Fallout Equestria: We Lucky Few

Chapter 5 - A Whole New World

Black.

Everything was completely black.

All I could do was think, which was odd. I knew all too well that whatever was currently happening to me wasn't good by any means, but I was strangely calm, or should I say numb, to the whole situation. It was almost as if I was in a weird in-between stage of consciously sleeping and completely brain dead. Or perhaps It was like I was drifting in and out of sleep ... It was hard to say. Still, it felt vaguely familiar. It loosely reminisced the late nights of working stable security where I would be too tired to move, but was still conscious enough to at least be aware of my surroundings.

That being said, this was somehow completely different at the same time, as I wasn't able to open my eyes no matter how hard I tried. I was occasionally able to hear and smell things, but every single time that happened it would be so brief and broken up that the odds of making anything out from it were slim to none.

And to top it all off, every single time where it seemed as if I was coming out of whatever the hell I was in, I would be greeted by a completely numbing pain that would nearly instantly send me back into my mentally aware nap.

Everything was just odd. I could think, but without emotion. I could hear, but nothing made sense. I could smell, but nothing was familiar. I could even see, but everything was black.

I knew all too well what was going on. I knew that I was unconscious. I knew that I was being taken away somewhere. I knew that everything I had known and loved was either dead or destroyed, and if I were able to feel anything right now, I would both infuriated and scared.

Maybe this was it. Maybe I was actually dead and this was simply what death was like. Just numbly sitting in the darkness with nothing more than an emotionless version of your conscious mind that was simply able to look back and reflect on everything that had ever happened in your life.

Was this really it? Was this death? I mean, even it it was, I was still me in thought, wasn't I? And if that was the case, wouldn't this just drive somepony to insanity? How long would I have to endure this? Maybe I wasn't just dead, but I was instead sent to the Pits of Tartarus like the evil ponies from my foalhood story books.

No.

No.

That was silly. I mean, none of that was real, was it? Who's to say?

Wait ... something is off. I could feel ... something. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but I could just tell that it felt like a part of me was slowly but surely coming back. Perhaps my hearing? No, that wasn't it, everything still sounded like I was trapped in a void of white noise. Something made me think it could have been my sight, but that wasn't quite it either as when I went to open my eyes an odd feeling as if that wasn't even a bodily function anymore seemed to sweep over me.

I continued to go ever basic functions in my head, all to no prevail. It wasn't until I noticed myself getting truly frustrated until I finally noticed what my mind was slowly regaining: My emotions.

I was starting to be able to feel and think clearly again. I was sad, scared, nervous, angry, and a slew of others. I wanted to react how I normally would, but I still couldn't. I tried forcing my eyes open once again, but was again met with the absent feeling of not being able to.

I continued to mentally struggle with myself, trying over and over to force myself to at least do something! And, as I continued, the more I would regain. It wasn't much longer until I began to make progress.

I could see something through the darkness. It was bright, like a stereotypical light at the end of a dark tunnel. Naturally, almost as if I was working off of instinct, I headed towards it, as it could only have meant two things: That I was officially dead and was moving on to some sort of afterlife, or that I was finally regaining full consciousness. I slowly crept closer to the light, and with each growing inch everything seemed to become more clear. My memories and emotions returned, and I swore that I was actually able to feel things again.

I then felt myself take a sudden deep breath of not so fresh air as I was practically transferred back into my body, my eyes finally shooting open in the process causing me to take in everything nearly all at once, which did ensue a bit of internal panic.

The first thing I had noticed was the air. It was cold and foreign, the cool breeze seeming to cut through my fur and chill me to the bone. The next was the slew of foreign noises, which primarily consisted of crazed talking and laughter, metal clashing, harsh winds, insects, and what I had assumed to be the crackling of a fire. Still, it was oddly quiet compared to the Stable's constant humming of generators and near expired light bulbs. The feelings of dirt and crumbled stone beneath my hooves honestly made me feel rather odd, as it was a completely new sensation compared to my life of trotting upon the Stable's solid, metallic flooring. It wasn't until I had attempted to stand when I noticed that I was also trapped, causing me to fall into an even deeper, much more vocal panic.

Nervous tears began rolling down my face as I attempted to take in my new and highly unsettling surroundings. I was trapped in a small, rusty cage that was barely big enough to fit a single pony inside. The mixture of wooden and metal bars being just thick enough to prevent any sort of clue as to what exactly everything looked like outside of the cage but just thin enough to allow light to peer through the cracks. All of my belongings, including my pipbuck, were gone. I had caked up blood covering nearly my entire body, more than half of it easily not being my own. Either way, it had caused my fur to be matted and full of disgusting knots. I began to look around for some sort of way out, but was left with nothing more than a small, coin sized hole in what was apparently the lid to the cage.

I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was safe to say that I was no longer within the safety of Stable 76. I looked up through the small hole to be greeted with what seemed to be a never ending void that was met with dark grey and brown clouds that covered the entirety of what was apparently supposed to be the sky, which, quite frankly, terrified me. In all honestly, that pretty much summed up everything I was feeling right now.

I was completely and utterly terrified.

I was in an unknown place, outside of the Stable, and was trapped inside a rusty cage with ... wait a minute.

It was amongst my terror that I came to realize exactly why my neck was as stiff as it was. Apparently, I was wearing something after all ... but I couldn't exactly say that I knew what that something was.

It was a sort of thick, metal collar that was anything but comfortable. It restricted movement, chafed my skin, and it ... beeped? Odd. The sound was faint, but I could have sworn that the damned contraption was emitting a very soft beeping noise. I had attempted to pry it off, but every time I tugged on it the beeping would seem to speed up, greatly discouraging me from even attempting to tamper with the crude device.

I was now in far more of a panic. My skin felt as if it was crawling, and the fact that I couldn't see much outside of the cage was causing me to be both highly claustrophobic and extremely frightened. I noticed that I was beginning to hyperventilate as legitimate tears of fright began to escape from my eyes. It wasn't long until I was bawling like that of a newborn foal, practically laying in a fetal position with my hooves covering my eyes and tail tucked in between my legs as denial began to set in.

It was official. I one hundred percent had wished that I was dead right now. At least then I would be with everypony that I had known and loved ... at least then I would still have Ivory by my side for comfort.

"No ... " I weeped. "This can't be happening. Please ... Somepony save me." I bawled as I looked up through the hole and into the murky sky, watching as some sort of winged creature circled overhead.

"Trust me ... " A light, defeated sounding voice spoke from somewhere off to my left. "Nopony is coming."

My ears perked up in confusion as I wiped the tears from my face I slightly sat up in an attempt to find where exactly the voice came.

"H-hello?" I stuttered, almost believing that I was already beginning to go crazy. "Is somepony there? Where am I? What's going on?" I was viciously thrashing about in the small cage as I attempted to spot the source of the voice.

"I'm over here idiot." The voice spoke up once again as it's source tapped on the side of my cage, still sounding monotone and emotionless. I wasn't able to see the other pony through the thick bars of the cage, but I was at least able to pinpoint his or her location.

"Hello? Who's there? Can you help me?" I frantically spoke, nearly stumbling over my words as I wiped the last of my tears from my face.

"Calm down." The voice responded, seeming to sound female. "There's no use in crying. If you're quiet, they'll at least make it quick."

A great number of red flags went off in my head upon hearing this.

"No. Come on, please tell me what's going on! Where am I? Please, tell me something!" I was practically screaming at this point.

"Keep your damn voice down!" She sternly spoke through the walls of my cage. "Look, I don't know who you are or why you're in here, but all I can tell you is that if you keep going on like that, then our lives are gonna be a helluva lot shorter than they already are."

"But ... I don't understand. This is all so new to me. Please, just tell me what's going on!" I continued on, refusing to silence myself until I had received a suitable answer.

"What do you mean you don't know what's going on? You came into Baltimare Raider Territory just like everypony else trapped in this damn slaver town, and just like the rest of us, you got caught. So, if you don't be quiet, were all gonna end up with a knife in the neck by the end of the day!"

What in the world was this mare on about? Baltimare Raider territory? Slavers? And why did she sound so content with all of this? It was almost as if she thought this was normal! I needed answers, I just honestly didn't know where to start at this point!

"So ... are you gonna keep your mouth shut? Or are we all gonna have to suffer because you wanted to ask too many damn questions?" The mare continued through the muffled sounds of the cages.

"Can ... Can I please ask one single thing? I'll be quiet afterwards, I swear." I begged.

"If I answer it will you finally shut the hell up?" She responded, her voice being more than enough to tell me that she more than likely had an annoyed look on her face.

"Promise." I stated, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Ugh." She scoffed. "Make it quick."

"Okay. I'm not from here. I grew up my entire life inside of Stable 76, and I just want to know where I am and what's going on." I quickly blurted out, only to be met with a long, almost awkward pause.

"So ... You really don't know, do you?" She answered my question with another as she let out a long, drawn out sigh. "I almost envy that."

"Please, this is all so new to me. Please, help me." I continued to beg for answers.

"All I can tell you is that you're in a place called the Baltimare Blood Pits, a slaver town connected to the outskirts of Baltimare Raider Pact territory. Before the war, Baltimare was some sort of large city, a metropolis if you will. But nowadays, the entire city has been converted into the largest raider settlement in all of Equestria. And Stable 76, your home, was smack dab in the middle of it. So, if I can offer you two things of advice now that you're a slave like the rest of us."

"Yes, please." I eagerly responded, still attempting to take in every horrible detail that I had just learned.

"One, it's always best to keep your mouth shut around raiders. Two, never mention the name Nguvu." She whispered through the walls of the cages.

"Umm ... Who is-"

"You there!" I was cut off by a booming voice somewhere outside of the cages. "What the fuck did you just say?"

And just like that, I was scared again. I listened through the thick cage as the sounds of hoof steps grew closer to my location, even more crazed laughter seeming to fill the air as the, what I now could assume was a raider pony, grew closer.

"Who's the little bitch who just said the Overboss's name? Huh?" The voice was male, and sounded very dry and strained. It was a voice of pure insanity. "Oh come on now, one of you bitches better speak up, or else I'm gonna have to come in there myself and teach you a thing or two about respect!"

It almost sounded as if he was directly on top of my cage now. I didn't know what to do. Should I say something? Do I stay quiet? The other pony next to me said I should stay quiet around raiders, but this was nearly mind breaking!

"I'm gonna give you sluts to the count of three, and if one of ya's don't speak up, then my knife's gonna be a helluva lot dirtier than it was a second ago." I could now hear the sounds of more ponies approaching, more sounds of giggling and snickers filling the air in the process.

"One!" He screamed, a hoof slamming into the top of my cage as a bloodshot, lime green eye of a stallion peered in through the small hole, causing me to whimper in fear.

"Two!" The eye then left, the sound of banging on the cage to the left of mine immediately followed.

"Thr-"

"It was me!" The pony who had answered my questions spoke up from within her cage. "I am the one who said the name Nguvu." Her voice sounded oddly confident despite the fact that she was more than likely putting herself in great danger.

"Oh is that right now?" The raider pony laughed. "Spike Strip, bring me a crowbar!"

Intense sounds of laughter and conversation filled the air, obscenities that have never before even been thought of were now filling my ears as the evident crowd of other raider ponies outside of the cages began to get riled up.

"Oh man, I'm gonna teach this sorry bitch a lesson!" The main raider pony then verbally grinned as he smashed open the cage next to mine, sounds of struggle ensued as the female pony who had just helped me was violently drug out.

I was unable to see what was going on, but I had a feeling that I did not want to see what was going on anyway.

"Any last words you little unicorn bitch? Or you want me to go ahead and get to the fun part?" The raider snarled.

"Yeah. Your Overboss, Nguvu, as well as the rest of you sorry sons of bitches, can sit on my horn and spin." Her words came out confident and clean, as if she was satisfied with her choice of oddly instigating words.

"Oh you're gonna fuckin' get it now!" The raider grunted with frustration as the sounds of something being brutally beaten echoed throughout my cage.

The next few seconds felt like an eternity. I could hear every little gruesome detail. I could hear bone's breaking, skin ripping, and ponies chanting as the pony who had just helped me was ruthlessly murdered.

"Rip out her fucking tongue!" A pony screamed.

"Choke her with her intestines!" Another added in.

"Cut off her horn and make her eat it!" Another yelled.

This continued on for what felt like hours. I was now once again resting in the fetal position, tail tucked in between my hind legs and hooves covering my eyes as I wept into the dirt. What hell had I been transported into? What has become of the world? Was this now going to be my life? Was it even worth living?

Thoughts like this echoed throughout my mind as the carnage outside slowly began to die down, the pony who was savagely beating the pony who helped me seeming to finally grow tired as the sounds of beating slowed. I knew all to well that the sounds of my crying were more than loud enough to be heard, but I didn't care. I needed to at least get all of this out of my system so I could think clearly, but then I remembered that I needed to remain silent if I didn't want to end up like the pony who's life had just needlessly and ruthlessly ended.

But I was to late.

"Oh, sounds like we got ourselves a whiner!" A female sounding pony seemingly shrieked with excitement as a different, this time light blue eye peered in through the top of my cage. "Hey Crossbones, bring that crowbar over here, I got some stress I wanna work out."

Oh Celestia no. This was it, I was about to be brutally beaten and murdered just like the pony before me. No, I couldn't do this. I couldn't let them do this. I had to fight it, I had to do something!

"No, please!" I loudly whimpered as the door to my cage crumbled, the sudden burst of light from the now seemingly very vast outside world bearing down on me. The first thing I saw was a pale blue coated, yellow bloodstained maned female earth pony standing in front of me, a blood-soaked crowbar clenched within her teeth.

"Come on out little bitch, I ain't gonna kill ya, I'm just gonna hurt ya really, really bad!" She mumbled through her teeth.

I didn't know what to do, so I panicked by swinging my hoof directly into her jaw, the crowbar crashing to the ground. I saw this as a chance, and decided to retaliate by picking up the disgusting crowbar for myself. I went to swing down on the crazed earth pony to defend myself, but was nearly instantly halted as a loud noise of thunder filled the air.

*Bang*

I then felt an immense pain shoot throughout my hind left leg, causing me to wince in pain as I crashed to the ground. I had just been shot.

"Oh, we got a feisty one. The boss is gonna love ripping you to shreds." The male unicorn with the bloodshot, lime green eyes and seemingly dark brown coat grinned, a small firearm being levitated above his head. According to the crossbones cutie mark he had, it was safe to say that this was the pony known as Crossbones.

"Yeah, but not until I have some fun with her first!" The female raider pony who I had just hit said as she climbed up off of the ground, pulling a small knife from a pouch on her side. "You're gonna regret what you just did you little cunt!"

She then climbed on top of me, the strong aroma emitting from her being enough to make my eyes water. I was in such a panic that my brain wasn't even allowing me to fight her off as she placed the blade firmly against my side and began slowly slicing upwards. I was frozen in fear and shock. The pain in my leg was already enough to make me want to pass out, so the added pain of my skin separating as this raider sliced my side open was more than enough to make me want to call it quits, but I knew if I did I would more than likely wake up in an even worse place, or perhaps just not wake up at all.

So I endured it.

I endured it for as long as I possibly could.

My vision began to blur, and my mind began to numb itself as everything began to fade to darkness once again. I was dreadfully close to death at this point.

"Hey fuck face!" A different, far deeper and more powerful sounding voice emitted from amongst the broken up laughter and ringing in my ears. "How about you stop killing the damned merchandise?"

The voice sounded close, and the sounds from its footsteps were heavy, far heavier than that of any pony. As it grew closer, I felt the raider pony finally get off of me as she began apologizing to whomever had spoken up.

"Sorry Boss. It's just this bitch was a bit of a whiner, so I wanted to give her something to cry-"

"And you honestly think I give a shit?" The very obviously male voice interrupted. "That piece of meat there is a Stable Dweller, meaning she'll catch a nice price on the slaver markets. So, either you all leave her unharmed, or else you're gonna have to meet me in the Blood Pit."

I slowly looked up at the extremely dominant sounding voice, being caught highly off guard when I realized what exactly it was. It wasn't pony, zebra, or any other kind of equine race, but rather a Griffon. He was large, easily dwarfing the raider pony who he had just practically pulled off of me. His armor was, while still rather ratty looking, far more exquisite and protective compared to the other raiders that I had seen despite it being riddled with what appeared to be bullet markings. To top off his already intimidating look, he seemed to be extremely battled hardened due to his extremely large amount of scars covering parts of his body that his armor already wasn't. However, two of these scars, or rather wounds I should say, were far more eye catching compared to the rest: His missing eye and the small nub where his left wing would have been placed. As if this wasn't enough, he carried an extremely large weapon with him, almost as if a sort of icing on top of the cake. I couldn't exactly say what it was or what it even fired for that matter, but all I could tell was that from its size alone any normal pony would not be able to properly use it without serious repercussions.

"Y-Yes sir." The raider pony backed up, her ears lowered.

"No no, you know all to well I don't go by sir." The griffon then swept the pony by the shoulders with his massive talons, seemingly digging into her as he pulled her close with a sly grin across his face. "Now, I'm gonna give you one single chance to try that again."

"Yes Commander Gridlock!" The raider winced in pain as he dug deeper into her.

"There we go!" The griffon then squawked in a sense of deranged satisfaction as he released her from his grasps. "Now, all of you runts run along while I have a nice little chat with our Stable Dweller."

And with those words the crowd of raider ponies scattered, leaving only me, the griffon apparently known as Commander Gridlock, and whoever else was more than likely in these cages.

My heart began to race as he stepped closer to me. He stood very tall and proud, his large amount of heavy armor and gear making a rather intimidating noise as he grew closer. He didn't even bother to step around the corpse of the beaten pony who had helped me, but instead simply stepped directly onto of her, the sound of what I had assumed to be her spinal cord snapping causing me to nearly instantly release the contents of my stomach.

"No no no, were not gonna be doing any of that." He annoyingly sighed as he reached for me. I had attempted to crawl back into my cage to get away, but my wounds proved to be far too great. Instead, he grabbed me by my metal collar, pulling me towards him and then effortlessly throwing me onto his back. What was he going to do to me? He said I was valuable to them, but judging from the hole in my leg and the cut in my side I wasn't exactly sure if I had believed that. I knew I couldn't fight this, even if I wanted to. He was far too powerful.

"No ... Please don't hurt me. I - I didn't mean to hurt your friend there." I began to beg as my mind once again started to panic.

"Well missy, two things wrong with that sentence." He reluctantly paused as he began carrying me off to Luna knows where. "One: Ol' Spike Strip there is far from a friend of mine. Hell, she's barely an accomplice. And two: I ain't gonna hurt ya, it's not my job." The griffon almost sounded sorry for me now. "My job is to keep you in one peace until the Slaver's from the next town over come and get ya. So, as it appears my men can't play nice, I guess I'm gonna have to put your ass under my protection."

At first this sounded rather pleasant, but then I had remembered that he was still attempting to sell me into slavery, something of which I very much so disagreed with. But then again, I wasn't exactly sure what to think. Everything was so different out here. Hell, I didn't even really understand where here was! What kind of world had I been transported to? Was this just how life was now? Were things like slavery and cold blooded murder simply common place?

My vision began to fade to black once more as Commander Gridlock carried me through his camp. Everything was absolutely vile. The smells, sounds, sights, everything. I went to shut my eyes, but then found that when I went to open them, I was having trouble once again. It almost felt as if I was now leaving my body rather than being reinserted back into it.

This was it.

I was going to die right here and there.

And I was okay with it.

I then began to let go. I felt myself become distant, and ... happy. I was once again going to be with the ponies I loved. I began to feel cold, and my hearing began to pick up a faint buzz as I almost felt myself become lighter.

This was it.

However, amongst my oddly content and happy thoughts, I heard the the deep, muffled voice of Gridlock.

"Oh no, can't have you dying on me yet." Was all I heard until his voice again faded away.

No.

Don't save me.

Please don't bring me back.

I then heard the faint noise of what resembled that of a cork being popped out of a glass bottle, and then felt an oddly refreshing yet vile tasting liquid rush down my almost numb throat.

No.

I could feel myself once again returning.

What in the world did this damned griffon just make me drink?

Everything once again became clear, and I could feel my eyes, while heavy, begin to open once again ... Tears beginning to role down my face as I realized that whatever he had done was bringing me back.

"No." I softly spoke. "I don't want to come back."

My eyes slightly opened, the one-eyed face of Gridlock standing over me.

"Missy, I done told you that I can't have you dying on me. Now, listen up, cause I got some explaining to do."

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Quick Thinking

Your abrupt arrival into the wasteland has proven harsh and difficult, but you seem to always find a way out. You now receive plus two perception when health is below 20%.