Fallout Equestria | A Good Day to Die

I knocked an arrow and aimed slightly up. I lined up the shot with the pony's head. Let it fly. It hit it's mark and the pony went down. Two more had already taken notice and began shouting for backup. I knocked two more arrows and fired. Two more targets down. It looked like it was going to be a flawless victory. There were only three more ponies. All of them were unicorn mares.

I activated the Stealth Buck. I pulled out my knife, flipping it from wing to wing as I stalked towards them, trying to be as silent as possible. I got close enough and dove right into one of them. I stabbed her right in the skull, a spray of blood shooting up as her body went limp. The other two were completely baffled as well as scared. They were standing back to back now.

"Come out and stop hiding you fucker!" shouted one of them. She lifted a submachine gun and readied it. I got in right as close as I could to her. The Stealth Buck died.

"Boo," I said. She screamed and jumped back, firing at me. It took me less than two seconds to dispatch her. The other one whipped around and fired two shotgun blasts right into my chest. I threw the knife as hard as I could before I fell to the ground. My armor had held up, but it was going to bruise pretty badly.

I retrieved my knife and arrows. A dozen bodies lay before me. I set to work. I built a funeral pyre out of old twigs and tires and laid the bodies on it. I lit the pyre with my flint and steel. As the bodies burned along with the building, I paid my respects. They had fought well for their survival, but they were not enough to best my superior skill. I left the building to burn. It was more of a shack really.

I launched up into the air with some difficulty, the heavy slugs from the shotgun still lodged halfway between my chest and armor. It hurt like a motherfucker, but it would heal. I reached into my saddlepack as I flew on and grabbed a healing potion. I landed on a hill and used my knife to pry out the slugs. I drank a small bit of the potion, just enough to dull the pain. I put it away and continued on flying.

It was another hour before I got to the shack that was the bounty hunting firm. I walked inside to see my main employer, Killshot, sitting as his desk. He was engrossed in several papers that appeared to be bounties. He looked up.

"Ah, Fireflight," he said looking back down. "Did you tag that mean ol' fuck?"

"Maybe," I said putting the ear down on his desk.

"Well, well, well," he said looking at the ear of the bounty. "You never cease to amaze. As promised, your reward. 200 caps. Don't go blowing it all on the hookers and gambling, you hear?" He nudged a foreleg in my direction and we both chuckled.

"Thanks Killshot," I said. "You got the next bounty?"

"You kidding me?" he asked. "There's never a shortage of shitheads that need offing."

"True," I said. "So who are they?"

"Come on kid, you just got back from a two day stalk, you need to lighten up!"

"Yeah maybe you're right."

"Come back and see me in the morning," he said. "I'll get you your next bounty then."

"Fine," I said with a sigh, suddenly feeling very tired. I began to leave then had a thought.

"Hey, you think I could have the-?"

"No," he said. "And the next time you ask, you're going to get it, but you'll be on the end of the barrel."

I said nothing and left. I needed that revolver. With it, I could get so many bounties done so much quicker. As much as I liked my bow, I needed a better gun. My rifle would simply not do the trick. Little Macintosh. Just the name gave me shivers. I've heard it was one of the most powerful hand cannons ever conceived. But whatever. My rifle would have to cut it for now.

I took off again and began to fly off into the southwest.

I reached the house just before night. I walked in and was immediately greeted by my sister tackle-hugging me. We laughed and enjoyed the embrace for a few seconds before getting up.

"So, how did it go?" she asked excitedly.

"I got two hundred caps and some more supplies," I said, brushing off my wings. "But I didn't get any closer to figuring out how we're going to get back the scavenging grounds. Sis, we should just give it up."

"What!?" she asked incredulously. "We can't just give up now! What about helping ponies, and helping your girlfriend!"

"I know, I know," I said, feeling embarrassed. "But what do you propose we do? We don't have the firepower to take them out. Gawd and her griffins are still trying to get a hold on Junction R-7, so it's not like they could help take out the ponies she'd be able to spare anyone. And any other allies we've made in the past six months won't be likely to help us since they're out fighting trying save their own fucking skins!"

"How did you get Gawd indebted to you anyway?" she asked.

"Let's just say, I asked nicely," I said. "And by that I mean a few hundred bullets and about a metric ton of prisoners, and then I asked nicely."

"Whatever," she said. "But please, keep looking for a way to get back the scrapyard!"

"Fine," I said under my breath. "Where's Ginger?"

"In the back," she said. I walked past her into the back room, which served as the bedroom for all of us. Ginger was sitting on the couch reading an old book that I found. I crouched low and snuck up on her. I wrapped my forelegs around her neck and she jumped. She threw me off playfully while I smiled wide. I walked around and got on the couch with her. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Fine," I said, following her eyes and reading the book with her. "Got shot a few times."

"That good huh?" she asked. "Usually you get shot a lot more than a few times."

"Low risk bounty," I said. "Just capped a few goons and burned the evidence. Brought back an ear and came back with caps in tow."

"Hmm," she said without looking up. I looked at her.

"I'm thinking about shaving my legs with my knife," I said.

"Hun, I'm trying to read," she said. I smiled. I slowly closed the book and memorized the word, page, and chapter she was on. I put a hoof under her chin and made her look up at me. I leaned in and kissed her, ever so gently on the lips.

"I love you," I said, pulling away. "You know that right?"

"Of course," she said. I helped her off the couch.

"Prove it," I said with a devious smile.

"Oh I'll prove it to you alright," she said, returning the smile. We went upstairs to our private bedroom. She jumped up into the bed and flopped down, belly up. I walked onto the bed.

"I guess I won't be getting to that bounty tomorrow," I said.

When I woke up, something was wrong. I heard something. Downstairs. A commotion. Somepony was seriously upset. I grabbed my knife with my wing as put on my clothes and lept down the steps. I stalked low, my killer instincts kicking in. I looked around. Fleet Wing was on the floor. I rushed over to her.

"Fleet Wing?" I said, checking to see if she was breathing. She wasn't. "FLEET WING!" I began the resuscitation I learned in the Enclave training. One, two, three, four. Breathe. One, two, three, four. Breathe. After a few more tries she coughed and woke up. I hugged her and checked to see if she was okay. It was strange though. If somepony had done this, then where were they?

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Out...side," she croaked. I looked at the door and ran outside. I stopped dead. There were several ponies armed with flamethrowers. About a dozen more were armed with guns. I did the sensible thing.

"Who are you?" I asked, raising my knife. I wasn't afraid. I could more than easily run back inside and come back with full armaments. A pony walked forward. He was dressed in a red suit and bow tie. When he spoke, it was with an accent.

"Apologies," he said. "My name is .308. And it appears you have killed a few of my lieutenants."

"So what if I did?" I said.

"So, I can't have you tampering with what I'm doing," he said. "They were useful to me. And I can't have you killing anymore of my people."

"Am I suppose to be intimidated?" I said angrily. I flared my wings. "Killing you would be easy. And if you're so confident, why don't you just kill me?"

"I have my reasons. And while it may be true that you could kill me," he said. He kept his voice calm, which made me angrier. "Will you be able to save them in time?"

I had forgotten about the flamethrowers. They opened fire and house was almost instantly set ablaze. My eyes widened at the flames licking up and down the building. I immediately ran inside and found Ginger. She was in a wild panic and trapped behind a melting door. I bucked at the door a few time. It didn't budge. I stepped back. I flew as hard as I could into the door. It gave way and I landed right on the burning door.

I screamed as the door burned my skin. I pushed myself up off the door, gasping in pain, barely able to breathe from the burn marks. I saw Ginger. I didn't think before I ran up and slammed into her, carrying her and bashing through the wall. I flew for a seconds before hitting the ground. I told her to stay put and was about to run back inside, but then Fleet Wing flew through the wall in a similar manner to the way I had.

"You okay?" I asked. She nodded, then her eyes widened.

"What?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Twilight are still in there," she said. I ran past her, and into the door. The last thing I remember was an explosion and flying through the air, then landing and blacking out.

When I woke up, I was in a bed. A comfortable bed. The last time I had slept in one of those was seven months ago. I was also...naked. Which was strangely uncomfortable, even though ponies don't normally wear clothing. I felt raw, exposed even without my armor. I was also in a cage. A slaver cage. I immediately looked around, but nopony else was in the cage. Just me.

"Why?" I said to myself, "Why would they cage me alone if they're slavers?"

"Because we heard you was a slippery littl' bastard," came a voice from up front, no doubt one of the slavers.

"Yeah, the boss said you gots all manners o' skill," said another voice, with the same accent.

"Good on him then," I said. "You'd both probably be dead now if you hadn't caged me."

"Shut your fuckin' mouth!" one of them said. "Or I'll come back there and make yu."

"I'd like to see you try," I mumbled. "Why is my cage comfortable?"

"Cuz we gots to keep you in tip top shape. You'll be doin' all manners o' work," said one of the slavers. I swear I could hear him smile. "You got to work in the mines, fightin' in the cage, and even doin' a bit of clearin' out some fools."

I said nothing as they continued to cart me along. I had always liked my ability to get information without even having to ask directly. Even Fleet Wing had told me I had a "silver tongue". So if I would be clearing out problem ponies, that means I would get a weapon of some kind. Same goes for working in the mines. Escaping should be easy as shooting.

I waited for a few more minutes before asking, "Where's my sister?"

"That littl' bitch?" said one of them chuckling. "You'll be meetin' her real soon."

So she was already at wherever it was that I was going. That could either be bad or good. I decided to keep quiet until we arrived. I looked around the area of the cage I was in. There were two mares bringing up the rear. I couldn't make out anything else because the back wall of the cage was, well, a wall. After two hours or so, the location came into view. Fillydelphia. I had always dreaded the place. It smelled of death and despair.

I sat up as the ponies brought me into the town. Slaves milled about in ragged clothing, or even naked like me. The guards let the slavers through. We got to a plaza and the slavers let me out. I hopped out of the cage, but remained where I was. No use trying to escape. I could already see snipers positioned far above us. I looked around, trying to find anything that could eventually aid my escape.

"Fireflight!" I heard my sisters voice shout. I looked around to see her running towards me. Her wings were bound in an iron clamp that wrapped around her torso. She stopped in front of me, smiling.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said to her. "Where's Ginger?"

Fleet Wing stopped smiling. "She's over here."

I followed her to a building and she led me inside. I looked around and immediately saw Ginger. She was sitting in a corner, facing away from us.

"Ginger?" I said cautiously. She slowly turned, revealing her red puffy eyes. She had been crying. A lot. Her mane was tousled and her coat was unkempt. I knew why. It took me a moment to process it. Her parents were dead. Burned alive by some fuckshit I didn't even know. I walked over to her and sat next to her.

"Th-they're gone..." she said in a quiet, shaky voice. I looked into her eyes. They were so full of sadness and grieving. I wiped a tear from her cheek. She began sobbing again. I caught her and held her in a tight embrace, cooing words of comfort to her. I held her and fought back tears of my own. I looked up and saw Fleet Wing, her eyes always welling up. Suddenly, Ginger spoke.

"Fireflight?" she asked without looking at me.

"Yes?" I said quietly.

"Promise me something." she said.

"Anything." I replied.

"Whoever they are, whoever killed my parents," she said. She looked up, and her dual colored eyes were dead and full of rage. "Kill them. Promise me you'll kill them."

"Ginger," I said looking back at her and standing. "I swear upon my life. I will not rest, I will leave no stone unturned, until they are dead. Every. Last. One."