Fallout Equestria: Internal Darkness

“Dreams are said to be a portal to one’s subconscious. A place where both your greatest hopes, and fears, can be realized.”

As I walked down the dimly lit hallways, I kept Ultraviolet at the ready. Something wasn’t right.

As I slipped down the next hallway of pure, blank, white walls, I heard a noise come from behind. With a sharp turn, a fired three rounds behind me.

Nothing was there.

I reloaded, and pressed on. I had to figure out what the hell was going on here.

After another few minutes of walking, I watched as the lights on the ceiling slowly winked out, one by one. As the hallways went pitch black, the noise came back.

It echoed down the halls. A small, scraping that grated on my ears. I couldn’t move anywhere, the hall was too dark, and so I sat there. I listened as it slowly approached, gun ready to shoot anything coming down the hallway, until it became obvious that it wasn’t coming from down the hallway.

A huge crash sounded right above my head, so I shot at it. With a loud plopping noise, something slipped off the ceiling, and onto the floor. The lights came back on right after, and I was horrified to see the face of Lime, laying there, staring at me, lifeless, one perfect shot, right between her eyes.

***

I woke up in a cold sweat.

I slowly climbed off the ground, and set to talking care of the small fire we had started earlier that night.  The flames licked at the small branches we has gathered from the dead forest nearby.

I looked out over the small kids sleeping. Twelve in all, plus Pocket, or at least that’s what she said her name was. That little girl had saved all of us, and I was glad. I didn’t go to get my freedom just to be captured again.

Still, the kids were safe, and it’d be only another few hours walk once dawn broke to get to Riverside. I guess we were lucky. I have no clue how I managed to take the slavers down, or get these kids out to here. I know Pocket helped to get them to trust me, but, I was able to get them organized.

Some of the kids told me they knew how to use a gun, their parents taught them, others didn’t. Those who couldn’t helped carry supplies. With a small army of five shooters, nothing had caused us much of a problem on the way here.

There was a small group of coyotes who got close, and nipped me, but we chased them off, and one bandage was enough to cover the wound well.

As the stars shone down on our small camp, I couldn’t help but realize the sadness in it all. These kids would live their lives as orphans, in the streets of an unfamiliar town. They had no control in their life, and a group of bastards tried to take away the chance for them to choose anything for themselves. I might have saved their freedom, but certainly not their lives. Being poor, living off the streets, it’d be horrible. The only real hope they have is if someone were to have taken them in.

By the look of the town, I didn’t think anyone would have the money to try and help the kids out.

Unfortunately, that was how this world worked. Very few would ever be able to lead a happy life, hell, I didn’t even remember who I was, and my first day or two was shit.

I slowly sunk back down onto the ground, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

***

“Mister! Time to get up, we have to head out, right?”

I slowly pulled myself up, and dusted myself off. Most of the kids were either just getting up, or eating a small breakfast. Pocket walked over to the small eating area, and sat down before gorging on a box of old snack cakes.

I sat down, and opened a small box of super old cereal. It wasn’t bad, but I knew it couldn’t be good for me.

After another few minutes of eating, we hurried down the path towards Riverside, Pocket at my side. It took a few hours before the town finally came into view. As we walked down the banks, we received a lot of strange looks. From disbelief to joy, to sadness.

I looked towards the hospital, and saw three armed ponies walk down the hill, staring at me. They got to the bottom of the hill, and pulled out their guns.

“Oi, kid,” one called down to me, “we were to hunt you down, good for us, you plopped down right in front of us!” He pulled up his rifle, and fired.

The shot rammed home into one of the kids. Just like that, he was gone.

With a swift move, I aimed Ultraviolet, and fired. The bullet struck him in the leg, and he kneeled in pain. With another crack from behind me, his head was gone.

All the kids around me scattered, it was for the best. If they weren’t here, they wouldn’t be shot, and I wouldn’t have to feel bad for leaving them.

I dove behind a building, and peeked out behind them. A few shots came from my left as another of the guys fell. I shot my vision across to Pocket with her small pistol hiding in the shadow of a large crate. That girl was a stealthy monster.

I was about to fire at the last buck, who took cover behind a large rock at the base of the hill, when a large revving came from behind me. I turned to see Ember revving up that huge minigun that was in her store.

She turned to the rock, and screamed: “No ponah fuckin touches this kid, got it?”

The last buck of the trio screamed out his apologies, and ran out of Riverside. I guess a screaming pony with a minigun is more than enough to discourage most.

“Hey, kid,” Ember called over to me, waving her hoof, “nice ta see ya made it. Just, where’s Lime? She off payin yer debt, er sumthin?”

“Ember… Lime didn’t make it. That building was a slaver camp, and a sniper hit her…” I didn’t have the resolve to look her in the eye. It might have only been for a small while, but I truly missed Lime. Thrown into a crazy world where every day some new shit is thrown at you, she was one of the few that tried to make any real difference in the lives of others.

After a minute of it sinking in, Ember broke down. I trotted over to comfort her as she cried. After another few minutes, she stood back up, and held up her minigun.

“Kid,” she said, looking to the sky, “Lime died for ya, so ya bedder fuckin do something worthwhile with yer life.”

With that, she slowly strode back into her shop. With a lingering gaze, she stepped into her store, and slammed the door shut.

“Hey mister, who’s Lime?” Pocket questioned, as she ran up alongside me.

I couldn’t break now, I had to go the hospital, and confront them.

“No pony important, Pocket. Now come on, we have some ponies to talk to.”

***

Getting into the Hospital on the hill was the easy part.

Getting through the five or so bounty hunters in the fucking lobby wasn’t.

After a grueling fifteen minutes of exchanging fire, the last one finally fell, and we proceeded down the hall. I checked my ammo, and sure enough, I only had twelve shots left. If we ran into another group like that, I’d run out.

After a few more turns down some halls, to the astonished looks of some patients, Pocket and I found it. A single board room in the center of the building labeled “Committee Offices”.

With a swift jerk of her hoof, a tool popped out of a small wrist-band. She slipped it into the lock, and quickly unlocked the door.

Within a few minutes, the lock clicked open. With a shove, the door opened.

The room was basically bare, save a table, and the ten ponies seated around it. Also, the ten bodyguards standing around them.

All at once, they pulled up their rifles at us, and with a gruff order, told us to sit down.

The head chairpony stood up, and looked over us.

“Hey, listen here you whelp. We let you run off with that Lime girl, only for you to crawl back four days later. Looks like we are selling you off anyways, huh? Your debt wasn’t paid!” He sat back down in a huff.

I looked back at him, and slid a bag of caps across the table. I’ll tell you one thing, though, Slavers make a lot of money. I was just happy I found them, I was about to toss them away when Pocket stopped me.

The Chairpony started counting out caps, until he had taken half of the bag.

“Oh… you have the money. So, I guess you’re free.” He motioned forward, and one of the guards unlocked my collar with a small key.

“Now, get the fuck out of our hospital. You already scared the town by shooting at the bounty hunters we sent out, but what did you expect? You can’t just leave and get away with it now.” He sat back down, as two of the guards walked over to us.

Pocket and I stood up, and were escorted outside by the two thugs.

As we were dumped on our asses by the guards, they looked down at us.

“Sorry, kids, we have a job. Get lost.” With that, they walked back inside.

As Pocket and I looked out over the town, the sun was setting. It was nice, honestly, the sky was clear for once. The light shone down on the town.

That’s when the screaming began.