Prologue: Last Preparations
Prologue: Last Preparations
Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout: Equestria or its characters. I have permission from Kkat to use the characters as long as I am aware that this will never be considered canon to the Fallout: Equestria Universe. Kkat is also able to say when one of his/her characters is out of line and if he/she feels that they are being misrepresented can tell me to delete the story.
Honey Cider's (Littlepip's mother) POV
I felt the burning deep in my throat and I knew that everything would be better, or at least more bearable, soon. I looked at the case of Apple Acres Super Hard Cider next to my chair, counting how many I had left. Littlepip should still be at work for a few hours, so I should still have some time to myself. I rubbed my slightly bulging stomach and something in the back of my head told me to stop drinking, to put the bottle down and not pick it up for the upcoming months.
I quickly squashed those thoughts with another chug of the cider, letting the warm, burning feeling take me once again. I stared at the ceiling fan for a few moments before reaching out with my magic and lifting the telephone that was beside me.
“What was his number again?” I asked myself aloud as I racked my brain for those simple 10 digits. After a few moments of chasing my thoughts around, his number jumped out of nowhere. I quickly punched in the numbers with my magic, with strained me much more than it should've, and put the phone up to my right ear. After a few moments of ringing I heard his voice on the other side.
“Hardhooves and Associates how may I help you?” I forgot he ran his business from home.
“Hey Nolan, it’s me” I mumbled.
“Cider? Is that you?” He asked.
“Yeah, I need you to come over and take a look at a few things. I want to make sure that I got everything right” I said quietly.
“So you’re going through with it?” I could almost hear his sigh.
“Yeah, I am. You know our history as well as I do” I replied casually.
“This isn’t a joke damn it!” He was pissed, then again when wasn’t he. I took another swig of the cider, I would need it to deal with Nolan for the next few hours.
“I know it is, that’s why I want you to come over and take a look at the paperwork, put a dumb drunk’s mind to rest” I was almost ready to start begging him. He was quiet for a few moments, he was probably questioning why he was even doing me this favor. I knew why, and I hated using it against him.
“Yeah, I’ll get it done. I’ll be there in a few hours, depends of how fast the train ponies are today. Just try not to be plastered when I get there, please?” I could almost hear what little sincerity was left in him come out when he said that.
“I’ll try” I mumbled.
“Thank you. See you soon sis” He said as he ended the call.
“No problem, see you soon” I put the phone back on it’s stand. I took a look at the now almost empty bottle of cider and downed the rest, placing the empty bottle into the crate with the full ones. I could at least try to stop for tonight. With a sigh I leaned back into my recliner.
I was staring at the ceiling for what felt like forever, a headache building in my head, when a knock woke me from my trance. I shook as I got up, I even had to use my magic, what little control I had of it anyway, to keep myself standing. I wobbled over to the door and looked through the peep sight and saw my brother. He was drenched in the rain and I opened my door. He gave me a nod and walked in, wrapping his forearms around me and gave me a hug.
I hugged him back, and it took everything I had not to break down and start crying. I began to shut the door with my magic, but Nolan beat me to it. I broke out of his embrace and walked back over to my chair, using all of what remained of my will to not pick up another bottle of cider. I slumped back into my recliner, resting my head and closing my eyes.
“Where are the papers?” Nolan asked, hanging his coat on a nearby chair.
“On the table” I opened my eyes to follow the fan blades until they just became a continuous brown blur. Silence filled the room, aside from the hum of the fan and the shuffling of papers.
“I’m kinda surprised,” I heard him say, “this isn’t useless”
Prick I thought to myself.
“Yeah, I can work with this. I’m really surprised that you even thought of getting life insurance”
“I’m not completely incompetent” I mumble as I close my eyes, pitch black filling my vision.
“When did you start thinking this far ahead?” He asked.
“When I had Littlepip” I said solemnly.
“Ah,” He said “so you decided to finally join the adults and become a parent” He said, the sarcasm was so thick that I could picture his smug smile spread across his face, grinning from ear to ear. He really did look a lot like Dad, back when dad wasn’t dirt in the ground. Same black manes and tails, same lifeless black eyes, and same fucking sense of humor. Of course Dad never wore a suit in his life, while Nolan lived in the damn things.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Asshole.” I said, I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock, it was 7:47 pm, Littlepip would be home soon, so this back and forth would have to end, “Can we stop this shit and get to business” I snapped at him.
"Sure," He said, slipping into what I like to call his "Lawyer Mode", where he gets all serious and makes himself useful, ", just give me a minute to read these". I nodded, knowing that he wouldn't see, but I didn't care anymore. My head felt as though somepony was ripping my horn out with their bare hooves.
It took a good long while for him to get through all of the papers, I was beginning to worry that Littlepip would see him here, but my headache chased away any thoughts that would creep into my mind. After what felt like an eternity and a half, he finally said something.
"Everything checks out, you never needed me to come over" He said calmly.
"Anything you could do to make it better or something?" I inquired.
"Not really, as I said, everything checks out" I heard him move a few papers around. Then the door opened.
"I'm home mo- Oh, I didn't know you had company" Littlepip said as she shut the door behind her. I opened my eyes and sat up enough to get a look at her. Her mane was coated in grease and grime, then again there was probably not a single spot on her that wasn't, even after the rain. Her blue work jumpsuit was covered in a layer of grease and grime so thick, that I only knew it was blue was because I saw it before she went to work.
"Tough night?" I asked as I looked at the clock, 8:37 she must have done some overtime.
"Yeah, I asked for some more overtime. So starting next week I'll be working till 9:00, probably won't get here till 9:30 ish" She mumbled as she started up the stairs.
"That's kinda rude you know" I said.
"What is?" She asked.
"Brushing off your uncle and not even saying "hi" not matter how big of an ass he is" I said, as I caught his expression. It was a mixture of anger and amusement. I heard Littlepip come back down the steps.
"Hello uhh... sorry but what is your name?" She asked. My head wasn't feeling as though an Ursa Major was trying to claw its way out any more, so I pulled myself out of my recliner and started towards the table that Nolan was sitting at.
"Nolan Hardhooves," He said putting his hoof out for Littlepip to shake, "Littlepip right?" He asked her, as I walked over to the table and slumped down into one of the chairs, with my hooves on the table.
"Yup, nice to meet you" she said.
"You're a mechanic right?" he asked.
"I didn't think it was that obvious" She said, her sarcasm almost as thick as Nolan's.
Why does everyone in my family have to be a sarcastic ass? I asked myself, not really expecting an answer since I didn't start talking to myself till bottle four.
"Well I used to be a mechanic myself when I was going to school at Canterlot" He said with the same bit of smugness that came with everything he said and did.
"Really?" Littlepip asked. I understood her confusion, Nolan looked nothing like most of the mechanics in town. He was too... clean.
"Once upon a time, yes. I did it as a way to help pay for my apartment. Canterlot is a pretty expensive place to live, especially for a student on a budget" He said, with what sounded like genuine happiness from him.
"I could guess, what was Canterlot like?" I heard Littlepip ask. I wasn't listening to Littlepip's and Nolan's conversation anymore, I just sat and watched as their mouths moved with no words coming out, starting into space, or more accurately, my chair in the next room.
It was a bit like being on dash, from the brief time I experimented with that shit. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, as thought I was living in a giant pool of syrup. They looked like they were tolerating each other, so I guess that was a plus. It wasn't often that we had family come over, most of them liked to pretend that I didn't exist, not that I blame them, but in doing so they ignored Littlepip. That set me off real good. She was a good daughter, she worked hard, helped around the house, didn't get into my cider, perfect child I'd say. Of course no one cared, guilty by association I guess. Then again, it's kinda amazing how well she ended up, considering how many bottles I went through while I was carrying her.
I felt my eyelids starting to droop, and I knew that I would fall asleep soon. I was in a haze, dash had nothing on what I was felling right now. With dash you could at least hear people, I couldn't even do that right now. I felt sluggish, and nothing seemed right. After fighting sleep for Celestia knows how long, I caved in a fell asleep on at the table.
I don't know how long I was out, or when Nolan left, but when I opened my eyes again, he was gone and I guess Littlepip was up in her room. I got up and stated walking towards my recliner when something caught my eye, and with my headache now completely gone I could think straight for once. A letter lay amiss the neatly stacked piles of paperwork, legal documents and insurance papers. Written in neat calligraphy, it had my name written on it. I picked it up in a gentle grip with my magic and opened it up, recognizing the neat penmanship that was always attributed to my brother.
Hey Cider, I know that we have had our ups and downs, but know that you are my sister and that I still love you no matter what. I don't know how well you were listening but I ran through those papers a few more times with Littlepip... Fuck. I didn't want her to know about any of this, then again my fault for not telling Nolan to keep his fucking mouth shut. ...and I told her the basics of what everything means. Also thank you for having me handle your will instead of some crappy 3rd rate lawyer from Stableton. Also before you blow a vein, I kept the more "sensitive" information from her, as I assumed that you would want to tell her yourself... Okay he's not as big of an asshole as I thought. ...all she knows is that you are taking precautions if you die in a carriage accident or something along those lines. She knows how to go about getting the insurance and is well aware of your last wishes and how you wish them to be taken care of. I have it set up that if Littlepip needs to, she can stay with me for a while, if she needs time to get back on her feat or anything and she is aware of this offer... I sigh as I admit to myself that my little brother is kinda smart. I would have never thought this far ahead, then again that's why he's making 95,000 bits a year and Littlepip and I can pool 30,000 with both of us doing overtime. ...Everything is set up if you manage to come out of this alive, but I would recommend telling her as soon as possible, the longer you wait, the more it is going to hurt in the end. Your Loving Brother,
Nolan Hardhooves
I sigh, as I fold up the letter and place it back on the table. The letter got me thinking, I should have told Littlepip about my crazy plan from the start, I should have gotten her prepped. I guess I hid behind the three months before I swelled like a balloon. I need to tell her. With a heavy sigh I start towards the stairs, every step a thousand times louder than they used to be. The tension was mounting in my neck, my stomach was nothing but pain as my stress decided to condense into a lead ball in my gut. I reached the top of the stairs and knocked on her door.
"Come in" I heard her say. I opened the door with a light touch of magic and walked in. Her room was rather neat and tidy, for a teenager. The bare white walls held nothing aside from a small blue science fair ribbon she won a few years back. Littlepip was lying on her bed, no longer wearing her jumpsuit, reading a book. "What do you want?" She turned her head, giving me a sideways glance.
"I want to talk to you about something" I tried to hold her gaze, but my eyes went to the floor in a mix of shame and guilt.
"What's on your mind" I heard the bed springs squeak as she adjusted her position.
"I...I'm pregnant" I didn't want to pussyfoot around this. I needed to get this off of my chest and start really planning for it, but I still couldn't look at her.
"Okay. I already guessed that was it" She said solemnly.
"What?" I brought my eyes to meet hers, I could she that she was trying to work out what to say. Was she trying to save my feelings? No she has always been quick to chastise me, makes me wonder who the real mother is.
"You've been drinking less," She was looked back at me, not breaking eye contact, she had her father's eyes. Brilliant pools of emerald that knew more than they should, "and you've been nicer, and I doubt that it's from a change of heart" She replied rather bluntly. Shot my theory of you pulling your punches out of the sky, huh?
"Was it really that obvious?" I forget how perceptive she is sometimes, metal note don't forget that again.
"Yeah." She went back to reading her book again, "Although getting some insurance was a pretty good idea" She said.
"Last time cost me quite a pretty bit in medical bills, so I thought I would prepare this time" I'm not that stupid, I might have been 19 years ago, but not now, not anymore.
"At least I know that I'm the special one" She joked, probably trying to lighten the mood.
"Except that there is one thing" I start, "our family has a bit of history concerning troublesome births"
"Ohh..." The realization dawned on her, "Then couldn't you get an..." She didn't want to say it, I didn't want to say it.
I shook my head, "No doctor here will do it, and I won't go all the way out to Canterlot to get something like that done"
"Look" I heard the bed squeak as she got up. She threw her hooves around me and gave me a hug. She smelled like a garage, a combination of oil and grease. "I'll be here for you. You don't have to do this by yourself. We'll get through this just like we always do." It took all I had not to breakdown like a newborn foal.
"With more jobs and overtime" I joked, hugging her back.
"Exactly"
"Also" I started after a brief silence with just us holding each other, "I've been thinking about trying rehab" a pregnant silence filled the room. Littlepip squeezed my neck as she tightened her hug, and she began gently crying, I could feel her tears roll down my mane. I hugged her back harder.
"Thank you" I heard over her quite sobbing, "Thank you"
"No, thank you for being patient with me" I mumbled into her thick brown mane.
"You know I'll be here for you during it all" She rubbed my back, "That and I'm giving the cider to Nolan as a very early Hearths Warming Eve present"
"He doesn't drink much" I mumbled.
"To bad for him, he's getting it anyway" she replied, her crying had stopped. As we broke the hug, I saw something in her eyes that I have never seen. Pride. Pride in me.