Chapter 5-3: Blink And You’ll Miss ‘Em

“...don’t care! I want to find my sister!”

Breeze’s harsh tones roused me from my uneasy slumber. The pain of my wound had subsided but I felt no more rested than when I finally dropped off to sleep. It had taken hours. I kept imagining Buffalo being slaughtered by slavers. It was no great leap for those Buffalo to become Buff, Al, Lo, Chief Rockhaunch and Deputy Dent.

In my mind I watched them die over and over again.

“You can’t leave her like this!” Naiara’s disapproving retort was no softer.

“The hell I can’t! It’s because of her I got shot in the first place!”

“Don’t say that!” Hissed the Zebra. “Come on, she’s right there! What if she heard you?”

I did. Can’t exactly disagree either. I lay with my back to them. I didn’t know whether I wanted them to know I was awake yet.

“Look, Naiara. Snowflake isn’t a bad pony. I thought she was but she’s not. If anything she’s as far from it as she can get. But I didn’t come with you two to be pals. I came to find Cassie. She wasn’t at Grindstone and because of what happened there we’re now in the middle of nowhere. Cassie has no reason to be this far out. I have no reason to be this far out. There’s nothing here. Wherever my sister is it won’t be here. I’m not staying.”
There was conviction in her voice. Even if I wanted to ask her to stay she wouldn’t.

She shouldn’t.

“So then what? You’re just gonna-”

“Go.” I cut through Naiara’s scoffing with that one word. The two of them looked at me with chagrin.

“You heard us?” I was a little touched that the Pegasus still managed to sound ashamed.

Still facing away from them, I nodded. “You should go, Breeze. You’re right. All of what you just said was right. You need to find your sister and Naiara has to meet up with Bosco. You should both head back to Lethbridle. It’s the biggest place around. We know Bosco will be there tomorrow and there’s as good a chance as any that Cassie will head there too.”

“You said we-”
“You said we-”
Both of them broke off. Perhaps they weren’t comfortable to be sharing the same thought.

Now I rolled over to look at them. Instantly their faces turned to concern. What a picture I must make. “You two can help each other out. I’d like to ask that of you both. I’ll make it worth your while. Naiara, did Bosco tell you about Hoofshine Harlots?”

She shook her head. Why not, Bosco? Do you still not trust a ‘stripe’ or did you just like the idea of having your own place?

“Well I’m telling you both now. Hoofshine Harlots is a place that Bosco and I found. It’s safe and secure and fully stocked with everything you need. Consider it...a haven for whenever you need a quiet place to rest and recover. You’ll definitely like it Breeze. There’s all sorts of pre-war tech in perfect working order.”

Even with all that was going on she still displayed her enthusiasm for all things mechanical. “Really?”

“Uh-huh. It’s a half-a-day’s walk north of Lethbridle and a little ways off the path. Ask Bosco to show you if you’re having trouble. If he refuses just tell him that the password is ‘Cefar’. That way he’ll know I told you.”

Breeze’s excitement at new gear had faded and Naiara had never looked happy to begin with. She made her unease clear.
“What will you do? You’re not going to surrender to the slavers are you?” Breeze was paying close attention. Evidently the thought had crossed her mind too.

Whatever I tell them it’d better be good.

“No. I’ve got...” I hesitated. Trying to think up an excuse on the fly was harder than I thought. “...another lead to follow.” I finished lamely.

They thought so too. “No you don’t. We’ve been with you the entire time.”

“You’ve been with me for a few days tops. I’ve been out of the Stable for over two weeks now. I have other contacts to call.”

Breeze snorted derisively. “Oh yeah? What are their names?”

I did a quick mental rundown of all the souls I’d met since leaving the Stable and realised that the ones I felt closest to were Wings, Bosco, Lexi and Watcher. I only knew half of their names. “...Watcher...Wings.”

Even in my sorry state I wasn’t fond of the pitying looks they gave me.

“WHAT?” I challenged. “Watcher’s a stallion and Wings is a girl. I can reach both through my Pipbuck.” I thrust the device at them as an attempt at proof.

The calculating look in the Pegasus’ eye reminded me that I’d not actually told her what the gadget was until now.

The jade-green eyes of my Zebra svara were not so preoccupied. “Snowflake...I really think you should come with us.”

Aqua Breeze agreed with her. “She’s right. No good comes of us leaving you alone.”

WHY WON’T YOU STUPID FILLIES LET ME KEEP YOU SAFE?!?! Seriously. It was pretty aggravating.

“You’re not staying with me. I’ll give you the code to contact me through the Pipbuck but then you’re leaving. Wings and Watcher are pretty private. They won’t meet with me if I’ve got company.”

A look passed between the two. If I had to make a guess I’d say it was along the lines of: “Just how long is she planning on keeping this charade up?”

Fine. I’d stop being nice about it. “If you don’t leave now I swear I’ll freeze the both of you and call Plottawa myself. I’m sure they’d love to get a couple of exotics like you two for sale.”

“SNOWFLAKE!”
“RED ICE!”

My horn began to glow. “You have until the count of three. One...”

Breeze began laughing nervously. “Come on Red Ice. You couldn’t take one of us let alone both.”

I fixed her with a steely gaze. “I’m gonna try. And keep trying until I do it. Two...”

I looked back and forth between the two. I dared them to call my bluff.

Naiara threw up her hooves. “Alright! Alright! You win.”

I couldn’t believe it. Neither could Breeze. “WHAT?!”

Naiara shot a ‘shut up’ look at her. “It’s okay. Snow, give us the code to contact your Pipbuck. We’ll leave after that.”

It...it worked? “R-right. The code.” I displayed it on the screen and held it up for them to see. It was actually going to work.

Nobody spoke after that point. An incredibly uncomfortable silence descended as my two soon-to-be-former companions gathered their things and, pausing briefly at the mouth of the hollow to look uncertainly back at me, left.

I waited the long lonely minutes until their heartbreakingly-blue icons were out of range. Then I activated my Pipbuck’s transmitter.

“Watcher? Are you there? I’m at Crystal Point. Can we talk?”

~~~~~~

“ARE YOU NUTS?!”

I turned towards the cave mouth just in time to get a faceful of bot. “Oww! Right in the horn!”

The bot righted itself after the collision and got in my face again. “Suck it up. What were you thinking with that open broadcast? This isn’t a game where you can call me for a chat whenever you like, Snowflake! Lives are at stake!”

“I know, Watcher.”

“And you’re still alone! I told you to make some friends. Staying by yourself won’t keep you safe, Snowflake. If you keep calling me like this then it’ll put me and a whole lot of others in danger too! There is more to this than just you or me, Snowflake!”

“I know, Watcher.”

“You don’t know the first thing about being by yourself in the Wasteland. You send out an open transmission like that and then stay in the same spot you broadcast from for hours afterwards? Why don’t you just send up a flare and save the Steel Rangers or whoever the trouble of tracking you down? You...you...YOU NEED A ROLE MODEL!”

“I know, Watcher.”

“And another thing...” The bot stopped. “...what’s wrong? You weren’t like this before.”

“...like what?” My reply was listless. I wasn’t even looking up.

“Like that! Before you had questions, worries, ideas!”

“That hasn’t changed.” My flat tone still echoed around inside the near-empty hollow.

Watcher was silent for a few seconds before responding. “Snowflake...what happened?”

I gave him a smile. I was trying to laugh at a joke that wasn’t funny. “I made some friends.”

The bot emitted a happy little chirp. “That’s great! Tell me about them.”

I was drowning in manic, self-loathing irony as I cheerfully related to him my adventures in socialising. “Well there’s Bosco but you already know about him. Then I met a Zebra! Very rare. After that came a Griffon and now a Pegasus! How lucky can one filly be?”

“What a crew.” Quipped Watcher. The bot made a slow rotation. “So where are they now?”

“Dunno,” It was getting harder to maintain my false cheer. “I sent them away.”

“What?! Why?”

I waved a hoof airily. “Oh why does anybody do anything?”

“Snowflake...”

A beeping on my wrist interrupted him.

I’m sure they would have been just lovely words of comfort, Watcher. However I simply must take this call.

I triggered the recording. “Is this thing on?”

Ah. Not-Wings. My burning-blue-eyed Griffon friend.

“Snowflake, if you can hear this...I heard about Grindstone. If you’re still somewhere relatively close then I’d like to meet up. We need to talk about something. I’m sending the location to your Pipbuck now. I’ll wait there for 24 hours. It’s important. See you there.”

“She’s smart that one, didn’t give much of anything away.”

So glad to know you approve, Watcher.

I rounded on the bot with a wide, if uneven, grin. “Well now, Watcher. I hate to be rude, but I must dash. As you heard I have an appointment to keep.”

“...”

My Pipbuck pinged as a new location was added to the map. A few seconds later there was a second sound as a new frequency lodged itself in my contacts.

“That’s a secure channel for you to contact me on. No more of this open broadcasting. I also included a how-to for setting up other channels. It means you and your friends can talk with you privately.”

Watcher moved to the cave mouth before turning back to me. “Really talk to them, Snowflake. Not...whatever this was.” His irritation at what must have amounted to a waste of time was clear. The bot said nothing more and flew off.

~~~~~~

Whinniepeg, the meeting place that Wings had chosen, was almost as far north as Stable 61. It was basically due west of Cefar. A few days due west of Cefar.

Facemask said Cefar is the end of the road. That makes this town a place where the roads don’t go. It sure looks it.

As evident by the steady ticking of my radiation meter and the general disrepair of basically everything in sight it was easy to see that Whinniepeg had been a Megaspell target.

“Well at least we won’t be disturbed.” My faux-cheeriness with Watcher was over but I also wasn’t feeling quite as terrible as I had back at Crystal Point. I was almost back to the middle ground between sadness and happiness. I was even looking forward to seeing Wings again. I’d given up forcing myself to call her anything else until she told me what her name was. Referring to her as ‘Not-Wings’ just became ludicrous after a while.

“WINGS? YOU HERE?”

No response. I ventured deeper into the small town. Mindful of my rad levels. There wasn’t a whole lot to see. Burned out homes and charred stores were basically it. I did find a bigger building that had an official look to it, even lacking a logo, but as soon as I got within a dozen feet of the place the radiation spiked and I beat a hasty retreat.

I nursed a lukewarm Radaway as I sat on a blackened bench. I wondered where Wings was. Her recording made it seem like she was already here but I’d been around most of the town and hadn’t seen any sign that she was here at all.

“Hey Snowflake!”

I really stunk at this.

I got to my hooves and trotted forward as Wings landed in a clearing. “Hey Wings. Good to see you.”

She was busy unburdening herself of her gear and didn’t look directly at me. Her shoulders were set in the same tense bunching as they had when she’d told me her secret in bed. “Sorry I’m late...and for this.”

I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “Wh-URK!” A thick cord suddenly wrapped itself around my throat and stole the words from off my tongue. My eyes bulged as a scrabbled at the garrote with my hooves. The noose snapped taut and I was hauled off my hooves onto my back.

Wings, help!

I tried to focus beyond the choking cord and the darkness creeping into the edges of my vision. I found the tight cable and followed it back to its source.

Oh I don’t believe this!

A Pegasus so very like the one I’d spent the past few days with wielding leg covers so very like those of her sister was flapping hard in the air. Cassie fought for altitude to keep her whip from slackening. Her face was grim and...sad? She wasn’t angry but there were definitely more than a few emotions playing across her face. Nevertheless her jaw was set firm and she was committed to the act. A strong yank convinced me of that.

Clawsteps sounded behind me. I craned my neck around to see Wings pointing her pistols right at me.

What’s going on?

“W-...W-...” I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. I could only gurgle and drool as my eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets and my vision grew dim.

Wings said nothing but flipped her pistols around. Holding them by the barrels she raised them above her head. As she readied her strike I could only look into the cold fire of her eyes and silently ask the only thing running through my mind.

Why?

The pistol butts descended.

~~~~~~

I awoke with the dawn. Painfully. It was no gentle rise from sleep. My entire body convulsed as my lungs greedily sucked in precious oxygen. I managed to roll from my back to my side just in time to empty my stomach over the irradiated ground.

How long had I been out? I lifted my hoof to check my Pipbuck for a clock and my radiation level.

My wrist was empty.

They took it! They took my Pipbuck!

What else had they taken? I still had the clothes on my back and my Power Hooves were scattered across the dirt. So were my supplies of food and medicine. Seemed like everything was here...

Oh please no!

Frantically I checked my pocket. Every pocket. Every nook and cranny of every piece of gear I had.

GONE!

They’d taken the Memory Orb too.

Why Wings? And Cassie too! Why were you two even working together? What happened to you after the Hissyflits? What happened to Wings after Vanchoofer?! WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN TO ME???

I curled up in a fetal position. What was I gonna do now? They’d taken my Pipbuck. I couldn’t find my way around without it.

They’d taken the Memory Orb.

My last two links to Stable 61 had been taken from me by someone I called a friend.

The Overmare sat on the bench watching me with a smug smirk. “Welcome to the Wasteland, Snowflake!”

~~~~~~

Level Up!

Perks gained: Chimera Formation - Snow and allies receive a 10% stat increase for each non-Unicorn present.

Wandering Workout - Constantly trekking across country and running away very fast has greatly boosted Snow’s stamina.

~~~~~~

Author's Notes:

As always, a big thank you to KKat, Y1, Auramane, Cascadejackal (he did the original cover art, which is still on the Fallout Equestria wiki), Void Heart (he did the new cover art), Shunketsunoponi and you, the readers. Please read and comment, and pass the word along if you like the story. Finally, because I find it a really funny coincidence to have another fic with a Stable 61 that’s set in Equestrian Canada, go read Fallout Equestria: Pure Hearts.

That’s all for now, folks. Please keep reading, commenting, and spreading the word on Old Souls. I really appreciate your feedback.