Fallout Equestria: Honest Liesby SugarSaltChaptersPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2chapter 3PrologueFallout Equestria:Honest Lies Prologue “Do I hate what I’m good at? That sounds just too pretentious.” Two hundred years and the world around those lucky enough to have been raised in the sky isn’t as peachy keen as one might believe, though, if I am to believe the tales of the dingy world below and all of its radioactive horrors, it’s a might better. Up here, the food is bland, the berries-if you can call them that-taste like well worn leather, sprinkled in…SOMETHING bitter. There is more than enough political tension in the clouds that sometimes, it seems like the war from two hundred years ago has done nothing but slide into a Cold state. That is the stark truth about the territory of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. The denizens themselves? Just as bland and bitter. Some of them work towards faux advancement while they study in Thunderhead, a mix between healthy learning and unhealthy propaganda. Some of them blindly plod forward without the need of any kind of propaganda, mainly military ponies, part of the Neighvarro war machine through and through. The rest of them are the worst. The plebeian pegasi that wander about aimlessly through life, the unicorns that have to always live in the binds of their cloud walking spells, they all have no purpose in life. Then you have me. I am part of the Enclave Black Ops Special Task Force. I don’t tell others my real name, just my code name, Punch Drunk. I always had a knack for talking and acting. It makes me an excellent spy. Usually you can find me at any bar if you look hard enough. It might seem like nothing matters to me, but I am very driven. I am driven by one goal, and that is the safety of a pony that is very special to me. Personally I never cared for the business, but when you’re good at something, you get noticed. I was used to being noticed. I didn’t think much of how I looked, but apparently a fair amount of the bar colts did. I am a far descendant of some lush named Berry Punch. I only know this because in Black Ops they make you trace your genealogy to see if there is more greatness in you, the only ‘greatness’ I got was a pink coat, a lumpy purple mane and tail, and the apparent ability to hold booze well… though i was still unsure how i ended up a pegasi from a linage of earth ponies and unicorns... Being noticed also caused my problems however, I was good at being sneaky, I was a great liar, and I could handle myself well. I was the perfect mix of skills and not giving a damn about the general populace for Black Ops. This meant I would be asked to aid in the government’s shadowy civil wars and the like. I didn’t much care for it, but I had no choice. When I first joined Black Ops, I was chosen by my supervisor, a unicorn named Lighthooves. I doubted that was his name, but like the rest of us, he preferred code names. He bothered me. Most of the time it was a pain because I could never tell if he was lying or telling the truth, must be what it was like for others to listen to me. He gave me a small magical energy weapon (if you could call it a weapon, it hurt about as much as a light bruise) and told me he’d give me my own team if I could ever catch him off guard enough to hit him with it, I still haven’t…today I am going to fix that. Footnote: level up: Power Armor Training. You are able to understand and operate power armor possessing any kind of spell matrix. Chapter 1Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 1: One Glass Too Many “But at the end of the day…sometimes I think I’d like to say yes.” The plan was still fresh in my mind. I could feel a part here and a part there slowly forming as I gathered myself up from the bar. “I’ll be back around six tonight. Could you do me a favor?” I looked at the bartender who gave me a frown. “Fine, I’ll give ya one of my food ration vouchers.” That seemed to soften his frown and he nodded to me. “Alright, when I come back, line up six glasses, empty with ice, and then pour me my one drink when I give ya the drink voucher. That’s all I need ya to do.” He regarded my request and nodded again, I’ve been there enough that he knew me and what I looked like rather well; this would be almost too easy. The breeze was always refreshing as it welcomed me along with the exit jingle of the door bell of the “Ale-port Bar” an eye rolling pun on the fact that it used to be a vertibuck airport hanger for us. I headed towards our training facility, a large shadowed building that still connected to the uppermost parts of Shadowbolt Tower. Man oh man, the pegasi could say what they wanted to about Rainbow Dash, but I know this much-everything that they built was certainly ‘Awesome’. The dark clouds of the upper framework maintained their stormy disposition even while the sun pounded down on them, even though the sun and moon moved freely now, there was still an odd cycle to the day and night. I approached the two guard ponies at the front door; I couldn’t tell if they were colts or mares in their power armor, but I didn’t really care, all that mattered is that they recognized me and didn’t bar my access. Heading into the main lobby I looked about at the impressive remnants of the pre-war organization. High on the wall above the floor was an old Ministry of Awesome logo that had been marred horribly by the Grand Pegasus Enclave logo, it was clearly painted over however and you could still see the awesome lightning bolt behind the encroaching cover-up. “Can I help you Miss Punch?” the nasal voice of the lobby secretary, Windburst, dragged me from my stupor. The chestnut colored mare had a strict manestyle and her tail was in a perm, the red of her mane looked lovely with her coat…though it did little to take away from the fact that she seemed like a desk ornament (and a hot one at that!), she was never privy to anything we did. “I’m here to speak to Lighthooves.” She nodded at me then motioned for me to take a seat. I got uncomfortable. Sitting on the waiting room couch was taking its toll, I could only stare at the dual logo-ed abomination on the wall so much, I started watching the clock hands turn over the secretary’s desk. I shifted again and again on the couch, got up and paced, I even tried sitting upside down on the couch after pacing had failed me. I found myself wishing I had come in my own power armor…at least then I could amuse myself with my E.F.S. or imagine trying to play games on its on board computer system. If I had a plan, I loved to see it progress, not be halted by the slow march of time and some other pony being busy, a tell I would need to work on. “It has been five minutes Punch…” Lighthooves voice snapped me out of my upside down delirium and I looked down, no, up at him. “What? I got bored.” I gave him my best charming smile-he was not impressed. “So what did you need me for?” I thought blankly for a moment before righting myself up with some hapless flapping of my right wing, then I stood with him. “I was wonderin’ if ya wanted to come for some drinks tonight, say around seven?” He blinked at me in an odd disbelief. “This is a strange happening.” I frowned. “Did ya ever hear of the words yes and no?” he nickered at me. “Very well I accept, if not for the curiosity of this, you have no attachment to anypony, let alone me.” His words were smooth, but they felt so very jagged. “Meet me at the Ale-port Bar, remember, seven.” I slinked away being thankful for the ability of my coat color to hide any kind of blush that I garnered out of embarrassment, I certainly didn’t like him. He simply chuckled. I prepared back at my home, homes were small in the Enclave, only so much room above the clouds, but it was much better than down below I was certain. I kept my decorating minimally to a few pinups of pre war colts and mares and a smattering of empty bottles, geez I needed to clean this place. That helped me kill time though, I checked the pulse gun I was challenged with using and hid it neatly beside my couch and gathered up a food voucher and some drink vouchers. Vouchers were what we used in lieu of money; each household was given a certain number of them to survive month to month. I sighed as I tried to gather the rest of my plan together in my head and set out the door nearer to six than seven. I sat at the bar, he hadn’t arrived early as well-I half feared he might. I passed the food and drink voucher to the bartender and he nodded, filling up six glasses with ice and one with ice and hard cider, I took the one he poured and held onto it, keeping the others in front of me as well. I took one sip of the cider and kept it in my mouth for what seemed like ages, it didn’t matter if I was actually drunk or not, just that it seemed like it-and alcohol breath goes a long way in that disguise. To my chagrin he showed up at about six-thirty, a whole half hour early! It was good that I planned ahead and was here earlier. He approached me at the bar; I sank my head a bit and bobbed it from side to side slowly, letting a little bit of drool come from the corner of my mouth. “Punch…this is…” he looked absolutely bewildered at how much I had already ‘drank’. I pretended to fight against odd slurs at him and finally brought out some words. “yer late!” I waved my hoof at his general direction, but a few degrees to the side. He frowned at me, “You seem to be the one who started early.” I feigned ignorance again as I mulled over his statement and turned to the bartender, lifting another drink voucher I was actually surprised as Lighthooves pushed my hoof down on the table. “You’ve had enough tonight.” It wasn’t a question or an observation; I smiled inwardly because it was a statement. “Buf I washn’t finish!” I semi-roared at him, causing most of the bar and the bartender to look at us in a stupor. The bartender looked at me and pulled away my still half full glass of cider, “Missy, you -have- had enough.” I’d have to thank him later. I struggled, having been hoisted over the shoulder of my boss who may or may have not been actually concerned about me. “That was a sorry display in there. I hope you don’t come to work like this.” Again his words were cold, but I sensed something akin to worry-though it may have been for the work and not me, I belched at him, he reeled from the scent of the cider that had become ingrained in my taste buds. I was quite surprised he didn’t just leave me on the street after that, but he instead started carrying me home, of course he knew where I lived…though I had never told him. He flung open the door I had left unlocked, and walked me over to the couch, I groaned as he put me down, he chuckled a bit. “I’ll get you some water alright?” This was it! I nodded to him meekly and looked away from him in false-shame. As I heard him turn to leave the room I lifted the pulse gun slowly from beside the couch and fired it at him, he had started to turn his head to face me and let out a gasp as it grazed his side, he had still almost dodged it, almost. There was a long moment perpetuated by silence between us as he sat down across from me on the only chair I had other than my couch and sighed. “You aren’t drunk, are you?” Again it sounded like a statement rather than a question. “No sir. I had a few sips of cider, but that was it.” He actually smiled. “That was masterfully done. You used your ability to disguise how you are to others, your skill to manipulate others-like that bartender, and you actually got me with that gun. Color me impressed.” I inflated with pride, but I wasn’t quite sure why I even cared. I helped him tend to the small burn mark that poor excuse for a gun managed to leave on his side, had he even been wearing a coat, I doubt it would have even done that. “Does this mean you’re gonna give me my own team?” I sounded more quizzical than hopeful and he caught that. “Punch, would you even know what to do with your own team?” I caved, “Nope. Not a damn clue.” He smiled. “I’ll get you set up on a team, and see if I can’t find some work suitable for your...skills.” I was still curious though “What kind of work?” He shifted a bit in his seat and actually told me. “Well I still have reservations about putting you on my Hoofington project, but there are a few other things that have come down from the higher ups that may be right up your alley, come in tomorrow for the tart of your new training.” I nodded to him, and he got up and left. No goodbye, no nothing. It dawned on me that he was really good at pretending to have emotions. Footnote: level up: Enclave Black Ops. You have special training in the regimens of the Enclave Intelligence Forces, this includes magical energy weapons, stealth, and speech. Chapter 2Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 2: Hard Knocks “Beatings. Books. Beatings WITH books…” He wasn’t kidding. My training did start that morning, about four hours earlier than I had been used to being awake, looking back I am not sure why I didn’t think training would be hard, or even half as miserable as it actually was. Being trained for special positions and missions is a double-edged sword. On one hoof, you get to be more involved and get better experience, on the other hoof, you need to be able to match the part given, and also understand what you are using, and how it affects another. In most military positions and the like, this includes the weapons and tactics you use on others. There was a knock on my door and the sun hadn’t even decided to lazily come into any kind of view yet, normally I would’ve ignored it, but after last night I wanted to be sure. I approached sleepily and was greeted by a sight so lovely I had almost forgotten about our secretary for a moment. Almost. Standing at my door was a black pegasus, looking sleek as ever, she had a green mane and tail that reminded me of limes, I wanted a taste to make sure, her eyes were a cold purple and bore an alluring look. “H-hi.” I meekly waved at her unsure of what to think, all she did was flip her mane and bat her eyes at me. “uh. Can i-“ She spoke suddenly as I fumbled with my words “Punch Drunk?” I simply nodded to her, her voice was sultry too, had somepony ordered me a hooker? Do hookers even look THIS good? She saw right through me though, and in my defense, it was early, and I wasn’t exactly hiding my looks. “My name is Nightshade.” She leaned down to meet my gaze which had drifted over most of her except for her face. “Oh uh, sorry…heh.” She smiled knowingly with a hint of annoyance. “I get that a lot. I will humor you however, with just. One. Kiss.” She stepped forward and punctuated every word she said, I backpedaled a bit in spite of myself, never was anypony I knew that forward. Much to my chagrin it was a mere peck on the lips. “I was sent by Lighthooves to start your training, please have a seat.” My curiosity was piqued, and I would have to have words with Lighthooves about when proper training hours were. “So uh, when do we start?” I began to take light steps towards my couch when suddenly my blood started to feel cold; I began to sweat a tiny bit, she swished her mane again, “We already have.” She nearly cooed the words out, delighted enough to simply watch me. Quickly it became nigh impossible to move my hooves to finish those light steps to the couch, every time I so much as twitched it felt as though someone had lit my muscles on fire and put large weights on them, I had been poisoned by something fierce. I felt myself being dragged along the clouds quietly as I tried to scream from some of the new sensations of pain I was feeling but nothing came out. This stuff was unpleasant, it also had dried my eyes to the point of blurred vision and strain, but it hurt so much to even try to blink! Through tremendous effort and a small whimper, I managed to speak. “Wh-what did you…did you do to…m-me?” She didn’t stop dragging me along but casually replied to me anyway, “Oh I kissed you. Sometimes I wear a rather powerful lipstick.” I felt like the fetal position would be good about now, but I couldn’t force myself to move my burning muscles to do so. I started to taste the bitter copper of blood. “I…blood…” I could barely speak now, so much fire inside of every inch of me. “Yeah, that happens, most ponies are dead by now.” I felt mortified at that, somepony came to my home to kill me and I just…opened the door. I must have passed out from the pain, or maybe I was dead. It gets hard to tell, but I’m sure wherever we go to when we die did not include my boss’s desk. I groaned and felt tinges of internal burning still, but was no longer crippled, and I was in front of Lighthooves’ desk. “Oh sir! Thank you for saving me from that-“ I saw her, standing next to his desk smugly, Lighthooves looked up at me from his terminal, “That was the first, and likely easiest part of your training Punch. Nightshade is one of the ponies on the team you now belong to.” I somberly took this in as I looked at him; he was as cold as ever and did not seem bothered that I had just almost died. He should be! I sure was! But he continued, “From here on in, the training will be much worse, and will help shape you into what we need for these coming assignments, survive them Punch, or we don’t need you.” His words were final and matter of fact as I found myself nodding. He had chosen to escort me personally to the debriefing room and had a folder with him of my other ‘team members’ but held onto it and sat across from me, I sat and I listened like a good little pony. “The mission we are preparing you for is going to take a lot to handle both physically and mentally, we have to make you ready for that in a fairly short time, so things will be bad. I trust you to get through them all, and would not be surprised if you hated me for it, but where we are sending you-it won’t be much better.” I grimaced but nodded, only imagining what kind of training I would be subjected to. He looked up to me from his folders, “Your physical training will be with Collateral Damage and Sitting Duck.” I blinked. “Those are some odd names for Vertibucks sir.” He stayed cold, “They are ponies.” I gulped audibly. He motioned to a door into the training facility and gave me a sad look, “And Punch? I am truly sorry that you have to go through this.” I could for once, tell he meant it, and that scared me more than anything else. The facility I had been sent into seemed more like a prison than anything else, in the background somewhere I could hear the sound of gunfire, but it wasn’t magical energy discharge. Did we even use standard arms in Black Ops? No, this sounded heavy. Either very large caliber or some kind of explosive round, it was too low and sounded far away in these walls. I followed the walkway to the only room I could go to, it was labeled ‘Processing’. When I stepped in, I was met with a very powerful, very muscular pegasus, he had stone hard eyes and a very short orange mane, he had a very stubby tail too, his expression kept me from laughing. His cutie mark was of some kind of explosion as far as I could tell and set nicely against his grey coat. “Oh, you must be-“ His heavy hoof hit me in the face hard, I think a few teeth were now loose. I shuddered as he walked over to me and stood looking down, a kind of practiced fury in his eyes. “I did not tell you to speak!” he spoke with the subtlety of a drill instructor, which he probably was. “My name is Collateral Damage! You do what I say, when I say, unquestioningly! Is that clear!?” I opened my mouth to say yes, and my vision nearly blacked as he hit me again, this time, I fought back my whimpering and just nodded. “Good!” He let me know that in here, I had no name, just trainee. I had no voice. He also let me know that he was no longer going to be soft on me, which I did not understand. He told me that my new room had my schedule on the wall, and food would be given IF I was scheduled for it. My room was hard to call that, it was metal, and had no bed, just a bucket. I felt like I was a terrible war criminal or political prisoner of some sort…just what had I done? I couldn’t sleep, and between the faded burning of that poison from Nightshade, and the pounding pain in my skull from Collateral Damage, I wasn’t sure I would wake up again if I did. The next morning (morning?i couldn’t tell in here.) they fetched me and brought me into an exercise room, this matched the first part of my schedule. Collateral was watching me exercise and did not set any number of repetitions, but I didn’t dare stop unless he told me to. I stopped when I was incapable of doing any more. The only times he spoke to me were to tell me to switch what exercises I was doing, each of those was punctuated by a whistle that hung from his neck. I took note of the fact he hadn’t asked me to do any kind of wing exercises. Hell I could barely breathe, and definitely couldn’t exercise more and he came over to me, I instinctively braced myself, but he did not hit me this time. “Don’ worry, toughness training isn’t for another day or so.” I dreaded whatever that meant. “Right now, its jus’ exercise 2.” Just like it said on my schedule. I disregarded his speaking warning without thinking “But I can’t even move right now…” to my surprise he didn’t hit me again, why do I feel happy about this!? He just smiled, “Oh you’d be surprised at what you can do when you’re getting’ shot at.” I paled as he left the room and a handful of little sprite bots floated into the room, weapons primed. I heard his voice over some PA system, “Oh, they won’t kill you most likely; sometimes one of their shots will –rarely- turn a pony into dust. Best to run still though…” Footnote: level up: Hoof-Forced Fitness: Through grueling forced training regimens, you gain +1 CON, but also -1 AGI. chapter 3Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 3: Forged Like Iron “From the bottom of the hole I wondered if I could manage to climb out.” Week two, I woke up in my room not quite fully sure how I had gotten back to it. I vaguely remember the promise of food, but all they gave me was some pill, I have never seen it’s like, and I’m not sure it had anything to do with food or nutrition, I still felt starved. I grumbled to myself a bit, waking to the sound of the wake-up alarm and struggled to stand, I felt hungry, and in pain, something I was getting more used to. First up on my schedule was simply something listed as “Shooting”. Were they really going to give me a gun in here? I suppose it was still training technically, but I desperately wanted to shoot my way out. I wandered dutifully to the range room since I was more concerned with what would happen if I did not. There was another black pegasus in there, a male, he had a black mane too, and was quite slim, I wondered if he ate as much as I have recently, his cutie mark was a target, I couldn’t help but think it meant he was easy to shoot. He regarded me closely for an uncomfortable amount of time, silent all the while; I took a chance, “uhm. Hello?” He blinked when I spoke and instinctively flinched. He gave me a weary smile, “Toughening your hide ain’t my job. Sorry ya gotta deal wit’ that.” He motioned me over to a table with some heavy duty armor on it. “Names Sitting Duck, inspirin’ I know.” His chuckle was disarming but I was more curious about the metal plate looking armor on the table, “What’s all this? For a shootin’ class even?” my question made him chuckle again. “Well, ya wouldn’t be able to hold the guns we want to train ya in as is.” I was being walked through the beginning steps of trying to wear what I had been told was armor that belonged to Steel Rangers. “Steel Rangers are a relic from before the Great War.” He was telling me small bits and pieces, we couldn’t work me into the body armor because of my wings, but I could see it was like our power armor, just with a very different matrix system, nothing made the parts I tried on lighter, but I felt slightly stronger. It was more strenuous than I had thought it would be. “I want to make sure ya can handle the rest of the suit before we try to squeeze you into the body piece.” I sort of looked forward to it, but wasn’t sure I’d be able to fit. The next thing on my training was called ‘Toughness’, this worried me considerably after what Sitting Duck had told me and the pained look that had accompanied his words. I went to the next training room slowly, as I expected this to be entirely unpleasant; my mind kept drifting back to thoughts of how this would go if I had that clunky armor on instead of nothing. Back at the formerly exercise room, Collateral Damage awaited me, and if it wasn’t just me, he looked happy… “Stand over there.” It was more of a command than a suggestion and he took a serious face again now that he had my attention. He began to explain to me how this worked, “This is all out physical combat between us,” (Oh joy…) “There is only one rule, no flying for either of us.” (Double joy…) I nodded, I was in bad shape still, but there was a fire in me that was being stoked by the chance to hurt this guy, “Yeah, I got ya.” I answered him just to break his talking rule. I am very well versed in hoof to hoof combat and at hitting ponies with things I can hold or throw, but my body wasn’t in any condition to, but I still had to try, I’d see that smug look wiped from his face if just for a moment. He was large however, even bigger than me and at least twice as muscular. He began by charging me head on with much more swiftness than I expected, knocking the wind strait out of me and sending me flying into the door I had just walked in from, I coughed up spit and felt sore from the impact, but quickly stood again, this time ready for a charge. He simply walked up to me and moved to grapple me, I lowered myself and lifted my back legs into his gut-he barely moved! I felt my eyes widen in fear as he lowered one of his hooves around my bucked legs and proceeded to handle me not unlike a mop, repeatedly, by the third impact with the floor, I lost sight of the conscious world. My mind coped by being lost in an old memory… “Hey Empty! Catch!” a bottle of water hit me square in the nose, followed by a childish giggling. “Sis, did you really make Special Ops? You can’t even catch a bottle!” I found myself laughing a bit as I ran to my kid sister and lifted her up under one of my legs, and then proceeded to noogie her relentlessly. Splash Happy, a young white filly with a blue mane and more smiles than I could see anywhere else, this was my sister. “Ya damn right I did. Careful where ya chuck those bottles.” I let her go and she rubbed her mane and eyed me, still smiling. I felt myself smile back and then the scene violently changed to a dark hellscape, a metal cage suddenly imprisoning her in front of me, powerless to act as the laughter of a military colt could be heard everywhere in my head “I OWN you now!” I awoke in a cold sweat, between my being a mop, and my conjured nightmares, I was in some kind of medical wing. I was not surprised in the least, I couldn’t move, I was too bandaged, and I could still taste healing potions in my mouth by their aftertaste. Part of me wondered how bad ii had been beaten, or when he stopped, but the familiar voice of my ‘doctor’ let me know, “A broken wing, minor fractures in your skull, your neck, and your jaw, two broken legs…and that’s only the most noteworthy injuries, there were many I skipped over.” Nightshade smiled down at me from in front of the bed. I glared as dangerously as I could manage. Remarkably I didn’t feel like I had been injured that badly, “How long have I been out?” She looked at me, slightly irritated and answered, “Too long, nearly three days. Punch you’re really slowing us down.” I grimaced. “What the hell? You think I asked for that beating!?” She had pushed me a bit too much. She smirked, “At least you’ve still got some energy.” She put a tray next to me with a pill and a cup of water, “Eat up.” There was satisfaction in her voice. I looked at the pill before taking it, “What is this? Some kind of dietary supplement?” I admit I was curious. “That is what we are feeding you. It’ll provide the bare needs for your body, and still get you accustomed to starvation.” What they were doing to me was not unlike torture. She left me there to simmer in my rage, but not before oddly assuring me that my training was nearing completion, and that they had to bump up a few parts of it to make up for my time out. After a few minutes, Lighthooves came into the hospital room with a grim look on his face, then sat next to me, “Punch…I am so sorry.” Again it sounded worryingly sincere, “Aw don’t do that, it worries me. Besides, I can’t feel shit.” I gave him my best smile, which he did not return, “I came to explain the mission to you, and the changes we had to make for it.” He slipped me a classified folder and sat back as I opened it. Inside were so MANY notes on the Steel Rangers, base locations, habits, lifestyle, combat patterns, heck-interesting facts, it had it all, or as I was swiftly told, all they knew. “We want you to infiltrate their organization when your training is done, yes-that means a surface mission.” That sounded more exciting to me than terrifying, but for some reason he still looked sorry and grim. “So uh, how am I gonna blend in with a bunch of Earth Ponies?” He closed his eyes, “Punch…” I felt his hooves pat my back, which wasn’t entirely unwelcome and a good sign the anesthetic had worn off, but then I realized-they had removed my wings. Footnote: level up: Hoof-Forced Toughness: Through grueling forced training regimens, you gain +5 to your Damage Threshold. Trait Gained: “Earth” Pony: You have lost your wings and incur a -2 to AGI, however, you gain more of an insight with your Earth Pony lineage and gain +2 STR.
PrologueFallout Equestria:Honest Lies Prologue “Do I hate what I’m good at? That sounds just too pretentious.” Two hundred years and the world around those lucky enough to have been raised in the sky isn’t as peachy keen as one might believe, though, if I am to believe the tales of the dingy world below and all of its radioactive horrors, it’s a might better. Up here, the food is bland, the berries-if you can call them that-taste like well worn leather, sprinkled in…SOMETHING bitter. There is more than enough political tension in the clouds that sometimes, it seems like the war from two hundred years ago has done nothing but slide into a Cold state. That is the stark truth about the territory of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. The denizens themselves? Just as bland and bitter. Some of them work towards faux advancement while they study in Thunderhead, a mix between healthy learning and unhealthy propaganda. Some of them blindly plod forward without the need of any kind of propaganda, mainly military ponies, part of the Neighvarro war machine through and through. The rest of them are the worst. The plebeian pegasi that wander about aimlessly through life, the unicorns that have to always live in the binds of their cloud walking spells, they all have no purpose in life. Then you have me. I am part of the Enclave Black Ops Special Task Force. I don’t tell others my real name, just my code name, Punch Drunk. I always had a knack for talking and acting. It makes me an excellent spy. Usually you can find me at any bar if you look hard enough. It might seem like nothing matters to me, but I am very driven. I am driven by one goal, and that is the safety of a pony that is very special to me. Personally I never cared for the business, but when you’re good at something, you get noticed. I was used to being noticed. I didn’t think much of how I looked, but apparently a fair amount of the bar colts did. I am a far descendant of some lush named Berry Punch. I only know this because in Black Ops they make you trace your genealogy to see if there is more greatness in you, the only ‘greatness’ I got was a pink coat, a lumpy purple mane and tail, and the apparent ability to hold booze well… though i was still unsure how i ended up a pegasi from a linage of earth ponies and unicorns... Being noticed also caused my problems however, I was good at being sneaky, I was a great liar, and I could handle myself well. I was the perfect mix of skills and not giving a damn about the general populace for Black Ops. This meant I would be asked to aid in the government’s shadowy civil wars and the like. I didn’t much care for it, but I had no choice. When I first joined Black Ops, I was chosen by my supervisor, a unicorn named Lighthooves. I doubted that was his name, but like the rest of us, he preferred code names. He bothered me. Most of the time it was a pain because I could never tell if he was lying or telling the truth, must be what it was like for others to listen to me. He gave me a small magical energy weapon (if you could call it a weapon, it hurt about as much as a light bruise) and told me he’d give me my own team if I could ever catch him off guard enough to hit him with it, I still haven’t…today I am going to fix that. Footnote: level up: Power Armor Training. You are able to understand and operate power armor possessing any kind of spell matrix.
Chapter 1Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 1: One Glass Too Many “But at the end of the day…sometimes I think I’d like to say yes.” The plan was still fresh in my mind. I could feel a part here and a part there slowly forming as I gathered myself up from the bar. “I’ll be back around six tonight. Could you do me a favor?” I looked at the bartender who gave me a frown. “Fine, I’ll give ya one of my food ration vouchers.” That seemed to soften his frown and he nodded to me. “Alright, when I come back, line up six glasses, empty with ice, and then pour me my one drink when I give ya the drink voucher. That’s all I need ya to do.” He regarded my request and nodded again, I’ve been there enough that he knew me and what I looked like rather well; this would be almost too easy. The breeze was always refreshing as it welcomed me along with the exit jingle of the door bell of the “Ale-port Bar” an eye rolling pun on the fact that it used to be a vertibuck airport hanger for us. I headed towards our training facility, a large shadowed building that still connected to the uppermost parts of Shadowbolt Tower. Man oh man, the pegasi could say what they wanted to about Rainbow Dash, but I know this much-everything that they built was certainly ‘Awesome’. The dark clouds of the upper framework maintained their stormy disposition even while the sun pounded down on them, even though the sun and moon moved freely now, there was still an odd cycle to the day and night. I approached the two guard ponies at the front door; I couldn’t tell if they were colts or mares in their power armor, but I didn’t really care, all that mattered is that they recognized me and didn’t bar my access. Heading into the main lobby I looked about at the impressive remnants of the pre-war organization. High on the wall above the floor was an old Ministry of Awesome logo that had been marred horribly by the Grand Pegasus Enclave logo, it was clearly painted over however and you could still see the awesome lightning bolt behind the encroaching cover-up. “Can I help you Miss Punch?” the nasal voice of the lobby secretary, Windburst, dragged me from my stupor. The chestnut colored mare had a strict manestyle and her tail was in a perm, the red of her mane looked lovely with her coat…though it did little to take away from the fact that she seemed like a desk ornament (and a hot one at that!), she was never privy to anything we did. “I’m here to speak to Lighthooves.” She nodded at me then motioned for me to take a seat. I got uncomfortable. Sitting on the waiting room couch was taking its toll, I could only stare at the dual logo-ed abomination on the wall so much, I started watching the clock hands turn over the secretary’s desk. I shifted again and again on the couch, got up and paced, I even tried sitting upside down on the couch after pacing had failed me. I found myself wishing I had come in my own power armor…at least then I could amuse myself with my E.F.S. or imagine trying to play games on its on board computer system. If I had a plan, I loved to see it progress, not be halted by the slow march of time and some other pony being busy, a tell I would need to work on. “It has been five minutes Punch…” Lighthooves voice snapped me out of my upside down delirium and I looked down, no, up at him. “What? I got bored.” I gave him my best charming smile-he was not impressed. “So what did you need me for?” I thought blankly for a moment before righting myself up with some hapless flapping of my right wing, then I stood with him. “I was wonderin’ if ya wanted to come for some drinks tonight, say around seven?” He blinked at me in an odd disbelief. “This is a strange happening.” I frowned. “Did ya ever hear of the words yes and no?” he nickered at me. “Very well I accept, if not for the curiosity of this, you have no attachment to anypony, let alone me.” His words were smooth, but they felt so very jagged. “Meet me at the Ale-port Bar, remember, seven.” I slinked away being thankful for the ability of my coat color to hide any kind of blush that I garnered out of embarrassment, I certainly didn’t like him. He simply chuckled. I prepared back at my home, homes were small in the Enclave, only so much room above the clouds, but it was much better than down below I was certain. I kept my decorating minimally to a few pinups of pre war colts and mares and a smattering of empty bottles, geez I needed to clean this place. That helped me kill time though, I checked the pulse gun I was challenged with using and hid it neatly beside my couch and gathered up a food voucher and some drink vouchers. Vouchers were what we used in lieu of money; each household was given a certain number of them to survive month to month. I sighed as I tried to gather the rest of my plan together in my head and set out the door nearer to six than seven. I sat at the bar, he hadn’t arrived early as well-I half feared he might. I passed the food and drink voucher to the bartender and he nodded, filling up six glasses with ice and one with ice and hard cider, I took the one he poured and held onto it, keeping the others in front of me as well. I took one sip of the cider and kept it in my mouth for what seemed like ages, it didn’t matter if I was actually drunk or not, just that it seemed like it-and alcohol breath goes a long way in that disguise. To my chagrin he showed up at about six-thirty, a whole half hour early! It was good that I planned ahead and was here earlier. He approached me at the bar; I sank my head a bit and bobbed it from side to side slowly, letting a little bit of drool come from the corner of my mouth. “Punch…this is…” he looked absolutely bewildered at how much I had already ‘drank’. I pretended to fight against odd slurs at him and finally brought out some words. “yer late!” I waved my hoof at his general direction, but a few degrees to the side. He frowned at me, “You seem to be the one who started early.” I feigned ignorance again as I mulled over his statement and turned to the bartender, lifting another drink voucher I was actually surprised as Lighthooves pushed my hoof down on the table. “You’ve had enough tonight.” It wasn’t a question or an observation; I smiled inwardly because it was a statement. “Buf I washn’t finish!” I semi-roared at him, causing most of the bar and the bartender to look at us in a stupor. The bartender looked at me and pulled away my still half full glass of cider, “Missy, you -have- had enough.” I’d have to thank him later. I struggled, having been hoisted over the shoulder of my boss who may or may have not been actually concerned about me. “That was a sorry display in there. I hope you don’t come to work like this.” Again his words were cold, but I sensed something akin to worry-though it may have been for the work and not me, I belched at him, he reeled from the scent of the cider that had become ingrained in my taste buds. I was quite surprised he didn’t just leave me on the street after that, but he instead started carrying me home, of course he knew where I lived…though I had never told him. He flung open the door I had left unlocked, and walked me over to the couch, I groaned as he put me down, he chuckled a bit. “I’ll get you some water alright?” This was it! I nodded to him meekly and looked away from him in false-shame. As I heard him turn to leave the room I lifted the pulse gun slowly from beside the couch and fired it at him, he had started to turn his head to face me and let out a gasp as it grazed his side, he had still almost dodged it, almost. There was a long moment perpetuated by silence between us as he sat down across from me on the only chair I had other than my couch and sighed. “You aren’t drunk, are you?” Again it sounded like a statement rather than a question. “No sir. I had a few sips of cider, but that was it.” He actually smiled. “That was masterfully done. You used your ability to disguise how you are to others, your skill to manipulate others-like that bartender, and you actually got me with that gun. Color me impressed.” I inflated with pride, but I wasn’t quite sure why I even cared. I helped him tend to the small burn mark that poor excuse for a gun managed to leave on his side, had he even been wearing a coat, I doubt it would have even done that. “Does this mean you’re gonna give me my own team?” I sounded more quizzical than hopeful and he caught that. “Punch, would you even know what to do with your own team?” I caved, “Nope. Not a damn clue.” He smiled. “I’ll get you set up on a team, and see if I can’t find some work suitable for your...skills.” I was still curious though “What kind of work?” He shifted a bit in his seat and actually told me. “Well I still have reservations about putting you on my Hoofington project, but there are a few other things that have come down from the higher ups that may be right up your alley, come in tomorrow for the tart of your new training.” I nodded to him, and he got up and left. No goodbye, no nothing. It dawned on me that he was really good at pretending to have emotions. Footnote: level up: Enclave Black Ops. You have special training in the regimens of the Enclave Intelligence Forces, this includes magical energy weapons, stealth, and speech.
Chapter 2Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 2: Hard Knocks “Beatings. Books. Beatings WITH books…” He wasn’t kidding. My training did start that morning, about four hours earlier than I had been used to being awake, looking back I am not sure why I didn’t think training would be hard, or even half as miserable as it actually was. Being trained for special positions and missions is a double-edged sword. On one hoof, you get to be more involved and get better experience, on the other hoof, you need to be able to match the part given, and also understand what you are using, and how it affects another. In most military positions and the like, this includes the weapons and tactics you use on others. There was a knock on my door and the sun hadn’t even decided to lazily come into any kind of view yet, normally I would’ve ignored it, but after last night I wanted to be sure. I approached sleepily and was greeted by a sight so lovely I had almost forgotten about our secretary for a moment. Almost. Standing at my door was a black pegasus, looking sleek as ever, she had a green mane and tail that reminded me of limes, I wanted a taste to make sure, her eyes were a cold purple and bore an alluring look. “H-hi.” I meekly waved at her unsure of what to think, all she did was flip her mane and bat her eyes at me. “uh. Can i-“ She spoke suddenly as I fumbled with my words “Punch Drunk?” I simply nodded to her, her voice was sultry too, had somepony ordered me a hooker? Do hookers even look THIS good? She saw right through me though, and in my defense, it was early, and I wasn’t exactly hiding my looks. “My name is Nightshade.” She leaned down to meet my gaze which had drifted over most of her except for her face. “Oh uh, sorry…heh.” She smiled knowingly with a hint of annoyance. “I get that a lot. I will humor you however, with just. One. Kiss.” She stepped forward and punctuated every word she said, I backpedaled a bit in spite of myself, never was anypony I knew that forward. Much to my chagrin it was a mere peck on the lips. “I was sent by Lighthooves to start your training, please have a seat.” My curiosity was piqued, and I would have to have words with Lighthooves about when proper training hours were. “So uh, when do we start?” I began to take light steps towards my couch when suddenly my blood started to feel cold; I began to sweat a tiny bit, she swished her mane again, “We already have.” She nearly cooed the words out, delighted enough to simply watch me. Quickly it became nigh impossible to move my hooves to finish those light steps to the couch, every time I so much as twitched it felt as though someone had lit my muscles on fire and put large weights on them, I had been poisoned by something fierce. I felt myself being dragged along the clouds quietly as I tried to scream from some of the new sensations of pain I was feeling but nothing came out. This stuff was unpleasant, it also had dried my eyes to the point of blurred vision and strain, but it hurt so much to even try to blink! Through tremendous effort and a small whimper, I managed to speak. “Wh-what did you…did you do to…m-me?” She didn’t stop dragging me along but casually replied to me anyway, “Oh I kissed you. Sometimes I wear a rather powerful lipstick.” I felt like the fetal position would be good about now, but I couldn’t force myself to move my burning muscles to do so. I started to taste the bitter copper of blood. “I…blood…” I could barely speak now, so much fire inside of every inch of me. “Yeah, that happens, most ponies are dead by now.” I felt mortified at that, somepony came to my home to kill me and I just…opened the door. I must have passed out from the pain, or maybe I was dead. It gets hard to tell, but I’m sure wherever we go to when we die did not include my boss’s desk. I groaned and felt tinges of internal burning still, but was no longer crippled, and I was in front of Lighthooves’ desk. “Oh sir! Thank you for saving me from that-“ I saw her, standing next to his desk smugly, Lighthooves looked up at me from his terminal, “That was the first, and likely easiest part of your training Punch. Nightshade is one of the ponies on the team you now belong to.” I somberly took this in as I looked at him; he was as cold as ever and did not seem bothered that I had just almost died. He should be! I sure was! But he continued, “From here on in, the training will be much worse, and will help shape you into what we need for these coming assignments, survive them Punch, or we don’t need you.” His words were final and matter of fact as I found myself nodding. He had chosen to escort me personally to the debriefing room and had a folder with him of my other ‘team members’ but held onto it and sat across from me, I sat and I listened like a good little pony. “The mission we are preparing you for is going to take a lot to handle both physically and mentally, we have to make you ready for that in a fairly short time, so things will be bad. I trust you to get through them all, and would not be surprised if you hated me for it, but where we are sending you-it won’t be much better.” I grimaced but nodded, only imagining what kind of training I would be subjected to. He looked up to me from his folders, “Your physical training will be with Collateral Damage and Sitting Duck.” I blinked. “Those are some odd names for Vertibucks sir.” He stayed cold, “They are ponies.” I gulped audibly. He motioned to a door into the training facility and gave me a sad look, “And Punch? I am truly sorry that you have to go through this.” I could for once, tell he meant it, and that scared me more than anything else. The facility I had been sent into seemed more like a prison than anything else, in the background somewhere I could hear the sound of gunfire, but it wasn’t magical energy discharge. Did we even use standard arms in Black Ops? No, this sounded heavy. Either very large caliber or some kind of explosive round, it was too low and sounded far away in these walls. I followed the walkway to the only room I could go to, it was labeled ‘Processing’. When I stepped in, I was met with a very powerful, very muscular pegasus, he had stone hard eyes and a very short orange mane, he had a very stubby tail too, his expression kept me from laughing. His cutie mark was of some kind of explosion as far as I could tell and set nicely against his grey coat. “Oh, you must be-“ His heavy hoof hit me in the face hard, I think a few teeth were now loose. I shuddered as he walked over to me and stood looking down, a kind of practiced fury in his eyes. “I did not tell you to speak!” he spoke with the subtlety of a drill instructor, which he probably was. “My name is Collateral Damage! You do what I say, when I say, unquestioningly! Is that clear!?” I opened my mouth to say yes, and my vision nearly blacked as he hit me again, this time, I fought back my whimpering and just nodded. “Good!” He let me know that in here, I had no name, just trainee. I had no voice. He also let me know that he was no longer going to be soft on me, which I did not understand. He told me that my new room had my schedule on the wall, and food would be given IF I was scheduled for it. My room was hard to call that, it was metal, and had no bed, just a bucket. I felt like I was a terrible war criminal or political prisoner of some sort…just what had I done? I couldn’t sleep, and between the faded burning of that poison from Nightshade, and the pounding pain in my skull from Collateral Damage, I wasn’t sure I would wake up again if I did. The next morning (morning?i couldn’t tell in here.) they fetched me and brought me into an exercise room, this matched the first part of my schedule. Collateral was watching me exercise and did not set any number of repetitions, but I didn’t dare stop unless he told me to. I stopped when I was incapable of doing any more. The only times he spoke to me were to tell me to switch what exercises I was doing, each of those was punctuated by a whistle that hung from his neck. I took note of the fact he hadn’t asked me to do any kind of wing exercises. Hell I could barely breathe, and definitely couldn’t exercise more and he came over to me, I instinctively braced myself, but he did not hit me this time. “Don’ worry, toughness training isn’t for another day or so.” I dreaded whatever that meant. “Right now, its jus’ exercise 2.” Just like it said on my schedule. I disregarded his speaking warning without thinking “But I can’t even move right now…” to my surprise he didn’t hit me again, why do I feel happy about this!? He just smiled, “Oh you’d be surprised at what you can do when you’re getting’ shot at.” I paled as he left the room and a handful of little sprite bots floated into the room, weapons primed. I heard his voice over some PA system, “Oh, they won’t kill you most likely; sometimes one of their shots will –rarely- turn a pony into dust. Best to run still though…” Footnote: level up: Hoof-Forced Fitness: Through grueling forced training regimens, you gain +1 CON, but also -1 AGI.
chapter 3Fallout Equestria:Honest Lies Chapter 3: Forged Like Iron “From the bottom of the hole I wondered if I could manage to climb out.” Week two, I woke up in my room not quite fully sure how I had gotten back to it. I vaguely remember the promise of food, but all they gave me was some pill, I have never seen it’s like, and I’m not sure it had anything to do with food or nutrition, I still felt starved. I grumbled to myself a bit, waking to the sound of the wake-up alarm and struggled to stand, I felt hungry, and in pain, something I was getting more used to. First up on my schedule was simply something listed as “Shooting”. Were they really going to give me a gun in here? I suppose it was still training technically, but I desperately wanted to shoot my way out. I wandered dutifully to the range room since I was more concerned with what would happen if I did not. There was another black pegasus in there, a male, he had a black mane too, and was quite slim, I wondered if he ate as much as I have recently, his cutie mark was a target, I couldn’t help but think it meant he was easy to shoot. He regarded me closely for an uncomfortable amount of time, silent all the while; I took a chance, “uhm. Hello?” He blinked when I spoke and instinctively flinched. He gave me a weary smile, “Toughening your hide ain’t my job. Sorry ya gotta deal wit’ that.” He motioned me over to a table with some heavy duty armor on it. “Names Sitting Duck, inspirin’ I know.” His chuckle was disarming but I was more curious about the metal plate looking armor on the table, “What’s all this? For a shootin’ class even?” my question made him chuckle again. “Well, ya wouldn’t be able to hold the guns we want to train ya in as is.” I was being walked through the beginning steps of trying to wear what I had been told was armor that belonged to Steel Rangers. “Steel Rangers are a relic from before the Great War.” He was telling me small bits and pieces, we couldn’t work me into the body armor because of my wings, but I could see it was like our power armor, just with a very different matrix system, nothing made the parts I tried on lighter, but I felt slightly stronger. It was more strenuous than I had thought it would be. “I want to make sure ya can handle the rest of the suit before we try to squeeze you into the body piece.” I sort of looked forward to it, but wasn’t sure I’d be able to fit. The next thing on my training was called ‘Toughness’, this worried me considerably after what Sitting Duck had told me and the pained look that had accompanied his words. I went to the next training room slowly, as I expected this to be entirely unpleasant; my mind kept drifting back to thoughts of how this would go if I had that clunky armor on instead of nothing. Back at the formerly exercise room, Collateral Damage awaited me, and if it wasn’t just me, he looked happy… “Stand over there.” It was more of a command than a suggestion and he took a serious face again now that he had my attention. He began to explain to me how this worked, “This is all out physical combat between us,” (Oh joy…) “There is only one rule, no flying for either of us.” (Double joy…) I nodded, I was in bad shape still, but there was a fire in me that was being stoked by the chance to hurt this guy, “Yeah, I got ya.” I answered him just to break his talking rule. I am very well versed in hoof to hoof combat and at hitting ponies with things I can hold or throw, but my body wasn’t in any condition to, but I still had to try, I’d see that smug look wiped from his face if just for a moment. He was large however, even bigger than me and at least twice as muscular. He began by charging me head on with much more swiftness than I expected, knocking the wind strait out of me and sending me flying into the door I had just walked in from, I coughed up spit and felt sore from the impact, but quickly stood again, this time ready for a charge. He simply walked up to me and moved to grapple me, I lowered myself and lifted my back legs into his gut-he barely moved! I felt my eyes widen in fear as he lowered one of his hooves around my bucked legs and proceeded to handle me not unlike a mop, repeatedly, by the third impact with the floor, I lost sight of the conscious world. My mind coped by being lost in an old memory… “Hey Empty! Catch!” a bottle of water hit me square in the nose, followed by a childish giggling. “Sis, did you really make Special Ops? You can’t even catch a bottle!” I found myself laughing a bit as I ran to my kid sister and lifted her up under one of my legs, and then proceeded to noogie her relentlessly. Splash Happy, a young white filly with a blue mane and more smiles than I could see anywhere else, this was my sister. “Ya damn right I did. Careful where ya chuck those bottles.” I let her go and she rubbed her mane and eyed me, still smiling. I felt myself smile back and then the scene violently changed to a dark hellscape, a metal cage suddenly imprisoning her in front of me, powerless to act as the laughter of a military colt could be heard everywhere in my head “I OWN you now!” I awoke in a cold sweat, between my being a mop, and my conjured nightmares, I was in some kind of medical wing. I was not surprised in the least, I couldn’t move, I was too bandaged, and I could still taste healing potions in my mouth by their aftertaste. Part of me wondered how bad ii had been beaten, or when he stopped, but the familiar voice of my ‘doctor’ let me know, “A broken wing, minor fractures in your skull, your neck, and your jaw, two broken legs…and that’s only the most noteworthy injuries, there were many I skipped over.” Nightshade smiled down at me from in front of the bed. I glared as dangerously as I could manage. Remarkably I didn’t feel like I had been injured that badly, “How long have I been out?” She looked at me, slightly irritated and answered, “Too long, nearly three days. Punch you’re really slowing us down.” I grimaced. “What the hell? You think I asked for that beating!?” She had pushed me a bit too much. She smirked, “At least you’ve still got some energy.” She put a tray next to me with a pill and a cup of water, “Eat up.” There was satisfaction in her voice. I looked at the pill before taking it, “What is this? Some kind of dietary supplement?” I admit I was curious. “That is what we are feeding you. It’ll provide the bare needs for your body, and still get you accustomed to starvation.” What they were doing to me was not unlike torture. She left me there to simmer in my rage, but not before oddly assuring me that my training was nearing completion, and that they had to bump up a few parts of it to make up for my time out. After a few minutes, Lighthooves came into the hospital room with a grim look on his face, then sat next to me, “Punch…I am so sorry.” Again it sounded worryingly sincere, “Aw don’t do that, it worries me. Besides, I can’t feel shit.” I gave him my best smile, which he did not return, “I came to explain the mission to you, and the changes we had to make for it.” He slipped me a classified folder and sat back as I opened it. Inside were so MANY notes on the Steel Rangers, base locations, habits, lifestyle, combat patterns, heck-interesting facts, it had it all, or as I was swiftly told, all they knew. “We want you to infiltrate their organization when your training is done, yes-that means a surface mission.” That sounded more exciting to me than terrifying, but for some reason he still looked sorry and grim. “So uh, how am I gonna blend in with a bunch of Earth Ponies?” He closed his eyes, “Punch…” I felt his hooves pat my back, which wasn’t entirely unwelcome and a good sign the anesthetic had worn off, but then I realized-they had removed my wings. Footnote: level up: Hoof-Forced Toughness: Through grueling forced training regimens, you gain +5 to your Damage Threshold. Trait Gained: “Earth” Pony: You have lost your wings and incur a -2 to AGI, however, you gain more of an insight with your Earth Pony lineage and gain +2 STR.
