Fallout Equestria

Silver Skies

“Hey son! Get your flank in the house before your dinner gets cold!”

I looked down, my dad smiled up at me from the doorway of our house. I was doing what I loved most, flying. I really loved to fly, swooping through the skies, feeling the wind in my mane. I've loved it from when I was a small colt, when my dad used to take me and mom above the clouds on his back at night. It always such an amazing sight, Princess Luna's starry sky stretched out as far as the eye could see. It showed me how strong my dad really was. Being a Pegasus I knew we would never be as strong as an earth pony but my dads sheer size gave him incredible strength. It was too bad I inherited my mom's small size. Still, I was really happy I had wings.

I tilted my wings, slowly spiraling down to land before my home. Like all the houses in Paddock town it was roughly built from logs but very homely.

I grinned up at dad, back in the day he was a big deal, a member of Celestia's secret elite force, The Sky Archons. He was friends with princess Luna, although I don't know what he did, I did know he had been called a hero. Heh, I wish I could be a hero, every time I brought up the subject of his past all he would tell me was he met my mom because of a series of bad events. My mom is a former royal librarian, a small built yellow unicorn with a green mane.

“Orion, get your flank inside now.”

I grinned at my dad, he towered over me, a coat as black as night, silver mane and crimson eyes made him look like a creature from a nightmare, even without the yellowed bone horn poking from his forehead. He always told me he wasn't an alicorn, heh I liked to call him one just for the reaction. He never got angry though, there was always this feeling of safety around him.

When I was a little younger, I had over strained one of my wings and crashed in the forest. Timber wolves found me soon after. I would have died if my dad hadn't crashed down from nowhere and faced them down.

“One chance, leave now.”

Four words, just four words and a pack of those monsters fled in terror. I don't care what anypony says, my dad is a big deal.

Myself? I'm nothing special, I'm small, dark grey with blue eyes and a black mane streaked with silver, I don't have my cutiemark yet. As for my talents? Well I react fast and I have some skill in hoof to hoof fighting. After the wolves, dad made sure I knew how to fight, he even taught me to control weather on a small scale. I can control ice and snow a little, nothing like my dad but it's still pretty cool. I did have to listen to an hour long lecture on how what he taught me was only for self defense.

Wait that smell.. I sniffed, yes! Hay fries, muffins too!

I ran through the door, grinning ear to ear...wait, why isn't the door getting closer as I run?

SIMULATION HALTED. STABLE 2 DOOR OPENING CONFIRMED

Wait what? Simu..simlu..whatever that is? What's going on?

“Dad? Mom?”

My parents were frozen in place, the whole freaking world was frozen. OK now I'm scared, please dad.. wake up and help me!

CONFIRMED OVERMARE ACCESS CODE

BEGINNING RESUSCITATION

What's going on? Dad! Mom! Help me! Please, say something! Please..I'm scared, I need you...

I felt tears rolling down my face, My dad was so close to me, I reached out with a hoof, so close, I felt my hoof brush his coat.

“Dad, please answer me..please dad...I'm...I'm scared so much..please answer me! DAD!”

EJECTING SUBJECT FROM SIMULATION

Something seemed to grab hold of me and pull me away, I screamed as I was dragged from my parents, forced to watch as they faded away into the distance and the world became nothing but darkness. there was a weird sensation of being underwater.

What happened to my family? Why couldn't my mom and dad move? Why couldn't they help me?

Why were my eyes closed?

I could feel something around my muzzle and something around my legs.

OK I can do this, concentrate Orion, you're just opening your eyes. What's the worst it could be? Besides if its something bad I know dad will save me, he's unstoppable!

Finally my eyes responded and opened, after a moment of seeing what was there I did the only thing any sane colt would do, I freaked the buck out!

I was in some kind of glass tube, floating in a warm, pink water. Wires wrapped my body, occasionally giving off little jolts of electricity, making my limbs twitch. Metal clamps held my hooves in place and some kind of mask was fastened over my muzzle.

What the fuck was happening?? yikes if my folks found out I swore...

REMOVING CRYOGENIC FLUIDS

The pink water began to drain away into a grate in the bottom of tube. With a hiss, the glass tube began to descend, sliding smoothly into the ground. I was left hanging from the clamps.

REMOVING NEURAL INTERFACE

Removing what?

Something pulled at my temples, it felt like something was drilling into my skull. Some unknown device was pulled away from my head, ripping out tufts of my mane painfully, what else could go wrong with my life today?

The clamps on my legs moved forward and placed me on the ground before the tube, With a groan, the things snapped open and released me, making me stagger. I was unsure on my own hooves? Why would I have so much trouble standing?

After a few moments of stumbling around like a drunken filly..shut up brain, it was hard to stand, I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I was in a smallish room with a large television..or was it a monitor? Anyway it was big and covered most of the wall in front of me. There was a few lockers along the wall to my right and ...oh sweet Celestia... was that a skeleton?... to my left was a pile of bones, what looked like pony bones...

What in the name of Luna's cute flank, yes I have a thing for Luna, had happened in here?

OK not thinking about how cute Luna is..that star filled mane.. Stop it...

Right moving on.

With more than a little trepidation I walked to the screen, there was no controls, just a hole ringed with metal set below it into the wall. Wait.. there was a button in the hole?

I reached into the hole and pushed the button, something clamped around my leg. I felt something sharp stick into my leg. Ow! What the hay stabbed me?

DNA PROFILE CONFIRMED, PLAYING MESSAGE

The screen before me flickered to life, through the static two ponies became clear.

Mom?..Dad?..

“Orion, if you're hearing this then the worst has happened. If you hear this then myself and your mother are dead.”

My brain shut down in shock, my dads picture just told me he was dead? No my dads a hero! He can't be stopped! Nothing can kill him!

“Orion listen, we are gone but we still cared too much for you to suffer our fate. As you no doubt realised, I was more than a soldier. I was a Sky Archon, one of Celestia's most elite secret force. We were the reason you never saw anything worse than a timbre wolf growing up. Our task was to hunt down and take down hydras, dragons, Manticore's and anything that threatened Equestria. When the war began we were the secret strike force. We took out every Zebra super weapon they created. I'm not proud of what we did, we killed a lot of Zebras...”

“Orion, when they found out who I was they sent assassins to kill me, you were hurt. I know you don't remember this but you almost died... Your mother and me decided to place you in a sleep, in a fake world that was all what we wanted for you. Our intention was to wake you when it was all over, when the world was safe... I guess we failed son. No matter what you hear remember this, You were the one thing I was never ashamed of, all I did, all I had achieved, the deeds that made me be called a hero... not a thing of it mattered more than you.”

“I... I'm a coward son, I hated to fight, I hated fighting for this land but I swear to you, I would have killed anything that threatened you.... If you remember nothing else about me son, just remember that I would have, and probably did, die to protect you.”

Dad..he..he was dead.. no...

Tears rolled down my face, I couldn't tear my eyes from those sad red eyes. My Dad was gone...

He was my hero, nothing he did was anything but good.. my dad, Starshot, the Starlight Archon..he was gone...

Mom stepped forward in the recording.

“Orion, I love you son but I have to be the smart one here. If this message is playing you have your leg in a metal tube, say something for me, say attach pipbuck.”

“Attach pipbuck?”

Something clamped around my leg, the metal tube opened out, freeing me. Slowly I drew my leg out, wrapped around my right front leg was a strange device, like a small screen with a few buttons. I tapped one curiously, the screen lit up, displaying a single word.

>Hello.

“Hello?”

>Voice Print Confirmed, Greetings Orion.

Wait, I was talking to some text on a screen?

“Orion”, I looked back to my mom's smiling image. “By now you should have realised the device on your leg is special. Its called a pipbuck, specifically its the only Zeta-Buck ever created. I made it for you. The PipBuck can do many things, it will help keep you safe. Now above the screen you will see a blue button.”

Yea, there it was. “When you press that you can talk to the pipbuck, there's an AI in its memory, one of my best inventions.”

I tapped the blue button, instantly the odd text messages began to reappear.

>AI Start-Up Confirmed.

>Designation V.I.S.T.A.

“What does vista mean?”

> Virtual

Intelligence

Standalone

Tactical

Analyser

>Start-Up Protocols Complete. Analysing Functions.

>Auto Mapping Confirmed.

>EFS Confirmed.

>Threat Analyser Confirmed.

>Map Database Corrupted

>Memory Database Corrupted

>Suggest AI Reinstall

Great I just got this thing and I broke it. Wait what's that?

I brushed at the pipbuck, cleaning some dust away and revealed two small pictures engraved into its side, a four leaf clover cut by a starburst and an open book with a quill laying across it... My folks cutie marks. I found myself hugging the pipbuck to my chest, my folks were dead but they tried to keep me safe, they even built this thing so I would be protected when they were gone, they left me with some part of them.

I looked up at the screen, my parent smiled down at me, my dad standing there with one of his ebony wings draped across mom's back. I couldn't stop myself, with tears running down my face I reached up and touched their image, the recording played its final message, my mom and dad spoke together.

“We love you son, stay safe.”

The screen went black. I couldn't hold it back any more, I dropped to the ground, my legs covering my face as I wailed in sorrow, I don't know how long I lay there for. All I really know is I had cried like a little filly and I didn't care. It was a lot to take in, finding out my life was a lie, finding out the two ponies I cared about most were gone. Finding out I was all alone...

Why did dad say he was a coward? I never once saw him back down from anything, he faced down those timberwolves like it was nothing. Wait, I remember he did suffer from nightmares,real bad ones too. Him and Mom both. I don't know what they saw to cause that but..

OK Orion, puzzle this out later, get your flank off this floor, check for supplies and get the hay out of this room now.

So with a purpose I headed to the lockers, hoping to find something amazing that will keep me safe and help me out of this place. A quick search of them revealed a slightly battered saddlebag, a few bottle caps for some reason, a few tins of preserved food and a box of sugar bombs! I loved those things! Mom forbade me from eating them because the sugar made me hard to handle but what she doesn't know... she... she's gone...

No! I won't break down and cry again, I dropped all the items but the bottle caps into my newish saddlebag and fixed it to my flanks. I glanced around, after a little searching I located a staircase that led up to a metal plate. This has got to be a way out!

I trotted up the rusty metal stairs, grinning ear to ear at the thought of getting out. My smile faded when I realised there was no way I could lift that plate, it cut the stairs off mid step, the thing was bigger than me, hmm OK Orion, think.

Dad could bust through it like it was made of paper, mom would use her magic to lift it and me... I'll poke at it with a hoof and wonder why I never got dads big size.

Something beeped, after a moment of looking about in confusion I glanced down at my pipbuck, the bugged out AI was talking again.

>Subject Orion, You Wish To Leave This Facility?

>Y/N?

What the hay does facility mean?

“OK, I want out”. Boy did I feel stupid talking to my hoof.

>Confirmed. Opening Seal.

With a groan and an ear splitting screech, the metal plate began to rise. Soil showered in through the seams as the plate, or door? I don't know the term, rose slowly. Pale daylight streamed in, as soon as there was space, I rushed through and looked up at the bright blue...

What happened to the sky? As far as I could see was a thick layer of clouds, pale daylight filtered through. I looked about, I was in a forest, dead trees surrounded me and cut off my view in most directions. A broken road led away between the trees, with no other real choice apparent I trotted along the broken tarmac.

I must have walked for a few hours, my stomach was grumbling and I was feeling really thirsty but I had no water. I face hoofed with a sudden realisation of how stupid I was being, Dad had taught me to control ice, I can make small chunks from the air. After a moments frowning in concentration I had an ice cube balanced on my hoof. With a grin a dropped it in my mouth and sucked happily as I continued along the road.

You know what? All these dead trees are very depressing and the lack of any company is starting to get me down. Heck I don't even know how long I was in that tube! With sudden inspiration I tapped the blue button on my pipbuck.

>State Query.

“How long was I in that tube for?” why I never thought to ask VISTA earlier I'll never know.

>Calculations Complete. Stasis Period 217 Years.

Wait what? “Redo the numbers! That cant be right!”

>Calculating, Checking For Additional Input.

>Calculations Complete, Stasis Period 217 Years.

No way... That can't be true! I would have died or been pickled in that time!

“VISTA, how am I still alive if that's true?” I had to work this out.

>Stasis Protocols State Subject Orion Was To Be Preserved Via Healing Potion Submersion.

Healing potion? “So I spent two centuries asleep in some healing potion?”

>Affirmative.

“What does affirmative mean?”

>Correcting. Yes.

This stupid program is annoying me. And perfect, its getting dark.

I flapped my wings. They felt really stiff, I guess they never got to stretch a lot in the tube. I doubt I could fly until tomorrow. Looks like I'm camping out tonight. I looked about and spotted a cave set into a hill partly hidden by the dead tree line. I trotted over, thinking to myself that if I lit a fire I would at least be warm and it would keep the wildlife away.

Ow.

I tripped over something in the fading light, face planting with enough style to make me feel 20% more uncool. Muttering to myself in annoyance I glanced back at the offending item and froze. There was the bones of a pony there, I wasn't good with seeing things like this, wait...

Wrapped around the bones was a leather saddle, fitted to it was twin boxes with some kind of metal box tubes leading to some odd looking metal pipes, What the hay was this thing? I carefully removed the saddle and placed it to one side, there was a hole near the bones, it looked blackened like it had been on fire, with care I pushed the unknown ponies remains in and spent the next hour covering them.

“May Celestia guide you home, may Luna Guide you through the night. May you find rest at your journey's end. Now your harmony is passed, may you sleep with the ones you lost. Rest now, find peace”

My mother taught me that prayer, a farewell for those we lost. I may never know who this pony was but whoever it was deserved more that to lay in the sun until a scavenger desecrates his or her remains, Nopony deserves to simply lay in the sun...or as close to sun as we get through the clouds and rot to dust.

I took the odd and strangely heavy item to the cave with me, with a little work and striking my hoof on a stone for sparks, I got a small fire going. With nothing else to do I ate a can of corn and took a look at the saddle, The pipes were fixed to some kind of box metal. Scraping my hoof at the rust across one pipe I uncovered a single word engraved into the pipes side, Vengeance.

So this thing was called Vengeance eh? Duel..whatever these things were.

“Oh my gosh is that a Dx-109?”

I glanced up, a pony had wandered into my cave. she was a unicorn with pale red hair with peach streaks and a blue coat, She wore a black jacket and boots. Black bands hung from her legs, she had a pair of black saddlebags hung from her flanks. A wide black cowgirl hat sat on her head.

Without warning the saddle floated into the air with her magic and almost exploded into little parts, This odd unicorn brought each part up to her eye and examined each while muttering to herself.

“Hmm, spring is rusted, I'll replace that, the bore is rusted I can file that out... let me see the trigger assembly is sound, the auto loader needs to be replaced, I can switch out the firing pins with a pair of titanium ones from that TR-660 I stripped, the saddle needs taking in. if I switch out the crystals for the charged ones from that GR-772 that will bring back the guns enchantments...”

“Excuse me but who the buck are you?”

The odd unicorn looked at me with surprise, she seemed shocked I was there!

“Oh sorry, I'm Happy Trails! Call me Happy!”

Wow this girl was so hyperactive, even more so than me after a box of sugar bombs!

I decided she was harmless, just obsessed with the pipe thing, or whatever it was. “Call me Orion, feel free to share my fire.”

Happy gave me a wide grin, “Much obliged youngster!”

Why was this girl so happy, no pun intended, all the time? she had been here for maybe five minutes and she had not stopped smiling once.

There was the crack of a breaking twig outside, Happy gave a sigh, “Be right back Hun, Just gotta take of of this Raider who's been following me.”

Without any other explanation she trotted outside. After a moment there was a loud bang and Happy trotted back into my cave, levitating a small pipe fixed to a box. Smoke curled from the open end of the small pipe.

“That's one Raider who regrets going for my cute flank!”

Well she did have a cute flank, not as cute as Luna but... stop it Orion, focus on the crazy girl in front of you. well she is pretty cute in a crazy way..stop it Orion, focus.

“What's that thing you're floating about?” I'll admit I'm curious, I have no idea what it is so I have to ask somepony in the know.

“This? Its a 9mm pistol with walnut grips and a polished slide!”

“OK one more time, this time for the not so smart ponies.”

“You don't know what a pistol is? Haven't you ever heard of a gun?”

I gave Happy a blank look, what in Equestria is a gun?

The blue unicorn gave me a strange look, “How have you got to be this old and not seen a gun?”

I glare at Happy with annoyance, “Well I'm sorry but until a few hours ago I was asleep in a tube. I didn't get a lot of updates.”

The blue unicorn tipped her hat back and gave me a wide grin, “So you're a cryo-kid eh? I heard the tales of ponies being put to sleep before the war but I thought they were just stories. What was it like being in a pony freezer?”

Did she just... OK Orion, crazy girl before you, remember what to do, 1. keep calm, 2. smile and 3. don't raise your voice.

I smiled at Happy, “It was actually kind of peaceful, there was this fake world where I was living with my folks. It was kind of nice.”

“How long were you in there?”

I lifted my pipbuck, “This thing says 217 years”

Happy let out a loud gasp, “You have a pipbuck? Let me see! Let me see!”

Without waiting for a response the crazy girl grabbed my leg and started poking buttons at random.

“Aww its broken”, Happy gave me a pout with wide tear filled eyes. I'm a sucker for crying girls. I looked down at my pipbuck and tapped a button, instantly the screen lit up.

“It only responds to you?” The insane unicorn gave me a strange look. “Are you a spy?”

OK, I remained dignified in my response, let nopony tell you I fell over and giggled like a filly on helium. After a moment to compose my thoughts, and not laugh my plot off, I managed to give an answer.

“No I'm not a spy, what kind of spy doesn't use a... what did you call it? A gun?”

Happy levitated the cloud of bits from my gun, I think its a gun anyway, and floated out some odd metal bits and crystals from her saddlebags. Frowning she pulled a collection of wire brushes and set to work. I watched in silence for hours, fascinated as she worked at the rusted wreck. Occasionally she levitated a different gun from her bags and broke it apart and used its remains on my gun. Watching her rub the wire brush at the rusted tubes in the flickering firelight was almost hypnotic.

<====0x0====>

With a snort I woke up, the fire was out and Happy was asleep, surrounded by her tools and piles of metal parts, I suppose I should call them gun parts, and there next to the burnt out fire, gleaming silver, was my gun. It was the same shape so it had to be the same one but it shined with oil and looked brand new, not at all like the rusted wreck I had taken from that ponies remains.

I walked over and took a closer look, the saddle had been altered to fit a much smaller frame, slits in the top seemed to be made for Pegasus wings. She just met me and did all this for me?

I ran my hoof across the oiled leather of the saddle, feeling awestruck that this strange pony had repaired this for me, even if I still had no idea how it was used or what it did for that matter.

I wonder if this is how Dad felt when uncle Winter Sky took him under his wing? An unknown and capable pony showing you kindness just because they could, asking nothing in return. Uncle Winter was the only pony I ever met who was bigger than Dad, Gruff and overly serious. He was the pony who taught my Dad his Pegasus magic, and in turn Dad taught it to me. Well he tried, other than causing small snowstorms and creating chunks of ice I can't do much.

Slowly I ran my hoof over the gleaming metal, the word Vengeance now picked out in gold, it must have been hidden under the rust. Only one word came to mind.

“Amazing...”

“Kind of you to say Hun, fixing up guns is my talent”, Happy Stretched out, rubbing sleep from her eyes with a hoof. “I fixed her up good, everything works but there's no ammo for it. That dual rifle rig uses 5.56 mill ammunition, I don't carry a calibre that big but its fairly common so you won't find it hard to pick up if you have the caps.”

Happy looked at my confused face with a sigh, “You don't know what I mean by caps do you?”

I decided to be honest, “I have no idea what you mean in any way, shape or form. I'm sorry but I only got out of that tube yesterday.”

Happy sighed with frustration, “OK Hun, it works like this, we use bottle caps as money now, everything is worth some amount of caps, you can trade stuff you scavenge and sell what you don't want, all for caps.”

“So bottle caps are the new bits? That's a real odd choice for money.”

Happy gave me an amazing smile, wow was she cute... stop it Orion, you're learning the basics of this time so stop looking at her flank and listen! Wow two crossed pistols? That's one cool cutiemark. Orion this is your conscience talking, the mare is trying to help you out here, she s telling you things you need to know to survive so stop checking her out and listen.

“Well after the war not everypony had piles of bits, so it was natural to use something anypony could find.”

Hmm I suppose that made sense, why use something that's rare as a currency? A thought occurred to me. With a groan I dropped down and covered my face with my hooves.

“Wants wrong Hun?”, Happy was giving me a concerned look.

I gave a loud sigh and looked up,”There was a pile of caps in one of the lockers where I woke and I left them!”

Happy gave me a radiant smile, “Don't you worry none, you couldn't know. Besides you can find caps anywhere, That's actually the odd thing about the wastelands. Kick over a couple rocks and you will see what I mean.”

Feeling more than slightly confused I obeyed, I wandered about the cave, overturning random rocks. Under my fifth rock I found a single cap. Now that was both cool and a little scary. Why would there be a bottle cap under a rock in a random cave?

Happy grinned at my expression, “I told you Hun!”

“This world is crazy, what the hay happened to my Equestria?”

“That youngster will have to be a tale for another day, I best get moving if I want to make town before nightfall.”

There was a town nearby? My wings were still too stiff to fly so I was hoofing it.

“Happy, do you mind if I come with you? I really don't know what I'm going to do...”

The blue unicorn drew me into an awkward hug, “Kiddo, I was just going to ask you to come with me. I couldn't sleep at night if I was worried about a nice young buck like you.”

Not blushing, not blushing.

Happy showed me how to strip Vengeance down so I could fit it into my saddlebag, I was going to treasure that gun..or battle saddle as Happy informed me. I may never actually use it but she had worked so hard on it, as a gift for a stranger.

<====0x0====>

We walked the rest of the day away, Happy chatting at me about anything that popped into her head, I'll admit I learned a lot on how to maintain guns. She even told me what a gun was at last, it turned out to be a weapon that fired chunks of lead called bullets at speeds way above any that a unicorn could throw it. I'm not the smartest pony out there but I could understand some of what she told me. Each bullet had a size or calibre and could fire from any gun that fired that calibre. My saddle fired 5.56mm rifle rounds, a pretty common kind but it had some kind of enchantments that gave each round a special effect.

Happy hoofed me a few coloured bullets and explained how each had an effect, blue fired sparks of energy that worked on machines, red set things on fire, black punched through armour, orange exploded.

It made little sense to me why such effects existed, I mean why did anypony need these weapons?

Then Happy explained the war to me, how we had almost killed the entire pony race over coal. It just seemed so stupid to me. Why fight over a rock? I knew myself that there was ways to make electricity without coal and magic. My mom had helped me make a windmill with magnets when I was a colt, the metal blades turned with the magnets behind them and lit up a light bulb... not very brightly but it did work and I got a ribbon for it.

Happy slowed her walk and motioned me to be quiet, straining my ears I could pick out several ponies talking loudly.

“She has to be going this way, That unicorn will learn that nopony crosses the Split Hooves and lives.”

“Do we have to kill her right away? A pretty mare like her will keep the boys entertained for a few days at least!”

“Fine! Don't kill her right away, maybe we can make some caps selling that mare.”

“What's if she s not alone boss?”

“Then kill anypony she's with.”

Happy cursed under her breath and motioned me to duck behind a fallen log. Carefully Happy pulled a collection of small pistols from her saddlebags and a pile of thin box like things full of bullets and laid them down.

“OK Orion, I hate to do this but I need your help here, Those ponies are raiders, they rape, murder and mutilate good ponies for fun. I upset one of them when instead of letting him rape me, I shot him in the face.”

I'll admit, I'm getting more than a little scared. I just heard a pony telling somepony else to kill me!

“Orion, I won't ask you to kill anypony. What I need you to do for me is to keep loading my guns.” Lifting one of the guns and one of the box things, Happy demonstrated to me how to load it. “Slap the clip into the bottom until it locks and rack the slide back.” The top half of the gun slid back with a ka-chick sound. “To remove the clip, push on this little button.”

“There! That's her behind the log!”

Bullets began to hammer into the wood, sending clouds of splinters into the air, Happy began to snap off shots from one of her pistols, after a moment she dropped it at my hooves and floated the next one from the pile I was loading.

I poked my head up, three ponies stood in the road, Raining fire down on us. Each wore some kind of spiked barding, with all the dirt on them I couldn't even guess what colour their manes and coats were. One fired a mouth held pistol, the second wore a battle saddle with some kind of rifle, the third blazed at us with a huge gun with a spinning barrel.

“Kill the kid!”

More lead ripped into the log, our cover was slowly being shredded.

Happy gave me a sad smile, “Sorry kiddo, it doesn't look like we will get out of this.”

A bullet ripped through the log and passed through my friends hair, Everything seem to go quiet as a thick lock of her beautiful mane fell to the dirt. Slowly, ignoring the bullets now tearing through our meager cover, she floated the lock of hair to her face.

“They shot my hair...”

Happy looked at me, her eyes shrunk to pinpoints, I have to admit that look scared the hay out of me. Slowly she stood and faced the ponies attacking us, bullets whipped past her, seeming to dodge around her gaze.

“YOU SHOT MY FUCKING HAIR!”

The pile of guns was suddenly enveloped in a blue glow, I watched in awe as no less that twelve pistols floated around Happy, each slide racked back in unison. The roar of gunfire was deafening.

Without her even looking back, The saddlebags opened and six orange tipped bullets floated up, then a strange gun, studded with crystals, it broke open revealing six chambers, an orange tipped bullet slammed into each. With a loud snap the gun closed, The rows of gems down the length of the weapon glowed orange, pulsing slowly. Then with an ear shattering roar it fired, a beam of orange light speared out. I never saw it hit but I sure felt the explosion. The winds blew Happys hat from her head and left her mane whipping behind her. Then with no other sound she passed out.

I caught her before she hit the ground, carefully I glanced over the remains of the log. Two of the attacking raiders were dead, lying on pools of blood. The third was just..around...

I threw up.

To take my mind off the sight of those remains I gathered up all the guns and packed them away. A little searching and I located her hat. With a little curiosity I took a look at that odd gun.

It was built similar to a pistol with a mouth grip but widened into a drum like barrel, almost like a revolver, at six points around the drum was a clear gemstone, a line of smaller gems led from each to the tip of the barrel. There was something carved into the grip.

“Ex fire?”

“That's Crossfire Hun”

Happy was awake! Without thinking I threw my hooves around her neck and hugged her tight.

“Whoa there cutie, you're a little young for me!”

I don't care how much I blushed, I was just glad she was OK.

“Happy, that was amazing! I have never seen anypony control so many things at once! And just what is Crossfire? That thing is so cool!”

Yes I'm over excited and I don't care.

“Easy there Orion, let me go and I'll tell you!”

With a grin I let her out of my hug and sat back. Happy gave me one of her trademark smiles before explaining.

“When I was a filly, I was fascinated by guns, not how they killed but just how they worked. The town I lived in was a popular target for raiders and slavers so my fascination was encouraged. I was taught how to maintain and clean all of the towns firearms. After a while I began to see ways I could improve how they worked. A stronger firing pin, swapping out the mechanisms with smaller calibre ones to increase the fire rate. I even discovered how to repair the enchantments on the few magical guns we had. They didn't approve of me experimenting.”

“I was kicked from town when a gun exploded and killed the pony using it, it wasn't a gun I had ever worked on but they needed a scapegoat and I was that. I was given the revolver I was customising and a dozen rounds. No food or water and thrown from the town gates.”

Happy gave me a sad look, “I wandered for days before starvation made me collapse, I suppose I was lucky no slavers or raiders found me. I was very lucky when I was found by the gang who built Radar, the town we are heading to, They call themselves the Gunrunners. They wanted to know where I found my revolver and so saved me. At first they refused to believe I had customised it myself, but finally let me into their workshops. Its like my personal heaven, hundreds of guns, crystals and parts. Their leader, a stallion named Blackshot gave me a day to fix and customise a revolver, it took me less than an hour. he was so impressed I was given full access and permission to experiment, I built Crossfire a few years later while experimenting with enchantments. In short it pulls the enchantments from bullets and then fires it in a concentrated beam.”

Well that explained the gun, “So what was that thing with your hair, you got scary really fast.”

Happy actually blushed, “Well That's a slightly shorter story, the town I was born in had a real bad lice problem, I loved my mane but had to keep it short. When they kicked me out I could finally let it grow and when somepony cuts it... I don't really know Hun, I just snap.”

“I can relate, I like my mane but I was always told I was just a monochrome Rainbow Dash, I don't even know who that is!”

Happy grinned at me, “I do Hun and I must say your 20% cuter.”

My face must be glowing with how hard I was blushing.

“Happy can you please stop teasing me?”

“But I love teasing you, you go such a cute shade of red!”

<====0x0====>

Radar lived up to its name, the town was built under a huge radar dish, walls of welded metal surrounded the vast dish. A huge lookout tower stretched into the sky from the structures centre. In the shadows under the great construction lay a collection of ramshackle buildings. Ponies patrolled the metal walls. There was a gateway set into the welded metal wall at the end of the road. Towers on each side sported some kind of large mounted guns, turrets I think Happy called them. They slowly tracked us as Happy led me to the gate.

“Hey! Who's a girl gotta shoot to get the gate opened?!”

A gruff voice called down, “Hey Happy! When did you have a kid? Or are you adopting him?”

My unicorn friend laughed softly then called back, “Dozer stop being an ass and open the gate! We ran into raiders a few miles down the road and I need to see Blackshot!”

The gate began to roll to the right with a loud screeching of metal scraping on metal.

>Function Restored

>Inventory Management Active

Wait what? Since when did I see Vista's messages without the screen? For that matter how could I see the green text across my vision? OK I'm not smart enough to figure this out so I'll just ignore it.

Happy led me into the town, It was surprisingly well lit considering the huge dish it was built under, the buildings seemed to be built from welded metal and were set in orderly rows. Wide streets led between each row. Even to an idiot like me it was obvious a lot of thought had gone into the towns design.

I took a look at the wall behind me as Happy led me deeper into town, A wide platform ran around the length of the wall, ladders and staircases gave access, I guess it was set up so ponies could get to the wall fast if raiders attacked?

We reached the middle of town, the building from which the dish rose from. It was square and built from some white stone, I'll admit it, standing in the shadow of that massive building, under the great dish was kind of intimidating.

Happy left me in a well lit room just inside, saying she will be back. I took a look around the room, the walls were a pale blue and covered with posters, a battered sofa was placed in one corner and a desk in the opposite corner, a table with piles of books and magazines sat in the middle.With a sigh I threw myself onto the sofa and fidgeted, I never could sit still and wait. I poked at my pipbuck in boredom, oh wait what's this? Radio? Sweet music! A few pokes later and a catchy tune began to play, I found myself tapping my hoof to the beat. Then I got up and danced, it felt great after that day to just unwind and have a little fun.

“Woo go Orion! Shake that hoof thing!”

I froze, feeling my face turn red and glanced back, Happy stood behind me grinning widely, next to her stood a large black unicorn stallion with a flame red mane, strapped to his battle saddle was the biggest rifle I had ever seen..then again all I had seen was the raiders guns from a distance and my own gun, Vengeance.

“See Blackshot? He's a good kid, just a little clueless” She gave me an odd look and stage whispered “Be careful if he gets into a huggy mood. Oh he's also great in the sack!”

The blush on my face could have lit the room.

Blackshot sighed, “Happy, please stop tormenting this kid will you? Sorry youngster, we can't seem to rid her of this habit of hers. So Happy Trails tells me you're a cryo-kid?”

“Well I woke up in a tube swimming in some weird purple water” I lifted my hoof, “Also this pipbuck tells me I was asleep for over 200 years, I have no idea how I'm not dead.”

Both ponies gave me a strange look, Happy fished in her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a bottle. Blackshot gave me a stern look.

“Orion, did the water look like this?”

I peered closer at the bottle held in Happys mouth, It was filled with a slightly glowing purple water, it did look a lot like the stuff I floated in.

“I can't be sure sir, but at a guess I'd say its the same stuff.”, I gave them a confused look, what the hay was that stuff?

“Orion” Happy smiled at me gently, “That's a healing potion, it heals wounds and reverses damage to your body.”

My mind just blanked out, I had spent two hundred years in a potion made to heal ponies? No wonder I was in such good health!

Blackshot smiled at me, “Kid I have had visitors today looking for you.”

Wait what? Who could be looking for me? I just woke up yesterday!

“Who came for me?”

Blackshot's eyes hardened, “A group of those jackasses from above the clouds, they seem to think any Pegasus from cryo belongs to the Enclave.”

Huh? What's an Enclave?

Blackshot must have seen my confusion as he began to explain, “When the bombs fell the pegasi closed up the skies with that cloud cover and left us ponies to die, now they have this idea that we should be thankful when they poke their feathered wings through the clouds to demand things from us.”

I was still confused, “So why would they be looking for me?”

Blackshot and Happy exchanged glances, “Orion, from what they said you're the relation of some kind of Pegasus hero, they want you because of that.”

Hero... ”They want me because of my dad...”

Happy threw a hoof across my shoulders, “Who was your papa Hun?”

I sighed, I knew they would have never heard of him. “My dad was named Starshot.”

Both ponies jaws hit the floor in unison.

After a moment Blackshot shook his head and stared hard at me, “You're telling me your father was Starshot, the Starlight Archon? The hero of the war of the dragon mage? The saviour of appaloosa? One of the most legendary Sky Archons in Equestria's history?! He was your father?”

I blinked slowly, the idea of my dad being that famous was..sort of scary but he was my hero, always will be.

“I don't know about the titles but my dad was a Sky Archon and he was Starshot.”

Happy gave me a really odd look, “Orion, you don't know what your papa did do you?”

“I know he protected a lot of ponies, That's all I need to know.”

“Orion” Blackshot stared hard at me, “Starshot was more than a hero, he saved so many ponies. near the end of the war he sacrificed his life, saving Equestria from a Zebra weapon.”

“How do you know so much about dad?” I had to ask, the Archons were supposed to be a secret.

“Thank Rainbow Dash for that.” Blackshot smiled warmly at me, “When those feather brains closed off the sky, Rainbow was the only one who tried to help the ponies left down here. The first thing she did, was release the files on all of the secret heroes of the war. Kid you should be proud of your father, He was a great pony.”

I could feel tears in my eyes, “I always was proud, he was always my hero...”

I felt happy wrap her hooves around me as I sobbed my heart out, I tried to be tough, but everything that had happened from when I woke up till now had just been too much. I lost all I knew, I lost those I loved, I even lost my whole world. Now I'm alone in a dangerous world and I'm being hunted by unknown pegasi.

Blackshot laid a hoof on my shoulder, “Kid, we want you to stay here, Happy has secured a place for you to live.”

My mind was made up, as much as I wanted to stay with my friends there was something I had to do first.

“I can't stay, I'm going to find out what happened to my parents.”

“I understand kid” Blackshot straightened up and shouted at the door, ”Dozer!”

The head of a massive green earth pony poked through the door. “Yes boss?”

The big stallion nodded to me, “Teach this kid to shoot and get him outfitted”

My jaw must have bounced from the floor as Blackshot grinned at me.

“Happy would kill me if I sent her friend out into the wastelands unarmed and untrained”

Footnote : Level Up! Science 5

Unarmed 10

Guns 10

New Perk Added: Regeneration: 200 years in healing potion has changed you. HP and AP now regenerate 10% faster and all healing items heal you for an additional 20%