Fallout Equestria: Shadow Guard

Chapter 1

The wasteland

The terminal begins to shut down as Silent Shot turns around and trots towards his team with a grim but determined look on his muzzle. As he trots away from the terminal his mind goes back to what he knew so far and began to make a plan of action for the future.

He began to make a mental list to himself while he walks towards his team.

1. Grab all gear in current facility

2. Check equipment for any problems

3. Exit facility after setting up explosives

4. Head to Ponyville after destroying the facility

5. Meet up with squads: War, Plague, Hunger, Void, and Havoc

6. Find a good spot and set up an Operations Base

7. Find Current Leader

8. Obtain updated orders

He stops as he arrives in front of his locker where his current gear was situated. His horn lights up a light gray in color as the locker is surrounded in it before it opens. Inside was the standard kit for an operative of a Shadow Guard as well as the normal list to state the items inside.

1 Shadow Guard Stealth suit

1 Standard issue 10mm Pistol with silencer

50 rounds 10mm

1 zebra Carbine with silencer

250 rounds 5.56 ammo

1 sniper rifle (modified with silencer, extended clip, 25x sight)

50 rounds 7mm

1 standard issue serrated army knife

5 healing potions

3 standard healing bandages

5 grenades

1 hoof crossbow

20 crossbow bolts

10 days rations

2 water canteens

1 set of saddle bags

Silent Shot then took out all of his items one by one, examining them as he went. As he did this he noticed the small hole that was forming in his stealth suit from snagging it when he wore it last, and that the silencer on the 10mm pistol was a little busted but other than that everything on the list was accounted for and in good shape. Grabbing the gear from his dead comrades and putting a replacement patch onto his suit to allow it to work properly, he put all his gear on and in his saddle bags, making one last check on his pip-buck to make sure all items were accounted for, and headed to search the rest of the building for any useful items. There wasn’t too much around, but there was some extra ammo in the other lockers and around the rooms, along with some Sparkle Colas and unused healing potions that would definitely come in handy in a difficult situation. Once the building was fully examined, Silent Shot set out to check his team at the main entrance.

Silent looks at his team who are sitting around eating some old military rations, he sits down beside them and begins his speech.

"Okay team, here is our current situation. We woke up on time and have lost three of our team due to bad cryo units and building structure. We currently are 20 miles North of Canterlot and we have no idea what the outside looks like. We are to reunite with the other squads of Shadow Guard at Ponyville. We currently are all geared up and this location is going to be destroyed afterwards. Along the way, we need to find a good place for an Operations Base and receive new orders from whomever is in charge at the current time." He states as he looks at his group.

They listen and nod to him as he continues the last of his speech, "Check your gear and make sure everything is working. Once we head out stick together and do not go too far from the team. Last but not least, if anything or anyone attacks us, kill them. Keep an eye out and remember our motto."

Everyone states at the same time, "We are Death. Death leads to new roads of life, let ours make many brighter roads ahead."

He smiles as he looks at his team and says, "Now get ready team. Time for us to head out and find our Brothers and Sisters in arms."

They all stomp their hooves and claws  as they finish eating and get the last of their gear on before forming up on Silent as he begins to open the blast doors with his pip-buck and putting down the last of the explosives to give their dead teammates and home one last farewell. His team begins to head out as they look at the land that was once their home.

What was once green and happy in color and sound looked so terribly brown and dark. It was almost a terrible reminder of the war long gone that was still fresh to their memories. The sky was covered in dark gray clouds as if it was about to rain. The pegasi had once kept the sky bright and blue but had broken away from their oaths and codes and had sealed it up to leave pony kind below to die. Trees once green and healthy were broken and dead around them. Where once the mighty Capitol of Canterlot stood was now nothing but ruins of its formal glory.

Silent Shot looked to his teammates and nodded, getting a nod back from them, as he looked back at the broken down, dead facility that they used to call home. He took a second but then, using SATS, aimed at the explosives surrounding the front and shot them, causing them to explode and the bigger bombs inside to all go off creating a huge mushroom cloud in the sky. Their base was gone in an instant as debris flew this way and that, setting an occasional old piece of wood on fire. Soon after the explosion, the mushroom cloud faded away, and the team looked to make sure the job was completed and it was definitely done, and done thoroughly as not much but some rubble and sticks were left behind.

“May those three brave soldiers rest in peace,” Silent Shot said before signaling for everyone to move out.

Trotting through the hilly country side towards the south west, the group noticed a strange glow around Canterlot and a brighter glow towards the north east where Trottingham would be. The country side was quite barren except for a long dead tree or lightly colored patch of water that was like a rainbow. This felt unnerving to the group as Silent looked at his team.

On his left right was Avery with her saddle set up with a bite grip so as to help her fire her twin zebra carbines. Under each of her wings was a pouch of daggers set into her metal wings and a pair of blades that came out of each tip of her wings if let out just right.

Behind Avery was Data Spark with a headset set on top of his feathery head connected to a small bundle off his saddlebags which contained a portable radio. He seemed to like hoof weapons or in his case claw weapons since on his front talons were a set of armored claws that were sharp enough to go through most metals. In his pack was also probably his favorite sword and sledgehammer that he had kept during the war.

Looking to his right he first see Blood Spray whom is wearing his combat visor which had a small targeting spell to help his aim. His saddle was set up with a pair of Miniguns that he somehow was able to carry. Though they may not have been the best to fire with stealth he used them with great accuracy despite their usage. With them mounted and the bite grip in his mouth, he looked tough but he looked downright dangerous with the smile on his face and the canister fed ammo feeds spinning rapidly out into the gun. He had what we could tell was 6 canisters on each side of him almost like extra armor.

Behind him was Small Fire with her standing on her back legs to get a better vantage point from her taller height. Instead of using saddles like us, she had  some holsters set up for her by some Diamond Dogs that allowed her to grab and fire her weapons since her claws were more flexible than our hooves or talons. She had a grenade launcher on her left side held down by clips while on her right side was some kind of holster, also made by Diamond Dogs, set up that held a variety of mines, grenades, and certain little gadgets that allowed for specialized traps.

Looking ahead once again, he sees what seems to be a small amount of smoke in the distance past the mountain tops to the south west.

Stopping he points in the direction of the smoke and says, "Looks like there is a sign of life over that way. Anyone know what's over that way?"

Data Spark taps his talon against his pipbuck before answering, "Sir, seems like there is a small town over that way called Follyfields. Should we go that way?"

Silent looks at his team and asks, "Well? What do you think? It's on our way and we might learn a bit more about Equestria of now."

"I believe it is a good idea. There may be civilization over their or ponies in trouble." replies Avery

"It may not be anything at all but ruins like Canterlot. I don't think it's a good idea." states Blood

"Might be full of bad ponies or monsters. I need something to kill and watching blood and limbs fly would really make my day. I say go." motions Small Fire

"I believe we should go. If someone is in trouble, there are bad ponies, or just for any extra supplies. Any reason to go is a good idea." States Data spark wisely.

Silent nods before he taps his hoof on the screen on his pipbuck and says, "We are heading to this point on your pipbucks before we head towards the village. Keep a sharp eye and we will arrive tomorrow at early morning."

They head back out with Silent leading again when they come upon a sight that was quite familiar just over the hill they were on. Before them on the ground was a dead pony but this pony looked even worse than they had ever seen before. The pony looked to have been torn open and the insides eaten by some kind of animal or beast. Looking the body of the pony over, Silent spots something poking out from under the dead body.

Leaning over and using his magic, Silent moves the body to see a set of saddle bags that were covered in blood and torn a little. Pulling the saddle bags out, he opens them up and sees some junk from various things like some string, bottle caps, metal of various shapes, and a set of broken boards. Looking in the other bag he comes upon a few Sparkle Colas, dash, med-x, and a bag of radaway. No weapon seemed to be around so this pony must have dropped it while trying to escape whatever chased it.

Taking the useful items, Silent passes them over to Data to store before they continue on their way. Continuing in a straight line towards their goal around the mountain, they come across some of the horrible sprites that seemed bloated. Using his 10mm pistol and his SATS, he carefully shoots each one they see killing them instantly. The bloatsprites looked terrible and were just as disgusting when they popped like rotten eggs. Keeping away from the dead bodies that fell from each shot, they continue forward while keeping an eye out for anything more dangerous than the bloatsprites.

Trotting along for another hour or so, they arrive halfway to our goal when Silent calls a halt to the group.

"Okay everyone, take a rest and grab a bite to eat. Afterwards we continue our to our destination and sleep in shifts at that destination. I believe there was a cabin there that we can rest at and take shifts." States Silent as he takes a seat on a log and uses his magic to pull out a package of preserved daisies to eat.

As Silent sits there and eats, he begins to look over his group as they dine on their respective foods as they all have a seat on a log, rock, or stump. Avery seemed to be eating a dehydrated stack of hay fries and a preserved tulip sandwich. Small fire was having some very beautiful gems of different varieties, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds were some of them, which as soon as she bit into them turned into a liquid. Blood was having powdered cake, some raisins, and some hay fries as well. Data Spark was having some smoked jerky, a couple of preserved apples, and a box of instant coffee which he let the others have. The coffee wasn't too bad but it helped them get their systems used to the food again after so long a rest of nothing.

As soon as everyone finished the last of their food, they get their gear back on and begin their journey once again. The second part of their trip seemed to be uneventful except for finding something here or there of junk littered around the place. Things like sparkle cola bottles, bottle caps, used ammo, torn clothes, pieces of scrap metal, or tools were just lying about useless as if left their by somepony before them who had to use the item or just dropped it to lighten their load. As the sky got darker above them and the need for light was getting close, they spotted their goal before them, the cabin. Upon seeing the cabin, the group smiled a little at seeing the intact wooden cabin that sat there in the side of the mountain as if waiting for them to come and enter.

Silent took point and led the team to the front of the door which he opened using his magic once again. Slowly he opens the door while pointing his pistol at the inside as if expecting trouble only to find the empty cabin sitting barren of anything like furniture or identity as to who owned it before the war.

Looking about the small cabin, Silent says back to his team, "I'll take first shift, everyone rest up and keep lights out unless need be."

The group spread out in the inside of the room and begin to make places to rest for the night so as to get an early start to the morning. Silent placed his place to rest but stayed equipped with his gear as he went to the window and waited patiently for the time to pass and in hope of no fighting to happen that night. He looks at the broken silencer that was on his pistol and decides to take it off. Using his magic to take off the silencer, he barely twists it off when it falls to pieces and falls to the wooden floor with a clatter onto the wooden floor. He looks sad a little at his trusty silencer falling apart but he knew it would happen from how it was looking before.

Within minutes the team was asleep and Silent sat silent at the window waiting. Minutes passed and soon turned into hours and upon the fourth hour right as shift change was about to start, a light shown in the darkness outside and it was coming closer to the cabin. Silent silently walked over each of his group and woke them up with a nudge before shushing them.

The group gathered around the windows as they prepared their weapons upon seeing the light getting ever closer to them. Silent motions them to get into positions near the entry way as they wait for the light to show whomever was coming towards them. Minutes pass by as they wait and the light finally reaches within talking distance of the group and they hear a gravelly voice speak.

"-old you that there might be somepony at the cabin. I saw hoof prints and this is the only place safe enough to rest." says the gravelly voice.

A new voice responds in a tough stallion like way, "There is nothing worthwhile in the rest point and I see no light. There is nopony there."

"The gravelly voice sighs and says, "Somepony could be there. It might be those Steel Rangers, maybe another trader, could even be a scavenge. You don't know until we arrive."

The voices were almost in sight as Silent says loud enough for them to hear, "Stop where you are and state your business here."

The light stops as the gravelly voice says lowly to the other, "I told you. It's why I am the trader and you are one of the guards."

The gravelly voice than responds, "I am Bottle Pinch. I am a trader looking to seek shelter with my caravan at this cabin. Whom might you be?"

Avery looks at the team, "Shall we let them in or check them first?"

The others look at Silent as he says, "Best to check them first so as to make sure they are no trouble."

Silent than says so Bottle can hear him, "Come closer so I can verify what you say is true. I do not trust ponies I cannot see."

Bottle's guard that was heard before states, "Same goes for us. How do we know you are not raiders or a gang?"

Silent responds, "If we were either of those, you would already be dead since I saw you coming minutes ago and could have killed you then."

Bottle replies, "We will come closer by keep your weapons lowered. We don't want to be shot by you or whomever might be with you."

The light comes into sight range and before the cabin stood five haggard looking individuals that were a sight for the team. The first was what looked like a cow if it had come out wrong from birth. The cow had two heads and had less fur and more skin in sight to the naked eye. Next was an old looking unicorn stallion whom had a brown coat and gray mane that lay flat to his coat. He looked ready to keel over from exhaustion or just the environments injustices. Next was a pair of armored ponies with thick barding like the security teams wore near Canterlot before the war.

The first looked to be a quite young earth pony with a bright yellow coat and teal mane with dirt covering most of the visible yellow and a saddle set up with a pair of shotguns. The other was a black coated unicorn stallion with a red mane and a scar over his right green eye that went down to his jaw. In his jaw was a shotgun and a stern look in his eyes. Last but not least was a mare on top of the cow's back whom looked tired and seemed to be hurt from the bloody bandages on her flank. Her probably once pristine green coat and blue mane was now mated with dirt and dried blood from some kind of fight before.

Silent looks at his team and says, "Stay here and wait in case this is bad. I'll go talk to them."

He opens the door with his magic and walks out into the light as he says, "I am Silent Shot and I would like to know your intentions here."

Bottle, the old pony says, "We wish to seek shelter here so as to get out of the elements and so as to rest for tomorrows travels on our route to Hope."

Silent looks at Bottle and replies,  "You may seek shelter here but be warned, any sign of you wishing to harm or threaten me and mine will end in your execution. Are we understood?"

The black unicorn glares at Silent and floats his shotgun out of his mouth as he says, "Your threatening us! I should end you right now you scum."

Silent looks at the unicorn with no concern and says, "You really want to die? My team currently has their guns trained on you. Either keep your mouth shut and rest here or be another bloody corpse where you stand."

The black Unicorn looks ready to attack when Bottle says, "Gleaming, do not anger the well equipped and well mannered Unicorn. I do not wish to have to tell your folks that they did not raise their foal right."

The black Unicorn keeps his jaw shut as he grumbles behind his shotgun that he floated back into his mouth before Silent says to Bottle, "Do come in then with your group and...cow?"

Bottle raises an eyebrow at Silent and asks, "Cow? Do you mean our Brahmin friend? Ya they are quite a friendly bunch even though they argue about their favorite kind of food."

Silent says, "Well come on. My team is waiting for us to go in but I do want to make sure you remember. Do not try to hurt us in any way."

The group of 5 followed Silent Shot into the decently sized cabin, where they immediately took a side, and got the terribly injured green mare off of the Brahmin’s back to replace her extremely bloody bandages with new clean and magical ones.

Noticing they weren’t using any healing potions and seeing as how badly injured the mare was, Silent Shot walked over to them and offered a healing potion, “This might help heal your friend a little bit faster, if you want to try it that is.”

The black unicorn huffed at Silent Shot and turned his head, but the older fellow, named Bottle Pinch, smiled at Silent and took the potion kindly. “Thank you so much youngster, this will really help Sea Breeze.”

After Silent Shot headed back to his group, Bottle snorted at the black unicorn and said, “You really should think of others wellbeing more instead of putting your nose up to a kind offer, and Sea Breeze really needs this potion if we want her to heal up.”

The unicorn huffed and looked at Sea Breeze while Bottle got her to drink every last drop of the potion. “There there Sea Breeze, with this potion you should be healing up good in no time,” Bottle smiled at her as he gave Sea some reassurance that she was going to be just fine.

Silent Shot looked over to the newcomers from over by his squad and smiled knowing they were taking good care of each other.

“Don’t get to fond of them Silent, we still don’t know if their plotting anything. And I really don’t like sir mean and cocky over there, he could get us into some trouble,” Small Fire stated, squinting her eyes at the black unicorn.

“We just have to be safe.” Silent Shot replied, “And, maybe you could keep an eye on him? I don’t really want him wandering outside, if he does we could be in for trouble if anyone, or anything, spots him.”

“Sure thing Silent, and I’d be more than happy to blow his head off if he steps out of line.” Small Fire smirked.

After about an hour or so of settling into the cabin, the team decided it was time to get a little grub to settle them over for the night. Each of them took out a small amount of food of their own to eat and huddled around a very small fire they had safely started, as to not set the cabin on fire.

Bottle noticed the light and smell of the fire before he walked over to them, “Would you mind if we joined you? It’s awful cold over where we took up spot.” He asked kindly.

Silent looked over to the other group of ponies and noticed they had brought out some grub of their own to eat. “Yeah sure, we can all eat dinner and discuss the plans for tomorrow.” Silent answered with a soft smile.

Bottle walked back over to his group and told them they could all go sit around the fire with the others if they wanted. Everyone but the black unicorn went to join them, being the stubborn stallion he was.

“Thank you so much,” Bottle spoke. “Now, I find it only the right thing to do to introduce ourselves. We’ll start. I’m Bottle Pinch, the wiser older unicorn of the group. This yellow and teal earth pony with the set of shotguns is Silent Sunset.” He gestured to her as she waved at everyone. “The Brahmin are Tom and Jerry, they don’t like each other very much and tend to fight off and on. The injured mare with the green coat and blue mane over there is Sea Breeze, and last but not least the grumpy black coated red manned unicorn sitting in the corner over there is Shoot First. I wouldn’t mind him much, he doesn’t like many folk and can be pretty grouchy,” Bottle finished the introduction and gestured to the other group to introduce themselves.

“Oh, um. I’m Silent Shot, this is Avery.” He gestured to her, and gesturing to each of the rest of the individuals said, “And this is Small Fire, Data Spark, and Blood Spray.” He finished bluntly, not wanting to give them too much information.

Silent nudges Blood and says, "Your turn for guard duty. Wake Avery when four hours goes by."

Blood nods as everyone gets some rest in their spots and sleeps through the night without incident. Upon morning arriving, Silent wakes his team up and wakes up Bottle with his group.

"We are going to be heading out. If you would like some assistance in your travels a bit, we might be able to come along on the trip." states Silent as he looks at Bottle.

"Well, that is mighty kind of you. Might you be able to point out where you are heading on that Pip-buck of yours so I can see if our travels will be together for long?" replies Bottle as he stretches with a few pops to his old spine.

Silent pulls up the map on his Pip-Buck and points to Follyfields and then to Ponyville as he says, "We were going to travel here and then to here. We were checking this place first to maybe find out who might be there or if there was anything to scavenge of food since we are a little low. We than are to meet up with some friendly folk over here at a meeting of sorts."

Bottle looks the map over before saying, "Well this map is quite accurate where the towns are and this will only set back my caravan about....maybe half a day but the extra scavenging could help get me some extra caps."

Silent nods before putting his Pip-buck away and replies, "Well we can guard you on the trip though Shoot is gonna be hard to deal with. It would also be nice to learn some about what we are going to have to deal with on our trip to Follyfields if you would be so kind."

Bottle smiles and says, "Well I would be happy to tell you everything you need to know to survive out here in the wasteland. Let me and my caravan get geared up and lead the way. I'll tell you all you need to know on the way."

Silent smiles happily at this as he turns to his team and says, "Okay team, change of plans. We are going to be having Bottle Pinch and his caravan coming with us. Listen closely to what he tells us about Equestria and its dangers. We are going to need to remember this if we are to survive out here from now on."

As they all exit the cabin and head off towards Follyfields, Bottle Pinch begins telling the group about the wasteland, "Well first thing you got to learn is that not many ponies out here in the wasteland can be trusted. The reason being is because everypony is trying to survive and survival means the best of everything which can only be gotten through trade of bottlecaps. No interruptions!" He states as he notices that Data was gonna talk.

He then continues, "Bottlecaps are the currency around here and can buy you almost everything from food and drinks to buildings and ponies alike. Second is creatures that will naturally attack you when you see them. You have the Cockatrice, Manticores, Hydras, Feral Ghouls, Balefire Phoenixes, Radhogs, Radigators, Radroaches, Bloatsprites, Bloodwings, star-spawns, and floaters. All of them are dangerous and will try to kill you. Now Ghouls are not always feral but ferals will not hesitate to attack and can't speak."

He breathes in and continues, "Next is ponies that might attack you. Raiders are always a number one on that list followed closely by the Steel Rangers. I am not saying all of them will but almost all of them have gone bad over the years and became hostile if you have prewar tech. So I would say avoid them unless they seem friendly otherwise you will die. I noticed on your pip-buck that you have all the original cities on there but your gonna need the map updated in order to not go to a dangerous place."

He coughs a little before saying again, "Most cities have policies which either tell you to leave your weapons or to not attack anypony in town. If you disobey these rules they either kick you out of kill you so try to be careful. Caravans and traders like myself are great ways to find resources you might need or to get rid of unwanted items. We trade caps and usually but not always try to give you a fair deal but try to remember that everypony wants to survive so as to not cause problems."

He thinks for a bit before replying, "Last but not least is to stay away from the big cities, stay FAR away from Hoofington as possible, stay away from any Alicorns you see, and if you ever see a vault dweller you probably found the most trustworthy pony you will ever meet out here. That's about all I got to say but if you want more information just ask and I can tell you why."

Silent asks a question ever now and then on the walk for verification on some of the creatures, ponies, or situations that they might have to deal with in the future while Data gathers as much intelligence so as to update the groups pip-bucks so as to make certain areas are known as dangerous spots. By the time the questions slow down and are almost done, they arrive at their destination of a town.

Follyfields looked like it had seen better days if that could be used as a word. It looked like someone had taken a torch to the place long ago yet the buildings still stood if by strings. The streets were covered in degree and yet not a single skeleton could be seen yet alone any trace of once happy life here in this town.

Looking at his team, Silent says, "Okay everyone, we will be looking for resources and possible life here. We will be going in groups of two so as to have an experienced scavenger along with a soldier together. Avery, you go with Silent Sunset."

Avery salutes as she motions for Silent to follow her towards the west side of the small town as Silent continues, "Data, you get to go with Tom and Jerry since it looks like Sea Breeze is awake and walking now that we are here."

Data nods and smiles at the Brahmin as they head towards the East side of town while talking about something as Silent says, "Small, you get to go with Shoot First. Keep him in line."

She smiles as she follows along an unhappy Shoot who heads to the North part of town as Silent says, "Blood, you go with Sea Breeze and maybe tell her of the current situation while I go with Bottle Pinch here to scavenge ourselves."

Blood nods and begins to talk to Sea Breeze as they go into one of the buildings while Silent heads into the middle of town with Bottle and he asks, "Any idea why this town is like this? Seems a little current yet looks to have happened before."

Bottle responds, "I have heard rumors of this place but no actual facts. Rumor has it that caravans that scavenge this place never come back. Many speculate that ghosts haunt this area or that some kind of new monster eats them leaving no corpses behind. What I do know is that this place is suppose to be a treasure trove worth of caps and items that can be sold for lots of caps. With your group being here to help us, we can split the profit since you are guarding us from any possible dangers."

He then looks at Silent as he asks as he grabs a few caps he spots in some ashes, "Since we are alone now and away from my caravan might I ask, Whom are you and your group? You seem to well trained to be scavengers but you are not wearing Power Armor so you are not Steel Rangers."

Silent stops and asks while grabbing a couple of rounds of ammo grab some dried grass, "If I promise to not tell anypony and we can make a contract for a future endeavor, I can tell you."

Bottle lifts a piece of metal to grab a hold of a can of mentals than replies with a nod, "I can say that sounds quite fair since a contract usually means a good trade route added on or some trade goods to buy or sell."

Silent says to him as he points towards something shiny to the left near a building, "We are the Shadow Guard, a specialized group of soldiers made for stealth operations by Rainbow Dash. We were made into service during the war to do many jobs and on occasion help out the Shadow Bolts. The only thing is that we never truly existed to the public or the other Ministries. Only Rainbow knew about us since she specialized us in our fields of training and our missions. We just came out of Cryo-stasis after 200 years of sleeping and waiting. Our current objective is to meet with the other teams of the Shadow Guard at Ponyville where we can make an Operations Base but we might need certain materials along with information after we make our base of operations."

Bottle nods at this before replying while he grabs a few items that seem to be lying about in the road here and there, "Well I got to say that I have heard stranger things before but this is quite surprising. I would say that the contract would be a good idea but I would need to know where your Operations base would be before we set up the contract. I do know we will part ways after Ponyville but I know a certain Pegasus named Derpy whom might be some help for you to get a hold of me."

Silent looks at Bottle after picking up a hoof full of caps and says, "Derpy? She's still alive after all these years? How?"

Bottle looks at Silent and responds, "She became a ghoul I am afraid to say but she has quite a successful business going around Equestria."

"Well I'll be. After all these years, she is still kicking. She was quite a mare in my younger days. Quite beautiful with her golden eyes and big smile on her face. I wonder if she still remembers me." says Silent with a sigh as he puts a box of Apple Bombs in his saddlebags.

Bottle raises an eyebrow at Silent and asks, "Were you her Coltfriend or something before this happened?"

Silent smiles and says, "Yeah, I was for a while before things went crazy and the war became worse. Eventually I said goodbye to her and left but not before giving her an old gift between us. I wonder if she still has it."

Bottle chuckles and says, "It may not be young but still it is young love. She might be a little worse for looks but she is still happy as best she can be our here in the wasteland."

Silent nods and is about to say something when a loud yell is heard, "No stop!"

A gunshot is than heard and a scream of terror coming from the North side of town. Silent groans and says, "Celestia damn Shoot. I had a feeling something like this would happen but at least Small is with him. We better go check on them."

Silent begins to run towards the North along with Bottle to go help Small and Shoot when they hear a gurgling groan coming from one of the buildings down the road they were heading towards. Out of the building came a very horrible looking kind of pony for Silent to see.

The pony before them might at one point have been a good looking mare with a green coat and yellow mane if not for the fact that half her coat was missing in patches, part of her jaw was missing, one ear was hanging from a string of skin, and there was at least a fraction of intelligence in the cold dead eyes on the face before them. The ghoul before them looked to have been shot before from the pieces of coat and skin missing in little round holes in its hide. It seemed to notice them as it screams an eerie unearthly tone. For a few seconds nothing happened before out of more of the ruins of the town came more shambling and deformed ghouls that looked towards Silent and Bottle.

"Well buck me and call me Rainbow Dash." says Silent as the ghouls begin to run towards them both.

Silent shot got in front of Bottle and told him, "Stay back and maybe be prepared if they go after you while I am busy!"

He got out his 10mm Pistol and got SATS up. “Alright feral ghouls, time to end your existence.” He said, as he targeted the ghoul that had first appeared letting one of the targeting spells land on it before going out of SATS, landing a straight on headshot with the first ghoul that had come out.

Having finished the first one, he turns to see there had been four overall and the other three screeched before they ran straight at him and Bottle at an extremely quick run. Silent Shot ended up shooting another one in the chest a few times while using SATS which brought it down with a sickening thud as glowing blood flowed out of it, but the other two jumped at them while Silent was occupied. Bottle used his strength, which was quite feeble in his old age, and sucker punched the one going after him in the face, which caused it to fall back into the ground though not dead. The other ghoul went after Silent Shot and ended up biting him in the leg before Silent could kill it.

“AAAAAGHH!!” Silent screamed, feeling the ghoul’s teeth dig deep into his leg. “GET OFF!!” He finished, shooting it right in the head causing the ghoul to detach and fall on the ground though leaving a few teeth that had pulled out of its skull and leaving them in his leg.

The ghoul that Bottle punched got back up but Silent saw it going towards Bottle a mile away and immediately shot it, killing it instantly as its head seemed to explode into blood, brain matter, and skull fragments.

“Come on, we need to get over to Small Fire and Shoot,” Silent spoke, grunting a little at the pain in his left front hoof, as he used his magic to pull out the teeth, that started to bleed pretty badly.

Regardless though, he started to run, with a limp, with Bottle towards the other group and what they witnessed when they arrived was not very pretty. Small Fire was being attacked by a few ghouls and seemed to be able to handle them but, in that time of her distraction, was not able to protect Shoot very easily, who had two ghouls after him.

“Shoot get out of there!! Run!!” Bottle yelled as loud as his husky voice could while he sprinted towards Shoot.

Shoot looked at the ghouls with rage in his eyes and went up for a punch but was thrown back by the body weight of second of the feral ghouls that launched itself at him and having gotten him face first into the ground. He landed on the ground hard and the ghouls somehow noticing that Shoot was in a position of weakness went at him and started ripping him to pieces with their teeth. He was in agony, screaming out and flailing his hooves trying to stand or just to move enough to get them off him.

“HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE!!” He shouted out in fear.

It had all happened in an instant, and by the time Bottle and Silent Shot had finally reached him, Shoot was no more, with the life in his eyes having died as a ghoul ripped open his throat and chewing loudly. Small Fire had just gotten finished with the ghouls on her, and quickly shot down the other two that were previously attacking Shoot. Small Fire, Bottle Pinch, and Silent Shot all walked over to where Shoot once stood alive and saw a shredded corpse that definitely no longer had a life in it.

“Dammit,” Bottle said, looking away from the remains. “Sure he was cocky and rude but… He was still part of the group…. Like a part of the family. He was the only one who could ever get on my nerves over all the years I have done this business.”

He sat down trying to take in what happened while trying not to let out tears. Small and Silent looked at each other with sad glances and walked over to him as Silent Shot tried comforting words he had used a couple times before.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Shoot,” Silent spoke softly, placing his good hoof on Bottle’s shoulder. “Let’s bury him, say our goodbyes, and continue on our way, okay? Maybe you can say a prayer to Celestia in hopes that in death he might have found peace that didn't exist here for him.”

Bottle looked up at him and nodded, standing up shakily either from exhaustion or from horror and grabbing a shovel he saw earlier. The rest of the two groups finally arrived to meet them from their scavenging in a matter of minutes and heard the bad news. It seemed each of them had been attacked as well but had held off quite well with the few they had to take on. Everyone helped with the burial of Shoot and then mostly moved on trying to cope in their own ways with what happened or just not caring. In that time, Silent Shot made sure to wrap his badly bitten hoof well and nice and tightly using the magical bandages to help heal the wound faster. He thought about taking some painkillers but decided to use them when really needed.

“Come on, let’s take a rest before we move on from this town,” Silent suggested, leading everyone over to a small building that looked somewhat intact unlike the other buildings around them.

They all went inside and took out something small to nibble on to regain some energy. As their brake went by, not many talked, still taking in the events.

Silent Shot whispered to his group, “It’s going to be like this a lot isn’t it. Constantly running into monsters, getting hurt, even dying.” He paused for a second. “We can make it through this hell though, just keep your heads up, and your minds sharp. Remember we are soldiers and have seen horrible situations before and we can do it again.”

He shot them a small smile, getting solutes, head nodes, and even other smiles back. After finishing their rest and healing up a little, everyone packed their gear back up and started heading out of the fully scavenged town. Though they came upon the treasure trove of caps and gear that Bottle had talked about amongst piles of dead and decaying corpses from where the ghouls had killed their prey before. Bottle took note of exactly where the trove of items were and made sure to mark it on a hoof written map to come back to later as they turned to leave the concealed entrance to the treasure trove.

“We’ll walk for another two hours or so towards Ponyville until it reaches dark and then find some sort of shelter and settle for the night,” Silent Shot instructed. “Let’s try and keep together as best we can and tomorrow we will part ways with your group Bottle.”

The big group found a path, near the house at the edge of town, that seemed to lead them in the direction they wanted and started to follow it to try and avoid any more dangers hidden in the wasteland when they heard maniacal laughter coming from down the path from maybe a dozen or so individuals heading towards them.

Silent motions for everyone to get into hiding as he whispers to Bottle, "Whom might be making that freaky laughter?"

Bottle responds, "It's raiders and the problem is that they must know we are here. The must have been watching us on our way here and that means that they are not going to leave us alone until we are all dead."

Silent nods before motioning for Small to set up traps, Data to prepare his weapons for close combat, and for Blood to take place in a window so as to go at them with his Miniguns.

Silent turns to Bottle and says, "Better prepare for a fight and tell the others to get into position in the house so as to not be seen."

As Bottle nods, Silent looks at the stairs and takes them up to the second story where he unlatches his sniper from his back and setting it ready at the window. As he sits on his hunches and looks through his scope, he sees a group of ponies numbering in at a dozen. Looking them over, one would not think that they were deranged and murderous ponies until you saw the look in their eyes. The look was one of hunger for murder and the thrill of killing something which meant only one thing to Silent.

These ponies had to die and that meant that they would die today. Observing each pony through his scope he notices that they all seemed to wear either scrap pieces of metal or patched up pieces of barding which were looking like shit. The same could be said for their weapons which looked ready to fall apart at a touch of magic.

Silent looks at the one in the lead and fires the shot causing the ponies head to explode into particles of nothingness as the loud resounding shot could be heard in the silent town and the raiders below.

The raiders instantly take action to separate from each other and head off in different directions but to late as fire from three areas converge on them. One position was from Blood who seemed to be humming a tune from Pinky Pie about cupcakes as his Miniguns began to fire rounds at high velocity into three raiders that fell under his fire alone. Another two turned and had run only to get carbine shots from Avery into their heads making them drop like logs instantly.

The third set of shots came from Bottle and his group but their fire didn't kill more than two raiders as well leaving that left the last four to get into cover and fire at Bottle and his group who went behind cover. One of the raiders took out a Dash inhaler and breathed in before running straight towards, surprisingly, Blood with a wooden bat with nails sticking out of it. Blood mows her down under his Miniguns fire leaving no way for her to live.

Another two ran towards where Bottle's crew was as the last one went into the building where Data had gone. Data had probably dealt with him so there was no worries but the same couldn't be said for Bottle and his group.

Silent puts his sniper back and pulls out his pistol as he ran down stairs in hopes of helping Bottle and his caravan with the two that had gotten to them. Arriving at the scene, Silent looks around the corner to see Bottle firing from behind cover to kill one raider who was hiding behind a bathtub while the others were taking a new meaning to stamping the ground on the other raider who looked pretty much dead from the beating they were giving him.

Bottle finally got a lucky shot on the raider causing the raider to fall over almost dead but not enough. The raider used her horn to grab a metal apple off her armor and throws it with her magic towards the caravan away from Bottle.

"Watch out! Grenade!" yells Silent as he fires off some rounds at the still alive raider.

Tom and Jerry see the grenade and quickly shove the others away as they lie down on the grenade. The sight was not pretty if that could be said for what they saw. It was like a horrible scene from a play that nopony wanted to see but was stuck for them to see forever. The Brahmin's jaw was in his throat on one side and his upper lips and teeth were missing. One eye was shut, and the other looked like a star-shaped hole while the other head seemed to disappear in an instant. The eyes looked to be in imaginary pain as the slow intelligence and smile on the face slowly died. The barrel of the Brahmin seemed to almost open as the insides began to fly slowly out as if in slow motion. It looked like some horrible game of doctor gone wrong as the insides began to fly upwards and slowly came back down to land with a sickening plop.

The chest cavity shown bright red as blood dripped from sharp broken bones of once intact ribs but now it looked like somepony had just taken an ice-cream scoop and just dug it all out. The rope holding the items to the back of the once alive Brahmin had broken and spilled the items across the now gore and bloody covered floor.

Silent felt a part of him beginning to die inside at seeing such an intelligent pair of brothers with brains die in front of him. They seemed to know that doing what they did meant that they would die but yet they smiled up at him as he watched them die. He turned with anger towards the still alive raider and yelled as he picked the mare up and began to slowly use his magic to pull her apart in front of him. His rage blocked out everything from his mind, like the yells of his team in panic and Bottle trying to stop him, as the poor mare screamed in pain and suffering as she slowly but surely came apart.

Tendons tore slowly allowing blood to drip and form small rivers down her coat and armor as she struggled in the air. Her eyes were wide as she screamed like a demon trying to survive as the grey light of magic kept pulling until the sight of bones was revealed on her back. With one last scream of rage the magic pulled her apart with a sickening crack before both parts of the now dead raider dropped into the bathtub which began to fill with red water.

Silent stood there for a time before finally turning to see everyone staring at him like some kind of monster.

He says to them in a calm voice, "Let's go. I wish to be gone from this place and never come back."

Everyone nods as they follow him while he heads off down the road.

After the crazy fight between the squad, the caravan, the raiders, and the entire town full of ghouls, the team continued to stay combat ready as they got back to their journey to Ponyville with Bottle and his comrades.

“Oh come one where are all the hard monsters? I need something difficult to kill!! Those raiders and ghouls were child’s play!” Small Fire exclaimed looking around for some sort of building or town where there might have been something.

“Small Fire we don’t want to be looking for any more trouble right now, we all just need to get over to Ponyville to meet back with the other squads of Shadow Guard safely without any more dangerous encounters. I don’t think any of us want any more casualties today,” Silent Shot explained calmly like the natural born leader he was.

And to go along with that, he wanted to make sure everyone on his team was still present and doing alright so he looked around and went through a check list in his mind.

  ‘Alright, let’s see.  We’ve got Avery who is fiddling with her pouch of daggers. Blood Spray is present but seems to be in an entirely other world. Small Fire wasn’t too far back and seemed to still be hungrily looking for a good target practice, and last but not least shy brainy Data Spark who seems to be thoroughly enjoying his radio tunes. Everyone’s here, and nothing else to worry about. This should be a nice smooth travel.’ He thought, looking back ahead to watch where he was going.

All of a sudden a distant music started to play, a music that seemed all too familiar with the entire team.

“Is that a sprite bot?” Bottle asked, looking ahead to see if he could spot it.

Data Spark saw everyone looking around and took off his headset to see what was up, only to have his ears filled with the music from an old distant sprite bot. “Yup it sure is. Gosh those things can be annoying,” He commented, putting his headset back on to drown out that awful music.

“Hey Silent Shot can I just shoot it?!?!” Small Fire excitedly asked, already trying to find where it was so she could blow it up.

“Yeah sure, be my guest,” Silent Shot responded, immediately seeing the small dragon race in front to find and shoot the sprite bot that was getting on everyone’s  nerves.

With a sigh, Silent follows behind Small as they go looking for the sprite bot which was not helping the mood of the group after the death of two of Bottle's caravan. Silent felt a little sorry for Bottle for having to go through this, probably yet again. They soon spot the sprite bot and Small pulls out her pistol so as to shoot the sprite bot only to miss in barely.

The Sprite bot looks at the group and seems to stop in place for a few seconds before the music coming from its speakers stops and out of its speakers comes a familiar voice to Silent.

"Well, I'll be. If it isn't some old friends of mine. I was wondering when you'd join the land of the living if only to find yourself here in the wasteland of the once great nation of ours." spoke the voice.

The others look confused but Silent asks, "You sound familiar yet I cannot place you. Who might you be and how might you know me and my group?"

The sprite bot looks them all over and responds, "I would love to tell you but some are more trustworthy than others. If news of me living came to the land...much could go worse. I would like to speak to you in private young Silent."

Silent looks back at the others before walking forward to follow the sprite bot a good distance away before asking, "Who might you be that knows about me?"

The sprite bot sounds happy as the voice replies, "Why it is the little dragon that you helped out on occasions with certain top secret projects."

Silent's eyes go wide as he says, "It can't be! Spike!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shadow Guard Squad - Death

Level up

New Perks added - Bitter Sweet, Post-war Training

Post-war Training - The effects of the war has made many sights easier to deal with but at times a surprise comes along and hits you worse. IF the sight you see is to an Ally, you go into a frenzy to kill the enemy. +50% dmg boost to target enemy

Bitter Sweet - Victor at all costs usually means a high cost. At the death of an ally, the squad gets a boost to dmg of +20% until the end of the encounter