Fallout Equestria - Long Way Home

Chapter 6: Out Of The Steel Cocoon

“In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”

Waking up with my arms around a warm body I was somewhat surprised to find Icepick nuzzling me. My course of action was not yet determined when she decided to awaken.

“Is it time to get up already?” She says in a sleepy tone.

“Unfortunately yes.”  I say candidly at her.

“Go back to sleep, you’re nicer that way.” She says in a quiet tone.

“Well I have nothing if not time.” I concede while pulling her closer to me, after a few seconds falling asleep for a while longer.

After awhile I wake up with her now laying partially on top of my chest. Some gentle prodding was enough for her to begin to get off of me.

She climbs off of me, taking her sweet time. Finally, after what seemed like ages, I was free to get off of her bed. The air in the room was chilly when you were not fully clothed. As I set about rectifying this, Icepick got back in her bed and looked at me.

“Why the long face?” She says in a peppy tone of voice.

“Probably the fact that I don’t know what I’m going to do once I leave this bunker.” I say in exasperation directed towards the multiverse that I unfortunately live in.

Now, dressed in my armour once again, I look back at Icepick with sadness at the fact I would be leaving her company soon. I was feeling very ambivalent about her so my thinking, fortunately or (unfortunately) my expression was obscured by my helmet. Opening the door I walk out into the drab corridors that had been the only scenery available to me for the last few days. Letting out a sigh, I look at my Pipboy to show me how to reach the elder’s office.  I set off towards that objective, along the way I see the other inhabitants of the bunker. They avert their eyes from me in what I assume was a sign of submission.

Striding into the nexus of activity near the elder’s office, I look around at the denizens of this complex going about their business. I give a mock salute to the paladins standing guard near the door. The uncertainty displayed in their returning gaze made it apparent that they were perplexed as to what the gesture meant. They displayed no resistance to me entering the office for the second time. I briefly wondered if the two guards were the same guards that had been standing there the last time I had entered.

Waltzing into the room I spotted Steamgear typing into a terminal. His face contorted into a frown the moment he saw who had entered his inner sanctum. As I continued walking towards his workspace, he silently motioned for me to sit in a chair in front of his desk. I did what he suggested, taking a moment to wonder why the chairs here were so accommodating to the human body in their design.

“So have you thought about the future of your contingent?” I say to break the silence in a passive-aggressive way.

    “Why yes, the highest ranking members have come to a consensus about our plan of action.” He said his dignified but vague statement in a smug tone.

“Good to know at least one of us has a plan of action. Anyway have you thought about my compensation.” I say in a polite manner.

“Why yes, your ultimatum was actually quite reasonable. Furthermore, I apologize for my... previous behavior.” He said all of this in his diplomatic tone, but when he apologized it came out of his mouth like he was in pain.

“Where’d you put my shit?” My passive tone had given way to an impatient one.

“Oh, right, just go to the armory in the back of the repair bay. There you will find what you’re looking for.” He said his temper clearly being tested. After leaving him and his hate for me behind I walked to where he said the armory was located. Upon entering the room, many things became apparent these applejacks rangers were better armed than most governments back home. Lining the walls all the weapons a good dictator could want were stored here. Walking towards a box of what I assumed were grenades. Sadly before I could get my hands on some explosive goodness, a pony wearing robes like the elder approached me.

“So you’re the alien everyone has been whispering about. You don’t seem that dangerous to me.” He says antagonistically.

   “Tell that to me when your brains painting the walls horse.” I spit venomously at the newcomer.

“Oh, did I strike a nerve? I didn’t realize your… “species” was so inclined to being offended. Of course, I’ll have to make a report about your little thre-” Before he could finish his rant I had picked him up and slammed the annoying equine against a gun safe. His breath gone, he weakly struggled to escape me.

“You know, for a scribe you’re not that intelligent. Why would you insult the being that killed a good portion of your old comrades?” I say while letting the stallion drop to the floor.

“Now show me where the 5.56 rounds are at jackass.”  Snickering at the double entendre in that statement, I awaited a response.

  He points to a group of boxes adjacent the wall a few feet away. Walking away from the pony (who was scared shitless, mind you), I progressed towards the place he gestured to.  Once there, I began opening the boxes of ammo; my search for armor piercing rounds was successful.  After finding the rather elusive ammunition I refilled three of my magazines, placing an additional hundred rounds in my backpack. When I looked back after that he was gone.

My primary task complete, I began looking around for anything useful to a non-pony. The mouth grips on the pistols made it impossible for me to find a new sidearm for myself. I returned to the box of grenades I had my eyes on before that pony decided drawing my ire would be a good idea. Upon opening the box I laid my eyes upon a half dozen olive tinted grenades in apple shaped housings. When I put them in my duster pocket my Pipboy dinged. Viewing the “Weapons” section of the device, the new weapons were displayed as “Frag Grenades.”

Moving through the rest of the armory I came across a box of spark grenades, a box of .223 hunting rifle ammunition, a firearm cleaning kit and manual, and a box of match loaded 5.56 ammunition.

I left the armory with my bags significantly heavier. I now wanted the elder to give me the currency he owed me along with the map I needed. Walking swiftly through the halls I spotted Ironsight.

     “What the fuck did you do to Sparkling Scroll?” She says to me in  clearly anger.

“What the idiot deserved.  Why for the love of whatever deity you believe in would you insult the creature that killed most of your former comrades?” I say in my “can you believe this” voice.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you made him empty his bowels in fright.” She said while walking beside me.

I hadn’t stopped moving during this entire exchange. I was resolute in my quest to leave this place within the day. Her appearance hadn’t stopped my trek towards the elders office.  Continuing the conversation was going to be futile, but I couldn’t let her have the last word.

“Hey fuck you that kid was a dick.” I say with bluntness in my voice.

“We’re called foals when we’re born, dipshit.” replied Ironsight.

I believe it was at that exact moment I began to respect this whorse.

It was also at that exact moment I realized that their dialect had started to grow on me.

I walked into the elders office with Iron Sight in tow for what I hoped would be the last time in a long while. To my surprise, I found Icepick speaking to the robed pony. My sudden entrance seemed to make Icepick nervous. I once again sat down in the strangely comfortable chair, waiting for someone to speak. The elder spoke, evidently having little patience for uncomfortable silence.

“After some deliberation we have decided to extend a contract towards you.” Steamgear said to me. Before he could continue, Ironsight interrupted him.

“Why would you give a contract to this monster?” Ironsight said with more venom in her voice than I thought possible.

“Because he can move around arousing more attention than a relocating ranger contingent.” Steamgear said sternly to Ironsight. He looked at me before continuing his explanation. “Sorry we didn’t get off on the right hoof, but we need you to cause a big enough distraction to draw everyponie’s attention away from our withdrawal.”

“What do you offer in exchange for me putting a target on my head?” I asked, suspicious.

“Would the help of a large technologically advanced group on your quest home persuade you?” He asked, clearly trying to bait me.

“How about that, and at the very least a large supply of the currency you use.”

I said in the most reasonable tone I could muster.

“You understand you won’t be able to meet with us until we’re integrated with the rest of the manehattan contingent.” Icepick said to me looking right where my eyes would be if I wasn’t wearing my helmet. (She hadn’t been wearing her helmet throughout the entire meeting).

“Fine having you guys as my allies isn’t a bad idea,” I said soberly.

“So do you have a map I can download to my Pipboy?” I said with a little happiness, the prospect of leaving another place composed entirely of grey corridors leaving an enticing image in my head.

“Yes, let me retrieve it.” Steamgear said to me in a tone synonymous to mine ( most likely pleased with the my quickly approaching departure.) He began rummaging in the filling cabinets behind him.

Retrieving the map shortly thereafter, he produced a holodisk and a bag which produced a metallic pinging noise when dropped on his desk. I wondered as to how the alien holodisk could be compatable with my Pipboy. After grabbing it and inserting it into the appropriate slot on my Pipboy, it made the distinctive humming of a successful holodisk download in progress. Taking the bag into my hands, I untied the knotted top to examine its contents. Looking up with an unamused facial expression, I blatantly expressed my feelings as to this matter.

“The fuck is this?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referencing…” replied Steamgear, perhaps just as incredulous as I.

“I asked for currency, not fucking scrap metal.” I stated with the compulsory throwing of the bag at the wall, its contents spilling out onto the concrete floor. My sudden outburst caused the ponies to cringe at the loud BANG! that was made.

“I don’t think you understand; that is our currency.” Steamgear stated matter-of-factly. “Paper is too valuable a commodity to create out of the limited supply of trees and the pre-war stockpiles of paper are now little more than ash.” Placing my hand over my face, I considered what Steamgear said.

“Fine, fine,” I said feeling slightly disheartened. I held out my hand expecting one of the ponies in the room to pick up the bag and hand it to me. Steamgear looked around nervously, raising a timid hoof to point to himself.

“Do you want me to…?”

“Yes, I want you to pick up my fucking mess. Problem?”

“N-no, not at all.” He said in compliance, immediately retrieving the bag and placing it within my grasp.

Leaving the room like a bat out of hell, I jogged out without so much as a farewell to the elder. It seemed that Icepick didn’t want to me leave without saying goodbye. I continued walking until I was out of earshot of the other ponies around me. Icepick having tailed me this entire time nearly crashed into me as I stopped to speak to her.

“You seem so happy to leave, why is that?” She said in a hurt tone.

“Because I haven’t been out of a decaying facility in at least three days, along with the fact that almost everyone here dislikes me.” I said tersely.

“So you think you can just abandon the only pony who can tolerate you!” She says in a tone similar to her previous tone. “That is all the more reason you should stay by me!”

“You know I’ll be back someday. If nothing else, they still owe me some mon...er…caps.” I grinned.

Icepick broke into a grin and playfully punched my leg. “You’d better.” She stated. “And bring some books back with you! I’ve read all of mine at least three times.”

I nodded my head with affirmation, then walked towards the door with one last wave back to Icepick. Heading out of the bunker, I passed a group of paladins. I saluted again, leaving them wondering what the hell I meant by it.

“Open the door!” I said in a commanding tone.

The door sentinels opened the door hurriedly. Walking through the doorway I quickly ascertained that the facility’s entrance was on a tall mountain. The cold air assaulted me as I moved out into the wastes. When I reached the side of the plateau the bunker entrance had led out to, I observed the ruined wasteland.

Pulling up the map on my Pipboy, I located the nearby ruins of Hollow Shades. Setting a navigation marker for the nearest probable settlement, I thought about my current mission goal (which I guess was to cause as much attention as I possibly could be directed at me.) Setting off down the chilly mountain I let my mind drift. The feelings of loneliness were palpable as I continued down the lonesome road.

---===*===---

I found myself most of the way down the mountain when I saw a group of decrepit buildings. My curiosity got the best of me as I approached the buildings with Epilogue drawn. Spotting a broken chariot? I ran up to it then consequently crouched behind the chariot. Looking down the scope of my rifle I spotted a pony wearing mismatched armor with a rifle near her. Wondering how to deal with this group of ponies I deliberated for a few minutes until I watched a pony from inside the building drag a pony corpse out into the muck, then the pony just left the mutilated corpse there. It then proceeded to walk back into the building.

Watching such an act of remorseless sacrilege made me think that this group wasn’t looking to barter with me. My mind now had a task to do; formulate an attack plan.

Planning wasn’t that hard considering that I was the only variable that I had control over. The plan was composed of me sniping any pony that I saw wearing that bloody tattered armour before they got to the range that they could fight back. Sighting in the sentry ponies head I let out a breath then I squeezed the trigger. The noise broke the late evening’s silence as the bullet reshaped the ponies head. Watching the entrance intently I quickly spotted the first responder to the sound of gunfire. Lining up the newcomer in my scope I double tapped the trigger bringing the now forever nameless pony down. Apparently the denizens of the building decided to not run outside like the first pony, they instead opted to throw a grenade outside the door. The grenade detonated with a humongous bang and it left a good sized in the ground in the spot that it landed. Their unusual landscaping technique accomplished nothing in regards to stopping me, I let out a chuckle at their futile efforts.

The remaining inhabitants of the building didn’t leave the building, forcing me to do the work in regards to their extermination. The night was now upon me so I activated the night vision in my helmet. As my vision shifted to shades of yellow I moved as silently as I could towards the building. Approaching the doorway my back pressed against the wall, I pulled out a frag grenade out of one of my pockets and prepared to throw it into the building once I opened the door a little.

Opening the door and throwing the grenade inside was accomplished quickly leaving me time to back away quickly from the doorway. Pulling  Epilogue back into my hands I decided to run in using the explosion as cover. Sprinting into the building I encountered no resistance in the lobby( I had figured out the building used to be a resort hotel.), I then moved behind the receptionists desk using it as cover.

A pony wearing that terrible armor ran through the nearest hallway. It was clutching a pistol in it’s mouth. The pony had time to see a tall biped with glowing red eyes, before the very neurons that carried it’s oh shit signals in his brain were painting the walls behind him.

“You come out now and you die quickly!” A female raider yelled at me.

“Why would that make any sense at all considering my situation. Really you ponies are the most incompetent organization I have ever seen In my admittedly short life. ( My voice goes as sarcastic as possible considering i’m wearing a fully enclosed helmet.) ‘Let’s send someone outside where we know there is an adversary’ my god how stupid can you guys be.”

My rant was cut short by a fusilade of submachine gun rounds impacting the desk I was using for cover.  The pony apparently emptied an entire magazine into my cover.However when I heard the dry click indicative of an empty weapon I popped up and returned fire into the submachine gun pony. I noticed in my HUD that Epilogue was down to twenty rounds left in it’s magazine, this tiny revelation was interrupted by a bottle with a flaming rag stuffed in the top being hurled at me from farther on in the hallway. It smashed into the desk covering it in flaming liquid, me on the other hand was up and running in the other direction the hell away from the goddamn fire bottles.

Actually running out of the building itself I had time to deactivate my night vision. The reason, paradoxically the amount of light a fire generates amplified by a night vision helmet actually blinds the wearer. I had only a few seconds before another molotov cocktail flew out of the now all too familiar doorway. Deciding to walk backwards away from the entrance way I kept my rifle raised to deal with anyone who came through that doorway.

“Scared of the flame Red Eyes” The now distinctly female pyromaniac yelled out to me.

The name Red Eyes was actually pretty metal so I decided not to correct her on that “I’m not scared of rapid oxidation , I’m merely backing away from the psychotic bitch that’s throwing around the flammable shit!” I yell back.

“What are you some kind of egghead?” She says in annoyance.

I had moved around so that I could see down the open doorway by this point. Still unseen by the pony with the affinity for fire, I reactivated my night vision and sighted in the pony. Before I shot her I did two things, first I looked at her closely she was a unicorn sported a bright red coat with coal black hair. The second was equivalent to an elementary school taunt.

      .   “It’s better than not having a head!” The look on her face was well worth the extra second that the taunt took. Epilogue cracked twice her head was now for all intents and purposes gone.

Moving back towards the building once more I decided to make a proclamation.

“If you surrender and disarm I’ll let you escape with your lives.” I said with as much volume as I could muster.

My cease and desist order was met with no replies, but at this point I was already in the lobby moving swiftly into what remained of what used to be a hotel. I began going room to room looting anything that seemed useful. Most of what I found was various drugs and prewar food. After what seemed like a long period of inactivity I heard a banging against a closet door near me.

“Hey is anyone in there?” I asked the obvious yet oh so important question.

“Are you one of Degenerate Flames raiders?” The voice squeaked out it sounded like a prepubescent child.

“No I think they’re all dead. Wait a second, i’ll unlock the door for you.” I said in a comforting tone. I went ahead and tried to open the door, my initial attempts failed I decided to take a drastic measure.

“You should probably back away from the door soon.” I said with a little urgency.

“Why should I?” The kid said with a little bit of ill timed sass.

“Dude I’m gonna kick the door down in like a second, so get away from the door!” I say slipping into my 90’s  teenager vernacularly unintentionally.

Without further adieu I kick the door down my steel toed combat boots doing the deed nicely. Inside the room however was a small pony with a beige coat and orange hair( mane whatever). He took one look at me and screamed at the top of his relatively small lungs. This response made me begin to wonder if I should, in the future take off my helmet before meeting new creatures, especially ones so utterly effective at assaulting my eardrums.

“COME ON I DON’T EVEN LOOK DANGEROUS” Perhaps the sheer absurdity of that statement alone was enough to make this load adolescent quit his wailing. To take some my inherent scare factor away, I took off my helmet for the first time in approximately nine hours. The effect this had on him didn’t take long to manifest, he just stood there and studied me for a second before asking.

“Are you an alien or something?” he asked in a tone of detached curiosity.

“Either that or a transdimensional butt monkey.” I say with a trace of humour in my voice.

“What’s a butt monkey.” He asks clearly very curious.

“Someone who has shit happen to them that they don’t deserve, but at the same time can handle.” Pausing for a second to think about what this kid probably needs, after a little mental deliberation I decided to ask. “Hey kid want some food, It’s really old but it still has some of the qualities of sustenance.”

“You talk funny, anyway yeah i’ll eat some food if you got any.” He says in an upbeat tone.

I begin searching through my bag for any of that ransacked food, while i’m doing this I ask.

“Kid how in the hell did you get captured by these assholes.” I ask in a sober voice.

“Well ma and pa were guarding the front of the caravan when Flame’s raiders attacked.” [His voice had lowered to almost a whisper, he also started to tear up as well] “I hid in the wagon, I could hear the gunshots.”

He whimpers, I put my hand on his head and scratch behind his ear. (If it works for a dog or cat it’s worth a try isn’t it). He looks at me with something bordering on affection, I just give a smile while making sure not to expose my canines. I guess this gave him the strength to continue.

“I heard ma and pa get shot. When they searched the wagon they found me and took me here. I think maybe Wagon Wheel got taken here too. Have you seen a pony with an orange coat and yellow mane?” He says sounding concerned for the welfare of Wagon Wheel.

Do I tell him that I saw the mutilated corpse matching that description being dragged outside? This question was being fought over in my head as the colt,(I really needed to find out his name), Grabbed a box actually labelled ‘Junk Food’ and he then proceeded to rip open the box and commence eating. The question of what I would tell the kid could be stalled for a while, however a matter of great importance couldn’t wait any longer.

“Kid what’s your name?” I ask in a tone that conveyed more maturity than I thought I possessed.

“Bright Surprise is my name, don’t wear it out.” He said his voice unintentionally (I hoped) emulated a bad 50’s movie gangster.

My laugh was irrepressible and along with it was a statement I would probably later regret. “Kid don’t ever change”

   “Why ya laughin at me?” He said with an anger that told me that I had struck a nerve, he probably thought I was laughing at his name.

“Bright Surprise, It wasn’t your name that caused my laughter. It was the way you delivered that entire statement” I said in a tone that felt like I was an apologetic elder.

Which when I thought about the situation I was in the tone was pretty indicative of my interpersonal relationship with this ten year old boy analogue. Wait what in the actual fuck was I in the process of becoming a father figure to this colt?

My Rumination was interrupted a incessant tapping on my knee, looking down I saw Bright Surprise repeatedly prodding my leg.

“What do you want?” I ask in a vexed tone of voice.

“Do ya have anything to drink mister…?” he asked with hesitation in his voice.

“You can call me Jake, and to answer your question kid I took a couple bottles of water from the raiders. They register as purified water in my Pipboy, so drink up.” I grabbed two bottles of water from my bag and handed one of them to the colt, the other bottle I began to drink from.

After some eating of my own, I saw that the colt had fallen asleep while laying down on the cold floor. Action wasn’t necessary but I felt he needed an actual bed, I remembered seeing a few dingy mattresses in the hotel rooms. Picking up Bright Surprise while trying to not wake him up wasn’t that difficult, having a little practice in such matters helped. My thoughts drifted to the weirdly detached memories of my younger brother. I often had to  This train of thought left me feeling a faint pangs of homesickness.

Taking a moment to let these feelings pass, after a moment I decided that reloading my partially expended magazine would be a prudent step in my continuing journey.  Finding a table with another uncomfortably comfortable chair, I sat down and reloaded my firearm.

The idea to clean Epilogue registered in my consciousness, I deliberated for a moment about whether I should. Eventually I decided to start the process was because I was in a relatively safe location. Looking in the manual I started breaking the gun down into it’s base components, after a thorough cleaning and reassembly Epilogue was back up into the nineties of condition percentage in my Pipboy. Letting out a yawn, my thinking drifted to the proposition of sleeping in a centuries old mattress. Although after thinking about my last few days I realized that every bed I had slept on had been two centuries old, the important factor being the conditions the mattresses were subjected to during their lifetimes.

Oh how must suck to live your life in the ever fading shadow of a greater age. Knowing what a newly manufactured product is like but never even having the chance to see one being created. Everyone in this world is like a cannibalistic carrion animal, living only from the corpses of their long dead brethren.  After these ruminations I decided to check my Pipboy for radio signals, this was done mainly to keep my mind off the one nastiest truths in this dreadful world.

The auto tuner in my Pipboy picked actually picked up a broadcast. I sat there in the eerily comfortable chair and listened to a charismatic pony.

[Redeye’s Fillydelphia Broadcast]

“My friends, let me share with you a secret, just between you and me.  I was not always like this.  No, once I was a young colt, irresponsible and carefree.  I did not understand the need to toil, to labor.  Nor should I have.  For I was but a child, and childhood is the time for innocence.  For exploration.  For happiness and growth.

“I was lucky, fortunate beyond my deserving, to be blessed with safe places to roam, security from the fiends and horrors of the Equestrian Wasteland, and companionship in the form of my beloved dog, Winter.  Oh, the adventures we had.

“Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it.  A time of peace and joy that I can return to in my mind at the end of the day after the Equestrian Wasteland has thrown at me the worst of its horrors and despair.  Between the visions of my peaceful past and our gloriously bright future, I find the strength to go on, no matter how hard the path or heavy the load.

“But… my childhood, picturesque and ideal and safe… is that what your own children enjoy?  Tell me, Equestrian Wasteland, how many of our children today are truly happy?  Truly carefree?

“Sadly, we both know the answer.  None.  Today, Equestria is a hard, miserable, unforgiving place.  Our colts and fillies live with fear, violence, rape and death.  The bleak and poisoned world offers our children only meaningless struggle and, all too often, a cruel and terrifying end.  There is no joy out there, no hope.

“No more!  This ends here.  This ends now.  One day, yes, the New Equestria we are building will offer them that same utopian security that I once enjoyed… but we cannot wait for that while our children suffer.  The leaders of our past may have forgotten how much each colt, each filly, is to be cherished when they unleashed their arrogant wrath upon our world, but we who have lived through hell know better.  And we will not wait another day.

“As those living within lands already being reclaimed know, our nation’s young ones are, and have always been, my highest priority.  All that we sacrifice, we do for them, to give them a better place.  And in the meantime, we strive to give them what safety and security our hooves can offer.

“And more than that, dear friends.  Oh, much more.  We provide schools where they can learn, medical centers where they will obtain free treatment -- the best medical care in all of Equestria, and homes where they can live together with other children, making friends, all under the watchful care of loving, approved mares and stallions.

“Soon, the armies of the Children of Unity will come to your town.  Not as an invading army, oh no.  But as an army of engineers and teachers and doctors.  They will rebuild your schools, establish hospitals that will provide the best care in this ruined and tortured nation, and bring to you the Words of the Goddess, so that you too may know Unity.

“And once again, our children will be able to play.”

[At this point the broadcast cut out to be replaced by some “happy” music.]

“Fuck that jazz!” I say while turning off the radio as quickly as humanly possible.

My revulsion at the song played after the radio message obscured my thoughts about the radio message itself. The message seemed to have overtures of hope, the thing that worried me was the second line of the message. “I was not always like this” I said outloud while wondering how those words conveyed so much meaning, to a stranger wandering in this strange land.

Getting up from the chair with a shinier Epilogue in my hands, I decided that getting a nights rest would be a good idea. Finding a room near the where Bright Surprise was sleeping, I took off my duster and and laid my helmet on a nearby table, then I proceeded to drop onto the mattress.

Within five minutes or so I fell into a dreamless sleep.

---===*===---

As the Void of much needed sleep faded from my mind, I saw the reason for my now conscious state. The kid had decided to wake me up, however when I didn’t immediately jump up he must have decided to open my bag and begin gorging himself on the contents of my Backpack.

“Kid if you only eat junk food you won’t grow up to be Big and STRONG” I say in the parental voice I could must.

“The only food that’s left is junk food, and why do you keep calling me kid.” He said the first half with sass, the latter half curious with what kid meant.

“It means adolescent,” I say cautiously. “Anyway do you want to come with me to Hollow shades?” I ask with false confidence.

“Jake, Hollow Shades is gone, but there is a town nearby. I could show you the way I guess.” He said the second sentence with his own batch of uncertainty.

“Thanks, I don’t really know my way around.” I say while rubbing the back of my neck with my right hand.

“Yeah, do you want to eat before we go?” He says with a small smile at the irony of leading an alien many years his elder around.

I had already began eating some of the Preservative laden food.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” The colt snickered

“You can take your pick of the raider weapons.”  I said trying to keep the kid happy, I mean all male children like weapons right?

“I can?” He said in a jovial tone.

“Yeah sure, just don’t use any of them without showing them to me first.” My voice slipped into that newfound parental voice.

I got up after drinking another bottle of water, putting on my duster and shoulder plates took but a few seconds. A minute or two later I had all of my equipment locked and loaded. Now I just had to find where that pony had scampered off too. His location was made apparent by a series of gunshots. I broke into a sprint towards the where the gunshot went off, my head was filled with thoughts of brights dismemberment. Now outside in the snow I saw that my thoughts were unwarranted.

“Hey Jake you know how you said I couldn’t shoot the guns right?” He said with a voice only a child thats been caught going against it’s elders wishes can use.

I nodded my helmeted head.

He simply pointed at a dead giant ant a couple of feet away.  I walked towards him keeping the status quo of silence. Coming to arms length of him, I reached down and patted him on the head.

“Good job,” Pausing to think about the subject before I approached it. “Good to know you have no qualm against murdering things that seek to harm you.”

“What did you just say?” My speech seemed to go over his head sometimes this seemed to annoy him.

With a huff I said “You can protect yourself somewhat, I was being grateful for that”.

“Now what all did you find?” I asked while pointing at his recently used submachine gun.

“This gun, some clips for it and one of these(He pulled out a molotov cocktail with his telekinesis).” He said in a merry tone.

“Good now are you ready to show me where this town is at?” I say in a relaxed voice.

“I wanted to look for where Wagon Wheel went, Can I please?” He sounded desperate yet full of hope at the same time.

“Most of the raider bodies are out near the lobby, do you want me to pinpoint where they’re at?” I asked my companion.

“Do I still get to keep their weapons?” He asked while his mind flooded with the possibilities of what weapons his captors had on them.

“Knock yourself the fuck out” I say with a little more mirth than was probably appropriate for the circumstances. Does he really need to ask that around me?  I’m like the fun uncle. While he walked with me around the building I thought about my role in the kids life. Would I become an adoptive father? Not likely since I’m less than twice his age and an alien with little to no knowledge about how this world actually operated.

My reverie was was broken by the Brights agonized wailing and subsequent running towards the mutilated corpse. Okay the mutilated corpse created by the raiders instead of the corpse of one of the raiders.  Well as my internal struggle over the semantics of my own conscious thought, my usage of the words mutilated and corpse being the center of the debate. Meanwhile Bright Surprise’s cries continued unabated, and being the bastion of emotional support that I am, consequently a plan formed in my mind. the plan consisted of letting the kid cry himself out. So I waited there for about five minutes till he got back up and walked towards me.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THAT SHE WAS FUCKING DEAD?” He screamed at me.

      “I wasn’t sure that the corpse and the pony you described were the same, so I didn’t say anything at all. Why not leave you with a little bit of hope for a change.” I say with force but not anger.

“I DON’T NEED ANY HOPE!!!” He loudly replied.

“Yes you do, both of us do. You have lived your life in a shitty place, recently fate has decided to take everything you hold dear away from you.” I state in a dark tone my face contorting into a sad smile unseen beneath my mask. “As for me i’ve lost everything I have ever known, but if there is still a chance for my return to my loved ones I’ll continue on.” I say in a sardonic tone. “You’re young you can do whatever you want, I am also relatively young but my problem is that I don’t belong here in this world.”

“But you’re here anyway.” His voice had become softer.

“We’re both victims of circumstances, in my instance my hopes of getting back to my homeland is the primary impetus for continuing on.” I said in an expository tone. “Show me the way forward and maybe you will find you’re own way forward.” I said trying to sound sagely.

“Only if you help me bury her first!!” He stated his ultimatum resolutely.

“Okay probably a good idea anyway, i’ve gotta find a shovel to be any help. Hey while i’m gone can you start digging with your telekinesis or something. ”  I began walking into the building to look for a shovel.

After a couple minutes of checking through a decrepit maintenance wing of the hotel I found a the digging implement I was looking for. Making my way back to the front of the hotel took a little while as well. Old decaying buildings were starting to annoy me based solely on their sheer abundance in my admittedly short travels.

Arriving back to the burial sight I observed that Bright had already dug a vaguely rectangular hole about two feet deep.

“Took you long enough.” Bright said with sweat pouring off of his small prow.

“You’re lucky that you are not sitting in a locked room right now.” I say letting my annoyance at his annoyance show verbally.

“Just fuck off and help me dig this hole.” He replies in a bitter tone.

Deciding that the angry squirt was not looking to speak anymore, I began helping him dig the hole.

---===*====---

The hole that me and my nonplussed companion had dug was a full five feet deep which Bright thought was deep enough to bury his last remaining tie to his old life. The chilly air was oppressive as we threw Wagon Wheel into her final resting place. No words were exchanged as we filled the grave back full of dirt. It was about noon when we finished that unpleasant but spiritually fulfilling task.

“Let’s just go,” he said with a gesturing hoof towards him which I took to mean he wanted me to follow behind him. I followed yet another guide in an unfamiliar location on an alien world, those thoughts really never strayed far from my conscious thinking. Walking down the mountain became the only real thought in my mind as I looked around occasionally to look for danger. This I suppose was the beginning stages of my mental change towards all walking  becoming truly pedestrian.  We walked till something inevitably attacked us, we then stopped for a long enough time to deal with the threat. Most of the threats were mundane like giant ants and molerats. The ease with which we dispatched the threats made us quickly complacent to hostels showing up on my Pipboys scanner.

Somewhere around four hours into our travels a red mark showed up on my scanner. The direction it came from was off to my right somewhere in some ruined housing, that we had began running into as we pushed into the outskirts of what was once hollow shades.

“Dude we got another contact, be ready to unload on it if you spot it.” My vague instructions apparently going over well with him.  I had already turned my body towards the contact, I was waiting Epilogue in hand for whatever it was to come into view. The unknown creature answered my thoughts to a tee. With a roar this black predator sprinted out of one of the houses at us. I quickly looked down my scope at the creature, acquiring it in my sights I pulled the trigger as fast as the weapon would allow. The 5.56 rifle rounds punched large holes into the rushing creature, along with the damage being dealt by me Bright had opened up with his submachine sun. The cacophony of gunfire had caused to slow down, It still went forward to aiming it’s mass towards Bright. Making a snap decision just as Epilogue went fry, I pulled one of my pilfered frag grenades out of my duster.

“RUN, GET BEHIND SOME COVER,” My yelling seeming to affect his actions. His gun’s magazine had run out as well, he then dropped it and began running  in the direction of an overturned chariot. I really didn’t want to get the poor kid hurt but to save him required putting him in danger. As I slipped into VATs all of these emotions drained away save for my not wanting to explode the kid, I then targeted the bear accordingly.

As the oddly apple shaped bomb left my hand I watched as it lazily arced over the bear right in front of the chariot Bright was hiding behind. The bomb went off turning the already wounded bear into the equivalent of a thick red paste. The colt came scampering towards me quickly. I wondered why he was moving so fast under these now non threatening circumstances.

“Hit the deck!!” He yelled at me. For a moment I wondered why he wanted me to hit the ground, but I suppressed that thinking that he probably knows something that I do not.

I laying on my stomach for only a few seconds before his order was vindicated.

BOOM

The large explosion that emanated from the chariot caused noise to ring in my ears for a moment. Getting up off the ground unscathed by the explosion I looked around for Brights location.  Spotting the small pony behind a collection of boulders I moved swiftly to thank the colt for alerting me to the explosive nature of these chariot-things.

“Uh...thanks kid, for uh telling me to hit the ground. I mean I really don’t like being riddled with shrapnel.” I Said awkwardly while rubbing the back of my neck with my right arm. I needed to get around my awkwardness around these creatures, without covering it up with barely supportable bravado. Maybe being less of a dick would be nice too? My thoughts were suddenly thrust to the back of my mind as I finally saw that the kid had a large piece of metal protruding from his neck. The wound was bleeding profusely I remembered a bit of first aid and first looked in my bag for bandages.

Finding some and remembering the healing effects of my stimpacks on myself I wondered what the application of a stimpack would do for the ailing colt. Having everything I thought I needed beside me, I used my gloved right hand to pull out the embedded shrapnel from his neck. After that the blood flow increased significantly out of his wound, before attempting to use the stimpack on him I quickly wrapped the bandage around his neck. Pulling out another of the now somewhat familiar syringes I tried to find an appropriate vein to inject it into the kid. Within a few seconds I found one then promptly injected it into him. I watched with a massive amount anxiety over whether or not the medicine would have any effect on his alien physiology. What possible negative effects could shooting a strange drug that somehow works for humans have on an alien child? nothing bad I hoped? I mean the kid has started to grow on me.

I slowly watched with bated breath as the amount of blood saturating the bandage decreased at just fast enough of a rate to be noticeably while continually staring at the wound in question. Taking a break from watching the healing of the kid, I took a moment to drink some water and eat some more antebellum food. While chewing on some of what these equines called food I took a moment to think some more about the serendipity involved with Brights body being affected in a positive way from the stimpack. Did this indicate that these equines had analogues body systems? Was there something more at work here, some cosmic game of chess? The first thought I pondered for awhile it kind of unsettled me how our physiologies were this similar. The second question just made me burst out laughing at the sheer  audacity of what that would make me.

It was becoming darker outside when I saw a strange sight in the skies above my head. It looked like a fixed wing aircraft of some type, but it had no conventional wings that I could see. Maybe the it was some kind of lifting body aircraft, wait that would require a civilisation with a multitude of advanced skills to operate an aircraft. The resources required would be crushing to almost any society, or maybe applying my terran aviation knowledge here was moving me in the wrong direction. I believe hearing one of those technicians in the ranger base talk about some enclave in the clouds.

Well by the time my contemplations were in full effect the aircraft was almost out of my sight. I wondered if I should wake Bright up? The thought was briefly turned over in my mind before I decided to just pick him up and continue walking. He was probably exhausted, considering that his small body lost a lot of blood, and the effects of a proportionally larger dose of  repair stimulant drug. That probably would leave him very tired for quite a while. Continuing down the darkened cracked blacktop, I paused to activate my night vision while keeping the kid comfortable over my left shoulder. His weight was probably only around thirty pounds. I briefly considered If I could wake him up with an adrenal injection. Eventually my thoughts drifted to the my useage of explosives in combat.

These happy violent thoughts kept me occupied till I spotted a large wall composed of random garbage with a little cement coating the outside of the wall.

The aesthetic appeal of a cobbled together wall of  rubbish aside, I wondered where the entrance to this compound was. It seemed that my answer would be given to me quickly, along the top of the walls I spotted movement. Dark quadrupedal shadows looked as though they were patrolling this settlement? military base? I really wasn’t that sure.  I continued walking the perimeter of the wall; the sentries on the walls seemed not to notice me.  After a few minutes I heard a yawning and simultaneous movement from the being sprawled out on my shoulder.

“Where are we? How long was I out?” The colt said louder than I was comfortable with.

“Outside of that place you were leading me to, I think?” I paused in my whispering, spotting a dilapidated shack farther away from the walled settlement.

“It’s been a few hours since you lost consciousness.” I said while moving in the direction of the shack, where we would hopefully plan our next move.

“Wait how can you even see, It’s pitch black outside?” He says while opening and closing his large eyes.

At the door to the shack by now, I quickly turned the handle. It opened with a squeak, letting me step inside. “Integrated night vision” I say to him while pointing at my helmet. He nodded then said.

“Can you put me down now?”

“Yeah, just give me second,” I set him on the floor after turning on my pipboy light for Brights benefit.

“Those guys out there don’t seem like a nice friendly group” I say bringing up the subject that was immediately important.

“Yeah about that we didn’t actually get to enter the place. They kinda just bought our stuff at the gate.” He says apologetically while nervously kicking the dirt in this little shit shack.

“Okay, are they just xenophobic assholes.” I ask not pleased with this little nugget of information given to me.

“I’m not sure what xenophobic means, but they don’t let ‘peasants’ in there.” He says trying to make up for his lack of foresight by being extra helpful.

“Can you atleast tell me what the name of this place is?” I ask still miffed about this miscommunication.

“The first estate” he said with a some dismissal in his voice.

After some discussion it was decided that Bright should try to gain entry based upon the fact he could fake being a helpless kid. He was then to persuade to let me in. This left me  perched up on the top of a nearby hill, rifle pointing at the gate in the case bright had some trouble with these people.

As bright walked in the direction of the gate he was quickly sighted in by the sentries guarding the gate. My helmet augmented sight could pick out the sentries lowering their weapons, because the threat level of an unarmoured child wasn’t that high. They appeared to be having words for a couple minutes then Bright turned away from the guards and began walking slowly towards my position.

I snuck over to meet him around halfway between our previous positions. When we were in close enough proximity to speak to one another he initiated the exchange.

“Jake they’ll let you in,” his voice shifted to a slightly smug tone before continuing.

“I just said you looked a little change, also I kinda told them you were my guardian.”

“Wow your powers of strategic understatement are pretty impressive,” I say while chuckling. “I gotta say I understand the surprise part of your name.” I say the latter part in a faux contemplative tone.

“Nopony thinks a colt can tell you bullshit.” He says under his breath, quite proud of himself.

My helmets microphone suite gave me the ability to hear this, I actually startled him by responding. “Nopony exactly, I am quite aware of your talent with lies of omission.”

He just looks at me in a way that I interpreted as ‘you’re a conceited asshole’.

“Ready to head over there?” He said, his impatience being the impetus of his question.

“Lead the way kid,” I say while beginning to follow the adolescent. I became more worried the closer we got to the gate. The moment when they gate sentries spotted me would have been hilarious if I hadn’t been trying to keep everything peaceful. The more senior of the two guards screamed.

“What in celestia’s name is that?” Punctuated by the aiming of a double assault rifle battle saddle being aimed in my general direction. His underling on the other hand was frantically trying to open the door.

In my best attempt at diplomacy the only thing my stressed brain could think to utter is as follows. “I come in peace?” I asked looking at the sentry pony apologetically.

It was at this point that Bright interjected, “He’s the one who helped me,don’t fire at him.” He says trying his hardest to keep bullets from being exchanged.

“Yeah I’m mostly harmless,” I then say under my breath while keeping my hands straight out in front of me. “Except to raiders and power armoured assholes”.

The guard apparently able to hear both parts of my statement looked at me inquisitively then asked. “What raiders?”

“The ones who were set up in that resort place closer to the mountain. That’s where I got this little bundle of joy.” I thusly pointed at Bright, he was now right beside me.

“You fought those degenerates,” I nodded my armored head, “and did you wipe out their encampment?.” The snobbish sounding earth pony asked me.

“Waste of ammunition but it had to done,” I said trying to sound as gentlemanly as possible. Trying to emulate another person's speech patterns puts them more at ease, that was my reasoning behind my eloquent phrasing.

“Were you aware that there was a bounty for eliminating those individuals?” He said rather politely, my words seeming to make him more averse to violence.

“Actually I didn’t know that,but if you need proof that I did the deed. Then send someone on the morrow to check the encampment.”

“Sure,sure do you want to enter our fine city?” He asks now very courteous my nod of affirmation prompted him to ask another question. “May I ask your name?”

“Jake the wanderer is my title.” I reply in my pompous yet polite tone.

“I’m the eventing guard captain, my name is Dark Sentry.” He replies merrily probably happy to state his position in his group to an outsider.

That went rather well I thought to myself as he guided me and Bright inside the compound. He was speaking about how his subordinate would be reprimanded for dereliction of duty. I kept nodding as he continued speaking while I barely listened. The town itself looked like a bunch of high end pre war houses with  some of these houses now being used for commercial endeavors. The streets were barely lit by a couple of electric light poles hooked up to some large batteries. I noticed that behind the junk of the walls was a set of brickwalls that were very worn, I surmised that this place used to be a gated community the walls I suppose were to keep up the illusion of exclusivity.  Walls that used to keep the property values high now superseded by walls made out of the consumer trash that the wealthy here kept in abundance, and for what to continue the tradition of elitism.

At some point Dark Sentry actually gave me some useful information he pointed out an inn. Why do they have an inn if keeping all out of town ponies away is their general policy? Well after asking this question he responded that sometimes the townsfolk wanted to get away from their house’s every once in awhile. I suppressed asking why you would want to stay in a motel a block from your house. These ponies in particular annoyed me more than anything I had encountered so far.  At the door to the Inn Dark Sentry left us, but not before saying some hollow remark about having a good sleep. After that Bright and I waltzed into the Inn, a sleepy looking orange unicorn mare was sitting behind a desk. Her tired exterior was immediately changed into a face that conveyed absolute terror upon seeing us (it was probably me that scared her).

“I’m here to pay for a room for a night, miss?” I say hoping my mundane request would keep her from screaming and waking the whole town. That inconvenient scenario was averted by those words because she then politely asked.

“That would be fifty caps sir?” She would have seen my bemused look if I would have been sans helmet, but alas my helmet was on and she looked funny at my lack of reply to her.

“How about I give you 20 nine millimeter rounds and you call that good?” The Inn keeper and I both looked at Bright for a second.

“That will be quite all right mister?” She said while looking at Bright with the same what the hell is happening look that she had kept on her face after my initial request.

“Surprise, Bright Surprise milady” He said while holding his right foreleg out for a shake, the mare tried to oblige but before that happened bright took her hoof into his and brought it to his lips. The mare thought this was cute and actually began blushing.  At this moment I realized I had never actually asked for his age, perhaps my estimate was off he may have actually been like twelve years old with a larger body than would be expected for that age. This led me to think that maybe keeping this kid around would be a good idea, his ability to bend the truth and appear innocuous would be invaluable compared to my eldritch appearance. Plus it was adorable that he was subtly trying to hit on the Innkeeping mare.    A pint sized womanizer would be interesting to keep around. During my thinking a smile had appeared on my obscured face.

“Miss can you give me the key to the room, and perhaps lead us to the room?”

My speaking had broken the awkwardness between the as of yet unnamed mare and Bright.

“I’m Sunrise, what is your name mister.” She said, but before I could answer Bright interrupted.

“His name is Jake he’s not from here, now can you please me show to my room Sunrise.” He stated his explanation bluntly until the latter half before turning on the charm. I honestly wondered where he had picked up this charm? Was he actually trying to seduce this mare? I really wanted answers but asking would probably set back his attempts at whatever he was trying to do, so I stayed my tongue and just watched how this would play out.

“Right this way sirs” She said with forced neutrality. Which I assumed was because of Brights advances.

---===*===---

A few minutes later I was standing in front of a mirror in the bathroom of my suite, Bright was curled up on one of the beds in the hotel room proper. I looked curiously at myself. My armour was sitting on the floor of the room. My body looked noticeably different from the last time that I took a good look at it. My body had slimmed down a decent amount on account of the fact I had been marching around for almost my entire time away from my actually home. I had unknowingly acquired a small rough beard, another change was from the strength implant my musculature had become more pronounced.  All in all I wasn’t all that opposed to the changes. I had a small realization I hadn’t felt a need to scratch a part of my body since I had woken up in that facility, this in turn caused to me remember something from a medical article. It said something along the lines of ‘ Itching is caused by parts of the central nervous system located in the spine sometimes causing the pain relief after the scratching response is desired. The phenomenon is caused by spine to skin neurofeedback.’ I posited that my synthetic spine didn’t have this annoying ability.  So as I put back on my t-shirt I thought about how these augments didn’t really have any negative consequences, perhaps other than a loss of my humanity. That might bother me more if I wasn’t the only human on this rock.

Now laying back in another strangely human compliant piece of furniture I quickly entered the much needed state of unconsciousness my body desired

Change...

End Of Chapter Six

Footnote  Level up

Perk Added

Grunt-  You gain 25% more damage with 9mm pistols ,SMGs, .45 pistols , service rifles, assault/Marksman carbines, light machine guns, frag grenades, grenade rifles, launchers and combat knives.