Fallout Equestria: Operation 6011

Operation 6011 Chapter 2

Inescapable truth

"He who travels for amusement, or something of which he does not carry, grows as old as the places he visits"

We were losing altitude fast, the rain hammered us, and I had to fight for control of the wagon. Miles of ruin lay before us and in the distance a ruined city with a white tower almost as high as the clouds. The wind and rain hammered at me as I tried to stay "on course."

Whatever direction that was.

I looked back to see Polaris clinging on for dear life, look of fear in her face.

I fought as hard as I could, but the wind was too strong, and I swear I almost got hit by lightning twice.

"hold on tight, this is going to be a rough landing!" I yelled back at Polaris.

She nodded furiously and held on tighter. I tried my best to avoid the buildings. However my best wasn't enough. I heard Polaris scream as we (I mostly) smashed head first in the side of a building. The everything went black.

                    ~<~<~<~<~

My home looked beautiful in the light of the sun. I felt the warmth of the sun on my coat and the cool breeze gently move through my mane. My mom and dad were on the front porch talking to each other, smiles on their faces. I ran up to them happily, as fast as my little legs could carry.

But the closer I got, the longer the walk way would become. I ran as fast as I could but all I could to was watch my mom fade away. I finally reached my dad just in time to hear a gunshot and see his head explode. His blood splattered all over my now older face.

A deep laughter filled the air as my home crumbled away and a cold rain came. I saw a giant form of major Thunder cloud laughing with an army of gangers and enclave soilders by his side.

I ran towards the safety of the bar, as rainbow colored lightning bolts flashed across the sky, and icy rain poured down on me. I tried to fly, but to my surprise, I couldn't. I reached the bar to see everything was okay.

I saw hope.

I cried out in joy as I ran up to her and hugged her with my fore hooves. The joy turned to fear and sadness as she then turned to dust and blew away, then the sound of laughter filled the air as the floor crumbled away, dropping me into an endless black pit. I let out a fear filled  scream as I fell.

                ~<~<~<~<~<~

I woke up with a scream. Sweat covered my body, as I sat up. My head ached, and my sides stung, I could feel bandages wrapped around them. I looked around.

I was in a tent of some kind. And was sitting up on a sleeping bag, with a blanket covering my lower body. The air was cold, and I could hear the sound of rain and distant thunder. I could see the glow of a campfire through the walls of the tent.

Polaris entered with a worried look on her face, which turned to joy when she saw me.

She raced up and hugged me "you are well! I am so glad!"

My wounds stung, as she hugged me. Causing me to wince in pain.

"uhh.. Polaris? Your kinda....."

She let go immediately with a slight blush in her face.

"sorry, I had forgotten about your injuries. Are you okay? I heard a scream."

I looked at her with a small smile. My wounds starting to burn less.

"I'm okay. Just a nightmare. Nice to see you too."

She smiled at that.

"then come, there is someone I wish you to meet."

I slowly rose to my hooves. My sides burned in protest, but I ignored the pain. I checked my wings to make sure they were okay. They were a little dirty, but besides that, they were just fine.

The first thing I noticed, when I got up, was the ground. Unlike the cloud cement that the streets of lightning hoof were made of, the ground here was uneven and dirty. Rocks littered the place, and the dirt felt soft under my hooves.

It all just felt..... Weird.

Polaris exited the tent and I awkwardly walked out after her.

I emerged from the tent, and took in the scene.

We were in a half destroyed abandoned building. It was raining, and the cold air stung my nose. The warmth of the campfire drew me near.

Polaris and a zombie pony, sat arou- wait what!?! A zombie pony?!?

"holy shit! A zombie pony!!!" I tried to flee, but Polaris bit my tail and pulled me back, making me fall on my rump on the ground.

She nickered. "worry not, lightning, she means no harm."

I looked back at the zombie pony. Her eyes seemed to look to different directions. She had wings that had almost no feathers on them, and her skin was all dead looking and yellow. She also smelled a little, but the moist air covered it up. She wore a sign around her neck that said "hi my name is Ditzy Doo, sorry  I scared you."

My fear slowly dissipated, as curiosity took its place. "oh, it's okay, I'm just not used to zombie ponies. Is everyone down here like you?"

She smiled (or what would at least count for one) and shook her head. She erased the board and wrote something new on it, then showed it to me.

"no, most people aren't like me. They are mostly normal ponies, but that doesn't change the fact that there are some abnormal ones too"

I looked at her for a moment. "like you?"

She nodded. Then she wrote something new on the board. Then showed it to us.

"also. Not every pony is nice, there are a lot of meanies out there, along with monsters too."

She went over to her wagon, that had  the words "Absolutely Everything" on the side, with under it in smaller print it said (yes we do deliveries too), it also had a roof and walls set up on it.  She emerged a second later, with a big book in her teeth. She came over a dropped it at my feet.

On the cover, it said "wasteland survival guide, grand equestrian plains edition. By: ditzy doo"

I looked at her with a confused look.

She smiled, then erased the writing on the board, and wrote something, then showed it to us.

"you are going to need that, along with some other things."

We looked at her in surprise.

"you don't have to help us, you barely even know us. I would feel bad just taking something from a nice 'pony' like you."

She smiled at that, then wrote something new on her board and showed it to us. Then started getting things from her wagon.

"all the more reason to help you, and since you are so nice, I'll even let you have some muffins"

Polaris looked at me questioningly.

"lightning what are muffins?"

I shrugged.

"beats me."

She emerged from her wagon. She had some sort of computer looking thing, a bag of bottle caps, and other supplies, and a plate of some sort of pastry treat that sure looked yummy.

She put the plate down on the ground between me and Polaris (who immediately took interest in the treats), and motioned me to put out my left leg. I hesitantly put out my left leg.

She picked up the computer looking thing. It was rainbow colored and had a big screen that dominated most of it. It had various nobs buttons and dials, and had engraved in it under the screen "pipbuck 4000". It was already opened.

She placed it around my leg, and closed it with a click. The inside of it felt soft. The click was followed by a whirring sound as it secured itself on my leg, as it did, the color of it changed from rainbow to red and gold. The screen came to life and golden colored words saying "scanning for information" appeared on the screen.

I looked at the little computer thing with a surprised and curious look. Ditzy erased her board and wrote something on it, then showed it to me.

"that is a pipbuck, it is very useful to survive in the wasteland. Also a thing you should know is that bottle caps is money, so keep any you find."

I spit out a some of the muffin, that I had picked up and started munching on.

Whoa. I knew the surface was messed up, but bottle caps? As money? That's ridiculous!

Polaris was reading the book, when she looked over.

I picked up another muffin, then took a bite out of it, it was soft and moist (hey what can I say, they were good).

"I don't get it. Why bottle caps? It not like there is a factory pumping them out."

Polaris smiled, ditzy just shrugged. She then erased the board, and wrote something new on it, then showed it to us.

"well time to pack up, we are heading out. Destination: the grand equestrian plains, town of Horseshoe."

I groaned. Then got up and stretched my wings.

"time to go already?"

Polaris laughed, and ditzy joined her, her eyes rolling to the side (seriously weird how they do that).

"lightning, you are one interesting pony."

I gave her a smile. Then we loaded up  the wagon, and left.

                       *** *** ***

I fooled around with my new toy, as we flew through the air. Polaris kept reading the survival guide. The air was cool, and somewhat clean (except for the faint smell of Ditzy). I looked ahead at ditzy.

How the hell does she fly with those wings? I had offered her to let me pull, but she wouldn't let me. Apparently ghoul ponies don't get tired.

The pipbuck seemed to know who I was, I barely had to do any administrative settings. I hit a button and a stallions voice filled the air.

"-ey there wastelanders, this is your good ol' friend dj-pon3. Now a sky wagon has crashed in the ruins near manehattan, but don't worry. The riders are okay. It turns out that the owner of "Absolutley everything" ditzy doo happened to be going by when she saw the wreck. Now don't be hating on these newcomers, one is a pegasus mare and the other is a earth pony mare. Good luck out there you two! Now for sapphire shores with a song about just letting go of you're problems!"

A mares voice replaced the DJ's as beautiful music played. Me and Polaris exchanged confused looks.

"who was that?"

"and how does he have knowledge of our accident?"

Ditzy looked back at us, one eye rolling back and forth, and smiled. She wrote something on her board (I have no idea how she does it while flying), then showed it to us.

"he is the voice of hope and truth in the wasteland, he has sources everywhere and uses the ministry of awesome towers to watch what goes on in the wasteland, and to broadcast."

"ministry of awesome towers?" I thought back to Hope's history lesson, "you mean those big white towers they made before the war?"

She nodded her head.

All right! All those months of listening to Hope talk about history, ACTUALLY paid off.

Polaris chuckled when she caught my look of triumph. I looked at her then smiled.

"Polaris, what's your story? You had to have come from somewhere"

Polaris gave me a pained look, then sighed.

"I guess since you have freed me from my prison, I will tell you my story."

I moved closer (closer than I was already) and listened intently.

"I shall start by telling you about the stars. Not all stars are evil. There are a few families who are truly benign. One such example was mine, we are known to your people as "the north star". We have guided your people for thousands of years."

I looked at her with disbelief.

"wait, you're a star?!?"

She gave me a pained look.

"yes"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, then continued.

"so when the other stars caused a great war between ponies and zebras, my family watched sadly as the war progressed. However when bombs of highly destructive energy fell, that is when we decided to intervene. My Parents combined their power and gave the world a spark. What form the spark took, is unknown to me. That action infuriated the others..."

She looked down with a sad expression on her face. She obviously didn't want to continue. I felt her pain. She may try to not show it, but I could sense it. I gave her a big hug.

"my turn okay?"

She composed herself and prepared to listen. I took a deep breath and began.

"well, when I was about eight years old I lost both my parents. After about two years of living on the streets, Hope took me in. She taught me everything I know, literally. The best part of my years with her, was when I got my cutie mark."

I thought back to that day.

"I was just a filly, eleven years old, when I found out that the rich stallion on the hill,( no idea why he was living in the tornado district), had a private garden. Well the neighborhood I lived in desperately needed food. So I snuck into his yard, and took all the food from his garden. I even took the generator powering the electric fence surrounding the garden!"

I laughed, Ditzy nickered, and Polaris smiled a little.

"so anyways I brought the food back to the ponies who needed it, and after that, my cutie mark appeared."

I frowned.

"still don't know what it means though."

I gave her a smile, which she returned.

"now back to figuring this stupid thing out."

She nickered and returned to her book.

I pushed a button and suddenly an array of ,blue colored, bars and numbers appeared around the edges of my vision. I jumped, and started trying to grab what ever it was I was seeing.

"what the hell!?! What am I looking at here?"

Ditzy doo looked back at my confused expression, with her eyes looking in different directions, as I looked at the corners of my vision. She wrote something on her board then showed it to us.

"that is your E.F.S., Eyes Forward Sparkle. It will tell you how hurt you are, the condition of the weapon you have equipped, how much ammo you have, and the compass tells you what direction your going and if the people ahead mean to hurt you, or are friendly."

I gave a confused look.

"this is going to be hard to get used too."

I once again tried to touch the bars in my vision, and once again failed. Ugh.

I returned to my pipbuck. So far I found an inventory section, a map, radio, E.F.S., and notes section.

"I officially hate tech, it's way too confusing."

I sat with a huffed look. Polaris and Ditzy looked at each other, then started laughing.

I gave them a confused look.

"oh, lightning...you can be so random."

                      *** *** ***

Polaris was curled in a ball sleeping quietly. The sun was going down, and the air cooled my coat. I stared out over the wasteland. I saw skeletons, burnt buildings, ruins, giant billboards of this pink pony that were starting to creep me out, even gun fights in the distance.

How could this all possibly go unnoticed?

A sad look spread across my face.

Of course, the so-called "Grand Pegasus Enclave" was full of lies, and this was their biggest one of all.

I had read through the survival guide while Polaris slept. It seemed that the wasteland was no better, if not worse, than lightning hoof. It seems that I just hopped right out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

I kicked a box.

Why can't I just get a break? Why does everyplace in the universe have to suck?

Then I heard this humming sound. Then a second later some sort of flying robot appeared from below right in front of me. It made me jump.

"what the hell!?"

Then the robot spoke. Wait, it spoke?!?!

"calm down, im just here to talk to Ditzy Doo."

It started to fly by when I stopped it with my hooves.

"wait, who or what are you?"

The robot gave a sigh.

"I'm watcher, and I'm using this sprite-bot to talk to you. However I have an urgent message for Ditzy..."

It started to fly towards Ditzy when I grabbed it again.

"well before you go talk to Ditzy over there first you should allow me to introduce myself."

I smiled.

"I'm Lightning, and sleepy head over there, is Polaris."

I turned the sprite-bot to face Polaris, who had woken up because of the commotion.

Her reaction was much like mine, except it was more calm (it helped to have me holding it while grinning).

"who is this lighting?"

The bot turned to Ditzy, who was laughing, her eyes rolling.

"I'm watcher, pleased to meet you, and I have an important message for Ditzy."

Polaris smiled

"I'm Polaris, it is a pleasure to meet you. Now go on, do not let lightning keep you."

Then bot started to go to Ditzy, then it stopped.

"are you two new to the wasteland?"

Polaris nodded.

"sure am, the town I came from sucked. Gangs, evil secret projects, lies, and corrupt government. I couldn't change it, trust me I tried, so I just left."

I  gestured to the clouds above.

I could feel his surprise.

"you-you're a dashite?"

A sad look spread spread across my face.

"not out of choice.... I was kicked out after disrupting one of the enclaves secret projects that was completely immoral."

Polaris looked at me with a saddened expression.

The bot was silent for a moment.

I looked out over the wasteland.

"I was hoping it would be better down here not worse..."

"well you can try to make it better."

My ears perked up.

"is it even possible?"

"I know a little unicorn mare. Her name is Littlepip. She's fresh out of a stable, except she has already cleared out a raiders nest, saved Ditzy, and freed dozens of slaves from a slaver town, which she promptly put out of business. Imagine what you could do."

My eyes widened, Polaris did the same. Ditzy just smiled, one eye rolling to the side.

"maybe.... I could...." suddenly a firm, righteous, look spread across my face " not, maybe I could, yes I can! If one little unicorn mare can stand against the darkness, then so can I!"

Everypony stood there in surprise. Polaris nudged my shoulder. I looked back at her smiling face.

"you need not stand alone. I'm with you."

At that moment, the universe decided to test that theory.

I heard gunfire, and looked down to see a caravan getting attacked, by ,what I assumed by their armor, four raiders.

Bad timing. For them. Filled with righteous might, I sprang into action.

I sped down, the wind blowing in my mane, and targeted the raider that was holding a baseball bat with nails driven in it.

I used my ever-so-useful head smash.

I slammed into his side, causing him to fly off his hooves, and slide across the ground.

Then his friends turned and laughed. A look of confusion spread across my face.

Shouldn't they be angry I attacked them?

Then I heard a creepy giggling, and I turned to see the earth pony raider I just hit get up slowly and look at me with crazed yellowed eyes and a wide grin across his face.

"Fun Time!!" he yelled crazily as he charged me.

He was unbelievable quick, in seconds he tackled me to the ground.

My fathers magnum was hit out of its holster and landed on the ground next to me.

"what the fuck...." I struggled against the crazed raider who was trying to bite me. Bite me! ".... Is wrong with you!"

I could feel the dirt grinding against my coat as we struggled, and I could hear the sounds of enjoyment from the other raiders.

My fore legs started to tire. I noticed the magnum on the ground next to me, the glowing insignia of the rainbow lightning bolt coming from a cloud beckoned to me.

Instinct took over, as I reached out towards the gun with a hoof holding the raider back with the other.

I could smell the raider's rank breath as my hoof hooked around the gun and I pulled it towards me. Once it was close enough I bit down on the hilt and swung it around right between his crazed yellowed eyes.

"bite this, you son of a-"

I fired, the resounding bang filled the air and the gun kicked in my mouth, blowing his head into pieces.

The sounds of enjoyment from the raiders stopped as they saw their comrade's head explode. A second later Polaris landed on one and started fighting as the caravaneers joined in the fight and together they quickly ended it.

The sounds of the fight blurred away as the realization hit me.

I had just killed a pony.

A crazed one, yes, but a pony nonetheless.

I sat there frozen in horror. Staring at the headless pony, his blood and brains covering the ground.

Polaris came up behind me, barely scathed at all. She touched my shoulder, but I didn't move. I just stared.

"it's not your fault...he was a threat, and was crazy, you had to do it."

I remained silent.

"you saw the look in his eyes. He was no pony anymore."

I took that. It at least made it ......bearable.

I got up, and attempted a smiled.

"Some hero I am.. Can't even get over killing a canibalistic psychopath murder."

Maybe talking to the cavaneers will help me.

The caravan consisted of two unicorn stallions, and one earth pony mare.

I approached them with a amiable look on my face.

But as I approached, the two unicorns grew hostile.

"are you all okay?"

The first of the two stepped forward.

"stay back, we don't need the help of a Pegasus."

A confused look spread across my face.

"I don't understand, what's wrong with being a pegasus? Seeing as I just saved you ponies."

He just scowled.

"don't try to trick us with your deceit.  All you bastards take the sky from us, then expect us to be all chummy?"

The mare spoke up.

"I don't think she's one of those pegisai. Besides-"

The stallion cut her off with a glare.

"now we will be on our way, and don't follow us. Come on, were leaving"

The two stallions went around the wagon, they used to transport their goods, to prepare to leave. The mare approached me sheepishly.

A sad look was displayed on my face as my head dropped. I looked up at her approach.

"umm... Miss Pegusas.."

I sighed.

"it's lightning"

She nodded her head shyly. She must have been at least twelve years old, now that I acually thought about it.

"sorry bout' my pa'. Im sure that if you hadn't come along, we would have been killed for sure."

I remained silent.

"well what you did was pretty awesome, and I'm thankful for what you did. So here's a little somethin' that I thought you would like to have."

She went into her saddlebags and pulled out something wrapped in cloth, then set it at my hooves.

I looked at it curiously, then unwrapped it.

It was a statuette of a pegasus mare with a light-blue coat and a somewhat messy rainbow mane and tail, with rose colored eyes, and she had a white cloud emitting a single rainbow colored lightning bolt for her cutie mark. Inscribed on the base was the words "Be Awesome!".

A tear dropped from my eye, and I looked at the little mare.

"thank you, ill never lose it."

She smiled then returned to the caravan as they left.

I picked up the statuette with my hooves (as to not get any scratches on it), and as soon as I did, a familiar tingle traveled throughout my body. Strangely enough the little glowing logo on the bottom of the hilt on my fathers magnum, glowed brighter. I deposited the statuette in my saddlebags and in the corner of my vision, the words "Rainbow Dash statuette gained" appeared then faded.

Ditzy landed and Polaris and I got on and we left for Horseshoe.

                     *** *** ***

Watcher had left, and night had fallen. Ditzy said something about hurrying because littlepip had asked for her assistance and some pony named "Railright" asked her to pick him up to go with her to see littlepip.

The cool air, tugged and pulled at the warmth of my coat.

I was tired the rest of the night, but I couldn't sleep. I spent the night thinking about what the stallion had said. I asked Ditzy about it, and she told me Pegisai were not liked in the wasteland.

I stomped with a hoof.

I understand their anger, but it still sucks to be seen only for my race's mistakes and not for my own self.

Once again, I get the short end of the stick. I was lucky the first pony I met was Ditzy, or I might not be alive right now.

I pulled out the statuette, and stared at it. I wonder, what would Rainbow Dash had done?

Sleepiness soon over came me, as I curled around the statuette and faded to sleep.

Goodnight Rainbow Dash.

Footnote: level up.

Quest perk added: heroic resolve- You spit in the face of evil, + 5% dt, as well at +5% dmg against foes that are karmically evil.

Agility now 8

(authors note: thanks for reading!! And thanks to kkat for creating the universe of F.O.E. and thanks to all my friends for their support, and special thanks to somber for helping me improve upon my work. Be sure to read her fic, project horizons. Constructive criticism is welcome in the comments. I hope you enjoyed reading it!!)