Fallout Equestria: Sundown

Chapter 4: Rangers and Reprimands

Now that there is a break in the action, and having nothing better to do than hold my bladder, I’m going

to describe the three Initiates with me that have, for whatever reason, decided to help me use the filly’s

room.

Card Swipe, an earth pony stallion with a dark blue coat, green eyes and a lime mane was busy using

said cards to try and… do something with the bolt catch on the side of the door through a crack.

Cheese Wheel, a unicorn stallion with cheddar coat, Swiss mane and sand colored eyes was hopping

around the room, looking for a container or a bucket in case of worst emergency, and something to

cover up the smell of the container if I was forced to use it.

Hat Trick, a unicorn mare with white coat, light pink and silver hair and even pinker eyes was trying to

yell her way through the door for somepony to unlock it and let us out. It wasn’t helping my ears, but I

was too busy making faces that looked like I was going to explode to really care about the volume while

all this was going on.

I guess in hindsight, it doesn’t really matter if they were friends, so long as they didn’t want to be locked

in a room with the smell of my waste stinking up the place. That was good enough for me, because I

didn’t want that either.

Cheese Wheel had come up empty in his search, and had resorted to banging on the door like a pony

possessed, along with Hat Trick joining in and yelling as well.

Soon enough, the door wooshed upwards and the three fell over on their faces as I bolted up and over

the card ‘table’ made of boxes and hugged the face of the Paladin that had responded to the ruckus we

were causing.

“Bathroom, where!? Now!” I unintelligibly squeaked into his face, before he flicked me off and I flew

over the heads of the three initiates helping me.

“Initiates, explain yourselves immediately!” The decidedly not Paladin Copper Wire demanded.

“P-Paladin Overwatch!” The three stammered, and stood at attention.

“Out with it, Initiates.” He really didn’t seem to be in the mood for this.

“We were attempting to open the door for Sundown the Batpony, and then we couldn’t get it open

and we were getting worried tha-“ Cheese Wheel blurted out, before being interrupted by Paladin

Overwatch.

“Sundown, the… Batpony?” He inquired.

All three of them motioned with their heads at me, crumpled in the corner with a box of Abronco

cleaner on my head.

“Right… This is one of the targets that Paladin Copper Wire spoke of, yes?” his tone had dropped down

to a mellower one upon seeing me, as his attention returned to the Initiates.

“Yes, Paladin Overwatch! She signaled a great need for the head, sir!” Initiate Hat Trick reported.

Cheese Wheel snickered, and was smacked hastily by Card Swipe.

“Why are the four of you in this supply closet, anyway?”

The three looked amongst themselves, then glanced back at me before facing the Paladin.

“Guard Duty?”

“Prisoner Escort.”

“Card Games!” Cheese Wheel finished, receiving glares from the other two initiates.

The Paladin stood there unmoving, I imagined he was blinking the disbelief off of his face before moving

to the side and pointing down a hallway.

“Escort the prisoner to the restroom, then report back here on the double, Initiates.” He ordered in a

slight daze, before moving on to what he was doing before being interrupted.

“Whew!” The initiates let loose as they almost fell to the floor in relief.

Then Paladin Overwatch popped his head back through the doorway.

“When we get back, you all have toilet scrubbing duty for a week.” And then vanished once more.

“Damnit!” Hat Trick burst out, before covering her mouth.

They spent a few moments checking the hallway to make sure that Paladin Overwatch wasn’t lying in

wait, and ushered me through the hall down to the restrooms that were thankfully unguarded.

The initiates decided that this was the perfect time to practice their ‘Breach and Clear’ training, and

flooded into the lavatory with charged magic beam pistols and whooping from Cheese Wheel. A few

moments (And weapons fire) later, they emerged from the room proclaiming a victory over a Radroach

that had hidden underneath a trashcan. Finally being cleared to use the restroom, I flew past the three

of them and slammed a door shut, hurting my ears but not even caring as I sat down to relieve myself in

the surprisingly clean Stable restroom.

This thing has been sitting around, unused for over two hundred years and it doesn’t look the least bit

degraded! Oh wait, right. They said they had just killed the stable, so this was probably getting cleaned

by some janitor pony just yesterday. At least they did a good job!

As I sat on my porcelain throne contemplating the irony of life, I overheard the three Initiates standing

guard and gossiping outside of the room.

“Do you think they’re gonna offer her to join the Steel Rangers?” Cheese Wheel said, their voices

noticeably less loud through the door, but I could still hear their whispers.

“Her? She’s a mutant! I don’t even think batponies exist, she’s probably just a really weird Pegasus!”

Card Swipe responded.

“Well she’s still cool! Yeah her voice is squeaky and she re-arranged all of our cards into a wall around a

box for some reason, but she’s not as bad as Combat Knife!” Cheese Wheel argued.

“Oh, by the goddesses don’t even get me started on Combat Knife. He’s such a loser!” Hat Trick’s voice

then got substantially more uptight and nasal before she continued. “I’d like to use my combat knife on

the troll for three damage!” Then she finished with a snort. The three then giggled before making more

jokes at the expense of Combat Knife.

“Oh, that’s absolutely right, that’s a good point there, ah huh.” Continued Card Swipe, nasal

impersonation included.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Then a series of slurping noises sounded along with more giggling. “There we go, I

don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have my waaaaaater. HONK.” Before the three hit the floor laughing.

“Hello there, my Initiate friends!” A metallic and nasally voice called out to them, causing them to freeze

and shuffle upright as fast as equinely possible.

“Greetings, Paladin Combat Knife.” The three responded.

“Ish your patrol going well, I hope?” ended with a sniffle heard through the door.

“Yes, Paladin Combat Knife.” Hat Trick responded curtly.

“Excellent. Are you three still up for Raiders and Caravans tomorrow?” The Paladin asked, hope laced

through his voice.

The three Initiates stammered before speaking at the same time.

“Uh, um. Weapons diagnostics training!”

“Radio Calibrations and retrofitting!”

“Armor Maintenance and cleaning!”

“Very busy!”

“Toilet Scrubbing Duty!”

“Very sorry, Paladin. Perhaps next time?” Card Swipe hurriedly finished, all of them stopped their

parade of excuses not to attend.

“Naw, well that’s a shame then. Maybe next week?” Paladin Combat Knife replied, a bit deflated.

“Of course, Paladin!” they said in unison once more.

“Carry on then, Initiates.” Combat Knife then continued down the hall, his hoof steps clanging almost

sadly on the catwalk.

Waiting a few moments, of what I imagine them to be peering down the hallway, the three burst into

laughter once more after keeping a straight face through their encounter with the nerdiest Paladin I had

ever heard in my life.

“Oh Goddesses I almost lost it!” cried Card Swipe.

“Raider’s and Caravans!” agreed Hat Trick.

“I can’t believe I said ‘Weapons Diagnostics!” finished Cheese Wheel, before I finished my business and

opened the door to find them rolling around on the floor, wiping tears from their eyes.

They all looked up at me with misty eyes, before standing up and putting on the best serious face they

could manage, before it all fell apart after a short silence of them looking at each other trying to eat the

grins on their lips and bursting into laughter once more.

I gave them a signal for them to give me a card to write on after they had regained their composure, and

wrote a short message on the card before flicking it back to them. Hat Trick lifted it with her magic for all

of them to read, and they looked up at me for a quick moment before laughing all over again.

“Waaaaaater! Pffft, hahahaa!” Cheese Wheel giggled while using Hat Trick as support.

“Oh, by Celestia’s Beard I wasn’t expecting that from you of all ponies, Sundown!” Hat Trick chuckled

while trying to keep Cheese Wheel from falling over.

After a few moments, something dawned on them and Card Swipe asked after confirming with his

Initiate friends.

“Wait, Sundown. Did you hear us through a double reinforced bulkhead door? There’s no way you’d

know about that joke because we were whispering…”

I motioned to get another card to write on, and showed them my message:

I have really sensitive ears. Right now you’re all at shouting volume just speaking normally to me. Please

don’t yell to test it, I can scream louder and neither of us want that. Ask Paladin Copper Wire if you don’t

believe me.

It looked more like:

Hearing Good, Voices Loud, Ask Copper Wire.

On the other side of the blank card, I wrote:

I’d love to join the Rangers with you three.

After they had collectively finished reading my scribbles, they looked amongst themselves then back to

me with a few worried expressions.

“You heard us talking didn’t you?” Card Swipe worried.

I nodded that I had heard everything they’d said, and he immediately apologized for calling me a

mutant.

“I still don’t think you’re a ‘Batpony’ though.” Card Swipe finished.

Hat Trick turned her head sideways before her horn glowed as she looked me up and down.

Should I feel weird about this?

“Wow. That’s really interesting.” She muttered, before continuing. “The only mutation I’m seeing is in

her ears, otherwise she doesn’t have anything foreign in her body. Not that I’ve ever seen a Batpony

before, but most of this checks out as Equine, aside from the vocal chords just being completely alien

to me.” Hat Trick then finished her clinical evaluation with her horn going dim.

Well at least they didn’t have to slice me open for that, I guess.

“How would we even go about getting her recruited though? I don’t even know what Role she would

fill.” Card Swipe asked the group.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cheese Wheel asked, and then explained when we all looked at him. “Forward Scout

duty! Her hearing is phenomenal, and they don’t get into heavy combat either!”

The other two Initiates actually look dumbfounded that Cheese Wheel had made such a brilliant

observation, and I gave my approval by booping him on the nose and smiling.

“Weird poking aside, she can fly! At least I think she should be able to with those freaky wings she

has.” Cheese Wheel finished.

“They’re not freaky…” I said with a pout on my face. Well, squeaked.

“Aw, you made her sad, Cheese!” Hat Trick scolded, while moving to my side and giving me a hug.

“Don’t you worry about him, we’ll find Paladin Copper Wire and vouch for you! You’re a neat pony,

Sundown.” Card Swipe said with cheer, while looking around to get his bearings on where the Paladin

actually was now that some time had passed.

Moving as a unit and taking up the whole hallway with the four of us being side to side, with me in the

middle squeezed between Cheese Wheel and Hat Trick, we made our way to the Stable entrance where

I had last seen Paladin Copper Wire. Upon arriving, we noticed the distinct lack of anypony being there,

and a couple shredded crates and bloodstains.

Wait, bloodstains? Shredded crates? Uh oh.

“What on the moon happened here? Where’s the Paladins!?” Card Swipe began to panic, before being

patted on the back by Cheese Wheel.

“Don’t worry about it Swipey, We’ll find ‘em!” Cheese Wheel assured.

“Hey Sundown, can you use those ears of yours to hear anything? Listen for clanking, whirring, or

weapons fire if you can. I can’t hear squat.” Hat Trick suggested.

Sure, why not. I only almost lost my mind last time I focused on it.

I nodded, closed my eyes and started to swivel my ears around like two radar dishes.

Creaking…hissing from pipes…somepony talking with some spooky voice thing… Gunfire!

My eyes popped open suddenly, startling the Initiates before I pointed a hoof in the general direction of

the gunfire. They all shared a look, shrugged, gathered some ammo and we set off to go find out what

all the commotion was about. As we all left, I noticed an intact notepad with a sharpened pencil just

lying next to a pool of blood, so I happily nabbed it.

A few minutes of exploration later, passing a few bodies of Scribes and shell casings, we came to a large

chamber with a whole lot more bodies all wearing numbered jumpsuits sprawled out on the floor, their

flesh bubbled and festering like an infection where it met with other ponies’ meaty bits. It was difficult

to not step in the gore, so I instead used my wings to hover over the nastiness, getting a few “Aww,

lucky!” remarks from the Initiates who had to slog through the devastation.

“Well, these must’ve been the Stable dwellers. They all got ‘96’ on their flanks where a cutie mark

should be because of their jumpsuits.” Card Swipe stated, sounding more official as his training

over-rode his urge to gallop away from the madness.

“I count at least four Scribes, a Paladin and two more initiates dead in this room alone. They aren’t

fused with the Dwellers so they must’ve died later. Spread out and cover this floor. Sundown, get high

as you can and listen for anything hostile.” Hat Trick ordered, becoming the leader of the group.

Can do, Miss Hat Trick! I thought, giving a mock salute before zipping off towards the ceiling.

The room was based around a large cylinder that took up most of the center, a lot of green plant life all

throughout the tube going up through the ceiling and past the floor. Maybe it was some kind of vertical

greenhouse? There were separate offices around the outskirts of the room, a stairway leading up and

away and two more rooms overlooking everything. One room had a circular window overlooking the

Green Tube (That’s what I’m calling it now.) with ‘Overmare’ above it. With how the bodies were

arranged, it looked like some kind of speech was being given. There were only a few spots not covered

by the melted flesh on the floor, mostly around the edges of the deceased crowd and next to some

catwalk platform overlooking everypony. Looking around at the windows leading to the edge rooms, I

noticed a few of them were cracked by what looked like bullet holes, or maybe just somepony bashing

as hard as they could’ve while trying to escape.

If this was the result of ‘Emerald’s special mix’ I wanted no part of being anywhere near the mare.

“Do you hear anything, Sundown?” Hat Trick called out after returning to the center of the room with

Card Swipe and Cheese Wheel.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to be hearing, not seeing.

Hovering for a bit, and ignoring the flapping of my wings, I slowly spun around the room intently

listening for anything that wasn’t dead quiet.

Louder hissing, no more weapons fire, no more creaking pipes either…

“I got nothing. “ I said, before remembering they can’t understand me. Again.

As I flew down I quickly wrote down my observations as succinctly as possible before hoofing it over to

Hat Trick.

“No more Creaky Pipes, No Guns, Louder hissing?” She listed off, giving me a weird look.

“What do you mean by the ‘Hissing is louder’?” Cheese Wheel asked.

I blinked at them, then closed my eyes while lifting a hoof up like a compass needle before slowly

spinning around in my hover. At one point I stopped, then went to the list and pointed at ‘Hissing’.

“Loud hissing is that way then, correct?” Hat Trick asked for clarification.

I nodded in the affirmative, and she readied her Magic rifle while motioning to form up.

“Alright, anypony else got any leads?”

“Well, theres a whole lot of dead folks in here, no bullet wounds on any of our ponies and a whole lot

of scratch marks all over the place.” Card Swipe reported.

“I found a Cafeteria. Most of the food there had some strange green tinge on it and looked rotten.

Most of these corpses don’t look that decayed, so they weren’t starving before whatever happened

here, happened. I think they were at an assembly of some kind, but there’s spots missing where

ponies should’ve joined this carpet of the damned.” Cheese Wheel stated.

“Really Cheese? They’re dead. Have at least some respect for the poor souls.” Hat Trick scolded,

before looking to me.

“Alright then Sundown, write your findings.” She said, giving back my Notepad and pencil.

Green tube in the center of this place looks like some kind of Green House. Maybe it was contaminated

and didn’t make their food right? The scratchy things look like they could be some kind of animal that got

loose. I don’t know how common Zoos are in a Stable, but can’t ever be too sure. I think that those

missing spots could’ve been Emerald and Swift Shot’s position, because they were arguing about how

Emerald had killed an entire stable. I’m assuming that this is the stable they were talking about.

I finished my thoughts, and gave the notepad back to them. Yes I can be serious when the situation calls

for it, nor am I a complete idiot. All the time. Mostly. Shush!

“Well if it killed the whole stable, why weren’t they affected by whatever happened? I don’t see any

dead pegasai in this heap, but I don’t think that they’d be immune because of some feathers on their

side.” Card Swipe said in response to my findings.

“Yeah, no Pegasai. Maybe it’s a chemical agent that targets specific biology?” Hat Trick offered.

“I think we should move out. We aren’t gonna get the whole story just standing here talking about it.”

Cheese Wheel stated, readying his weapon.

Hat Trick looked up and floated the notepad back into my saddlebags.

“Okay Sundown, one last check before we find out what the Hissing was.”

I did my best imitation of a radar dish once more, and noticed the sound of zappy magic weapons

toward the hissing sounds. My eyes popped open again as I quickly flew down and mimed somepony

shooting and getting hit before pointing at the sound of the Hissing and weapons fire.

“Alright, no time to lose ponies! Let’s go save who we can!” Cheese Wheel cheered, and we moved out

to face whatever was going on further up in the Stable.