Whickerbury Apartment Complex, Trotson
Day 2
“This is gonna feel pretty bad once I’m done, so bare with me,” Sharpshot told me, horn alight before me. “Tried to take it out of a pony once, and while it didn’t kill them it destroyed the functioning adult aspects of their brain. They were a newborn in the body of an adult.”
With the knowledge of why simply removing the MentaBuck shoved away in my brain was a really bad idea, I stood as still as possible. The only piece of me that moved was my eyes, looking over to Bone Breaker as she checked the contents of the supply drop. Gemini was currently nursing a horrible migraine and resting in the apartment complex below us, which was Sharpshot’s sign whatever he had done worked. If it wasn’t for the worry of ArcanaTech using me to spy on the document’s contents, I wouldn’t care.
It was odd, being the pony having their privacy revoked after doing the very same for the year previous. Of course the Enclave pried, looking for ponies who plotted against the safety of the pegasi and the Enclave’s control over them. A particular incident, rather relevant to my being here, came to mind. A pegasus that had been sworn to only tell of the horrors of the wasteland, instead shouting free to ponies around them. If he hadn’t been cast out, the Enclave would have been greatly damaged.
The paranoia it caused in some of the Enclave council members was a different matter, but that isn’t important.
Suddenly, my eyes felt as if something was tearing them apart from the inside. The sunlight on my vision hurt nearly as bad, and I found myself curling up and covering my eyes with a hoof. Along with it all came a strange, unsettling feeling. It was like an out of body experience, but I didn’t even realize I had been experiencing one until I was snapped back into full control. It was reassuring, but also troublesome.
“Okay, you’re good. ArcanaTech can no longer see through you,” Sharpshot said as I writhed on the floor like I had been punched in the gut. Not the best look for a military pony. He turned away from me and started to walk over to Bone Breaker. “I’d recommend resting your eyes or taking a fuckload of water, both would be best. The migraine will pass in time.”
I wasn’t going to argue, but I also didn’t say I was going to listen to a damn grounder. For the longest time I did neither out of pure stubborn pride, believing that taking orders like that from a wastelander would be my bitter end. That led me to laying there, dealing with the worst migraine I had ever dealt with in my entire life, just to show what I was. Even when I finally allowed myself to sit back up and look away from the rooftop I was on, groaning at the torment of trying to look at anything in the sunlight.
I got to my hooves and slowly made my way over to the zombie and former slave that was with me. Before both Gemini and I’s brain had been disconnected from ArcanaTech, the two had briefly touched on the supply split. The decision ended up being a thirty-seventy split with Sharpshot and Willow getting the former while Sandstone got the latter. I spent that time seeing what lay inside, and it was both impressive and incredibly terrifying to see. The foodstuffs, water, and other more necessary materials were expected but the ammo… sweet goddesses the ammo.
These supply drops were made rather regularly if I could guess, and that meant the surplus before me was considered regular to them. Hollow point and armor piercing ammo made up the bulk of it, with some frags, mines, and standard ammo as well underneath it all. There was even ammo for the novasurge, though it was in far lower quantities than everything else. This was how ArcanaTech kept Trotson under control, toying with grounders and making them reliant on their good will. I won’t lie, it was threatening yet very inspiring. Reminded me of how the Council sometimes did things back home, but we controlled through patriotism instead of confiscation.
“Pretty damn impressive,” I said, a grunt leaving my muzzle as I turned my head just a little too fast away from the supply drop. Sharpshot rolled his eyes, grabbing a water bottle. “This the standard for them?”
“Yep. Shadow Corp views it as a big reward for us all, so they always pack it to the brim,” Bone Breaker said, patting the top of the box. “Typically I would bring multiple ponies with me. I and one or two other earth ponies would carry it back while we’re guarded. However, I plan to enlist the help kf a certain alicorn to speed that process up.”
“My mare ain’t your work mule,” Sharpshot spat, spinning the water bottle around in his magic. “Though she also doesn’t know how to say no, so there isn’t much I can do. What I can do....” The ghoul approached me, forced my muzzle open, and shoved an open water bottle in it. “…. is this.”
It didn’t take long for the water to hit my gag reflex, standing there in shock for a moment or two. Shocked turned to anger, and I batted the water bottle out of my mouth, its contents staining my coat and roof. I paid no attention to the fact that a bit of water had actually really helped the ache in my eyes, glaring down Sharpshot. He did the same to me, that momentary understanding we had during the sweep of the complex having been thoroughly undone.
“Never do that again,” I told him.
“Oh I would. Especially for little fillies who are too stubborn to take care of themselves,” Sharpshot replied, lifting the water bottle back up magically. Not all of it had spilled out, much to my surprise. “Now be a good little soldier and drink your Luna damned life liquid!”
I gave in, swiping the bottle from his magic and glaring ten thousand daggers into his skull. I could tell he wanted to waterboard me and I wasn’t about to be humiliated in that fashion. I sipped as supplies were sorted between both parties, one substantially bigger than the other. Time passed, the piles had become as big as they likely were going to be and Bone Breaker made some negotiations to take some more of certain things. All the while the invisible pony tugging on my eyes from the inside slowly gave up on their quest, having gotten bored of the pain.
“So, all the stuff there is taken care of. Only thing we need now is for you and Gemini to go somewhere your ears won’t reach,” Sharpshot said. “Private Enclave business. Doubt she wants you to overhear it.”
“Just as long as you don’t go fucking with the piles we’ve made,” Bone Breaker said. With the way the cloth on Sharpshot’s muzzle moved, it was easy to see that he was smiling. “Don’t you even dare try and deny it. I know what you did the last time we ended up at a drop at the same time.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Sharpshot replied, obviously knowing what she was talking about. He turned her away from the supplies and forcefully guided her over to the collapsed section of the roof. “Now how about you give this ghoul and his cloud-fallen friend some room.”
“Fine, but if I find out you switched anything around, it is on sight,” the mare said.
She pointed a hoof at her eyes, then to Sharpshot’s own, and when they returned to the ground she had already taken a step away. Sharpshot rolled his eyes and turned away from her, muttering to himself about power. Judging on how Bone Breaker’s ears twitched and the grimace that graced her face, she either knew what he was talking about or had heard it much clearer than I had. Clearly he was a stallion of some difficulty to talk to for most ponies… which was probably an understatement given how many want him dead.
As soon as she was out of sight, Sharpshot sat down. He was looking out at Trotson in the direction his wife had flown off in.
“Well, now that that is taken care of, let’s get this started,” He said, sounding both interested and upset at the same time. It was actually quite impressive to see both of those expressions conveyed at the same exact time. “How about we start with a friendlier greeting, eh? Get to know each other, call ourselves friends, and then discuss what is needed.”
“You think I want to be friends?” I asked, trotting up next to his side. I sat down and joined him in looking out at the city expanse. Even blown to tartarus and past its time, Trotson was damn impressive. “Clearly you’ve read me wrong.”
“It isn’t about if I read you wrong or not,” Sharpshot replied, inclining his head to look just below the sun. “We’re gonna be working together, right? We’ll have to learn to tolerate each other, so let's break the ice.” he chuckled at that. “Of course we’re in the southwest, not the frozen north. Can’t exactly do that in a literal sense anywhere but home.”
Deciding to play along, and knowing he wasn’t exactly wrong, I raised an eyebrow. “Your Stable was in the frozen north?”
“Just below it. You can see Canterlot from Stable 17’s entrance,” He explained. He knocked on the rim of his goggles, and I eyed them with more interest than before. They were fused to his skin. “One of the first places I went. That's how this happened, but we’re jumping ahead. Redo introductions?”
“Sure, why not,” I replied, shrugging my wings. “Lieutenant Colonel Singing Rhapsody… or at least I was a Lieutenant Colonel.”
“Yeah, can’t imagine that feels good after a long career,” Sharpshot replied, eyeing the dashite brand on my flank. I flicked my tail to the side, covering it up. He seemed to understand the shame it brought me, and averted his eyes from it. “Name’s Open Heart, but everypony calls me Sharpshot. Nickname I got for being a good – sometimes too good – markspony.”
“Bit of a story behind that, I’m guessing?” I asked, looking from the buildings to the sky above.
“Yeah. A long one, like most of my life it seems,” He growled, eyes closed. A front hoof crashed into the roof. “Been around long enough to know this is how Equestria is and always will be. More than a century of living and it feels like fuck all has really changed.”
“Seems we can agree on that, even if I haven’t been around nearly as long as you,” I replied. It was nice to have somepony down here that understood how bad it truly was. “Not to mention your entire existence being just wrong.”
“Hey, shit on us ghouls all you want, but you want to know something?” He asked rhetorically. “I’ve actually worked with your Enclave before. Yeah, nothing about it went right, but how many ghouls can say that they were personally thanked for avenging the Enclave’s dead? One, and that is me.”
That drew my attention, mostly because I couldn’t be sure if he was lying or not. No, something in my lineage told me that he was telling the truth. Ironsight’s mentions of him, the fact he knew one of my ancestors in Star Chart, he couldn’t be lying. It was entirely possible, but the unlikeliness of it all made me hesitate to completely trust that piece of me. That was one question I would ask Willow later, when I hadn’t been taken off guard by the alicorn suddenly appearing behind me.
“Willow Wisp,” they said, dropping their invisibility and making me baffled how the “pop” of teleportation never reached my ears at that moment in time. Sharpshot almost jumped off the building in fright.“Sharpy’s eternal companion, former pegasus, and maybe did some serial murdering in the past. Don’t worry about that at all.”
“Sweet alicorn spitroast, don’t do that to me hun!” Sharpshot said in an unusually terrified voice. I had to blink at his words; stable dwellers always had the most creative of swears. “Though, good to see you are all fixed up.”
“The magic of radiation!” She cheerfully declared, taking a more regal posture and spreading her wings proudly. It might have been the white that the top parts of her coat had, but I swore I saw a bit of Celestia in her. “It’s always nice to know that killing joke didn’t make me that defective, you know? Would likely have died long ago otherwise.”
Sharpshot chuckled at that, but my thoughts were on a specific thing Willow had mentioned.
“You’re a serial killer?”
Two sets of eyes turned to me, and the ones belonging to Willow looked away. It wasn’t out of shame or guilt, perhaps not even embarrassment, but longing. Her gaze had quickly been cast off into nothing in particular, the smile telling me whatever it was made her feel proud. Sharpshot grabbed my battle saddle, which I had taken off due to belief that the current threat was over, and pushed it to the opposite side of the roof via magic. He then stepped in front of me, as if he felt I actually could kill an alicorn on my own, with a stern look in his eyes.
“Look, Willow’s a little messed up in the head, but she’s not who she was back then,” Sharpshot assured me. “I know that might seem hard to believe, but we’ve worked through it a lot. Her old slave master’s trigger word still works on her, though, so don’t go saying b-u-r-y, otherwise she reverts to how she was then.” His ears lulled, eyes locked on the floor. “The damage can’t be undone, but Willow is a good pony. As good as you can get around here, anyways. We all got skeletons in our closets.”
While it felt more like she had a bedroom full of them compared to just a closet. His words match the smile that rested on his wifes face, clearly looking back on her past happy with what she had done. The worst part was that he wasn’t wrong too, given literally everything I had been through. I doubt he would be happy to know how far things for my family fell after Star Chart’s generation passed. I was the sole bright spot in a family tainted by the reputation of our forebears; my mother being a drug dealer was proof of that enough.
“You can follow orders?” I asked Willow, waking her from her moment of reflection. She gave me a nod.
“Just know that I’ve never exactly been one to do things the militaristic way. I’m more raider than anything,” Willow explained as she turned her body and plopped her flank down on the roof. See hid a giggle behind her hoof. “Though you kind of saw that earlier, I think. I had planned to rip them apart even before Boney said that word… but she said it was by accident so you don’t need to do anything, Sharpy.”
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Sharpshot’s attention snapped to his wife upon hearing what Bone Breaker had done. He calmed himself and returned to staring off into the city beyond. “Yeah, and Appleloosa isn’t filled with slaving scumbags.”
“I can handle some unorthodox and suboptimal tactics, especially when the pony at the center is a bit more resilient than the rest of us,” I spoke up as I turned away from Willow. I could hear her clapping in excitement behind me, clearly eager for whatever I was planning to put her through. “I suppose this is where we move onto why I need your help.”
“Yeah. Got no problem helping you, but typically one wants to know why they are helping a pony,” Sharpshot replied. I could tell he was smirking behind those clothes of his. “Besides, something is telling me you are quite an oddity. You claim the Enclave needs my assistance, but you are also a Dashite. What could be so important that you would help a home that cast you out?”
“It was necessary, given the part I played in these events,” I explained. I glared at them both, lowering my voice in case Bone Breaker or Gemini was defying Sharpshot’s wishes and listening in. “What you are about to hear can’t reach the ears of others, okay? It’s top secret Enclave material.”
“Lips are sealed… metaphorically speaking,” Willow said, moving a hoof across her muzzle as if zipping her mouth closed.
“As are mine, in a more literal sense,” Sharpshot replied.
I gave a nod of approval, and briefly focused my mind on how best to bring forth everything. I could tell them the bare minimum, but Sharpshot was clearly the prodding type; he would have haggled information out of me if I didn’t explain everything. Besides, the more info they had up front, the less I had to worry about somehow having crossed the lines later on. More than a few Dashite had been formed via withheld information, and this entire situation happened because of that. It was best if it was all explained from the very beginning.
“A year or so back, an officer of the Enclave got a bit too loud,” I explained, eyeing the ever-visible S.P.P. tower that was off in the distance. “He had been told to say nothing about the surface save for its dangers, and he did the exact opposite. It damaged the Enclave council’s reputation, caused a great deal of paranoia in a few of my friends, and made pegasi start to question the G.P.E.’s purpose,” I let out a sigh of frustration. “He was quickly branded a Dashite, and for most members of the council damage had been controlled.”
“Not all of them, however,” Sharpshot predicted.
“You get a bunch of military ponies – some of which rather past their prime – and simple paranoia turns into absolute terror,” I told him, grinding my teeth in frustration. “Those ones were all screaming “what if one Dashite turns into ten?” and the like. They didn’t feel safe as long as pegasi saw the surface as an okay place,” I looked at the ghoul, viewing him shaking his head. He was as embarrassed at it as I was. “One of these was an old friend of mine. Ironsight, a general whose life has been nothing but service and more service. He saw the fear of more ponies turning on the Enclave because of Calamity’s little stunt and wanted to stop it by any means.”
“Hang on, you say Calamity is the one who did this?” Willow asked. I hesitated to answer, fearing that the two were friends with the pegasi. I wouldn’t be able to reach my guns to stop them from shooting me if this made things go south. “Sweetie, wasn’t there a pegasi that showed up in New Appleloosa some time ago with that name?”
“Maybe. Don’t remember and don’t care to remember,” Sharpshot replied, shrugging his shoulders. His eyes trailed towards the saddlebags on his flank. “What’s the point in remembering names? They’ll all just die in a matter of months.”
Willow and I let his words hang in the air for some time. A clop and shake of his head ended it.
“Anyways, this Calamity harmed the Enclave and your friend got worried about more like him,” He said, acting as if that sudden sourness in his voice had never manifested.
“Correct. He got a team together, and they started to research ways of making sure that wouldn’t happen while upping the propaganda machines,” I said, looking away. If he was gonna pretend it never happened, I might as well do the same. “Except… some ponies I knew found out about what we were working on. I had apparently been a bit too loud talking to him about it, and a former squadmate of mine named Medicine Ball heard what we said.” I closed my eyes and did my best to not let my inner anger get the best of me. “They had been swayed by Calamity, and saw what Ironsight was working on as a threat. They and other old members of my squad stole classified information through unknown means, the council I had joined blamed me, and in an effort to make it up to them and keep my family safe, I’m here”
“Well… fuck,” Sharpshot replied. There was no condensation in his tone, sounding distraught and saddened by my tail. Pity wasn’t something I had expected to gain from a ghoul. “Okay, yeah, that’s… fucking tartarus. That’s all really tough.”
“I know exactly what being stabbed in the back like that is like,” Willow replied, reaching a hoof out to try and pat me on the back. I shoved her away with the combined use of my hoof and wings, which seemed to be enough to get how little I wanted her comfort at that moment. “Not in the exact same way, but I know the feeling. It hurts so, so much.”
“I appreciate the attempt to connect, but don’t bother,” I told her, getting up and trotting away from them. “You now know what it is we need to stop. Those documents they stole is the research for what Ironsight was working on, and he sees their thievery as reason to believe what he was working on is wrong. I don’t know what they plan to do with it, but know that what they carry is a danger to the entire wasteland.”
“A danger that we need to stop if we want to keep living,” Sharpshot stated. I never gave him an answer on if he was correct, and he didn’t exactly seem to care. He got up, rolled his shoulders, groaning in discomfort as I heard his body pop from stretching it out. “Well, I think I would prefer to not die just yet. What say you hun?”
“I’m rather happy with being alive myself,” Willow said, dancing in excitement. Clearly she was more interested in the body count she would rack up from whatever resistance we came across. “You got yourself a deal.”
I allowed a smirk to dawn my face, knowing that the first of many challenges was indeed over. Compared to all to come it would be small, but these wastelanders didn’t have much reason to truly aid the Enclave. From their angle, we had never really made much of an impression. I doubt that Dashites rarely spoke good about us too, but these two had been surprisingly easy to convince. I wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or cautious, knowing it could mean they planned to stab me in the back in much the same way.
The military side of my brain won that time, and the smirk faded as I turned back to them. “Now, we should probably take care of business with Sandstone first and foremost.”
“Leave that to me,” Willow said, giving me a playful salute. “You two should get everything to our little camping spot anyways.”
I tilted my head ever so slightly. “So we really aren’t going back to Sandstone?”
“I break ArcanaTech’s… tech. We aren’t much liked around here by them,” Sharpshot explained, wrapping up the supplies meant for ourselves. All the while his abomination and the strange zebra rifle he had left down stairs (which Bone Breaker had brought up), spun around fancily and then rested on his shoulders in his magic. It was quite a lot of magic he was using at once, but he wasn’t looking that tired. “So we hide out somewhere. I’ll show instead of tell, in case our requested privacy has been disturbed. Bone Breaker and Gemini might not have a MentaBuck like you do, but they have been fucked with by ArcanaTech. I give it a day before they realize what I did to Gemini, kidnap her, fix that camera inside her, and then plop her down in the middle of who-fucking-knows-where.”
Much like simply learning I was being watched, learning what ArcanaTech would do to Gemini was upsetting. Not anywhere near upsetting enough for me to actually want to help the grounder, but the fact my gag reflex had activated from what I had been told said everything. Propaganda, keeping info a secret, playing up the good while the bad got swept under was all a much more civilized way to control ponies. I’m sure even a Dashite would agree to that if Sharpshot educated them. I… actually felt less hostile about Angel Hair and more worried, thinking like that.
“Well, in that case, let's say our goodbyes and get the move on,”
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“Got to say, if all you Enclave types are that good in a fight I hope to see more around here in the future,” Bone Breaker replied, a smile on her face. “Now that we know the Shadow Corp has gotten the MentaBuck working on you winged folks, I can only hope to see more of you.”
I wasn’t sure if I should be worried or happy at those words. On the one hoof, the idea that ponies down here could actually appreciate the Enclave was not something I had expected. It made the less militaristic side of my brain wonder if the G.P.E. could be more down here. On the other, however, that would mean they were in the frog of ArcanaTech, and most likely without the super precision of a unicorn like Sharpshot wouldn’t be able to break whatever invention was keeping tabs on everypony in the city.
We had taken everything back to street level, Willow holding a bag of supplies for Sandstone in her mouth to Bone Breaker’s right. Gemini stayed silent, out of the way, and overall uninteresting to myself. A part of me wondered why we hadn’t just killed her like the rest, especially since it seemed likely our saving her was only temporary. I highly doubted Sandstone was a safe haven from ArcanaTech.
It was a bit too late to fix my mistake now, however.
“I’ll make sure to put in a good word to any squads or Dashites I meet,” I said. She reached a hoof out, which I decided to take and shake. “Your service to the Enclave won’t be ignored.”
With a final nod and a surprise salute, Bone Breaker and her group headed off. Willow gave Sharpshot a playful wave, which he returned with the stiffest one I had ever seen. A small hint of jealousy coursed through me as I watched them. Watching a couple happily work together, being happy around each other made me crave for the same. I was getting homesick not even a week into being on the surface. Not a great sign.
“Well, they’re on their way. We should be heading out too,” Sharpshot said, turning in the opposite direction of where Bone Breaker was going. “Drop this shit off, then we’ll figure out how to start searching for this friend of yours.”
“Sounds good,” I replied, turning to follow him. I gave a brief glance back, noticing the distance already put between us and Willow. “So you two just camped out in an old park or something?”
He chuckled at my question. “Maybe if this was the central wasteland, but when you got pre-balefire wonders all around you, you got to make use of them.”
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Message from IM incoming
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Message received
> Quote:
> These last twenty four hours have been… okay, where do I start? They haven’t been terrible, because that would be me saying that things haven’t gone almost perfectly. That doesn’t mean it’s been pleasant, because I’ve learned that even the most pleasant of days has a way of bucking you in the head. I guess the best word would be… frustrating? Yeah, frustrating makes the most sense in this instance. Let me start with the obvious first frustration, because that pile of scales is far more sensitive than I remember at times.
>
> I know you're reading this Watcher, or Spike, or whatever your name is. I’m sorry, okay! Go ahead and talk to P-1 if you want, but know that I’m still gonna need her at the end of the day. You are completely unaware of how useful this one little pegasus could be to remaking some semblance of order. I’m pretty sure P-1 isn’t what you are looking for, but stranger things have come from stranger places. Just don’t be surprised when I give you an “I told you so” when she turns out to not be a bearer.
>
> Yes, I will still be borrowing your Sprite-bots. No, you can’t stop me.
>
> On to the most important frustration, being the MentaBuck. I’m gonna make it rather blatant: we fucked up. I should have known it would happen when we found out she was searching for Sharpshot, but any chance at friendly introductions was gone. Granted Gold didn’t make a great first impression himself, but he’s my friend so he gets a pass. Still, her knowing about the Mind’s Eye function and said function breaking is gonna make things more difficult. I can already tell any chance at P-1 willingly helping us is a lot less likely.
>
> That does not mean we are shit out of luck, however. As long as P-1 is searching for the documents, we can obtain them. The M.A.M. is turning out to be really juicy, and the power this would give us can not be understated. Nopony would threaten Trotson with it in our hooves, but what little that other pegasus had on her didn’t give me everything I needed. They clearly split it up with the intention of making sure not everypony could obtain it. Considering the M.A.M.’s original function, fair enough.
>
> I’ll just need a new set of eyes and ears to be at P-1’s side. Eyes and ears that I can trust, and I know just the griff for the job. Should help me from getting in over my head again. I’ve already made that mistake trying to undo the literal circle that is ArcanaTech’s lineage.