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"Try to flank him! We need to get to that control panel!" I shouted at my companions, who followed through with my command diligently. Looking back now, it's kinda funny that I, of all ponies, would be the one who led our little escapade. A bullet whizzed past my face as I opened fire from my assault rifle, rounds dinging off the metal walkway above. I ducked behind a slot machine as he returned fire, the bit mongers sparking from the pierced screens. I sprayed at him from behind cover, trying to buy myself some time to think. Although the great open area of the Casino floor had lots of cover, it was useless to me as long as he had the high ground. I needed my companions to flank him, but with my luck he'd find a way to stop them.
"Oh buck me!" I cursed, as a grenade landed at my side. I sprinted back further from the center of the room. I turned towards him, backpedaling to fire bursts of my rifle. I needed to push forward, not move back. If I could only get a little more closer I could- My thoughts were interrupted as an explosion sent me flying forward on to my face, the rifle being wrenched from my telekinetic grip. I stumbled to my hooves as the world around me shifted, the floor tilting backwards. With a sense of despair, I felt gravity pull on me as I fell from The Comet, my body spiraling to give me a face first view of New Occulta.
Ah, New Occulta. City of lights, city of glamour, city of death. Especially mine at the moment.
The glorious center of the Occulta Dominion, a place where you could not only find an empty wallet in your pocket, and a bullet in your skull, but also the inveritable safety from the horrors of the Wasteland. A real slice of heaven, right? Yeah. Real slice of heaven.
It looks so beautiful when you're falling from a giant missile.
If only I realized that that moment would be my last time ever seeing the city like this, I would’ve taken a better look. Sigh.
Now, many of you may have a few questions, "Who is he fighting," "Why is he trying to get to a 'control panel,'" "What's the 'Comet,'" but most prominently, "What in the hay is going on here?"
Well, all in due time, my readers, all in due time. Now normally, this would be the part where I introduce myself, explain who I am, what my purpose is, yadda yadda yadda. Right? Well, y'see, my story is a bit different from that. Where it starts I... well, you'll figure it out for yourself soon. So, let's go back to the beginning of my tale. A tale of a stallion, a city, and a war.
Our story starts on the outskirts of the New Occulta territory. Now, while New Occulta is legendary for being the "safest" city in the wastes, the outskirts aren't too fun to be in. Lot of death, lot of stealing, lot of disease. Republicans don't seem to care too much about those in the 'skirts, to be honest. They're all fine being nice and safe.
Nice and safe within those city walls.
Nice and safe.
Nice and safe inside, while I wake up in a dingy little Wasteland shack.
Now, I like to think of myself as a smart pony. Just a pride thing, really. But, you begin to question your own sanity when you wake up in some shack that's cobbled together with duct tape and wonderglue, laying on a table that's in similar shape, and a unicorn covered in blood is standing over you with a knife, cackling with evil glee. Then, when the unicorn jams a knife into your stomach and the pain goes searing through your entire being, you realize that you're not insane, and you're not dreaming. You realize you're awake, and that this is all real.
Especially the fact that there's a rusty knife jammed into your abdomen.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I screamed, my legs kicking my attacker instinctively, pain jolting with the movement. I battered his face with a flurry of blows from my hooves. Now, mind you, that I wasn't trying to hurt with these strikes. These were more the ‘Oh god oh god I'm being attacked’ type of strikes.
He only chuckled at my feeble display. "So you're not dead yet? Don't worry your little head about it, I'll make sure you get to savor the pain..." As he laughed maniacally, I flailed uselessly at him more as he ripped the knife from my guts.
My scream of pain was drowned out by the sound of guns being fired. He turned away from me, knife still in his telekinetic grasp, to see what was going on. I took this to my advantage, rolling off the table and away from him. Scrambling to my hooves, I sprinted across the room to a stairwell.
By this point, my attacker had turned around and was now coming after me with the knife.
"Come back! I only wanted a snack!" He cackled, his hoofsteps loud behind me.
"Fuck you!" I screamed as I galloped up the stairs, the metal creaking under my weight.
I rounded the railing and ducked into a bedroom. Least, I thought it was a bedroom. I mean, yeah, there was a bed in it, but I wasn't sure that anyone slept there with it currently being occupied by a bloody corpse. Anyways, I dove under the bed as I heard him reaching the top of the stairs. His frantic running slowed until there was only an occasional hoofstep on the metal floor.
"So, decided to play a game of hide and seek? That's good, it gets so boring around here when we just murder them..." He joked, his laugh dropping to a sick chuckle. "I'll find you eventually, you know... every second you hide is another you add to the time I torture you..."
I gulped as his hooves appeared in the doorway, and watched as he walked into the room. One by one he tore apart the cabinets, trying to find me, laughing maniacally all the same. The gunshots outside grew closer and closer. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally left the room, freeing the butterflies in my stomach.
I needed to get out of there. Even if he didn't find me in this search, he'd find me eventually. If I wanted to keep my life, I'd need to get the fuck out of there. So I got the fuck out of there.
Crawling out from my hiding place under the bed, I glanced around the second floor, spotting my attacker in a different room, still on his search for me. I made my way quietly around the railing and started down the stairs. He'd continued his search without a clue that I was heading down there, just a little bit more and I'd be downstairs, heading out the front doo-
Creeeeaakk.
Oh buck me.
I froze as the stairwell creaked under my weight again. The destruction upstairs stopped. Slowly, his hoofsteps began heading towards the stairwell. Closer and closer. He was going to come down here and gut me with that knife of his. I'd die a slow painful death, having to watch as he cut pieces off of me and baked them into cupcakes or something! I saw the knife in my mind's eye, slowly cutting into my body as he stood close to me, close enough to hit...
"There you are!" I heard from behind me, shaking me from my stupor. Legs, don't fail me now! I galloped towards the front door and slammed it open with my head, sprinting out into the bright light of the sun. And when I say bright, I mean bright. As in really bright. As in so bright you won't even be able to see where you're going and most likely will trip on a rock.
As the ground and my hooves broke their embrace, I somersaulted down onto the ground, rolling and rolling as my vision went wild, dirt and sky blending into a mishmash of color. The world slowed it's revolutions until it came to a full stop, my face scanning the sky. The great, blue sky. A few clouds floated up there, and the sun glowed from a great distance behind them, illuminating the sky with color.
It was beautiful, and if I could, I'd have stayed there forever, watching the sky.
The sight was then broken by a gun barrel appearing in my vision, soon followed by a pony with a cowboy hat on.
"Dun't move. Ya do, and I'll blow yuh head off."
________________________________________________________________________________
I shuffled a little as we walked along, my new barding feeling very uncomfortable. It was an itchy one piece jumpsuit, colored Blue and Yellow with a large 54 stylized on my flank. How anyone could wear these for more than five minutes I'd never know. We made a brisk pace, but I could tell I was slowing our little caravan down, the numerous cuts and bruises covering my body making it hard to do anything at the moment. The caravan consisted of me and about 3 settlers from a small village called "Riveridge," found next to and at the bottom of its namesake. They had been hassled by some cannibalistic ponies, "raiders," they called them, who took refuge in an encampment at the top of the ridge. The gunshots I had heard earlier while inside the shack had been from their attack on the encampment. As soon as they took care of the raiders, they hauled me up to my feet and asked me a few questions, then handed me some barding they had on them so I wouldn't be indecent. Some of them were eyeing me though, like I was going to start trying to carve them up with a rusty chef’s knife.
You know, like that raider did to me.
As I was putting the barding on, though, I noticed a sort of gauntlet on my arm, almost like a computer. A PipBuck, model 3000, standard issue for residents of Stable-Tec Stables. I wasn't sure how I knew that off the top of my head, but I was called off by the others before I could dwell on it much. It was weighing down on my mind greatly, my curiosity begging me to start messing with it.
As we walked along, the 3 settlers made idle chatter with me and each other, although I didn't pay attention much, I was more interested in the sights of the valley, the cool blue sky, the reddish sand, it looked so beautiful. I wondered if there was someplace in the world that couldn't see the sky. Maybe they were blocked out by a group of metallic flying villains who despised us ground dwellers. I chuckled to myself as I formed a small story in my head where one of the villains came to the surface and felt pity for us, and then began working alongside a unicorn.
"Hey newbie!" I was shaken out of my thoughts by a cheery voice, and I looked around to see a Zebra in a straw hat and a farmer's outfit looking back at me. "You listenin'?"
"Well, I am now..." I chuckled nervously, a sheepish grin creeping onto my face. The zebra laughed in response.
"I kinda figured that you were payin' too much attention to the clouds in your skull than the conversation. So, could you answer the question?"
"What question?"
"Your name. What is it?"
"Oh, that's easy, my name's..." Oh hey brain. What's that? You're taking an off day? Well, have fun then, leave me here to look like an idiot. No, no, I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'll be able to remember something without the function of my own cerebral cortex. Asshat. "...shit..." I cursed under my breath, "I, uh, can't remember..." The sheepish grin was now joined with heated cheeks. The zebra began laughing once again.
"Okay then, 'Shit,' I'm Modo. Pleased to meet you."
"Oh ha ha, you're very funny."
"Well what else am I supposed to call you, you can't remember your own name, remember?”
The grizzled stone grey Earth Pony in front chuckled, the cowboy hat atop his head jostling from the deep throated bass. “Of course he don’t remember ‘is own name. ‘Lil fucker is probably hiding something, like I said he was earlier.”
My ears flattened against my head, and I opened my mouth to say... I dunno, something, before Modo, the zebra from before, cut me off. “Listen, Boulder, I know you’re the Sheriff, but you can’t just shoot everyone that sets foot near the town!” Modo looked calm, but his voice was betraying the fact that he was pissed. “Like that guy we saw a few days ago, the one you shot in the ass for wearing the wrong outfit.”
“He was a Nobelist, you fuckwit.” The towering giant said, staring down the much smaller Modo. “He was gonna blow our town sky fuckin’ high. You’re just too kind to realize that.”
“He was limping and calling for help.” Modo retorted, his brow furrowing. “Are you really that thick?”
Boulder shook his head and turned away. “Whatever. When the whole town is burned to the fucking ground, don’t come cryin’ to me that he tricked you. But, at least give the fucker a name so I know what to put on the wanted posters.”
Modo glared at the sheriff, his gaze one that would’ve made cockatrices blush, before turning to me, his gaze softening. “Sorry about that, the Sheriff,” he began, hissing the last word with disgust. “Doesn’t take kindly to what he deems as ‘outsiders.’”
“I could gather...” I said, looking down with a chuckle.
“Now what to call you, what to call you...” Modo continued, somehow continuing to walk while scratching his chin with a hoof.
"Yuh could always call 'im Comet, considerin' 'is ass got one on it." The voice came from beside me, from a grizzled brown Earth Pony wearing a cowboy hat. I recognized him as the one who had held me at Shotgun-point while I watched the clouds earlier.
Modo chuckled at the suggestion, and replied, “Well, Sidewinder, that would work if those unintelligible squiggles made sense.”
Unintelligible squiggles? My cutie mark? Blasphemy. ...But... It wouldn’t hurt to check, would it? So yes, I craned my neck to stare at my own ass. My oh so sexy ass. Yeah, not going the ego stroking route, makes me sound like an ass. So anyways, my cutie mark. It wasn’t exactly squiggles, nor was it a definite shape. It was a stylized crescent with 3 spikes jutting out from it, presumably marking motion. I guess it could be interpreted as a Comet... maybe...?
Modo apparently caught my gaze and my befuddled expression and began laughing his ass off.
“See?” He asked, gasping for breath between his laughs, “He doesn’t even know!”
“Well I’m sorry that I’ve got amnesia and can’t remember anything!” I replied, blush creeping onto my face.
“Well Comet it is then. I’ll be sure to ready several Wanted posters for just him.” Boulder rumbled from the front of our little pack.
I furrowed my brow and gave a small glare in the sheriff’s direction, and irritably replied, "You know what? Fine, whatever. Not like it’s gonna become my actual name or anything.”
We continued forward, myself still boiling in indignation of the dumb as rocks Boulder. Eventually we crested over a hill, and I looked forward past Modo and Boulder, seeing some buildings up ahead. "This is Riveridge?" I asked, looking around as we neared the small settlement. As if to answer me, a small message appeared in my vision, created by my PipBuck. [You have discovered "Riveridge."] Auto updating map. That's helpful.
"Eeyup, it's our own little slice of the post apocalyptic world." Modo said, following my gaze. "C'mon, I'll take you to Doc to get patched up."
He split from the group, heading off towards a small house in the distance, and I followed suit. The house was on a small hill overlooking the town from the ridge side, and it looked like a normal house, nothing like the metal shack I woke up in earlier. The town must of been here before the war, I concluded, looking at the other buildings in town, which had a similar look. It looked like a quaint little town, it would've been nice to live here before things went to hell...
Knock, knock, knock.
The door opened to reveal a skin-colored unicorn stallion who was desperately in need of a toupee and a new face. He was shorter and thinner than me and Modo, and had a simple vest and leggings barding that was stained with old blood splotches. Overall, he looked pretty average, aside from the fact that his face looked like it was halfway rotted off his head.
"Oh, it's you, Modo." He said, in a gravelly deep voice. "What do you need this time? Get yourself poisoned again?"
"Nah, we saved someone during the raider raid." Modo chuckled slightly at his lame wording. "He's pretty banged up, so I was hoping you could heal him." Modo then pushed me towards him, and my pupils shrunk at my closer view of his flesh.
"Oh really? What's your name, kid?"
"C-C-Comet... I t-think... uh..." I stammered, my entire being filled with fear at meeting what may have been a zombie.
"What's your problem? Never seen a ghoul before?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. When I shook my head, he facehoofed. "Short story, we ghouls weren't in a Stable when the bombs fell. We got heavily irradiated and became like this. Any questions?"
"N-no, sir."
"Good. Now follow me." He stepped inside the building and gestured for me to follow him which I did, after a glance back at Modo.
Doc led me into a room that had been repurposed into an operating room and clinic. He went about examining my cuts and bruises, the gash in my gut from the knife wound I had forgot about in my adrenaline rush, and some previous injuries I'd taken to the head before my experience in the shack. He removed some bandages from my head that I never realized were there, and spent a fair bit of time looking at my skull. After a few minutes of examination and note-taking, he left the room and returned with a small bottle that he uncorked with his magic and set on a table near me. He walked over to a chair he had in the room and sat down, levitating over a clipboard and pencil. He leafed through the papers on the clipboard as he told me my condition.
"Well, you're suffering from numerous cuts and bruises and a particularly nasty wound to the gut, but you knew all that already, didn't you?" He began, leafing through his clipboard of notes. "Your body is physically healthy, but you've suffered some head trauma recently. I'm not sure if you noticed, but your head was wrapped in bandages, one of them was impaled by your horn as well, which brings me to your next injury, one that has already healed, but will be affecting you still."
"And that is...?"
"Your horn was broken off, how, I don't know, but it was snapped clean off, then was regrown using a potion." My eyes went wide, and I felt the horn on my head with my hoof. Hey, wait, I have a horn? Why did no one tell me about this before? As my thoughts flooded my thinking, Doc continued, "The head trauma may be related to that event, but I'm not entirely sure. Due to your horn being snapped off, your magic power has completely drained. You can still use spells, but it'll be unfamiliar to you and you won't be able to use any spells you previously knew, in fact your magic is about as powerful as a foal's at the moment."
"Well that's great. How am I supposed to use stuff without it?"
He pointed his hoof at the bottle he had brought in with him. "Unlike foals, however, you already have the knowledge and the experience to use your magic. All you need is a little 'pick-me-up' to get you going. I've mixed it into the healing potion I brought in with me. By the way, you'll want to drink up."
I leaned over to the bottle and grabbed it in my teeth, drinking down the slimy concoction.
Doc cleared his throat, then continued on, "Now, this head trauma affects more than your magic, it also affected your memory, that much I could tell from you simply not knowing what a ghoul was. Only Stable Dwellers haven't seen ghouls, and you were found in a shack over 2 miles away from the nearest Stable. I don't know how long the amnesia will last, it could last forever, it could last only a few hours."
He set down his clipboard and pencil as I finished the drink, my body feeling all tingly as the potion began sewing my flesh together again with its magic. "You're one lucky son of a bitch, kid. No memory, a PipBuck on your leg, and you’re within the borders of the Republic. There's many ponies I've seen who'd give to be in your position."
"Lucky?" I scoffed, not believing the old buck. "I can't remember my own name, let alone how I ended up in that shack! How is that lucky?"
"You have nothing to tie you down. No regrets, no worries. There's many a mare and many a stallion that would love to have all their pain and worries gone. To have a 'rebirth' so to speak. I've got my regrets. I lost my family when the bombs fell, and I alone live on. You could've been a murderer, a rapist, you might've crippled your best friend for life due to your mistakes. You have nothing that will hold you back. Your mind has been released from its sins." He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "You've been given a second chance, kid. Don't waste it."
I laid there on the examination table for a bit, the tingly feeling reverberating through my body. Doc's words sunk into my skull as I thought them over. I had a second chance. I had nothing to tie me down. Nothing was stopping me from doing whatever I wanted except for me and me alone.
There was nothing holding me back from doing anything.
I nodded slowly. "I won't, Doc. I won't."
"And another thing," He said, looking me straight in the eyes, "My name's Marrow, not 'Doc.'
________________________________________________________________________________
After a few more tests, including a psychology test, a test of my physical condition, and some practice with basic telekinesis, I was released from Marrow's clinic. The tests had gone off well, the Doc noting specifically the extreme focus I seemed to possess, mirroring my idle absentmindedness, and the smaller build I had to most stallions, contributing to my overall agility. He also explained to me how to use my PipBuck, and downloaded the results of the tests onto it, so I could browse it at my leisure. Outside the clinic I found Modo sitting in the shade of a nearby house with a set of saddlebags in front of him. He brightened up when he saw me step out of the clinic, and trotted over to me, the bags in his teeth.
"Hey, Comet!" He greeted me cheerfully, dropping the bags on the ground in front of him. "I figured since you're gonna be staying here for a while, I got you some stuff to help you get settled in."
"I don't know, Modo, I've been here for no more than 3 hours. There's really no reason for me to stay here yet." I replied, watching him dig through the bags for stuff.
"Well, I got you stuff anyways." He pulled a pistol out of the bags and tossed it over to me, then began throwing the rest of the content in front of me as well, listing them as they flew out. "9mm Pistol, 9mm ammo, 5.56mm rounds, some fresh fruit, a combat knife, fedora, and last but not least..." He reached into the bag and pulled out some barding, setting it on the ground instead of just tossing it. "Some mercenary armor. Thought you might want the protection for when we're off exploring."
"Exploring?" I rose an eyebrow at that.
"You need to get accepted by the townsfolk before they'll let you live here. I go spelunking every so often to find some loot to bring back and sell in Register's store." He explained, gesturing up the ridge. "There's all kinds of caves up there that creatures have hid in too, so I also get paid for clearing them out. If you help me out, I'll pay you, and the townspeople will be more willing to let you stay here."
I thought about it for a minute. On one hoof, I'd be getting some cash and somewhere I could stay and store my stuff. On the other hoof, I'd be putting myself in harms way where I may get hurt and/or die. Dying and getting hurt weren't really on the top of my list of things I wanted to accomplish. Although, if there were raiders like the ones that had me captured in other places in the world, I might need to get some experience with handling weapons.
I sighed and, reluctantly, agreed.
The joy that appeared on his face cannot be described by words.
He told me to meet him at the saloon when I was ready to go, and then trotted off. I packed the items, excluding the barding, back into the saddlebags individually, then levitated them onto my back. As I did so, a small notice similar to the map notice appeared in my vision, listing everything I had picked up and categorizing them. Auto inventory sorter. Helpful little arm terminal that I have here, no?
I rounded the back of Doc's clinic, getting into a position where I couldn't be seen from town and changed into the mercenary gear. It was surprisingly light with all the protection it offered, and was much more comfortable and preferable to the 'Stable 54 Barding' my PipBuck had called what I had previously been wearing. I slipped the Stable Barding into my saddlebags and pulled out the pistol. It wasn't in the best condition, I noted as I examined it, but it would get me through a fight okay, so long as I had enough 9mm rounds to last me the entire fight and, thanks to Modo, I wasn't too worried about that. He had bought several clips of the stuff just for me.
I stuck the pistol in the side holster provided, as well as stashing the combat knife in one the foreleg opposite of the PipBuck. The rest of the gear I left inside the saddlebags, which was a bit of a struggle to pick up, I might add. Whatever Doc had given me to heal my magic was working wonders, but it apparently didn't restore my strength fully. Oh well. I could at least aim and fire the pistol with it, so I had that, at least. I trotted into town slowly, surveying the town some more as I went off looking for Modo. The town itself wasn't too impressive, asides from some of the restored buildings, a store and a saloon, respectively. As I looked around though, I swear I caught a glimpse at a robot, but when I checked again nothing was there. Great job brain. First you leave me without memory, then you make me start seeing things.
With Modo nowhere to be found, I decided that a drink would be nice, and I entered the saloon. It was a quaint little saloon, showing the wear of being "lived in" but nice nonetheless. I trotted up to the bar and sat down, the barmare smiled at me, polishing a glass with her magic.
"Haven't seen you in town before. You that new guy we done picked up from the raiders?" She stated, her magic still polishing the glass as she looked me up and down.
"Yeah, I guess. Woke up in some shack with a unicorn standing over me with a knife." I replied, bluntly. I chuckled slightly. "I thought I had lost my mind or something, but the severe pain from the rusty knife in my abdomen kinda proved that theory to be false."
"I also heard that you were bookin' it outta that shack fast as your little legs could carry you."
"Well yeah, of course I was. When you're defenseless and hiding under a bed while a psychotic maniac hunts you down with a rusty knife you kinda want to get out of there. Especially so once you sneak halfway down the stairs to have them squeak and alert the psycho to your position."
She laughed. "Yeah, that'll do it, I guess. So what's your name, stranger?"
"If only I knew. My brain has been leaving me hanging today. Modo's been calling me Comet, though, so I guess that'll do for now."
"Well Comet, I'm Moonshine. Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise."
"Now that formalities have been taken care of, can I get you anything?"
"Yeah, a beer would be nice." She pulled out a bottle with her magic and plopped it on the counter, my magic taking hold of it.
"First one's on the house. Welcome to Riveridge, by the way."
I thanked her and began to drink the beverage, making small talk while I did so. She told me about the town and New Occulta, eager to answer any questions I asked. She even told me about the Assembly and some group of Zebras from the southern side of the city that she heard about. According to her, the zebras were supporters of the "old style," of when zebras and ponies were murdering each other with gigantic weapons of doom. The Assembly, on the other hand, was for unity and peace, both ponies and zebras lived together in peace. Hell, the president of the whole group was a zebra, the vice being a unicorn. Seems pretty nice, right? Welp, those in the Occulta Assembly don't even bother handling anything outside of the big tickets. Small towns like Riveridge are left twisting in the wind instead of getting the help they need.
"They don't like to come too far north these days. Say we've got the radiation that seeps out of Equestria embedded inside us. It's almost enough to make you believe that they didn't come from up North themselves." She said, getting a mite bit irritated from the thought of the Assembly.
"Maybe they didn't, maybe they came from some other place like this, all nice and blue and green and all that bull."
"That's bull crap, and you know-" She stopped her self for a second, then continued, "My apologies, I forgot about your condition for a minute. Y'see, we saw them come marching in from further north. All in armor and everything. Took out anything that got in their way. Raiders? Crushed. Animals? Cooked. Robots? Shocked. Then they get to the city and become high and mighty prissy little pussies."
"Seems about right." Modo said from behind me, chuckling.
"Oh, hey Modo." I said, glancing at him before returning to the conversation.
...
Wait, when the hell did he get here?
"Wait, when the hell did you get here?" I said, turning and gaping at the wall.
...
What the fuck. He was just there 3 fucking seconds ago. Where the fuck could he have gone.
"You alright there, Comet?" Modo asked from my left side. I looked over to see him sitting at the bar, draped in a cloak, and sipping a beer. When he set the mug back down his face wore a mischievous little grin. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"How did you do that?" I asked, glancing at where he had been and where he was now, to which he responded by pulling the hood of the cloak over his face, his entire body becoming completely invisible. He pulled it off and grinned at me.
"Stealth Cloak. Inherited it from my father." He explained. For a second I thought his smile wavered, but I shrugged it off. Being a bit intoxicated doesn't help you with examining details, after all.
"So, time to go?" I asked, downing the rest of my drink, letting the beer warm my belly a little.
"Eeyup." He replied, sticking a small sprig of wheat into his mouth to chew on.
________________________________________________________________________________
SCREEEEEE
"Gah! What the hay?!" I yelled, the pig-sized beast jumping onto me, trying to turn me into a nice snack. Thank god my PipBuck was chewproof. I brought my pistol down onto his head several times to knock him off, before kicking him away and blasting my whole clip into his face. I stopped to catch my breath for a moment when I spied Modo sniping some of the things with a rifle. Yeah, he gets the fun job of being sniper while I'm the bait.
"Hey Modo!" I yelled, earning a glance in my direction. "Maybe next time I can snipe and you can be the bait!"
"Maybe next time!" He said, chuckling as one of the babies bit into my flank.
"Celestia damn it!" I yelled in response, bringing my combat knife out of its sheath and into its head. "What the hay are these things anyways?!"
"Giant Mole Rats!" Modo replied after a gunshot. "Mutated from prolonged exposure to the spellfire radiation!"
"Y'know, I'm really starting to hate this place!"
"You get used to it!"
Modo and I had headed right out from the saloon, following the river up along the ridge. It was pretty quiet, considering he decided to scout ahead with his stealth cloak. I stayed behind, finishing off any injured creatures I saw with my knife. Most of them were already dead by the time I reached them. When I reached the cave's entrance, Modo reappeared and we entered together. From the outside, it was a pretty small entrance. From the inside, it was fucking huge. There was several sections of the cave where all of Riveridge could've fit, buildings and all. But instead of finding buildings when I entered I just found bazillions of Rat things all wanting to devour my tasty giblets. Bah, now I’m exaggerating.
I heard another screech from my left and I ducked just in time to keep a furry missile from taking my head off. I turned and fired wildly at the beast, strafing away from it. The clip was soon spent, only a few of the bullets having hit the beast, so I lunged at it with my knife. I headbutted it as I tackled it, sideswiping the knife into the beast's skull. I ejected the clip from the pistol as Modo reduced the thought processes of another of our foes into applesauce. Delicious, bloody applesauce. Loading a new clip, I took aim at a beast in front of me, when I was knocked onto my stomach from behind. I yelled in pain as the Rat on my back ripped a chunk from my ear. I fired wildly behind me, but he kept on chewin'. I ran out of bullets quickly, and resorted to swinging the gun in a wide arc, which did end up working, to my surprise. I loaded another clip quickly, using my hooves to keep the beast from chewing on me. I took aim and fired, the beast darting out of the way. It lunged at me, and I dropped the gun, as it was useless to me against these quick moving beasts, but the knife however...
A satisfying spray of blood coated my face as my knife made love with the Rat's brain.
The knife was doing just fine. I tucked my pistol away into my saddlebags and focused on the knife. One pounced, aiming for my flank, and I sidestepped in response, giving a nice gash along its side. It slid and turned for another charge, and I shoved the knife into its face with a telekinetic throw. A lifeless corpse landed in front of me, and I removed the knife from the skull with my teeth.
Now this was a weapon meant for close quarters. Too bad using it put me in danger. I'd need to play smart when using this thing. One slip up and I'd be dead.
A gunshot rang out from above, and a squeal from behind informed me that Modo had just saved my life. I looked up to thank him when I spied him shimmering back into sight. He looked a bit mortified at my current appearance. Seeing the unicorn who fled for his life from a shack of murderers only a few hours before now covered head-to-toe in blood? Little creepy. I chuckled.
"I think I got a little carried away."
"Nah, I'm just amazed at how graceful you were with that blade. Jamming it into the skull of a beast who's chewing on you, it's blood coating your crazed expression of fury?"
"Funny."
"I try," He said, laughing, "We should really get moving, though. We've got more areas to clear out."
"Yay." I cheered at the prospect of more things kicking my ass.
We had continued on through the cave. I relied less on the pistol and more on the knife as we continued through. The more I fought with the knife the more I got used to the concept of close-quarters combat. Sidestepping, parrying, using throws and grabs when needed. It came almost naturally, the techniques coming to mind as I thought of my next move. Every fight seemed like a game of chess, each move having a different effect on the game. Advance with the pawn, set up your strike with the bishop, and go in for the kill with the queen. Rush forward, sidestep and parry with the knife, and finish them off with a lunge. Easy peasy. My biggest problem was that I couldn't watch my six all the time. Modo had to keep me covered with his sniper. Eventually none of the living Rats remained, and we headed onward down a narrow path.
Near the end we saw a light reflecting off the walls, and we discovered the remnants of an old explorer and his little outpost. It was blocked off by a chain gate that was locked from the outside with a key. Modo took care of the lock and we entered, looking for weapons and anything useful. As I examined the room I wondered what had become of the explorer that had been here, his skeletal grin taunting me with the hidden knowledge of his fate. Why was he locked here, and what for? To escape the Rats? Survive the spells and radiation? A... betrayal?
We grabbed the ammo we found inside and some of the few, albiet rotten medical supplies, from which Marrow could extract some ingredients. In a footlocker under the bed I had found a strange looking weapon, as well as some... batteries? I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but I was able to work it... somehow, loading it and aiming. I didn't fire though, and tucked the "Energy Pistol" into my saddlebags. Once more I was informed by a little blip in my eyeballs.
When we had left the cave finally it was getting dark, so we went back to town.
________________________________________________________________________________
It was pretty uneventful after that. All we really DID after the Cave was walk to Modo's house. We had a small meal of some Steak, the "Brahmin" type, whatever the hell that was, and then just went to sleep. I found it a bit odd that we were eating meat. From what I could recall from my horribly fucked up mind, I thought that we were herbivores. Vegetarians. No eat-y meat-y. You get the picture. I didn’t really trust my mind to provide me with valuable information at this point in time, so I downed the meat anyways. Within minutes Modo was snoring. I, on the contrary, couldn't seem to get comfortable at all. Sleep was being a cruel mistress to me that night. I sat around, practiced aiming and loading, cleaned my weapons, polished the knife, and toyed around with my PipBuck. I couldn't find anything noted in the device that would give me any clue to what had happened before I found myself in the shack, the only note I found being a single word, which, ironically, was my "name."
Name. "Comet" really wasn't my name, per say, but it was the only thing I had so far. It's a lot better than "Shit," though. For the first time, I rolled my barding back and took a good look at the little symbol there. It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, a simple orange cresent-like circle with several overdramatic spikes coming from it. Probably to emphasize the vapour trail that follows a comet as it soars through the sky. Again, another fact that just came to me. I tried to remember my past for a bit, but came up fruitless. I didn't think too much about it, vaguely recalling Marrow saying something about it possibly taking a while for my memories to come back.
The longer I sat there without sleep, the more jittery and restless I became. I decided to stretch my legs and go for a walk outside, drinking in the cool night air and looking at the stars. I opened the door as quietly as I could, so as to not disturb Modo, and walked out. The town was quiet this late at night. Nopony was outside or awake, making the night become incredibly peaceful. It... put me at ease, strangely. It was odd, the feeling of just being out here in the darkness, looking at the twinkling stars above.
The sky was, admittedly, a bit hard to see from the current vantage point I had. I decided to head up the ridge to get a better view, of the town and of the sky. From that point I was able to see the whole town, and the sky, in it's brilliance. The only thing that broke the beauty was a bright light from the south, coming out from behind a mountain. It didn't block out too much of the sky though, and I was still able to observe it in peace.
That is, until he showed up.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He stated from behind me.
I turned to see a pony-ish shape covered in duster and armor. A helmet and goggles covered his head, and the duster covered most everything else. He was a little hard to see in the darkness, but he seemed friendly enough. He trotted over and sat down next to me.
"Yeah, it really is. It's... calming." I replied, gazing at the stars with amazement. How anypony could live without seeing the sky I didn't know...
"Indeed. You're Comet, correct?" He asked, a bit of a accent rolling off his tongue.
"I guess. Don't know my own name, don't know my past, don't know nothin'." Sighing, I laid down, my eyes still focused on the tiny balls of gas that flew about the cosmos.
"Well, do you want to find out?"
It took a minute for what he said to sink in. He knew my past and could tell me. What luck!
"Hell yeah!" I replied, turning to him eagerly, to which he chuckled.
"Sorry to disappoint, but, uh..."
Son of a bitch.
"I don't really know your past." I laid back down in defeat, brooding over my- "But I do know how you lost your memories, and who did it." Turning back now!
"Wait, someone made me lose my memories? Why would someone do that?"
"I don't know, but this-" He stopped to roll a small blue orb towards me. "Should explain it. Now I don't know the bugger's name, but it looked like he meant to do it, and that he planned to do it." He continued with a sigh, as I mentally pointed out the complete nonsensical nature of his previous statement. "I'm doing this because I believe that you'll do the right thing with this information. What you choose to do is entirely up to you. I won't force you to do anything."
I looked at the orb in curiosity. How would an glass orb help me? Honestly, what would it do? Transport my mind into the memories of another? Gift me with unimaginable knowledge of amazing creations? Explode? Twice? Tentatively I wrapped the orb in my magic and brought it over to me. I levitated it in front of my face and looked at it in curiosity. It looked like a little glass orb. The hell is it supposed to- A force on my head pushed me forward, making my horn connect with the orb, interrupting my entire train of thought as it sent me into the white light of unconsciousness.
Although, usually it's black when you lose consciousness.
When the whiteness cleared I was standing in some sort of maintenance hallway, pipes lining the roof and small generators lining nooks in the walls. Aside from slight confusion, I felt perfectly fine. Then I started walking. Except I wasn't walking. Yes, that's confusing as fuck, but that's what happened. It was weird... like I was on autopilot or something. I trotted down the hallway, a shotgun levitated next to me. A Ghoul, similar looking to Marrow peaked his head in to the hallway, opening his mouth to call out, but I was faster, blowing it's head off with the shotgun. What the hell! They may look like they're going to eat you, but that doesn't mean they ar- I yelped in pain, twisting to see a Ghoul clawing into my flank, hissing like an unearthly abomination. One barrel of shotgun and a blast of buckshot later, the Ghoul's head was missing.
I headed up some stairs, still on auto pilot, and reached what appeared to be a control room. I gazed out over the rows of buttons and wide arrange of cameras showing useless footage of empty hallways or Ghouls pacing around mindlessly. For a second I saw someone in the monitor, somepony, to be specific, who was not a Ghoul. I turned away before I could get a good look, though. Stupid autopilot. Stupid orb. Stupid me for even accepting his help. When I figure out how to control my body again I'm going to- Oh, lookie here, gunshot followed by searing pain in the side of my skull, and blood flying everywhere. I turned to see my attacker, only for somepony to shoot me in the chest with a scoped revolver.
The shot staggered me, wrenching the shotgun from my telekinetic grip and making me stumble and fall. I looked up to a revolver barrel staring me in the face, a crimson unicorn buck in leather armor holding it to my head.
Drunkenly, I attempted to speak. "You... bastard..." Great work, autopilot me, that's sure to get us somewhere!
"You deserved this." The buck said, before bringing up his hoof to smash it into my head.
As I experienced the most blinding pain anypony could ever be subjected to, everything went to white once more, and when the whiteness cleared, I was laying on the ridge back in town, the orb laying on the dirt in front of me, the sun just peaking over the horizon. The pain from that experience was over, completely gone from my system. It was odd, a very surreal experience. I woke my sleepy limbs, picked up the orb in my mouth, and trotted/stumbled over to Modo's house once more. When I opened the door, he was reading a book in the corner of the room. He looked up when I shut the door.
"Oh, there you are, Comet." He greeted me cheerfully. "Take a early morning walk, I take it?"
I spat the orb out and replied, "You could say that. I... found this up on the ridge. Could you tell me what it is?"
He took one glance at the orb and then turned back to his book. "That's just a memory orb. They're supposed to allow ponies to see the recorded memories of others from their point of view, but they only naturally work with unicorns."
"Huh." Was all I could reply as my brain seemingly was flooded with the necessary information concerning "Memory Orbs." Thanks for working earlier when I was about to use it, brain. I sighed and walked into the bathroom, having a serious need to pee. What? You're reading this story to find out what happened to me, right? Fine, fine. I'll spare you the details. The important thing was is that while I was expelling urine from my bladder, I felt a pain in the side of my head. A phantom pain from the orb, maybe? I trotted over to the mirror to get a look at where the pain was coming from.
Sure enough, a scabbed up gash was there on the side of my head. My eyes went wide, and I furiously took off the torso part of my barding to reveal a small bullet wound slightly to the right of where my heart is. I went pale. I scrambled into the living room.
Modo looked up and seemed a mix of concerned, horrified, and amused. Smug bastard. "Comet, what's wrong? Why aren't you wearing your barding?"
I gestured frantically to my head and torso in what may have been the most awkward dance routine a pony could do. "Is there a gash on the side of my head?"
"Yeah."
"Is there a bullet wound in my chest?"
"Yeah, I can see it right there." His face contorted into a look of confusion. "Why, is it important that those are there?"
I didn't answer him. My legs wobbled and my face contorted as danced the line of consciousness and unconsciousness.
You might ask, why I was so panicked at a few wounds, some of which I had taken yesterday. Well, if you were paying attention earlier, I mentioned that in the memory orb, my auto-piloted self took a grazing bullet to the head, and a bullet to the torso. Now, with my new knowledge of memory orbs, and the fact that the one I used made me feel completely normal...
Prize goes to whoever figured out that the orb had my memory inside.
/End Transmission/
/Data Compile is complete./
/Display compiled data?/
[Y] / N
/Displaying Compiled Data.../
Level Up - You have reached Level 2.
Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. results have been formulated and are as follows;
Strength - 4
Perception - 8
Endurance - 5
Charisma - 3
Intelligence - 10 (Locked, unaffected by ailments and status effects)
Agility - 8 (+1 Small Frame)
Luck - 3
Traits Added;
Small Frame - Due to your thinner frame than most stallions, you have +1 to your Agility but your limbs are easier to cripple.
Trigger Discipline - You’re 20% cooler when under pressure! When using Guns or Energy Weapons, you fire 20% slower and need 20% more AP per SATS Attack, but generally fire 20% more accurately.
Perk Added;
Friend of Luna - You’re a true friend of the moon goddess. Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions indoors and when darkness falls over paradise.
/End of Compiled Data/
/Additional files have been detected on the server./
/Begin download of Comet2.zip?/
[Y] / N
/Download commensing./
/Remaining download time: 3 hours./
/Downloading.../
Hey, everypony, it’s me, Pegashush here!
Finally, finally Asini has been released. I apologise deeply for the wait some of you have had to actually read it. It was honestly a very bad time for me to post the intro as I am a gamer, and it was the beginning of November.
As in, the month where all the games release. I kinda got carried away. Eheh...
But, anyways, it’s here now for all to enjoy!
So I invite you to sit back, relax, and join me for the ride!
Also, thanks go out to my pre-readers and editors!
Thanks to Mimezinga (Pink Eyes), Adder1 (The Last Sentinel), and Dina (Best Laid Plans) from the Fallout: Equestria Side Stories Complication for their help in getting this story!
Want more of Fallout: Asini? Track and/or favorite the story on FiM Fiction! Want to influence future chapters? Comment! Want to listen to me ramble? No? Do it anyway by tracking me on FiM Fiction and following any of the links in my profile!
Want more Fallout: Equestria? Then head on over to the complication doc! It’s the place where everypony knows your name!
That’s it for now, I hope to see you all again soon!
Fallout: Equestria Side Stories Complication:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KaoFWVlFlMjYR2KmTWxwCYnvTZQcjEULO9YHSaqqk9U/edit?hl=en\_US
