Fallout: the Return

Chapter 13: Retribution

I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was sometime past seven o’clock and I had returned to town to see what I happened during my cowardice. I was thankful I hadn’t let Leo come with me, even as he begged me. Rattles walked beside me, Leo having made sure he would keep Mommy safe.

It was a cute and heartbreaking gesture that my son, my four year old son, was worried for my safety. So worried, that he ordered his best friend to guard me.And now, walking through town, I was grateful for my personal escort. Nightguards in bloodied armor walked around, dragging corpses of skinless ghouls, ponies in brown suits and masks, and a few others in sackcloth hoods and hospital gowns. I had heard Luna yell last night, as well as the mighty trumpets of her guards.It was like the Arena in the Fort. So much noise, death, and blood spilled on the ground. The air was thick with the smell of smoke, and many buildings had burnt down through the night.“Oh, thank goodness, Fluttershy, there you are!” yelled Twilight, causing me to look in her direction. I gasped in shock. Her armor was a battered wreck, it clanked and rattled as she ran forward. Even a few pieces fell off of it as she approached, leaving a shoulder exposed. “Where were you?” She asked, tilting her helmeted head. The visor was cracked and chipped to the point I could see one of her eyes, which held nothing but worry.“Home, hiding under the bed with my son,” I said, wincing at the state she was in. Looking to the ground I slowly admitted, “I was a coward and ran, even as I watched the first buildings go up in flame.”I felt a hoof against my back, just above the base of my left wing. It felt reassuring as I looked up to see Twilight’s cracked power helmet lenses. Even though I couldn’t see her face completely, her words and hoof showed her reassurance, “No, you’re not. You put motherhood first, and I have no right to say you should have helped because putting you or your son in danger was out of the question.”Her gaze slowly fell to the large amount of gauze wrapped around my thigh.“Oh my gosh, what happened!?” Twilight asked, jerking in shock. As if a thigh injury was cause enough to ignore that half the town was ruined. It hurt worse than the Cazadore sting to see so many ruined homes.I briefly wondered how many homes had been wrecked before I finally responded. “It was a Cazador,” I said, remembering the harsh pain that ran through my body, and the fearful thoughts of losing my son, “I was stung and nearly died before Ulysses managed to save my life.”Twilight gasped and hugged me, “I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. Is Leo okay?”I shook my head, “Of course not. I nearly died in front of him, and the battle throughout the night kept us all awake. Is Tigris and Applejack safe?”“I made sure of that,” spoke a voice from my left side. Turning my body, Ulysses limped towards us, his hide peppered with scars that were covered with fresh bandages. “I sent her and her child home, safe and sound.”I breathed a sigh of relief, “Are the others safe?”Twilight nodded, “Pinkie’s back at Sugarcube Corner, trying to calm Mrs. Cake and the twins, Rainbow and Nolan are fine, and Rarity is in the library with Christine, Sweetie, and Spike. I wouldn’t advise talking to her, she was stabbed and is in an easily pissed off mood.”“Oh my gosh,” I said quickly in a panic.I was about to say more, but the sight of Princess Celestia silenced me. A bloody axe was held in her flickering golden magical grasp as her white coat was stained crimson with blood. To see her in such a state amazed and horrified me at the same time. The half-scowl half-frown she wore with her tired eyes made it seem as if her thoughts were elsewhere as she neared.“Princess Twilight,” Princess Celestia muttered, weakly, her magic failing and the axe falling to the ground, “I no longer feel the magical disturbances. We’re safe, for now. How many dead of the town?”Twilight looked towards the ground, “The coroners report seventeen Ponyville residents having lost their lives, with thirty-plus more hospitalized with serious wounds... I failed them, Celestia.”“No, you didn’t. After four years, none of us expected something like this to happen. Let’s gather your friends at the library, I need to speak with you all.”

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Pinkie Pie’s hair was a flat, matted mess. Sweat dampened the tangled strands under the brown helmet she wore as her fur felt sticky under her NCR armor. She was laying down in a booth at Sugarcube Corner, trying to catch some rest after hours of fighting. Across from her in a separate booth, Pound and Pumpkin gazed at their ‘Auntie’ fearfully.Mrs. Cake stared in fear at her as well, or more importantly, at the Service Rife Pinkie had resting on the booth’s table, spare magazines and loose bullets covering the top. Mr. Cake had been one of the civilians shot and hospitalized, right in front of Mrs. Cake.“I see you staring,” Pinkie said solemnly as she closed her eyes, resting her head on the body of Chrome who was with her. The old ex-Legion Mongrel was contempt at being a pillow. Hours earlier, he ripped the throat out of a Marked man that forced his way through the door, and he was finished with fighting.“You killed other ponies,” Mrs. Cake said in fear directed towards the niece she barely recognised as her Pinkie Pie, “And you did so without hesitation.”“Is that why you were gone so long, Auntie…?” Pound trailed off his question. Even at the age of eight, he still referred to her as Auntie. A little childish habit that hadn’t yet given way to a more proper way of referring to her.Pumpkin, Pound’s tandem twin sister since birth, finished his question, “To kill ponies like the ones that attacked us?”Pinkie had no answer for the two. For so long she hid what she done as best as she could, but at that moment, the battle was rushing back to her. Firing from the window in Pound and Pumpkin’s room was a mistake. After almost a minute of silent contemplation, she spoke, “There’s a saying back in the NCR, the ponies I got the uniform from,” Pinkie let out a tired, hurt laugh, “War, war never changes. War is always Hell…”Pinkie gave a ghost of a smile, “Heh, it just took four years to catch up to us.” Letting out a shaky sigh, pinkie tried to let the exhausting hours of firing her gun leech away her consciousness and lull her to sleep, but the sound of hooves clopping into the store from the kicked-down door made Pinkie look up.“Raul!” Pinkie said with a quick revigorating jolt of energy, her hair almost reinflating.“Pinkie,” Raul said lowly in acknowledgment a relieving smile on his lips.  His marefriend leapt out the booth, heading straight for him as Chome followed behind lazily. Raul had no time to react before Pinkie threw her hooves around his neck and kissed him.When she pulled away, she backed away a little to get a better look at him. “I had no idea if you were safe or not,” she said, noticing he was wearing an oversized sombrero and cowboy getup with a .44 magnum by his flank. Raul had told her stories about the costume, “Mi valiente Vaquero.”“Out with you!” Mrs. Cake seethed, causing both Pinkie and Raul to jump. Turning to face her, they saw how livid she was, clutching Pound and Pumpkin tightly, “My husband was hurt by one of your kind, Raul. Get. Out.”Taking a few steps towards her, Pinkie tried to protest, “But Mrs. C-”“Not going to hear it,” she snapped, with a quick shake of her head, “My husband is out there with the doctors, hurt, and could possibly die. So, Raul, get out of my sight.” She had finished with such finalization in her tone, Raul winced.“Meirda,” Raul cursed under his breath, lowering his head, “Marked Men?”Pinkie nodded, “One busted through the door. Chrome bit him in the neck, but not before Mr. Cake was shot. I heard the commotion from upstairs.” Looking down, she knew Mrs. Cake was inconsolable at the moment, “Let’s go someplace else.”

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“Nolan,” Rainbow Dash said flying over burt buildings as she carried her broken-winged husband through the air. The both of them had sitten through the firefight, and that was the reason Rainbow Dash was so anxious at that moment.“Yeah,” Nolan responded.“We need to find our friends. Like, now.”Nolan nodded and began to point ponies out in the crowd below.

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“Does it hurt, Rarity?” Spike asked, looking at the gaping wound in Rarity’s leg that she herself was sewing up. Having found a needle and thread somewhere in the library, Rarity refused to let the Lunar Guard medics that roamed the town help with the wound.“Like Hell,” Rarity responded with an out of place chuckle. She didn’t even grunt in pain as she used her magic to manipulate the needle through her own flesh, quite literally sewing herself together.“Wow, Sis,” Sweetie said as she observed, now dressed in her Ranger Armor, “You’re one tough mare.”“My exposed skin constantly burns,” Rarity explained with a small shrug, “Any touch to my exposed muscles sends fire coursing through me. Pain nearly made me feral, and now, I’m tough as nails.” The words didn’t horrify Sweetie, though, as the events of the previous night were fearful enough. While Rarity was speaking, Christine came down the steps from the bedroom, a first-aid kit in her light blue magical grasp.“You’re getting stronger,” Rarity commented before nodding towards the first-aid kit. “but I don’t need it.”“It’s not for you,” Christine replied back, walking towards the door, “The medics of the Lunar Guard weren’t ready for these wounds. Half the town is out there hurt, Rarity, they need all the supplies they can.”The front door opened, and a large group consisting of Pinkie, Raul, Ulysses, Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Nolan and both Princess Celestia and Luna walked in.

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I’m going to be sick, I thought at the sight of Rarity sewing her own leg wound together. It was sickening to the point I turned green, and nearly fainted. But I stayed strong. Applejack and I stood close to the door, Twilight took a seat on her couch, Princess Celestia and Luna stood off to the side, and everyone else ambled to various locations in the main room of the library. Only shattered glass and a pile of ashes in the room gave warning that something had happened.“You okay there, Sugarcube,” Applejack asked, showing concern.“Yeah,” I muttered, my eyes glued to the floor, “How’s Tigris?”Applejack shook her head, “My little darlin’ slept through all of this. Only Luna’s trumpets woke her, and I had to outright lie to her.” Her face twisted into a disgusted expression of guilt at having to do that.“At least she’s safe,” I muttered, “Leo and Jason nearly ran into town when I was almost killed by a cazador.”“What!?” Was the general outburst, causing me to shy behind my mane. Applejack looked at my thigh and muttered a curse word.“Ulysses saved me,” I said in hope she would stop staring. She did, but tilted her head in confusion.“He did what?” she asked.“Ulysses saved me,” I reiterated, making the zebra in question remain stiller than before, “And then he ran into town.”Princess Celestia and Luna stepped close, Celestia’s bloodied coat shimmering in the light, “I saw him fighting the skinless ones, Marked Men, if Twilight’s letters were correct.”Ulysses didn’t comment as Rarity answered for Twilight, “Yes, Celestia, they were. I’m at least somewhat a marked one myself.” She had finished sewing her wound closed, her white coat marred with her own blood, adding yet another future scar on her body. It was a surreal sight to see both Celestia and Rarity just as bloodied as each other.It was also frightening at the same time, that Celestia, the kindest ruler who ever lived, had to kill. But in a sense, it was out of kindness to protect her subjects.“Well,” Princess Celestia started, gathering everyone’s attention as she scanned the room, “Now that we have all been gathered together, I would like to discuss what we shall do next.”“What do you plan, Celestia?” Twilight asked, voicing the question we all held.“I’m sending troops to destroy Big Mountain,” Celestia said flatly, like all her energy had been drained by the words, “The scientists sent these creatures here.”There wasn’t even a gasp of shock. She felt like a mother to us all, and vice versa she had lost many ponies she viewed as children. I myself desired the same thing when Chrysalis kidnapped Leo, a word Jason had told me the Legion used often…Retribution.“Is now a bad time?” Rainbow asked her husband. The question drew the attention of everyone in the library.“I don’t know,” Nolan said with a shrug, seeing the eyes of everyone on them, “But now everypony’s staring at us.”I saw Rainbow Dash tense her muscles, before she took a deep breath, looking off to the side as she croaked out, “I’m… I’m going to be a mother.”I deadpanned, my jaw falling open …What!?The silence in the room showed that everyone was just as shocked. Even Ulysses was surprised, though hardly showed it as he simply raised an eyebrow. Rainbow and Nolan could only fidget from where they stood.Rainbow lowered her head and blushed, “I… Nolan and I, we-”“What Rainbow is trying to say,” Nolan said for her as he nuzzled Rainbow affectionately. His voice, despite the current condition of the town, carried an undertone of pride, “Since we lived with each other for four years, and married a couple months ago, we decided to have a child together. Around a week ago, Rainbow took a pregnacy test, and I learned I was going to be a father.”Rainbow nodded, “It was going to be a big surprise, ya’know. A big shocker that a mare like me is going to have a foal. I was just waiting for the right time, and well, the attack and I never shown up.”Silence reigned over the room.…“Baby shower!” Pinkie squealed suddenly, bouncing up and down on the tips of her hooves, each hop making some kind of sound I could only describe as ‘sproing’. Even though there had been so much death in one day, everypony was able to give a weak smile for our favorite party pony.