Fallout Equestria: Diary of Lilac

Chapter 3

Lilac Oil slowly flipped the magazine's page and kept reading about different types of locks. Her tail flicked left and right as her eyes scanned the pages. The dirt floor was barely kept at bay by the cardboard and hay she was laying on as her makeshift bed. Rust and dirt adorned the corrugated walls that surrounded her. The ceiling was made of rebar tied together with razor wire to prevent any pony from escaping. Slits cut into the walls allowed a pony to look in if they wanted.

A heavy and rusty chain ran from a block of concrete in the central point of the dirt floor to Lilac's now dirty coat. Her once vibrant purple coat was marred by a few cuts and dirt from the floor. Oddly enough, Lilac did not mind the chains so much, but she did mind the tiny room she was shoved into by the two ponies. Of Gears, she heard no peep from but assumed he was nearby. Neither did she know where the alicorn she called Princess Luna was, and was annoyed by the alicorn's sudden disappearance.

Outside the cage, a pair of ponies sat around a fire. The floor around them was dirt. Well, it used to be concrete but the years of being exposed to the elements had caused dirt to layer in on the second floor. The ceiling high above them had been meticulously repaired to keep out any snowstorms, but the cold of the land still cut through them. Not far from the ponies sat their gear on a padded mattress and a blanket covered it.

Gears lay passed out near the ponies with blood running from the side of his head where he had been hit by a hoof. The unicorn's twitching hoof went unnoticed by the other ponies, because they were focused on eating their latest meal; pegasus wings.

Lilac frowned when she got to a page of her magazine and found a page detailing safe locks had been torn out. She sighed and shut the booklet, slowly looking around the small shack that was her cage, then looked up. She wondered if she was going to have to do anything or if her 'imaginary' friend would appear.

Seconds ticked by as she laid there, blinking and staring up at the ceiling. Seconds turned into minutes and all Lilac heard was the sound of crackling flames mixed in with the sound of a pony eating. She sat there, an ear twitching a bit as she listened for the sound of hoof steps or anything that would signal a pony moving around.

Yet she heard nothing.

After a while, one of the stallions broke the wing bone in half and started to suck on the marrow. The other one merely picked at his teeth with a knife. "So," the unicorn mumbled, rooting around his tooth when he found a piece of meat stuck in it. A couple seconds later he un-lodged the food and set the knife down. "I figure we shoot the stallion, chop him up for some food, break the mare in and have her haul our gear back to Prism."

"I don't know..." Airbag said, slowly looking over at the unconscious unicorn. "He's kind of soft and cute. Maybe we could sell him to that one slaver. She might get more mileage out of him than a simple meal."

"Alright. We leave in the morning." The other unicorn slowly looked over at the unconscious Gears, but Airbag used his hoof to turn his head back. "What are you doing?" He asked quietly.

"I've been thinking," Airbag said just as quietly as his hoof slowly moved down the other stallion's cheek and onto his neck. "You and I, we're friends yeah?"

"Yeah," he nodded as Airbag's hoof reached his chest. "What are you... getting at?"

Gently, and with little pressure, Airbag pushed the other stallion onto his back and straddled over him, his horn glowing faintly to pull the knife away. "We should be closer," he whispered. "I've caught your looks once in a while, checking out my backside.Do you find me cute too? Do I... Make your stomach do flips when I look at you?"

"N-now, Airbag. I ain't g-gay," he replied, his voice shaky and full of worry. Deep in his mind he wanted to just lay there, but the other part of his mind was worried about the prisoners.

"Does it matter if you are?" Airbag asked with a tilt of his head. "Any port in a storm is the old saying. Our captives aren't going anywhere and we don't want to damage them do we?" The other stallion gulped, sweat beading down his forehead as he stared into Airbag's eyes, and a faint blush began to form on his face. Its sight caused Airbag to smile. "I knew you wanted to have some fun together. Ready?"

The stallion gulped and nodded. Airbag took a deep breath, whispered something, and nodded. However, instead of feeling a warm touch, the unicorn only felt cold steel as it was shoved into his throat. Airbag's smile quickly turned into a scowl as he twisted the knife around, the other pony's eyes widened to the size of pie plates. He tried to push Airbag away, but found his strength was quickly fading and Airbag stayed put.

"More profits for me," Airbag smirked. "So sorry we had to end it like this." He pulled the knife from one ear all the way to the other and stood back, holding the knife in a firm magical grip. "I really did like you, but I doubt Ivory is going to pay much and finding food for one is sooo much easier than two."

*** ***

"My hooves are nuuumb!" Lilac Oil whined like a filly as she trudged through the near chest high snow lining the road. "Why do I have to carry your dead friend, Gears, and your gear?! This is heavyyyyy."

Airbag groaned, facehoofing and mumbling to himself, "this better be worth it, this better be worth it."

"I'm hungry ," Lilac said. "I need to stop and eat or I'll faint and be useless."

The two ponies had been walking through the snow towards Prism for a few hours and the sun was high in the sky, but neither pony could see it due to the grey clouds covering the land. All they saw was a bright orb hiding behind said cloud layer

"Fine!" Airbag shouted, grinding his teeth together as he glared at the purple earth pony. "If it'll stop your whining."

He dug through the saddlebag as Lilac said, "whining? I'm not whining. Thiiiiis is whining; why's your friend all bloody? He smells bad and is making my coat all sticky. Why are there clouds? Where the fuck is the suuun? It's coooold!"

"Shut up!" Airbag shouted, shoving a snack cake into Lilac's mouth. "Eat that and for the love of Celestia, shut the fuck up!"

Lilac smiled and resumed trudging her way through the snow while chewing her meal, content to know that her captor hated her whining. She slowly started to come up with a brilliant, to her, escape plan that would surely lead to her and Gears' escape. All she had to do was whine enough and the pony would let them go.

The only question was when to do it. She wasn't quite sure if she should start right away or finish her meal first. After a few heated debates in her mind , she nodded and elected to stay quiet.

Not long after, perhaps an hour or two, when the road's snow thinned out, Lilac's vision picked up a speck of white moving along the partially snow covered road. She glanced back at Airbag for a moment before looking at the speck.

"Don't say a word or your coltfriend gets it," Airbag grumbled, causing Lilac's ears to droop.

Lilac stared ahead and kept forging a path along the road.

As the figure grew closer, Lilac could see it was a pony covered completely covered in thick white cloth. The figure watched Lilac and Airbag as they slowly passed by, Lilac noticing the horn protruding from the silent figure's head, and kept walking.

The figure glanced the way he had been going, glanced at the travelers, then resumed his trek.

*** ***

Gears awoke to the sound of ponies talking, but the muddled sound he heard was akin to an echoing shout. He slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings, frowning at what he saw.

Gears, and Lilac, were on a rotted wooden stage with other chained ponies. Bright, hot, light blinded the unicorn, forcing him to try to cover his face as sweat began to bead down his forehead. Gears could just barely make out the silhouettes of ponies seated in the abyss.

Lilac stood next to gears with the number thirty drawn over her cutie mark, Gears had thirty-one on and each pony had their own chains. Something heavy drew Gears' attention down to his neck where a large metal collar sat. He frowned at it and looked up at Lilac, noticing she had one and so did all of the others in chains.

Standing near the center of the group of ponies was a unicorn with a grimy suit. The stallion's horn glowed a soft yellow as he stomped his hoof down and echoed in the room, "sold for five hundred caps to the purple filly in the back!"

A pair of battle saddle armed guards near the side started dragging a mare off the stage. Her teary eyes appeared wide in fright as she let herself be taken away without a scene.

The unicorn with the glowing horn looked over at Lilac and said loudly, "and here we come to number thirty and the second to last. A rather... ugly purple earth pony mare," his remark caused Lilac's ears to fold back. "But I bet she could kick a Hellhound across the room. In fact, when she came in she was carrying a load without a cart fit for five ponies to carry." He spun around and faced the crowd. "Starting bid is a hundred and eighty caps for the strong back earth pony."

Only silence met the auctioneer.

"A hundred and fifty caps? Hundred and twenty? Ninety caps...?"

An awkward and long silence fell upon the room, causing Lilac to frown and shout, "what? I'm not pretty enough for you pricks? I'll shove a grenade so far up your ass your head'll explode!"

"And what a mouth!" the auctioneer grinned. "Who doesn't love it?"

Still, only silence met his replies. After a while, and when it seemed like Lilac was going to be given back to Airbag, a bone white mare slowly raised a hoof and said quietly, "I'll take her for seventy-five caps."

Those around the mare looked at her in shock while some across the room began muttering to each other. The auctioneer pointed a hoof at the mare and nodded. "Seventy-five caps to the ivory mare in the center. Do I hear eighty caps?" He waited a second before saying, "seventy-five caps going once, seventy-five caps going twice-"

"Eighty five!" A pony shouted from the other side of the room.

The auctioneer pointed at that pony and started counting down, but the white mare raised her hoof, "a hundred caps."

Lilac tilted her head and watched the two ponies seem to fight over her with money. Gears wanted to say something to Lilac, but wasn't sure if he should or not.

After a few moments that felt like minutes to Lilac, the auctioneer stomped his hoof down and echoed, "sold for two hundred caps to the ivory mare!"

Lilac's ears drooped to the side of her face as the two guards walked towards her. She took a step back and shook her head. "I want to say goodbye first!"

One guard picked the trigger of his saddle up and looked ready to bite down while the second guard tried to grab Lilac. She jumped to the side and looked at Gears as she hobbled towards the first guard. "I'll find you, Gears. They can't keep us separated!"

"Shut up and get moving," the second guard said.

As Lilac walked off the stage with her head hung low, the auctioneer said, "and now for our final, and best deal of the night. A mechanically inclined unicorn. Is your armor or weapons shoddy? Well he can no doubt fix it for you! Starting bid is three hundred caps."

Lilac took one last look at Gears before she was shoved through the curtains.

*** ***

"Open your mouth," Ivory said to her newest purchase. Lilac rolled her eyes and wordlessly complied. Ivory grabbed her gums and pulled them back, inspecting Lilac's teeth for any rotten ones. When she found none, she nodded. "Nice teeth. Come from a stable?"

Lilac closed her mouth and looked back towards the room where she knew Gears was still at.

Ivory's cart sat next to the two ponies in the steadily darkening sky. One earth pony was already hooked into the pulling harness. Icy wind whipped loose snow into a flurry, causing Lilac to shiver involuntarily. She did not reply to the question because she was waiting to see if Gears would appear or not.

However, Ivory didn't need to hear the reply because she knew the answer. "Don't wanna talk, huh? Well your coat's recently washed and groomed, your teeth are in good condition and your hooves look strong. I'd say you're a stable pony."

Lilac opened her mouth to reply, but a loud bang shattered the air, causing her to jump in surprise. Her ears slowly folded back as her eyes began to water.

Ivory nickered a bit and shook her head. "Such a shame. He did seem like he was quite useful."

"She going to be useful?" an odd voice asked from the cart's driver's seat, drawing Ivory's attention to it. A grey two legged canine wearing thick fur around his body for warmth was looking down at the ponies with glowing yellow eyes. "She don't talk much and she kinda ugly. Gill thinks we throw her back."

Ivory rolled her eyes at the diamond dog's remark. "No, Gill. We're not returning her. Tie her to the cart and let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover before morning."

"Gill dunno why Ivory travel at night," he said as he hopped down with a rope in his hands. "It cold and only Gill can see good."

"That's the point," Ivory muttered, pulling a helmet onto her head. She lifted her right foreleg and looked down at the screen device strapped around her leg, a faded number was just below it. Ivory, being an earth pony herself, pushed a couple of buttons with her nose and brought up the note recording function. "Day log number seven eighty-eight. I purchased a new helper for a hundred and thirty caps. The charlatans running the Prism Auction house have raised their 'taxes'. They claim keeping healthy ponies is a risky business, but I think it's a crock of shit to allow them to get more caps per purchase." Ivory looked over at Lilace as she simply stood there and allowed a harness to be attached to her face and tied to the back of the cart. "Hey, what's your name?" Ivory asked.

She received no response. Lilac just stood there staring off into space with a blank stare and tears rolling down her face, the explosive collar around her neck stayed put. Gill waved his hand in front of the purple earth pony's face and received no response. He snapped his fingers a few times only to receive the same thing, a blank stare. Gill looked at Ivory with a shrug and a shake of his head. "She's broken. We should toss her back."

Ivory rolled her eyes and looked down at her Pipbuck. The new mare, who I shall call Thirty, seems to have lapsed into some sort of coma. She's awake, but not there. Will try other measures later to see if we can break it. End of log."