Author's Notes:

Artwork today provided by:
Lightning Bliss
Baja Gryphon

Editor Primary:
Propmaster

Proofreader: The_MT / Arcane Gears

Long ago, men clad in armor rode into the forefront of battle, they attacked with suddenness, violence, and massed weight, they were the first impact that paralyzes the enemy and destroys his will to fight, they were called knights.
Today they’re called Tankers.
-General Creighton Abrams, 3rd Armored Division

No matter what anypony tells you, tanks are loud, bumpy, and cramped. Even for a pony of my size, I was finding it difficult to make my way from the co-driver seat up to the turret section. Something was bound to shake lose somewhere inside much to my irritation. I found myself cramped between the engine and the turret ring, hoping we did not need to move the turret. That or Quick Stitch would give me warning if he needed to stop and now impale me into a long bolt or throw me headlong back into the turret compartment.

There were a couple of gears, bolts, or spot welds that simply were not holding up, no matter how many times I adjusted them while we were moving. I really need to fix these standing still with the engine off. Have to wait till I can get at it; hopefully it holds out with these field repairs. I also had to get over any problem I had with touching any of my friends. Sometimes I was between Nyota’s legs working on one of the turret pieces because it wouldn’t finish the turn all the way around. Other times, I was halfway up Scopola Mina’s backside with my spine against her butt while I got into the storage section of the ammunition.

While not ideal, there was simply nothing that could hurt us. A radscorpion jumped in front of us, only to break it’s stinger on the front hull and get crushed under the treads. We did stop to strip it for carapace and meat. There was too little left of it from having thirty tons of steel roll right over it. That was by far one of the most theraputic things to happen on the way through.

Nyota leaned down where he could be heard by Quick Stitch and I without the radio as we rumbled along, following the railway tracks as Soot recommended. “Hey! We should name the tank.” I turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, a wrench in my mouth. I had been working on tightening a slightly loose bolt that held the long range radio in place.

I reached up and turned the radio on to see if it had any reception. Nothing but static as I grabbed my intercom, “Hey, Quick Stitch; shut her down. No sense in wearing her out yet.”

Quick Stitch did not engage the brake. He relaxed, his hair somehow still flowing inside the tank. I had gotten used to the flowing sparkles, his radiation mutation strange and interesting. This old refurbished rust bucket was moving and Quick Stitch was truly enjoying himself. The smile across his lips dropped a bit and I sighed, “Roll it to a stop, no need to hit the brakes.”

Quick Stitch got a little smirkier and the tank would take nearly a full minute to roll itself to a stop. The rumbling and rattling stopped as the Spell-Matrix went to idle and the transmission stopped rotating. Quick Stitch put it in park and turned the power down to the minimum level to keep it running. “There we go, Sunrise, we can stay in here and keep warm if we need, or sleep on the engine. It will be ready to go—” I held up my hoof and nodded to him; I understood, and he was explaining it to me like a pony who had not worked on the tank. Quick Stitch nodded and slowly his broad smile faded into a light, happy grin.

"You really enjoy driving her that much?" I leaned in as I talked to him. The excited nod sent his flowing mane all over the cabin, showing his teeth in his smile and very enthausiastically happy as he went to touch the controls with his hooves again.

Scopola Mina coughed as she had leaned into the driving compartment and got a mouth full of flowing sparkle hair. She cleared it with her magic and moved Quick Stitch's head slightly to the side in her TK. "Hey Sunrise, anything you can do to enhance these vision ports for me?"

I thought about it, an idea did pop into my head. I gave her a firm nod, "I can talk to Soot; we have some extra crystalline I can make some glass out of it, that should give you some enhancement."

I popped my hatch. The first sensation you get when you pop a hatch from a tank or a ship isn’t the sudden loss of claustrophobia or the blinding light that pours in over the dim lamps that illuminate the inside of the tank. None of that reaches your mind first. No, the first thing is the smell and the feeling of fresh air. The sudden change from breathing grease and metal-laden stale air to crisp, dusty, wasteland breath is a radical change. Next is the temperature difference. Inside the tank it is always at least ten degrees warmer, as soon as you get out; it was like being hit with an air conditioner just as it turned on.

It was so strange that, out of all my senses, the first to report I was outside the hull were my tongue and nose. I took a moment to trade my leather and foam tank helmet for my heavy metal infantry one. It only made me feel marginally less vulnerable. I finished climbing out of the tank as Alguacil landed nearby.

My PipBuck blipped from the direction we had come, something was in the distance. A yellow dot, neutral but potentially hostile. The blip quickly disappeared as I looked in that direction. What are you? Why are you following us still?

“Sunrise, why we stopped, ther’ ‘re at least two more ‘ours we can drive in daylight.” I grimaced at Alguacil, the overcast sky wasn’t dark only foreboding. I wished I could feel daylight again, this was just another day I expected it to rain.

“And the rain kills you, like the wrong amount of yeast keeps killing my soufflé!” Pink held up a soufflé that deflated the moment she took the top off of it. It made a sound like a balloon leaking out air rapidly as it became a mess of batter and bread.

I groaned in frustration and rolled my eyes at Pink. Alguacil tilted his head like I had done it with him. I cleared my throat, “We are in no hurry. We have time to sit outside that tank and just relax for a bit.”

Alguacil raised an eyebrow, “I thought you’d be at home in machines; somethin’ wrong, Sun and Fun?”

I let out an exasperated sigh, “No, Alguacil. I am at home fixing them, riding in one for more than the time it takes to fix is a new experience.” I started stretching out my legs and for once enjoying the sensation of the wasteland dirt against my hooves. I miss grass. I also miss concrete, that felt clean.

Alguacil snorted and nodded, “Ye’h I ain’t gonna envy y’ll. Being in a metal box with all dat racket it makes. Can’t imagine I would be too happy in it all day, too.” Alguacil walked over to the tank and started helping the rest of our friends out of it, one or two at a time.

Nyota was already out and approached me, he was wiggling his legs as he walked. He was not used to the cramped space anymore than the rest of us. None of us were wearing our armor yet, so if we were going to get ambushed, this might be the time to do it. At least that is what the survival paranoia inside me was saying. I’ve been in this wasteland far too long, I’ve forgotten to just relax and just enjoy the moment.

Nyota started rubbing my sore and cramped legs, shattering my thoughts. His hoofwork against my muscles and pressure points felt like a divine caress across my flesh and muscles as his frogs worked upon my pressure points and tightened joints. My body started to feel like it’s old self again and I was melting into his grip. The sensation made me close my eyes and just focus on feeling more of his wonderful work.

My senses dulled and I melted into his embrace. I slowly opened my eyes to see his broad grin across his lips, and realized I had been moaning and mewling at his touch. “So, how long till we get where we are going?”

I checked our direction, we were now only around five more hours of driving to get to The Roof. “Sometime tomorrow afternoon, we should arrive. You can all get supplies and things we need, and I can…” I trailed off and Nyota raised my head by the chin, looking into my eyes. “Get some closure.”

Nyota smiled and reached down to place a hoof where my heart should be. I felt it flutter a bit and then shuddered at remembering everything we lost.

“I get it, Sunny. You sure you won’t be joining us in town?” I nodded back at Nyota, pulling the tears back into my eyes. I wanted some more time to see Corners, or at least speak to her one last time. I owed her that much; a proper goodbye. Just me, her, and the wind. My heart was sinking and the tears were already welling up as I couldn't bear to look at Nyota or give him a proper verbal response.

We started to make our camp against the tank. Chifundo stretched his legs out and walked a little bit away. Everything around us, simply put, was dead. The trees that stood were certainly no longer alive.

We gathered around our campfire and started discussing names for the Tank. Quick Stitch brought up the first idea. “What about Resurrected Rust?”

Scopola Mina cleared her throat, “What about Armored Cookie?”

Nyota rolled his eyes, “Scopola, can we not name it after a Filly Scout idea? How about Loud and Proud?”

Algaucil grunted at all of them and we turned towards him, “The way I see it, that little fill…" Alguacil cleared his throat and corrected himiself. "That mare of your’s deserved ta’ have it named somethin’ important to h‘er. Now the way I see it, h‘er dad taught h’er all this mechanical knowledge. Maybe name it after ‘im?”

I felt a lump in my throat as I considered that. I saw all their eyes turning towards me and I blushed a bit, “A little hard naming a tank Rainbowrise.” I was trying to think of a way to pronounce that quickly in combat and realized just how much of a mouthful my dad's name was.

Nyota nickered at me, “Why not? Perhaps we call it Rainbow’s Angel?”

Alguacil cleared his throat, “What about Daddy’s Halo? We'll just call it Halo for short and,” Alguacil turned to me and his talon reached over to pet against my head, stroking through the mane that was exposed under my helmet, “It honors the one who taught ya to make this. My parents were the worst,” Alguacil knelt down and leaned in to be at my level. It was still hard to not pull away from him, the glass eye was less off putting but even after all this time, he still scared me.

I saw something through, in his good eye: a tear. “Your parents meant somethin’ to ya. Somethin’ special. So for that, the best you can do is honor them. The way I honor my friends and never let da trash of th’ Wasteland get off easy.” Alguacil leaned in and I felt his wings wrap around me, as he awkwardly tried to hug me while keeping us face to face. It was clearly a motion he wasn’t used to. I found his feathers around me, strangely comforting; something about this was a long time coming. My own emotions pushed away as I focused upon what Alguacil was getting at.

I adjusted his wings with my hooves and helped him get it just right. “Sunrise, thank you for being my hope. Now let us give you some back.” He was crying. Alguacil was crying, not because of anything he lost, but because he felt something. I held the oversized bird in my hooves and he melted, crying and weeping onto my shoulder. I stroked his crown to his nape and sighed against him.

Nyota approached and embraced Alguacil from the side which suddenly made him tilt his head to twoards Nyota. All of our friends embraced the big bird, holding him close together. Alguacil's head darted around confused at all of them then finally he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh as he closed his eyes and held his head high. He was just letting the emotions and tears roll out of him. All the big law bird could do, was stay there and weep. Our biggest, toughest friend who showed the least emotion of us all, reduced to a crying mess when he finally had been given hope.

Pink smiled at us all, “You did better, keep doing better.” I smiled back and realized the hardest one to reach had been right here next to me this whole time. In the end, I didn’t need to reach him; he had reached for me.

The stop at The Roof was uneventful for everyone else. They all went inside, got ammo, repairs, food, and medicine we needed. They traded off all the stuff from Upsville and even set up the next caravan to head towards Upsville with trade goods. All of this happened while I stayed outside with the tank. I stood over the graves of Corners and Picline, with the two shotgun barrels wedged in the ground still. Dozens of flowers were on the grave; fresh flowers. Flowers that I never seen grow in the Wasteland. Notes and letters were stacked there, too. People were even putting them on the box for Corners or near the shotgun barrels addressed to Buddy. All of this was out there with the tree that was blossoming with fresh fruit. The tree had been given un-irradiated soil, tilled land, and a pipe for fresh water.

A few pilgrims came out here, but when they started to talk to me, I shook my head at them and sent them away. I wanted just to stay here and stand over Corners... No, she is better than that. I stood in vigil over my friend's grave. I stared at Corner’s box. “Corners… No, I am not going to call you that. Sugarcube Corners, I failed you. Last time I did not get to properly say goodbye. The reality you were dead had not yet set in.” I paused and felt my throat dry. My lips wanted to crack under the stain as I struggled to find the next set of words.

“I failed you, terribly. If I could go back I would probably abandon those refugees and Hot Cross Buns to come after you. I should have done that.” The image of Hot Cross Buns and the assassins who nearly killed Alguacil rushed across my mind. “I know now, my friends have to come first. I am sorry it took your life for me to know that. It took Buddy’s for me to know, I have to act or I lose my friends.” I felt bitter tears rolling down my cheeks and a salty iron taste in my mouth.

“There is nothing I could say that would be worthy of forgiveness. Nothing. Sugarcube Corners, my friend, we had our differences. I even beat your face in on Hearth’s Warming Eve; yet…” I raised myself upright and stood tall. I pushed my chest out despite the weight of my heart and heavy feeling of tears rolling down my cheeks. “You told me I might have to put you down one day and I said I would do it. I could not even do that when the time came. I failed you on every level possible, Sugarcube. I never expect to be forgiven,” I stopped talking, my lips trembling and my body shaking with a flurry of emotions. Tears falling like a rainstorm down to the ground, staining the soil over the graves. I nearly collasped to the ground as my upright posture failed and my head dropped till my nose was touching the dirt.

“If I ever manage to atone for all this, I hope you will somehow let me know. All I know is, I cannot fix the mistakes of my past. I can only never make them again. Sugarcube Corners, I promise you, I will do better.”

Nyota appeared right behind me, despite there clearly being no where to hide there. He raised my head from the dirt and smiled down at me, his own tears drying. “Well said, love.” I looked back in confusion trying to understand how he got there.

“Nyota, how long have you…” Nyota rolled his eyes and leaned over to whisper in my ear as he gently pushed his hoof to my lips.

“I am always there, even if you can’t see me. Always.” I realized now he had simply doubled back and come out here to look after me. Nyota stroked my mane, while he scanned the area around us. We were just inside sight of The Roof, the tank was locked down and buttoned up. You could not get in the thing without having the key to turn off the magnetic locks. “You sure it is safe out here without your armor or any of us?”

I groaned and looked at him, “If anyone messed with us, we would have snipers from The Roof covering us. I know for a fact they have been pointed in this direction since I started standing here.” Nyota tilted his head and I pointed at The Roof where we saw a glint of something made of glass in the distance. “See that, they have binoculars or a scope pointed this way and it keeps catching light towards me.”

“Sunrise, you need to come in out of the cold,” Nyota firmly put a hoof down like he was drawing a line in the sand, that he wasn't willing to let me cross.

I walked over to the tank, shaking my head at him. I raised my tapping its hull to a couple of satisfying thuds. “I think I will be fine out here, I can sleep in Halo.”

Nyota snorted and grabbed my leg pulling it off the tank and turning me around to face him.“No, there is something you need to see, you need to understand.” Nyota’s voice was hard, harsh and his stare was something I could not stand to endure for long. Something about the way he was looking indicated there was no aruging with him only agreeing to this demand. I started to resist but Nyota wasn’t letting go of my hoof. “I’m not letting you sleep out here alone tonight, nor am I letting this one go, Sunny. Come on inside.”

I grimaced at him when I noticed Snuggles trying to claw at the front of the tank. Her claws making no scratches but dull thuds against the armor plating. Chifundo was chasing after the rogue manticore and I raised an eyebrow. “What is she doing?”

Chifundo made some purring and feline noises at Snuggles, who turned around and made several less-than-inviting ones back. I was pretty sure one was an outright threat. Chifundo turned towards us, “It is not that she is on the attack, she wants to establish her dominance back.”

Nyota and I looked at each other and then at Chifundo then at each other. “Dominance over what?”

Chifundo cleared his throat, “She feels if she can make it submit to her smacks, she can lead us as a pack. She thinks you, Sunrise, are inferior in her eye.”

I looked at Snuggles with that primal fear and rush of post-traumatic stress I felt every time I actually acknowledged her presence. “She thinks I am weak, so she wants to be in charge of all of us? She views us as her pack?”

Chifundo nodded to these two things and I sighed, wishing I could speak manticore to explain to Snuggles that we made decisions as a group. I looked at Nyota and was reminded by his tug on my leg that I should go with him. “Sunrise, this is not up for debate, you are coming inside or spending the night out here with Snuggles.”

HEY! That is 100% not fair and a foul play! Using my fear of manticores to get me to do what you want! Pink appeared on my hud in a black and white striped referee uniform. She blew a whistle and waved her arms.

"Nopers mopers Missus Mopey! According to rule number seven six three dash two one five, on further review your stallionfriend can tooottally abuse your super legitimate fears to get you to go for snuggles! Its the ruuuules as long as he's NOOOT taking advantage of it! Besides! It's for your own good, Miss Depression Pants!" I could only stare as Pink ponked across my HUD, tossing her hat off of her head. It landed on Chifundo's back, and he even turned to look; like it was really there.

He smiled at the hat and reached up to put it on his own head. Somehow it sat there, he admired it for a moment and giggled like a school filly, "I got a hat, from the Pink brat." My face hurt when after she was out of sight, a rule book labeled: 'The Rules of Love and War: A Reference Guide by Twilight Sparkle' slammed into my cheek.

Did she just throw the book at me?! I blinked a few times in complete disbelief until Nyota leaned into my vision and demanded an answer.

Nyota dragged me inside The Roof, whether I wanted to go there or not. We made our way inside The Roof; the alternative just wasn’t something I could take anymore. The moment we approached, it was different. Instead of a scrap metal castle drawbridge like before, the door was a sliding one, built into the concrete wall. The guards were not just above on the second and third level, but inside full on pillboxes with poured concrete that protected the entrance.

I noticed several ponies in radiation gear out where the bomb we had launched fell. They were radiation scrubbing the very ground with portable pressure washers and digging tools to turn the soil over, while they sprayed it with iodine and a host of radiation absorbing materials. They were far off in the distance as we walked into the big doors. The guards nodded to me, out of respect. One of them even saluted me, a very sharp hoof and leg across his chest as I gave him a salute back.

The guards were distracting me too much and I wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of me as I heard fillies and colts exclaiming, “I’m the Angel and I declare your reign of terror over, raiders! Surrender and I’ll show you mercy!” There was laughter and suddenly a big thud as one of them plowed into me. Nyota kept me from falling down. All the kids ran up to the filly who had plowed into me. She was wearing, now crumbled, cardboard armor.

They were helping her up, all excited and bouncing around. “Omg you crashed so hard! It’s my turn to be the Angel.”

Another one called out, “Nuun, it’s my turn!” I couldn’t help but notice the filly in cardboard not paying attention to anyone, trying to take off her now bent and dented cardboard armor. I looked down at the filly and colt staring at me as the other children caught on one by one. They all turned to look in my direction, stopping moving and staring at me just as dumbfounded as I was.

“Are… are… you the Angel?” The smallest of them worked the courage up to ask. I slowly nodded and suddenly I found I had zero personal space. All of the foals rushed into me and knocked me down, with Nyota looking on in shock. His uncovered eye was open in horror as he panicked to try to get the children off of me. One of them may have been small but nearly twenty foals were piling on excitedly bombarding me with questions and squeezes as they tried to hug me all at once. I was panicking just as much as Nyota to get them off when everything stopped.

It stopped because we all had to cover our ears when Alguacil squawked loud enough to echo around us just inside the entrance to The Roof. While we were recovering from his eagle roar, he started shaping the foals into shape. “Now listen h’ere little uns. You can take yourselves one at a time to talk to ‘he Angel with a Shotgun. But swarmin’ her ain’t gonna cut it and unless you wanna come down to t’he Regulator's office with me, you’ll form a line and wait yer turn!”

The children were instantly off of me and suddenly forming an orderly line. I found myself starring in stunned silence. I was asked question after question. Within a half hour, Alguacil had herded those fillies and colts around me and in turn would stand behind one of them, place his talon on their head and motion for them to go ahead and take their turn. This made it where I wasn’t having to answer the same thing or do the same thing over and over again, save for being asked to sign things for them.

I realized my only signature had been the symbol I painted of the pony angel holding a shotgun with the sunrise behind it, so that is what I did. It took several minutes for any signatures but between the chalk, markers, and now crayons I was being hoofed; I had plenty of colors to choose from for my crude drawings. I will never be an artist. "Hey but it means impersonating you is really hard when you make the same mistakes every single time!" Pink pointed out and I grumbled at her taking shots at my beginner level artwork.

The last question I was asked caught me off guard. A small filly, I had no idea what her name was, looked at Alguacil very nervously when he placed his talon on her shoulder as gently as he could.

Alguacil nodded to her in my direction, “Go on little ‘un. Say what ya wanna say.”

The filly nervously rubbed her leg and couldn’t look back at me. She was a small zebra filly and looked very hesitant to speak. Her stripes were very different. Instead of all black stripes she had almost sock like areas all the way up past her knees covered in black with white stripes poking out. Her underbelly had no stripes and her tail had but a single streak of black in it. Her back was completely one bit blotch of darkened fur while her eyes were pink. Not magenta like my own but completely fluorescent pink. Lastly, her mane was so thick, her ears barely poked through and I almost did not realize they were ears as they blended in with the white of her mane. Her little blackened muzzle seemed on the verge of crying.

I leaned forward towards her and offered my hoof to her, not making her take it. Rather, I sensed it would be best if she reached forward and grabbed mine. “Hi there, I’m Wandering Sunrise, what’s your name?”

She grabbed my hoof with the energy of a tiny newborn trying to cling to her mother for fear the world would eat her. “M..M...Mea Anima Igni, my umm… friends just call me Balefire.” She averted her eyes and stared at the floor. She kept nervously rubbing my hoof for reassurance I wouldn’t pull away and that it was still there. “I, umm… I heard you can sing, like they used to in the old world. Can you sing for us?”

I looked at them, staggered by the idea. Previously I had only sung because I was truly inspired and caught in a motion of emotion. Here this little filly had put a spotlight on me and made me hesitate. “I mean…” I rubbed the back of my head blushing furiously white all over my face. “Yes, I remember what it is like to sing; like ponies used to. I have just never been asked to sing on demand. I might be able to come up with something?” I looked at Nyota helplessly, searching for an answer.

He wasn't about to give me one. He motioned for me to go forward and smirked, "Go on, show them Sunny."

I felt all eyes upon me, my nerves began to fray a little worse than it did when I was under gunfire. I stood up while holding this small zebra filly’s hoof and walking her to the center of our circle. I saw an inspiration, a couple of kids arguing over something behind them and the larger colt pushing his friend away. I walked through the circle, never letting go of Mae’s hoof. Mae is much nicer to say than Balefire.

Both of us felt all the eyes glued to our every movement. The group of struggling kids staring up at me, expecting some sort of punishment. I reached down to the smaller child and felt the wings of a song inspired in my head. “Go with it Sunrise, show them the magic of the dawn.”

“Remember in the darkest night,
Even if you squeal with fright,
You can help others do what's right,
With mercy and harmony's light.”

I stopped the smaller filly from punching the colt that had shoved her and shook my head. They stopped, and I continued to sing.

“You are strong enough to be kind,
You will never leave others behind,
You have plenty of mercy to find,
That everyone can be each other's friend.”

I picked up the tempo and started to teach them to dance with me. A very simple thrusting of the legs up and out as we held onto each other’s forelegs to stay upright.

“Together you all share this land,
Hoof in claw and wing in hand,
In mercy and in love you stand,
to be the start of something grand.”

They were getting into it, and they began to sing along with me when I repeated the chorus. I smiled.

“You are strong enough to be kind,
You will never leave others behind,
You have plenty of mercy to find,
That everyone can be each other's friend.

With every day Celestia gleams,
She gives us hope for better things,
And as the night brings us our dreams,
Luna soothes us as she sings

You are strong enough to be kind,
You will never leave others behind,
You have plenty of mercy to find,
That everyone can be each other's friend.”

Now all the colts and fillies joined us, singing along, dancing. It was magic. I kept singing. Nothing could stop me from finishing this song for them.

“You must remember in the night,
Even when others fill up with fright,
It is your chance to be their light,
Our harmony will set things alight!

We are strong enough to be kind,
We will never leave us behind,
We have plenty of mercy to find,
That everyone can be each other's friend.”

I finished the song and looked at all of them, the amount of excitement that was bursting from them. Something The Wasteland had stolen from us: the ability to sing. Yet here I was, a symbol of the Old World, teaching these children the very thing that I always felt was missing since I woke up. I took the time to finalize all the words to the song with them and sing it three more times, to make sure they had it right. Then finally, I walked away from them, happy to see them singing to each other and taking the words to heart; no more fighting or arguing. Each of them were just playing together and sharing what they had. Okay, Pink, you win. That is something truly special to see again.

By the time I had finished, the children were prancing around and trying to sing all of this out of tune. I laughed to myself, reminding myself that their parents would have to deal with this torture when they went home. Nyota took the opportunity to whisk me away, and I realized now that I was crying. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, as the sensation of the music flowing through me stopped. I immediately missed it, but something else in that moment drew my attention, a heartbeat from within me.

Once we were away, I was still in shock. I could not process children pretending to be me. I looked up at Nyota, “Nyota, what was that?” I looked at him very confused and concerned trying to process this. One of the street vendors started to call out towards us.

“Hey is that—” Nyota with the speed only described as super-equestrian shoved a hoof in his mouth and shook his head at the vendor while maintaining eye contact.

“She has already been swarmed once, please let her just relax.” The vendor nodded through the hoof and Nyota grabbed me by the leg to lead me towards Cross Stitch’s shop. The Roof was vibrant. More vibrant than it had been even when we first found it. Before it had been maybe fifty ponies but now, easily they had squeezed over one hundred in here. The shops were reinforced, their walls looking more uniform and made from melted and reprocessed metal instead of just scrap. Several storage containers, the ones Breakfast Blend had been using to transport trees and soil, were now turned into homes. These storage containers were stacked two high lined the far wall to create usable apartments.

In only two weeks, The Roof had been revolutionized. Ponies were happy and the lights were brighter, more stable than before. Other ponies were rushing by as work crews. They were building more houses, working on another shop, or reinforcing the walls. Most strangely to me, there was a statue in the center, made of concrete. A statue of me.

I was flabbergasted. The statue read at the bottom, ‘Angel with a Shotgun and The Savior of the Roof’ in two separate lines. Under that on a third line and in quotation marks it read: “Do Better.” Lastly under all that it said; Statue by Cross Stitch. I turned to Nyota, “What is all this?”

“Sunrise, it’s what you did. All these ponies coming together and all this new construction, this vibrancy; is your fault.” I looked at him wanting to scream and protest. Nyota covered my mouth and shook his head. “I understand love, from your perspective you did something terrible. I get it, but why don’t you explain it to me and I will explain why The Roof has worked out this way. Help you see the good in your actions.”

I thought about his words as he pulled us into the alley next to Cross Stitch’s shop and a new shop advertising fresh ramen. “I… Nyota. Please, I do not wish to relive that moment.” I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and Nyota laid down in front of me.

“I won’t make you relive it but I feel like you need to talk it out. It’s been haunting your dreams and I would like us on the same page.” I let his words sink in and slowly took time to form what I wanted to say.

My words came forward slowly. Every sound from my mouth was deliberate and well chosen as I fought to keep my tears back. “Nyota, I love you. Ultimatums, mutually assured destruction, and bombs like that destroyed the world. The world I knew and loved died in that kind of hellfire. I sat in that room, arguing with Pink for hours. I begged all of you to find me another option. Some other way besides that bomb. Some other way to not be as evil as those who destroyed our world.”

Nyota started to speak and I held up a hoof to stop him. He remained silent, laying in front of me. He was giving me a display of submission, the way he lowered his head but his eyes kept searching my face for an answer. It was like some sort of truce between us: he would agree to not push me but I had to agree to give my answer in full.

“I get that no creature actually does things because they believe they are evil. If they did, they would not do them. They have their reasons, their personal justification for why. But Nyota, you cannot deny the results of using the power of mega-spells to end the world. I am just like them, I fired one of those spells and unleashed the same destruction that ended my world.” I hesitated and felt the tears welling up in my eyes. My heart ached with a pain of a million dying souls. “Nyota, I feel like if I was given the choice; I would help create the hell we live in every day.”

I broke down and collapsed against him, crying, “Nyota, why are they celebrating? I did something so evil, so terrible.” I kept weeping and punching his shoulder with my hoof. Not hard, just in frustration. “I do not understand.”

Nyota whispered in my ear, “You made a choice, Wandering Sunrise. A choice of who lived and who died. It was a terrible choice, an unfair one. But the difference here, is you knew your enemy could not retaliate in the same way. You knew that your enemy would not be stopped, just like Zebrican and Equestrian would not stop till one of them was gone.” Nyota pulled me back so he could look me in the eye. He reached up and wiped my tears. “Sunrise, I know it’s hard for you to believe but you are the best of us.” Nyota kissed my lips and finished wiping away my tears.

“Any other leader would have used that bomb at a whim; they would have killed everyone and hunted them all down. Instead you did something truly special.” He stroked my mane, down to my shoulders and gave me a gentle nudge against my cheek with his own so he could whisper in my ear. “You exhausted everything else first, you begged them for peace at every moment, and when the smoke had cleared, you offered complete amnesty. You offered mercy and pleaded with them till you beat it in their head to listen.” Nyota cleared his throat and gave me a moment for all this to sink in.

“I don’t agree with some of your decisions, but seeing the results, I cannot question one of them. You did the right thing and the best you could do with every step.” He placed a hoof against my chest where my heart would beat against it. “Your heart is wondrous and what you did here is truly a miracle. You took two sides that wanted nothing but each other’s annihilation and you made them live with each other and like it. Sunrise, you might be what we all really need to heal The Wasteland." Nyota held up his hooves to me. "My hooves were made for violence, but now you teach me how to use it to protect, not injure. Your method Maybe not fast and maybe only a little piece at a time; but please, keep the heart I love and don’t let all the good you do be haunted by others forcing your hoof.”

I laid against him, sniffling for what seemed like forever. His hooves rubbing me as he cooed to me.Our talk was done and he whispered in my ear, “I understand why you feel the way you do. Now you understand why I think what you did was the right decision.”

I had thought perhaps we would have left it there. Once all the tears were done and I was kissing him over and over again like a schoolmare trying to get at her first love in her first estrus, he pulled me away. “I have a question and it will determine where we go next." He leaned up and kissed my cheek which I refused to let him have just that. I turned my head and pressed out lips together into a very tight embrace. My needy ministrations returned in full as he fought to break the kiss to speak while I fought to hold it. His words, his actions, him making me voice my feelings and actually listening; it was wonderous. My heart fluttered and my body demanded to be told I was alive. He pulled away with a grin as I looked blushing and flustered now. I had gone from trembling and in tears to wanting to be made one with a matress very quickly. "I promise you can jump my pride all you like afterward.”

I nodded with a blushing smile across my lips. “Okay, Mr. Perfect, what is it?”

“When we talked about a bridle in Stable Phi, it got me thinking, maybe you would like that. So do I go into Cross Stitch’s shop alone and see about a silencing talisman, or are you coming with me to be fitted for a bridle?” My blush turned to a furious flush of every part of my body very quickly. I squirmed and looked everywhere to make sure no one was watching us.

“I umm… I… bridle is slave gear, right?” I cannot say I am opposed to the idea at all. I just, ummm... need some clarification. Nyota let out a giggle, a stallion giggling! I… what is so funny?

Nyota held in his laughter and sighed, he was smiling so much at my embarrassment. “Not always, sometimes couples use various things for them. Since, ya know, I thought you might like it as a way to keep you quiet so we can...enjoy each other without our friends waking up in the middle of the night.”

I had to think on this for several minutes and looked at him with a blush as my lips trembled for the next words, “If that is the case, we are not just getting any old bridle. It has to be something very special and with a flavor and so you can lock it on me.”

Nyota chuckled and stroked my mane with a very hungry smile and lustful look in his eyes, “You may be the queen of the battlefield and ambassador for our party but,” He leaned up to whisper against my ear, his breath so hot it sent chills down my spine and goosebumps across my flesh as my blush got more intense. “I am king of our bedroom.”

After all was said and done, I wasn’t walking straight and I had a new bridle. Cross Stitch had made it very special. A little unicorn magic and the tiniest gem core to keep a spell it powered so the flavor would never go away and it would not be damaged under my teeth but it would have plenty of give for me to bite on. Not to mention Cross Stitch’s unique payment meant well; it was mostly free, mostly.

Nyota was asleep next to me, I was curled against him. We both needed a bath but I really enjoyed that scent. I was looking out into the dark of our hotel room. The door had a glow to it, a silencing talisman we had also bought so I could be, “As loud as I liked.” That however was not what had my attention.

I had awoken when I heard a heartbeat and felt a sudden rush from movement, inside me. My tummy gave a dull ache but as I listened I heard two heartbeats that were not mine nor Nyota’s. I couldn’t really hear them, per say. Instead it took meditating as Nyota had taught me. With this I could sort of feel a little bit of movement deep inside my belly. Tiny movements that were not my own. These combined with a tiny, rhythmic, dull thump inside me. There was no doubt, I was pregnant. The early stages. It had only been maybe nine weeks since Nyota and I’s first time. Maybe two full weeks since the incidents at The Roof. You big stud, it took you once and now we’re going to have foals. I bet you’re so proud.

Pink rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I’m sure any stud would be super proud to be as virile as him. That sweet, sexy, zebra butt he has is amazing, too. I know what your mind is on all day—”

Pink! Enough! What if… what if I’m not a good mother? What if I turn out like my mom, drunk and hopeless? What if the bomb at The Roof mutated them? What if I reject my child like she—

The slap was not something I had expected but it hurt and I could feel the bruise on my cheek. One day I would like to know how spirits can physically hurt me like you can.

“Later, that is another recipe for another pie somewhere down the road. You however, are nothing like her; you’re your father’s daughter through and through. There ain’t nothing that can deflate your hope soufflé.” She took an inhale and rubbed my cheek where she’d popped me. “The sad truth is after the day she lost that, I became a better mother to you than she was.” I was trying to remember the day she was talking about. Trying to process the when and where, my vision faded faded into a memory.

I came home from school, holding Coffee Stain’s hoof. My mother had been home for nearly a month for her maternity leave now. Apparently I was going to get a baby sister. Mom was still dealing with the idea of me being a “Filly Fooler”. She kept saying it was a phase and I would just grip Coffee Stain’s hoof tighter. Though now there was no closing the door if the two of us were in a room alone.

I opened the door and mom was on her knees, laid on her belly, bawling her eyes out. I looked confused and shocked. Rainbowrise was desperately trying to comfort her, wiping her tears and he looked up at the two of us standing in the door. “Sunrise, I think Coffee Stain should not come over today. Come on in and sit down, I've got some bad news.”

I looked at Coffee Stain for sympathy and she looked very worried and concerned. “No, she needs to hear this. I want her to understand my pain.”

I walked in slowly, our home had changed a bit. We had a television and a better radio. The furniture was pre-made factory pieces, mostly. The couch was a very tacky yellow but the old lazy chair was still my dad’s favorite and certainly a hand made one. The table the large TV sat on was also a sign of something older than my parents, square primitive in design and clearly hoofmade. I walked up to them, wiping my hooves as Coffee Stain and I sat on the couch. This new Ultra Swank style, a blending of the old with the new, was still strange to me. I was still glad for my wooden desk at school instead of the plastic end tables at home.

My mother got up slowly, “Rainbow, I am going to our room. After you explain it to her, meet me there.”

“I will be there as soon as she understands, my Shadow.” My mom staggered to her hooves, everything about her movement was shaky. My eye lit up in horror when I saw what she had been resting upon. A bloody towel was on the floor. My mother’s belly was covered in a bandage and she walked with a limp to pick a set of crutches up from behind the couch before limping out of sight. Her belly was also a lot smaller, like she had a span of muscle cut out of her.

She looked back at me with some disdain and then disappeared from view towards my parents bedroom. Dad walked up to the two of us in front of the couch, he slid the coffee table back a bit and laid down in front of us. He took my hoof and then Coffee Stain’s. He pulled them close together until we were holding hooves again with him softly gripping both of ours. “Wandering Sunrise, my Little Wanderer. Listen, your mom had an accident.” He bit his lip and hung his head. “I have not told you about stuff that happened leading up to you being born.”

He gulped and rubbed the back of his head as he held onto our hoofhold tighter. “You almost were not born, Little Wanderer. Your mom, like me, when we were fighting for our two years in the military, before you were born; before we ever met each other, we got some radiation poisoning.” He took a breath and rolled his tongue over his drying lips. “I did not get it so bad, just means I am always a bit on the skinny side but your mom.” He looked at me sorrowfully and with a pain in his eyes I had never seen him with. “The radiation poisoned her womb, we almost lost you. Everything was looking so good with your new sister but,” Rainbowrise, my father, broke into tears and laid his head on my knee. He let out a wail that shook the house as my mother poked her head back in the room.

She walked up and rubbed his back, tears still streaming down her eyes. Coffee Stain and I both leaned forward, embracing the two of them, holding them tight. That day is it, Pink?

“When are you gonna get your head checked out? Figure out why your memory works this way?”

Works what way?

“Like a memory orb? I mean it means when you wanna remember something, it’s picture perfect and absolutely down to the detail but do you know how long you’ve been in here?”

I watched my father wailing as my mother wept quietly against my leg. The two of them lost in grief, a grief I did not fully comprehend yet. Pink, what does that have to do with this day?

“Sunrise, this day is when your mother lost all her hope. When the spark in her died. Remember how in Stalliongrad, having children was a celebration?”

I nodded to her with my mind as I watched the events playing out. It was like being a part of this moment in my history and being an observer through my own eyes at the same time. “Well, your culture, unlike Equestria, isn’t just big on welcoming new children. It is big on large families. Your city was built out of strife and war, so having more kids—”

Pink, I already know this. I don’t need it explained to me. More kids means a happier family because it means more likelihood Stalliongrad will survive. Are you saying…

“Your dad wasn’t born in Stalliongrad, he moved there after he was discharged from the war. He was adopted in. He could survive this. Your mom...” Pink went quiet and then motioned at the unfolding memory. I was already processing it all now.

My mom from that day on looked at me as a failure to our family. She looked at me as the end of our line unless Coffee Stain and I took in some stallions to have foals with. She viewed me with the disdain from it. Yet here I was, struggling in The Wasteland to find her; to save her. I had failed to save dad, why did I care so much?

Pink cleared her throat, “Because you want to make sure what happened to your father doesn’t happen to your mom. Because you believe with a hope no Wastelander could possibly understand; that you and her can reconcile and live as a family again. That is part of what makes you special, but I gotta say, Sunrise, we are flying blind here.”

What do you mean, Pink? I felt the memory fading, consciously coming back soon.

“Sunrise,” Pink appeared in an old ship sailor outfit with a spyglass as she tossed an incomplete map into a wind I couldn't feel. “We are way off the map, well past anything the first twenty-seven times tried, and there certainly be dragons.” I did not get a chance to ask her anything else, I was awakened by Nyota gently rubbing me until I woke up.

After a very eventful night at The Roof, Soot had been extremely impatient. Snuggles rode on the back spell-matrix engine deck. Alguacil checked in on the radio every ten minutes or so to let us know if he spotted anything and to assure Chifundo that Snuggles was riding fine.

Quick Stitch was now turning it into high gear, heading for this place Soot called South Shore. Supposedly, we were going to help her get her inheritance back. Soot was being a bit evasive on questions about it. Nyota was ensuring the gun was unloaded as I noticed Bodda Pett getting up in the turret trying to figure out how to turn it.

We were making amazing progress on our road. Daddy’s Halo was really a fantastic machine. She was purring better now after Soot and I did some extra fine tuning with the transmission and engine. We were doing almost fifty kilometers per hour riding next to the railway tracks. We had only stopped briefly at Silver Fang with the mercs jaws’ dropping at seeing a working tank in top shape. Even if Daddy’s Halo was just a light tank, in The Wasteland she was one of a kind now.

We drove on, making up more than half of the distance we needed to go now. The tank rumbled to a stop outside of a service station for trains. It was a place for freight trains to pull over and their crews to sleep if they couldn’t make it home for the night or back to the yard. It still stood, incredibly good earth pony engineering that it could even survive a train wreck hitting it; probably. Nyota and Chifundo took Snuggles inside hunting and cleared out two bark scorpions along with three radroaches before signalling to all of us that it was clear.

I walked up with a smirk on my face as Snuggles drug the bodies outside to be butchered or for her to eat. “Remember when bark scorpions almost killed us?” I looked up at Nyota, smirking at him with a feeling of some joke on the tip of my tongue. A joke I did not need to actually say.

Nyota groaned and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I remember. I also remember you saving all our lives and getting us out of a minefield while Corners tried to kill us.” I grimaced at him commenting on Corners that way. He bit his lip, “She got better about it and stopped trying to do that.”

I noticed the tank turret jerk and we all looked, very confused, as I checked for a headcount. We were all outside the tank, so how did the turret move? “Cover me, I am going to check inside.” I scrambled forward to the side of the tank as the cannon jerked another few dozen degrees in our group's direction. Okay, no taking my time, move! I scrambled up and ripped the hatch off, my shotgun gripped between my lips pointing down at Bodda Pett.

I lowered the shotgun and tilted my head, “What are you doing?”I put my shotgun down and reached in to pick my small rabbit up. He however angrily shrieked at me and held onto the control mechanism for my turret. Pink, why is he so angry?

Pink leaned in with a new outfit on, something that looked like a combination of Daring Do’s adventurer garb and a nature documentary host. Pink leaned in close, “My friend Fluttershy was really good with animals, so I might have picked up a few things. He says he is angry and the manticore is a threat to you he wants to end.” A few more high pitched squees and the turret jerked, sending me tumbling head over hooves into the turret compartment, my helmet ringing as I banged off the gun-breach.

“Bodda! Celestia Damn It!” I held the back of my head where I had slammed into the breach and winced. Bodda stopped squealing and by the time I had managed to get back onto my hooves and rested against the side of the turret, he was at my side. “Bodda, I get it. You do not like Snuggles. That does not give you the right to shoot her.” I then reached up and it took some effort but I managed to open the breach to show him. Not that I was convinced he fully understood but I wanted to show him it was empty. “We do not ride with shells loaded either, so even if you could get a proper bead on Snuggles, I doubt you can lift one of those shells.”

I have never seen a more determined nor insulted bunny in all my life, but there it was. Bodda Pett, absolutely furious with me and still trying to get the turret to move. I sighed and reached up to take him from his perch, “Look, Chifundo promised to keep Snuggles in line and out of danger. I believe him, do you?”

Bodda Pett sat there glaring at me with the most adorable pout I could imagine from a rabbit. Finally the small ball of fluff deflated and nodded his head. I think this is the least strange thing I've ever seen since the pool. A bunny who understands me. He crawled up my foreleg and found his spot in the base of my neck armor. I drug myself out of the tank, avoiding hitting him on the way out and sealing the hatch shut.

While we were settling inside the crew station, Nyota was working on a functional bed. Scopola Mina was cooking, and Chifundo was teaching Snuggles to hunt. I was messing with my radio to try to find us some music when someone came onto the radio who sounded like he had been smoking three packs of cigarettes every day for his entire life. “Damn Roofers are way too potent now that the Little Green Monster and her stupid Long Eye of the Law have helped them. Stay away from Silver Fang and Da Roof no matter what right now, till we can figure something out.

“This just in from the chief: Still offering bounties for any regulator or that green monster! A really big one for The Little Green too. Anyway this is Raider Radio, got a weather and loot report coming up next.” A jingle started to play when Alguacil threw an empty can at me.

“Turn ‘hat shit off. Stupid fuckin’ Raider Radio, if I had the Regulators to clear it out, I’d leave yall for a bit and do it.” Alguacil sneered at me and I tuned the radio through static to something else.

Scopola Mina snickered and smiled at him like she knew something. Alguacil snapped his head towards her, “What’s so funny about raiders? Ain’t nothing funny about them, not one damn thing.” Scopola Mina nodded at Alguacil but was still snickering like she knew something. “Hey, what do you know?”

Scopola Mina never answered as I found the frequency for Ten Pony Tower. Apparently, we had traveled so far it had changed. I listened in and was a bit surprised:

“Alright all y’all good ponies out there in The Equestrian Wasteland! I got some news and there is a lot of it. For one, my favorite little green mare, The Angel with a Shotgun, her and her friends have a couple of new settlements for y’all.

“I know it’s hard to believe that some little mare managed to create new settlements and she had a whole lot of help with this one, well, these two apparently! Y’all all know that place called Blightwood? With them weird flowers that eat you and plant zombies?" He paused for a few moments to let it sink in and take a breath.

“Yeah there is a settlement in there now! I cannot believe it either! They made pathways and have guides for you to get through to it and everything. I had to triple confirm this one too.

"The other place is a Stable with a name, yeah I said a name! It’s going by Stable Phi and they are offering fresh fruit, vegetables, and water for, get this one: SCRAP! Scrap metal and electronic pieces get you pre-war, un-irradiated food! I was just as surprised by this one as you are hearing it. But after personally getting a message from Silver Fang and The Roof, it’s legit. Our little Angel even vouches for these places. There is some good news, some real hope in this place now.

“So if you see a tank, yeah I said a TANK! She fixed it up and is riding around in it. If you see it and its got the Angel’s Symbol on it, know that help for you just arrived. This has been the news with DJ Pon3, now if someone could do something to change the weather; that would be great.

“This here next, is all your favorite princesses singing You’ll Play Your Part. Our Angel certainly is playing her’s. Pon-3 OUTTT!!!” I let out a sigh of relief.

“At least the story everyone will hear will not be the fact we started by fighting, Soot.” I turned to her as she looked at me with a blush.

“I am oddly glad you came along. We lost some good people, but without you, we would have eventually all died anyway.” I turned my head towards her curiously. “I don’t think we could have fixed the tank before we would have been wiped out. Now, if you get my birthright back, my settlement will have everything it needs.” She paused and looked off into the distance.

“Why doesn’t Scopola Mina or Quick Stitch command you? How are you not a servant to them?” She pointed at Quick Stitch and then Scopola Mina before turning towards me searching for an answer.

“Soot, why would you think that? Were you raised to believe that somehow unicorns are better than all of us?” I reached over and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Alguacil and Nyota had moved to the edge of the camp and were taking care of a bunch of radroaches. I passed Chifundo a molotrot cocktail and pointed at them. He went and helped, soon we could smell cooked bug on the wind.

“Soot, when we first started out, a horde of rad roaches like that would have been a death sentence for us. Now, our armor and skills means that radroaches and bark scorpions are not even something to worry about so long as we see them first.” I marveled at how they slaughtered the herd of roaches with ruthless efficiency. They did not even need my help or the tank to fire.“Now, why would I be their servant?” I looked into Soot’s eyes, searching to see what revelation she could show me.

“Unicorns have magic, we don’t. We can’t fly either. We have no purpose but to serve them.” Soot was surprised at my shock back at her. I almost stumbled like she had physically punched me.

“Is that what you believe?” I tilted my head and finally, I grinned before I laughed. “Okay, let me explain this to you.” I reached under my armor and pulled my ablative crystalline plate out. “You see this?” I pointed at the plate, Soot nodded furiously. “No, not with your eyes, close them.” Soot closed her eyes and I pushed the plate into her hooves. “Now do you see it?”

Soot looked very puzzled to start with and then suddenly she popped her eyes open in shock, “I… I know what this is made of? How can I know that?”

I grinned and took the plate back from her. Then I focused my connection to the earth, as hard as I could. This wasn’t about strength, this was about revealing to her the magic of an earth pony. The Crystalline, which should have been hard as glass and shattered like it if altered, bent. Very slightly, but nonetheless you could tell it bent like you would bend a fork or a screwdriver. “How did you do that? I don’t understand.”

I cleared my throat and focused again to straighten the plate. Once it bent back to the precise position, I pulled out a bubble level and showed her it was perfectly aligned. Then, I placed the plate back into my armored chest as I spoke. “We are earth ponies. Anything you dig out of the earth, we can manipulate. We grow food because we not only can know plants by experience but can touch them and understand their needs.” I unzipped another segment from my leg armor, where stubbornite was still in there, and pulled out the dull beige metal. “Do you know what this is?”

Soot nodded, “Stubbornite, it’s a rare metal that is impossible to work with.” Soot paused and looked at me then tilted her head. “Wait, you made that? How?”

I did the same trick with the stubbornite plate. It was harder due to the higher resistance but it bent after great strain, then bent back, all without putting any scarring or perforation on the metal. “Soot, this the power of creation. Earth ponies can create and invent whole new concepts, whole new materials that revolutionize the world.” I pointed at the tank. “That tank was invented by a technician of Applejack’s ministry. His name was Hammer Mac.”

Soot tilted her head, “That doesn’t make sense, Applejack was an earth pony and Mac is an earth pony only name.”

I nodded, “Power armor was developed and the lead researcher on it was Applejack, the principle first models were all tested by Apple Snack. Both of whom were earth ponies. The later unicorn versions were invented by Applejack and the pegasi ones took Rarity and Rainbowdash working together to create. Why do you think power armor is principally made for earth ponies? Microwaves, electric generators, laser weapons, plasma weapons, toasters, virtually every weapon of war that removes the need for unicorn magic, uses a unique material, was made by an earth pony." I paused and thought on it something particularly bizzare. "Even the megaspells themselves were a pegasus invention. Earth ponies then made the chambers from Fluttershy’s template. Which then were made ready for unicorn’s to use. Without earth ponies through, Fluttershy's may have only ever been created.”

Soot shoved my shoulder, “No, that is impossible! No way earth ponies can activate a megaspell or cast one…” Soot trailed off and looked defeated at me. “You’re going to say something and all of my world is about to be shattered?”

“Unicorns have all the magical power and yes, they actually cast the spells. However, anything that could enhance them,” I grabbed her hoof and brought it to feel my heartbeat against my chest, “We design, invent, create, and manufacture. Without us, those unicorns that made you a slave—not a servant, Soot, you were a slave to them— and without earth ponies like us; they would be powerless.”

Soot nodded as my E.F.S. lit up with a yellow blip in the distance. I tilted my head and searched for it in the dark. The radroaches had either given up or died. The smell was horrendous as Nyota came back, washing his hooves in some of the slightly radioactive water that still ran through the station. I turned my attention back to Soot, “See that? Water pumps that work for centuries, earth pony construction.” Nyota joined me as I gave a heavy yawn. “You are more than you have been taught, Soot. They follow me because I listen to them and because I provide hope. If Scopola Mina or Quick Stitch could do that, I would follow them instead. Goodnight Soot, I feel like I have given you enough to think on.”

The yellow blip vanished out of range as I crawled to Nyota, disgusted with the smell of burnt bugs and fell into a memory.

I was little, in my dad’s new shop. Everything was new and it smelled like cleaner and oil. A tall earth pony was working on something that was brand new at the time. I was so small compared to this new “Tank” thing. It was small compared to the later ones. This was a T1 Armored Pony Hide. It was simple and cramped inside—for adults. For me, however, there was plenty of room. I was inside it in the turret, where the heavy machine gun was half taken apart.

Most of the front of the tank had been blown apart by an artillery shell. The engine was a mess and Thunderhoof was working on it while I was playing in the turret. “Damn, dirty zeebs! Quick, driver, turn left!” I exclaimed in my imaginative excitement.

Thunderhoof was a very large stallion. He was tall and built like a tank. He had supposedly been in one of the war stallions in dreadnought armor suits. The precursor to power armor, as these had exoskeletons but no actual electricity or power to enhance the user. You had to be a big, thick pony to wear them. He was covered in a dark gray coat, his mane and tail shared a set of blue hues. The primary color of his mane was a very dark almost purple blue and his stripes were neon electric blue.

His cutie mark was a raincloud, pouring at a near 45 degree angle away from the ground. He had little purple hoof tips that helped him keep upright and light ocean blue eyes. His orange mechanic suit had his cutie mark on it to designate it was his. All this, however, did not make the bright apple red jumpsuit look like it belonged to him. It clashed awfully with his coat and mane colors; almost making him look clownlike in the mechanic suit.

Dad cleared his throat and I turned to look out of the vision port beside the turret. Then the other side, then I looked up to see him hovering near the ceiling.

My mother reached in and pulled me out. I was a tiny thing, barely six year old. “There you are, Little Wanderer, and watch your language. Zebras aren’t actually that bad.” Dad hadn’t gotten the Stalliongrad accent yet, the one that lacked contractions and didn’t know the difference in V, W, and B’s.

“Your father is right, Sunrise. Zebras are not that bad and you should watch your language, young lady, where did you learn that word?” My mother was messing over my mane and making me flinch as she did so.

I rubbed the back of my head and sighed. Before I could speak, Thunderhoof cleared his throat, “It’s my fault. I banged my hoof on that da—” he cleared his throat and cut himself off. “The spark plugs still had a charge, even disconnected, so I banged my hoof on the casing when it jolted me. I let it slip, forgetting she was here.” He pointed at me and grimaced. “She shouldn’t even be in here. What about our insurance with a foal in here?”

I felt the need to hide my face into my mother’s neck. I felt flustered and embarrassed. My father cleared his throat, “Is that going to be a problem? You are scaring my daughter.”

Thunderhoof growled, “Look, in the rangers we go by the rules. The rules say she can’t be in here. If she gets hurt or if one of us gets hurt because of her, then we all suffer the price; especially you.” He put a wrench against my dad’s chest, pushing it into him. The big earth pony growled a bit. I curled up tighter into my mother, my dad turned his head. He saw the tears in my eye that I dared to look back at him with. I felt my cheeks burning, my fear that I would never be allowed in his shop ever again pushing everything. I looked at my father for answers, for hope.

My dad cleared his throat and pulled the wrench down off his chest with his wing, “Not if she is officially my apprentice.”

Thunderhoof rolled his eyes, “What is she, five? Six? No way anyone would approve an apprentice so young.”

Rainbowrise took in a big breath and closed his eyes as he gave me a coy look with a sneaky smile over his lips. “True, but if she were to be in here to gain a Filly Scout badge? What does it take to gain your mechanic’s badge? Two years? That’s enough time to make her eight, which would allow a junior apprenticeship till she was twelve, then she just has to wait till she is fifteen for a full apprentice license. Does that fall into your rules?”

Thunderhoof put his hoof to his chin as he holstered his wrench. He thought on that for several minutes, “Now hold on there, you may have the letter of the law but that certainly violates the spirit, doesn’t it?” Thunderhoof’s Canterlot accent was strange to me. I wasn't used to hearing contractions out loud, even if we were taught them in school.

My dad grinned at me with a wink as he turned back to face Thunderhoof, “That’s the more important part, the letter rather than the spirit, and you know it. Now back to work.”

My dad came up to me and whispered in my ear, “We’ll have to fill out the paperwork with you later.” He looked at my mom with a grin.“She will make a great mechanic one day, maybe even a wonderful inventor.”

He ruffled my hair while mom spoke and kissed my forehead softly, “Hopefully not a soldier or a lawyer if I have my way.” I nuzzled into mom tighter, feeling tired suddenly. My face resting against the badge on her armband. The yellow badge with three-pink butterflies indicating she was still a member of the medic corps.

I heard a raspy voice calling to me and suddenly I was torn from my mother's loving embrace back into the waking world.

“Hey, Sunrise, git up! It’s yer watch and I need some sleep already.” I slowly rolled myself from the long gone memory. I was groggy and felt awful. Alguacil’s hardened gaze turned much softer as he rubbed my head and mane. “Right, I’ll git ya some coffee and stay up with ya till yer all the way awake.” He walked over and flipped on the coffee maker inside the crew station.

“That thing works?” I asked, while trying to slide out of the sleeping bag quietly enough to not wake Nyota. He fought like a child holding onto a teddy bear to stop me from untangling myself. “Little help?”

Alguacil was watching us for a few minutes, “Yeah, I don’t know whatcha told Soot but she got ‘real motivated and did some work on the tank. Then she fixed this here coffee maker and that microwave after ya went to sleep. She passed out in the turret so I moved her in here and locked Halo up tight.” He came over when I asked for help and assisted me in getting out of Nyota’s iron grip.

He handed me the coffee and held up some powdered creamer and sugar, “Cream? Sugar? Never got ya coffee b’fore.” I shook my head with a smile.

I sipped on the hot black nectar of the goddesses and enjoyed it thoroughly. The bitterness helped bring me awake while the taste was something I loved so very much to experience. It was like solidified emotional wakefullness in a cup. “Black, always black.”

“So umm… Sunrise, I kinda wanna ask you a favor.” Alguacil spoke softly and stretched his wing around me. “Do ya think ya could build another one of those megaspell bombs to take out Raider Radio with?”

I flinched away from him and looked at him, horrified. A chill ran through me as I realized Alguacil might look at megaspells as just another tool. A weapon to be used for a purpose. They were not something that could be viewed that way, ever. “No, I will never build another one of those bombs so long as I live. Regardless of how much good it might do.”

Alguacil started to talk and I shoved my hoof against his beak very rudely. “No, there is no debating this Alguacil. Those things killed my world, they killed everyone I knew or cared about. They are why we live in a place called The Wasteland. Regardless of what good they might cause, building and blowing that bomb up took a piece of my soul. A piece I do not think I can ever get back.”

I heard that strange sound, a weird kind of alien music riff. I looked away towards the sound and could not believe my eyes. Alguacil huffed and grunted as he didn’t to see it, “Right, I guess I’ll come up with some other plan ta deal with it.”

In front of me was a radroach, only a few hoof steps away. It was sitting up right and smoking a zebra weed joint. I could smell it, I could see it and he was sitting near Nyota. “What the hell?”

“Oh maregirl… you can see me? Oh good, good ta know, pone. Anyway, you should go outside, pone. There is someone you need ta meet, someone muyh importante. They have been with ya since da beginning and now they is getting just curious enough; they might talk to ya, maregirl.” The roach got up, walking away, upright like Nyota when he was in fighting stance. “I’ll be seein’ you round, pone.” He phased right through the wall as the yellow blip appeared on my on my E.F.S.

“Yeah, I am gonna go walk around. Alguacil, make sure there is not something we are missing. I will make sure I am keeping watch and have my tail ready to fire a flare to wake you up.” As quietly as I could, I made my way around Chifundo and Scopola to the door. I slid out and turned the lock behind me. “Stay awake for a bit, Alguacil, otherwise I am locked out.”

Alguacil rolled his eye at me. I gave him a serious stare and he sighed with a nod, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get some coffee fer myself.” He walked over the creaking boards to the coffee maker to get himself a cup now as I closed the door and went out of sight.

I looked in the dark, in the direction of the blip. I thought I could see a light flicker. I slowly walked in it’s direction. My PipBuck light off and with the cloud cover I was basically walking in near total darkness. Only a slight amount of Luna’s light shined through, just enough I could make out the path a few steps ahead. The light clicker was getting closer. I thought I could make out a few more small red lights and around the larger green glow.

I hit S.A.T.S. and it showed a spritebot but it did not label its name as one. The little butterfly glass wings holding it up with the magical spark battery reflecting off its own green glowing eye interface. The “Eye” was a very large camera that also served as a screen, it was covered in a metal grate and the screen was separated now into two distinct looking large glowing eyes. A pair of tubes connected down to a small plasma pistol that had been installed.

I checked my PipBuck and saw a frequency well above what normal civil radios should pick up. A military band that my PipBuck could detect. Well, that is both new and frightening, I wonder if I have been missing some military bands or someone trying to talk directly to me. I tuned to the frequency on my small walkie talkie. I had to use a screwdriver to get it to go that high.

A green glow overtook me as the spritebot got right up to me. I could see the gossamer-like wings as it looked over it. It was still yellow, if it meant me any harm; it would shoot me now. I leaned into the radio, “Hello?”

“How did you get this frequency?” The voice was gruff, and very deep. It was almost like a rumbling mountain talking over a radio to me. I realized the voice wasn’t just coming from my radio, the spritebot was speaking to me as well.

“I am going to assume that you aren’t the spritebot but are talking through it and controlling it with this frequency.” I spoke cautiously and moved very slowly, deliberately. I did not reach for any of my weapons or make any sudden movement beyond holding my hoof over the PipBuck.

“Lose this frequency.” The spritebot started to turn around and float away.

“Wait, just answer some questions and I will never dial into your frequency ever again. I will even delete it from my PipBuck memory.” I spoke very slowly and the spritebot miraculously stopped. “Please, I just need some answers to all the mysteries I keep getting.”

There was a loud huff over the broadcaster on the spritebot as I flipped my walkie talkie off so I did not have to listen to it in stereo. “I will answer only the questions I like. If I do not want to answer it, you won’t get one.”

Whatever the creature on the other end, its very voice was instilling in me a threat of terror that made it hard to move. The creature had some essence to the way it spoke, it was familiar and alien all at once. Most importantly, the voice had a sense of command that made me feel like I was meant to obey. I could tell it was pre-war and from Canterlot. The accent was very proper, very well spoken, and educated. Yet all of that; it was primal and rage filled.

I cleared my throat, “Hi, my name is Wandering Sunrise. What is your name?”

The voice seemed to relax slightly as he kept speaking with that same commanding authority, “I know your name, Angel with a Shotgun, Little Green Monster, Demon of The Filly Scouts, Savior of Ponyville, DJ Pon3’s Secret Concubine; there is a host of names I could call you. But I suppose you do not remember all of them or how you got them. I am called Watcher, may I refer to you as just Sunrise or Angel?”

I nodded very slowly, I wasn’t about to argue with a voice that made my skin crawl through a seemingly adorable noon-threatening spritebot. “Why have you been following us?”

“I watch things, it’s why my name is Watcher.” The reply was answering as though I should have known already.

“Right, well you know we are friendly. Why not just sit and have a conversation with us?” The spritebot floated there silently and did not answer me at all. “Right, question you do not like?”

“Bingo. Though I doubt you even understand that reference.” Watcher replied while floating just a little closer to me. I could feel the scanners penetrating my body to analyze me further.

“Actually, I perfectly get the reference. Blindly guessing to get a clue or playing the game bingo as someone blindly guesses a letter-number combination and you hope it is on your card.” I answered him and I swore the spritebot had an expression of surprise on its face. “So, I would ask more questions but I think you are getting impatient with me.”

The spritebot winked at me and nodded, with the gossamer wings fluttering as it made the nodding motion. “Right, till next time; Watcher.”

“I hope your friends make it where the next time is something worthwhile.” The spritebot exploded right in front of me, The parts falling all around me as nothing but scrap metal and fried electronics. The frequency I had on my PipBuck went silent with the spritebot’s destruction. I suddenly felt like I could move and the oppressive presence of Watcher vanished as well. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I was not sure how he managed to give such a ferocious presence over a radio microphone. What I did know was that it was time to head back and take my watch so Alguacil could sleep. Without the spritebot, I wasn’t sure my friends would believe this encounter. I did not even believe the encounter with the radroach; which I now guessed was a spirit of some sort. Just like the ones Chifundo spoke to.

Great, now I’m seeing spirits and some large spy agency that can broadcast fearful presences over radios. This only adds a bigger list to the things I need answers for.

GM Notes:
Level Up Progress - 43% Towards Level 15 - Yes all this was worth 4% of the total XP you needed. What? You fought radroaches, barscorpions, drove a tank, talked to really important NPCs, and got mated into a pile of drooling mess by your stallionfriend. I don’t wanna hear how that only netted you 4%.

New Quest Perk - Shamanistic Link - Between your talking to Pink—who we all know who she really is—and your time spent with Chifundo, you have learned to tap into seeing spirits. The problem? You ain’t got no control over it. That’s right! I, the Game Master, decide when you get to talk to them and when they remain silent! Evil GM Laughter Echoes around you.