Fallout: Equestria - My Mother the Heroine

Nova was trembling - shivering from head to toe as he carefully set one hoof in front of the other. The inside of the stable didn't look much better than its entrance: obscene writings and dirt were adorning the walls - and these were only the things Nova dared to look at. The rest of the ... decorations ... another shiver ran through the colt's body ... strawberry marmalade and ... things that looked like dead, disemboweled bodies hung from the ceiling, but actually were ... something totally harmless like ... models! Yes! Mannequins like those they were using in Biology class in Tenpony Tower!

Surprisingly lifelike mannequins and lots of strawberry marmalade - just what one would expect to find in a raider-infested stable, right?

Nova's insides seemed to disagree, as they continued to squirm and churn, causing the colt to stop and dry heave every time he would pass by one of these ... decorations.

However, what surprised him was the lack of living ponies. Aside from the gruesome decorations, the only ponies he had seen were two unicorns that had been laying spread out on the floor shortly behind the fork.

Though, just like the two at the stable entrance, these ponies -albeit being armed with two heavy-looking shotguns- didn't seem to pose a threat; at least concluding from the two bloody holes in their heads and the big, red puddle they were laying in.

Trying not to look too closely at the dead bodies, Nova had given them a wide berth -which had turned out to be quite the challenge, considering that it had been in a narrow stable-hallway- and once again told himself that these were just two mannequins laying in a puddle of strawberry marmalade or ketchup or ... something. He just tried to not think too much about it.

"Hey! Hey, is anyone there!?"

Nova stopped dead in his tracks at the top end of a flight of stairs as he heard the shout. It sounded hoarse; exhausted, but at the same time cautious, and with a touch of hope in it. He looked behind himself where his mother was catching up with him, ears perked up and look directed at him - not exactly what he had been hoping for.

"I-I'm down here! Help me!"

"S-should we..." Nova asked with a hesitating look, "Go down there?"

Once again, all his mother did was shrug innocently as she curtly replied, "You decide - you're the leader."

Nova sighed, giving his mother another begging look which he hoped would let her know how much he did not want to be the leader -or do any of this, for that matter- but then shook his head and turned around as the mysterious pony shouted for him once again.

With slow, shaky steps, Nova walked down the darkened set of stairs - the stable's weak emergency lightning wasn't necessarily a floodlight, and he had yet to receive a replica Pipbuck, so for now all he had was the flickering, weak lightbulbs that were fixed on the wall next to him to see where he was heading.

The stairs led him around a corner, then around another one until finally he found himself in a dimly-lit, narrow room. The variation of tools that lay spread-out across the floor, as well as two deserted workbenches on the walls led to the assumption that Nova had arrived in one of the stable's maintenance rooms. However, in this moment he didn't exactly have eyes for details like this, as his eyes were locked with those of the pony in front of him.

Another dirty, unkempt mare - another bloody hole in the side of her head - another red puddle of blood and brain matter - another fresh, dead body. Looking at her assault rifle leaning against the wall next to where she was laying, she probably hadn't even seen the attack coming.

Feeling tears well up in his eyes once again, Nova shook his head and quickly looked away. How could somepony do this? How could they just ... murder somepony in cold blood? Sure, she probably was a raider, but ... still!

"Over here!" The shout interrupted Nova's thoughts and he forced himself to think straight for once, remembering why his mother had brought him here in the first place.

Carefully, he walked through a door that divided the room he was in from a separate backroom which, based on the two hammock-like beds on either side, was the bedroom of whoever used to be working here when the stable had been still in use.

Nova stepped into the room, and his eyes widened.

It weren't the sticky, red splotches all across the floor that made him freeze in shock, neither was it the retch-inducing stench -a seemingly perfect mixture of blood, fear and feces- that filled the room like a cloud of toxic gas.

No, it was what presented itself to him that made him lose his rather short-lived composure and let Little Macintosh drop to the floor with a loud clank.

There, in a corner of the room, right next to a set of two beds, chained to the wall was ... something. It took him a few moments to identify the ... being as a pony. A stallion, it seemed, though barely recognizable as such.

Most of his fur had probably once been pearly white, but was now missing, either shed or ripped out or ... burned away or...

His body was -to put it lightly- malnourished. What was left of his belly was filled with scars and wounds of all sorts, and Nova could clearly see his ribcage which -now that he looked closer at it- also seemed to include a few broken ribs.

His legs weren't much better off - his forelegs were tied to the wall with thick, rusty shackles and a big padlock, while his rear legs ... well, his rear leg, since his left leg was nothing more than a bandaged stump about half the length of a normal leg, were laying loosely on the ground in front of him, either broken or simply too weak to carry the buck's weight.

His ... eye -his left eye was covered by a dirty bandage, so only his right eye was visible- widened as he spotted the colt walking through the door, and he shook his shackled forelegs as if to shake himself free as he shouted, "Hey, you! Little one! Tie me loose!"

Nova stared at the stallion with wide eyes, remaining silent for a few seconds before stuttering, "A-are you the ... the prisoner?"

"Kid, I'll be Princess fucking Celestia for you if you free me!" the stallion barked at him, once again shaking his bound forelegs, "All the guards are dead! I'm gonna starve if you leave me here!"

"I ... um ... okay." Nova muttered as he hesitantly took a step forward, "M-mom?" he asked with a look over his shoulder, but noticed with horror that the gray unicorn was no longer with him, "Mom!?"

"What are you waiting for!?" the stallion asked impatiently, "God knows who else might turn up!"

"I ... let me just..." Nova tried to excuse himself, frantically looking around the room and searching for his mother, "M-my mom, she's ... she was..."

"Come on!" the tortured stallion half-shouted, half-begged the desperate colt, "Free me and I'll help you search for your mom!"

That brought Nova's movements to a sudden halt. Looking at the stallion with new hope his eyes, he asked, "R-really?"

The prisoner hastily nodded his head. "Yes, now come on!" he shouted with his one eye wide in despair, "There's a few bobby pins and a screwdriver on the workbench in the room behind you! Hurry up!"

Hesitantly, yet facing a severe lack of alternatives, Nova turned around and hurried back into the first room. Indeed, aside from a bunch of single parts that looked like they belonged to his mother's Pipuck, Nova also found three bobby pins and a rusty screwdriver laying on one of the workbenches. Feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins, he then hurried back into the back room where the stallion was gazing at him impatiently, carrying the tools in his mouth.

"And you'll really help me look for my mom when I free you?" Nova asked as he meekly walked over to the stallion's shackles and carefully inserted the -unsurprisingly unpalatable- screwdriver into the slightly rusty lock - just like his mother had shown him a few months ago.

Once again, the stallion nodded impatiently. "Sure." He assured Nova confidently," Just set me free and-"

*click*

Nova felt a wave of disillusionment hit him as he looked at the broken bobby pin that loosely hung in the still tightly sealed lock.

"Come on kid, it's not that hard!" the stallion snarled at him.

"I-I know!" Nova whined as he grabbed another bobby pin and inserted it into the lock, "It's just ... my mom could just open this with her magic and-"

"But your mom isn't here!" the stallion once again reminded him harshly, "And if you want to find her, you better untie me, or-"

*click*

"God Fucking Damnit, kiddo!" The stallion's smelly breath brought tears into Nova's eyes as the next bobby pin broke.

"I'm trying!" Nova tried to justify himself as he grabbed the third and last bobby pin, "I've never tried to open a lock this hard before!"

"Then just try harder!" the prisoner shouted at Nova, "And you better not mess this up, or else I'm gonna-"

He silenced abruptly as another, much more satisfying click came from the lock, and with a loud clank the shackles fell off the wall, causing his weak forelegs to drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

The two ponies exchanged unbelieving looks for a second, until the prisoner looked at his now untied shackles, and cackled, "Heh, you actually did it. Thanks kiddo."

"You're welcome." Nova said with a warm smile as he too realized his achievement, "Now you're going to help me look for my mom, right?"

The stallion smirked as he slowly got to his hooves with a long groan. "Sure kid." He said as he was back on all of his three hooves. He placed a hoof on Nova's shoulder, "How 'bout you start looking right over there!" And with that, he gave Nova a powerful shove, sending him sliding into a corner of the room and took off at a speed Nova never thought him capable of.

"Hey!" Nova shouted in dismay as he realized what was happening, "You promised!"

"Sorry kid." The stallion shouted over his shoulder as he passed the first door, "But we all gottaaaargh-"

The fugitive was cut off mid-sentence as an aura of green magic had formed around his hooves and caused him to fall over and slump right onto his mutilated face.

"Where do you think you're going!?" The sharp question came from a thankfully familiar voice, and Nova could feel a severe weight falling off his mind as he saw his mother slowly coming walking from the set of stairs that marked the room's entrance.

Letting out a long groan, the buck lifted and shook his head before turning around to face the pony who had stopped him. His eyes widened in horror. "Y-you..." he gasped breathlessly; his weak body began to shake ever so slightly.

"This brave colt here has freed you from your torment, and this is how you thank him!?" Littlepip asked sharply, pointing a hoof at Nova who was still standing in the corner and staring at the two ponies like petrified, "By running away!?"

"I ... I..." the stallion panted, not looking away from the mare looming over him like a predator about to strike, "I'm sorry!" he finally forced out with wide eyes, "I didn't know that ... he ... you ... I ... please don't kill me!" he finally shouted with tears in his eyes.

Littlepip stared at him with narrow eyes for a few moments, then the thinnest of smiles formed on her face. "Don't worry. We're the good guys." she said calmly.

"I-if you say so." the stallion rasped hastily, "S-so ... you'll let me go ... right?"

"Sure." Littlepip replied curtly, and the stallion promptly tried to jump up, but realized somewhat disillusioned that the magic field around his legs had not yet vanished. "Just tell us where the raiders' leader is so we can bring him to justice." Littlepip added calmly.

The prisoner gazed at his captor with wide, unbelieving eyes. "Why ... you..." he stuttered unbelievingly, "You know where their leader is! For god's sake, you kil-"

He was shut up by a gray hoof placed firmly on his battered mouth. "Where. Is. Their. Leader?" Littlepip repeated herself with clenched teeth, not breaking eye contact with the white stallion.

"He ... he's in the atrium!" he gasped fearfully, "All of them are! Please ... please don't kill me!"

Once again, Littlepip gave him the thinnest of smiles, yet her eyes remained narrowed. "Don't worry. I told you we were the good guys, didn't I?"

"Y-yes! Yes, of course ... ma'am! I'd never question that!" the stallion hastily affirmed with wide eyes, "But now you'll let me go ... right?"

"Of course." Littlepip said, still with that cold smile on her face. However, another attempt to get up from the stallion came to nothing once again as the magic field around his hooves still hadn't vanished, "But ... don't you want to thank your savior first?" Littlepip added with a look at Nova who slowly, hesitantly, came walking towards the two, "After all, you would have probably died if he hadn't come for you."

The prisoner blankly stared at the colt for a few seconds before forcing out a laugh and saying, "Y-yes ... yes, of course ... buddy. Sorry for ... running away and all. Here." He shook his head, and from one of the few bushels that were left of his mane fell a small yellow box which the stallion promptly picked up with his mouth and threw into the direction of Nova, causing it to slide over the floor and come to a halt right in front of the colt's hooves, "They've helped me through the past weeks, but I guess you can have them. As a sign of my ... appreciation."

"Huh?" Nova asked as he looked at the small package and curiously picked it up with his hoof, "Party Time Mint-als? What's that?"

He was cut off as an aura of green magic formed around the box in his hooves and tore it away, throwing it into a corner of the room and out of Nova's sight.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Littlepip snapped at the stallion, her teeth clenched in anger, "Giving my son drugs!? I should tie you up and leave you to rot here, you damned piece of-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The stallion shouted, cowering in front of the angry mare like a frightened foal, "That's all I have with me! I ... I can give you more once I'm back in Ponyville, but right now I..." He looked up at Littlepip with tears in his fearful eyes, "P-please! Please let me go! I can't stand being here any longer! The ... the things they did to me, I ... I can't..." he cut himself off, breaking into muffled sobs and lowering his head.

The unicorn mare just looked at him silently for the longest time, but then left out a soft sigh and released him from her magical grip.

Without hesitating, the stallion jumped up, looked at the two ponies with wet eyes, and then said, "T-thank you! I ... I ... I gotta go."

And without another word, he ran off, and was gone within seconds.

The two ponies silently looked after him for a few moments, none of them seeming to know what to say.

"Mom?" Nova finally spoke up, looking at his mother who was still looking into the direction of the exit.

"Y-yes?" she asked and turned around. Nova could have sworn he saw a tear somewhere in her eyes, but before he could look any closer she quickly shook her head and repeated herself, "Yes, dear?"

"Why ... why was that stallion so terrified of you?" Nova asked as he slowly walked over to his mother, and sat down next to her. "Do you know each other?"

His mother took an uncomfortably long amount of time before she replied. "No. No, why should we?"

"I ... don't know." Nova admitted, a shudder running through his body, "I mean, he seemed to recognize you, and he was ... so afraid and..."

"Hey," His mother interrupted him as she comfortingly put a hoof around him, "Yes, he was terrified, but think about what these ... these monsters put him through." She turned around, pointing a hoof at the wall where the prisoner used be tied up - aside from a wide variety of stains, it also appeared to have several small holes and scratches in it - Nova could only guess what had caused these.

"Raiders are unpredictable when it comes to these things." His mother explained him bitterly, "They use their prisoners as their personal punching bags, sex toys, stress reliefs, targets for shooting practice, just about anything you can think of. So it was no surprise that he was acting this horrified, even though he knew that we were saving him."

Nova couldn't quite understand that. The stallion had, after all, been far from horrified when he had been alone with Nova, but considering that his mother had never been wrong with what she had told him before, he decided to just leave it at that and said, "Alright, mom. ... If you say so."

"I do." she assured him with a warm smile, then took her hoof off his shoulder and said, "Come on, let's finish this."

"You mean ... we're going home?" Nova asked with new excitement, and jumped back to his hooves, "Back to Mommy and Auntie Velvet?"

"No." His Mother's reply was just as brief as it was disappointing for Nova - in an instant, he could feel the smile slip from his face and his shoulders sink.

"Hey, don't look at me like that." his mother said, cracking a thin smile, "There's still work to be done."

"Wha- what do you mean?" Nova asked meekly, not making an effort to hide his lack of excitement about the extended trip into the stable.

"Don't you want to get the leader of this pack?" she explained him matter-of-factly, "Face the pony who's responsible for all this and bring him to justice?"

"No!" the little pony inside Nova's head seemed to shout, telling him how wrong all this was; begging him to put an end to all this and just leave, regardless of what his mother might think of him.

And yet, all Nova could bring out was a whimpered, "I-I'm not sure about this, mom. I mean ... what if they're dangerous?"

"Pff," She put him off with a flick of her hoof, "You've just marched into a stable full of raiders and freed a prisoner - all by yourself. There's nothing you need to be afraid of." she assured him with a wink.

"But everypony we saw is dead!" Nova shouted back, "What if ... what if whoever killed them all is still down there!?"

"Nova." his mother cut him off, looking him in the eyes, "There is nothing to be afraid of, trust me." she assured him with a determined look, "I am with you, and as long as we're together, nothing will happen to you, you hear?"

Nova sighed, looking to the side and breaking the eye contact with his mother. "Can't I just go home and leave the whole 'justice'-thing to you?" he asked her sullenly.

His mother replied nothing, just looking at her son in silence. Then, slowly, her look left him and wandered around the room they were in. She blinked, turning her head away from the colt and looking at the wall where the prisoner used to be tied up.

For almost a whole minute, she stood there. Not moving, not saying a word, just looking at the neglected, dirty corner and the pair of rusty shackles laying in it. Nova wanted to ask if she was alright, but didn't want to interrupt whatever it was she appeared to be doing.

"Come on." she finally broke the silence, her head still turned away from Nova. Her voice was trembling and barely louder than a whisper, "Let's finish this."

"But I-" Nova wanted to protest, but cut himself off as his eyes met those of his mother. That look was back in her eyes. The same look she had had earlier, only that it felt a hundred times stronger now.

Nova wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed like she was dead-set on revenging what had happened to the white buck. She had probably imagined what he must have gone through while being tied to this wall and now wanted to find and confront the ponies responsible. Why she suddenly felt so sympathetic to a complete stranger; a pony she had cursed no five minutes ago was unclear to Nova, but what he knew was that she wanted justice - and that she was expecting him to help her achieve just that.

And really, who was he to say no? All his life he had wanted to be a wasteland hero, and as much as he didn't want to spend one second longer than necessary in this hellhole, he couldn't shake off this feeling that he would regret it all his life if he would leave now and pass up on this opportunity.

So Nova gave another long sigh, lowered his head and reluctantly said, "Okay mom. If you say so."

"That's my boy." Littlepip said, and a weak smile appeared back on her face as she turned her head towards him. "Come on, the atrium isn't far away. Do you want me to lead the way?"

Nova looked up at the unicorn, then slowly shook his head and said, "No, mom. I'll go ahead."

"Alright." His mother said with a pleased smile, "And don't forget your gun." she added as her magic picked up Little Macintosh from where Nova had dropped it minutes ago and floated it over to him.

"No mom." Nova replied as he bit down on the gun's mouthpiece, "Thanks ... mom."