Fallout Equestria: Ancestors

Chapter 2: A New Beginning

“What the hell is going on?” Sapphire said as she turned to me, looking for an answer. Instead, I ran towards the door as she followed behind me. We reached the door and I slammed it open, almost ripping it off of its hinges.

Ion was still in the reactor room, shaking like a filly, but who could blame him? No one had experience or prepared for such an event. He turned around and looked at us. I ran past him and burst through the door that led upstairs. Or, at least, that is what I tried to do. Instead, I smashed into the door and full speed, and felt more embarrassment than pain.

“Why is it locked?” I lifted myself off of the ground and gave him a stern glance.

“The OverMare has started a lockdown procedure,” he said, his body still shaking frantically.

“Well, we can’t just sit here, we have to help.” Sapphire put her hoof on my shoulder.

“Ponies will die if we just sit down here all day.”

I nodded my head and searched the room for any weak spots. Having found none, I yelled in frustration.

“What are we supposed to do?”

“Well, there was a network of vents that spread throughout the entire stable. If we can gain access to one of them, we could get to any room in the entire facility.”

“So? We still have to find a way to get inside of them. And there are none this low in the stable.”

She pulled out a stick of TNT.

“Gimme a lift.”

I raised her back legs and she attached the dynamite to the ceiling of the room.

“I would advise standing back.”

Ion and I followed her until we were outside of the blast radius, when she activated the detonator. The large explosion created a hole in the ceiling, and, as she had predicted, partially destroyed part of a vent. I opened my wings and raised Sapphire into the vent. I looked to Ion.

“You coming?”

“I’d rather not.”

With that, we, to the best of our ability, navigated the vents. Dim lights shined through the grates and into my eyes. Below were terrified ponies, huddling in corners to evade whatever attackers had intruded into their home.

“I think this is the entrance,” Sapphire spoke as we reached a dead end. “They can’t be too far.”

I could not help but wonder, who were “they?” Radroaches? Molerats? The question was answered shortly when she kicked the grate open and we jumped out into a room where several raiders resided. They turned in shock as Sapphire and I disposed of them. Well, I tried to. I was not exactly a good shot, but she, on the other hoof, could handle herself.

“Do you have a plan of any sort to get rid of these raiders?” I asked as the final raider was killed.

“Um, kill them all?” Sounded good to me.

“I’ll go look for some of the others,” she said as she sprinted away towards the security armory. My priority was to ensure that my family was safe. With in mind, I headed towards our room, in one level lower than the atrium, the room I was standing in.

It would not be as easy to get there as I thought it would be, as a pony wearing what appeared to be trash bags on his waist blocked my path.

‘Yes!’ I thought. ‘I can use the element of surprise to my advantage!’

My plan was cut short when he turned around to see me standing there like an idiot.

“Who the fuck are you?” he yelled as he jumped back in shock. I tensed up, and, as a result, pulled the trigger of the gun in my mouth. He let out a short scream and fell to the ground, his brains painting the wall.

I hopped over his body and wasted no time getting to my room.

I faced no opposition the way there, but what I saw next filled me with rage. A pony who wore torn, blood-stained rags had backed Nightlight into a corner.

“Well aren’t you fun? I’ve never tortured a colt before.” And he never would, because the contents of his head spilled across Nightlight’s body. He sat there motionless for a second, trying to make sense of what had just happened until he looked up at me, his eyes tearing up.

“Where’s Quick Silver?” I asked, noticing the old stallion was nowhere to be found.

“They... they took him somewhere.”

I was actually thankful. They had no use for him, as he obviously couldn’t fight, and would die instantly if tortured. I would have thought that they would have killed him on the spot.

Pushing that thought out of the way, I searched my through my head. Where could they have possibly taken him? No good answer came to mind, so I thought of another plan: I would search for the other ponies in the stable and gather any information from them that I could.

I went from room to room, and after speaking with a few more ponies, found that many of the stallions were taken to the lower levels, most likely towards the reactor room. Were the raiders recruiting? No, then they wouldn’t have taken Quick Silver. Perhaps they were just going to kill all the stallions? That was the most likely answer, as I have heard stories of raiders kidnapping mares and, well... doing stuff with them.

The lower halls were empty, allowing me to pass through them faster than I had expected. Once at the lowest level, I approached a room with voices inside and a glow coming from under the door: the reactor room.

The ponies inside consisted of purely male voices, so it was safe to say that they made a point to only capture stallions. I ever-so-slowly opened the door and, to my relief, were not facing me. Instead, they were gathered around a large pillar that glowed a bright blue. The prisoners were interrogated, as well.

“Where is it?” a raider screamed.

“I don’t know! I’m a merchant!” a frightened stallion replied.

The raider blew his brains out and walked toward the next one in line. This one, however, I recognized. It was Ion.

“P-please don’t kill me! I can show you!” he pleaded.

Satisfied, the raider gestured for him to get up. Ion walked slowly, covered in sweat, as a pistol was held up to his head for the duration of the walk.

He unlocked an extremely complex lock that had a least a dozen different components, and opened it to find a glowing rock. It was perfectly rectangular prism, held between two large, electrified rods. Ion slowly placed his hooves around it, and pulled it out of the safe. The reactor shut down, along with all the other lights in the stable. The room was pitch black, with the exception of the Pipbucks and the power source to the stable, in Ion’s hands.

I saw this as an opportunity and cautiously snuck up on one of the unsuspecting raiders. I thrust his head into the ground with a satisfying crunch. It was not quiet, however,  and the other raiders turned to me, alarmed at the noise they had just heard.

“What was that?” one of them yelled.

“Who’s there? I’ll blow your fucking head off!”another threatened. I did not heed his warning, though, and walked toward the general direction of the voice.

I bumped into somepony who happened to be a raider. He unleashed a volley of bullets into the air, none of which hit me. I took a quick shot into his head and he fell over with a scream.

“Put the fucking battery back in!” the raider who was next to Ion said.

I ran towards where I saw the group of stallions and jumped into the crowd. At this point, stealth didn’t matter.

The room filled with light again. The raiders were shocked to find a pony with his skull broken into a hundred pieces, and a pony with a bullet lodged in his head.

They looked around the room and found nopony who seemed to be out of place, as I had blended in with the crowd of stallions.

“Who the fuck did this?” one of the raiders asked. Of course, none on the ponies had said anything, as they were just as shocked as the raiders were.

“It was me.” I stood up and looked Ion in the eye. He looked back at me, as if was expecting me to pull something. I am glad that I have him as a friend.

He again pulled out the power source, and the pony next to him managed to blurt out a “What are you doi-” before his limp body fell to the ground, with my hoof covered in his blood.

The rest of the raiders were in a panic, many shooting randomly and furiously. I heard a scream, but this time I had done nothing. One of the raiders an ally.

I finished the rest of them easily, except for one who heard me coming a smacked me in the face. I made sure that his death was a painful one, so I smashed his head through a window before crushing his jaw.

I turned on my Pipbuck light and surveyed the room, which was rid of raiders.

“Ion, turn the lights back on,” I commanded. He obeyed and the lights returned once more.

I searched the crowd of stallions and had located Quick Silver at long last. I let out a sigh of relief. My efforts were not in vain.

“Nice job,” he said.

“We’re not done yet.” I turned toward the stallions and equipped them with the raiders had been carrying. Without being told, they left the room, in search of the remaining raiders. I was happy that I had helped save everypony, but something was still left unresolved. I looked at Ion.

“If the stable was on lockdown, why did the doors open?” I questioned.

He responded with a blank stare, looking for an answer himself.

Ohshitohshitohshitohshit. The OverMare was in trouble. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I climbed the many staircases to the highest level of the stable, the security’s armory and the OverMare’s office.

I arrived to find Sapphire looking at the floor. The room was filled with corpses of security guards and raiders, but most importantly, the OverMare.

She looked at me and then back to the ground.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I wasn’t fast enough.”

She left it at that and motioned for me to leave. I did so and thought about what had happened in the last few hours. Why would raiders attack here? Maybe they knew about the resources we were mining? It was possible but... who could have told them?

I walked past the security armory and stopped. I turned around and entered and looked through some of the filing cabinets that lined the room.

One of the files I found was titled “Ponies Departed from Stable.” I looked over the list of names. None of them were ponies who knew about our mining operations, anyway, except for one.

Windchaser. He had worked in the mines with Sapphire and I until one day, he disappeared. I asked Quick Silver what had happened to him. Whenever asked this question, he just said “his family moved out,” and that was that. We were good friends, too, until about the age when received his Pipbuck. At that point, he kind of just stopped talking. And when he left, he did not tell me nor Sapphire Shine.

It came to no surprise, though, that he had probably sold us out to raiders. He was always the pony that came after me. Always second place. And always jealous.

The oddest part was that we did not receive very much fame. The most I ever got was, “hey, nice job finding that metal!” Still, Windchaser seeked the “popularity” that I had. At this point, I knew what to do. Because of Windchaser, many innocent ponies died, including the OverMare. Hell, my family was almost killed. So, I had to track him down and kill him.

I could not do it by myself, however. There was entire wasteland that he could be hiding out in. I had to seek help from the Steel Rangers. They had the technology I needed to locate the fucker and kill him. But to ever even speak to the Rangers, I needed someone I knew on the inside.

Darkwing. It was the only chance I had at gaining access to their advanced tech. With a plan in mind, and mentally and physically prepared myself for months. I collected the necessary items, mostly food and ammo.

I wanted to bring Sapphire along with me, but she was named the new OverMare. I didn’t know whether to be happy for her or angry that she couldn’t accompany me. The day before I left, I talked to Quick Silver.

“Quick Silver, I want you to know... I’m leaving the stable.” I shifted awkwardly. He showed a face of understanding. I was expecting shock.

“It’s alright. A stallion has to make his own decisions. And this is the one you have chosen.”

“It’s just... it could happen again. I can’t let Windchaser live.”

“Well, if that is what you think you must do, then do so. See what lies ahead for you. Your father and I both had similar ideas. Now it is your turn.”

I didn’t know how to respond that. So I did not at all. Instead, I nodded my head and left it at that.

The giant, gear-like, stable door slid open and light burst through from behind it. I tightened my saddlebags. I must do this. I have waited long for this. It is time for me to change Equestria, for the better. And as soon as Windchaser is dead, it will be just that. Better.

I took a deep breath and took small steps forward. I had passed through the stable door, leaving all I knew behind me. It started to close. No going back.

I continued forward until I reached a shanty wooden door. I pulled it open and was blinded by a brilliant light, ten times that of the stable.

The scenery was breathtaking. The cool air was magnificent. I took another step. It was time. Time for a new beginning.