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Dropping the shotgun with a clatter I rushed back into the bathroom and hurriedly stared into the cracked and dirty mirror.\nStaring back at me was a pony I didn’t recognize, my coat had changed, the front part having gone from grey to midnight blue including my wings and my new… horn. The long spiraling appendage stood proudly atop my head, my mane and tail were also different turning bright gold with a long streak of deep blue in the middle. Even my eyes were a different color, changing to a strong amethyst shade of purple. Only my cutiemark remained the same, the golden snowflake reassuring me that I was still myself.\nMy companion rounded the doorway and nudged me worriedly “Uh Snowah ya are still you ain’t ya?”\nI smiled grimly and concentrated watching as the sink head shimmered in the golden glow of my newfound magic and turned itself on causing it to sputter and cough dirty water before I shut it off and replied “Ya Glitter I’m still me but I don’t have a clue what happened and I’m kinda scared.”\n“Well now hold up second, don’t get all worked up just yet. Let’s wait till we get back and see Ana before we get worried ok? For now let’s just get what we came fer.”\nI nodded smiled up at her “By the way Glitter what’s with the twang in your voice, you don’t have it all the time.”\n“Oh that. It’s just something ah picked up over the years, usually only happens when I’m stressed.”\nAfter that Glitter and the little filly waited outside while I searched the store. Confirming my worst fears I found the foal’s mother… or what was left of her in the old pharmacy which the raiders had taken to using as a kitchen. The same room held the twisted black remains of the utility robot Clara wanted scavenged. Crawling in between its many arms I popped open the small hatch near the base and looked inside, luckily most of the internal components had fared better than its outer casing. Popping out the components I needed I looked around for some kind of blanket.\nAs I was still getting used to having magic I took me a bit to wrap the dead mare in the blanket and move it outside. Glitter saw the blood on the cloth and moved to hide it from the little filly but before she could move the small pony walked up to me “T-that’s my momma isn’t it?”\nI didn’t have it in my heart to lie to the girl so I just nodded sadly and said “What’s your name?”\nThe little pony looked like she wanted to cry but just couldn’t anymore “Blueberry… Blueberry Pie and my momma’s … was Peach Cobbler.”\n“Well Blueberry my friend Glitter and I will take your mother back to town and give her a proper resting place then find a place for you to stay ok?”\nThe little foal blushed “That’s very nice of you princess.”\n*** *** ***\nThe trip back to Baleville was mostly uneventful till we got back to the town. Once there I used Glitters’ jacket to hide my wings and while Glitter went to see to Peach we headed directly to Ana’s clinic. Once there I finally slid the jacket off, I had expected the older mare to be frightened instead all I got was a “So I was right.”\nI gasped in disbelief “You knew this would happen!!”\n“Not exactly no, when I examined you there was a strange scar on your forehead with an odd lump underneath it. When I scanned the lump imagine my surprise when I detected a magic well, and not a small one either. ”\nI just stared at her mouth agape. My exasperation was only made worse when Blueberry nudged my leg “What’s wrong princess is there something bad happening?”\nThe little filly had been doing that since I, well, changed. She seemed convinced that I was one of the, as she put it, magical pretty princess ponies come back to make everything better. Seeing my frustration the medical mare just smirked before saying “The little one dose have a point, you have a lot in common with our former leaders. I mean just look at your unique anatomy .”\n“But that just can’t be right I mean both my parents were pegesi.”\n“That may be true but there must be a reason for the scar at least.”\nThinking over it for a time I was reminded of the one routine in stable 22 that I couldn’t get away from. I went on to explain that once every year I had to go to medical and have them cut off what they called a mutation with a laser.\nAna looked over what I had to guess were notes she had taken of me before responding “I have the feeling that you were an alicorn form birth and your parents had just removed your horn every time it had try to re grow. Which is also the reason your magic is so strong for never using it, it built up inside your even though you didn’t have a horn.”\n“Well ok I’d like to ask so many more questions but I need you to take a look at this little filly, we found her in the Super Pony-Mart and she’s had a really tough time.” I said looking over the small pony; we had cleaned her up as best we could with the water we brought with us but she still looked horrible.  \nAs my words sunk in the older pony held out a hoof smiling tenderly “Come here sweetheart let’s give you a nice warm bath and a soft bed to rest in ok?”\nBlueberry looked extremely apprehensive but at my insistent nudge she relented and let Ana ushered her into the other room behind her clinic. While herding the girl into her home Ana looked over her should at me “If you want some answers to your questions come back later in the meantime I’ll try and help this little one.”\nAfter I slid Glitter’s coat back over my wings and flanks I crept out the door unsure of what to do next, I wasn’t ready to go see Clara just yet and ponies were starting to give me strange looks. Thankfully at that exact moment my friend trotted up to me. She looked like she’d seen better days, there were large shadows under her eyes and her mane was all tangled up but she tried to grin reassuringly none the less “Hey there Snowy ya kinda look like hell. Then again I probably don’t look to much better how about we head home and get some rest.”\nSleep sounded like the best thing ever to me right then so I had no objections as we walked slowly towards Glitters house. But as we opened the front door a cold, feminine voice graced our ears “Well hello it’s nice to finally meet you… sister.”\nGlitter and I both braced ourselves for a fight while we stared down at the cloaked figure sitting at the dining room table. I kicked my battle-saddles reloading toggle and Glitter drew her revolver and yelled “Who the hay are you and how did ya get in my house?!”\nThe pony just raised a white hoof dismissively “I didn’t come here to fight and I wasn’t talking to you worthless earth-pony I was talking to my sister.”\nMaking sure I had the remains of mi saddle trained on her I edged myself forward “Look I don’t know who you are but I’ve never had a sister.”\n“Are you sure about that dear sister? I think you might be mistaken!” the mare exclaimed and threw off her cloak.\nBefore I left the stable I thought there were only 3 alicorns in Equestria, the two goddesses a younger one named Cadence. Then I changed into one and now another one was looking right at me, her white coat and reddish-orange mane gleaming and her red eyes staring at us coldly. But something about her seemed… off, her body was too thick and her wings and horn were smaller than mine. Deciding I should try and get answers press forward again, flicking the safety on my saddle as I went “Ok listen… um Sister I don’t know who you are but what do you want with me?”\n“If you must know I wasn’t looking for you specifically. I was the one trying to get into the stable but the ponies I was after were your parents. I knew them from a before the war and I had tracked them down to that stable.”\nI’m not exactly sure but I think my mind exploded, twice, at that news but there was no way I would take it at face value “Hang on a second, there’s no way you could know my parents that long ago and besides up till now the stable door never opened. Also you expect me to believe you when you haven’t even said your name.”\nThe alicorn sneered down at me “My name is Solaris and you’re telling me your parents never told you how old they really were. As for the door are you going to believe the overmare, the same one that tossed you out in the cold?”\nGlitter suddenly cut in and asked the question I had been about to “So if your form two hundred years ago where have you been all this time.”\nInstead of answering the alicorn turned her back to us, growling angrily “Enough silly questions I came here to tell you to come to the Ponyville crater. There you will meet the one who sent me.”\nBefore either of us could act there was a flash of red light and she was gone. I glanced back at glitter as she put the revolver from her fetlock into its holster. “So you saw her to right, I’m not crazy am I?”\nThe mare just sighed heavily “Well she was defiantly real. I don’t have a clue about what she said but right now all I want to do is sleep those healing potion fixed me up but I’m still exhausted. Besides it’s getting kinda late and Clara has probably closed up shop so let’s just get some rest.”\n“Um Glitter are you sure you’re ok with me staying in your bed, I mean I do kinda have a crush on you.”\n“Snowy I’ve been out here a long time comparatively so I’ve seen all kinds of ponies. It doesn’t bother me if ya like mares, and the fact that you like me is rather flattering so don’t get so worked up about it ok.”\nWith that settled we walked into bathroom and took turns showering (thank the goddesses for working plumbing) then clambered into bed. That night more nightmares plagued me but by morning I had still managed to get some sleep. However the new day brought with it another new change. I wasn’t sure how early it was since the sky was covered with clouds, I would later find out that it was the work of the pegesi but at the time hadn’t even thought to ask Glitter about it. Suddenly there was somepony shaking me “Hey snowy something has happened to ya wake up.”\nGroggily I shifted myself up and opened my eyes to look at her worried gaze “What’s going on Glitter I’m trying to sleep here.”\n“Snowy your body changed back… well kinda… go look.”\nSince I wasn’t about get anymore sleep I headed back into the bathroom. Gazing into the mirror I gasped at my changed appearance, I still had my horn but my color had gone back to normal in my coat and eyes but my mane and tail had remained the same. Going back to the bedroom I shrugged over at Glitter as I had no more clue than she did. Setting the problem aside for now Glitter sat down for breakfast but as I wasn’t very hungry I decided to head to check on Ana and Blueberry with a promise to meet at Clara’s later.\nOnce at the clinic the pink medical pony greeted me as I slid off Glitters jacket “Hello there Snowy, Blueberry is asleep in the back but I think you’re more interested why your body changed.”\n“Well yes I am wondering about that but what about that but what about Blueberry?”\nAna sighed and sat down at her desk “Well she had a very rough time and she’s all broken up about her mother but after a long bath and a nice long rest I think she’ll be ok.”\nI was glad to hear that the little filly was going to be ok, not right away but eventually. Afterward Ana sat me down and went on to explain that my transformations were directly tied to me magic well. As alicorns age and grow in power their body’s change slightly. My changes were more drastic because of my parents their lineage was clashing with my true form; more or less the one I had changed into the yesterday.\nShe looked like she wanted to continue but I cut her off “Not to be rude but how do you know so much about alicorns?”\n“Well the truth is that I…” the rest of her sentence was stopped as the door swung open and somepony walked it. “I thought I’d find you here Snowy.” said the ghoul-pony at the entryway.\nI balked as he stared at me “L-Lawman I can explain and…”\nHe held up a hoof to silence me “Don’t get your tail in a knot Snowy I just came to talk. I get back in town and find out somepony new showed up with my daughter. So I go and track her down and she tells me it’s you and you’re an alicorn. Now that wouldn’t be a problem but you need to hear this.”\nGoing over to a shelf by Ana’s desk he began fiddling with an old radio “Ana why don’t you have this thing on.”\n“Well it might be because this is a clinic and my patients like it quiet while they heal.”\nLawman’s reply was lost as a new male voice sparked to life over the radio [i]“Hello there children, this is DJ Pon3 and its time for some news! First up it looks like two brave ponies, one of whom was the pony that crawled out of the stable I told you about yesterday, cleared out the raider nests in Bucktown so it should be a lot safer to travel through now and it should give all those nasty raiders something to think about, so if you’re listening out there nice work you two! On a slightly more worrying note it looks like some ponies have been seeing… if you can believe this, alicorns out in the wasteland. Now I know what you’re thinking and its true ponies see wired things all the time but this is way to frequent to be a coincidence. So far none of the sighted alicorns have tried to make any kind of contact so we’ll just have to wait and see but sill if ya see one keep a gun close just in case. This is DJ Pon3 signing off.”[/i]\nThen the voice cut out and was replaced with an old Sweetie Belle song I had heard back in the stable. The old ghoul looked at me heavily “Well I’m sure you can see the problem. I know you’re not a danger but other ponies might not agree with me. So Glitter will square up everything with Clara and then you should head out of town.”\nWas he serous about me leaving? This was my, well, home ever since I’d gotten out of the stable this was the only place of civilization I had found and now he wants me to leave?\nAs if reading my mind the ghoul patted my shoulder “Look you don’t have to stay gone for good but I’m going to need time to get everypony calmed down about you. Besides my daughter already said she was going to go with you.”\nOk so aside from the fact that I lost my home I guess we could have gone worse. When Lawman left the room I glanced nervously at Ana “Um well I guess I was going to ask you this anyway but I was wondering if you would take care of little Blueberry.”\nAna blinked at me “W-well I guess… I could. I have always wanted a second chance but what if I can’t protect her like I couldn’t protect Shimmer.”\n“Look Ana if anypony can help that poor little filly it’s you. She needs a home and somepony to help her. Besides shimmer wanted to help everypony don’t you want to do the same?”\nThe older mare looked taken aback for a second “You’re right Snowy… I wanted to help little fillies and now there’s one here who needs it. You be careful on your trip to… where are you going anyway?”\nTruthfully was I wasn’t sure but that alicorn had told me to head to Ponyville so it seemed as good a place as any to start. Saying my goodbyes to Ana and Blueberry when she woke up I headed out of town for the last time for a long while and waited for Glitter to catch up. The blue mare trotted up to me later carrying a large pack slung over her back. After giving me the assault rifle form the raiders and a 9mm pistol to replace my empty 12mm she showed me the newest purchase form Clara, a new harness and saddlebag for me to use.\nSlipping on the new gear as well as my much-repaired armor I slid the rifle and shotgun into the harness slots. I had decided to sell the lever-action when we came to a new town. Stowing the rest of my gear I caught a glimpse of Glitter in my old battle-saddle. Apparently she had convinced Clara t let her keep it after the shopkeeper had repaired it, cursing me under her breath the whole time, and had even gotten a 9mm smg to use with it on her left side.\nMy companion stepped up beside me, gazing at the half-demolished buildings in Bucktown, and nudged my side with hers saying “Well Snowy I’m sorry about all this but now that DJ Pon3 talking about alicorns ponies in town would get edgy when they found out about you. But I guess the only thing we need to worry about now is where to go now?”\n“You probably won’t like this but I think we should head towards the Ponyville Crater like Solaris told us to.”\n“Are you serious? That girl was a mule, besides you actually want to go all the way around to it?”\nI sighed, pushing a hoof to my face “Look sure she was rude but she knows things about me and I want to find out what they are, and what do you mean all the way around can’t we just go straight to it?”\n“Snowy, unless you want to cut through all the way through the middle of the Everfree Forest we’re going to have to go the long way to the east.”\nThe Everfree… I had read about the place back in stable. It was supposed to be a dark forest full of strange phenomenon and deadly creatures… and that was before the war. Somehow I doubted that all the magical radiation did it any good so it looked like the long way for us. With that we headed out toward the small shanty of Freetown, the first stop on our journey. The place used to a slaver stronghold but the ‘property’ rose up and took the place over.\n*** *** ***\nLet me take a moment here to talk about the sky and what was wrong with it. When I had first come out of the stable and seen the sky above me I was being chased by raiders so I wasn’t too worried about it at the time. Even after that I was too busy getting used to the waists to care. But after I found out that it had been covered in clouds since before the war, and that the pegesi had caused it I was more than a little distraught. One of the main reasons I wanted out of the stable was to fly in the sky and now I couldn’t even do that, but as they say no use crying over spilled milk right.\n*** *** ***\nGlitter and I had made good time out form Baleville and I decided now was as good a time as any to ask “Hey Glitter remember those posters outside of the Super Pony-mart?”\n“Yep they was fer the Ministry O’ Morale if I remember correctly, what about em?”\n“Well if that was the M.O.M. where was Pinkie Pie? Wasn’t she the ministry mare for that one?”\nGlitter nodded slightly “It’s true that Pinkie was one of the ministry mares but after they disappeared and that Shadowhooves guy took over he made a big deal about honoring the missing ponies from Ponyville. But not even a year after that he moved all the ministries to Manehatten and completely closed the Ministry of Peace. In the process of that he suppressed all mention of the six mares and even the princesses.”\n“So you mean to tell me that he tried to make ponies think he…” the rest of my sentence was cut off by a sharp crack and the sound of heavy bullet passing right above my head. We both dove behind a large rock by the road we had been on for cover. Having been on the road for a day and a half this was the first hostile thing we’ve come across save for a radhog and a few blotsprites. Kicking my E.F.S. on I spotted a single red bar, from the angle of the bar it looked to be on the left side of the road, which meant the shooter was holed up in the Everfree.\nAs I relayed this to Glitter she kicked to loading toggle on her saddle saying “Well ya got a plan Snowy cause that sniper is a crack shot and we have no clue where in the forest he is.”\nTruthfully I had nothing of the sort but that had never stopped me before. After a few moments of thought I hashed out something that was both foolish and risky, a.k.a. exactly my style, nodding over to Glitter I explained “Ok so I’m going to draw his fire and when you see him shoot take him down.”\nGlitter’s mouth hung open for a full three seconds before she closed it “Snowy what are you thinking! Even putting aside the fact that it will be extremely hard with all that cover how do you plan on drawing his fire?”\nIn response I slid my new assault rifle form its slot in my harness and fluttered my wings. I’m pretty sure that were we not being shot at the blue mare would have bucked me in the face… but it wasn’t like she had any ides so she grudgingly agreed to my plan. Giving her the cheekiest smile I could I pulled the charging lever on my rifle and flared my wings open, launching into a steep climb.\nI rolled out of my climb not a moment too soon as another shot whizzed past my wing. Aiming a gun with magic is hard for somepony not used to it, firing the thing even more so, but with the practice I had it didn’t take much for me line up the sights and squeeze the trigger. The I.F.-30 hornet chattered to life, spraying the trees where the bar on my E.F.S. was with fire.\nThe rifle only had a twenty round magazine, which drained much faster than I would have liked. Hearing the telltale clink I snapped my wings closed plummeting toward the earth as the sniper opened up again on the spot I had been a second ago. This time however he fired one shot to may as there was another, softer crack and the firing stopped.\nBanking from the dive and setting myself down I pulled a fresh mag from my saddle pouch and quickly swapped out the dry one. Advancing on the large body I found out our attacker wasn’t a pony or a male. \nComing up next to me Glitter whistled softly at the body of the combat armored griffin before us, I had never seen one of the things but she seemed to recognize the emblem on her armor “This griffin was a member of Talon Company…. Great because that’s just what we need.”\nFeeling a little bit foolish I asked what that was supposed to mean. My friend started digging through her gear as she replied “Their mercenaries, before the war they were solders for hire and not much has changed since then. If we have talons coming after us somepony wants you dead… bad.”\nThe griffin’s name had been Claudia according to her dog-tags which, aside from a sniper rifle and small letter, were the only things on her. Glitter slung the rifle over her back; it was semi-auto and would make a nice replacement for her own rifle though she seemed very hesitant when I mention it. Setting aside the issue for now we gathered up our gear, dug a small grave for the griffin topped with a rock with her dog-tags on it and got back on the road.\n*** *** ***\nIt was late in the evening when we finally stopped for the night. We had travelled hard after the sniper and had made fairly good time, we had finally reached the edge of the Everfree on our left and on the right I could see the skeletal remains of the city of Hoofington. As I set out my bedroll and started working on getting a fire going (ignore everything I said about you before magic, your awesome ok) I noticed my friend shrugging her saddle off looking more glum than I really though was necessary, a testament to me getting used to the whole killing things concept and probably not a good one either, and decided to confront her about it “Hey Glitter what’s on your mind you seem way more shook up than usual.”\nSitting down onto her bed the mare slumped slightly “It’s about the Claudia.”\nI had figured as much, after the fight she had been acting strangely “What about her? Was there some reason you wanted to bury her before we left?”\n“Well yes there was. You probably didn’t notice this but she was a young griffin and her armor had been recently painted so she was most likely a new recruit to the Talons. For all we know it was her first mission… it just doesn’t seem fair is all.”\nI could understand the sentiment but something didn’t fit, however I decided to let the sensitive topic go for the moment and changed tact “Ok so what about her rifle, it shoots faster than yours and it uses a heavier round to, so why don’t you want to use it?”\nRather than answer me the earth-pony grabbed her rifle and tossed it over to me. Looking at the body of the rifle I noticed a small silver plate with the inscription[i] to: the sheriff Eagle Eye form: the grateful ponies of Doge Junction.[/i] “Eagle Eye who is that supposed to be?”\nGlitter joined me and took the rifle back “You know him as Lawman. Back before the bombs he was a sheriff in Doge junction, a small town west of Appaloosa. They gave him the gun after he stopped some zebra sympathizers form using the town as a test bed for a toxic gas they had developed.”\n“So your dad was a hero, that’s amazing!”\n“Well… something like that. Not a year later the apocalypse happened and the zebras hit the town with small megaspell, burnt it to the ground. Dad got lucky and just turned into a ghoul, everypony ells died. After that dad wandered the waists, met some good ponies, plenty of bad ones, set up a town, and raised me.”\nSeeing my horrified face she nudged my shoulder “Now don’t get all freaked out there’s nothing you can do about it now, it happened two hundred years ago. Besides you have a point, dad wouldn’t want anypony to die because I’m too stubborn to take a better weapon.”\nI agreed to take fist watch while Glitter caught some much needed rest. I had yet to tell her that I hardly needed any sleep, and much more worryingly didn’t seem to need to eat anymore. Turning on my E.F.S. and scanning the area my eyes fell on the rifle glitter had laid next to her, I didn’t want her to lose her father’s legacy but I couldn’t turn on gun into another could it? Inspiration struck and I grinned impishly down at the sleeping blue figure.\nWhen my companion woke up for her watch I decided to spring my surprise on her, it had taken me most of the night and I’m surprised nothing attacked us while I was distracted but I had finished it.\nSideling up to Glitter I pushed the griffin’s rifle up to her saying “Take a look at this.”\nThe mare was about to respond when she looked at the rifle’s stock and saw the small silver letters inlayed in it which read [i]Eagle Eye[/i]. Glitter looked torn between slapping me for damaging her father’s gun or kissing me for the gift so she split the difference by hugging me while hitting me upside the head. Chuckling to myself I laid down on my bedroll and tried to find some peaceful sleep.\nAt first I had nightmares every time tried to sleep. This time however my dreams turned out much better, it had started with me running through some strange green meadow before shifting to plant me in front of the two goddesses once more. Princess Celestia smiled at me warmly “hello my little pony.”\nI looked up at them skeptically, I’d had dreams about the princesses after that first night but they had all been just normal dreams, though this did seem much sharper and clearer than the others “Is it really your princess I…” the realization that I had just spoke made me clap a hoof over my mouth.\nThe two alicorns just smiled and stepped down from their thrones to stand closer to me. Celestia nuzzled my face gently “Yes little Snowy your strong enough to speak to us here. It makes me proud to see your true self now.”\nLooking myself over I realized I had changed back to how I looked during my first transformation “Princess please I have so many questions. Like what am I, where are we, how did I get here, and why am I an alicorn?”\nLuna placed a hoof on my shoulder, her blue eyes locking onto mine saying “Calm down little one, we understand your confused but our time here is limited so we will try to get as much answered as we can. First off this is our home, the land we came to Equestria from. It has gone by many names but most just call it the everafter.”\nThe older sister nodded in agreement before answering herself “As for what you are the answer is simple, you are an alicorn like we are. But how you came to be this way we cannot say, that is a question for your sires.”\nSuddenly both sisters looked strangely pained for a moment. Before I could ask Luna explained “Forgive us Snowy, we are very weak as we are now and we cannot stay any longer. Hopefully we will see each other soon till then remember that we love you.”\n“Why me though? What makes me so special?”\nCelestia smiled sadly even as my vision began to fade “Because my little pony you’re our d…”\n*** *** ***\nI woke with a start, squinting my eyes at the morning sun, and almost smacked my head into Glitters face as she pressed my hooves down into my shoulders “What happed? What are you pinning me down to the bed for Glitter?”\nSeeing me relax the mare visibly calmed herself “I’m not sure you were fast asleep talking to somepony then you got really upset and started thrashing around like you were trying to grab something.”\n“Oh sorry about that I was having another dream about the goddesses.”\n“Like the first one you had before we left Baleville?”\nI nodded and got to my hooves determined to get ahold of myself. After tossing an apple to Glitter and snacking on another one myself we gathered our gear and headed out. At this point we were heading north instead of east still keeping the forest on our left. I was still thinking about the dream and what Celestia’s last statement could have meant when another red bar flashed on my E.F.S. and I was bowled over by terrifying animal. The thing had the body of a wolf but the head and tail of a snake and it was coming back for a second pass. \nSuddenly Glitter jumped in front of me biting down on her battle-saddle’s bit spraying the thing with her S.M.G. the small rounds did little more than slow it down as it barreled into her. Watching the two of them sail over me I got to my hooves and rounded on the struggling pair, hitting S.A.T.S. I slipped my rifle from the harness and put a precise three round burst into its side before taking wing to lead it away.\nThis time however flying wasn’t enough as after flying for less than a minute I felt burning pain erupt from my back leg where the thing had jumped up to bite me. We collapsed to the ground in a heap while I struggled to bring my shotgun up from its harness underneath me sure I was about to die. I had just managed to bring up my pump-action when the thing jerked suddenly and fell to the side of me twitching slightly before lying still, its breathing going slow and even.\nA new feminine voice caught my attention “Stay where you are and don’t move!” \nSearching for its source my gaze fell on a strange white unicorn, she was dressed in some kind of pink and yellow armor and holding two glowing energy weapons in a blue field of magic. I tried to stand but my back leg apparently had other ideas as it collapsed immediately and my pip-buck flashed all kinds of pretty toxin warnings at me.\nWhen I collapsed the unicorn seemed to lose whatever distrust she had in me and rushed up to my side. She connected my pip-buck to a similar device on her own leg as her eyes seemed to scan over what I assumed were my pip-buck’s medical reports “Shit this is bad hang on a second I need to find the other pony you were with.”\nPulling the chord out of the connecter she rushed off to find help. I was seeing black spots by the time I head the two mares coming back and ass the got up to me I collapsed completely and passed out.\nI awoke to the steady beep of a heart monitor, my head ached and my body felt like it had been hit with [b]several[/b] hammers but a least I was alive to complain about it. Seeing me stir the same white mare with the short cropped blue mane approached the bed I was lying in “Um hello there Snowy I’m glad to see you made it.”\n“Where am I and is Glitter all right?”\n“Yes your friend is fine; in fact you suffered much worse wounds than she did. By the way my name is Ruby, Ruby Cross.”\nNodding my head I took a look at the room I was in, it appeared to be a clinic like Ana’s but much bigger “So you aren’t freaked out by my… looks”\n“To be honest I was at first but after your companion explained your case to me while I was treating her injuries I find myself more intrigued than anything ells.”    \nI tried to pull myself up a bit but my body was still too weak to move much and something was wrong with my back right leg, I could feel the weight of the blanket atop it but not the texture or warmth of it.\nSensing my growing unease Ruby put a comforting hoof on my mane saying “Speaking of injuries I have some… well … some bad news.  I was able to repair the torn muscles and blood vessels in your leg but… the monster that bit you is called a nightstalker, they were abominations made after the war and they have an extremely poisonous bite.”\n“Ok but what does that have to do with my leg and where is Glitter? Shouldn’t she be here to make sure I’m ok?”\n“She has been, you have been unconscious for three days and she only just now left your side to get some rest at my insistence. As for your leg, adult nightstalkers are able to regulate the dose of venom they inject with each bite. But the one that attacked you was an adolescent and it injected all the venom it had into you so by the time I had healed your physical wounds the poison had already spread and I had to… remove the tissue damaged by the venom.”\nI didn’t like where this was going but I asked anyway “U-um how much did you have to… uh remove?”\nThe unicorn medic looked at me sadly “All of it.”\nI think it took a full ten minutes before what she said fully sunk in. finding strength I didn’t know I had I yanked to blanket off my lower body to revile the dull white metal cylinder where my leg should have been. The prosthetic was similar in shape to pony’s leg but lightly thinner and painted a color white not far off form my own flanks.\nThe white mare nudged me with her head to pull my eyes away saying “Sorry I couldn’t get you anything newer but that was all I had on such short notice. The actual prosthetic go’s all the way to your hip but I managed to save the skin on your flank and cutiemark.”\n“S-so I’m like a robot now or what?”\n“Nothing like that you just have a prosthetic leg aside form that your completely normal… well normal for an alicorn. Try to relax and I’ll go tell Glitter you’re awake.”\nTrying to think of something to do while I waited on my friend I checked my pip-buck and found DJ Pon3’s radio station. Flicking it on I let the masculine voice wash over me for the second time this week [i]“Listen up children DJ Pon3 here, giving a bite of news ta keep you going through the day. Fist up it looks like somepony or something has gathered itself an army in Buckland and is laying siege to the Vanguard forces up in Manehatten, maybe that will teach those snooty bunch of gun-nuts a lesson they won’t soon forget. In other new those strange alicorn sightings have been getting more and more frequent with some sources saying that one went over to Trottingham to talk with the not-goddesses broadcasting out of the city. While other say one came up to them claiming to be, get this, Fluttershy reincarnated. I tell ya folks it just gets weirder every day, anyway here’s Sapphire Shores singing the sun can’t hide forever.”[/i]\nComing out of my reverie I noticed Glitter hovering worriedly by my bed “Snowy I’m so glad you’re awake! How are ya doing with… everything?”\n“Well aside from the fact that I’ve got a tin can for a leg I could be doing worse.”\nRuby walked up to stand behind my friend and checked me over one more time saying “I’m rather curious as to why you didn’t use your shield spell. I had thought all alicorns could do it naturally.”\nThinking back to Super Pony-mart I remembered the golden wall of energy in front of us but had no clue how to replicate it now. Unlike telekinesis it just didn’t seem to come naturally to me.\nAs I explained this the medical mare replied “Well if that’s the case I’m going to have to teach you because the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened three days ago.”\n  Promising to do my best to learn the spell Ruby left letting Glitter and I talk alone for a while before she too went upstairs to let me rest.                    \n*** *** ***\nIt took a full five days for me to recover and learn how to walk again and another week before I was able to go anywhere long-distance. I spent most of the time getting to know Ruby and the clinic’s guard, Barricade. The rest was spent getting used to changing the spark-batteries in my leg, maintain its joints, and reading over the note I got from the griffin’s body. The little slip of paper didn’t have much interesting on it other than the signature of D. unfortunately I didn’t know any ponies who’s name started with D so even that wasn’t any help\nAt the end of the twelfth day Ruby walked into the room Glitter and I had been staying in “I have a favor to ask if you’re feeling up for travel.”\nI had finally used to my leg enough to be thinking about travel so my friend and I said yes.\n“Good I need you two to come with me up to Freetown. I usually get a patient or two from there every couple of days, but nopony has showed up since before you got here so something has to be wrong. I would go by myself but if there’s trouble I’ll need backup and Barricade needs to watch over the clinic.”\nWith that she left us to go get ready while we grabbed our own gear and weapons. Checking my map I saw that Freetown was only a day’s walk form the place it had helpfully labeled Ruby’s Clinic. \nAfter my first day outside I had stopped trying to figure out how my pip-buck knew everything it did, if only to keep from going mad. Putting on our armor and slinging up our weapons the three of us head steadily up to the north and Freetown.\nOnce we got close to the town it immediately something was very wrong with the town, part of the outer wall was collapsed and there were large smoke towers snaking into the sky. Putting on an extra boost of speed my companions and I rushed in through the blown-open gate to see if anypony could be helped… we needn’t have bothered.\nInside the town was a wreck and everypony inside, even the children, had been dead for a least a day. The buildings were covered in holes and scorch marks and the main road was pockmarked with craters. Glitter rushed up to me as a sat staring hollow-eyed at the corpse of a colt, not even old enough to have his cutiemark, lying in the street. Pressing my face up to meet hers she looked over all the destruction saying “What do ya think coulda done all this? It looks a mite bit high-tech for raiders?”\nRuby’s voice, dipped in cold fury, pierced the silence behind us “It wasn’t raiders Glitter it was the Vanguard, goddesses damn them the Vanguard did all this.”\n[b]Footnote: level up\nQuest perk added: cyberpony rank 1- you have augmented your natural ability’s with a little bit of cyborg technology (+1 to endurance and +5 damage resistance)\nSkill notes: \nStealth now at 25 \nGuns now at 25 [/b][i][/i]\n(Authors note: well here we go everypony this is where things start to take off and get a little bit crazy, and hopefully even more enjoyable. Sorry for the kind of generic first few chapters I hadn’t quite finished 4 when my friend convinced me to post this but not things should pick up a bit. A big thanks to all my readers and fans, your enjoyment of the story and comments keep me writing. \nOne last thing I will be removing the sex tag form this story as of now. Instead when it happens, and it will trust me, I’m going to put the clop in a second story called Fallout Equestria: Lost Future- moments of intimacy.\nIf you need to contact me you can do so on Fimfiction.net of at snowyflanks@yahoo.com  \nThanks again, Snowy)\nFallout Equestria © to Kkat\nMy Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro\nSnowy flanks and other oc’s © Me\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 5: starting the journey
“I wish Twilight would go on epic adventures more often… best night’s sleep I’ve had in a week.”  

I stared at Glitter in disbelief until I finally heard the soft hum coming from my own head and felt the strangely warm current flowing through me. Dropping the shotgun with a clatter I rushed back into the bathroom and hurriedly stared into the cracked and dirty mirror.
Staring back at me was a pony I didn’t recognize, my coat had changed, the front part having gone from grey to midnight blue including my wings and my new… horn. The long spiraling appendage stood proudly atop my head, my mane and tail were also different turning bright gold with a long streak of deep blue in the middle. Even my eyes were a different color, changing to a strong amethyst shade of purple. Only my cutiemark remained the same, the golden snowflake reassuring me that I was still myself.
My companion rounded the doorway and nudged me worriedly “Uh Snowah ya are still you ain’t ya?”
I smiled grimly and concentrated watching as the sink head shimmered in the golden glow of my newfound magic and turned itself on causing it to sputter and cough dirty water before I shut it off and replied “Ya Glitter I’m still me but I don’t have a clue what happened and I’m kinda scared.”
“Well now hold up second, don’t get all worked up just yet. Let’s wait till we get back and see Ana before we get worried ok? For now let’s just get what we came fer.”
I nodded smiled up at her “By the way Glitter what’s with the twang in your voice, you don’t have it all the time.”
“Oh that. It’s just something ah picked up over the years, usually only happens when I’m stressed.”
After that Glitter and the little filly waited outside while I searched the store. Confirming my worst fears I found the foal’s mother… or what was left of her in the old pharmacy which the raiders had taken to using as a kitchen. The same room held the twisted black remains of the utility robot Clara wanted scavenged. Crawling in between its many arms I popped open the small hatch near the base and looked inside, luckily most of the internal components had fared better than its outer casing. Popping out the components I needed I looked around for some kind of blanket.
As I was still getting used to having magic I took me a bit to wrap the dead mare in the blanket and move it outside. Glitter saw the blood on the cloth and moved to hide it from the little filly but before she could move the small pony walked up to me “T-that’s my momma isn’t it?”
I didn’t have it in my heart to lie to the girl so I just nodded sadly and said “What’s your name?”
The little pony looked like she wanted to cry but just couldn’t anymore “Blueberry… Blueberry Pie and my momma’s … was Peach Cobbler.”
“Well Blueberry my friend Glitter and I will take your mother back to town and give her a proper resting place then find a place for you to stay ok?”
The little foal blushed “That’s very nice of you princess.”
*** *** ***
The trip back to Baleville was mostly uneventful till we got back to the town. Once there I used Glitters’ jacket to hide my wings and while Glitter went to see to Peach we headed directly to Ana’s clinic. Once there I finally slid the jacket off, I had expected the older mare to be frightened instead all I got was a “So I was right.”
I gasped in disbelief “You knew this would happen!!”
“Not exactly no, when I examined you there was a strange scar on your forehead with an odd lump underneath it. When I scanned the lump imagine my surprise when I detected a magic well, and not a small one either. ”
I just stared at her mouth agape. My exasperation was only made worse when Blueberry nudged my leg “What’s wrong princess is there something bad happening?”
The little filly had been doing that since I, well, changed. She seemed convinced that I was one of the, as she put it, magical pretty princess ponies come back to make everything better. Seeing my frustration the medical mare just smirked before saying “The little one dose have a point, you have a lot in common with our former leaders. I mean just look at your unique anatomy .”
“But that just can’t be right I mean both my parents were pegesi.”
“That may be true but there must be a reason for the scar at least.”
Thinking over it for a time I was reminded of the one routine in stable 22 that I couldn’t get away from. I went on to explain that once every year I had to go to medical and have them cut off what they called a mutation with a laser.
Ana looked over what I had to guess were notes she had taken of me before responding “I have the feeling that you were an alicorn form birth and your parents had just removed your horn every time it had try to re grow. Which is also the reason your magic is so strong for never using it, it built up inside your even though you didn’t have a horn.”
“Well ok I’d like to ask so many more questions but I need you to take a look at this little filly, we found her in the Super Pony-Mart and she’s had a really tough time.” I said looking over the small pony; we had cleaned her up as best we could with the water we brought with us but she still looked horrible.  
As my words sunk in the older pony held out a hoof smiling tenderly “Come here sweetheart let’s give you a nice warm bath and a soft bed to rest in ok?”
Blueberry looked extremely apprehensive but at my insistent nudge she relented and let Ana ushered her into the other room behind her clinic. While herding the girl into her home Ana looked over her should at me “If you want some answers to your questions come back later in the meantime I’ll try and help this little one.”
After I slid Glitter’s coat back over my wings and flanks I crept out the door unsure of what to do next, I wasn’t ready to go see Clara just yet and ponies were starting to give me strange looks. Thankfully at that exact moment my friend trotted up to me. She looked like she’d seen better days, there were large shadows under her eyes and her mane was all tangled up but she tried to grin reassuringly none the less “Hey there Snowy ya kinda look like hell. Then again I probably don’t look to much better how about we head home and get some rest.”
Sleep sounded like the best thing ever to me right then so I had no objections as we walked slowly towards Glitters house. But as we opened the front door a cold, feminine voice graced our ears “Well hello it’s nice to finally meet you… sister.”
Glitter and I both braced ourselves for a fight while we stared down at the cloaked figure sitting at the dining room table. I kicked my battle-saddles reloading toggle and Glitter drew her revolver and yelled “Who the hay are you and how did ya get in my house?!”
The pony just raised a white hoof dismissively “I didn’t come here to fight and I wasn’t talking to you worthless earth-pony I was talking to my sister.”
Making sure I had the remains of mi saddle trained on her I edged myself forward “Look I don’t know who you are but I’ve never had a sister.”
“Are you sure about that dear sister? I think you might be mistaken!” the mare exclaimed and threw off her cloak.
Before I left the stable I thought there were only 3 alicorns in Equestria, the two goddesses a younger one named Cadence. Then I changed into one and now another one was looking right at me, her white coat and reddish-orange mane gleaming and her red eyes staring at us coldly. But something about her seemed… off, her body was too thick and her wings and horn were smaller than mine. Deciding I should try and get answers press forward again, flicking the safety on my saddle as I went “Ok listen… um Sister I don’t know who you are but what do you want with me?”
“If you must know I wasn’t looking for you specifically. I was the one trying to get into the stable but the ponies I was after were your parents. I knew them from a before the war and I had tracked them down to that stable.”
I’m not exactly sure but I think my mind exploded, twice, at that news but there was no way I would take it at face value “Hang on a second, there’s no way you could know my parents that long ago and besides up till now the stable door never opened. Also you expect me to believe you when you haven’t even said your name.”
The alicorn sneered down at me “My name is Solaris and you’re telling me your parents never told you how old they really were. As for the door are you going to believe the overmare, the same one that tossed you out in the cold?”
Glitter suddenly cut in and asked the question I had been about to “So if your form two hundred years ago where have you been all this time.”
Instead of answering the alicorn turned her back to us, growling angrily “Enough silly questions I came here to tell you to come to the Ponyville crater. There you will meet the one who sent me.”
Before either of us could act there was a flash of red light and she was gone. I glanced back at glitter as she put the revolver from her fetlock into its holster. “So you saw her to right, I’m not crazy am I?”
The mare just sighed heavily “Well she was defiantly real. I don’t have a clue about what she said but right now all I want to do is sleep those healing potion fixed me up but I’m still exhausted. Besides it’s getting kinda late and Clara has probably closed up shop so let’s just get some rest.”
“Um Glitter are you sure you’re ok with me staying in your bed, I mean I do kinda have a crush on you.”
“Snowy I’ve been out here a long time comparatively so I’ve seen all kinds of ponies. It doesn’t bother me if ya like mares, and the fact that you like me is rather flattering so don’t get so worked up about it ok.”
With that settled we walked into bathroom and took turns showering (thank the goddesses for working plumbing) then clambered into bed. That night more nightmares plagued me but by morning I had still managed to get some sleep. However the new day brought with it another new change. I wasn’t sure how early it was since the sky was covered with clouds, I would later find out that it was the work of the pegesi but at the time hadn’t even thought to ask Glitter about it. Suddenly there was somepony shaking me “Hey snowy something has happened to ya wake up.”
Groggily I shifted myself up and opened my eyes to look at her worried gaze “What’s going on Glitter I’m trying to sleep here.”
“Snowy your body changed back… well kinda… go look.”
Since I wasn’t about get anymore sleep I headed back into the bathroom. Gazing into the mirror I gasped at my changed appearance, I still had my horn but my color had gone back to normal in my coat and eyes but my mane and tail had remained the same. Going back to the bedroom I shrugged over at Glitter as I had no more clue than she did. Setting the problem aside for now Glitter sat down for breakfast but as I wasn’t very hungry I decided to head to check on Ana and Blueberry with a promise to meet at Clara’s later.
Once at the clinic the pink medical pony greeted me as I slid off Glitters jacket “Hello there Snowy, Blueberry is asleep in the back but I think you’re more interested why your body changed.”
“Well yes I am wondering about that but what about that but what about Blueberry?”
Ana sighed and sat down at her desk “Well she had a very rough time and she’s all broken up about her mother but after a long bath and a nice long rest I think she’ll be ok.”
I was glad to hear that the little filly was going to be ok, not right away but eventually. Afterward Ana sat me down and went on to explain that my transformations were directly tied to me magic well. As alicorns age and grow in power their body’s change slightly. My changes were more drastic because of my parents their lineage was clashing with my true form; more or less the one I had changed into the yesterday.
She looked like she wanted to continue but I cut her off “Not to be rude but how do you know so much about alicorns?”
“Well the truth is that I…” the rest of her sentence was stopped as the door swung open and somepony walked it. “I thought I’d find you here Snowy.” said the ghoul-pony at the entryway.
I balked as he stared at me “L-Lawman I can explain and…”
He held up a hoof to silence me “Don’t get your tail in a knot Snowy I just came to talk. I get back in town and find out somepony new showed up with my daughter. So I go and track her down and she tells me it’s you and you’re an alicorn. Now that wouldn’t be a problem but you need to hear this.”
Going over to a shelf by Ana’s desk he began fiddling with an old radio “Ana why don’t you have this thing on.”
“Well it might be because this is a clinic and my patients like it quiet while they heal.”
Lawman’s reply was lost as a new male voice sparked to life over the radio “Hello there children, this is DJ Pon3 and its time for some news! First up it looks like two brave ponies, one of whom was the pony that crawled out of the stable I told you about yesterday, cleared out the raider nests in Bucktown so it should be a lot safer to travel through now and it should give all those nasty raiders something to think about, so if you’re listening out there nice work you two! On a slightly more worrying note it looks like some ponies have been seeing… if you can believe this, alicorns out in the wasteland. Now I know what you’re thinking and its true ponies see wired things all the time but this is way to frequent to be a coincidence. So far none of the sighted alicorns have tried to make any kind of contact so we’ll just have to wait and see but sill if ya see one keep a gun close just in case. This is DJ Pon3 signing off.”
Then the voice cut out and was replaced with an old Sweetie Belle song I had heard back in the stable. The old ghoul looked at me heavily “Well I’m sure you can see the problem. I know you’re not a danger but other ponies might not agree with me. So Glitter will square up everything with Clara and then you should head out of town.”
Was he serous about me leaving? This was my, well, home ever since I’d gotten out of the stable this was the only place of civilization I had found and now he wants me to leave?
As if reading my mind the ghoul patted my shoulder “Look you don’t have to stay gone for good but I’m going to need time to get everypony calmed down about you. Besides my daughter already said she was going to go with you.”
Ok so aside from the fact that I lost my home I guess we could have gone worse. When Lawman left the room I glanced nervously at Ana “Um well I guess I was going to ask you this anyway but I was wondering if you would take care of little Blueberry.”
Ana blinked at me “W-well I guess… I could. I have always wanted a second chance but what if I can’t protect her like I couldn’t protect Shimmer.”
“Look Ana if anypony can help that poor little filly it’s you. She needs a home and somepony to help her. Besides shimmer wanted to help everypony don’t you want to do the same?”
The older mare looked taken aback for a second “You’re right Snowy… I wanted to help little fillies and now there’s one here who needs it. You be careful on your trip to… where are you going anyway?”
Truthfully was I wasn’t sure but that alicorn had told me to head to Ponyville so it seemed as good a place as any to start. Saying my goodbyes to Ana and Blueberry when she woke up I headed out of town for the last time for a long while and waited for Glitter to catch up. The blue mare trotted up to me later carrying a large pack slung over her back. After giving me the assault rifle form the raiders and a 9mm pistol to replace my empty 12mm she showed me the newest purchase form Clara, a new harness and saddlebag for me to use.
Slipping on the new gear as well as my much-repaired armor I slid the rifle and shotgun into the harness slots. I had decided to sell the lever-action when we came to a new town. Stowing the rest of my gear I caught a glimpse of Glitter in my old battle-saddle. Apparently she had convinced Clara t let her keep it after the shopkeeper had repaired it, cursing me under her breath the whole time, and had even gotten a 9mm smg to use with it on her left side.
My companion stepped up beside me, gazing at the half-demolished buildings in Bucktown, and nudged my side with hers saying “Well Snowy I’m sorry about all this but now that DJ Pon3 talking about alicorns ponies in town would get edgy when they found out about you. But I guess the only thing we need to worry about now is where to go now?”
“You probably won’t like this but I think we should head towards the Ponyville Crater like Solaris told us to.”
“Are you serious? That girl was a mule, besides you actually want to go all the way around to it?”
I sighed, pushing a hoof to my face “Look sure she was rude but she knows things about me and I want to find out what they are, and what do you mean all the way around can’t we just go straight to it?”
“Snowy, unless you want to cut through all the way through the middle of the Everfree Forest we’re going to have to go the long way to the east.”
The Everfree… I had read about the place back in stable. It was supposed to be a dark forest full of strange phenomenon and deadly creatures… and that was before the war. Somehow I doubted that all the magical radiation did it any good so it looked like the long way for us. With that we headed out toward the small shanty of Freetown, the first stop on our journey. The place used to a slaver stronghold but the ‘property’ rose up and took the place over.
*** *** ***
Let me take a moment here to talk about the sky and what was wrong with it. When I had first come out of the stable and seen the sky above me I was being chased by raiders so I wasn’t too worried about it at the time. Even after that I was too busy getting used to the waists to care. But after I found out that it had been covered in clouds since before the war, and that the pegesi had caused it I was more than a little distraught. One of the main reasons I wanted out of the stable was to fly in the sky and now I couldn’t even do that, but as they say no use crying over spilled milk right.
*** *** ***
Glitter and I had made good time out form Baleville and I decided now was as good a time as any to ask “Hey Glitter remember those posters outside of the Super Pony-mart?”
“Yep they was fer the Ministry O’ Morale if I remember correctly, what about em?”
“Well if that was the M.O.M. where was Pinkie Pie? Wasn’t she the ministry mare for that one?”
Glitter nodded slightly “It’s true that Pinkie was one of the ministry mares but after they disappeared and that Shadowhooves guy took over he made a big deal about honoring the missing ponies from Ponyville. But not even a year after that he moved all the ministries to Manehatten and completely closed the Ministry of Peace. In the process of that he suppressed all mention of the six mares and even the princesses.”
“So you mean to tell me that he tried to make ponies think he…” the rest of my sentence was cut off by a sharp crack and the sound of heavy bullet passing right above my head. We both dove behind a large rock by the road we had been on for cover. Having been on the road for a day and a half this was the first hostile thing we’ve come across save for a radhog and a few blotsprites. Kicking my E.F.S. on I spotted a single red bar, from the angle of the bar it looked to be on the left side of the road, which meant the shooter was holed up in the Everfree.
As I relayed this to Glitter she kicked to loading toggle on her saddle saying “Well ya got a plan Snowy cause that sniper is a crack shot and we have no clue where in the forest he is.”
Truthfully I had nothing of the sort but that had never stopped me before. After a few moments of thought I hashed out something that was both foolish and risky, a.k.a. exactly my style, nodding over to Glitter I explained “Ok so I’m going to draw his fire and when you see him shoot take him down.”
Glitter’s mouth hung open for a full three seconds before she closed it “Snowy what are you thinking! Even putting aside the fact that it will be extremely hard with all that cover how do you plan on drawing his fire?”
In response I slid my new assault rifle form its slot in my harness and fluttered my wings. I’m pretty sure that were we not being shot at the blue mare would have bucked me in the face… but it wasn’t like she had any ides so she grudgingly agreed to my plan. Giving her the cheekiest smile I could I pulled the charging lever on my rifle and flared my wings open, launching into a steep climb.
I rolled out of my climb not a moment too soon as another shot whizzed past my wing. Aiming a gun with magic is hard for somepony not used to it, firing the thing even more so, but with the practice I had it didn’t take much for me line up the sights and squeeze the trigger. The I.F.-30 hornet chattered to life, spraying the trees where the bar on my E.F.S. was with fire.
The rifle only had a twenty round magazine, which drained much faster than I would have liked. Hearing the telltale clink I snapped my wings closed plummeting toward the earth as the sniper opened up again on the spot I had been a second ago. This time however he fired one shot to may as there was another, softer crack and the firing stopped.
Banking from the dive and setting myself down I pulled a fresh mag from my saddle pouch and quickly swapped out the dry one. Advancing on the large body I found out our attacker wasn’t a pony or a male.
Coming up next to me Glitter whistled softly at the body of the combat armored griffin before us, I had never seen one of the things but she seemed to recognize the emblem on her armor “This griffin was a member of Talon Company…. Great because that’s just what we need.”
Feeling a little bit foolish I asked what that was supposed to mean. My friend started digging through her gear as she replied “Their mercenaries, before the war they were solders for hire and not much has changed since then. If we have talons coming after us somepony wants you dead… bad.”
The griffin’s name had been Claudia according to her dog-tags which, aside from a sniper rifle and small letter, were the only things on her. Glitter slung the rifle over her back; it was semi-auto and would make a nice replacement for her own rifle though she seemed very hesitant when I mention it. Setting aside the issue for now we gathered up our gear, dug a small grave for the griffin topped with a rock with her dog-tags on it and got back on the road.
*** *** ***
It was late in the evening when we finally stopped for the night. We had travelled hard after the sniper and had made fairly good time, we had finally reached the edge of the Everfree on our left and on the right I could see the skeletal remains of the city of Hoofington. As I set out my bedroll and started working on getting a fire going (ignore everything I said about you before magic, your awesome ok) I noticed my friend shrugging her saddle off looking more glum than I really though was necessary, a testament to me getting used to the whole killing things concept and probably not a good one either, and decided to confront her about it “Hey Glitter what’s on your mind you seem way more shook up than usual.”
Sitting down onto her bed the mare slumped slightly “It’s about the Claudia.”
I had figured as much, after the fight she had been acting strangely “What about her? Was there some reason you wanted to bury her before we left?”
“Well yes there was. You probably didn’t notice this but she was a young griffin and her armor had been recently painted so she was most likely a new recruit to the Talons. For all we know it was her first mission… it just doesn’t seem fair is all.”
I could understand the sentiment but something didn’t fit, however I decided to let the sensitive topic go for the moment and changed tact “Ok so what about her rifle, it shoots faster than yours and it uses a heavier round to, so why don’t you want to use it?”
Rather than answer me the earth-pony grabbed her rifle and tossed it over to me. Looking at the body of the rifle I noticed a small silver plate with the inscription to: the sheriff Eagle Eye form: the grateful ponies of Doge Junction. “Eagle Eye who is that supposed to be?”
Glitter joined me and took the rifle back “You know him as Lawman. Back before the bombs he was a sheriff in Doge junction, a small town west of Appaloosa. They gave him the gun after he stopped some zebra sympathizers form using the town as a test bed for a toxic gas they had developed.”
“So your dad was a hero, that’s amazing!”
“Well… something like that. Not a year later the apocalypse happened and the zebras hit the town with small megaspell, burnt it to the ground. Dad got lucky and just turned into a ghoul, everypony ells died. After that dad wandered the waists, met some good ponies, plenty of bad ones, set up a town, and raised me.”
Seeing my horrified face she nudged my shoulder “Now don’t get all freaked out there’s nothing you can do about it now, it happened two hundred years ago. Besides you have a point, dad wouldn’t want anypony to die because I’m too stubborn to take a better weapon.”
I agreed to take fist watch while Glitter caught some much needed rest. I had yet to tell her that I hardly needed any sleep, and much more worryingly didn’t seem to need to eat anymore. Turning on my E.F.S. and scanning the area my eyes fell on the rifle glitter had laid next to her, I didn’t want her to lose her father’s legacy but I couldn’t turn on gun into another could it? Inspiration struck and I grinned impishly down at the sleeping blue figure.
When my companion woke up for her watch I decided to spring my surprise on her, it had taken me most of the night and I’m surprised nothing attacked us while I was distracted but I had finished it.
Sideling up to Glitter I pushed the griffin’s rifle up to her saying “Take a look at this.”
The mare was about to respond when she looked at the rifle’s stock and saw the small silver letters inlayed in it which read Eagle Eye. Glitter looked torn between slapping me for damaging her father’s gun or kissing me for the gift so she split the difference by hugging me while hitting me upside the head. Chuckling to myself I laid down on my bedroll and tried to find some peaceful sleep.
At first I had nightmares every time tried to sleep. This time however my dreams turned out much better, it had started with me running through some strange green meadow before shifting to plant me in front of the two goddesses once more. Princess Celestia smiled at me warmly “hello my little pony.”
I looked up at them skeptically, I’d had dreams about the princesses after that first night but they had all been just normal dreams, though this did seem much sharper and clearer than the others “Is it really your princess I…” the realization that I had just spoke made me clap a hoof over my mouth.
The two alicorns just smiled and stepped down from their thrones to stand closer to me. Celestia nuzzled my face gently “Yes little Snowy your strong enough to speak to us here. It makes me proud to see your true self now.”
Looking myself over I realized I had changed back to how I looked during my first transformation “Princess please I have so many questions. Like what am I, where are we, how did I get here, and why am I an alicorn?”
Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder, her blue eyes locking onto mine saying “Calm down little one, we understand your confused but our time here is limited so we will try to get as much answered as we can. First off this is our home, the land we came to Equestria from. It has gone by many names but most just call it the everafter.”
The older sister nodded in agreement before answering herself “As for what you are the answer is simple, you are an alicorn like we are. But how you came to be this way we cannot say, that is a question for your sires.”
Suddenly both sisters looked strangely pained for a moment. Before I could ask Luna explained “Forgive us Snowy, we are very weak as we are now and we cannot stay any longer. Hopefully we will see each other soon till then remember that we love you.”
“Why me though? What makes me so special?”
Celestia smiled sadly even as my vision began to fade “Because my little pony you’re our d…”
*** *** ***
I woke with a start, squinting my eyes at the morning sun, and almost smacked my head into Glitters face as she pressed my hooves down into my shoulders “What happed? What are you pinning me down to the bed for Glitter?”
Seeing me relax the mare visibly calmed herself “I’m not sure you were fast asleep talking to somepony then you got really upset and started thrashing around like you were trying to grab something.”
“Oh sorry about that I was having another dream about the goddesses.”
“Like the first one you had before we left Baleville?”
I nodded and got to my hooves determined to get ahold of myself. After tossing an apple to Glitter and snacking on another one myself we gathered our gear and headed out. At this point we were heading north instead of east still keeping the forest on our left. I was still thinking about the dream and what Celestia’s last statement could have meant when another red bar flashed on my E.F.S. and I was bowled over by terrifying animal. The thing had the body of a wolf but the head and tail of a snake and it was coming back for a second pass.
Suddenly Glitter jumped in front of me biting down on her battle-saddle’s bit spraying the thing with her S.M.G. the small rounds did little more than slow it down as it barreled into her. Watching the two of them sail over me I got to my hooves and rounded on the struggling pair, hitting S.A.T.S. I slipped my rifle from the harness and put a precise three round burst into its side before taking wing to lead it away.
This time however flying wasn’t enough as after flying for less than a minute I felt burning pain erupt from my back leg where the thing had jumped up to bite me. We collapsed to the ground in a heap while I struggled to bring my shotgun up from its harness underneath me sure I was about to die. I had just managed to bring up my pump-action when the thing jerked suddenly and fell to the side of me twitching slightly before lying still, its breathing going slow and even.
A new feminine voice caught my attention “Stay where you are and don’t move!”
Searching for its source my gaze fell on a strange white unicorn, she was dressed in some kind of pink and yellow armor and holding two glowing energy weapons in a blue field of magic. I tried to stand but my back leg apparently had other ideas as it collapsed immediately and my pip-buck flashed all kinds of pretty toxin warnings at me.
When I collapsed the unicorn seemed to lose whatever distrust she had in me and rushed up to my side. She connected my pip-buck to a similar device on her own leg as her eyes seemed to scan over what I assumed were my pip-buck’s medical reports “Shit this is bad hang on a second I need to find the other pony you were with.”
Pulling the chord out of the connecter she rushed off to find help. I was seeing black spots by the time I head the two mares coming back and ass the got up to me I collapsed completely and passed out.
I awoke to the steady beep of a heart monitor, my head ached and my body felt like it had been hit with several hammers but a least I was alive to complain about it. Seeing me stir the same white mare with the short cropped blue mane approached the bed I was lying in “Um hello there Snowy I’m glad to see you made it.”
“Where am I and is Glitter all right?”
“Yes your friend is fine; in fact you suffered much worse wounds than she did. By the way my name is Ruby, Ruby Cross.”
Nodding my head I took a look at the room I was in, it appeared to be a clinic like Ana’s but much bigger “So you aren’t freaked out by my… looks”
“To be honest I was at first but after your companion explained your case to me while I was treating her injuries I find myself more intrigued than anything ells.”    
I tried to pull myself up a bit but my body was still too weak to move much and something was wrong with my back right leg, I could feel the weight of the blanket atop it but not the texture or warmth of it.
Sensing my growing unease Ruby put a comforting hoof on my mane saying “Speaking of injuries I have some… well … some bad news.  I was able to repair the torn muscles and blood vessels in your leg but… the monster that bit you is called a nightstalker, they were abominations made after the war and they have an extremely poisonous bite.”
“Ok but what does that have to do with my leg and where is Glitter? Shouldn’t she be here to make sure I’m ok?”
“She has been, you have been unconscious for three days and she only just now left your side to get some rest at my insistence. As for your leg, adult nightstalkers are able to regulate the dose of venom they inject with each bite. But the one that attacked you was an adolescent and it injected all the venom it had into you so by the time I had healed your physical wounds the poison had already spread and I had to… remove the tissue damaged by the venom.”
I didn’t like where this was going but I asked anyway “U-um how much did you have to… uh remove?”
The unicorn medic looked at me sadly “All of it.”
I think it took a full ten minutes before what she said fully sunk in. finding strength I didn’t know I had I yanked to blanket off my lower body to revile the dull white metal cylinder where my leg should have been. The prosthetic was similar in shape to pony’s leg but lightly thinner and painted a color white not far off form my own flanks.
The white mare nudged me with her head to pull my eyes away saying “Sorry I couldn’t get you anything newer but that was all I had on such short notice. The actual prosthetic go’s all the way to your hip but I managed to save the skin on your flank and cutiemark.”
“S-so I’m like a robot now or what?”
“Nothing like that you just have a prosthetic leg aside form that your completely normal… well normal for an alicorn. Try to relax and I’ll go tell Glitter you’re awake.”
Trying to think of something to do while I waited on my friend I checked my pip-buck and found DJ Pon3’s radio station. Flicking it on I let the masculine voice wash over me for the second time this week “Listen up children DJ Pon3 here, giving a bite of news ta keep you going through the day. Fist up it looks like somepony or something has gathered itself an army in Buckland and is laying siege to the Vanguard forces up in Manehatten, maybe that will teach those snooty bunch of gun-nuts a lesson they won’t soon forget. In other new those strange alicorn sightings have been getting more and more frequent with some sources saying that one went over to Trottingham to talk with the not-goddesses broadcasting out of the city. While other say one came up to them claiming to be, get this, Fluttershy reincarnated. I tell ya folks it just gets weirder every day, anyway here’s Sapphire Shores singing the sun can’t hide forever.”
Coming out of my reverie I noticed Glitter hovering worriedly by my bed “Snowy I’m so glad you’re awake! How are ya doing with… everything?”
“Well aside from the fact that I’ve got a tin can for a leg I could be doing worse.”
Ruby walked up to stand behind my friend and checked me over one more time saying “I’m rather curious as to why you didn’t use your shield spell. I had thought all alicorns could do it naturally.”
Thinking back to Super Pony-mart I remembered the golden wall of energy in front of us but had no clue how to replicate it now. Unlike telekinesis it just didn’t seem to come naturally to me.
As I explained this the medical mare replied “Well if that’s the case I’m going to have to teach you because the last thing we need is a repeat of what happened three days ago.”
  Promising to do my best to learn the spell Ruby left letting Glitter and I talk alone for a while before she too went upstairs to let me rest.                    
*** *** ***
It took a full five days for me to recover and learn how to walk again and another week before I was able to go anywhere long-distance. I spent most of the time getting to know Ruby and the clinic’s guard, Barricade. The rest was spent getting used to changing the spark-batteries in my leg, maintain its joints, and reading over the note I got from the griffin’s body. The little slip of paper didn’t have much interesting on it other than the signature of D. unfortunately I didn’t know any ponies who’s name started with D so even that wasn’t any help
At the end of the twelfth day Ruby walked into the room Glitter and I had been staying in “I have a favor to ask if you’re feeling up for travel.”
I had finally used to my leg enough to be thinking about travel so my friend and I said yes.
“Good I need you two to come with me up to Freetown. I usually get a patient or two from there every couple of days, but nopony has showed up since before you got here so something has to be wrong. I would go by myself but if there’s trouble I’ll need backup and Barricade needs to watch over the clinic.”
With that she left us to go get ready while we grabbed our own gear and weapons. Checking my map I saw that Freetown was only a day’s walk form the place it had helpfully labeled Ruby’s Clinic.
After my first day outside I had stopped trying to figure out how my pip-buck knew everything it did, if only to keep from going mad. Putting on our armor and slinging up our weapons the three of us head steadily up to the north and Freetown.
Once we got close to the town it immediately something was very wrong with the town, part of the outer wall was collapsed and there were large smoke towers snaking into the sky. Putting on an extra boost of speed my companions and I rushed in through the blown-open gate to see if anypony could be helped… we needn’t have bothered.
Inside the town was a wreck and everypony inside, even the children, had been dead for a least a day. The buildings were covered in holes and scorch marks and the main road was pockmarked with craters. Glitter rushed up to me as a sat staring hollow-eyed at the corpse of a colt, not even old enough to have his cutiemark, lying in the street. Pressing my face up to meet hers she looked over all the destruction saying “What do ya think coulda done all this? It looks a mite bit high-tech for raiders?”
Ruby’s voice, dipped in cold fury, pierced the silence behind us “It wasn’t raiders Glitter it was the Vanguard, goddesses damn them the Vanguard did all this.”
Footnote: level up
Quest perk added: cyberpony rank 1- you have augmented your natural ability’s with a little bit of cyborg technology (+1 to endurance and +5 damage resistance)
Skill notes:
Stealth now at 25
Guns now at 25
(Authors note: well here we go everypony this is where things start to take off and get a little bit crazy, and hopefully even more enjoyable. Sorry for the kind of generic first few chapters I hadn’t quite finished 4 when my friend convinced me to post this but not things should pick up a bit. A big thanks to all my readers and fans, your enjoyment of the story and comments keep me writing.
One last thing I will be removing the sex tag form this story as of now. Instead when it happens, and it will trust me, I’m going to put the clop in a second story called Fallout Equestria: Lost Future- moments of intimacy.
If you need to contact me you can do so on Fimfiction.net of at snowyflanks@yahoo.com  
Thanks again, Snowy)
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me
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