Fallout Equestria: A Horse With No Name

Water had never tasted so good!

An immense feeling of pleasure flooded my senses as I gulped down an entire bottle of water. I knew that I shouldn’t have downed the whole thing since my supply was so low, but I couldn’t stop myself. I almost grabbed a second one, but stopped before I did. I didn’t know how long the journey ahead of me would be, so I had to use my last seven bottles sparingly. I pulled my hoof away from my cooler, choosing to take my mind off of my lust for another drink by focusing on what my next task was.

Since I had found a few bottles in my private train car, getting a hold of some water was no longer a problem. I figured that my next course of action should be searching for a place to get help from.

“Going back to my base is out of the question, damned NCR is headed there now. Same thing applies to Hoofbeat, so neither of those places are an option.” I pondered the idea as to where I could go for quite some time. There weren’t a lot of  inhabited settlements in the area, so my options were limited. Eventually, I managed to pull a single location from my memory. It was a little place called ‘Kirkwood,’ not to far to the north from where I was. I guessed it was about a days journey from my current location on hoof.

I decided that I should set out for Kirkwood immediately. There wasn’t much left for me to do there, at the train wreck, so it was for the best that I not waste anymore time. After stretching my legs and back I limped over to the remains of my bed and took hold of the rough piece of cloth I had previously used as a blanket. With a few folds and a couple of cuts with my knife inserted at key points I had made a makeshift poncho. The journey would be long, so I needed something to protect my skin from the sun in the daytime, and keep me warm when night fell.

After finding my revolver, some ammo, and a set of saddle bags to carry my water in I was ready to go. I set out north, using the stars as my guide since I was without a compass. I strolled alongside the train tracks for a while, absent mindedly gazing at the remainder of the locomotion that littered the aged rails. I didn’t notice anything interesting amongst the rubble until I came upon the cars where we had kept the slaves. The first two had remained standing upright, while the last one had disconnected from the train entirely and rolled onto it’s side.

I didn’t pay them any mind at first, but something inside the overturned car made a noise that got my attention. I glanced back at it, a little surprised at the sudden sound that had erupted from within. It sounded like somepony was whimpering, but I wasn’t entirely sure that’s what it was. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to investigate.

I cautiously placed one hoof in front of the other as I stepped inside the dimly lit boxcar. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to see better, but to no avail. Remembering I still had a few matches left after sealing my wound, I grabbed one from my saddle bag and struck it against the wall closest to me. The light it produced was weak, but it allowed me to see a yard or so ahead. I continued to venture deeper into the car, quicker this time due to the limited amount of time my light would stay alive. As I neared the back, a horrid stench assaulted my senses. It was a mix of blood, decaying meat, and various other bodily fluids.

I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from vomiting, accidentally knocking the match from my teeth in the process. I scrambled in the darkness to light another one. I continued onwards once I had, cautious of what I would discover when I reached the rear of the car. After what felt like a long time of stumbling around in the dark, I finally found what had piqued my inquisitiveness. The bodies of a dozen dead slaves lay in a mushy heap of rotting flesh, drying blood, and loose organs. The heat from the sun outside had turned the boxcar into an oven during the day, spoiling the carcasses within. Amongst the dead was the gaunt filly and stallion I had seen back at base. The young one’s forelegs were obviously broken, and her neck lay on an obscure angle. The stallion was crushed beneath several wooden beams that used to be attached to the ceiling, but had fallen loose during the crash.

“Fucking NCR.” I growled through gritted teeth. I don’t know why I was so disgusted at what I saw, they were just slaves after all. I guess I was angry at how much of a waste it all was. Those self proclaimed ‘heroes’ from the NCR had attacked my train head on in an attempt to free these ponies. In addition to killing several of my comrades in the process, they had also indirectly slaughtered twenty of the equines they were trying to rescue in the first place. Their actions were reckless and stupid. If the NCR wanted to win the hearts of everypony in the Wasteland, then they would have to tighten their grip on these vigilantes that were running a muck.

I was about to turn around and leave when a familiar noise assaulted my ears. It was the whimper I had heard earlier, but this time it was much weaker. Again, I dropped my match and had to trifle through my saddle bags in the dark while searching for a replacement. Once I had found and struck my last match, I turned to address the source of the sobbing. There, pinned beneath the same wooden beam that had crushed the bony stallion, was the brown mare from back at my home. She stuck out amongst the other ponies in the boxcar mostly because she wasn’t completely caked in blood, and she was still moving! Her head lolling from side to side as she fought to regain consciousness.

I got down closer to her so I could see her features more vividly. Her face was dirty from both dust, and splotches of ichors. Besides the mess, she had a fairly ‘clean’ face, meaning that it was free from any prevalent scars or blemishes. I managed to get a glimpse of her eyes as she slowly opened them to reveal a pair of vibrant magenta irises. I stared at her for a while, just watching to see if she would come to.

Eventually, she managed to pull herself together. Slowly opening her eyes all the way so that she could take in her surroundings. At first she looked confused, but her expression warped into concern as she began to remember what had happened. Memories of the boxcar, the attack, and the crash all came flooding back to her. She began to panic, and tried to stand herself up, only to find that something was keeping her pinned to the ground. The look on her face distorted again as she came to the conclusion that she was, indeed, stuck inside the train car full of rotting dead ponies. It looked as if she was about to vomit, but somehow she managed to swallow the sensation before she got sick.

“Oh no.” she whispered to herself. “What have I gotten myself into this time?” Her hooves slid up towards her face to wipe away the small tear droplets that had formed in the corners of her eyes. She stopped, though, as her left hoof happened to brush over mine in the dark. That is when she took notice of me. Her gaze lifted from the floor and moved to meet my own. I don’t know if she knew it was me, the one who owned her, or if she mistook me for a stranger. It was awfully dark inside the boxcar, after all, and our only source of light was the dying match that hung out from my teeth.

“Please, help me!”

We stared into each others eyes for a minute. She was wondering what I would do, and my mind was considering the same. However, It didn’t take long for me to decide. I dropped the match from my mouth, turned around, and made to leave the train car.

“Wait!” she shouted behind me. “Where are you going? Your not just going to leave me here, are you?” I ignored her cries for help. I only had enough water for myself to make the journey to Kirkwood, and I saw no way of freeing her from the beam that pinned her to the ground. “Please, don’t let me die!” I didn’t look back as I continued on my way towards the outside. She was just a slave, not like it really mattered to me if she lived or died. “I’m Begging you, please!”

I admit, something deep down inside was telling me to go back and help her. But, for the sake of my own survival, I buried that feeling beneath a wave of selfishness and an unconquerable will to live. And with that, I left the car full of dead ponies behind me. My curiosity now sated, I was ready to continue on my journey