Fallout Equestria: Renegades

War... War never changes.

Or, at least that's what they say. I honestly wonder sometimes with everything that's going on. We've seen a lot of war in my years in the Wasteland. Sometimes it's for survival, sometimes it's for territory, but often it just comes down to one thing, ideology.

That's something I know all too well. And with everything that's been happening in the world, perhaps we've had to learn this the hard way. A long time ago, Ponies and Zebras went to war over something as simple as resources. And now as yet another war reaches its end, perhaps it is time to tell the full story of what happened 10 years ago.

After all, we have a lot of reasons to go to war, and sometimes it seems like the only alternative. Back then we didn't know what we were getting into, and it cost a lot of good ponies their lives. I should know, one of them was very close to me. But sometimes, we have to make the hard choices in order to make sure there is a future.

You've probably heard of me, there are a lot of things that ponies have used to describe me. Some call me a hero, others a protector, but the truth is all I am is a soldier. I was fighting in a war that left me in over my head and I had to make choices that nopony should ever have to make. Choices had to be made in order to ensure the future.

I guess in that regard, I understand why the Elder made the choices he did. Sure he hurt a lot of ponies, but at the end of the day, all he wanted to do was create a future. I don't like him or agree with what he did, but to an extent, I understand what he did.

That doesn't mean he didn't have to be stopped though. Even if we paid the price in the end, we had to stop him. I'm no hero really, I'm just a mare who had to do what she had to do. My name is Nova, but my story does not begin on the battlefields of Seaddle, it begins many years before.

And this is how it all began, in another time, and in another war. A long-forgotten war whose battles have been lost to the Wasteland.

And a young mare who was about to learn the truth that war... war never changes.

00000

"Knight Rose, front and center!" The Paladin in charge ordered as a mare with a red coat and a lighter red mane struggled with her helmet as she stepped forward. "Having problems with your gear, Knight?"

"No Paladin Knives, sir!" The mare said quickly as she secured it over her head. "I'm ready and willing to take the fight to these Raiders, sir!"

"You had better be, Elder Mandrake wants all hooves involved in this operation," the Paladin said as he shot the mare a look. He then moved in front of the group of gathered Steel Rangers as Rose finally secured her helmet. "This is our chance to finally rout the Burning Brand Riders from these lands. Their Warlord took Stable 9 three days ago and has been holed up there ever since. Our mission is to remove his threat and claim the technology that he stole from us three months ago. The Warlord Viper is a dangerous one, last we heard he had a number of his Raiders holed up in there with him, however, we are the Steel Rangers. We will not allow some two-bit Raider Warlord to steal from us and get away with it, will we soldiers?"

"Sir, no sir!" The gathered ponies said in agreement.

"Good, I knew you wouldn't ignore your mandate," Paladin Knives said as he took a step back. "Priority One is reclaiming the tech from Viper. The pony that brings it back with a confirmed kill on the Warlord will be rewarded handsomely by the Elder. Civilians are priority two, any civilians still alive in the Stable are to be escorted out to safety. Where they go from there is their business. These Raiders are not likely to leave many alive though, I won't lie to you, we're going into a real nightmare here. But this is our duty. Everypony, form up, we're going to show this Warlord what happens when you steal from the Steel Rangers. Ad Victorum!"

"Ad Victorum," the Rangers said in unison as they saluted together.

Rose took a deep breath as she looked up at the mountain. They were heading towards a Stable that had been constructed at the base of the mountain near Seaddle. They had been fighting the Burning Brand Raiders and other groups in pursuit of the technology that they had stolen, a pre-war device that supposedly had been constructed by the Ministry of Wartime Technology in order to increase crop yield even in irradiated soil.

Or at least that was what the Elder had told them. For the moment though, it was not the time to question his orders. Right now, they needed to focus on getting to the Raider Warlord and stopping him from terrorizing Seaddle anymore. She took a deep breath as they quickly moved towards the mountain, firing several shots into the Raider camp at the mouth to the cave.

And with that, the Battle for Stable 9 had begun.

Rose pushed forward for a moment, barely ducking out of the way of a shot. She turned and saw a young stallion dressed in Raider armor holding a gun on her. She quickly adjusted herself as her Gatling gun spun to life and bullets ripped through the stallion before he could even get another shot off.

Rose was running on adrenaline alone as she kept firing with the other Rangers, it was hardly a battle, instead, it felt almost like a bloodbath as the Raiders were cut down by the Steel Rangers. She could barely hear Knives' voice calling out to push forward as the Raiders were falling back into the cavern with the Stable in it.

She was not about to let them get away with what they had done.

00000

"Knights Rose and Petunia, I want you both to investigate the Overmare's office," Paladin Knives ordered Rose and her companion. "We'll move into the lower levels of the Stable, but that's as good a place to start as any."

"Yes sir," Rose said as she gave Petunia a nod and the two galloped towards the Overmare's office.

The fight to get into Stable 9 had been bloody. It was the first time Rose had ever seen combat, ever actually seen somepony die in front of her as she filled them with holes from her Gatling gun. She knew that it had been necessary, but as she was getting over the adrenaline high she could only see the frightened face of the stallion as his body was filled with bullets.

"Pull yourself together, Rose, you did what you had to do..." she muttered to herself as another shot rang out and barely missed them. The Raiders were back with a vengeance as they neared the Overmare's office, and they were not about to let them through.

"Yeah, figures," Petunia said as more gunfire was heard from the Stable below. "Come on Rose, let's do this."

Rose nodded as she spun up her Gatling gun again and filled the area where the shot had come from with lead.

When another shot went over our heads Rose nodded to Petunia as she raised her grenade launcher and fired a shot at them, the explosion shaking the ground for a moment as the blood and gore went everywhere. The two Knights pushed forward together, climbing over what used to be the Raiders as they reached the Overmare's office and forced it open.

BANG!

Petunia crumpled to the ground just as she forced the door open, causing Rose to back off in time to avoid another shot. She gulped a little as she looked at her dead compatriot. A cackling laugh was heard from inside as she looked at the dead body of what had once been another Steel Ranger.

"You're going to have to try harder than that, Rangers!" The Stallion's voice said from inside the Office. "You've only got one way in and I ain't going to let you step one hoof through that door. I can outlast the whole lot of you!"

"Viper, this is insane!" Rose called back as she glanced down at the body of her friend, trying to formulate a plan in her mind. "You can't hold out in there forever. Your Raiders aren't going to last much longer and then we'll overwhelm your position."

"Yeah, and how many lives is it going to cost?" Viper snickered. "I don't think Elder Mandrake would throw bodies at me forever. And I know things about this Stable that you don't, I'll be long gone before you even know what happened."

"Yeah, you just try that you psycho freak," Rose muttered to herself as she checked her rounds. She quickly switched the clip on her Gatling gun out with another one as she looked at Petunia's body again. "You're not going to make it out of this Stable alive."

"Then I'll take as many of you relics down with me as I can," Viper countered and she heard the click of a gun being prepared. "Starting with you girlie. I'm gonna kill you just like your friend there. If you're lucky, I'll make it quick."

"Okay, this isn't working," Rose said quietly as she checked her inventory. She had more ammo, but she had used her grenades up during the fighting in the cave. "Come on Rosie, think..."

That's when her eyes fell on a canister that was attached to Petunia's armor. It was simple, but it would certainly get the job done. She grabbed Petunia's legs and pulled her out of the doorway, avoiding another shot from the Raider Warlord as she did.

"I'm sorry Petunia..." She said quietly as she pulled the grenade off the armor and took a deep breath as she leaned against the wall. She had only one shot at this, and if she got it wrong, this was going to cost her. "Alright, let's do this."

She quickly pulled the pin on the grenade and after a moment tossed it into the office. She heard a cry of surprise followed by a few attempted shots before a thud of something being pushed over. Finally, there was a hiss as smoke filled the office, that was her cue to act.

She got up quickly and stood in the doorway as she filled the spot where Viper was crouched behind a knocked over locker with bullets. The stallion let out a brief cry before he fell to the ground dead.

Rose was exhausted, she had never expected to run into Viper himself as she pushed into the office, checking to make sure he was dead. She flinched a little at the large-caliber rifle that he had been using before throwing it to the side and going through his bags for a moment to try and find the thing they had come there for.

She, however, was stopped when she heard crying. She looked around when she realized that the sound was coming from under the Overmare's desk. She galloped over and bent down and saw a beaten and bloody mare clutching a crying blue unicorn filly in her forelegs.

"Shhh... it's okay... you'll be fine..." the mare said weakly as she tried to reassure the filly. "I'm not going to let you go..."

"Ma'am, are you okay?" Rose asked as the mare looked up terrified into the helmet of the Steel Ranger. "You're safe now, we're taking the Stable back from the Raiders. Come with me and I'll get you to safety."

"I... I can't..." the mare said weakly and Rose saw that she was bleeding badly from wounds along her stomach and flank. That psychopath had hurt her badly and she was losing blood fast. "Please... what's your name?"

"Rose," Rose replied softly as the mare tried to calm her daughter down through the pain.

"Rose... the Raiders, they took everything away from me... I don't want to lose her too..." She said weakly as she looked down at her daughter. "Can you remove your helmet for me? I just... I want to see a friendly face... one last time."

Rose nodded as she placed her hooves on her helmet and removed it. Her red coat and mane were stained with sweat, but she tried to smile reassuringly at the mare.

"You're going to be okay, we'll get the medics in here," she said as the mare shook her head.

"Promise me one thing, Rose," the mare said.

"What's that?"

"My daughter, she... she needs a mother... I can't be that for her anymore," the mare said weakly. "Take her, and make sure she has a good life. The Raiders, they took all the other children somewhere else. Promise me that you'll make sure she survives, for me..."

"I promise," Rose said as the Unicorn mare gently levitated the filly up and over to Rose who carefully took her in her grip. "What's her name?"

"Nova..." The mare said weakly.

And with that, her eyes closed and Rose knew that they would never open again. She looked down at the filly in her forelegs who just started to cry again as the strange armored Earth Pony mare held her. She didn't know if it was out of fear or confusion, but Rose knew that she wasn't going to let this little filly get hurt.

"Shhh... it'll be okay," she said softly as she rocked the filly in her forelegs a little. "Hey there little Nova, my name is Rose. And I'm going to make sure that nothing bad happens to you."

00000

The Battle of Stable 9 didn't last much longer. The Raiders didn't stand much of a chance against the Steel Rangers' heavy weapons. Rose finally came out of the Overmare's office as the fighting started to die down and carried Nova with her to the Stable door.

What followed felt like a whirlwind of emotion. They had managed to reclaim the device from the Raiders and took a boat back across the bay to Braybridge Island and Port Crescent where the Steel Rangers called home. She was told to clean up and return to her quarters with the filly, and at the moment that was where she was, dressed in a simple outfit staring down at the blue filly who was fast asleep.

She sighed a little as she stroked the filly’s mane gently. She had no idea what she was going to do with the filly, or if the Elder would even let her stay with her. Unicorns were usually left with the Scribes to be raised, if at all.

Promises didn’t mean a lot when you were in the Steel Rangers. But somehow she felt like this was what needed to happen. She would just have to figure out how to convince the Elder to let her raise the filly.

If she could at all.

She nearly jumped out of her coat when she heard a knock on the metal door. She gulped a little before walking over to the door to her personal barracks and opened it. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the stallion on the other side was a tall Earth Pony dressed in old rusty power armor.

“Star Paladin Steelhooves, I was afraid you were somepony else,” Rose said.

“Yes, I suspected as much,” Steelhooves replied. The old Steel Ranger had been in the area on a visit from the Manehattan Contingent. “Elder Mandrake told me about what happened in Stable 9, are you going to be okay?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Rose admitted as she looked away from the older Ranger. “Petunia and I went through training together. You can only do so much to prepare for that kind of thing, and not to mention what else happened.”

“Knight,sadly this kind of thing is going to happen,” Steelhooves sighed. “May I see the filly?”

“Uh, sure,” Rose said as she let him in. “She’s asleep right now.”

“The Elder said that you were pregnant a few months ago,” Steelhooves commented as he trotted over to the sleeping Unicorn filly.

“Yes, I had a miscarriage…” Rose replied sadly as she looked down at her hooves. “It strained my relationship with Knight Vine.”

“I’m sorry,” Steelhooves said. “I understand what you’re going through. Mandrake asked me for my opinion on what should be done with the filly. What would you want to be done with her?”

“I’m honestly not sure,” Rose admitted. She had been read to be a mother a few months ago, but when that had all come crashing down, she wasn’t even sure about that anymore. She looked down at the filly for a long moment and sighed. “I promised her mother that I’d take care of her. And she’s all alone in the world right now. Part of me wants to take care of her, but part of me isn’t sure about whether or not I’m ready.”

“Steelhooves paused a moment before nodding. “I will pass my recommendation on to have the Filly be placed in your care.”

“Wait, what?” Rose asked. “Why?”

“Because I believe you’ll do fine,” Steelhooves answered. “You’ll never truly be ready to be a parent. Take good care of her, raise her right, and she’ll be just fine.”

“Yeah…” Rose said as Steelhooves left. There was a soft crying as Nova woke up again, the Earth Pony mare gently picked the baby Unicorn up and held her in her hooves, rocking her gently. “Hey there Nova… I’m going to take good care of you from now on, I promise. Nothing bad is going to happen to you as long as I’m around.”

She smiled a little as she brushed the Unicorn filly’s mane out of her eyes a little. She just had to hope that she really would be able to keep that promise.