Fallout Equestria: Lead Skies

Chapters

I. Stables, shanks, and Sabotage
II. Exiled
III. Golden age of radio
IV. More shooting = less talking
V. Whispers of the past
VI. Tails to the rails
Change of Face

I. Stables, shanks, and Sabotage

Walls... All I ever knew... From the moment I was born and probably till I die Ill only see the same set of walls... The walls of stable 47...I looked to a scrawling mural of a science fiction scene across the hall... I helped paint it... I was pretty glad it was across from my door... Every day I left my little room I could see it... The colorful and imaginitive piece breaking the heavy feeling of boredom and bleakness for a short moment. There were other murals in the vault... Some chose to paint their doors... Others would create sprawling masterpieces on the wall of scenes ranging from grassy plains and beautiful lanscapes to things like portraits of important ponies from history. The overmare had a pretty loose policy on painting the walls... All we had to do was get permission, we'd get to pick a wall and that was that, painting was largely a group thing, ponies would join in to help out no matter what they were doing or who you were... It was like some kind of sacred unchangeable ritual... If we were late because of it we were forgiven...most likely because everypony knew how bleak and hopeless life could get in a stable.

I checked the time on my pipbuck... Seeing as it was still a bit early I headed to another room in the male sleeping rooms... The elaborately painted door slid into the ceiling and floor and allowed me in... The room belonged to a close friend of mine... Brass Hammer... He was a maintenance assistant down in air purification. He greeted me as I walked in.

"Hey! Source Code! How's it goin?"

"Bout as smoothly as life here gets... Finally regreased the joints in my robot legs..."

"Not scrapin anymore?"

"nah... Still need to readjust them but for now its working well enough"

"any word from the population stability center?"

"I need to go in next week... Hopefully I dont get such a bitchy one this time... Then again.... Thats most of em"

"yeah... True that... Least we're not working there full time like those poor bastards down there"

"just imagine.... All day every day... Just sex... Seems like it would be pretty shit after awhile..."

"any word about 'After Hours'?"

"section four, junction 12... 21:00"

"got it Ill bring snacks"

"good... Best be going... Maintenance is probably waiting"

"seeya round"

I left his room swiftly, a quick check of the time revealed that I was gonna be late...

"shit... Better hussle" I began running until I got to the walkway above the main community area for these floors, I jumped down over the railing and used my wings to slow my fall a tiny bit before flapping the slightly clipped appendages furiously to slow down. I turned and dashed for the elevator to the maintenance floor, I hopped in and smacked the button third from the bottom with a metal "hoof" I caught my breath and waited for the elevator to come to a stop in the maintenance section.

I walked out of the elevator onto the more industrial feel of the maintenance floor... I walked up to the electronics repair area and walked through the door, a box on the wall beeped as I passed it, signaling to me that It detected my piobuch and punched me in for today... And only two minutes late.

"Code... I got some news... You're being transferred to medical... Overmare says that you're fancy robo forelegs would be better used in the medical ward on our floor... " my boss immediately said as I walked in.

"Oh come on... Dammit... And I just got transferred here...well i guess Ill be going to the medical ward... Maaan...screw assignment branch... Morons have ni itea what they're doing... Seeya round Circuit..."

I had only been transferred to maintenance after being stuck with janitor duty for a year while I waited for a position to open up... Even though I was a stallion... Which were somehow seen as lesser beings... They realised I had skills with electronics... When I finally got a position with maintenance I stayed there for only a month before being stuck in medical because a nurse retired.

I was reminded of why I resented this place... Yes it was big and well stocked... But it was filled with a ton of mares and barely any stallions.... And we kinda got the short end of the stick... Some bitch a few generations ago revoked a ton of rights granted to stallions...asshat...essentjally made us decond class citizens where our only good job pospect was reproduction.

I walked into the medical ward, the doctor and nurse didn't look too pleased.

"Great... Some idiot stallion from maintenance..." One mare said as I walked in with a reassignemnt note on my pipbuck

"wash up and put on a lab coat... You'll be logging patient records and doing routine checkups and vaccinations. The guide book is on the terminal... You'll figure it out"

Thankfully today had been slow....so At least I could learn some stuff without all of the extra pressure, I went to my quarters and removed my labcoat... I brushed my teeth and got in bed, however would just have to look like I was going to sleep for about a half hour when the guards finished random checks of rooms...

After thirty minutes passed and the dayshift curfew was met I got up, grabbed a makeshift shank from under my pillow, and headed to the ventillator grille on the wall. I pressed the edge of the shank's rough metal edge into the gap between it and the wall, pried it up a bit and deployed my fingers, the small metal appengages slid out and unfolded from my artifical hoof, I grabbed the grille and hinged it open, I snuck in and closed it behind me, I walked through the short vent and dropped down a vertical shaft, and walked forward, i reached the main vent shaft for this floor and walked forward until I was pretty close to one of the fans that circulated the air in the Stable, I opened a vent below me and quietly dropped into a maintenance shaft below the floor.

The maintenance tunnels were mostly unlit, the only light was what my pip buck emmitted and the occasional indicator light on some equipment, I walked along the shaft towards where the main atrium was and turned left towards the section below the "reproduction ward" aka extra rooms where ponies banged eachother... I walked until I reached the service section I needed to be in, I Could hear creaking and slapping above me... Along with occasional moans of extacy from the ponies above, i walked down the tunnel until I reached the hatch to the service junction I told Brass about.

on the hatch was a large red lever mounted flat to the surface of it, I shoved the lever into the 'open' position, the hatch popped slightly out of the floor with a metallic clunk and rattling of latches, I pulled the door open and climbed down into the junction below, shutting the door behind me, I opened a hatch into the section used for wiring maintenance and droped down to where Brass now sat with about four other adult ponies and a couple foals... One of them was my father.

"Is everypony here?....good, so... Tomorrow...tomorrow... is the day that Im chucked into the recycler... Scummy bastards... Worry not... Ive written down everything I know in the log book... To which I will be giving a cabon copy of to my son... Son... I also wanna give ya this... Its called Lobotomizer... It has been passed down for as long our family line has existed in the vault... And subsequently modified by each owner... Take care of it... And if anypony wants ta take it... You know what to do... "

" shoot em till they stop moving" I responded"

"just a reminder... Our mission here isnt to kill al, of the mares... Just to make ourselves equal again or to escape... Im tol old to get out and I embrace death... Just remember me..." everypony solemnly nodded and we left through the many vents back to where we had previously been...

As soon as I woke up I found a very pissed security mare staring me down.

" You are under arrest, if you do not let me detain you I will use force" my brain slammed into overdrive and thought of how I could get away... If I just let her take me I would be crammed into prison... But If I tried to stab her I might get exiled from the vault... Perfect...

After about an hour in a security holding cell disarmed of my shank I was brought to the overmare's office along with with several other ponies, mostly mares... Ones that I probably had to harm at one point or other.

"first witness... What has this stallion done to you?" a white mare with violently hot pink hair stepped foreward... She had a large scar on her forehoof... One that I gave her when I needed to escape her during a smuggling job.

"This piece of shit slashed at me and ran when I tried to report him to authorities for being shifty..." at least she didnt devulge into shouting or trying to hurt me.

"Thank you miss... Please return to your seat... Next witness" She was from maintenance... Based on her barding and apparent filthiness.

"I was never directly involved in any of his supposed crimes but I did see him talking to some kooky mare in maintenance... They talked for only a few minutes before he hoofed her a piece of paper and left... It seemed suspicious"

"Thank you witness number two... Now final witness, please" the last mare was one from security... One that I had the pleasure of being arrested by

"I caught this stallion crawling through the vents... There was evidence of a hallway grate being opened, he was caught after I followed the sound of him in the vent to the stallions barracks... I found and arrested him then next day after I saw him emerge from a vent near a room and enter. I waited at the door to intercept him for fear that he may try to attack if he was inside, after I arrested him, I found a homemade shiv tucked undr his pip buck... Which you see before you on that table.

"Thank you... Now, what does the persecuted have to say"

"Respectfully I plead guilty... I in fact did commit those crimes"

"The Persecuted has plead Guilty, now Mister Source Code, you have a choice of punishment due to your compliance in this trial... Do you wish to be Exiled from the vault Never to return, or to be permanently put on breeding duty for your crimes and disloyalty to the Stable"

"I Choose Exile..."

"Very well, you are allowed any possessions you wish to bring along, you will be supplied with a weeks worth of dried rations and water, and a simple knife and standard issue 10mm pistol to use as defense, as per Stable 47 Exile Conduct code. You will have two more days in the stable to pack and prepare, You will have a security mare watching you at all times and interacting with anypony aside from security personnel or myself is forbidden... Is this clear?"

" yes Ma'am"

"Therefore, I Dandelion Meadows, Overmare Of Stable 47 Sentence you to permanent exile from the Stable." She used her horn to whack the gavel on the desk once.

"This session is adjourned.... Officer Cuffs, please fit this stallion with a tracking bracelet and bring him to the Stable door in two days time..."

"As you wish" a plain white security mare with navy blue hair came up to me and clamped the tracking bracelet on my hindleg. She escorted me out soon after and brought me to my room.

I grabbed my Father's old military saddlebags and began stuffing the packs with necesities, and anything I would need to survive outside... The first things in were the 12.7mm Lobotomizer pistol, some amm, and my father's personal notebook recorded onto a tape.

Author's Note

This might fit reasonably OK with the sides Stories of F;E... Probably not perfect but semi decent.

II. Exiled

"Source Code..pip buck serial number 47-0131-AE00. I hereby sentence you to exile for attempted sabotage, multiple counts of unaggrivated assault, and disloyalty to the stable... You are allowed whatever possessions are legally yours, and you will be provided with one week of rations, a knife, and a simple 10 mm pistol for defense as per our laws allow. Yor pip buck is no longer in our database and any access codes it posessed are now invalid, any attempts to re enter will be considered a threat and force will he used... Open the door." I stood on the catwalk leading to the massive door, a safety gate sat before me, i heard tapping on a keypad and then a solid metallic clunk echoed through the room.

Moments later I heard an alarm begin wailing its obnoxious tune after two centuries of silence, red warning lights flashed on the ceiling, and a massive arm swung down from the ceiling, it slid foreward and into the door, with a hideous screetching noise the massive deadbolts retracted, and the arm pulled the massive door out of its hole with a deafening scrape of metal on metal and sparks flying as the massive gear shaped door was forced into place on a large rack of giant gear teeth, the machine pulled out of the socket and the door rolled off to the side with the sound of hydraulics moving somewhere hidden in the walls. The catwalk slid across the gap and met with a small ramp on the other side with a rattling 'Clink' noise.

I silently began walking towards the dark hole that sat before me, i felt fear but I showed some last resistance by not giving in to it... I reminded myself that I still had the 12.7mm that my father passed on to me... Confident that I could at least defend myself from something, I walked onto the ramp at the other side of the door, once clear I heard the door begin to cycle again. With some more scraping and a solid 'CLUNK' the door sealed behind me...

The first thing I noticed was that I was underground... And fairly deep at that... And it was dark.... I flipped on my Pip Buck's light and was rewarded with a soft amber glow illuminating the area. I jumped a bit at a few skeletons from ponies obviously very dead laying by the door, old tattered clothing hanging on the bones by mere threads, several old suitcases lay open on the ground, their contents long since looted and the containers left to rot.... Speaking of rot... I was hit with a freight train of pungent smells, my nose accustomed to the recycled air of the stable now being gang raped by the new scents previously unknown to me... Rotting, dirt, dust, feces... All of them hit me at once... The sheer strength of it making me gag a bit.

After I refused the urge to puke, I looked around some more... A dark tunnel led upwards, I began walking... Whatever was out there It was probably better than sitting in a cave near a giant stable door.

I walked only a few short meters before I found a large rusty staircase... Water dripping from somewhere above, I ascended the staircase, metal hooves clinking softly on the ancient stairs... Once at the top there was a small section of flat concrete floor and a sliding metal door ahead... I pressed the small button near the door... 'click'... Nothing.... The other button.... 'click' still no response. I looked around the room for anything to open the door a panel beside the door was pretty obvious, I pulled off the panel and revealed a large and somewhat wide lever behind it, in red lettering the back panel read, "manual override pump" I pulled the lever down and stood my hoof on it, I began pumping... After four pumps I heard the door screech a bit and a tiny crack between the two sections appeared, I pumped more.... After about a dozen the door had scraped and crunched its way open enough go walk through. I passed through the rusted door and pushed aside a large piece of old tin roof paneling... The old piece of metal clattered to the ground and kicked up a bit of fine dust from the dirt.

I stared out across the expanse presented to me, to one side I saw something only mentioned in books and presentations... A sunset... The glowing white ball turning the sky orange, red, and yellow the cloud cover above turning a soft pink... I had to look away because its intensity stung my eyes...
Above sat a wide open sky... And even though I had lived my entire life in a box...it felt... Almost familliar...homely even... And although I couldn't fly... It still facinated me... What could be out there?

"Woah....." was all I could say...

Day faded to night, my pip buck illuminating the dirt ahead with a soft amber glow... I looked at it... I was so caught up in the majesty of sunset ant the moonrise that I had aparently ignored that it was making noises and updating things like mad.

Somehow it dragged a name out of nowhere and gave it to where I was... And somewhere nearby.

"Dodge City discovered?" I looked on the wide view map... Sure enough...just south of me was Dodge city, I looked out and saw some old collapsed buildings sprawling out to my right. Near the stable sat abandoned vehicles of all kinds... Everything from some kind of aircraft I learned was called a gyrocopter or a helicopter... And other things like cars, trucks, wagons, motorcycles. The scene haunted me...how many died here? How many made it in? What became of those who didnt? All of those questions raced through my head... I walked foreward more out into the open and looked back af the door... It was built into a short cliff face just southwest of dodge city.

I decided to reactivate some of the pip bucks functions that I had deactivated because I didnt need them... Stable tech arcane targeting system, saddlebag organiser, crosshair, among other stuff... The pipbuck beeped softly as I locked in the settings... I began walking through the many abandoned vehicles... Bones still remaining in many, it was gruesome... But what can one do about somepony whose been dead for two centuries... I began picking through the trunks of the cars and the suitcases and other crap strewn across the place... It looked almost untouched... As if nothing had seen or been here for centuries.... Probably becuse nothing exept the occasional bug had been, I continued searching...mostly old clothes... Some useful stuff was retrieved though... A windproof flip lighter engraved with an image of princess Luna's face, a large combat knife, a bottle of sparkle cola... Somehow looking reasonably drinkable even after this long, an elaborately engraved 44 magnum revolver... Strangely it had interchangeable handles... One was a mouthgrio and the other a vertical pistol grip... Maybe a griffon tried to get in? The last thing I found of any value was a choker necklace made up of thin wirey links connected to a flat metal plate with a small gemstone emhedded in it... As most ponies could I could tell when something was enchanted, I felt a slight almost static feel as I picked it up... The great thing about my pip buck was that due to its nature as a maintenance tool, it posessed a spell Identifier and low grade enchanting equipment designed to repair spell matrices... I had not the foggiest idea how to program a spell... But I could at least Identify spells.

I pulled the thin cylindrical scanning probe from its little compartment on the back of the casing a small wire trailing behind it, I waved the probe over the necklace and saw that it was enchanted... A quick description was fenerared for me to read.

"this item is enchanted such that the wearer will be gifted with better fine motor skills with any manipulators such as magic, paws, hands etc, and improves stability when using weapons, spell matrix can be upgraded if correct materials and information are acquired"

I put it on and almost immediately I felt less shaky on my hooves.... I decided to keep it and began working my way towards Dodge city. I pulled the 10mm from my bag and held it in my mouth so I could climb easier. I much preferred firing weapons with my hands, and as such I could stand upright to do so... Problem being... The only guns I had that I could easily wield like that was my 12.7mm that was passed down to me by my father and the revolver I found which had no ammo.

Just like his father before him my father passed on the pistol to his firstborn foal, me the same was true all the way back to some great great..... Something grandpa who apparently bought it before the balefire bombings and began the tradition of the current owner personalising it a little more than the last and engraving their initials into the upper reciever. And then passing it to the firstborn child. .. It was named Lobotomizer by its second owner and the barrel was lengthened by an inch, its third re chambered it for 12.7magnum. The fourth added new iron sights, thd fifth added Equipment rails to the side and underbarrel of it, fifth added a wrap around 2 power scope, the next few improved the internals and added extended magazines, another converted it to a gas operated system to help with recoil and ammo compatibility , some owner down the line added a compenator muzzle brake, my father added a laser pointer sight flashlight combo to underneath the barrel, and I added a vertical grip and a replaced the normal grip with a foldable one that sits flat along the side of the reciever to keep the width down.

I absentmindedly recalled the initials scratched deeply into the thick metal of the reciever... P. C, T. T, O. S, C. B, and my own initials, S. C, standing for Punch Card, Ticker Tape, Operating System... The only female owner, her nickname was supposedly Opera, or Opie to close friends, CB was Code Block, my father, And My initials were S, C.... Appropriately my cutie mark portrayed a terminal with code flashing on the screen and a wrench and screwdriver crossed behind the terminal... I always wondered what the code was, with the fur in the way It was near impossible to read, and I had never wanted to shave my ass to read it... Maybe If I found a razor... Or just a sharp enough knife would do.

I looked to my pip buck as I walked, absently staring at the strange caution stripe paintjob on the face of the screen and button panel, as far as I could tell, it was a pretty old model at least by the serial number, 47 was the vault it was supplied to, 0131, was the batch number from the factory ,and the last four were it's in vault serial, it was one of the first in the vault with an A first letter and an E second letter, the two zeroes were the specific pip buck in that group, having two zeroes meant it was the first in the AE batch to be entered into the database, meaning it may have been the very first maintenance model to be put in the vault. AA00 was supposedly the overseer's pip buck with a unique set of engraved markings and unique paintjob to that vault, and all of the original administrative pip bucks were AA series models, AB and AC series were originally given to the faculty, AD were the medical staff, And AE through AG was the maintenance personnel, janitors, and the first 50 stallions in the vault, Supposedly MZ20 was the last complete assigned model registered to the vault, there were a compliment of 50 spares marked with //00 through //50 and any part sets put in as spares had a similar serial. And supposedly normal batches of pip bucks only went to 20 in the last two digits meaning that the most the vault was equipped for was some odd 6,000 inhabitants not including the spares and part kits, although it usually seemed to hover around 5,000 or slightly less.

Unlike My own the newer maintenance models had a bright safety orange color or the standard "olive" color. The rest of the casing besides a few indication marks on it was the standard military issue Olive Drab

I went back to walking soon after and just let my mind wander while I moved... Still while remining vigilant enough to shoot anything trying to kill me.

I reached Dodge city within a half hour, it was almost completely abandoned... Only the occasional group of squatters were visible around small barrel fires, I had my suspicions about what their intentions would be So I stashed the fancy revolver in its case and shoved it in my bag and only kept the 10 mm visible but holstered. I walked to the nearest group and approached cautiously before I decided to greet them"?

"Hello?" an older member of the group waved and responded.

"Hello To ya too, whatcha want? Ifn you're kind we'll let ya come closer"

"You dont shoot me I don't Shoot you, Good?"

"that'll work, c'mon over ere kid... Looks like you're pretty new here"

"yep" I responded as I went over to squat with the group, once I got closer I found out that the figures were mostly griffons, with a few ponies mixed in, most of them wore worn tracksuits and carried AKB variant rifles across their backs... At least according to the guide to pre war weapons I found In my found in my fathers bookshelf.

"so boyo... Where'd ya come from," a scraggly old stallion said to me as I swuatted down near the fire.

"theres a vault nearby...got kicked out"

"well... You'll fit in mighty fine with us... We're all deserters too... Some of us Enclave, others from the brotherhood, and a couple from a few gangs out in Las Pegas, we go by the Gopnik Tribe.... After some old griffish word for bums or hooligans... Mostly cause we are"

"Whelp... Hello then I guess... Im source Code, former vault dweller, I got a mind for tech,"

"greetins from us... Im Rail Tie, everyone just calls me Gramp, ditched some gang called the railroad a few years back... They had some beef with some other faction and a war was threatening, so I took my junk an' left, mostly cause Im gettin old, Im not so great in a fight, and I wasnt gonna get shot so I left, and formed this little group, shared my know how with em, and now we wander the wastes lookin for stuff to do..."

"Well, Gramp, Nice to meet ya... Any tips you can give to help me out here?"

"I'll tell ya and give ya a little book to help ya, but ya gotta do me a favor... You said you're good with them machines... Im gunna need ya to help me with sumthin, Ifn ya can get mah radio workin Ill give ya whatever tips I can offer."

"Deal, although I think It'd be better to wait till day so I don't loose parts."

"Fine by me, We'll keep ya safe for the night... But... Just be wary... Trust and compassion aint things ya find often... Most would rather shoot ya or stab ya and leave, with you're goodies... I'm a nice old guy so ifn I can avoid gettin shot I will... But just'bout everyone else's fixin to kill novice wasrelanders like you... So... Watch your back"

"no kidding..."

III. Golden age of radio

At the crack of dawn I woke up from lying on a wall, I got up and cracked my joints back into place, each, makimg a soft Pop as they readjusted, I picked Up my bags and put them back on... Thankful that the standard issue "bag of unusual size" enchantment was put on them, making them far more spacious inside annd reducing the felt weight by quite a bit, although my posessions were few, No doubt would the extra space help.

"so... Wheres this radio?" I asked to Gramp, who was looking off into the distance at an old radio tower on a hill

"Oh... You're awake... Its the little ornge box in my pack, has a bunch a dials and shit on the front"

"got it..." I went to his pack and pulled the orange radio from the bag, its surface was dirty and scuffed to tartarus and back but it still looked serviceable.

I pulled a small screwdriver from my pack and began opening it up, once In I found the problem pretty fast... A fried sparkle energy cell, and a shorted connectionfrom the battery to one of the ground wires. I pulled the broken cell from its slot and bent the contacts back into shape, I didn't have another cell, so I focussed on repairing the short.
The problem I found was that the cable had fused to the ground connection by an exposed piece of wire I pulled the cable free and decided to tell gramp that I was going to go looking for suplies.

"Gramp... Im gonna go find some stuff I need to fix this... Back in a few"

"watch out for any of them ol' rad roaches... Little bastards'll give ya one fucking nightmare of an infected wound... Watch yourself"

"okay... Keepin my two good legs would probably help"

I wandered out into the empty city and began looking for the few parts the radio needed... A scrap of tire inner tube would work fine to wrap the shorted wire, but finding a sparkle Cell would be tough, I had No idea where any would be, or if they even existed anymore outside of ammo dumps or Stables.

I pulled the 44 from my pack, now that it was brighter outside I saw that It was gold damacened on some parts to add some extra detailing to the engravings... Far more valuable, and it also had two small gemstones mounted in the handles, which looked to be made of something like bone or horn. I checked what my PipBuck had to say about it, I found it in the 'items' menu on the device and looked at the general description.

"This weapon posesses the ability to improve shooters stability when using Iron sights, and grants far superior accuracy and precision at long range when equipped with a scope, the reciever and cylinder are elaborately decorated with engravings and small amounts of gold."

"Sweet...dont got a scope... Or ammo... But... Cool I guess"

I continued to wander around the ruined city, nothing really stood out, Only a few bugs made themselves visible... One of them looked like a giant ugly housefly with ugly bits of hair hanging off of it, at least 10mm was powerful enough to put them down. I didnt want to waste my precious 12.7 unless I had a good reason to.

After some more wandering around and the occasional snoop around the non coplapsed buildings, I came across an old parking garage, several cars still sitting in thier spots untouched, one of the cars I found had an old holotape stuck in its player, After some wrestling with the tape it came free and I played it with my Pipbuck.

From what I could tell, it was a recording of an old news reel , although the voices themselves were too distorted to discern what they were saying except a few short pieces of sentences.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh Zebra?..shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, nat...... Se...... Ebra........... Min..... Im...... Onate........ SHHHHHHHHHH" the rest of the tape was unrecorded... Or just really badly damaged , I stuck it in my bag just in case any of its parts would be useful.

I walked to the top of the structure where I found the remains of a crashed vertibuck... One of its props sat in shambles next to the crumpled frame, the other and its accompanying engine were torn off and chucked a fair distance away, Inside I found an old laser pistol in an ammo can and five half charged sparkle cells, as well as a note

"heavily modified laser pistol, named Sparkle's Sanity, slowly recharges power over time depending on amount of ambient magic or radiation, and can have the chance to overcharge itself at random to fire a more potent shot, however weapon may overheat and need to be cooled down if it is fired too much too quickly, uses sparkle cells, good accuracy, moderate damage, slow semi auto fire."

The grips appeared to be oriented towards unicorns and things with hands based on the lack of mouthgrip and presence of a sight on top of the weapon rather than the side. It also had a strange socket for a cable on the bottom of the main body of the weapon... Odd.

The strange recording was what I looked at next, it crackled to life and began speaking.

"to anypony who finds this... Its been an hour since the bombs dropped... Vertibuck crashed.... Radiation poisoned.... Tell any surviving family.... I love them.... Give them the *cough* medallion taped to the inside of the laser gun... Laser was part of a pair... Find... Body... Will have other gun with names of... Family...." the recording stopped and my PipBuck blipped a bit and gave me an objective.

" New objective: Final wishes, find the pony's corpse and return the gold medallion to family"

"Ill do this... At least somepony will rest in peace.. In this luna forsaken place."

I headed back to gramp's radio and plopped in the core, I wrapped up the wires by tying the inner tube to the bare portion, I reclosed the radio and switched it on... The little indicator screen lit up and an old prewar song started coming from its little speaker.

Brass instruments blared and a cheerful tune about some cowboy with spurs... I switched it back off and found Gramp, who was sitting under an old piece of roofing out of the sun.

"Gramp... I got the radio fixed"

"whelp... You held up yer end, Spose Ill hold mine... Thank ya... Means alot to me... This ere radio's only thing that my mother left... And the music they play over the radio keep us all sane... Here... Take this... Its a copy of the wasteland survival Guide... Ive written my own tips in it over the years... By the way, ya might wanna get yourelf some armored barding... Wasteland aint a friendly place, havin something to stop the flak it throws oughtta help ya... Oh... An take this... Havin some range also helps... Ah cant use it since I dont have hands.... Or a horn... But with them funky robot fingers on yer legs I see I think itll probly help ya more than it would me", he handed me the booklet and a very strangely configured AKMB assault rifle.

The book was printed on old scraps of paper and homemade parchment, the cover looked to be made of some kind of scaly tough hide.

"if ya find yourself lookin for a chat or to squat with us... You're alwYs welcome... Aint that right boys?" the assorted griffons and ponies who weren't off doing something collectively nodded and made noises of agreement"

"I'll seeya round...thanks for the help"

"thank you for gettin our entertainment working, wasteland would be pretty borin without it... Happy trails"

"You too!"

I left the little group off into dodge city... New rifle across my back and a little book of know how in my bag, I kept the rifle ready to be drawn at a moments notice. I reached the parking garage again and began looking for the other laser pistol, I found it by a skeleton on the street below, obviously the pony ended his suffering by jumping.... I grabbed the pistol and looked it over, it was also a laser pistol, but rather than Sparkle cells It took the much larger cores instead, the description came up a few seconds later.

companion pistol to Sparkle's Sanity, Twilight's wrath, uses fusion cores and does far more damage, excellent damage, uses, Sparkle Cores, poor accuracy, Slow semi automatic. I stuck it in my bag and the Pip Buck updated its mission, ticking the "find other pistol" box as complete.

After more wandering I found myself in a predicament... Whether to leave Dodge and head east to the more populated centres of the wasteland, or just stay to avoid the risk of traveling that far.... Considering the total lack of sustainable food or water, I decided to risk it, I took my bags and exited the dead city.

I turned on the radio and let it just play for awhile while I read the edited wasteland survival guide when I decided to rest and eat some rations.

Big angry things to avoid

Deathclaw: obviously something with "death" in its name would be something to avoid... They look like some demonic lizard with claws like swords, they wont hesitate to kill anypony on sight, do not engage without serious armament, preferably high powered snipers or explosive weapons,

Manticore: deadly pre war creatures only made tougher from the balefire and taint... Big scary mutant cat things with wings and scorpion stingers... Avoid at all costs unless in possession of high power weaponry or enough skill to snipe it in vital organs.

Taint: not really a normal monster, but it is pretty nasty, it is technically a disease born from pre war research, it helped cause things like death claws, ghouls, and a ton of other deadly things. Getting infected is usually terminal, or may cause ghoulification depending on genetics... However tainted ghouls are usually feral and can spread taint, if youre around the stuff try to have some form of hazmat or radiation suit on you it'll help a bit.

Raider fiends: they'll just as soon kill ya than rape ya, some of them are cannibals, and all of them should be avoided unless ya got a fucking army to back you job...

I closed the book and got back up... But honestly the vault propoganda was worse than the wasteland actually was... Deadly incurable super cancer disease and big angry knife lizard aside, it still had civilization... As remarkable as it was. The vault propoganda said that the wasteland was barren and full of horrnedous monsters... Which it was, but despite that some ponies made themselves a living... Even, makeshift cities rose one of the most infamous was somewhere Called junktown out near the western seaboard.

As I walked I saw something in the distsnce... I pulled out my rifle and trained the scope on the distant thing... A deathclaw... Not very big, big still probably big enough to turn me into chunky bits, I looked at the rifle's abilities just to make sure I wasnt going to regret shooting it with this thing.

"Moon Mistress, does more damage each consecutive shot on a target" hence its odd configuration... The drum mag was to take advantage of the weird enchantment... And the scope and barrel were to improve accuracy to ensure the shots would miss less... Although the lack of stock was still a bit of a pain.

I took aim and held the trigger, the gun barked and fired a steady steam of ammo towards the deathclaw, the first hits didnt do much... But after maybe the 25th hit it was doing far more damage than usual, ripping big holes and sending blood all over, soon the deathclaw died of bullet wounds, I holstered my weapon to see my work, the deathclaw was covered in holes, on a whim I took a few of the better claws and tossed them into my bag to weaponise later.

The wastes were pretty inhospitable... Central equestria was never very populated outside of ponyville... At least according to the history books... Dodge city was one of the only other major cities in the area. And as such there wasnt much for me ti find to survive hence the almost nonexistent population outside of the abandoned cities... Whereas just based on simple logic and a couple sections from the survival guide that the more populated areas with more supplies would be popular destinations for travelers, looking for stuff and places to live.

So I would need to ultimately head one way or the other to find somewhere inhabited... But how to do that was beyond me since it was so far away. And I had very few supplies.
In one of the history books about before the war... Some of the only ones allowed to be read by male dwellers besides the most likely fake history books about the vaults, I read about a time before cars and aircraft were common, so the best method of transport was Trains... They built a massive trans continental rail system to get around... So I would have to use the railway... Or somehow repair or steal a pre war aircraft... Usimg a train was out of the question since the rails were probably mostly destroyed... Damn...

I kept walking... But this time turning more or less east, even though it was barren, some places still seemed viable for inhabitation... Or at least to get some supplies... Another thing in the histroy books I found was a book detailing equestrian military forces, and a few books, memoirs, and diaries of some survivors detailing where and what everthing was... Including somewhere called The Buckler Air Force Base... Supposedly it was just east of Dodge city and a little north, I began heading east, only pausing to put a mark where I thought it was and to look at the stats of the rifle I used half of my ammo to kill the deathclaw with.

"Thirsty Mare 2, this weapon does more damage the more blood is spilled from the enemy being shot, it also restores itself to almost new so long as it's bayonet is stabbed into the slain foe. " it certainly did that well... Albeit with enough ammo, thank goodness it was accurate, although the sniper barrel, bayonet, scope, and no stock were kinda odd to get used to, I could manage so long as It could kill... I guess I owed it some more ammo if it could obliterate stuff so fast... It also had a strange picture of a mare ornately engraved and painted onto the reciever... It depicted a mare with little bat ears, wings and a fanged grin... But where I expected to see pale white or black fur, it was a peculiar butter yellow and pink... Strange...

After another quick break to cool off and eat I continued along towards Buckler.

IV. More shooting = less talking

Wandering... Somehow it blurs the lines between the hours and days... Time sorta just passes by in a blurry haze until something comes along to break the spell.

I spent my time trudging along staring at the sky in thought... Not much thought to be fair... But at least I could take my eyes off the ground and ponder about why the sky looked like it was covered in dryer lint...

As I wondered what flavor grey cotton candy would taste like I felt a searing pain in my hindleg and the echo of a distant gunshot, EFS put a red dot on my compass, I swung my head around and looked at it, just over a low hill I could see a little red triangle above something moving around... I pulled out my 10mm and began to walk towards it... Another shot rang out, this time it bounced off the dirt below me, I began sprinting and used my short wings to pick up a bit of speed, the pain in my leg flared up like a bitch but the threat of being shot again was more important. I rounded the hill and saw a dirty pony in dark green barding wielding a rifle, I took a few shots at him and kept moving, I swapped magazines in the pistol and Turned on SATS, I picked his head and let the spell take over for the brief second in time, four rounds fired, two hit him in the head, blood spraying from the wound in slow motion.

The spell ran its course and time returned to normal... The pony lay dead and flopped over backwards and his rifle sat in the dirt next to the body.

"Holy shit.... I.... Just killed a pony... Holy shit....." my brain finally done with the adrenaline rush, began to comprehend what I did.... Briefly after I realised that killing would probably be a pretty normal thing If I was to keep living in the wasteland..." well... Shit... Might as well see what he's got...

I sucked it up and bent down to see if he had anything useful, I took a couple healing potions, a bit of ammo, a bottle of Sparkle Cola, which somehow looked drinkable.. His helmet and some cobbled together barding. .. And for some odd reason... Bottle caps... Quite a few in fact... Some odd 20 of the things in his pockets... I decided to look in the wasteland survival guide to see if they had any meaning.

If ya ever kill anyone in the wasteland or find anyone dead... Most likely you'll find Bottle caps on them... Sometimes a fair few of them... But why? Theres a good reason... Bottle caps are Money! Aka you can trade em for all kinds of stuff. Some factions have their own money, but they'll usually exchange caps for their own cash, so pick up as many as you can find! The more you have the richer you are!

I pocketed the caps and strapped on the still bloody barding, and began to tend to my wound... It was a glancing shot just above the hoof, it still tore a good chunk out of me but it wasnt as bad as it felt. I took one of my healing potions and dribbled it into the wound and drunk the rest of the tiny vial. It stitched itself back together within a minute or two, alhtough a hairless piece of skin still remained.

I picked up the stallion's rifle... It turned out to be a single shot shotgun as evidenced by the 12 gauge ammo in his pack... Most of the ammo looked like improvised slugs, created by pouring wax into a shell full of pellets, along with a few rounds of buckshot... It seemed to explain the time between shots and the poor accuracy... I took the shotgun and put it in my pack along with the ammo... Maybe a bit of punch could help my cause...

Most of the trip was uneventful... Hardly a living thing in sight... I only had to kill the one pony, I saw a few more a few miles out but Decided to avoid them because I didn't have the skill or ammo to take on that many at once... And considering how "thirsty" Thirsty Mare 2 was, I wouldn't have nearly enough to pick them off if I came within range.

I made it to The airbase within a week, I only had a few bullets left after killing a few giant scorpions on the way, and I was on my last bit of food....as disgusting as vitamin bread was It still kept me alive... And now I was on my last brick...

I used a big rock to bust the lock from the gate and walked in... Still very few signs of life. There were two large hangars and a couple smaller buildings scattered around the base. A large empty runway sat in the middle of the compound, the tarmac cracked and uneven from two centuries of neglect.

As I approached the nearest of the two hangars the sound of many chitinous legs on concrete alerted me to the presence of another scorpion... I turned around and gave it some bullets to the face and watched it crumple... I had officially depleted my supply of 10mm now all I had was Sparkle's sanity which was reasonably charged , and my last few precious rounds of 12.7 magnum for Lobotomiser....not good.

My stomach made its needs clear once again. And seeing as the dead scorpion was the only thing edible I pried off some shell and cut a chink out of the fleshy innards and took a bite, It tasted like shit but It was food... Albeit mildly radioactive food... My geiger counter mounted in the pip buck began clicking occasionally... Not much, but it worried me a bit... Radiation poisoning was not a good thing to have. Scorpion would probably taste better cooked... But for now it worked well... I pocketed some more meat and entered the hangar.

Inside sat some aircraft, To the left were some old fixed wong aircraft... Something probably used for scouting based on the small frame and fabric wings and the right side had a couple vertiBucks... The plane's fabric coverings had all but crumbled away, so I decided to check out the VertiBucks... One was in pretty poor shape... As if it was in the process of being repaired when the world ended... The other one... An A/CV-2 based on the label on the inside of the craft... It was fairly bulky, and seemed to be more or less intact... And reasonably armed... A chin gun, a rear gun, some missile racks, and a fair cargo space inside with soace for door guns or a shit ton of other crap... Although finding ammo would be tough... But...meh...flying totally out weighs the difficulty of servicing it...

The craft was in decent shape... But it Did have some problems... Exposed wires, broken or missing body panels, flat tires... But It looked serviceable, and once the reactor was running again... It could be extremely useful...

"maybe I could be a courier Pilot.... That oughtta pay for maintenance and ammo... Maybe join some military faction..."

I mumbled to myself as I began working on the aircraft... To be fair it wasnt that badly damaged so repair wouldn't be hard so long as I could find the right stuff to do it with...

2 weeks later

I finally fixed the Vertibuck... Which turned out to have more problems than it appeared to... It's left engine was in need of repair and the main reactor was
Sketchy, I had to scavenge parts from almost every aircraft in both of the hangars... But now it seemed happy so that was all that mattered... And now I was spending some quality time with the manual on how to fly the damn thing... I read it several times already just to make sure I wasnt going to screw up and crash immediately.

once satisfied with my knowledge of the majestic beast I got up and rolled open the old hangar door, the cockpit window glinting in the sun a bit as its rays were allowed to touch it after almost two centuries of darkness. I used the built in motors to slowly wheel the craft out of its hangar and onto the tarmac airstrip.

Once it was In place I cranked the reactor to full output and began the preflight check... And mentally checking all of the boxes... It was about as good as it was going to get, So I unfurled the wings from their folded position alomg the fuselage the props soon following after, I checked the control surfaces and various other things. With baited breath I gave it some throttle and let it idle... The two props slowly began to rotate, the blades each made a very loud "FWOP" noise as they passed the fuselage... The turboshaft motors whined in protest but eventually the props were spinning.

"Okay... Time to fly" I pushed a switch and two wing braces unfolded from the ceiling and clamped onto my wings, at least I had enough wing left to still operate the controls... Poetic really... Too short to fly but just long enough to take the reigns of something much larger. I gave some more throttle until it slowly began to rise from the ground... The rotors were kicking up tons of dirt from the ground and made an impressive cloud of dirt as it slowly rose up, I gave the controls a wiggle and the behemoth of an aircraft responded with a wobble side to side, I tested all of the main functions and began to gain altitude
Almost immediately I felt uplifted... Maybe it was just the vertibuck, but I felt like I was greeting an old friend by flying... As if I was meant to be here all along, once I got to a few thousand feet I had some fun... Probably the first time Ive ever had some true unbridled fun, I let myself zip around like a majestic steel bird, diving, stalling, hovering and even doing a barrel roll, it all felt so natural... I eventually decided to come back down to pack my stuff onboard, and maybe something else.

With a bit of a wobble and almost forgetting to re deploy the landing gear the Vertibuck finally settled down onto its wheels in the middle of the tarmac, I shut off the engines and got out, I tossed my junk into the rear compartment and began a quick search of the base to find some goodies.

I ended up finding a couple IF-89 LMGs, a few cans of ammo, a crate of rations, and a few small guns... Especially assault rifles, combat shotguns and 10mm pistols, I ended Up walking away with two of each of the rifle length weapons and a whole crate of 10mm pistols, along with a homemade combat shotgun "Pistol" and a fair few bottles of water and cola.... But the best thing I found was paint... Lots of it, dark blue, white, rust orange, yellow, and black were the most common. Today was a good day.

Since today was so good I decided to make sure it stayed that way by painting the vertibuck for the rest of the day instead of doing anything else, to avoid the chance of being shot at.

I ended up painting some large stripes on the aircraft with the orange and dark blue, and I used the other colors to write a name and attempt to make some nose art.

"i Dub this aircraft LULU!!" I loudly proclaimed to nopony as I poured the dregs of my sparkle cola over the side of the Vertibuck, as I had just finished my sleep deprivation and soda fueled painting extravaganza. I wrote its name in big Blue letters on the side and painted a picture Of Princess Luna resting in a sultry pose on a crecent moon... Probably the best damn thing I ever painted....or quite possibly would ever paint.

I slept in the cockpit that night and woke up to sunlight streaming in through the windows like searing beams of retinal death as I was blinded When I woke up, I covered my eyes with a hoof and went to the rear compartment to strap down all of the junk there with old wires and pieces of rope.

Once I was pretty sure that It wouldn't flail around like it was in a tornado I strapped into the pilot's wing harnesses and Took off into the hazy grey yonder once again.

Author's Note

Note: picture belongs to original author I take no ownership of the image.

The vertibuck is more of a suggestion on the appearance of one and what Ill be loosely basing my interpretation on.

V. Whispers of the past

Flight... A freedom I never realised, even hindered by a steel shell, its majesty was almost untainted. Even though I was bound to the steel and concrete walls of Stable 47 for my whole life, the sky still felt like home.

I swung wide and slowly brought the Vertibuck down near an old Shack about halfway to where I was going.... I was hoping to find some food and ammo.

Omce the dust kicked up from the rotors had settled I climbed out from my aircraft and looked to the dirty old shack that sat before me. The walls sagged and the wood was rotted through with age... The fact that it still stood even after two centuries was frankly quite amazing, I held a 10mm pistol in my mouth and carefully walked into the dreary old shack.

Inside smelled of rot and dirt, but rather than rotting wood, it smelled of rotting flesh... I gagged a bit at the scent... I strode in and heard a growl... As if some feral dog had heard me... I stepped forward again and saw something climb up from the floor, rotted flesh and dead eyes stared me down, then it lunged at me.

I Fired... The bullet punched deep into the flesh of the creature... Tearing rotted flesh from bone, I fired again and again at the flailing thing, each bullet causing it to stumble back but never hindering it, I fired three final shots into its head and the foul thing fell... Dead...

Its corpse was clothed with tattered cloth and old leather, on its ancient belt hung a key ring, I tugged the keys and the belt tore like damp paper. Now that the... Whatever it was, had died, I got the chance to look around the old shack... I noticed a soft clicking from my wrist. My pip buck's Geiger counter clicked to life... The needle on the tiny meter in the corner of my wrist device, its wavering still sat firmly in a green marked zone but the fact that there was in fact radiation made me feel unsettled...

I found a terminal on the far wall sittong on an old metal table, It was locked, I plugged in my pipbuck with a small cable to the back of the terminal... The maintenance software onboard doing its work presented a puzzle... I searched through the strings of letters and symbols until I selected the password, the terminal flickered to a screen displaying several files labeled as "Journal" and each had a date and time next to the name... Ranging from some day almist two hundred years ago to about two years later from that day.

I pressed enter on the first entry and some text appeared on the scree

Journal entry 1, 2 days since bombs fell.

I've decided to start writing journals, for what reason Im unsure... Just feels right ya know...

Anyway, its been a couple days since them zebras dropped megaspell bombs on us, radiation everywhere, crazy abominations running around... Horrible time to be alive out here. I secured a spot for my wife and son in a Stable a few miles east of here... Some little town called Ponyville... Unfortunately they were full up... Couldn't get myself a spot... So.. I built myself a little bunker in this shack to hide out in... Even going up top is dangerous... Its been a depressing couple days... I keep wondering what became of my family...

Journal Entry 2, 50 days since bombs dropped.

Been over a month now... Rads still stayin strong up there... No clue how the world looks bout now... Im beginning to think that this place is gonna be my tomb.

Journal 3, 1 year since bombs dropped

I had to go out to scrounge some food... Thank Celestia that I had this Radiation suit... Food's scarce... Found some old cram in an abandoned house, somehow its still sorta edible... Geiger slowed down since last entry... Still aint safe to stay out too long.

Journ&/ 4, maybe couple years since bomb drop.

Had to go out for more food... Almost every week... Rads change me... Hard to remember things... No clue hoe long its been...

Bunker Door.

Been too long, body falling apaft... Anypony who finds bunker... Code is 6TFRRAP...take what you want, Gonna die soon... Domt need no more.

I closed the last entry and stood back...

"Poor guy....all alone in a burned world... Maybe he became that zombie thing..."

My heart felt like lead... He sacrificed himself to save his family... I dearly hoped his family survived lomg enough to get inside...

I trotted to a large metal hatch in the floor. I typed the code into the wall terminal and I heard a soft 'Clunk' from the hatch.

I spun the metal wheel on the door and lifter it open with a loud screech. I walked down the stairs inti a small room below. Inside were a few sparsely stocked shelves... A combat shotgun sat on one shelf... Its drum sat near it with a few boxes of shells stacked on top. A hefty trench knife was stabbed into a wooden post nearby, on another shelf sat a few bottles of Sparkle cola and a little bit of cram, a radiation suit suit and helmet sat on another shelf, neatly folded up. The only other things inside were an old hotplate and a crude spear made from a broomhandle and an old knife.

I took the meager supplies and left the little house behind, I didn't want to think about the unfortunate stallion again... But it gave me the knowledge that the wasteland was cruel and unforgiving... A solemn reminder that I might end up a horrid monster like him... Or end up dead by some other monster...

I took to the air once again and resumed the flight east... The survival guide said something about a town called___
That was supposedly very good for buying and selling things...Maybe even for some work.

I flew onward... The more east I went the more I started to see signs of civilization. Flickering lights in old buildings, camps, even a few lit up signs showed up... Then I reached someplace named Hoofington, otherwise known as "The Core" Even from miles away I could see the eerie green glow... The radioactive rivers running through the ruined city surrounding it like veins of a massive beast. I shivered at the thought of what horrid abominations lay within its walls. The guide said to avoid it at all costs, that it was far too dangerous to even get close for it to be worth anypony's time.

I took the advice and gave the eerie city a wide berth, if it was as bad as the guide led on... I wouldn't what to get near it.

The flight was uneventful other than raiders trying to take pot shots at me... And failing horribly. I reached the former city of Detrot, now it was more of a makeshift town, in the guide it detailed that the controlling faction was called, "The gun runners" and that they were very fond of non magical weapons. Supposedly they were OK to be around so long as you didn't rob them or kill their ponies... Their town was also said to be "Awsome for trading, especially weapons"

I flew down closer and heard a radio crackle on inside the cabin of my flying behemoth.

"Unknown Vertibuck,Steel rangers are unwelcome here, reverse course immediately or we will open fire."

"I am not one of the steel rangers! I repeat, not a steel ranger!" I almost yelled back, I really didn't want to get shot down so early in my journey...

"Land outside the front gate... We wish to see for ourselves..."

"Ok then... Landing now" I set down near the gate, and shut off the engines, and I waited for the guards to arrive.

In a couple minutes two maroon clad guards trotted out from the gate ajd approached the Vertibuck, one held a pistol in its magic, and the other had a battle saddle with two rifles attached to it. They gave a firm knock on the side of the cockpit.

I exited unarmed to avoid provoking them and stood before them as they scrutinized me.

"Let me ask you a couple questions... Why do you want to enter?"

"I have things to trade and Im looking for work"

"What are you trading?"

"A crate of 10mm pistols"

"now, final question... Would you, or would you not try to aquire Premwar tech even at the cost of your life."

"Odd question, but I'd much rather stay alive thank you very much"

"you're clean... Welcome to detrot... Guns are permitted so lomg as ya don't shoot first... If ya get shot at... Go nuts! They deserve it...."

"Ill be going in then... Where should I land the Vert here?"

"Park that sucker on that old building next to the hotels, the little red brick one with the flat top... That oughtta better as good a place as any"

"Thanks... Seeya round" I turned and boarded the Vertibuck once more and made a short hop to the old brick building... It somehow held the weight without much issue, I shut off again and got out to look at the derelict city... Supposedly it's main purpose before the world burned was weapons production... It certainly showed... Ancient signs littered the skyline advertising companies like Remhayton and ironshod, and the occasional sign with some odd gun or type of ammo.

Maybe I would figure out where the ubiquitous 10mm's came from... They didn't have manufacturers printed on the casing... Only a serial number and a strange marking... The one I used had a small gear stamped into its casing... Others had things like fire, apples, crystals, clouds and the like... It was all pretty weird... I locked up the Vertibuck with my pipbuck and used an old roof access door to decend to the lower floor.

The building was all but abandoned, the walls had old posters and pinups from a time long past, the counter lay in ruins, the only things remaining were small shards of glass, and bits of drywall from the ceilings.

I left out the front and looked about the town that had sprung uo from the ashes of the once bustling city.

I walked to a building with a cobbled together sign that brightly proclaimed "Lead Slingers Saloon" inletters from what looked like tons of old signs.

I pushed through the old door and walked into a lively crowd of ponies... Drinking, talking, playing cards... Probably the least depressing place id seen in my whole life. I walked up to the bar, I was greeted by a white mare with Rediculously Pink hair... Almost glow in the dark... Heck, maybe it did glow in the dark. She greeted me with a weird smile and asked me what I wanted to drink.

"Whatcha want newcomer? Booze, chems? Directions to a good prostitute?"

"Just a beer for now... Im kinda short on caps at the moment..."

"Two caps" I put the two caps on the table with a light clink, she swiped them and tossed me a mug of beer...

I hardly ever drank in the stable... Alcohol was a luxury that I usually avoided... It would make me act like a buffoon if I got too much ... I got too drunk one time and I ended up in a closet wrapped up in duct tape... Never drank that much booze ever again.

I sipped at the frothy drink and let the soothing tingle of booze calm my nerves.. The past few weeks were stressful... Always thinking in the back of my head that I was going to get killed or robbed if I didn't stay awake... I didn't heed to the wonderings much... But ot had taken its toll... I felt hopeless... I'd left the stable, into a desolate dog eat dog world with a clogged gray sky and a knife to the throats of all who dared cross it...

I was shaken from my thoughts by a hoof on my shoulder... I turned around and stared eye to eye with a mare... She wore battered combat armor, her eyes were a soft amber, her coat was a dirty indigo blue,, and her mane was almost pitch black. A single electric blue stripe ran through it, the strangest thing was that she wore a conductors hat...

"You the one who came in with the fancy ass flying thing?"

"Uhh yep?"

"I heard from the guards that you want work... Ive got work... Meet me at the old subway station south of here tomorrow morning... Shouldn't be hard to find... Just look for the green sign above the stairs downward..."

"what kinda work?"

"depends what boss wants... Courier jobs, searching jobs, headhunting... You name it... But she pays good... It might be good for ya to join her... Plus you get benefits... Protection, place to bunk up, new duds, guns ammo... All a wastelander needs... As I said... Meet me at the subway."

"Eh...why not... Seeya there."

"addaboy! Seeya round"

I finished my beer and left. I went back to the Vertibuck to grab my crate of pistols to sell and dragged it to a building with a big ass homemade revolver sign above the entrance.

I was greeted by a stallion behind a makeshift counter.

"Welcome to Bloody mess Firearms... What can I doo ya for?"

"Got some stuff ta sell off." I dragged the crate to the counter and popped it open, revealing several shiny new 10 mm pistols.

"Well Ill be damned... Ill give ya two grand for the crate... Plus ill toss in a crate of ammo for ya... You just saved my ass.."

"what now?"

"We needed more ten mils for an order out west... My boss was gonna stick my head on the wall If I didn't get him the last ten..."

"Well damn, Ill take it then,,, two grand seems fair."

"here ya go.... Feel free to shop round while I celebrate!" he hoofed me a bag of caps, and after my Pip buck organized it in my bag it turmed out to be 2200 caps... Lucky me."

I perused the store, there were mostly small arms, pistols, carbines, shortened rifles, the like, but none of it relly caught my eye.

I left with some 44 magnum ammo, some 7.62, 5.56, 12.7 and the entire 'Surplus' shotgun ammo box...AKA a shit ton of random types of shotgun ammo for dirt cheap.

I hopped over to another shop nearby and bought a plasma rifle, and a basic gauss rifle.. And a bit of ammo for each..,. .pretty funky character running the place, had a top hat and a weird saddle mounted robot arm he used for his work... I found it more disturbing than I really should have... I hucked the guns in the vertibuck and spent the night in the vert... Not the best night sleep, but good enough.

I rose the next day sorta early, ate some cram and sparkle cola, and headed toward the subway.

Author's Note

Probably gonna work on the last bit of the chapter... I just wanted to get this posted after a bazillion rewrites and plot revisions.

VI. Tails to the rails

The subway entrance was placed outside of some old office buildings just south of the Saloon.

Down below the streets sat a small station, a wrecked train lay derailed in the tunnel to the right... The left tunnel had collapsed in with age, I opened the door on the old train and crawled through it, I emerged on the other side and immediately had a gun pointed to my head.

"Who ya with"

"blue mare with black hair told me to come here... Said you have work..."

"Alright you can come in... Welcome to the underground railroad I guess..."

"Sooo.. Who you guys frienly with?" I asked hesitantly as I walked farther into the tunnel flanked by a guard.

"gun runners, and their buds, we hate the enclave and Steel rangers... Thats all you need to know..."

"Ill keep that in mind..."

The guard led me down the reain tunnel for a ways, then we took a dug out tunnel to a sealed off part of the old sewers.

Within the empty room stood a few ponies and a large raised platform with a reddish brown mare and a greenish stallion sitting on it, The guard switched places with another and he brought me to the two on the platform.

"Soo... This is the one with the flying machine? I have to say... Impressive for somepony fresh from a Stable... Allow me to welcome ya to the Underground Railroad..."

"Whatcha guys do here?"

"Our job is doing what the Gun runners can't... Going where they can't, doing the jobs that they couldn't fulfill... Pays good... And you're gonna help us one helluva lot with yer fancy flying machine... Ifn ya yoin us that is?"

"Hey... So long as Im getting paid, and I'm above those raider bastards... I ain't complaining."

"Good...alright then... We'll getcha in with us... HAY! Ironmonger! Show our new recruit the place"

"Sure thing boss!"

A big burly Zebra with a large wrennch slung over his back, walked up and led me off into one of the tunnels

"Who is she?"

"we call her and her husband the conductors... Their names are Iron lilly and Steel sledge... They're the leaders of our little group ere'"

"so...where are we going?"

"clothing storeroom... Gotta getcha suited up and give ya a tour of the place... Least the not locked places..."

"alright then... So... Whats the pay like?"

"depends on the jobs ya do... Headhunting and courier work get the best caps, normal caravaning and security gets about mid pay, and stuff like accountin, supply gathering and whatever the fuck else gets the lowest... It ain't Huge caps but it aint too shabby... Prolly the best paying courier jobs tho... By the way... If you ditch us... Youre gonna be a nice piece of abstract art on the sidewalk after we get our way... So... Keep that in mind if you're thinkin of bailing."

"Id rather not end up dead... Sooo ill take your advice on that"

"Wise choice...now... Let's get you suited up... Cant have ya walkin around looking like that..."

He led me to a storage room in the back... My EFS Heads up... Thingy said that it would be very hard to pick. Inside were a few shelves of cobbled together armor, I was hoofed a helmet with an integrated gas mask, an armored coat with rectangular pads of bullet and energy weapon resistant padding... I wasn't t well professed in armor, but the padding was made of a material often used in stables for things like thermal shielding and cut proof rope...hence my knowledge of it.

I strapped on the coat, leg guards and I hung the helmet from one of my bags. The armor had eight ballistic pads on it... Two small ones on the underbelly, four large ones on the sides and two more smaller ones across the back. And the leg guards were also made of the ballistic padding. Even though it was cobbled together It was leqgues ahead of the albeit durable, standard issue Stable barding.

As soon as I left the room a shockwave rumbled through the floor... Then the sound of a machine gun rattling off echoed through the tunnels.

A blood soaked griffon stumbled round the corner and whacked a large red button on the wall, warning buzzers began blaring , he collapsed in a heap after... I ran over to check on him...

As soon as I reached him he shoved me his weird gun and choked out a few words.

"Steel Rangers... Run..." his body went limp... I took his advice and his gun... I saw a pony in power armor march around the corner and point his gun at me. I bolted down the hall... Ironmonger saw me from where he sat and ran up to join me... I thought I felt something hit me...

The next few minutes flashed hy in an adrenaline fueled haze... Running... Shooting... Running outside.... Getting shot, scrambling to vertibuck... Getting shot again, flight... I came out of the haze at the helm of my vertibuck... Guns ready.

Without a second thought I pulled the trigger... The 30mm gatling on the chin Roared for only a couple seconds before it's ammo ran dry... But in that short time it lay waste to a group of the Steel rangers... The bullets ripped through them like they were made of tin foil... Leaving only craters and twisted hunks of metal... I spun the vert back around and poured on the coals... The engines screamed at full throttle as I ditched the town, .. I wat at the helm relieved.

"Why the fuck did they attack!?" I asked as I flew onward.

"pre war tech... They wanted something we were experimenting with... Not sure what... But there are rumors..." some mare replied from the back. I remembered vaguely that I took on passengers before I took off

"So they're not here to raid the old weapons factories..."

"usually they don't bother with those... They just take the weapon they want and leave the rest alone....although usually they leave behind carnage and death as well"

"Damn..."

"Since you're pretty new to the wasteland... Dont fly above the clouds... Even when you're comfortable enough to fly higher... Just don't, the pegasus enclave will tear you to shreds"

"ooooohhhh-kaaayyy then... Little harsh..." I recoiled a bit from the gray clouds above..."So... Where should we go?"

"theres an outpost of ours near the everfree... Its in the end of ghastly gorge opposite Ponyville... Fly there and off load us... I'd recommend leaving and hiding for awhile until commotion dies down a bit... If the rangers see this thing they'll shoot you right out of the sky... So make sure you keep it hidden for awhile... Maybe repaint it... I don't know..."

"Thanks for tha advice... Any suggestions where I could camp out?"

"Old military outpost in the everfree... It has a hangar built into a cliff face... Just watch out for the animals there"

"Got it... By the way... What's your name?"

"I'm Thermite... You are?"

"Source Code.... Call me what you will..."

"You should probably make an alias... The rangers probably already know who you are... Crafty shits they are... Id also recommend keeping your rump covered... If they don't know the name, they might know your mark... So watch out"

"Thanks for the tip... I think we're coming up on the gorge, any particular way to bring it in?"

"Low through the canyon... But not sow low as to piss off the giant angry eel things"

"Here goes everything, hold on to something!" I dropped low and flew a slalom through the twisting rock walls of the canyon, it wasnt too terribly tight, but it still made my hair stand on end, last second I stopped hard and came down in front of the shanty camp thing set up around what looked to be an old mine dug into the cliff face. I kept the engones going angel just dropped the back ramp, the five or so UGR soldiers that I saved climbed out and entered the nearest shack with a large symbol like the ones on fist aid kits painted across some sheet metal.

I took off again and flew into the everfree as instructed... I left the landing gear open and touched down again a few minutes later once I found the still reasonably unobstructed landing pad.

I slowly flew into the hole in the foliage and carefully set down on the ancient concrete pad... I shut of the main engines and folded the wings and rotors... Under the canopy sat several small buildings, a broken radar dish, an old air traffic control tower and a small runway which now had overhanging trees obstructing it.

I used the taxiing motors in the wheels to trundle slowly to the hangar door, once there I climbed from the craft and shoved the rusty door open, I taxid in and parked up near an old plane which somehow managed to look like it was more vines than plane,

I shut down the reactor with the flip of a switch and got out into the utterly alien world of the everfree forest... I shit the hangar door and made my way to the closest building to me.

Once I lead picked the rusted old lock I walked into what looked like barracks... Skeletons lay in bed some in states of dismemberment, probably from the animals that survived the balefire eating the corpses. The patches on some of the coats were labeled "758th airborne reconnaissance devision" and had a picture of a pegasus lookomg down with some binoculars at a big crosshair on the ground... I grabbed one of the coats that wasn't totally turned to crumbly dust and beat it out a bit, sticks, dirt and Luna knows what came out of the coat. I rolded it and tossed ot in my bag and left.

The building the next was the tower, in the entrance building was almost empty save for a few discarded pieces of clothing for some weird reason

"Clothes but no bodies in them... Weird" I mused to myself

At the back of the room was an entrance to the tower, and below the stairs was a hatch leading down, I went up the tower first, after avoiding a few collapsed stairs I made it to the top...atop the tower sat an old observation room, the glass had long since shattered, leaving only empty frames where plants had begun to grow through the windows. Only a few Skeletons lay on the old computer terminals... One still looked to be working... Gotta love the pre war engineers for building their stuff to last.

I hacked in without too much issue and looked at the files presented to me... Most of them were logs of the in and outbound aircraft... But a few stood out, several files were labeled things like "Diary" and then a number, and one labeled "Last entry" I began to read the first of the four entries.

Diary entry 1
Year of harmony 1011,

Today was stressful... The war effort is struggling... At least thats what the ministries say... Supposedly theyre working on some new tech to help out on the front... Of course theyre not telling us what it is... But I can only hope it helps bring the zebras to their knees.

My family bought a space in a stable somewhere... Stable 6 I think... Maybe it was 8... At least they might be spared... Meanwhile Im stuck way out here in this death trap while the government hauls around their secrets...

Diary entry 2
YOH 1013

Bad news.... New project is being shipped in from out west... Some group of crazies says they have something... For some reason a steel crate with tendrils poking out of the air holes, woth a giant red warning label doesn't bode well.
Tempers Are high around here... Ministries are keeping us in the dark... Especially AJ In the MWT... So we have no idea what to put on the cargo manifests for the aircraft that fly through here... Hence why accounting and management are freaking out about how to log this crap.

Entry 3
YOH 1020

Been awhile since I wrote an entry... Its pretty bad outside... Balefire bombs just dropped out east... Everthing is pandemonium... I hope I dont get swept into it... Hopefully my folks are OK.

Diary entry 4 Last words
YOH... Who knows anymore.

Ive been stranded here for ages... My body finally decided that it's gonna kick the bucket... Might as well give my last words.

If anypony finds this... Fuck the zebras right in the plot with a rusty shovel... And I just want to say that I regret taking this job... Ive caused so much suffering by association with the unjust bigots in the ministy science departments... For that Im sorry... Staff seargent Silver feather Signing off.

I shut off the terminal... Another sad story from the past... And another innocent life burned by the radiation and enervation of the years must after the bombs fell.

I climbed back down, remaining silent out of respect for those who had to suffer through the flames of the last day.

I reached the hatch and looked down, the steel hatch was labeled 'breaker box' in faded red letters.

I expected it to be locked but instead I pulled the rusty old door open with a loud screech, and only a bit of effort. Inside sat a shaft leading down... The breaker box hung from its cables a little ways down... Obviously an old secret hatch leading down... But as time marched on the hinges broke and the breaker box fell into the shaft it was concealing.

I climbed down the old ladder, being careful not to put too much weight on any one rung... I reached the dark bottom without much issue and I flicked on the pip buck light... The soft amber light casting strange shadows as I skowly walked through the dusty old basement.

The air smelled damp and moldy... Somewhat like the lower levels of the vault where water treatment was conducted.

Across the room I saw another terminal, a wall mounted one... Its case was rusted but it somehow still functioned... As evidenced by the telltale glow of the screen. I trotted to the old terminal and unlocked it with a bit of hacking... Not that secure... But probably enough considering this place was probably pretty well hidden at one point, I looked at the options onscreen. Four options presented themselves.

[statement of safe delivery of Project H31a]
[unlock storeroom]
[unlock Armory]
[unlock generator room]

I selected the first item, a short text statement opened up onscreen.

Note: statement archive file is placed on this terminal temporarily

To the researchers at "Biotech Labs" The crates containing project portions H31a, H31a-1 and H31a-2 have been checked and have been scheduled for shipping to Hoofington to The Ministry of wartime technology. Unfortunately due to equipment and staff issues, portions H31a-3, 4, and 5 are being stowed at our facility temporarily while we solve the issues present on base, delivery should not be delayed more than two buisiness weeks

Description of items being delayed.

H31a-3: A particle beam weapon for use as a suppressive fire and support weapon or for mounting to battle saddle pintles or to H31a . to be used in conjunction with other portions of project, Crate is orange and has the project number labeled on the front.

H31a-4: long range gauss rifle like weapon, classified as a "Shoulder fired Rail cannon" fires assorted enchanted ammunition at immense velocity. Crate is similar to companion portions of project.

H31a-5'; pony mounted battle saddle system designed to accomodate up to 4 weapons, and assist with targeting, Designed to be fitted to H31a in conjunction with other portions of project.

Both other portions of project are described in archive file 2277 in the main computer.

I switched off the terminal and began exploring the dimly lit and frankly gross and damp basement.

Author's Note

barely edited, and probably needs a fair bit of reworking on the grammar bits.

Change of Face

A/N: I know this chapter is rough, practically unfinished at worst... But I just wanted to get it out there since I haven't been posting a lot...

I wandered aimlessly through the damp basement, the pipbuck's amber glow illuminating the moss and molds on the wall in an eerie way, similar to an old sci fi horror movie that the stable showed a few times in the atrium.

Its title was "Beyond Knowledge" and although the stable as a whole seemed to see the movie as bad, I liked it, The effects were good, and It had a good layered story...and even a couple sequels, I managed to put the movies on a few tapes to watch in my spare time, even though the screen on my pipbuck was monochromatic.

I shook myself from memory lane and returned to reality where I kept digging through the old basement...not much was down here, a few crates. maybe some archived tapes water damaged beyond repair. then I got to a heavy door on the far side of the room, the plastic sign beside the door read " Armory, Only personnel with class 5 security clearance or higher allowed" the door was unlocked so I gave it a shove, inside were a few remaining weapons, some still crated, along with a bit of ammo.

I looted what I could... Although none of the guns in the entry were there... Although I did save the data entry for future reference if any of them turned up.

I returned to the ground floor and began to search around for anything else useful.

I only found a few other things on the base... if it was evacuated 200 years ago I could assume that to be the reason for the lack of stuff to find.

The only thing of note besides some canned food was a Sprite-bot... cobbled together and patched up with old scraps of metal. It's little ball chassis had 4 long silvery wings and a Laser gun or at least it would have had 4 wings, one broke in half, It also seemed to have a few extra antennae than a normal sprite bot.

From what I could tell it was the hangar's radio and a makeshift security bot.

on its side an old license plate was used as a patch..It read 2ED-E59, the most ledgible of the letters Read ED-E

"ED-E.....Eddie...perfect name"

I stared at its little silvery wings for a sec to make sure that I could repair them. the answer was probably no

I hadn't seen many... if any sprite-bots on my journey. I might have caught a glimpse of one cruising along during my trek to the old airbase, but other than that I only knew what it was from the sprite-bots used as an extension of the PA system in the lower levels of the stable where the normal system didn't reach. So getting a wing may be hard.

Back in the hangar I began to formulate a plan for what I should do... repainting the Vert was easy, or unnecessary at best, but changing myself would be immensely hard...But If I pulled it off, I could say that I "Killed" the original pilot of the vert and took it as my own. Problem being I had no clue where I could find the equipment to do something even as simple as Dye my hair a different color.

I began to dig through the WSG for some answers,
It revealed very little about what I could do.

I had been brainstorming for hours about what to do, And I had a sliver of a plan.

In the end I decided to throw caution to the wind and just try to avoid the rangers and carry more ammo.

I Decided to Begin trying to fix "Eddie" as I had begun to call it.

Mechanically it was't hard to fix, most of the parts I needed I could take from the broken security robots littering the base.
Thank Luna they didn't still work.

The only real problem I found was getting a new wing to replace one that was broken in half

To allow me to still use the robot I removed the other 3 wings and carefully stowed them, That way it wouldn't be able to fly, so I could debug the code inside without it constantly wobbling around on 3 wings.

The code in the robot was very different from what it may have been originally, instead of just navigation and radio, this thing was loaded with security protocols, EFS, and even a basic AI...

In the survival guide I found out why.

Apparently Sprite-bots were popular with pre war hobbyists as platforms for projects because they were cheap and easy to work with. and many were fitted to be little robotic guard dogs... some still functioned well enough to still be capable of killing.

I strapped eddie to my back and carried him and the rest of my newfound loot to the vertibuck.

I loaded it all in, as I strapped the rest of my gear and suplies down I noticed the strange gun the dying griffon had shoved into my grasp before he died...

it was very peculiar to say the least, it looked like somepony cannibalized a train to make it... the barrel was a long piece of tubing inside of a large shroud that covered most of the outer barrel. '

below the barrel there was more piping, which was also encompassed by tubing.

the "reciever" was bulky and complex. it had many small intricate pipes and some moving parts, as well as a few faded old pressure and temperature guages.

And apparently the damn thing was steam powered.

the ammunition was probably the strangest part.

instead of railroad spikes like the rest of the similar rifles fired, this thing shot what looked to be long slender darts made of scrap aluminum and steel.

the rifle was configured more as a long range weapon, a strange scope sat on top, and the barrel was long, and posessed a bi-pod. But at least it had a hand grip rather than a mouth bit, so I could take advantage of my hands.

I slung it across my back and put the weapon I had there previously with the rest of the things in the cargo bay.

I made one last sweep of the base and scavenged what I could from the few remaining aircraft.

With newfound confidence in my ability to fend for myself I took my place at the helm of my beloved aircraft. with whirring clicks and the sounds of computers and engines firing up the wing bracers locked into place. I spooled the two massive engines and listened to the beautiful howling whine combined with buffeting of rotors,

Today was a good day to fly...

I took to the air and began my trek east once again... Hopefully to somewhere with less Steel rangers.

I flew up to just below the clouds and skimmed the thin barrier between me and.... the enclave above...maybe.

all went well until something scared the crap out of me...

From above me something fell... and hit the windscreen of my vertibuck... the thing that happened to be bestowed upon me by the pegasi up above... was a piece of shit... which was now splattered across the front of my vertibuck... nasty.

The clumpy greenish brown sludge was disgusting... I nearly threw up after I realised what it was.

The wipers on the vertibuck were... probably not what wipers should really ought to be... instead of a nice plyable rubber blade to squeegee things from the window, they were 200 years old, crusty, and brittle. This combined with the sludgey nasty mass on my window... the wipers did nothing to clean anything... instead it seemed content to paint a brownish green smear across the window... like a foal with the nastiest paint ever...

"Well celestia fuck me right up the ass, that's fucking nasty!" at least it wasn't a pony... or maybe it once was... I had no clue how the enclave worked... who knows, they could be highly organised flying cannibals...

I forced that image from my mind in favor of landing so I could remove the unsightly shit stains.

I settled on landing near a small creek.

I got out and looked at the horrifying mass of brown splattered across my aircraft... then I noticed the smell.

I almost puked at the ungodly stench of it, I ran to the cargo hold and grabbed an old gas mask.. I had no clue whether it still worked... but if it would keep me from smelling it I was happy.

I pulled it over my head and gave a cautionary breath... thank luna I only smelled rubber and whatever was in the filter.

I grabbed a broom I stole from the base (because...why not?) and dunked it into the at least somewhat clean stream.

with a few solid minutes of scrubbing, I finally removed the horrendous mess...

"That was disgusting" I said almost sarcastically as I tossed the ruined broom aside. Honestly it was far beyond any description of how disgusting it was... all I could say about it was that I was glad it was over.

With new determination I took off again and began my trek back eastward...

"hmm, I wonder how ponyville fared" I pondered.

Author's Note

yes, ED-E exists in my story...because he's awesome.

heres a picture of him as a sprite bot I found on deviantart

https://img10.deviantart.net/c835/i/2014/237/d/4/2ed_e59_by_sadlylover-d7wlzzb.png

This chapter is REALLY rough... I just shot it up to get another one posted after a whole lot of nothing.