Fallout Equestria: The Blue Lightning

“What are you doing here? Are you a spy?”

Fallout: Equestria, chapter 22

“What are you saying you’re doing here?” the mayor’s voice rumbled.

Sonic sighed quietly. He thought that very few ones would take his confused explanation seriously from the first time.

There were ponies all around. There was no meeting hall in the town, so for lack of a better one, everypony who could, crowded into Murky Gray’s bar. However, almost the entire population of The Republic had gathered to see the newcomer, so the street outside was also filled with a crowd of onlookers. After all, it wasn’t often in their rather monotonous lives that such surprises happened.

Surrounded by a mass of mares and stallions, Sonic sat on a stool at the bar, swinging his legs. Next to him, as the one responsible for his appearance in the village, stood Cosmic. Across from them towered Silver Star – a powerful-looking middle-aged white unicorn with a faded gray mane, wearing a cowpony hat with a horn cutout. It was rumored that the hat had been made from the skin of the raiders he had once eliminated. Cosmic wanted to cringe under the mayor’s sharp gaze – but the hedgehog didn’t seem to care at all that his fate was literally being decided now.

“I already told you. In the world where I came from… however, that’s not where I was born, but it doesn’t matter… now trouble came. An evil scientist, Dr. Robotnik, nicknamed Eggman, has long wanted to establish his sole authority over the entire planet. We fought off his previous attempts, but this time he tried something new.

“Eggman discovered a base with an old secret project called ‘Shadow’ – its essence is that scientists of that world once captured a hedgehog like me, but black, named Shadow. It seems they tried to study him, but one day they got tired of it, and they just froze him. Eggman freed Shadow and forced him to serve him. On his orders, Shadow stole Chaos Emeralds from me and my friends – powerful artifacts that can be combined to form the Master Emerald, giving absolute power over the universe… and disappeared. Meanwhile, Eggman has created a new army of robots and is about to take over the Earth…”

“Earth… is that the name of your world?” asked the mayor. “Ridiculous name for a planet, don’t you think?”

“I don’t give a damn,” the hedgehog shrugged. “Well, that’s it… Since my friends and I were out of Emeralds, we decided to look for other artifacts whose power we could use against Eggman. If necessary, then in other dimensions.

“My friend Tails invented a detector to find such artifacts. And in searching for the most powerful one, the device pointed to your world,” Sonic looked up at Cosmic and Silver Star, “the world of ponies.”

“Wait…” the blue earth pony interrupted him. “How did you know about the ponies before you moved here and found us?”

“You won't believe it anyway,” the alien shook his head with a grin.

Silver Star frowned. A shiver ran through Cosmic’s skin. The mayor could be very convincing when he needed something. Answers to questions, for example.

Sonic apparently decided not to run into the unicorn’s heavy hoof – or, more likely, telekinetic grip – and hurried on to continue.

“The thing is, Tails created a neural network that sifted through all sorts of information on the Internet and somehow (honestly, I’ve no idea how it all works) recons… tried to reconstruct the reality where she should have gone.” The hedgehog sighed heavily and drooped. “It painted a world full of friendship and magic, where ponies enjoy life under the rule of an alicorn princess, and order is guarded by six keepers of these artifacts – Elements of Harmony.”

Sonic closed his eyes and shook his head again.

“Nothing like where I ended up.”

The alien’s slip of the tongue didn’t escape Cosmic’s ears. He obviously knew something – something that he was trying his best to hide from them. Though… maybe he just really misspoke.

Silver Star gave a short whinny.

“It seems to me, kid, that’s right, your net did think of it. Just missed it by a little over time. By about two hundred years.”

Sonic jerked his head up and stared dazedly at the mayor.

“But how…?” the alien’s voice sank. “It can’t have been that long…! How’s that possible…?”

“Somehow, as you can see,” the unicorn replied. “Your friend probably knows better how it can be there. You’d better tell me this: how did you get here yourself?”

“With this.”

The hedgehog untied the pouch he was carrying with him and took out… a ring. Outwardly, it was an ordinary trinket for which a few dozen bottle caps could be obtained from a not too greedy merchant. But Cosmic was already familiar with the truth: not everything is as it seems at first glance.

She noticed a strange look on the face of Metal Dawn, who was standing off to the side in the crowd, when he saw the ring. The stallion seemed to be thinking hard about something, hypnotizing the round metal rim with his eyes.

Cosmic had no time to develop an idea of her own.

“I won’t demonstrate the process, they are one-time,” Sonic explained, taking off the ring. “But in general, it goes like this: I imagine in detail the place where I wanna go, and I throw the ring. It expands to suuuuuch a size…” – he spread his forelimbs to the sides – “no, even bigger… and then the portal is ready, all you have to do is walk through it.”

The hedgehog became sad again.

“I tried to imagine your reality in the best possible way, but… it didn’t help.”

Suddenly something clicked in Cosmic’s brain.

“Elements of Harmony…” she muttered and turned to Sonic, getting more and more angry. “You mentioned the artifacts that you have never seen before! How, Celestia, could you find out what they are called when all you know is that they are fucking somewhere in the Wasteland?!”

The alien was taken aback by such pressure. Ponies’ gazes shifted first to angry Cosmic looming over him, then to himself.

Then the hedgehog shrugged and smiled disarmingly:

“The neural network prompted. Think of it as some kind of magic.”

“Let’s say,” muttered Silver Star, “let’s say that everything you said is true. Of course, we can’t help you with your search because we don’t know a damn thing about your Elements and what they’re supposed to do. What are your plans? What are you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know,” Sonic breathed. “I think I’ll stay here for a while, and then I’ll go wherever my eyes look. If I can’t find any artifacts, then I’ll go back to my world, and we’ll try something else… There’s almost no time left. I must act quickly. And this may be the only thing I can do.”

“What can you do?” The mayor narrowed his eyes. “Specifically?”

“Run faster than sound. If any of you saw blue flashes today, it was me. That’s the trail I leave behind when running. Of a blue lightning.”

“Huh. Interesting… But I think I’ve come up with something better than you, sitting on our necks.” Silver Star’s hoof pointed at Cosmic. “Tomorrow you’ll go with her squad to New Appleloosa. Perhaps you’ll learn more about what you need there.”

“Uh… what?"

Cosmic was surprised, to say the least, by what happened. Scrolling through the events of the day in her mind, she realized that she hadn’t even remembered Nightlight’s words about a new contract when she wanted to "capture" Sonic. Ooh, why is she doing this…?

“Well, you brought him to us – now you have to take care of him,” Silver Star remarked reasonably. “Besides, there’ll be an opportunity to check how he is in a real case. Whether he can only run or do something useful…”

“Maybe I didn’t say it quite right,” Sonic said. “I meant that I could move faster than anything else. Faster than bullets. Faster than missiles. And knock them off their original course. Unless, of course, they were self-guided. I don’t think it’ll work for lasers, but I can get to everyone in the battle before I show up. The only downside is that I have to rest later. More like a day or two. Although the energy in my needles has no limits, the rest of my body is the same as any of yours. I may want to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, or sleep. I don’t wear armor, so a single bullet can kill me. My entire defense is speed.”

“I see…” the mayor drawled. “And what about your personal qualities?”

He looked at the alien searchingly.

“How would you react to, let’s say, a cowardly escape? Or injustice before your eyes, when you can change something? What will you choose in a moment of danger?”

“After I settled on Earth, I tried to bring justice,” Sonic said, looking away. “But Tom… a human I befriended… once told me that it’s not the hero who chooses the moment, but the moment that chooses the hero. And I’m sure I’ll be able to figure out when that moment comes.”

The hedgehog looked into Silver Star’s eyes.

“I’ve never left anyone. I caused problems, got into adventures… but I never gave up. And when I saw something bad, I tried to fix it. Believe me, I won’t hide. It’s just not my style.”

There was a moment of silence in the bar. The only sounds were the pounding of hooves and the creaking of floorboards.

“Well…” the mayor said after a moment’s thought. “Then it’s decided. Have a good trip.”

And he turned around and headed for the exit. The crowded ponies began to part before him.

“Wait!” Sonic exclaimed suddenly. Silver Star turned around. “May I ask… what’s the name of your world? I mean, the whole world. More than this Wasteland of yours.”

“Equus. According to legend, Equestria got its name from that word.”

“And what does it mean?”

“I dunno. But I hope it’s something good.”[1]

Clouds were gathering over The Republic, and it was growing darker by the minute. Another day in the heart of the Wasteland came to an end.

Cosmic continued her shift until the end, but without a drop of the positive mood she had in the morning. The mayor’s order to take that blue weirdo with them on the mission was an unpleasant surprise for her. But there was nothing she could do.

At the top of the town wall, rare torches were lit, which dispelled the darkness of the night at least a little. When it rained, they would be extinguished and taken away. Cosmic had only heard of night-vision devices in the tales of the merchants; according to the tales, the mysterious Steel Rangers possessed this technology. In the village, a supply of flares and incendiary rounds was stored in case of an attack under the cover of darkness. However, restocking them would be problematic.

Metal Dawn tried to impose and escort Cosmic to her home, but she refused. Now Sonic, who had been shown around the town during the day, was trotting behind her, chewing carelessly on a piece of cheese given to him by Grace.

“Why did I get involved with you…?” Cosmic said, turning into a side street. “Couldn’t you have shown up in New Appleloosa or Manehattan…?”

“Well, it’s not my fault that you had an apocalypse here,” the hedgehog spread his hands and took another bite of the cheese head. “Listen, I tried to imagine Ponyville the way it was supposed to be, but such horrors opened up in the ring that I decided to try something else and…“ Sonic rubbed his nose with his finger, “it seems I accidentally imagined the landscape from the second part of ‘Cutie Re-Mark’[2]–”

“What a…? You!”

Cosmic pinned the hedgehog to the wall of the nearest house with a single movement. The alien wriggled convulsively and tried to breathe, squeezing the hoof pressed against his chest.

“What! Are! You! Hiding from us?!” the mare shouted in his face. “Tell me!”

“Let go…” croaked Sonic. “I’ll… tell… everything…”

Cosmic jerked her hoof away, and he fell to the ground like a sack, clutching his chest and trying to catch his breath.

“What I hate most,” the earth pony said in an icy voice, “is when I’m not told something. And that’s what you’re doing right now.”

“Believe me… it’s too serious to… tell you or anyone else… right now. You’ll definitely… know everything, I swear… but later,” Sonic stood up. “When the time is better for this.”

Cosmic said nothing. Silently, she turned around and continued on her way.

The hedgehog, rubbing the bruised place, moved after her without meeting a shout: ‘Don’t follow me!’

Although the mare wanted to yell at the uninvited guest and send him back to the Wasteland. She was angry, and only the self-control she had acquired during the service prevented her from saying everything she was thinking.

Also, a part of Cosmic understood that the hedgehog was really her area of responsibility from now on, and so she should just take it and do what she was told.

They reached the right house at dusk. The earth pony pulled the door handle and went inside, barely resisting the urge to knock Sonic with this very door.

The alien stood at the threshold for a while, apparently not daring to go in, then he got over himself and stepped into Cosmic’s apartment.

She had already turned on a spark battery lamp mounted on the ceiling with a button by the door. The room was flooded with a steady white light. Ignoring the hedgehog, the earth pony proceeded to the chest in the far corner of the room and began to undress.

Sonic watched as she took off her weapons and armor, looking around the simple decor of the house.

Rough plank walls and floor – it was immediately clear that they were built as it turned out, the main thing was that they should stand. In each wall there was a window, barred with thick wire; under the one opposite the entrance there was a table and a crude stool. Two chests: the big one Cosmic was standing by, probably for weapons; and another, smaller one in the other corner, maybe for her personal things. Finally, a low bed with a crumpled sheet and a huddled blanket against the side wall.

The interior, matching the place.

Cosmic unloaded the disassembled armor together with the saddlebags on the floor, took out of the chest and spread out an old, battered oilcloth and began to clean and lubricate the weapons on it, still ignoring Sonic.

He sighed, put the rest of the cheese in his mouth, walked to the back of the room and sat down on a stool to watch the pony work.

“It’s humble here,” he remarked, obviously trying to start a conversation.

“As it is,” Cosmic snapped. Sonic was silent, forcing her to fill in the pause herself. “Luxury makes no sense in the Wasteland. Either too many resources have to be spent on it, or it can be created, but at the expense of durability or safety. No one here will dare to do either… unless, of course, they can think of something.”

“Will you tell me what happened to your world?”

Cosmic wanted to tell the annoying hedgehog to back off, but words full of pain seemed to fall from her lips all by themselves.

“A long time ago there was a war between ponies and zebras. No one remembers who started it first, but it seems that they didn’t share something with each other. Gradually, the fighting grew fiercer, new weapons were invented… until the appearance of megaspells, capable of destroying everything for miles around with their explosion.”

“Like atomic bombs…” Sonic whispered, receiving another sharp look from the earth pony.

“And once they were used. Equestria was turned into ruins and infected with magical radiation, and the survivors began to fight for leftover food and clean water.” Cosmic shook her head. “I just hope that we struck back by taking those striped bastards with us to Tartarus.”

“And…”

“I don’t like to talk about it. And remember, I have a gun in my hooves. And it can shoot sometimes.”

Sonic fell silent, but after about a minute (the mare had just finished with Argument and took up Nige), he spoke again, “Maybe you can tell me about yourself? And then to spend the night under the same roof with a stranger doesn’t appeal to me somehow…”

“Then go back to the Wasteland! What are you clinging to?!” Cosmic exploded. The hedgehog stared at her in amazement. “You came yourself, gave everyone here a headache, and now you’re bothering me with questions! Shut up and buck off!”

Sonic hung his head, got off the stool, shuffled to the opposite corner and sat on the floor, hugging his knees.

At the sight of this, something inside Cosmic trembled, and she felt ashamed of her outburst of anger. She suddenly realized that the hedgehog was also a victim of circumstances; but perhaps much more was demanded of him than of her. And at the very least, it was not entirely fair to blame him.

She put Nige in the chest, picked up Dan, and said:

“Okay, I'll tell you. But only if you tell me your story.”

“Nice,” Sonic said. “So, where to start… well, probably with the fact that in one of the worlds lived a tribe of Hedgehogs who helped the tribe of Owls fight the Echidnas for the Chaos Emeralds. But the forces were unequal, and there was almost nothing left of our tribes. Fortunately, the Master Emerald, made up of all seven artifacts, was safely hidden.

“I don’t remember my parents. Since childhood, I have lived on a warm tropical island, where I romped and ran for fun. I was cared for by Long Claw, the last Owl who knew the secret of the Emeralds.

“And one day…" the hedgehog’s voice was full of pain, “I made a mistake. Long Claw told me to hide my powers, but I didn’t listen… and we both paid for it as a result.

“One day I was once again running around the island at my usual transonic speed. And when I returned to the house…” Sonic breathed heavily and covered his eyes with his palm. “We were attacked by echidnas. Long Claw gave me rings and a map of the neighboring worlds and told me to run. I wanted to stay with her… but I couldn’t. And I… ran away to the Earth.”

The hedgehog paused for a moment to recover from the heavy memories, then continued.

“I spent ten years there, living in the forest and hiding from prying eyes. You have no idea how lonely I was there. To entertain myself, I began to follow the life of one man. His name is Tom Wachowski, and he’s a cop, and he also has a beautiful wife, Maddie. In fact, they became my family without even knowing it themselves.

“Then I… gave away my presence in that world. I just snapped and started running in circles around the baseball field, speeding up each time. So… I threw away some of my power, blacked out the entire West Coast.

“Some people started chasing me, and I broke into Tom’s house to hide. And got him involved in all of this. But we made it out. And I used a ring to throw Eggman, who was chasing us, onto a planet full of mushrooms.

“I thought he would stay there forever, but he was able to call Knuckles, the last of the Echidnas, to his side. They came after me again – and almost caught me, but –” Sonic grinned “– Tails saved me. That little two-tailed fox tracked me down just to warn me of danger. And it just so happened that he became my new companion.

“Meanwhile, Eggman learned about the Master Emerald from Knuckles and decided to find it so that he could take control of the universe all by himself. Tails and I set out to find the Emerald so that Eggman wouldn’t get it. The Doctor tricked Knuckles and, when they found the Emerald, subdued him, gaining power over matter itself. However, we were able to return the Emerald and defeat Eggman… or rather, we thought so.

“But he came back – even stronger and angrier than before. And then Shadow showed up… and everything went wrong. You know the rest. Now I’m responsible for the whole world… and maybe –” he sighed “– for the whole universe.”

“What the hay is going on there,” Cosmic chuckled. She was listening so intently that she completely forgot she was cleaning the weapon, so she began to rub the half disassembled submachine gun with redoubled energy. “Things are usually much simpler here: you’re born, see enough of the Wasteland horrors, make foals if you’re lucky, and then you die. Mostly from disease, radiation, or bullets. Few ponies live to old age here. Well, nothing great has happened in a long time. Our battle was two hundred years ago… and as you already know, there were no winners.

“I was born and grew up here in The Republic. My dad was a unicorn and worked in an armory, but his main passion was all sorts of tech stuff like StealthBucks, hacking modules and other ‘defurculators’… which, by the way, the town was getting good caps for. My mom worked in the kitchen – and died of dust fever when I was little. And a few years later, when I got older, Dad was bitten by a radscorpion that had slipped into the town unnoticed.

“I was left alone, and I had to look for something to do with my life, because I still didn’t have a cutie mark. I’ve been attracted to guns since I was a filly, and while Dad was busy with some other technical crap, I played with pistols and rifles. Luckily, I didn’t shoot anyone around me.

“And that’s why I decided to go into security. Silver Star was against it (of course, it’s always unpleasant to lose a profitable source of income!), but I managed to convince him. Since then, I have accompanied ponies on trading trips and stood on the town wall to prevent possible attacks from the Wasteland. In so many years, raiders came here only twice – but on the way, you need to keep your eyes open, so as not to be robbed.

“Later, I gathered a group of ponies I could trust. By the way, don’t mess with unicorns: they are relatives of our mayor… Sometimes we’re allowed to take third-party contracts that also bring caps; and tomorrow we’ll go just for such one. Because there’ll always be a need for those who can replace your breasts with theirs and fire enough bullets in response so that you don’t fucking die before you pay off.”

Cosmic put Dan in the chest, wiped her mouth and hooves with an oilcloth, folded it in half and threw it in the same place.

“I see…” said Sonic and looked at the door. “Hmm, I don’t understand: don’t you have any locks at all?!”

“We used to,” the mare shrugged. “But the keys were such a hassle that… And the mistrust between us was just too great… In the end, we gave them up. After all, there are only a few of us here – a hundred and a half at the most, everyone knows everyone, and everyone is in the public eye. A thief is always found – and banished to the Wasteland. And there haven’t been any cooler crimes in a long time – and there are no opportunities here. But!” she lifted a hoof. “Residents who have cutie marks vote for all punishments. And the decision is made by the majority. However, there has never been a time when someone was spared despite all the evidence of guilt.”

The earth pony got to her hooves.

“Okay, enough chatter for now. Let’s have a snack.”

She went to the dropped saddlebags, rummaged through one of them and pulled out two apples. She tossed one to Sonic and bit into the other with pleasure.

For a while, the only sound in the room was soft chewing of jaws. Finally, when only a core remained from Sonic’s apple (Cosmic had eaten hers whole), the hedgehog asked again, “Really? I mean, bottle caps are in use here, right?”

“Yeah. Somehow –” Cosmic moved her hoof, choosing the word “– historically happened. So, what’s up?”

“Turns out that you buy almost all the food? I was shown pots of soil in one of the buildings today, and it even looked like something was growing there, but this is clearly not enough for everyone, is it?”

“Right,” Cosmic admitted. “Almost nothing grows here: the earth is contaminated with radiation, the rains don’t come that often, and the wind just blows sand everywhere. You must buy – and believe me, it’s not cheap at all. You have just gobbled up fifteen caps that the ponies of The Republic have earned with their honest labor. You’re going to end this?”

Sonic looked at the apple core in his hand (the pulp had already begun to turn yellow) and threw it back. Cosmic caught the rest of the apple with her mouth on the fly and crunched it in one bite.

“I hope they showed you where the latrine is,” she said, approaching a smaller chest. “Just in case, I say, so that there are no surprises here.”

“Walk through half the town,” Sonic got sad. “Um, yeah, in this respect, I liked Green Hills a lot better…”

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“Who else is there…?” Cosmic muttered.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Sonic asked with interest.

The earth pony shook her head.

“Cosmic? Can I come in?” Metal Dawn’s voice came from outside.

“You know I’m not alone here,” the mare rolled her eyes.

“I hope you’re not tongue kissing there?”

“Dawn, are you really a… dawn, or pretending?”

“He can take a little walk.”

And you’re stubborn, Cosmic thought and looked at Sonic.

He spread his hands, as if to say, they say, this is your business, not my concern.

The earth pony went to the door and opened it. Metal Dawn, standing at the threshold, barely managed to jump away, or she would have hit his face.

“What do you want?” Cosmic asked in displeasure.

“May I come in?” the stallion asked.

He was without armor and saddlebags, but at the same time wearing a belt with holsters. And one of them was not empty. And it seems that Metal had stopped by Murky’s bar for a couple of drinks before coming.

“Just be quick.” Cosmic stepped aside, letting him pass. “I’m not gonna look at your face all night.”

The stallion went inside and glared at Sonic with disgust. He made a facepalm (the mare almost thought "facehoof" out of habit) and stomped to the exit.

Metal Dawn watched the hedgehog go and slammed the door behind him with a kick of his hind hooves. And then he turned to Cosmic.

“What are you doin’?” she asked. “You want me to kick you out of the team? The fact that you fucked me a few times while we served together doesn’t mean anything. I have no feelings for you, and you know it perfectly well. And that doesn’t make you any better. Just the opposite.”

“And who do you run to if not to me when it’s time, huh?” His voice was deep and threatening. “To Snow? Or maybe to Spark? Or both at once? Oh yes, it must be so exciting to be wrapped in wings…”

“Don’t be silly.” With each passing second, Cosmic disliked this conversation more and more. “I hoofle it all myself. And you go sleep it off. After all, we’re leaving tomorrow.”

“In The Republic, you know, there are so few ponies…” the stallion spoke unexpectedly charmingly. “To resist external enemies, we need to increase the population. And there’s only one way to do it… wouldn’t you like to do it yourself, hmm?” His tone became harsh again, “Or do you wanna suffer the same fate as Life Bloom?”

“What’s he got to do with it…?” Cosmic groaned and looked at Metal Dawn not even with disdain, but with pity. “You know, in other situations I wouldn’t mind having foals. For example, when I get bored with security. But not now. And not with you, you drunken bastard. Go away. Otherwise, I’ll tell Silver Star everything. What do you think he’ll do to you?”

“No, you won’t tell anyone,” Metal Dawn shook his head with a grin. “You will be ashamed to expose yourself in front of everyone as a weak filly who can only hide behind others…”

Suddenly his grin turned evil. He slapped the button on his holster with his hoof, tossing the gun away, and caught it in his teeth.

The muzzle of the revolver rested against Cosmic’s neck. Immediately, powerful hooves landed on her back, pinning her to the floor.

The mare took advantage of this – she fell sharply and rolled to the side. Having lost his balance, Metal Dawn fell to the ground – but immediately jumped up with an angry growl through the weapon clenched in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Cosmic was already at the chest. Open the lid, snatch out the necessary – and now the ten-millimeter pupil of a much faster firing gun was looking at the stallion. And most importantly – loaded too.

He seemed confused. But Cosmic was more than determined.

Drilling Metal Dawn with a look that didn’t bode well, she took a step toward him. Then another one, coming very close… and drove her hoof into his face with all her power, knocking the revolver out of his grip along with a couple of teeth.

The stallion was thrown a few steps away; he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

“You’ll regret this…” he hissed (after all, not the most important teeth were knocked out) and, with a bloody mouth, picked up the revolver and trudged to the door.

It swung open – that was Sonic, apparently, who had decided to have a look at the noise.

Metal Dawn pushed the hedgehog aside; he finally turned, giving Cosmic a look full of malice, and disappeared into the darkness of the coming night.

Sonic looked at the mare. She was breathing heavily, clutching a submachine gun in her teeth, and looking somewhere into the void.

“Can you… explain what’s going on here?” the hedgehog suggested calmly.

Cosmic dropped the submachine gun from her mouth (fortunately, it didn’t fire) and just fell on her stomach, spreading her hooves. She wanted to scream about how sick she was of it all, but she had no strength to do so.

And most importantly, she no longer felt safe with her team. If, of course, they were complete.

Note: Level up.

Player: Cosmic Valor. New perk: Sherlock Hooves (level 1/3) – you notice small but probably important details, but are not yet able to build your own theories based on them with far-reaching conclusions.

Player: Sonic. The quest stage “Ask about the Elements of Harmony” (+1000 experience) has been completed. Added a new stage “Determine the location of Elements”. New quest perk: Truth for Truth – during a dialog, you have a 20% chance to gain a temporary bonus of +1 reputation.

[1] "Equus" means "horse" in Latin.
[2] This refers to the final, 26th episode of the 5th season of the MLP: FiM series.