Fallout Equestria: Desperados V3 (Bonds of Platinum)

Fallout: Equestria

Desperado’s V3: Bonds of Platinum

Ch 8, Platinum and Steel, Part 2.

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“Hello!” Spoke up a rather thin and awkward looking Steel Ranger scribe. We had paid our bill and left the diner, where this stallion was waiting for us. “I… I'm assistant scribe Lima Beem, co… could you pl… please come w… with me!”

I was less than sure this was a Steel Ranger, but his robes looked right. “All… right. Lead the way I guess.” I said.

Lima Beem turned to trot, but then tripped over his own robe. Getting up, he had a nosebleed, which made it fortunate that his robe was also red.

“Not sending their best, are they?” Star whispered mockingly,

I sighed. “Maybe, but we did promise to let them cataloged our tech. So let's just get it over with.”

Following the awkward scribe, we trotted back to the Steel Rangers area of the city, but unlike before, there were less Rangers and more robots. Protec-a-ponies, Mister Helpers, Sprite bots, and even an Assault-a-pony keeping guard. As for the Rangers most were just scribes, and quite a few were looking after foals and other young ponies.

“This looks like egghead central.” Live Axle commented.

“It… It's our research and education sector. M… many young scribes are e… educated here before j… joning a company.” Lima Beem stuttered.

“Not Research and Development?” I asked.

The young scribe shook his head. “Only r… research and education. D… developing new tech is d… dangerous, and restricted to only s… senor scribes. Untrained and un… undisciplined minds are the d… destroyer of worlds. Only th… those who have proven th… themselves should choose the f… future of pony kind. That's wh… what Elder Velvet teaches us.”

I could see the logic, as peasants wouldn't know the first thing about leading other ponies, and I was sure Orthrus had a similar view on ponies as well.

“Ya, we know that, but who said the Tin Cans are the arbiters of who should lead pony kind?” Live Axle argued with the young stallion.

“And the Desperados are worthy of that honor I bet?” A mare mockingly asked. She was an older scribe in a stylish but a very much scribe robe. Actually, it was the same kind I saw sold at the Hilltop Boutique.

Live rolled her eyes at the mare. “At least we're doing things for ponies out in the wasteland.”

The mare puffed up her chest, letting some fluff out. “You mean the extortion and threats you do in Umberfoal? ”

“Oh, and ya Ranger were any better. We know how your chapters get food when far from supply lines. Autocannon diplomatically I think it's called.” Live shot back.

“I'll neither confirm nor deny such accusations.” The mare said, practically admitting to it.

Stepping in, I went to defuse this situation before it got any worse. “Hey now, we're here just to get our tech cataloged and then leave, nothing more. So if anypony has a problem, take it up with the Platinum Guard!”

The mare looked at me, then at Order, my pipbuck, then over at Lima Beem. What looked like a bemused expression on her muzzle turned to that of annoyance. “Lima, why are you taking them to Elder Red Velvet's deconstruction office?”

Lima Beem looked rather nervous as he stammered out, “E…elder Sh…shortcake's orders m… mam.”

“Of course!” The mare said with a groan. “Let Elder Velvet know that head scribe Crème Brûlée has taken charge of this. And that she still owes me a hard frame sprite bot for keeping the Coven of Clovers off her donkey ass after what she did.”

The young scribe nodded and trotted off in a hurry.

Crème Brûlée then sighed. “Sorry, internal politics is a bitch, with Shortcake and Velvet acting like queen bitches. Thank Celestia they don't get along. Now come with me before one of them sends some knights over to convince you to go with them.”

“Alright, and thanks.” I told the mare as we followed.

Rounding a corner, we came to a less than clean part of the city, where they clearly worked on robots, power armor and… prosthetics! Bits and pieces of tech were all over the place, mostly on shelves or hanging on chains, but there were boxes and boxes of scrap and parts in every nook and cranny that they could fit. It was far from the ultra clean inner-city I had seen so far.

“This place is… quite the mess.” I said.

Crème shrugged. “A bit. We're more focused on figuring out how things work and how to fix them than to polish everything to a spit shine like the cleanfreek Shortcake likes to have things.”

Looking around I then froze as I saw something very familiar, an advanced prosthetic brandishing the two headed symbol of Orthrus. It was the kind Orthrus mass produced for the average mirage pony, its size likely for a teenager. It even had the micro cybernetic connector where it attached to the body. “How did you get th-”

The leg then straightened out in a jolt, causing me to stumble back in shock!

“Got 'em!” A mare yelled in laughter, from within the workshop trotted out an older mare in a greasy jumpsuit with rolled up sleeves. She had two cybernetic front legs, golden yellow stripes, a pair of underdeveloped wings and an underdeveloped unicorn horn. She was a mirage pony, a genuine mirage pony!

Then I remembered what Frilly Ribbon had told me. “You! You must be Crystal Harmonium!”

Crystal smiled wide, posing as though in the spotlight. “Guilty as charged. I see that my infamy has spread to the younger generations!” She then reached out to shake my hoof, her magic flowing to her cybernetic leg just enough that I could tell she was plotting something with it. “So what's the news from Cantercross, or did you come from Destruction Bay first. News from those parts has been unreliable these days.”

Shaking her hoof, it detached, which I wasn't at the least surprised by. Instead I was rather curious about the make of the leg, as I didn't recognize it. “Is this custom made? It's certainly not old tech, and has more cybernetic than normal legs tend to be, it also lacks a talisman slot like most modern cyber-prosthetics.”

The mare took her leg back, looking disappointed. “I guess I can't get em all, all the time. So what, you an up and coming techy? And your accent is a bit too thick to be a younger generation. That prim and proper, sing-songy accent sounds straight from those Orphic Queendom fools.”

I curtseyed at her. “You are correct, the name is Harp, I'm actually from the Gathering Island, not Equestria.”

Crystal’s eyes shifted a little as she cringed. “Fuck, so you assholes finaly follow Mister Wizard out here. Just so you know, Marewaii has no jurisdiction here, and I got protection from the Rangers. Ain't that right Marshmallow Sundae?”

Another scribe poked her head out from the back, oversized goggles on her face, and one bulky looking cybernetic foreleg. “Um... I guess? What did you do this time?”

I loudly cleared my throat to regain their attention. “I'm not here to collect any bounty or enforce some law. And even if I was, like you said, Marewaii had no jurisdiction here, much less the Orphic Queendom.”

Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, good. That's right, no way any of them would come this far out for me after so long.”

Star trotted up, an inquisitive look on her face. “Sounds like ya pissed a lot of ponies off to be that paranoid. What did you even do?”

Taking another deep breath, Crystal sat back and shrugged. “Used to work for the syndicate as a black market cyber doc. Then got involved with Mister Wizard, and it was all downhill from there. Helped him raise a ship from the ocean along with some weird crab monsters, and then we managed to make it to Equestria on pure hopes and prayers. I then ditched that psycho before he went full power mad, and started my new life.”

Star then looked at me, clearly not understanding most of that, so I translated. “She worked for bad ponies doing bad things, then joined up with the pony the helped to completely fuck up the islands. That same pony is the one who developed the chem, Chill.”

Star shrugged at that. “Well, I can't say I haven't made that mistake before.”

Returning my attention back to the other mirage pony, I decided to just not press her on her criminal past and focus on the now. “Right, it might be hypocritical to ask you this, but how did a Mirage pony like you end up all the way here?”

“She was officially invited as to share her and her wifes knowledge on cybernetics and other tech” Crème Brûlée answered. “You see, my little sister, Marshmallow, is currently the Steel Rangers foremost expert on cybernetics. But unfortunately our knowledge is still lacking, and our only other expert, up and vanished before she could fully share her knowledge with us.”

Marshmallow trotted out, and the scribe was utterly covered in tech. “It was amazing to see her work, and the wonders we could have learned from her and her family if not for that Red Eye!”

We all reflexively cringed at the mention of Red Eye.

Crystal on the other hoof dismissively puffed air out at hearing his name. “Ya I bet those 101 stable ponies were amazing. But probably impractical too. Now Solaris tech, that’s real technology.”

We all ignored Crystal as Star asked, “your saying a pony from Red Eyes stable survived?”

Marshmallow nodded. “Ya, and she was amazing, like full cybernetic, yet seamless to the point she almost looked normal. Also, the mare had a picture perfectly memory, she only needed to see how something was done once, and then she could recreate it! But I'm sure she's changed her face and name by now, so there's no way to find her so long as she doesn't want to be found.”

As Marshmallow gushed about the mysterious cyber mare, her eyes then drifted up over at Order, her pupils looking massive through her goggles. “Now what is that!”

“Order, land for the scrice.” I command.

“Yes my lady.” It answered as it landed on a nearby table.

Crystal trotted over along with Marshmallow and Crème. “Well ain't this quaint, it’s a modified Orthrus recon drone. Never seen these guns before, but they're clearly thaumaturge weapons.”

“Thaumaturge weapons?” Crème said questioningly. “That's ballistics which use magic as an exelarint instead of chemical explosion, right?”

Reaching out and pressing on a latch, the talismans port of one of Orders bolt launchers opened up, exposing the talisman. “E'yep, this here is a bonafide mirage pony gun. We use our own innate magic to power this talismans, which pressurize the air tanks. Hmmm, oh, and here's another talisman slot.” Her hoof moved to nere the end of the barrel of the gun. “A minor vortex talisman, very clever. This here spins the projectile, increasing stability and power. The pony who made this is a real genius, definitely not, Orthrus or Ironshod make.”

I was rather shocked that she managed to glean that much from just the talisman placement alone. Then Crystal clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Now the modification to the robot, even this repair work, this is clearly wastelander quality. They were good, I'll have to admit that, but it's obvious that they knew nothing about this tech.”

“And the robot? Is it some kind of sprite bot?” Marshmallow asked as she waved a device over Order, making a lot of beeping sounds.

Crystal nodded in confirmation. “From what I remember, the Recon Drone was Stable-tec's reimagining of the sprite bot. A bit more compact, some modability, and can be installed with talismans. Though this one is clearly a later model than the ones I saw used.” She then looked over at me. “Say, where'd you even get this? No way those Orthrus ponies would give an Orphic pony their toys?”

“It's a long story, but let's just say that my father worked for Orthrus, and gave me Order as my personal guard.” I lifted up my pipbuck hoof. “He had a lot of connections, you see.”

The three mares then rushed over to me, examining my pipbuck.

“Oh wow, I've never seen a pipbuck like this before!” Marshmallow exclaimed.

“Certainly, it's much sleeker, like a 4000, but different, very different.” Crème added.

Crystal turned my leg to reveal the Orthrus symbol. “Thought so, this must be an Orthrus talisman pipbuck, and clearly a more advanced version then the ones I sto… seen, ya, the few I've seen.”

She was clearly about to admit to stealing from Orthrus.

Letting me go, the three mares backed off. Crystal looked at me with suspicion, but not wanting to ask about how high up my father was in Orthrus. “Say, how did you get this far out from the Islands, miss Harp?”

“I got caught up in a teleportation accident actually, landed in New Appaloosa along with Order and what I had on me.” I admitted, bit omitted that it was by megaspell, and anything else the Steel Rangers didn't need to know.

I was sure Crystal didn't believe me completely, but she and the rangers had nothing but my words to go off on, and it would remain as such.

Crème Brûlée then clapped her hooves together, getting everponies attention. “Alright, so we got three pipbucks, a new kind of robot and several thaumaturge weapons. Even if they're not ours to keep, this is a huge find!” She then looked at us with a serious glare. “Is there any other tech in which we should know about?”

I looked at my companions, getting several shrugs from them. Thinking about it, we did have some other tech, but nothing major.

“Right, anything else we have will be with the Desperados. That being our vehicle, the smuggler, and its main gun, its a gatling beam gun. Unfortunately the gun is currently out of commission until I finish imprinting new beam talismans. Then there is our collection of pipbuck 2000's, and a talismans for petrification and one for de-petrification.” I informed them.

Crème face hoofed. “You got to be fucking kidding me! how do you have so much advice tech?”

“Luck.” Slowtrot said.

“Truthfully, the Gunrunners made some of it.” Star added.

“There is some more, but nothing that advice, just salvage from a dead stable. Though, if you wish to see any of it, you will need to talk to Elder Big Papa first. It is currently the property of the Desperados.”

Crème let out a long sigh. “That's going to be a load of Brahminshit. No way the other Elders will even accept that the Desperados has even more tech.”

“How many Elders do you even have here?” I asked.

“Currently, four.” Crème told us. “You already heard about Shortcake, she's the second most influential Elder here. And Velvet, who is third, and most violent of the Elders. Then there is our brother Lamington, who is the least due to becoming elder by circumstance then by proper tradition. The most influential Elder is Peppermint Cain, an old timer who took over after the previous elder died in Umberfoal, fighting the Desperados.”

That last point was clear,the Rangers and Desperados have bad blood, real bad blood.

A slight chuckle came from whom I expected it to come from. “Elder by circumstance? What, does that even mean?” Live asked.

“Long story short, our chapter is made up of the Rangers scattered by the skysim. Lamington couldn't just leave them lost, and pony by pony, we searched for them and brought them back into the fold. Unlike the other chapters here, we're a bit of an oddball chapter because of it.” Crème explained. “Anyways, if we don't have to go through Swift Firemane, maybe we can keep the peace long enough for us to visit you in the Desperados camp, and take a look at that tech. But until then, we need to take a closer look at what you got here.”

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It took a bit longer than I liked, with the two scribes insisting on opening my drone up to see the inside. Order didn't like it either, but it kept their complaints private. They even took an extra look at our pipbucks, though only Slowtrot had anything they really wanted information from. As interested in Orthrus talisman tech as they were, it was also technology that only mirage ponies could properly use, and something they associate with being more like unicorn magic then arcano-tech.

Loud thumping caused my ears to twitch as several power armored Steel Rangers trotted over to us, who were then greeted by Crème Brûlée. “Ad Victoriam Knights, I'm guessing Elder Shortcake has sent her complaints.”

The knight leading the group let out a montone huff. “As always chief scribe. Elder Lamington has already moved to cool the situation down, but wishes that you wrap this up shortly before other scribes move in like vultures.”

“You mean, the longer they stay, the likelihood of accidents will become more certain?” Crème replied.

The knight nodded. “Among other possibilities.” The knight then looked over at us, “Do we at least have something to show the other elders, or is it just more toasters?”

Crème smiled at that. “Actually, you can tell my brother that we managed to rediscover some old medical remedies from the war, and the schematics to a medical scanning device developed by Stable-Tec. We also have more examples of post-war advanced tech, something we could reproduce, but lack the innate magical ability to use. One more thing, we may have the ability to access the Desperados camp now, and get to study the tech they have there. That is, so long as no fights break out, or something happens to our guests.”

“We'll relay that message immediately, Ad Victoriam!” The knights then quickly left.

“I take it that we should go?” I asked.

“Unfortunately so.” Crème answered as she trotted over to her sister. Marshmallow was currently giving Cavall a belly rub, enjoying the ghost nightstalkers presents. “As civil as we are right now, the Rangers are no less isolationist than we ever were.”

“Your chapter seems friendly enough, why the difference?” I further asked.

“Simple actually. For the longest time, our chapter was completely isolated, and more a family than an actual chapter. When the whole schism happened, we didn't fight amongst each other, but talked things out. We decided that going Applejack Rangers wasn't the best idea for us, but doubling down on dogmatic thinking wasn't good either. My brother, Marshmallow and I then left to find our lost brothers and sister as the rest of our family stayed where they were, safeguarding a vault of tech.” Crème explained.

“Also, as much as I'd like to spread cybernetics to those in need, it's also too dangerous for just anypony to receive.” Marshmallow spoke up, her voice a bit solemn. “We lost a good friend over cyberization. It couldn't be helped, but I want to avoid repeating such a tragedy again. And thanks to Crystal here, we're close to a major breakthrough.”

“You mean cyber psychosis? I remember that still being a problem in the Islands.” I commented.

“Yes and no.” Crystal said as she trotted over with a cleaner and more smooth working Order floating next to her. “I bet the powers at be know full well why it happened, but keep their lips tight about it, out of self interest.” I cocked an eyebrow at that, but before I could ask, Crystal answered. “Cyber psychosis is just wartime stress disorder combined with phantom body syndrome. I've seen the end result of a cybered up mercenarie getting triggered, and it's really ugly. Unfortunately, the only ponies immune to this are psychopaths, and I don't think I need to explain to you why that is.”

Crème cleared her throat, “as much as I like to get into another long discussion, we best get moving. Anyways, Harp, I doubt your friends could stand another hour here.”

I looked back, seeing them sitting around and very bored. “Right, I guess we should move out. It's about time we returned to the Desperados anyways.”

“I'll escort you to our gate, it's less likely any knights will stop you if I'm your guide.” Crème offered.

“That would be most welcomed.” I then turned and addressed Marshmallow and Crystal. “It was nice meeting you two, and again, thanks for tuning up Order for me.”

They waved as my friends joined me, and following Crème, we were off.

“Say, if your chapter ain't like the others, does that cause you problems?” Star asked.

Crème let out a sigh. “Yes and no. For the most part, we're still family, and we all follow the codex to the letter. My chapter just mainly focuses on the preservation and safeguarding of technology, where the others are more focused on keeping tech out of the hooves of those who would abuse it. As much as we'd like to help the wasteland like the Applejack Rangers, we understand that some tech is just just too dangerous to be lenient about. Maybe in time we can open our doors more, but that's still generations off. This slight difference in beliefs does cause some friction, but in the end we're still on the same side.”

As we trotted, we finally got to the edge of the Rangers district, and much of the tension I did feel from being here, lessened. “That's good to hear, and I do hope that day comes soon. I can't help but both agree with the Steel Rangers and disagree with them. As much good they can offer, I know that any technology can be bent to a horrific porpoise.”

“That we know all too well.” Crème said with a smile. “A shame you're with the Desperados, because I'm absolutely positive you'd make a fantastic scribe.”

I laughed a little at that. “Maybe. My own father wanted me to work for him in Orthrus. Mainly to protect me, but he also said I’d make an excellent scientist, and possibly more. Anyways, if things go well, I'll be more than willing to host several scribes in the Desperados camp. Swift may be an ass, but Elder Big Papa isn't so pig headed as to not hear you out.”

“I hope so! Getting to look at an actual gatling beam gun sounds awesome!” Crème said with a chuckle. “Well, until next time. I'd say don't be a stranger now, but best you stay away unless you're invited and with guards.”

“Trust me, that's nothing new for me at all.” I told her and we shook hooves.

Trotting away, we had returned to the clean residential district of the Inner-city, with the gateway out in sight.

“Weirdly, they weren't that bad, for Tin Cans at least.” Live Axle said jokingly.

“It is amazing how much the Steel Rangers have changed since the war.” Slowtrot reminisced. “To think the military elites would go full knightly order. Then again, I never thought our air force would be taken over by the Enclave, or the Navy would go full religious pirates.”

“When you put it that way, the Ranger sounds the least insane of the bunch.” Star said with a chuckle. “Then again, they did have to deal with the wasteland for over two hundred years, that would drive any group mad. I only had to deal with the wasteland for around twelve years, and I already hate most ponies out here. If it wasn't for-”

Fizzy stopped Star's little rant with a hug. “I'll cheer you up!” she announced as Star struggled to breathe through Fizzy's mane.

“Let me go brahmin tits!” Star protested as she pulled Fizzy’s hooves off her. “Hugs aren't what I need right now, so keep your hooves to yourself.

Relenting, Fizzy backed off. “S… sory.”

With a sigh, Star patted Fizzy on the shoulder. “It's alright, you meant well. It's just that, cheering up isn't what I need right now, but I am managing.”

“Alright, but if you ever need cheering up, just let me know.” Fizzy said with a smile. “Oh, and if it's not me you want a hug from, but a stallion, I can help with that too. I'm really good at finding interested stallions.”

The rest of us nearly tripped over ourselves. “Umm, what?” I asked awkwardly.

“Oh yes, when I worked at the Ursas Den casino, my main job was as an escort. Getting ponies to spend more, drink more and leading them to the Showroom.”

Star face hoofed. “No, you don't need to do that either, I ain't looking to get laid right now… maybe.”

“Star!” I exclaimed.

“What? You go and fuck Pyrope, but I can't just think about getting my rocks off?” Star blerted out.

Both Live and Slowtrot looked at me in confusion.

Letting out a sigh, I told everpony, “No, we are not having this discussion in the middle of the city. Let's just get back to camp and talk about this never!”

Live Axle then trotted up to me, whispering to me. “But seriously, how was it?”

I glared at her and Live backed off.

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