Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Chapter 10: Honesty

***** ***** *****

Aside from the occasional raider, we had no further interruptions on our final trek to Tenpony. The building was a jewel among the skeletal ruins of Manehattan, a nearly pristine skyscraper bearing a pink and purple star overlaid on the frontal silhouette of an alicorn, the logo of Twilight Sparkle’s Ministry of Arcane Science. Tenpony Tower was among the MAS’s most important sites, aside from the hub in Canterlot and the research facility of Maripony, which no longer exist. The Dragon Staff that Slash is looking for is either here, we’d find information on it, or the dragon will have hit a dead end. I hoped to learn where Skystar hid this location’s Pearl shard.

Our first obstacle was the front gate. Travelers without wings would normally have to walk along the Celestia Line, an old monorail track, but we could just fly straight to the door. Gritt, being a resident, could get in without issue. He also covered our credit checks. The next step was turning in all ammunition and explosives, aside from rubber rounds.

The guard pony looked confused as I turned in my laser shotgun. “I only need your ammo.”

“It’s a recharging weapon. Its ‘ammunition’ can’t be separated from it.” I waited patiently as the guard inspected it.

He eventually shrugged. “I’ll keep it in lockup then. You’ll get it back when you leave.” His expression soured when Slash stepped past. “Hey! You’ll have to wear this!” A muzzle was tossed to the dragon.

Slash cocked her head. “Are you serious?” The guard nodded.

“Did you think I was joking back in Dodge?” Gritt smirked at her. “They aren’t going to let a fire breather roam around without taking precautions.” He leaned close and whispered. “You can take it off when we’re upstairs, off the trading floor.”

The dragon grumbled and put it on. “This is humiliating.”

*****

The aesthetic of the tower was very ‘old world’ but well-maintained. The lobby, made from a train station connected to the tower, had brilliant chandeliers hanging above the front desk. Marble walls, pillars, and floors gave me flashbacks to the Well of Shade, though the atmosphere was far warmer due to the lighting and ornate gold and red rugs. Twin staircases led to the main tower, and an elevator door was nestled between them.

“We should just go straight to my room.” Gritt yawned. “I’m beat, and none of the shops will be open until morning anyway.” I had noticed how empty the tower seemed. Given how late it was, of course everypony was asleep. “Actually, scratch that, spa’s open twenty-four-seven. A hot bath and a massage sounds fantastic right now.”

Slash and I enthusiastically agreed and joined him. Gritt didn’t strike us as the spa-going type, but I guess even hardened mercenaries need to decompress. In fact, they probably need to more than most. The spa was just as ornate as everywhere else, adorned with paintings of sailboats on the ocean and sculptures of sea ponies. Two mares and a stallion, all unicorns, acted as the night shift, and clearly recognised Gritt as a regular.

The griffon and I each got a mare, as Slash immediately chose the very handsome stallion. We stripped down and laid on massage beds, though Slash still had to wear her muzzle, and were soon treated with professional care. They all had soothing, exotic accents, and sang softly as they loosened our tense muscles. It was heavenly, as if each press of her hoof into my back, shoulders, and sides released months worth of strain. The lovely mare even knew how to handle my wings and talons. I couldn’t imagine she had that much experience with either, unless Gritt came here every chance he had. If they let me, I must just sleep the rest of the night right here.

Alas, the massage came to an end, and we made our way to the bath house. I don’t think there was anything in the world I loved more than hot water. Cold water, I could do without. Chilly, smelly water full of zombies, I could absolutely do without for the rest of my life. Hot, steamy water, bubbling with cleansing shampoos beckoned to me, and I eagerly slipped in. Slash asked for her bath to be as hot as possible, boiling even. Made sense, since her kind generally bathed in pools of lava. Any temperature of water probably felt cold to her. The unicorns serving us adhered to her requests without question.

My mare telekinetically scrubbed me with a number of high-quality sponges while brushing my mane. All the while, I tended my feathers, which were in desperate need of preening. The spa attendant even brushed and polished my beak. Such fantastic treatment was well worth the two hundred caps.

*****

None of us got dressed again, since we headed straight to Gritt’s home. He had me put my radioactive armor in a locker by the door as we stepped in. Didn’t want it contaminating his stuff, which consisted of various wasteland junk. On close inspection, some of it seemed like trophies. There was a power armor helmet sitting on a shelf, painted and modified like a raider had gotten a hold of it, with a large bullet puncture just above the visor. Looking at the back of the helmet, the entire rear of it was blasted outwards. Mounted on the adjacent wall were the split-apart remains of an anti-machine rifle. Welded to the largest piece were two bullets, one .50 BMG and the other .408 GriffTac. There were matching dents on each, as if they had bounced off of each other. In a display case by the bedroom door was a fledgling-sized Talon chest piece, a melted rifle scope… and a worn bullwhip.

It occurred to me that Gritt’s rifle did not have an optic. He made all of his precision shots with basic iron sights. Remarkable.

Aside from his junk, Gritt’s residence was well furnished with tables, chairs, sofas… but no extra beds. He only had the one bedroom, so does he expect us all to sleep together or use the sofas? Looking at the bed, it was surprisingly large, oval in shape. It could comfortably hold the three of us. Slash, who had finally gotten her muzzle off, stepped beside me, likely making the same observation. Did Gritt plan this? Get us relaxed and naked before taking us to bed? I… wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea. I found both of my companions attractive. Knight might have had the right idea.

Gritt slipped between us, his body brushing against ours, then hopped into bed. “Gonna join me, or sleep on the floor? Pretty sure my other furniture is too small for you.”

Slash shrugged and joined him, as did I soon after. The dragon, always being the forward one, made the first move. She reached her arm across Gritt and took hold of my waist, pulling us both against her. The griffon’s eagerness was quickly on full display as he rubbed her scaly sides and nuzzled her chest, and she responded affectionately. I locked eyes with the dragon as my beak touched her muzzle. Soon after, her warm tongue was dominating mine, and we pulled each other closer. Gritt was perfectly happy being squeezed between us, frequently turning to give each of us his affections.

The three of us shared wet kisses and warm nuzzles for a time before escalating things. It wasn’t long after that when I started to hope the building had thick interior walls. Slash was, to the shock of no one, the loudest. After some accidental fire, she considered putting the muzzle back on, but Gritt assured her the building had enchanted protections, and we got back to things. So many things. There was quite a lot a dominant female and two bisexual males could do together. We were definitely sleeping in late tomorrow.

*****

Gritt and I woke up first late in the morning. Not in any particular hurry, we got some one-on-one time, both in bed and in the shower. The small griffon definitely had a preference for dominant but gentle partners, and I was happy to oblige. Slash had been quite rough, leaving me with a few scratches, but I still enjoyed it. She had hogged me for most of the night, understandably preferring the larger, stronger, more ‘equipped’ male. Gritt, however, proved more sexually experienced than her, now that he had me all to himself. He knew how to make a stallion sing.

“Listen to those notes!” He teased me. “I need to get you into Homage’s recording studio.”

After actually getting clean, we got dressed. I didn’t bother with my armor, instead opting for a professional-looking tailored suit. It was similar to my officer’s uniform, but without any insignia and had a sharp gray and blue palette. I had my ballistic base layer underneath, just in case.

“Dressing to impress?” Gritt asked as he threw on his usual jeans and jacket look.

“May as well try to fit in as best I can.” I fiddled with my Pearl. “Without using this, anyway.”

“Shame you didn’t use that while we fucked.” The griffon smirked naughtily. “Think of the possibilities.”

“It sort of wears me out.” I tucked it under the suit’s collar.

“Ah, yeah. It fucked you up pretty bad at Hollow Shades.” He led me out towards the trading mall.

*****

Now bustling with finely dressed ponies, the mall was an impressive sight of commerce. A number of well-kept stalls elegantly promised the finest goods, though at exorbitant prices. I was very happy to still have plenty of supplies from previous towns.

Gritt patted my shoulder. “I can get you in touch with the major caravans that trade here, so you can expand Hippogriffia’s Aqua Pura market.” Shit, I did lie that, didn’t I?

“Oh, right.” I shuffled. “With everything that happened, I guess I lost track of why I was here. Thanks for reminding me.” It wouldn’t be a lie anymore if I followed through.

I guess trade diplomacy wouldn’t be too hard. Our current caravan used zebras on the west coast as intermediaries to get the irradiated water into Equestria. Though, they were unreliable at times. Some sort of instability in the region. Maybe I could set up a new line through the Badlands and Novac? Link that with Klugetown? If I could find a Sunny Side Caravan contact, I could use my rep with them. Telling Gritt as much, he pointed out a couple of trader ponies whose saddlebags bore an image of eggs on toast, Sunny Side’s cutie mark.

My offer took them by surprise, but the eldest between them considered it with interest, especially after recognizing me from the radio. We worked out the details, and I told them how to get in touch with Spinella and finalize the deal. My Lieutenant would be the one assigned to that region, and she knew enough of my mission not to say anything that would compromise it. I hadn’t come to Equestria intending to expand our Aqua Pura trade, but it was a welcome turn of events.

*****

Slash eventually found us, and it was time to deal with her business here. That meant talking to the enigmatic ‘Twilight Society’ to see what they knew about the Dragon Staff.

“What’s the connection, anyway? What does the Ministry of Arcane Science have to do with it?” The question had been on my mind for a while.

“Twilight Sparkle is the one who stole it from us. Or, rather, had it stolen.” Slash furrowed her brow. “She got someone Ember trusted to snatch it from under her nose.” She snorted. “Ponies… They stole from us, then wondered why so many of us fought for the zebras.”

“Oh, so it got taken really early in the war, huh?” Gritt surprised me with his knowledge of old world history.

Slash nodded. “There were some dragons who already lived in Caesar’s lands, who joined his war effort pretty readily, but the theft of the Dragon Staff set off a powder keg. Most full-grown dragons joined the zebras after that.”

“What about Ember?” I asked.

“She tried to keep as many dragons out of it as she could, but not many listened to her.” She sighed. “Losing the Staff was a huge blow to her credibility. My mom and uncle said she took it all really hard. Every time we got word of a dragon getting killed, Ember took it as a personal failure. It’s the same now with the Enclave.”

“Ember didn’t try getting the Staff back?” Gritt questioned.

“Oh, she did,” Slash explained. “Mom said she flew straight to Canterlot as soon as she realized the Staff was taken, and demanded it back. Ponies told her our kind couldn’t be trusted. Said they needed the Staff to develop a ‘countermeasure’ against us. Ember couldn’t risk open war, so she sucked it up.”

The griffon huffed. “Makes me wonder if Rainbow Dash knew about any of this. Can’t imagine she would have been so gung-ho about slaying dragons if she knew why they were pissed. That it was Twilight's fault.”

“I imagine that little detail was well covered up.” They both agreed.

*****

Gritt has two contacts with the Twilight Society, who happened to be Elements. Life Bloom, a unicorn stallion and doctor, was the Element of Magic and the most likely to know something off the top of his head. The other was Homage, a unicorn mare, assistant to DJ Pon3, and Element of Honesty. Her residence in the tower was once a personal library for Twilight Sparkle, so she was worth visiting as well.

The way he was described, Life Bloom sounded like exactly the pony Knight would want to meet, and she’d also love to see that library. Gritt commented that the stallion would be very curious to meet her as well. I’d need to arrange that. Despite my better judgment, I wanted to talk to both about the Pearl. I’d already met three other Elements, so I might as well meet two more. The Element of Generosity, a unicorn mare named Charity, reportedly lived near the Hoof, so it was extremely unlikely that I’d meet her.

Our guide left for a while, then returned and told us both would meet us in the library. A quick ride in a private elevator brought us to the largest collection of books I had ever seen. Twilight Sparkle’s Athenaeum was wall-to-wall bookshelves, save for a couple of reading nooks and three large, vaulted windows which doubled as bedspaces. Each pillar in the room was ringed with even more books, and there was a large reading table in the center of the library with smaller bookshelves for legs. Chairs throughout the library had hidden compartments under the armrests for storing even more books. History class at Aris didn’t even scratch the surface when it described Twilight as a voracious reader.

*****

Life Bloom and Homage were standing under a large painting depicting Splendid Valley. The mature stallion had a white coat, blue eyes, a red and pink mane, and a medical cross on his flank. The mare beside him had a steel gray coat and blue mane, reminding me of a younger Wavestone. She had pale green eyes, and her cutie mark depicted a speaker blasting music. Both unicorns wore golden PipBucks.

“Hey you two,” Gritt greeted them with a wink. Or a blink? Could someone with only one eye make that distinction? “These are the travelers who wanted to talk to you.” He gestured to each of us. “Slash. Rosegold.”

Both smiled as they greeted us and introduced themselves. Homage waved towards Slash’s muzzle. “Oh, feel free to take that off. It can’t be comfortable.” The dragon happily did so. The five of us took seats around the center table. It further reminded me of the briefing that sent me to Equestria in the first place.

The mare turned to me. “Nice to meet Novac’s hero. Heard you also helped save a bunch of slaves outside the Hub.” She chuckled. “DJ Pon3’s still trying to come up with a creative title for you, but so far ‘Wanderer’ is the best he’s got.”

“Sounds fine to me.” It would be nice if my actual name wasn’t being used. “And these two deserve credit as well for that rescue.”

“Of course,” she smiled. “So, what did you need to discuss? Something about a Staff and a Pearl?”

I let Slash go first. “The Dragon Staff. It is a symbol of authority for the Dragon Lord, and was taken by Twilight’s ministry during the war. I need it to rally what’s left of my people against the Enclave so we aren’t exterminated.”

Life Bloom furrowed his brow. “I know of it. Twilight left a lot of research notes on it, but the Staff itself isn’t here. If I remember right…” His horn glowed and a few journals floated to him. He opened and skimmed them until he found what he was looking for. “Yes, Twilight was trying to unlock its mind control properties. Extrapolate the concept to affect all creatures, not just dragons.”

I did a double take. “Mind… control..?” Slash was just as shocked.

The stallion nodded. “She never cracked it, according to her most recent notes. Whatever magic it used was far more ancient than anything she understood. Eventually her work on creating alicorns took priority. She also concluded that its innate effects on dragons were very limited, mostly by range. She theorized that a significant amount of magical energy could extend that range, but it was ultimately impractical.” He turned to the last page of the journal. “As for its current location, she entrusted it to her assistant.”

“Spike.” My knowledge of Gardens of Equestria’s guardian drew surprised glances. Slash visibly tensed at the name. “I’ve… read the Book of Littlepip.”

An artifact that could control dragons. In the hands of the Storm King, conquering the Dragon Lands would be nearly effortless. If I acquired the Dragon Staff, would he even need the Pearl? Transformation magic seemed powerful, and I wasn’t sure how my King intended to use it, but it couldn’t be better than the power to directly command dragons. I’d acquire both, if possible. Slash certainly couldn’t be allowed to take it back to her people.

Slash stared at me, seeing the cogs turning in my mind. She trusted me not to intervene in her quest when we thought the Staff was just ceremonial. Now we know its true value and potential. How much of a threat it is. We were enemies again. We couldn’t fight here, but the tension between us was palpable.

I tried to change the subject. “About the Pearl…” I revealed the necklace that a solid chunk of the artifact hung from. “So far, I’ve been finding shards in old ruins. Older than the war. Tenochtitlan, Horseshoe Lighthouse, Hollow Shades… Is there anything in Manehattan that meets that description?”

Homage spoke up. “I’ve explored Manehattan pretty extensively. Only place I can think of is the Statue of Friendship. Or what’s left of it. Not as old as the other places you mentioned, but it is the area’s most notable pre-war landmark.”

I winced. This was my best lead, and it was severely damaged by the Enclave twelve years ago. I’d certainly have the same problem in Canterlot. Everfree, too, if the shard there is in what’s left of the old castle.

And that’s if Slash let me live that long. I needed insurance against her and Gritt. I needed Knight. With her around, I could just turn them into zebras and let the killer robot do what it was made for. They didn’t know what happened in Limbo. They didn’t know that was a possibility. It was a last resort, of course. I’d try to talk my way through this first.

“We have another companion waiting at a police station south of here.” I tapped my claws together. “We weren’t sure how Tenpony would… react to her.”

“Is she a ghoul?” Life Bloom asked. I remembered the tower's policies against them, and shook my head.

“A robot.” I started to explain. “An extremely advanced experimental Assault-Mare alicorn. Star Metal encompasses much of her construction, and she is fully self-aware and sentient.”

Both Element’s eyes went wide. “I understand why you thought she wouldn’t be allowed entry,” Life Bloom choked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Slash interjected. “She’s actually very sweet. A healer. The biggest issue is her hard-wired IFF. She can’t be around zebras. If she sees anypony with stripes, she’ll kill them. She doesn’t want to, but she doesn’t have a choice. We were hoping you’d have some way to fix that.”

Life Bloom swallowed and composed himself. “I will certainly look into that.” He sighed. “She can’t come in through the main entrance…”

Homage sat up. “I’ll let her in through the roof. Can she fly? You said she was an alicorn.”

I nodded. “Yeah, her wings work just fine. So does her horn.”

Life Bloom looked astonished. “A machine that can perform magic?” His reservations were quickly replaced by scholarly curiosity.

Gritt stood up. “I’ll fetch her then. Won’t take long.”

Slash looked at him worriedly. “You’re sure Crimson won’t try anything?”

The griffon shook his head. “He’s not dumb enough to. Trust me, that stunt yesterday was just him teasing me. I’ll be fine.” With that, he left. Life Bloom followed him out to prepare for Knight’s arrival.

*****

Slash and I started to leave, but Homage gently tugged us back into our seats with her magic. “What’s up between you two?” Of course nothing could get past her.

I took a deep breath. “The Enclave aren’t the only ones at war with the dragons. Hippogriffia is as well. Difference is, we’re trying to conquer and assimilate them, not destroy them. We intend to push the Enclave out once we have.”

Slash and Homage waited for me to continue, their stares judging me.

“Hippogriffia can’t grow its own food. The Gardens of Equestria didn’t reach us. Hippogriffs are immune to radiation, but our crops are not. We’ve been reliant on small farms stretched too far and too thin, as well as foreign trade, but it isn’t sustainable. Our people go hungry most days.” I leaned forward, clasping my talons. “The Dragon Lands have incredibly fertile soil that goes completely unused. Setting up large farms on territory under our control will solve our food crisis. And having dragons in our military’s ranks will ensure that territory isn’t threatened.”

“You could have negotiated use of our land,” Slash argued.

I shook my head. “It would only take one full size dragon refusing to respect that agreement to destroy any farms we set up. We both know your kind is too independent and prideful to collectively agree to leave foreign farmers unharassed. Conquering you is the only way to guarantee security.”

She snarled. “No, it isn’t. Let me initiate the Gauntlet and find a new leader for our people. Help us drive out the Enclave, and we will lend our farmable land to you.”

I pondered this. It made sense. A trustworthy Dragon Lord, with the Staff, could force peace. Unfortunately, it wasn’t up to me. I had orders to follow.

A resigned sigh escaped my beak. “I have to obey my King.”

“What exactly did your King command?” Homage interjected.

I blinked at her. “To retrieve the Pearl.”

“No mention of the Dragon Staff?” She crossed her hooves, tilting her head.

“No…” My brow furrowed. “But if he… If the Staff is used against us, and I could have prevented it…”
Slash took my claws in hers. “I won’t allow that. The Dragon Lands just want peace.”

My mind struggled to determine what was best, versus what the Storm King would expect of me. There must be a middle ground. Maybe this was it.

I locked eyes with Slash. “I’m… going to trust you.”

She smiled. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

***** ***** *****

Footnote:
Welcome to Level 9!

Perk Added: Pillow Talk! Intimacy breeds understanding. Individuals you have slept with are now easier to persuade, and vice versa.