Fallout Equestria: Operation Suscitabo Solis

I spent the night in a somewhat ramshackle hotel in the outer district. Nothing fancy, but ten caps for a working lock, a relatively clean mattress, and running water was nothing to shake ones hoof at. Food I could handle myself. I managed to have a decent enough of a sleep, but anything was better than sand under an overturned wagon. I woke up early , turned in my key and headed outside. New Pegasus. In some ways it was similar, but in others not at all. Oh well, no point dwelling on a past that wasn't coming back. I needed to find the Big Bison casino. Likely in the centre of this mass of buildings. The streets seemed to be a mix of mostly common ponies trying to make a living. A few rag tag guns for hire mingled amongst them. That was one thing I didn't like about the wasteland. Just when ponies were just starting to get on their hooves, somepony would pay to have their neighbour killed, just to get ever so slightly ahead. Pointless and ruthless was what it was. Small wonder almost everypony toted some fabrication of a gun. Lots of pipe rifles. Simple, cheap, and relatively easy to fix. Rifles like my .308 were more of a mercenaries weapon. Expensive and relatively exclusive. I got quite a few glances as a passed. Low whispers. I didn't pay too much attention to it. It was likely my gear that had them talking, or my Stable jumpsuit. Or perhaps just the fact that I was taller than most of the stallions. The later part usually was the leading cause. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these ponies. I wished I could help them, but where to start? Even if I did help, what good would I be? I was no farm pony. Plants made no sense to me. Guns and technical stuff was all I was good at. I wasn't even professional at repairs. Unless it was a somewhat easy part to fix or replace, I more or less jury rigged stuff to work. But these ponies didn't need guns as much as they needed their crops. Maybe I'd find a way to help. Even though my mind was in thought, I kept close tabs on my surroundings. Just because there were a few rules here didn't mean that all ponies followed them.

The buildings here had certainly seen better days. So had the ponies. Some wore dirty patched over garments. Others just had the skin on their backs. I'd never gotten over the whole clothes thing. Sure ponies had fur, but it somehow felt weird to not wear them. Maybe it was just my own upbringing. In my memories from before, most of the ponies I knew all wore clothes. A few didn't, but I'd hardly noticed them. What was the point of trying to compare that to now? This was the wasteland. Nothing was normal. That's when six unicorn bucks ambled out of an alley up ahead and blocked my path. I stopped a few feet from them and waited for them to move aside.

"So, you think your your a tough pegasi bitch? We'll show you what we think about them around here!" Snorted one.

"Yeah, your Enclave buddies won't help you now!" jeered another.

I reached for my chalk, but another snatched out of my grasp and snapped it in half.

"What's the matter? Can't talk?" with that they all laughed.

Okay, six of them, one of me. They were poorly armed at most, I only saw one of them had a rusty combat knife. I had combat armour, wings, and size on my side. At least one of them had magic, but I wasn't sure about the rest. Then the first buck made a swing at my head. I ducked and and came up with a clean blow to the bottom of his jaw. As he went down blubbering I launched myself at the next buck, plowing him over. The remaining four charged. I dodged one, another crashed into my armour plated shoulder and went down. I jumped clean over the third, but as I landed my neck was grazed by the blade of the fourth. I quickly glanced at it. A good cut, but not too deep. I turned to face them again. Okay, so only one unicorn. The rest only had fake horns that had been dislodged in the scuffle. This was easier now. Two of the bucks charged again, but the unicorn held back. I ran directly at the two, but then last minute launched myself into the air. The bucks rushed past and I kicked out with my hind legs at their heads. Two solid thuds and both of them went down. I dropped to the ground and watched the unicorn. By now blood soaked the front of my jumpsuit and was beginning to drip on the ground. The first buck I'd hit was on the ground still, holding his jaw and blubbering. The next one was just starting to get up. The third, well he was limping away on three legs. The last two remained motionless on the ground. The unicorn was obviously panicked, but managed to send a green magic bolt at me. I dodged it and levelled my beam rifle on him. His eyes went wide and he started backing off. I heard a slight noise behind me and kicked out with both hind legs. I caught the last buck right in the chest, and he went down wheezing. The unicorn used this opportunity to run, and I saw him disappear into an alley. I turned and looked over the fight scene. The buck with the smashed jaw was leaving, and the winded one was just getting up. The limping one was gone by now, but the two I'd hit in the head were still sprawled on the ground. By now a small group of ponies had gathered, silently watching. A couple guard ponies walked up, but didn't do anything. A third guard pony with a silver painted helmet trotted up to the two knocked out bucks just as I neared them.

He glanced at them, and then said,"No worries, their just out cold."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want to kill if I didn't have to.

"By the way, that was quite the fight Miss. No pony has ever tried taking on the Unicolt gang by themself before!"

I looked at him in surprise. He noticed my surprise and chuckled.

"Well, we've been trying to get them for a while, but it looks like you just did it for us. I suppose you deserve the caps for bringing in at least two of them."

He handed my a small bag of caps. He then handed me my chalk.

"Here, you'll be needing this. Are you going to be okay?"

He looked at the cut on my neck, which was already healing.

"I'll be okay, but thanks for the offer." I wrote.

"Well consider yourself welcome here in Wayside if you keep up that sort of stuff up."

He then tuned and disappeared into the crowd. By now the two bucks had been dragged off by the guards, and the crowd was busy whispering to each other. Yeah, time to keep moving. I continued down the street, but checked the contents of the bag. One hundred and fifty caps. Not bad for a scuffle and a minor cut. I was definitely going to watch the alleys a lot closer now. The buildings seemed in better condition the further in I went. Lots of apartments and rental suites, a few hotels, and scattered amongst them were various stores. Food, clothes, repairs, chems, even a few gun shops. I passed close to one, but most of its offerings were in bad condition. Damaged pipe pistols, worn leather armour, dented metal armour, even some raider armour. Their offerings of beam weapons were much worse. Only a couple pistols, but they were missing wiring and looked like a hell hound had chewed on them. Curiously got the better of me when I passed another gun shop that was almost completely covered in metal grates. Wayside Weapons read the sign above the door. I went in and was pleasantly surprised by a good collection of high quality firearms. A couple mercenary type ponies browsed the shelves, and I noted to myself that this must be where those with caps to spare purchased their firepower. None of the rifles stood out to me too much, except one. A compensated ported barrel .50 cal sniper rifle with a markspony stock and a long night vision scope. I almost drooled at the sight of it. Then I saw the price. Six thousand five hundred caps. Ouch. That was almost three times what I'd been able to save up with my repair shop. The .50 cal would have to wait. Surprisingly the shop had no good quality beam guns, just rusty and damaged ones. The shop owner noticed me looking at the beam weapons and flatly remarked something about

"Steel Rangers confiscating all the beam weapons from any pony trying to bring them into New Pegasus."

Interesting. That explained their absolutely massive weapon arsenal. After I'd seen all I wanted, I stepped out again and continued on my way. The closer I got to the gates near the casinos, the finer the ponies dressed, and the stores got fancier. I trotted up to the gate, and was stopped by a unicorn guard.

"Enclave?" She asked roughly.

I shook my head.

"Then what's you business?"

"Delivery to the Big Bison Casino. The boss is expecting me." I wrote.

The unicorn mare looked me over suspisciously.

She paused slightly when she saw the dried blood on my neck, but then said,"Alright, you can go in, but no funny business. Got it?"

I nodded and the gate was swung open from the inside.

On the other side of the gate was as if it was a completely different world. The ground and buildings were barely touched by aging, as if the bombs had never even gone off. Signs blinked in bright colours, advertising the various Casinos, restaurants, and the various attractions. Ponies walked about with dresses and suits, but here and there I noticed the occasional well equipped merc. Okay, I wouldn't stand out so much here, but it still felt weird, as if these ponies had forgotten that there was even a war. A few mares wore rather seductive black apparel that accentuated their bodies as they swayed about in almost dance like moves. I blushed just a bit. Okay, I'd heard about this, but never seen it. Just don't stare and keep moving. Keep moving. Dammit, I'd looked again. What was wrong with me? Oh well. Where's that Casio sign? There it is. Good, focus on the sign, not on that other thing. Ponies here seemed to be too busy doing things to notice me, which was completely fine by me. I did however notice a few pegasi in uniform. Enclave. I'd never forget those grey uniforms. As long as they didn't take any interest in me I was fine. I trotted up the stairs to the door of the Big Bison casino. An imposing building by any measure. I opened the door and slipped inside, only to be stopped yet again. This time by a earth pony buck in a tuxedo. A sub machine gun hung at his side, but he didn't have it aimed at me.

"Excuse me ma'am, but I'll need to take your weapons. It's Casino policy."

I slung off my .308 and my beam rifle.

"Fine pieces," he remarked as he looked at them. "I'll be sure to make no one touches them. You will receive them back when you leave. Your name ma'am?"

"Amaria," I wrote.

"A fine name ma'am. And may I inquire as to what brings you here today?"

"I have a delivery for your boss." I wrote.

"Ah, so your the repair pony from New Springs. A pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately Mr Ruffin has been out on business, and will not be back till tomorrow. He left instructions that you are to receive this room key, and all services will be covered until his return."

"Well... Thank you. I was not expecting such a welcome." I wrote.

"Don't mention it ma'am."

He then trotted over to another pony behind a counter and gave him my guns. Okay, so apparently I had a record as a good repair pony. Interesting. Well, I'd better get this combat armour and saddle bags off. And clean this blood off myself. I took the elevator to the second floor and had little trouble finding the room. Spacious, with a large double bed, a private bathroom, a radio, and even a couch. This was by far the fanciest place I'd stayed in since I left X-27. I dumped off my stuff and got busy cleaning myself off. Clean hot water, soap, and a sponge. Three things that felt wonderful when combined. Once I'd bathed, I began coming out my mane. Just because I lived in the wasteland didn't mean I had to look like it. I could have had my jumpsuit cleaned, but I preferred to do it myself. I really didn't need the X-27 label being spread around too much, especially with Encave about. If they were anything like I'd experienced and the Steel Rangers said, I'd rather not mess with them. However, I still didn't know a lot about them, or even who the green unicorn who'd destroyed my voice was, so I remained curious about them. I put it in the tub to soak, then let it dry. A gave my combat armour a wash as well. It was a bit dirty, but not too bad. I flipped on the radio while I fussed about. Music. Okay, I could handle that. Then there was the familiar crackle and the DJ was talking again. Oh great, what he have to say about me now? I was pleasantly surprised when all he mentioned was increased raider activity in the ponyvile area, and that slavers we also busy. Taking unicorns or something. Strange and unfortunate, but nothing I could really do about it. Then some good news. Aparently the stable ponies had shown up in Red Sands. Apparently they'd been forced out of the stable by raiders, but mysteriously saved by a sniper. The DJ went on to muse if this was the same sniper as the one from the highway. I clicked off the radio. Good, those ponies were safe, but damn was that radio pony annoying. Just how did he find out so much? I looked at my jumpsuit. The stable name was still in the collar. Yeah, I think I'm going to take that off. I looked at the inside of the collar and was surprised to find a small pocket. I'd never noticed it before. I opened it, and to my surprise noticed that I could snip off the lettering from inside. There was also a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and found it had a note written. It was faded, but I could just make it out. " The final piece." It read. Then there were coordinates. Okay, this was kind of strange. I was no map expert, but those coordinates were somewhere northeast of Las Pegasus. I folded the paper up again and tucked it away. Whatever it was, it might be important. I snipped the threads in the pocket, and the lettering came clean off. Nice, now no need to cover up where I was from. As far as any pony was concerned, I had just found the jumpsuit and was using it. I tucked away the lettering as well. I might need it later, but until I was sure no pony was interested in X-27 or me, I figured it would be best to just not advertise it. I put the jumpsuit back on and put on the riot cloak. I left the combat armour behind. No pony was likely to be stupid enough to go shooting in a casino? I wasn't sure, but with bouncers toting sub machine guns it would be a pretty stupid idea.

I locked the room behind me and took the elevator back to the main floor. There was a bar in the centre of the room, surrounded by tables, and then those surrounded by game tables. Cards, dice, all the usuals. I had no interest in gambling, the caps I had I intended to keep. I trotted up to the bar and sat at one of the stools. Around the side of the bar was a door leading into what I believed was a kitchen. The bartender made his way around to me.

"What can u get for you ma'am?"

"Could I get a menu please?" I wrote. I was hungry, but I had no idea what I wanted.

"Certainly," replied the buck, and slid a worn sheet of paper over to me.

"Just let me know when you've decided."

I looked over the menu. There was a surprisingly good selection of dishes I remembered, and of course the usual wasteland cuisine. Mirelurk cakes. Yuck. What pony in their right mind would ever try eating one of those? Bacon. Yeah.... tempting, but it was still meat. No thanks. I finally found a salad and ordered it. I'd hold off on the liquor for now. Too much was going on, and though it hardly affected me, I wanted my full attention available. As I ate, I couldn't help but feel watched. I ever so slowly scanned around, looking in the corners for what it was. At a far table, barely lit and slightly covered with a shadow sat that same great buck with the orange eyes. He was clearly watching, because as soon as I looked his way he shifted his gaze. I couldn't make out a lot about him, as he wore a cloak almost identical to mine.

The bartender noticed me looking at the buck and quietly said,"That's Proxy. He's a regular here, quiet type. Mercenary. Sometimes Mr Ruffin has jobs for him."

I nodded. Hmmm. My brain started working. Mercenary. Quiet. Riot cloak. Obviously curious about me. I starting thinking out possibilities. Enclave agent looking for me? The other sniper I'd run across? Either was a possibility. Out of curiosity and for my own purposes I asked the bar tender what was north east of the city. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Nothing out there but radiation, ferals, and creatures. Apparently a balefire bomb landed out there way back. Some ponies say there's big dome out there, but it's guarded by robots and beam turrets. I'd honestly stay away from there."

Now I was really curious. That note in my collar was more than likely linked to that dome. This warranted some investigation. I then asked about any pre war tech showing up recently. Apparently nothing too special. When asked why I was curious, I simply replied that I was looking for a certain type of terminal for something I was going to build. The bartender said he'd keep an ear open for any rumours he head about terminals. Good, I'd managed to ask about the Pipbuck without calling it one. I'd just finished my salad when a bouncer came up to me.

"Sorry to disturb you ma'am, but there is a buck who would very much like to speak with you. He says it's urgent."

"Where is he?" I wrote.

"He's up on the balcony."

"Alright. Thank you."

I glanced to where that strange buck had been. Gone. This was likely no coincidence. I made my way up the curved stairs to the balcony, which was surprisingly empty.

"Good," came a low voice from a shadowed corner.

"I'm glad this didn't have to get violent. Please, sit down."

He motioned to the chair opposite him. I sat down, and took a good long look at him. Not surprisingly, he did the same.

"I will be quite blunt here. Who are you working for?"

He asked.

"I'd ask the same of you." I wrote.

"That's not how this works. I ask the questions."

"I'm sorry,but I don't work that way." I replied.

"I see your just as stubborn as myself. Perhaps we both tell each other what we want to know." "Alright, I can agree to that." I wrote.

"Good, now as I was saying, who's your boss?"

"Myself." I replied.

"Then were did you get those guns and that armour? Those aren't easy to come by. You certainly had help acquiring them." He replied in an accusative tone.

"Both of the guns I made. I used to run a repair shop. The armour was given to me by friends." "Friends? Hiding something are we?"

"MareHave Northwest airbase." I jotted down. The buck paused a moment.

"I see. Alright, your not who thought you were, though you certainly have some powerful friends." He was clearly knew exactly what I meant when I mentioned the location of the Steel Rangers base. "Your name?"

"Alright, my name is Proxy. Mercenary. That's about all there is to tell about myself. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"Your ex-Enclave aren't you?" I wrote. He froze.

"How did you know that?"

"Your attitude and mane cut are one pointer." I wrote. "Your ability to use shadows is also evident of perhaps involvement with a special branch?"

It wasn't too hard to figure that out. Few pegasi lived on the surface, and where else would one get his kind of experience and demeanour? He was clearly flustered, and glared at me.

"Tell that to no pony, ever!" He growled.

He then got up and trotted off quickly. Alright, touchy ex military pony. He was clearly worried about another pegasi showing up though. Perhaps he was hiding from the Enclave? A deserter? Regardless what he was, I had a feeling I hadn't seen the last of him. He'd forgotten to ask my name, but perhaps he had already found out. Well, since I had nothing else to do, I decided I'd take bit of a stroll around the casinos. I only took my beam rifle with me. I inquired about work opportunities here and there, and tried to get the lay of the place. I found out that when the bombs fell, some kind of magical shield had covered most of the city, though not as strongly on the edges. Some ponies made it to a couple stables under the city, but others were not so fortunate. A few had survived in the casinos and central buildings. The ponies on the other parts were not so fortunate. Most died or were turned into ghouls by the radiation. The ponies from the inner city had apparently tried to rebuild, but most stayed in the city. There had been pretty large population of ghoul ponies in Wayside back then, and despite differences, both the inner and outer city managed to get along. Then some fifty years later the Stables opened, and the the ponies in them entered the remains of the city. They hated the ghouls, and forced them out of the city to live in the sewers. Years passed, and the casinos eventually became controlled by powerful families. These families controlled the Strip, as they called it, and mostly made sure that only what they wanted happened. Around the same time, they implemented the two tiered society that the city had now. Rich ponies lived in the Strip. Poor ponies lived in Wayside. If you were a ghoul pony, good luck getting into either. Apparently the ghoul ponies still had a town under the city, but no pony knew how to get in, as all the above ground accesses had been welded shut to keep the ghouls out. The way it was now was mostly how it had been for the last few decades, except for the recent addition on the Enclave, who liked to go to the Strip for entertainment during their time off. It was only soldiers though. The most recent activity from them was crop raiding. They'd just come down from the skies, pick a random farm, and then at gun point take all their produce. They would then claim that they deserved it for protecting the earth ponies from dangers above. No pony believed it, but they'd just learned to accept it. What were farmers going to do against plasma guns? Even the Strip wasn't safe from the Enclave. There was an annual protection tax that the casinos had to pay, or the Enclave threatened to take them over. Lovely. This place certainly had gone to shit since I was last here. The only real work I could find was mostly mercenary stuff. Kill this or that pony. Go there and beat up this guy. Not my kind of stuff. Debt collection..... maybe. Less killing, but it still bothered me. A lot of the time the debts weren't even real, just protection money from ponies who could barely afford to eat, let alone pay fake charges. Maybe Wayside had better work. Maybe some repair jobs. A lot was wrong here, and I certainly wanted to change it if I got the chance. I also managed to gather a bit of information about a couple other places in Equestria. Apparently Canterlot was a ruin filled with pink poison gas and ghouls. Appaloosa, now called Old Appaloosa was a slaver nest. Manehattan was apparently still around, though nothing like it used to be. Hoofington was still out there. That place had been built like a fortress, so that didn't surprise me at all. There was mention of a few smaller places, but I'd never heard of them. Fillydelphia and the Everfree were to places to stay far away from. I'd keep that in mind. Cloudsdale was gone, but beyond that no pony knew about the other pegasi cities. It certainly seemed a bit bleak, but at least I had a bit of a better grasp of what had happened. I don't bother asking about those strange alicorns I'd seen, something about it was just too weird. I did briefly ask about talking spritebots, but was pretty much brushed off as being crazy. Armed with a bit more information, I returned to my room. I didn't stay there too long, and wandered back into the casino. I particularly seemed to notice the dancers, and a caught myself staring at them. Sheesh! What was wrong with me? There was that funny feeling again. Somehow I liked it, but that was wrong, wasn't it? I was supposed to like bucks. Well, I did, but I felt attracted to these mares as well. Apparently I was a lesbian and didn't even know. Great. I headed back to my room. Alright get that package delivered and get out of the Strip. This place was seeming to be far too corrupt for my tastes.