Well, here we go, not quite sure what else to say, just enjoy the fanfic.
Yeah, no change to the chapter tittle this time.
Also, this chapter will feature an appearance by one of the protagonists of one of my other projects, Fallout Equestria: Renegades. So, yeah, not sure what else to say there.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the characters I created.
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CHAPTER 10:
RADIOACTIVE
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Something about the city always made me uneasy in those early days, it was like walking through the largest graveyard in Equestria. Ponies had lived here, and died here when the Megaspells went off.
"Ruby, are you seeing anything on your EFS?" Midnight asked, breaking the silence finally.
"Uh, no, nothing more than usual anyway," I said, there where a few marks, but they where far away and only a few where in the direction we where heading. "We should be clear for awhile."
"See, nothing to worry about," Bluesky said with a smile as Midnight moved a large piece of rubble out of the way. "We'll get to the Rangers in no time."
We passed another building, this one was in such disrepair that it looked like it was going to fall apart if we just looked at it. I remembered what Xiraia told me before, how she liked to sometimes imagine what the city was like before the devastation at the end of the war.
I could just imagine Ponies going down the street, carriages carrying their passengers to their destinations. I could only hope that someday, Equestria would be able to recover to its former glory.
"Is there any other communities in Neigh Orleans?" I asked Midnight curiously.
"There are a few raider groups that make their home here," Midnight answered. "I've heard rumors of a Ghoul community too, but I don't know for sure. And that's just what we know on this side of No Pony's Land."
"No Pony's Land?" I asked curiously, it wasn't the first time I had heard that phrase, but it sounded like she was talking about a specific location.
"Its part of the city, cut right down the middle on the border between the NCR and Crimson Empire," Bluesky said. "Ground Zero is at its far edge, the area is too wild and irradiated for a faction to claim it."
"This way," I said, turning down a street as we followed the marker on my EFS, we where getting close to our destination at least.
I admitted that I wasn't sure exactly what to expect here, we where having to go into the most dangerous part of Neigh Orleans for this mission. I could only hope that the Applejack's Rangers would be able to help.
More marks suddenly started popping up on my EFS, some of them where friendlies, but there where a group of hostiles. I raised a hoof to stop the others.
"What's wrong?" Midnight asked as she drew her weapon.
"Something's up ahead," I said quietly as I drew my pistol. "I'm reading hostiles."
Midnight and Bluesky didn't argue they just moved forward silently as we moved forward towards where the targets where. They didn't take long to find, there was a group of Ponies that where under fire from other Ponies that formed a perimeter around them, keeping them trapped.
"Raiders," Midnight hissed. "Based on their barding, I'd say members of the Marauder Gang."
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"You're going to hang back, these Ponies don't need to be knocked out," Midnight said as she checked her bullets. "Keep an eye out, shoot any Pony that gets too close."
I nodded in agreement as I took cover. The sounds of gunfire rang out, I just hoped that my friends where going to be okay, there where cries as bullets hit ponies, but I didn't think any of them came from my friends.
After a few minutes it went quiet. "Okay Doc, you can come out now, we're all fine," Bluesky said as I walked back out of cover.
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"Thank you very much for saving me," the lead Pony we had rescued said, she was a golden colored Pegasus dressed in what looked like a faded military uniform.
"Its kind of what we do," Bluesky said.
"Yeah," I said as I started patching up the other Ponies. "What happened, why where they attacking you?"
"The Marauder Gang doesn't need a reason to attack Ponies," Midnight said with a growl. "They're the most dangerous Raider gang in the southern wasteland."
"I'm Ruby Starlight," I said as I worked on the golden Pegasus, it was odd but they where all Pegasi.
"Shimmering Skies," the mare said as I started healing her wing. "I don't know why they're attacking us, we never did anything to them."
She looked to the side, something was up about her, but I didn't have time to question it. I finished healing her wing and she flexed it.
"Thank you," she said. "You're a lifesaver, we could have never gotten to the Quarter without your help."
"The Quarter huh?" Bluesky said, her ears perking up in attention.
"I hate to ask, but what's the Quarter?" I asked curiously.
"The old Prench Quarter, its one of the few places in Neigh Orleans still relatively intact from the war," Midnight said. "Its mostly used as a rest stop for the Caravans and soldiers in the city, but its still mostly unsettled."
Something about this felt weird, but I didn't want to question the Ponies on a suspicion alone. I had to wonder about those uniforms though, they weren't NCR or Crimson Empire.
"Thanks for your help," Shimmering Skies said. "Perhaps you can visit us in the Quarter?"
"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "If we're in the area at least."
We parted ways with the group of Pegasi, though when I glanced over at Bluesky she looked concerned.
"What's wrong Bluesky?" I asked her.
"Something was weird about that mare," my marefriend commented, ruffling her feathers nervously. "I know that name from somewhere..."
I exchanged glances with Midnight, neither of us where sure what to make of that. We continued on our way towards the Applejack's Rangers base.
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As we got closer to the base, there was a click on my PipBuck, I checked it to see that it had picked up a new radio signal called Military Frequency SH2092.
"Huh, that's an Applejack's Rangers frequency," Midnight said as I checked it.
"Maybe they're sending a message of some sort?" I said, it was strange, that had to be an open broadcast. "Should we check it out?"
"It might be worth a listen," Midnight said and Bluesky nodded.
I changed the radio to the broadcast and let it play where we could all hear it. "Message repeat, this is Scribe Fern of the Applejack's Rangers Recon Team Bravo. We've come under attack from Ghoul Ponies outside of the 12th Precinct Station. If there are any members of the Applejack's Rangers or NCR soldiers, please come to our aid. Message repeat..."
I shut off the radio broadcast and looked at my companions. "Why are they being overwhelmed by Ghouls?"
"If there's enough of them, they could be running out of ammo," Bluesky pointed out. "Especially if they attracted a herd."
"A herd?" I asked, that was the first I had heard that term applied to Ghouls, and I honestly didn't think I liked it. "Do I want to know what that is?"
"Its Wasteland Slang for a large group of zombified Ghouls," Midnight said. "They sometimes attack Pones en masse, and it can be incredibly overwhelming."
Great, so there was a large group of ghouls waiting for us somewhere, I could only hope that we could get there in time. I quickly changed the bullets to live ammo and we headed in the direction that the broadcast was being sent from.
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There was the recognizable sound of gunfire as we approached the location that the marker was pointing towards. That's when I saw the herd, well, what was left of it as I loaded my revolver with live ammo.
Facing them where a group of three Ponies, only one of them was dressed in the recognizable armor of Applejack's Rangers.
"Ruby, are you up for this?" Bluesky asked, looking at me worriedly.
"I'm fine..." I said nervously. "Its for the best, right?"
Bluesky nodded as she removed the safety on her battle saddle and Midnight removed her weapon as we moved closer. The magical aura from the ghouls was intense, I looked at Midnight who nodded to us and we went in to attack.
I aimed at the closest of the Ghouls and pulled the trigger, cringing from the sickening sound of it impacting the feral pony's skull. I had to take a second to remind myself they weren't like the other Ponies, that this was better than the alternative, but it didn't make me feel much better.
The ghouls didn't last much longer, one of the Rangers, a green Unicorn mare dressed in robes gestured for us to get inside the perimeter.
"Get in quick before more of them arrive!" She said, we didn't need anymore prompting as we ran inside.
We rushed inside, and I found myself face to face with the armored Ranger, that's when I noticed something I hadn't before. This Ranger was a Unicorn, an armored attachment to their helmet covered their horn.
The armor was beaten, this Pony had certainly seen a lot of action. The other two Ponies moved to either side of the Pony, clearly showing reverence for them.
"Hello Colonel Midnight," the Ranger said in a distorted mechanical, but definitely feminine voice. "What brings you this far into Neigh Orleans?"
"Senior Paladin Nova," Midnight said with a nod. "We're here investigating the cause of the Firerain and was hoping your Rangers knew something about the Imperial presence in Ground Zero.."
The Ranger removed her helmet, revealing a dark blue Unicorn mare with a short mane underneath. "Very well, come inside, and we'll discuss it."
She turned and opened the door and we followed.
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The Precinct had clearly been picked more for defense than comfort, it was small, basically in bad shape from years of disuse. Nova set her helmet down on a counter before turning to look at us.
"You," she said, directing that at me. "You're a medical Pony aren't you?"
"Yes ma'am," I said nervously with a nod.
"Good, I need you to take a look at Knight Mellow," she said, nodding to her other companion, a light yellow earth pony who was bleeding from his hindlegs.
I nodded and went over to him and my horn started glowing as I used a healing spell on the Pony.
"You're a Stable Dweller," Mellow said matter of factly.
"Really, what gave me away?" I snarked before shaking my head. "Sorry."
"So, you want to know what the Empire is doing in Ground Zero," Nova said. "I was wondering when the NCR would send somepony, but I wasn't expecting you."
"We're on request from Melody," I said as I wrapped a bandage around the wound. "If we can figure out the cause of the Firerain..."
"Yeah, good luck with that," the green Pony, Fern I guessed, said as she came in from the other room. "Ponies have been looking for the cause to the Firerain for two years with no luck."
I finished working on Mellow, I had to admit I was curious about that, why hadn't anypony been able to figure out the cause of the Firerain?
"Well, we can at least try and look," Midnight said with a shrug as I joined her.
"Well the Empire isn't after that," Nova said as she shook her head. "They're after a much bigger prize, the Typhon."
Bluesky perked up at that, she recognized that name, but me and Midnight just looked confused. What was the Typhon? It was something I hadn't ever heard of before, and I wasn't sure I liked the sound of it.
"Mind filling us in?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"My mom told me about it when I was a filly," Bluesky said, she was suddenly very excited. "The Typhon was an experimental new ship built by the Enclave a long time ago, before my mom left them. It was supposed to be the most advanced warship ever built."
"At least until it went down," Mellow said with a groan. "Somewhere in Neigh Orleans."
Now everything was making sense, if the Empire got their hooves on the Typhon, they could launch a full scale attack on the NCR. Looking at Midnight, I knew she realized the same thing.
From what I had seen, beyond the occasional Sky Carriages, the NCR had little to no air support in combat. If the Empire got their hooves on the Typhon, they'd have the air advantage in the war, and that could make or break the whole thing.
"Let me guess, Applejack's Rangers are after it too," Midnight said, it wasn't a question, more of a statement. "Well, at least it would be in better hooves than the Empire's."
"Glad you agree," Nova said casually. "Perhaps we can help each other, we'll give you all the data we have on Ground Zero, and if you find the Typhon, you'll report its location to us."
I looked at Midnight, I half expected her to object, we where being asked to give over a military asset that could help in the war. I wasn't quite sure how I'd react if I was put in that situation.
"With the understanding that once the craft is prepared, it is not to be used against the NCR's holdings or allies," Midnight said calmly, I had to give her credit, that was a clever move on her part. "And the option to negotiate in order to have an NCR presence on board."
"Applejack's Rangers have no quarrel with the New Canterlot Republic," Nova said, then glanced at me briefly. "Very well, your terms are acceptable, I will pass this on to the Elders, in the event that you discover the Typhon."
I remembered that they had mentioned before that Nova was held in high regard by the rest of the organization. I wasn't sure what to make of her, at least not yet, and also I hadn't met very many Paladins or Knights, but the members of Applejack's Rangers that I had met that wore armor where Earth Ponies, maybe there was something else to Nova that I didn't know about.
I just had to hope that we'd get the information we needed.
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It was late before we finally finished, Nova and her Rangers gave us a basic idea of the area known as Ground Zero. The stories I had heard about how dangerous it was where clearly not exaggurations, it was irradiated to the point that ponies had a hard time surviving in it without medicine.
They offered us a place to stay for the night, it wasn't exactly the nicest place we'd stayed in, but it was better than nothing.
"Hey Doc," Bluesky said as she laid down on the mattress next to me and snuggled up to me. "Too bad I don't get a chance to do those things to you huh?"
"Come on Bluesky, ponies can still hear us..." I said with a blush, trying to avoid attracting attention. "Umm, what do you know about the Typhon?"
Bluesky pouted as she laid back, I hated having to turn down my marefriend's advances, but I didn't want somepony to walk in on us. "About as much as anypony, it was built by the Enclave to supplement their military forces. The ship went down under unknown circumstances not long before my mother left."
I sighed, resting a foreleg over her, it wasn't a lot to go on, but it was better than nothing. I had hoped that Bluesky would be able to tell me more, but it was better than nothing at the very least.
"So, it went down around here?" I asked.
"Yeah, somewhere in the ruins of Neigh Orleans," Bluesky said with a nod.
"Well, we can't exactly let it fall into the hooves of the Crimson Empire," I said with a sigh as Bluesky nuzzled me gently. "Exactly how powerful are we talking?"
"Well, I never saw it myself obviously," Bluesky said with a shrug. "But its supposed to be big enough to take out a small city on its own."
"Thank Celestia it was lost then," I said, I had heard more than a few horror stories about the Enclave and their military strength.
There wasn't anything left to talk about, that was the last she knew about it. "I love you, Ruby..." she said and drifted off to skeep as I planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I love you too, Bluesky," I said as I fell asleep.
And that was the end of my first week in the Equestrian Wasteland.
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Nova saw us off the next morning, the Senior Paladin directed us towards the southwest. Before we could leave however, she pulled me aside.
"You're still new to the Wasteland, so let me give you a piece of advice," she said, staring at me with her sharp blue eyes. "Only trust those ponies who you think can watch your back. You've done well, but you have to be careful, the wasteland can swallow you up if you're not careful."
"Uh, thanks," I said nervously as I went back to my companions, we had been given several packs of Rad Away potion in order to survive in Ground Zero.
"Are you ready to go, Ruby?" Midnight asked as we put the last of our new supplies in our bags.
"Yeah," I said nervously, I had almost hoped that the Rangers would join us on the way to Ground Zero.
I checked my EFS, there wasn't any hostile targets, at least none nearby. We had a long journey ahead of us, I was suddenly very worried, could we get there without attracting attention from any of the other inhabitants of the wasteland?
"Don't worry Doc, you're going to be just fine," Bluesky said as she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
"That's right, so where are we going first?" Midnight asked.
I pulled up the map on my PipBuck, I compared it to the map Nova had showed us, but it was hardly a complete map. The Old Harbor was close enough to Ground Zero that it was still irradiated by the megaspell.
I didn't have a marker for either target, at the very least I had an idea of the direction we had to go.
"This way," I said and turned southwest and started walking with my friends close behind.
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It was about halfway there that we ran into our first real obstacle of the day. Part of the city's storm wall had broken and the city streets where flooded with water from the ocean. That however wasn't the obstacle, lying in the water where huge reptillian creatures, they looked like pictures I had seen of Aligators, only even bigger.
"Radigators," Midnight said simply. "Very dangerous."
"Wow, and I thought this was going to be easy," Bluesky said in her usual snarky tone. "I can fly you two over one at a time, it won't be fast but..."
"Hold on," I said, taking out my binnoculars and scanning the area ahead of us. "Midnight, I've got something, up there."
I pointed a hoof upwards towards the roof of a building on the other side of the water where I had seen a glint. Midnight took out her sniper scope and examined it, she frowned, she didn't like what she had seen.
"Auto turret," Midnight growled. "Looks Imperial Built to me, I'd say they're using the flooded section to force a killzone for fliers, there's another one on the other rooftop."
"Great," I said as I examined both sides of the area ahead of us. "Why would they set it up like that?"
"Celestia only knows," Midnight said with a shrug. "They're too well guarded from the front to take them out from this distance, at least not without some serious firepower."
I checked the map of the area, there wasn't a whole lot of options around here, those two buildings where abandoned other than the turrets. Going around was out of the question, this was the clearest section of the ruins.
Which was probably why the Empire set up the killzone here, we couldn't fly without being shot and we couldn't go low without being eaten. There had to be an option, maybe if we could make a bridge we could...
"Hmm, I might have an idea," I said suddenly, getting a look from my companions. "Midnight, did you see any Ponies with them?"
"Maybe," Midnight said. "Like I said, it was too well guarded."
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do..." I said, and told them my plan, I just prayed to Celestia that this plan would work.
And that's how I found myself crawling across a makeshift walkway on my way into one of the buildings.
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It had been a hastily put together plan I admitted, and I was concerned about at least one detail. Me and Midnight had created barely passable walkways to make our way across, of course there was still the matter of the Radigators.
I gulped as there was a sudden stirring in the water ahead of me, a particularly large Radigator emerged from the water that opened its wide mouth in an almost yawn. By Celestia it was huge... I froze, starting to remove my revolver, but I stopped myself before I could do anything.
If I shot before the distraction began, then the Empire ponies above would realize that something was up. I looked across the water where Midnight was, she was already at the door to her building and I caught a view of her curled tail as she went through the door.
"Okay Ruby, just stay calm, its just a super big aligator, you can do this..." I said quietly to myself, trying to think of an idea for what to do.
That's when I heard the first sound of machinegun fire, that was the distraction, Bluesky was flying around above us, drawing the attention of the turrets. That was my cue, my horn glowed as I levitated a particularly large piece of loose building and dropped it into the water with a huge splash.
That's when all Tartarus broke out, the Radigators, including the one in front of me charged forward towards where the splash had been. I had to move fast now, I galloped forward, jumping onto the next part of the walkway and ran through the doorway.
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I stopped inside the building, breathing heavily, it was falling apart inside, this clearly hadn't exactly been a new building in the time before the war. It was a store of some sort, with a nearby stairway that made its way upstairs.
I nearly slipped on something and looked down to find an old poster that depicted a mare dressed in a coat and fedora. On the side was the words, "The New Adventures of Shadow Spade, broadcast every Sunday at 8 PM."
I admitted that I was curious, but I didn't have time to figure it out, I made my way up the stairs, drawing my revolver as I expected to be jumped at any minute by the Imperial soldiers that had made their home here.
I made it to the top of the last set of stairs unopposed, the machinegun fire from outside was still going on. Thank Celestia Bluesky hadn't been shout down yet, I just had to make sure that she didn't have to keep it up much longer.
I quietly opened the door, Midnight was waiting for me to shoot first, I had already made sure that I had loaded my gun with nonlethals, if we could take out the turrets that would at least be a start.
There where two ponies, one Pegasus, the other Unicorn who where both dressed in the leather armor of the Crimson Empire. I saw Bluesky fly past as the turret tried to catch her again with its fire.
I leveled my revolver at the back of the Unicorn's head as I entered S.A.T.S., it was a simple enough operation, I just had to make sure I didn't miss. I selected the Unicorn twice, then aimed for the Pegasus' right wing, and pulled the trigger three times.
Yeah, I know not exactly sporting, but the two Ponies didn't go down, instead they turned their attention at me, growling.
"Halt!" The Pegasus shouted as I dove into cover, the machinegun fire from both sides died down, replaced by gunfire from across the way, Midnight had engaged the enemy too.
"Yeah, does that ever work?" I called back, they didn't reply, instead they fired in my direction. "Me and my big mouth."
I peeked around the side and fired at the ponies again, I had to avoid being shot at least, another bullet hit the Unicorn and he fell. The Pegasus however was too fast, but at least the first shot had left his wing too numb to fly.
Then there was a sudden burst of fire, and all was quiet, I poked my head out again to see the Pegasus lying in a pool of blood as Bluesky flew above it.
"Thanks!" I called to her, getting a salute as she pushed the turret off the roof and down into the water.
It was finally over.
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Bluesky flew us both to the other side of the water, thankfully there wasn't any more turrets.
"Are you okay, Bluesky?" I asked, checking out the Pegasus, I had been afraid that she was hurt during the fight, but she shook her head.
"I'm fine, I've taken worse," Bluesky said with a smile as she gave me a kiss. "Thanks for worrying about me."
"Hey, get a room you two," Midnight said, though it was clear she was joking, she levitated a weapon out of her bag and gave it to me, it was a strange looking rifle with a black tank attached to it instead of a magazine. "Here, you might want to give it a try, its an old Ironshod Firearms Arcane Rifle, not sure how an Imperial grunt got one."
"He had a magic gun?" I asked, examining it curiously as I checked it out. "Where'd he purchase that?"
This just got a shrug out of my two companions as I put it in my bag, I might have to try it sometime. I took a deep breath and checked my map again, we where getting close to the edge of Ground Zero.
"Okay, lets get going, we've still got a long way to go," I said as we started walking farther into the ruins of this once great city.
I just hoped that the time would soon come that we where able to help Ponies make their home here once more.
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Ground Zero...
I didn't know what I had expected of this area, given its proximity to the ocean I had expected it to be flooded. Actually it was strange, we couldn't see a cause, but this entire area was as barren, almost more like a desert than an old harbor.
The only water I could see had the burning aura of firerain pools, even at a distance my PipBuck was ticking with radiation warnings.
"Well, we're here," Bluesky said as I passed around Rad-X potions, they would keep us safe, at least in theory. "Uh, exactly what should we be looking for?"
"I'd say an S.P.P. Tower, but..." Midnight said, pausing a moment. "I've seen the one in Manehattan, we'd be able to see it from here."
"So, we don't know what we're looking for," I said with a sigh as I took the Rad-X potion. "Do we know where the megaspell went off?"
"On the far edge of the old harbor," Midnight said. "We've got a walk ahead of us, and the weather isn't going to help."
I nodded, but at least we'd have the cover of what looked like a small fleet of ships that had been left trapped when the harbor drained. I glanced up, there was a definite feel of ominousness from the clouds here, while it wasn't raining, there was crackles of lightning in the clouds.
"Lets get going," I said as we trotted out into the old harbor towards the far edge.
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It was strangely quiet here, I didn't even bother to put on Melody to try and break the silence. We couldn't go in a straight line to the far edge, we had to go around the burning pools and try and avoid groups of feral ghouls.
"So, what do you think downed the Typhon?" Midnight commented out loud, finally breaking the silence. "If that thing was such a powerful ship, it couldn't exactly go down easily."
None of us had a good answer to that, honestly we where kind of afraid of what the answer might be. If whatever had done it was still in this part of Equestria, we'd be in big trouble.
"Who knows, Dashite sabotage maybe?" Bluesky said with a shrug. "Shot down by raiders? Maybe it just had a faulty construction, I doubt we'll ever know for sure."
"That was what, 24 years ago?" I asked, I had to wonder why nopony had found it yet.
"Yeah, well its only in the past couple of years that Ponies have really started to look around this area, even the Empire," Bluesky said with a shrug. "And this area is pretty much unexplored because of how dangerous it is."
Actually I had to wonder about that, we had to be avoiding the worst of it I guess, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly dangerous here other than the radiation and the occasional ghouls.
"Don't be fooled by the silence," Midnight said as if she read my mind. "Ground Zero has a lot of hidden dangers, its why we're taking this route, its roughly the safest."
I took a deep breath and nodded as we went around another one of the pools. I was starting to get worried honestly, Firerain was something that I still didn't completely understand, other than that it was magical in nature.
"So, the firerain has been falling in this area of Equestria for 200 years?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, Ghouls and records from Tribes and other communities that live around here have reported it, but nopony knows exactly why," Midnight said with a shrug. "Just stay out of it and you'll be okay."
We walked over a massive hill above us and looked down, what we saw stopped us cold. Laying at the bottom of a crater was a huge vessel, made of rusty metal that stretched over it. Painted on the side, barely visible, was a circle of stars with two wings, and the letter E in the center.
"You're seeing this too, right?" I asked, looking at my companions.
"I think we've found the Typhon," Bluesky said, it was the understatement of the century.
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We made our way down into the crater, the Typhon was sitting in the middle of a puddle of radioactive water, but at the very least it didn't seem flooded.
"Bluesky, I think you should go first," Midnight said, getting a look from both of us. "If there are survivors in there, then they'll be more willing to talk to a Pegasus, we'll cover her from out here."
I nodded in understanding, Midnight had a point, and it wasn't like we could pretend to be Pegasi with these horns on our head.
"Don't worry about it Doc, give me 10 minutes and I'll be sharing a drink with them," Bluesky said with a smirk as she headed down and got closer to the downed warship.
What was next was the longest 5 minutes of my life, we couldn't hear what was going on, but Bluesky was talking to... somepony inside the ship. Thank Celestia that had worked, I couldn't imagine my life without Bluesky right now.
Finally I saw her waving a hoof to us and we made our way down to the Typhon. Inside the hatch was a Burning Pony Pegasus Ghoul, he was rotting like the other ones I had seen, but there was still a sign of intelligence behind his eyes.
"Colonel Midnight, Dr. Ruby Starlight, this is Captain Leeway, he's the Captain of the Typhon," Bluesky said as the Captain nodded.
"You're the only ponies who actually tried to talk instead of attack," the captain said in a raspy voice. "Come inside, perhaps we can help each other."
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The Typhon was a ship of the dead.
I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but that's what it was, there where corpses of ponies lining the hallways. The ponies we did see that where still alive where Ghouls, but at least they didn't seem to want to attack us.
"Quite the ship you have here," Midnight commented.
"The Typhon is a good ship, we're very proud of her, even in her current state," the ghoul captain said. "Raiders have tried to attack us before to take it along with other ghouls, but we've repelled every attack."
"Then what can we help you with?" I asked curiously.
"By getting this ship back in the sky where it belongs," Leeway said as he opened the door to his office. "Come inside, we have a lot to discuss."
We stepped inside, the inside was a simple office with a map of Equestria against the wall behind a desk and a flag with the same symbol we had seen on the side.
"The Typhon crashed years ago, we didn't know about the effects of the firerain at the time," Leeway continued. "The Enclave didn't tell us all the information we needed."
I was starting to get the feeling that we where a lot better off without the Enclave.
"What can we do to help?" I asked as I looked around, noticing a statuette similar to the one I had gotten from the Doctor before, but this one was of a cyan colored Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail that said "BE AWESOME" on the base.
"You're a Dashite aren't you?" Bluesky said suddenly after seeing that, causing Leeway to pause. "Its okay, so was my mom, before she died..."
"Yeah, I was a Dashite, I just didn't ever get branded," Leeway rasped. "I wanted to use this ship to help ponies, but when it went down."
I looked at him sadly, he was a good Pony, he had just been put in a tough position that he couldn't get out of.
"So here's what I want, I want this ship to be rebuilt, and used to help," Leeway said. "Use the Typhon for its real purpose, not the one the Enclave wanted to use it for."
The three of us exchanged glances, this was a tall order. We could only hope that we where making the right decision.
"There's a group of Ponies called Applejack's Rangers, they'll come to help repair the ship," Midnight said finally. "We'll make sure they work together with your crew."
"Thank you," Leeway said in his raspy voice before looking at me. "Do you like my statuette?"
"Yeah, I've got one like it, only its Fluttershy," I said.
"Take it, you can probably get a better use of it than I can," he said with a nod, I picked it up carefully and the same surge went through my body.
"Thank you," I said as I carefully placed it in the bag next to Fluttershy's, I had to wonder if there was some greater purpose to these.
After a few minutes of talking, we left the Typhon, and continued on our way towards the far edge of Ground Zero.
Days Remaining: 357
LEVEL UP!
Perk Received: Prospector Level 1.
Details: You've gained a better understanding of where things can be found in the wasteland. Every time you find a caps stash, you get an extra 5% caps.
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Woohoo, finally done with chapter 10, we're officially in the double digits!
Next chapter, we see more of the Old Harbor, and finally start to get an idea of the origin of the Firerain. What dark truths lie ahead for our heroes, and what mysteries does the Wasteland still have in store for them? Find out next time in, "Rain."