Fallout Equestria: Salvation

Fallout Equestria: Salvation

Chapter Four: Hierarchy

“The higher up you are, the less you feel for those below you.”

    The rusted grey metal door slammed shut behind me, a green magical field locked the door from the inside with a large metal bolt. I had walked into an underground tunnel, rusted pipes lined the stone walls and ceiling and water puddles formed in various spots on the floor where the stone eroded over decades. The air was oddly cold and humid; a slight fog filled the tunnel obscuring any vision further down with the only light coming from the occasional fluorescent lamp built into the wall.  I slowly crept away from the door, glancing left and right. Why did I follow them down here? I looked over to Sour Bean and her group, they had already started walking.

    “Hey, is there another way to wherever we’re heading right now?” I called out sounding rather shaky. Bean looked back at me, and smirked.

    “Oh sure, there is a grand detour with some lovely sights to see. I’m sure we could even find you a scooter or wheelchair to push you around on.” Bean replied. Sarcasm wasn’t an attractive trait when it was being used against me. I looked down the tunnel to foggy darkness, and saw one of the lights flicker.

    “Ha ha ha, funny. Seriously, do we have to go through this place?” I nodded towards the bolted shut door, “Just, ya know, unlock it. We can find another way to your hideout.” All three of my new companions just stared at me, like I was suggesting something stupid.

    Bean turned around and sighed, “No, we can’t. This is the only path that doesn’t require us going through enemy territory. If you are going to help us, just suck up whatever your problem is, and come on.” She turned back around, motioned to the other two, and they started walking again.

    I glanced back at the locked door and shook my head. This was so friggin’ stupid! Why couldn’t they see that we were in a deathtrap? I trotted up after them, my hooves splashing in some small puddles on the way. This looked like some old maintenance tunnel, but why was it so wet? I caught up to them, and lined up next to Sour Bean. My radio’s song cut off sharply, replaced by a light static that was drowned out by our voices.

    “What is up with you about this path?” Bean asked. If she had to ask, she didn’t get it. I glanced over my shoulder, and then over the other.  I don’t know how anything could come from behind when it’s straight and empty, but it still creeped me out.

    “Uh, Bean, right? You’re lucky I was paid to do this, or I would never go down here. This whole atmosphere screams death trap, or some monster lair that’s going to eat us. You say this is your path to your base, so that means you have travelled it before. That’s a little reassuring, but this is such a bad idea.”

    She laughed, “Aww, are you scared of some big bad tunnels? I am more scared of those raiders above us and them shooting us dead.” Pond and Sunrise started chatting to each other while me and Sour Bean had our own conversation.

    “I would rather take on a town of raiders than go underground. The friggin’ monsters down here could eat an army of raiders.” A light flickered as we past it, casting the entire area in brief darkness that caused me to jump. Bean just stared at me, “Anyway, what are raiders even doing in the city? Not that there are any walls stopping them from coming in.”

    Bean snorted. “There are walls further in where the real city is at, the part we ponies lived in. Those stupid idiots that we called our leaders went insane and let an army of slavers and raiders inside, and are trying to capture anypony they can get their hooves on. So now we are at war, and they outnumber us pretty bad.”

    I just stared at the wet stone ground at we walked, taking in this information. This was a lot bigger than I thought, damn Mourning and her favor. “When you say an army, how big are we talking?”

    “I’m not sure on the exact number, but we last counted about sixty, maybe seventy ponies. Our numbers are half that, one less with the loss of Paperclip. If he didn’t shoot down those raiders charging at us... I don’t think we would have made it out.” Bean said, and stared straight forward hard. That was a lot of ponies, even if most of them are raiders. Wait, slavers as well? What the hay was going on? I know slavers and raiders don’t always kill each other, but since when did they team up?

    “You said slavers as well, any chance that some of their numbers are just slaves forced into fighting?”

    Bean looked like she was thinking hard for a moment. “...Yeah. I think most of the ponies that got captured in the first raid are slaves fighting against us. I don’t know how many there are though. They should have ran faster, now it’s our problem to deal with them.”

    That was harsh, but at least this gives us a better chance. If we could convince the slaves to turn on their slavers, that would maybe even the odds. “Looks like we’re here.” Bean said, a similar rusty grey metal door lit up by a light at the end of the tunnel. If this whole way wasn’t a straight line, I would’ve thought that we ended up back at the entrance. Bean walked up to the door, shushed the rest of our group, and knocked four times in slow succession.

    “Code” a muffled stallions voice came through the door.

    “Green.” Bean replied. The sound of metal grating came from the other side, probably another bolt lock, and the door opened up. Our whole group walked inside.

    A smooth stone rectangular room with two doorways, one ahead opposite of us, and one to our left. Large desks and filing cabinets filled most of the area in the room, broken or torn apart terminals sat on every desk along with hundreds of papers littering any surface.

   A purple stallion walked out from behind the door, and greeted us. “Welcome back, how did it go?”

   Bean snorted. “Terrible, didn’t even find one, unless you count the large group of raiders we killed. We lost Paperclip in the fight against them.”

   The purple stallion sighed, his eyes looked like he had been up for days. “Luna help us, this is getting insane.” He looked to me, “Who is that?”

   “Some mercenary who was paid to help us out.” Bean answered. I wanted to state I was paid to end the conflict, I was never told which side to help. Considering what I had seen though, I was with the right side. Sunrise and Pond left us, and headed through the left side doorway.

    “Then he can make up for your loss of a pony.” the stallion stated.

    “Hey, I didn’t lose a pony, why is it my fault like I am the leader?” Bean threw her hooves up in the air for a moment to exaggerate.

    I interrupted their conversation, “I thought you were the leader, since you did all the talking and decision making.” Bean gave me a shocked look, complete with a gasp. “That... that is because none of the others would do anything! I had to tell them what to do, or nothing would ever get done.” she replied.

    “And that makes you the leader.” the purple stallion said. “The assembly will be in an hour by the way, you almost missed this one.”

    “Yeah, whatever. I’ll take this guy,” she nodded to me,” and watch him until it starts.”

    “Alright, it will be your fault if he ends up a spy or kills us all.” Bean shrugged, and walked to the doorway in front of us. I trotted up beside her, and we left the room. I glanced back to the stallion, he closed the door and bolted it shut again, and went to a desk. He opened a book up and started to read. I guess he had to do something while sitting guard over a door.

    Bean led me down a couple hallways, all with smooth stone walls and dim lighting, doorways with metal doors jammed open or completely removed. After the third hallway we entered into a small bedroom, or at least that’s what it was being used for. Everything that was in here before must have been cleared out, there only being four storage lockers, and two sets of bunk beds. Bean walked over to the closest locker, and opened it. We had been walking in complete silence, except for my radio static. It was becoming a bit uncomfortable.

    “So, what happens at this assembly?” I asked, trying to both start up some conversation and get more info on what was going on.

    Bean took out some ammo, slammed her locker shut, and yelled at me. “Goddesses, why can’t you just stay silent.” She flicked her head toward me, her eyes looked tired. “Fuck... today has sucked enough.” I took a couple steps toward her, empathizing with her. I’ve had those kind of days. She levitated the ammo over to the left bottom bunk, and sat down on the mattress. She faced away from me, I heard her sniffling.

    “Hey, are you okay?” I asked, wow was that smooth. Everypony wants to hear that when they’re sad. She wiped her face with a foreleg, got off the bunk, and walked right up to me. She punched me in the shoulder. Same. Exact. Spot. “I am not crying, tell anypony and I’ll shoot you.” she sniffled again, and walked back over to her bunk. I rubbed my shoulder. mouthing out ‘Ow’ soundlessly. It was a conspiracy among all mares to hit in that spot.

    I joined her next to her bunk, sitting on the ground instead of on it. “What were you not crying about?”. Bean sniffled again, and met my eyes, “Oh fuck no, I’m not talking about this. Especially not with some random pony who says he is a goody-good mercenary here to save the day.”

    I shrugged. “Why not? Better than telling somepony who knows you personally.” Beans raised her hoof to punch me again; I flinched. She froze for a moment, looked around the room, and lowered her hoof. “Alright, whatever. You know that stallion who died today? We grew up together. Yeah, I put on an act in front of other ponies. You know, to not seem like I’m weak, typical shit. I am actually pretty fucking sad over him dying. His death saved our lives, and I love him for that, I just wish he didn’t have to rot in the street with those damned raiders.”

    I put a hoof to my scarf, and stroked it. “Yeah, I know that feeling... I really do.” I looked up into her eyes, and she met mine. Then she sneezed in my face, I felt her snot cling to my fur. She bursted out laughing, falling onto her back and clutching her ribs. Eww... I wiped my face on her dirty bed sheet. “Hehe, oh Luna, that was a fucking moment.” She said, still laughing. I just stared at her rolling around on her bed until she stopped.

    I sighed. “So, really, what happens at this assembly that’s in a bit?”

    “Oh, just the usual announcements that Oaktree gives out every day.” I stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate. She just looked at me like I was an idiot missing common sense.

   “Who’s Oaktree?” I asked

    She facehoofed. “You come to help us without knowing anything? Oaktree is the leader of our little rebellion. No, he did not make himself leader, he was given it because he basically saved everypony who survived the first raid.” I opened my mouth to ask how, but she answered it before I spoke. “He was the only pony from our city council to say ‘hell no’ to whatever the others planned, and warned the citizens about it in time. He organized the evacuation to our current base that the other leaders don’t know about, and has pretty much kept us all safe while we go out to look for any other survivors.

    My mind thought about this, he must’ve been a damn good pony. “Bean, you think I could meet with Oaktree?”

    She shrugged, “Sure, just walk up to him or his office and say hi.” Odd, I didn’t detect her usual sarcasm. “No really, you can. Like I said, we made him a leader. He isn’t holed up in a security bunker behind walls of bulletproof glass, he is just a pony.”

    “Do you think yo-”

    “Whatever, yeah, sure. I’ll take you to meet him after.” She interrupted me. I smiled. Being able to meet the boss and see what I could do to help end this as quickly as possible was easier than just running around on what little information I had.

    I shifted in place, unsure of what to do. We still had at least forty minutes until the assembly. “So, you have any idea why the council turned on the city?” I asked. Bean gave me a stare, opened her locker telekinetically, and levitated out a worn chessboard and pieces. I scooted away from her bunk, and she set them down between us.

    “How about we play a game since we have some time,” she said. I raised an eyebrow, and looked at the chessboard. I knew how to play, but that was about it. “Each time one of takes a piece, we get to ask the other a question.” She smiled creepily. I admit, I was scared when she smiled. It seemed fair enough though, so why not?

    “Sure, but I get to go first.” Bean rolled her eyes, and set up the pieces with black on her side and white on mine. I immediately moved my farthest left pawn up two. Thinking of a strategy would be hard, so I just thought in the present.

    “Chess is a great game, trains your mind to think ahead dozens of steps while keeping your reflexes to unpredictable moves sharp. You outwit opponents by reading their thoughts based of even the smallest motions or habits.” Bean said, while telekinetically moving the pawn in front of her left bishop forward two.

    “Really?” I asked, moving my right knight out of his box to the left.

    Bean laughed, “Hell no, it’s just a game. For fun. I figured if we were going to talk, might as well do it with something I like.” She moved her left rook pawn forward two, with me moving my king pawn forward two right after. Bean moved her right knight out to behind her pawn.

    “I wouldn’t have guessed you were a chess player, no offense.” I moved my right bishop in front of her left forward pawn. I looked up from the board to see Bean staring at me, but not in an angry way.

    “I will chalk that up to this being the wasteland and that nopony has time to play the game.” She moved her king pawn up two. I saw that my knight could take the pawn she just moved, and went for it. When I nudged her pawn with my knight, she levitated it over to my right side along the edge of the board.

    Bean shrugged, “First kill is yours, ask away.”

    “You know why the council turned on the city?” I asked.

    “Some of it, Oaktree told us what he knew after we had escaped. It wasn’t much, just that they had a deal going with this slaver group. If they turned over the city, they would get anything they wanted. I figure being city leaders wasn’t good enough, and they went power crazy at the chance.”

    I rubbed my chin, trying to think of what gang has that much influence. Bean moved her knight to take mine, and then levitated it to her right side off of the board. “My pawn has been avenged, and now it is my turn. Now, Silent, why are you really here?” She asked.

    “What? I told you, I was paid to come solve this conflict.” I replied.

    “Oh, I know that, but it isn’t good enough. Give me the real details.” She said, looking nonchalant. I scratched the back of my head while sighing.

    “Look, I got paid to solve this problem, but I wasn’t told which side to go for. We have commissions by both your group, and the other group, and our higher ups couldn’t decide what to do. I’m here unofficially; a really good friend asked me a favor. That’s why I’m trying to get information about what is really going on here. So far, I’m leaning hard in your side’s favor.”

    I moved my left knight pawn forward one to protect my bishop from her knight. Bean moved her queen pawn forward one. I moved my right knight pawn up one. “So your merc group, or whatever, got asked for help by both sides? I don’t remember there ever being an announcement about our side doing that.”

    She moved her queen forward one space, followed by my queen pawn going up two. “Huh, well I wasn’t told who actually came to request, I came here soon after I was asked,” I said. Bean moved her knight forward, putting my king in check. I moved him to his right, and moved her queen down right to put him in check again. Dang, this was bad. I moved him to his upper left, and let out a breath. She moved her knight back left, taking my pawn and putting my poor king is check again. Jeez, I was bad at chess.

    “Oh, my turn again? Good. I know you saw our fight with the raiders, why didn’t you help us? We might have all made it out if you stabbed them in their backs, literally.” She gestured to my javelins. Well, now it was awkward.

    “I wasn’t going to go risk my life against a large group of raiders for ponies I didn’t even know, especially considering this city’s situation. I’m a mercenary, not a friggin’ hero.” I moved my king in front of her knight, Bean moved her right knight out into the battle to the left. I moved my left bishop to its upper left, putting Bean’s king in check.

    “Alright, I can get that,” She said while nodding her head with a mild expression. She used her furthest back knight to block my bishop. I moved my queen one space to the upper right. She moved her knight that was in front of my king back, taking my bishop.

    “What are you planning on doing if you meet Oaktree?” She asked.

    “Ask him what I can do to help.” I moved my pawn to take her leftmost knight.

    “How many leaders turned rogue other than the one who saved y’all?”

    “Four. Shorttail, Éclair, Star Wind, and Peaches. All unicorns except for Peaches.” Bean moved her pawn between her right knight pawn forward one, and I followed with my left knight forward right. I think I was trying to win too much, and not just capturing any piece I could get. Bean moved her right bishop forward right, checking my king. This was getting ridiculous, my poor king always in the assassin’s gaze. Did I have a move to save me?

    “Having trouble?” Bean asked.

    “It wasn’t a turn for a question,” I said; she rolled her eyes at me. I saw my only chance, and moved my right bishop pawn forward two, blocking her bishop. She magically pulled my pawn off, and replaced it with her bishop. “You’re pretty well equipped, yet I don’t see a gun. You have one?” Bean asked.

    I nodded toward my saddlebags, “I carry a 10mm Pistol, but I prefer not to use it.” I nudged my king into her bishop, her floating it to my small pile of kills.

    “That’s weird, bringing a spear to a gun fight.” She moved her right knight pawn forward, checking my poor king. If he wasn’t an object, he would’ve died from stress of all the oncoming attacks.

    “When you kill somepony with a gun, it was just a pull of the trigger. When I take a life with my spears, I feel the weight of the pony I had just killed, even if it was some sick raider. I guess it’s more personal.” I used my king to take her pawn, swift justice unleashed.

    “That is pretty morbid you know,” Bean said as she shrugged, and moved her right rook left one space; king checked again.

    I shifted in my spot, not sure what to do. I hesitantly moved my king to his upper left. “Now,” Bean said, moving her queen all the way back, to the left of my king. Checkmate.I heard a click from the right side of my head, her rifle floating in the corner of my vision. “Which side are you on?”

    I started to inch my hoof toward Bean, and was stopped by the sound of a her rifles lever loading a bullet. “Uh uh, don’t try anything and just answer the question, it is my turn after all.” This was very unprofessional of me, falling for a trap to be forced on a side. Unicorns and their magic, I swore under my breath.

    “Interesting interrogation technique, are you forcing me to choose sides?” I said.

    Bean shrugged, “Can’t let you meet the boss without having you on the team. It’s a risk and all.”

    “I could just lie to you, say I’m on your side and still jump your leader.”

    “I don’t take you for a liar, some mercenary code or such. Or you’re just a good pony, who knows.” I paused, it wasn’t like I was going to not choose their side anyway, I just didn’t like being threatened into it.

    “Fine… I’m on your side, playing for your team, in your square and all whatever else ways I could say it.” I stared at Bean, and she cocked an eyebrow. After a couple seconds passed, “Put away the gun?” She made a surprised face, seeming to have forgotten she had me at gunpoint.

    “Now that that’s settled, let’s get going. The assembly is soon. Or it might have already started, whatever,” Bean said, putting her rifle back on her harness. I looked at the harness, and saw her cutie mark underneath, a patch of dirt with a yellow two-leaf sprout that matched her tail color. Funny how I didn’t think to look for it until I thought it might be a chess cutie mark.

    “You know, that was actually fun… one sec,” she said, opening her locker magically again. She floated out a small set light faded brown leather saddlebags, and stuffed some equipment and her chess game into them before strapping them on.

    She headed out the doorway, didn’t bother waiting, and walked off. I trotted to catch up, and we went to the assembly. Bean tossed me a glance, saying, “You’re terrible at chess you know, we should work on that.” She let out a villainous laugh, a sure signal of fun in the future.

    A few hallways and a set of stairs later, we walked through a thin blue metal door into a large stone room. It seemed like a makeshift auditorium, a stage crafted out of scrap wood and metal at the end of the room, dozens of broken and scrapped tables shoved alongside the walls to clear the area. Dozens of ponies were already in here, with two on the stage. Bean led me closer to the stage, and we stopped about halfway into the crowd.

    We arrived just as a blue mare was walking away from a podium on the stage, swapping with an older brown stallion, his moss green mane greased straight back, though with what I wasn’t sure. His horn glowed with a lighter green glow. Bean leaned over and whispered in my ear, “That there is Oaktree, seems we arrived just in time.”

    Oaktree cleared his throat, the sound magically enhanced to a greatly louder volume. “Greetings my comrades, as I am sure you are all aware, this battle against the corrupted ponies that have invaded our home is at its peak. This last week we have rescued over ten other survivors, and in the process brought many of our enemies to justice. Although we have all lost loved ones in the attacks, we continue to stand together as a whole and persevere through this brutal time. I have received news that the majority of our enemies forces have camped in our City Hall. I am afraid they are trying to retrieve the water talisman that we use to sustain our community.”

    Almost everypony gasped, myself included. They had a water talisman? That alone could be the whole reason for this fucking war! Oaktree continued, “Now now, as frightening as this information is, I was in charge the water talisman. It was, and is still my job to protect it from harm, so I have hidden it in the building before I was run out. Though, I am afraid that will only buy us so much time. We cannot let them have it, so I propose that we attack them before they can find it,” Oaktree let out a magnified sigh,” I know this is reckless, but that water is our life and trade. I am sorry it has come to this, but I will go with any pony that will follow me. So I ask you, if you will not come with, please leave the city for safety.”

    Silence permeated the room, I looked around to see everypony standing tall and staring at the stage. Each stallion or mare had determined looks on their faces. The blue mare that was on the stage next to Oaktree spoke up. “Would we all be here if we were not ready to follow you to the end?”

    Oaktree looked around the room, and smiled. “Thank you all… We shall be victorious in defending our home, or die fighting for it!” He saluted the crowd, which everypony returned to him. He bowed afterward, and walked off the stage, exiting through the door on the right. The blue mare walked back up to the podium, and proceeded to list off names that she wanted to gather in a meeting room in an hour to discuss the attack. Bean’s name was on that list, apparently she was thought of as her group's leader by others as well. After that, the assembly was over and everypony left the auditorium.

    “That was definitely not our average assembly. So this thing is finally going to end huh? One way or another. Come on merc, let’s go meet up with the boss.” Bean said. We trotted over and through the door right of the stage. We entered a T-shaped hallway, and walked to a door right in the middle at the end of the intersection. Bean pushed open a pair of thin blue metal doors, and we walked into a meeting room.

    A large wooden table sat in the middle of this wide square room, maps and papers scattered over the top. A few working terminals were embedded in the side of the walls, and a chalkboard stood a few hoofs away from the table. This is what I would imagine a war strategy room looked like. A few ponies were talking amongst each other, operating the terminals, and other stuff. Oaktree and that blue mare stood behind the middle table, concentrating on the papers.

    Bean walked up to the table with me following alongside. The other two didn’t seem to notice us, as they continued looking back and forth between the map and papers on the table. I looked to Bean who was staring straight ahead, waiting to be called on. A minute passed before Oaktree looked up, and released his tensed posture.

    “Ah, Sour Bean my girl, what brings you here ahead of time?” He looked to me, but waited for Bean to reply anyway.

    “This is Silent Step, a mercenary from out of town. He told me he was hired to come here to aid us in our conflict. I didn’t know we sent anypony to ask for help from mercenaries.” Bean said, raising an eyebrow.

    Oaktree rubbed his chin, “I was not aware that we did either. Perhaps a survivor made it out of the city, and was kind enough to send help,” He looked over and examined me, “I recognize the uniform black duster, you are a mercenary of South Station?”

    “Yeah, we’re not too far from here, but I have never been to Ciderside before. I’ve only recently heard of it. No worries about payment, I got it before I came here.” I said.

    “Silent, what rank are you within your unit?” Oaktree asked.

    “I’ll be damned, you know our ranks? Ahem, I’ll formally introduce myself then. I am Corporal Silent Step, 7th Unit of South Station Mercenaries. Since you know about that, you should know I’m currently without my unit for this mission.”

    Oaktree looked back down to the map, “That is too bad, a whole unit of you mercenaries would change a lot…”

    Bean looked to me confused. “Are you really that strong or something?”

    I shrugged, “Or something. Anyway, I’m here to help. What can I do for ya?” Oaktree looked from to the map to me, then to the blue mare next to him. She met his eyes, he gave her a nod, and she walked out of the room to do something.

    “I have a job for you and Sour Bean, and it will be extremely dangerous,” Oaktree waited a moment before continuing, “We will be charging City Hall at night, hoping the element of surprise helps us. I want you two to sneak in the building before the attack, and try to retrieve the water talisman. We cannot risk it being stolen or damaged in any way. Any more ponies than just you two would be too many for such a stealth mission.” Me and Bean shared looks, her face full of pride.

    “I’ll go with Silent, and I am sure he will go because he was paid to.” Bean said.

    I nodded, “Of course, I’m rather good at being covert. Where do we have to go?”

     Oaktree levitated an old blueprint out from under the city map, a large prewar government building, an actual city hall with huge stone pillars and domed roof. The blueprint showed a basement with more levels than it had above ground. Why did friggin’ old ponies build so many things underground?

    “It is here,” he pointed to a small room on the second level of the basement, “in the boiler room. It is in a locked locker, one of a group of five. It’s the one in the middle. You will need the key to open it. Bean knows her way around the place, but I will give you some time to memorize a path. You and her will have to find your own way in, I do not know of a completely safe one.” I scanned the building’s blueprint, trying to memorize it. Oaktree scrunched up his face in concentration, his horn glowed bright green. A brief flash of light and a small metal key appeared on the table. I picked up the key, and put it in one of my coat pockets.

    “You two go prepare for your mission; we will be attacking an hour after sunset. Bean, I will make sure your ponies know what is going on.” Oaktree said.

    “Thanks for that Boss. Wait, sunset is in a couple hours,” she looked to me, “Come on merc, we got work to do.” I shook my head and laughed, this was one crazy day. We turned to head out of the room. As we got to the door, I stopped and glanced to Oaktree. “I hope you guys win.” I said, and exited through the double doors.

    We started walking back to Bean’s room. So, a water talisman hunt inside an enemy base full of danger at night. Also, it was underground. It sounded like a suicide mission, and probably was, but it was important.

    “Hey, you need anything before we head out?” I asked Bean. She gave me a flat look.

    “Are you suggesting I need something?” Our walking pace slowed down.

    “No, I mean, just that maybe you would like some barding?” Bean continued to stare at me.

    “No, I’m good.” Why do ponies not want armor? “Though I could use a bite to eat.”

    Come to think of it, I was pretty hungry as well. We trotted back to her room. I had no idea why we went to her room if she was hungry, didn’t they have a cafeteria or something? When we got there, she magically opened her locker, and levitated out a box of potato crisps. I gave her a questioning look.

    “What?” she asked.

    “Don’t you have a place where all the ponies eat?”

    “Yeah, but I like eating in here. Alone. I will make an exception for you this time, considering the circumstances.” She opened the box, and ate the crisps slowly. I opened one of my saddlebags, and pulled out a box of Fancy Bucks Snack Cakes. We ate in silence, except for the chewing and smacking sounds. I pulled out my radio, and turned the dials trying to get anything other than static.

    “You won’t get anything down here, no radio waves can get through the walls.” Bean said. Great, I turned it completely off, and put it back in my bags. After half an hour of Bean’s painfully slow eating, we got up and Bean led us back to the previous tunnel we entered from. The purple stallion who let us in was sitting at a desk, reading a book. When we entered the room, he looked up from it.

    “Me and him,” Bean nodded to me, “We’re heading out. Secret mission and such.”

    The stallion sighed, unlocked the metal bolt and opened the door. “Don’t get yourselves killed.”

    What great advice, I would be sure to take him up on it. Bean and I hopped through the door, it closing immediately behind us. I stared down the dim lit and foggy tunnel I came through to get here. We walked down it until I saw the door at the end.

    “Finally, we can get back out onto open land!” I exclaimed.

    “Only to go into a basement later,” Bean said with a smirk. What a killjoy. She magically unlocked the bolt and opened the door. A rush of fresh air filled my lungs, and we walked out onto the stairs. Bean shut the door behind us, and I heard the bolt lock after it was shut. The light of day was almost gone as we climbed up. When we reached the top I heard a click. I looked to my left to see down the barrel of a revolver, its hammer cocked back. A group of three raiders stood before us, all armored with their usual bloodied barding and masks.

    “Well well well, look what we got here.”

Footnote: Level Up

Skill Note: Speech 40

New Perk: Depth Diver: Whenever you are underground, you gain +10 DT from being alert, but have -1 Perception for being paranoid.

Faction Joined: You have joined the Ciderside Rebellion. All members of it are friendly to you, but all their enemies are now hostile to you.

((A/N: Sorry for the long delay on the chapter. Thanks goes out to Kkat for creating the Fallout Equestria world, and to the many other sidefics of FoE for making me love the universe. Any and all feedback is much wanted and welcome))