And after finding the possibility of love, Li'lpip is ecstatic. She admits that Homage and her aren't in love, at least yet, but that there was hope, though instead of getting to stick around and work on it Homage sends her off to bed, seeing how exhausted she was. And then embarrassing her the next morning when DJ ups her status to "Wasteland Savior" and telling the Wastes about her (seemingly single hoffedly) saving the ponies of Gutterville, and ending Manehattan's manticore issue at the same time.
As she heads up to talk to Homage about whether she's going to tell Velvet who DJ really is, Li'lpip realizes that while it's possible Homage will simply trust Velvet enough to tell her the truth, she doesn't want her too, part of her wants it to stay just between them, something special, she wants Homage to trust her with something she trusts no other pony with. Though she admits it's wrong and tries to fight it. And, well it's natural, this is Li'lpip's first chance ever at love, no reason she shouldn't want the two of them to share something special. And when she gets Homage alone to ask, Homage simply asks Li'lpip if she can trust Velvet, and she replies yes. wanting to lie but knowing she'd hate herself for doing so.
Velvet notices the way Li'lpip looks at Homage, giving Homage a paper thin reason for Li'lpip to stay the night, without having to make Li'lpip or her explain anything to the rest of them, much to Li'lpip's embarrassment.
After recording the music, Velvet goes to lie down, while the other two take a walk around Tenpony Tower, sitting down for dinner, after Li'lpip fumes at the prices of the same fancified food she finds all around for free. Till Homage reminds her that most ponies wouldn't be able to survive long enough in the Wastes to find this free food. And the ones that do, who supply Tenpony with the food, don't work for free.
The conversation turns to the Steel Rangers after seeing Steelhooves wandering around. And we learn they really are just like the Brotherhood of Steel, more interested in saving technology then ponies.
While treating themselves to another trip to the spa, Li'lpip hears a "live" broadcast from DJ, but has to wait till they are alone to get an answer. Homage often prerecords segments, playing them while making sure she is seen around the tower, to help keep anypony from catching on.
Though her good mood is ruined after Monterrey's three children come up to DJ-PON-3's assistant, asking if it was true what DJ said on the radio. Li'lpip both ashamed at having been at least partially, in some way, responsible, and angry at Monterrey for letting his twisted need to be to truthful come before his foals. In private Homage warns her not to interfere, not to bust him out jail like she wants. Warning him that even if she survived she'd never be allowed inside Tenpony Tower again, they'd never see each other. Needing to clear her head Li'lpip head's out of the tower to take a walk, the rest following with needing to be asked.
While walking they discover the remains of the ghoul camp that had been slaughtered, Li'lpip feeling a bit sickened, and not feeling right looting the place, though not stopping Calamity from doing so. instead talking to Steelhooves, asking if what Homage said about the group was true, and also wanting to know why he stayed with her. All she gets is that all Steel Rangers take the same oath, but there is a bit of a divide between them on whether that oath is to the Mare of the Ministry or the Ministry itself. Once Calamity finishes scrounging everything he can and flies back to drop it off back at their suite, Li'lpip takes time to pile up the bodies, creating a funeral pyre for the slaughtered ghouls.
walking further they pick up the distress signal from the mercenaries that killed the ghouls DJ had mentioned earlier, Li'lpip deciding she was going to investigate. Telling the others they can wait if they wan to, but she's going on in. Steelhooves wondering if she wants to take revenge herself on the "noble ghoul slayers", save them, or if there was something else she wanted in the building. Her response,
I glared at my companion, then smirked. “Oh, I just want to know how a bunch of griffins could get trapped on the roof of a building.”
They head into the building, not finding anything at first. Eventually finding a griffon, dead, though with no cause they can find. And then as they tried to pass through a weakened hallway, an alicorn comes around the corner. Trying to turn and fight Steelhooves falls through the floor into a VERY radioactive pool, leaving Velvet and Li'lpip to deal with it alone, though Velvet reacts much quicker then Li'lpip, catching the alicorn by surprise as it was focused on Li'lpip, getting a point blank shotgun blast off, nearly killing it. The force of it knocking the rest of them through the floor, Li'lpip barely avoiding a dip in the radiation by landing on some debris, seeing the alicorn sink to the bottom, and to her horror begin to regenerate. Before she can do so, Li'lpip grabs all the debris she can and impales and bludgeons it to death.
Afterward, while trying to convince Velvet that he didn't need any rad-away, Steelhooves admits what Li'lpip and the reader had already figured out. He's a ghoul. Reminding her that ghouls are in fact healed by radiation. Leading Pip to conclude somehow the alicorns have the same ability.
She sneaks back up to where they left off, finding another two purple alicorns busy trying to open a safe through brute force, and takes them both out before they notice her, noting as she does so the fact that neither of them had cutie marks. She tries to open the safe herself, quickly giving up and taking a PTM to help her, only afterwards noticing Velvet was right behind her. Finding a memory orb for her trouble.
Climbing further, they surprise another group of alicorns, Steelhooves taking out one...and a good chunk of the building...before they can react, the rest getting their shield up. Li'lpip tries the memory orb trick again, but they don't fall for it, gloating about how they remember how she killed them before. proving for sure there is some sort of hive mind going on. Li'lpip's reaction?
Oh we were so fucked!
...and she never even got to enjoy that with Homage yet either.....I'm sorry I'm sorry, couldn't help it. (no she didn't think that.)
They run, collapsing a stairway behind them to buy time, only to find out, they can also teleport. Though without seeing the target her aim was a bit off, with the group appearing partially inside her shield. And Li'lpip learns how a gryphon died with no visible wounds. They know a heart attack spell. Before the alicorn can fully stop her heart, Li'lpip leaves a few grenades inside her shield, backing out of it quickly. It lasted just long enough to protect them from the explosion.
They make it up to the roof, a combination of stealth, insanely explosive overkill and running getting them past the rest of the alicorns. Only to see them pull a new trick. On the roof are 4 green ones, all sitting as if statues, keeping a shield up not around themselves, but as a cage for three gryphons. Who warn Li'lpip 12 more are on their way. Though Li'lpip lets hem know they managed to take out 9 of them on the way up.
Before saving them Li'lpip ask what the group was here for, getting a surprisingly easy answer. The codes to open a safe in the Ministry of Image building in Canterlot. A safe that contains a book of the darkest, necromantic magic ever. The thought of which chills Li'lpip, suddenly realizing that if the purging of "ideologically impure" books was a cover to find and contain stuff like that, it might just have been a good thing.
And even briefly gives us an even better then Fallout reason for ghouls. If the Zebra's balrefire megaspells were laced with necromantic energy.
The three of them take out 3 of the alicorns at once, the fourth being taken out by the gryphons the instant the shield went down. The whole group flying off just as the remaining alicorns burst through the door, Li'lpip wanting to turn a taunt them a bit, before realizing they can fly, and didn't have to worry about carrying ponies like the gryphons do.
But not to worry, Calamity finally catches up to them, and he has a plan.
.....Li'lpip, just ask the nice gryphon to drop you from a few hundred feet up, it'll be less painful that way.
He leads the gryphons down, their leader asking if he has any idea how hard some of the turns and speeds he's telling them pull are when loaded with so much dead weight, Li'lpip figuring, giving his normal habit of carrying half the junk in the wastelands in his bags, yeah he does.
Finally she see's the pegasus' plan, as they fly over a burned out parking lot full of sky wagons. Calamity shooting at their magical energy batteries as they pass, causing the whole lot to explode as the alicorn fly over, tearing them apart, and sending the group hurtling through the air, crashing after giving them a nice healthy dose of radiation.
Yeah, you should have just jumped out of the gryphons talons when you had the chance there Li'lpip.
Perk time- She now has Twilight Sparkle tier TK.
Thoughts-A fairly light chapter after the last one, though giving Li'lpip more of a dilemma with the whole Monterrey thing. Some nice build up of just how dangerous the alicorns are. More adding to the addiction, without it being as prominent this time. And another really important detail mentioned in passing. A few actually.
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