Fallout Equestria – Morals of the Wasteland

"Our hideout is within the ruins of a place called Ponyville."

"Don't ask what it is. Just eat it and don't starve."

"All that Deadtrott had to say for it is that we had no choice."

"I warned the Boss not to trust this guy. He killed Dual and the others, I knew he would!"

"Did Red Eye really sent all those merchs back then JUST FOR ME? What the Buck is going on here?"

"They call themselves 'The Lookouts', as they look out for any help they find."

"The Ponies of the Wasteland have been bleeding long enough, and we bring light and hope to them."

"There's no surviving the End of the World without changing in some way. Not after the shit I've seen."

Chapter 6: With Open Hoofs

Remmember when I asked, how am I not insane yet? Well, now I was definetly on my way there. I'm a motherbucking cannibal.

Leaves me alone to die as a way of motivating me, throws a Raider at me when I'm least prepared for battle, beats the shit out of me for raising my voice, and now feeds me the remains of our enemies. Deadtrott, is a bucking mad pony. He's bucking crazy, and he's a bucking killer. A trotting corpse that possibly for the good of everypony should have stayed dead. Everything and everypony that bucks with him dies, and whatever he doesn't kill, he hurts very, VERY badly, physically and mentally.

Now you see what I meant, when I said that a friendship with him is a hell all on its own.

I've cought a feeling that maybe the reason he injected me with so much Tetradoxyn, wasn't just so that I wouldn't feel the pain from the new bruises and scars the suicide-bombing Alicorn gave me. Maybe it was also so that he can prevent me from exploding and smashing everything in sight in a psychotic rage. Perhaps he knew better. I've been thinking about him dying eversince I first layed eyes on him.

Raiders back in out town fed me awful things. When I was a slave, my daily meal consisted of shitty soup with hoofnails in them, rotten apples, cold rat meat, there were even a few instances of drinking piss when they told me it was apple juice.

How is eating pony meat an improovement?

I still have bits and pieces of those merch between my teeth, and even when I knew exactly WHO was it that I was eating, I still wouldn't stop swallowing them. Pony blood and meat in my mouth, and I still chewed and swallowed.

How is this entire bucking journey a better life than the one of a slave?

Short answer was "it isn't". My destination was the intended better life that my Mother and her bucking posse of Lookouts meant to give me.

All this better be worth it. The better life that my Mother promised me in that message, better be that better bucking life.

The tetradoxyn was still doing its magic. I couldn't move, couldn't twitch, it really seemed to be working better than it did at first, because now I couldn't speak and couldn't even move my eyelids. My eyes were shut down and I couldn't feel the strength to open them.

Deadtrott seemed to have been annoyed by me talking, so he injects me with something that would make me shut up. Makes sense. Carrying me must be less annoying than listening to me. Not to mention not feeling the pain, prevents me from screaming.

I could only hear whats happening. As he carried me on his back, I heard Deadtrott's trotting with echo following the trot-sounds. At the same time, every so often I also heard little rocks falling far away, also followed by echo. We were still in the tunnels. Hopefully, more than half way there.

At least he carried me on his back that was covered by his coat. Rubbing against his rotting Ghoul skin? The fact that I just ate the corpse of a pony was bad enough.

By now I wasn't sure if air floats through this damn tunnel at all. That wouldn't be a problem for Deadtrott though, what with that bloody gas-mask.

And every time I rememmbered that there was a ginormous mountain above us, I kept wondering if it collapsed already by any chance. We are still alive, so probably just half of it. Though, those tiny rock sounds, did seemed like a warning for us to get out of this tunnel possible.

Really, I should be wondering how long until this damn medicine stops working, because with absolutely no strength over my limbs, lips and even eyelids, I was slowly falling asleep. And I was dying to find out how much of that equipment we lost.

I kept thinking about it even if Deadtrott wouldn't let me near it. I guess deep inside, I was still dying to have all that all for myself. Must be a feeling that free pony's get. But off course, I still had that goddamn collar on my neck.

I don't know why, but while Deadtrott carried me on his back, I was trying my best not to fall asleep. Failed attempt.

Several sounds of trotting later, I felt there was possibly no more sense in trying. I dozed off.

Perhaps I'd wake up by the time we get to this "Ponyville".

________________

"Wake up. Wake up! We're almost there quirt. Come on, don't make me wake you up the hard way."

I suppose that by now, the medicine slowly stopped working.

I opened my eyes and, who knew? It was still dark. The skies of the Equestrian Wasteland may always be as dark and grey as the Wasteland itself, but still less dark than a corpse-reeking tunnel.

Hours possibly passed since we left that tunnel.

"It's good we made it this far. I'm almost all out of Tetradoxyn."

Deadtrott still inserted more of that shit into my blood, and after I looked at my Pipbuck, one would almost argue it IS better for me still not to feel the rest of my body. It showed three of my hoofs crippled and my torso as well. Pipbucks can show current state of your health too. This one was showing me, being just a few more bruises away from being dead.

Fortunetly, it didn't show anything serious about my head, because I finally regained control of most of most of it. Granted, I still had a headache and still felt tired.

While Deadtrott was still trotting with a steady paste, I was still flat on his back with my head feeling like it was made of boulders, and the rest of my body, lifeless like it was already a corpse. According to the Pipbuck it DID seemed very close to that final stage.

I pointed my sight to which towards Deadtrott was headed, and then I saw it. The alleged second worst settlement to live in, right behind Out Town.

Ponyville

A whole bunch of houses, disintegrated and burned. A true definition of a ghost-town. Except that ghosts didn't live there, Raiders did. And according to what Deadtrott told me, the ones here are allegedly not as organized and smart as ones in Out Town.

Deadtrott then started crossing a deep, digged-down river. Just as he entered he then lifted me off his back and held me by my leather armor high above the water. Probably better that way. My Pipbuck was making weird clock noises again. The radiation levels in that water were apperently too high. Off course, being a Ghoul, for Deadtrott it must have been like bathing in water full of whatever stimpaks have in them.

In a Raider settlement, the water can be radioactive because for all I knew, it could have been full of pony remains of every kind.

After Deadtrott crawled out of that river and I was back on his back, we finally saw the typical Raider decorations; decapitated heads on spikes, and graffiti.

Deadtrott advised me,

"Stay quiet, and don't even think of sneezing or coughing."

We were now between two houses, just as eqully destroyed as the whole town. And from then on, it was all sneaky-sneak.

Strangely, the open streets were completely empty. Of all living things anyway. There were plenty of skeletons lying around. Whether they were from way back before the bombs or more recent I could care less.

Deadtrott costantly moved between alleys, probably knowing that a whole bunch of Raiders were doing who-knows what. Probably inserting more drugs into every part of their bodies or eating corpses, probably like I did.

For a Ghoul whose very voice can might-as-well be a death-signal for anypony who hears it, Deadtrott was pretty quiet. Just before the tetradoxyn kicked in and knocked me out, his loud trotting was all I heard, and now, I barely heard it at all.

I looked around and what else was there to say? This place looked just as bucked up as the one I left. The only difference was that before the war this place was possilby just a little bit less shity. The buildings did looked a lot more fancy, disregarding the ashes and missing bits of walls.

And off course the usual Raider stuff; graffiti, corpses on chains, blood splatters, possibly a lot of vomit puddles.

We than finally approached something interesting. Very interesting.

I looked, and saw it. I huge stone sculpture of some Pony in armor, standing on his back hoofs, and holding a big sword in his mouth up in the air.

Deadtrott stood side by the big stone pony so that I can see it myself, and he said out loud.

"The Big Macintosh War Memorial"

"What's a memorial?" The thing that came to my mind. How would I know what's a memorial? I'm a slave.

I instead asked a different question.

"That someone you knew?"

I HAVE figued out that whoever this 'Big Macintosh' was, it was a Pony who possibly lived before the war, and this giant rocky imitation of him, is apperently dedicated to his death. No way Raiders could build something that detailed.

"Yes, I did knew that Pony, and that's all we're gonna talk about in this regard."

Just before Deadtrott distanced us far from this 'monument', I took a quick look at the bottom of it and noticed the writing.

THE BIG MACINTOSH MEMORIAL
Forget not those who came before

Yeah, whoever this Big Macintosh was, it seemd that his death was heart-braking for most who saw it and even heard of it back then. Deadtrott's answer also gave that away. In his answer, I felt the exact same feeling I had back in that tunnel when I argued he didn't act like much of Lookout.

I was suddenly shocked by what Eqeustria was possibly like before the bombs. Was the death of one single Pony really that devastating?

Ponies die in this Wasteland, ever, damn, day.

Back in Out Town, it was almost almost a necessity for at least one slave to starve once a day. Way before I was born, this land might have possibly had way more corpses than Ponies to dig wholes for them.

Was the standard of Ponykind before the war really that caring about every single life?

Sounded too good to be true.

I thought, no way that we were ever that good.

Finally we approached another house, this time around the front door, which miraculously wasn't as disintegrated as the rest of this place. I even read the sign above the door. 'Sugarcube Corner'. How cute.

Was this surely the place? By now it seemd that this whole settlement is nothing but Raiders. How could these Lookouts have a hideout here?

Deadtrott listened in a bit to what could be inside this building. He opened the door and entered. We finally cought a brake for once. There was nopony inside.

The interior of the house was pretty much as I expected for a Raider house. Chains hanging from the roof, bones and gore bags in the corners. Looked like shit, and smelled like piss.

I hoped to whatever passes as valuable in my life, that the Lookouts Hideout would be nothing like this.

And then Deadtrott approached a staircase, though he didn't went up the stairs.

Instead he placed his hoof on the staircase-handle, which was very oddly shaped. I assumed it was meant to resemble some other pre-war crap a slave pony like me woudl know absolutely nothing about.

Suddenly I heard clicking noises, and then the handle started changing shapes. Suddenly a huge whole opened on the floor.

It all hit me then. A secret hideout hidden underneath a house, which apperently can be opened only by pushing the switch cleverly disguised as a staircase handle.

Deadtrott jumped into the darkness in the floor. Oh how great, we travel into the darkness yet again.

I heard the door closing above us. For a minute I thought I was blinded.

Then I heard guns. Somepony, more than one, were close to us, and were probably aiming at us.

"Relax, it's me."

Deadtrott said in his usual 'cheery' attitude.

"You can never be sure."

Somepony spoke from the shadows, and finally revieled themselves.

Two Ponies. I immedeatly assumed they were the Lookouts. They wore Combat Armors and were armed with assault rifles that were in pretty good conditions. Almost perfect. I was surprised. Almost no scratches at all.

Only two things in their outfits gave away that they were Lookouts. They were strange tech-goggles that apperently had wires and buttons around them. The Lookouts are technologically advanced too? The second thing, were the symbols on their shoulders. A crossed rifle and horn of a unicorn, with three stars around them.

"Took you long enough Deadtrott. Is that him?"

"Yeah, and I can tell the rest later, he needs Sunlight medical help."

Oh, so NOW he cares if I live.

"Well, come on, let's get inside. Sunlight is dying for the good news"

And this reminded me of something I completely forgot in all the shit I've been through. I finally get to meet this 'Mother' of mine.

I started loosing sight again. I constantly closed my eyes and opened. Closed and opened, closed and opened.

I saw Deadtrott now carrying me through a strange corridor. Concrete walls, and electric lights that work perfectly. We passed a few more Lookout members that looked at me as we went by them.

I saw in them the kind of glare I never saw before ever in my life. They looked at me with concern. A slave pony from Out Town would barely recognize sympathy in somepony's look. I did not expect this kind of welcome at all. Everypony we passed looked at me with concern and care. They showed worries about me being unconcious and with no movement as if I was dead. And they all actually gave a damn about me.

And strangely enough . . . . . . . . . . if felt really, really, really good . . . . .

As I shifted between sleeping and conciousness over and over again, I then felt lying on something different flat on my back. I felt the leather. It was an operating table. But this time, I was about to actually recieve treatment.

Back in Out Town, there were operating tables, and most of them were not for the good kind of operations. The only time I was on one, I was lucky I begged myself out ot it. But not this time.

I lied knowing that somepony was about to stiff my wounds and fix my scratches. Cieling lights pointed at me were bright but not blinding.

A mare suddenly showed up. She had a gold yellow coat and wore a white coat. This was certianly the medic of the Lookouts. And her mane and tail were red. Almsot as red as mine, this suddenly came to my mind when I saw her.

Just like the Pony's before, this one showed sympathy and care too in her eyes. Even more than the others. But in her eyes, I saw much more.

I saw tears.

Not only that, but her eyes looked very familiar.

She spoke slowly and softly as she placed one of her hoofs on my cheeck.

"Gideon . . . . . . Oh . . my son . . . . . my little baby son . . . . You're finally home."

Turns out, those were tears of relief.

And those eyes, were blue . . . . . . . . . . just like mine.

Gideon . . . . meet your Mother, Sunlight Flower.

"I know, you must be in a lot of pain. But don't worry Gideon. This will be all over soon. I'm here for you now."

I was too weak to say anything. And I was too weak to move my head and look as I heard her prepping the medical infirmary behind me. The beeping sounds were a reassurance that my heart was till working.

This is what she must have meant on the message when she said she was needed here. She's apperently the medic of the Lookouts.

She than placed an Anasthetic tube on my mouth.

"Here, this will help you relax. When you'll wake up, you'll be fully healthy."

I took those words of reassurance to my heart. I fell asleep.

There was something about her that much like many things here, felt very new to me. How softly she spoke, and how much she sounded like she cared . . . . . . . . .

For the first time in my life, I actually felt like somepony actually really cared about me, and for the first time in my life, mere words of reassurance finally worked. For the first time, I finally, at last, felt truly safe.

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Near Death Experiences: The Wasteland had more than one chance to kill you. Enough to make you fully aware of the dangers out there. One only benefit from Deadtrott's lessons. Your Endurance and Perception are maxed whenever your health drops to 30% or lower.