Chapter Three- The path starts
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Fallout Equestria: Pathway's End

Chapter Three- The path starts

The day began like any other, with the sun rising above the cloud cover, what did I care if the monsters or ponies below never saw the sun, wasn’t my problem and besides today was a special day. Today I would be competing in my first rifle competition, I wasn’t looking forward to it but you do what you have to do. I sat at the back of the changing rooms cleaning my rifle, if there was one thing I liked to do, it was clean my rifle, I hated firing it but cleaning it was such a delicate task, I couldn’t help the enjoyment I got out of it and finally the cleaning was done. My rifle would at least shine, I may have called it a rusting a corpse but in the end, it was a well maintained rusty corpse and in truth there wasn’t an inch of rust on it.

I should probably mention my home, though why is a good question, it was like anyone else’s home, it was a cloud house with what we needed, the town we lived in was a farming community, with some ponies raised to be guards, my family was descended from a pony who’d fought against the Zebras, Bravesteel and he had died trying to save a friend. His wife, Hurricane whisper had set up a home with her father, Heavywing had taught the twin foals Trenchfire and Lightingshot who had taught their foals and so on. I was descended from Trenchfire. Still our family wasn’t high up in the Enclave, we were guard ponies and nothing more. We wore the armour against Griffins but we weren’t frontline material, there were jokes passed in the Enclave we were secretly Earth Ponies with fake wings but Pinpoint was proving otherwise, talented in everything she did and here I was the worst shot in the history of the Enclave.

The competition might as well have been cancelled I was terrible, I was lucky to hit anything, sadly when I did hit something, I hit the commander of the local district in the flank and that got me into a lot of trouble. He spend two hours telling me to keep to my special talent, he only stopped when he noticed the damned mark and then talked about having it changed. Surprise, surprise Pinpoint won the competition, while I was left with a sorehead and a bruised pride. I ended up walking away from the house, where Mum and Dad were telling her, what an amazing pony she was, I walked past other Pegasus ponies walking around and then they began the whispers that I’d tried to shoot the commander in the head but luckily for him, I was a bad shot. Then the word I dreaded came up, dashite that I was destined to be one and that’s when I snapped like a twig.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” I yelled as tears ran down my cheeks “I’m no bucking a Dashite! I’m not, I…I just…can’t aim…” the words were dying on my tongue, I was the worst at everything flying, shooting and then there was that time I tried the armour for the first time….I had crashed it, only surviving by the skins of my hooves. I was a colossal failure, no question and then the ponies around me left me alone. Scope, Sureshot, those were names I was called, they all implied I could shoot but…I wished for any other name, special talent and identity. Little did I know, a few minutes later, I’d get my wish and then some.

I was out by one of the fields, when I saw a massive explosion in the town, I flew as quickly as I could, covering the distance in seconds but what I didn’t get was who?! I landed outside my home and ran in, I saw Pinpoint gasping for air and two piles of ash, that I had to guess had been my parents. The entire town was burning with green fire, I coughed and ran to Pinpoint’s side before holding her in my hooves “Please…hang on…we’ll get you out of here…we’ll get you fixed up” I said and looked around for a medical box or something, Celestia please let there be something, I couldn’t see a damned thing except thick black smoke and green flames, our home was collapsing around us “Who….who did this?!” I asked choking back a sob.

“That….pony in the…with the hor…” Pinpoint coughed out, blood splattering with every word but she couldn’t hold on, her last cough, a shutter and then she was gone. Tears splashed from my eyes, I couldn’t stop shaking, my sister was dead, my family was dead and I would be dead if I didn’t get out of here. Who had done this to me wasn’t obvious but it had to be something that could fly and fire a weapon. I was going to figure out who did this and I was going to make them pay! Whichever bastard of a mule was going to feel my wrath! I gently put Pinpoint’s body down and walked to the back of the building. Where a lone cupboard stood, unharmed and within sat Bravesteel’s power-armour. The armour Bravesteel had made himself to strike fear into Equestria’s enemies and legend spoke of it being just that.

The armour was as modified as it was possible to be, Bravesteel had spent most of his pay modifying it when he’d been alive, also other members of our bloodline had made modifications to it and repaired damage that had been caused by the effects of war. It wasn’t the custom black of normal Enclave power armour, it had a silver finish, with blue highlights on certain parts, with a bright crimson stinger, my father joked that it was crimson from all the zebra blood that coated it’s point and Pinpoint had loved that part. I was more partial to the clawed limbs, battlesaddle with no less than four beautifully designed assault rifles that my grandfather had claimed had never missed, with me I’m sure it would and probably shoot me in the flank. I then pulled down the helmet, it was made to look like a dragon’s head and it was what gave the armour it’s terrifying name, the silver dragon. I pulled on the armour, there was also a rumour in the family after Bravesteel had died in the armour, that once the armour was dawned by one of his decedents, that decedent was in it for the long haul and that death would be the only thing that would separate them from the armour. Which is why with my home collapsing around me, I feared putting on the helmet and then slowly I lowered it on, the armour’s on board equipment began to come to life, this was odd, the armour scanned me, I gulped once but I shouldn’t have worried I was Bravesteel’s descendant, that meant, the armour would accept me and it did. I wasn’t sure of myself as I spread my silver wings and flew straight up before the building could finish collapsing.

Looking around I spotted a griffin? Who looked at me with a sneer before flying below the clouds, where I couldn’t get at him or her, our town hadn’t seen a griffin in the longest time, in fact, that had been the first one I’d seen that hadn’t been in the pages of a book but now it was gone. I tried to think about what I remembered about it, I was drawing blanks but I swore I’d find out who’d send it and put a round through their head.

A day later

“What?! Why not?! I want to go after them?!” I snapped as a Pegasus in a black Enclave uniform, finished her report and said I wasn’t to blame, how kind, that I was going to be assigned to a raptor and I was going to be praised as a hero for chasing off the cowardly attackers. It was a grievous insult, my family had a strict an eye for an eye policy and no damn pencil pushing mare was going to stop me “You can take your Raptor and shove it up your plot! I’m going after that griffin!”

“Wait! If you do that you’ll be branded as a Dashite!” the mare warned me, this caused the other four ponies around me, to move in a little closer and I felt uncomfortable “Your to be restrained for your own good!” she said and the ponies jumped on me…big mistake…I may have sucked at other things but hoof to hoof combat…that was pure heaven for me and I put each one of them to shame but didn’t kill them “Stop! Or I’ll shoot!” the mare had her gun out and I looked at her, she was shaking, the gun was poorly maintained but a scared mare still had a shot…but she was shaking so much.

“hmm and probably shoot yourself” I said with a grin, oh yeah and I was one to talk but in all seriousness this was bad, if I moved in wrong direction she could probably hit me and that’d defiantly put a damper on my day. However the mare lowered her weapon, she gave me the grimmest look I’d ever seen and turned round “What are you…?” I began but the mare simply pointed to the door “Thank you!”

“Yeah, well go and never come back” She said as she then added “Your mother once told me….giving up didn’t suit her little Sureshot, never forget your family was and is proud of you” she then waved a wing at me and I ran from the room but I heard her mumble “Velvetshot, dear sister…I did as you asked….vengeance is on its way” Velvetshot was my mother’s name and that made the mare, my aunt, Silvershot.

Once my power armour was back on, I grabbed some more supplies and then flew out. I took a deep breath and then in a moment I could never forget, I flew beneath the blanket of cloud cover and onto my destiny. I saw things flying high above the land, the land looked ill, as I landed I felt the hard ground under my hooves, it was the weirdest thing I’d ever put my hooves on but then I heard the click of a gun from behind me and gulped, how dumb was I? “Move and your dead, flyboy!” I turned my head just enough to see the pony, who had a horn on her head, her coat was a gentle light blue and her mane the colour of freshly fallen snow. From what little of the weapon I could see, she had a shot gun levitated pointing at my head but I had to admit even with its firepower it’d be lucky to get through my thick armour “Did I say you could look?!”

I quickly turned my head away at that “Sorry, with all due respect, that shotgun won’t be able to get through my armour and when it doesn’t…I’ll be able to rip your throat out” I said coldly, however I really didn’t want to test my theory, in case the Silver Dragon wasn’t as invincible as my grandfather had told me it was and also I didn’t want to hurt a pony who looked as if she was ready to collapse “Lower your weapon….what’s this all about?”

“What do you think?!” the mare snapped as she pushed the weapon closer to my head “I want your caps! All of them, I’ll give you to the count of five!” she then snarled “One!”

“Um, hate to point this out but I don’t have any caps!” I said with a small hiccup in the word caps “I just landed from the Enclave! I’m sorry but you’re out of your league!” okay, so I was bluffing but I had to try something and then she collapsed “Does this mean I don’t have to….” I noticed the weapon on the ground “Did you just threaten me with a pipe!?” it was true, the “shotgun” was just two pipes taped together and the click that I thought I heard was an old battered flip lighter “Well I feel stupid” I looked at the mare, she looked very badly hurt, she also wore a slave collar around her neck and she was sniffing. I put my front right hoof on her neck, the long sharp claws inches from ending her life but I felt sorry for her “Why’d you do this?!” I asked trying to sound kind.

“P…Pl…Please…I thought if I got caps…I could buy my sisters freedom….but…I can’t get any” she mumbled as I kept her pinned “Those slavers….Redeye’s slavers!”

“And who is Redeye?” I asked instantly, I realised something important, this mare had information I could use and soon once I had the information I could let her go “Come on tell me and I’ll let you up” however the mare remained quiet “Oh buck me! Come on, talk and I’ll let you go!”

“Why?! You’re going to use me anyway! I’ll just be your slave instead of Redeye’s slave” the mare moaned under me and then she began to cry “Besides stop pretending you….” But before she could speak four stallions ran up grinning madly “Oh no!”

“There she is! Our little mare slave, hey unless you want to meet with Celestia, I suggest you hand over the mare and back away!” the first stallion a tall brown earth pony ordered as he pointed a small gun at me “Hey, come on, we’ll even give you a few minutes with her and then you can be on your way”

I remained silent for a good while, she had threatened me, what business was it of mine if she wound up being rutted for the rest of her life but I wasn’t her or these damned slavers and I turned to face the four. Stepping forward, placing myself between the mare and the slavers “Why don’t you take her from me!” I then charged the four, before any of them could respond, I jumped on the first slaver and pushed him down but it was my stinger that I used to get my first kill. As I held the buck in place, his buddy pointed his gun at me but my stinger got him right on the head, pulling his brain out through the massive hole I’d made. The other two stallions turned tail and ran “Hmm I’ll deal with them later” it was at that moment I used the giant claws to severe the head of the stallion under me.

“Keep running!” one of the fleeing stallions called to the other one as they ran but they weren’t smart. I flew down in front of them and let loose with my rifles. I didn’t miss, the two were ripped to pieces and I smiled in victory. As I checked what they had and found some bottle caps, some ammo, weapons and some food.

I approached the mare, who lay shivering in the mud as I stood over her and she mumbled “Get it over with” she looked up, and said “Rut me….it’s why you saved me!” she accused as she got up and presented her flank, I’d be a liar if I said it wasn’t tempting but I considered myself better than those slavers and it was at this moment I noticed her cutie mark, a beautiful mark with a bell with water pouring from it. However I dropped the bottle caps beside her and walked away “Where are you going?” she ran up in front of me as I walked away “I threatened you and you chose to save me!”

“As you just saw, you were no threat to me” I said bluntly pushing past but she kept following and I added “As for saving you…call that a happy chance for you to go your own way” I used my stinger to destroy her collar, she did let out a yelp of surprise but when she realised what I’d done, she looked happy “Now you can”

“Well…can I come with you?” the mare asked as she looked at me with a kind smile “I’ve never met a….griffin? Like you!”

“Oh I’m not a griffin…I’m a Pegasus….remember I’m from the Enclave” I said simply as I walked on “My name is Sureshot”

“Oh! I’m Aquabelle” the mare said and added as she looked at my wings with interest “I…I’m a unicorn” she shrugged at me as she walked beside me “Sorry I’ve got nothing better to say”

“That’s not true” I said calmly as I wrapped a wing round her to protect her from the rain that had just started to pour “You said something about Redeye? Who is that?” Aquabelle sniffed at the name and to my shock looked at me reproachfully “I take it he or she is bad?”

“Bad! Bad! He’s the worst! My hometown was just a small town but we had it good! Well by the standards we’re allowed to have it!” she shot me a nasty look as if blaming me but smiled “We thought we were well defended since many ex-bounty hunters, retired Steelrangers and so on made their home in our town! But one day, an earth pony came by and demanded we hand over some slaves” she paused and shivered “We refused” she then collapsed on the ground shivering. I got my head under her and lifted her onto my back “What are you…..?!” but I turned my head towards her and gave a small shake “I hate you” she mumbled happily “You make feeling upset so hard…when the, hang on! Can I see your face?” it seemed like such a weird request but she then added “It’s just you’re not the first pony with wings I’ve met”

“A Dashite?” I asked but remembered that if the enclave caught me, I’d be branded with that mark but then I heard her sniff “Not a Pegasus? Then who?” I didn’t take my helmet off because I was already vulnerable with her on my back.

“Not a who! An it! It came out of the fog one morning shrouded in mist, our guards fired their guns at it but it shrugged the bullets off! We were no match!” Aquabelle said as she snuggled her weight closer to my head “It slaughtered all the guards and it…” she shivered in fear.

“Shhh you don’t have to say it if you don’t want to” I said as I removed my helmet and showed her my face with the biggest puppy dog eyes I could muster “So I assume it slaughtered your guards and took the rest of you?” she shook her head “Who else did it kill?”

“My parents…” she mumbled

“If it helps, I lost my entire town yesterday” I said as she looked at me with surprise

“I thought the enclave was supposed to be safe from the horrors of the wasteland” Aquabelle said in shock “Did you see who did it?”

“No but I did see a bucking Griffin before it disappeared below the cloud layer” I snapped but more at the memory in my mind and then calmly said “Sorry, my sister died in my hooves and well it hurts” I then got an insane idea “You couldn’t perhaps tell me where your sister is being kept? I don’t want ya to suffer the same loss I have. Also her name may help, also a description?” I must have sounded mad, however so long as my armour was on, I was more than ready for a fight but it’d all depend on the slaver numbers “Also is she as cute as you?” Aquabelle gave me a light kick on her right forehoof.

“You really are insane! Her name is Aquasong and we’re twins, she has a black mane and a bucket pouring water shaped like music notes” Aquabelle explained, I had to admit that would make spotting Aquasong, quite a bit easier but that was if she was still alive or not sold.

It wasn’t a far walk but when we reached the camp, there weren’t many guards, so we were able to get close to the slaves, she pointed to the most beautiful mare I’d ever laid eyes on, she was if anything more beautiful than her sister but Aquabelle had told me on the walk that Aquasong was into mares…so a bit unlucky for me but I still wanted to help them as a point of principle “Leave this to me”

“Hoi! Who goes there?!” a guard asked as I calmly walked up and smiled confidently within my armour “Hoi, boys check it out…it’s one of them walking cans!” the guard joked but then got serious “Piss off ya oversized tin can!”

“Excuse me but I represent the Enclave! By order of General Ironfeathers, he wants to purchase all your slaves for slave work” I said grandly but secretly regretting my last two words “I am to here to make the offer and take the slaves from you” throwing the slaver a bag full of caps, which according to Aquabelle, had replaced bits as currency, of course the reason she had to explain it was that I thought it sounded mad and had asked a ton of questions.

“Well we’re sorry but these slaves are for Redeye” the guard said stupidly “Our boss has gone to meet up with Redeye to discuss prices. Why don’t ya try someplace else!? These slaves aren’t for sale” I stepped closer, these slavers weren’t bright and hadn’t taken into account my weapons “So piss off!”

“No” I said slowly and before they could scream, I stepped up to a range I couldn’t miss but also wouldn’t hit any of the slaves at and opened up with all the fire power I had mowing them all down “Opps, looks like I made a mess but heck, they were already a mess” I walked towards the slaves who shivered in fear “Oh sorry, still got the helmet on…give me a moment” I took the helmet off and smiled “Um the name’s Sureshot but you can call me Scope” the slaves looked at me with, if it was possible, more fear but I didn’t care “Is one of you Aquasong?” of course I knew exactly who it was but I didn’t want to seem creepy. The mare I expected raised her hoof “Aquabelle send me to save you”

Aquasong raised her flank into the air and said “Get it over with” and I face hooved, was every pony here really this stupid, I had just explained everything and she thought I wanted to buck her! I did as a male, because she was beautiful but I had enough self-control and besides that point, she wasn’t into stallions “Well? I know you’re lying, you must have captured my sister and bucked her…now you want me!”

I calmly lowered my hoof and said loudly “Aquabelle! Help” Aquabelle ran out from her hiding place and hugged her sister “I am not that kind of pony!” I walked up to the other slaves, using my claws and stinger to remove their restraints “There you are all free…happy? See ya all later” I began to walk away when Aquabelle ran in front of me “What is it?”

“I was wondering if you could help us to the next nearest friendly town?” Aquabelle asked sheepishly “I’ll make it worth your while” nodding her head behind her, I got the message and groaned “What is it?”

“Alright, I’ll help you but after I get you there…you all have to leave me alone! I’m bad luck” I said as I checked my onboard map, then cross referenced it with my EFS and found the nearest town “Is the Crystal Empire safe?” there was a shake of every pony’s head “Um…Chanterlot?” nope again “Let’s see New Appleloosa?” a nod, finally and I said “Right, if we move in that direction…” I pointed south west and continued “Then we should be there in…a few hours”

The former slaves kept their distance from me as we walked in the direction of New Appleloosa, in fairness if I flew, I could have been there a lot sooner but I was the only fighter in the group had. Most were fillies, mares and one young colt. Not what you would call a group of fighters. Saddest of all was a pregnant mare, she was the slowest of our group and kept needing to stop. Finally night fell completely and we weren’t half way to New Appleloosa. However my job wasn’t finished, I was the only pony armed, so I stayed up on watch with the young colt, volunteering to keep me company through the long night.

“So you’re a Pegasus!” the young colt asked, I hadn’t bothered to learn his name but then again I suppose I didn’t care either “I mean wow, that’s so cool, are you like a super pony!? I bet you have all kinds of cool powers!” the young colt kept asking but I kept quiet “Oh come on! You must have like….a backstory like Batmare!?!” Batmare? That was a comic from before the war and this little colt knew about her? He was just an earth pony, okay so maybe I was curious and I turned my head towards him “What?!”

“What’d you say your name was?” I asked as the young colt looked a little hurt “Sorry I didn’t catch it the first time”

“Oh that’s okay, grandad use to say to me, that the memory of an old pony is the first thing to go” the young colt said bluntly smirking “So my name is Sandy! S….a….n…d…y” he said drawing out each part of his name so I got it “I remember your name…it’s Suremiss”

“Sureshot and I asked you to call me Scope, Sandbox” I said returning his joke in kind.

“Aww no fair! I said my name was Sandy!” Sandy snapped pulling a face that made him look like he was really hurt but then laughed “So where’s your family, my older sister says you must be a Dashite?”

I sighed and said “Your older sister shouldn’t jump to conclusions” I checked all around for red dots on my EFS and then stepped out of my armour “Dashites are branded with a burned on mark that looks like Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark but…” I showed him my marks “See….no burned on mark…until I’m caught by the Enclave, I’m no Dashite”

“Oh cool! I’ve never met a Pegasus without the Dashite mark” Sandy said as he admired my mark “I haven’t got my cutie mark yet” I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little colt, he only had his sister left and he’d nearly become a slave to some mad pony called Redeye. Sandy then yawned “Goodnight” as the Young colt dropped off to sleep on a small rock; I put my armour back on and then got the feeling something was behind me.

“Who goes there?!” I snapped turning round and found myself face to speaker with a strange device with wings “Oh…just a….a…a…Spritebot…” Aquabelle had told me about them as we’d walked on and felt stupid but then a thought occurred to me “Aren’t you supposed to be blaring music?” according to Aquablle they should.

“Well I do know a few good songs but I don’t take requests” a crackly voice said coming from the Spritebot, it then laughed and I felt my jaw drop, my helmet still wasn’t back on so whoever was using this buzzing annoyance could probably see me and it continued “I’m known as watcher and…”

“And I don’t give a shit” I interrupted “Just tell me what you want?”

“I want to know why you saved these ponies and then agreed to help them?” the Spitebot asked, it then flew round me looking me up and down “You don’t seem the hero type?”

“Hero? Hardly, I’m an avenger….I want to know who burnt my home to the ground and killed my family!” I said angrily and then added “As for why I saved them and then agreed to help them…that’s my business and none of yours, Watcher” I then began to walk away but the Spritebot flew back in front of me “What is this?!”

“Wait, I have a request” Watcher said as I prepared to fire my assault rifle “I’m willing to help you!”

“I’m listening” I growled and then added “Alright, what do you want?”

“There’s a town to the east of New Appleloosa, a group of slavers and Griffins are headed there to enslave the ponies there….Help them!” Watcher pleaded “The town won’t stand a chance! They need help”

“But we’re more than a day from New Appleloosa! And I’m a single Pegasus pony but there are griffins?” I asked in shock, maybe one knew the griffin who had attacked my town and then I could track that griffin down. The possibility was making me more than a little eager “How far is this town from New Appleloosa?”

“About a day and the slavers will be there in two and a half” Watcher explained

“I suppose if I flew there from New Appleloosa…I’d make it” I sighed, the fact was I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of flying because the Pegasie of the Enclave would be looking for me but then I decided and said “Alright but if I do this…I want all the information you got”

Watcher was silent for a moment “Deal” he finally said and then the Spritebot suddenly broke out in song.

“So that was weird” Aquabelle said from behind me, looking at me with a tired smile and added “Not a hero? There are few heroes around, even fewer who would do what you did for us, you say you’re not a hero and yet you look like one to me”

“Must be a low standard if I’m what you deem a hero to be” I said bluntly as I turned back to my watch, stifling a yawn from within my armour but of course tomorrow would be an even tougher day.

Author's Note

So I've been working on this story off and on. I wasn't sure why I did it but I just wanted to give this story some kind of end. I'm aiming to have this story contain 10 chapters and then move onto something else because in the end this was an experiment. So I want to see it through. However I must stress I'm not promising I'll write anymore.

I'd really like some feedback but don't feel pressured. Have a nice day.