Fallout Equestria: Operation Suscitabo Solis

Chapter 6. What the Wind Blew in.

Sleep. A rare luxury for me. Most nights it was the same sleepless affair, listening to the sounds of the wastes even if it was relatively safe. Perhaps my ears were just hyperactive. Regardless what it was that kept me awake, I did manage to give my eyes and body a bit of a break for at least a few hours. I must have finally fallen asleep, because I awoke some time later to the sound of hooves shuffling about on the other side of the door. The room was a bit dark, but I could still see enough to gather my things and get ready to leave. I appreciated these ghouls unexpected kindness, but I couldn't help but feel that they knew something about me that they weren't exactly going to tell me about. I wasn't great at interrogations, having no voice and all, so I'd have to charm it out of them. I slung my rifles on my sides and started for the door. I opened it and almost ran into a ghoul mare with a tray of what appeared to be breakfast. I wasn't particularly hungry, but there was no point being rude to my unexpected hosts. So, sugar bombs and what I think was Brahmin milk it was. At least I thought it was Brahmin milk from the smell, but I didn't try to think too much. More than often you didn't want to know what was in your food or you'd likely be not able to eat for the rest of the day. I had to admit that despite the smell, it did taste pretty good. After I finished off the bowl, I continued on out the door and began to make my way through the network of tunnels. It was impressive to think that so much of the old maintenance tunnels were still intact. A nearly perfect place for a secret subterranean city. No wonder no pony knew what happened to all the ghouls that used to be in New Pegasus, they'd all come down here. Somehow they had both power and water working down here. Maybe they'd fixed up some old generators and pumps? Considering what still ran after nearly two hundred years, it wouldn't surprise me. All a pony needed was a few tools, some scrap parts, a talisman or two, and a bit of DIY spirit and almost anything was repairable. Maybe not to one hundred percent condition, but more or less enough so that it worked somewhat well. Another idea came to mind. What if these ghouls had access to one of those old Stables? That would explain the power source and clean water. Could be worth investigating. I made my way down the hall, subconsciously counting my steps. If I could just figure out the length of these tunnels, I might just be able to figure out where in the city I was. I recalled seeing an old diagram of the underground service tunnels in that water purifying station I'd been to a few days ago. If my assumptions were right, I was somewhere below Wayside. I could see how some places, such as the medical clinic got power, but the Strip had to rely on the casino generators. Those bigot stable ponies had unwittingly kicked out the few ponies who kept the utilities operational. As I continued along, a came across a larger area of the tunnels that opened up into a sort of large room, perhaps once being some sort of cistern. However it didn't hold water, but rather a market of sorts made of of various stalls. Most seemed somewhat thrown together, but they served the purpose nonetheless. I glanced around, but found nothing of much interest. From the poor quality weapons, damaged food boxes, and old clothing for sale, it was easy to tell that these ghouls didn't get a lot of trade from the surface. I'd heard ghouls didn't need to eat, so the food somewhat puzzled me. Perhaps they just enjoyed the taste? Despite my curiosity, I decided not to ask about it as it might seem rude.

The ghouls acted a bit interesting around me. There were low whispers and long stares when I wasn't looking directly at them. Maybe they hadn't seen a pegasi in some time? Yeah, we were kind of a rarer thing in the wasteland. Besides the Enclave soldiers who came down to the casinos, Proxy was the only other pegasi I'd ever seen. Ponies generally tended to hate us. Blamed us for all the problems, and called us cowards for staying in the clouds. Sure I'd gotten a few nasty words and glares, but I'd never really taken it to heart too much. Perhaps I'd just been lucky so far? I'd heard stories of ponies being brutally tortured to death just for having wings. These thoughts were cancelled out when I caught snippets of a conversation behind me. I might not have use of my voice, but my ears were just as sensitive as ever.

"I can't believe the plan worked!" whispered a voice. Another responded,"Of course it worked! Why would it not?"

"Are you sure she's the one?"

"You see that cutie mark? Hard to miss that. The SunSpire. I remember the day she got it."

I whirled. Somepony remembered me? How? An old ghoul unicorn mare a few paces behind where I'd been standing looked back at me. As if reading my thoughts, she cracked a slight smile.

"Hello Amaria."

I stepped back a pace. Who was this, and how did they know me? No pony knew me. Anypony who had was long dead by at least 200 years by my calculations.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to startle you." she continued. " It's just been such a long time since I've seen you, I thought I never would! But you're here! Your alive! And my how you've grown, such a pretty young mare you are! Your father would have been so proud of you if he could see you now!"

The mare gushed on as a I stifled back a blush at the compliment and backed off a bit. Ponies seldom complimented me, never mind talked about my father. In fact it seemed most ponies had completely forgotten about Cataegis Industries. All ponies really knew about were the mega-corps like Robronco and Solaris. Solaris was shit in my opinion, but that was a story for another day.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Rose Flare."
I tried to write a reply on my chalk board, but she quickly continued on.

"Oh dear me! I'm soo sorry! When did that happen? Who did that to you?"

"Accident" I managed to write down. I didn't feel like relaying the whole story yet again of how I lost my voice. Rose Flare. Hmmm. Yes, I remembered now. One of Dads secretaries. Busybody, but meant well.

"Are you sure we can't do something for it? Surely we must try."

"It's okay. There's nothing that can be done. Thanks anyway" I wrote.

Seemingly satisfied with that, she continued on talking loudly about me, prewar stuff, how horrible things were when the bombs fell, and how my father was such a genius for creating the tunnels under the city into a refuge after he'd found out the StableTec stables only had limited capacity. Well there was something new. Apparently dad had saved a ton of ponies who were now ghouls. Probably didn't plan for the ghoul aspect of it, but I guess his thoughts were in the right place.
Several ghouls had gathered around now, eagerly listening to Rose Flare, and gave me curious glances. I felt a bit uncomfortable with this sudden attention and slowly slipped out of the crowd.

"Your fathers a hero to them, you know. Saved a lot a lot of lives on that day with his ideas."

I turned to face the speaker.

"Call me Bones. Most folks do anyways. I sorta run stuff down here. Sorry about last evening, I appears my boys didn't get the memo on inviting you rather than mugging you."

" It's alright. Just a misunderstanding. No pony hurt too badly over it." I wrote in return.

"Good, didn't want to get the wrong impression. I'm not sure this is the best way to say this, but we've been looking for you for some time. A fellow I used to know worked for your dad. Apparently knew about some of his more sensitive projects. He mentioned a project called Suscitabo Solis and that you were somehow involved in it. Of course I thought he was bullshitting us at first, but here you are. Hard to deny that something pretty significant is going on when a pony, particularly a pegasi who is supposed to have been dead for about 200 years, just shows up."

"How do you know this?"

He pulled out and old wrinkled and faded newspaper clipping. On it was an article regarding when I'd dropped out of the WonderBolts academy. It had been a pretty big shock to Equestria that a Hurricane was not part of the WonderBolts. It had always been a Hurricane tradition since way back. Okay. That was some pretty irrefutable proof that this ghoul knew what he was talking about.

"Okay, what do you want?" I asked.

"Well, a couple things would be nice. Whatever this project is that your involved in, it's probably pretty big. We ghouls would like to help you if we can, especially after what your father did for us. All we really ask in return is that we can return to the surface of Las Pegasus. If you can get those casino ponies to realize we are no different than them, I would call us even. Secondly, could you please tell us what Suscitabo Solis is supposed to do? Some of us have been waiting a long time to find out."
I was a bit surprised by how simple these ghouls requests were, it was somewhat understandable. They didn't really need much down here. They just wanted a chance to try to be respected as normal ponies.

"I'll see what I can do about the casino ponies, but it might take some time to get anywhere." I replied. "As for Suscitabo Solis, I honestly have no idea what it is for. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything. My Pipbuck that should have information is missing, and I've been trying to find it. Until then, I can't really say. Sorry."

"Pipbuck... Hmmm... might have heard something about somepony coming across one a few years back. Not a lot of those in circulation in the MareHave." Bones mused. I gave him a look of interest, and he picked up on the cue. "Some collector out north of here claims to have come into possession of a mint-condition Pipbuck. Oh course I don't believe it, but in your case, it might be worth investigating." I gave the ghoul a grateful look, and he returned a toothy smile. "I imagine you'd like to get in your way now, so we won't stop you."

He gave a short whistle and two guard ghouls walked up. He motioned to me follow him as he turned and headed towards one of the many tunnel openings. " If you ever need anything, you are welcome to come here. Just show the guards this badge." He said as he passed me a piece of tanned leather shaped like a star with some markings etched into it. I tucked it away into one of my pockets. No point in turning down help or friendly ponies where you could find it. I honestly would see what I could do about getting the ghouls to the surface, but that could take time. Most of the inner city was monitored by the Enclave from what I'd heard. I had no beef with them, but after the incident when they took my voice, I didn't fancy taking chances with them. Sure I was no Dashite, but I didn't even go near the cloud cover when I did fly. Bones turned down another tunnel entrance and disappeared, but two guard ghouls motioned down other tunnel. "Just go up here and it hits the surface in a bit." They said. I headed down the tunnel and soon came face to face with a metal grate. I pushed it up and carefully peered out. Nothing. For now at least. I took off out of the grate and to the nearest rooftop. Still nothing. Well, never hurts to be too careful. I made a quick look around and soon had my bearings back. A short flight layer and I was back over the wall into Wayside. I landed carefully and started walking down the sidewalk. I hadn't gotten far when saw three earth ponies still in StableTec suits. Stable 93. Interesting that they'd made it all the way here from Redsands. One buck carried a double barrel shotgun, staring at it in what I could see as total awe. New gun. He wasn't even holding it properly. I continued on towards them as if I didn't notice them. We were nearly three feet away from each other when he looked up. Our eyes met, and I saw fear in his eyes. I blinked and tried to appear friendly, but he just kept staring. Then in a surprising burst of speed he picked himself up and bolted across the street where he ducked under a bench at peeked over the top. I just stood there staring in both surprise and amazement for a couple seconds. Was I really that intimidating, or was it something else? Perhaps he remembered me? No, there was no way. I'd had a riot mask on. Then maybe the twin rifles at my sides? Well, whatever his problem was, it was none of my concern. I continued on my way to the bar. Might as well grab a drink and maybe a bite to eat. Then to set out northwest of here to that blip on that terminal coordinate screen. Time to find that Pipbuck and figure out what all this fuss was about.

I settled for a beer and what seemed to be a sort of a vegetable mix salad. There weren't a whole lot of options that didn't seem to include meat from one creature or another. Yuck. I wasn't wasn't about to try it yet. I'd managed till now, and I was pretty sure I could continue to do so. Food wasn't quite like I remembered it. It seemed nastier tasting and looked stranger. Then again, what wasn't nasty or strange out here. I pretty much accepted things as they were, but I couldn't fully come to terms with it. As I ate I listened in on the conversation around the bar. Not too much new. Slavers and Raiders were about their usual vile business. Some farm ponies had been shot over a debt dispute out in a town to the west. Didn't catch the name of the place, but interesting. Then there was some banter about the Spectre fixing up one of the cities water pumps and then something else about curing sick ponies. Oh great, I didn't need this now. I thought I'd left that behind. Guess that reputation was following me. How long till ponies catch on its me? I had a feeling this Proxy character I'd met might have some suspicions who I really was. I hadn't exactly told him what I did when I went sniping. Just the important parts. He didn't need to know anymore. Once I'd heard enough, I left the bar and headed for the main gates. Those stable ponies were nowhere in sight. I wished them the best and then headed back out into the MareHave. I trotted along the old highway for a spell until I was beyond spotting distance from the walls. Then I veered off the road and began making my way northwest. I stopped on a small rise and looked back on New Pegasus as it sat on the yellowish brown plain. As I was starting to turn to continue on my way, I noticed a craft descending from the low cloud cover. I raised my .308 and peered through the scope. Enclave Vertibuck. A Mark 1 Dropship if I was seeing it right. From what I could piece together from my memories I recalled Dad working on some blueprints of a similar craft for the Equestrian Sky Guard. Guess the Enclave liked the design. The Mark 1 gunship Veribucks were an all too common sight whenever the Enclave decided to venture down out of the clouds to the surface. This however was the first time I'd seen the Dropship variant. It was highly likely it was carrying Enclave officers or the like. All the better I wasn't around if it what the Steel Rangers had said about the Enclave wanting me was true. I didn't have a full picture of how the Evclave operated, but if I was indeed linked to some super weapon, the Enclave certainly didn't need to get their hooves on it. As of currently they could pretty much do whatever they wanted, so why give them even more power? I started off again this time at a low flight. Faster, and much less risk of meeting unpleasant things because I could see them further off. Using the sun as a guide, I kept flying in a northwest direction for a few more hours till I came across the ruins of an old town that looked more or less intact. Well, at least more intact than some other places I'd seen. The MareHave was big, but mostly uninhabited. Not too many ponies strayed beyond the towns, farms, or other settled areas. The only ponies who mostly tended to wander the wastes were the raiders, though they mostly stuck around certain areas, keeping other groups out. Slavers, well, they were different. They used whatever rails still were usable, but on occasion would would send out capture parties to nab ponies. Of course there were always scavengers and relic collectors, and a smattering of mercenaries who passed through the wastes, but they were the exception. They were either armed well enough, could fight, or could just run really fast. I approached the town, but as I got closer, I felt a hair stick up on the back of my neck. Something wasn't right. Then I heard it. A low, eerie whistle coming from what seemed like all directions. I quickly changed direction away from the town, but it was too late already. Whatever was making that noise had detected my presence, and was coming for me.