Fallout:Equestria - Burning Hope

Chapter 2: Wasteland Business
"Oh, Applebloom. You can’t get away from your own shadow."

I was younger, a lot younger by the looks of things. I could feel my old stable clothing clinging tightly to my fur, without the weight of armour plates pressing down on me. A saddlebag was secured to my back, which was light compared to my clunky battle saddle.

I looked to my side and saw a younger looking Midnight staring at me. She didn’t have her usual tired look, but her eyes were red, an indication that she had been crying. I noticed that we seemed to be standing by the stable door, the thick metal cog like a grave for all those who left. Behind me were my parents, who also seemed to be crying. There was my mother, whose normally immaculate red mane was messy and unkept. Beside her was my father, who was attempting to comfort mum. Underneath him was a small green filly with a yellow mane, who didn’t seem to know what was going on. I don’t think they told my sister what was happening until I had left.

A gun was levitated into my bag and I looked to the unicorn who put it there. She was a grey unicorn with a pink, black and white striped mane tied back in a ponytail. Her cutie mark was quill with a heart shaped nib.

“I’m so sorry” she said to us, the tone of her voice genuinely apologetic.

“It’s ok Overmare, we need to leave for the good of the Stable” Midnight replied, looking down to the ground.

“Well I wish you both the best of luck.” The Overmare forced a smile before turning to a security guard “Open the door.”

The guard went up to the control panel and typed the code in before pulling a lever. Lights flashed and sirens wailed as the enormous door rolled open slowly, paving the way to an uncertain future.

A gust of stale air met us. All I could see beyond was the remnants of an old barn. I patted Midnight on the shoulder and walked out of the Stable, heading to a new world….

Mornings, I hated mornings. I always said that if the sun came out I might actually like mornings. Shame the ‘Grand Pegasus Enclave’ didn’t care. Sometimes I was half tempted to fly up into the clouds and tell them exactly what I thought about their cloud cover, but Midnight reminded me that I’d probably be dead before I could speak. In the Stable I would often sleep right through the morning, on weekends anyway. But that wasn’t exactly a great idea in the wasteland. Daytime was the safest time to travel, especially in the early morning before the raiders came out.

As I slowly woke up, I became aware of the faint light streaming through the window and brightening the dusty room I was in. My ears twitched and I opened my eye, frowning as my other eye attempted to open as well, but was sewn tightly shut as always. I groaned and looked around, wondering what time it was.

“WAKE UP FIREFLIGHT!” Midnight cheerfully yelled in my ear, seemingly out of nowhere. My instincts kicked in and I sat upright, my hoof moving around behind me in search of a weapon. I relaxed at the sound of Midnight’s laughing.

“Not funny” I growled before stretching my stiff legs. The pesky unicorn continued to giggle.

“Was funny” she smiled.

“Was not” I frowned. I saw my opportunity and spread my wings, whacking Midnight right in the face. She frowned and rubbed her muzzle.

“Ok, I guess I was asking for that” she muttered.

“Okay, okay. Just be quiet,” I groaned and lifted myself off the sofa. My legs made their way to all my stuff and I started to get ready for the journey ahead. I made sure that all the armour plates were inserted into my old Stable Barding before I slipped it on and added the leg guards onto my rear legs. Then I put on the holster for Lullaby and tied my mane back as well as my tail.

I looked over to Midnight, who had gotten ready as well. She had slipped her leather armour over her Stable maintenance barding and had put on her brown boots. Her saddlebag rested on her back and a holster holding her favourite gun, Black Magic. I must admit, I had always been jealous of her little gun. It was a 6 chamber black revolver with its name painted in red on the bit. Midnight had brought it from a trader in Manehatten and customised it.

I was so busy gun admiring that I didn’t notice Midnight placing my battle saddle onto my back. An exclamation of surprise escaped my lips as I felt the heavy weight of my weapon drop onto me. Not to mention that the ammo box was stuffed full, making everything even heavier, It was a wonder I could still fly wearing this thing. Though it was a bit of a nightmare to try any aerial maneuvers.

My eyes drifted down to Peacemaker, the light machine gun attached to my battle saddle. I then slipped Lullaby into its holster. Lullaby must have been my favourite gun, and my oldest one. It was given to me the day I left the Stable and I named it after the Overmare. Wasn’t a special gun, just a very reliable revolver. I then checked that I had my sniper rifle secured to my back and that my crossbow was disassembled and tucked in my bag. The second Midnight turned to check something, I quickly pulled out my tub of buck and swallowed one before hiding the pills in my pocket again. This was one of the things Midnight didn’t need to know.

“We best get going” Midnight muttered and walked out into the street. I nodded slowly and followed her.

We walked the route from Manehatten to New Appleoosa. On the way we would be going through raider territory, but that didn’t bother me too much. I could take on a group of crazed cannibals. For the first few miles, the journey was peaceful. We didn’t even see a trader or a raider. I yawned and stretched my wings before turning on my pip-buck radio. Cheery music played out as Midnight and I wandered down the road. But I turned the radio off when the ‘Stable Dweller’ was mentioned, or the Crazy Wanderer as I called her. Who had time for false hope in random strangers?

I jumped as I heard a gunshot from behind and let out a stream of bullets at the raider behind me. Five bullets landed in his skull and one in his neck.

“Fireflight?” Midnight looked at me shakily as a gun cocked behind my head. Just as I was about to say something, a hard object came down on my head and I passed out.

A hoof struck me in the cheek, waking me. I looked up to see Midnight’s face staring down at me.

“Hey, you’ve finally finished napping.” she forced a small chuckle as she helped me sit up. I looked around us to try and figure out where we were. We were in a small concrete room which looked like it had once been a shed or outhouse. There was a large iron door and a tiny window, far too small for any pony to get through.

To my horror, my wings had been tied up securely.

“Where are we?” I mumbled, rubbing my head. She shrugged. “I didn’t think I should try anything until you woke up.”

“Good idea” I stood up and made my way to the door before banging on it with my hoof.

“YOU FUCKERS BETTER LET ME OUT BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO PONY CARPACCIO”

That moment, the door swung open, flinging me across the room. My body seemed to scream at me, the impact of hitting a concrete wall knocking the wind out of me.

“Fuck you” I spat at the mountain of pony who had barged in. To be honest, the first thing about him that hit me was the smell. The vile stench of corpses is not something easy to forget, unless you’re this guy, since he didn’t even seem to notice. And that was clear, because half his armour was made up of pony hide. I’m sorry, but being naked is better than wearing another pony as a pair of trousers.

“Crimson Hunter wants to see you” he barked, lifting me up with his filthy hooves. My legs trembled and I fell over again.

“NOW” the mountain screamed, his face turning redder despite his red coat.

I felt myself being lifted again, only this time it was Midnight helping me up with her gentle magic. Once I got to my hooves I smiled at her before turning to pony mountain.

He growled and marched out of the room, his stench following him closely. Midnight and I carefully stepped out of what we now knew was definitely a shed, and walked behind mountain, but not too close. As I looked around I got a good view of the camp, and it was with no doubt that this was a raider encampment, and a large one too. Almost everywhere I looked there was a crumbling building which housed several raiders, and at every corner I could smell pony meat being cooked. Most of the buildings seemed to be run down shops and houses which once formed a tiny village, but there were a few tents as well. We passed a giant hole in the street surrounded by a makeshift fence, which was probably used for fighting tournaments. I hoped we weren’t destined to be the next event.

Eventually, we arrived at an old shop, surrounded by several raiders. We were led through them into the building, but I could clearly see some of the raiders staring at me, the way a starving pony would look at a can of food. And I knew that they wouldn’t hesitate to eat me, or do worse things. As I shrugged off that horrible thought, I stepped into the shop.

I seemed to have arrived in the main office for the raider gang, which was surprising to say the least. The wallpaper had been stripped to just show concrete, and the ground was also concrete. In the centre of the room was a desk with a terminal on it and two chairs in front. Behind the desk was a unicorn sitting in a revolving chair. He was brown with a black mane and a blue eye, and he was also staring right at us.

“Leave us” he ordered, and all the raiders, including mountain, left us alone with the strange stallion. He motioned for us to sit down, and I did so. The chair creaked slightly, probably because it seemed to have been fixed half a dozen times. Midnight sat beside me, her chair shaking as if it was about to collapse any moment now.

I got a closer look at the stallion. His mane was filthy and unkempt, part of it obscuring his left eye. His body was covered in numerous scars, including one or two on his face. A tattoo covered his left arm, and as far as I could tell, it was of Celestia and Luna.

“Hello, I apologise for the roughness of my henchponies, they do like violence.” he said in a smooth, refined voice. I had many questions, but I decided to start with the most important.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU????” I yelled, standing up and smashing my forehooves on the table “I COULD QUITE EASILY SNAP YOUR NECK IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME ANSWERS!!”

He stayed surprisingly calm despite my threat, which was strange. Even Midnight seemed on edge when I yelled.

“My name is Crimson Hunter, though most simply call me Hunter. Please, there is no need for violence and blood, I am here with an interesting offer for you.” Hunter replied, not even the slightest hint of irritation in his voice.

“What sort of offer?” Midnight asked, pulling back down into my seat. By the looks of it, I had put a massive dent in the metal desk.

Hunter smirked and looked at me “The kind where Fireflight here kills somepony, and I pay a generous amount of money.”

I shook my head “I’m retired now, I don’t do that sort of job.”. ‘Because it kills innocents.” I thought, rage building up inside of me. I felt my friend’s hoof pat my shoulder.

“Well that’s a shame. Oh well, If you’re not taking the job then I guess I can leave you for my gang to devour. Or, you could take the job.” he grimaced. Now this was some sick psycho.

“Who do I have to kill?” I sighed, looking straight at him with my best ‘Prepare to get your face kicked in’ sort of look.

He grinned and passed me a photograph. It was of a greyish unicorn with a dull brown mane. A pip-buck was attached to one of her legs and she was wearing stable maintenance barding. A closer look showed she was from Stable 2, one which I wasn’t familiar with.

“Her?” I blinked, confused. Why would he want some stable pony? She didn’t look at all powerful, or important. And I could only assume Stable 2 was unopened, so she would know nothing about the wastes and probably get killed anyway.

“Yes, her. According to my sources, she is known as ‘Littlepip’. I want her dead. No questions, no tricks.” he said, staring at me with his blue eye.

“How much?” the second most important question in a contract. More often than not, the price indicated how important/powerful/dangerous the target was.

“50,000 caps guaranteed. 200 caps up-front to pay for any expenses, the rest when you bring me her cutie mark. Just one will do, either side, doesn’t need to be pristine, just recogniseable. The info is on the back of the pic.” I gasped, dumbstruck. Midnight looked exactly the same.

To any rookie, this would be the perfect contract, but I knew better. For one, there must be some reason why someone is wanted dead. Usually for a personal agenda but, occasionally, something bigger. And when you stumble into something big, you become the target of professionals. Also, what the employer wants as proof of death is a sign of their mental stability. A piece of armour, a weapon or perhaps a necklace meant that it was probably a pretty stable pony. Any body parts, and it was likely that your contractor was a nutter. More often than not, a nutter that would rather kill you then pay you.

All these facts meant that I was liking this contract less and less. No personal reason? Check. Body parts? Check. Raider employer? Double check. Only an idiot would willingly take this job.

“And if you dare go back on the job, then I will kill the ones you love. And that is a promise.” Hunter smiled and pushed a bag of bits towards us. Midnight shakily lifted the bag in her magic. I could see that her brown mane was stuck to her face with sweat, and her hooves were shaky.

Hunter placed some stuff on the desk, our weapons and clothing. “I will leave you ladies now. My guards will escort you out when you’re ready.” and with that, he left the room.

Midnight lunged at me and wrapped me in a spine crushing hug. I could see that she was crying, so I wrapped my hooves around her in an attempt to comfort her. After she had quietened down, I stood up and let her untie my wings. As the rope was pulled away I stretched my lovely yellow wings. Doing that also revealed the numerous scars that covered my body in a strange sort of pattern.

I started putting on all my armour again, which was irritating to say the least. Some of the armour plates had shifted and I had to get Midnight to fix them, but finally, we were ready.

Midnight checked our weapons, and then we headed out of the shop. Pony mountain was waiting for us outside, and he led us out, not saying a word. The second we reached the edge of the camp, he left us.

I checked my pip-buck to see where we were, and found we were a little off the road to New Appleoosa. Midnight held the picture in her magic “Last seen headed to Manehatten.”

“So we go back?” I sighed and started walking. Since my back was turned, I pullled out my tub of buck and downed a pill. Then I took another for good measure.

“YOU’RE DOING THE JOB???” Midnight exclaimed.

“I have no choice.”

And with that we set off, back to the rotten apple. I didn’t know it then, but this was the start of an adventure, one that could change the wasteland’s future.

Level Up

New perk:Terrifying Presence - You can intimidate non-hostile contacts, causing a 25% chance they will turn and flee or give in to your wishes. If you have the biggest weapon, there is an extra 5% chance. You can only intimidate up to four at a time.