Introduction: Equestria Reborn
It's amazing how much the world can change within a period of ten years.
Ten years ago, the land of Equestria was a wasteland brought about by the fires of a war that had raged centuries before. Within this wasteland, disease and death were a common, everyday occurrence. If Raiders weren't doing the killing, then Slavers were ambushing unwary travelers and capturing the survivors. However, despite all the bloodshed that stained the land, a Hero emerged from the oceans of red to rise above the chaos and deliver salvation onto the land.
This Hero was named Little Pip. When she emerged from Stable 2 in search of her friend, she was all but prepared for the atrocities that would send Little Pip through hell and back. For almost three months, the "Stable Dweller", as she was nicknamed by DJ Pon3, brought hope to the wasteland as she defeated the Slaver Lord Red Eye, annihilate the hive-mind entity known as the Goddess, and give the Grand Pegasus Enclave a nice kick to their over-inflated ego.
However, despite these magnificent victories, Little Pip ultimately gave herself up for a final victory: returning the sun.
Putting herself into a device created by an old world, war-time project, Little Pip broke the cloud barrier that had hung over Equestria since the loss of Cloudsdale. Now, the sun had returned to the dead land, returning light and warmth to the desolate wasteland.
While Little Pip gave herself up, her sacrifice allowed the arrival of an old face to a new land. With the help of Little Pip's friend Velvet Remedy and a zebra named Xenith, Fluttershy was freed from a transformation spell that had turned her into a weeping willow deep within the Everfree Forest. After her release, Fluttershy was a broken mare, a shell of her former self. However, with help from Little Pip's friends (and some magical statues), Fluttershy recovered. After ten years, Fluttershy had become the leader of the Followers of the Apocalypse, a group dedicated to helping the Equestrian Wasteland rebuild itself to its' former glory.
Life is good in Equestria now. The land is thriving and any evidence of the wasteland is nearly erased. Ponies no longer fight over scraps of food, but rather work together to take care of acres upon acres of farmland. Ponies no longer have to worry about being sold into slavery, or be ripped to pieces by Raiders. The New Canterlot Republic has managed to organize the various factions of the old wasteland into a single force that works together.
Everything seems to be going back to the way life was before the Balefire bombs.
However, like all cancers, the wasteland has begun to strike back. Mysterious murders have been happening, slavery has gone underground, and bands of bandits have been assaulting trade routes. But these are just the top layer of the concoction that makes up Post-Wasteland Equestria.
So this begs the question: Where does betrayal rank on the list of possible atrocities?
My name is Sure Shot, a Corporal in the New Canterlot Republic Armed Forces. For me, life was going well. That is, until I got thrown into a web of lies and deceit that threatens to unravel the NCR and throw Equestria back into the deepest level of hell itself.
The kicker? I don't even remember how I became part of this mess.
In fact, I don't remember a thing...
"The highway between the Manehatten Ruins and Fillydelphia used to be crawling with monsters and Raiders. Nowadays, the worst thing you'll come across is a Road Cat. The most those little buggers will do is purr and see what kind of food you have on you."
Fires burn around me as the smoke clouds my vision and burns my lungs. Around me, wagons filled with supplies turn out to be the sources of the fires around me. Pony corpses in military uniforms are strewn about the road, some missing limbs or entire sections of their body. Pops ring out through the air, most likely from the fires as they chew through the wooden wagons, but they were sudden and random. Pain fills my body, spreading from my head down to my abdomen where it suddenly stops. My rear legs are bent and broken at odd angles; legs shouldn't be bending that way to begin with. I look at the rest of my body and see that the armor framing on me was exposed, but some pieces of armor remained attached to the frame.
My smoke filled world reveals a large, clunky silhouette roughly a few yards from me, walking around the debris and the bodies. Despite being shut tightly by the smoke that is filling my lungs, I give a weak croak that was quickly followed by an explosive coughing fit.
The silhouette stops in its' walking, seeming to look up and towards me.
"H-Help..." I weakly say, straining to raise by voice above a harsh whisper. Slowly, the form turns and approaches me, a light glowing emitting from its' head. A hopeful smile comes across my lips as I greet my savior. "Th-thank you..." I croak as my eyelids slide half-way down my eyes. As the form approaches, heavy thuds in a steady rhythm begin growing louder and louder. Soon, the form's details begin to come into focus; a unicorn mare in heavy power armor. On the center of her torso armor, a twin-headed Ursa Major is crossed out by a large white 'X'. Her eyes are protected by gunner goggles while her snout and mouth are covered by an oxygen mask of sorts.
"Corporal Sure Shot?" asks the mare, her voice somewhat muffled by the oxygen mask. I manage a weak nod in response as my eyes cast downward to my injuries.
"I think something hit us..." I rasp. The mare's horn lights up in a soft cream glow. From a hidden holster, a ten millimeter pistol floats out beside her, the handle and trigger enveloped in the same cream glow. She magically pulls the weapon's slide back, ejecting a spent casing from the firing chamber. Through the pain, I quickly realize that the pistol was now being aimed inches away from my forehead.
"You are a threat to Equestria and her citizens; how do you plead?" she asks coldly, her eyes glaring at me through the heavy gunner goggles.
"Wh-what...?" I rasp, confusion and fear filling my pain riddled mind.
"You are hereby found guilty." was all she said before the pistol was fired. At that moment, the world slows down as S.A.T.S suddenly kicks in. I watched in slow terror as the gun's slide pulls back and allows the firing chamber to vent a spurt of flame. A bullet travels from the end of the barrel and through the air. Time resumes, but is quickly slowed down again by S.A.T.S. I can feel my heart pound with terror as the bullet travels out of my sight.
Then time resumes.
And the world suddenly goes dark.
~ooo000ooo~
Three hours earlier, Ponyville NCR Munitions Depot, Personnel Break Room
"...and next thing I know, there's a cooked turkey flying across the room! I look back to see my wife in a furious rage. I ask her what's wrong, and she screams 'I PUT IT IN TOO EARLY!! IT WAS ALL DRY AND PRACTICALLY EXPLODED WHEN I CUT INTO IT!!' At this point, my kids poke their heads in looking all worried, right? My wife looks at them and screams 'EVERYPONY UPSTAIRS, GET DRESSED! WE'RE GOING OUT TO EAT!' and stormed her way out of the kitchen." said a stallion, his voice in an high pitched imitation of his wife.
"Then what did you do?" asked a unicorn mare from nearby.
"I quietly pointed out that there were no places to eat open on Hearths Warming. My wife yells back 'I WILL FIND SOMEWHERE THAT IS OPEN!' And so that's how we ended up at this exotic Griffin restaurant. When the waiter brought out the meal, it was a Turducken with the turkey head still attached. I pointed out that it looked like it was smiling, happy to be cooked and eaten. The waiter gave a kind smile then WHACK! chopped the turkey's head right off with a cleaver! My wife simply let her head hit the table as our kids gave a terrified scream. The waiter was confused, but I reassured him that it was okay. So needless to say, my Hearth's Warming was quite eventful." finished the stallion. "What did you guys do? Ruby? Sure Shot?"
"My marefriend and I just had a small meal, nothing too crazy." said the unicorn mare, Ruby. "You SS?" she asked, looking over to me as she sat at a desk. The terminal sitting on top of the desk faintly glowed as Ruby turned her attention back to it and began typing away at the keyboard.
"I kinda wandered around the town. All my family is too far away to visit or, well, dead." I said lamely, giving a simple shrug.
"Damn dude, you need to get yourself a lady." said the first stallion, shaking his head with a smile on his lips.
"Shut up Barricade. I've been trying to." I retorted, a frown coming to my lips.
"Obviously not hard enough!" Barricade shot back, laughing playfully. I grabbed my crumpled sandwich wrapper with my magic and chucked it at the laughing stallion.
"Oi, orders came through you two. A supply convoy is passing through here and we need to join up with it. Heading northeast to Manehatten." said Ruby, her eyes locked on the terminal screen sitting before her. "Suit up boys." she added as she hopped up from the desk chair. Getting up, Barricade and I grouped up with Ruby as the three of us left the staff lounge. Entering the main warehouse, we passed by crates upon crates of dry foods and other various supplies. Ponies dressed in regular military fatigues move the crates with magic and machinery onto the large wooden wagons that are lined up in the middle of the alley. Somewhere in the warehouse, a radio was playing, the song being upbeat and talking about being a Wanderer and loving various mares in different towns. Soon, the three of us approach a door labeled 'Armory' and enter. With a flick of a switch, the overhead lights flicker to life, illuminating a caged weapons shelf and three large, yellow stands.
What stood at these stands have endured time and trials by fire, both in the past and recently.
Hooked up to the stands by heavy duty chains were three suits of Power Armor painted arctic white. One of them was bulky and armored like a small tank, designated 'X-01' in black paint on the chest piece. Along the edge of the right shoulder pad, pony skulls were painted on in the same black pain, some alone and some in groups, coming out to a total of 48 skulls. Barricade approached this armor and gave it a loving pat as he engaged the power core. Once activated, the suit opened up by itself and allowed Barricade to step into the armor. Once in, the suit sealed around him and he moved away from the suit stand and towards the weapons cage.
Ruby approached her suit of power armor and activated its' power core as well. Her armor was pretty standard compared to Barricade's. On the chest piece, a twin-headed Ursa Major was painted, the symbol of the New Canterlot Republic. Right above the Ursa Major was the designation 'T-60d' in black paint, much like Barricade's chest piece. Stepping in, Ruby was sealed away and joined Barricade at the weapon's locker.
I approached my armor and gave a small grimace. On the chest piece, my armor was designated 'T-45b' in the same black paint. The armor looks dated and pretty basic compared to the suits of X-01 and T-60 armor my companions wore. When I asked about getting some better armor, the Quartermaster back in Baltimare said that based on my rank, the basic T-45 suit was what I was entitled to. When I looked into the development of Power Armor during the War, I learned that T-45 armor was the first power armor to be developed by the Ministry of Wartime Technology. The first combat deployment of the T-45 series was during Operation: Liberation in Port Mane to the far northeast.
Learning this was great, but still; I hate being a Corporal. Soldiers at this rank are practically given the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel when we're given heavy equipment.
Shrugging, I activated the power core and stepped into my armor. The HUD flickered to life and glowed a soothing blue. With a lurch, the power armor's hydraulic servos whirred to life as I trotted away from my armor stand and to my comrades. Barricade was already armed, a tactical minigun having been mounted to his side. Ruby had a custom precision laser rifle mounted to her armor. Overlaying her right eyepiece was the rifles' scope which was mounted to her helmet's side by large screws.
As for me? I was only allowed clearance to low caliber weapons. Grabbing my combat rifle, I double checked the magazine and receiver. With some assistance from Ruby's horn, my rifle was mounted along with the rifle scope to my helmet's side. Unlike Ruby's clunky scope, I can swivel my scope around my helmet in case I need to become a sniper.
"Ready?" Ruby asks us. I nod with Barricade and the three of us move to a larger door at the end of the armory. With a hoofscan, Ruby activates the door mechanism. With a hiss, the metal door collapses on itself and slides into the door frame. Immediately, the three of us are blasted by heavy winds and snow.
"Good thing we've got the right camouflage painted, right?" Barricade joked through his helmet's speaker. Ruby and I give a small chuckle in response as the three of us exit the armor and into the blizzard. As we approach the main warehouse door, it beings to raise. The ponies who were loading the wagons earlier are now wearing heavy duty winter combat armor and battle saddles. The wagons are hitched up to each other to form a train of sorts. The front wagon has a magical spark generator, removing the need for a pony to pull the wagons. The supply wagons move under their own power, following the lead trooper.
"All set Sergeant?" Ruby asks.
"Yes ma'am. Hell of a day to run a convoy, eh ma'am?" jokes the Sergeant. Ruby gives another chuckle in response, but the tone of her chuckle sounds a bit off and catches my attention. Behind my visor, I raise an eyebrow and look at Ruby.
"Ruby generally finds Sergeant Hammer's jokes funny...why did it sound like she forced her chuckle?" I ask myself mentally. Shrugging it off as agitation from the cold, the three of us take point in front of the normal troops and begin moving out. As the supply train moved farther from the warehouse, the blizzard around us swallows the building up, making it vanish from sight.
Ponyville was originally a small hamlet that was nestled in a valley below Canterlot. That was in the days before and during the war two-hundred years ago. After the bombs fell, the homey hamlet became a massive Raider town and was generally avoided by most of the Wasteland's inhabitants. However, after the rise of the NCR and the Follower's of the Apocalypse, the town was wiped clean of the Raiders and given a much needed clean up. Now, scaffolding surrounds most of the blasted buildings, showing the reconstruction efforts being taken to restore the town to its' former glory, thanks to the notes and memories of Fluttershy.
I was there to greet Fluttershy and her nurse Velvet Remedy after the NCR cleaned out Ponyville ten years ago. The quiet mare was horrified by the state her old hometown was in. There were a few locations where she began crying, saying that they were the homes of her old friends and that their restoration was top priority. She immediately intended to turn the buildings into museums dedicated to preserving her friends' lives before the War. When asked about her own home, Fluttershy asked that it too be cleaned up and made a museum. When asked if she wanted to live there instead, she politely declined and stated that "Preserving my past is just as important as preserving my friends' pasts. Rather than live in it, I'd much rather live in the future; the here and now."
Fluttershy is such a nice mare. I still find it hard to believe that she lived during the war and became a tree in the Everfree Forest. Despite being over two-hundred years old, she still looked like quite the cutie!
Anyway, Ponyville is slowly being rebuilt. However, with heavy winter weather being scheduled by the Enclave Weather Teams, construction has been temporarily halted for the winter months. As we pass through the snowy streets, we're surrounded by the walls upon walls of scaffolding. Off in the distance through the breaks in the blizzard, Ponyville's town hall is nothing but scaffolding. Soon, we exit the town limits of Ponyville and begin walking along the road to the Manehatten Highway. As we walk, the blizzard begins to lighten up at points, only to return with harsher winds and heavier snow. Eventually, we reach the ruins of a spark battery station and seek refuge under the roof that covers the rusted charging stations. The only addition built onto the station itself was an entire wall of scrap metal that goes from the roof of the roof to the cracked pavement and across the exit lanes of the charging station.
"Good thing that wall was built by those Raiders. Otherwise we'd be getting our asses frozen off." says a mare as the troopers join us under the roof.
"I need to step out. I've got ice forming in my joints." Barricade says as his armor opens up to allow the stallion to exit. With a wave of his hoof, a unicorn stallion accompanying us trots forward, a heater floating beside him in a magical field. With a click, the heater hums to life and is placed in front of Barricade's armor. Ruby and I approach the scrap metal wall and pull back one of the panels, peaking out into the blizzard. For now, the raging snows have subsided and the air has cleared up. Down the road, the armored silhouettes of an NCR convoy approach our position.
"SS, send out a flare. Let our friends know we're here." Ruby orders. Nodding, I grab a flare from an armored compartment and trot out of our cover. Aiming up, I send the flare out and place the flare gun back into its' compartment.
"They saw the flare. They've sent up a confirmation flare." Ruby calls. Nodding, I begin to turn around and see Ruby trotting away suddenly from the wall. A harsh whistling suddenly filled the air, and my world became a blinding explosion of shrapnel and heat. The explosion envelopes the troops as it blows the scrap metal wall to pieces, sending me flying head over hoof. Recovering, I spot Barricade rushing for his armor, only to get his head blown off by an unseen sniper. Rapid fire machine gun rounds come flying through the air, cutting down any of the burning troopers. I load my combat rifle with a kick to my battle saddle and charge towards the nearest piece of cover. Looking at my HUD, my armor systems signal that my foreleg armor was in the red, along with my chest piece and helmet.
War.
War has finally ended for Equestria.
For over two-hundred years, Equestria was the land of an eternal war. Even after Balefire bombs obliterated the land, war continued to rage on. In the post-apocalyptic world, Slavers fought Raiders. The Steel Rangers clashed with the Grand Pegasus Enclave. Raiders raided settlements and farms, ruthlessly killing and raping all without a second thought. Slavers ambushed unwary travelers, throwing them into the hell that is slavery. The Enclave proclaimed to 'help' the Wasteland, when in actuality they were trying to cleanse the land below the clouds.
Then, you had the ones who delivered hope; ponies like the Stable Sweller and Security to name a couple of examples. Fueled by their drive of curiosity and a sense of needing to help anypony in need, these heroes fought Raiders, Slavers, even the mighty Enclave. Aided by their friends and the charismatic radio personality DJ Pon3, word of their heroic deeds spread across the ailing wasteland, bringing hope to those who severally needed it.
And eventually, these heroes succeeded in their missions, often making the ultimate choice to sacrifice themselves in order to accomplish their final tasks. Despite having to drench themselves in oceans of blood, using enough bullets to put an entire army to shame, and leaving behind thousands of bodies, the struggles and hardships these Heroes endured became legends to those living in the new world.
Leading this new world of healing and change is a face from the days of the Great Equestrian War; the Minister of Peace herself, Fluttershy. Saved by the efforts of the Stable Dweller's friends, she was freed from a horrible trap that twisted her into a solitary tree within the Everfree Forest. With Fluttershy at the helm, the formation of the New Canterlot Republic became a possibility. Now, Fluttershy has begun to make plans on expanding her relief efforts to other parts of Equestria and beyond that were affected by the war of over so many years ago.
However, no matter how good a pony's intentions may be, corruption and evil deeds will eventually worm their way back into the world, poisoning the healing land once again. From drug addiction to mass murder, the Wasteland will begin to retaliate against the healing waves of the new world.
Because we all know the old saying:
War.
War Never Changes.
-Captain Suicide Presents-
Fallout: Equestria
In the Shadows of Memory
