Chapters Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 1: Disappointment.
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 1: Disappointment.
“Pfft! Please. They’d never accept a pegasus who can’t even keep the sky clear for one measly day!”
In my experience, Baltimare was a pretty decent region to be in. For the most part, it was relatively friendly. And thanks to our neighbors, we were right in the middle of a new Hoofields and McColts feud. And being that we had some of the Hoofields living among us, it was no exaggeration.
New Prospect was by no means a big town though. We were mostly made up of some old stable dwellers and some slaves we rescued. Sixty two in total. All of us happy just to be alive in this hell we called existence.
Some of us were happy with just having our base needs met. Others, like my dad, were only happy when they were calling the shots. Of course, because of his Stable-Tec education and willingness to lead, my dad was the only one in charge.
Mayor Titanium Lining. And of course, the son he wished he never had, me, Silver Lining. It was, admittedly, sort of nice to be a thorn in his side once I’d given up on ever earning his approval. In all reality, I felt a sort of contempt for my dad. Not just his leadership, not just his policies and mandates. I felt contempt for the stallion he was.
Sure, to the public he was a leader, albeit a strict leader who made up laws that were only good for him. But he was a leader who kept us safe. But in private, it was a different story. I was beat on the daily. Hell, it was almost like clockwork. I can understand that raising a colt alone while also leading a settlement is stressful, but taking it out on your kid?
The one time I tried to stand up for myself, he threatened to kick me out of town and make me fend for myself. Needless to say, I learned how to hold my tongue pretty quickly.
“Good morning Wasteland!” the radio in the next room crackled, “This is DJ Pon3 coming to you live with the weather. Looks like we’re in for more rain, blood, death and dismemberment. Here’s a little song to lighten the mood. It’s Velvet Remedy, with Step Around.”
I sighed heavily, the jaunty tune heavily contrasting both my mood and the atmosphere of New Prospect. Next to my bed was an end table, resting on that was a pack of pre war cigarettes. Which was just what I needed.
Being a unicorn certainly had its perks. One of which was being able to light shit on fire with magic. And for a smoker, that was the ultimate luxury. I drew in the acrid smoke. While it burned the entire way down and tasted like brahmin shit for most people. For me it was heaven. Lifted the morning fog right off of my head.
Oh sure, the fog that was actually hanging in the air was still around. Just like every morning. But at least I could think clearly enough now. The pile of beaten and worn clothes in the corner beckoned to me.
“What’s it gonna be today Silver? Denim and grey? Denim and denim? Oooh, here we go, denim and leather.”
“Always dressin with class eh Silver?” a mare’s voice asked from behind me.
“If I catch you staring at my ass again Dancer, I’m gonna have to do something about it.” I said teasingly. Aura Dancer was my current marefriend, always loyal, and generally pretty fun to be around. I had saved her from a slaver crew a few months back. As it had turned out, she was born a slave and was being sold to a mass slave driver named Red Eye in Fillydelphia in the north. That buck was running a major slave operation trying to rebuild that city. Which was a whole other breed of wasteland in its own right.
“Yeah, well you’re gonna have to wait till after your shift to do that honey.” her lips met mine for a moment. “‘Less you wanna piss off your dad again.”
And with that, I was off “Love you, have a good one, see you later!”
Again, New Prospect wasn’t big, but getting across the town was a pain. And being that I was assigned the guard post furthest from my shack just made it worse. The mud splashed onto my leather barding, I’d have to wipe that down once I got there.
As the rain started to pick up, the many of the ponies here went inside. By the time I got to the meeting area, only the town guards were outside.
And of course, dad was waiting there with the guards.
“Right, assignments are up on the board. But I just want to remind everypony, especially the scav team, slavers from Fillydelphia are out here in full force. They’re armed to the teeth with quality weapons and will all be flying their banner. A Red banner with an eye logo on it. His troops are also known to travel with alicorns.” he looked at all of us, “If you see any of them, do not engage them if you can avoid it. Reports have also come in about grfiffin mercenaries operating in the area. You shouldn’t have to worry about them, but stay out of their way. That’s all troops. May Luna guard you and Celestia bless you.” We all went to the assignment board.
Scav team: Silver Lining
Hollow Pont
Tiger Lily
It was at that point that I almost shit myself. I’d only known Hollow Point for about a year. Good guy, about the same age as me and a great shot with his revolver. Lily was his younger sister, and I knew next to nothing about her aside from the fact that she was... talkative. And neither of them had ever been with me on scav team. In fact, I don’t think either of them had ever been on scav team.
“Silver! Hey, looks like we’re teaming up today!” he said a little too enthusiastically. “Food, electronics, water and arcane science stuff, but he circled electronics. Wonder why.”
“Must be more of a priority” I said sarcastically.
“No shit, but what’s it for? Are we building a robot? Or a generator? Or a” Lily said, trailing on for awhile. Fortunately, I did have one extra ability besides my magic. I could tune her out.
“Don’t know, don’t care, I just want to get this over so I can go back to bed.” Hollow Point said. He was checking his revolver’s cylinder and going over it with an oiled brush. “Not gonna let m’ baby rust either.”
“What sort of pistol is that?” I asked, it looked like it had some sort of weird extra mechanism on it.
“This here is a Zebra Type 95, one of the only gas sealed revolvers ever produced.”
I sighed. “Deal.”
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 2: Auxiliary
Fallout Equestria: Failure- Chapter 2: Auxiliary
Altogether, Hollow Point, myself and Lily had spent a small fortune on new gear. Totaling at a little bit north of three hundred caps. Hollow Point (and I really needed a nickname for him) just needed some ammo and reinforced armor. Tiger Lily on the other hoof, needed everything but a weapon. Her makeshift sword was apparently enough until we found, or otherwise acquired a new weapon for her. However, she needed all new armor, and Hollow Point wasn’t about to let his sister get hurt. So she got some “slightly used” combat armor. It wasn’t torn to shreds, but the ballistic weave in the barding had definitely seen better days.
As we made our way to the Baltimore ruins, we passed some collapsed buildings. Most ponies wouldn’t see them as a threat. But we all knew that they were ideal for raiders and slavers because of that fact. So, naturally, any time we saw one, we snuck up on it and cleared it out. In one, there was a live arcane spark battery. In another, some canned beans.
After a day’s worth of making our way down the highway into Baltimare proper, we saw a small camp set up on the outskirts. There were three tents, and we could see at least four ponies.Other than that, nothing. There were no banners, no corpses as far as we could tell, and no signs that they’d be willing to make enemies with us.
“Or we could at least try to recon them first, make sure this isn’t a trap. For all we know, they could be mercs.” Lily said.
“Yeah, or they’re traders. So let’s go in open, but with weapons at the ready.”
“Ave Mannis. Come, all are welcome to dine with us” the zebra said. The soup or whatever it was he was making smelled delicious. Definitely a savory meal to be had here. And given the ingredients; onions, radhog, and a few more than obviously mutated vegetables, it was bound to be good.
The three of us introduced ourselves, and met everyone. The zebra's name was Adligo. The big grey stallion in the back was named Chain, and I doubted he needed anything to take us down. There was a younger mare there, her name was Crop, she was sorta cute, a little emaciated for my tastes, and then her younger brother, Switchblade. Both had the same dark red coat and starkly contrasting bright green manes.
We all sat down around the fire as Adligo gave us each a bowl of soup. I gave it a long sniff, “Smells better than what I got at home.” I said, before telekinetically lifting the bowl to my lips and taking a long sip of it. Within moments, my head felt… off. Like I couldn’t concentrate at all. Then Lily fell over. I looked over at Hollow Point in alarm.
“Silver, did you see any of them drink?” he asked. The sound of a shotgun slide racking answered that question.
“It is an old brew, my ancestors used it to prepare their kin for surgical procedures.” Adligo said calmly. “We, on the other hoof, will be using it to take you to Red Eye’s camp.” The banner unfurled, and sure enough, there was a big, red eye in the middle of it. I sat there, frozen and speechless as the shackles and weapons came out of storage. “Chain, the ledger. I need to mark in three new unicorns for Fillydelphia.” I passed out
“So, pretty sure this isn’t how we expected to start the day.” Lily said, somehow, she could still find the guts to be sarcastic. Hollow Point just looked at the ground, silent but obedient to the slavers orders. I was sure he was thinking of a way out of our situation.
“The worst part is that I spent my hard earned caps on that shitty gun, and I didn’t get to use it.” I retorted.
“That. That’s the worst part Silver?!” he finally spoke up clearly not in the mood for us trying to make light of the situation. “Not the whole being worked to death by Red Eye? Not the fact that we’ll never see our families again? Nothing is worse than you not getting to use that shitty gun?” And, aside from the chatter of our captors, it was silent after that.
Soon after, we arrived at the forward camp for Red Eye’s forces in Baltimare.There were at least fifty guards there, and more slaves than I could count. Above the gate, there was a sign that read “Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori. It is Sweet and Proper to Die for One’s Country.” Lining the wall were heads of ponies and zebras on spikes.
“Tried to run away. Shame, they all coulda helped fix Equestria.” Crop said.Though I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely sad, or if that was just the sick, raider humor I’d heard about. “I don’t recommend y’all do the same.” she looked right into my eyes with a clearly sad expression. “I know it seems like what we’re doin’s awful, but I swear t’you it’s for the best.” the sincerity in her expression disturbed me.
As soon as we were through the gate, there was a security checkpoint.
“Ledger and permit on the table, weapons to the lockup.” the stallion said. Much like Chain, he was a big brute. Definitely on my list of ponies not to fuck with. “Three unicorns, good. Listen up! You three have two options right now to earn your freedom. But until you do, these bomb collars should deter any thoughts you have of making a run for it.” It was when he said ‘these’ that I heard the locks click shut on the collars. “First, you join the raider teams. It’s hard work, but if you pull off twenty successful attacks, you will be offered a paid position in Red Eye’s glorious army! Second, you leave for Fillydelphia immediately to join Unity. Lucky for you, this is a unicorn exclusive offer. Your other options when you reach Fillydelphia, should you refuse our offer, is to work in the radioactive mine, or to fight in the gladiatorial matches of the pit. For you, I recommend our offer. You have twelve hours to decide.”
The three of us looked at each other, well, they looked at me. Then we were hauled off to a cage.
“What the hell is Unity?” Hollow Point asked.
“Would raiding be like scavenging?” Lily asked
“If you throw killing innocents into the mix then yeah, exactly like scavenging”
“We don’t know anything about this Unity shit. What if it’s just slitting our throats and throwing us into a giant hole?”
“Would you rather be forced to kill off random ponies who haven’t done anything?”
“If it means I’m alive!” they both faced me and in unison
“You know I’m right don’t you Silver?”
Holy fucking shit, the one time they were close to agreeing, and it was just deferring their decision to me.”Why should I decide? I’ve made one decision with the three of us, ONE, and it got us here. Why the hell would you want my dumb ass to decide anything for you?!” that got some silence for awhile. Of course, there was no way to tell time in here, so I didn’t know how long it had been, but finally,
“After weighing the benefits, being a raider doesn’t sound too bad. Sure, we’d have to do some awful shit, but at least we know what we’re getting into, and it might keep us together.” Hollow Point said.
“And nothing says we have to kill anypony. For all we know, the ponies who see us’ll just run.” Lily replied,”Silver? You got any thoughts on the matter?”
I sighed, “If we had another option that didn’t involve killing, I’d take it in a heartbeat. But we don’t. Unity is an unknown option, and I’m not willing to risk my life on a good or bad hunch. Even if we made it to Fillydelphia, gladiatorial matches could put us up against each other. Nothing is good in this situation, so I’m going with raiding. Desperate times call for desperate measures.” we were desperate. We were far from home, way off mission, and away from all that we knew.
“Twenty jobs then we’re free right?” I asked the gate guard, who's name was Obsidian, which definitely suited him and his coal black coat and mane.
“Twenty jobs each. No packing all onto one of you while the others stay here. You make it through all of em, you’re all free.”
“Then it’s a deal.”
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Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 3: Into the Swing
Fallout Equestria: Failure-Chapter 3: Into the Swing
“You’re doomed”
It was early in the morning when our captors came to wake us.
“Who’s ready to get to work?” a mustard colored earth pony said with a sadistic grin. If I didn’t have a bomb on my neck I’d.. well, something involving a shotgun and his face getting torn into thirty or so pieces.
Lily, Hollow and I all got to our hooves as quickly as we could. As the cage swung open, we were greeted by four guards and one more well dressed stallion. I could only assume that he was the overseer.
“Glad t' see there's still some ponies willin t' work hard.” he said with a drawl. “My name is Grave, and I'll be assigning yer tasks. As well as dealing punishment to those who disobey orders. Given the fact that y'all get right to your hooves, I doubt that'll be a problem. Today y'all'l be headed out t' route 45. There's a settlement out there what owes us supplies. Shouldn't get violent, but in case it does, y'all get to lead the charge. Get some food and some guns, then meet your supervisor. She'll be waitin' at the armory.”
What was considered food here was bad at best. Mystery meat and moldy bread. Though I'd be willing to bet we got the leftovers, if that.
“So now we're extortionists?” Hollow Point asked rhetorically.
“If that's what we have to do to survive, then yes. Would you rather be dead?” I countered. Lily was silent, shoveling the sloppy meat into her mouth. I guessed that she just didn't want to think about what we had to do.
“But we might be making it so others can't. For all we know, the ponies we're stealing from need those supplies to make it through today. Self preservation can't be all we think about here Silver. We need to think about what we're doing, how it's going to affect others.”
I pulled him in close and whispered, “Well maybe if they see these collars we can convince them to help us. Maybe, just maybe they'll have someone that can get these things off.”
That shut him up right quick. I guess the idea of death wasn't too pleasant. And cruel as it might be, extorting others for supplies and living sounded a lot better than just being dead with our heads blown off. I ate the slop in front of me in silence after that, just trying to not think about it.
After we were done, we went over to the armory. There, waiting for us, was a blood red mare covered in what looked like sheet metal, underneath that, there was a layer of leather that was only partially exposed. “You my new crew?” she asked, I nodded. “Good, my name is Havoc. I like shit that goes bang, and I like ponies that'll follow my orders. Lets hope you only do one of those things. And I'd prefer the latter.” it was a clear attempt to be intimidating. “If you do a good enough job, I might even be your friend around here.” that was a prospect I hadn't considered, and still didn't want to. The idea of slavers and raiders liking me just made me nauseous. But hopefully we wouldn't be around for long. “Pick something intimidating. Gun, sword, knife, explosives, whatever looks badass and you know how to use.” the armory itself wasn't heavily guarded, a single earth pony stallion sat there sleeping. Though I suppose the actual employees of Red Eye were paid well enough not to steal, and the slaves were strapped with explosive collars that deterred the idea of stealing from any station.
Hollow Point managed to find his particular pistol in the pile of weapons, though how in the hell he managed to is beyond me. It's minimally worn frame shone in the sun as he opened the cylinder to load it. Lily found a particularly menacing mace made from an old bat and a skull with nails driven through it. That was fucking intimidating. I, on the other hoof knew that I was shit when it came to close range without a gun. I felt blessed to find a chopped down rifle, big enough to be scary, but small enough to be used with magic. A semi auto 5.56 caliber rifle with no stock and a short barrel. There was a faded image of fire chasing a pegasus of the same color. Engraved in the pistol grip was “Solaris Ignis” weird to see something in zebra language with a pegasus on it. But hey, no complaints from me.
“Now for armor. To what might be your surprise, we do want you alive. So you'll be getting some leather barding, nothing that'll save you from an anti-material rifle, but enough to stop some common shit round. Especially if it's all homemade powder behind it. In all reality, this settlement hasn't given us any trouble, so you probably won't even need it.” she passed us all old leather jackets with some hoofball guards sewn into them and an insignia on the back of a red eye. “That patch shows them you're working for us.” I got into the barding and goddesses was it uncomfortable.
Once we reached the settlement, aptly named Dung Heap, we saw an entire heard of brahmin. The two headed cow mutants stood docilely and grazed on the little bits of brown grass left in the pen. There were a few ponies wandering the streets, but no walls or defenses outside of some spools of razor wire on the road in. A couple of guards were posted on the road.
“The boss is wondering where the shipment of supplies is. You got an answer?” Havoc yelled
“Yes ma'am, we're a bit short on powder, and the mayor figured a couple days wouldn't be an issue for a full shipment.” the buck said shakily.
“She thought wrong. Now, where is she? Clearly she needs to remember not to think for herself when it comes to our shipments.” Havoc turned to us, “Start getting everything together. I shouldn't be too long.” and with that, she and the guard left.
Lily turned to me and quietly said “Looks like today isn't our day, but for shits and giggles, let's take a look around for somepony who might be able to help us out.” I nodded quickly.
“Good idea, let's start over with that buck, he's clearly interested in one of us.” over to my left was a green buck, he didn't look very old, but definitely done growing.
“Hey buddy, c'mere.” I said in my most sincere tone of voice.
He bolted. Of course he did, we were three raiders that had come to collect a tribute. We weren't his friends, and unless he'd seen our collars, he had no idea that we were even doing this just to survive. It wasn't long before we came across a blacksmith's shop.
“How ya doin friend?” Hollow Point gave friendliness a shot, “I've got a bit of an itch on my neck, think you can help me out of it?” he said, pointing at the collar with his hoof.
“No can do pal, them slavers find out I helped you escape and they'll come for me an' mine. No hard feelins though. And if you saw what they did to the last guy, you wouldn't want to help you either.”
“Shit, what'd they do to the last guy?” he asked. I tried not to smack him. I really didn't care to hear.
“She personally took him out and hung him by the balls, then whipped him to death with an old chain. That was one bloody fucking mess, and I'd prefer to not be the next one.”
“I can understand that. If they ask, we were trying to get parts off of you.” I said, trying not to imagine what that poor buck went through. A few minutes later Havoc trotted out of what I assumed to be the town hall with whom I had to assume was the mayor. She, with the mayor came up to us.
“What do y’all know about hellhounds?”
End of Chapter 3
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Fallout Equestria: Failure: Chapter 4: From Shadows
“Pro Patria Mori ”
As it turned out, Red Eye’s forces actually did protect those under their control. Havoc explained how good the money could be in this line of work and we actually got along like friends. It was almost sickening how kind she was given her position.
“How’d you get into this line of work Havoc?” Lily finally spoke up.
“Same way you three did. Captured when I was a filly, brought to the camp, and was given the same choice you three were. Grave took a liking to me and pulled me outta the slave life early. Offered me a full position in the camp as a prep cook, which eventually led to me going out on errands like this. Enough ponies died on em to put me at the head of the roster. And now here I am.”
“Is that why you’re nice to us?” I asked
“What? We all gotta be bloodthirsty rapists who steal foals from their parents? Nah, I do what Red Eye has planned for the wasteland. I try to at least.” something about the way she said that struck me as odd.
“And what is it that he has planned?” I asked
“He plans to give a job to every mare and stallion, give them safety, and reunite Equestria” she replied.
“That’s a noble goal given his methods.” Hollow said.
“Yeah. But if it was easy, it’d already be done. And if we didn’t need ponies to get it done, then there wouldn’t be slaves.” I didn’t like it, but she had a fair point.
From over the hill, we heard snarling and howling. Sure enough, that’d be the Hellhounds. “Get down and don’t say shit.” Havoc said. I dropped down and dragged my belly across the rocks and sand. We crawled through that shit for what felt like miles. But the leather barding took all of the punishment for it.
I knew we’d have to go in loud, but when we got close enough, Lily got up on her hooves and let out a blood curdling scream as she charged one of the smaller hellhounds. A nail that’d been driven through the bat struck the hellhound square in the eye while another one got it just above the cheek. Before I knew it, Hollow and Havoc were taking shots at the other hellhounds. In total there were six. Hollow Point got in close with his pistol, while Havoc stayed back aways and took two of the monsters on.
“I’m gonna fucking die.” I said to myself as I rushed one firing wildly. Finally, a round struck its temple, instantly killing the beast. However, my luck balanced out when a grenade bounced in next to me. I tried to throw it back telekinetically, but was greeted by hot shrapnel before I let it go.
Then I fell unconscious.
When I woke up, I couldn’t see anything. Mostly because my entire face was bandaged.
“Hello?” I called out.
“Silver? You awake now?” Lily replied, her voice was more raspy than it usually was, “Havoc, Hollow, Silver’s awake, get the Doc!” I tried to take off the bandages, but they were pinned on somewhere, and I couldn’t tell where. Some hollering across the building let me know that the town’s doctor was on his way back.
A few minutes later, and he was in the room.
“Mr Silver, I’m Doctor Peach. Before I take the bandages off, you need to know what’s happened. During the fight you were in earlier, you took a nasty bit of shrapnel to the face. More specifically, to your left eye. Before you get upset, know that I did everything I could, but… well, I couldn’t save the eye.” I felt the fastener come undone, “You want a mirror? Or straight to the eyepatch?”
I was still in disbelief, shrapnel to the eye? Couldn’t save it? “Bullshit, lemme see!” sure enough, the entire lens of my left eye had a tear in it from the cornea inwards, torn and bloodshot. Of course, I could only see all of it through my right eye.
I started hyperventilating, the room started spinning. The doctor shoved a large bottle of golden liquid into my face and said “Drink this.” It was sweet, definitely alcoholic, and calming. While the room didn’t stop spinning, I wasn’t hyperventilating anymore. I couldn’t tell if I blinked or winked, but I know that my next question was, “Shit doc, what was that?”
“Mead. It’s a wine we make from radbee honey.” Peach said.
“Radbees?” I asked
“Yup, they’re bees that soak up radiation for their honey instead of nectar.”
“But what’s a bee? And what’s nectar? And what in the hell is honey?”
“Well, a bee is a little insect, about double the size of a push pin, that used to fly around and pollinate, er help plants breed and nectar was a sugary liquid that made up their diet. Honeys just the byproduct of that. Radbees ain’t got flowers and such to get their nectar from, but some managed to mutate in just such a way that they can do the same thing from radioactive material.”
“Wait, if this comes from radiation, doesn’t that make this radioactive?”
“Nope, radbees have something in their gut that absorbs the radiation. Don't ask me how it’s done, but some stallion came through a while ago with a Geiger counter and tested it for us. 0 radiation in it.”
Okay, how did I get onto this topic again? Oh right, the booze.
“Okay doc, give it to me straight, am I gonna die?”
“Nope, just gotta keep that eye hole clean. I’ve got a couple patches around here somewhere that should do the trick.”
Sure enough, after a few moments of looking he came back with an assortment of eye patches. He had some in leather, some in cloth, one in metal. But the one that stuck out to me was a plain black eyepatch made of a rubbery material. Given the amount of choices and the simple amount of eyepatches, I had to wonder just how often eye injuries happened around here.
“You this talkative with all the raiders that come through here?” I asked, slipping the patch over my eye and tying it with my magic.
“Well, I figure it’s good to be social with the ponies that decide whether we live or die. Though I figure being a raider wasn’t exactly your first choice.” As though the explosive around my neck wasn’t enough of a clue.
“Well, if you know any way to get myself and my friends out of our servitude, preferably without putting yourselves at risk.”
“Oh, I can get those off no problem, but like you said, putting me and mine at risk. That’s the issue.” It isn’t as though I couldn’t understand the issue for him. Not like I’d want to stick my neck out for some random assholes only to have a gang of raiders show up and burn down my town. “But, I can tell you how to do it yourself. Maybe slip the tools you need to do it in with you.”
“Why not just steal her keys? Or shoot her in the back on a job?” I asked, now much less confident that I’d survive picking the lock on my collar.
“Because if they see you without her, y’all are dead. Hell, even if you brought her body back with hellhound claw marks proving she died out of your control you’d be hunted down and killed.” he said. “Though I might know a place y'all could hide in. Moreso, a group you could hide with.”
I leaned in close and whispered. “And how would I go about finding these ponies? You got a map or something?”
“I’ll do you one better. You ever heard of a pipbuck?”
End of Chapter 4
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 5: Hostile Negotiations
Fallout Equestria:Failure Chapter 5: Hostile Negotiations
“With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels”
A pipbuck wasn’t something I’d ever owned. Sure, there were tons left over from when we all left the stables. And sure, I’d seen them around, known they were useful. But they’d also been unbelievably expensive. However, now more than ever, it was practical.
Doc decided to give me one of his. It was so old, I thought I’d have to wind it up. But it had all the standard features. S.A.T.S. , a radio, and for me, a map with a marker on it. Of course that also meant that we either had to kill Havoc or get her on our side. Not that any of us had a problem killing raiders or slavers. But, like Doc said, they catch us without her and we’re dead. Plus, she obviously knew her shit.
In order to stop the slavers in this region, or at least kick them down a notch, we had to dismantle Grave’s organization.And Havoc knew more about that organization than we did.I didn’t know what sort of loyalty she had for Grave and his forces, I was seriously hoping it was just for the sake of survival.
Hollow and Lily came back in the room. I didn’t see Havoc.
“Is Havoc coming in too?” I asked
“Nope, she’s busy hassling the mayor for the shit she needs.” Hollow replied.
“Good, because I found us a way to get out.”
It was getting close to sundown by the time we were back on the road. Overall, the extortion wasn’t horrible. Nopony got killed. Havoc decided it would be best to make camp rather than try to make it back to the base. It was more than convenient for us, after all, it would be expected of most ponies to talk around a campfire.
“So Havoc, you ever think of leaving the life?” Hollow Point could not have made our intentions more clear or put it so bluntly.
“Never gonna, but yeah. I thought of building a shack in the middle of nowhere, maybe find a buck and raise some foals. Nothing but a pipe dream though.” she stared off into the dark, “I know what you’re trying to do. I did the same thing. It got my ass handed to me.” she glared down her muzzle, “I’d appreciate it I didn’t have to do the same to y’all.”
“But why let it stay a dream? Why not try to go for it? We’ve got ponies and land. We even have a wall.”
I worked quickly while Hollow distracted her. Lily was sweating bullets and so was I. Then, I heard a little click, and the collar fell right off. She caught the explosive device with her foreleg before it could hit the ground.
“You know what happens to dreamers out here? They die, they leave everyone they love behind. They go out one day, they try to make everything okay, then they get their head blown off.” she was crying now. Perfect.
I heard the same click as my collar fell off. Now for the hard part.
Lily had to sneak up behind Havoc and get the collar on her. Being that she was the smallest of us, and the best fit, she took the job. Havoc didn’t notice the collar getting tightly pulled around her neck and the detonator off of it as we came out of the shadows.
“Miss Havoc, you have two choices. One: You give us the keys to the collars and we walk away. Or two: You die. You’re free to join us, take these supplies back to our people with us or to go back to a life of raiding that you apparently never want to leave.” I announced, trembling in awe at the fact that our plan actually worked. She lunged at me full force, pulling a pistol and shoving it into my mouth.
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” yeah, expected that to happen. “WHY THE HELL WOULDN’T I JUST KILL YOU NOW?”
Using some of the rope from Havoc’s supply delivery, we tied her hooves together and waited for the sun to rise.
Sure enough, Havoc wasn’t exactly happy to wake up in a position that left her totally vulnerable. Various and creative curse words were thrown around, along with some less than child safe implications about my mother. But, like any well mannered guests, we waited for her to calm down.
“We could have left you for dead or killed you. But we didn’t. So maybe hear us out?” Coming from Lily, I’ll admit, I was surprised. And even more so when Havoc actually did settle down and listen.
“Fine, I’ll listen if it gets me out faster.” Havoc unhappily replied.
“We aren’t bad ponies, you know that though. We aren’t trying to hurt anyone we don’t need to. But Grave, he’s trying to hurt ponies regardless of whether or not they need to be hurt. It puts all of the region in danger. We can either stop him from hurting ponies, or we can let it go and it doesn’t have to be our problem. Obviously, if it keeps our village safe, we want to do whatever it takes. You also have something to gain from his demise. You get to be free, you get a safe place to live, you get to be left alone. So, what I’m asking you is, do you want to make this world just a little better?” I looked to my comrades. “Or do you want to make it just that much worse?” I looked her dead in the eyes with those last words.
“You might as well put a bullet in me right now, there’s no way I’m going up against Red Eye.”
“I don’t see why we don’t oblige her. She’s probably killed more foals than we’ll see in our lives.” Hollow said cocking his revolver and putting it to her head. “I’ll do you a favor and make it painless, better than you’ve probably done.” She replied with a headbutt.
“We don’t want to kill you.” Hollow shot me a look “Let me rephrase I don’t want to kill you. Rather, I need you to help me take down Grave. So, here’s my offer, if we survive, you get every single cap in that camp. All we ask is that you burn it to the ground, save for the caps and the supplies we need to bring back home.”
“Fuck you” she said, apparently money wasn’t enough.
“So you’d really rather die than help innocent ponies escape to freedom? Even more, you’d rather die for a stallion that wouldn’t lift a hoof for you? Then fine, we’ll leave you here with a bullet in the face and find our own way in. But when you get to the afterlife, make sure you know how much suffering you caused and how much you could stop by helping us. You think you could stand to see one of the foals you’ve helped murder? You think you could stand to see the families you’ve gotten killed? Then fine.” Gotta say, out of the three of us, I expected that the least from Lily. From the passionate and burning glare she gave Havoc, who in turn, glared right back.
“Fine then bitch, you want in? I’ll get you in. There’s an escape tunnel system just to the northeast of the base, it comes out to an old grocery store. You let me go, I’ll lead you there.” I had to debate as to whether or not this was a ruse.
“You’ll tell us the coordinates and I’ll put it into my pipbuck. Then I’m gonna go check it out. If it’s legit, then we let you join us and take the caps. If not, I’m gonna come back and kill you.” I replied
“So what? I’m your hostage now?” clearly not what she was expecting.
“Yup” Hollow replied before kicking her to unconsciousness
End of Chapter 5
Level up!
Author's Note
Author’s note: Sorry this has been taking so long, I've been moving around a lot lately and haven't had much time to write. Also, sorry for the weird new format, it's more or less an experiment.
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Chapter 6: Lost and Found
Fallout Equestria: Failure; Chapter 6: Lost and Found
“I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat and survive!”
True to her word, Havoc did know of an escape tunnel, and said tunnel did in fact lead to a small grocery store. What she forgot to include was the fact that she wasn’t the only one who knew about the cache. A lone unicorn raider sat in front of a busted locker, rummaging through the supplies. At least, I assumed she was a raider, but the fact that she wasn’t covered in blood, wearing the usual raider gear or had any flags that would signify her being a raider left doubt in the back of my mind. A doubt that was probably going to get me shot even if she wasn’t a raider.
“Excuse me, miss?” I held my rifle on her, “You working for Grave?” I did my best to sound authoritative, “I’m gonna need you to put any weapons you have on the ground and kick em over to me.” she nodded quickly and turned around, dropping a pool cue with a knife on the end and a rusted out shotgun.
“I’m sorry mister, I ain’t tryna rob nobody. I don’t know who this ‘Grave’ is but I really need these here supplies.” a local clearly, but not one of Grave’s. That was punctuated when she turned around and revealed the tears in her eyes.
“It’s okay miss, I’m not working for him either, but I need these too. I’m not gonna hurt you, but you’d better keep those weapons on the ground.” Is it really wrong of me to take supplies that were given to me? “I’ll give you this rifle if I can get a replacement for it outta here. That okay?” Even if it wasn’t wrong, she definitely needed something better than that beat up old thing.
“Yessir, just please don’t hurt me.” I trotted past her and started going through the lockers. Pistol, suppressor, ammo, meds, and oh- a big ass rifle. Not something so big I’d need a mount for, but definitely better than this carbine. And just my luck a bunch of ammo for it too AND a suppressor. Talk about-
The sound of a shotgun racking cut my celebrations short. “Really shouldn’t come alone out here. Now, how do you know about Grave if you ain’t workin for him?” and now it’s against the back of my head. Think of something Silver…
“He took my friends and I as slaves and we’re gonna kill him.” Well, honesty is the best policy right?
“Bullshit, how’d you get them bomb collars off?” okay, as far as I’m concerned, that established that we were on the same side.
“We picked the locks and took our handler hostage. I demanded she give me the location of some supplies so we could take him out.” Hey, it worked one time right?
The shotgun came off the back of my head.
“Well, dad always taught me not to talk to strangers, I’m Silver Lining. You are?”
“Just call me Drop. Now, gimme one reason why I should trust you.”
“For one, I didn’t shoot you as soon as I saw you.” good decisions paying off “For two, I’m following everything you say. And for three, I’ve got a trustable face?”I said, turning around the see the shotgun still pointed at me. Granted, three was probably the worst reason in the world, but I needed some padding, even if I felt we were on the same side.
“Well, guess you’re lucky I’m outta ammo then.” She racked the slide back to reveal an empty chamber. She just threatened me with an empty gun.
“You just threatened me with an empty gun!”
“And you were about to steal my rightfully scavenged supplies!”
“It’s not stealing if they were given to me.”
“By a raider who probably stole em.” Okay, I’ll give credit where it’s due.
“Fine, my deal still stands, plus I’ll throw in any shells I find for that.” she gave me a look straight from hell. “And if you’ve got any issues with Grave, I’ll let you get a few swings in at him.”
She nodded, “Fine.” putting the shotgun back in her sling, she went for a hoofshake.
All in all, we got a rifle, some shells for Drop’s shotgun and a couple of pistols. As I agreed, she got my carbine. Not that I could complain, the rifle I picked up was longer and it was a .30 caliber. A little more weight to carry, but I’d rather be weighed down by ammo than not having enough. The suppressor, unfortunately, didn’t fit. But I could sell it later on. A pretty good haul if I do say so myself. The way I figured it, I’d make at least 400 caps for it, and the extra supplies would buy could save lives in a famine.
We were almost back at the camp. I could see a little light from the fire, the outlines of Hollow and Lily were clear, though only what looked like Hollow was standing. I guessed they were working in shifts. “The camps not too far now, that’s it just up ahead. I’d hang back a few feet though, Hollow and Lily aren’t expecting you.” She nodded and panted. Tired from the long walk back to camp, plus wherever she had been. “Hey, out of curiosity, where were you before this? I never really got any background on you.”
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Fallout Equestria: Failure: Chapter 7: Submission
"I will shut that shit down!"
I woke up with a gun pointed in my face and a pounding headache and a wad of something in my mouth. Grave was standing above me with Havoc and Drop flanking him.
“Well now, look what we’ve got here. A slave trying to be a hero and his three sidekicks. Oh, sorry, two sidekicks and a mole.” He turned to Havoc, “That being said, the mole is getting a demotion for the time being. Can’t let the weak ones take charge.” Havoc winced
“But sir, it was three to one. I had no chance when they jumped me.” she said weakly.
“Does it matter? You let them get their hooves on contraband and proceeded to get yourself taken out by slaves. What kind of example would that be for the rest of the camp if I let you off without any consequences?” Grave turned back to me, “Now, as for you three, I’m hurt. You were getting almost preferential treatment being my errand runners, and here you were plotting to kill me. I am truly hurt by all this, and for that, well I’m gonna need some kind of recompense . Drop Shot, honey? Do daddy a favor and bring me Recompense?” She ran off to what I assumed was Grave’s office. “Now, since you’re the leader of this little outburst, I’m gonna give you some options there Silver.” he took the gag from my mouth. “I’ll admit, it’s a lose lose for ya. But what can I say? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, and your prize my boy, is you get to watch one of your friends get publicly executed.” He started pacing between the three of us “But, you’ve only got about thirty seconds to do that, because once Drop gets back here with Recompense, I’ll just kill both of em.” my eyes burst open.
“I see her now, better choose quick.” I was starting to hyperventilate as I saw what she was bringing. It was what looked like an axe, but instead of a normal axe head, this one had a giant saw blade cut in half. The way it attached almost looked like a pair of pegasus wings.
In my panic, I couldn’t think. “Times up there champ, but I’ll be nice and give em blindfolds. Unfortunately, I’ve only got two. So you’re gonna have to be a good colt and watch. Havoc, ring the bell and get the slaves here.” Sure enough, within a minute, all the other slaves were right here. From their expressions, they knew what was going to happen. Several guards were posted in the crowd to make sure that everypony watched.
“To all of my loyal workers and guards, what are we doing for this world?” Grave said, his voice booming to the crowd.
“Restoring Equestria!” they returned.
“And in order to restore Equestria, what do we need?”
“Responsibility!” Grave turned to face us.
“These three, are going to be held responsible for that most heinous of crimes, yesterday, they assaulted our dear friend Havoc and knocked her cold.” the guards booed us at that “And even worse, they planned to come back here and kill me. Now, they face judgement. Two to be executed, and one sent to the pits of Fillydelphia. But being the fair stallion that I am, I will allow those among you who think they do not deserve to be punished for their crimes a chance to speak up. Please, within the next minute, speak for them!” the crowd was silent. It felt like days, but still, they were dead silent. The guards didn’t care, but anyone could see that the slaves were frozen with fear.
“Time! Okay, bring the stallion up to the block Drop.” She grabbed Hollow and dragged him over to a cinder block.”Any last words?” he asked, undoing his gag.
“Suck my dick.”
“Well, I’m sure there’s a necrophile around here that’d just love to when this is all done.” Without a second thought, Grave wound up and brought the axe down on his neck. It cut his head off cleanly. I closed my eyes as tears started, I tried to let out a scream, but nothing came out.
“Open your eyes, it’ll all be over soon.” A mare said from...somewhere.
“ Drop, bring the bitch to the block.” . “Any last words for the crowd miss?” he removed her gag.
“Death to tyrants!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
My only two allies were dead.
My only two friends were dead.
I failed.
They were dead because of me.
And I was being shipped off to be worked to death.
The road to Fillydelphia was long, and all I could do was think about them. How badly I’d failed them. How stupid I was, how gullible. And now I had to be reminded of it the whole way to my doom because Grave decided he wanted to hand me over in person. I’d get out and get him. I’d kill him. I’d- I’d die because I’m just a fuckup.
“You understand the situation yet shit stain?” Grave asked me.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes sir .”
“Then explain it to me shit stain.”
“I’m a worthless fuckup who should know better than to challenge you.”
“Partway there, but you fucked up on one thing. You have worth to me. Especially when you really get it through your head that I’m your master, and you’re my bitch. It’s why we’ve been walking around in circles for hours now. Your life, your death, that’s all my choosing.”
Walking, in circles? Had I been so focused on grieving and self pity that we’d really just been doing that?
“Now, we’re going back, you’re going to work, and I’ll be having more than one overseer on you at all times. You take a shit without permission and you’ll be shot. You breathe on anything you ain’t supposed to and you’ll be shot. Hell, you get me something I don’t want and you’ll be shot. Any more talk of rebellion, and it’ll be your head on a spike too.”
End of chapter 7
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Fallout Equestria: Failure
Prologue
War, war never changes. Since the abandonment of Equestria’s core values of honesty, kindness, generosity, loyalty, humor and friendship, the state of Equestria has steadily gone downhill. First it was the war. A constant fight between the zebras and the ponies. Between two ideologies that got the world torn a new one.
Then, there were the mega-spells, which, as the name would imply, are big freaking spells. When one of those goes off, you don’t want to see it. And at the end of the war, thousands supposedly went off from both sides. Regardless, not something you wanna see.
It was then that many of Equestria’s citizens, both zebra and pony retreated to the safety of massive underground bunkers, known as Stables. These are what kept my ancestors safe so they could return to the surface generations later. Unfortunately, unlike they had thought, the war was still raging. Only now, it wasn’t between nations. No, now the war was for simple survival. Ponies, zebras, griffins, the diamond dogs’ descendents, and any sentient life was fighting for their lives.
But the residents of the once great Stable 18 decided to rise above the din of the surface. Rather than waging a constant war against gangs of survivors, they created a settlement. Some disagreed, and were left to their own ways, only to succumb to the surface in one way or another. They either died soon enough to keep their morals, or survived long enough to become raiders and thugs themselves.
More than three hundred years have passed, and the settlement of New Prospect has been prosperous. We have plots of land where we grow our own food, three working water talismans, ponies and zebras who can keep up the facilities, and a wall to keep out those who would steal our way of life.
And here is where my story begins.
