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I tuned to ask Ruby what she meant by that but bars appearing on my E.F.S. caught my attention. There were six of them, all red, and they were coming right for us. Not wanting a repeat of the nightstalker I put my shield up immediately and dove in front of my companions, drawing my rifle as I did, just as six armored figures charged around the corner a deep mechanical voice shouting “Hooves up raiders! Move an inch and you die!”\nThe ponies in front of us were the most well-armed and armored I had ever seen. Five of them wore heavy combat armor and had assault-rifles trained at us, either in battle-saddles or floating in magic. Pony number six on the other hoof was geared up differently, at first I thought it was a robot or some kind of walking tank, but upon closer inspection it appeared to be a pony in a fully enclosed suit of magical armor. Seconds slipped by until the command of hold was given and all the ponies relaxed their stances, their bars going from red to blue in an instant, and the same deep voice issued form the suited pony “ This area is under Vanguard control. What business doses an alicorn and her servants have in this ghost town.”\nI lowered my rifle form their faces but didn’t drop the orb golden energy around me. These guys had way too much firepower form me to drop my guard completely “My name is Snowy Flanks and we came out here because we thought the town might be in trouble.” \nI would have continued but a strangely familiar voice shattered my train of thought “Snowy? …is that really you?”\nA unicorn to the right of the armor suited pony pulled off his helmet revealing deep green mane and eyes the color of his namesake; I managed to breathe out a single word through my shock “Emerald.”\nThe suited stallion’s head snapped to his right “Scribe Emerald Fire you did not mention having a relationship with an abomination upon your recruitment.”\nEmerald looked stunned and sputtered at the other stallion “But Orange Peel she wasn’t like this the last time I saw her.”\nOrange Peel rounded on the younger, I think, stallion “You will address me as Paladin Orange Peel at all times or I will have you detained back at base! Do I make myself clear?!”\nHe turned sharply back to us “You and your ilk aren’t welcome here monster. This town was hit by raiders and we’ve been sent in to clean up the mess and start a forward position here so take your slaves and go.”\nI wasn’t sure what was more insulting, the fact that he called my companions slaves, or that I was apparently a monster. But before I could utter a single word Ruby walked forward around the slightly obscuring light of my shield saying “Hit by raiders hmm, is that what your elder told you Orange Peel. I suppose he also told you how they got access to heavy energy weapons and artillery cannons.”\nThe knight stared at Ruby for a full ten seconds “Just who do you think you are to…” he looked closer at her cutiemark, I couldn’t see him blanch under his helmet and visor but I could practically feel it “Y-you… your that traitor! Everypony open fire now!”\nSuddenly all the bars on my E.F.S. but Emerald’s flashed back to red  and just like that the battle was on\n*** *** ***\nAs I rolled and spun around the truly obscene amount of fire coming up at me I had to wonder if every group of ponies I met out here was going to try and shoot me. \nWhen the fight broke out Ruby had moved faster than anypony I had ever seen, throwing herself to the side and drawing her laser pistols in one smooth motion, firing two pink beams that struck the two ponies farthest to the right sending them to the ground and turning their bars back to blue.\nGlitter had ran backwards from me as three of the four reaming Vanguard opened up on us with their rifles and a minigun seated on left of Orange’s armor and was now hunkering behind the corner of a small shack. My shield had held for a full second and a half before Orange Peel stopped shooting and the other gun on his integrated saddle, the largest rifle I had ever seen, snapped with the sound of thunder and put a clean hole the size of my horn through it before it disintegrated entirely.\nRealizing I was well and truly bucked if I stayed on the ground I had thrown myself into the air and now here I was using all of my (limited) aerial tricks to keep from being tuned into a pony full of holes. Orange was staying on me with his minigun while the other two were peppering away at the corner Glitter hid behind and I had no idea where Ruby had gotten to, also if I ever found the pony that invented miniguns and then thought to put them on armored suits I would kill them.\nDeciding it was more than time to go on the attack I rolled over the top and screamed down at the three remaining hostile Vanguard below me. Reigniting my shield to soak up the bullets I skimmed over their heads my rifle all but useless as it pattered against their armor.\nThankfully Glitter managed to get off a shot from Eagle Eye, the loud crack capped by a scream as the round slipped under one of the ceramic plates and into the leg of the Vanguard on the left of Orange.\nAs the other two turned back to her I spun back around and made a second pass. This time however Orange Peel was ready for me his giant rifle thundered a second time and grazed my wing, had my shield not been up the force would have torn it form its socket. Even with the shield it knocked me off course and right into a building.\nPicking myself up from the shards of glass and wood that used to be a window I heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs and more shooting outside, the gunfire punctuated by electrical zaps from Ruby’s pistols. Turning to face the stairs I pulled my shotgun loose, rifle having dropped when I lost concentration, and tried to raise my shield. I was so exhausted however that all I managed to do was nearly drop my shotgun. Suddenly the pony burst into the room and I thanked the goddesses it was Emerald.\nThe unicorn kept his gun trained on me as he advanced saying “Snowy what the hay happened to you since I left?”\nI looked behind myself at the two blue bars slowly edging backwards out of my sight and being pursued by a red bar that was probably Orange Peel “Now Emerald! You really want to discuss this now!”\n“Ok fine we’ll talk about it later then but if you and your friends want to get out of this alive you’ll have to deal with Orange. The other Initiates will listen when I tell them to run for it but not while he’s alive and he won’t stop till your all dead.”\nTesting my wing I found it still worked but was incredibly sore “Well I hope you have an idea how to do that because none of our weapons can even scratch him.”\n“Um I… uh… wait I have this.” he reached into his bradding and pulled out a… grenade… a standard grenade.\n*** *** ***\nChecking outside the window I saw Emerald rush across the street to help tend to the injured unicorn with the soldier who had stayed behind when Paladin Orange had run off. Slipping quietly out of the window I spread my wings, wincing at the sudden pain form the injured one and flew off toward the sound of gunfire and tearing sheet-metal praying it didn’t stop before I got there.       \nWinging over the town I caught up with my friends. They had fallen back into a small metal house which was now getting torn to shreds under the paladin’s minigun. He suddenly rounded on me and opened up with his rifle. The massive bullets cut the air around me as I slid around into a dive, I wasn’t sure if he was low on ammo or just wanted to kill me with one shot but I wasn’t about to stop. Drawing my wings closed I rolled in the air bringing my back legs in line with the paladin’s face and lifting the left one just before I hit.\nWhen I connected with his visor I felt my hoof, my metal hoof, deform just a bit from the impact. Springing back off the stunned stallion I landed heavily on my hooves and surveyed the damage. All the force I could muster… had barely cracked the suits visor, ok this armor was just plain cheating! Regardless of how fair it was the paladin was starting pull himself together so it was now or never.\nUsing what little magic I had left in me I shoved Emerald’s grenade up against the spider-webbed visor and tugged out the pin. Orange pressed himself slightly forward seeming to try and stare down the grenade “You little mule, I should have made sure you were dead first.”\n“Well I guess that’s the last mistake you’ll ever make then.”\nThe stallion chuckled grimly “Right of course it is. Let me tell you something little monster, I’ve fought abominations like you for years and even though you’re a freak you just don’t have it in you to kill me.”\nLooking directly into his helmet covered eyes I used the most crazed smile I could manage “Guess again.” and pulled the stem.\n*** *** ***\nThe explosion knocked me on my back and threw shrapnel everywhere. Much to my abject terror the one thing it didn’t do was put down Paladin Orange Peel, who still upright and looking right at me. Well maybe not looking… you had to have eyes that still worked to do that. But whit the E.F.S. he no doubt had in his armor it hardly mattered in the long run, I was completely bucked.\nRolling back up to my hooves I stared at the ruined eyes of the Vanguard through the shattered visor. For what little I could see his coat was orange just like his name and I wondered what cutiemark he might have. I never got the chance to find out as the barrels on his minigun began to rotate… then stopped completely with a sharp metallic whine. The same sound came from the rifle on his left; somehow the shrapnel had managed to disable both of his weapons. The stallion just snorted in disgust and lowered his head saying “Fine then well do this the hard way you little freak!”\nKicking himself forward the paladin charged towards me. My legs were exhausted and my wing had finally called it quits so I had to stop him. As the stallion bore down on me I reached for the one weapon I still had that I could use without magic, my dinky little 9mm pistol. He was almost on top of me when I raised the gun kicked on S.A.T.S. and put every ounce of energy the spell had into his face.\nIt was about a minute later when I opened my eyes and realized I had still been pulling the trigger even after the gun was empty. Glancing I saw the body of Paladin Orange Peel sprawled out at my hooves, his body having skidded to a stop after I turned his face into an empty red and white hole.\nS.A.T.S. had saved me but looking down at that oozing wound was just too much. Dropping my gun and lurching sideways I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the dirt. Feeling a hoof on my shoulder I glanced over at Ruby’s concerned muzzle “Snowy look at me, he’s dead, it’s over.”\n“I-I know… i-it was just… never mind. Look I have questions for you and I expect answers.”\nThe white unicorn nodded “You’ll get them… some of them. But right now theirs somepony who wants to talk to you and the last thing you need to do is puke all over him.”\nAt my confused look she gestured over to house she and Glitter had been hiding in. The blue mare had also come out and was now in an apparent staring contest with the closest thing I had to a friend in the stable. Hobbling over to bullet-riddled shack Glitter let the scribe inside and gestured for me to follow him in.\nStumbling inside I saw Emerald sitting in a half-destroyed chair looking anywhere but me “Snowy are you… going to be ok?”\n“I’m just tired. I think I used up all my magic but once I get some rest and my hoof looked at I should be fine.”\nEmerald pushed himself up and trotted slowly over to me “I already sent the initiates back out of town once I join the we’ll cut around Green Meadows and head back to Fetlock. For now though, I have some time, let me have a look at that leg.”\nSurprisingly the bed seemed to be the only thing in the room not torn to shreds so I lay back on my side to let him have a look. Taking the opportunity I looked him over, he seemed… different which probably didn’t mean much compared to me but he still looked surer of himself.\nAs he checked over my leg I caught him glancing repeatedly at my horn and the different color of my mane and tail. Pausing for a second to fiddle with something he pointed a hoof at my horn “So are you going to tell me when… that… happened to you?”\n“Believe it or not I was an alicorn since the day I as born, my parents just had my horn removed.”\nHe stopped working and stared at me “How is that even possible Snowy? I know horns regrow but it usually takes a large amount of time.”\n“That’s true but thankfully we escaped right before they were going to remove it again.”\n“Ok fine so you’re an alicorn now for some reason but what about your leg. The replacement is in good condition form being two hundred years old but how did you…”\nI cut him off with a glare that tuned into a wince as he gingerly removed a piece of shrapnel that had lodged itself into the joint if my knee “Hold on know if you want the answer to that you’d better tell me what happened to you? Why did you leave me there all alone and how did you hook up with these Vanguard jerks.”\n“I can’t explain it all right now, I have to get back to base and report the paladin’s death. I will come and find you later and then I’ll answer all your questions ok?”\n“Fine but how will you find me?”\nHe pointed down to my pip-buck with a hoof “I have your pip-buck’s tag, I can find you anywhere with that. It’s actually the reason I’m here at all. I saw your tag close to this town so after we cleaned up the place I was going to go looking for you.”\nWith that he turned and walked out the door telling me to get some rest and let my friends handle things for a while.\nAs much as my tired body wanted to listen to him I couldn’t just let my companions do all the work. Slogging back outside I joined my friends we set to the task. It took most of the day but by that night we had gathered all the bodies in town and buried anypony with a name we could find and put the rest to light in a huge pyre. Even though it was well passed night by the time we finished our grisly task but none of us wanted to stay in this dead town so we made our way outside and set up camp for the night.\n*** *** ***\nThe next day we finally got back to the clinic. I hadn’t slept the night before so when we got inside I went straight to sleep. Well almost straight to sleep Ruby insisted on removing my leg once I had lain down to make repairs on the slightly deformed hoof.\nMy strange and disjointed dreams were interrupted by Glitter nudging me with a hoof “Hey get up Snowy. You were crying in your sleep again, more bad dreams?”\nReaching up I felt the puffiness of my eyes and chuckled glumly “Oh sorry I guess I’ve been doing that a lot.”\n“Look don’t worry about it ok? Besides I have your leg here with me and I brought you breakfast. Just because you don’t need to eat doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”\nBlushing at being caught I reattached my leg and under the mare’s watchful eye ate the food she had brought up. I still wasn’t too keen on the idea of eating two hundred year old food, even if it had enough magical preservatives to keep it relatively fresh for another century or two. But considering the alternative was eating meat from animals like a lot of ponies had turned to I decided I shouldn’t complain about it too much, especially if Glitter continued to force me to eat even though I didn’t need to.\nAfter breakfast we caught up with Ruby in the small office she kept on the ground floor. Slipping herself behind the desk she looked down at the terminal sitting atop it “Well you wanted to ask me questions Snowy now’s the time.”\n“All right fine, first off just who are the Vanguard and how in Equestria do they know you?”\n“Well first off before we get to that I think congratulations are in order. I’m pretty sure you’re the only pony in history to take out a power-armored Steel Ranger with a grenade and a pistol.”\nThe name conjured up a memory, half buried and musty with age, to the forefront of my mind “Wait you said Steel Ranger? Weren’t they part of old Equestria’s military?”\n“Yes they were the elite troops of Equestria’s ground forces. Hand-picked and clad in heavily reinforced, magically powered armor they were the best the Ministry of Arcane Science and Ministry of War-time Technology had to offer and were notoriously hard to put down.”\nThinking back to the fight two days ago I tended to agree. If it hadn’t been for my prosthetic leg I don’t think we would have gotten out of there. “So they survived even after to war?”\n“In a manner of speaking, the ministry hubs in Manehatten and some of the other major cities survived the balefire bombs and megaspells. After the dust settled the remaining leaders of the ministries came together and formed what most ponies today known as the Vanguard.”\nGlitter suddenly raised a hoof and cut in “OK that ah can understand but if they’re from the ministries then what is their problem with us now? It ain’t like we’re monsters or nuthin so why is everything ah hear about them bad news, not ta mention what they did to that town.”\nThe white unicorn sighed and began tapping slowly on her keyboard before replying “What you have to remember is that after Ponyville disappeared the ponies who took over the ministries were nothing like Twilight and her friends. They never cared about ending the war just winning it, thus why the Ministry of Peace was gutted and closed down. Shadow Hooves was no better, after declaring that the goddesses had abandoned everypony he set up a kind of duel society.”\n“What exactly is that supposed to mean Ruby? And why do you know about the Vanguard at all?”\n“That… is one of the few things I won’t discus. Sorry for cutting off so suddenly but a lady must have some… secrets, besides I have some things I want to give you.”\nWith that she pulled my forehoof up to the computer and connected my pip-buck to the machine. A small chime alerted me the files she was transferring over to me looking them over I realized they were all audio recordings dating back two hundred years. Before I could ask her about them she slid something else arcos the table saying “Take this too, you’ll see why when you get to Ponyville.”\nLooking down I realized she had given me one of the strange energy pistols she had been using. Lifting it with my magic I realized just how customized it was, the body was yellow with light pink stripes around the sides and a large butterfly in the center of either side of the gun. The grip and trigger were molded to fit comfortably in the mouth and the entire weapon was extremely light for its size.\nRuby smiled softly as I admired the gun “That was given to me by a very important pony in my life so take good care of it ok?”\n“But Ruby if it’s so important why are you giving it to me and what’s with the recordings you gave me?”\n“I’m not going with you Snowy. Somepony has to run this clinic and besides if you’re going anywhere near the Vanguard that’s not someplace I want to be.”\n*** *** ***\nsix hours later we were well on our way up north. Cutting around Freetown added a full day to the three I would take to reach Green Meadows but neither of us wanted to go anywhere near that place for a while. We had tried to push Ruby into coming with us but the unicorn could be surprisingly stubborn when she wanted to and even after an hour of talking and a bit of shouting it was still just to two of us. However she left us with one last parting gift, a strange new spell she called a glamor that somehow would change my appearance  \nTrying to think of a something to pass the time while we walked I flicked on the first of the recordings Ruby gave me and the stressed and nervous voice of a young mare greeted our ears \n[i]“U-um hello there… um computer, my new boss said I should record a journal to help with everything that’s happened. S-so here go’s its May the sixth and my name is Nurse Rosepetal. I guess I should start from the beginning… I still can’t Ponyville is gone, I mean completely gone, it’s already been a week but I still can’t honestly believe it.\nEven with the princesses there as well as the ministry mares the whole place just vanished. Now the Ministries are scrambling to try and keep it under-wraps, though I think it’s kind of a moot point now. But in their defense I’ve never seen everypony this frightened, even the ponies I ran into form the M.O.I. were scared and it’s their job to be cool under pressure.\nI can barely force myself to think about it in one fell swoop of… something I lost not only my, um, boss Doctor Red Heart but Fluttershy, the pony who possibly cared more about everything’s wellbeing than anypony short of the princesses too. I’m going to shut this off now I… can’t talk any more right now.”[/i]\nWhen the recording ended Glitter glanced over at me saying “Well that was kinda morbid weren’t it Snowah.”\nNodding my assent I shut off the recording before the next one started. I could only imagine how frightening it must have been to everypony living at the time, suddenly the heroes of Equestria were gone along with the goddesses themselves. So far the recordings didn’t show any of the supposed insight Ruby mentioned but I would wait till we had listened to them all before judging.\nWatching the mostly obscured sun slowly sink behind the wall of clouds that made up the sky it looked like we should find a place to sleep. Checking my map I noticed a small building my pip-buck had labeled ‘Fields farm’. Pointing it out to my friend we turned off to the east and headed towards the place hoping it wasn’t infested with raiders… or worse.\nAs the building gained clarity with our approach it did appear to be and old farmstead with a mostly barren crop field and a farmhouse so patched I wondered how much of the original home remained. Before we could get any closer to the place a gravelly voice rang out form the buildings front door “Hold it right there you two! Who are ya and what do ya want here?”\nI could see a rifle floating half obscured in a window and could make out the faint sound of it being loaded. Wanting to come away form an encounter without getting shot at for once I decided I should try diplomacy first saying “Hold on their sir we don’t mean you any harm we’re just looking for a place to sleep.”\n“Don’t you sir me young missy how am ah supposed to believe you with all that firepower ya got on ya. Fer all ah know yawl could be workin them mean fellers to come harass us some more.”\nI was trying to figure out what he could have possibly meant and how to respond to it when another voice, still a little gravelly but lighter and softer, called out form another window on the second floor “Oh for Celestia’s mane Berry if ya’d open good eye ya might realize they ain’t from that tin-can brigade. Now hurry up and get the door.”\n“What are ya talkin bout ya daft mare I don’t see no… land sakes! Hold on their princess ah’ll be right there.”\nGlitter and I looked at each other nervously; they had obviously recognized me as an alicorn and since that led to them letting us inside it didn’t appear to be a bad thing. Still it always pays to be cautious so with a bit of trepidation we slowly made our way up towards the now open screen door. Walking our way into the dimly lit living room we were greeted by the home’s unicorn ghoul owners.\nThe closest one, the stallion, spoke first “Howdy their yer highness ah’m powerful sorry about the misunderstanden earlier but lately there been some miscreants coming round and causing us problems.”\nTaking a step back I looked to ghouls over. The stallion’s coat was entirely gone and most of his straw colored mane had followed suit. One of his eyes looked milky white while the other was a soft pinkish red I assumed that the milky one was the reason he didn’t notice my horn right away. In stark contrast the mare still had bits of her pink coat and large portions of her soft white mane and tail. I could even make out her cutiemark, a strange flower I couldn’t identify, and her royal blue eyes sparkled with something akin to barely suppressed giddiness.\nRealizing they were waiting on us I replied “Hello my name’s Snowy and this is my friend Glitter Lens. Don’t worry earlier I’m just glad I didn’t get shot… again, and please don’t call me your highness I’m not a princess or anything.”\nThe unicorn just waved off my remark “Nonsense yer an alicorn ain’t ya, which makes ya royalty in our book. Names Strawberry Fields and this here’s ma wife Petunia and this.” He waved his hoof to indicate the empty fields behind us “Is Sugar Berry Farms… or at least what’s left of it. Regardless yer very welcome in our home so please make yerselves comfortable.”\nWe sat ourselves on one of the many couches in the room while the couple sat on another across form us. Still curious I asked if they had seen or heard about the other alicorns around the wasteland at which the pink mare snorted derisively “Ya mean those pale imitations DJ Pon3’s been talking about lately. Thrust me sugar cube ah’ve been around long enough ta see the genuine article and they ain’t it. You on the other hoof look like ya could be one of the princesses’ long lost daughters. Speaking of which where did ya come from anyway if ya don’t mind me asking?”\nDeciding it couldn’t hurt I told them my story, from the stable till now. I was about to question them about what Equestria was like before the wasteland but Glitter suddenly asked her own question “So uh pardon ma asking but ya’ll don’t sound like no unicorns ah’ve ever met.”\nStrawberry chuckled a little “Yep ah suppose that’s true. But seeing as ah was raised in Appaloosa by some o’ the Apple family it’s been a hard habit ta break.”\nThe pink ghoul nodded “And thanks ta him ah’ve been doing it ever since ah married him. Speaking of  old habits ah’ve been neglecting mah manners let mah get ya something ta eat.”\n*** *** *** \nDinner with Strawberry and Petunia was much more pleasant than I had initially feared, the salad they fed us was the best I’d ever tasted and the conversation was nothing short of fascinating. Strawberry explained about how he had been an orphan and had been adopted by Candy Apple and her husband, living in Appaloosa and meeting Petunia.\n“So then after ah finally convinced her ta marry me she decides she wants to move way out east and start a farm in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong up till the megaspells went off all our strawberries grew perfectly here, but still it was a bit of a shift when it happened.”\nPetunia snorted into her salad “A bit of a shift? Way ah remember ya was cryin like a foal because ah wanted to leave your beloved Appaloosa. But enough of our bickering how was yer meal?”\n“It was some of the best food I’ve ever tasted honestly. Though I am curious how you got fresh produce all the way out here.”\n“Oh well Petunia and ah sometimes go up ta Green Meadows if we need anything, we just live out here because it’s our home and… well as old as we are its knida nice ta have some peace and quiet princess.”\nAfter dinner Petunia took the plates away to clean and her husband showed us up to our rooms. The farmhouse was more than big enough to accommodate us so we quickly found rooms beside each other.\nOnce laying down however sleep proved elusive to me, I wasn’t sure what was in that food as it had tasted fine but something about it didn’t sit well with me at all. Since it was clear I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep anytime soon I decided to check over my gear and ammunition. Everything seemed more or less in good condition though I was going to have to get better armor if I was going to be fighting more like the Vanguard. Ammunition on the other hoof was slightly more troubling I had plenty of shotgun shells and magazines for my pistol but I only had two and a half mags left or my hornet and not a single weapon that could even come close to piercing steel ranger armor. Not to mention that Glitter had used almost all her ammo in the fight at Freetown so all in all we were cutting it a little close with our supplies. As I was going to need more of a distraction I slipped on the second recording of Rosepetal\n[i]“Well hello there journal it’s me again. There have been some interesting developments since my first recording and I suppose I should talk about them. First off there was somepony who survived whatever happened to Ponyville, his name Shadow Hooves and supposedly he was some sort of adviser for the princesses.\nOther than that the Canterlot palace has been completely enclosed in a shield since the princesses disappeared. Nopony knows if any of the staff or guards were inside, although Princess Cadence hasn’t been seen since the shield went up but I’m not too worried because if anypony can find a way through the barrier is one of the princesses.\nWell there also was talk of who’s going to run Equestria now that the princesses and the ministry mares are gone. Personally I couldn’t care less, because once the zebras figure out all of our leaders are gone they’ll just hit us with megaspells while everypony is running around scared.\nHuh I didn’t realize I had gotten so cynical, I guess I just miss Doctor Red Heart. My life hasn’t been the same without…well it’s not like anypony else is going to read this so I guess I can tell you she was my marefriend. Anyway I’m going to go to bed now I’m just depressing myself.”[/i]\nIt kind of saddened me to think about being a pony trying to cope with a country suddenly leaderless. In a state like that I could see how easy it must have been for Shadow Hooves to take control of Equestria. Looking outside I realized it was well into the night and I should probably get some sleep sooner or later.\n*** *** ***\nThe next morning I awoke unusually early to the sound of hushed voices just outside my room.\n“We can’t do this Berry and you know it.”\n“But Petunia what else is we supposed ta do? Ifen they come back and we ain’t got the mare they wanted they’ll kill us without question. Not ta mention they said they’d be here in less than two hours.”\nRealizing what that meant I pushed myself from the bed and began readying my gear while calling out to the ghouls in the hallway “You know it’s not polite to talk about somepony behind their backs.”\nBoth ghouls shoved open the door staring at me in disbelief. I slid on the rest of my gear and pulled my rifle from its sling while the unicorns started stammering explanations “Save it. I’m guessing you drugged me and Glitter with plans to get the Vanguard to take us and leave you alone right?”\n“What were supposed to do? They are going to kill us if we don’t give you over them. I don’t wasn’t to betray you princess but I can’t just let them murder us.”\nOk I could understand not wanting to die but I was kinda confused as to how they even came into contact with the Vanguard. When I asked they explained that a couple of Steel Rangers has shown up four hours before we did and demanded that they capture me. However much as I wanted to help them I wasn’t about to get taken by the Vanguard, but without some kind of heavier firepower we stood no chance against power-armor.\nAs I pushed the couple to wake my friend and get themselves ready to leave. While they were getting ready I searched about franticly for something I could use to beat the Vanguard but short of dropping the house on them, which still probably wouldn’t work I came up empty hooved. I really wished Emerald was there with us, while his special talent was with technology not magic but he still probably knew way more spells than I did. Back in the stable he would… wait a minute… back in the stable was where I got my cutiemark by making it snow… with magic, and if I could make it snow then. I had an idea, it was about as well thought out as most of my ideas but it was the only thing I could think of that might work.\n*** *** ***\nI stood on top of the old farm house waiting for the Steel Rangers, my horn aglow in golden magic. I had no clue if my idea would even work but it was worth a try. Glitter had taken a bit to wake up but now she was heading south with Strawberry and his wife, I had to fight hard to convince her to take them to Ruby’s but if my plan failed spectacularly I didn’t want somepony other than me getting hurt.\nEven with my concentration focused on the spell I hoped I was doing right the Vanguard, and Steel Rangers in particular, never seemed too keen on the concept of subtly so it wasn’t hard to spot the eight power-armored ponies moving in formation form the north. Clenching my eyes shut I pushed more energy into the spell, adding an overglow to my horn and pushing the clouds above me a little tighter together even as the rangers got close enough to see me and fanned out in a semi-circle, aiming their weapons at my still form.\nThe ranger in the center of the group’s mechanical voice called harshly up to me “Attention alicorn cease your magic immediately or we will open fire on you.”\n“Sorry but I’m kind in the middle of something so you should come back later. Besides you won’t shoot me.”\nThe stallion huffed slightly saying “Oh really what makes you so sure of that?”\nGrinning slightly I pushed even more magic into my horn, I had no idea if I would even be able to walk after this but I had already started so no turning back now “It’s simple really. You bothered to take the time to hire some ghouls to drug and foal-nap me which was something you wouldn’t waist time on. So how about we start this conversation again with you telling my why you’re suddenly so interested in getting your hooves on me?”\n“That matter is classified and I don’t have to tell you anything monster. Now come down peacefully or, orders or not, I will kill you then find your companions and kill them too.”\nI shook my head a little “Boy are you guys always this pissy or do I just bring it out in you? Anyway mister grumpy I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me your name before I decide if I’m going to surrender.”\nGrunting in displeasure the stallion replied “My name, freak, is Paladin Steelshot now stop your spell or I’ll kill you now.”\n“Ya know I don’t know why you call yourselves Steel Rangers and Paladins and stuff like that. Because to me all you really seem like is a bunch of bullies in big suits of metal armor with big guns. But you know I have another name for bullies in metal armor.”\nSteelshot chuckled softly “Oh really and what would that be monster.”\n“I call them lightning rods.”\nThe assorted Steel Rangers glanced nervously about suddenly noticing how dark the cloud ceiling had gotten, how much static was in the air… and how bright my horn was glowing. As one I heard their weapons start firing but it was much too late. With a devilish grin I let loose the spell in my horn and unleashed hell.\nHaving never been in a storm before in my live nothing could have prepared me for the, brightness, the noise, and the sheer force of eight lightning bolts hitting the ground simultaneously. The shockwave took my legs right out from under me even as I heard the terrible cries from the rangers down below. But I had no time to bask in my success as I started to quite quickly towards the edge of the roof without enough strength to even open my wings it looked like I was in for a two story fall. Thankfully fate chose to spare me the pain of impact and I blacked out.\n[b]Footnote: level up\nNew perk: winged castor—you have learned to hold your concentration even while flapping for your life (removes concentration penalty for magic while flying)\nSkill notes:\nMagic now at 50\nNew spells: \nGlamor - level 1 (lets you change small parts of your body to look different. Must be maintained with magic)\nSummon storm – level one (call up to eight bolts of lightning from the sky)[/b][i][/i]\n(Authors note: so the plot thickens. Sorry for this one taking a little longer to finish guys my life can be kinda hectic not to mention my dyslexia makes typing a real bitch sometimes. Hopefully I’ll have one chapter out every 5 to 7 days but I might take some weeks off to rest up and work on other stories.\nAnyhow thanks again to everypony who read, comment, or up-voted my story it really means a lot. Also thanks to Kkat for making F.o.E. in the first place.\nFallout Equestria © to Kkat\nMy Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro\nSnowy flanks and other oc’s © Me\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 6: Suit of iron and heart of ice

The Vanguard… I had heard them mentioned on a few of the DJ’s broadcasts but this was the first pony I’d met that knew anything about them. I tuned to ask Ruby what she meant by that but bars appearing on my E.F.S. caught my attention. There were six of them, all red, and they were coming right for us. Not wanting a repeat of the nightstalker I put my shield up immediately and dove in front of my companions, drawing my rifle as I did, just as six armored figures charged around the corner a deep mechanical voice shouting “Hooves up raiders! Move an inch and you die!”
The ponies in front of us were the most well-armed and armored I had ever seen. Five of them wore heavy combat armor and had assault-rifles trained at us, either in battle-saddles or floating in magic. Pony number six on the other hoof was geared up differently, at first I thought it was a robot or some kind of walking tank, but upon closer inspection it appeared to be a pony in a fully enclosed suit of magical armor. Seconds slipped by until the command of hold was given and all the ponies relaxed their stances, their bars going from red to blue in an instant, and the same deep voice issued form the suited pony “ This area is under Vanguard control. What business doses an alicorn and her servants have in this ghost town.”
I lowered my rifle form their faces but didn’t drop the orb golden energy around me. These guys had way too much firepower form me to drop my guard completely “My name is Snowy Flanks and we came out here because we thought the town might be in trouble.”
I would have continued but a strangely familiar voice shattered my train of thought “Snowy? …is that really you?”
A unicorn to the right of the armor suited pony pulled off his helmet revealing deep green mane and eyes the color of his namesake; I managed to breathe out a single word through my shock “Emerald.”
The suited stallion’s head snapped to his right “Scribe Emerald Fire you did not mention having a relationship with an abomination upon your recruitment.”
Emerald looked stunned and sputtered at the other stallion “But Orange Peel she wasn’t like this the last time I saw her.”
Orange Peel rounded on the younger, I think, stallion “You will address me as Paladin Orange Peel at all times or I will have you detained back at base! Do I make myself clear?!”
He turned sharply back to us “You and your ilk aren’t welcome here monster. This town was hit by raiders and we’ve been sent in to clean up the mess and start a forward position here so take your slaves and go.”
I wasn’t sure what was more insulting, the fact that he called my companions slaves, or that I was apparently a monster. But before I could utter a single word Ruby walked forward around the slightly obscuring light of my shield saying “Hit by raiders hmm, is that what your elder told you Orange Peel. I suppose he also told you how they got access to heavy energy weapons and artillery cannons.”
The knight stared at Ruby for a full ten seconds “Just who do you think you are to…” he looked closer at her cutiemark, I couldn’t see him blanch under his helmet and visor but I could practically feel it “Y-you… your that traitor! Everypony open fire now!”
Suddenly all the bars on my E.F.S. but Emerald’s flashed back to red  and just like that the battle was on
*** *** ***
As I rolled and spun around the truly obscene amount of fire coming up at me I had to wonder if every group of ponies I met out here was going to try and shoot me.
When the fight broke out Ruby had moved faster than anypony I had ever seen, throwing herself to the side and drawing her laser pistols in one smooth motion, firing two pink beams that struck the two ponies farthest to the right sending them to the ground and turning their bars back to blue.
Glitter had ran backwards from me as three of the four reaming Vanguard opened up on us with their rifles and a minigun seated on left of Orange’s armor and was now hunkering behind the corner of a small shack. My shield had held for a full second and a half before Orange Peel stopped shooting and the other gun on his integrated saddle, the largest rifle I had ever seen, snapped with the sound of thunder and put a clean hole the size of my horn through it before it disintegrated entirely.
Realizing I was well and truly bucked if I stayed on the ground I had thrown myself into the air and now here I was using all of my (limited) aerial tricks to keep from being tuned into a pony full of holes. Orange was staying on me with his minigun while the other two were peppering away at the corner Glitter hid behind and I had no idea where Ruby had gotten to, also if I ever found the pony that invented miniguns and then thought to put them on armored suits I would kill them.
Deciding it was more than time to go on the attack I rolled over the top and screamed down at the three remaining hostile Vanguard below me. Reigniting my shield to soak up the bullets I skimmed over their heads my rifle all but useless as it pattered against their armor.
Thankfully Glitter managed to get off a shot from Eagle Eye, the loud crack capped by a scream as the round slipped under one of the ceramic plates and into the leg of the Vanguard on the left of Orange.
As the other two turned back to her I spun back around and made a second pass. This time however Orange Peel was ready for me his giant rifle thundered a second time and grazed my wing, had my shield not been up the force would have torn it form its socket. Even with the shield it knocked me off course and right into a building.
Picking myself up from the shards of glass and wood that used to be a window I heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs and more shooting outside, the gunfire punctuated by electrical zaps from Ruby’s pistols. Turning to face the stairs I pulled my shotgun loose, rifle having dropped when I lost concentration, and tried to raise my shield. I was so exhausted however that all I managed to do was nearly drop my shotgun. Suddenly the pony burst into the room and I thanked the goddesses it was Emerald.
The unicorn kept his gun trained on me as he advanced saying “Snowy what the hay happened to you since I left?”
I looked behind myself at the two blue bars slowly edging backwards out of my sight and being pursued by a red bar that was probably Orange Peel “Now Emerald! You really want to discuss this now!”
“Ok fine we’ll talk about it later then but if you and your friends want to get out of this alive you’ll have to deal with Orange. The other Initiates will listen when I tell them to run for it but not while he’s alive and he won’t stop till your all dead.”
Testing my wing I found it still worked but was incredibly sore “Well I hope you have an idea how to do that because none of our weapons can even scratch him.”
“Um I… uh… wait I have this.” he reached into his bradding and pulled out a… grenade… a standard grenade.
*** *** ***
Checking outside the window I saw Emerald rush across the street to help tend to the injured unicorn with the soldier who had stayed behind when Paladin Orange had run off. Slipping quietly out of the window I spread my wings, wincing at the sudden pain form the injured one and flew off toward the sound of gunfire and tearing sheet-metal praying it didn’t stop before I got there.      
Winging over the town I caught up with my friends. They had fallen back into a small metal house which was now getting torn to shreds under the paladin’s minigun. He suddenly rounded on me and opened up with his rifle. The massive bullets cut the air around me as I slid around into a dive, I wasn’t sure if he was low on ammo or just wanted to kill me with one shot but I wasn’t about to stop. Drawing my wings closed I rolled in the air bringing my back legs in line with the paladin’s face and lifting the left one just before I hit.
When I connected with his visor I felt my hoof, my metal hoof, deform just a bit from the impact. Springing back off the stunned stallion I landed heavily on my hooves and surveyed the damage. All the force I could muster… had barely cracked the suits visor, ok this armor was just plain cheating! Regardless of how fair it was the paladin was starting pull himself together so it was now or never.
Using what little magic I had left in me I shoved Emerald’s grenade up against the spider-webbed visor and tugged out the pin. Orange pressed himself slightly forward seeming to try and stare down the grenade “You little mule, I should have made sure you were dead first.”
“Well I guess that’s the last mistake you’ll ever make then.”
The stallion chuckled grimly “Right of course it is. Let me tell you something little monster, I’ve fought abominations like you for years and even though you’re a freak you just don’t have it in you to kill me.”
Looking directly into his helmet covered eyes I used the most crazed smile I could manage “Guess again.” and pulled the stem.
*** *** ***
The explosion knocked me on my back and threw shrapnel everywhere. Much to my abject terror the one thing it didn’t do was put down Paladin Orange Peel, who still upright and looking right at me. Well maybe not looking… you had to have eyes that still worked to do that. But whit the E.F.S. he no doubt had in his armor it hardly mattered in the long run, I was completely bucked.
Rolling back up to my hooves I stared at the ruined eyes of the Vanguard through the shattered visor. For what little I could see his coat was orange just like his name and I wondered what cutiemark he might have. I never got the chance to find out as the barrels on his minigun began to rotate… then stopped completely with a sharp metallic whine. The same sound came from the rifle on his left; somehow the shrapnel had managed to disable both of his weapons. The stallion just snorted in disgust and lowered his head saying “Fine then well do this the hard way you little freak!”
Kicking himself forward the paladin charged towards me. My legs were exhausted and my wing had finally called it quits so I had to stop him. As the stallion bore down on me I reached for the one weapon I still had that I could use without magic, my dinky little 9mm pistol. He was almost on top of me when I raised the gun kicked on S.A.T.S. and put every ounce of energy the spell had into his face.
It was about a minute later when I opened my eyes and realized I had still been pulling the trigger even after the gun was empty. Glancing I saw the body of Paladin Orange Peel sprawled out at my hooves, his body having skidded to a stop after I turned his face into an empty red and white hole.
S.A.T.S. had saved me but looking down at that oozing wound was just too much. Dropping my gun and lurching sideways I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the dirt. Feeling a hoof on my shoulder I glanced over at Ruby’s concerned muzzle “Snowy look at me, he’s dead, it’s over.”
“I-I know… i-it was just… never mind. Look I have questions for you and I expect answers.”
The white unicorn nodded “You’ll get them… some of them. But right now theirs somepony who wants to talk to you and the last thing you need to do is puke all over him.”
At my confused look she gestured over to house she and Glitter had been hiding in. The blue mare had also come out and was now in an apparent staring contest with the closest thing I had to a friend in the stable. Hobbling over to bullet-riddled shack Glitter let the scribe inside and gestured for me to follow him in.
Stumbling inside I saw Emerald sitting in a half-destroyed chair looking anywhere but me “Snowy are you… going to be ok?”
“I’m just tired. I think I used up all my magic but once I get some rest and my hoof looked at I should be fine.”
Emerald pushed himself up and trotted slowly over to me “I already sent the initiates back out of town once I join the we’ll cut around Green Meadows and head back to Fetlock. For now though, I have some time, let me have a look at that leg.”
Surprisingly the bed seemed to be the only thing in the room not torn to shreds so I lay back on my side to let him have a look. Taking the opportunity I looked him over, he seemed… different which probably didn’t mean much compared to me but he still looked surer of himself.
As he checked over my leg I caught him glancing repeatedly at my horn and the different color of my mane and tail. Pausing for a second to fiddle with something he pointed a hoof at my horn “So are you going to tell me when… that… happened to you?”
“Believe it or not I was an alicorn since the day I as born, my parents just had my horn removed.”
He stopped working and stared at me “How is that even possible Snowy? I know horns regrow but it usually takes a large amount of time.”
“That’s true but thankfully we escaped right before they were going to remove it again.”
“Ok fine so you’re an alicorn now for some reason but what about your leg. The replacement is in good condition form being two hundred years old but how did you…”
I cut him off with a glare that tuned into a wince as he gingerly removed a piece of shrapnel that had lodged itself into the joint if my knee “Hold on know if you want the answer to that you’d better tell me what happened to you? Why did you leave me there all alone and how did you hook up with these Vanguard jerks.”
“I can’t explain it all right now, I have to get back to base and report the paladin’s death. I will come and find you later and then I’ll answer all your questions ok?”
“Fine but how will you find me?”
He pointed down to my pip-buck with a hoof “I have your pip-buck’s tag, I can find you anywhere with that. It’s actually the reason I’m here at all. I saw your tag close to this town so after we cleaned up the place I was going to go looking for you.”
With that he turned and walked out the door telling me to get some rest and let my friends handle things for a while.
As much as my tired body wanted to listen to him I couldn’t just let my companions do all the work. Slogging back outside I joined my friends we set to the task. It took most of the day but by that night we had gathered all the bodies in town and buried anypony with a name we could find and put the rest to light in a huge pyre. Even though it was well passed night by the time we finished our grisly task but none of us wanted to stay in this dead town so we made our way outside and set up camp for the night.
*** *** ***
The next day we finally got back to the clinic. I hadn’t slept the night before so when we got inside I went straight to sleep. Well almost straight to sleep Ruby insisted on removing my leg once I had lain down to make repairs on the slightly deformed hoof.
My strange and disjointed dreams were interrupted by Glitter nudging me with a hoof “Hey get up Snowy. You were crying in your sleep again, more bad dreams?”
Reaching up I felt the puffiness of my eyes and chuckled glumly “Oh sorry I guess I’ve been doing that a lot.”
“Look don’t worry about it ok? Besides I have your leg here with me and I brought you breakfast. Just because you don’t need to eat doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
Blushing at being caught I reattached my leg and under the mare’s watchful eye ate the food she had brought up. I still wasn’t too keen on the idea of eating two hundred year old food, even if it had enough magical preservatives to keep it relatively fresh for another century or two. But considering the alternative was eating meat from animals like a lot of ponies had turned to I decided I shouldn’t complain about it too much, especially if Glitter continued to force me to eat even though I didn’t need to.
After breakfast we caught up with Ruby in the small office she kept on the ground floor. Slipping herself behind the desk she looked down at the terminal sitting atop it “Well you wanted to ask me questions Snowy now’s the time.”
“All right fine, first off just who are the Vanguard and how in Equestria do they know you?”
“Well first off before we get to that I think congratulations are in order. I’m pretty sure you’re the only pony in history to take out a power-armored Steel Ranger with a grenade and a pistol.”
The name conjured up a memory, half buried and musty with age, to the forefront of my mind “Wait you said Steel Ranger? Weren’t they part of old Equestria’s military?”
“Yes they were the elite troops of Equestria’s ground forces. Hand-picked and clad in heavily reinforced, magically powered armor they were the best the Ministry of Arcane Science and Ministry of War-time Technology had to offer and were notoriously hard to put down.”
Thinking back to the fight two days ago I tended to agree. If it hadn’t been for my prosthetic leg I don’t think we would have gotten out of there. “So they survived even after to war?”
“In a manner of speaking, the ministry hubs in Manehatten and some of the other major cities survived the balefire bombs and megaspells. After the dust settled the remaining leaders of the ministries came together and formed what most ponies today known as the Vanguard.”
Glitter suddenly raised a hoof and cut in “OK that ah can understand but if they’re from the ministries then what is their problem with us now? It ain’t like we’re monsters or nuthin so why is everything ah hear about them bad news, not ta mention what they did to that town.”
The white unicorn sighed and began tapping slowly on her keyboard before replying “What you have to remember is that after Ponyville disappeared the ponies who took over the ministries were nothing like Twilight and her friends. They never cared about ending the war just winning it, thus why the Ministry of Peace was gutted and closed down. Shadow Hooves was no better, after declaring that the goddesses had abandoned everypony he set up a kind of duel society.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean Ruby? And why do you know about the Vanguard at all?”
“That… is one of the few things I won’t discus. Sorry for cutting off so suddenly but a lady must have some… secrets, besides I have some things I want to give you.”
With that she pulled my forehoof up to the computer and connected my pip-buck to the machine. A small chime alerted me the files she was transferring over to me looking them over I realized they were all audio recordings dating back two hundred years. Before I could ask her about them she slid something else arcos the table saying “Take this too, you’ll see why when you get to Ponyville.”
Looking down I realized she had given me one of the strange energy pistols she had been using. Lifting it with my magic I realized just how customized it was, the body was yellow with light pink stripes around the sides and a large butterfly in the center of either side of the gun. The grip and trigger were molded to fit comfortably in the mouth and the entire weapon was extremely light for its size.
Ruby smiled softly as I admired the gun “That was given to me by a very important pony in my life so take good care of it ok?”
“But Ruby if it’s so important why are you giving it to me and what’s with the recordings you gave me?”
“I’m not going with you Snowy. Somepony has to run this clinic and besides if you’re going anywhere near the Vanguard that’s not someplace I want to be.”
*** *** ***
six hours later we were well on our way up north. Cutting around Freetown added a full day to the three I would take to reach Green Meadows but neither of us wanted to go anywhere near that place for a while. We had tried to push Ruby into coming with us but the unicorn could be surprisingly stubborn when she wanted to and even after an hour of talking and a bit of shouting it was still just to two of us. However she left us with one last parting gift, a strange new spell she called a glamor that somehow would change my appearance  
Trying to think of a something to pass the time while we walked I flicked on the first of the recordings Ruby gave me and the stressed and nervous voice of a young mare greeted our ears
“U-um hello there… um computer, my new boss said I should record a journal to help with everything that’s happened. S-so here go’s its May the sixth and my name is Nurse Rosepetal. I guess I should start from the beginning… I still can’t Ponyville is gone, I mean completely gone, it’s already been a week but I still can’t honestly believe it.
Even with the princesses there as well as the ministry mares the whole place just vanished. Now the Ministries are scrambling to try and keep it under-wraps, though I think it’s kind of a moot point now. But in their defense I’ve never seen everypony this frightened, even the ponies I ran into form the M.O.I. were scared and it’s their job to be cool under pressure.
I can barely force myself to think about it in one fell swoop of… something I lost not only my, um, boss Doctor Red Heart but Fluttershy, the pony who possibly cared more about everything’s wellbeing than anypony short of the princesses too. I’m going to shut this off now I… can’t talk any more right now.”
When the recording ended Glitter glanced over at me saying “Well that was kinda morbid weren’t it Snowah.”
Nodding my assent I shut off the recording before the next one started. I could only imagine how frightening it must have been to everypony living at the time, suddenly the heroes of Equestria were gone along with the goddesses themselves. So far the recordings didn’t show any of the supposed insight Ruby mentioned but I would wait till we had listened to them all before judging.
Watching the mostly obscured sun slowly sink behind the wall of clouds that made up the sky it looked like we should find a place to sleep. Checking my map I noticed a small building my pip-buck had labeled ‘Fields farm’. Pointing it out to my friend we turned off to the east and headed towards the place hoping it wasn’t infested with raiders… or worse.
As the building gained clarity with our approach it did appear to be and old farmstead with a mostly barren crop field and a farmhouse so patched I wondered how much of the original home remained. Before we could get any closer to the place a gravelly voice rang out form the buildings front door “Hold it right there you two! Who are ya and what do ya want here?”
I could see a rifle floating half obscured in a window and could make out the faint sound of it being loaded. Wanting to come away form an encounter without getting shot at for once I decided I should try diplomacy first saying “Hold on their sir we don’t mean you any harm we’re just looking for a place to sleep.”
“Don’t you sir me young missy how am ah supposed to believe you with all that firepower ya got on ya. Fer all ah know yawl could be workin them mean fellers to come harass us some more.”
I was trying to figure out what he could have possibly meant and how to respond to it when another voice, still a little gravelly but lighter and softer, called out form another window on the second floor “Oh for Celestia’s mane Berry if ya’d open good eye ya might realize they ain’t from that tin-can brigade. Now hurry up and get the door.”
“What are ya talkin bout ya daft mare I don’t see no… land sakes! Hold on their princess ah’ll be right there.”
Glitter and I looked at each other nervously; they had obviously recognized me as an alicorn and since that led to them letting us inside it didn’t appear to be a bad thing. Still it always pays to be cautious so with a bit of trepidation we slowly made our way up towards the now open screen door. Walking our way into the dimly lit living room we were greeted by the home’s unicorn ghoul owners.
The closest one, the stallion, spoke first “Howdy their yer highness ah’m powerful sorry about the misunderstanden earlier but lately there been some miscreants coming round and causing us problems.”
Taking a step back I looked to ghouls over. The stallion’s coat was entirely gone and most of his straw colored mane had followed suit. One of his eyes looked milky white while the other was a soft pinkish red I assumed that the milky one was the reason he didn’t notice my horn right away. In stark contrast the mare still had bits of her pink coat and large portions of her soft white mane and tail. I could even make out her cutiemark, a strange flower I couldn’t identify, and her royal blue eyes sparkled with something akin to barely suppressed giddiness.
Realizing they were waiting on us I replied “Hello my name’s Snowy and this is my friend Glitter Lens. Don’t worry earlier I’m just glad I didn’t get shot… again, and please don’t call me your highness I’m not a princess or anything.”
The unicorn just waved off my remark “Nonsense yer an alicorn ain’t ya, which makes ya royalty in our book. Names Strawberry Fields and this here’s ma wife Petunia and this.” He waved his hoof to indicate the empty fields behind us “Is Sugar Berry Farms… or at least what’s left of it. Regardless yer very welcome in our home so please make yerselves comfortable.”
We sat ourselves on one of the many couches in the room while the couple sat on another across form us. Still curious I asked if they had seen or heard about the other alicorns around the wasteland at which the pink mare snorted derisively “Ya mean those pale imitations DJ Pon3’s been talking about lately. Thrust me sugar cube ah’ve been around long enough ta see the genuine article and they ain’t it. You on the other hoof look like ya could be one of the princesses’ long lost daughters. Speaking of which where did ya come from anyway if ya don’t mind me asking?”
Deciding it couldn’t hurt I told them my story, from the stable till now. I was about to question them about what Equestria was like before the wasteland but Glitter suddenly asked her own question “So uh pardon ma asking but ya’ll don’t sound like no unicorns ah’ve ever met.”
Strawberry chuckled a little “Yep ah suppose that’s true. But seeing as ah was raised in Appaloosa by some o’ the Apple family it’s been a hard habit ta break.”
The pink ghoul nodded “And thanks ta him ah’ve been doing it ever since ah married him. Speaking of  old habits ah’ve been neglecting mah manners let mah get ya something ta eat.”
*** *** ***
Dinner with Strawberry and Petunia was much more pleasant than I had initially feared, the salad they fed us was the best I’d ever tasted and the conversation was nothing short of fascinating. Strawberry explained about how he had been an orphan and had been adopted by Candy Apple and her husband, living in Appaloosa and meeting Petunia.
“So then after ah finally convinced her ta marry me she decides she wants to move way out east and start a farm in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong up till the megaspells went off all our strawberries grew perfectly here, but still it was a bit of a shift when it happened.”
Petunia snorted into her salad “A bit of a shift? Way ah remember ya was cryin like a foal because ah wanted to leave your beloved Appaloosa. But enough of our bickering how was yer meal?”
“It was some of the best food I’ve ever tasted honestly. Though I am curious how you got fresh produce all the way out here.”
“Oh well Petunia and ah sometimes go up ta Green Meadows if we need anything, we just live out here because it’s our home and… well as old as we are its knida nice ta have some peace and quiet princess.”
After dinner Petunia took the plates away to clean and her husband showed us up to our rooms. The farmhouse was more than big enough to accommodate us so we quickly found rooms beside each other.
Once laying down however sleep proved elusive to me, I wasn’t sure what was in that food as it had tasted fine but something about it didn’t sit well with me at all. Since it was clear I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep anytime soon I decided to check over my gear and ammunition. Everything seemed more or less in good condition though I was going to have to get better armor if I was going to be fighting more like the Vanguard. Ammunition on the other hoof was slightly more troubling I had plenty of shotgun shells and magazines for my pistol but I only had two and a half mags left or my hornet and not a single weapon that could even come close to piercing steel ranger armor. Not to mention that Glitter had used almost all her ammo in the fight at Freetown so all in all we were cutting it a little close with our supplies. As I was going to need more of a distraction I slipped on the second recording of Rosepetal
“Well hello there journal it’s me again. There have been some interesting developments since my first recording and I suppose I should talk about them. First off there was somepony who survived whatever happened to Ponyville, his name Shadow Hooves and supposedly he was some sort of adviser for the princesses.
Other than that the Canterlot palace has been completely enclosed in a shield since the princesses disappeared. Nopony knows if any of the staff or guards were inside, although Princess Cadence hasn’t been seen since the shield went up but I’m not too worried because if anypony can find a way through the barrier is one of the princesses.
Well there also was talk of who’s going to run Equestria now that the princesses and the ministry mares are gone. Personally I couldn’t care less, because once the zebras figure out all of our leaders are gone they’ll just hit us with megaspells while everypony is running around scared.
Huh I didn’t realize I had gotten so cynical, I guess I just miss Doctor Red Heart. My life hasn’t been the same without…well it’s not like anypony else is going to read this so I guess I can tell you she was my marefriend. Anyway I’m going to go to bed now I’m just depressing myself.”
It kind of saddened me to think about being a pony trying to cope with a country suddenly leaderless. In a state like that I could see how easy it must have been for Shadow Hooves to take control of Equestria. Looking outside I realized it was well into the night and I should probably get some sleep sooner or later.
*** *** ***
The next morning I awoke unusually early to the sound of hushed voices just outside my room.
“We can’t do this Berry and you know it.”
“But Petunia what else is we supposed ta do? Ifen they come back and we ain’t got the mare they wanted they’ll kill us without question. Not ta mention they said they’d be here in less than two hours.”
Realizing what that meant I pushed myself from the bed and began readying my gear while calling out to the ghouls in the hallway “You know it’s not polite to talk about somepony behind their backs.”
Both ghouls shoved open the door staring at me in disbelief. I slid on the rest of my gear and pulled my rifle from its sling while the unicorns started stammering explanations “Save it. I’m guessing you drugged me and Glitter with plans to get the Vanguard to take us and leave you alone right?”
“What were supposed to do? They are going to kill us if we don’t give you over them. I don’t wasn’t to betray you princess but I can’t just let them murder us.”
Ok I could understand not wanting to die but I was kinda confused as to how they even came into contact with the Vanguard. When I asked they explained that a couple of Steel Rangers has shown up four hours before we did and demanded that they capture me. However much as I wanted to help them I wasn’t about to get taken by the Vanguard, but without some kind of heavier firepower we stood no chance against power-armor.
As I pushed the couple to wake my friend and get themselves ready to leave. While they were getting ready I searched about franticly for something I could use to beat the Vanguard but short of dropping the house on them, which still probably wouldn’t work I came up empty hooved. I really wished Emerald was there with us, while his special talent was with technology not magic but he still probably knew way more spells than I did. Back in the stable he would… wait a minute… back in the stable was where I got my cutiemark by making it snow… with magic, and if I could make it snow then. I had an idea, it was about as well thought out as most of my ideas but it was the only thing I could think of that might work.
*** *** ***
I stood on top of the old farm house waiting for the Steel Rangers, my horn aglow in golden magic. I had no clue if my idea would even work but it was worth a try. Glitter had taken a bit to wake up but now she was heading south with Strawberry and his wife, I had to fight hard to convince her to take them to Ruby’s but if my plan failed spectacularly I didn’t want somepony other than me getting hurt.
Even with my concentration focused on the spell I hoped I was doing right the Vanguard, and Steel Rangers in particular, never seemed too keen on the concept of subtly so it wasn’t hard to spot the eight power-armored ponies moving in formation form the north. Clenching my eyes shut I pushed more energy into the spell, adding an overglow to my horn and pushing the clouds above me a little tighter together even as the rangers got close enough to see me and fanned out in a semi-circle, aiming their weapons at my still form.
The ranger in the center of the group’s mechanical voice called harshly up to me “Attention alicorn cease your magic immediately or we will open fire on you.”
“Sorry but I’m kind in the middle of something so you should come back later. Besides you won’t shoot me.”
The stallion huffed slightly saying “Oh really what makes you so sure of that?”
Grinning slightly I pushed even more magic into my horn, I had no idea if I would even be able to walk after this but I had already started so no turning back now “It’s simple really. You bothered to take the time to hire some ghouls to drug and foal-nap me which was something you wouldn’t waist time on. So how about we start this conversation again with you telling my why you’re suddenly so interested in getting your hooves on me?”
“That matter is classified and I don’t have to tell you anything monster. Now come down peacefully or, orders or not, I will kill you then find your companions and kill them too.”
I shook my head a little “Boy are you guys always this pissy or do I just bring it out in you? Anyway mister grumpy I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me your name before I decide if I’m going to surrender.”
Grunting in displeasure the stallion replied “My name, freak, is Paladin Steelshot now stop your spell or I’ll kill you now.”
“Ya know I don’t know why you call yourselves Steel Rangers and Paladins and stuff like that. Because to me all you really seem like is a bunch of bullies in big suits of metal armor with big guns. But you know I have another name for bullies in metal armor.”
Steelshot chuckled softly “Oh really and what would that be monster.”
“I call them lightning rods.”
The assorted Steel Rangers glanced nervously about suddenly noticing how dark the cloud ceiling had gotten, how much static was in the air… and how bright my horn was glowing. As one I heard their weapons start firing but it was much too late. With a devilish grin I let loose the spell in my horn and unleashed hell.
Having never been in a storm before in my live nothing could have prepared me for the, brightness, the noise, and the sheer force of eight lightning bolts hitting the ground simultaneously. The shockwave took my legs right out from under me even as I heard the terrible cries from the rangers down below. But I had no time to bask in my success as I started to quite quickly towards the edge of the roof without enough strength to even open my wings it looked like I was in for a two story fall. Thankfully fate chose to spare me the pain of impact and I blacked out.
Footnote: level up
New perk: winged castor—you have learned to hold your concentration even while flapping for your life (removes concentration penalty for magic while flying)
Skill notes:
Magic now at 50
New spells:
Glamor - level 1 (lets you change small parts of your body to look different. Must be maintained with magic)
Summon storm – level one (call up to eight bolts of lightning from the sky)
(Authors note: so the plot thickens. Sorry for this one taking a little longer to finish guys my life can be kinda hectic not to mention my dyslexia makes typing a real bitch sometimes. Hopefully I’ll have one chapter out every 5 to 7 days but I might take some weeks off to rest up and work on other stories.
Anyhow thanks again to everypony who read, comment, or up-voted my story it really means a lot. Also thanks to Kkat for making F.o.E. in the first place.
Fallout Equestria © to Kkat
My Little Pony: Fim © to Hasbro
Snowy flanks and other oc’s © Me
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