Fallout: Equestria - My Mother the Heroine

Little Macintosh hit the ground with a loud clank. Nova seemed frozen. Standing stiffly where he had stopped on the spot moments ago, his legs locked in place, immobilized by his overwhelming fear, he stared at them, and they stared right back.

Raiders.

Two stallions, a dark brown, noticeably muscular earth pony and a slightly shorter blue unicorn. Both were wearing what looked like makeshift bardings made from dirty rags, and looking at him with wide open, bloodshot eyes, their looks filled partly with shock, partly with fury. Their manes –dirty blonde and pitch black, respectively- as well as their coats looked like those ponies hadn’t showered in months, the horrid stench that met Nova’s nose shortly after suggested just the same.

Nova wanted to run – to turn on his tail, cry out and scream for his mommy to come and save him from those unkempt monsters, yet his body seemed stiff in shock, not obeying his mind’s commands. He struggled to move, shouted at his legs to run, yet he could only hear his heart beating inside his chest as none of his limbs obeyed their master’s orders – time seemed to stand still.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nova got torn out of his trance by something bumping into his back. “Ouf.” He could hear a huff coming from behind him, “What’s the matter, Nova?”

A part of him was surprised that he didn’t feel relief upon hearing his mother’s familiar voice, yet the majority of his mind was still in an uncontrolled state of panic, thus too horrified to think or feel anything at all.

“R-R-Ra-Ra-Ra-Raiders!” the little colt finally managed sputter out, much to the amusement of his mother, it seemed, who trotted up to him with a light chuckle. “Don’t worry, Nova.” She said  after a moment, with a surprising light-hearted-ness in her voice, as she stopped next to him, “I don’t think these raiders are still posing a threat to us.”

Nova did his best to lightly nod his head; his whole body seemed to be shivering. Indeed, he was sure the ponies in front of him weren’t about to attack him – their weapons –a deformed assault rifle and a rusty shotgun- seemed to be loaded and were pointing right at him, yet lying on the ground, right next to their owners in a small puddle of red liquid.

Two small but noticeable holes in either side of their heads indicated that the ponies in front of him were indeed not posing a threat anymore -even in its state of shock, Nova’s mind had caught up on this rather quickly. However, what had sent him into his state of shock and was still keeping him from moving was the integrity of things that offered itself to him.

He had never seen a dead pony before – in movies and on pictures, yes, but not in real life. So the sheer realization that he was looking at a dead body had been enough to petrify his innocent mind; the fact that he wasn’t looking at two ponies who had passed away peacefully, but murdered, it seemed, in cold blood, probably without even knowing what was going on just added its part to Nova’s horror.

His mother, however, seemed rather unaffected by the gruesome sight in front of them, as she only did so much as to give her petrified son a soft nudge with her muzzle and say, “C’mon, there’s a captive waiting to be freed. …  And don’t forget your gun.”

Nova looked down at Little Macintosh lying in front of his hooves – he had dropped it out of shock when he had seen the two dead raiders and now was hesitant to pick it back up again, not only thanks to his still aching mouth.

Instead, he looked at the bodies in front of him, then at his mother. “Who … who could have done that? I mean … is … is anypony in there already?”

To his somewhat disappointment, his mother only replied with a weak shrug. “Dunno.” She said, then –Nova cringed- walked up to one of the bodies and placed a hoof on the stallion’s neck. “Hmm.” She looked over to Nova with a raised eyebrow, “His body’s still warm, so he can’t be dead for too long.”

Nova fought to hold back a flinch at the thought of who or whatever had killed those ponies so deviously still being nearby, yet couldn’t keep himself from cringing, gaining a weak smirk from his mother.

“Don’t worry Nova,” she said calmingly, “Those ponies had it coming.”

“How do you want to know!?” Nova shouted out in a sudden outburst of dismay, tears forming in his eyes, “You … you didn’t even know them!”

His mother's smirk vanished, and her face became dry, emotionless. “They’re raiders. That’s all that counts.” She clarified dryly. Nova opened his mouth to protest, but was cut short as his mother raised a hoof, silencing him, “You don’t know raiders like I do, Nova. You don’t know what they’ve done to other ponies … what they’ve done to Equestria. You don’t know what horrors they’re capable of, and why they need to be stopped by all available means.” Her deadpan face turned into a look of determination, “But that’s the reason why we’re here today.”

“Wha- what do you mean with that?” Nova was almost too afraid of the answer to ask, yet still forced himself to sputter out the question.

But his mother only replied with a brief “You’ll see.” Before turning away from him and nodding her head into the direction that led deeper into the cave-like vault the two had found at the bottom of the set of stairs, “Come on, let’s go.”

Nova hesitated.

He didn’t like this.

He didn’t like this at all.

This was nothing like the adventures he would normally experience with his mother – this time there were no packages to deliver, and no lost pets to retrieve. No, this ‘adventure’ just seemed … different.

His mother seemed strangely absentminded today and wouldn’t stop talking about how bad raiders were. Sure, they were evil ponies, but why was she suddenly so focused on them? And why did she make him go ahead despite knowing what dangers lay ahead of them?

Nova normally didn’t mind taking the lead on their missions after his mother had told him where to go, but so far she had always insisted on going ahead when they had come close to wild animals or other potential threats. Why this sudden change of mind? And why had she given him Little Macintosh? A weapon that quite obviously was far too big and heavy for him to handle.

Nova shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Surely, there were a couple of irregularities with their adventure so far, and Nova wasn’t sure if he liked where it was going, but he found solace in the thought that it was his mom who had taken him here – and his mom would never allow him to do anything dangerous or anything that wouldn’t turn out to be a great experience in the end … right?

He couldn’t help but notice that there were still traces of doubt in his mind, but he quickly swiped them away with another shake of his head – his mom had never disappointed him with their excursions, why should this one be any different?

Bucking himself up, Nova leaned his head forward and picked up Little Macintosh, holding back a grunt as the weapon’s weight pressed against his upper jaw again.

Following a confirming smile from his mother, Nova got under way again, venturing deeper into the dark abyss that presented itself in front of him.

He couldn’t keep his eyes from the dead raiders as he walked past them. He still didn’t know who had killed them or for what reason, but something told him that he would find the pony responsible for this massacre inside the stable they were heading at. Even though he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet this pony anyway.

A few moments passed. The absolute darkness within the cave was no problem for Nova - his eyes had gotten adjusted to the darkness rather quickly, allowing him to at least take a rough guess at where he was going.

All the while, his mother was surprisingly silent. Every now and then, Nova had to cast a short glance over his shoulder to check if she was still with him at all. Again, Nova wondered if there was something she was keeping from him. From the way she had acted when they had found the raiders, it almost seemed like she had expected to find them lying in their way. Maybe she was trying to...

Nova's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as his eyes spotted what must have been the entrance to Vault 2 - a huge, round metal door, easily four times his size lay ahead of him, opened up to reveal a big hall that seemed to be completely lined with metal. Somewhere in the darkness, Nova could make out a small set of stairs leading up into the unknown. However, what caught his eye as he took a closer look at the door caused another wave of sickness to arise from his stomach, making the colt turn his head away and retch with tears in his eyes.

"...oh." he heard the slightly saddened voice of his mother coming from behind him, "Nothing we can do for this one."

Nova gasped for air, a small sob escaping his throat. "W-why ... why would somepony..." he had to interrupt himself as the sight of the pony in the door caused him to dry heave again. It was -or better used to be- a light brown stallion. His body was malnourished; worn out from weeks of abuse. His face was petrified, showing the stallion's last expression before he had died from his injuries - a grimace, contorted to a silent scream that merely suggested the pain he must have been feeling in his final minutes. His two forelegs were broken, concluding from the twisted angle in which they were facing away from each other; his body showed several deep cuts and bruises, while his legs ... Nova felt tears welling up in his eyes yet again as he looked at the two bloody stumps. From what it looked like, the poor stallion's legs had been sown clean off, just above his heel. Concluding from the trail of dried blood behind him, whoever had mauled him like this had given him the chance to escape his horrible fate - something he had tried, but failed rather tragically.

Nova whimpered silently, pressing himself against his mother who had stopped next to him and hugging her foreleg tightly.

"See?" His mother replied softly, pulling her son into a hug, "This is what raiders do. This is why they need to be stopped."

"W-why?" he cried into his mother's shoulder, "Why do ponies do this?"

"They're raiders." His mother replied soberly, "They don't know anything else. You can't negotiate with them, you can't even talk to them. All you can do is shoot them before they shoot you."

"B-But there's got to be a different way!" Nova sobbed.

"There isn't." she replied briefly, "I've tried before, but it's to no use." Before Nova could reply, she broke the hug, placing her forelegs on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, "Now, I know this must be unsettling for you, but you want to be a hero, right?"

Nova hesitated, looking to the side, "I ... uhm, maybe?"

"Then come on, lead the way." His mother said, giving him a soft tap on the shoulder.

The two ponies' venture into the darkness went on for a few moments, leading them through an awe-inspiring entrance-hall and up a short set of stairs before the tunnel-like hallway in front of them parted - a set of signposts located right in the middle of the intersection might have provided some directions some time ago, but it seemed the last couple of years had rendered the yellow-ish signs completely unreadable, leaving them scratched, sprayed-over with graffiti, and ... sweet Celestia, Nova hoped this was just strawberry marmelade splotched all over the wall.

A shiver ran through his body, and he forced himself to turn his head away, instead looking behind himself and back into the entrance hall where his mother had turned around and was looking at the opened stable door with a somewhat wistful look on her face, a barely audible sigh escaping her lips as she let her gaze wander over the devastated hall.

If things had been different, Nova might have wondered what his mother must have been thinking - what thoughts must be running through her mind now that she had returned to her home after so many years, and how much it must hurt her to see it devastated like this.

However, given the current circumstances, all he felt was sickness, discomfort and disappointment.

He had often pictured this day in his mind - the day his mother would finally take him back to where it all began and show him this place he had heard so many stories about. He had imagined Stable Two as a literal treasure chest - a long-abandoned place filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of artifacts and memories. He had imagined his mother accompanying him through the deserted halls, telling him interesting stories about life in a stable, about her foalhood, and the day of Velvet Remedy's great escape.

But the further the two ventured into the vault, the more it dawned upon Nova that this day would be nothing like he had imagined it.

"Sorry, got a little carried away there." The voice of his mother interrupted Nova's thoughts as she turned away from the entrance door to face him again, "Come on, let's go."

The colt could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at the mare in the stable suit - he didn't want all this! He wanted to ask her to call this whole thing off; to have uncle Calamity pick them up and bring them back home, so that he would never have to think of this horrible place again, but something ... something in his mother's look caused him to stop.

He couldn't tell what it was, but somehow it told him that there was no way he could talk himself out of this; not this time. She would do this, and he would come with her. He loved his mother. He looked up to her; admired her for everything she had done, and if she was so determined to see this through, he couldn't just back off. He just ... couldn't.

So it happened that he forced himself to swallow that big lump of tears that had formed in his throat and turned around again, looking at the fork ahead of him and reluctantly asking, "W-which way do we go, mom?"

His mother's answer seemed to drain each and every kind of motivation that was left in his body, and Nova could feel the desire to cry rising up inside him all over again as she just shrugged innocently and said, "Why don't you decide? You're the wasteland hero, after all."

Nova sighed deeply, casting a begging look at his mother. A look that managed to sum up just how terrible he felt, and how badly he wished for this ordeal to be over.

But his mother seemed completely oblivious to it. The only sort of reply Nova received was an encouraging grin and a light nod of her head.

Feeling his skin creep, he turned back again, and instead looked at the weathered signposts. Leaning forward and narrowing his eyes, he could see that the way to his left would lead him to 'Mai...nance' and 'Clin...', while on his right he would find the 'Over... office' as well as the ... it seemed somebody had used black spray paint to turn 'Atrium' into 'Asstrium' - hadn't it been for his current situation, Nova was sure he would be rolling on the floor laughing about this.

He took a few seconds to look at all the signposts, then cast a questioning look at his mother who -to his very disappointment- just replied with another encouraging smile, before asking, "Umm ... I guess that," he pointed a hoof at the top left signpost, "means 'maintenance', right?"

"Mm-hmm." His mother replied curtly, either unwilling or unable to give him more information.

"A-and ... didn't you work there too?" Nova questioned hesitantly.

"I did, yeah." She replied casually.

"So ... shall we head there first?" Nova continued to ask insecurely.

Once again his mother shrugged, replying with not more than an encouraging, "You're the leader."

And once again, Nova could only let out a helpless sigh at the wrong-ness of this whole situation.

However, keeping in mind that there still was somepony being held captive somewhere in this Stable, Nova decided to delay the thinking-part to later on, shook his head, turned to the left, and reluctantly ventured deeper into the darkness of his mother's old home.