar in thought. After a few moments, he took several slow steps away, and when he was almost where he was before, the collars started up again. He quickly moved back until they stopped, then moved forward again until they started. This time he stayed there, feeling the beeps and throbs speeding up. When it almost became a single tone, he hurriedly moved back and then over to me. “Well, this sucks. Seems we can’t go more than fifty feet from each other, and no more than thirty seconds of beeping until it likely blows.” “I guess we have to stick together then.” “That’s fine by me,” Fruity agreed. “So, we track down the collar on this side?” “Well, since we can’t split up, I think we should take this time then to explore the villa so we can get an understanding of its layout. That way if we get into trouble and need to find something or make a quick exit, we’ll know where to run without hitting a deadend.” “Gotcha. Exploring, then.” “Yeah, and once we have a layout of the area, we’ll look for these other two.” With a new plan set, we made our way down the eastern road together. Almost immediately, we came to an opening in the wall to our left that turned out to be a short passageway. On the other side, we could see a small open space. Curious, I walked through and onto a paved path. It ran the length of the wall and up the side, with balconies covering it all in shade. The most striking part of it all was the thick red cloud that seemed to churn all around inside, flowing out across the floor around our hooves. “Hey, do you see that?” Fruity asked, pointing upward. I looked to see an alcove up on the next level, with a white hoof print glowing inside it. “I can see it, but what does it mean?” “I dunno, but maybe if we can get up onto the balcony, we might get a better view.” To our left was another hole in the wall, but this hole looked like something had bashed down the wall along with the door. Dangling from above on a single chain was a wooden sign, the etching in the wood being all that was legible. Shop “Looks like somepony blew the door down.” Fruity stated. We couldn’t see much of anything inside, apart from it being clearly a hallway containing an empty shelf and a metal cabinet. An open door in the back exposed a faint blue glow that likely was the shop proper. We slowly made our way in towards the light as quietly as we could. Going through the door, we found ourselves in what looked like a general store, but with empty shelves lining the walls all around and small display cases smashed up along the counter. As for the light, it came from the blue holographic stallion standing behind the counter. “A hologram?” I gasped. We approached the counter, taking a closer look. The hologram took the form of an earth pony stallion, with no mane or tail and dressed in a three-piece suit. It flickered as it looked directly at us. “Welco-Welcome.” Its voice buzzed with static. “H-h-how may I help y-you?” “Bloody hell, it still works.” “Only just. Um, how do we buy from you?” I asked. “Please s-say ‘I would like to buy’ to-to-to activate vendor functions.” “I would like to buy?” A holographic display materialised in front of us with a list of items for sale. We knew we couldn’t buy anything since all our caps were in our confiscated clothes. Not that it mattered, since the currency needed here was the pre-war bit. “Um, cancel?” The display disappeared. “P-please come again.” “Well, I suppose if we find any pre-war money lying around, we know we can use this vendor.” With nothing else noteworthy, we made our way up a staircase tucked in the corner. Upstairs, we found a one-room, fully furnished bedsit. There was a closed bathroom door to our left, and an open balcony door to our right, complete with a view of the red cloud. Stepping onto the balcony, which was thankfully covered by a roof, the floorboards creaked ominously, but held. The hoof print was visible on the far side, despite the red cloud’s unyielding thickness. Probably also helped that a lot of the wooden railings had rotted away. “Hmm. I think I can see a box or something over there under that print,” Fruity said, squinting his eyes. “Fucking hell, the cloud’s literally cascading down from the roofs.” “Think we can get across?” “I wouldn’t want to breathe in any of that stuff. The alcove appears sheltered, though. If I take a deep breath and zoom across, I can find out what’s there. There’s no use in us both going.” “Alright, but come straight back if it’s not safe.” Fruity nodded and spread his wings. Taking the suggested deep breath, he zipped across. I felt the worry rise in my chest when my husband started coughing on the other side. “Are you ok!?” I shrieked. “Yeah… That cloud feels horrible on your feathers.” I sighed in relief, only to notice my Threat Detection System was active. In fact, the glowing mark in my HUD seemed to flare brighter the closer I got to the cloud. It was Stable 16 all over again so I can’t rely on my cybernetic system here. “What have you found?” “I think I’ve found someone’s stash,” cried Fruity. “There’s some food, a couple of Stimpacks, a Rad-Away and a short-barreled six-shooter with a box of ammo to go with it.” “Now that’s a stroke of luck right there.” “Yeah and… HOLY SHIT!” “What!? What is it?” “I’ll show you when I get back to you.” I saw him stand back up and move to a corner behind the wall. He came back out a few seconds later, but with something long on his back. He quickly flew back to me, smashing into the wall hooves first with enough force to punch holes several inches deep. “Shit, are you ok?” “Yeah, just fine.” He shivered and buzzed his wings, shaking out red dust from his feathers. Even he looked surprised at the holes he made. “Oh, that stuff is just wrong.” He then reached over to his back and pulled out an old, long rifle. He held it out for me, and I accepted it graciously. “A Buckinghamshire Automatic Rifle?” I felt that familiar niggle in the back of my head. Once more, my electronic brain was supplying me with information. “You sound surprised,” Fruity noted, organising the rest of the loot. “Yeah, I kinda am. From what my database is telling me, these BARs were one of the first automatic rifles made for the Equestrian Military. They were widely used in the early stages of the war, but as weapon technology rapidly advanced, the BAR was quickly outclassed by smaller, lighter rifles with higher rates of fire.” “I wonder why there’s one out here, then… Oh, here, the ammo box for it. You can have the revolver too.” I thanked him and pocketed the ammo into my jumpsuit’s pockets. Turning the short-barrelled pistol over in my wings, I could see the insignia of the Sierra Maredre etched into the mouth grip, along with the initials: S.M.P.D. Luckily, my suit came with a strap on the foreleg, which I’d use as a suitable substitute for a holster. “Well, knowing the Maredre had a police department means we should find plenty of these revolvers lying around.” “Yeah. Still, we should keep an eye out for a workbench if we’re to maintain our gear.” I picked up the BAR and looked it over again, finding the same etching on the back of the weapon’s receiver. A resort police force being armed with standard revolvers was one thing, but old military-grade weapons? We were stuck here for the time being, so I assumed we’d find out as we went along. “It’ll be great if we can find a bag. These suits don’t have magic pockets like our coats do,” Fruity grumbled, the food and medical aid he found bulging out his pockets uncomfortably. I found myself agreeing with him, what with my own overstuffed pockets feeling uncomfortable on my flanks. Regardless, we were armed and had some supplies, which was ultimately for the better. We retraced our steps until we were back on the main road going east. The road itself was actually quite narrow; no carriage could possibly get through it. In fact, everything felt too narrow; even the balconies were only a couple of feet apart from each other. It took us only one right turn and two right turns to feel like we were stuck in some kind of maze. All of this had us on edge as we took our time, looking out for anything hostile, but only coming across scores of wall fountains, all filled with nothing but Sierra Maredre chips, which interestingly, had the same value as a pre-war bit each (according to my Pipbuck). Naturally, we took them all. Another thing we could see as we moved were various bits of graffiti left behind from those that died here previously. After a couple of minutes of walking, we came across an intersection. The road to our right led to a large wooden gate with a sign post marking it as the Residential District. A quick look at my EFS revealed that one of our ‘teammates’ was beyond those doors. Nevertheless, we both still felt too unfamiliar with our environment, so we continued eastward, intent on returning later. More twists and turns later, we came to a large open space, with another set of wooden gates ahead of us, a rectangular plaza to our right, and several dead trees along the way. The whole area seemed exceedingly dark, what with the red cloud blotting out the sun and the street lights not working. Definitely helped creeping up the place. We edged our way towards the wooden gate, but as we got close, my Pipbuck suddenly screeched with static. The Enclave pegasus spoke through its speakers. “Don’t go into Salida del Sol. Gather the others first.” I let out a shocked scream and fell on my haunches hard. “Faust, that scared the shit out of me!” I stared at my Pipbuck in bewilderment. How did he contact me through my Pipbuck? Was he watching us? Just then, the sound of a kicked tin can rang out in the dark plaza. “Did you hear that?” Fruity blurted. “Yeah.” We looked and listened in high alert, and soon we could hear slow hoof steps. Fruity flapped his wings to hover and pulled out his Holorifle. I quickly started reloading the BAR off my back, pulling the .308 rounds out of my pocket and feeding them into the magazine with a click. “Sounds like a zombie,” Fruity muttered to himself. As if on cue, the hoof steps got closer, and the pattern sounded odd right off the bat. The creature emerged from behind an arch, moving in an almost drunken manner with its head swinging like a pendulum and a hindleg dragging behind. It was covered head to hoof in a brown-hooded hazmat suit, and the lenses of its mask appeared to glow green. There was no mane or tail to speak of, and with each raspy breath it took, a haze of red mist came out of the air filter. “I was kidding about the zombie thing…” “What the fuck is that?” “No idea, but we’re about to see what this thing does.” Fruity levelled his rifle and pulled the trigger. A blue holographic cube was fired, trailing blue particles behind it as it flew. It struck the creature in the head, throwing its head back and engulfing it in a blue glow. Seeming momentarily stunned, Fruity pumped and fired a second head shot, causing it to explode in a shower of blood and blue particles. “Huh. So that’s what it does.” Fruity pumped the weapon again. He quickly scooped up the spent cells and pocketed them. We then approached the dead creature. “Again, I was kidding about the zombie thing,” Fruity muttered at what we saw. The flesh around the neck appeared to be very decomposed, with a sickly greenish-yellow hue and whatever passed for blood coming out as a dark red and white puss. I picked up a broken roof tile and stuck it in the gap between flesh and suit, and pulled it up. We could see the remnants of fur beneath the suit, indicating that this had been a pony once. “Ever seen anything like this before, Fruity?” “Closest I’ve seen are Ghouls, but they’re more alive than this thing. This is something else entirely.” This place was getting weirder by the second. And more dangerous. “We need to push on.” We continued deeper into the plaza. I was getting more and more uncomfortable as we progressed. My threat warning system was constantly active; an enemy could’ve been anywhere at anytime. As we approached the far end, we saw a street light flash inside a ginnel. As it did, we could spot a pile of ammo boxes at the end. “Do you see that?” “Yeah, we could really use-WHOA!” I screeched. A spear came flying right at me. I barely managed to duck. The light flickered again, and another hazmat pony stood in the ginnel with a spear in hoof. “Look out!” Fruity yelled. We dodged another spear, watching it slam into the dead tree trunk behind us. The spear itself turned out to be makeshift, nothing more than a pool cue and a large kitchen knife. Fruity took aim and fired. The creature made a strange sound and suddenly dodged to the side. It looked as if it had briefly phased out of existence. “Shit! I only got one shot left,” “I got a full mag in this. I’ll take care of it.” I quickly grabbed my BAR with my wings. The light flickered again and I sighted up its head. Pulling the trigger, I unleashed a short burst of four rounds. “Damn, that thing’s loud!” “And it kicks like an apple farmer,” I added painfully. The recoil was so strong I was already sore, maybe even bruised. Two of the bullets landed in its head; one in the cheek, and one through a lens. The creature let out a gurgled moan as it slumped to the floor and fell still. I was about to suggest going through the ginnel when I noticed the red mist was still coming out of its respirator.. “It's not dead!” And sure enough, mere seconds later, the creature shuddered and got back up. Its limbs folded and cracked awkwardly as it rose back up to its hooves. “What the actual fuck?!” I cried out in alarm and levelled my rifle again. I held the trigger down tightly, my only intention being to unleash a stream of death upon the damned thing. Eventually, the weapon clicked empty and I became aware of Fruity yelling at me. I panted and stared at the mutilated remains and severed limbs left on the floor.. “Crystal! Crystal, it's ok, it's dead! It’s not getting up after that!” I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself, even as the toxic air made me cough a bit. After reassuring my husband, we approached the body. What was still attached was riddled with large holes, whilst the rest of its big chunks were scattered all over. I chastised myself for using up the entire mag, leaving both of our primary weapons with only four rounds remaining. I could also see multiple clasps that must’ve been used to seal up the suit. Each and every one of them were rusted shut. Something had caused them to corrode which in turn sealed whoever was in the suit inside. Besides that, we helped ourselves to its leftover spears. Fruity took one of them and untied the kitchen knife off the other to give to me. I put the knife into the strap on my other foreleg. “It would look like we need to dismember these things to put them down permanently.” “That’ll be hard to do with our lack of ammo, and I don’t think these little revolvers will be any good for that.” “Hmm.. We should check those ammo boxes or else we’re gonna be in trouble.” We walked through the ginnel into a small square, with yet another balcony above us on nearly all sides. Unfortunately, the red cloud was thicker on the far side for whatever reason, right where the ammo boxes were stashed. Fruity got the idea to use the knife spear to grab the boxes by their handles, which he implemented with success. There were three in total, all providing us much needed supply for our weapons. And by that, I meant just a couple mags worth for our primaries, and a surplus of .357’s for our revolvers. After reloading, we took note of the open door to our left and went through. It led into a storage closet that had nothing useful, so we left. Since the mystery pegasus didn’t want us going into ‘Salida Del Sol’ yet, we decided to head back and go west. When we got close to the Residential District, Fruity asked if we should find the pony collared there, but I suggested we check out the west side first to find some more supplies. Thankfully, we made it to the town centre without getting lost and wasted no time in heading down the western road. We didn’t get far before something caught our attention. Under one of the walkways, we could see a faint blue glow. Investigating revealed it coming from a strange golden pedestal, and a golden ring atop it. “What’s this?” “I dunno, honey. Also, I can’t see where the light’s coming from. Like, at all” Fruity was right. The strange contraption didn’t seem to have any obvious light source beyond somewhere around the ring. “Hey, look, it’s another one of those chips,” Fruity said, pointing to an etching of its likeness. “Hmm…” I used a wing to fish a coin out. Just under the etching was a coin slot, and so, I inserted the coin. The pedestal made a chiming sound, and the blue light seemed to emit from the very centre of the ring. Next, a hologram of a vendor appeared, fairly similar to the one at the shop from before. “Another vendor?” “I’m not sure. Could be.” I browsed its inventory. It primarily had food, drink and other commodities such as cigarettes; generally, stuff that was less than ten chips a piece. However, this time, there was a tab for speciality items, and when I tapped it, a warning message popped right up. It stated that I didn’t have access to any special items and that I’d need to redeem a code to unlock them. “Guess we’ll need some codes lying around then.” Fruity idly muttered to himself. I nodded and tapped the screen to return. But now, for some reason, all the prices were now practically halved. Some items had disappeared from the list entirely. “Do you have anything we could test this out with?” “Uh, actually, yes.” Fruity bent down to a small wooden box beside the pedestal and plucked out a pack of cigarettes from it. “That’s convenient,” I said, accepting the pack. “Now what do I do?” “Hey, there’s a help button.” Fruity used his wing to tap the small help icon in the top corner. What followed was a short and brief cartoony demonstration of what to do. Apparently, we just had to hold the item near the ring. Thus, I held out the pack of cigarettes tentatively, inching them closer and closer to the glowing ring. I gasped and pulled my wing back as the item began to glow, and then disintegrate into particles of light. Once the whole thing had disappeared, five chips dropped down into a tray a little further down the pedestal’s base. “Five chips for a pack of fags?” “Did you see that, though? It just bloody disintegrated!” “Its gotta be one of those magi-tech things.” “You think so?” I selected the buy tab to look at the food/water selections once more. The purified water was marked as six chips, and luckily, between the chip I’d put in earlier and the five I earned from the cigs, I had just what the machine needed. I tapped the water icon, and we both watched in amazement as a bottle of water apparently phased into existence and dropped onto the pedestal with a thunk and a slosh. “Dude, is that real?” I reached out and gently picked up the bottle. It felt solid in my wing’s grasp and I could feel the cool temperature. I slowly twisted off the cap and brought the rim to my lips, taking a small sip. My eyes widened. “It’s real!” Fruity took the bottle next and did the same. He, too, was astounded. “These pedestals are like something straight out of Star Trot.” “Huh?” “Oh, it’s a pre-war sci-fi show. I’ll show it to you once we get out of this. I’m sure I got it on holotape somewhere.” We spent more chips to stock up on food and water before moving on. A short distance later, we came to a fork in the road. One road went north towards another large gate, and the other went south and up a flight of stairs. We went north first, only for the pegasus to interrupt us yet again on my Pipbuck, almost making me jump out of my skin again. “Are you lost? Don’t go into Puesta Del Sol until you’ve found the other collars. Do not deviate!” “Faust almighty, don’t do that!” I shrieked. “He fucking chooses his moments well, don’t he?” “You’re telling me. Thank Celestia, I didn’t scream that time, otherwise we’d probably have more of those hazmats crawling up our asses.” We headed for the stairs down southward. At its base, we could see an open door leading into a small villa apartment. Inside, we were greeted with a typical living room, and up the stairs was a bedroom with a customary balcony. From up there, we could see a path to the main street, and another one after that, around the corner. “Hey Crys, can you hear that?” asked Fruity, his ears twitching. I listened, and after a moment, I could hear the sound of a bell ringing; like an old school’s dinner bell. “I can hear it.” It would ding for a couple of seconds and then stop, and then start ringing again. We soon realised that it was on a continuous loop. “What do you think it is?” “I’m not sure, but we should be wary. Bells make noise, and you know what noise attracts.” “Shit, yeah. Ugh, damn this place…” On our way out, we found a first aid box with a couple of stimpacks in it. At least we could say our supplies were looking much better now. We cautiously made our way to the main street. Another set of stairs went up west, and beyond that, another town square, with another big fountain filled with chips for the taking. At the far end of that was yet another set of stairs leading to a narrow street going south. A quick glance to my EFS revealed that we were closing in on the other collar. “We’re getting closer to the collar down that way. We might as well find it now.” Fruity nodded while we looted the fountain. I felt like my pockets were about to burst with all the chips jingling around inside them. I held them close with my wings to lessen the sound. Doing so reminded me of how my mother used to hold her pockets during Hearth’s Warming, trying to dampen the sound and hide from the charity collectors who’d swarm like vultures until they had every last bit. It wasn’t like she was greedy or anything. She just had her limits to what she could give away… My mother. That was why I was here. No matter what danger we were in, no matter what crazy pony was trying to use us or kill us, even if it meant being away from my own foals, I had to be here. I had to know if she was ever here. Or if this was her final resting place. “Hey check this out,” Fruity called. He was standing beside the stairs, nearby a wall-mounted terminal. “What’ve you found?” “This terminal apparently controls a hologram, but that’s not what I wanted you to see. It’s this.” He gestured to the wall beside it where words had been carved into the brick wall. All the letters were backwards. It took me a moment to figure out what it said but once I understood, I read it out loud. “You can’t control me forever. I know you’ll come. I’ll be waiting. “What do you think it means?” “Who knows? Probably left behind by some mad scavenger.” “Sounds reasonable enough.” “So which way should we go, honey?” “One sec.” I scaled the stairs to see where the narrow road led and leaned out from the archway at the bottom. The road ended in a huge plaza, surrounded by the villa. At the back corner, a small sign hung on the wall with the word ‘Police’ on it. The ringing bell was coming from there. “It looks like there’s a police station down there, and my EFS is pointing directly at it.” “Ok, then. Let’s get this over with.” Fruity joined my side, and we walked into the narrow street together. And, Celestia above, was it narrow. If I had claustrophobia, I’d have been losing my mind right then and there. Along the way, we found several rusted boxes. We checked each of them out to find nothing but miscellaneous junk. We still collected some of it, at least what we thought the vending machines would give us chips for. “Ugh, we really need to find a bag.” Fruity groaned. Just before entering the plaza, our eyes were drawn to the villa closest to us. Mostly, it was because of the hole in the wall, which exposed a makeshift ramp of wooden planks that apparently went from the balcony above to the first floor. Curious, we approached the door. “Want to see what’s up there?” Fruity asked. “Sure, why not?” He pushed the door open, and the red cloud rolled out and over us like a tidal wave. My entire body felt like it was on fire, even the inside of my throat seemed to ignite with each breath. [WARNING! IMMEDIATE HEALTH RISK DETECTED!] I hooked a foreleg around my husband’s and used my wings to quickly propel ourselves backwards. The moment we were out of its range, I let Fruity go and collapsed onto my haunches, hacking and wheezing. “St-stimpak!” I croaked weakly. Fruity and I rummaged through our pockets until we each pulled one out, and jabbed the needles into our forelegs. With a hiss and a snap, the burning subsided and I sighed in relief. Fruity spat blood as he recovered. “Ugh, t-that stuff is horrible!” He coughed. “T-thank hoofness for Stimpaks.” I groaned in discomfort. “H-how are you feeling?” “Uh, like shit… That cloud can really fuck you up.” “I think you should take another stimpak. You don’t look so good.” Fruity nodded and searched himself for another. I sat up and pondered again at the unique dangers we kept running into around this place. “Say, you went through the cloud before to get to that last stash. Was it as bad as this?” Fruity grunted as he injected himself again. “Ahhh, that's much better. And no, it was nothing like that.” He got back onto his hooves and shook his body, his wings flapping hard as he dispelled red dust from his feathers. “I was partially sheltered before, and I didn’t breathe any of it in.” “So breathing the stuff in is at least ten times worse than it is just flowing over you… I really hate this place.” “Eeyup. Ok, I think I’m good now. Let’s keep moving. I want to get out of this hell hole as soon as possible.” I gave Fruity a couple of minutes more to recover, then I decided it would be easier and safer to fly up to the balcony. The balcony itself was sparse save for a small table with a broken radio set and a first aid box. Inside the box were two stimpaks. The irony forced a groan out of me. I grabbed them and jumped back down, landing with a stone-cracking thud. “Fucking shit!” Fruity cried, jumping in fright. “Don’t do that!” “Sorry, honey. Here found these up there.” “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He took the stimpaks with the same grumpiness I felt. I patted his back with my wing, and then my ears twitched. I could hear those raspy respirators, coming from the plaza around the corner from us.. “Great. More of them,” Fruity muttered.. I flattened myself against the wall as much as possible before inching forward as quietly as I could. Peeking around the corner, I could see two of them shuffling forward. One of them carried a weapon that looked like a bear trap, and the other one had one of those knife spears. Satisfied, I stepped back. “Two of them. Think you can snipe them with that rifle of yours?” “This thing isn’t exactly quiet but I should be able to get one before alerting the other.” “Ok, I’ll act as a distraction if it goes wrong.” We moved out into the plaza, keeping low. When the hazmats were in sight, Fruity lay prone and readied his rifle, wrapping a feather on the trigger. Fruity muttered something, and then he pulled the trigger. There was a bright muzzle flash, and the cube sailed. The closest turned their head, and was immediately hit in the face, its head snapping back and disintegrating, its body collapsing without another twitch. Unfortunately, the other one was now alert, and it phased to the side. It launched a spear at us, and Fruity ducked down as far as he could. “Running distraction!” I whipped out my pistol and rushed to the side, firing blindly towards the creature. I knew the rounds wouldn’t pack much of a punch, but that didn’t matter at the moment. My distraction worked, and it threw another spear. I skidded to a stop as it impacted the ground in front of me. “Shit!” I was about to change direction when I saw another spear flying. I ducked but let out a scream of pain as the blade sliced through my jumpsuit and cut across my flank. It was at that moment that another cube smashed into the creature’s head, knocking it off its hooves. “Quick, we gotta dismember it!” Fruity shouted, galloping forward and scooping up one of the spears. I grabbed the spear in front of me. Together, we stabbed the blades into the creature’s neck, pushing and pulling our respective spears like a pair of scissors, chopping off the creature’s head before it could recover. “I already hate these things.” “Me too,” I grumbled. “Shit, are you alright!? You’re bleeding?” I looked back at my flank. There was a long gash across it, but the blood flow was already slowing down to a trickle. Being a cyborg, the majority of my blood was kept between my brain, heart and lungs, so flesh wounds weren’t much of a concern. Not to mention, I had my regen talisman, which was already doing its job. However, there was something else wrong… “I don’t know Fruity. I can’t put my hoof on it, but something doesn’t feel right.” “This Cloud might be affecting you just as much as me.” “Hmm. Maybe.” The ringing bell caught our attention. We approached the police station, and as we got closer, my vision became staticky around the edges. I reached out a hoof for the door handle, but just before touching it, I hesitated. “I don’t think we should go through the front.” “Yeah, I don’t like this either.” “Let’s see if we can find a backdoor.” We moved away, and my vision cleared up. We came up to a planter, and beside it was a pile of twisted metal. Studying it, I could tell it was burnt, but it didn’t look as old as everything around us. It looked like it came from some kind of aircraft. In fact, there was a gouge in the road trailing behind the metal, as if the metal crashed down from somewhere on the cliff above us. Looking up, I could see that some of the roofs along the same trajectory were damaged, and that there was a big hole in the top of a tower. I gasped. “I think I know how that Enclave pegasus got here.” “Oh yeah?” “I think he crashed here. Look.” One by one, I pointed at all the evidence. “Huh. You may be right. I suppose we can ask him when we talk to him next.” I nodded. We deserved some answers after all this. We then proceeded to look for another entrance. Eventually, we found another alleyway beside the Police Station, and it appeared to lead somewhere behind the station. Just inside the alley, we saw another backwards message carved into the wall. Snake may be willing to serve, but I am not. You want her, you come to me so we can… talk. “I wonder who that’s for.” I shrugged. Everything around here was crazy, so a bunch of ramblings on the walls made little difference. Cautiously, we continued forward. As we came to a sharp left turn, we saw another apartment with its door wide open. Thankfully, this one didn’t have any red cloud inside, so we decided to explore it in hopes of finding more supplies. The layout was basically the same as all the other apartments before it. We found several well-preserved photo frames, each depicting a mare in a Sierra Maredre police uniform. We also found a couple more police pistols; one of which I used to repair my own, and the other I insisted Fruity to take it. We didn’t find any more medical supplies, unfortunately. The last thing of note we found was a large metal cabinet built into the bedroom closet. Pulling it open showed us something that put a smile on my face: a suit of Sierra Maredre security armour. “Neat!” “Bought time we found some better protection.” I pulled the yellow and black jumpsuit out of the cabinet. The insignia of the Maredre decorated its flanks, and the chest and back were thick with armour plates. It even had a removable section on the back so that pegasi could wear it, which suited us just fine.. “Here, you should wear it. You’re more vulnerable than me,” I proposed, holding the suit out to him. To my surprise, he declined and pushed it back to me gently. “Be that as it may, your life is more valuable to me, so I’d rather you wear it. Besides, the Police Station is just next door, so we’ll likely find more suits inside.” “You sure?” He nodded with a smile. “Well, if you insist, but as soon as we find another suit, you’re wearing it.” He chuckled and left the closet to give me privacy while I changed. The suit hugged my body, covering every inch of my legs and body minus my wings and head. The boots felt heavy too. When I gently tapped my hoof against the cabinet, I could tell they were steel hoof caps. Another thing I discovered was that it had those magic pockets where we could stuff all our items inside without it bulging out. Once fully dressed, I rejoined my husband. “Let’s go find our new friend.” We left the apartment and headed onward. Soon, we found the station’s back door. Hopefully, whatever was inside would be better than out here. Author's Note Happy New Year everypony. I'm sorry for the delay. I had originally wanted to release this chapter on Christmas Day but for the past 2 weeks i've been ill and in great pain. I am thankfully on the mend and it no longer hurts like hell to just get up. Thank you all for keeping with my new story and I hope you've enjoyed the new chapter. I hope you'll continue to enjoy my work. Have a wonderful new year everypony and here is a piece i commissioned by the talented Rand-dums on DA of Crystal in her Maredre armour. Chapter 3: Tick Tick TICKFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 3: Tick Tick TICK Fizztop Mountain: Sparkle World A spark of purple flashed in the middle of the restored living quarters of Fizztop Mountain. A unicorn mare, wearing thick-rimmed glasses and tending to an adolescent deathclaw, looked up as her horn glowed in reaction to a strong magical energy. “Hm?” The Deathclaw hissed. “Easy Spike,” Raven said soothingly, patting his shoulder. Suddenly, a disc of swirling purple energy began to form there. “A phase gate! I better get Solaris!” Badlands Zone, Sparkle World Princess Solaris grit her teeth in rage. Her long horn lit up with incendiary power as she stared down the Bloodworm Queen. “Die, you despicable mutation!” The Celestia Hammer was released upon the large mutation. The creature shrieked until it was nothing but ash. Solaris smiled, and her eyes glowed a deep crimson. She took pleasure in killing the creature that had terrorised her community for the last couple of months. Just then, she received a transmission. Other Mark 2s were contacting her via her cybernetic network. “Princess. Please come back home immediately. A phase gate is opening.” The sound of her best friend’s voice brought the natural magenta back to her irises. “Raven! I’ll be right there.” With a hint of worry, she teleported with practised ease. Fizztop Mountain: Sparkle World Raven let out a squeal of surprise as Solaris materialised in front of her with a loud crack. “I’ll never get used to that,” she muttered. Princess Solaris gave an apologetic look before turning towards the swirling disc. “How long has it been here?” “It only formed a couple of moments ago while I was checking over the new residential proposals.” Solaris nodded and approached. Spike stepped up to his caretaker’s side, standing almost as tall as the cybernetic alicorn, ready to defend her if needed. Once Solaris got within a couple of feet, the vortex opened into a shimmering purple ring that led into a recognisable laboratory. “The Sanctuary,” she said to herself. One of two alicorns on the other side stepped aside, and a zebra stallion stepped through, followed by three zebra fillies. “We will open the gate again in a few minutes, Nexus,” said the other alicorn, before it closed behind them. “Nexus, this is quite the surprise.” Spike hissed at the newcomers. “Easy, Spike. They’re friends.” The Deathclaw snorted, plodding off to a corner to lay down. “Indeed, it is. Unfortunately, it isn’t in better circumstances.” Solaris’ expression grew serious. “What’s happened?” “Crystal and Fruity have gone missing.” “Missing?!” “Yes, they-” Xian interrupted. “Mum and Dad went to check out something about a casino. One Grandmother might’ve been to.” “Yes…That was four days ago.” Solaris nodded, their concern validated in her mind. “I have come to ask for your help, Princess,” Nexus continued. “You know you don’t have to call me that, and I will help in any way I can.” “Thank you. If it’s ok, would you be willing to look after Xian and her sisters? I can’t maximise my ability to search for Ma’am and Sir whilst having to worry about Xian and the foals at the same time.” “I understand. They’ll be safe here.” “Thank you kindly.” “You’re welcome. However, I would like to help in the search as well. Can you tell me anything specific about what they were looking for?” “Uh, yes, of course. Sir and Ma’am were looking for some place called the Sierra Maredre Casino.” “The Sierra Maredre. Hmm… Ok, I’ll see what I can find and relay it to you.” Nexus nodded gratefully, and then turned to the teenage zebra filly comforting her sisters. “Will you be ok here?” She looked up to him and nodded with a sad, teary smile. “Yes. Thank you Uncle, but please find them.” “I’ll do my best.” Nexus held a hoof to his ear. “I’m ready.” Another portal opened beside him. “Thank you, Solaris.” He stepped through, and the portal closed swiftly behind him. Solaris turned to the fillies. “You’ll be safe here in Fizztop Mountain. If you wish to explore the park, Spike here will keep you safe,” She gestured over to the deathclaw, who seemed to be listening to the conversation. “He looks like he might want to eat us,” Xian said with a gulp of nervousness. “I assure you young one, he wouldn’t dare try to harm you,” Solaris said firmly. Xian noticed the creature wilt ever so slightly at the alicorn’s tone, clearly afraid of upsetting her. Solaris then turned to her friend. “Raven.” The cybernetic unicorn jumped with a squeak. “Y-yes?” “Call all scouting parties back to Sparkle World, including those preparing to leave. I want to speak with them in regards to this matter.” “Yes, your Highness.” Raven put a hoof to her earpiece. “Attention. All scouting parties are to return to Sparkle World immediately by the order of the Princess.” Solaris cringed at the formality. Even though the majority of Sparkle World saw her as a new Princess of Equestria, she still believed she didn’t deserve such recognition. While Raven got to work, Solaris took Xian and the foals to their room, taking time to explain what to expect during their stay, for however long that might be. By the time she returned, Raven appeared to have completed her task. “Oh Solaris, the last scouting party just confirmed they are heading back to Sparkle World.” “How many failed to report in?” Raven blinked and looked down at her clipboard. “Only one failed to report in.” Solaris sighed. Dealing with losses never got any easier. “Which one?” “Um… Team Sera,” “Team Sera… That’s Myrrah’s team!” “Um, yes. Yes, it is… Wait, getting another transmission,” Raven held a hoof to her ear. “Oh, Team Sera just called in. Apparently, they’d been unconscious and… oh no!” Solaris’s ears flicked up. Whatever relief she had briefly gained was immediately replaced with dread. “What is it?” “Myrrah has disappeared.” “What? How?!” “They don’t know. They report that a red gas knocked them out when they entered some travel agency building.” “Where are they now?” “Just leaving said building in northern Fillydelphia.” “Right. I will address the other teams first, and then I’ll go to this travel agency to investigate Myrrah’s disappearance. When the rest of Team Sera returns, get Buckshot to interview them. I want all the details.” “Yes, Solaris.” XXXXX Sierra Maredre: Villa Police Station We entered through the back door. The room appeared to be the station’s staffroom, with the scattered small tables and their small chairs, the lockers to the right and a kitchen area to the left. The dirty and dishevelled look of it all was typical wasteland chic, however. “Cosy.” Fruity muttered. My ears were dancing on my head as we moved further inside. I could hear some sort of garbled bits of a voice that I couldn’t make any sense of. Then I could see the static creep into my vision again. “Do you hear that?” “I hear something, but can’t make out what it is.” The more we headed in, the more the static swallowed my peripherals. I had no idea what was going on. It was so distracting that I didn’t notice I was getting a headache until the pain grew into something akin to stabbing down my spine. I let out a cry of pain and grabbed the sides of my head. The pain doubled and my sight became entirely filled with static, save for my HUD, but even that appeared to be going haywire with flickering colours. Then there were the flashing errors, a whole lot of them. The most disturbing of all was 'Core System Shutdown…' and 'Core System Shutdown… Aborted'. Whatever the hell was afflicting me, it was screwing around with my cybernetics on a level I never thought possible. I could no longer tell if I was still screaming as my hearing had now devolved into a constant ringing. I knew that if it hadn’t been for my high pain threshold, developed from all my years of illness as a foal, I would’ve passed out by now. Suddenly, I felt a pressure on my side push me back. I instinctively put my hooves down to prevent myself from falling. Even so, my limbs moved in an almost drunken manner as I was forced to hobble along. After what felt like an eternity, the pain subsided and my senses returned to normal. Thus, I was greeted to the sight of a tired and extremely worried purple pegasus. "Fruify, are you alright?" I asked. "Am I alright… shit Crystal, I should be asking you that. You were screaming like somepony stabbed you and was twisting the knife every which way till the brahmin came home!" I gave my husband a weak smile and nodded. "I'm ok, now." "Thank fuck, I don't want to ever hear you scream like that again." Fruity sighed. "Just what the fuck was that?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, but whatever it was, it messed with my cybernetics in a bad way." Fruity opened his mouth when my PipBuck crackled to life. The deep voice of our captor blared out. "Beware of speakers and radios. In their degraded state, they emit a signal that interferes with the collar's electronics. It's an unfortunate side effect, one I did not anticipate. To get around this, simply smash them or turn them off." My PipBuck went silent. "You could’ve at least warned us about this sooner, asshole!" I shouted angrily. Fruity gently draped his wing over my shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze. "Yeah, the twat could've." He nuzzled my cheek, and I returned the affection with one of my own, my mood slightly improved. I then looked down at the compass in my HUD to see a direction marker pointing to the next room. I frowned. "So, how are we gonna find the collared pony if we can't get close?" "I’ll have to find whatever is emitting that signal, and smash it to bits. Or turn it off, at least. You just sit tight and recover. I'll handle this." I grabbed his foreleg as he stood. "Please be careful." I implored. Fruity gave me his reassuring yet cocky grin. "Don't worry, I got this." I let go of his leg reluctantly, and the stallion I loved marched on. XXXXX I looked back at the mare I loved as I passed into the next room and flashed her a smile. Inside, however, I was bricking it. That scream was the worst sound I’d ever heard. Not since she’d faced Unit-1000 alone in that robot factory had my gut been filled with such dread. Hell, even when giving birth to the twins, she never screamed like that. As far as I was concerned, this place was the deadliest death trap we'd ever stumbled upon. A few more steps inside, and my collar began to beep and throb at an increasing rate, just like before. I waited and counted, and just as the beeps almost became a constant, I stepped back until it stopped. It seemed that I had a similar window of time to act. Just enough time to zip in, smash a radio and dash back to safety. From where I stood, the layout was simple: a large detention cell that dominated a quarter of the room ahead of me, two desks set right next to it, preceding a doorway straight ahead, and another two office desks in a waiting area to my right. There were ham radios on the desks closest and farthest from the cell. Thirty seconds wasn't a long time, especially when you're looking for shit that could kill you. I stepped up as close to the threshold as I could without my collar twitching and flexed my wings. I needed to be fast. Thankfully, several years of trying to keep up with a mare capable of breaking the sound barrier improved my wing power considerably. With a deep breath and one last look at my wife, I shot forward. As I flew in, I caught sight of another doorway to my left. The beeping started, and I banked right around the corner and put my hoof through the furthest radio. Turning around, I spotted another desk with a terminal on it, as well as the security door next to it. The beeps sped up, so I powered back to the first desk and quickly smashed its own radio. The beeps didn’t stop; there had to be another one. At this point, however, I didn't want to try my luck, so I pegged it back into the safety of the canteen. "Is everything ok?" Crystal asked worriedly. "Yeah, just knocked two radios out. I reckon there’s at least one more." She smiled, but her gorgeous blue eyes couldn’t hide her fear. "I'll be right back." The garbled noise sounded close, so I ran through the leftward doorway and into a hallway. It continued to the right and from there to the end were three holding cells along one wall, a row of filing cabinets along the other, and a desk right there in the middle with another radio. I hurried over and turned it off. My collar finally stopped beeping and throbbing and I sighed with relief… until I realised I could still hear that garbled sound from the front. Always with the hidden one, I thought. I went back and peered into the station's main room. I couldn't see more radios from here; maybe it had to be in the front somewhere. I shot over to the waiting area, where I finally saw a large padded armchair and a small end table by the wall, and right there on the end table, was a radio. I quickly turned it off, but my collar was still beeping. Panicked, I whirled around in hopes of spotting it, and there I saw it, underneath the other front desk. I hurried over and smashed my hoof into it. The noise, and my collar, went silent, and I plopped down right on the floor with my tired wings drooping to my sides. "Thank Celestia," I quietly muttered to myself. I turned my head and called my wife. "Ok honey, it's safe." XXXXX There was a small crash from somewhere, and the static rimming my vision faded away completely. "Ok honey, it's safe." I smiled as I got up and trotted in to find Fruity sitting on the floor, looking winded. "Are you alright?" He gave me his reassuring smile. "Yeah, just fine. Just my wings feel tired after having worked them like a hummingbird." I chuckled lightly at his choice of words. "Great job, honey. So, where is our pony?" I checked my compass to see that it was pointing toward the detention cell. "He's in there?" "Huh?" Fruity said, getting up. The space inside the cell was pretty dark, what with how little lighting was still working in here. But as I stared into the gloom, I soon picked out the outline of a tall pony huddled up in the far corner, completely shrouded in darkness. "Um, excuse me?" I called out. The figure’s head shot up and turned towards us. "Master?" The figure’s tone was deep, hopeful, and feminine. She stood up and approached the bars. As it stepped into the light, Fruity and I gasped in surprise as the figure turned out to be a purple alicorn. She had a short mane and numerous scars on her body, including one that looked like the word 'Snake' carved into her chest. Her long slender horn appeared to be cracked but otherwise intact. Chains were wrapped around her barrel and one of her forelegs had a broken bear-trap around it. "No. Not Master," she moaned. She abruptly turned around and sat back down in her corner. "Hey, wait a minute!" I cried. She didn't respond. "We need to talk to you," Fruity tried. She still didn't respond. "Ugh, bloody Unity Alicorns." I walked around until I found the cell door, and tried to open it. "Bollocks, it's locked." Fruity smirked at my profanity before frowning in thought. "Whoever locked her in there is likely long gone with the key, by now." "Well, this is a police station. They must have a skeleton key somewhere." "I guess we gotta find something like that to open this cell." "Yeah. We should split up…" "I'll go check in there," Fruity interrupted,immediately walking towards the far door. A sign indicated it was where the restrooms were. "Um, ok. I'll look around here." I began my search by checking the desks. Sadly, none of them contained much of anything apart from a hoofful of .357 rounds and a spare pistol. The last desk I checked, closest to where Fruity disappeared to, had a functional terminal. Unfortunately, the screen was filled with lines of words and symbols, and I didn’t get many chances to try hacking terminals in my free time. I knew I could easily bypass the security if I used my link cable that all Infiltrator units had, but I hated that sensation of the cable digging its way out the back of my neck, so I decided against that option. However, being cybernetically enhanced, I thought maybe I could use my enhanced strength to force the door open. With that in mind, I approached the security door, turned around, reared my hindlegs and bucked with all the strength I could muster. There was a resounding clang as my hooves met steel, but surprisingly, I felt a jolt run up my legs and my spine. I let out a cry of pain and hopped away from the door. Fruity rushed back into the room. "Shit, Crystal are you alright?" "Yeah… ow!" I winced. "I didn't think that door to be so sturdy." "You sure? That was quite the crack." Just then, a damage report had popped up into my HUD, detailing my rear ankles suffered what would amount to a minor sprain. But what captured my focus was a system warning alert. “What?! Strength Inhibitor Engaged!" "An inhibitor? Didn't you already have a regulator?" I called up a diagnostic screen and gasped when I saw two new modifications listed. An installation of this new inhibitor, which I subconsciously rubbed at the back of my head where I felt a slight bump, and a modification to my regeneration system. Apparently, my regen system had been set to only heal at an organically natural rate, regardless of the damage I might take. "Somepony messed with my system and cut me open to stick a new chip in my neck!" I screeched indignantly. I felt violated. "I knew something felt off when I woke up." "What does this mean? Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine. From this, it means I won't be able to use my cybernetic strength, and I only heal at a natural rate." Fruity sighed with relief. "That sucks, but at least you're ok." I nodded, and the two of us went back to our respective searches. All that was left was to attempt hacking the terminal normally. I tapped a key to wake it up. Once the screen flashed back to life, I sat in front of it and began examining my choices. I remembered a time when Fruity tried teaching me how to hack. He told me that when the Collapse occurred, all the active terminals locked themselves and defaulted to a random word generator that created a password, meaning that whoever tried to log back in would need to find the correct word. He also taught me a way to help narrow the choices down and it started with finding two opposing arrows or brackets. Finding any would remove an incorrect word or reset the number of attempts you still had (and usually, you started with four). Doing so proved to be a tedious endeavour, but eventually, I managed to reduce the word count on the screen down to three. With those odds, I took a stab at selecting the right one. "Oh come on, out of the three still there, I happen to choose the one with no matching letters." I grumbled irritably. The next one I selected was the correct one, not that it cured my annoyance. There wasn't much it provided save for an announcement email in regards to contraband, and the option to remotely open and lock the security door to the contraband locker. I selected to open the door, and there was a series of small clunks as the locks disengaged. "Alright, let's see if there’s anything useful in there." I pulled the steel door open to find a small room with metal shelving units on both sides. There was barely enough room for me to slide in. To my surprise, there was another BAR and two full boxes of ammunition for it on one shelf, which I quickly swiped for myself. I also gathered some more .308 rounds and a holotape that my HUD labelled as ‘Vending Machine Code for .308 Rounds.’ The only stuff I didn’t grab were a couple of drugs. I never did drugs, even before the Collapse, and I doubted my cybernetic body would even utilise them. Sadly, though, there was no key. I left the locker and decided to check on my husband. The door to the bathrooms opened up to a narrow hallway with four doors on one side, leading to locker rooms and bathrooms for each gender. Soon enough, I heard struggling from the stallion's locker room. When I poked my head in, I saw Fruity attempting to put on a suit of Marde Security Armour, only to have gotten tangled up in it. Only when he nearly fell over did he notice me in the doorway. "Well, this isn't the most embarrassing thing you caught me doing." I snorted and shook my head. "How'd you get yourself tied up in it?" "Lots of straps and they're all higgledy-piggledy." "Right. Hold still and let's get you untangled." For the good part of fifteen minutes, we worked to get him untied and then to put the armour on properly. I felt a bit better knowing my husband had a decent level of protection now. "Phew, thanks," he said as he adjusted the armour. "Did you find anything?" I gestured to the second BAR I had on my back. "Found a spare gun, some ammo and a vending machine code for rifle rounds." "Huh, what a coincidence, I found a code for .357 rounds in here." He gave me another holotape which I pocketed. "I also found a couple of stims and a pair of pistols with ammo." He fished said items out of his new armour's magic pockets and held them out to me. "You should keep the pistols. You could use a backup weapon," He nodded and pocketed the pistols again. "I'll need to sit down and repair one," he muttered. I nodded in agreement; I had to do the same for my BARs. "I guess you didn't find any keys." He shook his head. "Nah, nothing." "Well, we still got the backroom to check, and if that fails, I guess we'll have to get creative." Together, we made our way back. The alicorn hadn’t moved, but we ignored her as we passed by. Returning to the holding cells, we found the first two were completely empty. Fruity went up to the last one while I took to checking the desk. "Oh, now that's just cruel." "What is?" I asked. "Some dickhead left a bottle of water just out of reach for this poor guy." I poked my head out to see a skeleton pressed up against the cell door from the inside, its leg reaching out through the bars, millimetres away from a bottle of water set on the floor. I shook my head to clear the visions of what was most certainly slow torture. Ten years of wasteland life made something like this to be expected. After a minute of searching the drawers, I let out an annoyed huff and slammed the last one shut. "Nothing." "Yeah, nothing over… Hang on," I looked up to see Fruity on his hindlegs as he plucked a holotape off the top of one of the cabinets. "What've you found?" "A vending machine code for Stimpaks," he stated happily. I smiled at our stroke of good luck. "More supplies for us, then." "Well, that'll depend on how many chips they cost." "Yeah, there’s that… So, where should we check now?" "Well, there is the basement." Fruity pointed to a door on the opposite side that I missed. With nowhere else to go, that’s where we went. Being a gentlecolt, he opened the door for me. Once we stepped through and the door closed behind us, a deep, masculine voice sounded off, seemingly everywhere at once. "If you are who I think you are. You've come to fetch Snake from her cage upstairs. I cannot allow that. Come. Find my voice, and then we'll talk." "Who the fuck was that?" Fruity squeaked. "I don't know, but it certainly wasn't that Enclave pegasus." We cautiously descended the stairs into the basement proper, brandishing our small arms. At the bottom was an open security door, and I slowly poked my head in. Inside was a storage room full of wooden crates. No sign of anything that posed a threat. "Clear." We kept our pistols out, regardless. We skirted around the crates until we came to a door on the opposite side of the room. It was one of those heavy security types with hydraulics and a locking wheel in the centre. I grabbed the handle bars and spun it counterclockwise, and luckily, the locks released and the door opened up for us. The voice came back. "You're almost there. Just a little further." Another corridor, and apparently a U-shaped one, at that. About halfway through, I stopped. "Crap… Static’s filling my vision again. There must be another radio up ahead." "Alright, sit tight. I'll go ahead," Fruity said, taking the lead. "Be careful." Fruity rushed towards the door and went through. I listened as Fruity mumbled curses as he searched until the sound of something breaking ended the white noise. "Ok Crys, it's safe." I hurried on to join Fruity. The room was kinda small, possibly an office. All that was left was a table with a terminal, a toolbox and a holotape. The voice spoke again. "There, on the table. My voice. Take it to the one in the cage upstairs. Play it, and we'll… talk." I approached the table and cautiously picked up the holotape. When nothing happened, Fruity and I deflated; we both expected something to happen. "Phew. Ok, so now what? We take that up to weirdo upstairs, play it and hope for the best?" I shrugged. "I dunno, but currently it's our only option." We promptly returned to the detention cell. I sat down before the cell door and lifted my PipBuck. Opening the holotape deck, I found myself surprised to find a holotape already in it. I pulled it out and examined it, flipping it over to find a label written in black marker. Your instructions in case you can't read. "Oh fuck you!" I growled in annoyance. "What is it?" "A message from our captor." I tossed the tape over to Fruity. He caught it with a wing and read it. "What a cunt." I inserted our holotape and hit play. The voice played, loudly. "Snake, back in your cage!" The effect was immediate. The alicorn stopped rocking back and forth and muttering to herself. She sat rigid for a moment before she slowly got up. Fruity and I took a step back as the air about her seemed to completely change, while she slowly and methodically approached the cell door. "Hmm. You're not who I was expecting. But you can't be totally stupid since you found my voice and can follow instructions. Good." Her voice was the same as the one in the basement. "Charming," Fruity quietly muttered. "Um, hi. We came looking for a pony with a collar on like us. My EFS points us to you but I don't see a collar on you." "It's close. Closer than I'd like," she grumbled. "What do you mean?" "Snake's been into things. Doesn't think before she eats, regardless of what's on them." "Wait, you ate your collar?!" Fruity blurted out. "Snake doesn't care what she eats. She'll crush it, mangle it, make it fit, until she's full." Fruity and I both shivered at the mental image. "Y-you're not gonna eat us right?" Fruity asked with a nervous tremor in his voice. "I won't, but Snake might." "Err, ok, we're getting off topic. It's clear you’ve got a split personality. Who are we speaking with right now?" The alicorn regarded us coolly. "I don't remember my name anymore, but you can call me Ekans." "My name is Crystal and this is my husband, Fruity." "Ok, now that introductions are out of the way," Fruity began, stepping up beside me. "Since the collar is in your gut, that makes you the one we need. So how about you tell us how to get you out so we can get out of this mess." "No. I'm not leaving here until the old stallion shows himself." "Look, like it or not, we're in this together. He linked our collars, so if we die, you die." "You think I'll open this cage so you can let Snake drag others here? I don't think so." I gasped in shock. "You brought us here?!" Ekans looked genuinely offended. "Definitely not. It was Snake that brought you here." "We did not want to come just yet," The alicorn sneered at us. "Of course you did. You, like everypony else, heard the call of the Sierra Maredre, and your greed brought you here." "You're wrong! We didn't want to come here for some treasure. I have a personal reason for wanting to come here," I rebuked heatedly. The alicorn looked mildly amused. "Oh, and what other reason could you possibly have?" "...I’m from the prewar era. I was put in stasis, and since I’ve woken up, I haven’t been able to find out what happened to my mother. I know she's dead, but I don't know where or how she died. The only clue we’ve found was an invitation for her to the Sierra Maredre's grand opening . That's why I wanted to come here, to find her… S-so I could finally say goodbye." Ekans chuckled. "Heh. I don't think you belong here." Suddenly, her face hardened. "No, you don't belong here. But regardless, you can go back to your master and tell him that if he wants Snake, he must come and see me so we can… talk." "You say talk but your face says bloody murder," said Fruity. "I don't think he'll waste his time coming to you. If he wanted, he could just detonate the collars and find somepony else to do his dirty work for him." "He won't risk harming Snake. He needs her to bring others here." "Sounds like Snake does whatever he says," Fruity observed. "Snake… obeys, yes. Always so eager to please her master," The alicorn sneered. "She did seem very hopeful he’d come for her when we tried to talk to her," I added. Then I thought of something. "Would she take control if she heard his voice?" "Snake obeys his voice, yes. Why? Do you have some means of contacting the old stallion?" Ekans queried worriedly. I held out my wing to Fruity. He clocked on immediately and put the “instructions” holotape into my wing. "I have his voice on this holotape." "You… DON'T PLAY IT! If you do, I'll find a way out of my cage and end you, murder you, break your hooves and legs until-" I held my hooves up and squeaked in terror. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy!" "Holy fucking shit!" Fruity bared his holorifle. "I won't play it, alright? Not unless you give us reason to." I took a breath to calm myself down. "Look, we need your help to get out of this alive. Perhaps we can help you in return." "And how can you possibly help us in return?" She questioned, appearing intrigued. "We know a place called the Alicorn Sanctuary. It’s run by a close friend of ours. She could help you with your multiple personalities, and you'd be safe. No one will try to use you there." Ekans pondered for a moment. "All I want is to keep Snake safe. You see these scars, the bear trap on her leg? She did that to herself to silence me. Can you guarantee she will be safe there?" "I can't, no." I answered honestly. "But it will be the safest place in the Marejave for her and you." Ekans hummed. We kept quiet and didn’t try to pressure her. "...Very well, then. You may regret this, but I'll unlock the cage." Her cracked horn ignited and a key floated out of her short mane. "You had the key on you this whole time?!" Fruity cried out. The cell door screeched open, and the alicorn stepped out. "I hid the key on me so Snake wouldn't know. It was part of the plan to confront the old stallion." "Oh yeah, you were so gonna murder him." The alicorn simply smirked. "Speaking of him, do you know who he is?" I asked. Ekans shook her head. "Snake does. I do not." I was a smidge disappointed. "Well, I'm glad you decided to help us." "If we get into trouble, I won't be much good in a fight," Ekans cautioned. "Why's that?" "This body is difficult to fight in, especially when I'm in control. I can't use powerful magic because of the crack in my horn." She regarded our armour and weapons. "I assume you've already encountered the ghost ponies." "If that's what you call them, yeah. What are they, some kind of zombie?" Fruity asked. "In a sense. They can't be killed unless you remove a limb or their head." "Yeah, we figured that much." "Nopony knows where they came from, but those they don't kill, they drag them off into the Cloud." "I don't suppose you know anything about this Cloud?" She shook her head. "It was here when Snake stumbled upon this place. The only thing I can say for definite is that the Cloud is corrosive and toxic, and it seems to have gotten thicker over the years." "Yeah, it's so thick right now I can't tell if it's night or day," I agreed. I then laid our two BARs down on a desk. "Before we go back out there, we might as well fix our gear." "Good idea." Fruity found space on another desk and began dismantling his pistols. Currently, I was thankful for the data my electronic brain held, for it made me fully aware on how to disassemble the BARs and which parts had to be replaced. After taking the bad parts out of one and replacing them with the good parts of the other, my new BAR certainly wasn't up to one hundred percent, but it was at least better than it was before, and worthy of combat. With that, I slung it onto my back and proceeded to do the same for my own pistols. About ten minutes later, we both holstered our weapons. Fruity turned to Ekans and held out a kitchen knife to her. "I don't trust you enough to give you a gun, but here. These knives seem pretty effective." "Ah, a Lunarite Knife: a prewar magic wonder that never goes blunt." The alicorn said took hold of the knife in her magenta magic. "And I know firsthoof how sharp they are." I groaned. My flank still stung from where that knife spear gashed me. We approached the front door. I held my BAR under my right wing, ready to fire. I took a quick look back at my companions, seeing their confident expressions. I nodded and pushed open the door, stepping back out into the gloomy red darkness. "Ah shit." Fruity grumbled. Four ghost ponies were milling about before us. "They are attracted to anything that is out of the ordinary for them. The commotion you have caused during your trip here to find me has likely stirred them up." "Well, bollocks. So anything we do here is likely going to attract more of them?" "Yes." Ekans replied bluntly. "And they've seen us!" One of them launched a knife spear at us. "Divide and conquer!" The alicorn yelled, charging forward. "I've got this one!" Fruity announced, flying a couple of feet off the floor and firing. While Ekans engaged the ones to my left and Fruity had the one to my right, I took aim at the one in front of me as it hobbled towards me. It was another one of them with the bear-trap contraption on its hoof. I remembered my mistake from the previous encounter and pulled the trigger lightly. The rifle kicked back heavily and I was quick to release, firing off a short three round burst. The ghost pony staggered as the rounds punched into its shoulder, chest and neck; but it wasn't enough to bring it down. I tried to aim at it again but the creature began doing its weird phase shifting. It kept getting closer, and that’s when I mentally slapped myself for forgetting something very useful: I engaged my SATS and time slowed to a snail's pace. I focused on the forelegs, toggling a hit for each one with a ninety percent chance of hitting. Satisfied, I released SATS and let its magic take over. All but one bullet hit the creature in its kneecaps, and its front half crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Neither leg had been severed, however. "End him now!" Ekans grunted whilst repeatedly stabbing her own target. I looked at my weapon. Its length was long and its stock was thick and almost shaped like a hammer. I had an idea. I reared up onto my hindlegs and flipped the BAR around, catching it by the gun barrel with my forelegs. Then, I swung the rifle over my head and brought it down with all my might onto the creature's head. There was a satisfying wet crunch as the ghost's head exploded. "Nice!" Fruity cheered. I went to help my husband but he waved me off. "No, go help Ekans. I got this peach. Hold still, you bastard!" I reluctantly turned around and saw that Ekans was now holding off two ghost ponies, even using her bare forelegs to keep them at bay. Seeing that she was struggling, I ran over and crashed into one of them, knocking it down. The alicorn slugged the other ghost in its head, and when it went down, reared up and brought her hooves down on its head, crushing into a bloody mess. Meanwhile, I levelled my BAR and fired a burst of rounds into my target’s head at point blank range, ripping its head apart. "Whoa!" Fruity exclaimed as his ghost pony threw a knife spear at him that barely missed. "Eat shit and die!" He fired his holorifle again just as it grabbed another spear, and hit it right smack dab in the forehead. The whole creature began to glow. "Ha! Eat that bitch!" Just before disintegration could end the ghost, it finished its throw, and the spear was launched towards me and Ekans. "Shit, look out!" "Eep!" I squeaked and jumped out of the way. Ekans didn't even bat an eye as the spear crashed down and dug its blade deep into the cobbles in front of her. "Well, that was exciting," she deadpanned. "Where are we going?" "Um, to the main fountain, I think. It's where we woke up and where the old stallion addressed us via hologram." I said, rubbing my chin in thought. "He wanted us to gather the other ponies with collars and bring them back to the fountain. I think you'll be safe there while we go find the other captive." "Then we best hurry. I can already feel Snake clawing at my guts." I nodded, and we proceeded to hurry back through the dark narrow streets and towards the fountain. XXXXX High above the streets, a large shadowy figure looked down as a winged zebra mare, a pegasus stallion and a scarred alicorn made their way back to the central plaza. "Good. You have rescued the mutant." It grinned darkly, and watched as they came upon a junction where to the group's left a gate sat. "You’re not yet done in this area. Time to find the wild card." Its horn glowed crimson. "Just a little push to get you going in the right direction." Suddenly, a light flickered on above the gate, driving the suffocating darkness away. The group, as expected, turned to look and gasped in surprise. "How the fuck did we miss this?" the stallion asked. The mare scanned the area for a moment before spotting the vending machine nearby. "I guess we were too distracted by that vending machine to notice." The light flickered again. "Medical District… Oh great! A quick excursion through there should bump up our medical supplies." "But what about the other captive?" Its horn glowed again. "And now a little persuasion." "Well, they aren't going anywhere and we could really use the meds. I mean, if we get into a hairy situation and run out, it won't end well for all of us." The stallion pondered, and then nodded. "I guess you're right. I kinda like where my head is at the moment." The two were completely unaware of the magical manipulation being cast upon their minds. The stripe turned to the mutant reject. "The fountain is just there. Will you be ok to wait for us while we see about stocking up?" "While the hologram is functional, yes. The ghost ponies do not like the other kind of ghosts that inhabit this place." "Ok. We'll try to be as quick as we can." "Try not to take too long. Snake's hunger is growing by the minute." "Hey, have some faith in us." said the pegasus outcast. The mutant snorted and headed for the fountain while the couple pushed open the gates to the Medical District. The shadowy figure smiled triumphantly. "Excellent, everything is going according to plan." It then looked up at the bright monolith. "Soon, Fancypants, everything you worked for will be taken away from you." It spat. Author's Note Hi everypony. Thank you for reading chapter 3 and leaving your feedback. Unfortunately this will be the last chapter to be edited by my previous editor and now i'm in need of a new editor. If you are willing to be my new editor, please PM me if you're interested. Chapter 4: Old Ghosts*Chapter currently unedited, will be updated in the future* Fallout Equestria: Inflhx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 4: Old Ghosts Salida del Sol North: Bell Tower, 2 Years ago Archimedes stood with his forehooves propped onto the chest high wall surrounding the top of the old bell tower. He looked out through the deep red haze towards the brightly lit monolith on the cliff. The once pristine architecture marred by the still smoking burn scar and hole his Vertibuck left when it crashed into the top right corner of the tower. "So, I trigger this Gala Event, and we'll be able to get inside?" The Enclave Pegasus asked his companion. "That's right. Once the Gala is triggered, the security will shut down and then you'll be able to call for help." A green unicorn mare with crimson hair and eyes replied. Archimedes hummed to himself for a moment. He had been trapped in the toxic Villa for the better part of six months. Living off the scraps he recovered from the parts of the Vertibuck wreckage that had fell into the Villa and using these Sierra Maredre chips in the numerous vending machines dotted about the place. The Villa was like a prison to him due to the numerous ponies he'd seen and encountered that wanted nothing more than to kill him or each other, but this mare was thankfully the first one he met that seemed remotely friendly. "Alright. I'll help you get inside. You're welcome to whatever that place has in its vault. I only care about getting out of here." He declared as he dropped back down to all fours and turned to face the mare. "To recap, power switches need to be thrown, sound system needs to be connected, fuse breakers need to be checked and then the event itself needs to be triggered from here?" The unicorn nodded. "That's right. As I found, one pony can't do it. But together I'm sure we can manage it," He nodded as he rubbed his chin with his wing thoughtfully. "Yes, yes… hmm. Ok. I should be able to handle the power switches and the sound system. Think you can check the breakers and trigger the event?" "I can do that, but the power, sound and triggering the event have to happen at the same time," "Don't worry, one of my deceased guards wore our latested PX-03 Enclave Armour. I should be able to program its autopilot to follow a command when triggered. I'll get the suit to the power switches and program it to pull them when I radio you to trigger the event," Archimedes said as he indicated the makeshift headset he wore from salvaged parts from the crash. The unicorn smiled as she tapped the earpiece of the one he had given her. "Ok. I guess we got a plan," She said almost excitedly. Archimedes nodded as he prepared his makeshift energy rifle that he called the Holorifle. "Ok, let's move and be careful. There seems to be a lot more Ghosts milling about in the streets now." The mare nodded as he took the lead but as he passed and had his back to her, she grinned a malevolent smile as her crimson eyes glowed. "Once the Maredre is open, you'll get your just reward, you old fool." She mentally said to herself. XXXXX Medical District, Present Day I shook my head as I felt a sudden wave of nusea that ran through me but only lasted for a second. "Ugh, what was that?" I asked out loud to no one in particular. "I dunno but my head went all fuzzy for a moment there," Fruity answered. I moaned as the sick feeling faded away completely. "I think this Cloud is starting to get to us," "Mph, yeah, I think you're right." Suddenly there was a loud clunk from behind us that made me squeak in surprise. I spun around to see nothing but the large wooden gates we had just passed through. I blushed with embarrassment as I had totally forgotten we had just entered the Medical District. We had entered onto a short street that ended at a wall with an iron gate. The wall to our left ran the length of the road and was largely plain and uninteresting. Off to our right was another sheltered path, the arches ran the length of the road until they reached the wall with the gate. It would seem the gate is our only way to progress, so we began down the road. "Whoa! Looks like Saddle Rager blew through the wall." Fruity commented by the time we passed half way down the road. I looked to the arches and gasped in surprise as I saw the large hole Fruity saw in the wall. "I hope we don't have big monsters to fight," "Me too." Fruity agreed. We reached the gate within just a few seconds. Through the decrotative iron bars we could see the street widen and turn to the right and directly ahead we could see our destination. Illuminated by a red neon light in the shape of a Red Cross was the Villa Clinic building. But as always with things in the wasteland, it isn't as simple as it seems. "Well, cock!" Fruity grumbled as he examined the gate. I quickly saw the object of his ire as the gate was blocked by a pile of rubble. It was difficult to notice until we were basically on top of it due to the ever present darkness. He leaned himself against the bars and with a grunt of effort heaved with all his might. The gate let out a stressed groan but the rubble on the other side didn't shift. After a couple of more tries he stepped back with a moan of pain and discomfort. "Nope, not budging," I looked up as the thought of flying over the wall crossed my mind but that idea was quickly dashed as I saw the wall extend up to match the height of the walls around us. The top of the wall was obscured by the thick Red Cloud. It would be a bad idea to try going through that, especially if the wall kept going up. "Flying over would be a bad idea, too," I added. Fruity nodded his agreement and we backtracked to where we found the hole in the wall. The path under the shelter of the arches we found piles of debris that was consistent with something blowing open the wall from the inside. As we examined it further I noticed how the wall looked a bit thin for an exterior wall. "I seriously doubt this wall met prewar building standards," Fruity muttered out loud, having noticed the same thing I did. As we stood in front of the gaping hole I saw that there were more holes in the walls that seemed to make a tunnel through the Villa buildings. "Wow," I breathed in astonishment. My ears twitched as I heard my husband take in a fearful breath. Concerned, I turned to see what had frightened him, but I found him staring at a small hole in the debris. "What is it?" "T-that's a power armour hoofprint," He pointed out. "A-and since our captor is Enclave, I bet what made this hole was an Enclave soldier in PX-02 or PX-03 Armour," I wrapped a wing around him and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, it'll be ok. Chances are if it was a power armoured pegasus that made this hole. I doubt his suit will have any more power. I don't think those vending machines were programmed to magic up Mana-Cores," My husband visibly relaxed a bit as his panicked breathing returned to normal. When news filtered into the Marejave about the Grand Pegasus Enclave's invasion of the main Equestrian Wasteland, he nearly had a heart-attack from how scared he got. He was constantly worrying about the Enclave coming into the Marejave, but he was more scared for our foals. To be fair, I was very scared for them too. The mere thought of our foals upset and angered me. I glowered at nothing in particular as my thoughts drifted to our captor having left our foals without their parents. I miss them dearly and every second I spend here away from them makes my heart ache all the more. "Hey, you ok?" Fruity asked as he gently shook me. I blinked as I returned to the here and now. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just thought of our kids being home alone," It was his turn to be supportive. He nuzzled my cheek affectionately as he said. "Hey, they have Nexus to look after them. Knowing him, when he realised we were missing he likely took them to the Alicorn Sanctuary where they'd be safe," "Yeah, you're right. But it still hurts to be away from them," "Yeah, I miss 'em too but there is nothing we can do about that right now," He said as he gestured to his collar. I nodded grimly as I felt the collar around my own neck. "C'mon then, let's get a move on." He nodded as we then walked through the hole in the wall and into what seemed to be another apartment. We cautiously walked through the holes as we made our way through the Villa. It would seem some of the apartments here were the homes of the medical staff for the clinic or the Maredre. We saw bit and pieces of personal effects such as lab coats and name badges hung up on wardrobes or laid out on beds or vanity desks. Eventually we exited a hole that opened up onto another narrow street. To our left the road ended at a dead end and to our right the road looked to disappear. We approached the end of the road to our right and came to a large hexagonal shaped area. The road ended at a set of stairs going down into the hexagonal area. There was a large multi-story building in the centre. We could see another road going left across the space but unfortunately between it and us is a sea of the Red Cloud. The Cloud formed a thick blanket that reached up to the first step of the stairs. "There is no way in tartarus I'm going down there," Fruity announced. "Yeah, it would certainly be a bad idea." I agreed. The building in the middle had a flat top and leading up to it was some scaffolding that formed a ramp. As I followed the ramp down with my eyes I then spotted a flimsy looking wood plank bridge connecting to the small shingled roof surrounding the first floor of the middle building. The other end of the bridge connected to another set of scaffolding just to our right a few feet away, but getting to that would require us to go into the Cloud and climb the ramp back out. Luckily for us we're both pegasi so we can just glide across. "This red mist looks like its getting everywhere," I nodded while I looked out to the middle tier of the building and the roof just out of the Cloud. "We gotta jump across," I said as I opened my wings and gave them a couple of flaps. "Right." We took a few steps back before running forward and jumped into the air. At the height of our jumps we snapped open our wings and glided across and landed on the shingles. Between the wall and the drop into the Cloud there wasn't a lot of room, so we had to tentatively walk around the middle tier until we came to the scaffolding ramp to the top. As we crested the rim of the roof, we found that a short wall surrounded the roof. We stepped down onto the flat roof to find several crates and other bits and bobs of what used to be a camp. From what was left it was clear somepony used this space and left in a hurry. "Hey, there's a holotape over here." Fruity gestured to a crate that still had a glowing lantern and a holotape beside it. Curious I plucked the tape up with my left wing and sat on my hunches. I ejected the tape with Ekans's voice and then inserted the new tape and hit play. A voice not too dissimilar to the voice of our captor crackled out of my PipBuck's speakers. "I'm alone now in this Celestia forsaken place. Captain Steel Wing died yesterday… or was it night. Blast this eternal red darkness. The Captain had walked through a particularly thick concentration of this Red Cloud. When he came out his suit of PX-03 looked like it had aged by a century or two, but with his laboured breathing it was clear the suit's filtration system had failed and he had breathed in a lethal amount of the toxic cloud. Unfortunately I was not able to get him out of the suit to give him any first aid as his release system had corroded and seized shut and his medical injection system had also failed. He died soon after. If this is found by GPE High Command, let it be known that Captain Steel Wing served with distinction up until the end." There was a sound of some shuffling and then the sound of something wooden getting hit by something hard. Likely been struck by the pony talking. "I still can't find Corporal Pinfeathers. How can you lose somepony in PX-02 stomping around?... I saw him land in the eastern region of this old world resort but I found no trace of him when I ventured over there while avoiding the crazies. This bloody place is a maze and whoever designed it needs to be dragged out onto the street and shot. Radios are no good here either. Even though I know Corporal Pinfeathers is alive at the moment. I can't radio him or track him. Something in the air here, likely the Cloud, is jamming my signals back to Command and garbling up close range transmissions here. I can't give up, lest I fall prey to the crazies or these Ghost Ponies or even the siren call of the Maredre. I won't die here and if I get out of this I'll make sure the GPE oblitorate this place. Archimedes signing off." "Archimedes?!" Fruity gasped in recognition. "He's behind this?!" "You know him?" "Not personally, but he was a controversial figure in the Enclave's science community," "What made him controversial?" "He was one of the few pegasi pushing for us to return to the surface. Normally in the Enclave that could warrant being banished like other Dashites but he was top in his field in Arcane Radiology. He studied magical radiation and its effects which made him important enough that he was kept around," "Then what's he doing here?" "Not got a scooby doo." He shrugged. "Hmm, could it be him though? I mean he sounded a lot gruffer when he greeted us earlier than he did in this recording," "I dunno, never seen him or heard his voice till now. Hmm, don't those tape thingies have a time stamp on them?" I checked the recording again and found it was dated almost two years ago which I voiced to my husband. "Well considering the very air here seems to burn the throat. I'm not surprised he sounds like he swallowed some sandpaper," I had to agree, that did sound plausible and at least now we have a name to put to our captor. "I suppose you're right. But let's get a move on. The sooner we get to that clinic the sooner we can find the other collared pony." Fruity nodded his agreement and we jumped off the roof and glided down into the other street. We followed the narrow cobblestone street until we came to a T-junction. On the corner there was a sign post and pointing down the road to our left was a sign for the clinic. "It's just down here, great." I cheered. "Why do I get the feeling we're about to have a bad day?" I slowed my trot down to a more cautious pace as the feeling of foreboding filled me after hearing Fruity's words. While we slowly made our way down the road, I realised we hadn't run into or heard any Ghost Ponies here yet. "I feel it too. It's too quiet here." We came to another open area. This one circular and lined with arch covered sheltered walkways. On the opposite side we saw the road continue. Around the circumference of the open space we saw what used to be market or souvenir stalls in varied states of decay and their wares strewn over the floor. The most striking thing however, was the suit of rusty power armour standing in the middle of it all. "Holy shit, that must be Captain Steel Wing," I nodded as we slowly got closer. According to the audio log, the Captain was wearing PX-03 power armour. It looked nothing like the armours worn by the Steel Rangers. It looked sleeker and less bulky and more advanced despite the rust. We got confirmation that it was the dead Captain as the chest and shoulder armour had the markings for the rank of Captain. The helmet looked more equine shaped and had two green glowing eye lenses that sent a chill down my endospine. "Wait, is that smoke?" Fruity asked as he looked at the armour's head. I focused on the snout and gasped when I noticed puffs of red mist coming out the armour's respirator. It was something we've seen on all Ghost Ponies so far which filled me with dread when I realised that he wasn't dead. "He's still alive!" I exclaimed and stook a step back. "Captain Steel Wing?" Fruity tentatively asked. Suddenly the armoured head jerked up and turned to look at Fruity. He cried out in fright of the sudden movement and jumped back. The armour let out a muffled groan from the head and red mist began to seep out of all the joints. My eyes widened in alarm as I realised what's happened. "Fruity, it's not him anymore, he's a Ghost Pony!" "Regular Ghost Ponies are bad enough, but a power armoured one! That's just taking the mick." The mutated pony let out a garbled moan through the helmet and began to sluggishly move. It was clear by the slow unresponsive movements that the suit was out of power, or so it seemed. "It looks like he's out of juice." Fruity commented in relief as he walked backwards to stay out of its reach. That sense of foreboding only grew after he said that and for good reason as a series of lights soon lit up around the armour suit's chest, shoulders and back. "Oh no." I whimpered as my cybernetic senses picked up a Mana-Core power signature from the armour and it was slowly increasing. "Shit, Fruity, it still has power. He must have one of those Mana-Cores that recharges itself from the ambient magic around us," "If that's the case, we're fucked!" Fruity exclaimed fearfully. "We are so not equipped to deal with power armour," "C'mon Fruity, there has to something we can do," Fruity continued to keep his distance. "I don't think this Holorifle will affect PX-03 and our ballistic weapons won't make a dent. Unless… Whoa!" Fruity spread his wings and with a strong flap propelled himself to the other side of the market place as the armoured Ghost Pony lunged at him with surprising speed. "What is it?" I shouted while I began to walk backwards to keep my distance from the mutant as it looked around to find a target. "We destabilise the Mana-Core. It should activate a safety feature that'll eject the pilot or the core!" "That's a very small target," I complained. "Yeah I know, but thankfully you have SATS," "Ok," I conceded, he did have a point so I unslung my BAR. "I'll distract him. When you have a clear shot, take it." Fruity flared his wings and grabbed his pistol by its mouth grip and took a shot. As expected the .357 round pinged harmlessly off the power armour. "Hey, asshole, over here!" The power armoured Ghost Pony let out an angry moan as it turned to face him. It put its back to me and I could see the rusty release wheel on its back and just inside it I could see the top of the Mana-Core. That was one seriously small target to try and hit and there were plenty of things to get in the way as well. "Yeah, that's right. Follow the pretty little pony." Fruity jerred to keep it focused on him. I gulped nervously because if I didn't do this, that Ghost Pony could seriously hurt my husband or worse. With fear gripping my heart I slipped into SATS again and inwardly groaned as the chance to hit the core was less than fifteen percent. For the best chance to hit my target I toggled as many shots as my AP meter would allow and released the spell. As the magic of the Stable-Tec magical aid took effect I raised the BAR and fired two bursts of three rounds each. Sparks flew as the stronger rifle rounds pinged off the armour or struck the release wheel but none of them hit the intended target. However, this had the effect of changing the Ghost Pony's attention from Fruity to me. "Eep!" I squeaked in alarm as the creature turned around to face me quickly. Fruity got batted aside by the armoured tail but thankfully was uninjured. The powered armoured mutant then reared up before it charged at me while flapping its decayed wings. With a scream I pumped my own wings and shot out of the way in a teal and golden orange blurr. What followed was a deafening crash that was then followed by the sound of splintering wood and crumbling masonry. "Shit, are you alright?" Fruity panted out in concern after sprinting over to me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I gasped while I tried to calm my racing heart. "I didn't expect him to zoom at me like that!" "Yea I know, neither did I." We turned to where the Ghost Pony had crashed and found he had plowed through the support column for two arches and crashed through the wall. A part of the floor and wall above where the column had been had also collapsed, forming a medium sized rubble pile. After ten years of living in the wasteland I have come to know how powerful power armour can be so I knew not to think the Ghost Pony was dead under that pile of rubble. Once that mutant recovered it would easily climb out and resume its attack. "What I wouldn't give for a Bolo Grenade right about now," I heard Fruity mumble to himself. "Or an AM Rifle with explosive rounds." Fruity chuckled with a nod. Our reprieve was short lived as the rubble shifted and the armoured Ghost Pony stood up like the debris wasn't even there. Fruity sighed. "Here we go again." He pulled out his pistol again and fired a couple of rounds as he moved to put some distance between us. "Come get me you ugly budgie!" I moved quickly behind a rotten market stall to get out of sight so as not to get its attention. "Please be careful, Fruity." I mumbled as I lifted my BAR to get ready. Suddenly a cloud of dust burst from the rubble. Fruity swiftly dodged and fired another round that pinged off the armour. "I got a dead grandmother that can move faster than you." He taunted. The creature turned to face him, again putting its back to me while rearing up and spreading its wings. I took my chance and slipped into SATS. The percentage to hit the Mana-Core was marginally better in that position but it was still fairly low. Once I released the spell, the magic fired off another two bursts of three rounds. I cursed in irritation as again all six rounds missed their mark. Unfortunately however it immediately turned to face him while reared up and shot over to me. I gasped in shock as I was taken off guard by how fast it reacted and before I knew it, it was upon me and before I could mount any sort of defense it swung its armoured foreleg at me and struck me in the side. I cried out in pain as it launched me off my hooves and I then crashed into and through a support column. I cried out in pain as my back smashed through the support column. I then crashed onto the paved floor, sliding on my left side before my back crashed into the wall behind me. I grunted from the impact as my whole body hurt. My HUD flashed red with a damage alert and highlighted my upper right foreleg and informed me of a slight bend to the endoskeleton and the hydraulic ram responsible for movement in my lower leg had been compromised and that movement in my leg had been reduced. It was a good thing I had my limbs upgraded during my recovery after my fight with Unit-1000 because that impact would have shattered my old plain steel leg. While I lay there withering in pain and my ears ringing I became aware of a wetness on my leg where I had been struck and something poking into my lower rib area. It would seem the hoof of the armoured Ghost Pony managed to connect with my armoured torso and bent the armour plate. It also left me with the feeling of bruised ribs despite not having any and the irritation of the bent plate poking into me. I groaned as I lifted my spinning head to assess the damage. Where I had been struck, the sleeve of my security armour was torn and a large gash had been ripped into my flesh that was slowly leaking blood, staining the yellow sleeve around the wound red. There was no rip or hole in my suit's abdomen where the hoof had hit me but I could see an indentation where the armoured plate had bent. I soon became aware of the fight against the power armoured mutant still going on with the sounds of stomping hooves and frantic yells from my husband. With effort and blocking out my pain I rolled onto my stomach to get my hooves under me and pushed myself back up. I felt a twinge in my back from the impact with the wall and yelped with a fresh wave of pain and nearly collapsed back to the floor. "Shit, this guy's getting faster!" Fruity yelped as he dodge the speedy creature. I moaned in pain as I picked myself back up. As I stood I found that my right foreleg now refused to straighten out because of the damage. Thankfully my auto-repair system deemed it an emergency which overrode the limitation Archimedes put on me but it would still take a few hours to fix. There was a sudden crash and the sound of more structural collapse. "You may be fast but you're as thick as brahminn shit!" Realising my husband wouldn't be able to handle this alone I looked around for my rifle. I found it half buried in the remains of the pillar I crashed through and pulled it free with my tail. Thankfully the weapon was undamage beit a little dusty now. My ears twitched as the ringing subsided and I heard the sound of shifting debris and Fruity's taunting. I groaned painfully as I limped my way over to a market stall that once sold souvenir snow globes that was beside the pillar but thankfully avoided being damaged. I sat behind it and rested the BAR on it to better steady the weapon while I tried to sight up a target. Fruity briefly locked eyes with me and visibly brightened up with relief to know I was ok but the moment was short lived as the Ghost Pony flew out the hole it had just made. Fruity retreated to the far side of the marketplace, forcing the creature to ground to a halt in the centre. It turned to face him and immediately reared up in preparation to charge at him again. I took that moment to slide back into SATS and toggled one burst as my AP hadn't recovered enough for two. "Fucking hit it." I grumbled as I released the spell. The BAR barked loudly as it fired the three round burst. The first round punched into the inner housing of the release wheel. The second round went wide and skimmed against the side armour, doing nothing. Just as I was about to fear all three rounds would miss again, the last and final bullet struck the Mana-Core dead centre. "Hah, bullseye!" I cheered. The effect was immediate as the armour locked up. Several plates shifted slightly but nothing else happened, then the Mana-Core, which began to hiss and glow brightly, rotated ninety degrees, then shuddered and didn't move after that. "Warning, Ejection system malfunction… Warning, Core ejection malfunction!" I heard muffled from the armour. "You did it!" Fruity cheered happily as he rushed over to me. He hugged me so tightly that it made me moan painfully. He released me with an apologetic smile before his face fell in thought. "Wait, we just destabilised a Mana-Core…" His eyes then went wide with realisation and panic. "Mana-Cores explode!" "We need to run!" "No, we need to fly, and fast. Can you still use your wings?!" I groaned in pain but thankfully my wings had got through the ordeal undamaged apart from my left wing having lost a few feathers after being ground across the floor. I gave them a few test flaps and the movement didn't bring any discomfort so I pumped faster to lift off the floor. Fruity sighed with relief as he watched me rise to a hover. "Thank hoofness, now FLY!" He yelled before zipping off down the road towards the clinic. I shot off after him, my hair turning that two tone golden yellow and orange as I poured everything I had into catching up with him and to get away from the imminent danger. I was by his side within a few seconds. The streets were whizzing by at a blur as we raced to get as far from the destablisied Mana-Core as possible. Just as the clinic came into view after taking a left turn there was a brilliant flash followed by a tremendous boom from behind us. We skidded to a halt as we closed in on the Clinic and turned around. A large mushroom cloud rose up from the market place we fled from. Moments later there was a heavy blast of wind from the shockwave which nearly pushed us into the wall behind us and then the rumbling of the ground. The sound of many structures could be heard collapsing in the distance. "Phew, glad that's over." I sighed in relief as I sat on my haunches and sagged from the stress of it. Suddenly I was then wrapped up in a tight embrace again and two purple feathered wings closed around me. "Ack! Fruity?" He buried his head into the crook of my neck and whimpered. "I thought I lost you for a moment back there," He sniffled. I smiled lovingly as I raised my good foreleg and hugged him back while nuzzling him affectionately. "Hey, I'm a lot more durable than I used to be and besides, if I had died, you would have followed," Fruity cringed at the reminder but nodded as he pulled his head back to look at me. His eyes were wet with tears and his cheeks slightly matted. "I know, but seeing you get punted across the marketplace and through that pillar really scared the hell out of me, and it was made worse because that asshole wouldn't let me near you," I smiled with adoration. "Oh come here you big soft ass!" I said as I pulled him in for a passionate kiss. As our lips met he let out an appreciative moan and squeezed me tightly. After a few moments we pulled apart and thankfully, he looked miles better. "Better?" "Better." He smiled and we untangled ourselves from our embrace. With the immediate danger passed we could relax a little. I groaned in pain as I shifted my right foreleg as the damage to my endoskelton there made it feel almost like a broken leg. "Is it bad?" Fruity asked full of concern again. "It's not broken thankfully, but it's making me feel like I broke a bone," "That gash looks pretty nasty too," He pointed out as he began to rummage in his pockets for something. I nodded. With a grunt of pain I lifted my damaged leg a little higher so I could use my wing to pop open the pouch containing the bent armour plate and pulled it out. "I need to beat this panel back into shape so it's not poking me in the ribs." I mumbled out loud as I plonked the bent piece of armour on the floor. I then grabbed my BAR and held it vertically. I was about to use the butt of my gun to bash the panel and stopped myself. I quickly flicked on the safety before I began banging the stock against the armour. "Hah, found it!" Fruity proclaimed. "Found what?" He smiled triumphantly as he held a roll of tape in his wing. "Gaffer Tape!" My brow rose at that. "What's that for?" He simply walked over to me and pulled the grey tape then stuck one end to my ripped sleeve and then used his wings to work the tape around my leg. I hissed with pain as he pulled it tight around the rip, pulling the flesh back into its proper place as well. After he did a couple of passes he then used his Lunarite Knife to cut it then put the tape back into his pocket. "There, that should hold for now," "Thanks, though I'm sure you just cut off the circulation in my leg," I couldn't help but snark. He laughed. "That means I did my job right," He stuck his tongue out with a cheeky grin. "Anyway, let's hurry and pick up those meds." He said as he nodded to the clinic's front door. I checked my armour plate. It was more or less back to shape so I slipped it back into place and joined my husband by the door. With a nod we entered the clinic building. We stepped into what used to be a typical waiting room/lobby. The wall to our left was covered in medical posters and notice boards. The right side of the room had multiple sets of chairs set out for ponies to sit on while they waited to be seen by a doctor. The far wall had a large wooden horseshoe shaped desk with a notice board and a large television screen mounted on the wall behind it. I shuddered as memories of unpleasant times filled my head. Being here brought up a bad sense of nostalgia. "Hey, you alright?" Fruity asked in concern as he draped a supportive wing over my shoulders. I smiled and leaned against him softly, greatful for the support. "Yeah I'm ok. Just bad memories of all the times I've been in waiting rooms like this," "Ah, from your prewar life?" I nodded. He squeezed me softly and I basked in his warmth for a moment, letting his reassuring presence chase those memories away. "Thank you for that honey, I feel better now," He smiled that goofy grin of his. "Heh, anytime love." I didn't take one step into the clinic before there was an ear piercing screech from my PipBuck which made me jump with a frightened squark. "Picking up multiple emitter frequencies at your location. Watch out for security holograms! Stay out of their line sight, you can't fight them. Destroy their emitters or turn them off at their source." "Ah you did it again you fucktard," I growled in annoyance while I held a hoof to my chest to calm my racing heart. "He scared the shit out of me too." We took a moment to recover from our jump scare. In that time I took the chance to look around the lobby properly. I looked more closely at the public noticeboard and noticed a few posters for some of the acts that were to appear at the Maredre during the gala. Some of these included Sierra Domino, Equestria's greatest pegasus magician and Splendore D'oro, the classical singing Bitalian zebra. "Oh wow," I proclaimed with some excitement. "I know those acts," "Hmm?" I pointed to the posters. "Oh, have you seen them before?" I nodded as some fond memories arose and chasted my previous gloom away. "Yeah! I saw a show or two live when I was well enough. Sierra Domino was amazing with her magic acts, it was like she could literally do magic and Splendore D'oro had an amazingly sweet singing voice," "Wait, she's a zebra? How'd she even get a gig?" "Err, I don't know. Perhaps being from Bitaly and having an amber coloured coat with cream stripes was enough of a difference to stop her getting associated with the Zebrican zebras," He shrugged. "Eh, I'll buy it." Something else I noticed when I looked around was the lack of any sign of a panic. There were no personal belongings scattered about, the furniture was in its proper place and no signs of any damage that wasn't recent. I wonder if the Maredre had a fallout shelter built into it. It might explain why there isn't any scenes of a panicked stampede in here and come to think about, all around the Villa. "Ok, where should we start?" Fruity asked as he stood by the reception desk and was looking back and forth between two wall plaques next to a door in both corners. I approached him and looked at each plaque. The one by the door in the back wall to the left of the desk read "Offices and Consultation Rooms" and the plaque by the door on the wall to the right of the desk read "Surgery". "Let's check the Offices first." Fruity nodded and we made our way through the left side door. The door lead us to a staircase that lead up to the first floor and the offices. At the top of the stairs we found one of those wall mounted terminals with the foldout keyboard next to the door. Fruity opened the door and let out a surprised squeak and hid back behind the wall. "What is it?" "One of those glowing blue holograms but looks to be dressed in the armour we're wearing, complete with helmet too." I slowly edged towards the door frame while Fruity moved behind me to give me room. I flattened myself against the wall and slowly peeked out enough to look with one eye. I saw a long corridor with multiple doors on either side. I saw some weird glowing thing on the wall half way down and walking down the corridor was the hologram that Fruity saw. "Do you see it?" "I see it." The hologram reached the end of the corridor and stopped. It stayed there for a few seconds and then did a one eighty degree turn on the spot and began to walk back. While it was slowly walking up the corridor I looked at the nearest doors on either side. The closest door was on the right and it was open but I couldn't tell about the first door on the left from here. While I was checking out the doors I had subconsciously stuck my head out and it wasn't until I heard an electronic buzz that I looked at the hologram and realised it could see me. The hologram had gone from a peaceful blue to a warning amber colour and stood stock stiff, I also noticed a unicorn horn protruding out the top of the helmet. With a squeak I quickly retreated behind the wall. "I think it saw me," "Ah shit, what are we supposed to do now?" "Uh, Archimedes said we can't fight them. We have to disable their emitters or turn them off from their source," "Ok, what do the emitters look like?" "Um, I don't know," "Ok, where's the source?" "Um, I don't know, a security terminal somewhere, maybe?" "Great." Fruity sighed. He then raised his head and cocked a brow in confusion. "If it saw you, then where is it?" I understood my husband's confusion because I too was confused with how it hadn't come looking for me. I cautiously inched my head back around the doorframe to see it and it had turned back to blue and was walking back up the corridor. "It's walking away," "It's walking away?" "Yeah, um, perhaps it works on visual sight only and if it loses sight of you it disengages," "Well if that's the case, we can work with that." I nodded. "Next time it passes, you run to the first door on the right. It's open so run straight in." Fruity nodded his agreement. We gathered by the door and Fruity got ready to run. I leaned out ever so slightly to see the hologram. It was heading back down towards us. "Ok Fruity, it's coming. Get ready." He nodded and flared his wings in preparation. I ducked back into cover so it wouldn't detect me. I waited for a minute before I peeked back out. The hologram had just finished its turn to go back up the corridor. "Ok Fruity…" I watched as it passed the glowing knobbly thing on the wall. "...Go!" He beat his wings and rushed out into the corridor before he then threw himself into the first open door. The hologram buzzed and whirred as it spun around, scanning the hallway. "Shit!" I cursed as I ducked back behind cover. "Ok, so it can hear as well." I muttered to myself. I kept and ear swiveled to the open door as I listened out for the hologram to make that buzzing sound again. It felt like an eternity before I heard the buzz and when I peeked back out the hologram had returned to its blue hue and resumed walking up the corridor. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding and sighed in relief. I waited until the hologram had made it to the other end before I sprinted for the open door on the right. I winced as my hooves heavily thumped the floor as I ran that echoed loudly down the quiet corridor. Curse my cybernetic weight. The hologram buzzed, turned amber and spun around. I looked directly at its blank visor covered face and I felt like we made eye contact. The hologram buzzed again and this time it turned a threatening red with the tip of its horn aglow. A moment after it turned red I barrelled through the door. "Hide!" I screeched as I dove behind a decorative oak desk. Fruity quickly hunkered down behind the desk as well. "What happened?!" "It saw me and turned red." "Red's never good." We made ourselves as small as possible as we hid behind the desk. We didn't want any part of us sticking out, so we snuggled up as close to each other as possible. Fruity slowly peeked over the top of the desk to see the door. "Shit, there it is." Fruity whispered as he moved his head to the side so the computer monitor on the desk hid him from view. I noticed the red glow light up the room from my position. Neither of us dared to move or make a sound whatsoever in fear of alerting the hologram. It stayed in the doorway much longer than it did when it was amber but eventually it buzzed and shifted hues. "Thank Faust," Fruity sighed with relief when it turned blue and walked away again. "Ok, that was stressful," I whined. "We should really find out what to do about those. There is likely going to be more we'll have to deal with later." I nodded in agreement as I stood back up and looked around. We were in an office. It had a settee against the wall by the door, a large filing cabinet against another wall, a bookcase on another and finally the desk in the middle. There was clearly nothing of note in this office, it was just a simple office room with a couple of posters related to the Maredre on the walls. Fruity rooted around in the desk drawers while I woke up the computer while the coast was clear. The computer was thankfully not locked and reloaded the last thing the original user was working on before he left. It looked to be a report about a patient. I was about to dismiss it until I noticed who's name was on it. "I had an unfortunate encounter with Sierra Domino today. She came in today complaining of a sore throat that she had been suffering from on and off for the past couple of weeks. Ms Domino had come in brash as always. Got a little uppity with our receptionist when she asked what the problem was. I had just finished a check up with a patient suffering from that new disease, Rust Lung they call it, when Ms Domino stormed up to me. It was quite the intimidating experience having that giant of a pegasus storm up to me. I'm fairly tall for a unicorn but she stood a full head higher than me. Since I had just finished with a patient and was free, I offered to give Ms Domino a check up. At first she seemed irritated as she said it was just a sore throat and all she needed was either a pack of Lockets or other throat soothers. I voiced my concern as I had overheard her complaining to our receptionist and knew she had suffered for a couple weeks with it and explained that there is a chance that it maybe more serious due to the time frame. She reluctantly agreed and I escorted her to my office. Once situated in my office I asked the routine questions. Ms Domino rather irritably supplied her details and I was able to look up her medical file. It would seem that she had a history of throat problems in her adult life ever since she became a performer. It sounds like she overworked her voice again but due to how long she has had this sore throat, I felt it would be best to have a look, just to be safe. Ms Domino initially refused an examination, again reiterating that all she needed was some throat soothers. I explained my concern to which afterwards she reluctantly agreed. Examination of her throat looked to be consistent with previous reports and thus I gave her a prescription for the usual medication she has had previously. (Side note: Make an opticians appointment because I thought I saw a forked tongue in her mouth upon first inspection.) She snatched the predcription slip out of my magic and left without so much as a thank you. Dr Summer Care Addition: Three days after my encounter with Ms Domino I had a second run in with the pegasus mare. To my surprise she seemed like an entirely different pony because she was very considerate and polite to me and apologised in regards to her behaviour the other day. She explained she had been quite stressed out that day, what with working double time in preparation for her Gala Event show and suffering that sore throat before she was to perform. It had put her into a very bad mood. Well, to be fair, I think I would be a little grouchy myself if I was in her horseshoes. She even gave me a bottle of whiskey as part of her apology. I guess I know what I'm doing tonight…" "Huh, guess the evacuation call came in there." I muttered to myself since Dr Summer Care's report ended mid sentence. Fruity pulled his head back in from the door. "Hey Crys," He said, getting my attention. "Yeah?" "You can use your cybernetic eyes to see power signatures, yeah?" I nodded and tilted my head slightly with a raised eyebrow, wondering what my husband was getting at. "I mean, those hologram emitters must use a lot of power to project their holograms. Maybe you'd be able to see them." I blinked in surprise at my husband's suggestion. "Huh, I would never have thought of that. Good idea, Fruity." He smiled and puffed out his chest at the praise. I blinked my eyes as I triggered my synthetic vision for detecting power signatures. When I opened my eyes again and looked around I gasped in surprise at what I could see. "What is it?" "Wow, the whole clinic is lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree. I can see power lines still supplying power to the whole building, it's almost like there been no structural degeneration here at all, which is surprising considering the state of the rest of the Villa," "Huh, at least they had their priorities right when building the Clinic." I nodded in agreement. "Do you see anything that could be an emitter?" I looked around for a bid, following glowing lines in the walls and floors. I could see a couple of things that were glowing brightly. One of them was that glowing knobbly thing we saw in the hallway, there was another one exactly the same downstairs and there was another thing, much larger than the other two things that was drawing in a lot of power as well but it was much too big to be an emitter. "That knobbly thing outside in the hall is drawing a lot of power, it could be an emitter and there is another one downstairs," "Alright then, let's turn it off." Fruity leaned out the door to check where the hologram was then rushed out the door. "Fruity!" I yelled after him as I rushed to the door. He ran up the glowing device on the wall and tapped his hoof on the glowing face of the device. The second his hoof touched it, the hologram buzzed, turned red immediately and spun around. "Fruity, that must be the emitter with how the hologram reacted, now get back in here before it vapourises you!" I screamed fearfully. "Whoa!" Fruity shrieked as a beam of destructive magic hit the wall near his head, making him duck his head instinctively. Acting quickly, he grabbed his Police Pistol by its barrel with a hoof and swung it with all his might. The mouthgrip smashed into the glowing surface of the knobbly wall device and it exploded in a shower of sparks. The hologram flashed a couple of times before it winked out of existence. Seeing the hologram fade away I rushed out into the corridor and embraced my husband in a bone crushing hug. "You stupid, stupid stallion. Don't you ever do that again!" I cried. "Ack, can't breathe." Fruity gasped. Suddenly a red glow caught my attention coming from the stairwell at the far end of the hall. "Shit, another one!" I practically booted the office door open beside us and threw my husband inside before I slammed the door shut behind us. "Quick, hide behind the desk!" We wasted no time in diving behind the desk for cover. I leaned out enough so I could see the door and gulped with nervousness as the red glow could be seen through the bottom of the door. We waited with baited breath as the red glow of the other hologram lingered by the door for what felt like an eternity before it turned to amber and then to blue before the glow retreated away. Seeing the glow fade away completely from under the door I let out a sigh of relief before I turned to my relieved husband and promptly gave him a slap upside the head with my wing. "Ow! Ok, sorry. I won't do it again," "Please think before you leap again. We might not be so lucky next time." I warned. After we looted the office for anything of value, which turned out to be just a hoofful of chips we opened the door cautiously and stuck our heads out to check if the coast was clear. Thankfully the corridor was empty apart from the broken sparking emitter. We remained cautious as we moved further up and into the other offices. All the offices were basically identical to each other apart from the ones used for consultations as those ones had several posters on the walls for various healthcare related things along with contact information for them. We didn't find much in terms of anything of use, just mostly Sierra Maredre Chips and some discarded miscellaneous items that would be of no use to us. When we came to the end of the corridor with the second stairwell we decided to go back the way we came since the other hologram had come up those stairs earlier. As we passed into the first stairwell I noticed the terminal again and out of curiosity I pulled down the keyboard and pressed a key to wake it up. "Hologram Security Terminal." Was the first thing that came up on the screen and I smacked my face into my hoof hard. "You gotta be kidding me." Fruity groaned as he read the text on the screen When the terminal finished loading it had two options. Hologram 1 and 2. Unsure which was which I selected Hologram 1 and was met with an error message. "Error! Emitter not responding." With that I then selected Hologram 2. Two more options appeared on the screen. "1. Hologram Behaviour… 2. Hologram Patrol Routes…" "Hmm, let's see." I selected the patrol routes option. The screen flickered as it loaded another set of options. "1. Set for 1sr Floor Patrol… 2. Set for Ground Floor Patrol… 'Active'" "That's great. If we set the downstairs hologram to patrol upstairs. We'll be free to explore downstairs." I nodded to my husband's statement and switched the hologram's patrol route. The 'Active' moved from the ground floor option to the first floor. We looked into the corridor we just left, just in time to see the hologram step out from the other stairwell. With a nod of satisfaction we descended the stairs and crossed the lobby and into the 'Surgery'. As we now know what the emitters look like we immediately noticed it on the wall halfway up the corridor. Fruity wasted no time in whipping out his pistol and sending a round through its casing. Like the one upstairs, it exploded in a shower of sparks. "Now we definitely don't have to worry about those old world ghosts," I smiled. "Yeah, good job honey." The hallway was as long as the upstairs but had another corridor branch off on the left close to where we came in. The walls and floors in the surgery area felt more sterile and were tiled. There was a sign hanging from the ceiling before the other hallway that read "Autodoc Ward". I curiously looked down the other corridor and took note of three doors lining one wall before it branched off to the left where there were likely more rooms. "Wow, there must have been some money sunk into this place. Autodocs were super expensive." I whistled. My ears twitched as I realised I could hear that same garbled noise from a radio. "Oh, not more radios." I whined. It thankfully didn't take long to find the source of the noise. On the far wall where the hallway turns left in the Autodoc ward I noticed a small white speaker. It sparked occasionally with a flickering light below the speaker. "I got this." Fruity proclaimed as he aimed his pistol at the speaker and fired. The small speaker exploded and everything went quiet. The first room we checked was the first door on our right after entering the Surgery. It must have been a recovery room of sorts as there were several beds on either side and the walls were painted a pleasant sky blue colour and there were multiple posters wishing ponies a 'speedy recovery', or 'get well soon' were dotted about. However it felt more like a morgue as most of the beds were occupied with headless corpses and long since dried stains of blood were everywhere. "Uh, well, um, I guess he's not kidding about these collars?" I gulped fearfully. Fruity felt at his neck with a worried look on his face. "Uh, yeah." After the somber thought passed we walked deeper into the room. We found quite a few more chips and some drugs on some of the wheeled trolleys and on some of the corpses. The drugs were mainly things like Med-X and Rad-X, not very helpful things for us. "What's this?" Fruity suddenly asked. I turned around and found him beside an empty bed and unfolding a black armour suit of some kind on it. I walked over to have a look myself. It was mainly a black undersuit with black armour pieces on the chest and limbs. The most surprising thing is that my PipBuck labeled the armour as an "Assassin Suit". "An Assassin Suit? Who could've worn this?" "I'm guessing a merc." Fruity supplied before he turned to me. "Can you're PipBuck check this thing's durability?" "Uh, I think so?" I held out my PipBuck and grabbed the suit with a wing. The device flashed and I scrolled to my apparel tab to find the suit added to my inventory. In its current condition it had a reasonably good durability but my PipBuck showed it couldn't be repaired with armour I'm currently wearing. It would seem my current armour would be better in the long run as it seemed various standard security and military armours had compatible components and here at the Maredre it was likely we'd find more suits of security armour to repair our own with. "It's decent but if it got damaged here we wouldn't have the resources to repair it with," "Ah, ok then, best to leave it." I nodded in agreement. We took another moment to see if we missed anything and once satisfied we left the makeshift morgue. There were three more rooms to check. Two of them turned out to be standard for a local doctor's surgery and the last one was designed to give a pony near hospital levels of care with equipment and tools meant for some types of surgery. "We could make a fortune selling some of this stuff," Fruity idly commented. "I doubt we'll be able to take any of this stuff though," Fruity deflated slightly. "I guess you're right." Out of the three rooms we only found two Stimpacks and considering how dangerous this place is, what with the Cloud and Ghost Ponies, we'd need a lot more. There was only one door left in the corridor. It wasn't as big as a standard door, just as tall but half as wide. There was a plaque on the door that read as "Storage". "Please be something in here." I muttered to myself. I grasped the handle with my feathers and pulled. Instead of the door opening on a hinge, the whole thing pulled away from the frame attached to a white painted rack of shelves. The rack of shelves were stocked full of old medical drugs and thankfully, there was a nice stock of stims. "Nice, ten Stimpacks." Fruity said as he counted them, then divided them up between us. I accepted the five he gave me with a grateful smile while I browsed what else sat on the shelves. I soon found a white cardboard box that wasn't marked. Upon opening it to check the contents I smiled with what I found. "Here you go honey, we might need these'" I said as I hoofed over two packets of glowing orange Rad-Away while I pocketed two for myself. "Great thanks." We headed back towards the lobby now we were satisfied with our medical supplies, but stopped when we reached the hallway to the Autodoc Ward. Our ears twitched and swiveled about as a strange noise echoed up from the depths of the ward. "Do you hear that?" I asked as I turned into the hallway with my ears both turned forward. "Yeah, sounds like a dentist drill," Suddenly the sound of something thrashing about inside a confined space followed the drill. "There's somepony down there!" We both broke into a run. We followed the corridor as it took a left turn and skidded to a stop at the end by a door that had a big hole in it. The noise of the drill came again, much louder now, and I shoved the door open. Dominating the small room stood a huge cylindrical object. The base flashed with blue light while a terminal on the side beside what looked like a door flickered. To my surprise the door of the autodoc had the insignia of Starlight Industries on it. "I didn't know Starlight Industries made autodocs." I said to myself out loud. "Um, what do we do? Should we open it?" I cringed at the sound of whoever was in there thrashing again. "I… I dunno. We might do more harm than good if we interrupt it mid operation," Fruity shuddered as he had a bad mental image pop into his head. "Yeah, good point." As soon as Fruity finished speaking there was a ping like you'd hear from a microwave and the curved door of the autodoc slid open with a woosh. The door revealed a black striped zebra mare with numerous scars on her body and face. As the mechanical arms with various medical equipment retracted the mare opened her amber eyes and sprung out of the autodoc, slugging my husband in the face at the same time. "Ow, fuck!" Fruity cried out as he staggered back. The scarred zebra turned to look at us and then narrowed her eyes and dropped into a combative stance. I sat on my hunches and waved my hooves disarmingly. "Woah hey, we're not your enemy," Fruity groaned as he rubbed his sore cheek. "Ow yeah, nice right hook by the way." The mare's eyes seemed to look us up and down as she noticed our collars and she tilted her head in confusion. "Let's just say we're in this against our will." She opened her mouth and her lips moved like she was about to say something but cringed in pain. She tried again but had the same painful result and then brought a hoof up to her neck. She rubbed at her neck until her hoof touched and traced an angry red scar across her neck that looked very fresh. As she felt this scar her eyes widened considerably with shock and fear before her fearful eyes turned to look at the autodoc and she recoiled while pointing at it. Seeing that she couldn't speak and seeing how fresh that scar on her neck was I came to an assumption. "It did something to your voice box?" The zebra cringed as she attempted to speak again but gave up as it seemed to cause her great pain. She then nodded as for the moment, it was the only thing we had to go off. It was then that the zebra mare let out a silent gasp and pointed a hoof at me. I raised an eyebrow and turned to my husband in confusion. He simply shrugged. The mare then tapped the floor with her hoof to get our attention and once we were looking at her again she turned her head so we could see the left side of her face and gestured to the three long scars that ran from the top of her head and ear, down over her eye and to the bottom of her cheek. "Holy shit!" Fruity gasped as realisation struck. It was at that moment that I too recognised the mare in front of us. "Myrrah!?" I cried out in surprise. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Myrrah shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, telling us she didn't know. Sounds familiar. "Oh, Solaris is gonna be pissed when she finds out," I nodded in agreement to my husband's statement. "Yeah, you got that right." Myrrah is one of three surviving members of the Illustrious Moon Tribe. She had become their leader after the previous chief was defeated and their aircraft carrier home burned down. She lead the survivours into the main Equestrian Wasteland for a new start but constantly ran into trouble. It wasn't until a couple of years ago when Solaris found what remained of the tribe in a losing battle against some of the wasteland's monsters and saved them. Ever since then Myrrah and the other survivours pledged their allegiance to Solaris. We met the surviving tribe members a couple of times during some visits to Sparkle World. Myrrah pointed at us and then to the floor trying to ask us the same question. "Good question, we wanted to come here, but not just yet, and not like this" I began. "Yeah, we went to an abandoned bunker looking for some directions to the Maredre, but it was boobietrapped and gassed us. Next thing we know, we're here." Myrrah's eyes grew wide with shock as she listened. She gestured something hitting her in the face by waving a hoof at her head and then pretending to fall over. "Same shit happened to you?" Fruity asked with surprise. She nodded. "Well shit, guess we can't call that old guy from the bar a crackpot now huh?" "If the same thing that happened to us, happened to Myrrah, then he might be right about anywhere that holds information on the Maredre being traps." I agreed. I then turned back to the other zebra. "Ok, so long story short. An Enclave Pegasus that we think is called Archimedes wants us to trigger the Maredre's opening event. We could use all the help we can get and hopefully after we do what he wants we can work together to get out of this mess. So will you help us?" She nodded as she stood up. "Ok, great and thank you," She smiled softly. "Oh hey, there's a suit of armour in the other room that might be of good use to you." She raised an eyebrow. "Ok Fruity, why don't you go get it while I help her to the lobby." He nodded as he got up and then left the room to fulfill his task. "Are you ok to walk?" Myrrah got up and trotted around in circles for a few seconds to which she nodded. Satisfied that she could walk unassisted, I lead her out of the autodoc room and through the corridors back into the lobby where Fruity was already waiting for us. "Here you go," He said as he hoofed over the black Assassin Armour to Myrrah. The mare held it up so it could unfold and got a good look at it. Her eyes shone with recognition as she took in the suit's details. "Was this yours?" She shook her head as she then began to slip into the suit. The suit fit her fairly well, if a smidge tight around the flank. Considering the name of the suit and its intended purpose, I suppose it had to be a little tight on the wearer. Myrrah smiled in satisfaction as she looked herself over and nodded. "Ok, let's rejoin Ekans at the fountain. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can find the other collared pony and get out of this hell hole." Author's Note I have an editor again but currently real life issues mean they can't do much for the moment. If anyone else is willing to edit my story I would greatly appreciate the help. Bonus images. Unarmoured Myrrah Armoured Myrrah (Under the Red Cloud)
PrologueFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Prologue “Hey captain, do you smell that?” “I do, private.” A squadron of enclave pegasi escorted a vertibuck heading towards a new research site. Inside, a team of scientists, all clad in lab coats, observed this noticeable change of environment with caution. One of them spoke up. “Captain, this smells like sulphur. Maybe we should go around it.” “We’re already behind schedule because of that storm we had to avoid over the Grogar Mountains. We can’t afford another lengthy detour. We push on.” “I don’t like this, Archimedes,” said another scientist, strapping herself in. “I can smell copper as well.” “I know, Dew Feathers,” agreed Archimedes. “I can smell something else too. Maybe it’s old world gold or something,” piped yet another. “And it’s getting stronger.” The rest of them buckled up, expecting a turbulent flight. Soon, however, they began to hear heavy coughing coming from their escorts, and the pilot. Archimedes rushed to the window and gasped in shock. The sky had turned a deep crimson and all the soldiers outside were hacking and wheezing, as if the air filtration systems in their power armour had somehow failed. “IT BURNS!” “Can’t breathe!” “Captain… CAPTAIN!” Archimedes shouted. All he received in reply was wet coughing. Suddenly, all the guards began to fall out of the sky. Archimedes swore he could see heavy corrosion on their suits. Then, the vertibuck started nosediving. The cabin filled itself with screams of terror, as well as a red mist seeping in through the ventilation ducts. Soon enough, the aircraft was spinning, too, and Archimedes, having stepped out of his seat, found himself being thrown around inside the cab. He crashed and banged against every surface before he violently slammed into one of the windows and smashed right through it. He was immediately assaulted by the toxic air, and so he quickly held his breath. He got his bearings and opened his wings. As he glided, he could see the thick red clouds thin out until an old resort villa and a towering building on a cliff came into view. Although it was incredibly dark under the red cloud, powerful spotlights aimed at the tower illuminated the area below. He soon had to breathe, but luckily found that the sulfuric smell was significantly lesser at this lower altitude. Looking around, he gasped in horror as he watched the aircraft plummet and slam into the top of the tower, exploding violently and sending chunks of debris that rained down onto the villa. He felt a pang of sorrow and guilt, for he knew the two scientists, both of them long-time colleagues and friends, were still inside. He also witnessed three of his security detail slam into the ground all around the villa. The only source of relief came when he caught sight of the last two regain control of their flight and glide their way down to safety near the villa. He coughed and sputtered as he located what appeared to be the largest piece of wreckage and swooped down. Once he landed, he could hear the sound of a bell ringing in the distance, along with a strange howling noise akin to a degraded alarm system. He approached the wreckage and discovered it was part of the storage compartment. He salvaged what he could, including several bottles of water and a couple of sealed canisters of food. Sadly, a majority of other supplies and equipment were too damaged for him to use. Suddenly, the sound of shuffling reached his ears, and he turned around to see what looked like a pony in a dark brown hazmat suit with glowing green goggles, stumbling from around a corner. “What the hell is that?” Archimedes asked himself. The creature continued to approach, and as it got closer, he noticed that it seemed to have what looked like a bear trap strapped to its hoof. “I need to regroup with what’s left of my team and call for help.” He turned tail and ran. Unbeknownst to him, a tall shadowy figure watched from a nearby balcony. “Interesting. This may be the opportunity I have been waiting for.” It grinned darkly. Plans and schemes ran through its head. “Welcome to the Sierra Maredre, my new friend.”
Chapter 1: InvitationFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 1: Invitation “I can’t believe it's been ten years already.” My husband and I ascended the stairs of our family home. “Yeah. It's been quite the rollercoaster hasn’t it?” I nodded with a smile, and I couldn’t help but reminisce. At first, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves after we stopped Ironside’s plans for domination. We were hailed as heroes in the Marejave and beyond, thanks to DJ Pon3 singing our praises over the radio. We had our fair share of scares, like when we faced the Illustrious Moon tribe or the Krogoth. There were aspects of our life that took time getting used to, like my body’s ‘upgrades,’ which had inspired locals to coin the term ‘zebrasus’ for my new kind, or Unit-1000 turning out to be Princess Solaris. However, none of that got in the way of what were the best things to happen to me since my rebirth: getting married to the stallion I love, and becoming a mother twice over. First, was our adopted zebra filly, Xian, and then five years later, our twin zebrasi, Ava and Violet. I feared Xian would become jealous when our attention had to go mostly to the twins, but she became the best big sister the twins could’ve ever have asked for. “Crystal, you there?” Fruity asked, waving a hoof in front of my face. I blinked as I came back to reality and giggled. “Heh. Sorry. Got lost in thought there.” “Yeah, you sure did.” He gestured to the ceiling hatch. “What am I looking for up there again?” “Wouldn’t it be easier if I helped you up there?” “No offence, love, but you weigh more than I do and one wrong step up there would have you falling through the ceiling. I really don’t want to see the result of that again, and I doubt the kids would either.” I cringed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well then, we haven’t been up there since we moved in properly. There’ll likely be a lot of old things from before the Collapse that we can sell or break down for components. So, basically, bring down anything you think has any value.” He nodded and fluttered up to the ceiling. He pushed the wooden hatch cover up and aside, and immediately, a thick cloud of dust rained down over him. He coughed and sputtered while I used my wing to wave the dust away. “Well, that’s a year off my life,” Fruity muttered to himself before he pulled himself up into the attic. “There should be a light up there near the hatch.” “Found it.” Light suddenly flooded out of the hatch. “Bloody hell, that’s bright…” I was pleasantly surprised that the light still worked after all this time. “What do you see?” “A whole lotta shit.” “Yeah, I know. Which is why it’s up there. But is there anything of value?” “I’ll get back to you on that. There are so many black bags up here.” I nodded, but then I remembered he couldn’t see me. “I’ll be here.” I heard grunts and the shifting of plastic bags up there. I giggled to myself at some of his mutterings. After about half an hour, we had amassed a fair pile of junk that could be worth a cap or two, and some things that could be used for scrap. I sat on my haunches for a while, waiting for him to show me something else, but I soon realised he hadn’t shown me anything for some time now. “Hey Fruity, you ok up there?” I called with a hint of worry. “Huh, oh shit, yeah. Sorry, got distracted,” He replied hastily. “Distracted? By what?” “Well, your foal pictures.” He chuckled, and I felt a lead weight drop into my stomach. “Oh, please no,” I moaned. “Hehe, you were such an adorable little filly.” He giggled some more at my embarrassment. “Alright, I’ll save these for later. I bet the kids would love to see these.” I hid my face in my wings. “Oh, this is going to be a long night.” “Crys, get ready. This bag is fairly heavy. There’s got to be like ten albums in this.” I stood on my hind legs and held out my forehooves to accept the bag. Fruity peeked over the rim of the hatch to make sure I was ready, and then disappeared again. Moments later, a dirty, dusty old canvas shopping bag was hefted over the threshold and slowly inched down. I could see my husband clutching the handles of the bag in his mouth, gritting his teeth from the strain of the weight. I flapped my wings to bring myself closer and take the bag. He let go once he noticed that I had the bag in my hooves. I squeaked at the sudden weight and nearly fell to the floor, but quickly got control of myself and slowly hovered back down and placed the bag to the side. With everything we had amassed so far, it would take us a day or two to sort them out and take them to the appropriate merchants. “Anything else up there worth bringing down?” “Nothing else really…” He paused. “Hang on a sec, I think I see something near the chimney breast.” I strained my ears to hear what he was doing up there. “There’s a black bin bag hidden in the insulation over here.” I raised an eyebrow at that. A bin bag in the insulation. That sounded very odd. “HOLY SHIT!” “What?!” I squeaked out in surprise. “Look out below!” Said black bin bag fell through the hatch and landed with a smack, spilling out letters and yellowed envelopes and dust onto the floor by my hooves. After a brief coughing fit, and Fruity flapping his wings to land and blow the dust cloud away, I picked up one of the letters in my feathers and gasped in shock. The letter I held was a confidential document from the Ministry of Awesome. With my mother’s name on it. “Oh my stars…” I picked up several more letters. “T-these are my mother’s Ministry letters.” “Yeah, that’s right. Your mum was a member of the M.o.A.” My eyes widened, and I breathed in deeply. “This could be it , Fruity.” The purple pegasus raised a brow. “These letters…” I gestured to the bag. “Something in this bag could lead me to my mother. This could be the thing we’ve been looking for!” “Why don’t you get stuck into that then and I’ll start sorting this shit out.” He gestured to the junkpile. “You sure?” “Of Course. This is important to you.” XXXXX Several hours later. I gasped. The sound of the front door closing startled me awake. Despite how much I wanted to find out what became of my mother, I’d fallen asleep after hours of sorting through boring bills, wage slips, terms and conditions and the sorts. In hindsight, it made sense that the Ministry wouldn’t have sent out anything sensitive by mail and risk it being left out in the public. “Hey mum, we’re home,” Xian called from the hall. I smiled and stood from the kitchen table. “Welcome home, sweetie.” The living room door opened, and my eighteen-year-old daughter walked in. She opened her mouth to say something when two smaller fillies rushed in and clamped their little legs around their mother’s forelegs. “My babies.” I draped a wing around each of them in an embrace, giving each filly a nuzzle. Ava and Violet… I would never stop being grateful to Dr Pear for making me capable of having foals. Xian smiled and wrapped a foreleg around my neck. “Are you ok? You look like you’ve just woken up.” I craned my neck up to give Xian a loving nuzzle on the cheek. She had grown into quite the beautiful mare. Tall, toned, long silky hair, and a soft caring personality that didn’t stop her from fiercely defending those she cares about. “I’m ok sweetie. I guess I dozed off from one too many boring letters.” “Letters?” I motioned towards the kitchen table, covered in old sheets of paper and a half-empty black bin bag. “Where did all those come from?” “From the attic. Your father found them while we were cleaning it out,” I explained. The twins jumped onto the living room sofa and turned on the TV. Nexus had managed to fix it as well as the holotape player, meaning we could watch all the holotapes we found over the years, including some of my favourite TV shows from before the war. “Why are you going through all of those?” She asked. “Well, I’m trying to find clues on what happened to your grandma.” “Oh! Can I help?” I smiled warmly. She was always eager to help if she could. Nexus must’ve rubbed off on her, or so I believed, at least. “Thank you, honey. An extra pair of eyes would help this go quicker.” Xian scanned the room. “Where’s Dad? Why isn’t he helping you?” As if on cue, we heard a dull thud from upstairs. It sounded like it came from the spare room, where Fruity had dragged in all the other stuff. A second later, his colourful profanity trickled through the ceiling. I giggled. “Sorting out the stuff he brought down.” Xian giggled also. Having grown up, she found the majority of his cussing humorous. XXXXX I snorted awake again sometime later. As I lifted my head off my forehooves, I blinked the papers back into focus. The light outside the windows indicated that the sun had begun to set. I groaned in mild annoyance. So much time spent, and so little to show for it. Just then, the living room door opened, and Fruity walked in with Violet riding on his back. Whatever sleep that still clung to my mind was immediately purged as I bolted out of my chair and my eyes searched for Ava. Fruity must’ve figured the reason for my abrupt change of demeanour, for he rushed over to me and draped one of his wings across my back comfortingly. “It’s alright, Crys. Ava is upstairs tormenting Nexus.” I sighed and dropped back down into my chair. “I fell asleep again.” “Yeah, I can see that.” Fruity chuckled as he used his wing to peel a piece of paper off the side of my face. “I can see Xian was just as thrilled.” I looked to the other occupied chair and smiled at the sight of our eldest quietly snoring away, her long-braided mane draped over her face. “Mummy sleepy?” Violet asked as she stood on her hindlegs and propped herself up against the back of her father’s head. “Yes, mummy sleepy.” I giggled and extended one of my wings to gently tickle my daughter’s nose. She giggled and dove back down behind her father’s head to shield herself. “So, no luck I take it?” Fruity inquired. I shook my head with a dejected sigh. “No. Nothing yet but employment letters and wage slips. But I have found a sort of time scale from these letters.” “Time scale?” “Yeah. From what I can see here, my mother had worked for the M.o.A for almost ten or so years before the Collapse.” He took one of the few remaining letters out of the bag with a wing. “I suppose even this was a long shot, huh?” He flicked the envelope away and unfolded the old piece of paper inside. As he did, a smaller slip of decorative paper drifted down onto the table. “Smegging hell!” “What?! What is it?” I squeaked in anticipation. “Dude, this is a letter of invitation addressed to you and your mother for the grand opening of someplace called the Sierra Maredre Casino and Hotel… Wait, there isn’t such a place like that on the Strip.” “Sierra Maredre… Sierra Maredre…” I mumbled to myself as the name rang a bell in my memory, from before my death. I closed my eyes in concentration, and eventually, the memory materialised at the forefront of my mind. My eyes shot open as it all clicked into place. “Ah, I remember now. The Maredre had been announced for construction and was said to be its own separate resort somewhere in the Marejave. I guess they managed to get it built before the Collapse happened,” “Oh definitely, because the date on this letter is no more than a month before the bombs fell.” “Wait, what?!” I snatched the letter out of his wing to read it myself. Dear Cream Éclair, We of the Ministry of Awesome hope this letter finds you well. You have been a valued member of our team here in the Ministry of Awesome for the last several years, and in recognition of your service, we would like to reward you with a full expense paid trip for two weeks at the newly constructed, state-of-the-art Sierra Maredre Casino and Hotel this October. You have also been invited to attend this year’s Grand Galloping Gala that is to be hosted at the Sierra Maredre to coincide with its grand opening. Enclosed within this letter are two tickets. One for yourself and one for your daughter, Crystal Éclair. These tickets will be required to gain entry to the casino and for specific transport routes. The Lunar Eclipse train service has been chartered for passengers from the Marejave region. We hope you will enjoy your stay at the new luxurious casino and hotel, and we look forward to many more years of your loyal service. Yours faithfully. Silver Moonlight. Marejave M.o.A Equine Resources Manager. I looked down at the small decorative paper on the table and plucked it up with my primaries. It was a ticket with my name on it. “Wait, why did it include you? By the time your mother received this, you would’ve been dead for a few years, right?” I nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me, though. When we first moved into this house when I was five, we were still getting letters for the previous owner twenty years later.” “Sounds like my old landlord,” Fruity chuckled. “Dumbass kept sending letters to my flat addressed to the guy that lived there before me.” “Yeah, I guess the M.o.A didn’t update their records properly… or at all.” “Must’ve been painful for your mum though, seeing your name in that.” I sighed sadly. I could only imagine. Fruity cleared his throat as he began to tidy up the table. “So, we got a solid lead to where she may have gone now. Her ticket isn’t here, so we can safely assume she took the trip.” I flipped the letter and ticket over, scanning both thoroughly for an address; neither of them had one. Perhaps the aforementioned transport routes were privy to invitees until the Maredre was open to the general public. Not to mention, the Lunar Eclipse hadn’t been running for two centuries. “So, how do we find out how to get there?” I asked. Fruity rubbed his chin in thought. “Hmm. Maybe somepony at the Golden Oaks would know. I mean, somepony must’ve been there and back in the two hundred years since the Collapse, right?” “Good idea.” I looked out the window. “And it looks like it’d be a good time to go check.” Fruity followed my gaze and nodded. “Should be packed by now.” “Ok, let’s go see if Nexus is up to foal sitting for the next couple of hours.” We walked into the hallway just as Nexus reached the bottom of the stairs. “Ah, Sir. Ma’am. I was just about to come find you.” Nexus had gone through a major change in his life about five years ago. Our trip to find the Crystal Empire had a profound impact on his mentality. Originally, he said he was okay staying as a robot, but being exposed to a loving family everyday made him long for a family of his own. This resulted in him accepting Dr Pear’s offer to have him rebuilt as a Mark 1.5 like myself. He even chose to become a grey-striped zebra, just like me. With his rebirth, he had become more outgoing and even made a few friends outside our family; one of those friendships blossomed into an attraction. We couldn’t have been happier for him and how much he had grown. Fruity chuckled. “We were just coming to find you too, buddy.” “How can I be of service?” “Well you wanted to see us, so what can we do for you?” I asked him. “Well, I wanted to ask if you required my services this evening?” “Got a date with your marefriend lined up?” Fruity asked with a knowing smirk. “Um, yes, sir.” “Dude, how many times? You don’t have to call me ‘sir.’” “At least once more, sir.” “Um, well Nexus, we were hoping you could foalsit the kids this evening, actually. Fruity found a solid lead to where my mother may have gone.” “Ah. Of course I can, ma’am.” “No, you don’t have to drop your plans just for us.” I turned to Fruity. “We could always go tomorrow,” “I understand ma’am, but this is very important to you, so I will not deny you the chance to find out what became of your mother when you have a good chance to find out sooner rather than later.” “Why not invite Killian to join you here tonight then?” Fruity suggested. “That way you still get to spend time with each other and you keep an eye on the twins.” “Thank you, sir. Do you mind if I go now to explain the situation and invite her over?” I shook my head. “No not at all, go ahead. The night is still young.” Nexus then left to meet up with his marefriend. As the front door closed, Fruity turned to me. “While we wait for him to come back, I’m gonna put the twins to bed. Hopefully they’ll stay in bed all night.” I gave him a sad smile. “I hope his commitment and loyalty to us doesn’t get in the way of his relationship with Killian. The last thing I’d want is for him to lose out on love because he feels obligated to keep serving us.” “I understand, honey, but he’s still adjusting too. Being only half-organic means real emotions are still confusing to him. This will be something he’ll have to learn on his own, but we’ll certainly help him if he needs it.” I looked over at Violet, now struggling to keep her eyes open. “Good night sweetie,” I cooed softly, kissing her forehead. “Night, night, mummy.” The young filly yawned. Fruity smiled softly at that, and then cantered up the stairs to put her and Ava to bed. Try, at least. I decided to wake up my eldest. The poor young mare was still sitting at the table with her head in her hooves when I reentered the kitchen. I gently shook her with my wing. “Wake up, Xian. We can’t have you sleeping at the table all night. It’ll be no good for your back.” The teenager groaned and groggily sat up. “Oh, Mum. H-how long have I been asleep?” “Um, a few hours.” She yawned loudly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.” “Think nothing of it, honey, and thank you for trying. Besides, your father found a solid lead just a minute ago.” “Really, that’s awesome!” She chirped, suddenly much more awake. “Yeah, and I hope you don’t mind but we’ll need you to help Nexus in foalsitting your sisters tonight. Your father and I are going to the Golden Oaks to see if they know anything about the Sierra Maredre.” “Is that where your mother went?” “Might be, but it's our only lead. Oh, and Nexus might be bringing his marefriend over. They were supposed to be going out tonight, but you know him, dropping anything to assist us. But at least he does want to be with her.” Xian nodded. “Killian and Nexus work well together. I’m sure she’ll be ok with it, and it’ll be nice to see her again.” The two of us cleared away the remaining rubbish off the table, and I peeled a piece of paper still off my daughter’s face with a laugh. After that, I went upstairs to bid my youngest good night. Violet was thankfully fast asleep, but her sister was restless. Luckily, she calmed down with the promise of a treat in the morning if she went to bed. Fruity was grateful that Ava seemed to listen to me more often than not. Identical or otherwise, their personalities couldn’t be any more different from each other. Once the two were finally settled, we retreated to our bedroom to get ready. It still felt weird to me that we slept in the master bedroom where my parents once slept, even after Fruity told me the house was rightfully mine and I could give Xian my old room. Still, I knew it was better to move on than to let memories of the past affect me. More importantly, my newest discovery might actually explain something that confused me when we took the bedroom for our own. While the rest of the house was more or less as I remembered it, a fair amount of my mother’s belongings were missing. Maybe the lack of my mother’s clothes was because she left for a trip. “We’re only going to the Oak, so I doubt we’ll need our full combat gear,” said Fruity, opening his wardrobe. “Yea, but at this time of night, some thugs might try to be brave and mug us, or some other innocent bystander.” “So, still pack the repellent then?” He pulled out his plasma rifle with the flamer muzzle attachment and slung it across his back. “Repellent… yes.” I shook my head at my husband’s choice of words whilst pulling out my own 45-70 calibre revolver, Lucky 7. “I never realised we had such dexterity in our primary feathers,” Fruity commented as he watched me handle my revolver with a wing like it was a hand. “I don’t think either of us realised it. I mean, I wasn’t born a pegasus and you didn’t have to use your wings like that for your bartending job. Hell, down here you were shown to use things like an Earth Pony, what with bite trigger weapons and battlesaddles,” “True, true; but learning this level of dexterity would’ve made things so much easier.” “Can’t argue with that.” We heard the front door open just as we finished getting dressed. We hurried down stairs to greet Nexus, finding him holding the door open to let in a slightly smaller unicorn mare. Her name was Killian Rose, an ex-Desert Ranger sniper. She had an unfortunate run in with a landmine some time ago, which ultimately cost her left foreleg above the knee, as well as her eyesight in her left eye. She recovered, but the injuries left her unfit to continue serving in her squad. The poor mare’s cream coat was marred with a spider web of scars on her chest and around her leg stump. She also wore an eyepatch most of the time to hide her milky white eye. Her soft pink mane and tail were cut short out of habit, to keep her hair out of her line of sight. Despite all that, she remained strong-willed and loyal to those she cared for. She even developed a stubborn streak and refused to be treated like a helpless victim. When not fighting, she was actually quite the softy. She loved gardening and socialising, but could be a little awkward when communicating; something she and Nexus had in common. “Ah, good evening, Killian. Sorry we interrupted your plans tonight with Nexus,” I greeted. Killian grunted as she hobbled into the hall and leaned herself up against the wall, panting softly. “It’s fine. We didn’t have anything extravagant planned. Just a late-night stroll. But…” Her horn glowed light pink, and a blob of magic formed around her stump. “My prosthetic broke this morning, so I have to go three legged until I can get a replacement. Takes a lot out of me.” “Perhaps Nexus can fix it for you,” Fruity suggested. “My thoughts exactly, sir.” Nexus closed the front door behind him, carrying her prosthetic limb on his back. “Xian will be here, as well. Maybe she can give you a hoof with that leg while you all keep an eye on the twins,” I suggested with a smile. “Thank you,” Killian replied tiredly. “Right. Well, we shouldn’t be too long, but if there are problems, you know to reach me, Nexus.” “Of course, ma’am,” He said, tapping his left ear. I’d taken to wearing a wireless earpiece in my ear. Whenever Nexus or Dr Pear decided to reach out to me via our communication network, I’d hold my ear as if I was using said earpiece, so ponies didn’t think I was talking to myself. “We’ll see you later tonight.” With that, we left the house into the early evening of the Marejave. It only took us a few minutes of leisurely walking to reach the south gate. As we approached, we spotted two Queens on sentry duty, including our good friend, Zatara. We’d become friends since she helped in my rescue from the Illustrious Moon Tribe several years ago. “Good evening, Mr and Mrs Éclair,” Zatara greeted. “Good evening, Zatara. How’ve you been?” I greeted back. “Oh, I’ve been good. Only been on duty for an hour, but it’s been quiet…” “Usually always is.” The other guard mumbled to herself. “…So, you’re heading to Hayside?” “That’s right. We’re going to the Oak.” “Ah, well I hope you enjoy your evening at the bar.” She used her tail to pull the gate open for us. “Thank you. Hope the rest of your shift goes smoothly.” Once we passed through, the large gate slid closed again, and we made our way up the run-down street, being careful not to step into any potholes. The outer regions of Hayside were practically slums, with its fair share of thugs, junkies, and dealers. Most ponies would need an escort if they wanted to avoid the possibility of being jumped and robbed, or worse, murdered. The Queens did a good job of policing the town but the majority of their resources were spent on the inner limits. “Well, at least the road is clear.” Fruity kicked a pebble to the side. I knew Fruity was referring to the time when the ruins of the former primary school littered the streets. I assumed the local salvage shops had cleared it up for whatever reason. “Err, shit, which way was it again to the main road?” Fruity asked. “I swear you’d get lost in our own house if you didn’t already live there.” Fruity stuck out his tongue. I giggled and shook my head. Faust, I love his goofy ass so much. “Ok, numpty, we take the next right at the intersection, then a left by the old fort, and another left to bring us to the gate into the town proper.” “Ok, I’ll try to remember that.” I very gently cuffed the back of his head with my wing. “You better. We come here often enough as it is.” As we passed the old fort, we found a group of three ponies loitering in the middle of the road. My EFS had all three of them flagged as hostile. Great. Thugs or junkies. I waved a wing at Fruity to get his attention while using the other to grasp my revolver. I nodded in their direction to convey my intended message to my husband. He briefly looked towards them and took hold of his own weapon. It was then that one of them noticed us and turned. “Well now, what brings you two to our part of town?” He asked with a sleazy grin. “We’re just passing through,” I spoke evenly. “Well, you gotta pay a fee to pass through here safely.” “We ain’t paying shit to you nobs,” Fruity countered, hefting his rifle in his forehooves and flapping his wings to hover. At Fruity’s defiance, the other two brandished their own weapons: poorly maintained .308 hunting rifles. “Now sir, refusal to pay will result in some hardship to you and your lady.” “Really?” Fruity raised his weapon and fired a stream of plasma fire into the air, illuminating the area in a baleful green. The sight made all three of them gawk and mutter worriedly. “You three are outmatched, and I have a revolver aimed at your head,” I threatened. “Your friends would not like to see what a bullet out of this gun will do to your face.” Fruity levelled his plasma rifle at the head goon. “If you know what’s good for you, fuck off and don’t bother us again.” I cocked back my gun’s hammer. By now, they knew we were serious. “You know what, this is the wrong street. C’mon guys, we should go back,” the head goon hinted calmly. We could tell he was doing everything in his power to keep his face straight. The other two nodded, and they fast-walked right on out. “Heh. Stupid twats,” Fruity snickered as he deactivated his weapon and holstered it. “Gotta give them credit for trying, though,” I giggled back, holstering my revolver. Thankfully, the rest of the walk was peaceful and uneventful. XXXXX Crossing through the gate into inner Hayside felt like using some kind of interdimensional portal. The majority of the buildings here had power and the streetlights were lit, bathing the roads in dull yellow light. Combine that with an even greater population walking the streets, Hayside was suddenly a living town. I smiled at the sight of so many ponies. Hayside and the surrounding Marejave area were becoming safer and more hospitable, so more and more were not afraid to go out at night. A mare spoke as she walked by.“Oh, hey. Welcome back to Hayside. Thank you for all you’ve done for us,” “Uh… You’re welcome,” I replied, keeping my emotions in check. By now, we were thanked by random ponies every time we stepped into Hayside. The praise was flattering, at first. These days, its consistency was annoying to no end. “You do a couple of good things and these ponies don’t shut up about it,” Fruity mumbled. “I know. This is getting ridiculous.” A young Queens guard noticed us. “Oh, good evening Mr. and Mrs. Éclair. Is there anything I can do for you?” “Oh, good evening,” I greeted with a strained smile. “We were just going to the Golden Oak.” “Oh, please don’t let me keep you.” She bowed her head respectfully. “The Oak is very busy tonight, though.” “Perfect. Thanks,” said Fruity. We began making our way up the street towards the golden yellow neon. There stood our destination, close to the gate to New Pegasus. A few minutes later, we arrived at the door. Fruity pushed it open and held it for me, which earned him a peck on his cheek. Such a gentlecolt, when he wants to be. The Queens member wasn’t kidding. Everywhere from the bar to the casino was stuffed to the brim. Most of the crowd appeared to be prospectors and mercenaries, veterans of the wasteland. This was perfect for us; there was a good chance that somepony here knew something about the Maredre. “Good evening, barkeep.” Fruity greeted the stallion behind the bar as he cleaned a class. “Mr. Fruity, nice to see you again. The usual?” “Nah, but thanks.” “Good evening sir,” I smiled. “Good evening Mrs. Éclair. What can I do for you?” “We were hoping to get some information. Maybe somepony here might know something.” “Probably. Some of these drunks can talk shit for hours to anypony who’ll listen.” “Know anypony here that might know something about the Sierra Maredre?” His expression immediately darkened, and he stopped cleaning his glass. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid not.” It was obvious he knew exactly what we were talking about. “Sod this.” Fruity climbed up onto the bar. “Sir, get down-” “Alright, do any of you tossers know anything about the Sierra Maredre Casino?” What came next made me think we had said something bad. The entire room went deathly quiet. “Um, Fruity. Get down, please.” I implored nervously. Suddenly, there was a gruff cough, and an old, white-bearded earth pony stallion stepped out from the crowd. “Here we go…” The bartender groaned and turned away. “Everypony has heard of the Sierra Maredre Casino. We all have. The legends, the curses. Equestria’s most famous stars and performers had been invited to its grand opening. The invitation was supposed to be a sign of… exclusiveness. The opening was supposed to symbolise the path to a better, brighter future. Not just for Equestria, but for everypony that came to its doors. A chance for anypony to start again. The Sierra Maredre never opened, however. The War and the Collapse froze it in time, like a camera going off. The Grand Opening, one big failure for equinity. It’s still out there, in the Marejave Wasteland, preserved, just waiting for somepony to break it open. Hidden beneath a blood-red cloud. A bright, shining beacon attracting treasure hunters to their deaths. Getting to it isn’t the hard part. It’s getting out.” Ok, that painted quite the picture. I immediately felt apprehensive. Had my mother walked into a death trap? “Well, that was descriptive. Have you been there?” Fruity asked. Several patrons started mumbling to him. From the looks on their faces, they were trying to dissuade him from talking more. “I have,” he answered. Ponies around him facehooved and groaned. “Now he’ll be talking about it all night,” muttered one. “Can you tell us how to get there?” I asked, hopeful. He stared at us for a moment before shaking his head. “No. You don’t want to go there.” “I do! It’s a personal matter.” He regarded me for a long moment. Then, he sighed. “By now, it’ll likely be a one-way trip. Escaping the clutches of the Maredre is extremely difficult and costly.” “We’ve dealt with some of the worst things the wasteland can throw at us. Hellhounds, robots; hell, we even survived the Krogoth,” Fruity countered. Mentioning the Krogoth got a few ponies muttering. “I don’t remember how to get there, personally but I can tell you where you can find a map. It’s how I found out about the Maredre myself.” “Where can we find it?” “Head south from the Horseshoe Dam and follow the Coltorado River for about two miles. On the west bank, you’ll find a drainage pipe sticking out the desert floor in a small valley between two hills. The pipe was a secret entrance to an abandoned Steel Ranger bunker. It’s full of things related to the Sierra Maredre, including a map.” “Thank you,” I spoke gratefully. We tried talking to other ponies in regard to this information, but nopony else was willing to talk, and the more we asked about it, the more hostile they became. We decided shortly thereafter to leave. As we stepped out, we almost collided with a patrolling Queens member. “Oh shit! Sorry,” I apologised. “It’s ok, no harm done,” she said. Fruity interrupted. “Oh, wait. Crystal, Miss Queenie is kinda old now, right?” His eyes suddenly went wide. “Uh, didn’t mean to offend.” “It’s fine, sir.” “Ok, cool. Anyway, since she’s been around for a long time, perhaps she knows something. Maybe she could even verify that old codger’s story.” “That’s a good idea.” I turned to the Queens member. “I know it’s getting late, but would Miss Queenie be up for any visitors?” “Normally, no, not at this time of night. But considering it's you two, I think she’d be happy for your visit.” We thanked her and took to the air. We were careful not to go too high, so as not to spook any trigger-happy assholes. Growing peace or otherwise, it was still customary for pegasi to take such a precaution. Regardless, we knew the way to Miss Queenie’s mansion by heart, and we arrived at the old iron gate in just a couple minutes. “Don’t you think it’s a little late to be dropping by?” asked a gate guard as we landed. “Sorry, but it's something of an important matter,” I answered. “Fine. One moment please.” She turned to the brick column beside her and spoke into the intercom. “Miss Queenie, Ma’am. Mr. and Mrs. Éclair are here to see you.” The speaker buzzed, indicating a response. “Yes, ma’am, I know it's late, but they said it's important.” Another buzz later, and the mare used her magic to open the gate. “Ok, she’ll see you.” “Thank you.” She nodded, and we headed through. Just as we reached the top step, the front doors opened with Miss Queenie. The years hadn’t been kind to her lately. Her face was marred by wrinkles, her mane, once a dull purple with streaks of grey, had become entirely white, and she stood on shaky legs. “Well, this is a surprise,” She said, her voice still strong. “What can I do for you at this hour?” I stepped forward and bowed my head. “Sorry to disturb you so late at night. But we’d just been at the Golden Oaks in search of some information and we were hoping you might be able to verify what we’ve been told.” Fruity did the same. “Yeah, sorry about this. We were hoping that you may have heard about or been to the Sierra Maredre.” Her irritation instantly vanished, and was replaced with shock. “Why in the living Tartarus would you want to know about that dreadful place?” I, then, explained to her about my search for my mother’s last known whereabouts after finding the letter of invitation so we set out to find out about the Maredre. “You just want to know if your mother had gone there?” I nodded. She looked very uncomfortable. “Look, normally I wouldn’t talk about the Maredre because it attracts thousands of ponies every year to its doors, and those that can’t brave the journey are the only ones that often come back alive. There’s something sinister about the place that draws in and claims so many lives. I would hate for you to go there just to die, but I can see you are determined, and I can sympathise.” She sighed dejectedly. “Yes, there is a bunker south of the dam with a map. I’d still strongly advise against it, but I can’t force you not to go. At the very least, I insist you go prepared.” “Thank you kindly.” Fruity and I both looked at each other, a silent conversation quickly passing between us. “Don’t worry, Miss Queenie. Considering everything we’ve heard, we don’t intend to go ill-equipped.” We bidded Miss Queenie farewell and returned home, intent on sleeping in. XXXXX The following morning, Fruity and I left the house early. The abandoned Steel Ranger bunker was further south than Tom City, in an area we hadn’t explored. An unknown. Thus, we decided it would be best for Xian to stay home and look after her sisters. Nexus wanted to join us, naturally, but he previously had plans with Killian and we didn’t want him to disappoint her, so we convinced him to stay behind. We hoped to be there and back before the end of the day, anyway. After a short flight to Tom City, we landed outside the ruins around ten in the morning. The town was still just as ruined and broken as the last time we saw it. We often came here to visit Right Bleeding at his shop. “Hey Crys, think Bastard will know something about the Maredre?” I blinked at my husband in confusion before I remembered the rest of Right Bleeding’s name. “Oh right! Good thinking, honey. Maybe he’ll know something more, he tends to know just what we need when we’ve visited previously.” We followed the cracked tarmac surrounding the destroyed town. As we came upon a familiar left hand turn, we halted at the sight that befell us. “When did this happen?” I asked in shock. Right Bleeding’s shop, or what remained of it, looked as bombed out as the rest of the town, a shell of its former self. All that remained were the four corners, what little brickwork that connected to them, and a large pile of debris in the centre. “This doesn't make any sense…” wondered Fruity. We stared in confusion, unable to think up an explanation for this. Then, we sighed in defeat and continued down the road. “Faust, I hope he’s ok,” I said, pushing myself up against my husband. Fruity draped his wing across my back. “I’m sure he’s fine. That old coot seems to be very resourceful, considering the things he’s sold us over the years.” “Ah my friends!” “Ah, shit!” We whirled around to find Right Bleeding behind us with an overstuffed rucksack on his back. “For fuck sake, don’t sneak up on us like that!” I whined. “I’m sorry. Just got back from my suppliers.” he said with a shrug. “You came back? But your shop is…” I stopped when I looked back. To my complete surprise, his shop was there as we remember it. Run down, but intact with partially boarded up windows and all. “What the fuck? I’m sure we just saw that building as a pile of rubble,” Fruity remarked. Right Bleeding chuckled. “I think you two have been out in the sun too long.” “You might be right. Even now, it’s blistering,” Even after ten years in the Marejave, Fruity just couldn’t acclimatise to the desert heat. I watched as he balled up the feathers of his left wing to form a fist like shape before turning to face the early morning sun, shaking his wing up at it and shouting. “Damn you, sun!” I chuckled at my husband’s antics. “As you’re here, can I interest you in something for your travels? Perhaps a sun umbrella?” the old shopkeeper asked. “Uh, sorry. Not this time, but maybe you could help us in another way?” I probed hopefully. “Well that’ll depend on what you want help with.” “You’ve been around a long time, right, Mr. Bastard?” Fruity asked. The old stallion looked at him. He certainly did look much older than when we first met him with his white goatee, his long, white bushy eyebrows, and his now long, white mane against his pale brown fur. “You're a very perceptive young pegasus.” Fruity puffed up in annoyance. I couldn’t help but smile. “We were hoping you could tell us about the Sierra Maredre.” And just like back every time before, Right Bleeding went deathly silent. “Why in Faust’s name do you want to know about that dreadful place?” “It’s a personal matter. We think my mother may have gone there before the Collapse happened.” “Forget about it. Going to the Maredre is not worth your life.” “I need to know. My mum was all I had before I woke up, and she never gave up on me. I have to say goodbye to her!” The old stallion regarded us for a moment, stroking his goatee. “...Alright.” He then proceeded to tell us pretty much everything we’ve already heard, including the bunker we were heading for. “Thank you, but we’ve heard all that already,” Fruity sighed. “There is one other thing I can tell you,” Right Bleeding quickly added. “I’ve heard stories of places that held the location to the Maredre being boobytrapped, so I would advise caution.” “Shit, thanks for the heads up.” “Yeah, thank you for the warning,” I said gratefully. “Of course. I wouldn’t like to lose my best customers.” We resumed our journey south. I briefly pondered on how I could’ve experienced a mirage despite my cybernetic nature. We kept along the road as it circled around town before following it out away and towards the Coltorado River. We stopped at an intersection where leftways would take us towards the dam, and rightways would follow the riverbank. “Ok, we’ll be entering unexplored territory for us from here, so be on your guard,” Fruity warned. I nodded and kept my ears up. We decided not to fly the whole way there to keep us from being spotted by any unknown threats. We continued following the road along the river until it curved away from the bank and towards the hills. “Hmm. Looks like the road is taking us to another ruined town,” Fruity observed as evidence of a settlement came into view. Wooden posts, remnants of brick walls, chassis of burnt out motorised carriages and remnants of old billboards started to litter the landscape. “I do vaguely remember a small town down here. Can’t remember its name, though,” I muttered. As we walked deeper, I heard Fruity gasp. He then shoved me hard until we were both behind a brick wall. “Fruity, what…?!” I began to protest until he practically shoved a hoof into my mouth. “Shhh! Hostiles.” My eyes widened. He removed his hoof and unslung his plasma sniper. I followed his example and unholstered my revolver in preparation for a fight. Fruity crouched down until he was practically laying on his belly, and slowly inched out around the corner of the wall to scope out our enemies. “I count four. Ponies, likely raiders. Two on the hill overlooking the ruins and two down the main road.” I looked for a small hole in the wall that I could peek through. After a good minute, I managed to find one and slowly brought my eye to it. Sure enough, I could see a pair of ponies milling about on the hill beside the town. They seemed to be wearing biker leathers, and each one of them held some form of long-range weapon fitted with scopes. “Ok, I got the two on the hill. Be ready to return fire. Can you see the two down the road?” “Can’t see them from here.” “Ok, well keep an eye out for them.” “Ok.” I tried to get a better view through the hole. While I scanned the main road, I heard the energy discharge from Fruity’s sniper and saw a green bolt of energy shoot up towards the hill. As expected, the two saw the bolt coming and managed to avoid it, but the shout of alarm and rage I heard told me one of them narrowly evaded the shot. Fruity was able to get a second shot off before he dove back behind the wall as two bullets hit our cover. “Wow, their aim is terrible,” Fruity joked. “Neither is yours,” I shot back with a cheeky grin. “At least I have an excuse: plasma bolts are slow.” I laughed. “Still can’t see the other two.” “Keep looking, they should’ve seen those bolts by now.” Fruity rolled back out and took aim. I could see that our enemies had found cover behind some boulders near a cliff. One of the raiders poked his head up in an attempt to take a shot, only to see a sizzling green bolt hurtle right at him. I could hear their cry of pain from afar. The raider clutched the side of his head and rolled on the floor in agony. His comrade shouted something, and the wounded raider accidentally rolled off the edge of the cliff and fell into the rocks below. “One down!” “I see movement on the road!” I called back. I pushed my revolver through the hole to take aim. “Alright, keep them off my back.” Another plasma bolt whizzed through the air. The remaining raider on the cliff shouted a curse before calling down to his two comrades, likely relaying our location. I blinked my eyes and my vision was tinted electric blue, and a reticule appeared. I intended to put all my practising of my cybernetic abilities to good use. At the very least, to save caps on bullets. “This bugger is getting annoying,” Fruity mumbled, unable to land a hit. “Don’t worry, I’ve got the two on the road.” My reticule locked onto the first pony and I pulled the trigger. The revolver let out a thunderous boom, and the resulting bullet exploded the raider’s unprotected head. His companion swore and dove out of sight. My shot must have distracted the raider on the hill, because a plasma bolt finally got his face. Fruity called him a ‘dumbass’ under his breath. “That’s the hill taken care of. Now where’s the last one?” “Lost him behind a wall,” I answered. “Hey, you should be able to find him. You’re wearing your PipBuck, right? Use your Eyes Forward Sparkle.” I rolled my eyes. The Pipbuck was certainly a useful tool, but I didn’t feel the need to constantly use its features everyday, so I couldn’t help it if all its functions slipped my mind every now and then. I concentrated in order to activate my Pipbuck remotely,and moments later, a compass appeared in the bottom left of my HUD. A single red bar indicating a threat slowly moved to the right. “Fruity!” I whispered, using my wing to point in the bar’s direction. “I got him,” Fruity assured quietly. “Gotcha!” The Raider jumped out from behind the wall, expecting to have caught us off guard, but instead, he got his head disintegrated. I gasped when I heard a bang, and I felt something whizz through my tail at the same time the Raider got his head melted. Fruity let out a scream of agony. I turned around quickly to see my husband on his rump, groaning in pain while rubbing his chest. “Oh, thank Faust, I thought you got shot!” “Ow, fuck!” He groaned as he flicked something off his chest. A small compressed piece of metal clattered to his hooves. “I was fucking shot…” “Then thank Celestia you were wearing your ballistic weave shirt!” “Yeah, lucky me. If I meet the guy that invented this shit I’m gonna throttle him. For all the bullet stopping, it still hurt like fucking buggery!” I giggled before my EFS picked up another hostile. “Crap, new contact directly ahead! Down the road!” “Fuck!” We quickly hurried back into cover and began watching for the new threat. Eventually, we could hear heavy hoof falls. “That don’t sound good,” I muttered. “Ah, shit. Power armour,” Fruity said under his breath. “Power armour! Shit we aren’t prepared for that.” “No shit… Wait, looks like it’s not a full suit.” Fruity used a wing to twist a knob on his plasma rifle’s scope. “I see a leg from a P-45, another leg from a P-51, and the body armour from a P-60. The rest is typical raider armour made of scrap.” “And that’s good?” “We have a chance,” He continued observing the armoured raider. “He has nothing protecting the rubber neck seal that connects between his helmet and chest. One of your 45-70s should be able to penetrate it.” “That’ll be a difficult shot to pull off.” “Yeah I know, so I’m gonna distract him for you.” “Wait, what?!” “I’ll keep him… OH SHIT!” Fruity suddenly jumped up and flapped his wings. He then placed all four hooves against my side and gave me a push with all his might, which sent me tumbling over and away from him. The shove also propelled himself in the opposite direction. Just as I rolled back onto my hooves, the section of wall we were hiding behind exploded, with specks of brick and mortar raining down all over us. “He has a fucking Anti-Dragon Cannon!” I felt that little niggle in the back of my head when my electronic brain fed information directly into my brain. Since dragons had been seen aiding the zebras during the war, some Steel Rangers were fitted with 120mm Anti-Dragon Cannons to help combat them. If this guy really did have one, then we were in trouble. “Crystal, you gotta get him in the neck! I’ll draw his fire!” My husband took to the air, firing his weapon at the power-armoured raider. “Fruity wai-” It was too late. I quickly scooped up my revolver and found some new cover. Thankfully, there was a big gap between his helmet and chest armour that left his throat vulnerable. I aimed with intent to kill, but as I did, I caught sight of my husband flying side-to-side. He taunted the raider with hoof gestures and insults between taking pot shots. Then I saw the cannon tilt upwards and fire another shell. “Woah!” Fruity shrieked. The shell whistled past him. “No, Fruity!” I squeaked in terror and hastily went back to aiming. Unfortunately, I rushed my shot, and when I fired, the heavy round impacted his chest armour and ricocheted off. Worse yet, the raider’s attention was drawn to me. “Oh fuck.” I flew away and to another wall for cover. As I did so, the raider fired, and my previous cover was blown away. “Crystal!” I heard Fruity cry for me. “Hey, cunt-head! Up here!” He fired down at him and struck his armoured flank, bringing his attention back to him. I took several deep breaths to calm my rattled nerves, and I peeked out from my new cover to aim once more. My revolver shook in my wing’s grip. I had to focus. If I didn’t, my husband and I could die here, and my kids would be without their parents. “Ok, Crystal. You can do this. Just relax. Just relax.” I whispered to myself, and I brought my other wing around to help steady the revolver. The raider fired his cannon. Fruity pulled up his hindquarters high enough that his rear hooves touched the sides of his head. The shell whizzed by below him. “Almost hit the crown jewels!” I felt the fear rise again, but I kept my breath steady. I couldn’t fail here; too much was on the line. I exhaled, and I pulled the trigger. The Raider suddenly lurched to the side with a new, bleeding hole in his rubber neck seal. Fruity flew over to me and landed while the Raider made some choking gasps. Finally, he slumped forward and fell onto his side, a sizable pool of blood expanding beneath him. “Good shot,” Fruity praised. “That was not fun!” I shouted on the verge of tears. “Hey, hey, it's ok. We’re ok.” He cooed softly, wrapping me up in a tender hug and kissing my cheek. I buried my face into his shoulder and sniffled. Fruity whispered sweet nothings to me while gently rubbing my back. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes until I calmed down and pulled away. “Thanks.” “Are you ok?” He asked worriedly. “Yeah. I was just scared.” “I was too, but we got through it. Everything is fine.” I nodded, and we moved on. We kept our guard up until we cleared the ruins. About a half-hour later, the road curled back towards the desert and away from the hills. A quick look at my PipBuck map showed that we were not far from our destination, and would have to climb over the hills to find it. “What do you think? Should we fly?” Fruity inquired. “Wouldn’t we attract unwanted attention? Isn’t that why we’ve been walking so far?” “Yeah, but if we don’t go too high, it shouldn’t be a problem. Plus, it’ll be quicker to find the bunker instead of going up and down the hills all over.” I couldn’t fault his logic, and frankly, after our run-in with the raiders, I wanted to get all this done as soon as possible. “Alright, but keep your eyes open. I don’t want something to jump us.” “Yes, ma’am!” He mock-saluted, and I rolled my eyes. We both took to the air and took our time flying over the hills, combing over every valley for any sign of the bunker. Eventually, as we passed over a particularly tall hill, we spotted a drainage grate, surrounded by cracked mud. “Hey, what’s that?” Fruity pointed down to it. “Looks a little out of place, don’t you think?” “Yeah, it does. Let’s check it out.” We banked around and came to a landing on the hillside, and trotted the rest of the way down the valley. When we got closer, we could see that the grate was big enough for a pony to fit inside. Upon closer inspection, the Steel Ranger’s insignia was etched into the rim. “This is it!” I squealed happily. “Finally, we might be able to make it home for a late lunch,” said Fruity, licking his lips. “C’mon, let’s get this grate open.” We examined the grate thoroughly. It was pretty rusted, like it hadn’t been moved in a while. “Hmm. Looks like it just lifts off.” Fruity grabbed the grate with his primaries. He braced his legs and heaved, grunting in effort, but the grate didn’t budge. After a good while, he stopped, panting. “Fuck… Little help, please?” “Hehe. Alright, strong pony.” I stepped up beside my husband and grabbed the grate along with him. Fruity counted down from three, and on one, we heaved. The rusted grate bent, and then something unseen broke and the grate came free from the pipe with ease, sending us flying onto our backs. Fruity cursed in annoyance as we stood back up. We peered down the pipe and found a ladder built into the pipe lining, going down a good twenty feet, at least. The climb down wasn’t difficult, with all the ladder rungs still in place. Once we reached the bottom, we found ourselves in a large rectangular room which, interestingly, still had some functioning lighting. It wasn’t great, by any means, but at least we could see. The place was an absolute mess. The corners were piled high with rubbish and the floor was littered with papers and other junk. The concrete walls were covered in rust from the metal supports and rebar. The biggest feature, however, was the massive banner hung up on the wall opposite the ladder and next to a corridor. It depicted the Sierra Maredre, along with a mare dressed in a ball gown that looked very similar to Fleur De Lis. Underneath, it read: “The Sierra Maredre Casino, where dreams and a brighter future await.” “Well, this must be the place,” Fruity stated. “Yeah. Now we just need to find a map.” I stepped up closer to the banner, scanning it for any hidden details while Fruity moved over to the corridor. “Hey, I can see something down there.” “What do you see?” I asked, heading over to him. “Dunno. Looks like an old radio set.” As I joined him, I could see another large room on the other side. In the middle there was a pedestal, with said radio on it. A bright light shone down on it all, almost as if to draw our attention. My cybernetically-enhanced hearing could pick up the radio making odd, crackling sounds. “Perhaps we’ll find something down there,” Fruity suggested. He took a step forward, and as soon as he lifted his hoof, my threat detection system flared brightly in my vision. I was briefly confused, but then I remembered the warning Right Bleeding had told us about boobytraps. “Fruity, wait!” “Huh?” There was a faint snap. Fruity had stepped on a tripwire. “Shit!” My HUD flared brighter before the ventilation ducts above us gushed out a thick red gas. It blasted us in our faces from above, and we immediately began coughing and sputtering. I felt an intense burning in my throat, and then a sensation I was very familiar with in my pre-war life. This gas was some kind of anaesthetic. “We gotta-*cough*-get out of-*hack*-here!” I choked. We whirled around, but the entire room had already become clouded in gas, blinding us. Luckily, my EFS was still able to point in the right direction. I grabbed my husband with a wing and began pulling him with me, even as his movements grew sluggish. “But mummy, I don’t want to go to school today…” He slurred drunkenly, only stopping to cough. “…I want to stay home and bake cookies with you.” “Fruity?” He fell onto his side. “No, Fruity!” “Warning: cognitive function destabilising!” I could feel it. The heaviness in my limbs, the feeling of pins and needles creeping across my body. I had to get out and find help. I struggled to continue towards the drainage pipe. I could just see the sunlight through the red mist. “Warning: system failure imminent!” I gasped and choked on the red gas, and I suddenly felt my legs give out from under me. I collapsed onto the dirty metal floor with a thud. Blackness began to creep its way into the edges of my vision. “No… Not like this,” I whimpered. I saw a shadow cast down from above the pipe entrance. “Help. Please…” I then fell unconscious. Author's Note (Can't believe I forgot to add an Author's Notes...) Hi everypony, thank you for taking the time to read the beginning of my new story. I had originally started an Under the Red Cloud with Broken Steel but I lost interest a couple of chapters in and soon deleted it to begin Influx. This time around I plan to see it through to the end. The scene of Fruity making a fist with his wing and yelling at the sun is actually a reference to a Youtuber i like called UpIsNotJump and this in particular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSp2mf8yrOQ He is a pretty humours Youtuber how has largely reviewed video games but has done some informative videos about climate change and how coffee is made. I would recommend giving him a watch Anyway, thank you all again for reading the beginning of my new fic and I hope you'll enjoy what follows. *Edit 28/02/23* Can't believe i forgot to post a bounce image for this chapter. Here is Nexus as a Mark 1.5.
Chapter 2: Toxic WelcomeFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 2: Toxic Welcome [Core System Initialising…] The fog in my mind began to lift. The first sense to come back to me was touch. I could feel a scratchy fabric against my fur, and that I was laying on a cold and hard surface. [Primary Systems Initialising…] Next was my hearing. It started with a low howling, one that would repeat itself every few seconds. Next was my husband’s voice. “Crystal, wake up. Oh please, Celestia, wake up.” Hearing his desperation seemed to kickstart my brain. Memories of what happened rushed back to me. [System Initialisation… Complete] I gasped in shock and bolted upright. I hurriedly looked around until I found my husband standing a few feet away. With my whole body functioning again, I quickly stood up, rushed over and threw my forelegs around his neck in a tight hug, pressing my face into his neck. “Oh Fruity, you’re ok!” Fruity gasped and choked. “Hak! Crystal… Can’t breathe!” I squeaked in embarrassment and quickly let go of the poor stallion. “Sorry.” The pegasus gulped down a deep breath, but then immediately began hacking and coughing. I worriedly, yet gently, held onto him until he recovered. “Are you ok?” He gently waved me off. “Yeah, yeah. Ugh, just something in the air here that stinks.” Now that he mentioned it. I could certainly smell something. Most of it I couldn’t identify, but the main thing I could smell was sulphur. Whatever this cocktail of chemicals was, it burned the inside of our throats with every breath. “This air can’t be good for us.” “It's not, Fruity.” He groaned and sat down hard. It was then I noticed what he was wearing: some sort of dirty white jumpsuit with a red X painted on the back. “What on Equus are you wearing?” “Same shit you are dear.” I looked down, and sure enough, I was in a similar garb. I also took note of the cobblestone road beneath our hooves. “Fruity, where are we?” I asked, standing up on shaky legs. It was dark, like it was the middle of the night dark, and everything was in a shade of red. I turned on the spot, and I could see that we were in a large open space with a large fountain in the middle and roads branching off in all directions. The architecture surrounding us seemed Mareterranean, something I didn’t recognise as local. Fruity coughed and pointed toward the northward road. It seemed to stop at a gate but it was too dark for me to read the sign above it. My gaze crept upwards, and above the red-shingled roofs was a large cliff; and on top of that was a huge, almost pristine tower with powerful spotlights illuminating it on all sides. The lights also lit up the blood red clouds in the sky, the most likely source of the red tint everywhere. As I stared, recognition soon dawned on me. “The Sierra Maredre?!” I cried. I turned to my husband. “How the fuck did we get here?” Fruity shrugged his wings. “Not a clue. I woke up in the fountain there a minute ago.” “Wait, if we’re here then…” I gasped. No pony would know we were here. Out of habit, I brought my hoof to my left ear. The earpiece was missing, but that couldn’t stop me from trying to use my communication system. “What are you doing?” “Trying to reach Nexus.” My attempts however were not getting through. Something seemed to be blocking my signal. “I can’t reach him!” Realising I was on the verge of a panic attack, Fruity hugged me tightly. “Hey, hey. It’ll be ok. Ava and Violet will be in good hooves until we get out of this.” After taking a few deep, yet painful, breaths I managed to calm myself down. “Y-you’re right. Nexus and Xian will make sure the twins will be safe.” “That’s right. There’s no need to worry for now. We can focus on getting out of here and… ah shit.” “What? What is it?” Fruity stared at my neck. “You’re wearing a slave collar.” He then reached up to feel his own neck, and his hoof bumped against a collar of his own. “Fuck. This complicates things.” “Wait a slave collar? The kind that goes boom?” Fruity nodded grimly. “Ok, just what the fuck?” Fruity groaned in annoyance. “Somepony clearly wants us for something if they collared us.” “Yeah, but who?” At that moment, a light blue light on top of the fountain turned on. It grew brighter until a hologram of a wire frame pony appeared. “Holographic technology. That’s new,” I commented. The wireframe pony then faded into a unicorn supermodel that I recognised as Fleur De Lis. Fruity whistled as the holographic Fleur struck her trademark pose and then abruptly vanished with an electric crack. She was replaced with a still image of a pegasus with a wild frizzy mane, dressed in a lab coat. “Oh shit!” Fruity yelled, diving behind the fountain’s rim. “What’s gotten into you?” “He’s fucking Enclave!” Fruity whispered back. Sure enough, I could see the emblem of the Grand Pegasus Enclave on his coat’s collar. I opened my mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a deep, rumbly masculine voice that seemed to buzz out from the fountain. “You two awake? Good. From now on, when I talk, you LISTEN!” “Who are you and what are we doing here?” I immediately yelled at the hologram. “Who I am is not important right this minute. What is important is that you and that Dustwing behind the fountain there listen, and listen well. You are here because of your own greed. You heard the lure of the Sierra Maredre Casino and thought you could take what’s inside for yourself, but little did you know, I was already here.” Fruity popped his head up with a look of confused surprise on his face as he stared up at the flickering hologram. “I have spent too long working to get inside the Sierra Maredre Casino and I will not let some nopony scavengers take it from me. But, as I have found, one pony can’t do it alone, so you will have to gather a team.” “A team? There are other ponies here?” “Yes, collars nine and fourteen. Oh and if you think you can kill each other and take the Sierra Maredre for yourself, then here’s a warning: all your collars are linked. If one of you dies, you all die. If that’s what it takes to get your cooperation, then so be it.” “Wait, wait,” Fruity cried out as he stood up. “So you’re telling us that if one of us dies here, everypony wearing a collar dies as well?” “That is what I just said, Dustwing. Please try to pay attention. It may cost you your life,” the hologram reprimanded. “Fruity, please don’t antagonise him,” I whispered harshly. “You should listen to the winged Stripe. If you cannot perform the tasks I set before you, I will kill you and find somepony else.” Fruity cringed and gently lifted a hoof to his collar, rubbing it nervously. “So, now that I have your full attention, let me tell you what you need to do. Firstly, you will need to gather your team. Find collars nine and fourteen, and bring them here to the fountain. From there, I will relay further instructions to you once they are all gathered. How you find and persuade these ponies to follow you I do not care. Avoid their traps and the local creatures, and be careful of the Red Cloud. You don’t want to be in it for long. You’re no use to me dead, otherwise I will have to rely on the next team.” “Whoa, wait a minute! Traps? Creatures? We don’t have our gear, how are we supposed to defend ourselves?” Fruity yelled. “The Sierra Maredre has a way of screening guests for foreign substances not allowed into the premises and removes them. Your gear will likely be where you were before you came to the Maredre, and besides, it's not like I've left you defenceless. I have left you my old holorifle. The weapon has served me well over the years.” Fruity and I looked around, and eventually, Fruity found the weapon laying on the floor close to where he had woken up. It was practically camouflaged against the cobblestones. “You do this, I’ll let you all go. Oh, and welcome to the Sierra Maredre, in all its glory.” And with that, the hologram faded, and the starlet reappeared. “What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into this time?” Fruity whined, picking up the weapon. “Another madpony’s scheme.” I sighed, I felt reminded of Colonel Ironside’s crusade from so long ago. “Brilliant… So, what’s the plan?” One brief coughing fit later, I looked around. Thankfully, my EFS was still working, so I had two direction markers to work with. One was pointed somewhere down the eastern road, and the other was down the western road. “Hmm. Well, since we don’t want to be here any longer than we have too, maybe we should split up. Each of us finds one of the collared ponies,” I suggested. “Yeah, ok, but we’ll need to take it slow. We don’t know what’ll lie around the corner.” I nodded, and we began to move in opposite directions. I would take the eastern route, and Fruity the west. I suddenly stopped in my tracks, however, when I felt the collar throb and beep. I didn’t understand why, but as I stood there trying to figure it out, I could feel them getting faster. In fear, I turned around to find my husband about fifty feet away, also looking down at his collar, likely feeling the exact same thing. He took several steps towards me, and just as the beeps reached a quick pace, they stopped. He looked between me and his collar in thought. After a few moments, he took several slow steps away, and when he was almost where he was before, the collars started up again. He quickly moved back until they stopped, then moved forward again until they started. This time he stayed there, feeling the beeps and throbs speeding up. When it almost became a single tone, he hurriedly moved back and then over to me. “Well, this sucks. Seems we can’t go more than fifty feet from each other, and no more than thirty seconds of beeping until it likely blows.” “I guess we have to stick together then.” “That’s fine by me,” Fruity agreed. “So, we track down the collar on this side?” “Well, since we can’t split up, I think we should take this time then to explore the villa so we can get an understanding of its layout. That way if we get into trouble and need to find something or make a quick exit, we’ll know where to run without hitting a deadend.” “Gotcha. Exploring, then.” “Yeah, and once we have a layout of the area, we’ll look for these other two.” With a new plan set, we made our way down the eastern road together. Almost immediately, we came to an opening in the wall to our left that turned out to be a short passageway. On the other side, we could see a small open space. Curious, I walked through and onto a paved path. It ran the length of the wall and up the side, with balconies covering it all in shade. The most striking part of it all was the thick red cloud that seemed to churn all around inside, flowing out across the floor around our hooves. “Hey, do you see that?” Fruity asked, pointing upward. I looked to see an alcove up on the next level, with a white hoof print glowing inside it. “I can see it, but what does it mean?” “I dunno, but maybe if we can get up onto the balcony, we might get a better view.” To our left was another hole in the wall, but this hole looked like something had bashed down the wall along with the door. Dangling from above on a single chain was a wooden sign, the etching in the wood being all that was legible. Shop “Looks like somepony blew the door down.” Fruity stated. We couldn’t see much of anything inside, apart from it being clearly a hallway containing an empty shelf and a metal cabinet. An open door in the back exposed a faint blue glow that likely was the shop proper. We slowly made our way in towards the light as quietly as we could. Going through the door, we found ourselves in what looked like a general store, but with empty shelves lining the walls all around and small display cases smashed up along the counter. As for the light, it came from the blue holographic stallion standing behind the counter. “A hologram?” I gasped. We approached the counter, taking a closer look. The hologram took the form of an earth pony stallion, with no mane or tail and dressed in a three-piece suit. It flickered as it looked directly at us. “Welco-Welcome.” Its voice buzzed with static. “H-h-how may I help y-you?” “Bloody hell, it still works.” “Only just. Um, how do we buy from you?” I asked. “Please s-say ‘I would like to buy’ to-to-to activate vendor functions.” “I would like to buy?” A holographic display materialised in front of us with a list of items for sale. We knew we couldn’t buy anything since all our caps were in our confiscated clothes. Not that it mattered, since the currency needed here was the pre-war bit. “Um, cancel?” The display disappeared. “P-please come again.” “Well, I suppose if we find any pre-war money lying around, we know we can use this vendor.” With nothing else noteworthy, we made our way up a staircase tucked in the corner. Upstairs, we found a one-room, fully furnished bedsit. There was a closed bathroom door to our left, and an open balcony door to our right, complete with a view of the red cloud. Stepping onto the balcony, which was thankfully covered by a roof, the floorboards creaked ominously, but held. The hoof print was visible on the far side, despite the red cloud’s unyielding thickness. Probably also helped that a lot of the wooden railings had rotted away. “Hmm. I think I can see a box or something over there under that print,” Fruity said, squinting his eyes. “Fucking hell, the cloud’s literally cascading down from the roofs.” “Think we can get across?” “I wouldn’t want to breathe in any of that stuff. The alcove appears sheltered, though. If I take a deep breath and zoom across, I can find out what’s there. There’s no use in us both going.” “Alright, but come straight back if it’s not safe.” Fruity nodded and spread his wings. Taking the suggested deep breath, he zipped across. I felt the worry rise in my chest when my husband started coughing on the other side. “Are you ok!?” I shrieked. “Yeah… That cloud feels horrible on your feathers.” I sighed in relief, only to notice my Threat Detection System was active. In fact, the glowing mark in my HUD seemed to flare brighter the closer I got to the cloud. It was Stable 16 all over again so I can’t rely on my cybernetic system here. “What have you found?” “I think I’ve found someone’s stash,” cried Fruity. “There’s some food, a couple of Stimpacks, a Rad-Away and a short-barreled six-shooter with a box of ammo to go with it.” “Now that’s a stroke of luck right there.” “Yeah and… HOLY SHIT!” “What!? What is it?” “I’ll show you when I get back to you.” I saw him stand back up and move to a corner behind the wall. He came back out a few seconds later, but with something long on his back. He quickly flew back to me, smashing into the wall hooves first with enough force to punch holes several inches deep. “Shit, are you ok?” “Yeah, just fine.” He shivered and buzzed his wings, shaking out red dust from his feathers. Even he looked surprised at the holes he made. “Oh, that stuff is just wrong.” He then reached over to his back and pulled out an old, long rifle. He held it out for me, and I accepted it graciously. “A Buckinghamshire Automatic Rifle?” I felt that familiar niggle in the back of my head. Once more, my electronic brain was supplying me with information. “You sound surprised,” Fruity noted, organising the rest of the loot. “Yeah, I kinda am. From what my database is telling me, these BARs were one of the first automatic rifles made for the Equestrian Military. They were widely used in the early stages of the war, but as weapon technology rapidly advanced, the BAR was quickly outclassed by smaller, lighter rifles with higher rates of fire.” “I wonder why there’s one out here, then… Oh, here, the ammo box for it. You can have the revolver too.” I thanked him and pocketed the ammo into my jumpsuit’s pockets. Turning the short-barrelled pistol over in my wings, I could see the insignia of the Sierra Maredre etched into the mouth grip, along with the initials: S.M.P.D. Luckily, my suit came with a strap on the foreleg, which I’d use as a suitable substitute for a holster. “Well, knowing the Maredre had a police department means we should find plenty of these revolvers lying around.” “Yeah. Still, we should keep an eye out for a workbench if we’re to maintain our gear.” I picked up the BAR and looked it over again, finding the same etching on the back of the weapon’s receiver. A resort police force being armed with standard revolvers was one thing, but old military-grade weapons? We were stuck here for the time being, so I assumed we’d find out as we went along. “It’ll be great if we can find a bag. These suits don’t have magic pockets like our coats do,” Fruity grumbled, the food and medical aid he found bulging out his pockets uncomfortably. I found myself agreeing with him, what with my own overstuffed pockets feeling uncomfortable on my flanks. Regardless, we were armed and had some supplies, which was ultimately for the better. We retraced our steps until we were back on the main road going east. The road itself was actually quite narrow; no carriage could possibly get through it. In fact, everything felt too narrow; even the balconies were only a couple of feet apart from each other. It took us only one right turn and two right turns to feel like we were stuck in some kind of maze. All of this had us on edge as we took our time, looking out for anything hostile, but only coming across scores of wall fountains, all filled with nothing but Sierra Maredre chips, which interestingly, had the same value as a pre-war bit each (according to my Pipbuck). Naturally, we took them all. Another thing we could see as we moved were various bits of graffiti left behind from those that died here previously. After a couple of minutes of walking, we came across an intersection. The road to our right led to a large wooden gate with a sign post marking it as the Residential District. A quick look at my EFS revealed that one of our ‘teammates’ was beyond those doors. Nevertheless, we both still felt too unfamiliar with our environment, so we continued eastward, intent on returning later. More twists and turns later, we came to a large open space, with another set of wooden gates ahead of us, a rectangular plaza to our right, and several dead trees along the way. The whole area seemed exceedingly dark, what with the red cloud blotting out the sun and the street lights not working. Definitely helped creeping up the place. We edged our way towards the wooden gate, but as we got close, my Pipbuck suddenly screeched with static. The Enclave pegasus spoke through its speakers. “Don’t go into Salida del Sol. Gather the others first.” I let out a shocked scream and fell on my haunches hard. “Faust, that scared the shit out of me!” I stared at my Pipbuck in bewilderment. How did he contact me through my Pipbuck? Was he watching us? Just then, the sound of a kicked tin can rang out in the dark plaza. “Did you hear that?” Fruity blurted. “Yeah.” We looked and listened in high alert, and soon we could hear slow hoof steps. Fruity flapped his wings to hover and pulled out his Holorifle. I quickly started reloading the BAR off my back, pulling the .308 rounds out of my pocket and feeding them into the magazine with a click. “Sounds like a zombie,” Fruity muttered to himself. As if on cue, the hoof steps got closer, and the pattern sounded odd right off the bat. The creature emerged from behind an arch, moving in an almost drunken manner with its head swinging like a pendulum and a hindleg dragging behind. It was covered head to hoof in a brown-hooded hazmat suit, and the lenses of its mask appeared to glow green. There was no mane or tail to speak of, and with each raspy breath it took, a haze of red mist came out of the air filter. “I was kidding about the zombie thing…” “What the fuck is that?” “No idea, but we’re about to see what this thing does.” Fruity levelled his rifle and pulled the trigger. A blue holographic cube was fired, trailing blue particles behind it as it flew. It struck the creature in the head, throwing its head back and engulfing it in a blue glow. Seeming momentarily stunned, Fruity pumped and fired a second head shot, causing it to explode in a shower of blood and blue particles. “Huh. So that’s what it does.” Fruity pumped the weapon again. He quickly scooped up the spent cells and pocketed them. We then approached the dead creature. “Again, I was kidding about the zombie thing,” Fruity muttered at what we saw. The flesh around the neck appeared to be very decomposed, with a sickly greenish-yellow hue and whatever passed for blood coming out as a dark red and white puss. I picked up a broken roof tile and stuck it in the gap between flesh and suit, and pulled it up. We could see the remnants of fur beneath the suit, indicating that this had been a pony once. “Ever seen anything like this before, Fruity?” “Closest I’ve seen are Ghouls, but they’re more alive than this thing. This is something else entirely.” This place was getting weirder by the second. And more dangerous. “We need to push on.” We continued deeper into the plaza. I was getting more and more uncomfortable as we progressed. My threat warning system was constantly active; an enemy could’ve been anywhere at anytime. As we approached the far end, we saw a street light flash inside a ginnel. As it did, we could spot a pile of ammo boxes at the end. “Do you see that?” “Yeah, we could really use-WHOA!” I screeched. A spear came flying right at me. I barely managed to duck. The light flickered again, and another hazmat pony stood in the ginnel with a spear in hoof. “Look out!” Fruity yelled. We dodged another spear, watching it slam into the dead tree trunk behind us. The spear itself turned out to be makeshift, nothing more than a pool cue and a large kitchen knife. Fruity took aim and fired. The creature made a strange sound and suddenly dodged to the side. It looked as if it had briefly phased out of existence. “Shit! I only got one shot left,” “I got a full mag in this. I’ll take care of it.” I quickly grabbed my BAR with my wings. The light flickered again and I sighted up its head. Pulling the trigger, I unleashed a short burst of four rounds. “Damn, that thing’s loud!” “And it kicks like an apple farmer,” I added painfully. The recoil was so strong I was already sore, maybe even bruised. Two of the bullets landed in its head; one in the cheek, and one through a lens. The creature let out a gurgled moan as it slumped to the floor and fell still. I was about to suggest going through the ginnel when I noticed the red mist was still coming out of its respirator.. “It's not dead!” And sure enough, mere seconds later, the creature shuddered and got back up. Its limbs folded and cracked awkwardly as it rose back up to its hooves. “What the actual fuck?!” I cried out in alarm and levelled my rifle again. I held the trigger down tightly, my only intention being to unleash a stream of death upon the damned thing. Eventually, the weapon clicked empty and I became aware of Fruity yelling at me. I panted and stared at the mutilated remains and severed limbs left on the floor.. “Crystal! Crystal, it's ok, it's dead! It’s not getting up after that!” I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself, even as the toxic air made me cough a bit. After reassuring my husband, we approached the body. What was still attached was riddled with large holes, whilst the rest of its big chunks were scattered all over. I chastised myself for using up the entire mag, leaving both of our primary weapons with only four rounds remaining. I could also see multiple clasps that must’ve been used to seal up the suit. Each and every one of them were rusted shut. Something had caused them to corrode which in turn sealed whoever was in the suit inside. Besides that, we helped ourselves to its leftover spears. Fruity took one of them and untied the kitchen knife off the other to give to me. I put the knife into the strap on my other foreleg. “It would look like we need to dismember these things to put them down permanently.” “That’ll be hard to do with our lack of ammo, and I don’t think these little revolvers will be any good for that.” “Hmm.. We should check those ammo boxes or else we’re gonna be in trouble.” We walked through the ginnel into a small square, with yet another balcony above us on nearly all sides. Unfortunately, the red cloud was thicker on the far side for whatever reason, right where the ammo boxes were stashed. Fruity got the idea to use the knife spear to grab the boxes by their handles, which he implemented with success. There were three in total, all providing us much needed supply for our weapons. And by that, I meant just a couple mags worth for our primaries, and a surplus of .357’s for our revolvers. After reloading, we took note of the open door to our left and went through. It led into a storage closet that had nothing useful, so we left. Since the mystery pegasus didn’t want us going into ‘Salida Del Sol’ yet, we decided to head back and go west. When we got close to the Residential District, Fruity asked if we should find the pony collared there, but I suggested we check out the west side first to find some more supplies. Thankfully, we made it to the town centre without getting lost and wasted no time in heading down the western road. We didn’t get far before something caught our attention. Under one of the walkways, we could see a faint blue glow. Investigating revealed it coming from a strange golden pedestal, and a golden ring atop it. “What’s this?” “I dunno, honey. Also, I can’t see where the light’s coming from. Like, at all” Fruity was right. The strange contraption didn’t seem to have any obvious light source beyond somewhere around the ring. “Hey, look, it’s another one of those chips,” Fruity said, pointing to an etching of its likeness. “Hmm…” I used a wing to fish a coin out. Just under the etching was a coin slot, and so, I inserted the coin. The pedestal made a chiming sound, and the blue light seemed to emit from the very centre of the ring. Next, a hologram of a vendor appeared, fairly similar to the one at the shop from before. “Another vendor?” “I’m not sure. Could be.” I browsed its inventory. It primarily had food, drink and other commodities such as cigarettes; generally, stuff that was less than ten chips a piece. However, this time, there was a tab for speciality items, and when I tapped it, a warning message popped right up. It stated that I didn’t have access to any special items and that I’d need to redeem a code to unlock them. “Guess we’ll need some codes lying around then.” Fruity idly muttered to himself. I nodded and tapped the screen to return. But now, for some reason, all the prices were now practically halved. Some items had disappeared from the list entirely. “Do you have anything we could test this out with?” “Uh, actually, yes.” Fruity bent down to a small wooden box beside the pedestal and plucked out a pack of cigarettes from it. “That’s convenient,” I said, accepting the pack. “Now what do I do?” “Hey, there’s a help button.” Fruity used his wing to tap the small help icon in the top corner. What followed was a short and brief cartoony demonstration of what to do. Apparently, we just had to hold the item near the ring. Thus, I held out the pack of cigarettes tentatively, inching them closer and closer to the glowing ring. I gasped and pulled my wing back as the item began to glow, and then disintegrate into particles of light. Once the whole thing had disappeared, five chips dropped down into a tray a little further down the pedestal’s base. “Five chips for a pack of fags?” “Did you see that, though? It just bloody disintegrated!” “Its gotta be one of those magi-tech things.” “You think so?” I selected the buy tab to look at the food/water selections once more. The purified water was marked as six chips, and luckily, between the chip I’d put in earlier and the five I earned from the cigs, I had just what the machine needed. I tapped the water icon, and we both watched in amazement as a bottle of water apparently phased into existence and dropped onto the pedestal with a thunk and a slosh. “Dude, is that real?” I reached out and gently picked up the bottle. It felt solid in my wing’s grasp and I could feel the cool temperature. I slowly twisted off the cap and brought the rim to my lips, taking a small sip. My eyes widened. “It’s real!” Fruity took the bottle next and did the same. He, too, was astounded. “These pedestals are like something straight out of Star Trot.” “Huh?” “Oh, it’s a pre-war sci-fi show. I’ll show it to you once we get out of this. I’m sure I got it on holotape somewhere.” We spent more chips to stock up on food and water before moving on. A short distance later, we came to a fork in the road. One road went north towards another large gate, and the other went south and up a flight of stairs. We went north first, only for the pegasus to interrupt us yet again on my Pipbuck, almost making me jump out of my skin again. “Are you lost? Don’t go into Puesta Del Sol until you’ve found the other collars. Do not deviate!” “Faust almighty, don’t do that!” I shrieked. “He fucking chooses his moments well, don’t he?” “You’re telling me. Thank Celestia, I didn’t scream that time, otherwise we’d probably have more of those hazmats crawling up our asses.” We headed for the stairs down southward. At its base, we could see an open door leading into a small villa apartment. Inside, we were greeted with a typical living room, and up the stairs was a bedroom with a customary balcony. From up there, we could see a path to the main street, and another one after that, around the corner. “Hey Crys, can you hear that?” asked Fruity, his ears twitching. I listened, and after a moment, I could hear the sound of a bell ringing; like an old school’s dinner bell. “I can hear it.” It would ding for a couple of seconds and then stop, and then start ringing again. We soon realised that it was on a continuous loop. “What do you think it is?” “I’m not sure, but we should be wary. Bells make noise, and you know what noise attracts.” “Shit, yeah. Ugh, damn this place…” On our way out, we found a first aid box with a couple of stimpacks in it. At least we could say our supplies were looking much better now. We cautiously made our way to the main street. Another set of stairs went up west, and beyond that, another town square, with another big fountain filled with chips for the taking. At the far end of that was yet another set of stairs leading to a narrow street going south. A quick glance to my EFS revealed that we were closing in on the other collar. “We’re getting closer to the collar down that way. We might as well find it now.” Fruity nodded while we looted the fountain. I felt like my pockets were about to burst with all the chips jingling around inside them. I held them close with my wings to lessen the sound. Doing so reminded me of how my mother used to hold her pockets during Hearth’s Warming, trying to dampen the sound and hide from the charity collectors who’d swarm like vultures until they had every last bit. It wasn’t like she was greedy or anything. She just had her limits to what she could give away… My mother. That was why I was here. No matter what danger we were in, no matter what crazy pony was trying to use us or kill us, even if it meant being away from my own foals, I had to be here. I had to know if she was ever here. Or if this was her final resting place. “Hey check this out,” Fruity called. He was standing beside the stairs, nearby a wall-mounted terminal. “What’ve you found?” “This terminal apparently controls a hologram, but that’s not what I wanted you to see. It’s this.” He gestured to the wall beside it where words had been carved into the brick wall. All the letters were backwards. It took me a moment to figure out what it said but once I understood, I read it out loud. “You can’t control me forever. I know you’ll come. I’ll be waiting. “What do you think it means?” “Who knows? Probably left behind by some mad scavenger.” “Sounds reasonable enough.” “So which way should we go, honey?” “One sec.” I scaled the stairs to see where the narrow road led and leaned out from the archway at the bottom. The road ended in a huge plaza, surrounded by the villa. At the back corner, a small sign hung on the wall with the word ‘Police’ on it. The ringing bell was coming from there. “It looks like there’s a police station down there, and my EFS is pointing directly at it.” “Ok, then. Let’s get this over with.” Fruity joined my side, and we walked into the narrow street together. And, Celestia above, was it narrow. If I had claustrophobia, I’d have been losing my mind right then and there. Along the way, we found several rusted boxes. We checked each of them out to find nothing but miscellaneous junk. We still collected some of it, at least what we thought the vending machines would give us chips for. “Ugh, we really need to find a bag.” Fruity groaned. Just before entering the plaza, our eyes were drawn to the villa closest to us. Mostly, it was because of the hole in the wall, which exposed a makeshift ramp of wooden planks that apparently went from the balcony above to the first floor. Curious, we approached the door. “Want to see what’s up there?” Fruity asked. “Sure, why not?” He pushed the door open, and the red cloud rolled out and over us like a tidal wave. My entire body felt like it was on fire, even the inside of my throat seemed to ignite with each breath. [WARNING! IMMEDIATE HEALTH RISK DETECTED!] I hooked a foreleg around my husband’s and used my wings to quickly propel ourselves backwards. The moment we were out of its range, I let Fruity go and collapsed onto my haunches, hacking and wheezing. “St-stimpak!” I croaked weakly. Fruity and I rummaged through our pockets until we each pulled one out, and jabbed the needles into our forelegs. With a hiss and a snap, the burning subsided and I sighed in relief. Fruity spat blood as he recovered. “Ugh, t-that stuff is horrible!” He coughed. “T-thank hoofness for Stimpaks.” I groaned in discomfort. “H-how are you feeling?” “Uh, like shit… That cloud can really fuck you up.” “I think you should take another stimpak. You don’t look so good.” Fruity nodded and searched himself for another. I sat up and pondered again at the unique dangers we kept running into around this place. “Say, you went through the cloud before to get to that last stash. Was it as bad as this?” Fruity grunted as he injected himself again. “Ahhh, that's much better. And no, it was nothing like that.” He got back onto his hooves and shook his body, his wings flapping hard as he dispelled red dust from his feathers. “I was partially sheltered before, and I didn’t breathe any of it in.” “So breathing the stuff in is at least ten times worse than it is just flowing over you… I really hate this place.” “Eeyup. Ok, I think I’m good now. Let’s keep moving. I want to get out of this hell hole as soon as possible.” I gave Fruity a couple of minutes more to recover, then I decided it would be easier and safer to fly up to the balcony. The balcony itself was sparse save for a small table with a broken radio set and a first aid box. Inside the box were two stimpaks. The irony forced a groan out of me. I grabbed them and jumped back down, landing with a stone-cracking thud. “Fucking shit!” Fruity cried, jumping in fright. “Don’t do that!” “Sorry, honey. Here found these up there.” “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He took the stimpaks with the same grumpiness I felt. I patted his back with my wing, and then my ears twitched. I could hear those raspy respirators, coming from the plaza around the corner from us.. “Great. More of them,” Fruity muttered.. I flattened myself against the wall as much as possible before inching forward as quietly as I could. Peeking around the corner, I could see two of them shuffling forward. One of them carried a weapon that looked like a bear trap, and the other one had one of those knife spears. Satisfied, I stepped back. “Two of them. Think you can snipe them with that rifle of yours?” “This thing isn’t exactly quiet but I should be able to get one before alerting the other.” “Ok, I’ll act as a distraction if it goes wrong.” We moved out into the plaza, keeping low. When the hazmats were in sight, Fruity lay prone and readied his rifle, wrapping a feather on the trigger. Fruity muttered something, and then he pulled the trigger. There was a bright muzzle flash, and the cube sailed. The closest turned their head, and was immediately hit in the face, its head snapping back and disintegrating, its body collapsing without another twitch. Unfortunately, the other one was now alert, and it phased to the side. It launched a spear at us, and Fruity ducked down as far as he could. “Running distraction!” I whipped out my pistol and rushed to the side, firing blindly towards the creature. I knew the rounds wouldn’t pack much of a punch, but that didn’t matter at the moment. My distraction worked, and it threw another spear. I skidded to a stop as it impacted the ground in front of me. “Shit!” I was about to change direction when I saw another spear flying. I ducked but let out a scream of pain as the blade sliced through my jumpsuit and cut across my flank. It was at that moment that another cube smashed into the creature’s head, knocking it off its hooves. “Quick, we gotta dismember it!” Fruity shouted, galloping forward and scooping up one of the spears. I grabbed the spear in front of me. Together, we stabbed the blades into the creature’s neck, pushing and pulling our respective spears like a pair of scissors, chopping off the creature’s head before it could recover. “I already hate these things.” “Me too,” I grumbled. “Shit, are you alright!? You’re bleeding?” I looked back at my flank. There was a long gash across it, but the blood flow was already slowing down to a trickle. Being a cyborg, the majority of my blood was kept between my brain, heart and lungs, so flesh wounds weren’t much of a concern. Not to mention, I had my regen talisman, which was already doing its job. However, there was something else wrong… “I don’t know Fruity. I can’t put my hoof on it, but something doesn’t feel right.” “This Cloud might be affecting you just as much as me.” “Hmm. Maybe.” The ringing bell caught our attention. We approached the police station, and as we got closer, my vision became staticky around the edges. I reached out a hoof for the door handle, but just before touching it, I hesitated. “I don’t think we should go through the front.” “Yeah, I don’t like this either.” “Let’s see if we can find a backdoor.” We moved away, and my vision cleared up. We came up to a planter, and beside it was a pile of twisted metal. Studying it, I could tell it was burnt, but it didn’t look as old as everything around us. It looked like it came from some kind of aircraft. In fact, there was a gouge in the road trailing behind the metal, as if the metal crashed down from somewhere on the cliff above us. Looking up, I could see that some of the roofs along the same trajectory were damaged, and that there was a big hole in the top of a tower. I gasped. “I think I know how that Enclave pegasus got here.” “Oh yeah?” “I think he crashed here. Look.” One by one, I pointed at all the evidence. “Huh. You may be right. I suppose we can ask him when we talk to him next.” I nodded. We deserved some answers after all this. We then proceeded to look for another entrance. Eventually, we found another alleyway beside the Police Station, and it appeared to lead somewhere behind the station. Just inside the alley, we saw another backwards message carved into the wall. Snake may be willing to serve, but I am not. You want her, you come to me so we can… talk. “I wonder who that’s for.” I shrugged. Everything around here was crazy, so a bunch of ramblings on the walls made little difference. Cautiously, we continued forward. As we came to a sharp left turn, we saw another apartment with its door wide open. Thankfully, this one didn’t have any red cloud inside, so we decided to explore it in hopes of finding more supplies. The layout was basically the same as all the other apartments before it. We found several well-preserved photo frames, each depicting a mare in a Sierra Maredre police uniform. We also found a couple more police pistols; one of which I used to repair my own, and the other I insisted Fruity to take it. We didn’t find any more medical supplies, unfortunately. The last thing of note we found was a large metal cabinet built into the bedroom closet. Pulling it open showed us something that put a smile on my face: a suit of Sierra Maredre security armour. “Neat!” “Bought time we found some better protection.” I pulled the yellow and black jumpsuit out of the cabinet. The insignia of the Maredre decorated its flanks, and the chest and back were thick with armour plates. It even had a removable section on the back so that pegasi could wear it, which suited us just fine.. “Here, you should wear it. You’re more vulnerable than me,” I proposed, holding the suit out to him. To my surprise, he declined and pushed it back to me gently. “Be that as it may, your life is more valuable to me, so I’d rather you wear it. Besides, the Police Station is just next door, so we’ll likely find more suits inside.” “You sure?” He nodded with a smile. “Well, if you insist, but as soon as we find another suit, you’re wearing it.” He chuckled and left the closet to give me privacy while I changed. The suit hugged my body, covering every inch of my legs and body minus my wings and head. The boots felt heavy too. When I gently tapped my hoof against the cabinet, I could tell they were steel hoof caps. Another thing I discovered was that it had those magic pockets where we could stuff all our items inside without it bulging out. Once fully dressed, I rejoined my husband. “Let’s go find our new friend.” We left the apartment and headed onward. Soon, we found the station’s back door. Hopefully, whatever was inside would be better than out here. Author's Note Happy New Year everypony. I'm sorry for the delay. I had originally wanted to release this chapter on Christmas Day but for the past 2 weeks i've been ill and in great pain. I am thankfully on the mend and it no longer hurts like hell to just get up. Thank you all for keeping with my new story and I hope you've enjoyed the new chapter. I hope you'll continue to enjoy my work. Have a wonderful new year everypony and here is a piece i commissioned by the talented Rand-dums on DA of Crystal in her Maredre armour.
Chapter 3: Tick Tick TICKFallout Equestria: Influx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 3: Tick Tick TICK Fizztop Mountain: Sparkle World A spark of purple flashed in the middle of the restored living quarters of Fizztop Mountain. A unicorn mare, wearing thick-rimmed glasses and tending to an adolescent deathclaw, looked up as her horn glowed in reaction to a strong magical energy. “Hm?” The Deathclaw hissed. “Easy Spike,” Raven said soothingly, patting his shoulder. Suddenly, a disc of swirling purple energy began to form there. “A phase gate! I better get Solaris!” Badlands Zone, Sparkle World Princess Solaris grit her teeth in rage. Her long horn lit up with incendiary power as she stared down the Bloodworm Queen. “Die, you despicable mutation!” The Celestia Hammer was released upon the large mutation. The creature shrieked until it was nothing but ash. Solaris smiled, and her eyes glowed a deep crimson. She took pleasure in killing the creature that had terrorised her community for the last couple of months. Just then, she received a transmission. Other Mark 2s were contacting her via her cybernetic network. “Princess. Please come back home immediately. A phase gate is opening.” The sound of her best friend’s voice brought the natural magenta back to her irises. “Raven! I’ll be right there.” With a hint of worry, she teleported with practised ease. Fizztop Mountain: Sparkle World Raven let out a squeal of surprise as Solaris materialised in front of her with a loud crack. “I’ll never get used to that,” she muttered. Princess Solaris gave an apologetic look before turning towards the swirling disc. “How long has it been here?” “It only formed a couple of moments ago while I was checking over the new residential proposals.” Solaris nodded and approached. Spike stepped up to his caretaker’s side, standing almost as tall as the cybernetic alicorn, ready to defend her if needed. Once Solaris got within a couple of feet, the vortex opened into a shimmering purple ring that led into a recognisable laboratory. “The Sanctuary,” she said to herself. One of two alicorns on the other side stepped aside, and a zebra stallion stepped through, followed by three zebra fillies. “We will open the gate again in a few minutes, Nexus,” said the other alicorn, before it closed behind them. “Nexus, this is quite the surprise.” Spike hissed at the newcomers. “Easy, Spike. They’re friends.” The Deathclaw snorted, plodding off to a corner to lay down. “Indeed, it is. Unfortunately, it isn’t in better circumstances.” Solaris’ expression grew serious. “What’s happened?” “Crystal and Fruity have gone missing.” “Missing?!” “Yes, they-” Xian interrupted. “Mum and Dad went to check out something about a casino. One Grandmother might’ve been to.” “Yes…That was four days ago.” Solaris nodded, their concern validated in her mind. “I have come to ask for your help, Princess,” Nexus continued. “You know you don’t have to call me that, and I will help in any way I can.” “Thank you. If it’s ok, would you be willing to look after Xian and her sisters? I can’t maximise my ability to search for Ma’am and Sir whilst having to worry about Xian and the foals at the same time.” “I understand. They’ll be safe here.” “Thank you kindly.” “You’re welcome. However, I would like to help in the search as well. Can you tell me anything specific about what they were looking for?” “Uh, yes, of course. Sir and Ma’am were looking for some place called the Sierra Maredre Casino.” “The Sierra Maredre. Hmm… Ok, I’ll see what I can find and relay it to you.” Nexus nodded gratefully, and then turned to the teenage zebra filly comforting her sisters. “Will you be ok here?” She looked up to him and nodded with a sad, teary smile. “Yes. Thank you Uncle, but please find them.” “I’ll do my best.” Nexus held a hoof to his ear. “I’m ready.” Another portal opened beside him. “Thank you, Solaris.” He stepped through, and the portal closed swiftly behind him. Solaris turned to the fillies. “You’ll be safe here in Fizztop Mountain. If you wish to explore the park, Spike here will keep you safe,” She gestured over to the deathclaw, who seemed to be listening to the conversation. “He looks like he might want to eat us,” Xian said with a gulp of nervousness. “I assure you young one, he wouldn’t dare try to harm you,” Solaris said firmly. Xian noticed the creature wilt ever so slightly at the alicorn’s tone, clearly afraid of upsetting her. Solaris then turned to her friend. “Raven.” The cybernetic unicorn jumped with a squeak. “Y-yes?” “Call all scouting parties back to Sparkle World, including those preparing to leave. I want to speak with them in regards to this matter.” “Yes, your Highness.” Raven put a hoof to her earpiece. “Attention. All scouting parties are to return to Sparkle World immediately by the order of the Princess.” Solaris cringed at the formality. Even though the majority of Sparkle World saw her as a new Princess of Equestria, she still believed she didn’t deserve such recognition. While Raven got to work, Solaris took Xian and the foals to their room, taking time to explain what to expect during their stay, for however long that might be. By the time she returned, Raven appeared to have completed her task. “Oh Solaris, the last scouting party just confirmed they are heading back to Sparkle World.” “How many failed to report in?” Raven blinked and looked down at her clipboard. “Only one failed to report in.” Solaris sighed. Dealing with losses never got any easier. “Which one?” “Um… Team Sera,” “Team Sera… That’s Myrrah’s team!” “Um, yes. Yes, it is… Wait, getting another transmission,” Raven held a hoof to her ear. “Oh, Team Sera just called in. Apparently, they’d been unconscious and… oh no!” Solaris’s ears flicked up. Whatever relief she had briefly gained was immediately replaced with dread. “What is it?” “Myrrah has disappeared.” “What? How?!” “They don’t know. They report that a red gas knocked them out when they entered some travel agency building.” “Where are they now?” “Just leaving said building in northern Fillydelphia.” “Right. I will address the other teams first, and then I’ll go to this travel agency to investigate Myrrah’s disappearance. When the rest of Team Sera returns, get Buckshot to interview them. I want all the details.” “Yes, Solaris.” XXXXX Sierra Maredre: Villa Police Station We entered through the back door. The room appeared to be the station’s staffroom, with the scattered small tables and their small chairs, the lockers to the right and a kitchen area to the left. The dirty and dishevelled look of it all was typical wasteland chic, however. “Cosy.” Fruity muttered. My ears were dancing on my head as we moved further inside. I could hear some sort of garbled bits of a voice that I couldn’t make any sense of. Then I could see the static creep into my vision again. “Do you hear that?” “I hear something, but can’t make out what it is.” The more we headed in, the more the static swallowed my peripherals. I had no idea what was going on. It was so distracting that I didn’t notice I was getting a headache until the pain grew into something akin to stabbing down my spine. I let out a cry of pain and grabbed the sides of my head. The pain doubled and my sight became entirely filled with static, save for my HUD, but even that appeared to be going haywire with flickering colours. Then there were the flashing errors, a whole lot of them. The most disturbing of all was 'Core System Shutdown…' and 'Core System Shutdown… Aborted'. Whatever the hell was afflicting me, it was screwing around with my cybernetics on a level I never thought possible. I could no longer tell if I was still screaming as my hearing had now devolved into a constant ringing. I knew that if it hadn’t been for my high pain threshold, developed from all my years of illness as a foal, I would’ve passed out by now. Suddenly, I felt a pressure on my side push me back. I instinctively put my hooves down to prevent myself from falling. Even so, my limbs moved in an almost drunken manner as I was forced to hobble along. After what felt like an eternity, the pain subsided and my senses returned to normal. Thus, I was greeted to the sight of a tired and extremely worried purple pegasus. "Fruify, are you alright?" I asked. "Am I alright… shit Crystal, I should be asking you that. You were screaming like somepony stabbed you and was twisting the knife every which way till the brahmin came home!" I gave my husband a weak smile and nodded. "I'm ok, now." "Thank fuck, I don't want to ever hear you scream like that again." Fruity sighed. "Just what the fuck was that?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, but whatever it was, it messed with my cybernetics in a bad way." Fruity opened his mouth when my PipBuck crackled to life. The deep voice of our captor blared out. "Beware of speakers and radios. In their degraded state, they emit a signal that interferes with the collar's electronics. It's an unfortunate side effect, one I did not anticipate. To get around this, simply smash them or turn them off." My PipBuck went silent. "You could’ve at least warned us about this sooner, asshole!" I shouted angrily. Fruity gently draped his wing over my shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze. "Yeah, the twat could've." He nuzzled my cheek, and I returned the affection with one of my own, my mood slightly improved. I then looked down at the compass in my HUD to see a direction marker pointing to the next room. I frowned. "So, how are we gonna find the collared pony if we can't get close?" "I’ll have to find whatever is emitting that signal, and smash it to bits. Or turn it off, at least. You just sit tight and recover. I'll handle this." I grabbed his foreleg as he stood. "Please be careful." I implored. Fruity gave me his reassuring yet cocky grin. "Don't worry, I got this." I let go of his leg reluctantly, and the stallion I loved marched on. XXXXX I looked back at the mare I loved as I passed into the next room and flashed her a smile. Inside, however, I was bricking it. That scream was the worst sound I’d ever heard. Not since she’d faced Unit-1000 alone in that robot factory had my gut been filled with such dread. Hell, even when giving birth to the twins, she never screamed like that. As far as I was concerned, this place was the deadliest death trap we'd ever stumbled upon. A few more steps inside, and my collar began to beep and throb at an increasing rate, just like before. I waited and counted, and just as the beeps almost became a constant, I stepped back until it stopped. It seemed that I had a similar window of time to act. Just enough time to zip in, smash a radio and dash back to safety. From where I stood, the layout was simple: a large detention cell that dominated a quarter of the room ahead of me, two desks set right next to it, preceding a doorway straight ahead, and another two office desks in a waiting area to my right. There were ham radios on the desks closest and farthest from the cell. Thirty seconds wasn't a long time, especially when you're looking for shit that could kill you. I stepped up as close to the threshold as I could without my collar twitching and flexed my wings. I needed to be fast. Thankfully, several years of trying to keep up with a mare capable of breaking the sound barrier improved my wing power considerably. With a deep breath and one last look at my wife, I shot forward. As I flew in, I caught sight of another doorway to my left. The beeping started, and I banked right around the corner and put my hoof through the furthest radio. Turning around, I spotted another desk with a terminal on it, as well as the security door next to it. The beeps sped up, so I powered back to the first desk and quickly smashed its own radio. The beeps didn’t stop; there had to be another one. At this point, however, I didn't want to try my luck, so I pegged it back into the safety of the canteen. "Is everything ok?" Crystal asked worriedly. "Yeah, just knocked two radios out. I reckon there’s at least one more." She smiled, but her gorgeous blue eyes couldn’t hide her fear. "I'll be right back." The garbled noise sounded close, so I ran through the leftward doorway and into a hallway. It continued to the right and from there to the end were three holding cells along one wall, a row of filing cabinets along the other, and a desk right there in the middle with another radio. I hurried over and turned it off. My collar finally stopped beeping and throbbing and I sighed with relief… until I realised I could still hear that garbled sound from the front. Always with the hidden one, I thought. I went back and peered into the station's main room. I couldn't see more radios from here; maybe it had to be in the front somewhere. I shot over to the waiting area, where I finally saw a large padded armchair and a small end table by the wall, and right there on the end table, was a radio. I quickly turned it off, but my collar was still beeping. Panicked, I whirled around in hopes of spotting it, and there I saw it, underneath the other front desk. I hurried over and smashed my hoof into it. The noise, and my collar, went silent, and I plopped down right on the floor with my tired wings drooping to my sides. "Thank Celestia," I quietly muttered to myself. I turned my head and called my wife. "Ok honey, it's safe." XXXXX There was a small crash from somewhere, and the static rimming my vision faded away completely. "Ok honey, it's safe." I smiled as I got up and trotted in to find Fruity sitting on the floor, looking winded. "Are you alright?" He gave me his reassuring smile. "Yeah, just fine. Just my wings feel tired after having worked them like a hummingbird." I chuckled lightly at his choice of words. "Great job, honey. So, where is our pony?" I checked my compass to see that it was pointing toward the detention cell. "He's in there?" "Huh?" Fruity said, getting up. The space inside the cell was pretty dark, what with how little lighting was still working in here. But as I stared into the gloom, I soon picked out the outline of a tall pony huddled up in the far corner, completely shrouded in darkness. "Um, excuse me?" I called out. The figure’s head shot up and turned towards us. "Master?" The figure’s tone was deep, hopeful, and feminine. She stood up and approached the bars. As it stepped into the light, Fruity and I gasped in surprise as the figure turned out to be a purple alicorn. She had a short mane and numerous scars on her body, including one that looked like the word 'Snake' carved into her chest. Her long slender horn appeared to be cracked but otherwise intact. Chains were wrapped around her barrel and one of her forelegs had a broken bear-trap around it. "No. Not Master," she moaned. She abruptly turned around and sat back down in her corner. "Hey, wait a minute!" I cried. She didn't respond. "We need to talk to you," Fruity tried. She still didn't respond. "Ugh, bloody Unity Alicorns." I walked around until I found the cell door, and tried to open it. "Bollocks, it's locked." Fruity smirked at my profanity before frowning in thought. "Whoever locked her in there is likely long gone with the key, by now." "Well, this is a police station. They must have a skeleton key somewhere." "I guess we gotta find something like that to open this cell." "Yeah. We should split up…" "I'll go check in there," Fruity interrupted,immediately walking towards the far door. A sign indicated it was where the restrooms were. "Um, ok. I'll look around here." I began my search by checking the desks. Sadly, none of them contained much of anything apart from a hoofful of .357 rounds and a spare pistol. The last desk I checked, closest to where Fruity disappeared to, had a functional terminal. Unfortunately, the screen was filled with lines of words and symbols, and I didn’t get many chances to try hacking terminals in my free time. I knew I could easily bypass the security if I used my link cable that all Infiltrator units had, but I hated that sensation of the cable digging its way out the back of my neck, so I decided against that option. However, being cybernetically enhanced, I thought maybe I could use my enhanced strength to force the door open. With that in mind, I approached the security door, turned around, reared my hindlegs and bucked with all the strength I could muster. There was a resounding clang as my hooves met steel, but surprisingly, I felt a jolt run up my legs and my spine. I let out a cry of pain and hopped away from the door. Fruity rushed back into the room. "Shit, Crystal are you alright?" "Yeah… ow!" I winced. "I didn't think that door to be so sturdy." "You sure? That was quite the crack." Just then, a damage report had popped up into my HUD, detailing my rear ankles suffered what would amount to a minor sprain. But what captured my focus was a system warning alert. “What?! Strength Inhibitor Engaged!" "An inhibitor? Didn't you already have a regulator?" I called up a diagnostic screen and gasped when I saw two new modifications listed. An installation of this new inhibitor, which I subconsciously rubbed at the back of my head where I felt a slight bump, and a modification to my regeneration system. Apparently, my regen system had been set to only heal at an organically natural rate, regardless of the damage I might take. "Somepony messed with my system and cut me open to stick a new chip in my neck!" I screeched indignantly. I felt violated. "I knew something felt off when I woke up." "What does this mean? Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine. From this, it means I won't be able to use my cybernetic strength, and I only heal at a natural rate." Fruity sighed with relief. "That sucks, but at least you're ok." I nodded, and the two of us went back to our respective searches. All that was left was to attempt hacking the terminal normally. I tapped a key to wake it up. Once the screen flashed back to life, I sat in front of it and began examining my choices. I remembered a time when Fruity tried teaching me how to hack. He told me that when the Collapse occurred, all the active terminals locked themselves and defaulted to a random word generator that created a password, meaning that whoever tried to log back in would need to find the correct word. He also taught me a way to help narrow the choices down and it started with finding two opposing arrows or brackets. Finding any would remove an incorrect word or reset the number of attempts you still had (and usually, you started with four). Doing so proved to be a tedious endeavour, but eventually, I managed to reduce the word count on the screen down to three. With those odds, I took a stab at selecting the right one. "Oh come on, out of the three still there, I happen to choose the one with no matching letters." I grumbled irritably. The next one I selected was the correct one, not that it cured my annoyance. There wasn't much it provided save for an announcement email in regards to contraband, and the option to remotely open and lock the security door to the contraband locker. I selected to open the door, and there was a series of small clunks as the locks disengaged. "Alright, let's see if there’s anything useful in there." I pulled the steel door open to find a small room with metal shelving units on both sides. There was barely enough room for me to slide in. To my surprise, there was another BAR and two full boxes of ammunition for it on one shelf, which I quickly swiped for myself. I also gathered some more .308 rounds and a holotape that my HUD labelled as ‘Vending Machine Code for .308 Rounds.’ The only stuff I didn’t grab were a couple of drugs. I never did drugs, even before the Collapse, and I doubted my cybernetic body would even utilise them. Sadly, though, there was no key. I left the locker and decided to check on my husband. The door to the bathrooms opened up to a narrow hallway with four doors on one side, leading to locker rooms and bathrooms for each gender. Soon enough, I heard struggling from the stallion's locker room. When I poked my head in, I saw Fruity attempting to put on a suit of Marde Security Armour, only to have gotten tangled up in it. Only when he nearly fell over did he notice me in the doorway. "Well, this isn't the most embarrassing thing you caught me doing." I snorted and shook my head. "How'd you get yourself tied up in it?" "Lots of straps and they're all higgledy-piggledy." "Right. Hold still and let's get you untangled." For the good part of fifteen minutes, we worked to get him untied and then to put the armour on properly. I felt a bit better knowing my husband had a decent level of protection now. "Phew, thanks," he said as he adjusted the armour. "Did you find anything?" I gestured to the second BAR I had on my back. "Found a spare gun, some ammo and a vending machine code for rifle rounds." "Huh, what a coincidence, I found a code for .357 rounds in here." He gave me another holotape which I pocketed. "I also found a couple of stims and a pair of pistols with ammo." He fished said items out of his new armour's magic pockets and held them out to me. "You should keep the pistols. You could use a backup weapon," He nodded and pocketed the pistols again. "I'll need to sit down and repair one," he muttered. I nodded in agreement; I had to do the same for my BARs. "I guess you didn't find any keys." He shook his head. "Nah, nothing." "Well, we still got the backroom to check, and if that fails, I guess we'll have to get creative." Together, we made our way back. The alicorn hadn’t moved, but we ignored her as we passed by. Returning to the holding cells, we found the first two were completely empty. Fruity went up to the last one while I took to checking the desk. "Oh, now that's just cruel." "What is?" I asked. "Some dickhead left a bottle of water just out of reach for this poor guy." I poked my head out to see a skeleton pressed up against the cell door from the inside, its leg reaching out through the bars, millimetres away from a bottle of water set on the floor. I shook my head to clear the visions of what was most certainly slow torture. Ten years of wasteland life made something like this to be expected. After a minute of searching the drawers, I let out an annoyed huff and slammed the last one shut. "Nothing." "Yeah, nothing over… Hang on," I looked up to see Fruity on his hindlegs as he plucked a holotape off the top of one of the cabinets. "What've you found?" "A vending machine code for Stimpaks," he stated happily. I smiled at our stroke of good luck. "More supplies for us, then." "Well, that'll depend on how many chips they cost." "Yeah, there’s that… So, where should we check now?" "Well, there is the basement." Fruity pointed to a door on the opposite side that I missed. With nowhere else to go, that’s where we went. Being a gentlecolt, he opened the door for me. Once we stepped through and the door closed behind us, a deep, masculine voice sounded off, seemingly everywhere at once. "If you are who I think you are. You've come to fetch Snake from her cage upstairs. I cannot allow that. Come. Find my voice, and then we'll talk." "Who the fuck was that?" Fruity squeaked. "I don't know, but it certainly wasn't that Enclave pegasus." We cautiously descended the stairs into the basement proper, brandishing our small arms. At the bottom was an open security door, and I slowly poked my head in. Inside was a storage room full of wooden crates. No sign of anything that posed a threat. "Clear." We kept our pistols out, regardless. We skirted around the crates until we came to a door on the opposite side of the room. It was one of those heavy security types with hydraulics and a locking wheel in the centre. I grabbed the handle bars and spun it counterclockwise, and luckily, the locks released and the door opened up for us. The voice came back. "You're almost there. Just a little further." Another corridor, and apparently a U-shaped one, at that. About halfway through, I stopped. "Crap… Static’s filling my vision again. There must be another radio up ahead." "Alright, sit tight. I'll go ahead," Fruity said, taking the lead. "Be careful." Fruity rushed towards the door and went through. I listened as Fruity mumbled curses as he searched until the sound of something breaking ended the white noise. "Ok Crys, it's safe." I hurried on to join Fruity. The room was kinda small, possibly an office. All that was left was a table with a terminal, a toolbox and a holotape. The voice spoke again. "There, on the table. My voice. Take it to the one in the cage upstairs. Play it, and we'll… talk." I approached the table and cautiously picked up the holotape. When nothing happened, Fruity and I deflated; we both expected something to happen. "Phew. Ok, so now what? We take that up to weirdo upstairs, play it and hope for the best?" I shrugged. "I dunno, but currently it's our only option." We promptly returned to the detention cell. I sat down before the cell door and lifted my PipBuck. Opening the holotape deck, I found myself surprised to find a holotape already in it. I pulled it out and examined it, flipping it over to find a label written in black marker. Your instructions in case you can't read. "Oh fuck you!" I growled in annoyance. "What is it?" "A message from our captor." I tossed the tape over to Fruity. He caught it with a wing and read it. "What a cunt." I inserted our holotape and hit play. The voice played, loudly. "Snake, back in your cage!" The effect was immediate. The alicorn stopped rocking back and forth and muttering to herself. She sat rigid for a moment before she slowly got up. Fruity and I took a step back as the air about her seemed to completely change, while she slowly and methodically approached the cell door. "Hmm. You're not who I was expecting. But you can't be totally stupid since you found my voice and can follow instructions. Good." Her voice was the same as the one in the basement. "Charming," Fruity quietly muttered. "Um, hi. We came looking for a pony with a collar on like us. My EFS points us to you but I don't see a collar on you." "It's close. Closer than I'd like," she grumbled. "What do you mean?" "Snake's been into things. Doesn't think before she eats, regardless of what's on them." "Wait, you ate your collar?!" Fruity blurted out. "Snake doesn't care what she eats. She'll crush it, mangle it, make it fit, until she's full." Fruity and I both shivered at the mental image. "Y-you're not gonna eat us right?" Fruity asked with a nervous tremor in his voice. "I won't, but Snake might." "Err, ok, we're getting off topic. It's clear you’ve got a split personality. Who are we speaking with right now?" The alicorn regarded us coolly. "I don't remember my name anymore, but you can call me Ekans." "My name is Crystal and this is my husband, Fruity." "Ok, now that introductions are out of the way," Fruity began, stepping up beside me. "Since the collar is in your gut, that makes you the one we need. So how about you tell us how to get you out so we can get out of this mess." "No. I'm not leaving here until the old stallion shows himself." "Look, like it or not, we're in this together. He linked our collars, so if we die, you die." "You think I'll open this cage so you can let Snake drag others here? I don't think so." I gasped in shock. "You brought us here?!" Ekans looked genuinely offended. "Definitely not. It was Snake that brought you here." "We did not want to come just yet," The alicorn sneered at us. "Of course you did. You, like everypony else, heard the call of the Sierra Maredre, and your greed brought you here." "You're wrong! We didn't want to come here for some treasure. I have a personal reason for wanting to come here," I rebuked heatedly. The alicorn looked mildly amused. "Oh, and what other reason could you possibly have?" "...I’m from the prewar era. I was put in stasis, and since I’ve woken up, I haven’t been able to find out what happened to my mother. I know she's dead, but I don't know where or how she died. The only clue we’ve found was an invitation for her to the Sierra Maredre's grand opening . That's why I wanted to come here, to find her… S-so I could finally say goodbye." Ekans chuckled. "Heh. I don't think you belong here." Suddenly, her face hardened. "No, you don't belong here. But regardless, you can go back to your master and tell him that if he wants Snake, he must come and see me so we can… talk." "You say talk but your face says bloody murder," said Fruity. "I don't think he'll waste his time coming to you. If he wanted, he could just detonate the collars and find somepony else to do his dirty work for him." "He won't risk harming Snake. He needs her to bring others here." "Sounds like Snake does whatever he says," Fruity observed. "Snake… obeys, yes. Always so eager to please her master," The alicorn sneered. "She did seem very hopeful he’d come for her when we tried to talk to her," I added. Then I thought of something. "Would she take control if she heard his voice?" "Snake obeys his voice, yes. Why? Do you have some means of contacting the old stallion?" Ekans queried worriedly. I held out my wing to Fruity. He clocked on immediately and put the “instructions” holotape into my wing. "I have his voice on this holotape." "You… DON'T PLAY IT! If you do, I'll find a way out of my cage and end you, murder you, break your hooves and legs until-" I held my hooves up and squeaked in terror. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy!" "Holy fucking shit!" Fruity bared his holorifle. "I won't play it, alright? Not unless you give us reason to." I took a breath to calm myself down. "Look, we need your help to get out of this alive. Perhaps we can help you in return." "And how can you possibly help us in return?" She questioned, appearing intrigued. "We know a place called the Alicorn Sanctuary. It’s run by a close friend of ours. She could help you with your multiple personalities, and you'd be safe. No one will try to use you there." Ekans pondered for a moment. "All I want is to keep Snake safe. You see these scars, the bear trap on her leg? She did that to herself to silence me. Can you guarantee she will be safe there?" "I can't, no." I answered honestly. "But it will be the safest place in the Marejave for her and you." Ekans hummed. We kept quiet and didn’t try to pressure her. "...Very well, then. You may regret this, but I'll unlock the cage." Her cracked horn ignited and a key floated out of her short mane. "You had the key on you this whole time?!" Fruity cried out. The cell door screeched open, and the alicorn stepped out. "I hid the key on me so Snake wouldn't know. It was part of the plan to confront the old stallion." "Oh yeah, you were so gonna murder him." The alicorn simply smirked. "Speaking of him, do you know who he is?" I asked. Ekans shook her head. "Snake does. I do not." I was a smidge disappointed. "Well, I'm glad you decided to help us." "If we get into trouble, I won't be much good in a fight," Ekans cautioned. "Why's that?" "This body is difficult to fight in, especially when I'm in control. I can't use powerful magic because of the crack in my horn." She regarded our armour and weapons. "I assume you've already encountered the ghost ponies." "If that's what you call them, yeah. What are they, some kind of zombie?" Fruity asked. "In a sense. They can't be killed unless you remove a limb or their head." "Yeah, we figured that much." "Nopony knows where they came from, but those they don't kill, they drag them off into the Cloud." "I don't suppose you know anything about this Cloud?" She shook her head. "It was here when Snake stumbled upon this place. The only thing I can say for definite is that the Cloud is corrosive and toxic, and it seems to have gotten thicker over the years." "Yeah, it's so thick right now I can't tell if it's night or day," I agreed. I then laid our two BARs down on a desk. "Before we go back out there, we might as well fix our gear." "Good idea." Fruity found space on another desk and began dismantling his pistols. Currently, I was thankful for the data my electronic brain held, for it made me fully aware on how to disassemble the BARs and which parts had to be replaced. After taking the bad parts out of one and replacing them with the good parts of the other, my new BAR certainly wasn't up to one hundred percent, but it was at least better than it was before, and worthy of combat. With that, I slung it onto my back and proceeded to do the same for my own pistols. About ten minutes later, we both holstered our weapons. Fruity turned to Ekans and held out a kitchen knife to her. "I don't trust you enough to give you a gun, but here. These knives seem pretty effective." "Ah, a Lunarite Knife: a prewar magic wonder that never goes blunt." The alicorn said took hold of the knife in her magenta magic. "And I know firsthoof how sharp they are." I groaned. My flank still stung from where that knife spear gashed me. We approached the front door. I held my BAR under my right wing, ready to fire. I took a quick look back at my companions, seeing their confident expressions. I nodded and pushed open the door, stepping back out into the gloomy red darkness. "Ah shit." Fruity grumbled. Four ghost ponies were milling about before us. "They are attracted to anything that is out of the ordinary for them. The commotion you have caused during your trip here to find me has likely stirred them up." "Well, bollocks. So anything we do here is likely going to attract more of them?" "Yes." Ekans replied bluntly. "And they've seen us!" One of them launched a knife spear at us. "Divide and conquer!" The alicorn yelled, charging forward. "I've got this one!" Fruity announced, flying a couple of feet off the floor and firing. While Ekans engaged the ones to my left and Fruity had the one to my right, I took aim at the one in front of me as it hobbled towards me. It was another one of them with the bear-trap contraption on its hoof. I remembered my mistake from the previous encounter and pulled the trigger lightly. The rifle kicked back heavily and I was quick to release, firing off a short three round burst. The ghost pony staggered as the rounds punched into its shoulder, chest and neck; but it wasn't enough to bring it down. I tried to aim at it again but the creature began doing its weird phase shifting. It kept getting closer, and that’s when I mentally slapped myself for forgetting something very useful: I engaged my SATS and time slowed to a snail's pace. I focused on the forelegs, toggling a hit for each one with a ninety percent chance of hitting. Satisfied, I released SATS and let its magic take over. All but one bullet hit the creature in its kneecaps, and its front half crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Neither leg had been severed, however. "End him now!" Ekans grunted whilst repeatedly stabbing her own target. I looked at my weapon. Its length was long and its stock was thick and almost shaped like a hammer. I had an idea. I reared up onto my hindlegs and flipped the BAR around, catching it by the gun barrel with my forelegs. Then, I swung the rifle over my head and brought it down with all my might onto the creature's head. There was a satisfying wet crunch as the ghost's head exploded. "Nice!" Fruity cheered. I went to help my husband but he waved me off. "No, go help Ekans. I got this peach. Hold still, you bastard!" I reluctantly turned around and saw that Ekans was now holding off two ghost ponies, even using her bare forelegs to keep them at bay. Seeing that she was struggling, I ran over and crashed into one of them, knocking it down. The alicorn slugged the other ghost in its head, and when it went down, reared up and brought her hooves down on its head, crushing into a bloody mess. Meanwhile, I levelled my BAR and fired a burst of rounds into my target’s head at point blank range, ripping its head apart. "Whoa!" Fruity exclaimed as his ghost pony threw a knife spear at him that barely missed. "Eat shit and die!" He fired his holorifle again just as it grabbed another spear, and hit it right smack dab in the forehead. The whole creature began to glow. "Ha! Eat that bitch!" Just before disintegration could end the ghost, it finished its throw, and the spear was launched towards me and Ekans. "Shit, look out!" "Eep!" I squeaked and jumped out of the way. Ekans didn't even bat an eye as the spear crashed down and dug its blade deep into the cobbles in front of her. "Well, that was exciting," she deadpanned. "Where are we going?" "Um, to the main fountain, I think. It's where we woke up and where the old stallion addressed us via hologram." I said, rubbing my chin in thought. "He wanted us to gather the other ponies with collars and bring them back to the fountain. I think you'll be safe there while we go find the other captive." "Then we best hurry. I can already feel Snake clawing at my guts." I nodded, and we proceeded to hurry back through the dark narrow streets and towards the fountain. XXXXX High above the streets, a large shadowy figure looked down as a winged zebra mare, a pegasus stallion and a scarred alicorn made their way back to the central plaza. "Good. You have rescued the mutant." It grinned darkly, and watched as they came upon a junction where to the group's left a gate sat. "You’re not yet done in this area. Time to find the wild card." Its horn glowed crimson. "Just a little push to get you going in the right direction." Suddenly, a light flickered on above the gate, driving the suffocating darkness away. The group, as expected, turned to look and gasped in surprise. "How the fuck did we miss this?" the stallion asked. The mare scanned the area for a moment before spotting the vending machine nearby. "I guess we were too distracted by that vending machine to notice." The light flickered again. "Medical District… Oh great! A quick excursion through there should bump up our medical supplies." "But what about the other captive?" Its horn glowed again. "And now a little persuasion." "Well, they aren't going anywhere and we could really use the meds. I mean, if we get into a hairy situation and run out, it won't end well for all of us." The stallion pondered, and then nodded. "I guess you're right. I kinda like where my head is at the moment." The two were completely unaware of the magical manipulation being cast upon their minds. The stripe turned to the mutant reject. "The fountain is just there. Will you be ok to wait for us while we see about stocking up?" "While the hologram is functional, yes. The ghost ponies do not like the other kind of ghosts that inhabit this place." "Ok. We'll try to be as quick as we can." "Try not to take too long. Snake's hunger is growing by the minute." "Hey, have some faith in us." said the pegasus outcast. The mutant snorted and headed for the fountain while the couple pushed open the gates to the Medical District. The shadowy figure smiled triumphantly. "Excellent, everything is going according to plan." It then looked up at the bright monolith. "Soon, Fancypants, everything you worked for will be taken away from you." It spat. Author's Note Hi everypony. Thank you for reading chapter 3 and leaving your feedback. Unfortunately this will be the last chapter to be edited by my previous editor and now i'm in need of a new editor. If you are willing to be my new editor, please PM me if you're interested.
Chapter 4: Old Ghosts*Chapter currently unedited, will be updated in the future* Fallout Equestria: Inflhx Under the Red Cloud Chapter 4: Old Ghosts Salida del Sol North: Bell Tower, 2 Years ago Archimedes stood with his forehooves propped onto the chest high wall surrounding the top of the old bell tower. He looked out through the deep red haze towards the brightly lit monolith on the cliff. The once pristine architecture marred by the still smoking burn scar and hole his Vertibuck left when it crashed into the top right corner of the tower. "So, I trigger this Gala Event, and we'll be able to get inside?" The Enclave Pegasus asked his companion. "That's right. Once the Gala is triggered, the security will shut down and then you'll be able to call for help." A green unicorn mare with crimson hair and eyes replied. Archimedes hummed to himself for a moment. He had been trapped in the toxic Villa for the better part of six months. Living off the scraps he recovered from the parts of the Vertibuck wreckage that had fell into the Villa and using these Sierra Maredre chips in the numerous vending machines dotted about the place. The Villa was like a prison to him due to the numerous ponies he'd seen and encountered that wanted nothing more than to kill him or each other, but this mare was thankfully the first one he met that seemed remotely friendly. "Alright. I'll help you get inside. You're welcome to whatever that place has in its vault. I only care about getting out of here." He declared as he dropped back down to all fours and turned to face the mare. "To recap, power switches need to be thrown, sound system needs to be connected, fuse breakers need to be checked and then the event itself needs to be triggered from here?" The unicorn nodded. "That's right. As I found, one pony can't do it. But together I'm sure we can manage it," He nodded as he rubbed his chin with his wing thoughtfully. "Yes, yes… hmm. Ok. I should be able to handle the power switches and the sound system. Think you can check the breakers and trigger the event?" "I can do that, but the power, sound and triggering the event have to happen at the same time," "Don't worry, one of my deceased guards wore our latested PX-03 Enclave Armour. I should be able to program its autopilot to follow a command when triggered. I'll get the suit to the power switches and program it to pull them when I radio you to trigger the event," Archimedes said as he indicated the makeshift headset he wore from salvaged parts from the crash. The unicorn smiled as she tapped the earpiece of the one he had given her. "Ok. I guess we got a plan," She said almost excitedly. Archimedes nodded as he prepared his makeshift energy rifle that he called the Holorifle. "Ok, let's move and be careful. There seems to be a lot more Ghosts milling about in the streets now." The mare nodded as he took the lead but as he passed and had his back to her, she grinned a malevolent smile as her crimson eyes glowed. "Once the Maredre is open, you'll get your just reward, you old fool." She mentally said to herself. XXXXX Medical District, Present Day I shook my head as I felt a sudden wave of nusea that ran through me but only lasted for a second. "Ugh, what was that?" I asked out loud to no one in particular. "I dunno but my head went all fuzzy for a moment there," Fruity answered. I moaned as the sick feeling faded away completely. "I think this Cloud is starting to get to us," "Mph, yeah, I think you're right." Suddenly there was a loud clunk from behind us that made me squeak in surprise. I spun around to see nothing but the large wooden gates we had just passed through. I blushed with embarrassment as I had totally forgotten we had just entered the Medical District. We had entered onto a short street that ended at a wall with an iron gate. The wall to our left ran the length of the road and was largely plain and uninteresting. Off to our right was another sheltered path, the arches ran the length of the road until they reached the wall with the gate. It would seem the gate is our only way to progress, so we began down the road. "Whoa! Looks like Saddle Rager blew through the wall." Fruity commented by the time we passed half way down the road. I looked to the arches and gasped in surprise as I saw the large hole Fruity saw in the wall. "I hope we don't have big monsters to fight," "Me too." Fruity agreed. We reached the gate within just a few seconds. Through the decrotative iron bars we could see the street widen and turn to the right and directly ahead we could see our destination. Illuminated by a red neon light in the shape of a Red Cross was the Villa Clinic building. But as always with things in the wasteland, it isn't as simple as it seems. "Well, cock!" Fruity grumbled as he examined the gate. I quickly saw the object of his ire as the gate was blocked by a pile of rubble. It was difficult to notice until we were basically on top of it due to the ever present darkness. He leaned himself against the bars and with a grunt of effort heaved with all his might. The gate let out a stressed groan but the rubble on the other side didn't shift. After a couple of more tries he stepped back with a moan of pain and discomfort. "Nope, not budging," I looked up as the thought of flying over the wall crossed my mind but that idea was quickly dashed as I saw the wall extend up to match the height of the walls around us. The top of the wall was obscured by the thick Red Cloud. It would be a bad idea to try going through that, especially if the wall kept going up. "Flying over would be a bad idea, too," I added. Fruity nodded his agreement and we backtracked to where we found the hole in the wall. The path under the shelter of the arches we found piles of debris that was consistent with something blowing open the wall from the inside. As we examined it further I noticed how the wall looked a bit thin for an exterior wall. "I seriously doubt this wall met prewar building standards," Fruity muttered out loud, having noticed the same thing I did. As we stood in front of the gaping hole I saw that there were more holes in the walls that seemed to make a tunnel through the Villa buildings. "Wow," I breathed in astonishment. My ears twitched as I heard my husband take in a fearful breath. Concerned, I turned to see what had frightened him, but I found him staring at a small hole in the debris. "What is it?" "T-that's a power armour hoofprint," He pointed out. "A-and since our captor is Enclave, I bet what made this hole was an Enclave soldier in PX-02 or PX-03 Armour," I wrapped a wing around him and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, it'll be ok. Chances are if it was a power armoured pegasus that made this hole. I doubt his suit will have any more power. I don't think those vending machines were programmed to magic up Mana-Cores," My husband visibly relaxed a bit as his panicked breathing returned to normal. When news filtered into the Marejave about the Grand Pegasus Enclave's invasion of the main Equestrian Wasteland, he nearly had a heart-attack from how scared he got. He was constantly worrying about the Enclave coming into the Marejave, but he was more scared for our foals. To be fair, I was very scared for them too. The mere thought of our foals upset and angered me. I glowered at nothing in particular as my thoughts drifted to our captor having left our foals without their parents. I miss them dearly and every second I spend here away from them makes my heart ache all the more. "Hey, you ok?" Fruity asked as he gently shook me. I blinked as I returned to the here and now. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just thought of our kids being home alone," It was his turn to be supportive. He nuzzled my cheek affectionately as he said. "Hey, they have Nexus to look after them. Knowing him, when he realised we were missing he likely took them to the Alicorn Sanctuary where they'd be safe," "Yeah, you're right. But it still hurts to be away from them," "Yeah, I miss 'em too but there is nothing we can do about that right now," He said as he gestured to his collar. I nodded grimly as I felt the collar around my own neck. "C'mon then, let's get a move on." He nodded as we then walked through the hole in the wall and into what seemed to be another apartment. We cautiously walked through the holes as we made our way through the Villa. It would seem some of the apartments here were the homes of the medical staff for the clinic or the Maredre. We saw bit and pieces of personal effects such as lab coats and name badges hung up on wardrobes or laid out on beds or vanity desks. Eventually we exited a hole that opened up onto another narrow street. To our left the road ended at a dead end and to our right the road looked to disappear. We approached the end of the road to our right and came to a large hexagonal shaped area. The road ended at a set of stairs going down into the hexagonal area. There was a large multi-story building in the centre. We could see another road going left across the space but unfortunately between it and us is a sea of the Red Cloud. The Cloud formed a thick blanket that reached up to the first step of the stairs. "There is no way in tartarus I'm going down there," Fruity announced. "Yeah, it would certainly be a bad idea." I agreed. The building in the middle had a flat top and leading up to it was some scaffolding that formed a ramp. As I followed the ramp down with my eyes I then spotted a flimsy looking wood plank bridge connecting to the small shingled roof surrounding the first floor of the middle building. The other end of the bridge connected to another set of scaffolding just to our right a few feet away, but getting to that would require us to go into the Cloud and climb the ramp back out. Luckily for us we're both pegasi so we can just glide across. "This red mist looks like its getting everywhere," I nodded while I looked out to the middle tier of the building and the roof just out of the Cloud. "We gotta jump across," I said as I opened my wings and gave them a couple of flaps. "Right." We took a few steps back before running forward and jumped into the air. At the height of our jumps we snapped open our wings and glided across and landed on the shingles. Between the wall and the drop into the Cloud there wasn't a lot of room, so we had to tentatively walk around the middle tier until we came to the scaffolding ramp to the top. As we crested the rim of the roof, we found that a short wall surrounded the roof. We stepped down onto the flat roof to find several crates and other bits and bobs of what used to be a camp. From what was left it was clear somepony used this space and left in a hurry. "Hey, there's a holotape over here." Fruity gestured to a crate that still had a glowing lantern and a holotape beside it. Curious I plucked the tape up with my left wing and sat on my hunches. I ejected the tape with Ekans's voice and then inserted the new tape and hit play. A voice not too dissimilar to the voice of our captor crackled out of my PipBuck's speakers. "I'm alone now in this Celestia forsaken place. Captain Steel Wing died yesterday… or was it night. Blast this eternal red darkness. The Captain had walked through a particularly thick concentration of this Red Cloud. When he came out his suit of PX-03 looked like it had aged by a century or two, but with his laboured breathing it was clear the suit's filtration system had failed and he had breathed in a lethal amount of the toxic cloud. Unfortunately I was not able to get him out of the suit to give him any first aid as his release system had corroded and seized shut and his medical injection system had also failed. He died soon after. If this is found by GPE High Command, let it be known that Captain Steel Wing served with distinction up until the end." There was a sound of some shuffling and then the sound of something wooden getting hit by something hard. Likely been struck by the pony talking. "I still can't find Corporal Pinfeathers. How can you lose somepony in PX-02 stomping around?... I saw him land in the eastern region of this old world resort but I found no trace of him when I ventured over there while avoiding the crazies. This bloody place is a maze and whoever designed it needs to be dragged out onto the street and shot. Radios are no good here either. Even though I know Corporal Pinfeathers is alive at the moment. I can't radio him or track him. Something in the air here, likely the Cloud, is jamming my signals back to Command and garbling up close range transmissions here. I can't give up, lest I fall prey to the crazies or these Ghost Ponies or even the siren call of the Maredre. I won't die here and if I get out of this I'll make sure the GPE oblitorate this place. Archimedes signing off." "Archimedes?!" Fruity gasped in recognition. "He's behind this?!" "You know him?" "Not personally, but he was a controversial figure in the Enclave's science community," "What made him controversial?" "He was one of the few pegasi pushing for us to return to the surface. Normally in the Enclave that could warrant being banished like other Dashites but he was top in his field in Arcane Radiology. He studied magical radiation and its effects which made him important enough that he was kept around," "Then what's he doing here?" "Not got a scooby doo." He shrugged. "Hmm, could it be him though? I mean he sounded a lot gruffer when he greeted us earlier than he did in this recording," "I dunno, never seen him or heard his voice till now. Hmm, don't those tape thingies have a time stamp on them?" I checked the recording again and found it was dated almost two years ago which I voiced to my husband. "Well considering the very air here seems to burn the throat. I'm not surprised he sounds like he swallowed some sandpaper," I had to agree, that did sound plausible and at least now we have a name to put to our captor. "I suppose you're right. But let's get a move on. The sooner we get to that clinic the sooner we can find the other collared pony." Fruity nodded his agreement and we jumped off the roof and glided down into the other street. We followed the narrow cobblestone street until we came to a T-junction. On the corner there was a sign post and pointing down the road to our left was a sign for the clinic. "It's just down here, great." I cheered. "Why do I get the feeling we're about to have a bad day?" I slowed my trot down to a more cautious pace as the feeling of foreboding filled me after hearing Fruity's words. While we slowly made our way down the road, I realised we hadn't run into or heard any Ghost Ponies here yet. "I feel it too. It's too quiet here." We came to another open area. This one circular and lined with arch covered sheltered walkways. On the opposite side we saw the road continue. Around the circumference of the open space we saw what used to be market or souvenir stalls in varied states of decay and their wares strewn over the floor. The most striking thing however, was the suit of rusty power armour standing in the middle of it all. "Holy shit, that must be Captain Steel Wing," I nodded as we slowly got closer. According to the audio log, the Captain was wearing PX-03 power armour. It looked nothing like the armours worn by the Steel Rangers. It looked sleeker and less bulky and more advanced despite the rust. We got confirmation that it was the dead Captain as the chest and shoulder armour had the markings for the rank of Captain. The helmet looked more equine shaped and had two green glowing eye lenses that sent a chill down my endospine. "Wait, is that smoke?" Fruity asked as he looked at the armour's head. I focused on the snout and gasped when I noticed puffs of red mist coming out the armour's respirator. It was something we've seen on all Ghost Ponies so far which filled me with dread when I realised that he wasn't dead. "He's still alive!" I exclaimed and stook a step back. "Captain Steel Wing?" Fruity tentatively asked. Suddenly the armoured head jerked up and turned to look at Fruity. He cried out in fright of the sudden movement and jumped back. The armour let out a muffled groan from the head and red mist began to seep out of all the joints. My eyes widened in alarm as I realised what's happened. "Fruity, it's not him anymore, he's a Ghost Pony!" "Regular Ghost Ponies are bad enough, but a power armoured one! That's just taking the mick." The mutated pony let out a garbled moan through the helmet and began to sluggishly move. It was clear by the slow unresponsive movements that the suit was out of power, or so it seemed. "It looks like he's out of juice." Fruity commented in relief as he walked backwards to stay out of its reach. That sense of foreboding only grew after he said that and for good reason as a series of lights soon lit up around the armour suit's chest, shoulders and back. "Oh no." I whimpered as my cybernetic senses picked up a Mana-Core power signature from the armour and it was slowly increasing. "Shit, Fruity, it still has power. He must have one of those Mana-Cores that recharges itself from the ambient magic around us," "If that's the case, we're fucked!" Fruity exclaimed fearfully. "We are so not equipped to deal with power armour," "C'mon Fruity, there has to something we can do," Fruity continued to keep his distance. "I don't think this Holorifle will affect PX-03 and our ballistic weapons won't make a dent. Unless… Whoa!" Fruity spread his wings and with a strong flap propelled himself to the other side of the market place as the armoured Ghost Pony lunged at him with surprising speed. "What is it?" I shouted while I began to walk backwards to keep my distance from the mutant as it looked around to find a target. "We destabilise the Mana-Core. It should activate a safety feature that'll eject the pilot or the core!" "That's a very small target," I complained. "Yeah I know, but thankfully you have SATS," "Ok," I conceded, he did have a point so I unslung my BAR. "I'll distract him. When you have a clear shot, take it." Fruity flared his wings and grabbed his pistol by its mouth grip and took a shot. As expected the .357 round pinged harmlessly off the power armour. "Hey, asshole, over here!" The power armoured Ghost Pony let out an angry moan as it turned to face him. It put its back to me and I could see the rusty release wheel on its back and just inside it I could see the top of the Mana-Core. That was one seriously small target to try and hit and there were plenty of things to get in the way as well. "Yeah, that's right. Follow the pretty little pony." Fruity jerred to keep it focused on him. I gulped nervously because if I didn't do this, that Ghost Pony could seriously hurt my husband or worse. With fear gripping my heart I slipped into SATS again and inwardly groaned as the chance to hit the core was less than fifteen percent. For the best chance to hit my target I toggled as many shots as my AP meter would allow and released the spell. As the magic of the Stable-Tec magical aid took effect I raised the BAR and fired two bursts of three rounds each. Sparks flew as the stronger rifle rounds pinged off the armour or struck the release wheel but none of them hit the intended target. However, this had the effect of changing the Ghost Pony's attention from Fruity to me. "Eep!" I squeaked in alarm as the creature turned around to face me quickly. Fruity got batted aside by the armoured tail but thankfully was uninjured. The powered armoured mutant then reared up before it charged at me while flapping its decayed wings. With a scream I pumped my own wings and shot out of the way in a teal and golden orange blurr. What followed was a deafening crash that was then followed by the sound of splintering wood and crumbling masonry. "Shit, are you alright?" Fruity panted out in concern after sprinting over to me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I gasped while I tried to calm my racing heart. "I didn't expect him to zoom at me like that!" "Yea I know, neither did I." We turned to where the Ghost Pony had crashed and found he had plowed through the support column for two arches and crashed through the wall. A part of the floor and wall above where the column had been had also collapsed, forming a medium sized rubble pile. After ten years of living in the wasteland I have come to know how powerful power armour can be so I knew not to think the Ghost Pony was dead under that pile of rubble. Once that mutant recovered it would easily climb out and resume its attack. "What I wouldn't give for a Bolo Grenade right about now," I heard Fruity mumble to himself. "Or an AM Rifle with explosive rounds." Fruity chuckled with a nod. Our reprieve was short lived as the rubble shifted and the armoured Ghost Pony stood up like the debris wasn't even there. Fruity sighed. "Here we go again." He pulled out his pistol again and fired a couple of rounds as he moved to put some distance between us. "Come get me you ugly budgie!" I moved quickly behind a rotten market stall to get out of sight so as not to get its attention. "Please be careful, Fruity." I mumbled as I lifted my BAR to get ready. Suddenly a cloud of dust burst from the rubble. Fruity swiftly dodged and fired another round that pinged off the armour. "I got a dead grandmother that can move faster than you." He taunted. The creature turned to face him, again putting its back to me while rearing up and spreading its wings. I took my chance and slipped into SATS. The percentage to hit the Mana-Core was marginally better in that position but it was still fairly low. Once I released the spell, the magic fired off another two bursts of three rounds. I cursed in irritation as again all six rounds missed their mark. Unfortunately however it immediately turned to face him while reared up and shot over to me. I gasped in shock as I was taken off guard by how fast it reacted and before I knew it, it was upon me and before I could mount any sort of defense it swung its armoured foreleg at me and struck me in the side. I cried out in pain as it launched me off my hooves and I then crashed into and through a support column. I cried out in pain as my back smashed through the support column. I then crashed onto the paved floor, sliding on my left side before my back crashed into the wall behind me. I grunted from the impact as my whole body hurt. My HUD flashed red with a damage alert and highlighted my upper right foreleg and informed me of a slight bend to the endoskeleton and the hydraulic ram responsible for movement in my lower leg had been compromised and that movement in my leg had been reduced. It was a good thing I had my limbs upgraded during my recovery after my fight with Unit-1000 because that impact would have shattered my old plain steel leg. While I lay there withering in pain and my ears ringing I became aware of a wetness on my leg where I had been struck and something poking into my lower rib area. It would seem the hoof of the armoured Ghost Pony managed to connect with my armoured torso and bent the armour plate. It also left me with the feeling of bruised ribs despite not having any and the irritation of the bent plate poking into me. I groaned as I lifted my spinning head to assess the damage. Where I had been struck, the sleeve of my security armour was torn and a large gash had been ripped into my flesh that was slowly leaking blood, staining the yellow sleeve around the wound red. There was no rip or hole in my suit's abdomen where the hoof had hit me but I could see an indentation where the armoured plate had bent. I soon became aware of the fight against the power armoured mutant still going on with the sounds of stomping hooves and frantic yells from my husband. With effort and blocking out my pain I rolled onto my stomach to get my hooves under me and pushed myself back up. I felt a twinge in my back from the impact with the wall and yelped with a fresh wave of pain and nearly collapsed back to the floor. "Shit, this guy's getting faster!" Fruity yelped as he dodge the speedy creature. I moaned in pain as I picked myself back up. As I stood I found that my right foreleg now refused to straighten out because of the damage. Thankfully my auto-repair system deemed it an emergency which overrode the limitation Archimedes put on me but it would still take a few hours to fix. There was a sudden crash and the sound of more structural collapse. "You may be fast but you're as thick as brahminn shit!" Realising my husband wouldn't be able to handle this alone I looked around for my rifle. I found it half buried in the remains of the pillar I crashed through and pulled it free with my tail. Thankfully the weapon was undamage beit a little dusty now. My ears twitched as the ringing subsided and I heard the sound of shifting debris and Fruity's taunting. I groaned painfully as I limped my way over to a market stall that once sold souvenir snow globes that was beside the pillar but thankfully avoided being damaged. I sat behind it and rested the BAR on it to better steady the weapon while I tried to sight up a target. Fruity briefly locked eyes with me and visibly brightened up with relief to know I was ok but the moment was short lived as the Ghost Pony flew out the hole it had just made. Fruity retreated to the far side of the marketplace, forcing the creature to ground to a halt in the centre. It turned to face him and immediately reared up in preparation to charge at him again. I took that moment to slide back into SATS and toggled one burst as my AP hadn't recovered enough for two. "Fucking hit it." I grumbled as I released the spell. The BAR barked loudly as it fired the three round burst. The first round punched into the inner housing of the release wheel. The second round went wide and skimmed against the side armour, doing nothing. Just as I was about to fear all three rounds would miss again, the last and final bullet struck the Mana-Core dead centre. "Hah, bullseye!" I cheered. The effect was immediate as the armour locked up. Several plates shifted slightly but nothing else happened, then the Mana-Core, which began to hiss and glow brightly, rotated ninety degrees, then shuddered and didn't move after that. "Warning, Ejection system malfunction… Warning, Core ejection malfunction!" I heard muffled from the armour. "You did it!" Fruity cheered happily as he rushed over to me. He hugged me so tightly that it made me moan painfully. He released me with an apologetic smile before his face fell in thought. "Wait, we just destabilised a Mana-Core…" His eyes then went wide with realisation and panic. "Mana-Cores explode!" "We need to run!" "No, we need to fly, and fast. Can you still use your wings?!" I groaned in pain but thankfully my wings had got through the ordeal undamaged apart from my left wing having lost a few feathers after being ground across the floor. I gave them a few test flaps and the movement didn't bring any discomfort so I pumped faster to lift off the floor. Fruity sighed with relief as he watched me rise to a hover. "Thank hoofness, now FLY!" He yelled before zipping off down the road towards the clinic. I shot off after him, my hair turning that two tone golden yellow and orange as I poured everything I had into catching up with him and to get away from the imminent danger. I was by his side within a few seconds. The streets were whizzing by at a blur as we raced to get as far from the destablisied Mana-Core as possible. Just as the clinic came into view after taking a left turn there was a brilliant flash followed by a tremendous boom from behind us. We skidded to a halt as we closed in on the Clinic and turned around. A large mushroom cloud rose up from the market place we fled from. Moments later there was a heavy blast of wind from the shockwave which nearly pushed us into the wall behind us and then the rumbling of the ground. The sound of many structures could be heard collapsing in the distance. "Phew, glad that's over." I sighed in relief as I sat on my haunches and sagged from the stress of it. Suddenly I was then wrapped up in a tight embrace again and two purple feathered wings closed around me. "Ack! Fruity?" He buried his head into the crook of my neck and whimpered. "I thought I lost you for a moment back there," He sniffled. I smiled lovingly as I raised my good foreleg and hugged him back while nuzzling him affectionately. "Hey, I'm a lot more durable than I used to be and besides, if I had died, you would have followed," Fruity cringed at the reminder but nodded as he pulled his head back to look at me. His eyes were wet with tears and his cheeks slightly matted. "I know, but seeing you get punted across the marketplace and through that pillar really scared the hell out of me, and it was made worse because that asshole wouldn't let me near you," I smiled with adoration. "Oh come here you big soft ass!" I said as I pulled him in for a passionate kiss. As our lips met he let out an appreciative moan and squeezed me tightly. After a few moments we pulled apart and thankfully, he looked miles better. "Better?" "Better." He smiled and we untangled ourselves from our embrace. With the immediate danger passed we could relax a little. I groaned in pain as I shifted my right foreleg as the damage to my endoskelton there made it feel almost like a broken leg. "Is it bad?" Fruity asked full of concern again. "It's not broken thankfully, but it's making me feel like I broke a bone," "That gash looks pretty nasty too," He pointed out as he began to rummage in his pockets for something. I nodded. With a grunt of pain I lifted my damaged leg a little higher so I could use my wing to pop open the pouch containing the bent armour plate and pulled it out. "I need to beat this panel back into shape so it's not poking me in the ribs." I mumbled out loud as I plonked the bent piece of armour on the floor. I then grabbed my BAR and held it vertically. I was about to use the butt of my gun to bash the panel and stopped myself. I quickly flicked on the safety before I began banging the stock against the armour. "Hah, found it!" Fruity proclaimed. "Found what?" He smiled triumphantly as he held a roll of tape in his wing. "Gaffer Tape!" My brow rose at that. "What's that for?" He simply walked over to me and pulled the grey tape then stuck one end to my ripped sleeve and then used his wings to work the tape around my leg. I hissed with pain as he pulled it tight around the rip, pulling the flesh back into its proper place as well. After he did a couple of passes he then used his Lunarite Knife to cut it then put the tape back into his pocket. "There, that should hold for now," "Thanks, though I'm sure you just cut off the circulation in my leg," I couldn't help but snark. He laughed. "That means I did my job right," He stuck his tongue out with a cheeky grin. "Anyway, let's hurry and pick up those meds." He said as he nodded to the clinic's front door. I checked my armour plate. It was more or less back to shape so I slipped it back into place and joined my husband by the door. With a nod we entered the clinic building. We stepped into what used to be a typical waiting room/lobby. The wall to our left was covered in medical posters and notice boards. The right side of the room had multiple sets of chairs set out for ponies to sit on while they waited to be seen by a doctor. The far wall had a large wooden horseshoe shaped desk with a notice board and a large television screen mounted on the wall behind it. I shuddered as memories of unpleasant times filled my head. Being here brought up a bad sense of nostalgia. "Hey, you alright?" Fruity asked in concern as he draped a supportive wing over my shoulders. I smiled and leaned against him softly, greatful for the support. "Yeah I'm ok. Just bad memories of all the times I've been in waiting rooms like this," "Ah, from your prewar life?" I nodded. He squeezed me softly and I basked in his warmth for a moment, letting his reassuring presence chase those memories away. "Thank you for that honey, I feel better now," He smiled that goofy grin of his. "Heh, anytime love." I didn't take one step into the clinic before there was an ear piercing screech from my PipBuck which made me jump with a frightened squark. "Picking up multiple emitter frequencies at your location. Watch out for security holograms! Stay out of their line sight, you can't fight them. Destroy their emitters or turn them off at their source." "Ah you did it again you fucktard," I growled in annoyance while I held a hoof to my chest to calm my racing heart. "He scared the shit out of me too." We took a moment to recover from our jump scare. In that time I took the chance to look around the lobby properly. I looked more closely at the public noticeboard and noticed a few posters for some of the acts that were to appear at the Maredre during the gala. Some of these included Sierra Domino, Equestria's greatest pegasus magician and Splendore D'oro, the classical singing Bitalian zebra. "Oh wow," I proclaimed with some excitement. "I know those acts," "Hmm?" I pointed to the posters. "Oh, have you seen them before?" I nodded as some fond memories arose and chasted my previous gloom away. "Yeah! I saw a show or two live when I was well enough. Sierra Domino was amazing with her magic acts, it was like she could literally do magic and Splendore D'oro had an amazingly sweet singing voice," "Wait, she's a zebra? How'd she even get a gig?" "Err, I don't know. Perhaps being from Bitaly and having an amber coloured coat with cream stripes was enough of a difference to stop her getting associated with the Zebrican zebras," He shrugged. "Eh, I'll buy it." Something else I noticed when I looked around was the lack of any sign of a panic. There were no personal belongings scattered about, the furniture was in its proper place and no signs of any damage that wasn't recent. I wonder if the Maredre had a fallout shelter built into it. It might explain why there isn't any scenes of a panicked stampede in here and come to think about, all around the Villa. "Ok, where should we start?" Fruity asked as he stood by the reception desk and was looking back and forth between two wall plaques next to a door in both corners. I approached him and looked at each plaque. The one by the door in the back wall to the left of the desk read "Offices and Consultation Rooms" and the plaque by the door on the wall to the right of the desk read "Surgery". "Let's check the Offices first." Fruity nodded and we made our way through the left side door. The door lead us to a staircase that lead up to the first floor and the offices. At the top of the stairs we found one of those wall mounted terminals with the foldout keyboard next to the door. Fruity opened the door and let out a surprised squeak and hid back behind the wall. "What is it?" "One of those glowing blue holograms but looks to be dressed in the armour we're wearing, complete with helmet too." I slowly edged towards the door frame while Fruity moved behind me to give me room. I flattened myself against the wall and slowly peeked out enough to look with one eye. I saw a long corridor with multiple doors on either side. I saw some weird glowing thing on the wall half way down and walking down the corridor was the hologram that Fruity saw. "Do you see it?" "I see it." The hologram reached the end of the corridor and stopped. It stayed there for a few seconds and then did a one eighty degree turn on the spot and began to walk back. While it was slowly walking up the corridor I looked at the nearest doors on either side. The closest door was on the right and it was open but I couldn't tell about the first door on the left from here. While I was checking out the doors I had subconsciously stuck my head out and it wasn't until I heard an electronic buzz that I looked at the hologram and realised it could see me. The hologram had gone from a peaceful blue to a warning amber colour and stood stock stiff, I also noticed a unicorn horn protruding out the top of the helmet. With a squeak I quickly retreated behind the wall. "I think it saw me," "Ah shit, what are we supposed to do now?" "Uh, Archimedes said we can't fight them. We have to disable their emitters or turn them off from their source," "Ok, what do the emitters look like?" "Um, I don't know," "Ok, where's the source?" "Um, I don't know, a security terminal somewhere, maybe?" "Great." Fruity sighed. He then raised his head and cocked a brow in confusion. "If it saw you, then where is it?" I understood my husband's confusion because I too was confused with how it hadn't come looking for me. I cautiously inched my head back around the doorframe to see it and it had turned back to blue and was walking back up the corridor. "It's walking away," "It's walking away?" "Yeah, um, perhaps it works on visual sight only and if it loses sight of you it disengages," "Well if that's the case, we can work with that." I nodded. "Next time it passes, you run to the first door on the right. It's open so run straight in." Fruity nodded his agreement. We gathered by the door and Fruity got ready to run. I leaned out ever so slightly to see the hologram. It was heading back down towards us. "Ok Fruity, it's coming. Get ready." He nodded and flared his wings in preparation. I ducked back into cover so it wouldn't detect me. I waited for a minute before I peeked back out. The hologram had just finished its turn to go back up the corridor. "Ok Fruity…" I watched as it passed the glowing knobbly thing on the wall. "...Go!" He beat his wings and rushed out into the corridor before he then threw himself into the first open door. The hologram buzzed and whirred as it spun around, scanning the hallway. "Shit!" I cursed as I ducked back behind cover. "Ok, so it can hear as well." I muttered to myself. I kept and ear swiveled to the open door as I listened out for the hologram to make that buzzing sound again. It felt like an eternity before I heard the buzz and when I peeked back out the hologram had returned to its blue hue and resumed walking up the corridor. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding and sighed in relief. I waited until the hologram had made it to the other end before I sprinted for the open door on the right. I winced as my hooves heavily thumped the floor as I ran that echoed loudly down the quiet corridor. Curse my cybernetic weight. The hologram buzzed, turned amber and spun around. I looked directly at its blank visor covered face and I felt like we made eye contact. The hologram buzzed again and this time it turned a threatening red with the tip of its horn aglow. A moment after it turned red I barrelled through the door. "Hide!" I screeched as I dove behind a decorative oak desk. Fruity quickly hunkered down behind the desk as well. "What happened?!" "It saw me and turned red." "Red's never good." We made ourselves as small as possible as we hid behind the desk. We didn't want any part of us sticking out, so we snuggled up as close to each other as possible. Fruity slowly peeked over the top of the desk to see the door. "Shit, there it is." Fruity whispered as he moved his head to the side so the computer monitor on the desk hid him from view. I noticed the red glow light up the room from my position. Neither of us dared to move or make a sound whatsoever in fear of alerting the hologram. It stayed in the doorway much longer than it did when it was amber but eventually it buzzed and shifted hues. "Thank Faust," Fruity sighed with relief when it turned blue and walked away again. "Ok, that was stressful," I whined. "We should really find out what to do about those. There is likely going to be more we'll have to deal with later." I nodded in agreement as I stood back up and looked around. We were in an office. It had a settee against the wall by the door, a large filing cabinet against another wall, a bookcase on another and finally the desk in the middle. There was clearly nothing of note in this office, it was just a simple office room with a couple of posters related to the Maredre on the walls. Fruity rooted around in the desk drawers while I woke up the computer while the coast was clear. The computer was thankfully not locked and reloaded the last thing the original user was working on before he left. It looked to be a report about a patient. I was about to dismiss it until I noticed who's name was on it. "I had an unfortunate encounter with Sierra Domino today. She came in today complaining of a sore throat that she had been suffering from on and off for the past couple of weeks. Ms Domino had come in brash as always. Got a little uppity with our receptionist when she asked what the problem was. I had just finished a check up with a patient suffering from that new disease, Rust Lung they call it, when Ms Domino stormed up to me. It was quite the intimidating experience having that giant of a pegasus storm up to me. I'm fairly tall for a unicorn but she stood a full head higher than me. Since I had just finished with a patient and was free, I offered to give Ms Domino a check up. At first she seemed irritated as she said it was just a sore throat and all she needed was either a pack of Lockets or other throat soothers. I voiced my concern as I had overheard her complaining to our receptionist and knew she had suffered for a couple weeks with it and explained that there is a chance that it maybe more serious due to the time frame. She reluctantly agreed and I escorted her to my office. Once situated in my office I asked the routine questions. Ms Domino rather irritably supplied her details and I was able to look up her medical file. It would seem that she had a history of throat problems in her adult life ever since she became a performer. It sounds like she overworked her voice again but due to how long she has had this sore throat, I felt it would be best to have a look, just to be safe. Ms Domino initially refused an examination, again reiterating that all she needed was some throat soothers. I explained my concern to which afterwards she reluctantly agreed. Examination of her throat looked to be consistent with previous reports and thus I gave her a prescription for the usual medication she has had previously. (Side note: Make an opticians appointment because I thought I saw a forked tongue in her mouth upon first inspection.) She snatched the predcription slip out of my magic and left without so much as a thank you. Dr Summer Care Addition: Three days after my encounter with Ms Domino I had a second run in with the pegasus mare. To my surprise she seemed like an entirely different pony because she was very considerate and polite to me and apologised in regards to her behaviour the other day. She explained she had been quite stressed out that day, what with working double time in preparation for her Gala Event show and suffering that sore throat before she was to perform. It had put her into a very bad mood. Well, to be fair, I think I would be a little grouchy myself if I was in her horseshoes. She even gave me a bottle of whiskey as part of her apology. I guess I know what I'm doing tonight…" "Huh, guess the evacuation call came in there." I muttered to myself since Dr Summer Care's report ended mid sentence. Fruity pulled his head back in from the door. "Hey Crys," He said, getting my attention. "Yeah?" "You can use your cybernetic eyes to see power signatures, yeah?" I nodded and tilted my head slightly with a raised eyebrow, wondering what my husband was getting at. "I mean, those hologram emitters must use a lot of power to project their holograms. Maybe you'd be able to see them." I blinked in surprise at my husband's suggestion. "Huh, I would never have thought of that. Good idea, Fruity." He smiled and puffed out his chest at the praise. I blinked my eyes as I triggered my synthetic vision for detecting power signatures. When I opened my eyes again and looked around I gasped in surprise at what I could see. "What is it?" "Wow, the whole clinic is lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree. I can see power lines still supplying power to the whole building, it's almost like there been no structural degeneration here at all, which is surprising considering the state of the rest of the Villa," "Huh, at least they had their priorities right when building the Clinic." I nodded in agreement. "Do you see anything that could be an emitter?" I looked around for a bid, following glowing lines in the walls and floors. I could see a couple of things that were glowing brightly. One of them was that glowing knobbly thing we saw in the hallway, there was another one exactly the same downstairs and there was another thing, much larger than the other two things that was drawing in a lot of power as well but it was much too big to be an emitter. "That knobbly thing outside in the hall is drawing a lot of power, it could be an emitter and there is another one downstairs," "Alright then, let's turn it off." Fruity leaned out the door to check where the hologram was then rushed out the door. "Fruity!" I yelled after him as I rushed to the door. He ran up the glowing device on the wall and tapped his hoof on the glowing face of the device. The second his hoof touched it, the hologram buzzed, turned red immediately and spun around. "Fruity, that must be the emitter with how the hologram reacted, now get back in here before it vapourises you!" I screamed fearfully. "Whoa!" Fruity shrieked as a beam of destructive magic hit the wall near his head, making him duck his head instinctively. Acting quickly, he grabbed his Police Pistol by its barrel with a hoof and swung it with all his might. The mouthgrip smashed into the glowing surface of the knobbly wall device and it exploded in a shower of sparks. The hologram flashed a couple of times before it winked out of existence. Seeing the hologram fade away I rushed out into the corridor and embraced my husband in a bone crushing hug. "You stupid, stupid stallion. Don't you ever do that again!" I cried. "Ack, can't breathe." Fruity gasped. Suddenly a red glow caught my attention coming from the stairwell at the far end of the hall. "Shit, another one!" I practically booted the office door open beside us and threw my husband inside before I slammed the door shut behind us. "Quick, hide behind the desk!" We wasted no time in diving behind the desk for cover. I leaned out enough so I could see the door and gulped with nervousness as the red glow could be seen through the bottom of the door. We waited with baited breath as the red glow of the other hologram lingered by the door for what felt like an eternity before it turned to amber and then to blue before the glow retreated away. Seeing the glow fade away completely from under the door I let out a sigh of relief before I turned to my relieved husband and promptly gave him a slap upside the head with my wing. "Ow! Ok, sorry. I won't do it again," "Please think before you leap again. We might not be so lucky next time." I warned. After we looted the office for anything of value, which turned out to be just a hoofful of chips we opened the door cautiously and stuck our heads out to check if the coast was clear. Thankfully the corridor was empty apart from the broken sparking emitter. We remained cautious as we moved further up and into the other offices. All the offices were basically identical to each other apart from the ones used for consultations as those ones had several posters on the walls for various healthcare related things along with contact information for them. We didn't find much in terms of anything of use, just mostly Sierra Maredre Chips and some discarded miscellaneous items that would be of no use to us. When we came to the end of the corridor with the second stairwell we decided to go back the way we came since the other hologram had come up those stairs earlier. As we passed into the first stairwell I noticed the terminal again and out of curiosity I pulled down the keyboard and pressed a key to wake it up. "Hologram Security Terminal." Was the first thing that came up on the screen and I smacked my face into my hoof hard. "You gotta be kidding me." Fruity groaned as he read the text on the screen When the terminal finished loading it had two options. Hologram 1 and 2. Unsure which was which I selected Hologram 1 and was met with an error message. "Error! Emitter not responding." With that I then selected Hologram 2. Two more options appeared on the screen. "1. Hologram Behaviour… 2. Hologram Patrol Routes…" "Hmm, let's see." I selected the patrol routes option. The screen flickered as it loaded another set of options. "1. Set for 1sr Floor Patrol… 2. Set for Ground Floor Patrol… 'Active'" "That's great. If we set the downstairs hologram to patrol upstairs. We'll be free to explore downstairs." I nodded to my husband's statement and switched the hologram's patrol route. The 'Active' moved from the ground floor option to the first floor. We looked into the corridor we just left, just in time to see the hologram step out from the other stairwell. With a nod of satisfaction we descended the stairs and crossed the lobby and into the 'Surgery'. As we now know what the emitters look like we immediately noticed it on the wall halfway up the corridor. Fruity wasted no time in whipping out his pistol and sending a round through its casing. Like the one upstairs, it exploded in a shower of sparks. "Now we definitely don't have to worry about those old world ghosts," I smiled. "Yeah, good job honey." The hallway was as long as the upstairs but had another corridor branch off on the left close to where we came in. The walls and floors in the surgery area felt more sterile and were tiled. There was a sign hanging from the ceiling before the other hallway that read "Autodoc Ward". I curiously looked down the other corridor and took note of three doors lining one wall before it branched off to the left where there were likely more rooms. "Wow, there must have been some money sunk into this place. Autodocs were super expensive." I whistled. My ears twitched as I realised I could hear that same garbled noise from a radio. "Oh, not more radios." I whined. It thankfully didn't take long to find the source of the noise. On the far wall where the hallway turns left in the Autodoc ward I noticed a small white speaker. It sparked occasionally with a flickering light below the speaker. "I got this." Fruity proclaimed as he aimed his pistol at the speaker and fired. The small speaker exploded and everything went quiet. The first room we checked was the first door on our right after entering the Surgery. It must have been a recovery room of sorts as there were several beds on either side and the walls were painted a pleasant sky blue colour and there were multiple posters wishing ponies a 'speedy recovery', or 'get well soon' were dotted about. However it felt more like a morgue as most of the beds were occupied with headless corpses and long since dried stains of blood were everywhere. "Uh, well, um, I guess he's not kidding about these collars?" I gulped fearfully. Fruity felt at his neck with a worried look on his face. "Uh, yeah." After the somber thought passed we walked deeper into the room. We found quite a few more chips and some drugs on some of the wheeled trolleys and on some of the corpses. The drugs were mainly things like Med-X and Rad-X, not very helpful things for us. "What's this?" Fruity suddenly asked. I turned around and found him beside an empty bed and unfolding a black armour suit of some kind on it. I walked over to have a look myself. It was mainly a black undersuit with black armour pieces on the chest and limbs. The most surprising thing is that my PipBuck labeled the armour as an "Assassin Suit". "An Assassin Suit? Who could've worn this?" "I'm guessing a merc." Fruity supplied before he turned to me. "Can you're PipBuck check this thing's durability?" "Uh, I think so?" I held out my PipBuck and grabbed the suit with a wing. The device flashed and I scrolled to my apparel tab to find the suit added to my inventory. In its current condition it had a reasonably good durability but my PipBuck showed it couldn't be repaired with armour I'm currently wearing. It would seem my current armour would be better in the long run as it seemed various standard security and military armours had compatible components and here at the Maredre it was likely we'd find more suits of security armour to repair our own with. "It's decent but if it got damaged here we wouldn't have the resources to repair it with," "Ah, ok then, best to leave it." I nodded in agreement. We took another moment to see if we missed anything and once satisfied we left the makeshift morgue. There were three more rooms to check. Two of them turned out to be standard for a local doctor's surgery and the last one was designed to give a pony near hospital levels of care with equipment and tools meant for some types of surgery. "We could make a fortune selling some of this stuff," Fruity idly commented. "I doubt we'll be able to take any of this stuff though," Fruity deflated slightly. "I guess you're right." Out of the three rooms we only found two Stimpacks and considering how dangerous this place is, what with the Cloud and Ghost Ponies, we'd need a lot more. There was only one door left in the corridor. It wasn't as big as a standard door, just as tall but half as wide. There was a plaque on the door that read as "Storage". "Please be something in here." I muttered to myself. I grasped the handle with my feathers and pulled. Instead of the door opening on a hinge, the whole thing pulled away from the frame attached to a white painted rack of shelves. The rack of shelves were stocked full of old medical drugs and thankfully, there was a nice stock of stims. "Nice, ten Stimpacks." Fruity said as he counted them, then divided them up between us. I accepted the five he gave me with a grateful smile while I browsed what else sat on the shelves. I soon found a white cardboard box that wasn't marked. Upon opening it to check the contents I smiled with what I found. "Here you go honey, we might need these'" I said as I hoofed over two packets of glowing orange Rad-Away while I pocketed two for myself. "Great thanks." We headed back towards the lobby now we were satisfied with our medical supplies, but stopped when we reached the hallway to the Autodoc Ward. Our ears twitched and swiveled about as a strange noise echoed up from the depths of the ward. "Do you hear that?" I asked as I turned into the hallway with my ears both turned forward. "Yeah, sounds like a dentist drill," Suddenly the sound of something thrashing about inside a confined space followed the drill. "There's somepony down there!" We both broke into a run. We followed the corridor as it took a left turn and skidded to a stop at the end by a door that had a big hole in it. The noise of the drill came again, much louder now, and I shoved the door open. Dominating the small room stood a huge cylindrical object. The base flashed with blue light while a terminal on the side beside what looked like a door flickered. To my surprise the door of the autodoc had the insignia of Starlight Industries on it. "I didn't know Starlight Industries made autodocs." I said to myself out loud. "Um, what do we do? Should we open it?" I cringed at the sound of whoever was in there thrashing again. "I… I dunno. We might do more harm than good if we interrupt it mid operation," Fruity shuddered as he had a bad mental image pop into his head. "Yeah, good point." As soon as Fruity finished speaking there was a ping like you'd hear from a microwave and the curved door of the autodoc slid open with a woosh. The door revealed a black striped zebra mare with numerous scars on her body and face. As the mechanical arms with various medical equipment retracted the mare opened her amber eyes and sprung out of the autodoc, slugging my husband in the face at the same time. "Ow, fuck!" Fruity cried out as he staggered back. The scarred zebra turned to look at us and then narrowed her eyes and dropped into a combative stance. I sat on my hunches and waved my hooves disarmingly. "Woah hey, we're not your enemy," Fruity groaned as he rubbed his sore cheek. "Ow yeah, nice right hook by the way." The mare's eyes seemed to look us up and down as she noticed our collars and she tilted her head in confusion. "Let's just say we're in this against our will." She opened her mouth and her lips moved like she was about to say something but cringed in pain. She tried again but had the same painful result and then brought a hoof up to her neck. She rubbed at her neck until her hoof touched and traced an angry red scar across her neck that looked very fresh. As she felt this scar her eyes widened considerably with shock and fear before her fearful eyes turned to look at the autodoc and she recoiled while pointing at it. Seeing that she couldn't speak and seeing how fresh that scar on her neck was I came to an assumption. "It did something to your voice box?" The zebra cringed as she attempted to speak again but gave up as it seemed to cause her great pain. She then nodded as for the moment, it was the only thing we had to go off. It was then that the zebra mare let out a silent gasp and pointed a hoof at me. I raised an eyebrow and turned to my husband in confusion. He simply shrugged. The mare then tapped the floor with her hoof to get our attention and once we were looking at her again she turned her head so we could see the left side of her face and gestured to the three long scars that ran from the top of her head and ear, down over her eye and to the bottom of her cheek. "Holy shit!" Fruity gasped as realisation struck. It was at that moment that I too recognised the mare in front of us. "Myrrah!?" I cried out in surprise. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Myrrah shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, telling us she didn't know. Sounds familiar. "Oh, Solaris is gonna be pissed when she finds out," I nodded in agreement to my husband's statement. "Yeah, you got that right." Myrrah is one of three surviving members of the Illustrious Moon Tribe. She had become their leader after the previous chief was defeated and their aircraft carrier home burned down. She lead the survivours into the main Equestrian Wasteland for a new start but constantly ran into trouble. It wasn't until a couple of years ago when Solaris found what remained of the tribe in a losing battle against some of the wasteland's monsters and saved them. Ever since then Myrrah and the other survivours pledged their allegiance to Solaris. We met the surviving tribe members a couple of times during some visits to Sparkle World. Myrrah pointed at us and then to the floor trying to ask us the same question. "Good question, we wanted to come here, but not just yet, and not like this" I began. "Yeah, we went to an abandoned bunker looking for some directions to the Maredre, but it was boobietrapped and gassed us. Next thing we know, we're here." Myrrah's eyes grew wide with shock as she listened. She gestured something hitting her in the face by waving a hoof at her head and then pretending to fall over. "Same shit happened to you?" Fruity asked with surprise. She nodded. "Well shit, guess we can't call that old guy from the bar a crackpot now huh?" "If the same thing that happened to us, happened to Myrrah, then he might be right about anywhere that holds information on the Maredre being traps." I agreed. I then turned back to the other zebra. "Ok, so long story short. An Enclave Pegasus that we think is called Archimedes wants us to trigger the Maredre's opening event. We could use all the help we can get and hopefully after we do what he wants we can work together to get out of this mess. So will you help us?" She nodded as she stood up. "Ok, great and thank you," She smiled softly. "Oh hey, there's a suit of armour in the other room that might be of good use to you." She raised an eyebrow. "Ok Fruity, why don't you go get it while I help her to the lobby." He nodded as he got up and then left the room to fulfill his task. "Are you ok to walk?" Myrrah got up and trotted around in circles for a few seconds to which she nodded. Satisfied that she could walk unassisted, I lead her out of the autodoc room and through the corridors back into the lobby where Fruity was already waiting for us. "Here you go," He said as he hoofed over the black Assassin Armour to Myrrah. The mare held it up so it could unfold and got a good look at it. Her eyes shone with recognition as she took in the suit's details. "Was this yours?" She shook her head as she then began to slip into the suit. The suit fit her fairly well, if a smidge tight around the flank. Considering the name of the suit and its intended purpose, I suppose it had to be a little tight on the wearer. Myrrah smiled in satisfaction as she looked herself over and nodded. "Ok, let's rejoin Ekans at the fountain. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can find the other collared pony and get out of this hell hole." Author's Note I have an editor again but currently real life issues mean they can't do much for the moment. If anyone else is willing to edit my story I would greatly appreciate the help. Bonus images. Unarmoured Myrrah Armoured Myrrah (Under the Red Cloud)
