Fallout Equestria: On Rust Red Shores

We landed in front of the ruined store, the enclave cargo crate of food was still there, ready to be loaded. Micro Fusion helped unhook us from the sky chariot’s harness, his hooves looking like they were just batting at the straps, but strangely able to quickly get us free. It was strange how earth ponies could do that. Rather, it was strange how earth ponies could do most things without magic.

Micro Fusion explained that he was born in stable 100, which was a long way south from here. The stable had been one that was very strict about genetic health and viability. He boasted about how the gene lab there was so advanced, that they could start cloning ponies if they so desired. And that he was out exploring to look for new residents for the stable, and his main stop was the Municipality of Reka. We asked why a stable would need new residents, and he simply explained that the stable had formed a small settlement above it, but due to how strict the stable was about who can enter, or stay in the stable itself, they are always in need of new ponies with good genes not mutated by the wastland. The fastest way to do this turned out simply to be buying slaves and testing them. The ones with good genes were let in, the ones who didn’t have them were set free.

After helping us free from the harness, Micro Fusion trotted around to lock the straps to the frame, muttering something about not wanting some Pegasus to steal the sky chariot. As he worked, his withered and deformed wings dragged on the ground. One was slightly larger than the other, and neither had nearly enough feathers to fly. Oddly deformed as well, the horn on his head had grown with a slight curve to the left. Though the mutation had not turned him into an abomination, he clearly wouldn’t ever turn into a proper alicorn.

“Question.” we spoke up at the mutated earth pony stallion, who we suspected looked more like a mare as well due to the partial transformation. “With what happened to you, would you be able to go home?”

The stallion looked at one of his wings and kicked it. The limp wing just flopped, nothing more. “Well clearly I wouldn’t be able to get back into the stable, but I’m sure my family wouldn’t simply abandon me. Also I’m sure the eggheads would love to get a look at my mutation, see what changed and all that.” He seemed to still have a skip in his step, despite his circumstances. “But even if they did reject me for this ordeal, it might be a good thing for me.”

“How so?” we asked, curious as to hear his thoughts.

“Well, being part of the stable, we are restricted from having relations with the ponies outside. You know, to keep disease and unwanted mutation from being brought into the stable. If you know what I mean.” He waggled his eyebrows at us.

We nodded. “Yes, before being taken in by mother, we had contracted a few diseases. It was something we did not know to avoid back then.”

Micro Fusion paused for a moment before continuing. “Right. Well in the settlement, I have a few friends, and this mare I really like. The mare always said she was attracted to a more lady like figure, so if I get the wings and horn removed, I might have a shot with her now. Maybe.” Trotting back over to us, he gave a shrug. “Not like my wife’s going to care, we were only together because we were a good genetic pairing. While the sex with her was awesome, she had a major case of masochism. Loves to be tied up and all that. But outside of the bedroom, our relationship was practically nonexistent. It made me feel like I was little more than a sex toy to her.”

“That’s… sad to hear.” We turned to lead Micro Fusion to the house the others were hiding in. “So did you have any foals with her?”

He nodded. “Three wonderful little brats. I’ll miss them, but I know they’re in good hooves. And it’s not like I can’t see them, but seeing their dad look like this might freak them out a bit.”

We entered the house, it’s broken door squeaked on the one hinge that it still had, still just barely keeping the door up. “Hello? We have returned, and with a sky chariot.”

Two fillies poked their heads out from around a rotting corner, their faces a little cleaner than before, but not by much. The Caramel maned filly trotted out, looking concerned. “Did you find aunty Lemon Drop?”

We shook our head. “Sorry, she’s gone, there was nothing we could do.” Both fillies drooped their ears and look down. “But we can take you somewhere safer, lots of pegasi there.” The fillies just slowly trotted away, into another room. Trotting over to where they had come from, we found the two ghouls, and the Zebra. Crescent Wrench was resting on an old dirty mattress as the zebra seemed to be giving her an exam. Axle Wrench was sitting in the corner, looking like he was asleep. “Is everything alright?”

The Zebra pulled away from Crescent and nodded. “I am no medicine mare, but I do have enough medical knowledge to know that these two are very lucky. Despite becoming Ghouls, they are both very much alive, unlike most ghouls you see these days.”

We raised an eyebrow. “How is that possible?”

The Zebra sighed. “I do not know the details, but from what I do know, most die as they become ghouls. Organ failure, dehydration, blood loss, and the most common, being blasted with a radiation bomb, or fire.” She then rubbed Crescents belly. “It also explains why this little one still grows. Though the chances the foal being born normal is unlikely. If I were to guess to why their ghoulification is so light, it might be a family trait they have.”

Crescent nodded, not moving from her position on the bed. “That does sound about right. Both Axle and I both have ghouls in our family, a hazard of traveling the wasteland. It’s actually how our family’s had survived for so long, I mean, having my great grand pappy still around and sharing all he knows is more valuable than all the caps in the world.” She flopped her head back on the bed, looking a bit exhausted.

We looked at the two ghouls, and despite their decayed state, parts of them did still look alive. It was little things like the eyes, and were their skin hadn't begun to peel, their fur still looked soft. “If that’s true, can it be reversed, or controlled?”

The Zebra shrugged. “Well I am not a doctor, so I cannot honestly know what can be done.” She trotted over to us and raised a hoof. “I never properly introduced myself, did I. I’m Mhambi, A simple traveler, and member of Celestia's Angels.”

“Celestia's Angels? Is that some sort of religious group?” To be honest, we didn’t know zebras very well. Though we’d always heard they were a very religious sort, but it sounded odd that they would worship and old world goddess like Celestia.

Mhambi chucked. “Not at all, it is an anti-slavery group, but I do admit it does sound like something a cult would name itself. They are not real popular around here, but with what has been happening, I do not think it’s going to matter.”

We cocked an eyebrow at Mhambi. “Why tell us this?”

She sighed. “Because if what you say is true, then there is an opportunity to do some really good. The fact that everyone here owes you their lives, mine included, tells me that you are good pony. So, if it is not too much to ask, I want you to help me finish off the slave trade here.”

“But the Municipality of Reka is already gone, is that not enough?” We pointed out.

Mhambi gave a little nod. “I like to say yes, but the slave trade is stubborn market. If not properly stamped out now, it will only rebuild itself later. What is worse is that there is a big slaver caravan coming in a few days, that alone has the potential of rebuilding the slave trade here. But if Bold Harbor can be turned into an anti-slavery settlement, then any slavers that wish to set up shop will move elsewhere.”

We sighed. “We don’t think there is much we can do, but once we're back at Bold Harbor, we can look into it.”

“Thank you” Mhambi said with a sigh. “Even a little bit of help means a lot.”

We decided to check on the other ponies before getting the sky chariot ready. The sickly pegasus mare Crescent and Axel had cared for, was still asleep, making us worried that she may be in a coma. The three foals were fine as well, but really quiet. They couldn’t be blamed, as the loss of a loved one would have hit them hard. And Micro Fusion was busy tying his limp wings together with some scavenged twine to keep them from dragging on the ground.

Once outside, we managed to get the food container into the sky chariot. It was a tight squeeze, being just being wide enough to fit the container. But simply lifting the heavy container had us drained, forcing us to stand in the radiation pockets of the ruins for a few minutes to get some of our magic back. Looking at the sky chariot, it was going to be difficult to get everypony aboard. It had a front sitting section, so at least three ponies could squeeze in there without too much of a problem, but the rest may have to ride on top of the cargo container, and maybe even one on our back.

Feeling a little better, we trotted back to the sky chariot, and made sure that the container was safely secured into it. Though the sky chariot looked like a big rusty piece of scrap, it was surprisingly sturdy. The sky chariot had a large piece of netting that easily went over the container, though it would do nothing to keep it in the chariot if we were to flip it upside down, it would help the others stay on board. It also had a strong locking mechanism in the back, were we just had to turn a wheel to lock the rear. The mechanism itself consisted of two metal bars that pushed out from within the back hatch, and into a hole on either side of the sky chariot. Simple, but effective. It looked like we were good to go, so we just had to get the others onboard.

‘Hello sister.’ We looked up to see the purple alicorn hovering above us. ‘You seem to be in possession of something that belongs to me. Might you also be in possession of something else that does not belong to you?” Razor Storm’s glare was filled with malice, like she was trying to burn a hole into our head with her eyes alone.

“We…” We needed to think fast, find a way to drive her away, as a fight with her would spell our doom. She was bigger, stronger, more powerful, we could feel it. And her spear, crud as it was, could kill us easily. “We didn’t know it was yours… Sorry.”

There was a pause as Razor Storm landed on the sky chariot, looking down at us with a sense of confusion. “you didn’t know?” her face scrunched up, and her nostrils flared as she huffed out air. ‘So you simply found this sky chariot, and took it, without ever knowing it belonged to us?’ We nodded. ‘Then we will have to take it back, no hard feelings, right, sister?’ her head tilted at the last word, she almost hissed in our head.

We shook our head, fully knowing that this was going to turn ugly. The sword in our saddle bag was at the ready, we need only tug at it with our magic to strike at her, when she got close enough.

‘That’s…’ the word felt empty, void of all emotion, like she was holding back. In a pop she was gone, teleported outside of our range of vision. ‘…Good’ the emptiness was filled with a sense of… joy? No, something more twisted than that…

*Crack* Pain hit our back right leg, intense pain, so much so that we stumbled to the ground. Looking behind us, Razor Storm stood over us, our leg impaled by her spear, right through the bone.

‘Funny thing, you’re not the first. Found one poor fool who talked of making friends, and not hurting the young.’ A wide toothy grin formed on her face. ‘We made sure she watched as we dunked each of the foals she protected into the taint. Unfortunately, all died, but it was fun. After that, I bashed her head into paste. The most fun I had in over fifty years.’ She cackled in our head, it was vicious and cruel. ‘Fucking goddess, striped me of everything I was, but now she’s dead, and I’m back. And so much more powerful.’

She pulled the spear out from our leg, and we took the opportunity to jump away. The pain felt nearly overwhelming, but we managed to get some distance from her, and cast a spell of invisibility. Quickly, we changed our position, and readied ourselves to counter attack. With the sword at the ready, we crept closer, and…

Razor Storm swung her spear, hitting us in the side. ‘Amateur, you do know your bleeding right?’ She cackled again. ‘Most of you are so powerful, but still pansies on the inside. It makes seeing you quiver in fear so much more wonderful.’

Refocusing, we had lost our invisibility, and was once more on the ground. Her spear put us at a disadvantage, with her reach being far longer than us. If we tried to attack, she would simply bat us away. She had won this fight as soon as it started, and we never stood a chance.

‘Now tell me were the damn experiment is!’ she snarled at us. ‘That mongrel is the first step on my making an unstoppable army. If you tell me, I’ll let you join me’ We could feel it in her words, she was going to kill us, no matter if we gave her what she wanted or not.

*Foosh!*

Flames. Flames engulfed Razor Storm from horntip to tail. From the air we saw another object fly, a bottle of sparkle-cola flying right at Razor Storm. The a flaming rag poking out from it’s top caught the liquid inside on fire as it smashed against the alicorn’s side. *Foosh!* More flames consumed the mad Alicorn as she looked around confused and in pain.

Taking the opportunity, we lunged forward into the flames, pulling out the Blackwater cutlass in a wide swing, only nicking her neck. Pulling back a step, pain traveled up our leg, and along our spine, but we focused, having only one shot. With a lunge, we struck at her head. She looked us in the eyes as we pushed the sword at her. Contact! Razor managed to tilt her head to avoid the killing blow, but the sword pierced her left eye, and cut into the skull. Not close enough to pierce the inside, but enough to get her to back off.

Razor storm screamed, and stumbled back out of the fire, blood dripping from her face in a deep crimson. “You bitch, I will get you for this!” parts of her fur was still on fire, and her eye oozed a deep crimson. “I will find you, and make your death slow and painful.” Another flaming bottle of sparkle-cola flew at her, but before it hit the ground at her hooves, she vanished in a pop, teleporting to someplace unknown to us.

Collapsing, we embraced the hot ground like a friend we had not seen in years. “Miss Prism! Are you okay.” Mhambi called out as she ran to us, Micro Fusion and Axle Wrench behind her.

We nodded. “Give us some time to recover, and we will be fine.”

“I believe that is unwise.” Mhambi spoke with concern in her voice. “There are still two of them out there, plus many other predators that roam this land. We should leave now, before another fight befalls us.”

Axle Wrench stuffed a bottle in our mouth, and we started to feel better, the pain in our leg quickly dulling to something more manageable. “That fight went sideways faster than a rattlesnake fighting a hellhound.” The ghoul pulled out another bottle, the healing potion did it’s work spectacularly. “Also, we only have one Molotov left, and I doubt that they will be caught off-guard a second time.”

Micro Fusion helped us up on our hooves. “Sorry, but I have to agree with them. They know where we are, so we need to go now. Worse, if the two greens get here before were gone, they can just hold us here until Razor bitch comes back to fuck us over.”

We nodded. “Sorry, we were only thinking of ourselves, and had forgotten about the other two alicorns. Let’s go.” We took a step towards the sky chariot, and a sharp twinge of pain shot up our back right leg. It was not enough to cripple us, but it did feel like something was still wrong with it.

Micro Fusion helped us get attached to the sky chariot, as the other two helped get the less able ponies into the passenger compartment. Sitting behind us was Crescent Wrench, the unconscious Pegasus mare, and the three foals. All of them had to tightly squeeze in, but they managed. The other three took a place on top of the sky chariot, tying themselves to the net mesh on top. Spreading our wings out, and pushing forward, the sky chariot was at first difficult to move. But slowly, and surely it became lighter, and easier to move, it’s spark battery humming as we took flight. We stayed low at first, but once we got up to a faster speed, we took to the sky, and our destination, Bold Harbor.

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Footnote:

Level up: Lv3

-Melee skill up

-Speech skill up