Fallout: Equestria - Forevermore

I opened my eyes, only to see that Bulwark and the chamber transformed into a vast, dried up plain. I blinked and darted my head all around me in bewilderment of what just happened. To my sides, behind me, up above to the sky. The sky. It was definitely a sight to see. It gave off a familiar feeling, like how I felt when I was in the pod.  Despite having a dull, grey color, the space above me was comforting. What wasn't comforting was the land around me.

The land was supposed to be green, full of life. Well according to my installed memory files. Where was the grass? Why were the trees shriveled and dead? I guess that's how this land got it's name. The Wasteland. I remember that was what Bulwark called it.  Just wished he would've told me that the land was like this.

After breaking off my trance from the sky, I started moving in a random direction. Bulwark didn't rally give me any sort of direction or destination to go to. The only objective that I currently know of is to find this Littlepip. What exactly is a Littlepip? One of the Institute's experiments gone M.I.A probably. Or maybe it's the name of a powerful weapon. Though it sounds like a name for a dog. Why would they send me out here to find a dog?

I shook away the thoughts, for they were a bother at the moment. I just have to find Littlepip or whatever that is. No questioning it.

I must have been walking a bit, for on the horizon I started to gain sight of a visible structure. Multiple structures actually. It seemed to be a town of some sort. Whichever it is, it's interesting and it might provide a lead to where I can find Littlepip.

Though it seemed to be a long walk from where I was. Probably take me around a few hours to get there on hoof.  But not by flight. I opened up my metallic "wings", and began to run for take off. The thrusters attached to the wing plates started to glow with heat, and in moments, I was off in the air. The air roared in my ears as I traversed through the air at a fast speed. I was quite surprised at the amount of distance lying in-between the town and I as I closed in. Within minutes, I was there. But I didn't want to end the ride so soon. I wanted to do some tricks with this ability. And I did. I started doing flips and loop d' loops in the sky, all with a wide grin written all over my face. It was fun! The most fun I've had since......since......

Anyways I didn't wanted to waste anymore time. As much as I wanted to continue, I didn't want to lose track of the main purpose of me being out here. I hovered above the town, and I'll be honest, it looked like a hurricane went through it. The place was a complete wreck. Houses were in ruins, whilst some others were completely off their foundations.  There were some roofless ones as well. The only building that seemed sorta intact was a tree house thing nearing the middle of the town. However, with a quick scan through, my memory bank recognized it as Twilight's Library. Or what's left of it.

Maybe the library might have some information that will explain what a Littlepip is. Or at least some lead to find it. Either way, I was intrigued to go there, and so I nose dived towards the ground nearing it's entrance. With exceptional reaction, I landed almost perfectly on the dirt, only staggering a bit from the sheer power of the thrusters. Whilst retracting my wings, I slowly waled over to the magnificent tree that held Twilight's massive collection of books. I was quite curious into what I would find in there. I was nearing the entrance when I was overcomed by a rotting stench. It seemed to be emitting from inside the library. Which was odd, for why would such a smell be coming from inside? The answer for that came shortly as I proceeded to enter through the entrance door, only to be greeted with what one could say a massacre.

Rotting corpses laid across the floor, with blood spewed all over the walls. It was indeed a horrendous sight. The bodies, upon closer examination, seemed to be like this for around a month. I wanted to take a sample, despite how revolting the bodies were, so Bulwark can study it or something.  The dead ponies all seemed to have died from the same cause: Bullet wounds. Curious. The bullet wounds all resembled with the same mark. Meaning someone or something used a weapon with precise accuracy on each of these individuals. There was a cage nearing the back of the library as well.  Somebody definitely wanted to make the library into a classic horror movie torture house.

I pried my eyes of the deformed corpses to check around the shelves for any sign of a book. Fortunately I did find some. Unfortunately they were burnt, torn, and had some sticky residue that I honestly did not want to observe. After several minutes in the search for a clean, legible book, I decided to go check into another room. There was a wide, burnt mark on the wall, with of course a red stain. Didn't know what the mark was, but the room was in shambles. There wasn't much to go through. I didn't feel like picking up the weapons these ponies happened to have with them, cause it would both be  a distraction from my main objective, and dead weight. The weapons didn't even have any ammunition in them. Empty magazines littered the floor, as well as more ruined books.

This once grand library of Twilight's was nothing more than a house of the dead. There wasn't any leads into finding Littlepip, nor anything that would be useful for the Institute and myself. I shook my head in frustration at the time wasted in this pigsty. The more time wasted, the farther away the finish is for my mission. I took leave after scrounging through more shelves in hopes that there was at least something, anything at all that would prove that this side distraction would give something rewarding. Sadly nothing turned up except my impatience and annoyance. Oh well, I thought, at least I have some samples. Maybe the visit wasn't an entire waste after all, just close to it.

I waltz outside trying to convince myself that I still have plenty of time to proceed with the assignment, only to be greeted with a barrel pointed straight at my muzzle. The holder of the weapon was a face that looked like it seen some shit. Either that or it's been trampled on several times. I believe both ideas were true. Behind the ugly looking  earth pony was a purple unicorn raising her side arm as well. She at least looked more......well normal. Other than the outfit she is wearing. And armor. And the scars across her eyes. For a minute there I thought she looked like Twilight, but the only difference between the two was this one had a dark, grayish mane. Did I mention the scar?

"Hold dit rite der, skinny bones!" yelled the ugly one. Meat bag? Why the nerve of this guy! I was only awake for a few hours after being unconscious for my whole life! It wasn't like I ate much between my awakening and now.  Wait did I eat anything before I left?

The purple unicorn came up behind the ugly one and gave him a good whack on the back of his head.

"Ay, knock it off, Screws. Ain't like he going anywhere."

The disfigured-I mean Screws gave a glare toward the unicorn, but his expression softened a bit to an annoyed look.

"Yes, ma'am..."  Screws answered, emphasizing his irritation with a sigh.  Despite having a gun aimed toward my head, I already like the mare so far. But enough admiring the authority she had. I would like to know what is going on.

"Um, excuse-"

My head fell backwards as I toppled over from the sudden blow to the cheek by Screws's butt-end of his gun. Despite feeling a twang of pain, the blow all but knock the wind out of me. I ran a quick body scan to see if there were any major damages to be concerned about. Luckily it was a fairly small dent on my lower cheek bone, but that didn't reassure my dislike with the stallion.

"Silence ya trap, ya shit!" yelled once more Mr.Ugly. I think he and Charms would get along together. Maybe. The unicorn gave Screws another whack before gesturing me to stand up.

"Come on n' get up. You're with us now. Screws!" The unicorn called out to her partner, who then pulled out a set of...hoofcuffs? Screws gave the cuffs to the unicorn, who then walked over toward me with them.

Now multiple things were going through my head at once. One: Who the heck are these two? I am pretty sure I've never seen them before. Two: Why are they being so hostile? There wasn't any sign stating "you can't enter" on the front doors of the library. Then again, the smell alone should've been the trick to drive away any sane pony anyways. And lastly: Why am I being cuffed? If I recall, I didn't break any laws from the book of laws. Yeah I have that inputted in my memory banks as well. Too bad I didn't had any personal memories to remember.  Not like I care anyways.

Ugh focus! This little circumstance I'm currently in right now is just wasting more time. I need to get out, but how? I don't think I want to resolve this with violence. Mostly because the two aren't my main targets to waste anything upon. The other side...well..I don't want to be a bad guy by killing them. That should only happen during emergency situations where drastic measures must be taken. I could do something else though. Have I tried talking yet?....Oh yeah. That resulted in me getting an indent on my casing. Oh what to do, what to do...

Ah got it! The problem being on how to execute it without Mister Charms over there blasting me away. Though I think my casing's material is durable enough to defend from such an attack, no matter the distance. The unicorn whose name I have yet to know placed the cuffs onto my hooves, locking it with a click!. I must say these cuffs are EXTREMELY in poor shape. I could easily break them if I put enough pressure onto it. But I resisted the urge to do so, cause knowing full well the consequence of doing so after taking another glance at Screws's shotgun.

The unicorn then walked over to Screws, whispering something. He then waled over to me and pressed his forehoof on my back. Hard.

"Ye stay put til Venessa gets back, ya hear?" It was more of an order than a request. Unfortunately for him, I have to go against that order. I unleashed my wings form their holders, which caused Screws to jump backwards in surprise. He also accidentally fired his weapon in the air. Jeez you would think with a face that scarred that anybody with it wouldn't jump from a measly little thing. I boosted up my thrusters, which started to slowly drift me across the dirt. Screws quickly regained his composure, and grabbed onto my hind legs. Idiot forgot his weapon though, One point for me.

Suddenly another shot rang through the air, followed by a whiz of a bullet nearly missing my head. I looked over, shocked to see that Venessa brought some friends with her. Who all had big weapons. Awesome. They started to give chase as my thrusters picked up on it's speed. Screws held on though, and he slowly tried to climb up toward my face.

"Get off!" I shouted as I tried kicking the stallion's hooves off of me, but to no avail.

"Ya should've done what ya been told, meat bag!" Screws then pulled out a sick looking carving knife from his saddlebag. He grinned at me as he tried to regain balance enough to jab it in my stomach region. I wasn't going to allow that to happen. I tried to pull up off the ground, but the extra weight Screws was giving out pinned me to the ground. So instead of trying that, I rounded back my forehoof and wailed on Screw's face, connecting it with his jaw. A sickening crack sound came afterwards, then a scream as Screws dropped his knife. Blood spurted form his mouth and muzzle, making Screws looking more screwed up than before. See what I did there?

Several more metal rounds fired passed my body as Venessa's posse continued to chase. They were still ways away, but oh Celestia, their aim is near accurate! One of the bullets strayed off to a different target, entering Screws's hind leg. He screamed once more as he fell back to my legs once more. He still held on though. It was impressive, and disturbing at the same time. Even with all of his injuries, this pony will just not let go! But because of that stray bullet, I can now take off. It was awkward at first, but because of the released weight off my chest, I was able to start gliding a bit. My altitude raised little by little, to the point where we were several dozen feet in the air. The thrusters kept increasing their power, thus my flying speed gradually followed up at a similar rate. Screws noticed this as he tried to lift up his dangling legs, but he couldn't.

I had enough of the unwanted passenger. I brought back my other hind leg and kicked Screws in his face.

"Screws! Get-"

I kicked again. Square in the muzzle. I was quite to surprised to see that he was still holding on.

"-Off-"

I kicked him once again.  This time it connected with his eye. It instantly swelled up as Screws closed it, but he held on.

"-ME!"

I yelled as I gave him one last kick, making contact with his throat. Screws gave in and fell limp as he fell over several hundred feet down to the ground.  The last ten seconds of his life was a gurgled scream before turning the ground below him into a brightly colored red. I watched in shock as the whole scene unfolded, and when he was splattered across the ruins of Ponyville, I nearly lost it. I turned my head away from the scene and kept flying forward, avoiding the following gunshots behind.

You know when I said I only kill when it's an emergency? Well that was one of them. If I didn't release his grip I would've followed him in a similar fate. He would've killed me, so I prevented that. In order to continue with my mission. My only objective.

So why do I feel guilty?

***

I landed after sometime of flying. Screw's death was traumatizing to witness, so I continued flying off course until I found an unoccupied barn house. Upon entering, there was a similar stench like the smell back at the library. And of course there were more dead bodies. But less than the library graveyard. The farmhouse was a mess, but it seemed to be a good spot to take it easy for an hour or two. I didn't want to waste more time, but after experiencing what happened back at the ruined town, I think I deserve some time to forget about it.

There wasn't much in the place, except a terminal and what's left of a bed. Everything else? Trash. I decided to tidy the place up a bit, mostly because I didn't feel like resting in a place with the smell of death. I tossed the corpses out the door, in high hopes that would remove some of the stank in the building. As for the pony's weapons...tossed. Like the ones back at the library, these ones didn't have any ammunition.

After pushing around some broken down furniture out of sight, I decided give the terminal a look. Maybe this would say something useful in my mission. But much to my dismay, the terminal held several pre-war records. Some pony named Hoss typed these back when., talking about life back when. However, after skimming through several of Hoss's documents, I gave up for it was only giving me a glimpse of something I already have known. Irritated, I left the terminal to look around the place for some kind of clue. But there wasn't much to go through. Feeling the need to release some frustration, I went up to one of the barn's walls, and punched a hole right through it.

I was only out here in the Wastes for nearly the same amount of time as I was back at the Institute. Yet I feel this stress cause of it.  I am running out of time, and I have no lead whatsoever to draw me closer to finishing this assignment. Heck is this even my assignment? Bulwark didn't really clarify what I was supposed to do before I got out here. Saying that I should know what to do. Yet I don't. Sorta. Ah my head hurts from everything. I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes. Just need to lay here for a moment...

***

"How is he doing?"

Bulwark looked at the screen once more before giving his full attention to Father.

"Well...He got his first kill."

Father looked surprised at this.

"Already? He was only released out there a couple hours back, and yet he's already taken one's soul," Father shook his head before continuing.

"Was it Littlepip?"

Bulwark shook his head. "No sir. It was a scoundrel of the land. A raider."

"Excellent. One down, hundreds more to go." Father walked over to the main screen, displaying Xenon at the moment.

"He hasn't found Littlepip yet..." He suddenly turned around to face Bulwark and his partners.

"I want a full scan across the land. Littlepip's location needs to be found and sent to Xenon. I rather not walk around in circles like a headless chicken!"

Everyone immediately went back to their stations, typing away commands and codes to start a scan.  Father nodded in approval as he left the command center, leaving Bulwark anxious at the ever closer deadline of the confrontation between his most prized invention and his target. He hoped that the command he inputted would prevent that from taking a violent turn.