We headed out into the sunny (or at least as sunny as the wasteland got) air, the wind nipping a little at my ears, but compared to last night, I may as well be in swimming trunks. I looked around at the debris surrounding the facility as we marched on, cringing a little at the sight of the decomposed and... glowing... corpses littering the ground. One such formerly pony-shaped mass of goo was lying in a pool of radioactive waste, an eye dangling out of it's socket in the nipping wasteland air. Gross. I looked down at my Pip-Buck as it clicked, tapping it a bit before the EFS kicked back on. Five rads per second?! Jeez, how does Twintails stand this? “Let’s get out of here before my skin starts to match The Doc’s.” I said, picking up my pace.

“Ah, come on, this ain’t that bad. Just a little healthy glow, is all~” Twintails simply matched my speed, still humming along to the song. He went back to bobbing his head along to the tune, myself rolling my eyes at him; I didn’t spend all my time in the same room as an experimental reactor, thank you very much. I quite enjoy life without being a walking nightlight... or at least without having a nightlight whenever I go to the bathroom. We quickly made our way out of the radioactive swamp, climbing out of the small valley between a few mountains the facility lay in.

We headed down the road, now able to see beyond two feet in front of our faces. The valley that led into the N.E.A.M.O. basin continued along the road, some radioactive waste from the facility flowing into the frozen river. The song soon died down, quickly replaced by the voice of the DJ, garbled a bit by static. “Hey all of you out there in this Winter Waste-erland, hope you’re all having a wonderful... whatever season it is! A little breaking news, and it’s good this time. From the sound of it, two fresh-out-of-the-Stable-ees have just restored trading to Mooscow, drove a bunch of raiders out of the RobronCo factory up the street. Forget to set your alarm boys?” The DJ chuckled. “And you better watch out Short Fuses, these colts mean business. Alright, I’ll stop jabbering, back to your favorite tunes.” His voice died out before another song crackled to life. The tune was rather ridiculously upbeat for a song about some poor colt whose marefriend was caught outside when the bombs fell.

I thought a little about what the DJ had said - it sounded like there hadn’t been a Stable opening in a long, looong time. “Hey, Twintails, what was your life like in the Stable?” I asked as we headed past a crushed wagon. He spun a dial on his Pip-Buck, turning the volume down.

"Mmm, well, It wasn't terrible, but... working in reactor maintenance, you don't really run into a whole lot of other ponies down there. Mostly I just watched old test films of captured Balefire Bombs and megaspell detonations, read all I could about them. Heh... could tell you exactly how big a boom that shell back behind Megaspell Mary had, if I could've seen behind the casing. Eheh... How about you?” He asked, turning away for a moment and then facing back, curiosity in his eyes.

“Eh...” I shrugged “Aside from the Overmare, I guess there really wasn’t all that much wrong about it. I went to class, failed the G.O.A.T., became a technician and left. That’s how it goes for most ponies, right?” I said, chuckling a little.

Twintails raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute... you failed the G.O.A.T.? How in the name of Princess Luna did you manage that?! I thought it was supposed to just be an occupational test, or is that all mixed up too in your crazy augmented life?”

“That’s just it; it’s a job assignment test.” I tilted my head back towards my flank. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd I’m probably, not to brag, one of the most plasma-knowledgeable ponies and I have a peppermint cutie-mark?” Twintails seemed to think it over for a moment, before nodding and shrugging simultaneously. “Well, according to that test I was best suited to be run a sweet shop. I was apprenticing for a good month or so, catering birthday parties and Nightmare Nights alike. I suppose I wasn’t too bad at it, since my cutie-mark popped up... though I bet it’s probably more likely because of my obsession with the actual mixing machines than the stuff in them.” I looked down at the ground, a suddenly feeling of nostalgia washing over me. I sighed a little as we walked along, the soft hum of the radio scarcely heard over the icy wind.

We walked in silence a little until the RobronCo facility came into view over the hill. Twintails perked up, remembering something as we drew near the front gates, which had apparently had their doors finally replaced, thankfully. The multitude of craters and destroyed robots diminished fears that the minefield was still around it. “Hey, we ought to stop back in here, I need to ask Jumper about the Neutron-Dampening Radiothermic Coil. Still out here to save my stable, no matter how many megaspells Doc has..." My ears perked up as we approached the building. An excuse for more Old World tech tampering? I’m interested! We trotted into the factory, immediately greeted by a Mr. Handy.

“Ah, good day, masters. May I help you?” It said, hovering in front of us, the eye scanning between us both. Huh, sounds like they improved the program’s manners a bit. As I scanned the lobby, noticing a few more Mr. Handys floating about, picking up debris and connecting wires, Jumper Cables trotted down the stairs leading to the offices. Her eyes still had heavy bags beneath them, and each step seemed wavery - some ponies really have to learn that caffeine is not a substitute for a good bed.

“Hey, E.C. Kid, I never caught your name.” She walked over to us, waving away the robot. “Thanks again for helping us out. Once we got that repair-bot up and running, this place has just come to life overnight! And through the morning... and the next night, too!” She chuckled weakly, catching herself on a receptionist's desk and rubbing her eyes again.

I smiled at her, itching to have a look at the guts of the factory. “I’m happy to help. I’m Minty Candy, by the way, and he’s Twintails.” I nodded towards Twintails, who was shooing away a robot that was attempting to remove his coat. Well, they are receptionist bots...

“Well, hey, if you guys need anything, I’d be happy to help. Once this place is fully operational, I could probably bury you in energy cells.” She chuckled. I was ready to request a tour, but Twintails cut in.

“I’m actually looking for this bit of tech. Do you guys happen to have a Neutron-Dampening Radiothermic Coil, or at least the parts for one? My Stable’s old reactor’s is broken, and it's been running on ice bags lobbed around the exhaust vents. We’re hoping to find another to fix it up, or replace it if necessary.” He asked, producing a photograph from between his pip-buck and foreleg. Jumper screwed up her face in concentration, gnawing at her lower lip and tapping a free hoof against her chin. I hope they did, whatever this thing was, it sounded pretty powerful and important...

“Neutron Coil... I can’t say that we do. Actually, I'm not even sure if one of those things exists... Your stable was one of -those- ones, wasn't it? One made with some minor detail changed from the status quo?" Twintails shrugged and nodded, a confused look on his face as Jumper Cables chuckled. "Call that a lucky break, just a fancy-schmancy reactor. instead of something like, like, fusing robots with pony brains. Some bots are still running inventory, if we ever find anything along those lines, I’ll be sure to let you know.” I was a little disappointed, and miffed at that robot pony comment, though I suppose I should’ve guessed RobronCo wouldn’t have something like that just sitting around in a factory collecting dust. No sensible factory would.

Twintails turned away, but I grabbed his tails. “Where’re you going? We have a whole factory of robots to tour!” I grin widely, thinking off all the machinery begging to be fixed. Unfortunately, Jumper stopped me as I tried to walk to the door to the workplace.

“Sorry, but I don’t think it’s wise to be running around in there with all those loose parts. One of my own employees already almost lost a hoof.” She looked down, noticing my metallic leg. She winced a little. “And I doubt you’d want to lose another one... guessing it wasn't a bloatsprite that set off one of those mines two nights ago after all, huh?” My ears flopped down a little, my grin falling away. Nothing short of a, I dunno, hospital with some limb regeneration spell could bring my hoof back. Jumper cables yawned, lifting my head up so we saw each otehr face-to-face. “Hey, cheer up. When this place is all fixed up, you two will be the first for a tour... I may even give you a discount.” She winked a little as my grin came back, even if it was a bit smaller than before. I suppose all good things come to those who wait... Ech, yeesh, who am I, my Overmare?

We turned away, leaving the facility to Jumper and her small army of robots. We got back on the road, Twintails flipping onto his back, starting to flap through the air. He hovered beside me, singing to the music as I crossed a small bridge across the valley leading to Mooscow. “Say, did you know a lot of people in your Stable?” Twintails asked as he flapped again. I noticed he did his best to not look down. What was he, afraid of heights? “Aside from Gamma, I didn’t know a lot of other ponies; they don’t frequent the reactor maintenance areas. There was Tablet, fantastic artist, did a huge mural of all of the old reactor maintainence ponies in the hallway to Bruce... and a mural for me...” He smiled a small, little smile, as I kicked a small rock along the path. The song died down and static filled the air before another quickly took its place.

“Well, once I was assigned to be a mechanic, I spent all my time in the restricted sections... even the ones I wasn’t supposed to be in.” I chuckled a little. “I remember there was one colt in school... uh... Cross Stitch! We used to be really good friends. I tried to convince him to let me tamper with his Pip-Buck when he turned 10, though he was a little more protective of his. ‎‘You’ll get one soon’ He always said. Believe me, four months was waaaaay to long to wait for mine when your best friend had one. He managed to pass the G.O.A.T. though, became a seamster. I remember we used to try to see each other after we got our jobs, but we never could spend a lot of time together...” I smiled a little as my mind drifted back to him. “Heh... when I got my cutie mark, I remember he gave me this little plush toy of myself... though it had the Talisman mark I should’ve gotten from that stupid test. You should’ve seen him smile when I opened it...” I looked back up at the road ahead, the cloudy sky growing a little darker as time passed.

“Sounds like he cared a lot.” Twintails said, flapping along next to myself lazily as we trotted along. I nodded, smiling a little. “You... you think he liked you? I mean, hell, he really seemed like a nice guy, to do stuff like that for you.” Twintails asked, flipping over to his stomach as he flew along. I thought for a moment, pondering the implications. Well... he obviously liked me enough to be my friend.

“I guess I never really thought about it...” I sighed, and crunched through the snow in silence for a bit. “You know, first thing after we fix this gun, and remove the last of those filly-eating striped skins, I’m going back to get him. Maybe I can convince him to strike up a seamstress shop in Mooscow.” I chuckled a little, smiling softly. Yeah, that'd be nice... we'd be able to be together, safe. Gotta remember to get some thermal clothes for his cute flank first, though.

Twintails smiled a bit as the shadow of Mooscow started to appear over the horizon. “Assuming the Overmare doesn’t find you first.” He giggled, smirking softly and winking at myself. “Let’s just hope I don’t get jealous of him, I mean - I could see why he'd want a piece of your cute flanks, haha~” I chuckled and rolled my eyes, turning the music back up as we moved along the final stretch.

"Ol' hard-headed Caesar will be feelin' mighty blue
when he finds out he's bitten off more'n he can chew,
For his 'ggression will be ended and the job will be well-done
if Princess Luna drops a Megaspell bomb!

Princess Luna has the power to stop those murderin' thieves
An' she'll make 'em sorry for their underhoofed schemes.
Just leave it to the princess for she's really got the nerve
T' give those no-good striped nationalists jus' what they deserve

There'll be fire, dust 'n' metal flyin' all around,
and the radioactivity will burn their playhouse down
if there's any Zebras left, they'll be all on the run,
If Princess Luna drops a Megaspell Bomb!"

When They Dropped the Atomic Bomb by Jackie Doll, parodied as When They Dropped the Megaspell Bomb by  the-furry-railfan

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