Fallout Equestria: War Gamesby LivingdeathChaptersChapter 1: InvasionChapter 2: EscapeChapter 4: Bat CountryChapter 3: Camaraderie Chapter 1: InvasionChapter 1: Invasion "How can things possibly be worse?" Chance heard a knocking on his door, but instead of answering, he simply turned over in his bed and placed his pillow over his head in an attempt to drown out the noise. For a moment, he thought that it had worked, until his mysterious visitor went from knocking to pounding on the door, and finally he gave up. "Alright already, I heard you the first time, asshole," he said as he rolled out of his bed. He groggily shuffled to the door, and opened it to reveal a unicorn mare with an orange coat and a light red mane, which happened to be his best friend, and partner Amber, smiling as always. He stared at her for a few moments before he said anything. "Your peppy attitude disgusts me." Amber simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, so it's my fault that you drank yourself to sleep last night?" She inquired, this time without her winning smile. Chance chuckled as he rubbed his head. "Who said I actually slept last night?" Amber didn't even bother offering a rebuttal as she began trying to force him out of his room. Chance was taken by surprise as he realized that she was trying to evict him from his own room. "Whoa, slow down sweetheart, where's the fire?" Amber stopped for a moment and began to explain. "Our shift started twenty minutes ago idiot, and your ass is still in bed, can you see the problem here?" Chance didn't quite grasp the severity of the situation since he was both groggy and hungover from the previous night. "So, I'll just call in sick or something, it's not like it's the end of the world if I miss one day of patrol is it?" Amber didn't bother to answer, instead she continued her attempts to force him out of his room, and eventually he had no choice but to submit. "Alright Amber, I'll be there in a few minutes, just give me some time to get ready." Finally she ended her attempts to remove him from his room and walked off into the hallways of the Stable. Chance shuffled to his bathroom and using his magic, he turned on the water faucet and began splashing cold water in his face. After drying off, he proceeded through the Stable hallways and found his way to his security locker and removed his gear. After he was fully dressed he looked in a mirror to look himself over. He was an average looking stallion with a light grey coat and a dark blue mane with small streaks of black running throughout. After observing himself, he walked off and eventually found Amber, tapping her hoof impatiently on the floor beneath her. "It's about damn time you showed up, the chief was five minutes away from busting your door down and dragging you off to work by force." Chance merely chuckled at her statement. "Ooh, because the chief is so terrifying, right? Now if she were to send Vile to drag me down here, then I'd have a reason to be afraid." As they walked Amber raised an eyebrow. "Really, Vile scares you? I always found him to be a bit of a sweetheart myself." As they rounded another corner in the stable, Chance allowed himself to laugh. "Yeah, well you weren't partnered up with him for eight years were you? I speak from experience when I say that he's one of the creepiest guys in this stable, and that includes your ex as well, and he was one creepy fucker." Amber was about to say something, but thought it over for a moment before responding. "Well, I can't argue with you there, but I still think that your being too hard on Vile, since you never made an attempt to get to know him on a personal level." The thought of getting to know him on a "personal level" made him shudder for a moment as they continued their patrol. "Dare I ask how you've gotten to know him on a personal level?" Amber gave a soft laugh before responding. "We dated for a few months, but he called it off because he was going through some personal problems, it was a mutual thing so I don't harbor a grudge towards him." This new information got him curious, and decided to see how many boundaries he could cross. "Wait, if you two dated for several months, did you two ever, you know, do it?" Amber glared at him with a look that could rival the most terrifying of predators, and Chance decided to just keep walking before she decided to get physical with him. As they continued their patrol, they soon came across the elevator to the lower levels of the stable, and Chance paused for a few moments. Amber quickly noticed that he had fallen behind and realized what he was staring at. "Come on Chance, even you know that area is off limits to everyone other than the Overmare." Chance nodded and turned back to face her. "Hasn't it ever bothered you that we've never been down there in our lives? Don't you want to know what they've been hiding from us?" Amber shook her head. "When we were kids, our parents told us that it was forbidden, and that was all I needed to hear, besides don't you remember what happened to the last pony that went down there?" Chance took a moment to remember. "Oh yeah, he was exiled from the stable, but only because he was caught." Amber's voice suddenly became very edgy and tense. "Don't even think about it, if you even try to access that elevator, I'll shoot you myself." Chance rolled his eyes and began walking once again. "Yeah, well I was just saying, what if he hadn't been caught? What if he had seen what it was that they were keeping from us, and we finally had a reason for why it was off limits?" Amber shook her head as she continued walking. "I don't need to know, whatever's down there is obviously bad news, and most likely dangerous, I actually feel safer knowing next to nothing about it." Chance continued walking with his partner, while his thoughts drifted back to the mysterious lower levels, and the secrets that they might contain. However, his train of thought was derailed as the loudspeakers came on and the Overmare's voice began to broadcast throughout the stable. "Everypony, if I may have your attention, it would seem that we have visitors from the outside world, and they seem to wish access to the stable, you know the drill everypony, a welcoming committee accompanied by four security officers are to report to the stable door at once to greet our new visitors, and don't forget to make it as warm and welcoming as possible, and have a great day everypony!" Her voice quickly faded from the air and Chance shook his head. "If we keep letting ponies in like we are, we're not going to have enough food to keep everyone fed and happy." Amber just kept walking as she responded to his complaint. "Leave that to the food managers to worry about, you have your own job to do you know, besides, it never hurts to have a little genetic diversity here and there." Chance actually liked the sound of that, but he still felt his worry was well placed. "Yeah, I guess. As long as they don't drag me out into the wasteland to meet their folks, I guess it can't be too bad." Amber smiled. "There, now was a little optimism really that difficult?" Grimm looked back at the troops he had brought with him, and couldn't help but admit that he was excited. "Alright pussies, get your weapons ready and be prepared for anything, we don't know how well armed these Stable Dwellers are." He looked over to the commander of one of the squads of troops he had brought with him. "Alright, you know the drill, we go in guns blazing, while you round up anything that doesn't shoot at you, and keep guards posted in the halls, understood?" The commander nodded his head and Grimm looked to the giant stable door as it began to open. Grimm used his horn to levitate both of his revolvers in front of him, prepared for anything. As the door opened they were met with a friendly looking group of stable dwellers, all in identical stable 47 barding, beneath a giant sign that read "Welcome Friends". In the group were foals, supposedly their parents, and four security guards, seemingly unaware of their intentions. One of the fillies walked forward and presented him a small flower. "Welcome to our stable mister," she said in an adorably sweet voice. Grimm accepted the flower and began to laugh to himself, after he was done laughing, he spoke. "Fuck, I almost feel bad, this is just too easy. Eh whatever, open fire." After he gave the order, his troops began firing off their assault rifles into the crowd of greeters, their screams being the last thing they ever heard. Author's Note Disclaimer for the hell of it. I don't own Fallout, Fallout Equestria or MLP, Fallout belongs to Interplay, Obsidian, and Bethesda Softworks. Fallout Equestria was created by Kkat, and MLP belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust, once again I in know way own any of these works. Chapter 2: EscapeChapter 2: Escape "Run, run away and never return." Chance and Amber continued their idle conversation, completely unaware that their home was under attack. "I'm just saying, if your barn door did swing that way, who would you go out with?" Amber rolled her eyes at Chance's persistence, until finally she gave up. "Fine, if you really want to know, it would most likely be Lilly." Chance tried his best to hold back his laughter when he pictured Amber and Lilly together, but ultimately failed. He burst out into a fit of laughter so intense, that he actually was forced to stop and catch his breath. "Oh, by the Goddesses, that is just too damn good." Amber waited for him to catch up, and cracked a smile. "Alright Chance, if your barn door swung that way, who would you go out with?" Chance stopped laughing immediately and turned to look at his partner, to which she simply shrugged. "Hey, it's only fair, so out with it." Chance's face became one of resentment and he muttered a name under his breath, and Amber had to strain herself and even then she could barely hear it. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Chance sighed and spoke so she could hear him. "I said 'Short Circuit', there are you happy now?" This time, it was Amber's turn to nearly collapse with laughter. "Him? Of all of the stallions in this Stable, you'd go with him?" Amber was laughing so hard she was beginning to have troubles breathing, until finally she had to stop due to lack of air. When she finally stopped Chance walked over and helped her off the ground. They were about to continue their patrol when the alarms in the Stable began to go off, soon accompanied by the voice of the Overmare. "Attention, all security personnel, the Stable is under attack, report to your security stations immediately!" Chance and Amber both broke off in a run, heading straight towards their security station, once there, they armed up and prepared to drive the invaders from their Stable. Grimm was having the time of his life, for the first time in a long time, he was able to cut loose and let free his true nature, which just so happened to be the nature of a sociopath. He noticed a single Stable security guard crawling away slowly, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He looked back to his men with a mad smile across his face. "I'll handle this poor fucker, you just make sure that nopony makes it to the Stable door, got it?" The soldier in charge of the squad nodded, and his men dispersed, but before he could leave, Grimm grabbed him and turned him around. "You'd be wise to remember that I see to failures personally, so don't fuck this up, or you'll answer to me, understand?" The commander nodded and ran off as fast as he could, while Grimm walked merrily over to the guard crawling for his life. He used his horn to levitate his knife from his belt and he held it to the guards throat, and without a second thought, he slit his throat, taking great joy in listening to him choking on his own blood. He then proceeded to slowly walk away, singing a happy tune to himself. Chance managed to dodge incoming fire from their mysterious attackers, and took cover behind one of the hallway walls, all the while grumbling to himself. "I can't believe this shit, after everything the overmare said, 'Ooh, let's open our Stable up and let complete and utter strangers in, it'll be perfectly fine, nothing bad could possibly happen, everything will be artificial sunshine and sing-alongs,' yeah, that worked out real nicely didn't it?" Amber was next to him, along with security chief Nova, who were trying their damnedest to at least take down a few of their attackers, but every time one of them stuck their heads out, a bullet would whiz by and nearly take their head with it. Amber eventually got tired of Chance's ramblings. "Will you please shut the fuck up! I get it, you're pissed, but going on about it like a foal isn't going to change a damned thing, so suck it up, deal with it, and at least try to kill some of these fuckers, will you?" Chance rolled his eyes and levitated his pistol around the side of the wall and started firing blindly, and the others soon followed his example, and eventually the bullets stopped firing, and all was quiet in the hallway once again. Chance decided to take a chance and peaked around the wall, and saw that somehow, some of their bullets had miraculously found their targets. "I can't believe that actually worked," he said to himself. Chief Nova breathed a sigh of relief, but she was quickly reminded of why they had come here in the first place. "Come on you two, we have to get to the overmare as quickly as possible, no one else is available to defend her, and I'll be damned if I let her die." Chance and Amber nodded and they quickly broke of into a gallop, going as fast as they could to reach the overmare before it was too late. Once they reached the office, they couldn't tell if they were too late until they opened the door to reveal at least five bodies, and none of them belonged to the overmare, thankfully. Once they stepped inside, the overmare stepped out from behind her desk with a pistol aimed straight at Nova's head, but once she realized who they were, she quickly put her weapon away and a look of relief washed over her face. "I'm glad to see that the three of you are still alive, when the attackers arrived before you I had feared the worst." Nova just stared at her with a look of disbelief on her face. "Ma'am, where did you learn to shoot?" She gave a light chuckle. "Do you really think that you're the only one that goes to the target range during your free time?" Nova just continued to stare in disbelief, Amber gave a low whistle, and Chance suddenly had a lot more respect for her than he did previously. Nova eventually shook herself of her amazement, and tried to convince her to leave. "Listen to me Daisy, we have to leave this Stable now, we're overrun." The room remained quiet for a few moments, hardly anypony in the Stable referred to her by her name, but Nova was one of the few that did. Daisy gave a light chuckle and shook her head. "I'm afraid that's impossible Nova, this is my home, and I won't abandon it, even if it means my death." She then walked over to her terminal and input her password, which opened up her office's secret tunnel to the Stable entrance. The other ponies just stared in disbelief, and Daisy began to speak in a frantic tone. "You three have to get out of here now, follow this tunnel all the way to the Stable entrance, don't wait for anyone, don't stop for anything, just keep running until you get as far away from this Stable as possible, and most importantly, stay safe." None of them dared to move, and Daisy sighed. "I'm not asking you, I'm ordering you as your overmare, now get out of here, now!" Hesitantly, the three of them walked down the tunnel, one by one, until they reached the entrance, and were greeted with a someone that at first they didn't recognize, but as they got closer they noticed that he was a unicorn, with a green coat and a black mane, and Amber gave a smile. "Vile, is that you?" She called out, and sure enough, it was him. He quickly ran over to them. "Amber, Chance, chief, how the hell did you guys make it all the way here?" Chance gave a smug smile. "Secret tunnels my friend, the only way to get around." Vile rolled his eyes, and gave a light laugh. "All right smug ass, I get it, by the way, did anyone else make it?" Chance shook his head. "Not that I know of, and if they did then they most likely made it out of here by now, which is a relief." Vile nodded. "Yeah, it sure is going to make this a hell of a lot easier." Before anyone could ask him what he meant, he drew his sidearm and put a bullet between Nova's eyes. After she fell to the ground he then focused his attention on Chance. Amber couldn't understand what had happened, but Chance was beginning to put it together. "It was you, you sold us out!" Vile gave a crooked smile and shook his head. "Nope, that wasn't me, I just knew which way the wind was going to blow and signed on to the winning team." Chance stared at him with cold eyes. "How long have you been working this angle?" Vile pretended to think about it for a few moments before answering. "Well, let's see, I was first approached by that griffon about six months ago, I believe, and then there was all of that planning with that ghoul, and that crazy unicorn." Chance stopped him for a moment. "Wait, what the hell is a ghoul?" Vile laughed at his question. "Why do you want to know, it's not like you're going to live long enough to actually care." Chance smirked. "Maybe not, but I figured that it would give Amber enough time to sneak behind you, but I guess this worked well enough." Before another word could be said, Amber tackled him from behind and proceeded to hit him viciously across the face, splitting his lip, and she just continued to her vicious assault on him, until finally Chance had to run over and pull her off of him. Amber looked back at him and started to try and fight free of his grasp. "Let go of me! Let go of me right now so I can end this fucker's misery!" Chance held her back an wrapped his forelegs around her chest and tried to calm her down. Eventually, she managed to calm down enough to a point where she returned to her regular self, and when she saw the blood on her hooves, and saw what she had done to Vile, she felt sick to her stomach and wanted to throw up, but instead, she simply buried her face into Chance's neck, all the while he tried to comfort her. "It's okay Amber, I'm right here." What would have been a touching moment was destroyed when they heard an unfamiliar voice behind them. "Aw, that's the most touching fucking thing that I've ever seen." They both looked over to see a unicorn with a yellow coat and a dark red mane, with a half-crazed look in his eye. He looked over to Vile laying still on the ground and looked over to the duo. "Did you two chicken fucks do this?" Neither of them said a word, and the mysterious unicorn hit Vile in the chest as hard as he could, which earned a moan from the downed traitor, and the unicorn smiled. "Well, at least now we know that he isn't dead, yet." He then looked over to the duo and gave a wicked smile. "And here we have, Chance, and Amber, correct? Oh, don't look so surprised, your names are right on your uniforms, and it's not like I don't know how to read. You know, it's not very often that someone actually makes it far enough that our double agents actually have to act, and you know what? I like that, hell I even respect that." Chance just stared at the unicorn. "So, you're the one that Vile was talking about, that crazy unicorn." He simply smiled. "The name's Grimm, and I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid that I'm not much of a liar." He then levitated out his revolver and twirled the cylinder. "Well now comes the part where I kill the two of you." He levitated his revolver, but before he could fire off a shot, Chance used his horn to levitate a small pipe from the ground and smack him over the head with it. While he was distracted by the new pulsing pain in his head, both Amber and Chance made a mad dash for the exit. They could hear the gunshots coming from behind them, which only encouraged them to go faster. Eventually, they reached the exit to the Stable, and ran through the door, only to be met with a bright light, and a destroyed land to greet them. As they looked at the destroyed and desolated wasteland that surrounded them, Chance looked over to Amber and said what was on both of their minds. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Grimm was seething with anger. He had never let anyone get away before, and he would be damned if anyone got away this time. He walked over to Vile and hit him across his face. "How the fuck did you let them get the drop on you?!" Vile didn't answer, and he simply walked over to the pony that was in charge of keeping this from happening in the first place. "And what's your excuse hmm? Or do you not have one other than laziness?" The pony was shaking with fear as he looked Grimm in the eye. "Sir, we- we never even saw them, they must have had a stealth-buck or something." Grimm simply gave a light chuckle. "Oh really? Well, that's one that I've never heard before, and in light of this failure, whether it was your fault or not, has caused me to call you usefulness into question." The pony looked to his left and then back to Grimm. "And, what have you decided?" Grimm simply smiled. "Well in short, you're fired." He then levitated his revolver to the pony's face, and pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. He then looked behind him, and spoke to the other ponies that had gathered around. "All right, which one of you limp dick fucks wants his job?" One pony raised his hoof and Grimm approached him. "So you want his job?" The pony nodded, and he smiled. "Well then you can have it, and the first thing that you get to do is get rid of his corpse before it starts to stink up the place, and the second thing that you're going to do is find a technician, or somepony that's good with computers so we can start on cracking open that little secret in the lower levels. Oh, and try no to end up like your predecessor, not because I care, but because I don't feel like wasting another bullet, got it?" The pony simply nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Very good, now get to it." The pony began to drag the corpse away, while Grimm looked over to Vile. "And you, don't think that I've forgotten about you. While we work on cracking this Stable's dirty little secret, I want you to get out into the wastes, and hunt down those two security ponies that you failed to kill, or I'll kill them and you, got it?" Vile nodded, and Grimm walked away. He smacked his lips together and looked at the rest of the troops. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to find the kitchen to see what, or who, is cooking." After he walked off, one of the troops turned to the other. "He was just kidding about the whole, 'who's cooking', right?" When he didn't answer, it unnerved him a bit. "Right?" Chapter 4: Bat CountryChapter 4: Bat Country "Oh, so this is what the edge of the world looks like, trippy." Grimm leaned back in the Overmare's chair and propped his hindlegs up on the table, enjoying a nice long drag from his cigarette. Suddenly, the device on his foreleg began to beep and when he lifted it up to see what the problem was, he saw that it was his boss calling in. He pressed the button and soon enough he heard his boss' voice. "Grimm, what the hell is taking so long in that Stable? You've been in there for days!" Grimm rolled his eyes and put out his cigarette before answering. "Well boss the thing is, the only Stable-fucker that was willing to cooperate with us is an extremely slow worker, and it's not like we can just shoot him." He could hear his boss sigh over the other end before answering. "Well if you can't shoot him, then remind him just how serious we are and 'encourage' him to work faster, understand?" Grimm smiled. "Hell yes! I mean, understood sir." "Good, now what about those two escapees you told me about. Will they be a problem?" "Not for much longer, I've already contracted a couple of assassins to take care of them." "Isn't that a bit extreme for a couple of Stable dwellers?" "Sir, with all due respect, you haven't seen what these bastards are capable of, not to mention that they've got a protector of some sort that's killed every squad that I've sent after them." "Very well, just make sure that they're taken care of. I'll be expecting an update within the next few days. Don't disappoint me." And with that, the line went dead, and Grimm turned over to face the soldier on his left. "Go grab that Stable-boy and one of the prisoners." The trooper nodded and disappeared into the hallway and within minutes he returned with the technician and a random prisoner, both with terrified expressions on their faces. Grimm smiled and walked over to the two of them. "Do either of you know why you're here?" They both shook their heads, and Grimm walked over to the prisoner. "You're here because this fucker is doing all he can to slow us down." Grimm then looked over to the technician. "And you're here because I'm going to teach you a lesson in work ethic." They both had looks of confusion plastered on their faces until Grimm drew his revolver and pointed it at the prisoner. He walked over to her and put the revolver to her head. "Do you know what happens now?" She whimpered quietly and began to shake. "Please, just let me go." Grimm's demeanor didn't change in the slightest. "ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION! Do you know what happens now?" Tears began to form in her eyes as she answered. "You're going to kill me?" Grimm nodded. "Yes, but do you know why?" She shook her head, and he leaned in next to her ear. "You die, because of him. In doing absolutely nothing, he has failed me, and in failing me he has also failed you. And now you die because of his incompetence." And without a second thought, Grimm pulled the trigger. He then walked over to the technician. "In case I haven't made this clear enough yet let me explain. For every week that vault down there stays sealed, I'll execute another prisoner, and I will continue doing so until I run out of prisoners, or you get that fucking door open, got it?" The technician nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Good answer, now get back to work!" The technician scurried off like a roach and Grimm lit himself another cigarette. "Geez, when you said she wasn't local, you weren't joking." Boomer turned back to face Chance before replying. "Bitching and moaning won't make this trip any shorter, so please just shut up already!" Chance simply rolled his eyes while Amber attempted to take everyone's minds off of their long journey. "How about some music?" She flipped her pipbuck radio on, but all she got was static. Quickly coming to the conclusion that they were out of broadcast range, she shut it off. Chance looked over to Boomer. "So how far are we from your friend anyway?" "Actually we're almost there now, I'd say maybe a few more minutes and we'll be there." "Thank fucking Celestia." Boomer hot him a glance and Chance simply shrugged. He shook his head and turned back to face the road ahead of him. After a few more minutes of walking, they came across a well put together shack, and Boomer walked up and knocked on the door. After a few moments passed and no one answered he knocked again, this time significantly harder. Boomer was about ready to kick the door down when he felt the barrel of a gun press against his head, and he heard the sound of a stealth-buck deactivating. Both Chance and Amber drew their weapons and pointed them at the mystery pony, when suddenly they heard it speak. "Boomer, is that you?" His eyes widened and he turned over to her. "Violet, why the hell do you have a gun aimed at my head?" She put her weapon away and took off her helmet revealing a rather beautiful unicorn mare with a purple coat and a blue mane. "Sorry about the gun, I just don't get too many visitors out here, and I certainly wasn't expecting to see you." Boomer smiled. "Well, I'm just full of surprises." She rolled her eyes, and noticed that the two ponies with him still had their weapons drawn and aimed at her. Boomer turned over to them. "You can put those away, this is my friend that I told you about." They hesitantly holstered their weapons, while Violet turned to Boomer. "I get the feeling that this isn't a social visit." Boomer shook his head. "We need your help." "Oh, of course you do. Well come on inside and make yourselves at home." They followed her inside and discovered that the inside of the shack was surprisingly well maintained and had plenty of furniture that looked much more comfortable than what they had grown used to since stepping out of the Stable. Once they were finally seated they discovered that the furniture was just as comfortable as it looked, and Amber nearly sank down into it. "So, what is it that you need from me?" Boomer looked over to his friend. "We're looking for some information, and I know that you still have informants all over the wasteland." Chance sat up in his chair upon hearing this. "What the hell do you have informants for?" She looked over to him and smiled. "I'm a mercenary, in this business it pays to have informants, quite literally." She looked back over to Boomer. "So who do you want to know about?" "A unicorn named Grimm, know anything about him?" Upon hearing that name, Violet's entire demeanor changed. Her smile was quickly replaced by an expression that displayed only fear. "Boomer, listen to me, whatever you think you know about that stallion you don't." Boomer stood up and walked over to her. "Then maybe you should begin telling me about him. Like why did he have his troops attack a Stable to the south of here?" "He only does what he's told, he probably doesn't even know why he did it." Boomer became confused. "You mean he isn't the one in charge?" She shook her head. "No, he's just a lieutenant that takes his orders from someone even worse." "What's his name?" "His name is Allistair, and if he's involved in this, then all you can do is pray that he doesn't come after you. He is a ruthless monster that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants." Boomer became curious. "That's extremely specific." Violet rolled her eyes. "Of course it is, I used to work for the bastard!" Everyone was caught a little off guard by the confession. "How long ago was this?" She shook her head. "About a year and a half ago, the money was good so I didn't ask questions. I'd just do an occasional odd job for him here or there, most often they were search and destroy or assassinations. But then one day I saw him talking to this ghoul, and he told me that he wanted me to find him a Stable to the south, and that it was the key to the throne of the wasteland. I figured that he was beginning to lose it so I just took what he owed me and I walked. Looks like the joke is on me huh?" Boomer shook his head. "What was it Violet? What was he looking for?" She shook her head. "I don't know, all I know is that it was worth the trek here to get." "What do you mean by 'the trek' to get here?" "Well, he was based somewhere in Trottingham , which is a good distance from here, not to mention that the wasteland surrounding it is extremely dangerous." This got everyone's attention. "Then you're right, it must be pretty fucking important, and bad news for us." Violet levitated a piece of paper over to Boomer and placed it in his saddlebag. "That's a map to the Trottingham wastes, don't lose it." Boomer nodded. "Thank you Violet." She nodded. "Just get over there and stop him before he can see his plans through." Boomer nodded, and once they got what they needed, they left the shack. Once they were sure that they were safe, Boomer took out the map that Violet had given him and looked it over. "Holy fuck, this is going to be one hell of journey. This is at least a few weeks journey, and that's if we don't stop to eat or sleep." Chance rolled his eyes. "This is just great." Amber gave him a whack over the head. "What the hell was that for?" Amber gave him a stern look. "Bitching isn't going to make this any better, so for your own sake, suck it up and get used to it!" Chance nodded his head and Boomer gave a light chuckle. "Well then, I guess it's time that we start walking." And with that, they began their long journey to the Trottingham wastes. Chapter 3: Camaraderie Chapter 3: Camaraderie Chapter 3: Camaraderie "In such times one can turn to faith, but it's always good to have friends." Amber looked over to Chance with a hopeful look on her face. "We're just going to have to make do with what we have, which granted isn't much." Chance rolled his eyes. "Try nothing at all, between the two of us all we have are two pistols, eighty rounds of ammo, and not a drop of water or speck of food to be found, so how are we going to survive out here?" Amber started to think back to what one of the refugees in their Stable had once said, and suddenly it all came back to her. "If I remember correctly, there should be a settlement not too far from here." Chance actually managed to smile, after all this was the best news he had heard all day. "Seriously, well hot damn! What's it called?" Before she could reply, another voice answered the question for her. "That would be the settlement of New Appleloosa, too bad neither of you will live long enough to see it." Both turned to see Vile standing behind them with a shotgun levitating in front of him, his wounds seemingly still fresh from their previous encounter. He quickly pointed the shotgun in Amber's direction and turned to Chance. "If you so much as move, I'll blow her fucking brains out, understand?" Chance gritted his teeth as he fought the urge to charge forward and beat the life out of this miserable traitor, and soon enough five other ponies appeared behind Vile. "What the hell are you doing here?" The lead pony looked over to Vile. "Grimm sent us to make sure that you don't fuck up again." The pony looked back to Chance and Amber, and let out a light chuckle. "So, these are the two ponies that beat you within an inch of your life. I thought that you were made of sterner stuff Vile." Vile gave the pony a menacing glare. "They got the drop on me before, but not this time." He turned his attention back to the duo in front of him. "This time I got the drop on them." Both stood their ground, refusing to show any fear in their final moments. Once Vile was prepared to end their lives, a new voice could be heard from behind him. "If I were you two, I'd get behind something." Vile turned around to find the source of the voice, and what he shocked him. It was an earth pony with a pale brown coat and a dark brown mane that had a battle-saddle with a minigun on either side. Both Chance and Amber used this opportunity to duck behind a few large rocks to use as cover. Once they were clear, the mysterious pony opened fire on Vile and his associates, his miniguns quickly dispatching the small group. Once he had stopped firing, the pony shouted to the duo. "Okay ponies are dead now, you can come out." The duo crawled out from behind their cover only to be greeted with a bloody mess. Chance looked away while Amber began to gag. The stranger rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, this can't be the worst thing that you've ever seen." However his eyes quickly spotted their Stable security barding, and then he looked back to them. "Or maybe it is." He walked closer to them and examined them closely. "The two of you are fresh out of a stable aren't you?" Chance nodded. "Yeah we were security, until that rat bastard sold us out to some heavily armed insane stallion and his gang." The stranger nodded. "I see, so were where the two of you heading before you were ambushed?" Amber spoke up. "We were heading to New Appleloosa to do some trading for food and water." The stranger nodded once again. "I see, and did the two of you take into account the endless creatures and mutants out there that would like nothing more than to tear you apart and have you for lunch?" Amber became really quiet and Chance looked over to the stranger. "The who that want to what now?" The stranger seemed surprised. "You mean to tell me that you aren't prepared to deal with the hideous monstrosities that call the wasteland home?" The duo shook their head in unison, and the stranger sighed. "Well if there was any doubt before, it's gone now." Amber looked to the stranger. "I'm sorry, but doubt about what?" The stranger chuckled. "Doubt about whether I should help the two of you or not, and believe me when I say that you're going to need my help." Chance wasn't so sure. "So you're just going to help us out of the good of your heart? How do we know that we can trust you?" The stranger gave a quick laugh. "I'm going to help you because it's what I was taught to do growing up, not to mention that if I didn't my poor old mom would probably roll in her grave, rest her soul." The stranger seemed to get lost in his memories until Amber cleared her throat and the stranger shook himself from his nostalgia. "So anyway, if you would allow me to I would be more than happy to assist you in your travels across the wasteland, as long as you don't plan on going on a psychotic killing spree that is." Chance looked over to Amber and he nudged his head over to the side, she nodded and he turned back to the stranger. "Give us a minute to talk it over." The stranger nodded. "Of course, I'm in no rush." Chance and Amber walked out of ear's length of the stranger and Chance looked over to Amber. "What do you think, can we trust this guy?" Amber shrugged. "I don't know, on one hoof we don't know anything about him aside from a story about his mother which might not even be true, but on the other hoof he did save us from Vile and those others, what do you think?" Chance sighed. "Well he is right about one thing, we don't know anything about the wasteland and if we're going to survive then we're going to need someone that does, so I say we let him tag along for now but we should still keep an eye on him to see if he starts acting too suspicious." Amber nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan." They turned back around and approached the stranger. "Well, what have you decided?" Chance looked over to Amber, and she nodded. "We've decided to accept your offer, so which way to New Appleloosa Mister...." The stranger stepped forward and introduced himself. "My name is Boomer, and your names are?" Chance nodded. "My name is Chance, and this is Amber." Boomer smiled. "Well it's a pleasure to meet the two of you, and to answer your question New Appleloosa is about a three mile walk west of here." Chance nodded. "Well then, I suggest that we start moving." The other two nodded in agreement and they began to head towards New Appleloosa. Grimm was enjoying a long drag on a cigarette in the dining hall, when one of his troops came barging in with a frightened look on his face. Grimm exhaled and watched the trail of smoke rise from his lips before addressing the soldier. "Do you have something to tell me regarding the slaves that are supposed to be shipping out soon, or do you just want one of my cigarettes? Because if you do, the answer is 'fuck no'." The soldier shook his head. "No sir, I've been sent to inform you that neither Vile nor the squad that we sent after him have reported back yet." Grimm shrugged. "Why does this have you so worked up?" The soldier swallowed the lump in his throat as he answered. "Well sir, we sent them out over forty minutes ago, they should have at least called in by now." Grimm didn't seem too concerned, if at all. "So what are you doing about this?" "Well sir, I ordered a second squad to go out and search for them with orders to radio back once they found anything." After he had finished his sentence, the radio on his armor came to life, and a voice soon followed. "Uh sir, I think we found them." The commander answered the radio. "What do you mean you 'think you found them'?" "Well sir, it's kind of hard to tell, it certainly looks like these guys were wearing our armor, but they've been nearly shot to shit. It looks like your escapees either had help, or they're packing some serious fire power." The commander's blood ran cold as he saw the look in Grimm's eyes change from annoyance to anger. Grimm rose from his seat and walked over to the commander, who was visibly shaking from fear of what Grimm was going to do to him. "Normally I would have you killed, but since this is your first day on the job I'm willing to make a deal with you, what was your name again?" The commander quickly answered his question. "My name is Bayonet sir." Grimm smiled. "Well Bayonet, here's the deal. You track down the two escapees, and I won't kill you in the most terribly unimaginably horrible way possible, sound good to you?" Bayonet nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Good boy, now get to it." Bayonet nodded, but before he left he remembered something else. "Oh before I go sir, there was one last thing that I thought you should know." Grimm leaned forward. "And what would that be?" "Well sir, we found the pony that you were looking for. You know, the one that was good with computers and the like?" Grimm nodded. "Ah yes, very good. Have the boys downstairs put him to work before you and your squad head out." Bayonet nodded. "Of course, right away sir." But before he could leave, Grimm stopped him. "Hold on a moment, before you leave there is one last thing that I'd like to give you." Once the trio arrived at New Appleloosa Boomer turned to the two of them and extended his hoof. "Your barding, give it to me now." Chance took a single step back. "Not a chance in hell, this is the only thing standing between me and death, and I'm quite partial to living." Boomer sighed. "You don't seem to understand, whoever's hunting you down is going to keep sending hit squads after you, and walking around with those outfits on is like walking around with a target painted on your back. Trust me when I say that you'll be much better off with something a bit less conspicuous, like leather armor or something similar to such." Chance and Amber exchanged glances and then looked back to Boomer. "Alright, but on one condition. We get to pick out our replacement armors, and what we want we get, got it?" Boomer rolled his eyes. "Fine whatever, I don't suppose that the two of you have any bottle caps do you?" "Why the hell would we have something as stupid as bottle caps?" Boomer sighed. "You do know that bottle caps are the currency out here, correct?" This took the two of them by complete surprise, especially Chance. "What the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck came to that conclusion, and better yet who the fuck instituted it?!" Boomer shrugged. "Don't ask me, I haven't been around that long, though I'm sure that if you look hard enough you'll find a few that have." Dismissing this, the trio continued to the general store by the name "Absolutely Everything" but before they could go inside, Boomer stopped them. "Now listen, before we continue inside I feel the need to prepare you for what the two of you are going to see in there." Chance became rather curious. "What do you mean?" Boomer sighed and looked at the two of them. "Well I had hoped to avoid the two of you seeing something like this your first day out of your Stable, but since you insist on choosing what I buy for the two of you it's unavoidable." Amber looked over to Boomer. "What are you trying to prepare us for?" Boomer sighed. "Inside the store you're going to see the owner, a Pegasus by the name of Ditzy Doo, and she is one of the kindest gentlest souls that it's ever been my pleasure to meet out in this living hell we call a wasteland." Chance began to get impatient. "What exactly is so awful about that?" "Oh absolutely nothing whatsoever, it's just that she's a bit different in the looks department, and the last thing I want is for you to offend her, so please watch what you say." Chance and Amber nodded, and Boomer seemed satisfied enough to open the door to reveal a small filly with a blond mane and a silver coat arranging some shelves. When she turned to see who had entered the shop, and when Boomer saw who it was, his face brightened considerably. "Hi Boomer." Boomer's smile refused to fade. "Hey there Silver Bell, it's good to see you again. Hey, is your mom around? My friends here need some new armor and a few other necessities." Silver Bell nodded and called out for her mom, while Chance began to admire the shop and its contents, while Amber admired how well everything was arranged considering how cluttered it should have been. Neither of them could understand what Boomer had been so worried about, this Ditzy Doo's daughter was practically the definition of adorable, how could they possibly find herself to be unattractive in any way? Soon enough they heard someone walk into the room, and when they saw what it was they nearly froze with fear. Standing there was not a Pegasus, or a kind and caring mother, or even a humble store owner, standing right in front of them was nothing other than a zombie! Both Chance and Amber opened their mouths to scream, but before they could produce sound Boomer quickly wrapped his forelegs around them and used his hooves to cover their mouths. "Hey there Ditzy! I can't tell you how great it is to see you again." Ditzy smiled at her friend, but then showed a look of confusion as she pointed to the two ponies whose mouths he was covering. "Who, these two? Oh just some former Stable dwellers I found wandering around and decided to tag along with. They're going to need some new armor so I decided to swing them by here since you not only have some of the finest available, but at a good price as well." Ditzy nodded and turned to look through an assortment of different armors, and when she did Boomer quickly ducked through the door with his two new comrades still in his grip. Once they were outside and he closed the door, he released his grip on their mouths, and they began to scream immediately after, while Boomer just sat back casually. "That's it, let it all out," he said as they continued to scream. Once they were forced to stop to catch their breaths, Chance turned over to Boomer with a furious look on his face. "What the fuck was that?! You couldn't have flat out said that we were going to be dealing with a fucking zom-" Before he could finish his sentence Boomer once again placed his hoof over his mouth, and spoke in a low, cold tone. "Let me make myself perfectly clear, if you ever use that term to refer to her, or others that happen to look like her, I'll cut your fucking tongue out, understand?" Chance stared at Boomer for a few moments and finally nodded his head, and Boomer turned his attention to Amber. "That goes for you as well Amber." She simply nodded her head. "Alright, now when we go back into that store and you can't think of anything nice to say to her, keep your fucking mouths shut, got it?" They both nodded their heads and his calm friendly demeanor seemed to come back from out of nowhere. "Well then, let's not waste any more time." They re-entered the store to find that Ditzy hadn't even noticed their absence, since she was still laying out different armors for them to choose from. Once they had been laid out for them to see, they began to look them over and in the end Chance went with combat armor and Amber decided to get leather armor. Once they changed out of their original Stable security barding and slipped into their new armor and they traded for some food and water, Boomer gave Ditzy their old barding as well as a few caps to complete the trade. Once they left the store, Boomer quickly spotted the saloon and looked back to his companions. "Either of you drink?" Once Chance heard that magical sentence he immediately perked up. "Hell yeah I do!" Boomer looked back to Amber who seemed a little sheepish. "What's the matter, you don't drink?" Before she could say anything, Chance spoke up. "Nah, she drinks. She's just a bit cautious because the last time she drank, she got so drunk that she ended up sleeping with the chief." Amber looked over to Chance an smacked him on the back of his head. "Hey, what the fuck was that for?" "You swore that you would never tell anyone about that!" Chance thought for a moment, when he realized that she was right. "Oh yeah, oops." Amber gave him a menacing glare and Chance started to walk just a little bit faster to get ahead of her to avoid any more bonks on the head. Once they got inside Boomer opened the saddle bag that was on his battle-saddle and pulled out a hoof-full of bottle caps and gave them to the bartender. "Give me and my friends here the best whiskey you've got." The bartender nodded and quickly retrieved a bottle of Apple Whiskey and quickly poured three shots, and sent them down to their intended consumers. Amber and Chance used their magic to levitate their shots, while Boomer very carefully gripped his with his hoof and swallowed the contents. This continued for quite a while until the news came on and the bartender barked at everyone to shut up. Once the bar had quieted down, the music was replaced with a smooth charismatic voice that must have belonged to the DJ of the radio station. "This is DJ Pon3, and that little number was by Velvet Remedy, singing about one of the greatest feelings in the world. Well you know what time it is, it's time for the news. So I'm sure that you all remember the Wasteland's saving grace, the Stable-Dweller Littlepip right? Well what you might not know is that there's also a stable not too far from New Appleloosa, and believe it or not, it actually has ponies still living in it as well! However, this is where the story starts to get a little sketchy. Sources claim that they were seen being pursued by armed figures, so does this mean that these new guys are nothing more than a band of trouble makers, or is this just part of a bigger picture that we just can't see? Until next time, this is DJ Pon3, and as always-" Neither Chance or Amber heard past that, they couldn't even believe what they had heard. Not only did someone out there know about their predicament, but they were chronicling it on the news? And what was this about another Stable-Dweller? Just who was this Littlepip, and why were they so important? These were the worst kind of questions, because they were the questions they were sure would go unanswered. After the broadcast ended Boomer smiled and looked over to his companions. "You two hear that? You're famous now." However, once he thought about it, his smile quickly faded. "Which may not be such a good thing, especially if DJ Pon3 is going to be reporting about you guys regularly." Just then he heard several sets of hoof steps and he turned around to see eight ponies in very familiar looking armor, and one was heading straight toward the saloon. He turned to his companions. "Guys, they've found us. We have to go now!" However, before they could do anything, the pony entered, looked over and spotted them. "I found them, they're in-" Before he could finish his sentence, Chance drew his weapon and put a bullet between his eyes. He looked over to Amber and Boomer. "Time to go!" They quickly bolted out the front door, only to be met with seven ponies with assault rifles armed and ready to kill. Without thinking, the trio quickly bolted to the right as the other ponies began firing, a few coming pretty close but never actually hitting them. Once the gunfire picked up, everyone began to panic and started to run back or forth trying to find a safe place to hide, a plan not too dissimilar from Chance's. Once they found adequate cover, Boomer dared to peek his head out to try and find a way to flank or sneak past them, and after a few moments, he spotted a way to flank them and he quickly formulated a plan, but he knew that one of them was going to have to go out in the open, and he knew that no one was going to want to do that. He quickly explained his plan to Chance and Amber, and after the initial shock, Chance finally decided that he would do it, since he was one of the faster members of the group, and he was just buzzed enough to were he was willing to try anything. While Amber and Boomer snuck around to flank their attackers, Chance quickly ran into the open and began shouting. "Hey, look at me I'm a target!" This was met with the expected barrage of bullets from their assault rifles, and just a little too much laughing from Chance as he began to run in order to avoid being hit. Once Amber and Boomer were in position, they emerged from behind their attackers and began to empty their weapons into their enemies without hesitation. Once they were sure that they were all dead, Boomer did the sensible thing and began to loot their corpses for caps and ammo. While he was looting, he found a strange tape on one of them, and if he was correct it looked like it could fit in the device on either Chance or Amber's foreleg. He brought it over to them, and Chance place the tape inside of his pip-buck, and once the tape started it was revealed to be a recording of someone that they knew all too well. "Hello there Chance and, or Amber, this is your old pal Grimm. Right now you may be wondering how I know that the one listening to this recording is one of you two. Well the answer is quite simple, because Bayonet, poor not so innocent Bayonet, has absolutely no idea what he is carrying. That and I'm willing to guess that those fancy pip-bucks on your legs are one of the few things still in existence that can play one of these tapes. Anyway on to the message, you see the two of you pose quite a problem for me and my boss, and we just can't have that. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be keeping an eye on you two, and anyone else that happens to be with you. If the wasteland doesn't eat you alive, and you ever come back to this Stable then I will. So I suggest that you put any foolish heroic plans of rescuing your Stable behind you, because it's only going to end badly for you, but I know that we'll see each other again soon enough, so until then ta-ta!" The group just stared at the blankly at Chance's pip-buck, still having a hard time believing what they had just heard. Eventually, Chance looked at Amber and Boomer. "Well now what are we going to do?" Boomer looked at him with a sly smile on his face. "I think I may someone that can help us." Chance seemed to regain a little hope from that. "Who are they, and how can they help us?" "Her name isn't important, but if there is one pony in the entire Wasteland that can tell us anything, then it's her." "Well, where is she?" Boomer's smile faded. "That's the thing, she's not exactly local, honestly it's a long fucking walk to get to her. It's definitely a five day travel on hoof and that's if we don't stop unless it's absolutely necessary." Amber already had her answer. "I'm up for anything if it helps us get our home back." Boomer nodded and looked over to Chance. "What about you Chance, are you up for it?" Chance didn't even have to think it over. "Whatever it takes, so lead the way." Boomer nodded and soon after they left the settlement of New Applelossa, following Boomer's lead.
Chapter 1: InvasionChapter 1: Invasion "How can things possibly be worse?" Chance heard a knocking on his door, but instead of answering, he simply turned over in his bed and placed his pillow over his head in an attempt to drown out the noise. For a moment, he thought that it had worked, until his mysterious visitor went from knocking to pounding on the door, and finally he gave up. "Alright already, I heard you the first time, asshole," he said as he rolled out of his bed. He groggily shuffled to the door, and opened it to reveal a unicorn mare with an orange coat and a light red mane, which happened to be his best friend, and partner Amber, smiling as always. He stared at her for a few moments before he said anything. "Your peppy attitude disgusts me." Amber simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, so it's my fault that you drank yourself to sleep last night?" She inquired, this time without her winning smile. Chance chuckled as he rubbed his head. "Who said I actually slept last night?" Amber didn't even bother offering a rebuttal as she began trying to force him out of his room. Chance was taken by surprise as he realized that she was trying to evict him from his own room. "Whoa, slow down sweetheart, where's the fire?" Amber stopped for a moment and began to explain. "Our shift started twenty minutes ago idiot, and your ass is still in bed, can you see the problem here?" Chance didn't quite grasp the severity of the situation since he was both groggy and hungover from the previous night. "So, I'll just call in sick or something, it's not like it's the end of the world if I miss one day of patrol is it?" Amber didn't bother to answer, instead she continued her attempts to force him out of his room, and eventually he had no choice but to submit. "Alright Amber, I'll be there in a few minutes, just give me some time to get ready." Finally she ended her attempts to remove him from his room and walked off into the hallways of the Stable. Chance shuffled to his bathroom and using his magic, he turned on the water faucet and began splashing cold water in his face. After drying off, he proceeded through the Stable hallways and found his way to his security locker and removed his gear. After he was fully dressed he looked in a mirror to look himself over. He was an average looking stallion with a light grey coat and a dark blue mane with small streaks of black running throughout. After observing himself, he walked off and eventually found Amber, tapping her hoof impatiently on the floor beneath her. "It's about damn time you showed up, the chief was five minutes away from busting your door down and dragging you off to work by force." Chance merely chuckled at her statement. "Ooh, because the chief is so terrifying, right? Now if she were to send Vile to drag me down here, then I'd have a reason to be afraid." As they walked Amber raised an eyebrow. "Really, Vile scares you? I always found him to be a bit of a sweetheart myself." As they rounded another corner in the stable, Chance allowed himself to laugh. "Yeah, well you weren't partnered up with him for eight years were you? I speak from experience when I say that he's one of the creepiest guys in this stable, and that includes your ex as well, and he was one creepy fucker." Amber was about to say something, but thought it over for a moment before responding. "Well, I can't argue with you there, but I still think that your being too hard on Vile, since you never made an attempt to get to know him on a personal level." The thought of getting to know him on a "personal level" made him shudder for a moment as they continued their patrol. "Dare I ask how you've gotten to know him on a personal level?" Amber gave a soft laugh before responding. "We dated for a few months, but he called it off because he was going through some personal problems, it was a mutual thing so I don't harbor a grudge towards him." This new information got him curious, and decided to see how many boundaries he could cross. "Wait, if you two dated for several months, did you two ever, you know, do it?" Amber glared at him with a look that could rival the most terrifying of predators, and Chance decided to just keep walking before she decided to get physical with him. As they continued their patrol, they soon came across the elevator to the lower levels of the stable, and Chance paused for a few moments. Amber quickly noticed that he had fallen behind and realized what he was staring at. "Come on Chance, even you know that area is off limits to everyone other than the Overmare." Chance nodded and turned back to face her. "Hasn't it ever bothered you that we've never been down there in our lives? Don't you want to know what they've been hiding from us?" Amber shook her head. "When we were kids, our parents told us that it was forbidden, and that was all I needed to hear, besides don't you remember what happened to the last pony that went down there?" Chance took a moment to remember. "Oh yeah, he was exiled from the stable, but only because he was caught." Amber's voice suddenly became very edgy and tense. "Don't even think about it, if you even try to access that elevator, I'll shoot you myself." Chance rolled his eyes and began walking once again. "Yeah, well I was just saying, what if he hadn't been caught? What if he had seen what it was that they were keeping from us, and we finally had a reason for why it was off limits?" Amber shook her head as she continued walking. "I don't need to know, whatever's down there is obviously bad news, and most likely dangerous, I actually feel safer knowing next to nothing about it." Chance continued walking with his partner, while his thoughts drifted back to the mysterious lower levels, and the secrets that they might contain. However, his train of thought was derailed as the loudspeakers came on and the Overmare's voice began to broadcast throughout the stable. "Everypony, if I may have your attention, it would seem that we have visitors from the outside world, and they seem to wish access to the stable, you know the drill everypony, a welcoming committee accompanied by four security officers are to report to the stable door at once to greet our new visitors, and don't forget to make it as warm and welcoming as possible, and have a great day everypony!" Her voice quickly faded from the air and Chance shook his head. "If we keep letting ponies in like we are, we're not going to have enough food to keep everyone fed and happy." Amber just kept walking as she responded to his complaint. "Leave that to the food managers to worry about, you have your own job to do you know, besides, it never hurts to have a little genetic diversity here and there." Chance actually liked the sound of that, but he still felt his worry was well placed. "Yeah, I guess. As long as they don't drag me out into the wasteland to meet their folks, I guess it can't be too bad." Amber smiled. "There, now was a little optimism really that difficult?" Grimm looked back at the troops he had brought with him, and couldn't help but admit that he was excited. "Alright pussies, get your weapons ready and be prepared for anything, we don't know how well armed these Stable Dwellers are." He looked over to the commander of one of the squads of troops he had brought with him. "Alright, you know the drill, we go in guns blazing, while you round up anything that doesn't shoot at you, and keep guards posted in the halls, understood?" The commander nodded his head and Grimm looked to the giant stable door as it began to open. Grimm used his horn to levitate both of his revolvers in front of him, prepared for anything. As the door opened they were met with a friendly looking group of stable dwellers, all in identical stable 47 barding, beneath a giant sign that read "Welcome Friends". In the group were foals, supposedly their parents, and four security guards, seemingly unaware of their intentions. One of the fillies walked forward and presented him a small flower. "Welcome to our stable mister," she said in an adorably sweet voice. Grimm accepted the flower and began to laugh to himself, after he was done laughing, he spoke. "Fuck, I almost feel bad, this is just too easy. Eh whatever, open fire." After he gave the order, his troops began firing off their assault rifles into the crowd of greeters, their screams being the last thing they ever heard. Author's Note Disclaimer for the hell of it. I don't own Fallout, Fallout Equestria or MLP, Fallout belongs to Interplay, Obsidian, and Bethesda Softworks. Fallout Equestria was created by Kkat, and MLP belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust, once again I in know way own any of these works.
Chapter 2: EscapeChapter 2: Escape "Run, run away and never return." Chance and Amber continued their idle conversation, completely unaware that their home was under attack. "I'm just saying, if your barn door did swing that way, who would you go out with?" Amber rolled her eyes at Chance's persistence, until finally she gave up. "Fine, if you really want to know, it would most likely be Lilly." Chance tried his best to hold back his laughter when he pictured Amber and Lilly together, but ultimately failed. He burst out into a fit of laughter so intense, that he actually was forced to stop and catch his breath. "Oh, by the Goddesses, that is just too damn good." Amber waited for him to catch up, and cracked a smile. "Alright Chance, if your barn door swung that way, who would you go out with?" Chance stopped laughing immediately and turned to look at his partner, to which she simply shrugged. "Hey, it's only fair, so out with it." Chance's face became one of resentment and he muttered a name under his breath, and Amber had to strain herself and even then she could barely hear it. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Chance sighed and spoke so she could hear him. "I said 'Short Circuit', there are you happy now?" This time, it was Amber's turn to nearly collapse with laughter. "Him? Of all of the stallions in this Stable, you'd go with him?" Amber was laughing so hard she was beginning to have troubles breathing, until finally she had to stop due to lack of air. When she finally stopped Chance walked over and helped her off the ground. They were about to continue their patrol when the alarms in the Stable began to go off, soon accompanied by the voice of the Overmare. "Attention, all security personnel, the Stable is under attack, report to your security stations immediately!" Chance and Amber both broke off in a run, heading straight towards their security station, once there, they armed up and prepared to drive the invaders from their Stable. Grimm was having the time of his life, for the first time in a long time, he was able to cut loose and let free his true nature, which just so happened to be the nature of a sociopath. He noticed a single Stable security guard crawling away slowly, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He looked back to his men with a mad smile across his face. "I'll handle this poor fucker, you just make sure that nopony makes it to the Stable door, got it?" The soldier in charge of the squad nodded, and his men dispersed, but before he could leave, Grimm grabbed him and turned him around. "You'd be wise to remember that I see to failures personally, so don't fuck this up, or you'll answer to me, understand?" The commander nodded and ran off as fast as he could, while Grimm walked merrily over to the guard crawling for his life. He used his horn to levitate his knife from his belt and he held it to the guards throat, and without a second thought, he slit his throat, taking great joy in listening to him choking on his own blood. He then proceeded to slowly walk away, singing a happy tune to himself. Chance managed to dodge incoming fire from their mysterious attackers, and took cover behind one of the hallway walls, all the while grumbling to himself. "I can't believe this shit, after everything the overmare said, 'Ooh, let's open our Stable up and let complete and utter strangers in, it'll be perfectly fine, nothing bad could possibly happen, everything will be artificial sunshine and sing-alongs,' yeah, that worked out real nicely didn't it?" Amber was next to him, along with security chief Nova, who were trying their damnedest to at least take down a few of their attackers, but every time one of them stuck their heads out, a bullet would whiz by and nearly take their head with it. Amber eventually got tired of Chance's ramblings. "Will you please shut the fuck up! I get it, you're pissed, but going on about it like a foal isn't going to change a damned thing, so suck it up, deal with it, and at least try to kill some of these fuckers, will you?" Chance rolled his eyes and levitated his pistol around the side of the wall and started firing blindly, and the others soon followed his example, and eventually the bullets stopped firing, and all was quiet in the hallway once again. Chance decided to take a chance and peaked around the wall, and saw that somehow, some of their bullets had miraculously found their targets. "I can't believe that actually worked," he said to himself. Chief Nova breathed a sigh of relief, but she was quickly reminded of why they had come here in the first place. "Come on you two, we have to get to the overmare as quickly as possible, no one else is available to defend her, and I'll be damned if I let her die." Chance and Amber nodded and they quickly broke of into a gallop, going as fast as they could to reach the overmare before it was too late. Once they reached the office, they couldn't tell if they were too late until they opened the door to reveal at least five bodies, and none of them belonged to the overmare, thankfully. Once they stepped inside, the overmare stepped out from behind her desk with a pistol aimed straight at Nova's head, but once she realized who they were, she quickly put her weapon away and a look of relief washed over her face. "I'm glad to see that the three of you are still alive, when the attackers arrived before you I had feared the worst." Nova just stared at her with a look of disbelief on her face. "Ma'am, where did you learn to shoot?" She gave a light chuckle. "Do you really think that you're the only one that goes to the target range during your free time?" Nova just continued to stare in disbelief, Amber gave a low whistle, and Chance suddenly had a lot more respect for her than he did previously. Nova eventually shook herself of her amazement, and tried to convince her to leave. "Listen to me Daisy, we have to leave this Stable now, we're overrun." The room remained quiet for a few moments, hardly anypony in the Stable referred to her by her name, but Nova was one of the few that did. Daisy gave a light chuckle and shook her head. "I'm afraid that's impossible Nova, this is my home, and I won't abandon it, even if it means my death." She then walked over to her terminal and input her password, which opened up her office's secret tunnel to the Stable entrance. The other ponies just stared in disbelief, and Daisy began to speak in a frantic tone. "You three have to get out of here now, follow this tunnel all the way to the Stable entrance, don't wait for anyone, don't stop for anything, just keep running until you get as far away from this Stable as possible, and most importantly, stay safe." None of them dared to move, and Daisy sighed. "I'm not asking you, I'm ordering you as your overmare, now get out of here, now!" Hesitantly, the three of them walked down the tunnel, one by one, until they reached the entrance, and were greeted with a someone that at first they didn't recognize, but as they got closer they noticed that he was a unicorn, with a green coat and a black mane, and Amber gave a smile. "Vile, is that you?" She called out, and sure enough, it was him. He quickly ran over to them. "Amber, Chance, chief, how the hell did you guys make it all the way here?" Chance gave a smug smile. "Secret tunnels my friend, the only way to get around." Vile rolled his eyes, and gave a light laugh. "All right smug ass, I get it, by the way, did anyone else make it?" Chance shook his head. "Not that I know of, and if they did then they most likely made it out of here by now, which is a relief." Vile nodded. "Yeah, it sure is going to make this a hell of a lot easier." Before anyone could ask him what he meant, he drew his sidearm and put a bullet between Nova's eyes. After she fell to the ground he then focused his attention on Chance. Amber couldn't understand what had happened, but Chance was beginning to put it together. "It was you, you sold us out!" Vile gave a crooked smile and shook his head. "Nope, that wasn't me, I just knew which way the wind was going to blow and signed on to the winning team." Chance stared at him with cold eyes. "How long have you been working this angle?" Vile pretended to think about it for a few moments before answering. "Well, let's see, I was first approached by that griffon about six months ago, I believe, and then there was all of that planning with that ghoul, and that crazy unicorn." Chance stopped him for a moment. "Wait, what the hell is a ghoul?" Vile laughed at his question. "Why do you want to know, it's not like you're going to live long enough to actually care." Chance smirked. "Maybe not, but I figured that it would give Amber enough time to sneak behind you, but I guess this worked well enough." Before another word could be said, Amber tackled him from behind and proceeded to hit him viciously across the face, splitting his lip, and she just continued to her vicious assault on him, until finally Chance had to run over and pull her off of him. Amber looked back at him and started to try and fight free of his grasp. "Let go of me! Let go of me right now so I can end this fucker's misery!" Chance held her back an wrapped his forelegs around her chest and tried to calm her down. Eventually, she managed to calm down enough to a point where she returned to her regular self, and when she saw the blood on her hooves, and saw what she had done to Vile, she felt sick to her stomach and wanted to throw up, but instead, she simply buried her face into Chance's neck, all the while he tried to comfort her. "It's okay Amber, I'm right here." What would have been a touching moment was destroyed when they heard an unfamiliar voice behind them. "Aw, that's the most touching fucking thing that I've ever seen." They both looked over to see a unicorn with a yellow coat and a dark red mane, with a half-crazed look in his eye. He looked over to Vile laying still on the ground and looked over to the duo. "Did you two chicken fucks do this?" Neither of them said a word, and the mysterious unicorn hit Vile in the chest as hard as he could, which earned a moan from the downed traitor, and the unicorn smiled. "Well, at least now we know that he isn't dead, yet." He then looked over to the duo and gave a wicked smile. "And here we have, Chance, and Amber, correct? Oh, don't look so surprised, your names are right on your uniforms, and it's not like I don't know how to read. You know, it's not very often that someone actually makes it far enough that our double agents actually have to act, and you know what? I like that, hell I even respect that." Chance just stared at the unicorn. "So, you're the one that Vile was talking about, that crazy unicorn." He simply smiled. "The name's Grimm, and I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid that I'm not much of a liar." He then levitated out his revolver and twirled the cylinder. "Well now comes the part where I kill the two of you." He levitated his revolver, but before he could fire off a shot, Chance used his horn to levitate a small pipe from the ground and smack him over the head with it. While he was distracted by the new pulsing pain in his head, both Amber and Chance made a mad dash for the exit. They could hear the gunshots coming from behind them, which only encouraged them to go faster. Eventually, they reached the exit to the Stable, and ran through the door, only to be met with a bright light, and a destroyed land to greet them. As they looked at the destroyed and desolated wasteland that surrounded them, Chance looked over to Amber and said what was on both of their minds. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Grimm was seething with anger. He had never let anyone get away before, and he would be damned if anyone got away this time. He walked over to Vile and hit him across his face. "How the fuck did you let them get the drop on you?!" Vile didn't answer, and he simply walked over to the pony that was in charge of keeping this from happening in the first place. "And what's your excuse hmm? Or do you not have one other than laziness?" The pony was shaking with fear as he looked Grimm in the eye. "Sir, we- we never even saw them, they must have had a stealth-buck or something." Grimm simply gave a light chuckle. "Oh really? Well, that's one that I've never heard before, and in light of this failure, whether it was your fault or not, has caused me to call you usefulness into question." The pony looked to his left and then back to Grimm. "And, what have you decided?" Grimm simply smiled. "Well in short, you're fired." He then levitated his revolver to the pony's face, and pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. He then looked behind him, and spoke to the other ponies that had gathered around. "All right, which one of you limp dick fucks wants his job?" One pony raised his hoof and Grimm approached him. "So you want his job?" The pony nodded, and he smiled. "Well then you can have it, and the first thing that you get to do is get rid of his corpse before it starts to stink up the place, and the second thing that you're going to do is find a technician, or somepony that's good with computers so we can start on cracking open that little secret in the lower levels. Oh, and try no to end up like your predecessor, not because I care, but because I don't feel like wasting another bullet, got it?" The pony simply nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Very good, now get to it." The pony began to drag the corpse away, while Grimm looked over to Vile. "And you, don't think that I've forgotten about you. While we work on cracking this Stable's dirty little secret, I want you to get out into the wastes, and hunt down those two security ponies that you failed to kill, or I'll kill them and you, got it?" Vile nodded, and Grimm walked away. He smacked his lips together and looked at the rest of the troops. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to find the kitchen to see what, or who, is cooking." After he walked off, one of the troops turned to the other. "He was just kidding about the whole, 'who's cooking', right?" When he didn't answer, it unnerved him a bit. "Right?"
Chapter 4: Bat CountryChapter 4: Bat Country "Oh, so this is what the edge of the world looks like, trippy." Grimm leaned back in the Overmare's chair and propped his hindlegs up on the table, enjoying a nice long drag from his cigarette. Suddenly, the device on his foreleg began to beep and when he lifted it up to see what the problem was, he saw that it was his boss calling in. He pressed the button and soon enough he heard his boss' voice. "Grimm, what the hell is taking so long in that Stable? You've been in there for days!" Grimm rolled his eyes and put out his cigarette before answering. "Well boss the thing is, the only Stable-fucker that was willing to cooperate with us is an extremely slow worker, and it's not like we can just shoot him." He could hear his boss sigh over the other end before answering. "Well if you can't shoot him, then remind him just how serious we are and 'encourage' him to work faster, understand?" Grimm smiled. "Hell yes! I mean, understood sir." "Good, now what about those two escapees you told me about. Will they be a problem?" "Not for much longer, I've already contracted a couple of assassins to take care of them." "Isn't that a bit extreme for a couple of Stable dwellers?" "Sir, with all due respect, you haven't seen what these bastards are capable of, not to mention that they've got a protector of some sort that's killed every squad that I've sent after them." "Very well, just make sure that they're taken care of. I'll be expecting an update within the next few days. Don't disappoint me." And with that, the line went dead, and Grimm turned over to face the soldier on his left. "Go grab that Stable-boy and one of the prisoners." The trooper nodded and disappeared into the hallway and within minutes he returned with the technician and a random prisoner, both with terrified expressions on their faces. Grimm smiled and walked over to the two of them. "Do either of you know why you're here?" They both shook their heads, and Grimm walked over to the prisoner. "You're here because this fucker is doing all he can to slow us down." Grimm then looked over to the technician. "And you're here because I'm going to teach you a lesson in work ethic." They both had looks of confusion plastered on their faces until Grimm drew his revolver and pointed it at the prisoner. He walked over to her and put the revolver to her head. "Do you know what happens now?" She whimpered quietly and began to shake. "Please, just let me go." Grimm's demeanor didn't change in the slightest. "ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION! Do you know what happens now?" Tears began to form in her eyes as she answered. "You're going to kill me?" Grimm nodded. "Yes, but do you know why?" She shook her head, and he leaned in next to her ear. "You die, because of him. In doing absolutely nothing, he has failed me, and in failing me he has also failed you. And now you die because of his incompetence." And without a second thought, Grimm pulled the trigger. He then walked over to the technician. "In case I haven't made this clear enough yet let me explain. For every week that vault down there stays sealed, I'll execute another prisoner, and I will continue doing so until I run out of prisoners, or you get that fucking door open, got it?" The technician nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Good answer, now get back to work!" The technician scurried off like a roach and Grimm lit himself another cigarette. "Geez, when you said she wasn't local, you weren't joking." Boomer turned back to face Chance before replying. "Bitching and moaning won't make this trip any shorter, so please just shut up already!" Chance simply rolled his eyes while Amber attempted to take everyone's minds off of their long journey. "How about some music?" She flipped her pipbuck radio on, but all she got was static. Quickly coming to the conclusion that they were out of broadcast range, she shut it off. Chance looked over to Boomer. "So how far are we from your friend anyway?" "Actually we're almost there now, I'd say maybe a few more minutes and we'll be there." "Thank fucking Celestia." Boomer hot him a glance and Chance simply shrugged. He shook his head and turned back to face the road ahead of him. After a few more minutes of walking, they came across a well put together shack, and Boomer walked up and knocked on the door. After a few moments passed and no one answered he knocked again, this time significantly harder. Boomer was about ready to kick the door down when he felt the barrel of a gun press against his head, and he heard the sound of a stealth-buck deactivating. Both Chance and Amber drew their weapons and pointed them at the mystery pony, when suddenly they heard it speak. "Boomer, is that you?" His eyes widened and he turned over to her. "Violet, why the hell do you have a gun aimed at my head?" She put her weapon away and took off her helmet revealing a rather beautiful unicorn mare with a purple coat and a blue mane. "Sorry about the gun, I just don't get too many visitors out here, and I certainly wasn't expecting to see you." Boomer smiled. "Well, I'm just full of surprises." She rolled her eyes, and noticed that the two ponies with him still had their weapons drawn and aimed at her. Boomer turned over to them. "You can put those away, this is my friend that I told you about." They hesitantly holstered their weapons, while Violet turned to Boomer. "I get the feeling that this isn't a social visit." Boomer shook his head. "We need your help." "Oh, of course you do. Well come on inside and make yourselves at home." They followed her inside and discovered that the inside of the shack was surprisingly well maintained and had plenty of furniture that looked much more comfortable than what they had grown used to since stepping out of the Stable. Once they were finally seated they discovered that the furniture was just as comfortable as it looked, and Amber nearly sank down into it. "So, what is it that you need from me?" Boomer looked over to his friend. "We're looking for some information, and I know that you still have informants all over the wasteland." Chance sat up in his chair upon hearing this. "What the hell do you have informants for?" She looked over to him and smiled. "I'm a mercenary, in this business it pays to have informants, quite literally." She looked back over to Boomer. "So who do you want to know about?" "A unicorn named Grimm, know anything about him?" Upon hearing that name, Violet's entire demeanor changed. Her smile was quickly replaced by an expression that displayed only fear. "Boomer, listen to me, whatever you think you know about that stallion you don't." Boomer stood up and walked over to her. "Then maybe you should begin telling me about him. Like why did he have his troops attack a Stable to the south of here?" "He only does what he's told, he probably doesn't even know why he did it." Boomer became confused. "You mean he isn't the one in charge?" She shook her head. "No, he's just a lieutenant that takes his orders from someone even worse." "What's his name?" "His name is Allistair, and if he's involved in this, then all you can do is pray that he doesn't come after you. He is a ruthless monster that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants." Boomer became curious. "That's extremely specific." Violet rolled her eyes. "Of course it is, I used to work for the bastard!" Everyone was caught a little off guard by the confession. "How long ago was this?" She shook her head. "About a year and a half ago, the money was good so I didn't ask questions. I'd just do an occasional odd job for him here or there, most often they were search and destroy or assassinations. But then one day I saw him talking to this ghoul, and he told me that he wanted me to find him a Stable to the south, and that it was the key to the throne of the wasteland. I figured that he was beginning to lose it so I just took what he owed me and I walked. Looks like the joke is on me huh?" Boomer shook his head. "What was it Violet? What was he looking for?" She shook her head. "I don't know, all I know is that it was worth the trek here to get." "What do you mean by 'the trek' to get here?" "Well, he was based somewhere in Trottingham , which is a good distance from here, not to mention that the wasteland surrounding it is extremely dangerous." This got everyone's attention. "Then you're right, it must be pretty fucking important, and bad news for us." Violet levitated a piece of paper over to Boomer and placed it in his saddlebag. "That's a map to the Trottingham wastes, don't lose it." Boomer nodded. "Thank you Violet." She nodded. "Just get over there and stop him before he can see his plans through." Boomer nodded, and once they got what they needed, they left the shack. Once they were sure that they were safe, Boomer took out the map that Violet had given him and looked it over. "Holy fuck, this is going to be one hell of journey. This is at least a few weeks journey, and that's if we don't stop to eat or sleep." Chance rolled his eyes. "This is just great." Amber gave him a whack over the head. "What the hell was that for?" Amber gave him a stern look. "Bitching isn't going to make this any better, so for your own sake, suck it up and get used to it!" Chance nodded his head and Boomer gave a light chuckle. "Well then, I guess it's time that we start walking." And with that, they began their long journey to the Trottingham wastes.
Chapter 3: Camaraderie Chapter 3: Camaraderie Chapter 3: Camaraderie "In such times one can turn to faith, but it's always good to have friends." Amber looked over to Chance with a hopeful look on her face. "We're just going to have to make do with what we have, which granted isn't much." Chance rolled his eyes. "Try nothing at all, between the two of us all we have are two pistols, eighty rounds of ammo, and not a drop of water or speck of food to be found, so how are we going to survive out here?" Amber started to think back to what one of the refugees in their Stable had once said, and suddenly it all came back to her. "If I remember correctly, there should be a settlement not too far from here." Chance actually managed to smile, after all this was the best news he had heard all day. "Seriously, well hot damn! What's it called?" Before she could reply, another voice answered the question for her. "That would be the settlement of New Appleloosa, too bad neither of you will live long enough to see it." Both turned to see Vile standing behind them with a shotgun levitating in front of him, his wounds seemingly still fresh from their previous encounter. He quickly pointed the shotgun in Amber's direction and turned to Chance. "If you so much as move, I'll blow her fucking brains out, understand?" Chance gritted his teeth as he fought the urge to charge forward and beat the life out of this miserable traitor, and soon enough five other ponies appeared behind Vile. "What the hell are you doing here?" The lead pony looked over to Vile. "Grimm sent us to make sure that you don't fuck up again." The pony looked back to Chance and Amber, and let out a light chuckle. "So, these are the two ponies that beat you within an inch of your life. I thought that you were made of sterner stuff Vile." Vile gave the pony a menacing glare. "They got the drop on me before, but not this time." He turned his attention back to the duo in front of him. "This time I got the drop on them." Both stood their ground, refusing to show any fear in their final moments. Once Vile was prepared to end their lives, a new voice could be heard from behind him. "If I were you two, I'd get behind something." Vile turned around to find the source of the voice, and what he shocked him. It was an earth pony with a pale brown coat and a dark brown mane that had a battle-saddle with a minigun on either side. Both Chance and Amber used this opportunity to duck behind a few large rocks to use as cover. Once they were clear, the mysterious pony opened fire on Vile and his associates, his miniguns quickly dispatching the small group. Once he had stopped firing, the pony shouted to the duo. "Okay ponies are dead now, you can come out." The duo crawled out from behind their cover only to be greeted with a bloody mess. Chance looked away while Amber began to gag. The stranger rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, this can't be the worst thing that you've ever seen." However his eyes quickly spotted their Stable security barding, and then he looked back to them. "Or maybe it is." He walked closer to them and examined them closely. "The two of you are fresh out of a stable aren't you?" Chance nodded. "Yeah we were security, until that rat bastard sold us out to some heavily armed insane stallion and his gang." The stranger nodded. "I see, so were where the two of you heading before you were ambushed?" Amber spoke up. "We were heading to New Appleloosa to do some trading for food and water." The stranger nodded once again. "I see, and did the two of you take into account the endless creatures and mutants out there that would like nothing more than to tear you apart and have you for lunch?" Amber became really quiet and Chance looked over to the stranger. "The who that want to what now?" The stranger seemed surprised. "You mean to tell me that you aren't prepared to deal with the hideous monstrosities that call the wasteland home?" The duo shook their head in unison, and the stranger sighed. "Well if there was any doubt before, it's gone now." Amber looked to the stranger. "I'm sorry, but doubt about what?" The stranger chuckled. "Doubt about whether I should help the two of you or not, and believe me when I say that you're going to need my help." Chance wasn't so sure. "So you're just going to help us out of the good of your heart? How do we know that we can trust you?" The stranger gave a quick laugh. "I'm going to help you because it's what I was taught to do growing up, not to mention that if I didn't my poor old mom would probably roll in her grave, rest her soul." The stranger seemed to get lost in his memories until Amber cleared her throat and the stranger shook himself from his nostalgia. "So anyway, if you would allow me to I would be more than happy to assist you in your travels across the wasteland, as long as you don't plan on going on a psychotic killing spree that is." Chance looked over to Amber and he nudged his head over to the side, she nodded and he turned back to the stranger. "Give us a minute to talk it over." The stranger nodded. "Of course, I'm in no rush." Chance and Amber walked out of ear's length of the stranger and Chance looked over to Amber. "What do you think, can we trust this guy?" Amber shrugged. "I don't know, on one hoof we don't know anything about him aside from a story about his mother which might not even be true, but on the other hoof he did save us from Vile and those others, what do you think?" Chance sighed. "Well he is right about one thing, we don't know anything about the wasteland and if we're going to survive then we're going to need someone that does, so I say we let him tag along for now but we should still keep an eye on him to see if he starts acting too suspicious." Amber nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan." They turned back around and approached the stranger. "Well, what have you decided?" Chance looked over to Amber, and she nodded. "We've decided to accept your offer, so which way to New Appleloosa Mister...." The stranger stepped forward and introduced himself. "My name is Boomer, and your names are?" Chance nodded. "My name is Chance, and this is Amber." Boomer smiled. "Well it's a pleasure to meet the two of you, and to answer your question New Appleloosa is about a three mile walk west of here." Chance nodded. "Well then, I suggest that we start moving." The other two nodded in agreement and they began to head towards New Appleloosa. Grimm was enjoying a long drag on a cigarette in the dining hall, when one of his troops came barging in with a frightened look on his face. Grimm exhaled and watched the trail of smoke rise from his lips before addressing the soldier. "Do you have something to tell me regarding the slaves that are supposed to be shipping out soon, or do you just want one of my cigarettes? Because if you do, the answer is 'fuck no'." The soldier shook his head. "No sir, I've been sent to inform you that neither Vile nor the squad that we sent after him have reported back yet." Grimm shrugged. "Why does this have you so worked up?" The soldier swallowed the lump in his throat as he answered. "Well sir, we sent them out over forty minutes ago, they should have at least called in by now." Grimm didn't seem too concerned, if at all. "So what are you doing about this?" "Well sir, I ordered a second squad to go out and search for them with orders to radio back once they found anything." After he had finished his sentence, the radio on his armor came to life, and a voice soon followed. "Uh sir, I think we found them." The commander answered the radio. "What do you mean you 'think you found them'?" "Well sir, it's kind of hard to tell, it certainly looks like these guys were wearing our armor, but they've been nearly shot to shit. It looks like your escapees either had help, or they're packing some serious fire power." The commander's blood ran cold as he saw the look in Grimm's eyes change from annoyance to anger. Grimm rose from his seat and walked over to the commander, who was visibly shaking from fear of what Grimm was going to do to him. "Normally I would have you killed, but since this is your first day on the job I'm willing to make a deal with you, what was your name again?" The commander quickly answered his question. "My name is Bayonet sir." Grimm smiled. "Well Bayonet, here's the deal. You track down the two escapees, and I won't kill you in the most terribly unimaginably horrible way possible, sound good to you?" Bayonet nodded his head and Grimm smiled. "Good boy, now get to it." Bayonet nodded, but before he left he remembered something else. "Oh before I go sir, there was one last thing that I thought you should know." Grimm leaned forward. "And what would that be?" "Well sir, we found the pony that you were looking for. You know, the one that was good with computers and the like?" Grimm nodded. "Ah yes, very good. Have the boys downstairs put him to work before you and your squad head out." Bayonet nodded. "Of course, right away sir." But before he could leave, Grimm stopped him. "Hold on a moment, before you leave there is one last thing that I'd like to give you." Once the trio arrived at New Appleloosa Boomer turned to the two of them and extended his hoof. "Your barding, give it to me now." Chance took a single step back. "Not a chance in hell, this is the only thing standing between me and death, and I'm quite partial to living." Boomer sighed. "You don't seem to understand, whoever's hunting you down is going to keep sending hit squads after you, and walking around with those outfits on is like walking around with a target painted on your back. Trust me when I say that you'll be much better off with something a bit less conspicuous, like leather armor or something similar to such." Chance and Amber exchanged glances and then looked back to Boomer. "Alright, but on one condition. We get to pick out our replacement armors, and what we want we get, got it?" Boomer rolled his eyes. "Fine whatever, I don't suppose that the two of you have any bottle caps do you?" "Why the hell would we have something as stupid as bottle caps?" Boomer sighed. "You do know that bottle caps are the currency out here, correct?" This took the two of them by complete surprise, especially Chance. "What the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck came to that conclusion, and better yet who the fuck instituted it?!" Boomer shrugged. "Don't ask me, I haven't been around that long, though I'm sure that if you look hard enough you'll find a few that have." Dismissing this, the trio continued to the general store by the name "Absolutely Everything" but before they could go inside, Boomer stopped them. "Now listen, before we continue inside I feel the need to prepare you for what the two of you are going to see in there." Chance became rather curious. "What do you mean?" Boomer sighed and looked at the two of them. "Well I had hoped to avoid the two of you seeing something like this your first day out of your Stable, but since you insist on choosing what I buy for the two of you it's unavoidable." Amber looked over to Boomer. "What are you trying to prepare us for?" Boomer sighed. "Inside the store you're going to see the owner, a Pegasus by the name of Ditzy Doo, and she is one of the kindest gentlest souls that it's ever been my pleasure to meet out in this living hell we call a wasteland." Chance began to get impatient. "What exactly is so awful about that?" "Oh absolutely nothing whatsoever, it's just that she's a bit different in the looks department, and the last thing I want is for you to offend her, so please watch what you say." Chance and Amber nodded, and Boomer seemed satisfied enough to open the door to reveal a small filly with a blond mane and a silver coat arranging some shelves. When she turned to see who had entered the shop, and when Boomer saw who it was, his face brightened considerably. "Hi Boomer." Boomer's smile refused to fade. "Hey there Silver Bell, it's good to see you again. Hey, is your mom around? My friends here need some new armor and a few other necessities." Silver Bell nodded and called out for her mom, while Chance began to admire the shop and its contents, while Amber admired how well everything was arranged considering how cluttered it should have been. Neither of them could understand what Boomer had been so worried about, this Ditzy Doo's daughter was practically the definition of adorable, how could they possibly find herself to be unattractive in any way? Soon enough they heard someone walk into the room, and when they saw what it was they nearly froze with fear. Standing there was not a Pegasus, or a kind and caring mother, or even a humble store owner, standing right in front of them was nothing other than a zombie! Both Chance and Amber opened their mouths to scream, but before they could produce sound Boomer quickly wrapped his forelegs around them and used his hooves to cover their mouths. "Hey there Ditzy! I can't tell you how great it is to see you again." Ditzy smiled at her friend, but then showed a look of confusion as she pointed to the two ponies whose mouths he was covering. "Who, these two? Oh just some former Stable dwellers I found wandering around and decided to tag along with. They're going to need some new armor so I decided to swing them by here since you not only have some of the finest available, but at a good price as well." Ditzy nodded and turned to look through an assortment of different armors, and when she did Boomer quickly ducked through the door with his two new comrades still in his grip. Once they were outside and he closed the door, he released his grip on their mouths, and they began to scream immediately after, while Boomer just sat back casually. "That's it, let it all out," he said as they continued to scream. Once they were forced to stop to catch their breaths, Chance turned over to Boomer with a furious look on his face. "What the fuck was that?! You couldn't have flat out said that we were going to be dealing with a fucking zom-" Before he could finish his sentence Boomer once again placed his hoof over his mouth, and spoke in a low, cold tone. "Let me make myself perfectly clear, if you ever use that term to refer to her, or others that happen to look like her, I'll cut your fucking tongue out, understand?" Chance stared at Boomer for a few moments and finally nodded his head, and Boomer turned his attention to Amber. "That goes for you as well Amber." She simply nodded her head. "Alright, now when we go back into that store and you can't think of anything nice to say to her, keep your fucking mouths shut, got it?" They both nodded their heads and his calm friendly demeanor seemed to come back from out of nowhere. "Well then, let's not waste any more time." They re-entered the store to find that Ditzy hadn't even noticed their absence, since she was still laying out different armors for them to choose from. Once they had been laid out for them to see, they began to look them over and in the end Chance went with combat armor and Amber decided to get leather armor. Once they changed out of their original Stable security barding and slipped into their new armor and they traded for some food and water, Boomer gave Ditzy their old barding as well as a few caps to complete the trade. Once they left the store, Boomer quickly spotted the saloon and looked back to his companions. "Either of you drink?" Once Chance heard that magical sentence he immediately perked up. "Hell yeah I do!" Boomer looked back to Amber who seemed a little sheepish. "What's the matter, you don't drink?" Before she could say anything, Chance spoke up. "Nah, she drinks. She's just a bit cautious because the last time she drank, she got so drunk that she ended up sleeping with the chief." Amber looked over to Chance an smacked him on the back of his head. "Hey, what the fuck was that for?" "You swore that you would never tell anyone about that!" Chance thought for a moment, when he realized that she was right. "Oh yeah, oops." Amber gave him a menacing glare and Chance started to walk just a little bit faster to get ahead of her to avoid any more bonks on the head. Once they got inside Boomer opened the saddle bag that was on his battle-saddle and pulled out a hoof-full of bottle caps and gave them to the bartender. "Give me and my friends here the best whiskey you've got." The bartender nodded and quickly retrieved a bottle of Apple Whiskey and quickly poured three shots, and sent them down to their intended consumers. Amber and Chance used their magic to levitate their shots, while Boomer very carefully gripped his with his hoof and swallowed the contents. This continued for quite a while until the news came on and the bartender barked at everyone to shut up. Once the bar had quieted down, the music was replaced with a smooth charismatic voice that must have belonged to the DJ of the radio station. "This is DJ Pon3, and that little number was by Velvet Remedy, singing about one of the greatest feelings in the world. Well you know what time it is, it's time for the news. So I'm sure that you all remember the Wasteland's saving grace, the Stable-Dweller Littlepip right? Well what you might not know is that there's also a stable not too far from New Appleloosa, and believe it or not, it actually has ponies still living in it as well! However, this is where the story starts to get a little sketchy. Sources claim that they were seen being pursued by armed figures, so does this mean that these new guys are nothing more than a band of trouble makers, or is this just part of a bigger picture that we just can't see? Until next time, this is DJ Pon3, and as always-" Neither Chance or Amber heard past that, they couldn't even believe what they had heard. Not only did someone out there know about their predicament, but they were chronicling it on the news? And what was this about another Stable-Dweller? Just who was this Littlepip, and why were they so important? These were the worst kind of questions, because they were the questions they were sure would go unanswered. After the broadcast ended Boomer smiled and looked over to his companions. "You two hear that? You're famous now." However, once he thought about it, his smile quickly faded. "Which may not be such a good thing, especially if DJ Pon3 is going to be reporting about you guys regularly." Just then he heard several sets of hoof steps and he turned around to see eight ponies in very familiar looking armor, and one was heading straight toward the saloon. He turned to his companions. "Guys, they've found us. We have to go now!" However, before they could do anything, the pony entered, looked over and spotted them. "I found them, they're in-" Before he could finish his sentence, Chance drew his weapon and put a bullet between his eyes. He looked over to Amber and Boomer. "Time to go!" They quickly bolted out the front door, only to be met with seven ponies with assault rifles armed and ready to kill. Without thinking, the trio quickly bolted to the right as the other ponies began firing, a few coming pretty close but never actually hitting them. Once the gunfire picked up, everyone began to panic and started to run back or forth trying to find a safe place to hide, a plan not too dissimilar from Chance's. Once they found adequate cover, Boomer dared to peek his head out to try and find a way to flank or sneak past them, and after a few moments, he spotted a way to flank them and he quickly formulated a plan, but he knew that one of them was going to have to go out in the open, and he knew that no one was going to want to do that. He quickly explained his plan to Chance and Amber, and after the initial shock, Chance finally decided that he would do it, since he was one of the faster members of the group, and he was just buzzed enough to were he was willing to try anything. While Amber and Boomer snuck around to flank their attackers, Chance quickly ran into the open and began shouting. "Hey, look at me I'm a target!" This was met with the expected barrage of bullets from their assault rifles, and just a little too much laughing from Chance as he began to run in order to avoid being hit. Once Amber and Boomer were in position, they emerged from behind their attackers and began to empty their weapons into their enemies without hesitation. Once they were sure that they were all dead, Boomer did the sensible thing and began to loot their corpses for caps and ammo. While he was looting, he found a strange tape on one of them, and if he was correct it looked like it could fit in the device on either Chance or Amber's foreleg. He brought it over to them, and Chance place the tape inside of his pip-buck, and once the tape started it was revealed to be a recording of someone that they knew all too well. "Hello there Chance and, or Amber, this is your old pal Grimm. Right now you may be wondering how I know that the one listening to this recording is one of you two. Well the answer is quite simple, because Bayonet, poor not so innocent Bayonet, has absolutely no idea what he is carrying. That and I'm willing to guess that those fancy pip-bucks on your legs are one of the few things still in existence that can play one of these tapes. Anyway on to the message, you see the two of you pose quite a problem for me and my boss, and we just can't have that. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be keeping an eye on you two, and anyone else that happens to be with you. If the wasteland doesn't eat you alive, and you ever come back to this Stable then I will. So I suggest that you put any foolish heroic plans of rescuing your Stable behind you, because it's only going to end badly for you, but I know that we'll see each other again soon enough, so until then ta-ta!" The group just stared at the blankly at Chance's pip-buck, still having a hard time believing what they had just heard. Eventually, Chance looked at Amber and Boomer. "Well now what are we going to do?" Boomer looked at him with a sly smile on his face. "I think I may someone that can help us." Chance seemed to regain a little hope from that. "Who are they, and how can they help us?" "Her name isn't important, but if there is one pony in the entire Wasteland that can tell us anything, then it's her." "Well, where is she?" Boomer's smile faded. "That's the thing, she's not exactly local, honestly it's a long fucking walk to get to her. It's definitely a five day travel on hoof and that's if we don't stop unless it's absolutely necessary." Amber already had her answer. "I'm up for anything if it helps us get our home back." Boomer nodded and looked over to Chance. "What about you Chance, are you up for it?" Chance didn't even have to think it over. "Whatever it takes, so lead the way." Boomer nodded and soon after they left the settlement of New Applelossa, following Boomer's lead.
