Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Epilogue

It’s been eight years since the destruction of the Krogoth and it has been a pretty peaceful time as well. A lot can happen in eight years.

Soon after the completion of what went down in the archives as the “Krogoth Crisis” all the rangers returned to Stable 24 after their long flight back. There was a celebration for that we have defeated the last single greatest threat to Equestria’s safety and for the first time in two centuries we were able to celebrate the return of peace, well, as peaceful as it can get with the wasteland being as it is. The Krogoth was the last thing to threaten Equestria on a large scale like Red Eye and the Enclave.

During the party which may have been worthy of the once famous party pony Pinkie Pie I met up again with my friends. We shared a cry, (except Zyon) over Motor Runner’s death in the Krogoth’s reactor chamber but we also celebrated the joy that he wasn’t truly dead with his leg hooked up in the medical wing powering his regeneration talisman. As we celebrated Elder McNamare pulled to one side.

She told me my breach of protocol by heading straight back to Twenty Four without meeting up at the extraction point first was a serious matter and would result usually in serious disciplinary action but luckily for me, with my part in the destruction of the Krogoth she said I would only receive a verbal disciplinary. Even though it was verbal it still hurt to be told off like that. I’ve not been told off for something wrong since I was foal growing up, especially when I was in the Pondale Rangers.

When I rejoined with my friends the foul mood I was put in evaporated as we continued to enjoy ourselves. It was heart warming when other rangers came up to us and thanked us and offered their condolences for my loss. At least the Applejack Rangers weren’t heartless bastards like most of the Steel Rangers. We were even hailed as heroes but really, the only pony that was worthy of being called a hero was Motor Runner. He sacrificed himself to put an end of the machine. I was quick to tell them that too. I was no hero.

After the party as we were heading back to our quarters there was a pressing question on all our minds.

“So, what now?” Zyon plainly asked.

“You know, I have no idea” I said as I stopped to think.

There was silence for a full long minute before I spoke again.

“I suppose we can take a break, I mean we did just stop an all powerful killing machine after all and I have some maternity leave I need to claim” I said with Blueberry on my mind.

We ended up staying at Twenty Four for another two months while we waited for Motor Runner’s regeneration to complete itself. Motor Runner’s entire body was regenerated by then but he was without the Synaptic Link he had installed to the back of his neck and his starmetal hide was gone too, leaving him with normal skin so he wouldn’t be bullet proof anymore. It made sense he didn’t get those back since they were not organic and were implanted after he got his leg. I was so happy when I saw him laying there on that recovery bed completely regenerated and breathing unassisted. I don’t think he ever looked so good before. I would sit and wait by his bedside with Blueberry as we waited for him to wake up. When he did wake up it was like the happiest day of my life for a split second before that feeling quickly faded when he failed to recognise me. It felt like he was truly dead. At first it was like nopony was home as he was unresponsive and didn’t react to anything but a couple of days later he remembered his name as Scrapheap and he remembered how to talk, walk, ect but any memory of the last twenty or so years were still missing. I explained to him who he was to me and me to him. Even though he didn’t remember he agreed to stay with us in the hope that being with the ponies he knew might jog his memory.

During Motor Runner’s recovery I was awarded my late maternity leave so I could raise Blueberry. We needed a place to settle down in and McNamare told us of a place we could go. East of Pon’evil around fifty to sixty miles away following the edge of the Everfree Forest is a town that has newly been established and according to reports it was being an exact replica of prewar Ponyville including rail lines and dug out streams and rivers and the town was called “New Ponyville” not an original name but it works. It’s also out of the way so it’s not in any direct route of any gangs of raiders and other knobs and it’s also a safe distance from the Everfree so it’s not in danger of wild monster attacks.

McNamare gave me a good reason to want to go there too. The town is peaceful, full of ponies just trying to live a peaceful existence but they also have a little problem. They don’t have much in protection. Since I’m an Applejack Ranger, McNamare had asked me to help them with their defence and my friends can help. She said that when Blueberry no longer requires constant care it’ll be my responsibility to keep the town safe until there are enough ponies trained to keep the town safe and secure.

We left Twenty Four and walked for two weeks. The walk was pretty much uneventful and we only had to deal with a couple of bands of raiders. They were not a problem for us considering what we’ve been through and Motor Runner seemed to know how to use his chainsaw. I supposed it was hard wired into him, something you don’t forget once learned. By the time we made it to New Ponyville we were tired and in need of a good rest. Before we could do anything in the town we needed to see a mare that went by the name of “Mayor Mare”, go figure, so we could explain to her who we were and what we were doing in the town. She seemed to be happy with our arrival especially when we told her that we had been sent by the Elder of the Applejack Rangers and that my job was to help with the town’s protection. She set us up in a house that was close to the town hall.

The first few days were spent settling in and getting familiar with the small town. I felt uncomfortable when I walked the streets as everypony stared at me. I’m not surprised considering I’m heavily scarred, a winged unicorn, an albino and a cyborg. The good thing though was they held no ill intent towards me, if anything they were intrigued. My friends also got some odd looks too but nothing like me as they seemed more normal. It was funny when some townsfolk rushed up to Sky Fire wanting autographs of the legendary Rainbow Dash. She played along and seemed to bask in the admiration; I guess there is a bit of Rainbow Dash alive in her. Motor Runner seemed to just intimidate ponies because of his Princess Celestia physique and being a cyborg would intimidate anypony when seeing him for the first time. Zyon didn’t seem to get bothered at all as she was seen as just being a zebra; thankfully no pony in this town was a hater. Zyon was actually complimented on her body length scar with ponies mostly saying something on the lines of “Wicked scar”. The member of our group that got the most stars was CD. My little sprite-bot was like a loyal dog to me, following me everywhere and everything but he wasn’t like the standard sprite-bots. Normal sprite-bots look like the actual insect but CD; he closely resembled a giant eye more than anything else.

Once we were settled and knew the town pretty well we then began looking at how we could help protect the town. I instantly saw the top of the town hall as a perfect sniper’s nest as it was the tallest building in New Ponyville and would give a nice high elevation to look out across the town and into the distance to spot outside threats. Zyon and Sky Fire decided to see if ponies were armed and to ask them if they would be willing to make up a police force. It made sense as with Zyon’s hoof to hoof combat techniques and with Sky Fire’s weapon training they could teach the willing ponies how to fight so they could defend their town.

No pony in town was skilled with a rifle and nor a long ranged one so the town was short a sniper. I couldn’t pose as the town’s sniper as I had Blueberry to look after and I couldn’t keep giving her to somepony to mind while I took a shift in the nest but thankfully we set up a few patrols that would wander the streets and the town’s perimeter. I also sent CD on patrols as with his long range sensors and his unique warning system he would be able to easily alert somepony. Around a month in living in the town our sniper problems were solved when a pair of earth ponies came to town. Both ponies wore red berets with a badge with a two headed ursa minor on it with Princess Luna’s Moon in the top left and Princess Celestia’s Sun in the top right and the initials, NCR under the ursa. These two ponies once were apart of the New Canterlot Republic which as far as I know is dedicated on restoring Equestria to its formal glory while also keeping to the old world laws and diplomacy. One of them is called Manny who volunteered for the day time shift and his friend, a beige earth pony with a light brown tail and a shaved off mane, along with his beret he wore typical mercenary attire, brown trousers and a white vest shirt. He also wore sunglasses that hid serious blue eyes. I had to learn his name from his friend as he was a very quiet pony and didn’t talk much to anypony. Manny said his name is Boone and he took the position of the night time sniper.

The defence we setup had kept the town safe for months and Blueberry was growing up well, like any foal should. She was happy and bouncing everywhere and I couldn’t be happier. During a nice hot summer’s day I lay with Motor Runner on our home’s front porch watching Blueberry playing happily trying to catch a fly. I was glad by this time she had grown out of her sporadic magic spurts. Dear sweet Luna she had me running rampant trying to keep her from zipping across New Ponyville with one hell of a levitation spell and speed boost. As we watched I leant against my love. He had failed to remember much else about his life which was disheartening but it gave me the chance to fall in love with him all over again and that day for the first time since his resurrection we kissed in a deep and passionate kiss. He tore away from me like he tasted something foul on me and then clutched his head as if in pain and then suddenly he looked at me with wide eyes and he then began to go into a trance as he began to recount everything that happened to him in the last thirty years. It was like something had flicked a switch in his head when we kissed that unlocked the memories he hadn’t been able to access since he woke up that day over a year before. Once he came out of the trance staring at me in shock and surprise to find that he hadn’t died with the machine we embraced each other and happily kissed again. I knew then that everything was going to be just right for us.

A year later Zyon’s family had come to New Ponyville and Sky Fire and Zyon had begun to talk about having a baby of their own. With Zyon’s alchemy skills she knew of a potion she could whip up that would give the drinker a cock and bollocks. She was well aware it wouldn’t work on her because of the Killing Joke magic being in effect but that still didn’t stop her from trying though. I was with her and Sky Fire the day she tried it. I was so red I looked like I had been out in the sun too long as Zyon grew a very well endowed meat and two veg and her huge thick black rod was fully erect as well. I could have died from the embarrassment of seeing it and I also cringed as thoughts of how damn tight and painful something that big would be inside me. Thankfully though it only lasted for a few brief short moments as it quickly fizzled into nothingness with a hissing laughter sound emitting from it while it disappeared. Sky and I had to leave the room for an hour as Zyon screamed obscenities about never being able feel like a male again. I felt sorry for her since she was stuck as something she wasn’t but after a while she calmed down. The two wanted a child together and they would refuse outside help, they wanted their child to be their own. Something the two of them would create together out of love and that then left them with only one option. Zyon didn’t like the idea but it was the only way they were to have a baby together from the two of them and the idea was that it was Sky Fire that would father the baby and Zyon who would carry it.

Zyon had to wait for her estrous cycle before they could get down and dirty. Zyon was so nervous about the whole thing, about having sex for the first time as a mare. Being a mare myself I told her of how good it felt, that it would be the best feeling you would ever feel. When the time came they did the deed and a few weeks later Zyon was confirmed by the New Ponyville nurse to be with foal. Having been through a pregnancy myself I was able to offer support for my friend and eventually she gave birth to a rather unique little filly. The filly was born a zebra but atop her head instead of a zebra’s traditional white and black striped mane she had a rainbow mane like Sky’s and on her back a pair of pegasus wings. Their filly was likely the first of her kind, the first zebra pegasus ever born in Equestria. The wonders of genetics eh? The two overjoyed parents decided to stick with the traditional way of zebra naming for their child since she was born a zebra and named her after Zyon’s step-mother. They called her Xian.

During the fifth year of our stay in New Ponyville I got the shock of my life while I was on sniper duty in the snipers nest. While I looked out over the town one day I noticed a light on the horizon. I raised This Machine to my eye and looked through the scope. My wings flared out with my surprise at what I saw. A wall of energy was rushing towards us. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and when I pulled the scope away from my eye I then noticed that this towering wall of energy stretched across the entire horizon. The wall of energy was moving so fast that I wouldn’t have been able to sound the alarm and nopony would have been able to get away or find shelter in time. My only regret at that moment was that I wasn’t with my family. My thoughts were focused on my husband, oh yeah; we got married when the church was built in town, and my beautiful daughter. I closed my eyes waiting for the wave to hit us as I thought of my family and how much I loved them. I heard the screams of terror when the town’s folk noticed and then I heard the roar of the wave. It was like a stampede of roaring elephants as the wave smashed into the town. I could feel the extreme magic as it rushed at us and then, it hit me. I felt the wave blast past me; it washed over me with to my surprise some sort of rejuvenating energy, not the destructive and painful energy I expected. I felt refreshed after the wave passed but I didn’t take much notice on that as something else, something more grand caught my eye. The fields, the grasslands, the hills, everything around us were alive again. What had once been dead and barren land was now lush and green again. Purified of the poisons that plagued it since the bombs fell. I later learned that that day was known as the “Day of Sunshine and Rainbows” as it was the day that a weapon by the name of the Gardens of Equestria had been triggered by the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony and restored the dead land to its once live and vibrant self from before the war ever started. Equestria that day lived again.

Life got better for us ponies after the “Day of Sunshine and Rainbows” as now with the purified land we were now able to crow normal crops again and we didn’t have to worry about the effects of radiation, taint or poison again. We got a lot of new traffic coming to the town with new trade circulating throughout Equestria with other towns growing their own crops and trading more and more things. We also had to step up our defence as with the increased traffic raiders were attacking more frequently. Ponies weren’t very happy with me for my choice of weapon during my shifts when raiders attacked caravans near town or attempted to storm us. This Machine made such a racket that most of the time the loud boom would scare ponies and keep them up at night. I lost count how many times I had to apologies to the citizens of New Ponyville. I was right about Blueberry’s sleeping as Motor Runner who would wake up from This Machine being fired from the snipers nest would tell me when I got home that Blueberry slept through it. She’s like me alright, can sleep through anything.

Blueberry was happy when Xian was born and the two grew up close to each other like sisters. They even share a room together. We share a house with Zyon and Sky. The two fillies grew up happily with each other. It was heart warming to see them playing together, helping each other in school and just keeping each other company at home. I don’t think I’ve ever once seen them fight or have a falling out over anything. I find them adorable together too, like they were meant for each other. I’ve seen them snuggle up against each other every now and then when lounging at home. You know when your filly or colt has a bad dream and wants to sleep with their parents to keep them safe, I think they seek each other as I’ve also walked into their bedroom on occasion to wake them up for school or something and found them snuggled up together in the same bed.

The two fillies maybe utter sweethearts but they are also nightmares together when they feel mischievous. Being foals they have endless energy and can run or fly for ages. Even at three years old Xian is a fast flyer, taking on after her pegasus mother. Luckily there is one pony that can seem to stop them both without doing much more than looking at them. Motor Runner has this way them where they would stop what they are doing and listen to him. I am happy that he agreed to take the place of Blueberry’s father. I know he isn’t her biological father but in every sense of the word he is her father to her.

Around when Blueberry turned eight years old we became aware that Fluttershy was alive and well. Apparently she was a victim of Poison Joke and had been turned into a tree and had to watch as her world burned. I felt sorry for the kind mare because of that. From her return new medicines began to appear in the inventories and a cure for the Killing Joke strain. I thought. “Finally Zyon can be a male again and be cured of this joke” but when I told her the news I got a reply I was totally not expecting.

“I don’t want it anymore” She said with finality.

“You don’t want it, but you’ve complained about being a mare for years” I replied with confusion.

Zyon by now she was a little plump as she had toned down her previous active lifestyle to be a mother for Xian. We had sat on the porch while we talked and Xian had fallen asleep in her mother’s lap, snuggled up against her soft belly.

“I know I have but things have changed”

“How so?”

Zyon answered by stroking her filly’s mane gently.

I tilted my head not understanding and so she elaborated.

“I can’t turn back into a stallion now. Not now I have her. Look I know I wanted to turn back but after I carried her, felt her grow in my stomach, felt every movement and then the greatest and happiest feeling in my life when I laid my eyes on her for the first time after I gave birth to her I realised then I would never be a male again. I am her MOTHER. It’s who I am to her and I can’t change that, well I can but I wouldn’t be her mother then would I? I would be a stranger to her, some stallion she would never have seen before. I’ve been female now for at least eight years now and I’ve grown used to it and I no longer desire to turn back. She needs me this way and I’ll do anything I can keep her happy” She explained. I was moved by her explanation and I didn’t question it.

I am happy to say I’ve been given help with my Dark Magic side as Motor Runner had been helping me through it after he remembered his promise shortly after getting his memory back and he’s been teaching me his experiences to help me combat my anger and hate. I have managed to tone it down but I will never be rid of that much hate for raiders but at least now I can stop myself from loosing myself to the darkness if I feel it coming on.

Well, that’s practically all of the important things that have happened since the defeat of the Krogoth. Despite my connection to the Applejack Rangers we are living a normal and peaceful life now, well, as peaceful as a life with two young fillies to drive you mad. Well, until the Rangers need me again I don’t think I’ll need to wear my armour again. I’ve had a heck of a ride getting here but I couldn’t be happier and I’m sure my mum would be proud of me despite the dark times I’ve had.

I am Appletart, Paladin of the Applejack Rangers and a defender of New Ponyville and this has been my story.

XXXXX

150 miles south of the Crystal Empire in the frozen north lay a mountain range that acts like a border between the Empire and Equestria. The mountains were once home to a secret research and development centre during the war and eight years ago the long silent facility came back to life as if it was awaked by an event of great magnitude.

The inside of the facility was shrouded in darkness and the only light came from dull blue lights that didn’t light up anything in the thick darkness. Down on the floor of the cavernous chamber sat a lone terminal with a flickering screen. At first glance the screen would appear to be blank but down in the bottom right corner of the screen in flickering text was a single short line which read.

“K-02 Ready”

Author's Notes:

Its been over 2 years and Broken Steel has come to an end, thank you so much for reading and leaving your feedback. I hope you all enjoyed it.