The wind howled. Snow obscuring all vision. Through the blizzard a group of three walked. Did they have any idea where they were going? Most likely not. What were they looking for? Scavenge most likely. Why else would someone willingly go out this far from the city?
Slowly they made their way to an old building. Stepping inside they hurriedly took off their gas masks. Gasping for breath they fell to the floor before slowly standing up again. Groaning they brushed off some snow from their persons.
“Any idea where we are?” Asked an unusually tall stallion.
“A building? How am I supposed to know?” Replied a snarky griffon female.
“Hey, was just asking.” The stallion said in return. “Well, should we see if we can find anything of use here?”
“Yeah might as well.” The griffon said.
The old decrepit building creaked and groaned. The smell of rotten flesh filled the air. The walls still had flaking paint on them. The what would have been beautiful pink walls greyed and dulled with age. The old wooden floor was covered in a fine layer of dust and debris.
The group walked slowly through the house, floor creaking with every placement of a hoof. Slowly they made their way up an old, partially broken, staircase to the second floor. The smell upstairs was worse than before. Opposite the stairs was a room with a large bay window. The group made their way into the room. They had walked into what they thought must be a study or office of some sort. An overturned bookshelf had scattered books across the floor. Rows and rows of papers sat on a shelf in the back of the room.
“Looks like the blizzard’s calming down now.” Said the large stallion as he peered out the window. “I don’t think there’s anything of use in here.” He said turning back to the other two people in the room.
“Yeah, doesn’t look like there’s much in this house.” The griffon replied.
They continued rummaging for a few more minutes before something from outside caught their attention. A large explosion. It shook the entire building. Rushing outside they searched for an explanation. They saw smoke rising from behind a nearby mountain.
“Well. Let's investigate, shall we?” The griffon asked. The other two nodded their heads in agreement and they made their way towards the giant pillar of smoke.
They walked for an hour, climbing the mountain that stood in their way. When they reached the top the saw the source of the explosion; A ship. At least it looked like it was a ship, a destroyed, burning ship, but a ship nevertheless.
“No way. Is-is that Enclave?” The griffon asked.
“Looks like it.” The tall stallion green stallion replied.
“Should have some good loot in it then.” The griffon said.
“As well as some hostile heavily armoured pegasi.” The stallion retorted.
“Well we’ll see when we get there, won’t we?” The griffon asked with a sly grin before sliding down the side of the mountain.
With a sigh the rest followed suit. They stopped and took cover behind a rock. They didn’t want to be spotted. Slowly they crept closer to the wreckage the smoke obscured their vision more and more, fogging up their masks. They found a little opening in the side of a fuselage and crept in.
The inside was bigger than it seemed. Broken pipes, bent vents and dangling wires were the main decor of the room. To the far side of the room, hunched over a desk was a pony. He was grey with a red mane. He was still breathing. The tall stallion approached him.
“What are you doing?!” Hissed the griffon. “What if he’s Enclave?!”
The taller stallion didn’t care and turned the incapacitated pegasus over. Blood was dripping out of his nose and mouth. A bone protruded from his chest and it appeared he lost an eye.
“I’ve got to help him. The stallion said.
“No, don’t do that. ‘Elp me find something then let’s fucking go!” The griffon responded angrily.
“I’m taking him back to the shop. You find whatever it is you want to find and and then meet me there.” The stallion said throwing the limp pegasus over his back. “Twig, you coming back with me or you staying here?” He asked the other stallion in the group who had remained silent this entire time. He nodded and followed the stallion.
The two slowly made their way away from the crash site. None of them even noticed the searchlights in the sky.
It took about two hours to make it back home, and many more hours were spent operating on the injured pony. A rib of his had shattered and punctured a lung, and another punctured his skin. Everything else was a simple fix; Healing potions and bandages.
The pony lay on the bed in a comatose state. Lightly breathing. The other stallion, Twig, had noticed that around his left leg was a pipbuck. After rushing for some tools, he got it off and rushed to his workstation in the other room. He brought it to a messy desk, covered in wires, metal, circuits, papers and a terminal. Hooking the device up to the computer he looked through the files to find nothing. No name, no age, nothing. The only thing that was found was a recording titled ‘0X-001R4’. The pony hit play on the file and sound came flooding out of the speaker.
“Hello dweller! It is time for your scheduled awakening. You are the 7th pony to be awakened. In the event of memory loss or homicidal thoughts, please see a Stable Tec representative post haste. Your safety is our top concern. Talk to security bot 00103 for a full debriefing of your task. Remember, the future is in your hooves!” With a click the recording ended.
Twig said nothing, but knew that there was something off about this situation. Either the stallion they helped was with the Enclave, or he was from a stable. Either option could cause concern. He reexamined the pipbuck case. On it the word ‘memory’ was etched. What could it mean? I guess he would know when the pegasus awoke. The taller stallion stepped into the room to meet Twig.
“What did you find on it?” He asked, removing bloody surgical gloves from his hooves. The smaller stallion played the recording for him. “That it? No names, next of kin, nothing?” The batpony nodded. “Well shit. Here’s hoping he doesn't have amnesia!” The stallion joked.
The stallion walked away and turned on the radio. A song came on almost immediately. It was a happy go lucky song from before the war. With a great yawn the taller stallion laid down on a couch. Hind legs dangling over the side.
“Want to join in?” He asked Twig before being interrupted by the sound of a door slamming.
“I’m home fucksticks!” The greyish brown griffon yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Find anything?” The stallion asked.
“Fire, rubble, debris.”
“Nothing else?”
“Well I found some of those Kevlar Security chucklefucks scoping the place out.”
“Kevlar? What were they doing there?”
“Same thing we were doing I guess. Except with less saving of potentially dangerous individuals. Speaking of, how is that shit head you brought in?”
“He’s doing fine. Just sleeping.”
With a huff the griffon slumped down onto an adjacent seat. She began pruning her brown feathers. She stopped and stared at the stallion half on, half off the couch.
“We really need to get a bigger couch for you, eh, Gauze?” She asked in a sarcastic fashion.
He groaned and stared at the ceiling. After a while he rolled himself onto his front and got up to grab something to eat from the fridge. He walked back into the infirmary to find the pony on the bed slowly waking up.
“Morning sunshine. Wait, yeah 3 AM counts as morning I’m pretty sure. Anyway, good to see you waking up.”
“Ugh, what the fuck is going on here?” The dozy pegasus asked.
“Well now, ain’t you pleasent. As for what happened, I don’t really know. I found you in a crashed ship and that’s all I know. Is there anything you can remember? How about your name, can you tell me your name?”
“I-I-my-name. Its. I can't remember. I can't remember my name.” The pegasus said getting more and more worried.
“It’s okay. My name is Gauze, I’m the general physician around here. I’m the one who helped you and I can try to help you with your presumed amnesia.” The tall green pony said.
“Thanks. I-I think I want to sleep a little bit more.” The pegasus said with a yawn.
“Good. You need to rest anyway.” Gauze said.
With a final yawn the pegasus curled up into the fetal position and said.
“what the fuck kind of name is Gauze?” as he drifted off to sleep.
Gauze woke up screaming. This wasn’t unusual, infact, it’s more uncommon for him to wake up normally. Nightmares were all commonplace for the stallion. But his screaming woke up the sleeping pegasus.
“What the fuck?!” He shouted as he fell out of the bed, crashing onto his wounds. “Argh, fuck!” He cried.
“Shit shit shit, sorry sorry.” Gauze hurriedly said, rushing to the pony’s side.
The other pony kicked him away as he tried to help.
“Fuck off you giant cunt!” He yelled cradling his wounded chest.
“I’m trying to help you, moron! You dislodged a bone!”
“I don’t fucking care. Don’t fucking touch me!” The pegasus screamed as he hit the other stallion square on the nose, drawing blood.
“Fine if you want to cut your lungs up from the inside, that’s your choice.” Gauze said standing up. He picked up a needle and threw it at him. “Come and find me when you want to live.” He said walking out the room, leaving the pegasus to suffer on his own.
He walked into the large room he liked to call the ‘living room’. In reality it was an old abandoned warehouse. It was buried under 20 feet of snow. It had been refurbished and turned into a rather nice house. The building had running power and working plumbing. Thanks to the working of Twig. Twig and Gauze had their own little room which was made from the old foremans office. It had a nice view of the entire workshop floor. The griffon, Gris, made her room from an old locker room. A kitchen was made at the opposite wall to Twig and Gauzes room.
When you think of it it was a perfect place to live. Uneffected by the outside, hidden, nice and warm.
“So. Screaming. Fun.” Gris said sarcastically.
“Not my fault. I screamed, then he screamed, then he hurt himself, then he screamed again and I left.”
“Sounds like a normal exchange between my parents and me.” Gris replied with a smirk.
The door to the infirmary burst open. The pegasus walked out, face filled with annoyance with a hint of confusion.
“So, ready for me to help you again? Or are you going to continue being the equivalent of a 3 year old in a fully grown stallions body?” Gauze asked the limping pony.
“I’m fine.” The pony said walking past everyone else. “Where the fuck is the exit?”
“You can’t leave.” Gauze said.
“And why not?”
“For one, you’re too injured. Secondly you don’t have the proper equipment to go out to Stalliongrad.”
“I grew up in Stalliongrad, shithead. I know the fucking city.”
“Then you should be aware that you need a gas mask. And I’m not lending you mine.”
“Gas mask? Whats wrong with the air?!”
“The atmosphere in Stalliongrad is about 3% oxygen.” The griffon interjected.
“How the fuck are we still alive then?”
“Because only areas that are exposed to the outside directly have lower oxygen. If there was a giant hole in the roof, we’d be fucked.”
“So what you’re saying is I’m stuck here?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Fan fucking tastic.” The stallion grumbled before sitting down on the couch. He looked to his foreleg and noticed the lack of a pipbuck. “Which one of you guys stole my pipbuck?” He asked before having a his pipbuck thrown at his face.
“We were looking for information, but found nothing. No name, no age, nothing.” Gauze said walking over to the kitchen. “And you still can’t remember anything?”
“Nope. Blank as a foal’s ass.”
“Well aren’t you fun?” The griffon said.
“Ugh. Well if I’m going to be stuck with you wacko’s, I might as well know your names. I know the big guy is called Gauze, but what’s your name, birdbrain?” The pegasus asked.
“First off, fuck you. Secondly, my name’s Gris.” The griffon replied. She froze for a second. “Where’s Twig?” She asked Gauze. He shrugged. “Hang on. Twig we need you out here!” She shouted.
From the old foremans office emerged a bat pony stallion. He peered over a catwalk then flew down the the ground floor. He didn’t say a word but raised an eyebrow.
“This is Twig.” Gris said to the other pony. “And Twig, this is, uh, Fuckface McGee.” She said looking at Twig.
Twig gave a small smile and waved at him, before nervously walking over towards Gauze in the kitchen.
“He doesn’t talk much, does he?” The pegasus asked.
“He can’t talk, birth defect.” Gauze said walking back to the couch with a plate full of food.
“Well that sucks.”
“Not as much as him.” Gauze said in a very sultry voice. Twigs face turned a bright shade of pink from embarrassment. Gris turned her head to the two.
“What was that?” She asked.
“N-nothing!” Gauze stuttered trying to fool Gris into thinking he hadn’t made a mistake.
Luckily it worked and she turned back around. Gauze and Twig went and sat at desk and began eating their food. Whatever it was.
After a while of sitting and doing nothing the pegasus finally turned to Gris.
“So, uh, what do you do here? I know Gauze is the doctor or whatever.” He asked the greyish griffon.
“Muscle. These two are complete pushovers, they need me to protect them.” She said not lifting her gaze from a book.
“So are you a soldier or?”
“Physicist.”
“Uh huh.”
“Smartest person in the wastes.”
“Mmmhmm. Well I’ve got an IQ of 165.”
“Mines over 180.”
“Damnl. Mind if i ask how?”
“I’m a genius.”
“A genius who kills people?”
“It’s fun.”
“How about you Gauze. What’s your IQ?”
“About, uh, 140ish. It’s been a while since I checked.”
“And to think, you waste most of your intelligence on biology. Fucking biology!”
“Hey, biology is more helpful than fucking theoretical physics! I don’t need to know that not doing something creates an alternate universe where I do that thing. That’s fucking retarded anyway!”
“Fuck off. How is biology important anyway, huh? Oh cells divide through mitosis? Who fucking cares?!”
“You want me to kick your fucking ass?!”
“Bring it on!”
Gauze and Gris both stood up and gave each other angry expressions. They were ready to fight.
“I hate to break up this charming moment, but you two need to shut the fuck up for a minute. I’ve still got a few questions.” The pegasus interjected.
The stallion and griffon both sat back down. Still giving each other dirty looks.
“Okay what questions do you have?” Gauze asked.
“Well, from what I know I woke up a day ago in a stable. Apparently I’ve been asleep for about 170 years. Now if that’s true, I want you to tell me what has been happening in Stalliongrad for that time.”
“Ah, fun. Since he’s from Stalliongrad, I’ll let Gauze answer this one.” Gris said.
“Okay, everything that’s happened in Stalliongrad. Wow, thanks for choosing an easy question.” Gauze said sarcastically. “Well some of the first things you should know are, it’s always snowing. Always. And you need a gas mask, or respirator to properly walk around outside. You’re a pegasus so you should be able to handle it slightly better than earthponies and unicorns. That being said, you would still need one.”
“You told me this already.”
“I know, I know. I’m just reiterating. Anyway onto more interesting things I guess.” The pegasus’ gave him his full attention now. “So from what I know a couple decades after the bombings a group of mercs arrived in the city. They slowly over time became more advanced, eventually they became a fully fledged army. Their name is Kevlar Security.”
“Fucking tossers is what they are!” Gris yelled, interrupting Gauze.
“Anyway. Kevlar Security is now the primary force for Stalliongrad. They are a rather hostile bunch. They won’t like you unless you’ve got money. Now aside from Kevlar there are a few large raider groups; Red Robin Raiders and War Stallions. The Red Robin Raiders are.” He choked. Tears began to form slightly in the corners of his lime green eyes. “They are pretty bad. Everyone in this room, except you, has had some. Less than pleasant experiences with them.” At this point Twig had gotten up and ran to his room. “The, the other group; the War Stallions. I don’t know much about them. They drive vehicles on the White Sea, but that’s it.”
“What’s the White Sea?” The pegasus asked.
“Giant frozen lakebed.”
“Podkova lake?”
“Probably. Excuse me, I need to check on Twig.” Gauze said running up to his room after the batpony.
The pegasus waited for the taller stallion to be out of the room before he began talking again.
“What’s the deal with those guys?”
“I don’t know, but they can’t make it through a day without crying. Think Gauze said they had depression or something.” Gauze said turning her attention to the book she was previously reading.
“Wow that’s kind of, well, pathetic.”
“Welcome to the club. There’s punch and cookies near the door and they’re made of shit and piss.”
“Are you always such a pessimist?”
“Depends. Are you always a giant fucktard?”
“I think I’m done taking this negativity and will bid you farewell.” He said getting up off of the couch and walking up to old foremans office.
He knocked on the reddish door. It took a minute before it opened slightly. Gauze stood in the doorway, towering over the pegasus. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and behind him you could hear some soft cries.
“What do you want?” He asked flatly.
“Just checking. Making sure everything’s fine.”
“Everything’s fine. Go away, we’ll be down later.”
“But I-” His sentence was cut off by the slamming of a door in his face. “Rude.” He said walking back down the staircase.
Gauze had turned back around to the crying pony on his bed. He sat down beside him and wrapped his arm around his neck. He let Twig cry into his chest while he just sat there and patted his head. By now he had done this about a thousand times, just as Twig has done for him.
It took about an hour before he was calmed down enough to walk out the room. They walked down the slightly rusted staircase and found the pegasus sprawled out on the couch. He was giving off low moans and grunts of pain.
Gris, being the ever helpful griffon she is, was sitting opposite him reading a book. She looked up for a second to notice Gauze and Twig.
“Might want to help him.” She said turning back to her book.
“What happened?” Gauze asked rushing to his side.
“Don’t know. He sat down on the couch, screamed, and is now sobbing uncontrollably. Sounds a little like you two.”
“Why didn’t you call me earlier?”
“Figured he’d be fine for another couple of minutes.”
“You are useless, you know that?”
“Guilty as charged.”
With a groan Gauze picked the stallion up and escorted him to the infirmary. He laid him down on the bed and began reexamining him. He found nothing wrong on the outside, leading him to believe that a bone fragment must have come loose inside the body.
Gauze had a concerned look on his face as he kept trying to find something on the outside of his body that was causing the pain. But alas, he found nothing. He knew the bone had shattered from the start and that it might cause problems later. He looked around for a minute before sighing. He needed to operate.
He didn’t have any anesthesia other than little doses of med-x. This was going to be painful. He swapped the pegasus from the bed to an operating table on the other side of the room. He grabbed the tools, some healing potions and med-x. He sighed as he put on his surgical gloves.
“Sorry bud. I’m going to make this as painless as possible.” He said to the half conscious pony on the table.
Injecting the med-x to the area of operation he brought the scalpel down his chest and began working.
It only lasted an hour, but felt like much more. The pony on the table nearly died of shock when Gauze began to apply healing potion to his damaged heart and lungs. The damage was greater than he had thought. About six ribs had broken. Three had shattered. The fragments hit vital organs. It wasn’t a hard fix, but it was a painful one.
When everything was all over, the pony only laid there. Wide awake. He didn’t talk. The thousand mile stare he had said everything. Gauze tore off his gloves and threw them into some sort of bin.
“I’m sorry.” He said as he handed the pegasus a healing potion.
Perk added - Malpractice: You never claimed to be the best doctor in the wastes. Your overlooking of vital things causes you to be more effective in trying to fix your mistakes.
The pegasus woke up on the same hospital bed he had woken up on a day ago, only with a little more bodily fluids. There was a horrible pain in his chest. He tried to nurse his sore, but to no avail. He kept groaning until the larger stallion in the room noticed. He walked over with a hypodermic needle gripped in his mouth.
“Where does it hurt the most?” He asked.
The pegasus pointed to his heart. The other stallion injected med-x into him. In a second the pony became numbed and fatigued. He gave a half smile before going back to sleep. The pony gave the injured colt a half smile before leaving the room.
He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. 11:23 PM. Since no one else was in the main room he thought it was best to take a break.
Creeping up the metal stairs to Twig’s room, he slowly opened the door to find Twig asleep on his bed. He took off his medical fatigues off (really it was just a plain white shirt with dried blood on it) and sat on the bed.
The large stallion woke Twig, who turned around to face the interruption. He gave him a look which told him that he wanted to know what he had been doing.
“The pegasus had a couple of pieces of rib puncture his heart and lungs. So I had to fix that. Now he’s sleeping in the infirmary. Used up my remaining med-x though. Going to go out tomorrow to get some more.” He said.
The batpony gave him a smile before turning back around. The larger earthpony climbed onto a couch that had been opposite the door, before falling asleep smiling.
They were woken up by screaming downstairs. Gris and the pegasus.
“I’ll go see what that’s all about.” Gauze said yawning and rubbing his eyes.
Walking downstairs he noticed a lot of papers had been haphazardly thrown around. They were standing in front of a chalkboard pointing at it and screaming. The chalkboard itself was covered in strange equations and symbols, but apparently they understood it.
“Am I’m telling you that this equation makes no sense whatsoever! Cold fusion cannot be, and is not real!”
“I’m telling you that you are the densest motherfucker I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting! Of course cold fusion is real!”
Gauze slowly made his way closer to the two arguing people.
“Ahem.” He said over the sound of their screaming. “It’s 4 in the morning, and me and Twig would like to get some sleep.”
“I’ll shut up when she admits she’s wrong.”
“And I’ll shut up when he admits he’s wrong!”
Gauze sighed.
“How about you both shut up, or I’ll break your fucking jaws.” He said very deadpan.
“Fine fine. But I’m right you know.”
“No I am!”
“Both of shut up! None of you are correct. All of you are correct. One of you is correct and one is wrong. In different universes you are correct, and in other universes you are wrong. Isn’t how this shit works, Gris?” He said getting more annoyed.
“It’s more complicated than that.” Gris said. Gauze gave her a death stare. “But I guess you’re kind of right.”
“Good. Now shut up.” Gauze said walking back to his room.
The stallion entered his only sanctuary of silence and peace before climbing onto the couch. Soon enough, he climbed back off, hearing a knock on the door.
“Gauze? You’re not mad are you? Do you need a hug?” a muffled voice and annoying male voice said through the door.
Gauze threw open the door wielding a baseball bat. He swung it at the pegasus a few times. He quickly jumped out of reach of his swings.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” He shouted.
“Wake me up or annoy me again, and I WILL kill you! Simple as that!” Gauze shouted back at him.
“Fine! Damn, you crazy.” He said, backing away down the stairs.
“Wait.” The pegasus stopped his retreat and raised an eyebrow. “Find some warm clothes, you’re coming outside with me later.” Gauze finished.
His eyes grew wide and his pupils small. He nodded and ran down the stairs. He began to rummage through a pile of used clothes, trying to find something that fits. Gauze turned back around and went to sleep, finally feeling the peaceful embrace of sleep.
Gauze awoke five hours later. Getting off the couch, he slowly made his way over to the closet. He pulled out a large brown bomber jacket, a red with white and black camouflage scarf, and a green gas mask. He exited the room and called out to his friend.
“Hey Twig! Do you mind if that pegasus uses your gas mask for today?” He asked the sleeping pony. He gave a small wave before snuggling up tighter in the bed sheets.
Gauze grabbed the smaller gas mask from the closet and walked back downstairs. The pegasus was sitting on the couch listening to the radio. Gauze threw him Twig’s gas mask as he started to put on his clothes. The pegasus was wearing an old blue sweater.
“How are those wounds today?” Gauze asked him.
“Feels better, I guess.” Came the reply.
“Good. Okay, you ready?” The pegasus nodded.
They walked to a doorway which had the word ‘exit’ poorly written above it. The doorway lead to a shoddily constructed staircase which was covered in some ice. It lead to a dark room, the only light available being from a small crack in the wall. Gauze put on his mask, as did the pegasus. Sliding open a rusted door snow filled the room immediately. They rushed outside and quickly closed the door. They took a few deep breaths before climbing another staircase. This one led outside.
As he reached the top of the staircase the pegasus froze. He stared out at the city which lay in front of him. Toppled buildings, rubble everywhere. Smoke rose from a building in the distance. He shook his head and slowly backed down the stairs. Gauze noticed him and grabbed him.
“Oh no you don’t. You wanted to come out here, remember?” Gauze said.
“Everything, everything’s gone.” He mumbled.
“Look, follow me to where I need to go, then we can come back here and you can break down. Sound good?” Gauze asked the speechless pegasus.
He nodded and slowly followed the taller stallion. They walked across the snow covered ground until they reach a set of buildings. Gauze stopped and raised his hoof. The two waited in silence until it was broken by gunfire. With a gulp the stallion started walking into a different area. They walked past a sign that said ‘Mercer - turn left at barricade.’
“What’s ‘Mercer’?” The pegasus asked.
“It’s a settlement. That’s where we're going.
“Why are we going there?”
“That’s where Good Will Hospital is.”
“Oh. Oh now I know where we are! It was a little hard to tell because of all the snow and rubble and fire and death and is that a corpse?” He said as he stared at the remains of what looked and appeared to be a pony, although it was hard to tell without a face and lower body.
“Yes, now just follow me and we won't be too long.”
The pegasus nodded and sped up his walking. They walked for 20 minutes, passing burnt out buildings and debris littered streets. Rebar and concrete protruded from most buildings and piles of rubble, giving the pegasus a feeling of sadness and depression. Eventually they made it to a large wall made of wood and concrete. There were two ponies sitting on top of it armed with rifles.
“Oh, hey Gauze! what’re you doin’ here?” One of the guards said happily.
“Need to visit the hospital. Need some supplies, plus this guy needs another check up.” He responded nodding at the pegasus.
“Okay, cool. Hang on while we open the door.” The guard said. He looked at the other guard as they both pulled two levers simultaneously. “Oh and could you book an appointment for me? I need to get my ‘you know what’ checked.” He said to Gauze as inconspicuously as possible.
“Rod, why don’t you just come see me at my place? I’m usually free.” He said back to the stallion.
“Okay, might as well. Talk to you later, okay?”
Gauze and the pegasus walked under the giant concrete door which had just been opened by the two guards.
“So are they those Kevlar guys or...” The pegasus started.
“No no, they just guard the town. Luckily, I know them so they let me through the guard only entrance.”
“And how do you know them?”
“From my work at the hospital. Pretty much all the ponies in the town know me.”
“I guess it is kind of hard to miss the 7 foot tall pony.”
“Exactly” Gauze said.
The two walked up a set of stairs which lead to an impressively large building. Infront of the stairs were two statues of griffins in stoic poses. They walked up to the main building a set of automated doors opened as they approached. The doors lead to a lovely white room. Pictures of mountains and oceans hung on the walls with plants every in corner of the room. There were about 30 other ponies sitting on old but surprisingly clean benches. Gauze and the pegasus walked up to a little desk which had the word ‘reception’ written above it. The receptionist looked up and gave a large smile to the two.
“Hey Gauze! What are you doing here?” The chipper young mare asked.
“Hey Pedal, I’m here to pick up some supplies as well as get this guy checked up.” He said wrapping an arm around the pegasus’ neck.
“Well, there’s a couple hours wait on the doctor, but you can go through to pick up what you need. Just let me buzz Doc Happy.” She said as she reached for the button on the intercom that was on the wall to her left. “Hey doc, we got Gauze here. He need’s some more supplies. He also brought another patient in with him.” She said.
“Tell the patient to wait in the lobby and send Gauze up right away. I need a little help with this patient.” The doctor said over the intercom.
Gauze quickly ran off down a corridor.
“Please take a number and take a seat.” The receptionist said, smile slowly fading from her face.
The pegasus grabbed a sheet of paper which had the number ‘305’ crudely drawn on it, and sat down on a bench. He had to sit between two earthponies who had large wounds and lacerations around their heads, both of which were bleeding slightly over his shoulder’s.
He sat uncomfortably there for about 2 hours before his number came up, to which he trotted off to see the doctor. He didn’t exactly know what to say to the doctor or what he was even here for, but he knew he should probably mention the broken ribs.
He walked down the corridor until he came to the room he was told to go to. Room ‘35’. He took in a deep breath and opened the door,and immediately noticed the large green stallion standing next to a smaller pink mare. They both were in the middle of a conversation before they noticed the pony standing there.
“Maybe later, Sweet.” Gauze said walking past the other stallion. “By the way he has fragmented ribs. Need you to check that those are healing well.”
“Okay Gauze!” The mare said. She waved at the stallion to come closer, so he did. “Take a seat on the bed.”
He did, and she began examining him.
Gauze was already waiting outside the hospital room for the two to be done. After a few minutes the pegasus walked out.
“So what did she say?” Gauze asked starting to walk away.
“I’m fine. But she said I should take some more med-x if I feel excessive pain in my chest.” He said.
Gauze nodded and they walked out of the hospital, bags full of medical supplies. They walked in the direction of the markets.
“Where are we going?” The pegasus asked.
“The markets. You need your own gear. And I need other certain things.” Gauze said. “I’m going to give you 300 caps. You go get yourself a gas mask and some clothes.”
“Caps?” The pegasus said confusion high in his voice.
“You know, Sparkle Cola caps. Money?” He said as if the pegasus was crazy.
“You use caps as money? Wow, that’s pretty retarded.”
“Welcome to the wasteland, where bottle caps are money and the life expectancy is 12.” Gauze said walking away.
The pegasus stood there in the town centre for a minute, taking in what he saw. He looked around for any indication of which shoddily constructed building was a store. He saw a building which had a bright neon light which said ‘Babushka’s Bottle’ so it was most likely a bar of sorts. He decided to enter to ask someone inside for directions.
The inside of the bar smelt like a sewage treatment plant. Smoke lingered long in the air, the sounds of ponies talking drowned out the jukebox in the corner of the room and most seats were made out of boxes. The pegasus walked up to the bartender.
“What can I getcha?” The dirty brown earthpony asked.
“I just need directions around the town.” He responded.
The bartender sighed.
“Okay. So right across from us is Gibbles general store. Down the road is the hospital. To the west a few blocks away is Ginger’s diner. An-”
“That’s good, thanks.” The pegasus interrupted.
“Good. Now buy something or get out.” The bartender said.
The pony turned and walked out the bar, seeing as how the statement was backed by some rather big bouncers in the back. He took the pony’s directions and entered the store across the road. It smelt infinitely better than the bar, it had no strange fumes and was relatively quiet. He walked up to the counter and pressed a bell. The ring alerted a small griffon who had been out back. She walked up the counter, her tail wagging.
“Hi hi hi. Can I help you?” She asked.
“Uhh, I’m here to buy a gas mask and some more clothes.”
“Ohhh, good choice! Stallions apparel is over there.” She said pointing at a shelf.
He walked over to the shelf. Firstly he picked up a gas mask. It looked similar to the one Gauze had given him. Then he looked through all the clothes. He found a maroon coloured jacket. It had old patches. One had a picture of some kind of canine with the words ‘Red Hounds - Hunt you down, chew you up.’ Another patch had a word on it. Veteran. For some reason the jacket seemed oddly familiar and he decided to keep it.
He also found himself a small rusted 10mm pistol which seemed like a cheap buy. Bringing all the items up to the counter the griffon happily worked out the total cost of the items.
“That’ll be 332 caps please.” She said with a smile.
“332?! There’s no way that this stuff is worth that much!” He said.
“Gas mask is 200, jacket is 50 and the gun is 82.”
“82 caps for this rusted piece of junk? I could make a better one myself. How about I pay 40 caps for it?”
“No way. The most I’m willing to lower it to is 60.”
“60, really? Hello police, yes I’m being robbed!”
The two argued for a solid 10 minutes before finally settling on 50 caps. The pegasus slipped his new jacket over the sweater he was already wearing and put the gun into a pocket. He’d need to find ammo eventually, seeing as he forgot to ask during the heated price discussion.
He walked out into the town square to see Gauze waiting on a bench. Gauze stood up and walked over to him.
“Took your time.” He said to the pegasus.
“Bitch was trying to make me pay over 80 caps for a piece of crap pistol.”
“What, Gibbles? Yeah she does that sometimes. Nice jacket by the way.” He said with a smile.
“Thanks. Although it seems oddly familiar, kinda weird though.” He said walking alongside Gauze.
“Veteran, huh? Heh, maybe that’s what we should call you, well at least ‘till you get your memory back.”
“Actually.” He stopped. “That’s a pretty good idea. I mean, why not? I need a name, it’s catchy and I have a backup incase my old name sucks!”
“And we can finally stop saying things like ‘the pegasus’ or ‘the other stallion’.”
“Yeah I think this’ll work.” The pegasus said following behind Gauze.
“We’re home!” Gauze exclaimed to the warehouse.
“No one cares, Gauze.” Gris replied.
“And go fuck yourself too, Gris.”
“So, we’ve decided to call the pegasus ‘Veteran’ until he can remember his name.”
“That’s retarded. Like him. Suits him.” Gris said turning her attention to a book.
Veteran threw Twig’s gas mask at him as he walked past. Gauze walked past everyone to the infirmary carrying a bag of healing potions, bandages and other drugs. He opened the door and walked in, while Veteran took a seat next to Twig on the couch.
After a few minutes Gris finally asked something.
“So what did you get anyway?”
“A gas mask, a jacket and a rusted piece of crap gun.” He said, pulling the pistol out of his pocket.
Twig picked it up and examined it. He tried to pull the slide back, but it was jammed. He tried to take the magazine out, but it was jammed. He tried to pull the trigger, but it was jammed. In a fit of rage he took the gun over to his desk and disassembled it. He cleaned each piece thoroughly before handing it back to Veteran not five minutes later. Veteran tried to pull the slide back, and surprisingly, it worked.
“Huh.” He said. “Good job.”
Twig gave a long yawn before moving towards the infirmary. He knocked on the door before hearing Gauze mutter something through the door.
“Just, just give me.” He stopped for a second. “Give me five minutes.” It sounded like he had been crying.
A few minutes later he emerged from the room, eyes bloodshot and snot running down his muzzle. He walked towards his room with Twig following.
“Is he okay?” Veteran asked Gris.
“He’s fine. Trust me, you haven’t seen anything. Once I found him in the bathroom with his head in the toilet bowl muttering about ‘them’. Whatever that was meant to mean.” Gris responded.
“And he’s a doctor?”
“Yeah. I never got that either.”
They sat there in silence for another couple of minutes.
“I think it’s time to address the elephant in the room here.” Veteran said. “Why are you letting me stay here?”
Gris took in a long breath.
“Gauze wants you to stay here ‘till you’re better. But I.” She stopped, choosing her next words carefully. “You’re Enclave, right?”
“Who?”
“Guess that’s a no then.” She examined the pony. “But looking at the pipbuck attached to your leg, I’d say you were from a stable.”
“How did you..? What are you getting at here, Gris?”
“I want you to take me back to your stable so I can take a fair share of loot.”
“Oh! You’re one of those people huh?”
“Yeah.”
“You know what? I like your honesty.”
“The most honest crook in the wastes.”
“Look, I’d tell you without hesitation if I, you know, remembered where it was.”
“Wah wah, I have amnesia. Cut the crap I know you’ve been playing us for fools. I’m not buying it any longer.”
“Okay, what the actual fuck are you on about now?”
“Sure, act dumb. but one day you’ll slip up and bam! You’ll have to tell me.” Gris said getting up and walking to her room.
“So is she on drugs or is she just insane?” Veteran asked himself. “I should go annoy Gauze.” He said getting up off the couch.
He walked up the staircase to their room. He knocked on their door with the same ferocity as a drummer in a rock band. Inside he could hear sounds he couldn’t identify for the life of him.
“You guys good in there? Want anything? Food, water, drugs?”
“Fuck off!” He heard Gauze scream from inside.
“What, are you giving each other blowjobs or something in there?”
“No, now fuck off before I kick your ass!” Gauze screamed even louder than before.
“Totally sucking eachother off.” He whispered as he walked back downstairs.
He turned the radio on only catching the end of some old pop song. The sound of a cheerful stallion filled the air as the song ended.
“Hello my poor freezing listeners, how goes living in this shithole we call a city?” The presenter began to say. “Now I know only about 10% of you give a crap about the news, but I’m going to tell you it anyway. First off, those pesky War Stallions over by the White Sea have been harassing caravans once again. So if any caravaners hear this, steer clear of that area, or just carry better guns. Secondly, that large explosion a couple of days ago? It was definitely confirmed as a crashed Enclave ship. Kevlar Security reports that there was only one survivor of the crash, and he wasn’t even Enclave! Strange huh? Speaking of this sole survivor, Kevlar wants him brought in for questioning. So if you see him, or you are him, please head over to Kevlar Security outpost 2.” The presenter then began to give descriptions of Veteran. His grey coat, his red mane, even his cutiemark.
Veteran sat there confused. If they knew him, why haven’t they found him yet? And more importantly, what did he have to do with this Enclave they were talking about? All he knew, tomorrow he was going to find out, while hopefully getting some answers that he had been looking for for a while.
Perk Added - Master Haggler: No longer will you pay 20 shekels for a poor quality beard! You buy stuff for half price, and sell stuff for twice as much.
