Fallout Equestria: Angels Feather

"An angel's sword impales only the body; her righteousness penetrates the soul."

I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed.  A nice massage and a good nights sleep was what I really needed.  I stood, stretching my wings as I did so, and looked over toward the chair I had ditched my gear on last night, but the chair was empty.  I exited the room and saw Flashfire walking out of the kitchen area, groggily.  “Flashfire.  Have you seen my armor and shotgun?”

Flashfire glared toward me, “Yeah...  Penumbra walked out with it while you were with Lilac.  Not sure where she went with it.”  She muttered, plopping on one of the couches and yawning.  I looked over, noticing her cutie mark.  A raised hoof with an aura of fire.  Above her cutie mark was a straight scar, running almost the whole length of her Flank.

“What’s with the mark?”  I asked her with a raised eyebrow, taking a seat across from her.

She raised an eyebrow at me.  “I used to be NCR.  Trained in hoof-to-hoof combat.  I was able to harness my magic and create flames around my hooves that would hurt my enemies, but not myself.  Got my mark not too long after that.  Funny enough, it was the same day I lost my legs and horn.”

“I meant the scar.”  I said, noticing her uneasy look.

“Have you heard of Arbu?”  she asked.  I nodded slowly.  “Well.  That’s where I was born.  It’s pretty hazy, but I remember shooting someone that came by the town, and we ate that night.  My parents told me they were proud, and they marked me.  I found out later that I had eaten the mare I shot.”  She muttered, sighing.  “I never thought I’d like the taste of other ponies.  Luckily, I’ve been able to do away with that part of me.”

“I thought that Vault Dweller shot the place up, killed everyone with marks.”  I said.

Flashfire shot an angry glare back.  “Yeah.  The Bitch slaughtered my family.  We were surviving.  When she started shooting, I hid.  I saw my family die.  They screamed from bullets, and the wastelands hero stood there, and watched.”  She growled.

I stood, walking over to her and placing a talon on her back.  “I’m sorry.”  It was all I could say.

Flashfire sighed, and stood up, walking to a room on the other side of the suite.  As she exited the room, the door to the suite opened, and Silver Tongue walked in.  “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”  He said.

“No... Not really.”  I muttered, sitting back down.  “Hear anything about Rose?”

“Not yet.  But I did hear something else that I think you’ll want to know.”  He said, taking a seat across from me.  “I have eyes and ears all over the wasteland.  You already know that.  My informant in the Crystal Clade, A small group of slavers to the south, they just got a bit more ‘inventory’.  One was a brown filly with a rust colored mane.  Cutie mark was a Wrench and Gear.”

“Bronze Gear?”  My eyes widened.  “What.. What happened?”

“From the sounds of things, she was sold off.  According to my informant, it was a duo by the names of Frostbite and Nightshade.”

I hopped up, heading for the door.  I knew two ponies who had to answer for a couple things.  As I exited the building, I bumped into Penumbra, who had my armor and Shotgun levitating in front of her.  I grabbed them, putting the armor on and the shotgun in its holster.  “Wow, not even a thanks?  I knew griffins were rude but...”  I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence.  I was airborne and making my way to the farmsteads.

I busted the door to the house that Nightshade and Frostbite resided in, startling the two of them as they counted their caps on a table.  Grabbing Nightshade by the throat and pinning him to the wall I glared at him.  “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO.”  I demanded.

“We... We needed the money.”  He choked out, I squeezed his neck a little harder.

I saw Frostbite moving out of the corner of my eye.  I pointed the shotgun at her with my free talon.  “You sold your own daughter into slavery, AFTER WHAT SHE WENT THROUGH?”

“She’s better off this way.  She’d just starve to death here...  We barely have enough food for ourselves!”  Frostbite demanded.  I cracked her across the side of her head with the barrel of my shotgun, knocking her into the table.  I turned, throwing Nightshade at her.  They both let out yelps of pain.

“You two make me sick.  Count yourselves lucky that I’m letting you live.”   I growled, looking toward the caps that are scattered across the floor.  “I hope your daughter was worth the money.”  And with that, I left, headed to the south to meet up with the Crystal Clade.

The Crystal Clade were hold up in an old School.  It seemed mostly intact.  The bits that would have been broken were repaired.  They had Eight sentries on the roof, so that was out of the question.  Four guards by the front door.  Two by the back.  As I started to move toward the back, two mares walking to the door caught my eye.  Penumbra and Flashfire.

I listened as best as I could at this distance, but couldn’t hear much of anything.  After a few moments, Penumbra blinked out of sight, and I heard a popping behind me.  “You know, they saw you twenty minutes ago.”  Penumbra said with a chuckle.  “Now come on.  Let’s get your friend.”

“They’re just going to let us in?”  I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“They don’t kill potential clients on sight.  We’re going in, buying your friend, and leaving.  No heroics.  This group is too much for us to handle.”  She gestured toward the door guards.  “They’re called Crystal Clade because they have rifles that fire beams through a magical focus crystal.  I’ve seen them reduce ponies to dust.”

I nodded, walking with her toward the guards, and then into the building.  “Here at the Crystal Clade, we don’t believe in treating our merchandise poorly.  Each slave is given a reasonable sized room, a bed, and a few more amenities.  It keeps them happy.  We figure, it’s the least we can do for them before they’re brought into some backbreaking labor camp, or what have you.”  The ‘tour guide’ droned on.

“Where can we see who’s available for purchase?”  I asked, a low growl apparent enough on my voice that Penumbra shot me a glare.

“Straight to the point I see.”  The Guide said as he turned toward us, a smile on his face.  “And what were you looking for exactly?  Three lovely ladies looking for a nice Buck?”

“We’re looking for somepony good with explosives.”  Penumbra said before I had a chance to say anything.

“I think we can work something out.  If you ladies would have a seat, we’ll bring out the candidates.”  And with that, he trotted off to the back room.

We sat in silence for a few long minutes when the Colt came back with three ‘candidates’.  A Unicorn Colt with a light grey coat and black mane ‘Coal Dust’.  A Pegasus Mare missing a wing, called ‘Feather’.  And the third was Gear.

“What are their prices, and qualifications?”  Penumbra asked.  The Colt grinned, placing a hand on the Unicorns shoulder.  “Coal here can contain explosions with a magic field, in case things got bad.  He can also rewire most explosives without even opening them up.”  He said.  Penumbra nodded slightly.

“Don’t let Feathers appearance fool you.  She may not be able to fly, but her touch is as light as her name.  She can disarm just about any explosive in a few seconds, and can walk over clusters of mines without triggering any of them.”

“And Little Gear here says she’s good at improvised explosives.  She can cobble an explosive out of just about anything you can find.”

“How much are we talkin?”  Flashfire asked.

“Well, Coal and Feather are both rather experienced, so let’s say 20K each.  As for Little Gear...”  He paused, looking toward me with a sly grin.  “I’ll have to say 100K.”

“What?  Why so much?”  I asked angrily.

“Well, She’s younger.  Young ponies are a rather hot commodity.  Plus, with the ability to build explosives out of scrap?  I gotta protect my future investors.  And on top of that, I can see you really want her in your little crew.”

Penumbra stood up and walked toward the colt.  “Surely we can work something out to get that cost down?”  Penumbra purred, nudging the side of the Slavers neck with her cheek.  As she walked past, she tickled his nose with the end of her tail, winking back at him.

“M-maybe we could work something out.  10K for Gear.  And this little lady and I get to talk in private for a bit.”

Penumbra smiled.  “Deal.”  She tossed the man a bag of caps, and he nodded to Gear, who rushed forward and gave me a hug.

“I’m sorry, Kid.”  I muttered, holding her tight.

“How’d you know I was here?”  She asked, sniffling a bit.

“SIlver caught wind of it, and let me know. I uh... Talked to your parents before coming here.”  Gear looked at me with scared eyes.  “They’re still alive...”  I muttered.  She seemed to calm down a bit.

“They sold me...”  Gear said, pushing away from me and walking out of the door.  Flashfire and I shared a confused look and followed her.

“Gear?”  I called to her as she made her way back toward New Pegas.

“They sold me...  They didn’t want me anymore, so they got rid of me... twice.”  I could hear an anger in her voice.  “They need to be punished for what they did.”  Flashfire shot me a grin and I glared at her, causing her to take a few steps back.

“Now, Gear... Think this through.  Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

“I won’t regret it.  They don’t want me and find I’m better off a slave?  I don’t need them anymore.”

“You’re not going to kill your parents...  I’ve killed plenty, and couldn’t kill my mother.”

Gear spun, looking me dead in the eyes.  “Did your mother sell you into slavery, where you were beaten, starved, and raped at all hours of the day?  Did your mother lock you away hoping you’d never be free’d again.  If it wasn’t for dumb luck and running into you, I would probably be long gone by now.”  She pushed a hoof against my chest for emphasis.  “They put me back a second time.  Never again.”  Gear picked up the pace as she walked through the farms.

I sprinted forward, grabbing her forehoof and turning her around, lowering my beak to her snout and looking into her eyes.  “You don’t want this.  You’re angry, I know.  But think about what you’re about to do.  You don’t want to live with their blood on your hooves.”  I said.  She glared back at me before bringing a hoof to the side of my head, causing me to reel.

By the time my vision straightened back out, she was gone.  “Damn.  That was one hell of a punch.  Looks like she chipped your beak pretty well.”  Flashfire said.

I glared at her, and raised a talon to my beak.  Sure enough, there was a large chip taken out of it.  I stretched my wings and took to the air, flying toward Gears house.  With any luck, I could get there and stop her before she did anything she’d regret.

Today, however, luck just wasn’t on my side.  I entered the house to see gear standing over her cowering parents, a rifle lowered to Nightshades head.  “G...Gear.  Please, just calm down... We can talk...”  Frostbite was interrupted when Gear cracked her across the head with the rifle.

Flashfire entered the house behind me.  “Stay here.  Don’t let her parents leave.  Knock them out if you have to.”

“What are you going to do?”  Flashfire asked.  I leaned my shotgun against the wall behind her, and looked toward Gear.

“Come on Gear.  Settle down.  You’re not going to shoot anyone.”  I started.  She proved me wrong by firing at the duo, grazing Frostbites flank.  I lunged forward, and grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pointed it upward.  She fired into the ceiling, causing me to flinch slightly from the heat of the barrel.

I lifted her up, tearing the rifle away from her and casting it aside.  She turned, bringing her rear hooves into my chest with a strong buck that knocked me back a few steps.  As she dove for the rifle again, I grabbed her by the neck and hoisting her onto a nearby table, causing her to yelp slightly.  “ENOUGH.”  I shouted at her.  “Just... Stop.  I’m trying to help you out here.  You’re making it REALLY difficult to care for you, Gear.”

“Then just leave me here.  I don’t care.”  She growled at me.

“Yes.  You do.  And you know I can’t just leave you.  We’re partners now, remember?  What happened to the little filly who cuddled up under my wing because she was cold just a few nights ago?”

Gear looked away, a sad look in her eyes.  I let her go, and looked toward Nightshade and Frostbite.  “I know they hurt you.  But I know you don’t want to kill them.”

“Then what do we do with them... We can’t not punish them...”  She muttered, looking toward the duo as well.

I walked toward the two, narrowing my eyes at them.  “I say, an Eye for an Eye.”  I looked back toward Gear, who frowned slightly, nodding.

As we neared the Slaver compound dragging along Nightshade and Frostbite, Penumbra was just exiting the building.  “What are you doing back here?”

“I’ve got a delivery to make.”  I said as I entered the School.

“I thought she was against Slavers...”  Penumbra muttered.

“I’m surprised she didn’t kill them, honestly.”  Flashfire muttered.

“They deserve it.”  Gear said solemnly.

“Welcome back Ladies!  What can I do for you?”  The Slavemaster asked.  He had a certain spring in his step he didn’t have last time I was here.  I looked to Penumbra who just shrugged.

“I wish to discuss a trade.”  I pulled the duo forward and looked to the Slaver.  “I’ll sell them pretty cheap.  Few caps and some information?”

“Depends on what information you’re looking for.”

“I’m looking for a small tan filly, with pink hair.  She was taken a while back, and traded a few times.  I hear she came by somewhere near here?”

The Slave master gestured for me to follow.  Flashfire, Gear, and Penumbra stayed behind, watching the ‘merchandise.  “Small Tan Filly, Pink hair...   Calls herself Gilded Rose?”

I nodded.  “That’s her.”  I raised an eyebrow.  “You remember her?”

“I try to remember all the slaves that come through the Crystal Clade.  They may be destined for a life of servitude, but a little luxury while they’re here is something I try to provide.  Allow me to check my logs for what happened to her...”  He tapped a few keys on a terminal before nodding.  “Ah, yes.  I sold her just yesterday.”

“To whom?”  I asked.

He grinned at me.  “That’ll cost you.”

“Both of the slaves I brought you.  No caps needed.”

He pondered for a few moments.  A small bag of caps hitting the table helped him make up his mind.  “I didn’t get a name, but she was delivered to the Lucky 38.”

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Ferocious Loyalty -- You show your companions a loyalty that is almost unheard of in the wasteland.  When you’re injured, they’ll step up to help you, and take less damage doing so, It’s a win-win!