Fallout: Equestria - Wildfire

The rest of the ride passed without incident, stopping right in front of a construction site. A painted sign over a mostly completed entrance read FORT SHATTER, a long flagpole next to it flying a flag with two swords crossed behind a colored silhouette of a Stallion.

The first to hop off the train car was Dusk and her brother, followed closely by me. Piles of lumber and sacks of grey powder labelled cement. The uniformed ponies and workers moving about was an odd sight among the barren red dirt to the south and west and the deserted ominous looking canyons and crags to the east.

“There it is.” Dusk said as she trotted up to a makeshift notice board. On it, a job posting to clear out Shatterpoint Ridge for the Sidney Confederacy along with several bounties were nailed to the wood. Dusk ripped the job for Shatterpoint Ridge down and folded it up, slipping it into her saddlebags. “Alright! Let’s get going.”

I paused for a moment “That’s it? Don’t we need to talk to somepony or something?” Normally when fulfilling an order in the Stable, one would have to talk with the pony placing the Order first.

“Nah, just need to take the paper and head off! Anyway, due east.” And with that, Dusk started trotting off towards the canyons, surprisingly just following the railroad tracks.

Hunter trotted up to me “You get used to it. She’s not usually one to waste time when it comes to making caps.”

All I could do was shrug and follow. The fort we were dropped off at was about a mile outside of Shatterpoint Ridge. The town itself was smack dab in the middle of a small canyon. Buildings usually found in old Western movies were lined up along the canyon walls. A large building with an old broken sign labelled SALOON. At the town entrance, an old rickety sign reading the town’s name hung slowly. Dusk, Hunter and I opted to flank the town, going up on the side of the canyon and looking down. I pulled out my crossbow and loaded a bolt into it, peering through the scope. Dusk pulled out her single-shot assault rifle and did the same.

“I count four by the Saloon and five scattered about the town. No doubt there’s more inside.” Dusk said in a professional tone. Sure enough, I scanned the area with my own scope and confirmed what she said.

“So what do we do?” I asked.

Dusk was already one step ahead. She pulled a suppressor mod from her saddlebag and screwed it onto the end of her rifle “Take out as many as we can before they spot where we are. Hunter will fly about above as a distraction.”

Wow, these two really were professionals. “What about my brother? If they have him, won’t they hurt him when we start the attack?”

“Don’t worry about that. If they do have hostages, they’ll probably try to use them as shields if they grow desperate. If it comes to that, I want you to trust in my shooting.” Dusk said, probably lining up a shot.

“I just met you today and you want me to trust you not to miss?” I asked.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted our help rescuing your brother.” She had a point…

“Fine… just tell me when to-” Before I could finish my sentence, she pulled the trigger and popped one of the Wildmane’s heads like a balloon. Following suit, I pulled the trigger on my crossbow. The bolt flew fast from the weapon, sticking right in the neck of a panicked ganger. Hunter was noticeable up above by the occasional hail of bullets raining from the sky. I quickly reloaded my second shot as Dusk was on her fourth. Soon enough, the gangers were pouring out of the buildings. Wow, there were a lot of them.

It wasn’t long before they were returning fire and taking cover. One round flew right up at Hunter. All I saw, thanks to the blinding sun, was a rain of feathers and a purple pegasus spiraling towards the ground.

“Hunter!” Dusk shouted, standing up and trying her best to catch him in her magic. It managed to slow his fall, but not enough! Soon, Dusk’s blue aura was made purple as my red one wrapped around Hunter as well. We managed to guide him safely toward us. Unfortunately, this gave away our position. My que to duck and hide was when a bullet pinged off of one of my armor plates. “Shit, there’s no cover up here. Quick, down to the town!”

“Sorry sis.” Hunter said as we hurried down behind an old concrete road barricade.

“No worries and no time to talk. Just shoot!” Dusk said quickly, poking her head out from behind cover every now and then to take pot shots.

Possibly one of my worst ideas ever, I decided to charge out from behind the barricade and make a break for a boulder. I, however, didn’t make it as another bullet pinged off of my armor again. I quickly drew my revolver and activated S.A.T.s, targeting all six shots spread out among five gangers. My revolver aimed itself and fired. I managed to hit two of them and down one while wounding the other, but before time could speed back up, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and a stinging feeling on my flank. Once time was at full speed once again, I screamed out and tumbled forward, laying behind the boulder and bleeding from both my wounds.

“Damnit, Ember!” Dusk shouted. “Hunter, give me cover fire!” Hunter jumped out from behind the barricade and fired full-auto at the gangers, forcing them back behind their cover. Dusk galloped across the gap and slid up next to me. She rummaged through my saddlebag and pulled out my remaining two bandages. Using her magic, she only caused me more pain as she pulled the bullets out of my flesh. As even more blood streamed out, she quickly wrapped my wounds up and the searing pain soon turned into a dull ache. Before I could thank her, I felt a bottle shoved into my muzzle and a sweetly bitter tasting liquid rush over my tongue and down my throat.

Just as quickly as it was shoved into my face, the bottle was removed. “When we get out of here, you owe me thirty caps for that potion!” Dusk shouted before turning around and calling out to Hunter. “Hey, bro! Get up there and see if you can find the bastard ordering them around! See if we can end this quickly…”

Hunter immediately stopped his hail of bullets and swooped up to the cliffside to do exactly as he was told.

While my wounds were healed, the pain still remained somewhat. I winced as I leaned up against the boulder. I didn’t have time for simply sitting there and hurting, I had to help! I mean- these ponies were helping me afterall.

I quickly reloaded all six bullets into my revolver and popped up over the boulder. S.A.T.s quickly activated and brought everything to a crawl. I targeted all six bullets into the only pony exposed- a rather dirty mare dressed in leather and metal. As soon as I released the spell, however, did I feel my horn flare up with a searing hot feeling- though not painful.

My gun started to glow bright at the muzzle and -all- six bullets shot at the poor mare. Two missed, but four ended up hitting their mark square in her chest- and caused her to burst into flame like that pony back on the railroad!

“Shit! What happened?!” I heard one of the gangers shout. Soon the sound of gunshots died down and there was a still silence that fell over the area, accompanied only by the screams of agony from the mare.

“Scale!” a stallion shouted as he sprinted from cover to the burning mare.

“Boss, no!” another pony shouted, but it was too late. A gunshot rang out through the small canyon and soon the burning mare found herself spattered with the brains of the stallion.

Luckily for me, nopony got the idea to shoot me dead as I continued looking over the boulder like an idiot. Realizing my mistake, I quickly popped behind cover and reloaded my gun, getting ready for the firefight to come. However, no more gunshots rang out. I heard a younger mare- maybe a little younger than me- speak up.

“Oi! Usin’ fire magic ain’t fair! Goddesses damn it…we give up!” she shouted.

Dusk popped up over the boulder and readied her gun, aiming at the new pony. Though I had no reason to do the same, I popped up as well and aimed my gun at the mare. The stallion who had his brains blown out had landed on the burning mare- who had since stopped moving and was silently cooking. The rush of battle and adrenaline faded quickly as I looked upon the battlefield. Seeing the dead ponies and the mare who’d burned alive hit me hard. Yeah, I’d set a pony on fire before- but it was over quickly and we were moving before long...it was only a matter of time before the act of killing other ponies- even burning a couple alive- caught up with me.

I bent over and heaved- only nothing came out except air and bile. It then hit me that I hadn’t eaten anything since I left the stable, and had been running off of pure determination and luck this whole time. Soon I was on the ground and my vision fading from my lack of energy catching up. How could I’ve been so dumb? I knew I had to find Charcoal fast, but it’d be no good if I slowly starved myself to death...oh well.

I awoke with pain surging through my body, though my head felt the worst. Everything felt heavy and wouldn’t respond much when trying to move my limbs. As I opened my eyes, my vision was filled with cloth above me.

“Be still, fiery one. Your body still is recovering from fatigue and malnourishment.” The voice of a mare spoke softly from beside me. Managing to turn my head slightly, my own red eyes met those of a zebra mare in a doctor’s lab coat...only she had something zebras don’t normally have. A horn atop her head. She must’ve noticed my eyes glance up to her forehead as she let out a soft chuckle before speaking. “My mother was a Zebra, but my father was the pony who owned her.” Well, that makes sense...she’s a zony.

“....Ah….” was all I managed to get out of my mouth. I felt a dry tickle in the back of my throat as a wave of nausea washed over me. Not only was my throat as dry as the boiler room I worked in, but I was still nauseous from earlier...oh! Right! Dusk, Hunter and I were at Shatterpoint Ridge!

“....Wh...where are my….” I managed to say before a zony hoof was pressed gently against my muzzle.

“Your friends are alright. They are collecting their reward as we speak. Actually, you are lucky you have them. Many others in the world would have left you there to your fate.” the zony doctor said. All I did was slightly nod in return. So Dusk and Hunter are alright...with that question answered, a more important one pressed my thoughts. Did they find my brother?

The sound of cloth flapping came from somewhere by the end of the cot I was laying on. “So Sleeping Beauty is awake finally! Thanks for looking after him, Doc!” the voice of Dusk called out from the entrance to, what I could now assume, was the tent I was in.

“It was my pleasure. After all, you three did liberate Shatterpoint Ridge for us. It is the least I can do,” the zony said politely as she stood up “and please. Call me Zafera.”

Before I could attempt to say anything, Zafera’s horn glowed and a small bowl of water floated over to me and my head was lifted up. Without her looking, she tipped the bowl lightly, allowing the water to pour down the sides of my cheeks. Getting the hint, I slightly opened my mouth to let the cold- surprisingly clean liquid trickle into my dry throat, moistening it and hopefully making it easier for me to speak if I tried. As the bowl was floated away, I felt a little saddened. I was still quite thirsty and there was still water left in the bowl.

“Hunter and I can handle him from here, Doc!” Dusk said cheerfully as she came into view.

“Very well. He still needs at least a day’s rest before he can be up and about. If he wishes to eat, I also left a bowl of oatmeal on the tray with the water. Though, only small bites. Eating so much in his condition would only do more harm than good.” Zafera told Dusk. I didn’t like the sound of small bites...I was so hungry I could eat a buffalo.

As the zony left the tent, Dusk turned her eyes on me and a sigh escaped her muzzle. “You idiot. You didn’t pack any food or water when you left home, huh?” Her words stung because they were true. I was in such a rush to find Charcoal, that I forgot to pack the most important stuff. Good job Ember, you nearly killed yourself before you could find your brother.

“S...sorry…” I managed to say in a weak tone.

“Yeah, you sure are. Hey, Hunter and I were wondering...despite collapsing from starving yourself, you were quite useful back in Shatterpoint. How’s about you stick with us? We’ll help you look for your brother and you could help us with jobs. I mean- you are going to need caps if you plan on traveling Mustangia and all.” Dusk’s words shocked me. I personally thought I was more useless than useful back there. Though, with the words ‘help you find your brother’ indicated that he wasn’t in that town anyway.

Seeing as I was a complete novice when it came to the wasteland, I decided it would be best to stick with two ponies who’ve lived out here their entire lives and nodded.

Dusk’s face lit up with a wide grin, her crystal blue eyes sparkling a bit in the light of a lantern next to me. “Great! Speaking of your brother, one of the Wildmanes told us- after we convinced him a bit- that they did have a little colt with them, but he managed to escape when we were shooting up the place. Since the only way out of town without us knowing it is through an old railroad tunnel that leads south, that’s our best bet on finding him.”

Charcoal was there? Not to mention, I had just missed him?! Damnit… I tried to get up, but immediately regretted it. Dusk even helped push me back down with her hooves. “Whoa now, there’s no point in getting yourself killed. If your brother managed to get this far and only get captured, I can guarantee he’s alright. There’s an old pre-war SPP tower to the south. If he’s heading that direction, that’s the most likely spot he’s holed up in.” Well...at least we have a lead. I simply sighed and nodded, resting my head back down. I didn’t like the idea of taking time I could be using to find Charcoal to recover- but she was right. If I tried to leave, I wouldn’t get five feet before keeling over.

After a few more hours of rest, eating nasty oatmeal, and staring at the top of my tent, I regained enough energy to get up and move about- though I still ached all over.

Upon leaving the tent, the interior of Fort Shatter flooded my vision. The sun was already halfway through setting over the horizon, but I could still see most of the scaffolding and unfinished walls. Next to my tent were several others like it. Medic ponies entered and exited them carrying all sorts of medical equipment and bloody rags. I noticed that Zafera was among the doctors working, giving me the obvious hint that I wasn’t her only patient- though probably her most pathetic one.

Dusk trotted up next to me and nudged my shoulder, sending a twinge of pain through my body. “Oww…what?” I asked. Surely she and her brother had other things to do than talk to me.

“Oh nothing, just came by to give you your cut and to chat a little bit.” she said, floating a small sack of caps in front of my face. Close enough to my muzzle to where I went cross-eyed just looking at it.

Closing my eyes and shaking my head to clear the bout of dizziness just from doing that, I wrapped my own magical aura around the sack and slipped it into my saddlebag. “Thanks...shouldn’t you be with Hunter though? I’m sure there are lots of jobs you two can take now.”

Dusk burst out laughing, as if I had said the dumbest thing ever. “Oh, that’s rich. Nah, bro’s off getting drunk and hitting on an off-duty nurse. Even ponies like us celebrate a job complete, you know!”

Her words only made me raise an eyebrow. “If you’re supposed to be celebrating, why are you here chatting with me then?” Not that I mind the company, though.

“Eh, I thought I’d get to know you a little better. Seeing as Hunter and I are going to be counting on you to watch out backs, it makes sense.” Dusk replied with a shrug before trotting ahead. Until now, I hadn’t noticed where we’d been walking- or that we’d even been climbing the stairs of a completed part of the wall. By this time, the sun had fully set and the bright white moon hung just above the east horizon.

We decided to sit down on a stone bench that had been placed near the railing. “I guess that does make sense...well, what do you want to know?”

“Hmm...how about what your Stable is like? Have somepony special to you? Maybe a mom and dad waiting for your safe return?” Dusk asked.

I felt a tinge of sorrow run through me. I had left Carbon and Backdraft behind to go after my little brother. I know they knew I needed to do this, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about them...and missing them both dearly. “Yeah, I have a marefriend back in Stable 33. She wasn’t too happy I left, but she understood why. My best friend, Backdraft, is keeping her company while I search for Charcoal...as for parents, our parents died soon after my little brother was born. A plague wiped out a good number of ponies, Mom and Dad included.”

Dusk’s ears folded back. “Sorry to hear that. I’m guessing you’ve had to raise your brother by yourself then? No wonder you came all the way out here on a whim just to find him.” She looked up at the moon. “Hunter and I are orphans as well. Mom died giving birth to me and dad went missing. Not exactly uncommon things nowadays, so it’s been easier to deal with. Hunter and I have been moving around almost our whole lives, going from job to job. Sure, the caps are good and I enjoy the adrenaline rush that I get from fighting, but it does wear you down after a while.”

I simply nodded in understanding. I’ve complained before about my job back in the boiler room of Stable 33, but at least I knew I was getting paid consistently. Hearing Dusk’s words only made me appreciate my life in that place even more. “Do you and your brother have any plans? I mean, you can’t keep doing this forever.”

Dusk frowned. “Sure we can.” She then sighed. “Though, we’re trying to earn enough caps to start our own plantation.”

“Plantation?” I asked curiously. I’d heard of them from old books. Some kind of large farm with many ponies working on them, I think.

“Yeah, the slave trade is booming here in Mustangia.” Dusk smirked at my shocked expressions. “Nah, don’t worry. We’d hire ponies instead of own them.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Good to hear...not too fond of the idea of ponies owning each other.”

Dusk shrugged at my response. “Eh, that’s just how things are out here honestly. You get used to it- though I guess being from a Stable, you don’t have to worry too much about things like that.” She was right...before yesterday, I had no idea what the outside world was really like. Sure, I had heard the stories Stalker told- but just hearing the stories wasn’t anything like living them. All the more reason to quickly find Charcoal and get back to the Stable…

There was a long silence between the two of us- only eventually broken by the loud grumble of my stomach. I immediately folded my ears back and gave a nervous laugh. “Eheheheh...that oatmeal wasn’t as filling as I’d have liked.”

Dusk burst out laughing. “No shit! Come on, let’s go down to the mess area and grab a bite. Maybe we’ll spot Hunter getting rejected for the tenth time.”

For the first time in almost three days, I smiled and nodded. “Reminds me of something I used to do with Carbon everytime we went out with Backdraft.”

Dusk raises an eyebrow. “Carbon?”

I blinked- oh yeah, I said I had a marefriend but never actually said her name. “Yeah, my marefriend back in the Stable.”

Smirking, Dusk stood up. “Then let’s give you a little piece of home away from home then! Hunter takes rejections drunk about as well as he does sober.” I simply nodded and stood up as well. Regardless of how much I may be enjoying this downtime, the goal of finding Charcoal was ever at the forefront of my mind.

Turns out, Hunter turned into the dark and brooding depiction of Mare-Do-Well in those old pre war comics when he got rejected. Honestly, it was quite funny to see...though I did feel a little bad for him. While not as good as Stable-made food, this ‘gumbo’ I ate was at least better than the mushy oatmeal I was fed back in the tent. Even Dusk got a little drunk herself- and unsurprisingly she’s the ‘love’s everyone’ type of drunk. Oddly enough, she had more luck than Hunter and managed to take a stallion back to his tent.

The moon was directly above me by the time I made it back to my tent full of gumbo and feeling a lot better. Morning rolled around before I knew it and Zafera was once again in my tent.

“You are well enough to go out and adventure, my little pony. I prescribed you some of last night’s gumbo for the road as well, so you do not end up collapsing again.” she said softly.

As she pointed it out, I noticed the locked plastic bowl next to my equipment. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to take better care of myself this time.” I said, wanting to get up and on the road as soon as possible. Zafera was a nice mare, but I already spent enough time not searching for Charcoal.

As the zony left my tent, I slipped my armored barding on, followed by my saddlebag/quiver combo and leg holster for my revolver. The last thing I did before leaving my tent was slinging my crossbow across my back and levitate the bowl of gumbo into my bag.

I was met by a smirking Dusk and a hung-over Hunter outside my tent. “Yo! You ready to head out? There’s no cart that runs by the tower, so we’ll have to hoof it.” Hunter punctuated what his sister said by just groaning.

I still ached a little from yesterday, but not enough to keep me from traveling. Bidding Zafera and a few other ponies farewell, the three of us set out- heading back towards Shatterpoint Ridge. While Hunter wanted to just head straight for the tower, I insisted we take the exact route Charcoal might’ve taken- just in case we ran into him somewhere along the way.

The town that turned into a warzone yesterday was now full of ponies, uniformed and not. There were several patching up holes in buildings as well as others throwing out what looked to be used chem containers. Dusk nudged me with a smirk. “Thanks to us, this place can become a regular settlement again. How much ya wanna bet we’ll get big discounts at the shops and bars here at some point?”

As nice as that sounded, I didn’t plan on being out here long enough to really need such things. “Yeah, though hopefully things go well today and we find Charcoal.” I had a slight feeling that, just because I said that out loud, things would end up going horribly wrong.

Near the back of the town, tucked away between some boulders was an old train tunnel. The tracks leading into it had long been covered with dirt and the inside looked as dark as that ghoul-filled cave I went into on my first day in the outside world. Suddenly, I felt a chill up my spine at the thought of running into more of those things… I barely survived the first time. Though, I didn’t have Hunter and Dusk with me at that point, so maybe we’ll be alright...maybe.

Dusk whistled, the sound echoing out of the tunnel entrance. “If your brother did go through there, he’s sure got a set of balls on him.”

The thought of Charcoal wandering around in the dark tunnel with Celestia-knows-what inside gave me a sense of dread. I swallowed hard before stepping forward first, my horn lighting up and casting a wide arc of light in front of me. “Let’s hurry and get this over with...I’m not sure how much more worrying I can take.”

Hunter sighed. “Sure, let’s go into the old dark cave...it’d be one thing if we knew what was in there and were getting paid- but this is just ridiculous.”

From behind me, I heard a whap followed by a yelp from Hunter. “Hey, you’d do the same for me if I was in Charcoal’s position.” Dusk said to her brother.

“...That’s besides the point, sis.” Hunter grumbled.

Dusk lit up her horn the same way I had mine and followed after. The three of us took it slow wandering through the dark, making sure not to trip over bits of bone or rock. Hunter did kick over an old lantern accidentally, causing the three of us to freeze and my blood to run cold. We waited for a few minutes before we let out sighs of relief in unison...which was a terrible mistake.

Along the way, we’d found several side tunnels which we ignored. There weren’t any tracks heading down them, so there was no reason to go down them. However, that also meant we had no idea what was inside them. Like a choir of hellspawn, several screeches and growls echoed through the tunnel from behind us.

“For fuck’s sake- run!” Hunter exclaimed loudly. To be fair, there was no more need for silence. The thud of too many hooves came closer and closer to us as we all broke into a gallop. Dusk took aim and began firing her gun behind us. From the sound of bullets hitting flesh, she hit at least a couple- though that did little to help overall.

I smiled widely as I saw a bright light up ahead, resembling that of the entrance to the cave my Stable was in. I quickly looked behind myself to state the obvious to the others- which was a terrible idea. Behind us, several pale-green glowing eyes could be seen in the dark directly behind Hunter’s ass. I looked right up to the roof of the cave and my horn began to grow hot. The tunnel was lit up for only a couple of seconds as I launched a fireball right at one of the wooden arches keeping the tunnel from caving in. Sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time- but once the tunnel started collapsing, I quickly realized I only added to our troubles.

“Oh that’s just fucking great! Now we have to outrun a horde of ghouls AND a cave-in! You’re a fucking genius Ember!” I heard a half-terrified half-annoyed Dusk shout at me. Yet another moment to add to the growing list of stupid things I’ve done...hopefully it continues to grow and this wasn’t the last stupid idea on the list.

We managed to make it out of the tunnel just in time, all three of us diving out and lanting hard on the grass. An explosion of dust and debris shot out behind us as the end of the tunnel collapsed. Coughing as the dust cleared, I stood up and turned around. Bits of wood and ghoul limb stuck out of the rubble like some weird pin cushion. “Well...at least...we aren’t...being chased by ghouls...anymore!” I said with an out of breath chuckle.

Hunter simply stayed on the ground, his rump high in the air. “Next time, we do things my way…” I simply nodded in agreement. Turning around, I quickly noticed the large tower off in the distance, near the edge of a mountain range.

With a smirk on my face and my energy quickly returning at the thought of bringing Charcoal home soon, I took in a deep breath. A light breeze blew across the plains and over us, making my mane and tail blow a bit in the wind. “Don’t worry Charcoal, I’m almost there.” I softly said to myself.

--Chapter End--

“I Have wondered about you. Where will you be when this is through?”

Quests Finished: Shatterpoint

Quests Started: A Blooming Nation

Levels Earned: 2 → 3

Perks Earned: Pyromaniac! - You now have a higher chance to set your enemies ablaze with fire-enchanted weapons!