Fallout Equestria: Winding Rivers

“I swallowed a bug.”

We had gone a kilometer or two when Starshatter turned back toward the compound and spoke, "they are waking up."

"How do you..." I stopped myself, "right. We should find somewhere to hide."

A few minutes of searching found us under a small outcropping of rocks. It was more an awning than a cave, with three of four directions exposed. It was better than nothing, but certainly not enough. We hunkered down and I shrugged off my saddlebags with a groan.

“I think I can handle cover,” I said as I thumbed through my Pipbuck’s inventory, “we have two healing potions and a med-x. I think half the bones in my body are broken. Do you know healing spells?”

She hesitated, but nodded, “I can do very basic healing. Enough to supplement a potion.”

“Good. If you’ll fix me up, I’ll get us hidden,” a vial and bottle of water were taken from my bag and I moved closer to Starshatter. She drank one of the healing potions to mend her minor injuries, then stuck the painkiller into me.

“Even with the medicine, this will hurt. I’m not...” she shook her head and sighed, “I’ll manage. Just try to hold still.”

I did as she asked, mostly. Only my forelegs and head moved as I poured some water into the flask and went back to my Pipbuck’s inventory screen. A light blue glow surrounded me and I felt my insides begin to move around. A cracked rib re-positioned to its proper place. My hips shifted back square. I winced with every movement, but the med-x made it tolerable enough to focus on my potion ingredients.

“Are you making more healing potions?” she asked after a moment. I chuckled and shook my head.

“I wish. That’s master level stuff. I know the concepts, but definitely couldn’t manage, myself,” I rolled the mixture around a bit and held it up to my face, “no, this is basic, foal-level alchemy. We need concealment, so I’m going to make some.”

“Right,” she replied, “you told me that. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged, then regretted the motion as my shoulders popped and I was giving an admonishment from my healer. After a moment, I was the one to break the silence, “your healing spell is interesting,” I commented, “non-standard, for sure,” she blushed, and I hurried to expand my statement, “you’re using your thread magic, aren’t you? Looking at the connections in my body, then using telekinesis to move them home, so the potion has better effect,” as I spoke, I plucked a few dead grasses from the ground and added them to my potion. It let out a puff of smoke and turned a pleasant purple, “could you take a moment and pour this along the perimeter of our little cave?”

Her magic levitated the vial, “you are interesting, Mister Lane,” poured the potion around us, “you have quite the knowledge of magic, for an earth pony.”

I smiled as little green shoots of grass began to sprout and grow, “well, I grew up in a Stable dedicated to knowledge, and I was the teacher,” my grass had already reached a foot tall, and was still growing, “I think I read or watched every scrap of material in that place,” three feet tall, and the plants stopped.

Then promptly withered and died.

“Get into practical usage, though,” I sighed, heavily, “and I tend to fall flat. I guess, in a way, we are all one trick ponies, huh?”

Starshatter chuckled and resumed her work on my injuries, “your potion performed its function. The dead grass is more natural looking, anyway. I’ve not seen much living foliage around.”

I yelped as a muscle snapped into place, but nodded in agreement, “I knew things would be bad, after the war, but this is beyond anything I could have imagined.”

“It is hard to believe, after a century-and-a-half,” she added, “everything is still so… dead.”

“Last night,” I looked up at the clouds, through the grass, “there was a storm. Not a normal one, either. The rain burned like acid, and every lightning strike tripped my radiometer.”

“So it was a radiation storm?”

I nodded, “and with it came mindless, mutated, glowing zombie ponies. For lack of a better description. It makes no sense.”

We both sat a moment in silence. It was interrupted a moment later by a grumble from Starshatter’s stomach. She blushed, but I just laughed a bit, “you haven’t eaten in over a century, have you?”

At this, she laughed, too, “they made me fast for a whole day before I went to sleep.”

I thumbed through my Pipbuck and brought out a paper-wrapped package, “here, I have some food from my Stable. The cooks back there came up with this thing they call a ‘cherrychanga,’” she was just staring at me, “I know, stupid name, but it’s really good.”

She shook her head, “it’s not that. But… are you sure you read every book in your Stable?”

“Yes… why?”

“Well, your friends didn’t invent the cherrychanga. It was made long before the war. By Pinkie Pie.”

Silence, again.

“Damn it, Bell Pepper.”

Starshatter laughed again and took one of the pastries, “anyway, I finished with your injuries. The potion should finish the healing process.”

I thanked her and drank my potion, chasing it down with a cherrychanga after cursing Straw and Bell, again. All those years. How many other “original creations” had been stolen from secret cookbooks? Prepackaged lessons, my flank.

A yawn escaped my mouth and my healing bones cracked as I reflexively stretched and winced. It had been over a day since I last slept, and I was feeling it. Or was that a concussion?

“Get some rest, Mister Lane. I can keep watch. I have been asleep for one hundred and fifty years, after all.”

I chucked again and moved to the back of the little cave, “only if you stop calling me Mister Lane. Memory is fine. Or even Mem. All my friends call me Mem. Only my students call me Mister Lane,” I shrugged off my saddlebags and stretched out in the cool shade, “or, I guess, called,” I think I heard her say something, but I was already drifting into sleep.

My dreams were filled with putrid green clouds. They swirled and danced and spit their acid rain in torrents. As I floated among them, a pair of glowing green eyes lanced out of the fog and bore into me. Two more pairs, purple and blue, opened on either side of the first set.

Unity...

I watched as the clouds swirled in a maelstrom of acid and baleful green lightning around the three pairs of disembodied eyes.

The One and Only.

Great and Powerful.

Goddess.

Great and Powerful

A hideous laugh echoed across my mindscape, sending ripples through the storm. Small eddies and whirlpools coalesced into shambling pony forms. They let out their damned wails, causing more ripples to condense into the wretched abominations.

Still, the alicorn eyes watched me.

The Great and Powerful...

Where had I heard that?

Witness the magic...

The eyes grew wide in shock and the shambling horde ceased their mindless roaming to stare at me.

Witness the magic of the Great...

They charged me, screaming their cry of endless pain. The click-click-click of a Geiger counter set a percussive drumbeat to their endless song and steady march.

and Powerful...

I was surrounded. A wave of toxic, screaming monsters crashed upon me.

T-

I woke with a start, unsure how long I had actually been asleep.

“Are you okay, Mis- er, Memory?”

My neck cracked as I sat up, “just a bad dream. No surprise, all things considered,” Starshatter was sitting a few feet from me. My saddlebags were beside her, with the contents arrayed in a half-circle around her. She wore a pitch-black cloak woven with some form of silver thread. Was that…?

“Oh,” she blushed, mistaking my stare, “I’m sorry. I asked, but you were already asleep. I shouldn’t have gone through your things without permission.”

“No, no. It’s fine. I’m just looking at that cloak. Was that in my bags? Is that starmetal wire woven into it?”

She looked down, “yes. It was probably in the crate you took everything else from. I got cold, and thought it was pretty, so I put it on. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course. It suits you. The pattern looks like a field of stars. Couldn’t be more perfect for somepony named Star.”

A giggle and another blush were her reply. She went back to sifting through my acquisitions, and I re-positioned so I could watch, “did I get anything else interesting? We were in a hurry, so I just hit the ‘take all’ button on my pipbuck. Heh.”

She picked up items as she spoke of them, “well, it is mostly starmetal bullets of various kinds. About a dozen normal ones,” she scoffed “as normal as a bullet made from a meteorite can be. There are also a couple each of incendiary, shock, acid, and...” she trailed off, holding a pair of purple-banded silver slugs, “taint?”

I shrugged, “all I know is those incendiary rounds are mean. One of them is what took out that warehouse. More or less.”

Starshatter was extra careful as she set the bullets back, “then there’s one huge bullet. Looks like it belongs to an anti-tank rifle, or something. It was in a black box that opened when I touched it,” she slid the plain black box toward me and I looked inside. A shell as big as my foreleg sat on a velvet bed.

“Pretty. Don’t see much use to it, though.”

“It has its own thread,” she took it back, “like it has a destiny of its own. Its not unheard of for objects, but usually only highly magical artifacts have obvious threads.”

We sat in silence a moment. I stood carefully and moved beside my companion, “any sign of our three creepy friends?”

“Once. They flew overhead, toward Maripony. I haven’t seen them, since. There is no sign of their threads, either.”

I picked up one of the crude pipe rifles I scavenged off of the slavers, “I can’t see them giving up, so easily,” the gun was rusty and in dire need of repair. The other rifle and two pistols I had were in similar states. I remembered courses on gun maintenance and repair, but without a workbench or magic, I knew it would be a waste of time.

“I agree. It is almost nightfall. We should wait until then. I believe, with my magic, we might have an advantage over them, in the dark.”

“What about the starmetal?” she just looked at me, so I clarified, “I mean, it seemed to hurt them, right? Like normal silver and werewolves? I’m sure we could use that against them.”

Star put her hoof to her chin in thought, “we don’t know for sure if it was the starmetal, though. The dart you used could have been special. If they infuse bullets with magic, they could do so to darts, as well. Some kind of fast-acting neurotoxin, or insanity spell.”

“Fair enough. There was a static, though. In my head. I’m sure you felt it, too. It seemed to get louder when I was near the crate of starmetal. It was worst when the dart hit the alicorn’s flank.”

Another moment of silence. One by one, we picked the scavenged items off the ground and returned them to my saddlebags, letting my Pipbuck’s inventory spell auto-organize them all. Aside from the bullets, there was a set of heavy boots, which I put on over my Stable jumpsuit. They were a fine blue dragonhide, with a single large scale on the front of each one, adding rigidity and a magical aura of strength. As I slipped them on, I swear I felt lighter on my feet.

“As much as I appreciate experimentation and the scientific method,” Star picked up the remain starmetal object in her magic, “I don’t think we should be gambling our lives, especially when we only have a cloak, a few bullets, and...” she twirled the three-foot rod, “a bo staff..”

“I cannot even imagine how much that piece cost to make.”

She shook her head, “I heard rumors of a large meteorite under Hoofington. It’s possible it was found and mined. Still, to use it all for a staff? Seems a waste.”

“I’m sure they had a reason. Not necessarily a good reason, but a reason,” I looked long and hard at the two-dozen small metal darts I had acquired. They didn’t look special, aside from the obvious space-rock aspect. No poisons or glows of enchantment. Then again, I had little practical experience with item appraisal. So, I shoved them into my bags. They weren’t much use, without the dart gun, but hopefully I would find a new one.

By now, the sun was settling on the distant horizon. After a brief cherry-filled meal, we poked our heads out from my dead grass. The night was quiet and dark. Clouds still obscured any signs of stars or moon. The only light was the faint orange glow of the setting sun reflecting off the underside of the cloud curtain. I saw Starshatter pull the hood of her cloak over her head, making her all-but-disappear amongst the shadows. Hopefully my blue outfit was dark enough to grant me similar advantages, though I didn’t hold my breath.

The ground down here at the base of the mountain range was much smoother and easier to traverse than the cliffs we had descended from. The path northward was winding and indirect, however. We had to stay in the lower valleys, both for ease and cover. Occasionally, my new friend would pause in front of me, look around, and continue on. I knew she was looking at and for threads, but it was still a bit unsettling. We spoke little, only brief warnings about sharp rocks, holes, or navigational inquiries. Overall, though, we followed our woven threads north. Towards our destinies, but also toward Maripony, and toward the strange alicorns who called themselves Twilight.

“Of course there are giant bucking cockroaches,” my pipe rifle spit a bullet into the head of one such ‘radroach’ as Starshatter impaled another on her staff, “radiation, zombies, and cockroaches. The apocalypse triad is complete. Now we just need the Four Ponies and it’s a full house.”

“Well you would make a good Pale Pony.”

“Gee, thanks,” the last roach fell to my gun and I holstered the weapon, “though I do seem good at killing roaches,” I grimaced.

“You would have made a decent soldier in the War,” she agreed, “I’m lucky to have you as my bodyguard.”

“Never thought I’d be accused of being somepony’s bodyguard.”

“Strength isn’t everything needed in a knight.”

“Now I know you’re just buttering me up. You don’t need to flatter me so much. Even if I hated you, we are stuck together,” I facehoofed, “that came out wrong. I don’t hate you. I like you. Well, not like that. I mean, you’re young enough to be my daughter!”

She giggled and continued past the dead insects, “I understand, Memory. Please, just quit talking.”

I did as I was told and shut up, following the mare I was sworn to protect. She was right, though. Despite the unorthodox methods, I was doing a decent job of protecting and escorting her, thus far. Escort was the wrong word, again. I meant…

Another facehoof and I shook the stupid thoughts from my head. Walking behind her as her hips swayed, though…

UGH.

It was just stress. Definitely just stress. I might as well have had these thoughts about my students! That was it. I would think of her as a student. I guessed she was maybe eleventh or twelfth year equivalent, but wasn’t sure.

“Can I ask a very personal question?”

She looked over her shoulder at me, “I am twenty-one. I was a student of Twilight’s when I was frozen, remember?”

Was I that obvious?

“And yes, you are easier to read than a book. Don’t take it personally.”

I grumbled incoherently under my breath as we wound through the valley. So she was technically young enough to be my daughter, though not a student, anymore. There went my coping mechanism. It also made me feel old. I could have an adult daughter, my now. I didn’t even have a special somepony.

I kicked a rock. The rock hissed at me. Great. Now the rocks were alive, too.

Ten little legs extended from the overturned stone and flailed wildly in the air. It was sad, but comical. I took pity on it and flipped it back over. It was small and harmless, anyway. It skittered off into the cracks of the canyon wall. My pipbuck told me it was a rock crab. Biology lessons from my past confirmed it in my mind. Hardy little creatures. No surprise they survived the end of the world.

“Hurry up, Memory!” I looked up to see Starshatter had climbed half way up the stone face, to a ledge about five feet up, “we need to find a place to camp by daybreak.”

I scrambled up after her and we walked along the narrow path. It was just wide enough for two ponies to walk side-by-side, but I still walked behind her. The first signs of sunlight were peeking over the ridge when we found low cave in the rocks.

“How far do you think we’ve gone?”

I checked my pipbuck, “my map shows us about a quarter of the way to Appleloosa. We should be near the old Pie Rock Farm.”

“Is it too far out of the way?” when I shook my head, she continued, “we should stop by there and see if we can get any useful crystals.”

“Can you enchant them?”

She hesitated, “sort of. In the same manner I can heal.”

“You can jury rig a spell with a thread?”

“More or less. It isn’t stable, and might destroy the stone, but it would be better than nothing.”

“It would certainly help,” I looked around the cave as Starshatter set her horn aglow. It was small, barely two ponies wide, and half a head taller than he, but it stretched and wound far back into the cliff, “I’m worried about what might be in here, but if we don’t go too far, it should be okay.”

She nodded and we settled down a few meters from the opening.

I was just digging into my saddlebag for food, when I heard a skittering noise. It was much louder than the crab I had saved earlier, as if the legs were the size of a pony’s. The clack-clack-clack echoed through the chamber as whatever it was crawled across the ground above us, toward the small canyon we just left.

The source of the noise appeared in the mouth of the cave, clinging to the ceiling, now. A rock crab of enormous size, twice the size of a large stallion. It froze when it saw us and let out a horrendous hiss.

Starshatter and I shared a wide-eyed glance, hastily picked up our supplies, and retreated farther into the cave, as the clicking of giant claws thundered behind us.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk Added: Alchemist – Potions you create last 20% longer.