Fallout Equestria - Burning Skies

Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to get to the good ending. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that the bandages had been removed. The second was the soft mattress I was lying on. With a groan I sat up, looking around in the room I was in. It looked like the interior of one of the houses the village consisted of. The dead buck’s rifle leaned right next to the door. Had this been his home, his bed? Suddenly I felt bad for not saving him. But why? It wasn’t that I owed him in any way. He was just a ground pony. I had no responsibilities towards the surface. I tested my wings and nodded. That would work. Looking around some more, I noticed some clothes on a makeshift table under a window that actually still had glass in it. I slipped into them, noticing they fit me perfectly. Somepony even had thought of holes for my wings. Grabbing the rifle and slinging it on my back, I stepped out of the door, where Watch already sat.

“Good morning”, he greeted me with a broad smile. He seemed rather unscathed by yesterday’s events. I yawned and looked at him.

“Did I miss anything or why are you so happy? You have been attacked! One of your friends is dead!”, I asked in utter confusion. But on the other hoof, I was thrown out of the sky a few days ago and had survived, why was I even surprised by anything anymore? With a sigh, I stretched my wings a bit. “So, did you already find anything?” I really wanted to get home. If that was the average day on the surface, I wouldn’t stay any longer than necessary.

To my surprise, the answer he gave me was, “Yeah, there were several scout units spotted near Flankfurt. I have no idea what they are looking for, but does it matter? Maybe they can help you.”

I nodded and smiled. It felt more natural than the last time. How could it be possible that I was happier down here than I ever was at home? Well, no time to think about this.

“How far is this… Flankfurt from here?”, I asked, determined to return home as fast as possible. Sure, Watch seemed to be really nice, but that wasn’t home. I had to return. Maybe Mom wasn’t completely wrong about the surface. There were some good ponies down here. But then again, why should the government remain silent about these? Where they maybe just acting to make me feel safe, just to rob me when they got the chance? I shuddered a little at that thought.

“What’s wrong?”, Watch asked me, obviously concerned. No, there was no way that was an act. It appeared much to genuine. I knew a liar if I saw one, at least I thought so. With a smile, I shook my head.

“It’s nothing, really”, I answered, “I was just feeling cold for a second.” Then I sat next to him. “But I’m hungry! I could eat a whole tree right now”, I added afterwards.

With a laugh, he got to his hooves. “Wait a second”, he answered, “I will get us something.” With that, he trotted to the biggest building of the village, which looked like a former restaurant or something like that. But there were no other buildings around that looked older than a few years. Why would anypony build a restaurant in the middle of nowhere? Then I turned around to see what once may have been a bustling city in the valley below. So that was why. The view. Even after two centuries of neglect and scavenging, it was still breathtaking. I could see vast factories, large suburbs and, in the center, dozens of crumbling skyscrapers. And was that…? It had to be. One of the SPP towers stood right in the middle of the town. Maybe if I could get to it, there’d be a possibility to communicate with Neighvarro? With a grin, I nodded. That sounded like a plan. I was so caught by the view that I didn’t notice Watch’s return.

“Hey, you alright? Sure, Flankfurt is cool, but not that cool”, he stated calmly. Then he set two cans next to me. I took one and opened it. It smelled similar to the other one, but obviously was something else. I tried its contents. Not as sweet, but tasty nonetheless. Watch sat next to me, absently munching on his food.

“I need to get to that tower”, I told him. “Maybe there’s a way to reach my family. Or at least somepony up there.” I looked at the Tower, stabbing through the clouds like a sleek black spear. From up here, it looked little broader than my rear leg, but I knew it was several meters in diameter, just as all the others scattered around all of Equestria. With the exception of Shadowbolt Tower, of course.

Watch seemed to consider some options, then he nodded. “I can get you there”, he replied, “But it won’t be easy. There are scavengers all over the ruins, and even the Steel Rangers have a camp somewhere down there. And there’s no way you wanna cross the Steel Rangers. All they’re interested in is hoarding pre-war tech. Most of it they don’t even use. They just collect everything they could get their hooves on.” He trembled slightly. Seems that not all of the stories that were told in the Enclave were that far from the truth…

About an hour later, Watch and I got back to his vehicle. We had visited his father, who had told him to keep me safe and me to keep the rifle. His mother, the mare who had talked to me the other day, gave me my uniform which she hadn’t only repaired, but also enhanced with some armored plates below the fabric and lots of pockets. I had used these to store all the ammo I had found for the rifle, accompanied by some healing potions she had given me. Prepared in this way, I felt confident that we would make it to the tower without any issues. I was more worried about taking another ride on this monstrosity.

“Maybe we’ll rather walk”, I suggested. Hopefully he’d comply. Of course he didn’t. And why should he? By hoof it’d take the whole day to reach the outskirts of the ruins. With a sigh, I made another suggestion. “Then how about you remove the Engine and I pull it? These chariots were primarily constructed for pegasi and I’m sure I can lift it, if the weight talisman isn’t broken. It isn’t, is it?”

Of course it was. After another horrid trip on this tartarus-damned vehicle, I stumbled to the floor, my head spinning. Ridiculous, an Enclave pegasus who doesn’t react well to high speeds. To my defense I had to say that it drove faster than I could fly. I never thought I’d be happy to touch the ground. But at least we had reached one of the suburbs surrounding the town. After covering the chariot with some dead bushes, Watch and I proceeded in the general direction of the city’s center. I had the rifle gripped with my left wing, as I had been trained for cases where a battle saddle was either not available or not necessary. Carefully, we trotted between ruined buildings, some shattered by demolished skywagons. It was eerily silent, not even a breeze was moving. But then we heard something. Was that music? It had to be, but it sounded completely different than what the Enclave broadcasted at home. It was somehow melancholic, but also sparked some hope in me. I listened closer, just to hear the voice of a singing mare, clear like a bell. I involuntarily started smiling. Slowly, I crouched to where the music seemed to originate.

“Wait!”, Watch whispered and put a hoof on my shoulder, “It’s either a trap or scavengers. Anyways, it’s not a good idea to go there.” I nodded to signal that I had understood, but still crawled to the edge of a clearing in the rubble. There, I saw three Ponies in armor made of… leather? What the heck? The armor seemed in good repair, as did the weapons the ponies carried. One of them, a rather nimble unicorn mare, levitated a familiar looking gun next to her. Where’d she find a coilgun? I thought Enclave had invented them after the cloud curtain had been sealed. Anyways, it obviously had been looted somewhere, what meant, she’d stolen it, most likely from an Enclave pony. So there was no harm in taking back what was more righteously mine than hers, right? I changed a look with Watch and crawled back a few steps.

“What do you say. What are the odds we can get them?”, i muttered as quiet as possible. He thought a few moments, peeking around the corner. Good thing his fur was so unobtrusive. I had been lucky that the black cap of my uniform covered my blue fur and my slightly more greenish mane.

“If you can take out the mare with one shot, it’s two against two. The other ones are sitting and first have to get up, so we’d have an advantage over them. Plus, they both are earth ponies, so they have to aim manually and turn their heads to where they shoot.” I nodded. That was the same conclusion that I had come to. But the weapons of the two earth pony bucks startled me. One carried a heavy shotgun and the other one… How’d he even lift that thing? It was a gatling gun, if I have ever seen one. on the plus side, I had read that these weapons need about a second to spin up before the first bullet is fired. Maybe we really had a chance. I silently pulled the rifle from my back and rested it on a fallen over trashcan. Carefully aiming, I nodded towards Watch, who pulled a scratched SMG. With my wing, I counted down from three, before I pulled the trigger. The mare instantly went down, the coilgun toppling to the floor. The others jumped to their hooves, just to get chewed up from a barrage of 10mm bullets from Watch. I aimed at the one with the minigun and managed to hit the engine, which gave a cloud of steam and jammed. Cursing, he dropped the gun and charged right at me. I was ready, shooting right through his muzzle at point blank range. The last one had meanwhile been dropped by Watch. With a Nod, I got to my hooves and trotted to the dropped coilgun, examining it closely. It was in mediocre condition. With a smile, I searched the mare’s body for some cartridges fitting the gun. I found about twenty. I smiled, but then remembered that coilguns needed two cartridges per shot. Well, still better than nothing. I stood up, holstering both the rifle and the coilgun, just to see Watch wiggling into one of the armors.

“Are you crazy? That’s leather! You know, like dead things’ SKIN!”, I exclaimed, shocked by his coldness.

“So?”, he just asked, “It’s dead either way,and he doesn’t need it, so why not use it?” I hated to admit it, but he had a point. Still there was no way he’d get me into one of these armors. I’d keep to my uniform. Without a word, I continued searching the saddlebags of the three ponies for ammo and healing potions. Watch seemed to take interest in the minigun one of the bucks had wielded. I rolled my eyes, but kept saying nothing. There was no way he’d be able to use it, even if he got it repaired.

“Looks like we need to get back to the chariot”, he told me. What for? Did he have some storage there? I just shrugged and we trotted back to the vehicle. back there he sat down the huge weapon, then took out some tools and told me to keep looking out for enemies who might have heard the shots. I nodded and with a few beats of my wings landed on the roof of the house we had hidden the chariot behind. I used the time to disassemble and clean the coilgun, carefully polishing every part. The familiar task calmed me, enabling me to think of what I would do once we’d have reached the SPP tower. How’d I explain what had happened? Would they believe me? And what would prevent the twins from getting rid of me again? I shook my head. They would believe me. What proof did they have for me having actually entered the ruins? None, because I hadn’t! I was sure, anything would become clear once I got to talk to somepony.

I still hadn’t spotted anyone and reassembled the gun when Watch told me I could come back. I effortlessly jumped back to the ground and looked at him. No ridiculously oversized weapon. What had he done with it? Then I turned around and froze. He had actually mounted it on the chariot. And it looked like it actually belonged there! How’d he make this? Well, it definitely wasn’t a bad idea to have some firepower at disposal, right? I nodded approvingly and helped him to once again cover it. Then we again made our way back to the center of the ruined town.

Nothing had crossed our path except some mutated cockroaches, when we finally reached the industrial part of the city. The houses were replaced by large factories and storage halls. Most of the locks were either picked or forced open, while some of the more elaborate ones were unharmed yet. I approached one of the latter and examined it closely. With enough time and some equipment I could maybe get it open. I turned to Watch and asked him for a screwdriver and some lockpicks. Instead, he gave me a pack of… bobby pins? Well, they had to suffice. Carefully I went to work, the screwdriver in one wing and one of the bobby pins in the other. I twisted the pin, listening for some clicking inside the lock, sometimes slightly turning the screwdriver. With a snap, the first bobby pin broke. I cursed quietly and reached out for another one. I was already close, I knew it. With the third I finally heard the satisfying click I had waited for. I opened the door and found myself in a dusty, but largely unharmed office. After pocketing the remaining bobby pins and returning the screwdriver, I sneaked inside. It seemed to have been a factory for armored clothing and combat armor. I grinned. That was more like it. With a wing I motioned Watch to follow me…

...just to immediately reel back as a ceiling-mounted turret opened fire. I jumped to the air and fired the rifle at it, but the bullet ricocheted from the armored machine without even leaving a dent. Groaning, I dodged another beam while shouldering the rifle and drawing the coilgun. That’d definitely suffice. But now the turret aimed at me and I was too close to dodge another shot. So I took the risk and dropped to the ground. My joints popped, but I made it without broken bones. As fast as I could I raised the gun and aimed at the turret. The shot teared up not only the armored casing, but also the ceiling above. I had to jump back to avoid the falling debris. Then I looked at Watch.

“Get in deeper or go on to the center?”, I asked him. I really didn’t mind some delay as I still had to think about what I’d do once we reached the tower. He nodded, so we decided to split up. I’d fly up to the top floor through the new hole in the ceiling while he’d go through the door on the right. I took off and hovered through the hole. It was barely large enough, but I managed to get through. I found myself in what looked like a storage chamber. I quickly went through several crates and found some ammo for my rifle. Some of the magazines had colored stripes on them, but I had no idea what they meant, so I just pocketed them and went on. The next one contained, and I almost squealed in joy at that sight, a large container of cartridges that would fit the coilgun. I really didn’t think about that, of course an armor factory needed some defenses. Maybe these were originally for the turrets. The Turrets! Did Watch have anything to deal with them if he was to encounter more? I dove through the hole back to the ground floor and gallopped through the door…

...just to find him sitting on a steaming turret, calmly picking out the valuable parts. I blinked in surprise and sat flatly on my rump. He was incredible! How’d he manage to turn it off?

I stammered. “Wha… how?” Not really elaborate, but he seemed to understand and just pulled out a grenade with a blue tape around the middle.

“Spark grenade”, he replied shortly, grinning. I just stared at him in awe, before something dawned on me.

“Why didn’t you use that on the first one?”, I asked. That’d have saved us quite some trouble and we’d probably encountered the storage where I found the ammo anyways. Then I shook my head, adding “Nevermind”, before I got out the three coloured magazines with rifle ammo. One was taped in red and the other one in green. He looked at them and smiled.

“The green one contains hollow point ammo. Huge damage against flesh and skin, but useless against armor. The other one may be either incendiary or even explosive rounds, I’m not sure.” I grinned and put the magazines in a separate pocket. They’d come in handy later, I was sure. Then I turned back to him and raised a brow.

“Maybe it was not a good idea to split up. Let’s continue together, okay?”, I asked him, partly relieved to see him nod. He jumped from the wrecked frame and took out his SMG, which he loaded with a yellow taped magazine. I raised a brow and asked “Armor-piercing?” He nodded again, smiling.

“You’re a quick learner, aren’t you?”, he replied. I guessed I was. So I pushed the next door open with my wing, finding myself in a corridor, leading to an armored door that spanned the whole width of the hallway. Somehow I didn’t want to get near to whatever was behind it. I looked at Watch uncomfortably.

“Maybe we take another way?”, I suggested. He looked at me in surprise.

“Why?”, he asked, “Are you afraid of doors?” I shook my head and looked at the door.

“No, but something about this feels off. I can’t put my hoof on it, but I doubt we’d make it through to the door.” Let’s take the other door. But then the world collapsed, or at least the corridor did. About a dozen Sentry Bots rolled out of niches in the walls. I knew these, because the Enclave utilised similar ones. I took out the coilgun and loaded two fresh energy cartridges into the chamber. Then I aimed at the nearest bot and pulled the trigger. The shot, ionised through the sheer speed, pierced through two of the bots and penetrated a third one, rendering its gatling laser useless. Instead of reloading, I holstered the coilgun and drew the rifle, loading the red magazine. I aimed at the already damaged bot and shot.

The bullet just cut into the electronics, causing a little flame. So it was incendiary ammo, not explosive. I backed out to provide a clear shot for Watch. The armor piercing round proved way more valuable than then incendiary one, despite the smaller caliber. He in fact managed to take down two more of the bots while I searched his bags for another spark grenade, which I threw at the remaining ones. It gave an electrically blue flash, and the remaining Sentries fell silent. I took a deep breath.

“See? Told you!”, I said, despite a small grin on my face, doubtlessly from the adrenaline rush. I carefully trotted to the smoking robots, searching for more cartridges, but the ones the Sentries used weren’t compatible with the coilgun. I still pocketed them, just in case. Maybe we’d find a gun that could use them. And I already got the notion that a pony couldn’t have too much ammo. We continued through the corridor, just to find that the grenade had also roasted the door controls. Dead end. With a sigh, I looked at Watch.

“So, what now?”, I asked, which he answered with a shrug. So we made our way back out of the factory. Outside, we found the sky already darkening and decided to spend the night in one of the abandoned houses. I picked the lock and let him in before I followed him inside. Thankfully, there weren’t any remains of dead ponies. Watch volunteered to take the first watch, so I laid down on the dusty bed and soon fell asleep.

Lockpicking increased to 80