Fallout: Equestria - Darkness Consuming

Chapters

What The Wastes Dragged In
The Trade Caravan
Everypony Lies In Sin City
The Kings

What The Wastes Dragged In

Fallout: Equestria - Darkness Consuming by Adventuring Cactus, based on Kkat’s legendary “Fallout: Equestria”

Chapter 1: What The Wastes Dragged In

Hello. My name is Starslash Skies. I’m a unicorn stallion. I have a black coat and a mane and tail that are the bright green of radiation. My cutie mark is an ammo box with a scavenger hat hanging on the corner of the lid. When I received it, I learned that I was an excellent scavenger and explorer, the best in my town. It would almost be amusing, if it wasn’t for the hell that awaited me every time I was sent out.

The Equestrian Wasteland. This is what’s left of Equestria after the war over 250 years ago. My small village, what was once the town of Maresquite, far in the west Marejave deserts of Equestria, was destroyed in the war. Only a small portion remained liveable when civilization emerged from the Stables, and my family has lived in this town for generations since.

Being the town’s scavenger, I have the most dangerous job, but also the most exciting. Upon receiving my Cutie Mark, I was given large, metal plated armor and a battle saddle with a Hunting Rifle on one side and a Varmint Rifle on the other. Also, due to my unicorn abilities, I had a unique gift to be able to hold and fire any kind of weapon with magic, as well as pick locks, and levitate danger or cover.

Because I leave the town so often, I’ve run into Raiders and such multiple times, so I’ve done my fair share of killing. I also developed a habit of looting bodies for treasures or useful armor and weapons for either repairs or to replace my own.

Today was another scavenging day. I’ve learned to deal with, and sometimes enjoy, these days, though the loot and food I could find was beginning to become scarce. I said my temporary farewells to my family: Daylight, my sister, Midnight, my mother, and Stormy, my father. They’ve gotten used to watching me leave every two weeks or so for this kind of thing. Today was no different. They knew I’d be coming back.

Not 15 minutes from the town, I was immediately being shot at. They were either Slavers or Raiders, and deserved something far worse than death - but death would have to do. I whipped out my sniper rifle from my saddlebag, which I enchanted with a spell that made it hold as much as I wanted it to. I levitated the sniper rifle’s scope to align with my right eye, focused on my target, and fired. In less than a second, my first assailant’s head exploded into a gory mess all over his partner, who squealed in terror. She had probably just been recruited, and hadn’t witnessed death before.

I put away my sniper and readied my 5.56mm gun, slowly approaching the second opponent. She seemed distraught and frightened, and was begging for me not to shoot her. That was, until I got within two yards away. She drew a six-shot revolver and aimed. I had only seconds to yell “Shit!” and roll behind cover before half of those shots sailed over me with an audible whine. After another three unsuccessful shots from her revolver, she started to reload. As she was doing so, I jumped out and aimed my Hunting Rifle directly at her snout and fired.

I shielded my face from the blood and gore that erupted from her annihilated skull. I looted the pistol and about 30 caps from her body, as well as a bit of ammo. I got parts for my sniper, ammo, and 15 caps from the second guy. But as I was turning around to walk towards their camp, I noticed there was a third body, one I certainly didn’t kill. This one had shackles around his hooves and was wearing a blue and yellow jumpsuit with the number 357 on it. I noticed he had a saddlebag, so I checked it. There were a few tools, which I had plenty of, but what really intrigued me was what lied beneath.

As I removed the rest of the tools from the bag, I noticed a strange contraption that I had never seen before. It was a cylindrical object, with a large, gaping hole in it. I looked at what appeared to be a screen on the side. To the left of the screen, there were words embedded. They read “Stable-Tec Pip-Buck 3000 A Model”. There appeared to be a manual for this exact thing in the bag, so I took that too. I put what I had found in my saddlebag and looted the Raider’s camp. They seemed to have a large supply of food, enough to feed the village with a little left over. Score!

As soon as I got back to Manehattan, I gave the food to the Sheriff, who immediately began to distribute it among the houses. I arrived at my house, much to the joy of my family who greeted me with warm hugs and smiles. Afterwards, I went into my room, as per the usual, and sat at my desk. I took out the “Pip-Buck” and its manual from my saddlebag and placed them on my desk. I used my magic to flip open the manual. On the first page, it stated:

Getting To Know Your Pip-Buck 3000

I spent the entire night reading over the manual, taking a break to eat when the food I scavenged was prepared. By the time I had finished reading the manual, I had the PipBuck latched onto my arm, powered on. I had checked out the damage on it, which wasn’t that severe. The stallion this was attached to seemed to take excellent care of it. What was damaged, on the other hand, was extremely easy to fix. Just a little wire adjustment, was all. As soon as I fixed it up, I switched on what the manual called E.F.S, or “Eyes-Front Sparkle”. As I looked around, I saw what I assumed was my family appear as little green blips on the Pip-Buck’s built in compass. Okay, good to know that works. After I switched the E.F.S off, my attention turned to the S.A.T.S, or “Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell”. I guessed that was for assisted targeting, which could be really helpful in my scavenging missions.

I switched to the “Stats” tab by pressing the red button on the bottom left of the device. The first thing I saw was a diagram of a jolly looking pony with hair that appeared to be slicked. He seemed to be in a lowered stance and little bars were hovering next to his limbs. There was also one on his body and over his head. I was unsure of what this was, so I clicked down to the next page. This was headed by three letters, “RAD”, which I figured stood for radiation. My suspicions were confirmed when I recognized a Geiger-Counter that had the words “Radiation Level” encrypted above it. The final page was headed with “EFF”. I figured out this was “Effects” when I looked at the page and saw “No Current Effects” lining the center of the screen.

The “Data” tab was accessed using the red button on the bottom right. I clicked on it and noticed the pages were all along the bottom of the screen. Respectively, they read: “Local Map, World Map, Quests, Notes, Radio”. The local map showed the area of the building I was currently in, the world map showed the entire Equestrian Wasteland, the Quests page was basically a to-do list, the notes page was just that, and the Radio page is also pretty self-explanatory.

Back on the “Stats” tab, I noticed other selections along the bottom: “S.P.E.C.I.A.L, Skills, General.” I checked out the “S.P.E.C.I.A.L” page. Once I reached that page, I noticed those very letters lined up vertically. While nothing was highlighted, the letters spelled out “Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck”. I read it was some kind of ability monitor. Strength goes over your muscle mass, Perception reads your brain and monitors how well you perceive, Endurance measures how much more damage your body can handle, Charisma was another brainwave-reader that told you your rhetoric skills, Intelligence measured your IQ, Agility measures your body’s mobility, and Luck was just that.

Enough about the Pip-Buck -- I’m sure it got dull after a while. What should REALLY get you intrigued is a fight, which is exactly what occurred the next day. On the village.

* * *

I was abruptly awakened by my Midnight, screaming.

“Star! Star! Starslash Skies, wake your ass up right now, we have to get out of here!” Her panicking voice shot me awake. I rushed out of my bed, sudden adrenaline rushing through my veins.

“Midnight, what the hell is going on,” I yelled, my voice matching the tone of my sister’s. She trotted in place, obviously freaking out over something. I just wished she would tell me. “Midnight, tell me now, or I swear to Celestia-” She cut me off abruptly.

“Raiders! Raiders invaded the village and they...they took Mom and Dad! They’re planning on burning the whole village!” She looked at me, her face being home to a distressed expression. I was about to question why I hadn’t been woken up, or why they didn’t take either of us as well, but I remembered our parents supposed to be out of the house for the day. I figured Midnight had seen the ordeal and ran back to the house as fast as she could, and here she was.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” It was my turn to trot in place, somewhat anxiously. My parents were just kidnapped, potentially murdered, and the village was about to be set ablaze. Fuck...If I was gonna even attempt to save this town, not to mention my parents, I’d need to do it fast. And with a shitload of guns.

I grabbed my battle saddle and my enchanted saddlebag and threw them over my back on top of my armor. As I was leaving my room, I picked up my cowstallion hat and tipped it to my sister. “I’ll be back, I promise,” I told her. “In the meantime, find a safe place to hide from the raiders. And for the love of Celestia and Luna, Stay. Safe.”

I trotted out the door, having fire opened on me almost instantly. Of course, I retaliated. I aimed straight at my assailant’s face with my Varmint Rifle. In less than a second, his blood and brain covered the wall behind him. I broke into a gallop down the main road, taking cover whenever I could. The rest of the raiders were either meeting up in one spot or hiding, waiting for a pony to ambush. Hopefully it was the former. I could see smoke from the fires of their camp that they set up a couple miles from the village. I figured that’s where they took Mom and Dad, so that’s where I was first headed. I hoped Midnight had found somewhere safe to hide.

* * *

I had arrived at the camp with no hail of gunfire on me, fortunately. But what I didn’t expect to find was something that was more horrific than anything I could ever imagine.

My parents’ lifeless bodies.

I stared in terror at my mother and father, strapped to torturing tables, parts of them ripped off and placed on a nearby table. Their cutie marks were cut off and pinned to a board, along with the cutie marks of several other ponies who shared the same fate. As I stared, my jaw fell and tears silently streamed down my face. I dropped on my rump and hung my head. I sat there for a while, mulling over what I had just experienced. I exited the tent my parents were in and looked into the others to realize that they weren’t the only ones from the village to end up as decorations. I felt vilified towards this specific group of raiders more than any evil thing I had come across.

I turned and started walking back towards the village to see the clan of raiders running from it. I stared, confused. My confusion was soon erased when a loud sound erupted from the town, bright lights flared my vision, and heat consumed the whole of Maresquite. Even more shocked than I was before, I simply sat and watched, eyes wide. I thought of all the people who were in the town at the time. Pretty much everyone except that family that was on vacation. Which meant….

“Shit! Midnight!” I ran as fast as I could back to the village, calling her name I searched through the wreckage, in every nook and cranny, until finally her scorched body was revealed to me under a large sheet of half-melted metal. She was hardly recognizable, but her deep purple coat was unmistakable. Those raiders were dead. Fucking. Meat.

* * *

BANG!!!

That’s 24 raiders down, 3 to go. Largest clan I’ve seen in a while. I switched on my E.F.S and found two of them. I snuck around where they were taking cover and levitated the combat shotgun I looted from one of them. Holding it directly at the back of one’s head, I engaged S.A.T.S. In about 3 seconds, both the raiders’ heads were nothing but goo spilling from their lifeless corpses.My E.F.S detected the last raider behind boxes of explosives. I backed up a bit, chucked a grenade towards them, and watched the fireworks. These sons of bitches won’t be terrorizing anyone anymore.

I awoke from the nightmare with a start, shooting up in my makeshift bedding. I kept having that same nightmare, all about that specific day. It was 4 years ago, but the events were still fresh in my mind. Ever since then, I’ve vowed to be a lone ranger, so as not to be able to lose anyone close to me. It had been going strong, but what’s about to take place changed that. This story will NOT be for the faint of heart.

The Trade Caravan

Chapter 2: The Trade Caravan

I threw together my supplies I had laid out in my saddlebag and set off, wary of my surroundings, so as not to fall victim to a raider ambush. I pressed on through the ruins of what was once Ponyville, glancing around every once in a while to check for signs of danger. What I saw instead was definitely better - a trader.

Guarding the caravan seemed to be an orange pegasus with a battle saddle, two rifles attached, wearing a cowstallion hat similar to mine (his was a darker shade of brown). As I approached, he assumed a battle-ready stance.

“Easy now, sir, I just wanna buy something,” I stated, eyeing him warily. He seemed a bit overprotective, but he was definitely doing his job. “I’m Starslash.” I stuck out my hoof to him, offering a hoofshake, which he accepted.

“Calamity’s the name,” he finally said. “I’m escortin’ Miss Shimmer here t’ good ol’ New Pegasus fer some tradin’.” My eyes switched over to “Miss Shimmer” and suddenly, my jaw dropped. In front of me stood the most gorgeous unicorn mare I had ever laid eyes on. She had an orange-tan coat and a deep red mane and tail with streaks of yellow. Her cutie mark was obviously that of a trader (two gems and a small bag of caps between them).

This time, she offered me a hoofshake, which I didn’t notice for a second. I gently took her hoof and shook it, staring, dumbfounded.

“As Calamity here said, my name is Shimmer. Gemstone Shimmer.” The name suited her perfectly, not only as a trader, but as a thing of beauty. “You said you wanted to buy some things?”

I was oblivious for a second, lost in her shining ruby red eyes. “Uhm...huh? Oh, yeah. And, uh, sell some things, if you like.” She and Calamity both definitely took notice to my hesitation, as they looked at each other with smirks.

* * *

By the end of the trade, I had a Gatling Gun, plenty of ammo for all my weapons, a few spare parts, and about 20 extra caps, as well as some new additions to my armor barding, which Calamity helped me assemble. As they started to walk away, I suddenly yelled “Wait!” Startled, they turned to look at me with confused expressions on their faces. I mentally facehoofed. What did I want them to wait for?

“Somethin’ wrong, Star,” Calamity inquired. I stammered over my words for a second before finally deciding what to say.

“I’d like to take Gemstone to New Pegasus.” I felt my face get a little warm. I got internally angry at myself for blushing. This was nothing to blush about! “T-take your place as her guard, I mean.”

He pondered my request for a moment, then looked at Gemstone. She shrugged, and Calamity looked at me. “How d’ I know you c’n handle y’rself?” I quickly had an answer for that, remembering Maresquite and the raiders, but before I could say anything, he handed Gemstone a hoofful of caps and fished out five (what appeared to be) targets, quickly flying around the immediate area and placing them. I instantly got the message and was readying my Combat Shotgun.

“I’ll be keepin’ time on ya,” he told me. I nodded and waited for his signal. Time seemed to slow as I waited. Finally, I heard Calamity yell, “Go!”

I sprinted near the first target, shooting it dead center. As I did so, I was levitating a grenade out of my saddlebag. Approaching the next target, I tossed the grenade into where Calamity had placed two close together. The grenade landed between them and blew them to smithereens. The last two were also paired together, side by side. I stopped by the one on the right, stuck the shotgun barrel to its head and pulled the trigger. The shells went clean through the first and lodged themselves into the next, halfway through its would-be skull.

As I turned toward the caravan, both of their faces looked rather stunned. I glanced at Calamity, hinting for my time.

He stared at me. “Eight seconds...and you destroyed the targets.” I smirked.

I had gotten to know Gemstone over the time of the trade. She’s 20, same age as me, but a few months older, her favorite color is red, which matches her amazingly gorgeous mane, and she lost her family, but in a different way than I did.

When she decided to head out to trade in the Wasteland, her family, as well as her town, had given her a decision: trading or home. She, obviously, chose trading, but she was shunned and banned for it. My heart sank, and I felt deeply sorry for her. As soon as I met her, I tossed away my decision to live the life of a lone wolf...or pony, I guess. She needed someone to be there for her, and already I was volunteering for that position.

We said our farewells to Calamity, and he flew off to New Appleloosa. Something about now having time to take care of those other traders. The both of us shrugged it off, as it was fairly normal for a caravan guard.

A few minutes down to road, I had decided to make an attempt at small talk. But it seemed nearly impossible, as I am likely the most awkward pony in the Wastes. The words I was attempting to craft had finally made their way past my lips.

“So, what’s it like on the road all the time?” I felt my face get warm. It’s fairly sad that such a small question made me blush, but with her appearance, I couldn’t help it.

“Hm…” she began, her voice calm, much unlike my own. “Well, you learn to have to deal with plenty of raiders, that’s for sure.” She chuckled, which made my blush deepen. She obviously noticed, as her eyes were scanning my face, a small smile on hers.

“Ever had 27 at a time?” Gah, fucking idiot! Don’t bring up your past!

Gemstone let out a small gasp. “Oh, my...no, I haven’t. Why, have you?”

“No...I-I was just wondering,” I lied. “Good, do what your brain says. If you bring up your past, she’ll only feel sorry for you.” My head was spinning. The last time I had been alone with a mare was the last time I saw my sister...and the last time I would ever see her. Dammit, stop. You’re gonna break down to tears. You need to look tough, for Gemstone.

“So, Gemstone,” I asked. “Anything specific bringing you to Sin City, besides trading?”

“Not really, there’s just a lot of caps involved. And please,” she added. “Call me Gem. There’s no reason for a stallion like you to be so formal.”

Our eyes met briefly, and, quietly, I said “...Gem.” I formed a small smile and continued walking.

* * *

It got dark shortly, and we had quickly found a place to rest (a small house, surprisingly intact). I made sure the area was free of any threats, and we stepped inside. It was dark, but I found a box of matches and some candles. As I lit them, they let off a soft glow that filled the room with a peaceful aura.

Amongst the candles, I found a key. The first thing I tried it on was the door (the last thing we need is a midnight break-in). It fit perfectly, so I locked it and closed it. I checked my E.F.S for any sentient things, but nothing showed up, except for me and Gem.

“Have a seat over there and I’ll look for bedding,” I said. She nodded and sat. I walked out the back door and looked around and, sure enough, there were a couple mattresses for us to use (albeit I found them in the dumpster). I levitated them into the house, and Gem gave me a revolted look. “Just watch,” I said. I performed a cleansing spell on the mattresses, and in moments they were good as new.

I let Gem decide where to put them. To my surprise, she simply placed them right next to each other in the middle of the room. She walked into what I guessed was the kitchen to look for food. Minutes later, she came back with a box of dry cereal and a couple cans of Sparkle-Cola. She sat the box between us and opened her soda. I did the same and took a sip. The carroty taste got to me immediately, and I let off a smile.

“Man, I love Sparkle-Cola. Always have, ever since I was a little colt.” Gem just stared at me and smiled. Then, she burst into laughter, causing me to blush...again. “Wh-what’s so funny,” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing,” she said, chuckling. “It’s just that you remind me of my little brother. He was…” Her expression changed, drastically. “He was killed by raiders.” Wow, looks like I wasn’t alone. I put a hoof over her, trying to comfort her, but I wasn’t sure how I was doing.

“I may have been shunned, but I kept up with my family. They were visiting Maresquite about four years ago…” Uh-oh. “Raiders blew up the town, and when I got the news….” Her eyes started to tear up.

“Oh, Celestia…” she looked at me. “I was there,” I said. “I lost my family in that explosion. The whole town. I was the only survivor.”

“Oh, my...I-I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to-”

“No, don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. I needed to get that off my chest to someone.”

* * *

In a few hours she had fallen asleep, and I was alone in the quiet of the Equestrian Wasteland. I killed off my Sparkle-Cola and laid back. I had promised myself not to get close to anypony...I can’t even keep my own promise to myself. In this case, I’d never wanted to get closer to somepony. She was perfect, in every way. My dream mare. I put my hooves behind my head and relaxed. I was asleep in minutes.

I woke up in the same position I fell asleep, but I felt much warmer. I opened my eyes to see that Gem had rolled towards me and put her hooves around me in her sleep, which, again, caused my face to heat up vigorously. I wanted to stay like this as long as I could.

Unfortunately for me, she woke up not long after I did. I pretended to be asleep, closing my eyes just enough to see out of them. She looked up at me, then at how she was laying down. It was her turn to blush. She looked back up at my face, nuzzled me a little, then stood up.

After a minute, I stood up to. She was sitting on the cushions on the other side of the room finishing her (probably flat) soda.

“Hey,” I said. “Ready to head out?” She looked at me, and I noticed a hint of a smile on her face, which turned into a big grin.

“Sure, I’m ready when you are!” She seemed so jovial, so collected, and exceptionally cute with her ragged straight-out-of-bed look. It just made her that much more beautiful a mare.

I checked out my PipBuck and noticed it had picked up some data. I switched to the corresponding tab and looked on the “World Map” page. It showed my current location, which was marked as “The Cheese Sandwich Rest Shack”. “Odd name for a roadside stop,” I thought. But on the bright side, I had a place to fall back on if I didn’t have a place to stay.

We headed out the door and went straight for New Pegasus. The trip, I knew, would be a long one, even if we left this early. I started making plans to get a place to rest straight away. I didn’t want Gem’s absolute beauty to reduce one bit.

New Pegasus was going to be quite the trip.

Everypony Lies In Sin City

Chapter 3: Everypony Lies In Sin City

For the first hour or two, the road wasn’t seemingly dangerous. We ran into a few radroaches but that was about it. Small thoughts from that morning were still fresh in my mind, but I was smart enough to keep from bringing them up.

“Care for some music,” I asked. Gem merely nodded. I looked over at her, and she suddenly decided to stare at the ground. I tuned into the radio, where Mr. New Pegasus was giving a small speech about raiders. I quickly switched off the radio, recieving a look from Gem. “What?”

“Why did you turn it off?”

“I hate raiders. Hearing about them. Talking about them. Looking at them.” She stopped and stared. “The only good place for a raider is at the end of a rope or around a small sum of bullets.” I sternly looked forward and continued walking. She sighed and followed me.

* * *

After continuing our trip for another 20 minutes, Gem quickly trotted up to me.

“So, I realized that I don’t really know much about you. Besides...you know…” She seemed full of guilt at that. “I want to learn more about you!” She let off a very radiant smile, to which I smiled back. Some things in the Wasteland are just worth living for.

“What would you like to know,” I asked.

“Well, what was your family like?” Ouch. Sensitive. Nevertheless, I decided to tell her.

“Well first of all, there was my sister, Midnight. An earth pony, like my dad. She was the most adorable little filly I’ve seen in my life.” A weak, slightly sympathetic smile broke across my muzzle. “She was so outgoing. Her coat was a deep purple, and her mane a slightly dark blue. Her eyes matched her coat to a tee. She...she didn’t even have her cutie mark yet…” My smile faded. In turn, Gem put her hoof on my shoulder. It felt more comforting than it probably should have.

“Then there was my mother. Her name was Daylight. She was calm as can be. And, of course, the most worried about me.”

“Why was she ever worried about you,” Gem interrupted.

“I was the scavenger for my town. I had to go into the Wastes to look for food and such.”

“Oh.”

“Anyways, she had a brilliant cerulean coat and a mane that was the yellow color of the sun. She was a unicorn, like me, and she was an aspiring author - her cutie mark was a book and quill. And finally, there was my dad, Stormy. Very gruff voice, stern when he had to be, but I loved him all the same. His coat was a dark gray, and his mane was just white. His cutie mark was a wrench and screwdriver. He got it when he was fixing somepony’s refrigerator. He was just a colt. Not five years old.”

“Your family sounds amazing.” She seemed entranced with my story. “Mine definitely wasn’t better. Me and my little brother were constantly ignored by them.” I noticed a tear begin to fall from her eye, which I brushed away. For a small moment, our eyes met, interlocked with each other. Both of us quickly looked away, our blushes obvious on our faces.

The rest of the day went by with only a few encounters, but I frequently watched my E.F.S anyways. The time came to set up camp. I pulled what we needed out of my saddlebag (when Gem learned that I had enchanted it, she insisted that I carry her whole inventory) and made sure to do all the work. I’m a gentlestallion that way.

Once the tent was set, I quickly went to work on the fire. During our travel, we had been picking up different varieties of sticks and small logs, so we definitely had plently of firewood.

I got the fire started in a short minute or so, much to the joy of me and Gem alike - It was cold as hell outside. I fished out a couple cooking pots and set up a spit. Gem had dragged two rocks over from Celestia knows where and motioned for me to sit.

We sat in silence while I cooked our scavenged pre-war food. Surprisingly, it was still okay to eat. You’d think that the expiration dates of 250 years ago would be accurate. Oh well, no use making it go to waste. As soon as the soup (I think it was soup) was done, I found some wooden bowls and a couple spoons in the side pockets of my saddlebag. I served the soup and waited for a reaction from Gem.

To my delight, her face lit up.

“Oh, my Celestia, this is amazing! This is pre-war food?” I nodded, pointlessly overwhelmed with joy and unable to speak, a huge grin on my face. “Wow! You are an amazing chef!” She downed her food while I happily stared into nothing, a blush apparent on my face.

It took her a minute to snap me out of it. “Star, aren’t you going to eat,” she asked me. I stared dumbly for a moment until my brain finally processed her words. I nodded and started eating my food.

* * *

The night was long and cold. I woke up three times. The third, I found myself snuggled against Gem in an effort to keep warm. I decided to stay there for another reason entirely when she pulled me closer to her.

After a while, I woke up, but was too weary to open my eyes. I assumed Gem had woken up as well. She stirred a bit, then I heard her gasp quietly.

“Shit,” she whispered. “I really need to stop that…” She sounded both annoyed and disappointed. I felt sorry for her about the fact that I was more shy than a little filly. Damn me. I fell back asleep and woke up about an hour later to the smell of...bacon?

My eyes shot open. Ponies were normally vegetarian, but BACON!? The excessive stallion kicked in and I was fully awake in seconds.

“I smell bacon,” I said, wanting to devour the very scent itself. Gem just giggled.

“I thought you’d like it,” she said. Her voice sounded so soothing from the harshness of the Wasteland. For four years, I’d had to do everything for myself. I enjoyed waking up without the immediate worries of raiders, or worse.

“Near ready?”

“Just finished.” She gave me a comforting smile. I looked over at our makeshift table and saw our plates filled with different vegetarian pre-war foods. The bacon was a nice touch.

I dropped to my haunches at the end of the table and took a big whiff of the food that awaited my stomach. I was about to just gobble the whole thing down, but I looked over and saw Gem eating her food in a polite fashion. I decided to follow her example. I took a generous bite of the bacon (chewy, just how I like it, although I was unsure if she knew somehow or it was just a lucky guess). It took all my will not to eat it all as sloppily as I could.

After the (politely eaten) breakfast, we packed everything up and resumed our trek to New Pegasus. The sun overhead, however covered by clouds, was blazing. Gem decided to strike up a conversation.

“Hey, Star,” she mused. “Where did you get that Pip-Buck?” She eyed the device on my arm quizzically. I looked at it as well, then back up at her.

“I found it,” I told her. “It was in a saddlebag. Owned by somepony who seemed to be an ex-resident of Vault 357.” I saw a gleam in her eye. “What’s wrong,” I asked. She simply waved me off. I gave her a curious look, but continued on anyway.

* * *

We had finally made our way to New Pegasus. Well, a town just outside New Pegasus, which my Pip-Buck deemed “Freeside”. I had never been to New Pegasus, so this was a new sight. It seemed like a raggedy place, riddled with ponies who looked like they were suffering disease, hunger, or a nasty combination of the two. There was the occasional pony who seemed at least a little healthy, and that was only as we were passing “Elvis Prespony’s School of Impersonation”. All of those ponies looked exactly the same, aside from coat colors.

I stopped to ask one of them how to get to New Pegasus. He pointed down the road and I saw a big sign that said “New Pegasus” surrounded by flashing lights and guarded by large robotic guard stallions balanced on single wheels (everypony who passed by was told to “move along” in a steely robotic voice).

“Wow,” I said, staring blankly. “I do not know how I missed that.” Gem burst into laughter, seemingly much to the joy of the Elvis impersonator. I shot him a look that told him to back off, and he quickly wiped the expression from his face… Was I that intimidating?

We made our way to the gate and were approached by one of the guards.

“Move along please, or state your business,” it said.

“I’d like to gain entry to New Pegasus.”

“Entry to New Pegasus can be granted if the pony in question is carrying a total of 2000 bottlecaps.”

I looked at Gem, who looked at me the same way. Combined, we only had about 1200 caps combined. We would have had more, but I insisted on paying that Calamity guy before he left.

I contemplated selling my armor barding, but that was definitely a necessity. I checked my item arrangement spell on my Pip-Buck to look for things of large value that we didn’t need. Nothing.

“I guess we’ll have to get a job,” I said.

“Move along please, or state your business.”

“Yeah, yeah, just shut up for Celestia’s sake.”

* * *

As we were coming across an intersection of what used to be a road, I noticed both a small colt and a mare dressed in a skimpy outfit were attempting to get our attention. I paid attention to what the colt was saying first.

“Need to get rid of the shitpile of a weapon you’ve got?” That colt’s got a mouth on him. “Come on down to the Diamond Rush for all your magical energy weapon needs!”

Next was the skimpily dressed mare.

“Hungry?”

No.

“Thirsty?”

No.

“Horny?”

I have a low sex drive.

“Come and visit the Balefire Wrangler inn and casino!”

This town seemed desperate.

I went back towards Elvis Presley’s School of Impersonation to see if I could cash in any caps from there. As I was about to enter, I was stopped by a stallion with a strange accent.

“Ifuh yuh wanna seeuh the King-uh, yuh gatta make an appointuhment.” I had to stifle a laugh before I got shot.

Clearing my throat, I said “I’d just like to see whoever is in charge. I need caps.”

“I reckun you wanna get intuh New Peguhsis,” I asked. I nodded. “The King’s gat just thuh thinguh for you.” What a sudden change of events. I hoped I wasn’t being dragged into a stallion prostitution ring, or worse, their club.

I felt like this was going to be one hell of a job.

The Kings

Chapter 4: The Kings

“The Kings” is what they called themselves. I wondered why they called themselves that. I vocalized that same question to the same guy who let us in.

“Weuh call uhrselves the Kinguhs buhcause that’s uhwhat Eluhvis Prespony called himuhself.” Of course it was. That accent was gonna get annoying fast. I looked at Gem and I could tell she thought so too. The look in her gorgeous, shining red, completely exhilarating...Sorry. My bad. Anyways, the look in her eyes said it all. I started to blush after staring too long.

We were escorted into a room with a bunch of tables and a large stage where one of the Kings members was dressed in a flashy white suit dancing and singing, flinging the stand-up microphone around like a toy. We stopped near a table set front and center. At the table sat who I assumed was the King, the one mentioned at the door. He looked exactly like the guy on the posters that littered the walls.

I was the first to speak. “We were told you had some kind of a job to offer us,” I said. I gave the King a stern look. He gave off a chilled out vibe with a much calmer facial expression.

“It’suh simple, really,” he said, a cigar hanging out of his mouth. I thought I smelled something else in there, but it might have been my imagination. “I wantuh you tuh fux upuh mah dog.” At that, he whistled, and a mechanical dog came strolling in. Halfway to where the King was sitting, it stopped, sparked and twitched, and continued to walk. That thing does need repairs.

“I’lluh give ya 4000 caps fehr fixin’ mah cybark uhp,” he said with a tone of desperation. My eyes must have bulged out of my skull after hearing that. 4000 caps!?

“I’ll be right back,” I told the King. I dragged Gem out of the room into a hallway which seemed empty enough. I turned towards her.

“Gemstone Shimmer, slap me.”

“Wh-what?”

“Slap me, right now.”

“Star, why in the name of the Goddesses would-”

“I need to figure out if I’m dreaming or not, so slap me right now. As hard as you can.” Without any hesitation, Gem drew back her right hoof and smacked it across my face. I spun and fell, and lay motionless on the ground from shock. DAMN, that mare has a good right hook!

“Oh, my Celestia, what did I just do!?” Gem had started shaking me trying to get me up. I think she thought she knocked me out. I stood up (slowly) and calmed her down.

“Ow…”

She pulled me into a tight hug, which I gratefully returned.

“Oh, Goddesses, Star I’m so sorry!” She hugged me even tighter.

“It’s alright, I’m fine,” I reassured her quietly. “At least I know I’m not dreaming.” She laughed at that, much to my joy.

We walked back the the King and accepted his offer. Moments later, we were off with a list of supplies needed to fix Cybark. I read down the list.

“This is a lot of stuff...let’s see, we need a spark battery, about 10 pounds of scrap metals, spare parts from a gatling laser, plasma rifle, and pulse mine...where the hell are we gonna find th…” I cut myself off as I stared down the road at the little colt who we passed earlier.

“Need to get rid of that shitpile of a weapon you’ve got? Come on down to The Diamond Rush for all your magical energy weapon needs!”

* * *

The Diamond Rush wasn’t as...flashy as I’d expected it to be. You’d think something with the name of a gemstone would be as beautiful as it sounded. I looked over at Gem with that thought. I immediately regretted what I had just thought.

“I guess the wasteland does get it right every once in a while,” I thought. We walked up to the extremely heavily guarded counter and asked for the items on our list.

The mare behind the counter had a voice like she smoked 24/7. “We can give you the scrap metal for free, but the rest has a price.”

“What’s the price,” I asked.

“Well, for what you need, I’m asking 800 caps total price.” That was really pricey, but we’ll be making another 4000 after we get everything back to the King. I reluctantly forked over a couple pouches of caps and received the items, which I slipped into my saddlebags.

As we were rounding the corner at the end of the street, we passed the colt.

“Your company’s fuckin’ cheap, kid,” I said, being rewarded with a glare from Gem. I winced, but the colt simply nodded.

* * *

4000 caps in our possession, we had made it past the robotic guards and into New Pegasus, finally. It was a bit shabbier than I had expected, but hey, this was the Wasteland.

Gem was gawking at the gamblers, flashing neon lights, and other sights around the city. The soldiers were a nice touch. And there seemed to be a few sober ones, too.

I stopped to talk with one of the soldiers who appeared to be sober.

“Excuse me, sir.” He gave me a bland expression. “I was wondering who you were? I don’t get around much.”

His look didn’t ease up a bit. He may have been pissed at his drunken unit. “We’re the proud and strong New Equestria Republic! Or so you would think,” he said, eyeing a drunk trooper. Yup, definitely pissed. “Most of what we do is get slaughtered and drunk. And we get drunk when others get slaughtered. I’m sure you can tell how that chain works.”

I decided not to piss him off any more than he already was, which is what my speaking seemed to be doing. i casually walked away as he started rambling on to himself about how much his unit sucked.

I looked around for Gem, who seemed to already be doing her trading...which was impossible. I thought…

I checked my Pip-Buck’s sorting spell and, sure enough, she had retrieved all her trading goods from my saddlebags. That clever, clever mare. I smirked and walked over to observe the trade. She seemed to be enjoying herself almost as much as those NER troopers enjoyed being drunk. I chuckled at my own joke, drawing attention to myself from Gem and her customer, who had a deep red coat with a dark green mane.

“Oh, there you are Star.” She even sounded enthused. “This is my friend, Cherry PieI was just telling her all about what you’ve done for me!” I let my mane droop in front of my face to hide my embarrassment. “Cherry and I have been friends for a long time, since we were little fillies.” Cherry reached out and offered me a hoofshake, which I accepted. She had a stronger grip than Calamity…

* * *

I rented a hotel room at one of the casinos, the Tops. It cost us 1000 caps, but a penthouse floor suite was totally worth it.

We stepped into the suite, which was an extremely large room with a living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms (each with its own luxurious bath and hot tubs), and a balcony. I definitely wasn’t going on the balcony. I rented this room for Gem’s comfort.

When Gem saw the room, she started bouncing around, jittering excitedly about the prices of everything in the room, the luxuries that were provided for a full week’s stay, and other things that I couldn’t follow. The widest smile spread across my face. Even after the many times I had seen her happy over the last 2 days, this shot off the charts of happiness.

Gem didn’t want me to be alone, so she insisted that we share her bed. I was hesitant at first, as I didn’t want to invade her privacy, but she just wouldn’t give up. As we lay there in the quiet, she spoke, softly.

“This was my first time in New Pegasus, Star,” she told me.

“It was my first time here too.”

“I’ve always wanted to come here, and it’s been the best time I’ve ever had. Thank you.” Suddenly, she rolled over and kissed me. It was warm, pleasant, and unexpected. Nevertheless, I gave in. I’d been wanting that since I laid eyes on her. We broke the kiss and I pulled her into a warm embrace. We fell asleep just like that.

Best. Day. Ever.