Fallout: Equestria - Fallen Wings

Chapter Two: Civilization

“Boggles the mind, we settler ponies built all this in just the past year, don't it?!”

Friendship City.

I’ll admit, when a place's name starts off with ‘Friendship’ I expect bright colours, a big open entrance and ponies raising their hooves in welcome. Not a town under a massive rusting statue, an off-shore dock a certain Griffin had to carry us to, and an armoured pony guarding thick slabs of metal that made up an entrance.

I think I even saw turrets!

“... but really, ‘Fallen’?” Doc continued his lecture on my choice of name. “You should choose a name that sounds at least a bit... well, optimistic!”

“The kid just wants to sound like a little badass,” Sever rolled his eyes as he dropped me beside Doc on the... dock. “If he wants a depressing name then let him keep it.”

“It’s my name, for now...” I mumbled, annoyed by the topic that refused to change for the entire trip. “All I remember is falling from the clouds, so it fits, doesn’t it? When I remember my real name I’ll use it.”

“Ah, ‘Doc’, right?” A guard at the front gate asked as we approached.

“Eeyup! Good ta’ be back.” He responded with a smile, using his magic to adjust his shades back up to his eyes.

The guard nodded, turning around and waving at a small camera near the ‘door’. I heard something powering down and those slabs slid open with a heavy hiss.

“Naturally, you’ll have to leave any weapons of yours with us at the door, we’ll return them once you leave. Friendship city is a friendly place and we try to keep it that way.” The guard advised us, the tone in which he did suggested he’s had to say it far too many times.

Sever groaned. The Griffin reaching over his back and taking his weapon by the rope sling, depositing it beside the guard. “Anything else?” He asked, Doc shook his head. The guard walked off to the side to allow us through.

“A’right, get inside you thr...” He stopped to stare at me. “Hey, I was told there only gonna be two of ya. Who’s the Dashite?”

I stood my ground as he trot up to my side, the large buck looking at my flank with a puzzled expression. Did I have something on my cutie mark?

“Kid fell from the clouds.” Sever said, breaking the silence and bringing the guard’s attention up to him. “You guys like taking in orphans, right?” His beak curled into a grin.

Wait, what!?

“Yoo-Hoo!” came the voice of Doc from ahead. “You can flirt with the security later, c’mon you two!”

Sever’s feathers instantly jumped up into a ruffle, the large Griffin letting out a growl and walking ahead into the city while muttering a vast array of things under his breath.

“Well... bye I guess.” I said, looking over to the guard. He didn't respond, but I recognized that kind of expression: He was one stray thought away from laughing his flank off within earshot of a very large, annoyed griffin.

I could swear that at that moment two tiny ponies popped up, one on each of my shoulders. The White Pegasus on my left told me to be a good pony, leave him be. The Black Pegasus on my right however...

I nudged him in the side, whispering: “So... a Griffin, eh? All the mares’ll be jealous.”

The guard’s eyes went wide as the dam burst and he erupted into hearty laughter, falling back onto his flank while I trot innocently past a very disgruntled-looking Sever.

Being Discord’s advocate can be fun!

* * * * * * * * *

Doc had assured me that they weren't going to leave me here and that Sever just had a very dry sense of humor. I was definitely feeling more comfortable traveling with these two, I was more relaxed. Still a bit homesick... but definitely better than yesterday.

On the way here Doc had explained some more things about the Wasteland to me: Never surrender to Raiders, give Steel Rangers a wide berth, and stand your ground to Slavers; they want slaves in good condition that won’t put up much of a fight. They won’t waste ammo on you if you’re neither.
He also told me to help anypony in need, but that my own safety came first.

Friendship city was turning out to be better then what I first thought. The city may have been built from all sorts of scrap metal, but all the ponies living here seemed pretty content, even happy!
The city definitely did like taking in kids though, we couldn't go past more then a couple of stores without getting blindsided by some colts and fillies playing their games through the streets and paths.

“So uh... you two were expected?” I queried.

“Got a mare here who does good business. Tells me what places need mah docterin’ and pays us after helpin’!”

Well that explained his nickname a bit more, though I was still wondering what his real name was. Either way, with what they were doing they definitely had my respect...

“Not ta’ mention it’s nice to rest our hooves here!” … and I could relate. My legs were starting to ache!

It took us a while of navigating the streets to reach our destination. Doc tugged on a string hanging within a small wooden box beside the entrance. After a few seconds of waiting outside the scrap house there were hoofsteps, a click, then a call sounded from within as the door began to open.

“If that’s you kids again I swear to Celestia I’ll--”

“Good ta see you too, Emerald!” Doc interrupted, I peeked over one of Doc’s saddlebags in time to see a forest green Earth Pony with a light green mane open her two hazel eyes wide in surprise.

“Doc! Doc it’s so good to see you!” She beamed, using a hoof to mess with her hair and work it out of her face.

mornin’!” The Beige stallion melodramatically held his hoof up limply as if it had turned to jelly, making me chuckle.

“Of course! Come in, come in! Tell me how it went!” She said as she turned around and trotted back into her home.

“So Emerald, how’ve you been?” Doc asked as he followed her in. The room was in a bad state, but it looked rather neat compared to the other building interiors we had ventured past on our way here. This mare kept everything tidy!

“Decent!” She replied, motioning a hoof towards a pile of pillows resembling a couch as she worked some string around the back of her head, that flowing mane being tied up into a ponytail. “How about you? and... well, how is he?” She asked, her words weighed down with concern.

“Ohh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She sang. “You’re the best Doc in the wastes!”

I watched Doc’s cheeks redden and had to hold a hoof over my mouth to muffle my snickering, the mare stopped cuddling on him shortly after.

“Y-yes well... ahem! I do what I can, miss!” He said, smiling again. “I uh, hate to be rude but do you happen to have our payment with you? We’re down to 3 food tins and our last two potions!”

Emerald nodded, trotting over behind a makeshift kitchen counter. The creaking sound of a cupboard opening followed.

“One hundred and fifty caps, to the stallion and the Griffin.” I heard her say, Doc gave a smile as the mare returned once again and gave Doc the small brown bag which held their payment.

“Always a pleasure doin’ business wit’cha, Emerald!” Doc smiled as he undid the covering on one of his saddlebags and deposited the bag within.

“Well, since you two came back in one... err, two respective pieces. How about you go get some grub and put your hooves up for a while over at Warm Smiles?” Emerald suggested as she walked back behind the kitchen counter and folded her hooves on it. “I have another job for you boys when you’re ready.”

“We’d be more than happy to take you up on that offer, Emerald!” Doc grinned gleefully, obviously this was something they didn’t get to do all too often. “Oh, which reminds me!” Doc said, sending a smile in my direction.

“Do you happen to remember where our local Dashite lives? He has a visitor.”

* * * * * * * * *

“The view up here better be good.” Sever muttered as we made our way up through the higher levels of Friendship City.

“It has to be! Why else would anypony live in a loft?” I replied, following behind Sever as he navigated the path leading higher up. I had assumed that Doc and Sever knew this place like the back of their respective hooves and claws, but judging by our current number of wrong turns and detours I may have been mistaken. By this stage we must be have been nearing the top of the building regardless, the only thing up this high was the single, rusting staircase.

“I reeeeeally hope not, Sever.” I replied as I followed suit, my smaller frame made maneuvering over the gaps much easier. “I mean, he’s my best bet on getting home right now...”

We finally reached the end of the stairwell. The steps had led to a partially-open door which in turn led into a rather large room, the loft held quite a few big screens, a decent view through a window of that city outside, and a bed with a sienna-coloured, winged pony dozing on it.

“Well go on, kid.” Sever said, reaching out with a clawed digit and opening the door in the sleeping pony’s direction, almost as if he was daring me. I walked past the black-feathered Griffin and trot up to the bed behind the sleeping Pegasus, he was a lot older than what I was expecting. Well, time to wake him up...

Poke.

“...”

Poke.

“Nyeeegh...”

Poke-poke.

“‘Fer Celes... ia’s sake... ah thought ah... got rid o’... “ He mumbled, I wasn't sure he was even awake.

“Um, Radar?” I asked, placing a hoof on his shoulder and shaking him a little, I was rewarded with a wing to the face sending me onto my haunches as the elderly Pegasus turned over.

“Wha’ issit!? Can’t a pony get some shut-eye ‘round here!?” He yawned, turning around on the bed to get comfortable again, though now facing me with his eyes still shut.

“I uh... need to talk to you about...” I began before a sienna eyelid opened, the eye underneath examined me for an awkward few seconds before the silence was finally broken.

“Well tie up mah wings an’ call me an Earth, another Dashite!” He announced, shifting himself about on the bed so he was sitting up now, facing me as he spoke. “Wha’s yer name an’ what can ah do yew fer, youngin?”

“Fallen, nice to meet you!” I still had no idea what a Dashite was but I couldn’t help but smile, I was finally talking to another Pegasus! He’d know how I could get back home for sure.

“I needed some advice, I kinda fell from... uh...” My words trailed off as I spotted his flank, there was a nasty burn wound where his cutie mark should have been. He was probably in an accident... and it’s rude to stare, so back on topic. “... I uh, need to know how to get back above the clouds. Can you help?”

Radar just blinked.

“Yew... wanna get back above the cloud-curtain!? Buh...” He hopped off the bed and looked me over, stopping at my side. “... oh.”

Why was everypony disappointed with my flank!?

“Yew Enclave, son?” He asked in a hard tone. I still didn’t know what that meant, much less how to respond, so I just shook my head.

“I just fell from the clouds and I wanna get back home.” I answered. The older stallion stood there for a few moments, seeming to process my response before he just climbed back up onto the bed.

“Sorry youngin’... but there ain't no way back.”

What!?

“There has to be a way! Please Radar, any way you can think of!” I pleaded, the Sienna simply buck shook his head.

“Trust an ol’ featherbrain, It’s better down here.”

Were we thinking about the same Wasteland?

“What d’ya mean?” I asked, wondering if this stallion was still right in the head after that.

“The clouds don’t have pesky Raiders or feral Ghouls tryin’ ta’ bite yer wings off all day, sure! But yer just as likely ta’ get shot in the back if yew so much as think somethin’ different to the Enclave. S’better to get outta there an’ do some good down ‘ere while yew still can, like ol’ Rainbow.”

“Rainbow?” I blinked, Rader looked to me in a mix of disbelief and annoyance.

“Rainbow Dash! Don’t they teach yew kids ‘bout yer history no more!?” He waited a few seconds for an answer it seemed. Unfortunately I genuinely had no idea what to say, I didn’t know anything about this ‘Rainbow Dash’ though I felt as if I should. “Rainbow Dash was the first Pegasus ta’ ever fly beneath the clouds ta’ help the surface, when everypony else were too busy shaking in der’ wings! An’ ever since then the Enclave labeled every Pegasus that’s wanted ta’ help the surface a Dashite. An’ they’ll happily shoot ya’ if’n that’s the case.”

So that’s what a Dashite was.

“An’ since yew’re down here, they prob’ly won’t exactly be welcomin’ yew back.”

… oh.

Well that puts a wrench into my plans.

“Well... what should I do then, Radar? There has to be some way to get back there... to make things right!”

Radar just shook his head before turning around and laying it back down on his pillow, once again I found myself staring at his back.

“Yew can’t change the Enclave, son. Jus’ trust me, don’t try goin’ back.”

I didn’t say anything, I just sat there and stared at the sienna Pegasus’ back as I took in everything he had said.

‘Don’t try go home, it’s better down here. Besides, they don’t want you anymore anyway. They’d rather shoot you.’

Well that was more than a little discouraging.

“An’ one more thing!” He said, turning his head ever so slightly to look at me. “Don’t go tryin’ ta fly up there, them lightnin’ rods’ll cook yew alive b’fore ya even see the sun.”

I sighed, nodding. I lifted myself to my hooves and walked to the empty doorway which once held a griffin. It was obvious by now that Sever didn’t approve of my company, seeing as he’s tried to ‘lose’ me twice now while we’ve been here.

At least I knew one pony who would never leave me behind.

* * * * * * * * *

“You’re leaving me behind!?”

He couldn’t be serious!

“It’s dangerous where we’re going, far more than the wastes around here.” Doc replied calmly. He was serious!

I plopped down on my haunches, rubbing a hoof to my temple as I tried to remain calm. What was I going to do if they left me behind? I didn’t know anything about the world out there besides the bits that Doc had taught me this morning!

“You can make a life for yourself here kiddo, get to know the nice ponies! When we come back next time you can come with us!”

“But, what about getting home!?” I questioned, failing miserably at staying calm. “Radar was helpful in a hindering way, he was adamant that life down here is better than life above the clouds...”

“...and is it?” Doc asked.

“Of course not! I mean, I may not remember much, but I'd remember for sure if there was anything like the wasteland up there!”

Doc lowered his head, scraping a hoof at the metal floor beside the mat he was resting on.

“... and here I thought we’d been so nice t’ya... but if the clouds are so much better then us, then so be it!” He said, turning his back to me and laying down on his mat.

I had really put my hoof in it.

“Doc, wait! That’s not what I meant!” I said, trying to correct my mistake. I turned to Sever but the griffin was looking off out the window in the other direction, avoiding eye contact as usual. “You’re the nicest pony I've ever met!”

“You’re jus’ sayin’ thaaat...” Doc responded in a quiet, pitiful wail.

“I’m not! I swear!”

“Then why won’t ya even take ma’ advice?” He sniffed, not even turning around.

“I’m sorry! I’ll take all your advice from now on!” I pleaded.

The moment I finished pronouncing ‘on’ the beige unicorn had hopped right up with a big grin across his muzzle.

“Great! So you’ll be waitin’ nice and safe here while we run our errand, right?”

Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.

“I...” He began to look upset again: Lip trembling and brow quivering as if he was about to bawl. “... fiiiiiine!” I crossed my forelegs and sat in defeat, he swiftly returned to his usual cheery self.

“Excellent!” Doc said. “I’ve made arrangements with Emerald, she’ll take you in ‘till we return, should only be ‘bout a week!”

“An entire week!?” I groaned, I’d have to wait an entire week before I could look for another way home?

“Hey now! We found you on our way back from Hoofin’ton, an’ that journey took us even longer to git back!” Doc exclaimed. I couldn’t exactly argue with that, I owed these two my life after all. “Now go talk ta’ Emerald! She’ll show ya around and find some things fer you ta’ do while yer here!”

“Alright...” I couldn’t just be a lazy pony while I waited? This day just kept getting worse and worse.

I had found my way out of the Inn and began my walk towards Emerald’s house. I found myself stopping for a few moments as I passed a food store and just observed the city. The wasteland, I’d been told, was a harsh, unforgiving place that would strip you of everything you had, yet here I was watching ponies having casual chats, buying and selling, and even a group of kids playing.

If something like this could come to be, then the wasteland couldn’t be all that bad, right?

I pondered what the real wasteland outside these walls was like, if it was just as horrible as Doc had told me then I must be the luckiest pony alive right now to be... well, alive!

I was brought back to reality as I felt something heavy and cloth-like land on my head. I shook my head and backed up, watching as a pair of small cream-coloured saddlebags dropped to the ground in front of me.

“What the...” Was all I managed to mutter before the sounds of young ponies calling out reached my ears.

“Sorry ‘bout dat!” One yelled

“Quick, toss it back!” Another followed, getting looks from his friends.

What caught my eye the most however, was the little sky-blue filly who ran right up to me and swiftly threw those saddlebags onto her back.

“Sorry mister. We were jus’ playin’.”

Mister? … well, it’s better than being called kiddo all the time.

“That’s fine! What were you playing that involved tossing saddlebags over stranger’s heads?” I smiled, the filly just looked away timidly.

“‘Keep away’. Somepony takes somepony else’s thing, and ya gotta not let ‘em get it back.” She explained.

Soon enough, her friends were calling for her to come back. The filly gave me a sheepish smile before galloping swiftly back to them, I suppose it was time I got to leaving as well. I resumed my trot down the street and gave the young group a wave as I passed, which was almost returned by those saddlebags a second time!

A few minutes later I finally reached the door to Emerald’s home. Reaching over, I pulled on the string hanging inside that box beside her door. I heard some rummaging around inside, followed by increasingly-louder hoofsteps.

“For the last time, you can’t have the damn string! That’s my only d--” She cut herself off as she opened the door and saw my confused expression. “Oh... hello. Fallen, right? Sorry about that I thought you were a... aha... come on in!” She said, her embarrassment was more than obvious.

I trotted inside as Emerald shut the door behind us. “Have a seat!” She suggested, I happily obliged by flopping onto the ruined couch filled with pillows. “So... Doc told you that you’ll be staying with us for a while?” The green mare questioned as she sat on the other end of the couch.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’d much rather be out there with them, but he persuaded me.” I rolled my eyes before, to my surprise, Emerald was grinning.

“Lemme guess... he got all sad and started whining ‘till you agreed?” She queried. I nodded and she clapped her hooves together, entertained. “Ha! I’m the one who taught him that!” I let my face fall into one of my hooves, groaning.

“Anyway, Doc said you’d have stuff for me to do while I’m here?” I asked, Emerald nodded.

“There’s always somepony out there who needs help, and Friendship City ain’t any different.” She explained, raising to her hooves and walking over into the kitchen area. I could see her looking through a list written inside of a ruined book. “Lets see... bandits... roguebots... aha! I’ve got one you can help with!” She grinned, trotting back over to me. “How do you feel about bugs?”

* * * * * * * * *

“Sure, I’ve got a Radroach infestation in the cellar you can help me with. Head down and find out how they’re getting in for me?” The blue Unicorn explained. I nodded as he guided me to a hatch at the back of his store, it opened up to show a small staircase leading down into a dimly lit room below.

“Alright, I’ll have a look for ya.” I said as I began my descent down those steps. The room held a horrid stink, It was like walking into an outhouse that had been rotting for two centuries! I moved off the last step and looked around the cellar: It was stuffed full of boxes from one wall to the next, some of which had toppled over and spilled pre-war clothing all over the dusty floor. The walls and floor were made up of cracked concrete while the ceiling was mostly rotten wood with a single light dangling from it by exposed cords. “Hang in there for me...” I mumbled.

I hopped off the last step and trot into the center of the room, beginning my search. I walked up to each of the boxes and peered inside, but I was finding nothing but dusty pre-war clothing and other things I wouldn’t normally wear. “Hmmm... if I was a roach... thing...” I thought out loud to myself as I moved around the rest of those boxes. I was finding evidence of them: small holes here and there, itty bitty patterns along the dust that a bug’s legs would make, but no actual bugs!

I pushed a few of the boxes around to look behind them as I listening to the increasing chatter in the store above, the owner mentioned he was having a sale today when I first arrived and he mistook me for a customer. As I finished moving the third box I thought I saw a tiny leg skitter away behind another one.

“Hey!” I yelled, pushing that other box aside and catching a bare glimpse of the culprit before it escaped behind yet another box. “Ugh! C’mon!” I groaned, trotting over to the other side of the room and moving the boxes from that side this time. Every time I moved one they would relocate behind the next box in line!

Eventually there were only three boxes left in the far corner of the room, stacked atop some planks of rotting wood.

“I’ve got you now!” I grinned, trotting over and pushing the two boxes to either-side of the large one away, leaving just the single, large box. I wrapped my hooves around the side of it and threw it as fast as I could to the side!

Nothing.

The corner behind the box was dusty, and full of itty bitty footprints, but not even a single radroach! I turned around and quickly looked over the room, could they have snuck past me? I was watching the boxes the entire time, there was no way they could have!

I backed up into the corner, paranoid that the bugs had escaped me and were about to get revenge from some unseen part of the basement.

KH-CRACK!

The noise, and the crumpling surface beneath my hind hoof made me jump, my legs scrambled to grip a solid surface, only to cause the rotting wooden boards beneath me to slip out and crack under my weight. Before I knew it, I was falling into a hole.

My name really does fit, doesn’t it?

* * * * * * * * *

I found myself laying on my back, murky water flowing around me as I stared up at the hole and staircase I had fallen down. I had assumed the radroaches ate their way inside and I was now dead in their nest. Instead, I found myself in some sort of pre-war passageway. The hole in which I fell through had been an open, metal hatch hidden beneath the piles of wood and boxes.

“Urgh... “ Groaned a gravelly voice to my right. I turned my head to see who the owner of the voice was, but all I could make out was a blur in the darkness. “You broke it!”

“Wha... what’d I break?” I asked, slowly coming out of my impact-induced stupor.

“Doesn’t matter. Stupid colt, you wouldn’t even understand if I explained it!” He muttered, for some reason that annoyed me more than it should have.

“... try me.” I responded, rising to my haunches and shaking my mane free of as much water as I could. The other pony didn’t respond this time, he just tossed the broken item to (or probably at) me, I picked it up from the water and examined it.

First the obvious, it was two devices taped together to function as one. The larger of the two was a steel-coloured box with a large lense taking up one side, the other was a round, flat device with wires and a tiny radar dish atop it. It looked like the two had been integrated into each other using the wires from the dish device and a lot of duct tape... that was, before my hoof ruined that connection. “What was this supposed to do?”

“Holographic projector combined with a stealthbuck. I could keep that guy’s basement full of fake roaches to keep him out, and anypony he sent down to clear ‘em out wouldn’t find a single roach, or the projector. They’d think he was crazy.” So that’s why they disappeared!

“So... why did you need something like this, anyway?” I asked, rolling the device around between my hooves, examining the damage I caused.

“Why do you think, kid? Some ponies need to get things that the guards wouldn’t like
inside the city.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw the pony-shaped blur raise up and trot off further into the dark passageway.

“So... what? You keep his basement clear of ponies so you can sneak things in? After dark?” I asked as I raised up onto my hooves and followed him, balancing the joined devices on one forehoof as I walked.

“Look at that, the kid knows his way around smuggling! Lemme guess, you’re Dad was a Slaver? Your Mom, maybe?” It wasn’t hard to imagine him grinning at his remarks in the darkness. He eventually made his way over past a table at a dead-end part of the passageway, a flickering lamp illuminating the bits and pieces of technology which cluttered the surface of it.

“No. They weren’t.” I answered coldly, walking over to the table and dropping the device carefully as the figure sat down at the end of the passageway. There was a lasting silence that hung in the passageway as I tinkered here and there with the device. I didn’t know how to explain it, the longer I kept at it the more it all just seemed so... easy. I knew which connection had to slot into which port, how to reroute power from the dish device instead of the projector’s crushed supply...

“You’re a Pegasus... ” Came the voice from the shadows.

“Yes, I am.” I responded. Half-annoyed from the previous accusations, but mostly too interested in the device I was mending carefully in my hooves.

“What’re you doing down here? There hasn’t been a Pegasus here since that old coot came down decades ago.”

“Just... exploring.” I shrugged, lifting up the conjoined device in my hoof and flicking a switch atop it. The entire thing glistened and disappeared, leaving only a shimmering outline of where it had been. I couldn’t help but grin victoriously... before it reappeared with a pop, crackle and a bang as smoke emerged from between them.

“... try the thing beside the lamp.” He suggested. I blinked and reached over, taking the small black box, a converter, in one hoof and a nearby screwdriver in the other as I worked on opening up the projector and replacing the burnt out part. “There’s a spare transformer-thing on the other end of the table...”

I probably should have responded, but I was too interested in this little contraption. I undid the bits within and pulled out the burnt out converter before inserting the good one. It was similar, but still a different model, so it took a bit of pushing to fit it inside the case.

“So what happened to your wing, kid?” I felt my right wing become weightless, when I looked back it was being maneuvered slightly in a few directions, consumed in a silvery-golden glow. I snapped it tightly to my side, I didn’t want this strange Unicorn pulling it the wrong way. “Alright, how about your way with gizmos, then?”

“I have no idea.” I muttered, screwing the panel back down and setting the device down on the table again before I flicked the switch. Once again it disappeared and this time there was no explosive failure, instead the device flickered, remaining partially visible until I switched it off. My best guess was one of the connections had burnt out as well last time, and now it wasn’t sending its full load.

“Is that towards the latter or the former?” I heard him ask, followed by the sloshing of bottled liquid.

“The latter. I hurt my wings in a fall.” I found two wires that were slightly charred, easy enough to replace with two of the seven on the table...

“A fall!? What, did you forget you were a Pegasus!?” He let out a dry, rasping laugh. I paid him no mind as I finished connecting the two new wires and screwed the panel shut again. I turned to look at the Unicorn as I heard him drinking, what I saw made me want to disappear inside myself.

The stallion was illuminated in a silvery-golden glow, his magic wrapped around the bottle of amber liquid he was drinking. That’s where normal ended. The remnants of a deep green coat were sticking out wherever his skin hadn’t fallen off to reveal the muscles and tissue beneath, and on a few places across his legs I could see actual bone beneath pale, torn muscle. His head and face were a different story though. While still looking rather... unhealthy he had only small patches of skin missing across his face. He had a full (yet still rather dead-looking) grey mane which became more and more wispy the further it ran from his raw scalp, and almost an entire coat.

From the neck up I would have just assumed he had a major skin condition, but his whole body? It looked like he was ever-so-slightly... burned alive.

As he finished drinking and opened his yellow eyes towards me I swiftly diverted my attention back to the table and the joined devices. I heard him let out another, smaller laugh.

“What’s wrong kid? Never seen a Ghoul before?” He smirked. I shook my head as I picked up the device in my hoof, mentally going over every component inside to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. “Well, this is what you get when you gotta trot through radiation for two centuries.”

“Wait.” I turned to him, my attention swapped from the conjoined contraption to the Unicorn ‘ghoul’. “You’ve been alive... for two hundred years?” I hoped that was simply a slip of the tongue on his part... or maybe he was just drunk.

“Mmhmm.” He nodded in the darkness. “I was one of the richest stallions in Equestria... then the damn bombs fell and ruined everything.” He sighed in an frustrated manner, taking another swig from his bottle. I wasn’t sure if I believed him... his body looked the part, but anypony that’s had to wander a destroyed world for two hundred years would lose their minds, of that I was sure.

“Well... what was it like? Before the bombs fell?” I asked. A part of me wanted to know what he’d respond with, partially to test his story, but mostly because I genuinely wanted to know. That was, if he was telling the truth.

“Nothing... nothing like it is now. Back then I was practically swimming in bits... I could have whatever I wanted, be anywhere I wanted... have anypony I wanted...”

“I meant the world back then...” I corrected. ‘... not your money-drunken escapades.’ I really, really wanted to add. I didn’t like this stallion, not one bit.

“What about it? We had Sunshine and things like that if that’s what you wanna know, I never really gave two bucks ‘bout that. As long as I had my bits... I was happy.”

There were a lot of things I wanted to say to this stallion... but I thought it was best to stay civil.

“So, now you’re making your money through smuggling?” My gaze found its way around the passageway as I asked. There was a locker with a padlock sealing it shut, and a few buckets worth of scrap electronics along both sides of the passage.

“If you can call bottlecaps money I guess, a stallion’s gotta do what a stallion’s gotta do...” He shrugged, leaning lazily back against the wall as he took another swig. “How did that happen, anyway!? Did three ponies get together and decide ‘Hey! Lets replace bits with this shiny thing!’ Great idea, dumbflanks...”

By this stage I was certain he was drunk, I moved my attention back to the device in my hoof before flicking the switch. The entire thing glistened, then glazed over and disappeared in my hoof, leaving only a bare shimmering outline of where it was. I waited a few moments... no malfunctions this time! Success!

“You actually fixed it!?” The ghoul asked in slurred surprise as he raised onto his hooves and trot over, leaning in and examining my hoof so closely that the alcohol-and-death stench of his breath made me lean so far back I nearly fell over. “Maybe you ain’t so useless after all! How about you become my apprentice?”

What!?

I quickly flicked the switch, setting the device on the table as it reappeared before backing up a few feet.

“No. No thanks, I’m leaving.” I responded, turning around and walking back towards where I fell in.

“Wait!” He called after me, I paid him no mind. “Lemme repay ya! For your uh... kindnuh... generosity!”

I stopped for a moment and turned around, watching him rummage through two of his scrap buckets for a few moments. After a bit the Unicorn ghoul levitated over two pieces of electronics to me which I didn’t recognise as being anything particularly useful. For all I knew they were engine components.

“Give me something of actual value, or your little operation is finished.” I said coldly, not even blinking as I stared into the Unicorn’s yellow eyes. I’d had enough of his attitude, his profession, his... everything about him! He dropped the pieces of scrap immediately and rushed back over to his buckets.

“Alright! Alright! Gimme a minute!” He called out in an alcohol-fueled panic as he rummaged around. He levitated over a few bits and pieces, but nothing more interesting than a child’s flying toy appeared in front of me after two minutes.

“What about that locker?” I suggested, it had to be locked for a reason. The ghoul looked at me, then at it, then mumbled something in frustration as he levitated a key from the darkness and opened it.

“Here... best thing I got in five years down here.” He muttered, levitating out a small box into my hoof. It had a rusted orange casing with a few dents here and there, but it seemed pretty sturdy for whatever it was. A black screen took up the right side of the case while five buttons and a logo, ‘Pip-Buck 2000’ (somepony had turned it into ‘2,500’ by scribbling over it), filled the left. I pressed a hoof to the button labelled ‘Status’ and the screen flickered into life, providing green text over its black background.

Rebooting...
Updating User Information...
Database corrupted; moving to archive...
New Database created; Acquiring New User Information...
Welcome, {ERROR}!

‘{ERROR}’? If the wasteland was playing some kind of joke on me, I wasn’t entertained.

“A pleasure doing business with you, mister...” I asked, looking up from that screen.

“You don’t needa know my name, get out.” He grumbled, sitting down at the end of the dark passageway and taking another swig of his drink.

“Fair enough.” I said, noticing that locker of his held a few other shiny things inside, including a glowing weapon similar to Sever’s... best not to push my luck, chances are he only agreed to give me this thing due to his intoxication. Turning around, I began back towards where I had entered.

Goodbye, ‘Mr. Bits’. Let us never meet again, preferably.

I climbed the staircase back up into the store’s basement, laying the Pip-Buck 2000 down on top of an overturned box of clothing while I used it’s contents to dry myself off. It was only then did I realize something that made me grin like an idiot.

I had fixed his little invisible-projector contraption... but I didn’t see a single Radroach down there when I turned it on. I only fixed the cloaking part of it! I had solved the store-owner’s Radroach problem and made a smuggler, who was drunk off his flank, give me a valuable... thing!

I couldn’t tell whether those were two good deeds, or a good deed and a bad deed... either way, I was pleased with myself.

I pushed the boxes back into the way they were when I first entered the basement, leaving some room above the hatch for Mr. Bits to place his ‘repaired’ projector at some point. I grabbed the Pip-Buck in my hoof as I began to leave, only to realize it would be rather suspicious for me to have entered this basement, killed a lot of roaches, and leave with a random piece of pre-war technology!

I tucked the device under my wing and made sure it was held tight to my side. Nopony would bother investigating a broken wing, right? That’s what I hoped as I began climbing the steps out of the basement and back into the store, closing the hatch over the stairs once I was out.

“Hey, you’re back!” The owner called, trotting over after finishing his chat with a customer. “How’d it go? Did you get rid of them?”

“Yup! You won’t have any more trouble with Radroaches, I destroyed their little nest.” I grinned as the blue Unicorn beamed.

“Thank you so much! Nopony else would help, they all said I was crazy and there weren’t any radroaches down there! For a while there I thought I was going crazy.”

“Nah, they were down there! Just being really sneaky.” I shrugged. “Anyway, was that all you needed done?”

“Yup!” He nodded before suddenly shaking his hoof. “Actually! There was one last thing you could do!” He said, motioning for me to follow him as he trot through the store untill he was behind the counter. “Here! These are for you.” He tossed an olive dress and a small grey bag onto my back.

“I uh, I don’t normally wear mare’s dresses...” I said, causing the store owner to blink a few times before laughing into his hoof.

“Kiddo, the dress is for Emerald! The bag of caps is for both of you!”

I would have made a joke, or said ‘Oh.’, or something, but at that moment I was a bit too flustered from what I had initially assumed to do much more than grin sheepishly and walk towards the door. Besides, I was doing a good enough job at being the joke!

“Thanks again!” The Unicorn called out. I waved a wing back towards him, it felt like the most natural way to wave back to him.

The Pip-Buck clattered onto the floor.

I froze, our gazes synchronizing on the pre-war device, then back up to each other.

“Um, it’s a medical... monitor! For my condition!” I lied. Luck was on my side it seemed as the blue stallion just smiled, nodded, and trot over to two customers who were browsing his selection of hats at the other side of the store.

I scooped the box up in my hoof, tucked it under my wing and trotted at a swift pace back towards Emerald’s place.

* * * * * * * * *

“Goddesses, it’s so pretty!” Emerald sang as she examined the dress over, prancing around the room much like a overly-excited filly playing the role of a princess. “Eeeeee!”

I hadn’t thought much about the dress when I was carrying it, but once Emerald put it on I could tell how much effort went into it, and how much it meant to her. The seams were hoof-sewn and expertly hidden, the peices of fabric used to patch it up in a few spots were a perfect match to the dress’ colour and there was hardly a scratch on the entire thing. Whoever had fixed this piece of pre-war clothing up had made sure it was a labour of love.

“How do I look?” She asked, pulling the most fancy, feminine pose she could muster.

“It looks good on you!” I smiled, leaning against one of the walls near the door (She was so excited she had scooped the dress right off my back the moment she let me in!).

“Only good!?” She pouted, her lower lip jutting out and her eyelids fluttering.

I recognize that face! Oh goddesses, not again!

“Did I say good!? I meant Fantastic! Beautiful! Fabulous? Err.. Exquisit!” I was halfway through exhausting my descriptional vocabulary when she leapt forward and squeezed me tightly, I felt my face redden.

“Oh Fallen, you have such a way with words! You swept me right off my hooves!” She grinned teasingly, releasing me and trotting towards the door while I stood there, frozen in a mixture of embarrassment and what I can only describe as I felt as if I had eaten a swarm of butterflies.

“You’re... welcome?” My attempt at sounding dignified would have worked had my voice not cracked.

“Now I’ll be riiiiight back! Half of those caps are yours, make yourself at home!” She called back as she galloped gleefully out the door.

I let out an exhausted sigh as I flopped onto the pillow-stuffed couch, quickly realizing my error as I pulled the Pip-Buck out from under me.

“Ow... ” I muttered as I placed it on top of a table made from a large sheet of wood and some concrete blocks. I reached out across said table and pulled over the bag of bottlecaps, undoing the string with my teeth and carefully dumping the contents into a neat pile on the table.

126 caps. That’s... 63 caps for each of us.

I had no idea of the value of 63 caps right now, so I just divided the pile into two neat halves on the table before reclining back on the couch and staring the ceiling. Was this going to be my life for two weeks? Get a chore, fall down something, get paid some bottle caps and repeat?

I really shouldnt be thinking about it. Doc made me promise I’d stay here, I just had to deal with it. I reached over and took the Pip-Buck in my hoof, examining the case and the interface for a short while before poking the ‘Status’ button once more.

Welcome back, {ERROR}!

I groaned and hit the Status button a few more times, all it did was refresh the screen and deliver the exact same message. In frustration I held the button down for a few seconds, the screen went black and offered multiple choices.

Reconfigure User Info...
Add New User Info...
Clear Archives
Restore MoM defaults...

Finally, something helpful. I searched for some kind of navigational pad but found none, I pressed my hoof to ‘Reconfigure User Info.’ Maybe it had a touchscreen spell buried in its hardware?

What would you like to reconfigure?

Name...
Age...
Gender...
Species...
Auto-Detect Information

That answers that. I pressed a hoof to ‘Auto-Detect Information’.

Processing, please wait...

I shrugged and relaxed back into the couch, shutting my eyes and letting the little box run its algorithms, it’d probably be a while considering how old it look--

Activating survival & navigational subroutines...

Funny, I’m so tired I could have sworn there were words under my eyelids...

Wait...

Subroutines successfully activated! [WARNING: 2.54% Margin of error!]

Why are there meters under my eyelids!?

I opened my eyes wide, the readouts never moved! I couldn’t shake them off or blink them away!

Are they inside my eyes!?

I looked around in a panic causing the compass-like gadget under the ‘HP’ meter to spin like crazy. I looked down at the Pip-Buck.

All Biological Information updated. Welcome, {ERROR}!

Oh FUCK OFF!

Ignoring those meters for a moment, I pressed my hoof to the controls on the screen and made the Pip-Buck repeatedly reconfigure until it would get my name right. Questionable eye-readouts could wait a second!

Welcome, {ERROR}!

Welcome, {ERR0R}!

Welcome, ‘RE#RR’!

Welcome, {#!”?#}!

Welcome, {!N#ME}!

Welcome, ‘F”%#’!

I dropped the device on my stomach and grit my teeth for a moment. Every time I made it try again the meters in my vision had fizzled and flashed like a thousand tiny fires in my eyes.

I was getting one hell of a migraine, but I wasn’t about to give up.

Welcome, {#.!?;}!

Welcome, ‘F#ll1ng’!

Come on!

Welcome, ‘F0rn1c#’!

Welcome, ‘FR1d”%’!

Welcome, ‘F@l10n’!

Welcome, ‘Fa1l#n’!

Almost! C’mon you piece of...

Welcome, ‘Fallen’!

Yes!

Victory is sweet... when your head doesn’t feel like it’s about to explode.

I lay back on the couch and took all the deep breaths I could, trying to quell that raging headache as I examined the readings that covered the two lower corners of my vision. I had no idea what ‘HP’ was, nor ‘SATS’... it was obvious that the readout beneath the HP gauge was a compass of some variety; Were the green lines on it landmarks of some kind? Similar devices?

I decided to examine the Pip-Buck itself a bit more, considering it was the source of these readings. I pressed ‘Automaps’ and the screen flickered, changing to a top-down outlined view of Friendship city. I could see where I was, a tiny triangle inside a house-shaped outline.

I pressed ‘Status’ again, yet this time instead of repeating a welcome message, it brought me to a... are these statistics? The screen filled with readouts about my ‘stats’, from how Perceptive or Lucky I was all the way down to my skill in... Bartering? It even told me how many ‘Hit Points’ I had... what, I can take 195 hits before I fall down? What is this, some sort of children’s game? It did feel slightly familiar, though... I must have played something similar when I was a Foal.

The screen also had an outline of a smiling Pegasus stallion with meters pointing to each of his limbs. Both of the wings’ meters were half-full, with the right wing being slightly further than the left.

I hit another button and it brought me to an ‘Inventory’ display, which, of course, was completely barren of anything. I reached over and picked up a bottlecap from my pile.

[WARNING: No container found! Cannot manage inventory!]

I blinked at the warning floating before me, before reaching over and picking up the empty grey bag. Surprisingly, the bottlecap I was holding levitated over and descended into it, appearing on the display.

Caps x1

I picked up a few more and the process repeated itself.

Caps x5

Okay, that was neat.

I heard hoofsteps and peeked over the edge of the couch, a single green bar moved around on the compass in my vision until Emerald appeared again, still smiling broadly.

“I love this dress! Love it! Love it! Love... it?” She stared at me with a curious expression, I quickly looked myself over and saw the Pip-Buck still laying on my stomach.

Uh-oh.

“What’s that?” The Earth pony mare queried, trotting over and peeking over my shoulder at the screen. “... a Pip-Buck!? Where’d you find that?”

“I... I dunno? It was on me when I fell!” I lied, sitting up on the couch and shrugging as casually as possible.

She didn’t seem too suspicious of my answer, she just seemed genuinely curious about the device. “Huh, Doc didn’t mention anything about that, and he has one of his own... ” I overheard her mumble. The wheels in my head started turning... Doc wouldn’t take me because it was dangerous, but this thing has some variety of survival and navigational subroutines built into it!

“Well, I just got it working while you were gone! Maybe I should go see Doc, he’d help me get it running, right?” I suggested as innocently as possible.

“Good idea! You know your way back to the Warm Smiles Inn, dont ya?” She asked, I nodded. “Alright, then head up there and speak with Doc before it gets too late, I still have to make lunch!” She said, scooping up the other untouched pile of caps and trotting into the kitchen area where she dropped them into a box which held a few similarly sized bags.

I used the Pip-Buck’s inventory management to scoop all of my caps into that little grey bag on the table and watched it seal up before I could try physically do it with my teeth.

I was really liking pre-war technology!

I grabbed the bag, and the Pip-Buck, and tucked them both under my wing as I trotted out the door, towards the market.

* * * * * * * * *

“What do you mean I still can’t come!?” I questioned Doc in disbelief.

I had two caps left according to my Pip-Buck, with the rest of them I had managed to buy a pair of dark-grey saddlebags, a bottle of water and two pre-war candybars.

I was totally prepared!

“The Wasteland ain’t gonna suddenly decide ta’ move outta yer way jus’ ‘cause you got a Pip-Buck an’ snacks, Fallen.” Doc rolled his eyes, examining the interface of my Pip-Buck 2000 “In fact, it’d jus’ make you even more ov’ a target!”

“I can handle myself out there, I swear!” I urged the Unicorn. He simply shook his head and hit a few buttons, causing the display in my vision to flicker and disappear. “Also, out of curiosity, why is that thing set up like a children’s game?” Doc looked at it, then me with a puzzled expression. “Ya’know, the stats and stuff!”

“Stats?” He pressed two buttons and read whatever had come up on the screen in front of him. “Ohh, Ah see what ya meant... that’s prolly the Ministry o’ Morale’s hoofwork.”

“The... what?” I cocked my head in confusion, Doc hadn’t seen me do it but he seemed to have anticipated it.

“When War was first breakin’ out between Ponies and Zebras, the government established six ministries to take care of Equestria. ‘Wartime Technology‘ supplied our troops, ‘Arcane Science’ researched ways to use all sorts’a magical weapons, ‘Peace’ did their best to keep everybody alive ta’ see tomorrow, includin’ Zebras. They weren’t entirely grateful, from wha’ I heard...” Doc’s tone lowered solemnly.

“‘Morale’... well, kept up Morale through any means necessary. Surprise parties for good ponies all over Equestria, all organized by the Ministry Mare herself! They designed all kinds of games an’ ways ta’ keep Ponies happy an’ take their minds off the war. That’s wha’ this is, more than likely.” He held up the Pip-Buck, tapping the display which held my stats. “Made life more like a game; Easier to handle.”

“I see...” I sat on my haunches, taking in all this information about pre-war ministries and their duties. I could understand the need for Morale... but the Ministry Mare herself organizing every single party? That couldn’t be true. No pony had that much energy!

“Lessee ‘ere... vital readouts... targeting matrix intact... hm? … ooh... well this is neat!” Doc had an eyebrow cocked in curiosity as he seemed to read both information on the screen and information floating around the room.

“What is it?” I asked, walking over and peeking at the screen much like how Emerald had before I left.

“This ain’t a Pip-Buck 2000, kiddo... it’s...” Doc trailed off, as if distracted by numerous other things only he could see.

“It’s... what?” I found myself asking again, Doc lifted up the Pip-Buck and pointed to the logo, specifically where it had been altered.

“It’s a Pip-Buck 2500!” He grinned, then chuckled at my deadpan expression. “Wha’ I mean is, whoever tinkered with this last had integrated selective sub-systems from the Two-thousand and Three-thousand models together! Ya gots the only Pip-Buck 2500 in existence right here.”

I blinked in surprise at his description, watching as he hit ‘Close’ and blinked a few times before handing it back over to me. I hit the Status button and watched the screen, and the readouts in my vision flicker back to life.

“Well... then I’ve got the best of both worlds, right? I’m twice as prepared!” I grinned confidently, however, much like my Pip-Buck 2500 had told me before, my talent in the field of Speech was atrocious. I could tell by the way Doc rolled his eyes and let his face fall into his hoof.

“Let the kid come.”

“What!?” Doc and I questioned in unison at Sever’s change-in-heart.

“He needs to see what the world outside is like, or else he’ll never stop begging to come with us.” He said matter-of-factly. I wouldn’t have worded it like that, but as long as he was on my side...

Doc didn’t say anything, he just sat back on his haunches with a hoof to his chin, deep in thought for what felt like an eternity.

“...alright, but just this once! You need to do everything we say as we say it, no questioning, no delaying. Understand?” He asked, the deathly-serious expression he wore was practically alien to his normally-carefree face.

“Don’t worry! I won’t let you down.” I smiled as wide as my face would allow, trotting back towards the exit to tell Emerald I’d only be staying the night.

After lunch, of course!

Footnote: Level up!
New perk: Swift Learner (2) - You’ve always been quick to catch onto things and the world around you is no exception! You now gain an additional +20% bonus whenever experience points are earned.
Quest Perk added: Been to the year 3000a - Up-to-date Pip-Bucks too manestream for your tastes? Well that’s alright because you’ve got a fancy new ‘Clues’ button!

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat onEquestria Daily

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check theFallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and theFallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

(Message from lé Author:

Unending thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria!

Also thanks to the authors of every side story out there, your stories keep inspiring me to practice writing!

All comments, critique, questions, etc. are all still highly appreciated!

~Anton)