Once again being spat out by the old swirly portal, I gently landed on the now solid surface of the cutie map. As soon as I opened my eyes, I was met with a sight I thought impossible. After rubbing some dust out of my eyes and blinking several times, my fears were confirmed.

"No... no no no no no NO! Not again! What the buck map? Why did you send me back here?!" I demanded of the crystal table beneath my hooves. However, looking down at it, I noticed something off. Rather, I noticed the map was the same as before I embarked on my journey. It wasn't the flat wasteland Twilight showed me.

Taking a closer look at my surroundings, I noticed some standing structures in Ponyville nearby. The main issue being that most were dilapidated or totally collapsed. Checking the map again, I confirmed Fluttershy was still in what I'm assuming is the ruins of Manehattan. In any case, I had my destination. With any luck, I wouldn't run into another psychopath version of my friend.

As I preformed my usual safety check spells, I noticed a few oddities. Mainly, a few hostile entities crawling on the ground near the table map. Looking around, I saw a bunch of giant bugs skittering and probing their surroundings. "Nope! Nope nope nope nope nope!" Every word was punctuated with a zap of my horn at the various creatures that seemed oddly resistant to magic.

"What the buck? Fine! Buck this, I'm out!" With that, I lifted in the air and flew off towards my destination. As I soared over a wasteland that I assumed wasn't created by my shenanigans, my confusion only grew. I first noticed various patches of clouds just sticking around the needle like towers, while the rest of the sky was clear. "Who the buck made this weather schedule?"

Then I heard it. A sound like thunder, but coming from below me. A second later, I heard it again. Looking down, I noticed a group of ponies pulling a cart and... pointing some metal sticks at... what were those things? Diving down to get a closer look, I noticed the sound and flashes of light coming from those metal sticks. Said metal boom sticks are being pointed at, "giant scorpions?"

Landing nearby, I was quick to throw up a magic shield over the caravan which managed to keep the remaining creatures at bay. Satisfied that the ponies were now safe, I decided to take proper stock of the situation. Looking back to the cart and ponies I was met with various expressions of confusion, fear, and... anger?

Not wanting to aggravate anypony further than they were already, I decided introductions were in order. "Hi there, my name is Starlight Glimmer, who are you?"

"What kind of alicorn are ya? Never seen one with your colors before, not to mention how tiny ya are," said a grimy looking stallion. At first glance I just thought he had brown fur and a black mane, but on closer inspection, it could easily just be layers of dirt. I couldn't help but wonder, when was the last time these ponies took a bath?

"Are you one of them alicorns following Velvet, or are ya still working fer the Red Eye loyalist cult?" A lighter colored mare demanded, pointing her metal stick at my head with her hooves. Now that I was up close and personal with it, I could see it was actually a hollow tube. It reminded me of a miniature version of Pinkie Pie's party cannon, except I doubted this would spray out harmless confetti.

"Uh," was my incredibly well articulated response. When the mare with the mini cannon pumped something near the base, I got the distinct feeling I should say more words before I found out what that boom stick could do. "I'm the princess of time and I came here from another timeline where none of this happened, and life is actually really peaceful for the most part and on a mission from the tree of harmony to fix various parallel timelines and save as many ponies as I can!" I had to pant before catching my breath and continued.

"I need to find Fluttershy because that's what the cutie map said, so I need to help her and maybe also go back in time to prevent whatever caused all this so if you could please lower your boom stick I'll be on my way to what's left of Manehattan!" I hoped my smile didn't look too similar to a rictus grin while sweat poured down my face. I might be immortal, but I didn't want to test the limits on that any time soon.

With the boom stick still pointed at me the the dirty stallion spoke up. "I didn't catch half of what you just said, and the parts I did catch sound impossible. I don't know if you're just a mentally challenged alicorn, lying, or what. What I do know is there's tons of rad scorpions on the other side of that magic shield of yours."

Huh, so that's what those are, good to know, I mused before returning my attention to the pony not threatening my life.

"I may not believe you, but if you really want to save ponies, how about getting rid of those monsters for us?" His gaze looked more pleading than threatening at this point. I might as well help out if nothing else than to get the boom stick out of my face.

"Okay, I can probably do that, just... gimme a sec," I said before slowly turning my back to the ponies. As soon as I wasn't looking, the mare shot me in the ass! It was like being stabbed with dozens of red hot needles! On top of that, my ear drums just shattered! "Fuck! That fucking hurts! Luna damn it!" Turning around and glaring at the mare with the shotgun, I lit up an over glow on my horn to heal myself while glaring daggers. "I'm still gonna help you, but afterwards, I'm confiscating that boom stick!"

"It's called a shotgun dumbass!" A little filly shouted from inside the cart full of junk.

Ignoring the snide comment while also filing away that information for the future, I focused on the larger outer shield. Bending the turquoise barrier out of shape, I inverted the bubble, sweeping up all the rad scorpions into their own bubble. Next, I started shrinking the magic barrier, forcing all the scorpions into a smaller and smaller hemisphere until they were clumped up and snapping at each other.

Then I added another hemisphere to the shield, holding a now floating bubble of chitin and rage. Levitating the ball as high as possible, I took off myself to keep it in my eye sight. Once the ball had reached the half way point to the cloud layer, I threw it back down to the ground with as much force as I could manage. At the last second I released my magic and the monsters splattered within a newly formed crater in a heap of goo and chitin.

Satisfied with my work, I flew back down to the now stunned caravan, only slightly splattered with rad scorpion guts. Before any of the adults could speak up, the filly from before stood up and belted out, "that was totally wicked!" Even after receiving an admonishing glare from the pony pulling the cart, her face was total elation.

Before any of them could fully recover, I took the gun that shot her before examining it within the protection of my own personal magic bubble. "Huh, this actually doesn't look anything like a party cannon," I said, levitating the gun around haphazardly, occasionally causing some of the ponies to duck in fear of being shot. "Hey, how does this thing work anyway?"

"You point the metal bit at the pony or thing you wanna kill, and pull the little trigger," said the previous owner of the gun as she cowered with her hooves above her head.

I balked at that. "Kill? Why would I want to kill ponies! Bugs, sure but ponies?"

"Hey! If some nasty raiders or slavers point a gun at me, they lost the right to live!" Looking back at the ponies, I took notice of another mare in the group who had spoken up. "I don't know who the buck you are or why the buck you're here, but if half the shit you told us is true, you have no idea what we've been through! Try living in this wasteland for years, struggling just to survive, only to have your whole family killed in front of your eyes by sick cannibalistic monsters and then come to us about moral high grounds!"

I was stunned speechless. Was it really that bad here? How long has this wasteland been here? Ugh, too many questions, I got to focus. "Be that as it may, I'm here to fix everything, it's kinda my thing, and while this isn't my first rodeo, it is probably the biggest," I admitted. "Still, I'm confident I can fix all this. I just need to find Fluttershy first."

"Well, I guess for saving us from those bugs, we could help you out a bit," the lead stallion offered. "Last I heard from DJ-Pon-3, she was being kept safe in Tenpony Tower, which as you could probably guess is in Manehatten. You could most likely get in if you said you were working with Velvet Remedy, but they might just let you in regardless. I'm not sure about their new policies on alicorns, but I'm sure with your crazy magic powers you could figure something out."

"Okay, how about a crash course on this shotgun? Something more detailed than 'point at target'?" I asked, pointing the gun to the ground, still within my personal bubble.

"Only point it at something you're willing to shoot or kill, always treat every gun like it's loaded, don't even think about pulling the trigger until you're ready to shoot," the filly blurted out, much to my surprise. "The little button near the trigger is the safety. If it's on, the gun won't fire, but you still gotta treat it like safety is off at all times unless you wanna get yourself or somepony else hurt.

"Also, You load it with plastic cases full of gun powder, and little lead pellets. Pump it to eject the spent shells and load a new one, when you run out, reload. Oh, and don't bring a knife to a gun fight," the filly finished with a proud smile.

"Huh, thanks kid. I'll keep all that in mind," I replied as I stowed the shot gun in my saddle bags of holding. "Try not to shoot any other ponies who don't deserve it." With a quick wave of my hoof, I shot back up in the air and continued on my way to Manehattan. Despite hearing sounds of gun shots periodically throughout my flight, I resolved to stay out of any other conflicts. I can't get bogged down with every little problem of these ponies who are probably gonna end up never being born.

"Huh, where did that thought come from?" I asked myself. "I mean it's true but, should a princess be thinking like that? Even if they won't exist, shouldn't I try to reduce the suffering of as many creatures as possible?" Stopping every time somepony looks to be in trouble is just delaying your mission to save the whole world. If we don't hurry, Fluttershy could die, kill somepony, or lose her sanity! "But I'm the princess of time! I don't have to rush anything! Hay, I could trot there on foot and solve every problem I come across then just go back in time once I arrive, so to an outside perspective the trip is instantaneous!"

"Uh, excuse me miss, but... who are you talking to?" A voice from above asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm having a moral debate with myself, what's it to ya!" I shot back before I blinked in confusion. "Wait, who said that?"

"Up here," the same voice replied before I looked up. Flying above me was a pale lilac pegasus filly with a strawberry blonde mane. "Hi, I'm Bunny Kicker, what's your name?"

"I'm sorry, did you just say your name is Bunny Kicker?" I asked incredulously, trying to understand why any parent would be so cruel to their foal. Not wanting to crane my head or try flying upside down like Rainbow Dash, I just flew up to meet the filly at her elevation just below the cloud layer.

"Yuppers! So, why were ya talking to yourself?" Bunny asked, tilting her head slightly.

"It's not important, mostly just dumb grown up stuff. Plus, I'm kinda bored," I admitted.

"Huh, when I'm bored I just talk to my imaginary friend. Why don't you have an imaginary friend?"

It was at this time I thought to ask a more pressing question. "Bunny, where are your parents?"

"Oh, they're back at the cloud farm. Papa said I can't leave the cloud cover, but he didn't say I couldn't talk to ponies below the clouds!" Bunny beamed at me like she just outsmarted a sphinx.

Taking stock of my surroundings I frowned slightly. "Huh, well the cloud cover is ending soon, and I still have a while to go. You better head back home now," I said, a bit disappointed.

"Wait, you didn't tell me your name yet!" Bunny insisted.

"Oh, I'm Starlight Glimmer," I introduced myself before an idea struck me. "Hey Bunny, can you keep a secret?" I asked with a mischievous grin.

"Oh! Totally! I'm the best at secrets! I promise I won't tell anypony!" Bunny claimed, puffing her chest out in pride.

Giggling a bit at the filly's antics, I continued, "Okay, just between you and me, I'm actually a princess from another world sent here to fix things and save ponies."

"Wow! I thought alicorns were just monsters from the surface, but you're really nice! I can't wait to tell my sister about you!" Bunny shouted, immediately forgetting her pledge to keep her secret. "Bye princess, come visit again some time!"

As the filly flew back above the clouds, I giggled as I imagined the kind of confusion she would cause her family upon relaying the days events. Moments later, I flew out from the cover of one of the cloud islands. The warm sun bathed my outstretched wings in its golden glow and soothing warmth. Deciding to check out life above the clouds, I rose above the fluffy islands as I continued my flight north east.

What I saw next almost made me fall out of the sky in shock. "Celestia and Luna fuck me gently with a chainsaw," I breathed out as my jaw fell open. Before my eyes, the sun and moon were in the sky, at the same time! Needing a minute to process this, I glided down to the nearest cloud island and just... stared at the moon just cresting over the horizon as the sun was about an hour past high noon.

I can't be sure how long I just stared at the sky, slack jawed. I just know the moon had crept a few degrees further towards its zenith before I was snapped out of my reverie. Before me stood a confused looking pegasus timidly pointing two saddle mounted guns at me. "L-listen up! T-this here is enclave territory! So either fly somewhere else, or get shot!"

While this nervous light grey mare wasn't super intimidating, her large guns were. "S-sorry," I replied as I blinked away my confusion at the whole situation. "I've just never seen the moon during the day before."

That seemed to surprise the gun toting pony. "Really? Well, I guess not all alicorns managed to fly up this high before. In any case, you can gawk at it from some other cloud, or down on the surface! Otherwise, you got ten second to scram before I start shooting!"

Once I was fully in control of my mental functions, I decided I'd rather not be riddled with whatever came out of those long guns. "Hear ya loud and clear!" I announced before teleporting a few pony lengths directly down and opening my wings to fly as far away from there as I could.

The rest of my journey was rather uneventful. Sure there were some odd skirmishes here and there, but for the most part they seemed to resolve themselves quickly. Looks like I won our little debate earlier, my brain nagged me. "Yeah, so what? I'm focusing on my mission, can you shut up now?" Did you just tell yourself to shut up? "I don't know, did I? Are you me? or are you some other crazy horse shit I have to deal with in this Luna forsaken wasteland?"

I probably would have kept up that little line of questioning if an inequine screech didn't distract me. Looking down, I noticed I was flying above various piles of rubble and hollow buildings. "Is this Manehatten? Also, what was that... sound," I trailed off as I caught sight of at least a dozen giant bat creatures beneath me swarming around some elevated rail road.

Bringing up my trusty bubble shield, I dived down to see what the fuss was about. As I got closer, I couldn't help but notice one of the giant bats grabbing a pony, biting through what looked like leather barding, and sucking the pony dry in the blink of an eye. It was at this point I remembered I still had that shot gun and was itching to try it out.

As I pulled out the gun, I checked the safety was disengaged before I pointed the hollow barrel at the swarm and pulled the trigger. As the ringing in my ears died down, I noticed the bat creatures weren't particularly bothered, but some of them disengaged from the flock to check out the noise. Upon noticing the floating light blue orb in the sky, they shrieked again and the rest of the bats switched targets.

Before any of them could converge on my location, I once again halted the flow of time. However, this time felt different; the magic was more difficult to summon, and it took more effort to maintain the spell. Regardless, I kept it up as I readied my next shot at point blank range to the head of one of the nearest bats. It was a fascinating sight to see the brains of a monster being splattered while its body is trapped in temporal stasis.

After using up all my bullets, I flew down to the spot on the rail bridge the bats were swarming to find a band of ponies wearing... what looked to be bondage gear with extra spikes. Putting up a large hemisphere shield around all of us, I resumed time, much to the confusion of the ponies around me. "Hi there, name's Starlight Glimmer, princess of time. Want some help killing these monsters?"

In response, a yellow earth pony with a... flaming skull cutie mark? In any case, she was the one to address me. "We're not joining your dumb cult! Fuck off!"

So much for gratitude, I thought with a roll of my eyes. "I'm not in a cult! anymore... I just got here, and I'm trying to help you ponies not die from giant bat monsters! By all means though, feel free to die to those things if you really don't want my help! Excuse me for not wanting to see ponies die!"

For my troubles, I was shot, again! Fucking again! "If you wanna help us, then die and let us get a taste of alicorn meat!" A few other ponies in this little herd seemed to perk up at that. Some even seemed to start drooling.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. I saved a band of cannibals," I mumbled into my hoof as it connected to my face. While the creatures pretending to be ponies tried getting another shot off, I released the large group shield before generating a small personal bubble once again as I used my magic to pull out whatever they shot into my flank. "Fuck! Celestia's flaming teats on a stick that hurts!"

While the healing magic helped dull the pain as the projectile was ejected, it was slow work, and the oddly shaped object kept scraping along the entry wound. By the time it popped out and my latest hole was patched up, I once again took stock of my situation. All around me were shriveled husks of dried flesh barely holding onto bones.

"Why did you have to shoot me! Why did you have to be cannibals!? I just wanted to save some ponies from this nightmare! Fuck!" As I stood there cursing their deaths, I once again reared my ugly head. Did you forget they'll cease to exist after this? Just move on and don't think about it. Why even feel bad anyway? They were psychopathic cannibals. "SHUT! UP!"

The constant scratching and screeching from the bat monsters on the other side of my barrier barely registered in my mind. The screams from the cannibals before they were drained of all bodily fluids by the swarm, hardly a blip on my radar. All else was drowned out by my racing heart and short panicked breaths. I don't know how long I stayed there. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours. All I could do was keep that magic shield going, just because I was doing that before the panic set in

"Hello," a voice in my head said... except it wasn't my voice this time. "Are you lost? We've never met one like you before." I didn't respond. I was either going insane, or some telepathic and sentient monster just showed up. I might need to move soon if I don't want to test out my immortality. Fuck, I just wanted to avoid that pain again.

Keeping my eyes clenched tight, I put more power into my shield spell. In response, the voice spoke again. "We mean you no harm. We've cleared out the Bloodwings, if that's what you were worried about. It looks like your friends here weren't as lucky as yourself tho-."

"THEY WEREN'T MY FRIENDS! THEY WANTED TO EAT ME!" I bellowed in the royal Canterlot voice, much to the shock of whatever was outside.

After what felt like an eternity, it spoke again in my head"We are truly sorry you had to go through such a thing."

That got me to open my eyes. Glaring up at... were those alicorns? Doesn't matter. "That's just the thing! I didn't have to! I didn't have to do a lot of things in this hell hole! The only thing I need to do is find Fluttershy, figure out what's wrong with her, probably also find out what the buck went wrong to cause this wasteland, and fix it!" Even though every alicorn outside my weakening shield spell was at least twice my height, they all cowered back as if afraid.

"You seek the minister of peace? What business do you have with her?" All of the alicorns exchanged furtive glances before returning their attention to me.

Okay Starlight, try to calm down. These weird ponies apparently know Fluttershy. Just play nice, and if they try to kill you... don't think about that now. As I collected my thoughts and preformed Twilight's breathing exercises to calm my ass, I finally responded. "Alright, pay attention because I hate having to repeat myself. I'm-"

"An interloper from another timeline," the alicorn closest to me spoke aloud. That threw me off a bit, but if they believed me, that saves me a headache pf explaining. "You're here on behalf of the primordial force of nature known as Harmony to learn of new worlds, how they diverged from their design, and repair any damaged you can manage."

I was a bit shocked, but I guess if they can talk in my mind, they can also read it. "I guess that saves me the time of explaining myself," I said, finally relaxing my scowl, and releasing my spell. "So, now that you know I'm here to help, let's go see Flutter butters and fix this mes!"

Once again, the alicorns looked around at each other as if having a silent discussion. Eventually a purple alicorn spoke. "We can take you to her, but she may not be who you wish to find."

"As long as she isn't secretly a serial killer, or personally overseas the sacrifice of dozens of foals a year in an unholy mechanical abomination, I'm sure I can handle her." I wasn't sure why the alicorns around me looked so shocked. Maybe they couldn't imagine such a kind mare capable of something like that. Maybe they were afraid of what I would do if she was worse than that. In any case, the next thing I knew I was standing inside some building that looked like a mix between the Ponyville market and Canterlot castle.

"Welcome to Tenpony Tower Starlight Glimmer." Only one of the purple alicorns stood next to me. Weather they didn't want to make a scene, or the others had more work to do outside, I only really needed one of them to guide me.

"So, where's Fluttershy?" While this place looked interesting, my patience for distractions was growing thin.

"The minister is currently... indisposed. If you'll follow me, I shall take you to her quarters." Without another word, my alicorn guide started walking, and I followed her. I just wish she'd pick up her speed , but it seems as though she was determined to keep a slow and steady pace. By all the glares and gasps around us, one would think she'd want to get out of sight as quickly as possible.

"Any chance we could speed this up, uh... what was your name again?" I couldn't tell if she told me yet. I know she knows my name, but what do I call her other than 'the purple one'?

"You can call me Bubble Berry. At least that was my name before the goddess got her hooves on me, Bubble Berry told me in my mind. That will never not be freaky.

"Uh, nice to meet you Bubble Berry... can you maybe stop reading my mind though?" Seriously, it's like these alicorns never heard of privacy.

"We apologize, but we are not actively reading your thoughts. When you speak in your mind, we can hear you as clearly as if you spoke aloud. We can tell you are not used to this, and we don't know why exactly but you seem to have taken on the properties of our kind. It is also likely you have inherited our trait of empowerment and regeneration when exposed to magical radiation, but you could just as easily be as weak to the wasteland as the average pony."

"Well, that makes about as much sense as anything else I've seen in this world." Although, it would be nice if I could get a power boost from whatever magic radiation is.

"All will be explained in due time," Bubble Berry told me as they gestured to a plain wooden door. "We have arrived. Please wait inside, the minister will arrive shortly. However, you must remember she isn't the mare you think she is. Be gentle and patient with her, and know if any harm comes to her..." Bubble trailed off, staring right into my soul. The implicit threat was received loud and clear. Even with my time manipulation spells, I didn't have eyes in the back of my head.

As the door opened in front of me, I was greeted with the sight of a rather plain apartment. It wasn't cramped or anything, but it was a far cry from Fluttershy's cottage back home. As soon as I stepped through, the door closed behind me. "Well, I guess all that's left to do is wait," I sighed, before I remembered something. I'm a mother-bucking time traveler! Waiting is for plebs.

With that thought in mind, I settled down on a nearby sofa that looked like it had seen better days, but was still comfy. As soon as I was settled, I began casting my fast forward spell before I remembered how jarring it can be to see me pop out of nowhere. With that in mind, I added on an alarm of sorts. The spell would disengage the moment the door handle began to turn so as to not startle Fluttershy assuming she'd be expecting me to be here before she comes in.

Having all that set up, I let the spell activate while I laid on my side to relax. It actually took a quite a while for her to show up. I could only imagine how bored I would be sitting around in real time. In any case, the door handle started moving and my spell automatically fizzled out, revealing my presence on the sofa with a mild popping sound.

As the door slowly creaked open, it revealed a single turquoise eye peaking in and scanning the room. It eventually landed on me and the pupils dilated before relaxing a moment later. Slowly, the door was gently swung open to reveal... Fluttershy. Much older than my Fluttershy if the streaks of white in her otherwise pink mane were any indication. Other than her shorter mane style though, she looked exactly the same. No wrinkles or saggy skin like Granny Smith, no walker to help her get around, though I could tell she wasn't in the best physical shape. I had to wonder just how old she really was.

"The minister of peace has arrived," the audible voice of Bubble Berry came from outside the door before Fluttershy made her way inside and closed the door behind her. Actually hearing their voice with my ears threw me for a loop for a moment. Something about it felt unnatural.

"I really wish they would stop calling me that," Fluttershy sighed, exasperated at the words of the alicorn.

"Why not just tell them that?" I asked without thinking. The next thing I knew, the butter yellow pegasus looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. She clenched her eyes shut as her wings unfurled and hugged her sides... no, they were holding something. Her saddle bags? It took a moment before she took some deep breaths and started to calm down.

"I can't do that," she said, barely above a whisper, cringing as if in pain. "Listen, I know you're here for something important. Berry told me a bit about it, but please... I can't help you right now." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. As she opened her eyes, our gazes met, and I knew what to do.

I've seen my Fluttershy like this before, I've seen Rainbow Dash and Twilight help her through this kind of thing. Though I could tell this was more severe than her usual issues of a pet butterfly dying, she still needed the same comfort. Without another word, I gently glided over to her side, draped a wing over her, held her head in my hooves as I stroked her mane and whispered in her ear. "It's gonna be alright 'shy. You're too awesome to let this beat you. But just remember I'm here for ya no matter what. I'd never leave my friend hanging."

As soon as I finished speaking, she was asleep in my hooves. Not wanting to disturb her, I levitated the sleeping pegasus to the only other room in the apartment. After I removed her saddle bags, I deposited them on the night stand, and tucked her in bed. Just as I was about to leave though, I could hear a faint whimper that made me giggle a bit.

It seems that no matter what, Fluttershy is still Fluttershy, I thought as I made my way back to the bed. Slipping in behind her, I laid on my side and once again wrapped a wing around her. As I began to drift off, I heard her mutter something in her sleep.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rainbow..."

Footnote: Maximum Level Reached
New Perk: Hax: You've managed to start your journey at the maximum level as well as being an overpowered alicorn. Have fun playing on easy mode... scrub.

Author's Note

Fallout Equestria was written by Kkat. If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend it. Even though I'm just throwing out spoilers left and right, the journey of reading it is still worth it.

Most writers appreciate feedback.

Here's a link to the original story
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/119190/fallout-equestria