Fallout Equestria: Every Lie

“Nopony wants to truly live forever, but some are forced to. I never felt remorse for those who have been cursed in such a way, but I wish I had sooner.”

I hated that mare, and I mean reeeaaally hated her. Nopony would hit a filly except for a stupid adult, and that’s exactly what she was. I wanted to slap her, but she wasn’t going to open the door for me anymore. Not only does she hurt a filly like me, but she leaves me out here to find somepony I don’t even know. What would it matter if I actually found him? He’d probably just hurt me like she did, because every adult hates me.

Everypony hates me. I say that more than I ever thought I did. My mommy and daddy were all that’s ever there for me, but that didn’t even have the option to keep ponies from bullying me. Cutie marks are so stupid, and everypony who thinks they are important are stupid too. Those fillies and colts hurt me because I didn’t have any, and the grown ups didn’t do a thing. Everypony just laughed at me, and I knew exactly what I would say to them now.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, though I had no idea where the word kill had come to my mind. “I’ll hurt all of you till you sleep forever! I’m not some stupid fucking filly anymore, and I’m more grown up than all of you! So I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you for thinking your better than me!”

It felt good saying that, but I didn’t know where the word kill had come to mind. I’ve never heard the word, and this was the first time I’ve ever said it. Killing, it sounded bad, but at the same time right for what they all did to me. It kinda remind me of what I did to the Overstallion in stable 71, but that wasn’t what killing really is. All I did was put him to sleep, I haven’t killed anything before.

I looked out to the city of Trauston, and even though I didn’t want to I had to find this Bloodlocke pony. The mare must have thought I would be to scared to do anything like that, so I’m going to prove her wrong. I’m going to find this pony, and I’m going to tell him about everything the mare said to me. She said something about a theater, but where was this theater I was suppose to find? I remember hearing about one, but I didn’t know where it was. Rere must know, she seems to know everything about everything. Perhaps she’s mommy in disguise.

“Rere?” I called out, but she didn’t answer me. “Are you there Rere? I need your help, and I mean reeeaaally need your help… Rere?”

“Lucky, please don’t tell me you gave me a nickname,” Yay! One Rere found, and a very annoyed Rere at that. “You gave me a nickname, didn’t you?”

“Rere is much better than Broken Record, don’t you think?” I asked Rere with a smile. “It’s a lot simpler too, like Lucky? Please tell me you like the name, pleeeaaaase?”

“I’ll let this one slip, though only because you’re young,” She told me, though I didn’t really care too much about it. “So, guessing by the fact your outside of Sandtown and not inside, Ribs isn’t going to let you in unless you do something for them. Am I right?”

“Apparently that Bloodlocke pony isn’t here. They told me to go to the theater on main street and find him, but I just think nopony wants me inside,” I told her, looking at the sandy street under my hooves. “Nothing new, nopony but my parents have ever cared for me.”

“No, that’s not true Lucky,” Rere replied. “Yes, I was asked to do this, but I wouldn’t be if I didn’t care for you. My friend, the one that I said was a genius, was pretty close to you, even though you two both barely interacted and know each other very well. They don’t want me to give a name, but know that I’m here to help, and she wants you alive.”

Rere wanted to cheer me up, but it was impossible to feel happy. Without my mommy and daddy, I had nopony that I could talk to or play with. There was that one griffon back in Ponyville, but I couldn’t remember his name. Stable 71 was a prison, a place where bad ponies go when they do something bad, but I did nothing wrong. They wanted me away from my parents, but they can’t be dead, because they are smarter than anyone else.

“There are multiple theaters in Trauston, but only one on main street, and probably the most well known one as well,” Rere continued, taking control of the MentaBuck, moving over to the map screen, and putting the same dot I had seen earlier pointing towards the hotel on a large building. “Grand Luna Theater, one of the biggest theaters made in Equestria. I hear that some ponies left memory orbs of the performances in one of the upstairs rooms. Bloodlocke was always one for culture, a bit more so than raiders in the other parts of Equestria.”

“Wait, so everywhere in Equestria looks like Trauston?” I asked, looking at my surroundings. “Wow, guess the princesses fucked up big time, didn’t they?”

“Those really aren’t words a pony your age should know, but if anyone is at fault it’s not the princesses,” Rere told me. “The ministers are the ones who fucked up. The ones that Equestria saw as the greatest heroes in history screwed everything up. Two disappear, one was crazy, another left us all to die when the pegasi said ‘fuck you all’, and who the hell knows what happened to Minister’s Rarity and Applejack. Some good heroes are when you learn to rely on them in the same way a pet relies on its owner. Let the pet into the wild and it doesn’t know how to hunt or fend for itself.”

Was that the reason why Rere hated ponies being heroes so much? I knew that the ministers had made a lot of ponies angry, but why was she calling everyone else pets? The ministers didn’t see us as pets, and the ministers had tons of friends. I mean, the sisters of two of the ministers made Stable-Tec, though now that I think about it the ministers should have grounded them for that. No other pony would treat others as pets, not even the stupidest and most idiotic of adults are the dumb.

“Lucky, The Shadow Corporation has marked you as a ‘survivor’, somepony who is still alive from before the war, not a ‘stable-dweller’ like those of the other stables in Trauston,” Rere told me, and I was happy about that. I never lived in that stable, if the weird hardware thing she told me about was true. “Stable-dwellers have a bad habit of trying to do be more important then anypony should be. The world doesn’t need a hero like they so believe, it needs everypony to stand together. The only heros who are redeemable are those who don’t want to be remembered, like a mare in Manehattan who died and was never acknowledged by the Steel Ranger or Enclave.”

“Okay, I understand,” I told her, though it was really only the fact I understood she hated heros that I understood. She was one pony, and a good pony at that, but this Shadow Corporation is the one I need to find out about. “So, this dot thingy will show me how to get to… what did you call it?”

“Grand Luna Theater, and yes, it will,” She replied to me. “Get going, I want to know just as much as you why Bloodlocke isn’t in Sandtown… oh shit, last song just ended.”

Rere always seemed busy, but at least she takes some time to talk to me when she is free. She was the first kind pony I’ve talk to in… how long has it been since I last talked to somepony friendly? I didn’t know how long it has really been since mommy and daddy got stopped by Stable-Tec from entering Stable 71. I wanted to hurt something, but there was nothing around me but buildings, carriages, and sand. I wanted to remember what it was that my mom did for Stable-Tec, but all I remember is that she worked for them.

The dot in my vision cleared away as I looked up at the building to my left. Many of the buildings look the same in Trauston, I learned that from walking around it for the past hour. However, this was nothing like the other buildings in the city, being much smaller but also much wider. It was really fancy, or at least it must have been, as the windows were shattered and the door was kinda rusty. Why didn’t Rere tell me how much time has past? It doesn’t even feel like the same city anymore.

“Hello?” I called from the outside, expecting a response. Nopony answered, and I looked to the ground. “Stupid adults sending me out here, why should I care what they want?”

I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to go inside, as I wanted to experience it with mommy and daddy when I found them, but it wasn’t going to happen. I sighed and made my way to the door, only to realize that there was no door at all. Not needing to turn a door handle I headed inside, getting out of the sandstorm that continued behind me. It was nice getting out of it, but this storm felt stupidly long. My body was so covered in sand it wasn’t even funny, and I don’t like things that aren’t funny.

The storm got really quiet when I entered the theater, and the lack of light made things really scary. It was much darker in here than it was back at the hotel, or even the stable, but I could see. I walked around the main room of the theater, seeing tons of snacks on the floor and an abundance of popcorn. I looked to some large picture frames on the far right wall, but there was nothing inside them. I looked back to the snacks, considered how old it might be, and then took a pack of gummies. I instantly opened the pack and tossed a gummy shaped like the Minister of Moral in my mouth.

“Mmm,” It was delicious, even if it was really stale and really old. “If the gummy taste this good, does that mean the pony tastes just as good? Nah, nothing this tasty could be the same as somepony so mean.”

I suddenly heard a sound in the distance, though it was hard to make out what it was. Could be a door, a hoof stomp, or anything else it was so faint, but there was a lot of the same sound. It was all coming from the actual theater room, and in curiousity I walked over to the door. This time, there was actually a door I had to open, and upon opening it I was greeted with… nothing. I was expecting something really cool, like a movie or performance, but nothing was inside.

The seats were completely empty, save for a few bags and buckets of popcorn. The stage was empty, no performers or movies being shown on it. I looked up, seeing a pretty looking glass ceiling that had somehow remained intact. The sounds were still going, but they weren’t in here. I looked to every corner of the room, but still nothing. What was that noise? Where was it coming from?

“Little filly, are you okay?” I turned around thinking I had found Bloodlocke, but what I saw didn’t seem like a pony. It was a weird thing covered and strange black clothes with goggles and a weird pointy tail walking towards me. “What are you doing out here? You know it isn’t safe in a place like-”

“G-g-go away you monster… thingy!” I called out, taking my knife in my mouth. “I-I-I don’t taste good, but if you want something to eat I found some gummies! Take them, but don’t hurt me.”

“Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you,” It said, before taking off it’s head and revealing the face of a pony… an adult pony. “Look, I’m not supposed to do this, but if you need someplace safe to go I know-“

“Don’t lie to me you jerk!” I said to him, not believing the pony for a second. “Go away and leave me alone. You aren’t who I’m looking for, and nopony good would hide their face. If you don’t go I’ll… I’ll hurt you, badly. Poke you with this knife right in the chest!”

“Do you even know what your saying?” The question he asked was so dumb I didn’t bother to answer. He sighed, looked to his side, and then pulled out a thing I remember certain ponies having in the stable. It was a gun, or a pistol to be exact. “I don’t want to do this, no less to a filly, but that look in your eyes isn’t right. Then again, the Enclave wouldn’t want me bringing back a unicorn, even if she is a filly. I won’t ask for forgiveness from whoever was in charge of you but,” He pointed the gun at me, and for a second I felt truly scared for my life. “This… might be for your own good.”

A loud bang rang out, but not from the gun the stallion had been holding. It was no longer in his mouth, and he no longer had one to begin with as his head seemed to disappear. I felt a lot of different things suddenly touch my skin, but it was very different from the annoying sand that had gotten on me. Blood, like the stuff that had come out of the Overstallion when I put him to sleep, was now on me, along with other things I didn’t know. Part of me wanted to scream, but seeing an adult who had almost hurt a filly like me fall on his side with no head was rather funny. I looked at him, and tilted my head wondering what had happened.

“Fuck was that bastard trying to pull?” I heard a pony ask me, coming from the same direction the mean stallion had come from. I looked to the pony, and instead of another pony like the sleeping, headless pony in front of me, this one was really different. “Might be for your own good, heh, ‘own good’ my ass! Who the hell thinks like that? Another damned hero type for sure.”

He was a red earth pony, or rather he had painted his fur red in something that didn’t smell very good. You could see black fur underneath all that red, but even that was covered by some weird coat that looked like it had been worn to many times. I could see his mane and tail, both of which were black and short, the mane kept under a cowpony hat. Hearing him say this pony was the ‘damned hero type’ told me who he was, and noticing the pistol with an oversized middle area told me he put the bad pony to sleep.

“Well, now that he is settled with,” He said as he put the weird pistol away and looked to me. “I don’t seen your face before, and I know most of the motherfuckers who would blindly walk in and hold an Enclave soldier at knife point. Shit, haven’t seen a filly since good ol’ frontless got shot in the area’s his front legs use to be. I miss the poor asshole, or at least more than anypony else would care.”

“Are you Bloodlocke?” I asked the earth pony, smiling the way that always worked for my parents. Nothing says tell me more than a filly smile. “You are Bloodlocke, right? Rere sent me to Sandtown, but some stupid ponies there-“

“Rere? You mean Broken Record the radiobot?” He laughed, though I think it was at Rere more than it was directed at me. “Ah, this is not something I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying in months! The fucking Enclave comes in and starts to shit on everyone's parade, but that piece of disguised metal actually lets somepony give her a nickname? World has gone from mad to a fucking lunatic, just like it should have been.”

He just continued to laugh, and while I didn’t say anything what he said confused me. Why did he call Rere ‘the radiobot’ and a ‘piece of disguised metal’? She was a pony, I saw that with my own two eyes, and no pony could act so… normal. I’ll have to tell Rere about that name later, because I really don’t think it would be a good idea to talk with her right now. The earth pony just kept laughing, though, and even though he did stop it felt like weeks had past in that time.

“Sorry you had to witness me acting like a… even younger filly, but you would be correct,” He said as he looked to me. “The names Bloodlocke, or at least that’s what it’s become in the years since i started this raider shitshow. Trying to make a civilized society out of raiders is only something a stupid pony would do, but if Sandtown is any indication, it takes a true genius like myself to actually get anything going,” He sat down on a nearby seat, which still worked like it did after who knows how many years have past. “I own this part of the city, and more importantly I own Sandtown and it’s shops and bars.”

“Yeah yeah, you adults are so great and powerful,” I though, though I didn’t realize I was saying it outloud. “Geez, you sound so full of yourself that you could talk somepony to sleep.”

“You got me there,” Again, Bloodlocke laughed at what I said. “I like you and how you think, but word of advice for the future: Grand Pegasus Enclave doesn’t like hearing the word ‘no’ or anything like that. Now then, where did the son of a— of for fuch sake!” I heard a sudden crack from above us, and looking up I saw something big had landed on the glass ceiling. My view was obstructed as I was suddenly pushed under one of the theater seats. “Stay there if you want to live.”

“What’s happening?” I asked, but my question was quickly answered for me.

The crack sound soon became so loud I couldn’t even hear the shuffling of Bloodlocke’s hooves as he tore one of the theater seat free. Do what I could to look up, I suddenly saw that the glass ceiling had been broken, the figure of a pegasus falling with it. All of that glass hit the floor and broke, and the seat I was under saved me from getting hurt badly by it. The pegasus hit the floor, and I realized it was wearing the same weird suit that the other pony had been wearing. I saw her try to stand up, blood coming out of multiple different booboos. Then I hear something that almost made me lose my hearing.

BANG!

Something entered the pegasus’ body and quickly left it, causing some blood to fly out of her like my hoof would hit a puddle. She collapsed, and I saw all the glass sticking out of her. This pony must have been what caused the glass ceiling to fall apart, and if she was also part of this ‘Grand Pegasus Enclave’ then she deserved. That other one wanted to hurt me, and no doubt she would want to hurt me as well. Her body was soon blocked from my view as something landed in the large puddle of blood formed from the sleeping pegasus. It wasn’t a pony, it was a griffon, and if it wasn’t for what Bloodlocke said I would have rushed out and said hello.

“Heartbeat,” The griffin said, one of their talons putting another gun I hadn’t seen before to the pegasus’ neck. I pulled the trigger, and that same loud bang from earlier sounded through my head. He then put his talon on her chest. “Dead. Good. I’m done here Bloodlocke. Get my reward ready and meet me at Sandtown… wait.”

He turned around and saw the other pony who was without a head. He picked it up with his talons and then dropped it as he threw something into the sky. I heard something hit the ground moments later, but didn’t know what it was. He made his way in front of the seat I was under, and his head suddenly came into view. He was looking at me, and I looked back at him, and neither of us said a word.

“Don’t worry Gold, she isn’t one of them,” I heard Bloodlocke say as his hooves came into view. The griffin named Gold left me alone and turned to face Bloodlocke, not saying a word. “She was about to be decapitated the same way that asshole you just found was. Motherfucker said that it was for her own good.”

“I know, it’s obvious,” Gold said as he turned away. “Unicorn filly, not a pegasus. Enclave soldier has no head, and she has no gun. You killed him, then kept yourselves safe. Getting soft?”

“Like hell I am! Bastard almost killed a filly for his own self-indulged heroism,” Bloodlocke replied stomping a hoof on the ground. “I have a code, which is more than any other raider band could say. Look, the filly didn’t even seem scared about the blood, sudden decapitation of the pony in front of her, or myself. Clearly not a Stable-dweller, and she should be grateful she isn’t because I would have put a bullet through her as well.”

“Stable-dweller doesn’t mean hero,” Gold replied, before reaching a talon towards me and yanking me out. He held me for Bloodlocke to see. “Clean. Smells good, too good in fact. Sand in fur is only because of sandstorm, and blank flank means no PipBuck. Nine or younger in age,” He dropped me, though I had no idea why he was saying all of this stuff to Bloodlocke. “Defenseless. Only a knife. Quick kill if you want, but somepony would be angry.”

“You know Record?” I asked Gold, but he didn’t respond, shoving me to the side. He was the meanest griffon I had ever seen.

“Kill her, no more protection,” Gold stated to Bloodlocke. “Shadow Corporation would be angry. Broken Record would be angry. You know what happens then. I know what happens too. Radiomare is not a fun pony to mess with when angry.”

“Okay, okay, I get your fucking point,” Bloodlocke said as he put that weird pistol away. “Had no plan to kill her now anyways. You should have heard the thing, one of the greatest mouths I’ve spoken to in twelve fucking years before you showed up. Also, she might be a filly, but the way she acts is not normal, even if she speaks like one.”

“What do you mean I’m not normal?” I asked, not happy to hear that. “Lucky Heart is very normal, and a much better filly than anypony else in that stupid stable. They hurt the my mommy and daddy when they closed it, and I made sure the Overstallion got hurt for it.”

“When they closed it? Filly, you do know how long it’s been since that happened, right?” Bloodlocked looked at me with some concern. I knew it had been a long time but I nodded as I didn’t know exactly how long it has been. “Lucky Heart right? Hate to ruin your fantasy, but the stables closed one hundred and eighty three years ago.”

“One… one hundred?” I didn’t know what to say, here those words. “But… I entered the stable the day it closed. I watched my mommy and daddy get left outside, and I remember the Pip-“ I looked down to my hoof, remembering what Rere had told me. “Everything that happened in there… was a lie. Mom and dad, did they really get left behind? Did they really not make it in?”

“I don’t know what your mumbling about, but it ain’t worth crying over,” Bloodlocke told me, clearly not understand how scared and confused I was. “Ponies don’t live that long, and you would be a corpse by now if that was the case. Clearly something messed with your brain, because those Stable-Tec ponies lied to you.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Gold said, and I looked to him with what little hope was inside me. “Stables had experiments, right? Could make you live really long if it’s possible. Mom and dad could be ghouls. Sane or feral, unsure, but possible. Don’t count on it, but possible.”

“Don’t go giving the filly false hope Gold,” Bloodlocke made his way past the two of us as he spoke. “Last thing you want is to have her cry if your wrong. Anyways, let’s get back to Sandtown, I’m done with this sorry-ass place.”

Gold followed behind him, and as I watched them I saw something glowing under one of the nearby seats. I didn’t yet have my answer as to why Bloodlocke hated heroes so much, but at the same time I wanted to check it out. Deciding to not get left behind, I quickly grabbed the small glowing orb and ran after them. At least that’s what I tried, because Gold was looking at me for some reason. He was a griffon, though nothing like the griffon I remember from Ponyville.

“Bloodlocke is cruel,” He told me, though I didn’t get the reason for it. “His ponies are mean, though worse than him. He is soft, though in denial of such things. You want to live long, here is advise: sleep one day, then leave. I’ll be doing the same, and I’ll take you somewhere.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him, but his glance changed from my face to the orb that I had picked up. He swiped it out of my hooves without much effort, and looked at it in curiosity. “Is something wrong or-“

“Not scared of blood, yet only makes them ‘sleep’. You specialize in eternal sleep,” I understood Gold less and less the more he spoke. “Eternal sleep is not eternal life, but death. You know death, like what happened when stable closes. Many ponies died, all because of war, but you don’t understand many other things. Like me, but you speak better,” He then took a bag from his side and placed the little orb in it. “This is for later, not right now.”

“Um… okay?” I had no idea what was going on right now, but one thing was clear to me. “Why do you want me to come with you? I figured that you wouldn’t want me around considering how you were acting earlier.”

“You are strange, even for a dweller,” Gold replied as he made his way out of the theater, me close behind him. “Parental figures are missing, that is not good. I’ll fix that with you, no price. Besides, as I said,” He turned back to me. “Too clean for a dweller living in dust and metal.”