Fallout Stalliongrad

(The wasteland is a very unforgiving place; often times taking more than it gives.)

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BE.. I shut the alarm off and looked at the bright red numbers on it; 4a.m. stared back at me through the plastic face. I tried to roll over in bed and block the thoughts of pounding the clock to pieces before Fuse nuzzled my cheek.

"Time to get up Pin; or did you forget that we are leaving today?"

"Crap! You're right, what would I do without you Fuse?" I asked mockingly as I got up from under the covers.

Thankfully our coffee maker had already been at work fifteen minuets before we had to get up, and the smell further guided me from the comfort of bed. Fuse lazily got out of bed with me and made her way to the bathroom for a shower motioning for me to join her. I thought about it for a second until she slightly raised her tail, teasing me. Without hesitation I quickly joined her for a morning romp. Laughing as we exited the shower I levitated over to us two hot steaming cups of coffee and set them on the counter in front of us. Fuse looked at me with that playful look of hers and kissed me as she dried off and tossed me a towel so I could do the same. We were supposed to leave in an hour and we got to work putting on our gear; as we did we heard a voice at our door asking if we were awake. Fuse opened it and in stepped Blaze, Sweet Shot and Storm; all of whom were decked to the nines in armor and weapons, it kind of made me feel... inadequate to be honest; what with my scavenged raider armor, along with stable issued saddle bags and under barding; but it was better than nothing so I just shrugged the thought off. Fuse was just about ready to go as was I, and we finished gathering our gear.

Making our way out of the apartment Fuse locked it behind us and we trotted to the stairs; there were voices coming from the bar below as we made our way down them. We were greeted by a very interesting sight; one that if there hadn't been something big planned today I was sure would never happen. The whole base was wide awake and gathered in the tavern, Center Mass noticed us coming down and with a slight chuckle trotted over to us.

"Took you all long enough; We all thought you had forgotten about us."

Fuse looked at him in mock indignation as she simply laughed him off. Storm was at the bar talking with Shotglass as she knocked back a shot of vodka; Shotglass looked as though he was going on this little trip as well, so I decided to ask him.

"What; you honestly don't think I would stay here and let you all go off on an adventure without me do you? Besides, I used to be a tracker in the Spezneighs before I ran the tavern; so it would only make since that I go as well wouldn't you agree Pin?"

"Well, I guess that does make since; but who is going to run the tavern Shotglass? I mean in all the time I have worked here I have never seen any pony else run the bar but me. What, are you going to close it down while we are gone?"

"No.. no I won't be doing that, Mr. Stalliongrad's daughter will be taking over while I'm out. She runs the bar in Stalliongrad Tower, and is quite good at what she does, trust me."

He stepped aside to reveal a younger mare who was busy washing dishes and setting them out to be used for breakfast. Her cutiemark was of a vodka bottle, and three glasses; she looked at me with a smile and asked me if I wanted anything to eat or drink; I asked for four shots of vodka for Fuse, Storm, Sweet, and Blaze. Blaze took his shot and downed it rather quickly to my dismay.

"Blaze; I was going to propose a toast, to a safe trip but you just ruined it." I said with mock scorn in my voice, making him laugh a bit uneasy at what he had done.

Looking to the mare behind the bar, he sheepishly asked for another shot. The mare; who's name I hadn't gotten yet simply smiled and poured him another chuckling a bit to herself as she did so.

Turning to my friends I raised mine in to the air, and we toasted to a safe and uneventful trip. After doing so I looked at the spread of food that was set out on the bar before us and set to work on gathering a few things to take to a table and start eating. Fuse and the others did so as well and we found a table. Blaze and Sweet Shot kept their gear on while Storm, Fuse and I took ours off; we were going to be leaving in less than twenty minuets, but I figured taking the gear off would be more comfortable as we ate. Center Mass trotted over to us with another pony in tow; the stallion was light grey with what looked like a microphone on his flank as his cutiemark.

"Firing pin, Short Fuse I would like to introduce you to the one and only Mr. Stalliongrad. As I told you before, he will be traveling with us in hopes of being able to broadcast the results of this important meeting coming up. He will be riding with me in the transport near the center of the convoy; I have assigned all of you to personally guard my transport during the trip, you don't have any problems with that I hope."

"No problem at all." We said in unison as we finished eating, and took our dishes back to the bar to be cleaned. Almost on instinct, I went behind the bar to start washing dishes; the young mare looked at me confused for a second, and reminded me that I had more important things to be worried about. Blushing, I left the bar and went back to my table where my friends were waiting for me; with rather large grins on their faces might I add. I facehooved as what I had just done sunk in; damn my instinctive nature.

Shaking off what I had just done I started getting my gear on, as did every pony in the bar. Center Mass looked as though he was a bit... nervous at what lay ahead, almost as if he had a since of dread. I wanted to ask him what was up but thought better of it as he started to gather his troops and assign them their places in the convoy. Looking at all of us he quickly assigned us to his armored transport and told us that we would be riding with him. Storm would be our eyes in the sky seeing as she was the only Pegasus on the entire team, and she would fly ahead of the convoy to relay any vital information on possible traps or roadblocks. The entire team consisted of three armored transports and a contingent of at least one hundred ponies. When I asked Center Mass why he had so many of his ponies going with us, he gave me a simple answer.

"Pin, you haven't been out in the wastes yet, so I'll give it to you like this. There is a slight possibility that we won't even make it to ST Pinkiesburg at all. The wasteland outside this city is some of the most dangerous and hostile land any pony will ever encounter outside of Japon or Equestria. In short, I wish I could have my entire command come with us. This little trip is one that is a must for any chance of normality in the Russian wastes. If it wasn't so important I wouldn't even dare venture in to the wastes. I would rather keep dealing with the Coltchivics than with what is out there. If you want any real information on the wastes I would suggest talking with Blaze and Sweet, seeing as they are out there more than any of us and can give you a bit more detail. Now if you have no more questions I would like to leave now so that we can make it to Ponza with in the day."

With that we found ourselves traversing the roads leading out of old Stalliongrad and in to events that would soon put us on the path to destiny.