The Vault Dweller: A Fallout in Equestria Story

Chapter 7: The AfterParty...

He understood the feeling. He watched the stallion they just woke up standing at the terminal, playing a message again for the fifteenth time.

“Cheese, take care of Strawberry. I… I’ve got to see this through. Besides, After I get done I’m going to go see Twilight, and… I’m going to have them clean me. You were right Cheese, I haven’t been the same Pinkie, but I needed to take the Party-Time Mint-als. I needed to be at my absolute Pinkie Best to help stop this war. I just wanted tell you… I love you Cheese, and you too Strawberry. Pinkie Pie, signing off.”

He watched as the stallion hit the button to play it again. He walked toward him.

“Want to talk?”

The stallion sighed, stopped the recording, and looked at the lone human, “I… Has it really been two hundred years?”

He could see the worry, the small spark of hope that this was just some incredibly insensitive practical joke, and the crushing depression that threatening to come at him because somewhere he knew that wasn’t the case. It was all there in that stallion eyes. The same thing that had been in his when he first woke up and realized what had happened. He took a seat, scanning through his MP3 files until he came across one he hadn’t played.

“Hi Honey! I know you’re always listening to this thing, and I know that you normally just plug it in and sort of drift off while you’re writing, or running, or anything else. Which, thank you for using it instead of that old Walk-Man… Anyway, I wanted to sing a little something for you. Rock-a-bye Baby in the Tree top! More than likely you’re trying to guess what I’m talking about, right?! You’re gonna be a daddy! I just did the test! I love you!”

He stopped it, looked at Cheese, and gave a sad smile, “It’s been two hundred years. That was my wife, Sarah. A little less than a year before I got into an accident,” he took a seat on the floor and patted it. The stallion took a seat next to him, “There’s going to be a lot of folks telling you that they know how you feel, but they really don’t.” he laughed mirthlessly, “They can’t. They honestly can’t understand what it’s like knowing that everything you knew is gone. Family, friends, everything,” he looked at the wall, “But, having a few friends does help make it easier.”

He stretched out his hand, “I’m willing to be your friend.”

Cheese gave him his hoof, and then he sighed, “You know, all I ever wanted to do was make ponies smile. Pinkie inspired me to do that. I happened to see one of her first parties, and I was inspired to become a Party Pony like her,” he laughed and looked at his daughter who was giggling and playing Salty, “Strawberry makes it easier, but if everything really is gone then the Ministry of Morale is needed more than ever.”

Cheese got up, “Pinkie and I had a plan that wasn’t just about spying on everypony, but actually making ponies happy. Everypony needs some happiness, so the Ministry is certainly needed, at least in that respect.”

The automaton of Pinkie Pie walked back toward Cheese Sandwich before sitting on its rump, “All of the Party guests are waking up Cheese! There’s a few that are frowny, frowny pants, but Twilight-02 and Fluttershy-06 said that they can make sure they won’t cause any trouble!”

Cheese nodded, “Pinkie… Sorry Pinkie Pie-09, tell me, are there more pods here than there was before?”

“Yepperonni! We kept getting Party Guests over the last two hundred years, so we needed to bring them down here to be held until they party could start!”

He looked at it, “How many Party Guests do we have?”

The automaton rubbed its chin, “There are two thousand, three hundred, fifty-two party guests, and three pets.”

“Pets?” Cheese asked.

“Yeppers! Some of the party guests had pets with them!”

“Moonglow! Where’s Moonglow?!” a pony shouted.

The pony moved toward them, she was wearing a suit, similar to the Vault Dwellers that had the number of 24 on it, “Has anypony seen Moonglow?! I… I need to find my daughter!”

He looked at them, “Please! Help me! My daughter and I escaped from our stable, and we came out this way, She’s gotta be so scared!”

He looked at the pony and nodded, “Okay, let’s look for her.”

Cheese got up and followed the they began walking through the mostly awake group of ponies. The stallion, which was a type of Pegasus Cheese hadn’t seen in awhile. It had been back when he was in Canterlot, and he had seen a few of the Lunar Pegasi when they were guarding Princess Luna. The stallion was nickering, trying to get the attention of his daughter. Finally, after reaching the rear of the area the three noticed that some of the wall had collapsed. They began to move forward when all three of them felt a tug of magic. The Lunar Pegasus stallion turned to see a Unicorn that looked slate gray, white mane, and the angrist green eyes he’d ever seen. She walked up to the weird Minotaur thing that was wearing a stable suit and poked him in the chest.

“We need to get the copper, and get back! You don’t know what’s back there!”

The Lunar Pegasus growled, “My daughter might be back there!”

She looked at him, then at the bald hornless, obviously mutated Minotaur thing, “Of course, it makes sense, somepony is in trouble and you’re gonna jump in and help them out. You’re an idiot…”

She let go of them, and instead they watched as she began lifting stones out of the way. As she did there was a feral sounding growl, and then pony that looked patchy and rotted lept out at them. It slammed into the Lunar Pegasus knocking him back, Its mouth was full of broken sharp teeth, teeth it used to sink into the Lunar Pegasus’ right foreleg. Without thinking the Vault Dweller grabbed the stock of Widow Maker and began to lift it. When he did he felt it becoming lighter. He pulled it forward, flipped it open, emptied the spent shells, loaded, it and fired.

He didn’t get thrown back, it didn’t bruise his shoulders, but instead he barely felt it fire. The ghoul however was ripped in half and sent tumbling. Another growl erupted and his V.A.T.S. came online for him to see the being ahead of him. It was another rotting pony, one that was smaller, and it let out a terrible growl and a hiss as it lunged out. He saw the percentage for hitting it in the chest go up to a hundred percent and he fired. Once he did the little rotted pony exploded into a fine red mist of chunks and old blood. Once the second shell was spent he felt the gun get heavy again. A small alarm got his attention and he looked at his Pipboy.

Cup and Cup Enterprises Enhancer has been depleted of power, please allow ten minutes before reuse.

He felt magic envelop the large double barrel shotgun, lift it, and put back into its holster.

“Well, at least we know that thing works.”

He nodded, turned on the illumination of his Pipboy, and stepped through the hole that led into the other side. There was four more pods, two of them had been broken open, and there looked to be something glowing near two of the pods. His Pipboy began registering the radiation levels warning that he would need to take some Rad-away to counter the low scale radiation. He then looked at the other two pods. Both of the ponies inside looked okay, and he looked back at Cheese who walked in and opened them.

For a moment there was little movement, but then a young lunar Pegasus Filly in a similar Vault jumpsuit to the stallion on the other side of the wall moved and fell forward. The other pony though didn’t move at all. Cheese touched the other one only to watch the pony fall out and lose her head. He stumbled back, but then looked at the filly. She sniffed, looked around, and yawned, “Where’s Daddy?”

Both Cheese and his new human friend lead the light blue filly a flat black mane and tail out of the hole into the room where her father who was reversely colored, was waiting. She quickly ran toward him, wrapping him into a hug. Cheese smiled as he watched the two nuzzle each other while hugging. Looking over at his friend he poked him with his hoof.

“I feel bad just calling you Stable Dweller, what’s your name?”

The man smiled at him, “My friends… what friends I had, called me Rusty.”

Cheese grinned, “Rusty it is then.”

He took in the Stable Dweller for the first time, really taking a look at him. He was tall, but if Cheese, or that mare that seemed to be his friend, who still seemed to be more than a little upset, was to stand on their hind legs they would easily be able to look him in the eyes. His skin was a soft caramel color, and while his eyes were certainly smaller than a pony’s they were a shade of emerald green that practically shined. Still, it was his copper red hair that stood out.

“So, I understand that you’re all needing some copper?”

Rusty nodded, “Yeah, we’re trying to get a train engined repaired.”

He looked at the pods behind them, “I remember Twilight saying that the sealed doors to these pods were lined with copper. Take as much as you need, and if you think it would be okay, I’d like to see about moving these ponies somewhere a bit safer.”

He grinned, “There’s two settlements nearby. Las Pegasus and Railway Town. I think that Las Pegasus might be big enough for everyone here, although I’m certain they could expand Railway town to be big enough. We’re going to be heading back to Railway Town anyway, maybe all of you could go with us.”

Cheese nodded, “Okay. I’ll start letting Ponies know.”

Cream Pie waited for Cheese to start heading into the main part before she moved toward the Stable Dweller, toward Rusty. She got onto her hind legs, pressing her forehooves into his shoulders. He looked at her, the green eyes that had so many emotions that he couldn’t even begin to explain, green eyes that practically screamed out her various emotions, and then he felt her push him back. Rusty had never claimed to be an aggressive man when it came to women. In truth he was far from that. He was certainly someone that was more than willing to stand up for what he believed in, but he normally wasn’t the kind to make the first move.

Sarah had been the one to start their relationship. She had told him that she saw something she wanted in him, and that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. And thus history repeated itself when he felt the lips of this very straight forward mare on his lips. Thousands of thoughts crossed his mind, and thousands more rushed forward, but the one thought that didn’t come to him was that it was wrong.

Maybe it was because he had believed they had been human, or maybe it was because of how human they acted, but the simple truth was that this mare was a confident woman in his eyes. She was strong, loyal, and willing to put up with him. So he found himself kissing her back. His hands snaking down her, finding her rump, and squeezing. She let out a cute sounding squeak when he did that, but nonetheless she didn’t stop kissing back. The two stood there, several seconds, holding each other, before finally she broke the kiss.

“You’re an idiot, but you’re my idiot.”

With that she walked, flicking her tail, and letting him have a complete unrestricted view of what she had to offer. She looked over her shoulder, a sly smile on her face, “Now, let’s get that copper, these ponies, and get the Tartarus out of her back to that stupid town so we can get that train.”

Cheese Sandwich watched as the group that had helped them out began stripping the doors off of the pods. He gave Strawberry a sad smile, knowing that his daughter most likely didn’t understand that her mother, his Pinkie, was never coming home. Pie had been a number of things, and unpredictable was among the biggest on the no kidding list. But even she couldn’t hope to escape the Grim Tyrant. He’d lead these ponies somewhere safe, take care of Strawberry, but he had to do something else as well. His Cheesy sense was going crazy, telling him that there was a need for parties all over Equestria.

He hadn’t lied when he said that the Ministry of Morale was needed more now than ever. It honestly was needed more now. It was needed because he had a feeling that a good deal of these ponies had given up hope. He wasn’t sure what it was like out there. But he was certain of one thing. He’d make Pinkie proud. Keeping Strawberry safe, and making ponies smile. That was his goal as the head of the Ministry of Morale.

Rusty felt someone looking at him, and he turned to see Salty with a smug grin. He wasn’t about to say a word, but instead the one winged Pegasus moved toward him.

“Bout time.”

Rusty knew what was coming, but he hoped that it would pass if he just kept working.

“She’s been a hoping that ya’d make a move ‘fore now, ya know.”

He stopped, “Salty, we’ve got a lot of work to do, a ton of ponies to lead out of here, and do you really want to talk about this now?”

“Yep, cause ya’ll are a gonna eventually bump hooves.”

He stretched, looked at his burnt orange coated friend. His mane was an off avocado green, so was his tale, but his eyes were weird. He had a blue one and a gold one. He’d heard Salty talking about getting patched up a while back, some town called New Appleloosa where the doctor there had replaced his eye with a donor eye from a patient that was no longer needing it.

He took a seat and looked at the pods they still needed to get before they had what he hoped was enough copper, “I don’t know what happened, but I’m not sorry about it. Things are odd, but I’m coming to accept that they are how they are,” he looked at Salty, “For one, I’ve come to accept that my wife is long dead, and I’m realizing that most likely this is the world that I’ve for now on.”

He laughed, “But it doesn’t matter. I like Cream, and whatever happens is going to happen,” he got up.

Salty looked at him, “So, why are you helping all of these ponies? Not that I don’t mind, but why?”

Rusty grinned, “Back home, before what happened to me, well happened, I used to love listening to all kinds of music. But one of my favorite singers was Bob Marley,” he lifted his Pipboy, scanning through the music files until he came one of his favorites and put it on, “See, I liked Bob Marley because he believed that you could cure racism and hate, cure it, by injecting good vibes and love into people’s lives.”

Salty smiled as Rusty leaned back, “And then one day someone showed up to his house and shot him. He was supposed to perform at a concert to help a whole lot of folks, and most folks figure that was why it happened. Still, he got seen by a doc, and that next night he went out and performed one of the best concerts of his life,” he looked at Salty who was sitting awe struck as he told the story, “A reporter asked him, why he didn’t cancel, and he said, ‘The people who are trying to make this world a worse place aren’t taking a day off, how can I? Light up the Darkness.’.”

Salty looked at him, “Well, yer certainly keeping what he said. I’d say this is lighting up the darkness purty well.”

Rusty looked at the all of the faces, some looking pretty paranoid, and then looked back at him, “We can only hope.”

The two of them got back to the copper, and after a couple of hours what they had, along with what Twilight, Lyra, and Cream had gathered seemed to be a pretty good amount of copper. The Exceptionally large group moved up the stairs, which in itself took hours, and then finally they began to move toward Railway Town. It’s rumored that stories still circulate about what happened when the first guard looked out over the horizon and say over two thousand ponies heading toward the township built around Friendship Express, Railway Station number fifteen. Some of those stories go along the lines that the guard, in a very stallion like voice, called that there was a massive number of refugees coming, and that they should open the gates and prepare for an influx of trade.

And then there’s the story where he screamed like a scared filly crying out, “The Horror! The Horror!” as he fell onto his back. Most of those that knew this stallion from the time he was a colt often go with the second telling as what most likely happened. Regardless of the stallion known as Lilly Livers might have done the fact was that the gates did open, and Sheriff Bronze Star stood and met with the current head of the Ministry of Morale. The Head of the Ministry of Morale informed him that he hoped the sheriff would be fine with a celebration being thrown both for Railway Town, and for the ponies who were finally going to get to enjoy a party after two hundred years.

It’s still unknown where the party cannon came from, how punch was made, or who brought the cakes.

Author's Note

(AN: Wow, another chapter?! I know! Okay, I wanted to get this out fairly quickly. That said, I do hope that everyone enjoyed it. Also, a nice little warning, but the next chapter is going to contain the following... Some clop, dark subject matter, a found recording, and an answer to what happened to Lemon Hearts)