Fallout: Equestria Destinies Alinged

(Ratchet Sparks)

Upon landing I felt blood running down my leg. It was the first time I had ever seen this much blood, but that was fine. It was the stinging pain I couldn't stand.

Broken Sword landed next to me and took my hoof in his. He then took out some cloth and wrapped up my wound, a large gash cut out by a bullet, in the bandage. Blood nearly instantly soaked through it. He then took out a near empty bottle of liquor.

"If it hurts, drink this." He said calmly. Broken uncapped it and I took it in my mouth, guzzling it down.. As it went down the drink burned my throat, I spat out the now empty bottle and cried out.

"Yuck!" I couldn't believe something could taste so awful!

"For the love of Celestia, you're just as bad as Cherish." Broken said disappointedly. "If you're hurtin' it'll kill the pain a bit."

"Who's Cherish?"I asked, clueless.

"Cherish was... She was my mate, I guess you could say... She was just..." Broken trailed off. "I'm sorry but I'm not sure if I can tell this right now. Too many open wounds." He looked off into the distance in thought.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, I didn't know..."I apologized, looking away. "That must be rough." It felt strange to be giving sympathy to this pony.

"Don't be. You didn't know so no harm done." Broken put a hoof on my shoulder, and gave me a half-hearted smile "Come on, we probably need to put some more distance between us and those raiders."

I nodded in reply, leading the way to the nearest road.

Broken followed along. "Where do you think we should head? I don't really know the area." He admitted.

"Me either, I've never even been outside the city." I said, untroubled my this. "But, I know if we follow that road we'll make it to the next town over, Candlestead."

"You seem awfully calm about all this..." Broken says, unsure as he stumbles on a rock.

"Of course I do," I relplied. " I remember what my ma always told me, that if anything ever happened that I had family in Candlestead and all I had to do was tell them my name, and they'd help me."

"Good to hear, I was starting to think we were gonna have to work from dust...." Broken said before falling silent, letting me take the lead.

Soon enough a town appeared in the distance. Smoke rose from chimneys and the sounds of talking could be heard.

As we walked into the town, it's became clear that the main road was a market place. But, there were very few weapon smiths or armorers. Instead the main commodity seemed to be... Junk. Piles of useless trash such as souvenirs, empty soda bottles, and more seemed to be what was selling. There were of course, food stands, and one stall sold weapons. Another sold chems but the main event was the garbage.

Broken took a look around "Could be worse I guess. Have any idea about where your folks are at?"

I let out a bout of nervous laughter. "No clue, momma just told me they run a detective agency." I informed him, stopping in the middle of the bustling marketplace

"For fuck's sake..." Broken puts a hoof to his face, and stopped beside me, just before his stomach starts to growl. "Alright... You hungry?"

I nodded yes emphatically and pointed to a stall heaping with bread, carrots, apples, mutfruit and more. The stall was run by a light yellow pony with a purple mane. Her cutiemark was a tree.

The mutfruit looked especially good. I loved the tart taste of mutfruit. It was also tangy with a dry fruit under think skin.

Broken checked his pack and found a small bag of caps, while also checking out what he brought from home. Then looks to the stall vendor "How much for each?"

The stall owner looked at Broken sourly, but her expression quickly changed when she noticed me and she softened visibly. "Three caps for a piece of fruit, five caps for the bread." She says, talking to Broken but looking at me.

"You don't have to get me anything." I said, breaking eye contact with the shopkeeper.

"You gotta eat too." Broken says, taking out everything in the bag, but only 10 caps come out. "Well then... A piece of fruit for me, and bread for my friend.... You know about any detective agency around here? She's looking for her folks." he nods towards me.

I mumble a thank you as the shopkeeper begins to speak.

The mare running the stand smiled and gave Broken the food he asked for, taking eight caps. "You're looking for the Heartstrings, they live south of town, just follow the signs." She says, pointing to one of the signs. It reads "Heartstrings Detective Agency" and points down an alleyway.

"But, I'm not a Heartstrings, I'm a Sparks!" I said incredulously.

Broken chuckled. "Sometimes family names change." He told me, giving me the bread. I nodded back. I had some questions as to how the name changes, but I figured I'd save it for the Heartstrings.

"Thanks for the info, keep the rest." He said to the shop keeper, leaving his two other caps on the stall. Broken took a look around, as if trying to find something.

I bit into my bread and flavor filled my mouth. The oats on top were toasted to perfection and the bread had the perfect consistency. "Mmmmmmm!" I said, mouth full.

Broken smiled and ate his fruit in two bites, while keeping his eyes trained on a particular alleyway. "Tell me when you're ready to go see your folks Rach. Somethin's stinking here, but I ain't sure what." He said with a warning tone.

I gave Broken a skeptical look and looked where he was, the empty alley. "If the smell bothers you, let's move along to see my family." I said, looking back to him.

Broken gave me a strange look, maybe it was disbelief on his face. "Nevermind, let's just go." He then tossed the core of the fruit aside and made his way over to the Heartstring's detective agency.

*** *** ***

We followed sign after sign until we reached an old beat up metal building with a rusted roof and new rain gutters.

A flickering neon sign on the building read "Heartstrings Detective Agency, Partners in Justice"

The entire place had an ominous feeling about it that only grew as the sky became darker and darker.

"I don't like this place." I announced defiantly, making any trace of fear in my body flee.

Broken turned and gave me a reassuring look, which looked very out of place on him, and then went inside. I had no choice but to follow.

The inside was a complete mess. it was by far was the second largest room I had ever seen. (The first being our town hall back in Oasis.) Inside was a neat wooden desk covered in papers, and several rusted filing cabinets lined the walls.

Two ponies stood in the room. One was a minty green Unicorn stallion with a black mane, and the other was a light brown Earthpony mare with a blue mane. They both wore trench coats and fedoras.

The mare looked surprised to see us, while the former gave her the 'I told you so' look.

Much to my surprise Broken laughed out loud. "You're the stallion I saw spying on us."

I turned to Broken. "I'm sorry, but what now?"

"Guilty as charged, sir, you've got quite the eye." The stallion replied. Apparently nopony was going to answer me.

"So, you're part of her family?" Broken asked them with a smile.

"If that there is Sparks." The strange stallion said, leaning on the desk.

The Earthpony spoke up. "That is our daughter, isn't it?" She asked, her hazel eyes full of hope. Daughter? What in haystacks...

"Wait Ratchet... Didn't you say that you're mother and father were with you over at the other town." Broken looked towards me for an answer.

"Sure did!" I replied, happy as ever. "But I always did wonder why I'm not a Bat-pony if they were. Actually, the whole town was Bat-ponies!" I shrugged. "They just told me I fell outta the sky one night and I never questioned it."

"You mean they didn't tell you?!" Asked the couple before us in horror.

"Well... I guess not, or they didn't get the chance before the town was burned down." Broken said casually.

The Earthpony suddenly started to cry and the unicorn held her close. "Did raiders finally get to Oasis?" He asks as tears come to his eyes.

"Yep... Hate to say it, but I couldn't find any other survivors other then Rach here." Broken wavered a bit when he looked at me.

The stallion turns pale and looks as if he may faint."R-rach huh?" He asks faintly. "What's her full name?"

"My name's Ratchet Sparks." I interrupted the second Broken opened his mouth.

"Ratchet Sparks?" The Earthpony asks, clearing her nose with a nearby tissue. "They kept part of the name we gave you after all."

"What was my name before?" I asked.

"Sparky Heartstrings." replied the stallion.

"Hey, Ratchet, I'm gonna step out, you catch up with your folks, alright?" Broken said to me before stepping out.

*** *** ***

Footnote: Level up! New perk, Empathy: Reaction levels are shown when in an in-depth conversation