Fallout: Equestria - True Grit [Restart][Permanent]

When Equestria buckled under the weight of its own paranoia, it drew the nations of the world into a cataclysmic nuclear confrontation that lasted a mere twenty-two minutes. Those that survived the devastation did so in great underground bunkers known as "Vaults" - the height of fear-mongering in an increasingly amoral society. Buried under miles of earth and concrete and designed to last a dozen lifetimes, it is speculated that the Vault Initiation Program, or "VIP" saved hundreds, perhaps thousands, of a nation numbering in the millions.

Every voice, every cry in the world was silenced at once. In the aftermath of the atomic exchange, from blistering heat to a sudden, fatal chill, the land entered an ice age. Snow, blackened with ash and dust, blanketed the cracked, scorched earth and smothered what trace of its denizens still remained; the surface of the ocean froze, locking away the briny deeps beneath a thick sheet of ice; the windigos emerged from their lairs and roamed free once more; the skies were choked with dark clouds and smog; a deathly pall hung over the land.

For more than a hundred years, the world was gripped in ice. In some places, it persists still.

Then the sun broke forth once more. The dark clouds parted, and life surged forth once more, ugly and misshapen as it pulled itself from melting snowbanks, tunnels far beneath the crust, and the depths of the oceans. Many of the great wheel-locked doors of the Vaults rolled open once more, and the fight for survival among the lingering radiation and strange energies of the Equestrian Wasteland began, though some were not so lucky. Even now the frigid, brittle bones dressed in the tattered rags of blue-and-yellow jumpsuits can be found, scattered across the arid wastes of what was once Equestria.

It has been nigh three hundred years since the bombs fell. For some persists a grim resignation - for history is bound to repeat itself. For others, it is a new beginning, a chance to make right for the wrongs of their ancestors. For most, it is a struggle for survival in which only those with true grit will triumph.

!!!ALERT!!!

- TRICENTENNIAL TIMELOCK FAILSAFE DEACTIVATED

- VAULT OPENING IN 5...

- VAULT OPENING IN 4...

- VAULT OPENING IN 3...

- VAULT OPENING IN 2...

- VAULT OPENING IN 1...

- VAULT OPENING...

- PROCEED TO ENTRANCE AND BEGIN EVACUATION PROCEDURE

- MAY WE LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY

Another sentence flashed across the screen, replacing all the others.

EQUESTRIA SALUTES YOU

Overmare Honeycrisp rubbed at her cheek in thought. Equestria... the object of so many files in the archives, the set of ideals taught to each member of the Vault since foalhood, the state which met an untimely demise, destroyed by the Zafricans. It was now in her hooves, her peoples' hooves, to give new life to it. As she stood from her seat, she felt her heart rise with it - felt it soar. She couldn't explain the feelings she had: perhaps it was pride, patriotism to a country she only knew from the archive texts, but she felt it was something else. A sense of great purpose, something other than pencil pushing and paper shuffling, that excited her.

Without hesitating, she crossed over to the intercom. She had a call to make.

---

Even as the denizens of Vault 2 began their daily routine, the sound of the intercom's crackling to life made them pause, and the voice of Russet, Head of Vault Security, cut through the morning.

- ATTENTION. ATTENTION. THIS IS AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. AS OF SEVEN O'CLOCK THIS MORNING, THE OVERMARE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT A MANDATORY STABLE-WIDE EVACUATION HAS BEEN PUT INTO EFFECT. RESIDENTS ARE TO RETURN TO AND REMAIN IN THEIR QUARTERS UNTIL FUTHER NOTICE: RESIDENTS CAUGHT OUTSIDE THEIR ASSIGNED QUARTERS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT OFFICIAL LEAVE WILL BE SUMMARILY PLACED IN CONFINEMENT. VAULT SECURITY PERSONNEL ARE TO REPORT TO CHIEF OF SECURITY RUSSET IN THE SURVEILLANCE ROOM IMMEDIATELY. THAT IS ALL. -

[First four posters will be assigned to Hab-Block One - the same general "neighborhood". The second four are part of Hab-Block Five. These two hab-blocks will be selected as the first to evacuate, in twenty minutes time.]

Key groaned and flung a pillow at the intercom, cursing the bloody overmare and her stupid tendency to give pointless public announcements at early points in the morning. He normally would've ignored the announcement, but even through the sleep clouded mind he noted that this one at least sounded important, so he gradually climbed out of bed and and started his normal routine, brushing his teeth, making sure his mane and stuff were all nice and proper. Key may be a heartless bastard, but he had to look his best.

It wasn't till about a minute and a half into the announcement that he actually started to listen to what was being said. After yelling a loud expletive, he got to work on packing up his stuff. He wasn't gonna go out into the outside world and probably certain death without his stuff, and at the very least his most important possesions. Moving frantically he yanked his issued saddlebags out from under his bed and started to pull his jumpsuits out of his drawers and stuff them into the pack. Next came some of his more meaningfull possesions, such as his screwdriver and stash of bobby pins, ect. Finally he went with his sentimental items, getting some of his ill gotten spoils, a few stolen books, a necklace he'd taken and repurposed to have a picture of his beloved parents attached to it in a locket.

Now satisfied that he'd gotten everything that he would need he sat back down on his bed and started to read, waiting for security to come and collect him and the rest of the living block.

The doctor had been working a late shift, and so she was just arriving at her bed in Hab Block One when the announcement began. Tired and deprived of one of the few things that could keep her mind working straight, she all but slammed her face on her bed to muffle an angry scream upon being denied any peaceful rest until she'd have to wake up again.

Dragging her head back up, the junkie doctor sluggishly opened her locker and withdrew her saddlebags, lazily hefting it onto her back with her magic before putting things she felt she'd need in it for the evacuation.

Her precious lifeline, a small tin that rattled when she picked it up, was gently opened and inspected much closer than everything else she had put away for now... Only five left. She'd have to try and get more as soon as possible, the poor junkie didn't know how long she could make five Mintals last, what with not wanting to be in her continuously clouded state for all too long. Even now she was just coming down from the effects of a few spread out over her shift in the infirmary.

After packing everything she felt she needed, which was mostly just the contents of the first-aid kit in her room, like most others had, as well as a pair of glasses, a change of Stable barding and to finish it all off, her precious tin of Mintals. Dr.Beans clambered onto her bed and shut her eyes.

Sure, they were meant to wait, but she'd be woken if they really wanted ponies to evacuate, Even fifteen minutes of rest would be enough right now.

As the metallic voice blared twice into Cascade’s mind – once from the speaker in her room, and again from the one just outside her door – her eyes shot open, and her wings beat in a panic–

Ow! She rubbed her head and settled back onto her violently unmade bed. What the hay was going on?

Before she could kick up much more of a fuss, the lurking shadow of morning fatigue swept over her, and she slumped forward into the relatively comforting embrace of her Stable-issued mattress. Before long, though, the metallic voice laid it all out.

…a mandatory Stable-wide evacuation has been put into effect...

…Residents caught outside their assigned quarters at any time without official leave will be summarily placed in confinement…

…Security personnel are to report to Chief of Security Russet in the surveillance room…

Nope. No way. No hound was gonna tell Cascade to be sit still and be quiet. The hounds were clearly up to something, and she was gonna get to the bottom of it, or at least put a few dents in their pride. Her teeth gritted in an indignant scowl, she threw on her jacket, double-checked that all her remaining mischief-making supplies were there in the pockets – a hoof-full of bobby pins, a cherry bomb, a slingshot (her BB gun was confiscated a few weeks ago) and a bunch of loose BBs – and walked out the door.

“Morning, Cassie.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. In the small but densely furnished main room of her family’s apartment, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, going through some papers in a thick folder in front of him, was a brown-coated earth pony stallion with a short, kempt white mane – someone she wasn’t expecting to see.

“Dad?” Her fervour flagged. She wasn’t sure whether she was annoyed, disappointed, relieved, or whatever, but she was suddenly unsure of what to do. “What are you still doing here?”

“I was just about to leave, actually,” he said, not looking up from his papers. He picked up a pen in his mouth and scribbled something down. “Then, this all happened. I suppose I should pack if we’re leaving the Stable, but I have all this marking still to do.”

Without any troublemaking immediately on her mind, Cascade realised how hungry she was. She navigated around a seemingly pointless magazine rack, collected a metal bowl and a packet of Stabletech dried apple slices from a cupboard, and then took a seat at the table, opposite her father. “Where’s mom?”

“She had an early shift with maintenance.” His voice was distant, either distraught at the announcement, or more likely, absorbed in his stupid papers. “I suppose she’s on her way home now, but I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” Typical. She chewed morosely on a dried apple slice, and briefly wondered what it was thinking.

Her father finally looked up from his papers, and gave her a tentative smile. “How are you, Cassie? How was the cleaning job last week?”

It was terrible. She hated it. She screwed up almost everything she tried to do. The whole time she was there, she felt like such an idiot.

“Fine,” she mumbled through a mouthful of apple. “And stop calling me Cassie.”

His expression faltered, and he went back to his papers. “Sorry, dear.”

Jerk.

Dr. Senzu Beans would not get the meagre amount of sleep she so desired. Being a doctor, one of the mere hoofful of medical personnel in the Vault, it was important to have her on standby in case of accidents and emergencies. The Overmare and Russet were expecting there to be cases of panic attacks, paranoia, even hysteria - no one had left the Stable for near-on three hundred years. It was truly unthinkable, what was going to happen over the course of the day. The stress, they believed, would be too much for some folks.

Thus, Senzu Beans was located almost immediately by a pair of security personnel, both clad in royal blue jumpsuits with yellow trim, under layers of thick black padding. They had matching black shinguards and domed black helmets, attatched to each of which was a flip-down translucent plastic visor. Each had a pistol nestled into a holster just below their neck, angled to one side.

When the doctor awoke from a few short minutes of fitful napping, it was to the metallic knock at the hatch-door of her quarters.

"Doctor Beans! You are wanted in the atrium at once, by request of Chief of Security Russet! You have five minutes to collect your personal belongings. All else will be packed into a bulk storage unit for later retrieval, upon exiting the Vault."

With that, the two moved on.

I didn't even get a few minutes of decent sleep, mind you I say decent, not any, before there was a metal knocking at the door. The voices on the other side were those of security personnel.

...Why could I not get any peace? I'd just finished staying up all night in case of accidents or emergencies, and now I was having to stay up all day too!? Ugh, my Mintal-deprived brain ached as I dragged myself off of the bed, glancing over at my saddlebags. I was sometimes glad I had the tact to do things before going to sleep.

A dull thud of hooves on steel signified my landing as I felt solid ground beneath my hooves. I automatically started thinking about dreams I'd had recently, one was about what I wanted to see outside the Vault, a plush green field, clear and pure of any possible nastiness... Hopefully that was how it was, I really wanted to feel something more than steel underhoof.

No more time for thinking. There was normally always time for it, except for now. Now was the time for doing what the stupid overmare wanted me to do, which was stay awake longer than I should be, attending to any ponies who might be having issues with all the stress from this evacuation.

But what about the medical ponies? What about me? What if we started getting stressed? Would we have to treat ourselves somehow? This basket of apples called an evacuation was nothing but bullshit... Regardless, I hefted by saddlebags onto my flank, checked them for my previous tin, spare barding and assorted medical supplies from my first aid kit. Sitting the glasses upon my face, I walked out of my living area, frowning as I looked at it for what could be the last time.

It didn't take long for me to plod over to the atrium, sleepy from the lack of mintals... Only five left... And the lack of being allowed to sleep.

There were a few security ponies there, which was at least a good thing. I walked up to join the rest of the medical staff and chimed. "Doctor Senzu Beans, present and ready for evacuation duty..." ...Well, I didn't exactly chime, I more monotonously mumbled compared to anything else.

Today was going to suck, but it could improve if I stepped outside and found the world to be like that dream I had. If it wasn't. Well to say the least, I wasn't getting my hopes up that much, so there would only be a little bit of disappointment.

"Spanner goes on the hydraulic line shutoff valve, righty tighty lefty loosey." Bright Skies mumbled to himself as he slept. It had been a long day of work and a short night of doing nothing in particular. There was probably some drinking, some pointless flirting and eventually coming home to his room to wallow in his self pity. That was over though and a klaxon was kindly yelling in his ear for a few moments before the voice came in over the PA. 'Evacuation protocols' His eyes shot open, "Evacuation?!" That woke the technician right the buck up. This was bad news, terrible news in fact.

He rolled out of bed and looked around, nopony was there, the tiny bachelor room wasn't meant to be permanent accommodations. A stallion or mare was supposed to be paired with a special somepony and then they got a room that was more comfortable. At least... at least he wasn't in the dorms, that would have been worse. He groaned and scrounged around the room, collecting his things already having forgotten about the Evacuation, he'd gone from awake to running on auto-pilot in record time.

Clean jump suit, tool kit, freshly charged batteries for the flashlight (Not that he really needed it, being a horn head had its benefits, like a nearly inexhaustible supply of light via that 'light' spell.), breakfast and make the bed. Breakfast came last and approaching the twenty minutes mark, twenty long lonely minutes in his room. Eating freeze dried rationed food that tasted about as interesting as cardboard, but it filled a pony up and kept them healthy. Munching on the last of the bag he slowly wandered to the door, only noticing the time then. He eyed the clock, double checked it against another clock and then the pipbuck. As he found the times all matched he raised an eyebrow, "Why the hell am I even awake?" He turned around and trotted back to his bed, flopping down on it and passing almost right out, unaware that he was likely mere moments from having that nap interrupted.

The deep voice of the announcer rolled over the loud speakers once more:

"ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER THAT RESIDENTS ARE TO REMAIN IN THEIR DESIGNATED QUARTERS UNLESS GIVEN OFFICIAL LEAVE. ANY RESIDENTS FOUND OUTSIDE OF THEIR QUARTERS WILL SUMMARILY BE PLACED IN CONFINEMENT. FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS ENSURES A SAFE, EFFICIENT EVACUATION.

IN ADDITION, RESIDENTS OF HABITATION BLOCK ONE ARE TO MOVE TO THE ATRIUM AT THIS TIME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.

A cheerful voice can faintly be heard in the background: "We're leaving the Vault soon, folks!"

[In addition to player characters, a group numbering about 20 will be present in the atrium, plus half a dozen members of security. Note that the atrium is structured much like it is in Vault 101 of Fallout 3.]

There are... things, in pony's life, that work like a... I guess the best description would be, like a junction. You arrive there, and you have a choice where to go, and that choice will dictate your next life. Sure, there will be more, but the first one, well, you can't go back to it and take the other corridor.

We, that is, me, Long Shot, and my number two, Blackberry, we trotting towards quarters we knew Skeleton Key was residing in. Overmare ordered everyone in that hablock to group in in the Atrium, and Key was assigned... well, they called it an escort, but frankly, it was just two mares, ready to beat that little shit into submission if he decided to do anything funny. So here we were, standing in front of his quarters' door. As always... there was that taste. That little nagging feeling in the back of my skull, wishing for something action-y to happen. Perhaps Key trying give chase. That would... yeah. I would like that, but mare can't have everything, can she?

While I was having this complex inner monologue with myself, Blackberry stepped close to the door and banged at them with her hoof. "Key! Stable security! I hope you are ready to move, since we certainly are no going to wait. Open the door!"

Key yawned and closed his book, cursing the bloody timing of it all, especially since he had just come to a quite exciting part in the novel when the second announcement came over the loudspeaker and shortly after that, Vault security came banging on his door.

"I'll be out in a minute, so chill out. And if that doesn't suit you, the you can go shove that baton up your plothole."

Using his magic to lock the couple extra security measures he had installed on his door, he made sure to take his sweet time in getting ready, rubbing the security bitch's muzzle in it.

After he'd made sure everything was ready, he unlocked his door and stepped out.

"So shall we?"

Key was taking time. Of course he was. He knew we were coming for him, and he just decided to provoke us. I had no idea what was running in the head of the little troublemaker. Haven't knew him very well at that point, anyway. Still, just to sport him, me and Berry decided to be professionals, and simply waited for him to get out before we escorted him to the Atrium, as we were instructed. I would lie if I wasn't hoping for him to try and run from us, but... well. As it turned out later, some wishes can turn out to be very dangerous ones. But this time, I wasn't that lucky. He cooperated, so far at least.

"Yes, we shall. Let's go."

Key could honestly say he was surprised that the two didn't even make a comment when he came out of his room. He was fully expecting at least the one who had been banging on his door to say something snarky. And then there was the silent one. He at least knew this one's name, mainly because he knew that she lived in this block. Though he couldn't really remember if he'd ever stolen something from her though.

"Well let's get moving then. You guys can lead, you are my "escorts", after all."

I think I actually smirked at that remark. Blackberry... well, Blackberry behaved like Blackberry.

"Escorts? Don't try to talk to us like you were a big colt, Skeleton Key. You lack few inches for that. Now march."

Black pulled out her baton and lightly nudged Skeleton into his flank to move. Well... Blackberry. I took up front and led us three into the Atrium, whole way listening to the clopping of the hooves behind me, watching for Key to do anything.

Key grinned at the response he'd gotten from the loud one, it was much more like what he'd been expecting. Of course now that he'd gotten one he couldn't let it go. There was no fun in that, no fun at all. Adopting an innocent expression he turned on full sarcasm mode, talking as he walked along behind the pair of the guards.

"Why, I simply ment that you were escorting me to my destination, I never ment anything else. And I don't need to be a big colt, like they say, size doesn't matter, it's how you use it."

I decided to let them bicker. If Key was busy provoking Black, and Black knew how to use words, then he was not doing something that would gave me headaches. Berry seemed to enjoy it too.

"How you use the size? Key... be honest with yourself. That is a lie the small ones created so they would not feel so miserable. So stop lying to yourself, and admit that being small means that you suck."

I chuckled. I think. Luckily, at this point, we were in the Atrium, and I went over to the Chief Russet to report Key's arrival.

My stupid dad and I finally arrived at the atrium, after wasting about fifteen minutes looking for Mom. (She was probably still working, anyway. Same old crap.) There were less ponies gathered than I was expecting. Were we early? It sounded like the kind of announcement everypony would trip over themselves to follow.

Plenty of hounds, though. I stuck my tongue out at one of them, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Pssh, whatever. Like I need validation from a pony who gets paid to carry a stick.

I tried to keep my head low, in case anypony I knew saw me. Not that it mattered; none of the Basilisks were here. Salt Lick was probably hanging out with his dumb girlfriend, anyway. (What the hay is wrong with him? I’ve known him way longer than that hussy has, but he’s never so much as let his eyes linger a little too long while I was pretending to look the other way.)

Anyway, Dad settled into the small crowd, and I lingered not too far from him, despite the urge bubbling through my bones to get the hay out of there. I–

Oh, horse apples, Lapis Lazuli was there? (She’s the blue prick-face jerk who fancies herself my social worker.) Great, like hanging around with my dad wasn’t gonna be awkward enough. She shot me a look that said, “You’d best behave yourself, you terminal nuisance, or so help me, I’ll ruin your day. And take off that jacket; you look like a thug.”

That’s what she said last time she looked at me like that, anyway.

I flicked my tail and flared my wings. While Dad was distracted by something-or-other that was happening toward the front, I slinked away to get some of those eyes off me – harder than you’d think, with a small crowd in a large room. I settled with lingering at the back of the herd, and waited for the Overmare to get on with it.

Ey7es snapped open wide as the announcement played on the PA, there was no mistaking it now, he was being summoned along with everypony else on the habitation block. Evacuation, why would there be an evacuation of the Stable, if the Door opened shouldn't it be like a voluntary thing? This tasted a bit weird, but Bright Skies was never the delinquent sort, well aside from cherry bombs he had a troublemaker's love of those diminutive explosive spheres. Unfortunately they were hard to make and harder to find.

The older stallion rolled back out of bed and collected a wrench that had made a break for it when he rolled over. He slid it into a holster on his side, the warm blue glow of his magic fading from it as it slid home.

The door was next, simply approaching it and pressing the button he found himself looking at the other ponies from the Hab Block. They were chatting and excited, all the more reason to be worried that something was very wrong. Why else would the stable be yelling at them to leave, like the pony who ran the Mess Hall calling out when he was closing up for the night, 'You don't have to go home but you can't stay here', the stable was kicking them out. Clearly nopony else saw it that way if the smiles were any indication.

After just a few moments he was last pony out, excluding one that was being harassed by security as Skies left for the atrium. He was sure there was a good reason for that at least, his Hab block was home to more than one delinquent pony and if Security ever figured out that he had found that cherry bombs clear toilets faster than and more effectively than a plunger or even a snake, he was sure he'd be on that list as well. Good thing then that they hadn't yet.

He trotted lazily into the Atrium as surprised as some other ponies by the relatively light turn out, yet more reason to be a little paranoid. It seemed so far that only the first Hab Block was in the Atrium which left the room feeling quite sparsely occupied. A few cliques had formed in the herd, cliques that Bright Skies had never bothered to join. They weren't his coworkers or his 'intellectual' equals and so they had fallen by the way side. Come to think of it, he didn't even really know them well enough to say what they did besides to say 'Not Maintenance'.

The Technician sat down in one of the chairs that populated the edge of the room and decided to just work on double checking his tools, no doubt he was going to end up turning a bolt or cleaning a Spark connection at some point in the day, he'd really hate to be unprepared for that. His only remaining purpose stolen by a lack of tools? May the Gates of Tartarus fly open and demons drag him screaming down into the pits before he went anywhere without tools.

It was then though that he noticed one pony separate herself from the herd and place herself at its periphery, coincidentally near him. He decided that it couldn't hurt to say something, "Having as much fun as I am?" He asked sarcastically.

Some creaky unicorn approached me with the smug tone of a hound who'd just sniffed out an easy bust. What is it with ponies giving me a hard time? Is there a prize or something?

“Get off my case, old timer,” I snapped, my bitter mood shining through in my tone. “I didn't do anything, okay?”

Then, I noticed the tools on his belt. A maintenance pony?

“Wait,” I said, trying to scrape some of the attitude out of my voice (but, in hindsight, probably not as much as I could've). “Have you seen a maintenance pony named Gold Spark? She’s a unicorn, orange coat, about as old as you.”

Skies was taken a bit aback by the younger pony's attitude, he then noticed the jacket the mare was wearing. That jacket explained the attitude in a rather tight nut, young and in a 'gang'. "Never said you did, kiddo. I was being sarcastic you look like you're having bout as much fun as I am. By the way I'm not having fun so, two and two, you looked bored and a bit angry." He tossed in before he got to her question.

"I know plenty of the ponies down in Maintance, I think I've worked with a pony by the name of Gold Spark. Or was it Hold Spark." He pondered, his memory of the ponies down in the bowels of the Stable not what it should have been. Too many nights spent socializing over spirits and hydroponically grown food. "Anyway why ya ask?" Bright Skies examined the Basilisk a little further, trying to piece together if he'd met her before or if she was the child of one of his coworkers, particularly since she was trying to get the attitude out of her voice.

As I weathered the old man’s explanation, I might’ve accidentally let my eyes roll. “Yeah, whatever,” I said when he finally stopped talking. Same song, different tune. I did my best to ignore the ‘angry’ jab.

When he finally got around to my question, he didn’t even answer; he just wanted to... talk about it? What was this, a social club? A therapy session? A Stable Security interview?

“I didn’t ask for a song and dance routine, gramps. Now stop blabbering and tell me: have you seen her or not?”

“Cascade!”

I froze as my heart tried to force its way out my mouth. I turned around, and saw Gold Spark stomping toward me with the rage of the Sisters in her eyes.

“Uh...”

“Come here,” she snarled. Against my better judgement, I shuffled toward her. “What is wrong with you? Is it really so hard to treat ponies with a little common decency?”

“But he–”

“Don’t talk back to me, young lady!” Her telekinetic aura seized my left ear, and she dragged me back to the geezer. “I want you to apologise to Mister Bright Skies for being so awful to him.”

I grimaced at the floor, my anger distracting me from all the eyes that were on me. I dragged my eyes up to the old maintenance pony and shot him as venomous a glare as I could muster. “I’m sorry,” I grunted.

Ow! A sharp pain shot through the side of my head. I looked back at mom as I rubbed the spot where she’d cuffed me with a hoof. “A real apology,” she ordered.

Stupid mom. Why the hay should I apologise? It was his stupid fault for being such an unhelpful jerk! As much as I wanted to, though, I couldn’t keep this up when she had me under her hoof like this, so I swallowed the tension that had built up in my throat, took as deep a breath as I could manage, and did my best to avoid eye contact.

“I’m sorry I was rude to you, Minster Bright Eyes,” I finally said in a dejected drone.

“Good,” mom said, sounding almost calm. “Go find your father. And for once in your life, stay out of trouble.”

I folded my wings and trotted away, in any direction, not really caring whether I’d find dad. I was too pissed off to care. I rubbed my head again; that was gonna sting for a while.



Gold Spark watched as Cascade trotted away in a huff, disappearing behind a group of gawking ponies. Then, she turned back to Bright Skies. “I’m sorry about my daughter,” she said, mostly calm, but with perhaps a hint of panic. She slowly extended a reassuring hoof. “Are you okay? She didn’t upset you or anything, did she?”