Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Chapter 17: No Good Deed

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From this point on, we were venturing into territory none of us except Purser had experience with, and limited knowledge of. The seadog guided us between the Smoky Mountains, towards the greater Vanhoover area. I was surprised that Crimson had never been out west, considering who he worked for. It makes a lot more sense now that he wanted to travel with a group.

I found the cyber-griffon injecting his third dose of Med-X before noon. He was going through painkillers like Gritt went through smokes. Knight suggested that if she had a proper cybernetics lab, she could give him a complete overhaul. Crimson shut down her offer in an instant, saying he’ll never let anyone modify him again, and that he deserves to suffer anyway. I didn’t disagree, but I couldn’t help but worry at least a little for his mental health.

“Why did you agree to the cybernetics in the first place?” I spoke to him at the bow of the ship, looking over the water we were cutting through.

“I didn’t.” He looked conflicted. “I mean, I did, but, it was me or…” I almost missed him glancing up at the crow’s nest. “Red Eye sent Stern and I on a job. It went bad. Stern fucked up big time and Red Eye wanted to punish her for it. Wanted to correct her deficiencies. Stern was scared shitless of being modified. I’d never seen her that terrified before. I just… wanted to save my friend.”

I remembered Gritt’s story of when Red Eye threatened him with the same thing, and how it set Stern off enough to assault the cyberpony. “You took the punishment in her stead.”

Crim nodded. “No good deed, right? I’m a fucking monster now.” He sighed. “Red Eye also had my contract under Stern terminated, and made me sign a new contract directly under him. Didn’t want future conflicts of loyalty.” He chuckled, straining his metal insides. “I never gave a fuck about his grand plans, so when he died, I took my Talons and fucked off into Filly’s tunnels. Any Enclave dumb enough to follow us were caught in a death funnel.” His smile faded. “If Stern was smart, she would have done the same. A lot fewer griffons would have died if she had. Stupid bitch.” That explained how he survived that battle. “Your robot was wrong, by the way. About my resistance to meds being gradual. Nah, it was instant. But after my supply went dry, it didn’t take long for me to discover an… alternative way to ease the pain.”

The cogs turned in my mind, and I gave him a disgusted glare when I realized.

“Good. That’s how you should see me. That’s how everyone should see me.” He stared into the water. “Sex became my new painkiller. At first, I was just a whore, sleeping with other Talons who apparently had a cyber fetish. Then I stopped seducing and started ordering. I started forcing myself onto subordinates, as a punishment, for the slightest infraction. Eventually, I stopped looking for reasons and just took what I wanted. From Talons, hostile captives, whoever couldn’t do anything about it.” He glared at me. “So don’t any of you dare feel sorry for me, or try to help me. I may not have deserved to get turned into this, but I sure as shit deserve to be this now.”

*****

Helping Knight clear some boulders from the river ahead of us helped distract me from Crimson’s admission of guilt. Is a monster that knows it's a monster any less deserving of death? Does its self-hatred and self-inflicted punishment absolve any of its crimes?

I stared at myself in the water. What about a monster that… didn’t know it was a monster.

“Rosegold, are you alright?” Knight put a hoof on my shoulder after moving the last rock.

I changed back from a unicorn into a hippogriff. “I’m fine.” After the implant… How much of who I am now is me? How much of it is Knight? If I lose her, will I be a monster again?

“You don’t seem fine.” She started to hover. “Gritt saw a settlement ahead. Maybe you can get a hot meal there and feel better.” I followed her back onto the ship.

*****

Purser was quick to dash those hopes. It wasn’t a settlement up ahead. Ironsides’ former first mate told us this is where they dropped off slaves. Washout, not up to date on Purser’s background until now, stared daggers at the seadog. She folded her ears and cowered.

“So, how do we handle this?” Gritt decided to be the pragmatic voice. “Is it all slavers, or are there innocent settlers here too?” Slash and I questioned how the two could coexist.

“The town houses and feeds the slaves until whoever purchased them picks them up.” Purser explained. “I don’t know any other details.”

“We won’t know anything until we take a look around.” I looked at Purser. “Guards?”

She shook her head. “They shouldn’t give us trouble. Unless…”

“Unless?” Washout urged.

“They could still be expecting a delivery. From this ship.” The dog tapped her paws. “And given how late we are, the client might be waiting, whoever they are.”

A few thoughts clicked into place, and I had an idea.

*****

Everyone hated my idea. I hated my idea. But if Ironsides’ ‘client’ was the Enclave or the Whiteclaws, we couldn’t afford to incite hostility yet. And maybe I could help the slaves from the inside of whatever operation they were being dragged into.

I removed my armor, my barding, and even my PipBuck. Then I shifted into a striped equine. I’d be a zebra for the foreseeable future. The Pearl was given to Knight, who stored it in her chassis and maintained the magical charge so it didn’t drain me. She’d have to stay on the Gilded Gull for the duration of my infiltration mission. Without our connection, she was too much of a threat. Her stealth field was apparently too limited for her to simply accompany me. After a healthy layer of grime, and a few bruises that Crimson was happy to apply, the illusion was set.

Zinnia, the slave zebra, was ready for delivery.

*****

“Just… one?” A pegasus stallion in non-descript combat armor, flanked by a few more of his own kind, as well as some griffons, looked wholly annoyed at Purser and I.

“We were… disrupted by wasteland do-gooders.” Purser did her best to sound like an indifferent pirate who treated zebras like sacks of carrots. Poorly. It was abundantly clear that Ironsides handled all negotiations. “This is the only one that didn’t manage to escape.”

“The order was for twenty of these things.” Things? “So you’re only getting a twentieth of the agreed pay.” A bag of caps was tossed to the seadog. The chain attached to my collar was picked up and yanked. “I think this will be our last business with each other. We don’t broker incompetence.”

Purser gritted her teeth, gave me a wary look, and walked back to the river. I was on my own.

*****

The plain, rusted metal train car I was tossed into smelled of blood and other fluids. Once the door was shut, I was trapped in darkness save for some small holes near the roof. I take back what I said on the trip to Baltimare. Flying was much better than riding a train. We must have been heading north, because it kept getting colder with every passing hour. By the end of the day, I was curled fully into myself.

I was suddenly slammed into the front of the car when the train came to a screeching halt. Gunfire and explosions erupted outside. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! My friends have this little faith in me? But… explosions. My companions didn’t have any explosives. The guards who took me didn’t have any either. Who was rescuing me?

The gunfire ceased, and I heard voices.

“This car? Unlock it! Now!” Zebra accents were distinct.

I was met with a wounded, whimpering griffon opening the door. I barely had a chance to share a glance with her before an old grizzled zebra stallion yanked her hard into the snowy mud and finished her with a burst from an odd carbine rifle.

He turned to me with a confused glare. “Just… one?” He was dirty, dressed in rags. His mane fell messily in every direction but up. A short, scruffy beard adorned his chin.

“Zev!” A younger zebra buck called out. “We need to move! Reinforcements are already coming!

Zev grabbed my chain and yanked me out of the car. “On your hooves, fool! We don’t have much time!”

We had no time whatsoever. Pegasi and griffons in black carapace armor descended on us in an instant. My rescuers didn’t stand a chance as they were stunned into submission and put in chains.

They ended up with twenty new slaves after all.

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Footnote:
No Level Up.