Chapter 1: The Enclave
The calm before the storm. I always heard about it in stories when I was a younger colt, but I never really understood it. When there was a bad storm rolling into town, there was a panic, not calm. But sitting here tonight with my closest friends, I finally understand. We all are quiet, even though we know that some of us won’t live through tomorrow. The final battle is
coming, and it’s going to be a big one. I should be preparing, but all I can think about is what brought me here.
Before we get into the hell that is now my life; let me tell you a story about a little fishing town in the mountains of Equestria. I grew up in the village of Bayhoof Falls, a quiet town far to the north that was overlooked by an ancient factory. Bayhoof was one of the few places that lacked the radiation and taint that permeated the rest of the wastes. There was a large mountain lake with pure, clean water and plenty of shelter. The village was a veritable oasis in the wasteland; however, it was near impossible to reach unless you were a pegasus. The mountain ranges that surrounded it, and protected it from the onslaught of balefire bombs 200 years ago, were near vertical and almost impossible to climb. Before the war, there were tunnels running through the mountains and to Bayhoof, but those sealed up when the bombs dropped; a security protocol shut the massive metal doors at each of the entrances.
In the years after the war, the town was stumbled upon by the few earth ponies and unicorns that were looking to escape the horrors of the equestrian wastelands. Through sheer determination, the settlers were able to overcome the cliffs and deep gullies that guarded the town of Bayhoof. Once settled, the new residence of Bayhoof Falls took up fishing and small scale farming to sustain them. Paths were made to establish trade with other parts of the waste’s, but even with a path established, the brutal terrain made it a hard journey that few traders were willing to make. The village of Bayhoof Falls remained shielded from the rest of the wastelands. Over the years, though, the population of the town began to dwindle. The inhabitants began to succumb to inbreeding, and the town began to die.
Then stable 76 opened up.
76 was one of the few stables made strictly for pegasi, and unfortunately was built into a mountain too short to break the cloud cover made by the enclave. When 76 opened the pegasi attempted to fly into the clouds to escape the site of the wasteland that greeted them. Many were promptly shot down for the simple fact that they came from below; any similar attempts in the years afterwards were met with similar results. The pegasi found the town of Bayhoof mere miles from the stable and breathed a new life into it. They introduced new ponies to the shrinking gene pool and to the work force. Once a secure trade rout was established with the rest of the wasteland, Bayhoof Falls became one of the most prominent suppliers of fish and fresh water to the other settlements of Equestria.
The factory that overlooked the town had been sealed since the bombs fell. It was a grey building with three large smoke stacks that towered over Bayhoof. On the four corners of the factory’s roof, there were gatling turrets silently guarding the courtyard below. Over the years, scavengers had tried to gain entry to the factory, however; anypony who set foot past the factory’s main gate was immediately gunned down. To this day, nopony has been in the factory since the war.
I was born several generations after the town was founded. My father, Gaff, was an earth pony; he was also one of the top fishercolts in the village. My mother, Wordplay, was a pegasus; she was one of the few teachers we had, and she was the best. I was fortunate enough to get the best traits from both of my parents. I got my father’s earth pony stubbornness and resilience, and (at least a bit of) my mother’s intelligence and more obviously; her wings. Much to my annoyance, however, I picked up one annoying trait from Dad; his accent. I had no problem forming words in my mind, but when they came out, they never sounded quite right. I tried my best to speak properly like Mom, but I never quite got it.
My name is True Hook, and I’m a fishercolt. As the son of one of possibly the best fishercolts in Bayhoof I was expected to follow in his hoofsteps and replace him when he passed on. And I did.
The day I got my cutie mark was also the day that I lost my father to the waters that (ironically enough) gave us life.
I grew faster than most colts, and reached my full size at an early age, before I even got my cutie mark, so I was put to work. It was about a year after I started fishing with dad, and I had gotten very good at it. Dad and I were out on the boat at dawn, we were fishing for the biggest catch of all. Sea serpents. Rather, we were hunting the sea serpent that had been plaguing the fishercolts of Bayhoof for years, we called him Ol’ Levi.
I saw him first.
Ol’ Levi’s jet black eyes were the only indication that he was there. He came along side of our ship, the Blessing, and breached the water. Levi reared out of the lake, towering over us. His sickly green scales caught the light that peaked from under the clouds and made him even more imposing. Only seeing him bare his jagged teeth brought me out of my daze and snapped me into action.
“Dad! Bring the cannon around on the starboard side!” Our defenses included the harpoon cannon on the bow of the Blessing and our personal effects. We wore modified battle saddles equipped with smaller harpoon guns and retractable cables for hauling in our kills. We also carried bowie knives strapped to our forelegs and large revolvers in our barding. Dad fired the cannon directly into the chest of the serpent as it rose out of the water in front of us. I felt the boom of the cannon wrack through the Blessing as the serpent reeled in pain. It went under and started to dive. The cable that now connected Ol’ Levi to the Blessing went taught and began to pull us down. Dad, in a frantic attempt to save the ship, readied his harpoon to try and end the serpent that was now slowly towing is under.
“True! Put the engines in reverse and keep ‘er afloat as long as ya’ can!” And then he dove in. Those were the last words I heard from him. Minutes later the line went slack. Then Ol’ Levi surfaced a second time, now missing one of his massive eyes and the cord of Dad’s harpoon coming from its empty socket and disappearing into his mouth, where there were now remains of my father caught in his teeth.
My eyes narrowed and as I felt a white hot rage start to burn inside of me. “YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” I cursed at it, and then I took to the air; ready to completely massacre the serpent. I dove into his mostly-empty eye socket and fired my barbed harpoon into the softest looking part I could find. The bolt speared through the mix of blood and fluids from Levi’s eye and sunk halfway into the back of the socket. I was rewarded with a shriek of pain from Ol’ Levi; I assumed I hit something vital. Grinning like a madcolt, I pulled out my revolver and fired mercilessly into the spot at the back of the socket that I had opened up. After spending all six of the shots from my .357, I drew my knife and started to hack at anything that looked remotely important. After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes, I flew out of Ol’ Levi’s mangled skull and landed on the Blessing. Then I did one of the cruelest things I could’ve done.
I dug in my hooves and hit the retract button on my battle saddle.
Ol’ Levi let out a long death droll as I pulled out a portion of his brain along with the harpoon.
I used the crank on the ship’s gun to reel in the serpent and proceeded to lash him to the side of the Blessing. I then brought the ship about and dragged the carcass back to the docks. Levi was strung up and gutted. The only intact thing they found of my father was his knife. As part of my inheritance, I use that knife to this very day, took to calling it “Gaff’s Edge,” in honor of Dad. Later that night after I broke the news to Mom, I realized I now had a tattoo on my flank. It was a fishing hook with a length of line curling around it and tied off at the eye of the hook. That day was bittersweet. I found my “super-special talent” but at the cost of losing my father.
Assuming command of the Blessing I fished the waters of Bayhoof for years without anything particularly interesting happening to me. I lead a pretty good life, I was young and strong, I had a ship and normally a good haul to bring in with it. But of all the things I had, killing Ol’ Levi gave me something more important; status. I was known in town as the best fishercolt, and the toughest colt of Bayhoof. I never let it get to my head, but it sure was nice the way the mares would pay me a little more attention than they would for anypony else.
The first few months after Dad was killed were the hardest for Mom and I. Caps weren’t a problem; Dad left behind a small fortune when he died. The problem was that we were both emotional wrecks. Every night I could hear Mom crying herself to sleep in her room that was right next to mine. For weeks I laid in my bed, staring at a wall feeling empty inside, occasionally I would let a few tears fall as well before slipping off into an uneasy sleep. After the first few weeks of feeling sorry for myself, I finally decided to inspect Dad’s few belongings that were now mine through inheritance.
First was the title to the Blessing. Dad found her in a state of disrepair years ago and had nursed her back to health and eventually built her up into the reliable ship that she was today. The ship was now the key to my own livelihood and I offered a silent prayer to Luna that I could be half the captain that Dad was. The second thing was his knife that he kept strapped to his leg at all times; the knife had been passed down for generations in our family from father to son, it was the only heirloom he had, and now it belonged to me. I doubted that Dad could hear me, but I promised to keep it with me always and to use it well.
Only after looking through my inheritance did I realize something that should’ve been obvious; Dad wouldn’t have wanted me to be mopping around like I was. He would’ve wanted me to be strong, and be there for Mom. Ashamed of my actions over the last few weeks, I immediately went to find my mother.
I found her room, quietly grading her student’s papers after her day of school. I could tell she had been crying again. I tapped a hoof against the doorframe to let her know I was there.
“Hey Mom, how ya’ holdin’ up?” As soon as I said it I regretted it, I knew the answer all too well.
As she spoke, she kept on grading. “Better, but I would be lying if I said I was alright.” Well at least that’s a start.
“Anythin’ Ah can do to help?” She just sighed.
“Honestly, True? No. I can’t even look at you right now; I see so much of your father in you that I’m sure I would burst into tears again,” she deadpanned.
There was silence after that, she kept grading papers and I stood there; trying to think of something to say. “I don’t think Dad would want us to be acting like this,” I said after the longest time.
“Probably not, but it hurts to lose him. Even though everypony and everything has a time to go, it still hurts, True.” Then she turned to face me. Her eyes were completely bloodshot and tears were rolling down her face. I didn’t realize it when I entered the room, but she had been crying the entire time I had been there. Only when she turned to speak to me did her voice start to break up. “You *hick* are so much like him.” Then she broke down into a mess of incomprehensible sobs and broken sentences.
I had let it come to this. I wasn’t there for her like she needed me to be and I let her fall into an emotional wreck. So I did the only thing I could. I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. She returned it immediately and buried her face into my mane. I could feel her tears staining my coat and wrapped her with a wing to comfort her. “It’s gonna’ be okay, Mom. Ah’m here for ya.”
We stayed like that for a few minutes, with her letting out all of her tears, and with me slowly stroking her mane before I finally backed out of the embrace. “Mom,” I said as I wiped her tears away with a hoof, “Dad would want us to be strong. If he were here, he’d pro’lly give us both a buck to the head to get us back in gear. So, let’s try to be strong…fer Dad.”
“All right, True,” she said softly to me. “for Gaff.”
I only ever made a few close friends in town, most of which moved off to try and find adventure or something else that I had no interest in. I was content to live out my days doing what I did best; fishing. One of the ponies I got to know the best was a mechanic named Gear Shift.
Shift was a cute mare, a peach colored unicorn with a lone cog as her cutie mark. She was a caring mare, with the biggest heart I had ever seen. When I lost dad, she had been there to help me through it and kept me from losing myself to depression. She would help out at the local orphanage in her free time and care for the foals there as if they were her own. For years Gear Shift helped me on the Blessing, maintaining the engine and the water jet talismans that kept the vessel running. She kept her long, brown mane tied behind her head while she was working, but when she was off, she let it fall to the side of her face in a way I found adorable. Even after all of the work was done on board, we would sit together and talk for hours at the bow of the Blessing. She was my best friend for the longest time, and eventually became my wife.
One faithful day, I woke up in a small room. Looking around, I took stock of my surroundings. The room was dark save for a faint sliver of morning light peeking through the blinds. I was lying under the the thin yellow covers of a small bed with my favorite mechanic. She lay asleep there with a smile on her delicate features and her fore hooves wrapped around my neck. I shifted my wings to wrap around her and pull her closer into the embrace; she stirred slightly but soon fell back into her deep slumber. Then I looked at the dimly lit clock on the bedside table, I was in danger of running late. I didn’t want to wake her up, she looked so peaceful when she slept, but I needed to ship out and get to work. “Hey, Shift? Baby wake up.”
“Hmmmm?” she murmured before cracking her blue eyes open.
“C’mon Shift; I need to leave for work.” I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to, there were ponies relying on me to bring in the caps and I was never really one for just laying around.
“Awww, True, you wouldn’t leave a mare all lonely would you?” She pouted her lower lip and I could see her pleading for me to stay. I really hated it when she tried to make me skip work. She made it so hard to say no, and she knew it.
“None of that,” I said coolly, “I took off yesterday. I’m not doin’ it two days in a row. No matter how much ya’ make that face.” Her eyes grew wider and she pouted even more. Damn that just wasn’t fair. Stay strong True Hook I told myself. Eventually she let up her assault and released me from her fore hooves. As I rose from the bed, I shook my mane into place and put on my battle saddle that had previously laying in the corner off her room. I paused on my father’s knife and smiled. The knife was a spring-loaded blade that was made to be retractable and strapped to the hoof. It was useful for when you needed it, but wanted to keep your mouth free. It had served me well in the past few years. I strapped the knife to my foreleg as I always did and made to leave. She followed me to the door of our little house and sent me off to work with a kiss on the cheek.
I was out on the lake fishing like any other day, and then the clouds opened up.
The sun shined down on Bayhoof and the rest of Equestria for the first time in 200 years. I gazed up into the endless blue expanse over my head and immediately felt an intense sense of vertigo, something I was not used to feeling as a pegasus. With wide eyes, I took in the sight of the sun for the first time in my life. I sat speechless as I looked at the golden orb hanging there in the sky. I kept my eyes focused on the light for as long as I could until I was forced to blink and look away. I felt Celestia’s sun warming my coat and actually started to tear up from joy before I noticed something left in the sky; the enclave. From what I remembered about the town’s history, I knew that nothing good could come of them losing their cloud cover.
I watched from the Blessing as pegasi from Bayhoof started to climb towards the sky to meet our brethren in the clouds. Then the shots started to ring out. I saw energy bolts rain from the sky as ponies I knew were killed or maimed. The green and red bolts continued to rain down until all of the pegasi that had flown up were either dead or grounded. I began to panic for the safety of Gear Shift and Mom as I watched enclave soldiers touch down. However, after seeing what had just happened, I knew better than to take to the air.
I brought the Blessing about and made for port. As soon as I made landfall I was confronted by two enclave soldiers wrapped in black power armor. They reminded me of bugs; with their segmented armor, and the severe lack of a spine for attacking civilians.
“You are to disarm and get inside with the others ground dweller,” the taller of the two said, from the sound of the voice I knew it was a buck.
“Look buddy, I just watched ya’ shoot down ponies that did nothing to harm you. So I’m giving ya’ two options. Option one, ya’ can step aside so I can go find my wife. Or option two, ya’ can keep standin’ in my way and I can kick both of yer asses up one side of the street and down the other.” I was in no mood to be tried at this point. After watching ponies that I knew get shot down, it took all of my restrain not to buck them clear over the closest mountain. I fixed the larger of the two with a death stare and got a deep sense of satisfaction as he visibly squirmed in his armor.
“I-I said disarm and get inside!” he stammered. “Do it now or I’ll shoot!” I saw him shift his energy rifles move to lock onto my head.
“Wrong choice.” I smiled at him. In a flash I had Gaff’s Edge out and yanked his visor upwards. I had the blade a fraction of an inch from one of his yellow eyes when I felt a searing pain erupt from my side. I turned to see the second soldier pointing a laser rifle at me. I could tell from the build that it was a relatively small mare inside of the armor. She was shaking.
“Don’t you dare hurt him or I’ll do it again! And I’ll make sure I hit something important this time!” I could hear it in her voice, she cared about this buck. As angry as I was I hate the idea of tearing someone’s loved one away from them. I was a wreck after Dad died. I took a breath before speaking to her.
“Ya’ know I was just sitting here trying to fish. Then you enclave assholes had to come down here and get all shooty. I really would rather not kill anypony, but yall are standin’ in between me and ponies that are important to me.” I still had the Edge hovering ever so closely to the trembling buck’s eye. Oh Goddesses…I think he just pissed himself. I let out a long sigh, “look, lower your guns and I’ll let him go.”
“Sky Dancer, do it! I don’t want to die!” the buck wailed. I really had a low opinion of him at this point. He was crying like a little filly.
“Fine, but if I see you again I’ll fucking end you.” I knew that was no idle threat. As she lowered her guns I retracted my blade and released the buck. As they walked away I heard them say something quietly about me not being worth the ammo, oddly enough I heard them mention something about the factory. Then made for Mom’s place as fast as I could.
It took entirely too long to reach my destination, it was starting to get dark by the time I reached Mom’s house; a two story shack on the outskirts of town. I was out of breath from the ducking in and out of cover to avoid the enclave soldiers that were patrolling the streets. As I reached her door, I beat a hoof on it furiously. “Mom?! Mom, are you there?” I manage to get out between gasps for air. The door opened and Gear Shift timidly poked her head out from behind it.
“True?” she squeaked out. As she let me in I saw mixed feelings in her eyes, there was fear mixed with relief that I was ok. It killed me to see her scared.
“Shift, what happened to Mom?” I asked fearing the answer. She led me inside and with a faint pink glow from her horn, locked the door behind us. We walked in silence down the lone hallway in the house until we reached the staircase up to Mom’s room. I could hear labored breathing from above. As she started to speak, I saw her shaking.
“True…she flew up with the others…she’s alive but she’s fading fast, it was all I could do to make her comfortable…True… I’m so sorry.” She broke down in tears. I draped a wing over her side and held her close. She buried her face into my neck and wept.
“Can you take me to her?” I pleaded. I wanted to be there for her, but I needed to see Mom before she was gone.
Gear Shift silently led me upstairs to my mother’s room, where she lay dying. “Mom?” I asked quietly as I opened the door. The room was dimly lit by a single candle. Then I saw her. Mom was not a big Pegasus, but now, she just looked tiny in her bed that seemed to dwarf her.
“True, it’s so nice to see you,” she tried to reassure me with a smile, but I could see she was in pain. There was a gaping hole in her chest. “Come closer.”
As I walked up to the side of her bed, the entire battle with Ol’ Levi and the loss of Dad played through my mind. Not again, I thought, I’ve already lost one of my parents. Please Celestia; don’t take her from me too. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes. “Mom I’m so sorry, I’ll go find a healing potion and-” she silenced me with a gentle press of her hoof to my lips. We both knew how hard healing potions were to come by out here, even our clinic was stingy with what they had.
“True Hook, we both know that I’m too far gone. I’ve lost a lot of blood. I’d rather that you were here when I passed than out on a wild goose chase.” I could see the life leaving her body as she spoke. “I want you to survive, you and Gear Shift. Get out of here and run as far and as fast as you can.”
“Mom, I don’t want to leave you. I can’t lose you like Dad.” I felt the tears start to freely roll down my cheeks.
“True, everypony has a time to go, and it’s just my time.” I could see the light leaving her eyes. “Son, there’s something I want you to have, look under my bed and find the wooden box. It has a Pipbuck inside with the matching key to put it on. It’s from 76 where your great great grandparents came from. It’s the only thing I have that could be of any use to you at this point.” I found the box as she was talking, taking the moment of searching to dry my eyes. “True, you know your father would be proud of you right?”
I paused at that “Yea…yea I know.”
“I am too…” she rasped out, the last of her life leaving her body. I rose up and gently closed her eyes with a hoof.
“Goodbye, Mom.” I whispered into her ear. I turned to face Shift, she was shedding silent tears. I really wish she hadn’t seen me crying. I had to be strong for her now. “Alright.” I said, placing the box containing my inheritance in the sack on my back. “We wait for nightfall then we run for it.” I was going to honor my mother’s final wish. We were going to survive. I made a silent promise to pay the enclave back tenfold for taking her from me. I turned and saw the troubled look in Shift’s eyes.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“No idea, but we’re getting the hell out of here.” I knew it would be a hard road ahead, but the enclave was ordering everypony to stay in their houses, and I had a hunch that life was about to get much harder in Bayhoof Falls.
Once night had settled in, Gear Shift and I made a silent run for it, we needed to get out of town as fast as possible. Shift offered that we take the path to the south, where there was a well-traveled rout that had been made by the trading caravans. In more ideal conditions I would’ve agreed with her, however, I knew that the rout would have been blocked off by the enclave now. The only other way out of town was an old mountain trail that dad had shown me when I was a foal.
“Well fuck,” I mumbled under my breath. Oh did I forget to mention that the path was uncomfortably close to the factory? I had a clear line of sight to the factory’s gate where there were easily forty enclave soldiers camping out. There were plenty of fresh new bodies in black power armor strewn about the courtyard from their attempts to get inside. Luckily the trail had plenty of boulders and deadfall to shield us from sight.
“What would they want with that awful place?” Gear Shift asked me quietly.
“Ah’ve No idea, but whatever it is; they’re not getting to it with those turrets online.” It took all of the restraint I had to not go down there and launch a harpoon into their leader’s face, provided I could find out which one that was.
“ALLRIGHT SOLDIERS!!!” Well that was easy enough. “I WANT ANOTHER ASSAULT READY TO GO IN TWO MINUTES. WE ARE TAKING THAT MECH DEPOT.” The buck was clad in armor that was so ornate it was almost funny. It just screamed shoot me, I’m the boss. Wait a second…mech depot? What exactly was in that factory?
“Shouldn’t we keep moving?” Gear Shift whispered in my ear.
“No, not yet; Ah want to see what happens.” These bastards took Mom from me and regardless of what was in the factory, I wanted to see them get what they had coming.
“True Hook!” She chided me under her breath, “We need to keep moving or they’ll spot us!”
I sighed. “Fine.” She was right, but I was pissed. I wanted to sit there and watch them get killed. Goddesses…Mom would be so disappointed if she knew the thought even passed through my head. Ashamed of myself, I put one hoof in front of the other and led Gear Shift up the winding trail. Minutes later I heard the staccato of the factory’s turrets and the screams of enclave soldiers. Strangely enough though, their screams didn’t make me feel any better.
Gear Shift and I walked for another few hours before we made camp in a cave. We looped around the town and went south to link up with the trade rout. We made surprisingly good time considering the terrain and the fact that I had to walk so she could keep up. We had gotten several miles away from Bayhoof and were now following along the trade rout.
I gathered a pile of some long-dead wood I found outside the cave’s entrance, and some dried out grass. After a few attempts had a small fire going inside of the cave that we would be staying in for the night. I took the opportunity to go through our bags and see what we actually had. In Shift’s bag, she had some prewar food, a few roles of healing bandages and some of her tools in the event that we may need them. Then I found something I hoped she wouldn’t have to use. A .32 pistol with a box of ammo.
In my bags I had about two hundred caps, some ammo for my revolver, and some various hooks and fishing wire I thought might come in handy. I also managed to grab some meds off of a boat that was in dry dock before we left town; a syringe of Med-X, some Buck, and most importantly, two healing potions that I knew would have to be used sparingly. The very last thing I found at the bottom of my bag was the wooden box containing Mom’s Pipbuck.
“Hey shift, can Ah get yer help with somethin’?” I opened the box to see the device for the first time. It was big and boxy. I took it out of the velvet-lined case, and absentmindedly pressed some of the buttons on it. To my surprise, it powered right up and showed me a map with our current location on it.
“With what?” she asked me, clearly she was as interested in the device as I was.
“Ah want ya to put this on mah leg, figure it won’t do much good all boxed up.” She looked at me and then to the device in my hooves. A faint pink glow surrounded the Pipbuck as she levitated it from my grasp along with the key that was still in the box.
“Are you sure? Aren’t you worried that it might get all busted up?” I understood her concern; she’d never even seen a Pipbuck before, and wouldn’t know much about it.
“Shift, it’d take a balefire bomb to crack one of those things open.” Ok maybe they’re not quite that durable, but she seemed pacified by that. She slipped the oddly shaped key into a hole on the side of the Pipbuck and it popped open. Still in her magic’s grasp, she slipped it onto my left fore hoof and snapped it shut. She locked it and then my vision exploded into magical symbols and various messages. The last three scrolling across my eyes, though, caught my attention.
-Pipbuck synchronization; Complete.
-E.F.S. enabled.
-S.A.T.S. enabled.
And with that my vision cleared, I was left with a compass on the bottom and a bar that I was assuming was my E.F.S. Mom had told me about the workings of a Pipbuck before, I knew (or at least had a good idea) what the E.F.S. was, along with S.A.T.S. I saw the light green mark on my E.F.S. that marked Shift as a friendly, but then I looked around.
Lots of red.
“Gear Shift,” I said quietly, “get yer gun. We’re not alone.” She set to it rustling through her bags for her .32 and proceeded to load is. I went through my bag to get my .357, I much preferred using my knife on my right forehoof, but there were at least ten red marks on my E.F.S. Gaff’s Edge (forgive the pun) just wouldn’t cut it. “Try to stay back if ya’ can.”
“True, I can handle myself, contrary to what you believe.” I looked back at her and saw her levitating her pistol and a large wrench on either side on her. That’s mah girl I thought proudly.
As we moved back into the cave, the only light we had was from the display on my Pipbuck. As we rounded a corner, I saw what looked like an old rotted body lying on the ground, and then it moved.
The…thing…turned to face us, and much to my disgust, gave us a better look at it. The abomination had skin like dried out leather, bits were flacking off to show the muscles underneath. It had the filthy remnants of a red mane still attached to its scalp, and had yellowed eves that seemed to burn with hate. The worst thing though were the teeth; they were yellowed and rotting, with a few strips of flesh caught on the lower row.
Acting solely on instinct, I had Gaff’s edge out in a flash. I cut a gleaming arc through the air and connected with its neck, and just kept going. The body of the abomination dropped to the ground, with its head following shortly afterwards. After a moment of silence, Gear Shift ran to a corner and emptied her stomach. Trying to help her as best as I could; I cantered over to her and held her mane out of her face while rubbing her back with a hoof.
Once she recovered, I inspected the body. I had always heard stories about ghouls from the traders, but I had never actually seen one. I couldn’t believe that…thing had ever been a pony.
“Ah’m seeing at nine more on my E.F.S.” I said calmly as I stepped over the body, I wanted to be over this as quickly as possible, we were both tired from the trip here, and a prolonged fight would just wear us out even more.
“E.F.S?” Shift asked, slightly confused.
“Stands fer Eyes Foreward Sparkle. It’s like radar that shows friendlies and enemies. It’s something that turned on when ya put the Pipbuck on me.” I kept my voice low as to not broadcast our presence to anything else in the cave.
“How did you know that? You’ve never had one on before, have you?” She was confused, but we did not have time for this, so I gave her the best answer I could.
“Babe, lets finish this then Ah’ll tell you, but for now, we need to stay quiet.” I could tell she wasn’t happy with my answer, but she nodded and followed me further in.
As we walked through the cave, we came across two more ghouls that I dispatched in the same manner as the first; silently, with a quick decapitation. All those years of pulling in heavy nets made it easy for me. One that I didn’t see almost bucked me from behind, but Shift caved in its skull with her wrench. Bits of bone and brains painted the floor as she continued to raise the wrench again and again, turning the ghoul’s head into a pile of mush. She would’ve kept on beating it if I hadn’t stepped in to stop her. She just seemed enraged by the thought at something that horrific had been allowed to live. She collapsed into a pile of dry heaves as she noticed the smell of gore in the air.
Then all hell broke loose when we entered a cavern. It wasn’t particularly large, but it was big enough to house the six
remaining ghouls, and they all turned to greet us as Gear Shift accidentally kicked a rock down the path towards them.
There was a good ten seconds of silence before one of them let out an ear shattering scream.
My stable pony ancestors must have been guiding me, because I activated my targeting spell without even thinking about it. I slipped into the calmness of S.A.T.S. and queued up three shots from the pistol in my mouth. As I slipped back into real time, I watched with disgusting clarity as the heads of the closest three were blown clean off. Then the remaining three were on us. I abandoned the pistol, knowing my chances of killing anything with it without the magic of S.A.T.S. was low. And started slashing at it with my knife. Two went for Shift, she managed to put enough shots into one’s chest to kill it, but the second bowled her over, knocking her weapons from her telekinetic grasp. With a throaty battle cry, I brought my Pipbuck down on the creatures head, cracking it skull wide open. Then I turned my attention to the ghoul on top of Gear Shift.
She was crying out in pain as the ghoul bit at her forelegs. She was barely holding it back with her wrench. Barring it across the ghoul’s throat, Gear Shift used the wrench for what little protection it could provide. Seeing the ghoul on top of her sent me into a blind rage that I hadn’t experienced since my fight with Ol’ Levi. That ghoul wasn’t about to exist for much longer.
Instinctively I took to the little airspace there was in the cavern and clicked up the bit on my battle saddle, harpoon primed and ready to go. I fired straight into the ghoul’s side. The ghoul shrieked as it registered something in its rotting brain; harpoons hurt. I hit the retract button on the bit and watched the emaciated ghoul was pulled, flailing, straight upwards towards me. As the ghoul drew near, I hit S.A.T.S. and queued up a strike with my knife. I raised Gaff’s edge for the final time that night and slice the ghoul clean in two. Nopony hurts Gear Shift. Nopony. As its lower half fell to the floor of the cavern, I pinned its upper half, still writhing, to a wall and started to beat it to death with a Pipbuck clad hoof. Only a barely audible whimper brought me back to my senses.
I retrieved my spear from the remnants of the ghoul and glided down to Gear Shift. She was curled up on her side; eyes slammed shut, and cradling her damaged forelegs close to her chest. I leaned down to nuzzle her cheek and she drew back in fright. “Shift, it’s all over now, just try to relax and I’ll patch you up.”
I pulled out one of our few precious healing potions and opened it for her to drink. She took slow pulls off of the purple liquid and we both watched in silence as her wounds magically stitched together and sealed shut.
Then she whispered in the tiniest voice I had ever heard from her. “True? Can we go back to the entrance…I really, REALLY, don’t want to be back here anymore…”
“’Course,” I replied. I didn’t want to be back here either. I had just watched as my wife was almost eaten by a ghoul, all because I lead her back here instead of going by myself. I realized how close she had gotten to dying and felt a pit open up in my stomach. She almost died and it was my fault.
We went back to our camp fire at the mouth of the cave and laid down next to each other, we had nothing to sleep on save for the floor of the cave, but we were grateful to be alive. I draped a wing around her and pulled her against my side, if nothing else; she could lean on me for comfort. However, I didn’t think that would matter much. Both of us were exhausted from our escape and the fight with the ghouls. Neither of us wanted to sleep though; there was no telling what sort of nightmares awaited us.
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Intense Training; +1 to Strength
(Author's Notes: First off, thanks again to Kkat for the amazing story, and to Somber for an amazing branch off. This is my first fic so i realize there's going to be some problems, but i welcome any comments, I want to finish this story and to make it as good as i can so i need feedback. thanks to my buddy Spell Check for making this at least passable.)
Chapter 2; Back to Normal
Dawn.
I saw it for the first time that morning. The sun in all of its glory rose over the mountains and cast its light into the cave. Had I been in a better mood, it would have had my breath taken away.
The night had been long; I stood vigil through the night watching over the mare that slept fretfully under my wing. Gear Shift had woken up, shaking, several times through the night. In all honesty the little “rest” she got did her little good. Shift’s mane was frayed and she had bags under her eyes.
“We should get movin’,” I muttered. Shift just grunted in response. We pulled ourselves to our hooves and slung our bags over our backs. After Shift took a moment to try and make herself look presentable, we got back on the road. Both of us were ready to leave that goddess-forsaken cave.
After about an hour’s walk, I saw a marker appear on the compass of my Pipbuck. As I recall, Mom said that the Pipbuck would mark locations provided that I got close enough. About time we found a town, I thought.
Putting one hoof in front of the other, we trudged down the mountain path. At this point it was a relatively easy downhill walk. After about another half-hour of walking, Shift and I finally broke free of the mountain range that guarded our hometown.
Looking out onto the plains of Equestria for the first time, I could only think about how flat it was. It was almost completely barren of all signs of life save for a collection of decrepit buildings rising in the distance. The marker on my compass lined up with the buildings, so I pointed myself in their direction and started to walk.
“What is that place?” Shift asked from behind me.
“Not sure yet. Ah figure it’s a tradin’ town though, the merchants always talked about a town just below the mountains. Ah think they called it Old Stalliongrad.”
“It just looks like some rubble to me,” she mumbled under her breath, “if it is this ‘Old Staliongrad’ place, then why are we going there?”
“Well, fer one we could try to find a decent place to sleep tonight. Maybe find some work. Mom told us to go and live, and that’s what we’re gonna’ do.” I was still wondering what was in the factory to make the enclave would even want Bayhoof, however; rest was a high priority. “Later on Ah’m gonna find out what I can on the enclave, they can’t just be in Bayhoof.”
“What kind of work do you mean? True, you’re a fishercolt, and there’s not exactly a lake here to fish.” Well, she did have a point there.
“Might try mah hoof at scavenging. Who knows, might even look into some work as a caravan guard.” See Gear Shift? I’m not just a one trick pony, I can do other things than fish.
“Guard-work? True isn’t that a bit dangerous? I always heard stories about caravans getting attacked in the wastes.” There was concern in her voice, I heard those stories too, but from my years on the lake, I was familiar danger.
“Maybe, but it prolly pays good. And we need the caps, Ah only have 200 on me and we can only stretch it so far.” I could feel her eyes drilling into the back of my head. When I turned to look at her, she locked me with a stern gaze as if I were a foal who broke a window.
“True Hook. Safety is more important than caps. I realize we need the money, but I don’t want you in any more danger than you have to be. You’re all I have and I am NOT losing you. Scavenging I might be fine with, but guard-work is out of the question.” She brandished a small wrench in her telekinetic grip. “Do I make myself clear?” I had only seen her this serious a few times before, and I learned after the first time that it would be wise to listen…I had a lump on the side of my head for weeks after going against what she said.
I swallowed hard before answering. “Yes’m.”
For the first time since yesterday morning, she cocked her head and gave me a smile. “Good, now let’s go meet the nice traders,” she said in a sing-song voice. Shift loved it when she got her way.
We walked into the ruins, and my Pipbuck flashed a notification confirming what I thought earlier; we were now in the ruins of Old Staliongrad. The buildings were grey, each one as dull as the last. The only thing that varied from building to building was the size. As we walked further into the ruins, we saw signs saying “Old Staliongrad Trading Post” with an arrow pointing in the direction we should go. After following the signs for a while we arrived at our destination.
The trading town was surrounded by a wall made of large debris. There was a gate being guarded by three stallions. There was one on a makeshift catwalk over the gate with a scoped rifle; the other two were on either side of the gates with combat shotguns.
“State your business!” the one with the rifle called to us.
“Just came down from the mountains! We’re lookin’ for a place to rest an’ get some work!” I would have been a lot more comfortable if I didn’t see him aiming at me.
One of the guards with a shotgun piped up, “Ten caps a head tah get inside! If ya ‘aint got it then keep movin’!” Well aren’t you friendly.
“We have the caps, there’s no need to be rude sir!” I made a note to talk to Gear Shift about the wasteland’s etiquette, or the lack of it. I guessed the traders never told her that the ponies in the wastes were much more hostile than the ponies of Bayhoof Falls. With caps in hoof though, the guards let us inside without any trouble.
The first thing on our to-do list was to find a place to stay. Shift and I walked by several decrepit buildings that were being used for free lodging, but we refused to stay there as we had a few caps in our pockets. We walked by more common houses before finding a place that peaked our interests.
The three story building towered above all of the shacks around it. The battered sign beside the door read “The Sunrise Inn and Saloon.” We opened the wooden door and casually walked in. The main room on this floor was open with several tables scattered about. It was still fairly early in the morning so there were not many ponies to be found. We walked over to the long bar that dominated one side of the room.
“What’ll it be?” asked an orange earth pony. While he spoke he cleaned a shot glass with an old rag. He wore a tattered barkeeper’s outfit that was in poor shape.
“How much to rent a room for the night?” asked Shift.
“Five caps a night. That just includes the room. Any food or services are extra.” That seemed reasonable, so we hoofed over some caps to the barkeep and picked up our key. “Yall will be in room four.” The stallion continued to work on his shot glass as we made our way up to our room.
The room was on the second floor of the inn. Shift levitated the key up to the door in the pink glow of her magic and opened the door. Honestly the room wasn’t a bad one; there just wasn’t much to it. In the middle of the room was a princess sized bed. The whole affair was in one large room, save for the bathroom off to the side. A small cubby in the corner served as a kitchen and dining room.
“Oh sweet Celestia, a bathtub!” Gear Shift clopped her hooves together with excitement. In a flash, her barding was off and she was drawing a bath for herself. “Once I get cleaned up we can go to the market and get supplies.” She walked up to me and gave my mane a sniff. She immediately drew back with a hoof over her nose. “Scratch that. After you wash that awful stench off we can go.”
I gave my mane a sniff out of curiosity. “It’s not that bad…” I mumbled. My barding and battle saddle were gripped by Shift’s magic and she pulled them off.
“Trust me, it is.” She gave me a serious look. “In the tub. Now.”
“Nope, not happenin’. You know I hate baths.”
“True Hook, sweetie,” she said in a cheery voice, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“I’m not getting in that tub, Shift,” I stated firmly.
“The hard way it is then.” She smiled as her horn flared up again. I noticed the door of our room was still open and made a run for it. Shift cut me off though, slamming the door in my face with her telekinesis. She grabbed my back hooves with her magic and dragged me towards the bath.
She lifted me over the tub of soapy water and plunged me straight in. Getting wet never bothered me, I just didn’t like baths. I surfaced and spit out a mouthful of water. “All of my hate Gear Shift. All of it.”
She gave me a sweet smile. “I win,” she chirped, “now be a dear and wash up.”
“Once, is winning one little fight so much to ask for?” I mumbled under my breath and sunk up to my eyes in the bubbles.
“Maybe not, but it’s never going to happen.” She kept that triumphant smile plastered on her face.
We found the market at the center of town. There were stands of all kinds that sold almost everything imaginable. Mostly there were merchants selling food and water. There were several stands stocked with guns and ammo, and several that sold armor and barding. There were also shops with random odds and ends that we ignored; today, we were just here for food.
We picked one of the food stands at random and started looking through its stock. “What’cha lookin for?” the owner asked us.
“Oh we’re just looking to pick up some supplies, we’ve been traveling for days and you’re stock just seemed delicious.” Shift was always better than me when it came to bartering. Where venders would try to sell me food and supplies for ridiculous prices, Shift would be able to get amazing deals by just batting her eyes at them.
The young buck blushed slightly and stumbled over his words. “O-oh it’s nothing, j-just some pre-war food I came by in the ruins.”
“You could have fooled me, I was under the impression that you had gotten it fresh from the line.” She kept her eyes locked on his, smiling the entire time, I could tell this buck was about to lose a lot of caps. She levitated several boxes of food off of the table. “How much for these?”
“T-that’ll be thirty caps,” he stammered. Shift pouted out her lips and gave him a pleading look with her eyes.
“That certainly is high, wouldn’t you be willing to go a little lower?” Andddd here it comes, I thought to myself.
“Well…I don’t normally do this, but I might be able to cut you a deal. How does twenty-five sound?” Her lip pouted out a little more. I saw the buck losing resolve. “Twenty?” She somehow managed to make her lip pout a bit farther before the buck gave in. “Fifteen. And that’s the best I can do.” Shift’s expression lightened up immediately at that.
“Deal.” She said happily.
Several other merchants got the same treatment as the first, practically giving us their supplies. We picked up a few meds and healing potions from the town’s clinic along with some ammo and more food from various venders. Shift being the charmer she is, only spent 55 caps for everything.
After we finished getting our supplies, I dropped by a billboard in the middle of town where all of the job listings were posted. I found a job for Shift working on the town’s water talismans. For myself, I found a job with an old colt and his son scavenging on the outskirts of the ruins. We could both start working in the morning.
At the end of the day we went back to our room at the inn and had a dinner of Sugar Apple Bombs and water; nothing substantial, but it was nice to have something in my stomach. After dinner, we lied down on our bed to try and get some well-deserved rest. We were laying there for a while before Gear Shift spoke up.
“This is so much better than that cave,” she shuddered at the memory of the night before.
“Try not to think about it, we don’t ever have to go back there.” I nuzzled the top of her head. “Try to get some sleep, Babe.” She closed her eyes and within minutes was quietly snoring. As soon as I was satisfied that she was asleep, I closed my eyes. After not resting for the past two days, I was gone in seconds.
The next morning was a brief return to “normal.” Gear Shift and I woke up and ate breakfast, we got ready for our day of work, and she sent me off to work with a kiss on the cheek and a “be safe.” Both of us knew that we had just lost our home two days before, but it was nice to pretend it was normal, if only for a little while.
I went to start my day of work with my new boss, Golden Dust. He was an aging unicorn stallion with a bright yellow coat. His grey mane still clung to a few strands of brown hair. His grey eyes were kind, and told me that he was a stallion I could trust. His son, Silver Dust, looked exactly like him except for his silvery coat. They both wore barding that covered their cutie marks and most of their bodies.
“Now do ya have an idea what’cha goin’ to be doin’ today?” Golden Dust asked me. Well I thought it was obvious, the listing was as scavenger-work so we must be picking through the ruins.
“Scavengin’?” Of course if it was only scavenging, that would be simple.
“Well yer’ part-right. WE’RE gonna be scavengin’ and YER gonna be watchin’ our asses for raiders.” Fantastic. And here I thought that it would be a nice peaceful job.
“So Ah’m basically a guard.” Please say there’s more to it than that, I thought, Shift will kill me.
“Eeyup. Ah’ll be payin’ ya 35 caps a day. Anythin’ ya pick up on the job yer free to keep or sell. So long as ya watch our asses and not the ground the whole time.” That technically qualified as being a scavenger, I would just have to word it carefully when Shift asked me about my day at work. If I didn’t…I really didn’t want to think about the consequences.
The rest of the day passed without anything particularly bad happening. I found a few caps and some shotgun shells, it wouldn’t be of much use to me but I could always have Shift sell them later. I found out from Golden Dust that the raider problem in Old Stalliongrad was on the rise in recent weeks. I had never seen raiders before, but I knew what they were from stories the traders told back in Bayhoof. By the end of the day, Golden and Silver Dust were loaded up with all sorts of scrap and other useful items; all of which they would sell in their shop. I was told that I would also be expected to help watch over the shop as well.
That night I went back to the inn and was greeted by Gear Shift. Her day was apparently much more interesting than mine.
“So when I got there, I looked at the condition of the water talismans, none of them were working past 40% of their original capability. Whoever had been ‘maintaining’ them had no idea what they were doing. So I got to work on them and boosted their water production to 60%. They gave me a pay raise on the spot!” She wore a grin on her face as she told me about her day.
“Well that’s great! How much are ya makin’ now?”
“40 caps a day, and they told me that if I work as hard as I did today than I’ll probably get another raise soon.” Hot damn, I thought, my baby is bringing home the caps.
I told her about my day and what Golden Dust expected of me. She cocked an eyebrow when I mentioned having to guard him and his son, but it turned out that as long as I wasn’t a caravan guard, then I was fine.
The next two days were pretty uneventful. Shift and I worked, and we built up a respectable amount of caps. On the third day, though, things got messy.
I was watching Golden Dust and his son like usual until a bullet ripped through my ear. Two things registered in my head; first of all, sweet Celestia that hurt, second, we were under attack. I pushed the searing pain from my mind, snapping into action.
“Get to cover!” I shouted. I heard more shots and rounds pinged off the concrete around us. We dove for the rubble and tried to figure out where we were being shot from. I peeked out around cover and spotted them.
There were five ponies shooting at us all of them wore tattered barding that barely clung to their bodies; all of them had dilated pupils and wielded guns that looked like they were about to fall apart. Most of them were using pistols, but a unicorn that was charging at us wielded a rusty old combat shotgun.
Golden Dust opened up with an SMG and mowed the unicorn down. He clipped one in the main group that was farther back, causing them to scatter. I pulled out my revolver and clicked up the bit on my battle saddle.
“They’ll prolly try tah use the ruins as cover tah get in close,” Golden Dust called to me. “True, get in the air and keep them off of us!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Pumping my wings a few times I shot off like an arrow. I found one trying to sneak up behind Golden and Silver and went to work. The last thing the raider saw was my shadow as I dove on him at full speed. My Pipbuck clad hoof impacted the back of his neck and snapped it, killing him immediately.
It was not as if I hadn’t killed things before; I’ve killed rad roaches, mutated fish, sea serpents, and as of the other day, ghouls. But this was different, this was the first time I had killed another pony. I didn’t regret it, these raiders shot first, and if we didn’t kill them, they would kill us or the next scavengers who came along. The only thing I regretted was that I killed him without even thinking about it. I didn’t think about him as a pony and honestly it scared me a bit.
I realized that Golden and Silver Dust needed my help and that I didn’t have time to think into this. The raiders attacked us first; we had every right to defend ourselves. This wasn’t like Bayhoof; these were raiders, not the enclave, and I could actually do something this time. I refused to stand by while ponies I knew died. If somepony attacked me or my friends, they forfeited any claim to this world.
I took back to the air, knowing there were three more somewhere in the rubble. I spotted another getting lit up by Golden and Silver, the latter of the two had produced an SMG of his own. Figuring that they had that one covered, I tried to find the other raiders.
After a few seconds of scanning, I saw them trying to circle around my preoccupied allies. Flying over them, I slipped into S.A.T.S. Time slowed to a crawl as I queued up a shot with my harpoon on the larger of the two. I watched in slow motion as the targeting spell did its work.
My harpoon launched from my battle saddle and crawled towards its target. In the last few feet it sped up as I slipped out of the targeting spell’s magic. The harpoon hit home and lanced the raider through his back. I hit the retract button on my bit and went into another dive. The winch towed me into a faster dive than I would be been able to achieve on my own and guided me to my target. I brought all four hooves down on his back, severing his spine.
The other raider looked on in shock as his buddy was killed. I drew my pistol and turned to him, putting three shots into him. His barding did him little good as the high power rounds impacted. He dropped to the ground with three new holes in his chest.
After my third kill, the gunfire stopped. I walked back to the pair to find them picking through a raider’s pockets. “Well Ah’ was wonderin’ when ya’d get back here.” He levitated a pouch out of one of his pockets and gave it to me. “Consider that hazard pay. There’s 150 caps there. Count ‘em if ya want. Use it tah patch up that ear and get a lil’ somethin’ extra.”
“Thank ya kindly,” I grinned at him, “maybe Ah should get shot up more often.”
“Ah wouldn’t make it a habit,” the old stallion smiled. “Ah think we’re done here today, no need to stick our necks out any farther.” With that, we started the walk back to town.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EAR?!” Apparently Gear Shift got off early too.
“Ah got shot?” I offered weakly. I had hoped to avoid an argument, but somehow it slipped my mind to clean the blood off of my head before I got home. “If it helps any, I got a load of caps to get patched up.”
“Of course that doesn’t help! I told you I didn’t want you getting hurt!” If my ear wasn’t aching enough to begin with Shift’s yelling didn’t help.
“Babe, please calm down. Ah know that you wanted me to be safe, but it can’t be helped. We’re in the wastes now, not Bayhoof. Ah’m bound to get shot at eventually. At least Ah’m okay, it could’ve been a lot wor-” Shift cut me off by hitting me over the head with a wrench.
“I know that it can’t be avoided, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be upset when my husband gets shot!” She sighed and put her wrench down, and then she reached into her bags, getting out some newly acquired rubbing alcohol and bandages. “What am I going to do with you?”
I winced as she cleaned the hole in my ear. “Not hit me again?” I joked.
“Oh, shut up.” She kissed the new lump on my head and wrapped my ear with healing bandages. By the time she was done, the stinging from the alcohol had gone away, and I felt the magic from the bandages start to do its work. “Now let’s go lay down.” I followed her to bed and climbed up next to her. She pulled my head with her magic to rest against her withers and started to stroke my mane with her hoof.
“So am Ah still in trouble?” I asked her.
She stopped moving for a moment before speaking. “Yes.” She looked at me with harsh eyes. “Don’t scare me like that again. I know you’re going to get hurt eventually, but at least TRY to clean yourself up before you come home next time.” Her expression softened and she gave me a small smile. “Idiot.”
I smiled back at her and closed my eyes. I rested my head against her. “Love ya, Shift.”
“Love you too, True.”
The next day was uneventful. Gear Shift and I went off to work and came back to the inn at the end of the day. After the previous day’s events, I decided that it would be good for Shift and I to relax. After some convincing, I got her to agree to drinks at the bar downstairs.
“I’ll agree to this on one condition. As long as you don’t drink until you are unable to walk, I’m in.” It was actually surprising that she agreed to it at all, Shift almost never drinks.
“’Course. Ah just think that we could use somethin’ to help us relax. It’s been a week since Bayhoof and we’ve done nothin’ since thin but walk, work, and fight. Ah think we’ve earned it.”
“Don’t remind me…I keep having nightmares about that cave…” She shuddered. “A drink would probably do me some good.”
I grabbed a bag of caps and then wrapped a wing around Shift. “Well then what’re we waitin’ fer?”
We walked downstairs and into the bar and found two open stools. The bar was full of merchants and traders who had returned from their trade routes. We waved the barkeep over and ordered our drinks. I was content to a bottle of Wild Pegasus, but Shift ordered some fruity drink with a name that I couldn’t pronounce.
I held my bottle up to her for a toast. “Here’s to gettin’ back on our hooves.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” She wrapped her glass was wrapped in her pink magic and brought it to lightly tap against my bottle.
We sat there for a while just talking to each other and occasionally striking up a conversation with the traders that were at the bar around us. Most of it was just mindless small talk, but it was nice to get to know some ponies out in the wastes. Shift did more talking than I did, one of the traders asked what she did for work and she told him about her first day with the water talismans.
“So yer the mare that they were talkin’ about.” Apparently ponies were spreading the word about my favorite mechanic. “The bucks up at the plant said ya were a pretty one but they didn’t do ya justice.”
“Why, thank you.” She gave him a bright smile; it made me happy to see her enjoying herself like this.
“Uhhh, True Hook, was it?” the merchant asked me.
I took a long pull off of my bottle and looked back at him “Eeyup?”
“Yer a lucky buck to’ve found this lady. If ya don’t treat ‘er right somepony will try tah steal ‘er out from under ya.” I gave a slight laugh.
“Don’t Ah know it, Ah thank mah lucky stars that she puts up with me.” We all shared in a laugh. The trader went back to talking with Shift. I sat there listening to them go on about some old pre-war tech, but then I heard something that made my ears perk up.
“Just got back from a run to Bayhoof, that place was locked up tighter than a stable.” It was a trader at one of the tables behind us. I don’t usually eavesdrop but I wanted to know what it was like back home. Without turning around, I listened in on their conversation. “The enclave took the place over and won’t let nopony in to trade. Won’t be long before there’s fish shortages. Water too.”
“The hell does the enclave want there?” asked a second trader.
“Not sure, they wouldn’t say much. Turned my caravan away as soon as they saw us. They said somethin’ about leavin’ once they got into the old factory up there.” I felt myself breathing quicker. “I heard one in some fancy armor talkin’ about comin’ down here to find some sort of substation. Whatever is in that place, it must be good if the enclave took over Bayhoof for it. I think I know the place that they were talking about but it’s got a lot of sentries and whatnot guardin’ it.”
Something clicked on in my mind; if I could find that station that the trader was talking about, I might be able to get some answers about why the enclave was in Bayhoof. I turned around and walked up to the bucks that were still talking and butted in on their conversation.
“You said that there was a place the enclave wants. Where is it?” I probably could’ve asked better, but I had downed a half a bottle of Wild Pegasus, and I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.
“What’s it to you?” asked the buck on the left.
“Look, Ah’m from Bayhoof. Ah want to know why the enclave is up there, and that substation place might be mah best shot at findin’ answers.”
“Scavenger’s secret. That place hasn’t been picked over since the war. That info will cost you.” My patients were wearing thin; I have never liked being jerked around by ponies like these. But for the sake of not wanting to cause a scene, I played along.
“Fine, how ‘bout Ah buy yall four bottles of whiskey and yall tell me where it’s at?” I really hoped this would work, bartering wasn’t my strong suit.
“Six bottles.” I could’ve probable done better, but again; bartering, I’m terrible at it. I agreed to the trade and the buck programed the location into my Pipbuck. “Don’t know what good it’ll do ya, there are turrets and sentries all over the place.”
“Ah’ll figure out somethin’.” I hoofed over the caps to the barkeep and got the traders their drinks. I walked back over to where Shift was sitting, and she gave me a curious look.
“What was all that about?” She cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Well, Ah just came across some info that might get us answers fer Bayhoof.” She kept her eyebrow raised at me.
“Go on…” I could tell she was just as interested as I was.
“Well, Ah hate to say this but it’s gonna take a lot of walkin’.” I told her my plans and she shook her head, I thought she was going to shoot down my ideas, but then she surprised me.
She gave me a heavy sigh and said the last thing I would have expected her to; “I’ll pack our things.”
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Iron Hoof; +5 Points of Unarmed Damage
(Author's Notes: First off, thanks again to Kkat for the amazing story, and to Somber for an amazing branch off. This is my first fic so i realize there's going to be some problems, but i welcome any comments, I want to finish this story and to make it as good as i can so i need feedback. thanks to my buddy Spell Check for making this at least passable. sorry it took so long, between college and work writing can be hard.)
