Fallout Equestria: Aurora
By CaptainSparx
Chapter Six: Tenpony Trader
“You, sir, care t' buy some apples?”

“Well would ya look at what fell out of the sky. Another fuckin dashite.” The gryphon chortled. “And it likes about like he’s had his wings torched. Poor sucker.” She made a face of false pity.

I so wanted to blast this bird. But one wrong move and I’d be a turkey on the spit. What I wouldn’t give to be a unicorn right now.

“Hey Racket,” The gryphon turned to her partner. “Whaddya say you let me put this sad looking pigeon out of his misery.” Oh you are SO fucking dead.

“Stop messing with ‘em. Gawd would clip your wings herself if you make us lose another caravan.” The larger male walked up next to her partner and glanced down at me.

“Aww, you’re no fun.” She sulked. Lowering her weapon a little.

“My apologies.” The male turned and addressed BC. “She’s only just hatched.”

“Did not!” The smaller one squawked.

“And she doesn’t yet know her place.” He glared at the younger female.

“She’ll learn her place soon enough I’m sure.” BC said, unhitching himself from the wagon.

Wait. He was just going to let him do that? What kind of loose operation is this? I quickly slipped out of my harness and reached around, pulling my shotgun out from under the seat of the wagon. Leveling it at the gryphon’s chest. To his credit, he was neither surprised nor worried.

Then a hoof touched the end of my barrel and pushed it down. Turning to look at BC as he slowly shook his head.

“They mean us no real harm. They are only here to trade for some goods.” He explained. Oh well, that’s good. I just almost got MY FUCKING HEAD SHOT OFF! You overreact too much. No I don’t. Do too. Do... Wait, how come you aren’t on edge?

Maybe because I saw them earlier and asked Thistle about it. Well you could’ve said something. Why? And spoil the fun?

“Quick question for you.” I turned to the older gryphon, Racket was his name I believe.

“Sure, go ahead.” He stood, waiting as BC and Thistle unloaded some wares. Static was in the back playing games with Knick Knack back by the pack brahmin.

“Just who do you think you are, dropping in all unannounced like that? I could have shot you.”

“But you didn’t.” Oh believe me I wanted too. “We are Talons. And this is our territory you’ve been passing through these last few hours.” He gestured to the grand expanse of nothingness with his claw.

“Uh-huh. That clears up a whole lot.” Rolling my eyes as he walked off to go do business with BC. I caught the smaller gryphon watching me from where she sat. “And what are you looking at?”

She just licked her beak and looked away. Not creepy in the least.

I might as well join Static and Knick Knack until these scavenging ravens pack up and leave. Who knows how long these two are going to delay us.

“Are we there yet? I’m hungry.” Knick Knack whined from his perch atop the wagon. He was lying on his back, looking up at the clouds.

“Not yet. We’ll get there when we get there.” Thistle repeated for what must have been the tenth time this past hour.

“Ugh, I’m starting to agree with the kid.” Static mumbled. Trotting with her head hanging low. “Wait.” Freezing in her tracks, her popping up. “Did you hear that?” Her ears swiveled back and forth.

“No. And I don’t think…”

“Ssush.” Static clamped a hoof over my mouth. I was about to protest when I heard something as well. A faint popping almost crackly sound. The sound of distant gunfire. BC and Thistle stopped the wagon, looking back at us.

“What’s the holdup?” BC asked, slightly disgruntled. We were behind schedule as it was. We’d be lucky to make Tenpony by nightfall, even if we kept up our pace.

“Not sure. There’s some gunfire somewhere out in the distance.” I shrugged, walking up to the wagon. Static stood still behind. Her ears trying to hone in the source of the sound. “Too far out to worry about right now.”

Static grew more frustrated the harder she tried. “Damn it. I give up.” She spat at the ground then started trotting. The wagon started back up again with the brahmin in tow, me and Static walking to the rear.

“Nothing we can do about it. It’s too far out, probably just some wild critters or something.”

“Maybe. I’m just not too sure. I thought I could hear someone scream. It felt close.”

“Well I assure you, everyone here is doing fine, so let’s just focus on getting to the tower… Holy pony feathers! Do you see that!?” Pointing out a spot on the horizon.

“Sparx, Static. Get up here we may have a situation.” Thistle called out. It felt like we moved in slow motion as the bright red light rose up in the distance. Shining like a blood red star as it arched and burst at its apex.

“Somepony set off a flare.” Thistle looked to BC for confirmation. “Must be important. Sparx could…”

“Already on it.” Tightening my straps and tossing my bags in the back of the wagon. “Static, you’re with me. If we’re not back in an hour start off without us.”

Static left her bag at the wagon and ran to catch up. I was moving at a pretty fast clip since I could see the ground this time. My estimate was the flare was at least two clicks out. Should take us no more than ten minutes to be within range.

“What do you think it is?” Static asked as she paced herself next to me. She seemed to be almost gliding across the ground.

“Trouble. What kind we’ll find out soon enough.” The Armistice banged against my side in a steady rhythm, adding to the already numb sensation where my wings were.

One click. Five hundred meters. Two hundred. Fifty. A small not-so-abandoned farmhouse sat at the bottom of low depression. A group of raiders were milling about. Most seemed to be nursing wounds of varying degrees. Several bodies lay still. I pulled my target rifle around and looked through the scope. Two corpses differed from the tradition raider garb. They looked almost like normal farmers, other than the numerous holes leaking their life blood into the earth. A notification popped up in the side of my vision from my EFS. Eliminate the raiders from the settlement. Almost immediately little red chevrons appeared over the heads of the raiders. This could have been BC and Thistle the other night I thought to myself.

“So what are we going to do?”

Clicking the safety off and checking to make sure I had a round loaded I aimed down on the ponies below us. “I’ll start right, you take left. Work towards the center.”

Static didn’t need to ask for clarification as I sent a blazing purple bullet down range and through the skull of an unsuspecting unicorn. Her body slumped as her horn blackened and sparked. I didn’t have any other bullets so the anti-magic would have to do.

A second pony dropped in my sights as I could feel the heat of the Reaper firing off next to me. One by one the little chevrons faded away. The raiders scrambled for cover, Static turned that cover against them. Some tried to fire back only to be silenced by the steady beat. Kick, Pull, Slide, Lock, Click, Repeat. I will admit I missed a few shots. Not that anyone was noticing.

All the chevrons faded out, but still the quest tag remained unchanged. “Something’s still down there, somewhere.”

“You sure? I don’t see anything.” Static whispered as she scanned back and forth with her scope. Nothing moved. “Wait. Something's coming out of the house.”

The door slowly swung ajar. A head poking out and glancing around. Static shifted in the corner of my vision. “Hold on. Don’t shoot.” I got up and moved forward towards what was now two blue bars on my compass directly towards the farmhouse. “Stay on guar...”

PING

A bullet ricocheted off a rock inches from where I had been sitting. But given there was no wind and the direction of the impact spray, the shot was from behind us. “Static RUN!” Bolting as several more bullets filled the air as well as several red bars now lighting up on the back of my compass. Damn flare must have alerted every raider in a hundred miles. Need to mop this up quick and get out before more show up.

We bolted at break neck speed down the rise to the farm house. I slammed against the door, only to find that it was locked. “OH COME ON! We saved your asses!” I shouted, a bullet embedding itself in the old wooden frame. I could see several raiders at the top of the rise and coming after us. Shit, not good. Spinning around and rearing up on my front hooves I bucked the door, and promptly got knocked onto my face. It’s a two hundred year old door, just break already! Second attempt I managed to not get knocked off my hooves. Third blow and the lock splintered. I pulled my shotgun around and fired several rounds in the raiders’ general direction as I slammed into the broken door with my shoulder and fell into the house, followed closely by Static. “Take cover!” Rolling to the side as bullets streamed into the open doorway.

Two caught Static in the leg and a third pinged off her brace. She hid her pain remarkably well as she picked her Reaper up in her magic and fired off a round back through the doorway. “Stupid good for nothing bastards.” She dropped the rifle and pulled out her 10mm pistol. Firing away with reckless abandon.

FwrrrrrrrreeeeeeeEEEEE!

“GET BACK!” I grabbed Static and half flew, half fell down a stairwell to the basement. Making it to the opening as everything went deathly quiet and encased us in a warm green glow. I felt rather numb. Good thing too, since we bounced down the stairs. I think I might have landed on my head, not sure though. I tried to talk but I couldn’t hear my own words. Static’s mouth was also moving as she pointed at something behind me. Still couldn’t hear… and now my ears are starting to ring. How the heck did these raiders get their hooves on a balefire launcher?

“What?” At least I think that’s what I said?

“Behind you.” Statics voice spoke in my head as her lips moved. “Turn around real slow.”

Well I doubt it would be worse than getting burned by balefire. I turned cautiously. Oh isn’t this a familiar sight by now.

Not two paces from me sat an older colt with a rusty rifle pointed at my chest. He seemed to be having difficulty levitating it. He might even shoot me by accident. There were tear stains on his cheek, but a fiery anger was on his face. Quick glance and an even quicker swipe of my very skeletal irradiated wing and the gun was sent clattering into a far corner.

“Holy shit kid! Watch where you point that thing!”

“*sob* Get out or... Or I’ll kill you.” He sniffed, wiping an emerging tear from his cheek.

“Nice try kid, but were the good guys, I promise. We saw the distress flare and came as fast as we could.” Glancing back at the door we had come down. It would only be a matter of time before they figured out they had missed us and sent one right down our little hidey hole.

“Pops fired the rocket just before they shot him… and... And now he’s dead.” Taking a step back he sat down and looked me over. “Since when do ghouls help other ponies?”

Since when… I’m not a ghoul! “I don’t know what you’ve seen but I’m not a ghoul. I’m lieutenant Sparx of her Majesty Luna’s Special Intelligence and Recon corp. And this is Static, my friend. We’re going to get you out of here.” Static nodded at the mention of her name, keeping her gun aimed at the door up above.

“You’re just as crazy as those raider ponies.” A faint voice spoke out from the darkness.

The colt snapped to, “Venture, I told you to stay hidden no matter what.” An even younger pegasus filly scrambled out of the boxes into the light. She was a light brown like the colt, but had a deep green mane compared to the colt’s red. She looked just like… No. Don’t think about it. Ugh. Don’t look.

“...sorry, Ripple. But it was hot under there.” The filly whined.

“Static, I need your pistol and all the Med X you can spare. I’ve got a plan and it’s gonna be nasty.”

Stripping down to my armour, shotgun and a pistol, leaving the Armistice for Static. I quickly taped five syringes of X to my pipbuck. Feeding the IV into the auto injector port. Popping the last two Buck I had, I started the IV on a fast drip. I’d be really lucky if I survive this so I wasn’t as worried about the side effects.

“Okay, Static I want to you try and read my memories. But don’t at the same time. Try to bounce them right back. The feedback should cause some sort of temporary memory ‘bomb’. You’ll have to shield yourself and the kids from it.”

“But what about you?” Static seemed worried. Almost as if I might not be coming back. Honestly, if things didn’t go as planned I doubt I would be.

“I’ll be fine. It’s my own memory so it should cancel out in the feedback.” I seriously doubted it would work but it was worth a shot. “So can you do it?”

“I... I think so.”

“Alrighty then. It’s now or nothing.” I bumped up the flow of X into my veins as I could feel the buck kicking in. My whole body was going numb but my reflexes were as sharp as ever.

Static’s magic flared, faded a bit, and then steadily grew. A grimace appeared on her face as she started a feedback and attempted to lock herself out of the memory. The nightmare. My nightmare. Two hundred years of death and pain and suffering. Two hundred years of not being able to save any of them. Two hundred years being shunted into the minds of all the ponies within close proximity.

Blasting off up through the door I took to the sky. Raiders were running about screaming, shooting and killing each other. And all of them had the same glazed over expression of sheer terror on their faces. I charged right for the large mare with a balefire launcher across her shoulder. She stood frozen in fear on the rise we had been sniping from earlier. I didn’t even give her a chance as I knocked her down with the butt of my shotgun and then pulled around to fire three shells into her face and neck. In the exchange a balefire egg rolled off and down the hill towards the farm house.

Racing after it I picked it up in my hooves as I soared back into the sky. The mind bomb was starting to fall apart and a few shots started to be directed skyward.

“Swallow this you mother fuckers!!” Arching up and flipping over as I stalled. Chucking the balefire egg with all my might at the ground where the largest number were gathered. The bomb turned missile screamed through the air right into the ground at their feet. A split second later it detonated.

KATHOOOOM!

Every raider unlucky enough to be near the epicenter was instantly turned to green powder. Many others were killed by the fire and flying debris.

I rode the edge of the shock wave around the edge of the farm. The balefire nipping at my flank before it started to die down. My rad meter clicking like an angry radroach. The balefire receded into a green mist that slowly seeped into the ground. Lingering around pools of liquid and any of the recently disintegrated bodies.

A small trio of raiders were far enough away to survive the blast. I dove for them, firing round after round from both my shotgun in my hooves and the pistol clenched in my teeth. My whole body tingled. My vision in one eye was starting to go red. Damn raiders got lucky. I pulled up and strafed the ground. Closing in on an earth pony adorned with skull top shoulder armour and what looked like a stitched together pony hide jacket. Hooking him with my fore hooves I pulled straight up and turned back towards the blown out shell of the farm house. He struggled but I was stronger. I quick kick to the back and his lower half went limp. A quick snap of direction and I released him above the farm. He plummeted like a rock. And not a very graceful one either. Screaming the whole way down. Until he struck the side of the roof. Sliding down the side and falling off the edge. He let out one last scream as he fell and was impaled from tail to muzzle on a single fencepost. His mouth still open as the blood ran down his body and into the irradiated ground.

Two more raiders were still running. Flapping quickly to build speed I tore after them. Rising roughly two stories above as I approached. In true pegasi warfare I tucked my wings and balled up as I fell right towards them. Rolling around to plant my hooves into the back of a unicorn's head. Driving my hooves to the ground through her skull. Rolling with the momentum the unicorn's head tore off and flew off into the air. Splattering on the ground like a melon.

One last pony remained. “You!” She screamed as her horn flared. Wait. I recognize this one. She was one the ponies who got away last night? She disappeared in a flash only to reappear farther away as she broke into a run. I took off into the sky and quickly returned to earth with a crash and thud. My hard dive and subsequent roll with an already weakened wing had resulted in some pretty knarly damage. One of the downsides of being too numb to feel pain. My weak wing had gone from bad to worse. The bone had snapped clean through and the limb was dangling limply at my side as blood and green irradiated sludge oozed into my feathers. Radiation really wasn’t good for wings.

Instead of giving chase I made my way back to the farm house on hoof. The entire front of the building had been blown to pieces by the first balefire egg. It had landed just shy of the porch causing the blast to wash over the floor. Any higher and we would have been toast.

“Static. It’s me, Sparx. It’s safe to come out now. It’s all clear.” I sat, checking my syringes. About another minute or two of dosage. Then maybe a half hour before the pain kicks back in. My rad meter had slowed to a steady click.

I glanced at my wing and almost hurled. It looked so bad NOT to feel pain. “Holyshitwhathappened!” Static railed off as she came up the stairs behind me, rushing up to me and tossing the Armistice at my hooves as she gave me a quick once over. Glancing at me, then my wing, then back at me. “We can fix this… right?”

I shrugged. Most of my medical supplies were back with the caravan. If we could get back before I died anyway. The status screen on my pipbuck was all over the place. Crippled wing, injured torso and head, crippled hind legs (though how I could still walk was beyond me).

“Shit! Look at all this.” Ripple’s head popped out of the cellar door.

“Ripple, don’t say that. Mommy said that’s a bad word.” Venture crawled up the steps behind him.

“Eh, what do you know? Pop says it all the time.” He stopped, glancing at where his parents had made their last stand.

“You gonna be alright?” I slowly rose and turned to face the two young ponies. “We can take you with us to Tenpony.”

“Wow mister. You really are crazy.” Venture stared up at me wide eyed. “Crazy AWESOME!” She squeed with excitement as she ran around in circles. “You were like bam. And then it was like boom and the whole ground shook and then and then you, you like totally kicked all their butts. That was so cool!!” She fluttered her wings and managed a short hover. “I wish I could do that.”

“Don’t get your hopes up kid. I’ve had a lot of training, and a decent helping of luck.” Damn, the resemblance is incredible… Focus Sparx. Hold it together.

“I... I don’t know. I think I should bury Ma and Pop… then make our way east.” Ripple was fighting back tears. “Maybe make it to Friendship City.”

Okay, no idea where that was. But it didn’t sound like an easy journey. “Here, you should take this, it’ll help keep you safe.” I picked up the exquisitely machined SMG and offered it to the colt. He took in his hooves and stared up at me awestruck. Maybe it was all the drugs, or maybe the possibility that I might die soon. Either way it was a little too late to take it back. Besides, I kind of broke his gun and may have melted anything usable the raiders might have had.

“Wow thanks. I’ll take good care of it I promise.” Ripple sniffled, wiping a tear from his cheek. “Sorry, Pop said is isn’t proper for a stallion to cry.”

“This is an okay time to cry. Sometimes we have to let the hurt out. We are only ponies after all.” Setting an unsteady hoof on the colts shoulder. “You keep your sister safe, ya hear.” We stared into each other's eyes. “You protect her, understood.” Ripple nodded, gripping the rifle close to his chest. It was a bit larger for him than it was for me. But with his levitation he should be fine. I stood up, taking a few uneasy steps. Blood was still oozing from my wing. Field supplies wasn’t really going to cut it. I needed a doctor. And I needed one five minutes ago.

“Sparx, we need to go now.” Static said with a hint of worry. She picked up her sniper rifle, pistol and my target rifle. Slinging them over her side. Then levitating some fabric scraps and a rusty rifle she approached my wing. “This might hurt.”

“Oh I doubt it will be too ba..” CRACK “FUCK!” I screamed at, and past, my vocal range as she snapped my bone back into place, more or less. Using the fabric to make a makeshift brace out of the old rifle. My wing still stuck out so she levitated it up with much protesting and complaining from me and set it across her back.

“Okay, let’s get you out of here.” Static looked down at the colt and filly watching us as we prepared to depart. “Ripple, Venture. It’s a wild wasteland out there. Stay safe, and shoot straight.”

I wasn’t paying much attention. I was staring at a tall pony shaped form off in the distance. It appeared to be watching us and then in a sudden flash it was gone.

“You’re a fucking moron you know that.” Static hissed as she cleaned out some of my lesser wounds and applied some bandages. We sat in the back of the wagon as we slowly made our way towards our destination. Another half hour or so and we’d be there. We’d be able to see it now if it wasn’t dark. We could barely see as it was with Statics light spell.

“Yeah, I figured as much.” I said quietly. We didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention this close to our goal. “Still, I think we did the right thing.”

“Right thing, sure. Right way going about doing that?” Static sat back and levitate a roll of bandages for emphasis.

“Yeah, yeah. Not the smartest idea ever. At least we had some more Med-X with our gear.” Trying my best to get more comfortable in the wagon. Static had had to take my jacket off to treat a few cuts and to fully check the extent of my radiation burn. Using balefire eggs comes at a cost. Most of my coat was still intact, praise the sisters. But my feathers looked otherworldly. Burnt to a crisp, coated in dried blood and caked irradiated sludge. It looked like someone had pulled the rotting wings off the corpse of a raven and tacked them on my body. That might feel better actually. The X was only taking the edge off at this point.

“Alright everypony out.” Thistle spoke just above a whisper.

“What’s going on? Are we there yet?” Knick Knack asked.

“Yes, dear. We’re here. But they won’t open the gates till morning so we need to find a safe place to set up camp.”

Half sliding, half falling out of the wagon I lumbered slowly around to the gates of the old ministry of magic building. Grabbing my shotgun off the side of the cart and sitting myself down on the steps.

Static hopped down, her hooves clopping on the concrete. “And just what do you think you are doing?”

“Taking watch.”

“Oh no you don’t. You need to rest.”

“Static if I fall asleep I don’t know if I’ll wake up. It’s only a few hours till sun up anyway.” Or at least the equivalent of sunup at least. “You should get some sleep.” She was about to argue the point but must have decided against it. Instead she just levitated out a pair of bedrolls, setting one at my hooves and unrolling the other one next to it.

She walked over, paced around in a circle a few times then settled down on the unrolled bedroll. “You’re a moron, you now that.” She started to yawn.

“Oh, most definitely.”

“Hey! Get out of here you piece of rot! We don’t let your kind in.” I turned slowly to face the voice. NO ZOMBIES was written in red across the gates. We hadn’t seen them in the dark earlier. “Ah said get a move on! Scram.” A pony dressed in faded security armor stood just opposite me on the other side of the gate. He seemed unsure about himself, a small pistol in a holster and a baton at his side.

“And just what makes you think we’ll leave.” I bumped Static awake.

“If… if’n you don’t leave I’ll have to.. Have to…”

“Have to what? Shoot me?” I chuckled, that seemed to put him even more on edge. “Let me tell you something boy.” I stood up, walking to the fence, wing dragging beside me. “I’ve been shot at, burned, exploded and had irradiated pony guts and sludge dropped on me. I didn’t travel all this way just for some inexperienced, momma’s boy, zebra sympathizer to stand in my way. You either open this gate right this moment! Or I fly over there and kick your sorry ass right out of that armour.” Though I seriously doubted I could do that. Though he didn’t seem too sure.

“I... I can’t.” The stallion stuttered.

“Then go get your supervisor!” I ordered. He turned tail and ran back inside.

By the time he returned everyone was up and waiting. A larger, stockier gruffer looking stallion was beside him. “Well hello BC, nice to see you back again. This’ll just take a moment.” He stormed right up to the fence and stared me in the eye. “How dare you threaten one of my officers! I should shoot you right now you fucking rot!”

“I see. And you are?”

The stallion seemed taken aback. Stammering a bit before refocusing. “I’m chief Grim Star. Head of security at Tenpony tower.”

“Ah, good. Now would you be so kind as to open up the gate for us. It’s been a long last few days and some of us could use a doctor.”

“A doc… you... HA! You’re joking! He’s joking right?” He glanced around at the rest of the caravan crew. “He’s not joking.” He drew a long, slow breath. “Look, I can let the rest of you all in but we have a strict no zombie policy. You’ll have to stay outside.”

“That won’t fly.” BC spoke up. “We wouldn’t have made it without his and his friends help.”

“Sorry BC but you know the rules.” Grim Star shrugged.

“He’s not a ghoul. And you know it. Just look at his eyes. He’s really messed up right now but a ghoul he ain’t.”

“How would you like it if ponies found out you denied entry to a pony who needed medical attention?” Thistle offered. “I doubt you’d be able to keep your post, much less your residency.”

Grim Star glared back. That type of damage to his reputation might have been a good thing to lead with. Grim Star stared at me, boring into my eyes with his gaze. After what seemed like forever he broke off. “Fine, but cause any trouble and my officers will be on you faster than you can say brussel sprouts.”

The chief heading back towards the building as the other officer proceeded to unlock the gate. BC and thistle hooked themselves up to the wagon and pulled it through as I did my best to assist Static with herding the brahmin into the gated area of the complex. At least they wouldn’t be able to wander far in here.

I followed Static to the steps once we had collected all our gear. BC stood waiting for us. “Well, ah think I may have gotten the better end of the deal, but here we are. I got you inside, you sure you won’t reconsider traveling with us some more?”

“Heh, believe me, as much fun as it was I’ve got some business to attend to back home. But I’ll keep an eye out for you when I’m out there.” I gave him a weak smile. My wing stretched over Statics back and leaning against her for support.

BC chuckled softly to himself. “Well then take care lieutenant. Best of luck to you and your mare friend there.” He offered a hoof, and I gave him a weak smile in return. I think I would trade a hangover for what I was feeling right now. At least that I could just sleep off.

“Alright Feathers, let’s go find a doctor.” Static helped me stagger up the steps. The officer who had opened the gate stood at the top watching and waiting for us.

“You can bring your firearms with you but you’ll need to have your ammo checked in at the front.” He said, taking in our armament.

“Uh-huh, and just how do you go about doing that.” Static asked, more annoyed that he wasn’t getting the door for us.

“Simple. A sorting spelling transfers your ammo to a holding area where it is stored until you’re ready to leave. Then we return it to you. No need to even empty your guns.”

“Sweet, let’s get it over with then.” Static walked up and opened the doors with her magic. “Sweet mother of Luna! It’s so pretty in here!” She exclaimed as we walked through. A magical field passed over us and I could swear I felt my bags get lighter.

“Name and occupation please.” A pony wearing a uniform asked from behind a teller window.

“Um, why?” Both Static and I asked in unison.

“Proper documentation so you can get your ammunition back and proper record keeping of all guests and tenants.” The mare drawled out, decidedly bored. She wasn’t even looking at us. Filing her fore hooves with a small emery board.

“Well then.” Static thought for a moment. “My name is Static and my occupation? How does traveling companion sound?”

“I think it sounds just fine.” I coughed for a moment then tried to catch my breath. “I’m Sparx Chromawing. And I need a doctor.”

“...uh-huh, Chromawing, occupation, doctor.” The clerical mare mumble as she scribbled down something with her magic.

“No I’m not a doctor. I said I need a doctor.”

“Sorry honey, what was...? HOLY SHIT!” She bolted upright as she finally looked at us. “You’re… you’re a…” She stammered, pointing a hoof at me.

“A really hurt pony.” Static finished for her. “So If you could point is the direction of the clinic we can stop bleeding all over your nice clean floor.”

The mare pointed towards the end of the atrium. A small sign read clinic near the back. That was good enough for us. Static walked beside me, supporting my wing as we made our way to the clinic. Everypony was nicely adorned. Suits or fancy shirts for the stallions and dresses or fancy headwear for the mares. And they were all clean! No wonder they’d thought I looked like a ghoul. I could feel their eyes boring into me like bullets.

“Creepy bunch, this lot.” Static hissed just above a whisper as we got to the door. She glanced back over her shoulder. “How you doing?”

“Well other than the pain. Just dandy.” Liar. Just get me a healing potion. No, we came to see a doctor and we’re going to see a doctor.

We strode into the clinic office and Static stepped away from me and trotted up to the front desk. My wing dropping to the ground, flinching at the sudden burst of pain.

Glancing around I tried to find something to distract myself with. It was amazing how clean this place was. I mean I know it was a clinic but still. To find something this clean in the wasteland? I glanced down at my side where my wing brushed the ground. Shit. A dark smudge trailed wherever I dragged the wing. Blood and sludge making a nasty smear. A unicorn mare walked up to me. She wore a white hat with a MoP symbol on it. “Sorry about the floor.” I tried my best to smile as the nurse gave me a once over. She glanced down at the smear and shrugged.

Static we can’t afford this. Don’t worry about it.

“Can you state your full name?” The nurse levitated a clipboard over and wrote down some quick notes.

“Full Name?”

“Yes please.”

Don’t laugh. I shot a look over at Static. “Sparx Feather Forge Chromawing Junior, but please just call me Sparx.” Static looked to be on the verge of laughter. I hurt too much to care right now.

“Chief complaint?” The nurse asked after she had finished writing down my name. At least she could talk while she gawked at the condition I was in.

“Um, broken wing.” Shouldn’t it be obvious?

“Anything else?” She glanced up from her clipboard.

“Yeah, I’ve been shot, burned and may have some mild radiation poisoning.” She scribbled some things down. “Oh and you should know I’m already dosed up on Med-X.”

“Alright, just take a seat and I’ll go get the doctor.” She said, heading off through one of the back doors in the clinic.

Just how was I going to have a seat like this?

“Here, let me help.” Static levitated my gear off and set it on the ground by a bench, taking her gear off as well and setting it aside. “Hold on, don’t sit yet.” I stopped, standing back up. Gently wrapping my wing in her levitation she held it up while I sat back down, allowing it to come to rest gently at my side.

“I don’t know about this.” Looking over to Static as she pulled out the magazines in her rifle to check for ammo.

“Damn it. This one’s empty too.” She put the mag back in and picked up the RE-9. Pulling the breach back she stopped. Holding it for me to see. A faint purple glow emanated from the chambered round. Pulling out the mag. It was fully loaded. “They did a terrible job.”

“Anti-Magic remember.”

“Yeah, but still.” She closed the breach and made sure the safety was still on. “Sloppy.”

“Don’t tell anypony. We might want that later.”

“Might want what later?” A tired sounding voice asked as a brown stallion trotted into the room. “I’m doctor Helpinghoof and you must be our new patient.” He gave me a once over with his eyes. He looked almost as disgusted as Chief Grim Star.

“Oh, nothing much. Nice to meet you doc. Think you can fix me?”

“That depends. Answer one question first.” He set down the clipboard on the seat next to me.

“Um, okay.”

“When and where were you born mister Chromawing?” He asked flatly.

Shit. He thinks you’re a ghoul. Should I tell him? Tell him what? The truth.

I turned to Static, who just shrugged.

“Look. I know what you’re thinking. And the answer is no.” The doc just raised a brow. “I woke up in a vault a few weeks ago after being frozen for two hundred years. Since then it’s been one hell of an adventure, but I know for a fact that I’m not a, what do you call ‘em, a zombie.” The doctor's expression didn’t change one bit. “For Luna’s sake! Say something!”

“You look like crap.”

“Uh…” Well that wasn’t what I wanted him to say but that was better than nothing I guess.

“Follow me, we need to run a few tests and I’d like to x-ray that wing first.”

Slowly standing up, I started to follow him. Pausing when I noticed Static wasn’t getting up. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Are you kidding? I’m going to find a room and then do some shopping. I’ve never been in a place this nice.” She stood up, levitating our gear and guns. “I’ll come visit you later.”

“Oh alright, just… don’t cause any trouble.” She gave me a cold stare. “At least not till I can join you.” That elicited a smirk from her. Following the doctor into the back room were several others medical ponies were working. They all looked up. Half of them looked shocked, the others disgusted.

“I’m going to need X-rays and a full medical history while I run a few tests.” Helpinghoof called out to nopony in particular. He stopped by a tray and picked up an empty syringe. “I just need a quick blood sample from you for starters.”

“Sure thing.” I held still as he stuck the needle into my shoulder. Drawing out the bright red liquid. He seemed rather shocked for some reason and decided to take another. All in all he ended up with five bright red samples before he stopped and left me to the mercy of the nurses. Normally I would have tried to flirt with such beautiful uniformed mares, but I was suddenly feeling really sleepy…

I woke with a start. I was lying on my back staring up at a white ceiling. I felt… clean. And not just on the outside. It was like the days after you recover from a cold. You know you’ve been sick but you feel oddly energized, more so than usual. I looked to my left. A rack with a bag of orange liquid mixed with a bottle clear fluid in an IV that disappeared under the sheets. To my right was a bench and a stand. Some syringes sat on top and a clipboard hung on the side. I reached out and picked up the clipboard with my good wing. Flipping through the pages of reports, blood test results, and radiology images. This was going to cost a fortune.

“Oh you’re awake.” A mare said from the doorway. I looked up to see the nurse from the front desk standing there with a tray and some fresh bandages. “I can come back later if you’d like.”

“No, that’s fine.” I set the clipboard down. Trying to sit up a bit more.

“Careful. Your wing was in pretty bad shape.” She rushed over and set the tray down. Helping me sit up in a more reclined position. She came around and undid some of the bandages on my left wing. They were stained with a small amount of blood. “I still don’t know what you did that could have caused this much damage.”

“Try fighting raiders with an already bum wing.” I said matter-of-factly as I watched her.

“But how did you injure it in the first place.” Levitating over a fresh set of bandages to rewrap the wing and the brace that kept the limb somewhat protected.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I huffed, falling back and looking up at the ceiling.

“We’ve been able to confirm that you are indeed over two hundred years old. And remarkably you aren’t a ghoul. At least not yet.” She hesitated a moment before continuing. “I really should go get the doctor, seeing as you’re awake now.” She finished wrapping up my wing and checked the IV.

“It was during the war.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“You asked how I was injured initially.” Closing my eyes as I recalled a bit of the memory. “We were ambushed, we barely made it out alive. It cost me my wing and a close friend. Never did heal properly.” My wing, or the hurt. Opening my eyes I saw her standing by the door. “They never expected me to be able to fly again at all.”

The nurse left, and I mentally kicked myself for not getting her name. Then again, I was probably too old for her anyway. I really needed to figure this age thing out. Did I even age at all in the stable? Or am I aging faster now that I’m out so that it will eventually catch up to me? I felt older, then again, I had been really pushing myself these last couple weeks. Damn it Sparx. Keep your head on straight. It doesn’t matter so long as you can fix things. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. What if I can’t fix it? Hell, what if they’re all dead when I get back? What would I do then? Too many questions. And I had none of the answers.

“Glad to see you’re awake.” Doctor Helpinghoof walked in. “How are you feeling?”

“Honestly, I feel better than I have in two hundred years.” That got a slight smile out of him. “So doc, tell me. What’s the good news and the bad news? Bad news first please.” Might as well get right to it.

“Very well. The bad news is two-fold. We can’t give you your flight back but we can give you motor function.” Okay, I half expected that. “And the other is that while you aren’t a ghoul you have a built up some pretty serious radiation tumors in your hind legs.” Okay that sounded not so good. “We have you on RadAway for the time being to keep them from growing.”

“Okay, and that is bad why?” Couldn’t they just operate and remove the tumors. Save me a whole lot of trouble.

“The tumors generate their own radiation somehow and have contaminated your blood. If you don’t start turning into a ghoul in the close future I’m afraid the radiation poisoning will just kill you.” I stared back at him dumbstruck. I always knew I’d die someday, but I had hoped at least I would have gone down fighting. “I’m sorry mister Chromawing, but there isn’t anything more we can do.” He stood still for a moment before excusing himself from the room. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think straight. This was it. I was going to die of cancer. Killed by the radiation left over from the war. Another casualty, two hundred years in the making. Fucking cancer. So this is how it’s going to end. No. You know what. Fuck cancer. I’ll just have to make sure I finish what I set out to do before I die. Then I can die in peace and be reunited with my family. It would be worth it. I could do this. Oh who was I kidding? I’m going to die. Either by raiders or through radiation. Better make it worth it. Just need to get started. How do I go about doing that?

I think I’ve been in bed long enough. “Oh, Nurse.”

“Make sure to keep the ratio to a fifty-fifty blend of saline to RadAway and it should slow growth by about ninety percent.” The nurse rambled off some numbers to Static as she signed my release papers. I could have signed them myself if I wasn’t still considered sick. “And here is the bill. You can either pay before you leave Tenpony or make arrangements at the service desk to make payments. For an added fee of course.” I doubt they ever got more than one payment out of anypony that left. Still I really didn’t care. I’d probably be dead before I could pay them back.

“Alright Feathers.” Static let out a sigh as she folded away the paperwork and tucked them away in her pocket. “Let’s get you to our room. Then we can figure out what to do next.” Static trotted out of the clinic, myself following close behind. An IV bag taped to my pipbuck and feeding into the small auto injector port on the side. At least I wouldn’t have to have a needle stuck in me for the time being. Unless I already had a needle sticking in me. Just the thought made me want to itch it. “Oh stop fidgeting.” Static scolded as we made our way up the stairs. Not nearly as many ponies were staring at us now. Static had cleaned up nicely. Wearing a nice safari shirt and a khaki skirt that danced just above her hooves. An empty bullet belt wrapped around her waist with a small purse of what I guessed were most likely caps. I myself had my left wing braced and secured loosely to my side with bandages. As well as several bandages wrapped around my currently not glowing radiation wounds. And a bandage over my forehead that kept slipping into my right eye. Damn thing was really starting to bug me. At least I wasn’t getting any horrified looks from anypony.

“And we’re here.” Static levitated a key to the door and turned the lock, pushing the door open with her magic. “After you.” She gestured with a hoof into the dark room. I walked in and flipped on the light. Static followed and locked the door behind her. Our gear lay nicely piled against the wall, our guns neatly stacked in the corner. I did notice one thing rather quickly. There was only one bed. And a seemingly small one at that.

“Um, Static. Where am I supposed to sleep?” I asked, checking for an extra bed roll or pillow at least.

“Well in the bed of course.” She clicked, trotting over to take a seat in a chair and pulling out the medical papers.

“Um, okay, then what about you? I mean I don’t mind sharing.” Actually I’d be perfectly fine with sharing. If I wasn’t so beat up and sore.

“Yeah, no thanks. I have my own bed.”

“You do? Where?” Had she gotten two rooms? That seemed like such a waist. I’d gladly sleep on the floor, use my satchel as a pillow.

“I got some extra bedding and made a bed in the shower.” She said dryly, still going over the paperwork.

This I had to see. I stepped inside the bathroom and was pleasantly surprised to find a cozy looking nest like structure had been made out of the tub. Well as long as I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night.

“Hey, Sparx.” Static called from the main room.

“Hey what?” I poked my head out.

“So what do we do now?” She waved the paper in her magic. “I mean I don’t think they’ll let you leave till you pay this off. And I don’t know where we’re going to come up with thirty seven hundred caps anytime soon. They don’t really have any gambling here as far as I could tell.”

“Well that wouldn’t matter, I was never any good at cards.”

A-hem. Static gave a slight cough.

“Then on the other hoof I’m sure you’re quite the card shark.” Mind reading was definitely an unfair advantage. Unless it was on your side that is.

“We have the room for two more nights at least so we have a bit of time. Oh and I took the liberty to buy you some new barding. Seeing as the acid wasn’t really coming out of your jacket.” She walked over to our gear and pulled out a white button down and a black vest with gold lace trim.

‘Um, I don’t know how good that’s going to do for armour.” I looked the garments over. They were a tad old but still looked decent.

“Oh no, I got those for you to wear around here. Your armour is right here.” She pulled out a neatly wrapped packaged. Setting it on the bed. “Well what are you waiting for?”

“Permission.” I replied smugly. Static smirked and I turned my attention to the package. Carefully undoing the binding. A dark, heavy stitched fabric jacket with reinforced collar and flank guards. Along with my metal shovel chest plate. At least I think it was the chest plate. It was the same general shape but not quite as rough around the edges. And the front was engraved with a strange angular pattern that radiated out to the edges. At least to a normal pony it would be strange. I could actually read it. It was a simple spell. A changeling warding spell. “I didn’t know you knew how to do that?”

“Me either. It just kind of came to me. Not quite sure what it does exactly though.”

“Well hopefully we don’t have to find out right away.” As much as I’d like to test it I was really not in the mood to get shot at.

“Go ahead and put it on.” Static clicked in excitement. “I mean, uh. You should make sure it fits.”

I did as she said, with a little help getting it around my wing. The armour fit snug but wasn’t too restricting. And the chest plate fit nicely over top along with my shoulder pads. It would do nicely when it came time to leave. But until then I would be better off trying to blend in. Carefully folding the armour and setting it on top of my satchel, I proceeded to put on the white button down and vest. Really the only thing missing was a good top hat.

“And just where do you think you’re off to?” Static got up out of her chair as I made for the door.

“Well we came here for a reason so we might as well try to get that out of the way. We can figure the bill out later. Right now I could really use a bite to eat though.”

“What, you don’t like hospital food?” She teased. I stuck out my tongue, making a face.

“Care to join me?” I offered my good wing to the modestly dressed but still quite stunning mare.

“Oh I don’t see why not.”

“Wow. Who knew there were so many ways to cook carrots?” I looked up from my menu. Not much to choose from, but even despite the limited selections they sounded quite delicious compared to what we had been eating the last few days.

“I’ll try the pureed carrot with a side of toasted apple sugar bombs.” Static told the waiter, setting down her menu.

“Make that two of them. And two sparkle cola’s please.” I handed the waiter my menu. The waiter noted down our order and picking up Static’s menu left to get our order started.

“So, what exactly is our plan? I know we have to get to Fillydelphia.” At the mere mention of the city the room hushed. Many well-to-do looking ponies giving us questioning looks. Static lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Do you really think this DJ will have a map? And on top of that what makes you think he’ll help us? Especially if he’s anything like the rest of the populace.”

“Actually now that I think about it I may have a way around all that.” I paused as I noticed a gray mare walking by, watching us from the corner of her eye under her blue mane as she took a seat at a nearby table. “You see, I had forgotten that the MAS hub here was linked to the old broadcast tower. In theory that should allow me to connect with some of the other broadcasting stations.” I shot a quick glance at the mare watching us. She seemed all too eager in our conversation. Static followed my gaze, noticing that our conversation was no longer private.

“Still, we should try to meet this DJ Pon3.” The waiter arrived with our cola’s. Informing us that our food would be along shortly. Static waited for him to leave before continuing. “Might save us a whole lot of trouble.”

“Yeah about that…”

“Ugh, what did you do this time?” Rolling her eyes.

“Oh nothing much. I just might have promised somepony I’d go looking for someone. A filly that was taken.”

“Sparx.” Static whined. “Why’d you do that?” Other than it being the right thing to do of course.

“Well I don’t know. I was drunk at the time.” Oh so it was that night. What do you mean that night? Oh nothing.

Static blushed a bit then looked away as the waiter arrived with our food.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The waiter set down a slip of paper as he left. I looked at the bill. Fifty caps! Remind myself not to eat out too often. This shit is expensive. And small. I looked at the portions. Noticing mine was slightly larger I swapped plates before Static turned back.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” I plead ignorance.

“You switched the plates so yours is smaller.” She pushed her plate towards me. “You need the extra energy to heal up as best you can before we leave.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll survive. I’m not that hungry right now anyway.” We both knew that was a lie. But in order to not cause a scene she didn’t push it. We finished our meals in silence. Setting the appropriate amount of caps a small tip on the table before we left. The gray unicorn was still sitting at her table watching us as we got up to leave. Nosy much. I wonder what her problem is.

Sleep was hard to come by. It didn’t help that I wasn’t really tired either. I’d slept enough for a whole week in the clinic. At least it seemed that way. I had been operating on very little sleep lately. I needed to go clear my head. Getting up I quietly made my way to the door. Checking to make sure Static was still asleep. How she found that small space so comfortable was beyond me. She was curled up nose to tail. And the key was sitting on the counter. I quietly brushed it off with my wing before I unlocked the door and snuck out. Quietly locking the door behind me.

The tower was dark, and quiet. With not a single pony in sight. Quiet peaceful actually. Trotting as quietly as I could to the main atrium, and down the flight of stairs. I slowly paced past the closed shops. Several clothing stores, a boutique, a grocer or two. Even a cheese shop. This whole place just didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the wasteland. Everywhere I look were remnants of the past, brought back to life in the present. Though I’m pretty sure that wasn’t how you were supposed to use a tuning fork, stuck with its prongs in a block of cheese behind the shop window.

Strange uses aside, I needed to figure out a way to Fillydelphia. I already knew the way generally, but I really could use a map. Places to avoid, safe places to rest along the way. In all honesty I could find out if the Stable-Tec HQ was still there when I arrived. I had more than one quest to accomplish when I got there. If I couldn’t get a reactor cross reference or diagram of Stable 33, then hopefully I could find this filly. How did you say her name again? Tail-ee-ya? Goddesses, what a strange name. Hopefully she’s still alive. The wasteland seemed hard enough on ponies lucky enough to not be slaves. I could only imagine, actually I could do better than that. The first ponies I had come across. Well the first ponies that counted anyway, were slavers. If they were typical then I was pretty confident I wouldn’t be happy with what I find, nor the slavers happy when I’m through with them.

I caught a glint of muted green light down a small passage. Walking over to investigate I found a terminal mounted on the wall and a door marked reactor access. Well I didn’t need to be here. Or did I? My mind started turning. This was one of the earlier ministry hubs. That means it probably doesn’t have independent systems. I might not need to talk to the Pon3 at all. Not if I could somehow just download the maps straight to my pipbuck. Now who’s a clever pony? Smirking at my own smartness. This was right up my alley. Nothing like a bit of covert espionage to get the blood flowing. I’d just need to do some preliminary scouting first to find the right window of opportunity, and check to make sure I can access the system first. Shouldn’t be too much trouble. Then again. When has anything ever been this easy.

Suddenly I froze. I could just start to make out hoof steps, and they were getting closer. I ducked out of the hallway and hid in the alcove made by one the shops entrances. Two ponies trotted into view. Both wore security armour and I recognized the leader. The ‘Honorable’ Chief Grim Star. The other pony must be one of his lackeys.

The two trotted into the hallway and I heard one of them typing on the keyboard. A click and the door opened. Quickly making my way back I caught the door as it closed and held it ajar ever so slightly. Holding my breath I could hear the two ponies talking.

“I don’t care what the doctor says. That damn pegasus will go feral right under noses if we don’t keep an eye on ‘im.”

“All I’m saying is what the doctor told me. You don’t have to like it. Besides he’ll probably leave in a few days anyway. They only rented the room for a few days.”

“Yeah, well. Can’t do much about it right now I guess. You find any more ponies to help with the raid.”

“I’ve got four ponies who hate that old zombies guts almost as much as you do. But they just ain’t fighting material. Security, fine. Fighting out there. Not so much.” There was a short break and I was getting ready to leave. Best to be long gone before they catch me. “How many ghouls do you think Rottingtail has in there with him?”

“Oh, at least thirty I’d say. Still we’d need half an army to get at ‘em.”

“Why not just hire someone? How much is Rottingtail worth to you.” Oh, I-de-A.

“You know.” Come on bastard. How much.

“How much Chief? I need to know what I’m working with here.”

“I don’t know Tassel. Maybe five thousand caps? If they can get rid of him and all the rest of those ferals. Still I doubt any gryphons would work that cheap.”

I’d heard enough so I let the door slide shut and hastily retreated to my room. Static was still fast asleep in her tub as I replaced the key. Tomorrow I would need to find this Tassel. Should be able to get at least get one thing taken care of that way. Then all I would have left would be to get into the computer system later. Everything was lining up nicely.

____________________________

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Ghoulish [1] - You have been contaminated with radiation. Health is permanently decreased by 15%.