Fallout: Equestria - Legends of Stalliongrad

Storm gray clouds loomed overhead, heavy with rain, waiting for the right moment to let the drops fall. The crops really needed the rain. Nothing has grown here for well over three months now. My parents and I had been relying on passing caravans for our food, but they hadn't shown up for almost two weeks. Dad thought they were hit by raiders up on the North Ridge while passing through the area, which is more than likely. Either raiders had got them, or the Bark Scorpions had.

Either way, dad went to go check out the North Ridge to look for anything he could salvage.

That was well over three days ago. I don't think dad made it.

As harsh as it sounds, I never really liked my dad. He was always drunk and would hit mom, and some nights he would hit me. I secretly wished the Wasteland would just make him disappear. Now it looks like my wish came true, which sent shivers down my back.

But now, I can focus on something better! When I was younger, before dad turned to the bottle, he would tell me scary stories of the Northern Tundra in hopes that I would go to sleep when I refused to. Only, the stories didn't scare me or make me fall asleep. Instead, they filled my head with wonder about that mysterious land. What sorts of ponies lived there? What was the weather like; Sunny or dreary? As I grew older, those thoughts turned to fantasies about discovering lost technology and uncovering hidden truths lost to history.

But when I grew up and started to actually plan my trip, I was simply laughed at and not taken seriously.

"Dreams should just stay dreams, Ruby. Now get your head out of the clouds and help your mother with the crops." dad said to me once while he was nursing a hangover. "You're not going to go anywhere, and you're certainly not going to be any explorer. You're going to be stuck here just like everypony else." he added. That statement, while it hurt my feelings greatly, only solidified my drive to explore the Northern Tundra.

And I almost did it too! Except... dad managed to track me down and drag me, literally, back to the homestead. Not only was I grounded for almost a year, but that was when I started getting the beatings. I guess the fact that dad almost lost his little Ruby was too much to handle, and that's when he sought permanent comfort with Mister Wild Pegasus. But now, I'm my own mare! Mom is getting older and more frail, which means she wouldn't be able to hunt me down or stop me like how dad tried too. Nowadays, she simply stares at me as I draw up my travel plans, knowing damn well that there was no stopping me; I'm much like her, stubborn and unable to let something go until I pursued it to the very end. In a funny way, that's kind of how dad ended up being married to her.

If you haven't figured it out already, my name is Ruby Streak. My parents and I were farmers to the north of the Great Applewood Divide. Living here near the Applewood Range was somewhat difficult, due to the rocky soil and mutated mountain creatures, but we managed to get along just fine thanks to trading with some local caravans and trappers that occupied that region of the Equestrian Wasteland. For a while, mom had been talking about moving to one of the larger settlements. With her getting up there in age, and my unwillingness to continue the farming, she thought it was better to live in the safety of others.

Luckily for her, I couldn't agree more. I love my mom, but when I finally put my plans into motion, I didn't want to leave her alone to fend for herself. I had sent word out with one of the caravans that my mom was looking to move, and asked them to check with the settlements that they passed through to see if there's any available space for her to move to. Much to my surprise, the caravan came back a couple days later, telling me that a settlement called Tunnel to the northeast was willing to shack my mom up!

Once I told mom the news, she was more than ready to move onto the next chapter of her life. It was hard for her to say goodbye to the homestead; Her entire life had been forged there, from the wedding night with dad, to the point we were at. In fact, I think that's where my story is going to pick up, right with mom and I standing in front of our old home...