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"<Can I get you anything to eat? Some food? Water?>"

She shook her head, wiping her eyes and sniffling, but Meathead insisted. "<I'm going to get you some water. Your body will thank you for it.>"

Gulping, her throat felt dry. Meathead took two paces outside of the cabin door and picked up a yellow plastic jug filled with water, pouring out some into a large mug that Thunderstruck could wrap her hooves around.

In the few seconds it took Meathead to retrieve the water, she took another glance, looking out through the door and seeing the wooden ship interior.

"Thanks." She said, accepting the water. "Why did you do this? Where are we?"

"<We're about 30 stories up, inside of the USS Constitution. Next to a Vault or Goodneighbor, this is about the safest place in the Commonwealth.>" Thunderstruck tensed up at the sight of a protectron patrolling through the glass, but Meathead quickly calmed her down. "<Don't worry, they're on our side. We've got a small platoon of robot soldiers patrolling the ship all hours of the day and night, so it's safe. They wont hurt you.>"

Thunderstruck was quietly reserved, but Meathead read her easily. "<As for why, because it was the right thing to do. When I saw you, I could feel just the big wells of sadness pouring off of you, the melancholy, the timidness, and fear of the unknown. It's an idea that we shouldn't take advantage of those who are in a desperate situation. When we reached you, and saw what other people did to you, we knew that you weren't the only one. Do you know how many more ponies are back where you're from?>" Meathead phrased, avoiding Nuka-World.

"Hundreds? What was that word you said, the Constitution? What is it?"

Meathead gestured all around the room. "<This is the USS Constitution, all of this we're standing in right now is a big sailing ship that Nate and I helped restore. Do you remember an extremely loud noise about two-three days before you flew over Diamond City?"

"Loud...noise? Ah! The noise! That distracted them long enough for us to escape! Oh my gosh! I need to go!" Thunderstruck was already turned towards the railing, taking steps to build momentum and fly away.

"<Wait! Wait. You escaped from Nuka-World, right? What do you mean 'we'?>"

" A few other pegasi broke free, but we all scattered. I...I don't know where any of them went, but we heard about humans that helped slaves, who help people break free and escape."

"<The Railroad?>"

"That's them!"

"<A lot has happened since the voyage, I haven't heard about any other pegasi, but I do know where we can find the Railroad, the only thing is, that it's three in the morning, and I'm waiting for Nate before we go to them.>"

"Who's Nate?"

"<He's a human, he's my best friend too, I trust him with my life. If there's one thing he's willing to do, is help people. If there's one thing I know about him, is that he is more than willing to help you find your friends...would...well...I met a unicorn pony recently. A red unicorn named Athena. Would you happen to know her?>"

"A red unicorn? Athena?" She shook her head. "That's her name?"

"<Orange and purple mane? Cutie mark of a severed woman's head with snakes for hair?>"

"Her!" Thunderstruck worked her jaw, "I didn't know her name, but yeah! She is extremely violent, but she's a raider for sure...other raiders wouldn't go near her, but was never randomly violent like everybody else, when she attacked someone it was for a good reason. She was one of the ponies I saw who wasn't a slave. I didn't think she would still be alive...I didn't expect to see any other ponies outside of that hell-hole. I don't know which gang she belonged to or what her kind of deal she made, otherwise, I'd steer clear of her."

"<Well, she's... >" Meathead was about to say 'good hands', but thinking about Pickman made Meathead's skin crawl.
"<I met her. It wasn't really the proper time to ask her questions, but I invited her here with her human friend, Pickman.>"

"<Listen, I'll give you a short tour of the USS Constitution, but then I actually need to get some sleep. There's a human kid downstairs that I need to escort home in the morning, and a whole bunch of Giddyup Buttercups that want to meet you, and then after that, I need to find a suit. I'll show you around, but I need to change my appearance for the robots outside.>"

"Change? What do you mean?"

"<It's in part of my name~ CHANGE-ling. I can change, I can change who I look like, I can make myself a copycat of ponies or people I see. When I'm with Nate, I change myself to look like a German Shepherd.>"

"Huh? Why do you chose to look like a dog?"

"<That's another part of the long story, and I'd be willing to tell you the whole thing, but later.>"

"Could you change yourself to look like me?"

"<Yes. Of course.>"

"Do it."

"<Alright.>" Meathead replied, accepting the request. In a flash of green fire, Meathead changed into an exact replica of Thunderstruck.

Before Meathead could say anything more however, Thunderstruck kissed Meathead, startling him. She pulled away and frowned.

"Hmmm. Didn't think I was that bad."

"<No, it's not that, you just startled me.>" Meathead replied in Thunderstruck's voice, but sensing he could get a second chance, "<Here, try again.>"

Leaning forward, Meathead primed the emotion of love, letting it flow into Thunderstruck as they kissed again. Passionately locking lips and falling in love with the new image of herself. She felt free and happy, something that she withheld from allowing herself to feel that way in a long time.

When they broke, "<How was that? Better?>"

Thunderstruck nodded. "Better."

"<Alright, now, don't be alarmed, but I need to change into Nate, it'll give you a good first look at him too while I show you around the ship.>"

Thunderstruck sat down and nodded again, breathing in and expecting the change.

In another flash, Meathead was Nate, and the first thing Thunderstruck did was tilt her head. "What's that your wearing?"

"<It's a vault suit. It's what Nate wears most of the time. We're from Vault 111, see here on the chest?" Meathead said, pointing to the numbers. Turning around, it was much more obvious.

"Why don't you go around as yourself?" She asked.

"<It's to hide. Except for a few places like here, I know the Institute is monitoring people and places around the Commonwealth with robotic birds.>"

"Robotic birds?"

"<Yeah. When you meet Piper and Nate, I'll have them show you. We spotted the crow two days ago sitting in a tree with two others. You know how I said I could sense emotions? Well, on the flip side, I can also tell what isn't giving off emotion. I can root out robots, synths that look like humans, and the fakes. I didn't notice before because usually they're all clustered together in big groups, but since it was just Nate, Piper, the birds and myself, it was easy to pick them out. As for who the Institute is? They're a problem. They shot Nate's wife, Nora, kidnapped his son, Shaun, and then decided to kill everyone but Nate and myself in Vault 111. He barely slept for seven days until he tracked down and hung the man who was paid by the Institute to do this.>"

"They sound terrible."

"<They're not putting their best foot forward, so now Nate's got it in his mind to wage a small war against them. He says he has a plan for dealing with them, but I don't know what he thinks, just what he feels. I can assure you though, he is extremely passionate about tearing down the Institute, brick by brick when it comes down to it.>"

"<Let me show you around, it's actually got a pretty good view up top here, but since it's dark, we'll have a good view of the stars. As a pegasus, I think you'll enjoy it.>"

\111/

Meathead's tour of the boat first lead Thunderstruck up to the top deck, where the duo were able to make out some of the skyscrapers, but it was the light from the stars and moon that made the early morning visible to them.

The darkness was unsettling, and the patrolling robots didn't do much to quell any fears she had about robots, but after a few assurances from Meathead, and after realizing they wouldn't attack her, she calmed down a little.

"<I don't know if you have any plans, or are just looking for a safe place to stay, but you are always welcome here. Anytime, consider this your home. Once we settle in, we'll stockpile this place with a little more food, and I actually believe the Buttercups have some canned goods in the offices and store on the ground floor. I know Nate wants to talk with you, Piper, too. I'm 99% sure Nate's got a plan forming on dealing with Nuka-World, permanently.>"

The word made Thunderstruck cringe at the mention of the place.

"<But, if I know Nate, he'll end up running the whole place by the time he's done with it.>"

Meathead's declaration only made Thunderstruck twitch violently and dip her head down.

"<What did I say that was wrong?>"

"So he knows about the Gauntlet too?"

"<Gauntlet? What Gauntlet?>"

"The Gauntlet. A death trap that tricks raiders and other people into going into a maze filled with explosions, poison, and every other horror. It kills most of the people who try, but those who make it through get a chance to fight the-" Stretching her neck, the word didn't come out easily. "Overboss. Ever since they built it, the rule is if you kill-" She swallowed "Colter. Then you get to be the new boss."

Meathead stood there...unsure if he heard Thunderstruck correctly, "<Wait, what?>"

"If you kill Colter, then you get to be the new Overboss of that hell-hole. But any person running that would be just as terrible as the people who put it all together. I heard nobody's even been able to put a scratch on Colter. Electric Power Armor or something. It stops people from even being able to touch him."

"<Huh, well, I happen to know a guy. Listen, Thunderstruck. I don't want you to think about or worry about that place any more. They can't hurt you. I will make sure that I do everything in my power to keep those raiders away from ever knowing you still exist. As long as we're alive, we will work to keep you safe.>"

As Meathead went down below, Thunderstruck felt the cool night air put a damper on her flight, but still, she persisted.

Flying off the rail, she flapped her wings and aimed straight for the next skyscraper. Wandering through buildings with blown out windows at the top usually were devoid of desks, cubicles, chairs, and other supplies. Instead, the fierce winds so high up could blow upwards of 70 to 110 knots per hour, ripping most of the interior out. Otherwise, like seaweed on the beach, everything was washed up against one wall.

Thunderstruck kept her exploration to the high towers, yet refraining from exploring the darker floors below, then returned in time to watch Meathead wake up.