Fallout Equestria: Don't Fear The Reaper

Fallout Equestria: Don’t Fear The Reaper

By: The Zealot

Chapter 5

I often look back on that day and thank Sunny, if only in my mind, for all she taught me. Without her instruction I surely would have died in those first few weeks out in the wastes. Still, I find myself going back to her teachings, even now, to help do what I can for the community. Tracking, hunting, gathering, skinning, and trade. I might teach you, someday. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, back to the story.

When I reached Sunny Smiles she hoofed me an old beat up rifle, it looked as if it had seen its fair share of use. While looking old it was obviously in working condition.

“Here, I don’t have much use for this anymore, so you can use it to practice. Here’s some ammo, and here's a little parts manual, for fixing it up if you get the chance.” She said, also giving me sixty rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, and a small grey booklet with ‘Equestrian Arms’ written across the front.

“Oh, interesting, thanks. Anyway, what now?” I asked, looking over the rifle in more detail as well as stowing the booklet and the ammo in a pocket on my coat, I found that while it had a bit of a rattle and the sights were slightly misaligned, it wasn't that bad off for the obvious years of wear and tear on it.

“Well, now we see how well you can shoot, make sure you don’t die from inaccuracy. now, see those bottles on the fence over there, use that rifle and try to hit a couple of ‘em” She said, frowning at the death by inaccuracy bit, before motioning to some bottles set up on a fence; some of them were the recognizable blue-purple color of Sparkle-Cola, but the rest weere a golden-amber color and said ‘Sunset Sarsaparilla’ on them I also noticed a strange variant of the Sparkle-Cola bottle, proclaiming itself to be 'Sparkle-Cola RAD' I still wonder what that could have meant.

“Alright, so what, just hit the bottles? Seems easy enough.” I said, holding the rifle in my magic and bringing it to my eye, I loaded it with five rounds and steadied myself before firing. I hit my first shot, missed two more, and hit two more.

“Not so easy, is it? Try getting better footing, hold your breath, and squeeze the trigger slowly.” Sunny advised, setting the bottles back up on the fence, how they weren't shattered from the bullet impact, I don’t know. Perhaps after my bit of training I could do some experiments to see what the soda bottles could survive.

So we kept on like that for about ten minutes, in that time I eventually managed to hit every bottle in one go. I was pretty proud of myself, considering I’d never used a rifle before. Then, I thought about how most, if not all, of the ponies in the wastes already had more practice in this skill than I had. That only meant that I had to get better, which couldn't be too hard, right?

“Well, looks like you got a good grasp on shooting, want to help me clear out some geckos from the water wells?” She asked, I hadn't noticed before but she was wearing a saddle that had a rifle attached to it. I admired the craftmareship of it, it had seen use, yes, but it still looked to be in prime condition.

“Sure, I guess, but aren't geckos like, small?” I asked, remembering the classes on animals that we had to take in the stable. From those classes I remembered that geckos were small lizard-like creatures. We had learned that geckos were curious creatures that would most likely have survived nuclear fallout due to their burrowing characteristics, allowing them to absorb ambient radiation rather then die from it.

“Oh yeah, they used to be, but after a few generations in the wastes they got to be about as big as you or me, pretty deadly little buggers if you let them get close.” She replied to my question, loading the rifle on her saddle by means of a mechanical system that loaded the bullet and pulled back the bolt on the rifle. Truly it was an amazing contraption.

“Well that’s interesting.. Anyway, I'll help you clear the wells, least I can do after you helped me learn to shoot.” I said with a smile before checking over my weapons, I loaded the rifle and checked the magazine on my pistol, seeing that all was fine I returned the pistol to it’s holster and slung the rifle over my back.

“Well alright then, take these and let’s go clear out those geckos.” She said with a smile, giving me sixty more rounds of 5.56 ammunition to replace what I had used at the ‘firing range’. I had managed to use up most of the ammo she had given me at the start of our session and I was thankful that I wouldn't have to use the limited amount of ammunition that I had for my pistol.

So, we left the town proper and went on to their source of water, with the goal of clearing out any and all geckos that may be around the wells. Walking out of the town a small box popped up in the top left corner of my vision proclaiming 'Quest Accepted: Clear out the Goodsprings Source of geckos'. It was a good feeling to be going out to help somepony, especially those who had given me help in my time of need. Really, helping them keep their water source clear of animals was the least I could do to repay the lesson Sunny had taught me.

Quest Complete: Back on your hooves.

Hoofnote: Level Up (Level 3): Small Guns increased to 45. Perk Gained: Sunny’s Teachings: You took Sunny’s teachings to heart, you are now 30% better at taking care of rifles and other small arms weapons.