Fallout: Equestria - Fallen Wings

Chapter Three: Exploration

“Second red bar to the right... and straight on till dusk.”

It’s always so dark here.

The couch was comfy though, it was made of clouds after all, how could it not be comfy? I shuffled about slightly to re-adjust my position, laying my head back onto the hoof-rest and tracking the patterns on the ceiling tiles above me. They were so swirly!

There were ponies, shapes of ponies chatting in the corners of the room. I couldn’t see them clearly but I knew they were there, was it too much trouble for a stallion to get some peace and quiet around here?

The cracked ceiling tiles trickled some dust down atop me as if on cue. It was enough of a persuasion to, with a reluctant sigh, pull myself up to my hooves and sit up on the couch.

I looked around the room, sure enough it was the same place I’d visited before. Every corner of the room had a group of pony-shadow-things conversing together... when did I invite them over, again? They were so noisy...

They spoke, laughed and shouted, but admittedly, all I could hear was muffled, mumbling versions of whatever they were saying. I didn’t appreciate being left out.

I hopped down off the couch and trot around the table in the center of the room, stopping for a moment as I noticed something new; In the center of the table sat two candles, one burning with a green flame, the other with a beige. The two were providing a small amount of illumination to the otherwise shadowy abode...

Returning to my trek around aforementioned table, I soon reached an old radio sitting atop the mantle of a fireplace beyond. I hadn’t been able to see any of this from the couch, probably because the fireplace wasn’t lit. I should do something about that sometime.

I reached up and turned the dial on the front of the radio, the little box made a clicking sound before coming to life through all manner of soft static. All at once the shadowy ponies in the corners of the room glanced at me in disgust, putting their many conversations on hold.

See, ponies? I can have my own conversation without inviting you as well!

I turned the dial further. A distant voice formed, still drowned under that sea of white noise. I continued adjusting that dial, causing the voice to get clearer... then more static-y again. The shadowy figures seemed to dislike it when the voice became clearer, they were obviously jealous of my awesome conversation with the pony on the radio!

“This i... DJ Pon... ital wastela...” DJ Pon? That’s a neat name. How’re you today?

“...been warning everypony... steer clear... apple...” Steer clear of apples? Easy, we don’t get apples up here!

“...didn’t... ignore it...” Well of course I wouldn’t ignore a warning like that! Apples are sneaky, never know what they might do.

I worked the dial about a bit more, eventually managing to clear most of the static away to hear my friend.

“...brought hell on her hooves. Freed over a dozen slaves, many of them foals. I’m happy to report that they’re safe and sound.” Somepony... was keeping slaves?

“But there’s a bitter note to this song. When a small army of slavers tried to take their captives back, our heroine of the wasteland sacrificed herself making sure everypony got away safe.” A cold wind ran up my back, sending a shiver up my spine and through my wings. I turned just in time to see all of the shadow ponies vacate the room in motes of black smoke, the only remaining occupant besides myself...

“So this next song goes out to you, Stable Dweller.”

… had two shining, orange eyes.

“May Celestia and Luna wrap you in Their tails...”

* * * * * * * * *

“May Celestia and Luna wrap you in Their tails...”

“Oh, blast ‘em all to Tartarus!” Doc (who had previously been eating his canned breakfast) stomped his hoof in anger at the announcement. I looked over towards Sever for an explanation, but all I received was a shifted glance as he picked himself up and exited the room.

“Who’s-- who was the Stable Dweller?” I asked Doc, not paying much attention to the music which came over the radio after said announcement.

“The Stable Dweller was a mare who’d done good helpin’ ponies ever since she left her Vault couple’a days ago. The Wasteland needs more ponies like her, but everypony is either too scared or they’ve already given up on betterin’ this place...” He huffed, shaking his head sadly before returning to eating his food.

A pony who spent her entire life in a Vault managed to help more in just a few days than those who’ve been out here their entire lives...? I sat there for a moment, my gaze falling back onto my Pip-Buck as the pre-war melody provided a backdrop for my attempt at figuring out the Wasteland...

If everypony wanted a better world to live in, then why didn’t they just band together into some sort of fighting force towards that goal?

Figuring out the Wasteland proved to be too difficult of a chore for myself at the moment, with a sigh I pushed the Pip-Buck aside and laid my head back down into the fabric of the pillow beneath me.

“When do we leave... ?” I asked, yawning a little as my eyelids began feeling heavier than normal.

“Not for another hour o’ two. Nab as much rest as ya can, kiddo.” Doc responded, working his way down to the bottom of the can from the sound of it. I nodded at such a delightful offer before letting out a relaxed breath as my face sunk into that patched-up pillow.

The Wasteland could wait a few more hours...

* * * * * * * * *

I failed to stifle a yawn as we trot outside to the dock. Doc was checking his supplies, Sever was waiting impatiently for his toy back and I was still half-asleep.

“Good morning, wasteland...” I mumbled as I walked over and sat on my haunches beside Doc, peering over the murky water at that same silhouette of a dead city I had seen before, when I began traveling with these two.

“Check, check aaaand... check! Got everythin’ we’ll need for the journey.” Doc nodded and shut his saddlebags, letting them sit between us. I slid my own off and laid them beside his.

“Hey Doc, does tha... did that place have a name?” I asked, pointing a hoof at those decimated structures that stabbed up through the horizon.

“Eyup. Those are the remains of ol’ Manehatten. Some ponies say tha’, on the last day o’ the great war, it was the first city tha’ got hit.”

“Wow... it took quite a beating and yet it’s still standing... two hundred years later...” I had to admit, that was an impressive feat for any structure.

“Well, most o’ the buildings ‘round the blast zone crumbled from the force, but the buildings further out from that, closer to the outskirts, are mostly intact! Good fer scavengers tryin’ ta’ make ends meet.”

“Scavengers?” I questioned, they were the first group I’ve heard about so far that didn’t sound violent.

“Mmhmm! Scavengers, Prospectors, Diggers, call ‘em what’cha will. They’re ponies that explore ol’ buildin’s and the like for useful doodads instead o’ fightin’ all the time.”

“Sounds a lot safer than the other job opportunities the Wasteland offers...”

“Well, there are nasties that like ta’ lurk in or around the ol’ pre-war buildin’s. Still, ‘tis one of the better occupations out there s’long as ya stay away from any Steel Ranger patrols.”

Oh Wasteland, will you ever run out of surprise-- wait a minute.

“Steel Rangers?” I queried. “You mentioned them before, right? About how I had more broken bones than a Raider meeting one?” Doc nodded a bit.

“Steel Rangers are a group a’ old world tech fanatics.” He pointed to the Pip-Buck-shaped bulge in one of my Saddlebags. “If they saw that on ya, they’d take it and everything else you have!”

I groaned a bit at yet another group to steer clear of. A commotion behind me either meant Sever just received his weapon... or that we’ll be waiting even longer.

“Doc, are there any friendly groups out in the Wasteland?” I asked. The Unicorn tapped his chin for a moment, humming.

“Well... each other, mainly. There’re the Finders out ‘round Hoofington, but in this region your best bet’d be Merchant caravans. They always travel between cities with armed guards, if they let’cha tag along you’d be fine.” He nodded affirmingly as he finished.

I was about to ask about the Finders before I spotted Sever walking up to us, his rifle slung over his back as he stopped short.

“Ready whenever you are.” The Griffon informed us in his usual bored tone.

“Alrighty, let’s get goin’!” Doc said as he raised himself to his hooves.

“Can the kid fly yet?” Sever asked, motioning his head towards me. Doc raised his brow curiously, trotting over and using his magic to raise, lower and extend both my wings a few times. They didn’t hurt as much as before, but they still ached if they were raised up high enough.

“Hmm... a’right. Carefully now, try ta’ hover a bit.” Doc said as he backed up a bit to give me room.

I carefully unfolded my wings, the two feathered limbs hanging down by my sides as I slowly raised them skyward. So good so far. I lowered myself a bit in preperation before jumping into the air, my wings beat down against the air around me. I managed to stay airborne, though not without a violent ache resonating through my entire back. After a few seconds I decided that was good enough of a show for now, quickly landing and catching my breath.

“... Naw.” Doc shook his head, I looked over to him in surprise. “His wings are still fixin’ themselves. He can glide, but he can’t outright fly on his own, yet.” The Unicorn trotted over to his saddlebags and put them on, I sighed and did the same with mine, trying to figure out how to speed up my wings’ regenerative process...

“Sever, mind giving us a lift?”

* * * * * * * * *

“Stalliongrad, huh?” I kicked a rock off my path and down into the ditch running alongside it.

“Eyup. S’been a long, long time since we’ve had ta’ pay it a visit.” Doc nodded, his tone suggested it couldn’t have been a bad visit.

“What’s it like?” I asked, looking on ahead at the dirt path that coiled through a valley full of hills beyond.

“Same as any other city; better than the Wasteland.” Doc answered with a little grin. “‘tis up in the north, so it’s a bit colder than what we’re used to down here.”

My next question was shot down as a few distant cracks rang out somewhere ahead of us.

“What was that?” I asked, concerned. I was rearing up to try and glimpse over those hills in the distance. A futile effort, really.

“Probably somepony fendin’ off some annoyed wildlife.” Doc shrugged, the Unicorn seemed to be trying to catch a casual glimpse over those hills as well, though.

“Aren’t we gonna go help them?” I looked over to my companions, curious as to why a Doctor and his armed Griffon wouldn’t rush to someone’s aid.

“Most ponies can take care of themselves out here. If we all ran ‘round jus’ ta kill some Radhogs, or Bloatsprites, we’d have no ammo left ta’ fend off real threats, like Raid--” Doc’s lecture was cut short by two resounding bangs in the distance, a large tower of dust rose up from behind those hills before it was carried away by the wind.

“How about now?” I asked in an admittedly smartass way.

“Now we check it out.” Doc responded much like a Teacher correcting his Student. The two of us running towards one of the closer hills while Sever took to the air and flew on ahead of us, his rifle already unslung.

Cracks continued echoing through the air as we climbed that ground. Sever made it to the top first, the large griffin resting his rifle atop the dead soil and peering through the telescopic sight without a word. Doc reached the top next, lowering himself as close to the ground as possible while he peeked over.

“... who’re fightin’ who, Sever?” I heard him ask as I neared the crest of the hill.

“Raiders... not sure.” He muttered. The griffin didn’t betray any emotion in his response, I couldn’t tell if this was something that happened often, or if I should be worried.

I reached the top of the hill and peered over. Beyond us was a derelict expanse of brown land and grey rocks. Closer to us, beside a dried up lake bed, were three buildings. Three black, scorched skeletons of what they had once been. “Three groups. Raiders are gettin’ hit hard from the front... Mirelurks are about to cut off their flank.” Sever mumbled. I didn’t know what Mirelurks were, but I sure hoped he didn’t mean that literally.

I squinted at the shapes in the distance, but they were no more than differently coloured blurs to me from here. I saw one group of darkly-coloured ponies concentrating fire on a second group that was even further way. Behind that first group I saw at least three white shapes slowly rise from the lakebed and head in their direction.

“Guys, what’re Mirelurks?” I asked, Doc pointed a hoof down towards the lakebed.

“They’re a species o’ crab tha’ mutated. Two hundred years ago ya could break ’em underhoof, now they’re an abomination that can cut ya ta’ ribbons.” Doc said, visibly shivering as he finished explaining. Something told me these creatures were on the ‘run like hell from’ list.

“They’re fucked.” Sever commented dryly. Back down in the battle I saw the first group scurry around each other in a panic as the Mirelurks tore through them one by one. It took only seconds for the group of seven to be decimated down to no more than three fleeing ponies.

The other group I couldn’t quite make out was keeping their distance as they advanced, giving those Mirelurk creatures a wide berth as they continued to fire on the Raiders.

“Sever! East of the Raiders, that shack!” Doc exclaimed in concern. Sever and I both turned, but all I could see was the fleeing group of cannibal ponies moving towards some rocks and a broken-down shack at the base of another nearby hill.

“I see it...” Sever responded. “Same as usual?” He asked in a slightly lower tone.

“You bet your feathered hide on it!” Doc said, taking a healing potion from one of his saddlebags before dropping the bags beside Sever and sliding back down the hill. The Unicorn galloping off along a small dirt path in the direction of the shack, sticking low behind those hills to make sure he wasn’t silhouetting himself to those Raider ponies below.

“Egg damn it...” Sever mumbled, the scowl on his face was the first real hint of emotion I’d seen from him this entire trip. “Kid, go with him!”

I nodded, doing so without a second thought. It wasn't because of how Doc had ordered me to do everything they said without question, but because I wanted to make sure Doc would be alright. He had saved my life and taught me about the wasteland, I wasn’t going to let him run off on his own and get hurt! If nothing else, I owed him that much.

I galloped as fast as I could, trying to resist that natural urge to take off and glide instead as I caught up to him.

“What’s going on!?” I asked him, his eyes gave a hint of shock as he realized I was following him. The unicorn gripped the healing potion with his magic so he could speak while both of us ran as fast as our hooves would take us.

“Those Raiders picked a bad spot ta’ run to!” Doc exclaimed hurriedly. “We need’a move fast, stay hidden!”

“Ok, but why are we running towards them!?” I asked, but the beige unicorn didn’t answer this time, he was too busy ascending another nearby, much steeper hill. I had no choice but to carefully spread my wings and bring them down against the air a few times to help lift myself and keep up with Doc’s pace.

When I caught up to the Unicorn he had just reached the top. Peering over the edge I could see, much clearer now, the busted-up shack he had been running towards and the Raider ponies who were about to reach it.

“Wait here!” Doc said as he took the healing potion in his mouth and jumped down the hill, the Unicorn practically surfing the grit and dirt as he descended swiftly towards the small backyard of grey rocks that sat between us and that structure.

Ya’know, for a grown Unicorn, Doc was surprisingly agile...

One side of my brain was telling me to do as Doc said, just watch out for him from atop the crest of this hill, out of danger. The other side? Well... it had already won. I had dived after Doc, sliding down in the exact same manner while using my wings to balance myself. I wasn’t going to sit by and let him get hurt!

Doc made it to the bottom, immediately leaping over the first few stone barricades in our way. He was no more than ten meters from the shack when it’s back door swung open, both of us ducked behind the rocks closest to us.

Out from the doorway trot a cyan mare, her mane was a mix of dirty green and purple, not to mention all the red that was dripping from her black and grey outfit... which looked like she had jumped into a scrap heap and kept whatever stuck to her.

graaagh!” She growled as she kicked one of the stray boards falling out of its place in the wall, sending it flying over the back porch and impacting off the top of one of the rocks between us and her.

As she continued to beat her hooves against the building’s wooden skeleton I watched Doc move over to the right. He was moving away from the shack after working so hard to get there?

Suddenly, he hopped up atop the stone he was hiding behind.

The mare practically exploded, leaping off the back porch towards Doc as the beige stallion turned tail and ran in the opposite direction.

What was he doing!? I’m sure smashing a bottle of healing goop over her head wouldn’t --

KRACK!

The sound of a gunshot tore through the air as the mare’s chest exploded.

The bloodied raider went limp mid-jump, landing belly-first atop a rock before violently twisting and tumbling to the ground in a heap.

There were bits of gore strewn all across the rocks. My eyes were locked on that cyan body as a pool of crimson slowly formed beneath her. I wanted to move my legs, I couldn’t stay here, I needed to get moving again...

Out of the corner of my eye I watched Doc waste no time in leaping over the fallen mare, galloping as fast as his hooves could take him to the back porch of that shack. The Stallion ducking down and reaching under it towards something.

“Longshooter!” I heard a distant, muffled voice call out near Doc. Given the direction there was only one possible location it could have come from...

“Keep yer head down, dumbflank!” Another voice followed. “Where’s boss!?”

Doc soon freed himself from under the back porch. He was pulling something out from beneath two planks, something small, pink...

It was a filly.

The little pony had stuck her head out and looked around, Doc immediately tucked her to his chest with one leg and began galloping back towards me.

“Boss!?” A large green stallion appeared in the middle of that back doorway. His eyes went wide as he spotted his fallen leader laying in her own blood. “Boss!”

Doc had swiftly ducked down behind a nearby rock, his eyes going just as wide as the stallion’s when he realized I had followed him. While both of us were keeping our heads down Doc was doing his best to keep the little pink filly calm, brushing her white mane out of her eyes.

“Shit! Fuckin’... I’ll-- I’ll kill you!” He screamed, turning his back to us and kicking some sort of mechanism on his harness and biting down on a bit near his muzzle. With a heavy whirring the multi-barreled device on his side began to spin and let off a violent spray of lead all over the surrounding hills where we had been observing the previous battle.

Doc kept low and began moving between cover, from rock to rock until he got up behind the long one I was hiding behind.

“What are you doing!?” His question was a whisper, though it had the force of a yell. “I told you to stay up there! Where its safe!”

“I wasn’t gonna leave you go alone! You saved my life, I can at least look out for yours!” I countered, but before Doc could respond another crack rang out through the air and that stallion crumbled into a green heap beside the similar cyan one.

“We’ll talk later, get up that hill!” Doc said as he practically threw me towards said hill.

I dug my hooves into the dirt and worked my way up that steep ground as fast as my legs would take me. I glanced back and saw the little filly following behind me, just ahead of Doc, the stallion was taking up the rear and watching that shack anxiously.

As I reached the crest of that hill I turned around, reaching my hoof down and helping the little filly up to the top. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black figure in that doorway beneath.

“Don’t you run from me!” The mare screamed, lifting a rifle to her shoulder and spraying lead all the way up the hill.

I ducked as a round whizzed by my left cheek, losing my grip on the filly’s hoof as she and Doc began sliding down the hill. The little filly came to rest hiding behind a rock jutting up out of the left side of the hill, Doc on the other hand tumbled all the way down to the bottom where we had our short chat.

“I’ll skin you alive an’ eat yer fuckin’ hearts!” That mare screamed again, firing all the way from the bottom of the hill to the top, it seemed like she couldn’t decide who to try and kill first, so she was firing at all of us simultaneously. “You fucked up my friends! They were all I had you fuckin’ scum!”

I kept my head low as I peeked over the rim of the hill. The filly was curled up in the fetal position, trembling while Doc was below, diving around between those rocks in front of the mare while throwing debris and yelling insults. It took me only a moment to figure out why he was acting so recklessly...

A pony fighting back would be higher priority than two smaller, hiding ones.

I waited until the mare was thoroughly fixed on Doc before lurching over the edge and reaching out to the filly.

“Come on!” I yelled, her bright blue eyes looked up at me as I grabbed her attention. “It’s safe up here! I promise!” I was begging for her to believe me, we didn’t have much time. “Please!”

It took a few moments but the little filly eventually unwrapped herself slowly, shakily. She put one trembling hoof in front of the other and began climbing up to me. My hoof remained outstretched, ready to grab and pull her to safety while my eyes continued glancing down at Doc and his diversion below.

The filly got three-quarters of the way up before a spray of red erupted from Doc’s shoulder, right in the middle of a jump between two pieces of cover.

“Ha!” The mare practically bellowed “Ain’t such a fast piece o’ shit now are ya!?” She gave a maniacal grin I could see clearly even from this far away.

What I also saw clearly was her gaze falling onto the two of us, her grin dissappearing.

“Didnt’cha hear me, shitheads!?” She called out, raising her rifle to her shoulder and taking aim. I dived forward and desperately grabbed the filly’s foreleg between my hooves, pulling her up as fast as I possibly could. “You ain’t gettin’ away! I ain’t lettin’ you live!”

Her rifle cracked three times.

The first shot missed, spraying dirt across us as the bullet burrowed its way into the ground. The second shot didn’t miss however, and it made the filly cry out in pain as it dug into the left side of her torso, blood spurting into the air for a moment as the round pushed through her and dug a crimson-rimmed crater in the dirt beneath us.

When the third shot rang out I was blinded, my vision became a sea of misty, crimson red. There was a cold, razor-sharp pain cutting into my chest, but I couldn’t look down to check it. I heard a stallion scream something in the distance as another shot rang out, a thunderous crack followed by a thump which silenced the world around me.

I opened my eyes...

The filly’s hooves were cracked, covered in dirt and grime. She must have been out in these wilds for a very long time. Her body was thin, malnourished, I was able to see the faint outlines of her ribs beneath her coat. There was a hole in her back that continued to slowly drip crimson red down her sides. Whereas her coat was a bright pink her mane was a much softer shade of white. It was scruffy, looked violently torn in a few places, but otherwise I could see it easily being cared for and brought back to it’s natural state. Above her right eye was a hole lined with red, white and grey matter, it was so big I could have fit my hoof inside. Her face held a terrified expression, frozen in time while the trails of tears down her cheeks slowly began mixing into a colour closer to her coat.

She was gone.

I pulled the lifeless body hanging from my hooves up to me atop that hill, laying her down on her side and... nothing. I did nothing after that, I just stared at the little motionless pony laying before me.

This little filly had a life... how did she end up in this situation? She had a name... what was her name? She would have gotten her cutie mark one day... what would it have been? Perhaps she could have been a beautiful singer... what was her voice like? There were a million questions laying before me, a million things that could have come to be... and now nothing. Nothing but deafening silence, void of any answers.

Doc had risked his life to save this young pony without a second thought, he had risked his everything to give this filly a chance, a life, a future...

… and I didn’t pull fast enough.

I dragged my head to the side, glancing down at the war zone beneath the hill. All three raiders were laying in their respective heaps, the final mare would be laying face-down in the dirt had she still a face to speak of. Doc was laying on his side, his back to one of the many rocks behind the shack as he stared up to me, at me. A small pool of red had formed below his shoulder, but the Stallion didn’t seem to care as he let his head fall to the ground. His expression was one of utter defeat.

The world was silent, cold for as long as I could remember. Eventually a black-winged form swooped low over the shack and landed in front of Doc. Sever leaned in and seemingly began to check and tend to the Unicorn’s wound. I watched for a short amount of time before I returned my gaze to that filly, hoping that by the time I turned around she would have recovered and would be sitting up beside me, staring up into those clouds alongside me, asking questions like ‘Where do we go now?’ or ‘What’s your name?’.

No, the filly was still. No matter how much I wished, prayed or begged she would never rise again.

The world around me felt rather distant now. There were soft, staggered rubbing sounds to my left as I gazed up into the grey, shifting sky above me. My nose tickled from some something dripping off the tip while my tongue tingled with a familiar copper sensation as everything seemed to dim. The corners of my vision darkened ever so gently, slowly, as I felt myself falling backwards. The advance of those shadows slowed only long enough to let me witness an even larger shadow arrive from my left, covering me. Two yellow dots of colour staring straight down through me as I gave in and let the darkness overtake me.

Good night, Wasteland...

Footnote: Level up!
New perk: Child at heart - This perk greatly improves your interactions with children, usually in the form of unique dialogue options.

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!

Once again, also a big thanks to the authors of every side story out there, your stories keep inspiring me to practice writing!

I can’t believe this chapter took over two months to write...

All comments, critique, questions, etc. are always highly appreciated!

~Anton)