Fallout Equestria: LoneBolt

"Fucking die, flying demon!!!"

I rolled to the right the moment I heard that pony shout at me. Good thing to, because I was soon meet by an explosion at the spot I was just standing. The blast of the explosion didn't do any damage to me thanks to my armor. But I didn't get away Scott free though. The concussive blast from the explosion was causing some serious ringing in my ears, since it was one of the few spots of my body that wasn't covered in thick plated armor.

The shock of the explosion quickly wore off though. I had found that I happened to have rolled into one of the hostile pony's home. Good thing to because it would of been very stupid of me to fight out in the open like that. Plus it would be breaking Pegasus combat rule number one. With a quick patting against my foreleg, I wiped the dirt off my armor and processed to look up to see what I could use as cover in this tiny shack.

What I saw decorating this shack horrified me. Dead ponies. Dead ponies that were strung up by meat hooks, chains, and nails. It wasn't even whole ponies, just their parts. Some heads over there, maybe a leg or two from the ceiling, and some intestants as the base boards. It was like it was some kind of sick and twisted new fad of modern art. The sight of butchered pony parts was too much for even my war harden senses. I felt sick to my stomach from this display of horror. I swiftly removed my respirator that was covering my mouth and proceeded to empty my stomach onto the dirt floor. The smell of this place didn't really help either. I took one whiff of the shack that I was in. My nose was meet by the smell of death and sewage. I promptly vomited the rest of the stuff that was still in my stomach out.

With the contents of my stomach now on splattered on the floor, I placed my respirator back over my muzzle. With the respirator reconnected back to my helmet, I cleared out the foul odor that managed to get in my mask. That was the worst thing... I've ever smelled. How can these...these...no. They're not ponies...they're...they're something else.

Now that my mind was refocused on the situation at hoof, I began checking the perimeter by looking out the adjacent window in the shack. I saw nothing except more shacks that were made out of rusted metal. There was no sign of the hostiles, not even a sound of shouting. It was eery to me, so I kept my guard up. I wasn't lucky enough to receive that Eyes Forward Sparkle system in this armor, so I had no idea where the hostiles were. Why wasn't I attacked? My vomiting fit would have been the perfect oppritunitey for them to end me. So far from what I've seen, these things have the same tactics that of barbarians.

I was hesitant to move from my location. I could use it to set up a kill box, but then again these...monsters seem to have gotten ahold of explosives. I don't know what kind of explosive weaponry they're equiped with, since I never got a look at the pony that had lobbed an explosive at me. The best course of action is to leave this shack and set up in a new position.

I hopped out through the window and began to proceed with caution. It would be a rookie mistake take off into the sky, while the location of the enemy is unknown. I'm also too exhausted to fly, after wheving around in the air, bringing hell down upon them. It would be very stupid of me to get back into the clouded skies. It would be best to just remain vigilant and on the ground. I had my magical plasma rifle at the ready for any sudden movement. I continued to walk with caution. On my right were three shacks and to my left were rows of trees that had been blown over. Two of the shacks on my right were of very simplistic in design. Those two were no concern of mine, since they did not have windows for hostiles to shoot me from. Now the third shack was a different story. This one had a guard tower built on top of it. It didn't look like sturdiest of things, but it still could be hiding the enemy.

I couldn't take that risk of having an enemy popping up from there to just ambush me from behind. So I took aim with the EX-BB (Experimental Buccaneer Blaze). With my sights lined up, I readied myself for the recoil this thing has. When placing my rear left leg back, I felt as though I had steped on something. Suddenly, from the pile of dead trees, I was ambushed by a hail of bullets.

"Fuck ah FlashLight!!!" I screamed as I was peppered with bullets. I took to the skies out of habit. When reaching the appropriate altitude, I turned around to see what I was dealing with and also to return fire. I opened fire with Red Rain, sending a hail of red energy shots, but only to stop after a second. Their wasn't anypony there. Only smoke trails on where the shooters had been. This confused me to no end. At one moment, I was being fired upon from the petrified forest, then the next...nothing. "What in Celestia's name is going on here?"

Hesitantly, I flew over to the area where the hostiles had been firing from. Paranoia was starting to set in for me, as well as total exhaustion. I knew i couldn't fight for much longer and hopefully my enemy hasn't picked up on it. I landed from the rear that the gun fire originated. I didn't want to receive another storm of bullets, so I took my approach slowly. The brush was thick with dead tree limbs. It made spotting anything difficult. Even so, I kept my eyes pealed for any sudden movement.

The sudden crack of a branch caught my attention. I didn't even hesitate and opened fire with my Plasma rifle. Blazing green bolts of magic flew through the air from my rifle. The shots didn't hit anything, but trees, causing a few of the trees that weren't petrified to catch fire. Those shots I took have given away my position. I prepared myself for return fire... Nothing.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered. This was starting to wear on my already combat exhausted mind. Chances of eliminating the remaining hostiles has drastically decreased. I wasn't use to this style of fighting. Open combat I could do, not this cat and mouse game that seemed to be going on.

I've become ever more hesitant to even move from my position. It feels like I've just walked into a trap. I could fly out, but I run the risk of being a target to them in the open skies. A sudden change in tactics is something I never expected from these monsters. One moment they were running at me with kitchen knifes, then suddenly they disappear. All this was just too much for me. I have to get out of here now.

*Daa du da du da du Daa du da du da du da*

Music? Music is playing? Why the fuck is there music playing!? Like this nightmare wasn't bad enough. First dead ponies, mystery gun ponies, and now fucking creepy music!? Against my better judgement, I head towards it just to see where it's coming from. In a clearing of trees, I found the origin of the music. It was a Colt-in-ah-box. The thing was suffering from serious paint chipping. The paint that was still clinging on the toy was a bright bubble gum pink. It  was as if it was just pulled off the factory floor. I approached the toy, despite my brain screaming at me to run like hell.

I was standing right in front of it and waited for music to stop and for something to happen. The crank to the box came to a squeaky halt. For a few seconds, nothing really happened. This left me confused. It seemed like it had finally broke, before being allowed to do its thing. Kind of sucks for you toy that you didn't get to do your thing?

With a sudden click, the lid to the Colt-in-ah-box popped open. What came out spooked me. "Suprise!" A audio box shouted in Pinkie pie's voice. I was greeted by a Pinkie pie in toy version, but something was off. Instead of that signature puffy pink mane, it looked like somepony took a straightener to the toy's mane and now was sporting a mane that looked flatter than paper.  It bobbed back in forth with a creepy smile plastered upon its face. All I can do is laugh nervously at the toy. "Get ready to die!" The toy shouted from its voice box. Those words caught me completely off guard. The voice that came from the box didn't sounded like Pinkie anymore, but now it had the voice of a demented mare. This thing was creeping me the fuck out with its smile. As it swayed back and forth on a rusted spring, the sound of metal clicking against each other came to my ears. I then saw that there was three strings in both hooves of the Pinkie pie toy. At the end of the strings were pins, more precisely grenade pins.

My eyes widen. Not even a second of hesitation, I took to the skies. A second later that fucking toy started to laugh. "Wow! Hahahaha I...I heheehe got yo-" The voice of Pinkie pie had return, but was cut off by the explosion of six grenades that happened to be right below the Colt-in-ah-box.

Searing pain shot through my legs and belly. I screamed as scorching pain spread across my lower body. The pain was almost too unbearable. With every beat of my wings, a wave of pain shot across my muscles. My body can't take this kind of abuse much longer. I felt like I was going to pass out, but I kept going. The only reason I didn't let myself fall to unconsciousness because, If I were to pass out right now, then I would crash land and be an easy target for those sick fucks.

I pressed onwards, despite the fact that I was in considerable pain and was bleeding from my wounds. There was no way I was going to take cover in the decaying trees, with the possibility of more traps like that Colt-in-ah-box. It only took a few seconds to find a flat grass area with rocks as cover. Before landing, I took a glance towards the area I had just come from. I used the zoom function in my visors to get a better look at the group of shacks. I could see all those ponies that I had been fighting, moving around. I didn't know what they were really doing. It looked like they were gathering all their dead in the center of the collection of shacks. Only a few were staying in one spot. They were the ones in those rickety towers of theirs. They were all staring in one direction at something. I realized that I was breaking rule one of pegasus combat. never be caught out in the open while in combat.  A flash on my visors caught my attention. Before I could even judge on what that flash was, I was struck in my right shoulder. The force of whatever hit me had knocked me out of the sky. In a downward spiral, I crashed into one of the boulders, before finally sliding down to the ground.

This day for me just keeps getting worst and doesn't seem it'll get better anytime soon. I laid against the rock I had crash into, barely able to move as of now. I was still losing blood. It was evident from the blood that was smeared against the rock and ground. Despite the suit's built in doctor enchantment, the wounds continued to pour out blood. Not as much can be done on my end, but wait for the armor's systems to stop it, though it should be stopped very soon or I run the risk of bleeding out. I don't know how much blood I've lost, but it seems a lot.

I was lucky that my newest wound wasn't a bleeder. The two inch diameter hole in my shoulder was already cauterized. The wound was much easier for the medical system to work on than the grenade fragments that were still stuck in my legs. Judging from the fact that my shoulder wound isn't bleeding and that the armor around it was partly melted, I can say with out a doubt that I was hit by an energy weapon, but none I've never seen. Energy weapons have no punch to it when it comes to long range targets, yet what ever weapon that hit me managed to punch a hole into the thickest part of the armor.

It finally dawned upon me that these twisted ponies might of been more well armed than first appearances and also seemed smarter than they had let on with their charge and retreat tactics. They may have looked like a bunch of half starved earth ponies, but damn were they clever. The best decision as of right now was to retreat. I was out gunned and out ponied. I don't even know why I had pursed them. I had eliminated the first half a dozen hostiles with ease. Maybe in doing so I became over confident in taking the rest on solo. This is why a bolt never flies without a second fly pony.

Second fly pony...second fly pony......Oh no. Panick overwhelmed my mine. I try to stand up, but was brought  back down by the searing pain in my legs. I screamed as my body slammed against the dirt. I keep on trying to move my body, even if to gain only an inch, but the pain... Oh Celestia the pain. The shrapnel that was still in my legs that hadn't been removed by the suit's medical system was tearing and ripping more flesh as I tried to stand. This body of mine just couldn't take it anymore. I started to feel numb as my body started to become unresponsive. As the grey tunnel of unconsciousness formed around my vision, only one thing was going though my mine. I need to get moving, I need to get back there. I needed to...protect.

I blacked out at this point because the pain was just too much for me to handle. The blood loss didn't help, but I was bound to pass out due to the rate at which I was bleeding.

*****************

Hey Spitfire remember me...It's uh Fleetfoot...

[...]

You know, your best bud since...since Junior flight camp....we sang that silly song together.

[...]

Uh...look. I know we haven't spoken in awhile since the...um...well you know... The thing I'm not allowed to take about.

[...]

Anyway... I just like you know that they're letting me back on the front! Isn't that great? I even get my own squad and was even promoted above my old rank. I'm now a captain, just like you...all those...

*five minutes of silence*

[...]

Yeah...uh...not important. I'm finally going to be able to contribute to the war again, like in the old years.

[...]

Look, I know you don't like talking about the war and all, with you being stuck behind a boring desk job, but at least now I'll be able to show these Shadowbolts how a Wonderbolt did things. I'll do you proud Spitfire.

[...]

Before I go... Can... can you tell Soarin... Tell him I'm sorry, since I don't know if I'll be coming back. These weapons that the Zebras have...they scare me. I wish you could be with me.

[...]

I have I to go now Spitfire...hopefully this isn't a final goodbye....I love you

[...]

*****************

I could of sworn that I've recieved worst wounds during the war and was still able to continued to fight. I felt like shit. I have a splitting headache that was the equivalent to a hangover after a night of partying and it feels like it won't be getting any better. Light shined through my visors into my eyes causing me to roll to my side for just some relief to my headace. My mind was to exhausted to care about the sudden change to the surface I was roiling around in. It wasn't until a sudden shack, I sat straight up. I wasn't lying in the dirt, bleeding to death anymore.

Slowly cracking my eyes open, I saw that for a fact that I wasn't in the dirt, but rather I was in a bed that was way pasted the time of replacing.  "Wh...where am I?" I asked in a groggy voice to particularly no one. I of course didn't get a reply since the moment I opened my eyes, I could see that I was alone. Somehow, in the time I was unconscious, I had been placed in a one pony wagon home. I kept my eyes squinting, since my head was hurting from just a speck of light.  From what I could tell, this wagon was moving and that whoever put me in here had somehow manage to remove my armor.

The upper part of my torso was covered in bandages, as well as my lower legs were to. Hell, even my bandages on my left hoof had been replaced. An IV was also sticking into my right foreleg. Who ever rescued me had good attention at heart, for which I was thankful for at least. It doesn't mean I trust whoever rescued me. It could be those earth ponies from before, just trying to get me to lower my guard. Before the bombs went off, I had heard rumors that if you were caught by the zebras that you would at first be treated for the wounds you had received, but promptly be tortured to death. I needed to get out of here. I don't want to end up like those poor ponies in that shack. With that in mine I began searching the room for my armor.

My eyes quickly started to dart back and forth in the room. It didn't take long to spot. It was sitting comfortably on a tiny table that was opposite from me. The table was fairing just as well as I was. It could barely hold up the TB-52 Hurricane. That armor weighs little over half my body weight. Even with the right shoulder piece missing it was still heavy. I tried to get out of the bed to get to my armor, but with my injuries and the shacking of the wagon it made moving impossible.

"This day for me officially sucks Luna's horn." I grumbled to myself.

"Oh I wouldn't speak ill of the princesses in front of your elders little mare. That might upset me." A low voice said to me.

"What the fucking Tartarus!?" I screamed, nearly jumping out of bed, but was stopped by the mine numbing pain in my rear legs. Before I could even try to soothe my legs, out from the shadows stepped a elderly looking pegasus stallion. He had come out of no where, like he just appeared out of thin air. My best guess he had managed to get a hold of some zebra tec. He had this white coat and cobalt blue that both had some major gray streaks in the. From what I could see, he had a cutie mark of a theif's mask. It was odd looking, but almost familiar to me.

He chuckled a little, while giving me that 'Got ya' look at me. He walked over to me and plopped about three feet away from me. He was just out reach from striking distance for me. That is if I could even take on the bastard in my condition. He gave a cheeky smile to me as I eyed him for any sudden movement. That little smile didn't last long. Now he had a serious look to him.

"Now little lady, since we saved your life from certain death, we would like to know where you got that fancy armor over there?" He said as he guided my line of sight over towards my armor. My eyes returned to his.

"I'm sorry, even with the fact that you saved my life, I'm not a liberty to say where that armor came from, civilian." I said with a straight face. The moment I had said civilian to the stallion, he had been giving me this look of bewilderment.  He blinked a couple of times, before speaking back.

"Cilivian? Hee he he. Now that's a word I haven't been called a long time." He smiled a little more, before saying the word 'civilian' agian, then laughing like it was inside joke I was out of the loop for. He noticed my confusion. "Oh sorry little mare, where are my manners, I'm Smash'n Grab, but ponies just call me Smash'n."

I gave him another look of bewilderment. Smash'n Grab? What kind of name is that? It does go with his cutie mark, but other than that, who names their kid Smash'n Grab? It does sound familiar thought, but still, Smash'n Grab, really?

"Not much of a talker are you little miss? Must of heard those nasty rumors about me up there in the clouds. Well let me assure you, they are one hundred percent true." His tone of hospitality dropped like a stone into something much more grim. My stomach also dropped like a stone. I maybe a war verteran, but their are just some ponies out there that can put the scare into you.

Smash'n Grab took a step forward and placed a hoof onto the bed that I was resting on. I shrunk down as he began to tower over me. "Now little mare, I don't want to put you through those little rumors. I really don't want to, since you're such a pretty looking mare, but if you don't tell me where you got that armor from, I will make your life a whole lot worse."

Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! He's going to kill me and then he's going to butcher me like those ponies in that shack of horrors! I was shacking a little with fear. In training you may be prepared to face death itself out on the battlefield, but there's nothing to prepare yourself for a pony that can strike terror into your heart with mere words. I could tell that he was serious by just looking into his eyes.I would tell him, but I can't. If I do then this lunatic and his buddies will...oh what's the fucking point. Project Rising Phoenix is a failure.

"Th..the armor that's resting over on the table is the TB-52 Hurricane. One of the most advanced pegasus armor, before the zebras destroyed Cloudsdale. The suit was given to me by the head of the M.o.M herself. It was a suit meant to be worn by a commander for the Project Rising Phoenix. That...that is where I got my armor." With that finished being said, I slumped back down, further into the bed.

The room was silent for about a few minutes. That Smash'n Grab was giving me that look of skepticism. From what I could see he was thinking over the information that I had given him. He was probably thinking of ways to torture me to teach him how to use the TB-52 Hurricane. Not like he use the thing. Probably break a hip just by taking a step.

He all of the sudden started to giggle. Giggle like a mad mare, I dare say. This somewhat scared me even further. I won't lie, this Stallion is fruit bat shit crazy and I have every right to be scared. I just waited for him to suddenly pull out a knife and stab me, but that didn't happen. He stood up and began to salute me, despite the wagon shacking back and forth. He's saluting me? Like...like a WonderBolt?

He had a goofy grin on his face. "Private Grab from Bunker Colt of Project Rising Phoenix reporting in!"

My jaw dropped in disbelief. The look I was giving just made his grin become bigger. "It's good to see you Commander Fleetfoot. You're a little late to the party by oh...I don't know, by about fifty years. Oh but don't worry, there's still plenty of guests to mingle with."