Fallout Equestria: Black Smoke

Chapter Three: Flood

He’s blocking your path. What are you gonna do about it?

“Look out!” I shouted.

The orange-maned mare looked up, frowned and jumped back. Her blue barding was reflecting light, that was shining from the angry grey sky. She was light as a breeze, fast as wind and furious as a gale. Her orange whirly mane was dangerously waving in the wind as her pink eyes burnt in fury.

One moment later, a huge lion-looking thing with wings stabbed it's sting into the ground, where she was standing before. I already had Glint in my mouth, I don't even know when I pulled the shining revolver out. My Pip-Buck shown me it's called ‘Manticore’.

It was two days since I arrived in Rockside. Yesterday I helped the mare out from the jail. I helped her out, even though I knew she wanted to kill me; even though I killed her team that was sent to kill me. I got her past the big grey wrathful security pony.

I blinked, jumped and the manticore's tail swished right under me. I saw how the mare galloped around the manticore to get its attention. Her magic was wrapped around a nine-millimeter pistol and she was shooting at it, but bullets were just pinging off its hide. It was really pissed off.

I noticed the monster was covering its eyes every time the mare started shooting. Idea struck through my head.

“Folloh mh!” I shouted with Glint in my mouth at the mare. She hissed and we both galloped through the forest we were in.

The manticore's roar was spreading among trees. From tree to tree, it was jumping right behind us. I could feel its hunger for our bodies, I could feel its bloody lust. Luck was on my side again. The ground was lifting up into a hill.

“Shoot it naew!” I shouted and the mare stopped and started peppering manticore's body.

The monster covered its eyes and didn't even stop. If my plan didn't work, it would tear up the mare's body into billions of little red crystals. I had to hurry. The lion hybrid was closing in fast. I was still running up the small hill. Soon I was above the level of mare's head. The manticore was few steps away from the mare and the mare started running away, screaming. In that moment, I turned around and jumped and quickly hit SATS. The time stopped and the manticore's face was right in front of me. It was quite a height below me.

I locked SATS on manticore's face, queued three shots and executed the command. The time unfroze and manticore's face exploded in greenish rain. The manticore and I hit the ground at the same time. As I lay there, the mare came back.

“You're the craziest pony I've ever met” she said. It was the first time she spoke to me since Rockside.

“Wasteland's top quality” I hissed in pain as I tried to get up. She could finish me right there, if she wanted to.

But she didn't. She opened one of my saddlebags, lifted up one of our health potions and placed it in front of my muzzle. I drank it and soon the stings in my side went away.

Our supplies... It was yesterday's evening. I was calibrating and learning how to use Pip-Buck, when Pap came to me with my saddlebags full of food and potions. Yo' are trying to help our town, he said, Ahm not that selfish to leave tis' place to its fate. I forgave you. I can just imagine that the person, who killed my son, was just a little colt who looked exactly like you.

Which is the truth, take this with yo' and bring that water talisman. Yo' finally stood on the right path. I waited a bit before he left and then a huge waterfall of emotions streamed down my face. I couldn't stop. Maybe I could change.

It was getting cold and the soil was soaked from flooding as I stood up. We had to find a shelter. The mare and I scanned our surroundings to find a place where we could sleep. Soon we found an abandoned wooden structure on the edge of the forest. My Pip-Buck beeped and a little square appeared on the map, ‘Carrot Top's Cottage’.

It was a small, cozy-looking building. From this angle, it looked like the hill behind it was part of it. Dead trees stood around the cottage. Maybe it was just me, but the trees looked like they were... waiting? I didn't feel good and the mare behind me must've felt it, because she kept really close to me. I still didn't get it. I killed her whole team and she's acting like nothing happened. It was driving me crazy. At least if she tried something during night! I wouldn't even defend myself. Now I just have to have the feeling that she's plotting something to change my miserable life to even worse.

Vines were wrapped around the building like they wanted to keep it safe. The closer we were, the more I started noticing strange things about the house. Wooden walls were rotting away and tree branches grew into the house, keeping the roof from collapsing. Another thing I noticed was that vines were actually green. It seemed that the cottage couldn't keep itself together if it wasn't for its surroundings.

And that's exactly where we were headed.

Four red bars appeared on my EFS. “Careful now,” I whispered to the mare before I bit Glint, “we might have some company soon.”

The magenta mare pulled out a nine-millimeter pistol from one of her pouches on the blue barding and we were approaching the cottage more slowly now. There were no lights inside it but the golden revolver was still shining with a dim light. The door was trapped with dark green vines. If someone was inside, they had to take a different way in.

“What's your plan?” the mare whispered to me. It looked like she isn't mad at me anymore.

I put Glint back into the holster on my left side. “Plan?” I smirked, “Stay alive.”

I tore down vines with almost no resistance. The doors collapsed into the house. If someone was in, they had to know we were in now. I already had Glint in my mouth again when we trotted inside, but he red bars didn't move a bit though.

The air was quite heavy and dark inside. Everything was covered in a big layer of dust. Even the floor! Nopony was here in centuries. Dark wooden furniture was merging with walls behind them in the darkness. The floor was making loud squeals as we walked farther into the cottage. The living room and kitchen were connected into one big room, and a few half-broken doors were decorating the wall in the back.

We decided to split up; the mare agreed that she will guard the living room while I'll be searching rooms. It was supposed to be easy. Red bars still didn't move, but they were seemingly farther from each other now. I was getting close to one of them. I placed my tongue on Glint's trigger and slowly entered one of the rooms. Besides a big bed, a cupboard and lots of flower pots, there was also that red bar. I was sure of it.

I could feel my pounding heart. Glint was the only light in this room, yet I could still see everything clearly. I moved towards the bed, because according to my Pip-Buck, red bar was hiding there.

Something small crawled from underneath the covers and creeped towards me swiftly. Pip-Buck told me it was a ‘Radroach’. I bucked it into the wall next to me, but it only shook and crawled even more swiftly.

The tiny insect looked really hungry, because it was drooling. I waited for it to try to bite my leg and when it let its guard down, I crushed it with my hoof. Its leg twitched under the weight of my hoof and one red bar disappeared from my EFS.

It was when I turned around to shout at the mare when I heard a high-pitched scream.

Red bars have surrounded a yellow one. I rushed to the living room with Glint ready to fire, but I holstered it again when I saw what's going on. The orange-maned mare was standing on a table, spinning around and lifting her hooves alternately. I could see radroaches around the table, snapping their pincers at her.

“Kill them kill them kill them kill them!” she screamed.

“They are just-”

“I don't care, just crush them, kill them, do something!” she was clearly panicking.

I pushed my head deeper into my face and sighed. She's fighting a giant poisonous lion-bird hybrid thing, thrice as big as her and she's scared of little disgusting creatures? I stomped the the three insects and rubbed my hoof against a rug on the ground. The mare relaxed, but it took her many convincing till she stepped down from the table.

“Thank you, Hollow” she finally said, “My name is Gleam.”

“It was about time to know the name of the mare I'm travelling with” I smiled.

“You've never asked” she countered and returned the smile. It was one of the happiest moments that I witnessed so far.

Who knew it wouldn't last very long.

We cleared the place from the dust so we wouldn't suffocate while we sleep. I checked the cupboards. I was right, no one was here for whole two hundred years. I found some .32 ammo, 9mm ammo, some books, cups, spoons, little statue of a pony bucking apples and some clothes. I put everything into my saddlebags and my Pip-Buck sorted everything for me. Ammo was on the top for fast use now. Pip-Buck...

We were walking for the whole day and according to it, we weren't even halfway to the place. Bottle was right, this thing is indeed very useful. It had some kind of emergency learning spell that helped me understand text in my vision. I knew the text was part of a spell, that the text I could see wasn't really there, but even then I kept trying to reach it. I've must have looked like a Jet lowlife. The whole thingy on my hoof ran on magic.

At least, that's what it told me when I was trying to calibrate it. There was some kind of teaching text that helped me get familiar with everything around the Pip-Buck and my vision. I could see a little compass and Pip-Buck told me it's called Eyes Forward Sparkle. Red and yellow bars were flashing there every time something alive was near. I couldn't get use to seeing things that aren't exactly there.

It was getting dark. We couldn't sleep on the bed because it was rotten and munched on by Radroaches, so we settled on the table. It wasn't as bad as it looked; it was large enough for both of us, mainly because I was a bit smaller than the mar- I mean Gleam.

“Why did you want to kill me?” I broke the silence when we finally lied down.

Gleam was silent. She just looked down and folded her ears a bit. I couldn't bare the silence after this question.

“Why don't you want to kill me now?” I asked again, “Your friends didn't hesitate at all”

“They weren't my friends” Gleam whispered so quietly I almost thought it was the breeze outside.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked looking at her, but she just shook her head.

“I can tell you about my past, if it helps you trust me more,” I watched how her ears perked up.

“I was a bounty hunter,” I started, “but before that I was a farmer. I still remember the smell of wet corn in the morning. It all seems like a dream I had long time ago. One day, that dream fade into nightmare.”

Gleam's hooves twitched like she wanted to move them, but she struggled to keep them where they are. I was used to the story because I was living with it every day, but I realized this was something new for her. I wondered...

“Hey, Gleam, you lived in Stable before, didn't you?” I looked at my hooves.

I felt her glare on the back of my head. I don't know why I asked it, she didn't want to talk about it anyway.

“Why do you think so?” she asked.

“Just a guess. I always thought Stables aren't real. Your armour looks kinda like those I heard from the stories about Stables.”

She went silent for a bit. “I've never lived in a Stable, but they are real,“ she said slowly, “I'll tell you about it some other time, I'm really tired now.”

I turned to my side and put saddlebags under my head. She said some other time. That gave me hope that she would actually stay with me. I felt better when someone had my back. Something about her made me trust her.

I feel bad for hurting her. It was just a self-defence, wasn't it? Was it necessary? Why are my hooves shaking? I don't want her to leave. I need someone to stand beside me. I won't survive. I don't want to survive. Why am I shaking? She will leave. I'll be alone again. Don't cry. You can't bring back lives you took. You're a murderer, a monster. You don't deserve to live. Why don't you just-

I felt a hoof poking my side.

“Hey, you alright?” the mare who was shooting at me two days ago asked with worry in her voice. The mare whose friend I killed without thinking. The mare which I trusted more than myself at this moment.

“Yeah, I'm good,” I said with a smile.

“I'm sorry” I whispered quietly when she looked the other way.

*** *** ***

“... but how the fuck did they get in?” a stallion's voice woke me up, “Those fuckin' vines poisoned Root's ass!”

I heard some mumbling. “I don't care if someone's fucking in. I want to skin their faces and force them to eat it! How does that fucker of cukers dare to not die!”

I put my hoof on Gleam's mouth and poked her. We both opened our eyes, but there was complete darkness around us. My Pip-Buck showed me it's early in the morning.

“If there are unicorns, saw off their horns! If anything else, I want their teeth,” the stallion shouted.

I was already on my hooves and I tried to move quietly to the window. Thankfully, stallion's shouting covered the floor’s grinding. Gleam has readied her pistol and I wrapped cloth around Glint. I wanted to kill them. Anger was was blazing through my body. I could hear faint buzzing in the distance, but I paid no attention to it.

I noticed that the shouting stallion had a necklace made from little horns and ears. I gritted my teeth; this was too much.

“They will hurt more ponies if we let them,” I whispered.

“I'm not afraid of these insects!” Gleam hissed, “Same plan as before?”

I prepared Glint in my holster for a fast draw and bit down a kitchen knife I found. “Yeah.”

“You're a terrible strategist.”

“I will pretend that I know what that word means if,” a horrible realization struck me, “if you promise me you won't die.”

I heard hoof-steps behind the broken door. I stuck to a wall next to the door and waited, Gleam hid behind a couch. A horrible rasping deep voice echoed through the house.

“Here pony pony pony.”

I saw a light of someone's torch behind the door. One of the stallions had to touch the door because they fell right into the house. In a second, I jumped, pushed the knife into stallion's throat. Warm blood washed over my face, but I wasted no time. I pulled the knife out and hid behind the wall again. Another second, gunshots filled the air.

Gleam's pistol was barking dangerously, but it was no match for the purr of guns outside. It was too late when I noticed the fire. Adrenaline made me forget that stallion I just killed was carrying a torch! Oh Celestia, I'm so dumb. I had to find a way out quickly, because the fire was munching on rotten wood really fast. Soon, the whole front was on fire. There was no way we could make it across the flaming wall.

“Hollow, over here!” Gleam shouted. She wrapped her magic around a table and threw it through a window, making our way out.

I tried to crawl into the window, but humming bullet didn't let me through.

“Aight, you sunovadumps, you asked for it” I took a few steps back, then galloped forward, jumped through the window and hit SATS.

Time froze and I could see two unicorns and one earth pony in spiked armours, aiming their shotguns and pistols at me. I've set the aim at the unicorn with shotgun floating beside her, two shots into her chest, then two more at the two who were standing beside her. Time went back to normal and I let the spell take over my body. One unicorn and the earth pony fell down to the ground before I did. I hurt my side again, but before the last unicorn could drill more holes into me, Gleam jumped through the window and shot her head. Nine-millimeter bullet went through her eye.

I rose up to my hooves and we run into the forest. Bullets were buzzing around my head. I wanted to stop, turn around and return the hot steel, but my hooves couldn't stop. I just ran. My side hurt and bullets flying around us weren't making our escape any easier.

I wanted to stop and shoot back, but my legs had mind of their own. Something was burning on my side every time I just thought of stopping.

I couldn't stop. I would die if I stopped right. All I have to do is follow Gleam. Just Follow... Wait, where is-

Something cold and steel crashed into me and sent me flying. I felt blood dripping from my nose. I didn't notice what crashed into me because everything went black quickly. The last thing I could hear was a big explosion.

I was sure I was dead.

But I wasn't.

*** *** ***

For past few years, I didn't care about anything. Neither my life, nor lives of others. I hated this world and everyone on it. I hated raiders for their bloodlust. I hated traders for their stories of better times and junk. I hated my parents for letting someone kill them. I hated myself for being so weak to save my parents.

I hated my cutie mark. The golden bullet with the same pattern as Glint had. What I hated the most was the way I got it. Only raiders would love cutie marks that connects with killing. The more brutal it looks, the better for them.

Ugh, even thinking hurt me. I tried to lift my heavy eyelids; everything around me was blurry. I could smell smoke. I struggled to focus on a tree before me and I noticed a floating ball. I rubbed my eyes and it floated closer to me. It was a robot!

Instinctively I wanted to pull out Glint, but it wasn't there. It looked like the robot was reading my mind and it started floating around one tree. Something was shining from a hole in the tree. It was Glint.

I rubbed my head to scratch off my confusion. Was this piece of junk with or against me? I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't hear any words coming out. Then a horrible realisation struck me.

I can't hear anything at all.