Fallout Equestria: Oddities

The first thing I realised is it was still quite early in the morning as it was dark but not pitch black like if it was midnight.

A part of me was excited that I was outside the stable but then I realised that I was outside the stable and not only that but I had a badly injured changeling with a popped eye and me with some bruised ribs and i mabye didn't look the most trustworthy with blood on my muzzle and with a bleeding semi-concious changeling on my back, I try to move and manage to move slowly until I notice that my back has gotten heavier.

Let me retract my former statement a FULLY unconscious changeling on my back, I feel pain shorting through my chest but I know I have to keep walking and as we slowly trot through the streets of Trottingham I notice that it is perfectly quiet and this silence quickly bores me so I start to move quicker to get somewhere that isn't silent and quickly realise that that is a bad idea as i feel all of the air escape my lungs, I feel my legs start to buckle and I try to take another step and that results in me collapsing I am out of breath and me and Ant both cannot walk so I look at my EFS and sigh in some sort of relief as there is no marks on the compass so I try to relax but that is hard but that is hard when you have a tap dance going on in your chest and Ant probably is not in a better position as he has lost vision inside one of his eyes so I don't vocalize my pain.

I try to start a conversation with Ant "hey you holding up alright" he quickly sits up and looks at me with a combination of anger and sorrow in his stare "no i ain't i have been kicked out of my stable i have left my hive alone and just put the cherry on top of this shit sundae i have lost my eye, so yes i am having a great time" he says sarcasticly with a bit of anger in it but i know his anger isn't directed at me.

I try to crawl over to him to allow him to feed on me as i would be his only source of food for a while so i might as well get used to the feeling of him feeding off of me "here you feed of me at the very least one of us should have some strength for any fights we have to have so might as well be you, you magic copy bug" i say with a smile as i use a silly childish insult at him.

While i was feeding him i must have passed out because all of a sudden it was day time and Ant was standing up i also heard another voice "what are you two and tell me why i shouldn't shoot you" i look up and see a unicorn pointing a long box with handle i try to get up "hey what's going.. Oh" i say collapsing mid way through trying to get up i hear Ant talk but try to save my energy so i don't look "please i'll tell you but can you please heal us or take us to someplace better then this please we are injured, weak and unarmed" he says with obvious fear in his voice.

I hear a sigh "i'll probably get punished for this but help me get your friend in the caravan and i'll take you to the nearest settlement you can get some healing potions there just hope you have the caps." Ant looks at him confused as they walk over and place me on the unicorn's back and i notice he has a green coat with a yellow mane i can't see his cutie mark as i have been placed facing the wrong way i quickly ask him "what do you mean caps?" i ask as they place me in the back of this caravan and i see Ant climb in as well and the unicorn answers my question with some skepticism "how do you not know what caps are, by injured did you hit your head at all" he says and Ant answers "sorry but we are fresh out off a vault which we were kicked out off by a pissy, egotistical head of security griffin and we haven't explored at all as we both seemed to have taken it in turns being unconscious" Ant says sounding dead serious the unicorn shrugs as he walks off to the front of his caravan "fair enough, caps are what we use as money in the wasteland if you find a bottle cap take it, simple as that." i look at him shocked is the world that bad that bottlecaps have become the new world's currency.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself the name is Long Haul my name says what I do, so you don't need to ask" he says almost like an advertisement.

"Yeah where are you taking us because we can let our injuries get infected" he quickly replies "we are heading to a small town called Facto it is called that because it is in an old industrial sector so they built it in a lot of factories."

"You said earlier when you were talking to Ant that you have never seen creatures like us" Long haul looks at me "yeah I've been all around and i have never seen anything like you two" he says as he keeps looking at us while slowly trotting forward. "I am a Thestral or Batpony and my friend Ant is a changeling. We are from Stable 11 which was full of us along with griffins and dragons" i say as my head slumps along with my wings as i realise i am probably never going to see my brother and sister again but i know that it is safer for me to stay away from stable 11 as i don't know if Midnight and Mitter would last out here. "What is with that somber look on your face" Long Haul stared at me with a questioning stare i reply "nothing just thinking about the stable because i woke up went to do a security patrol and all of a sudden the head of security tells me i am a terrorist and me and my friend are beaten and we are forced to leave" Long Haul looks at us with a skeptical look "are you a terrorist?" he looks at us and is probably trying to figure out where his weapons are "no we ain't we found that someone in our stable was conspiring with someone from the outside to blow up our stable, someone probably a pony called crimson" i say explaining our situation to Long Haul as he keeps looking at us quizzically, i decide that know is a good time to read the rest of the entries from the terminal in the reactor control room.

To: Crimson
I think i made the bomb correctly are you sure this is the only way to stop bad things from happening to equestria, if i do this won't i have to leave the stable i have a family hear and i don't want to leave them to die.

To: X
You have to keep me a secret as if you told the overmare she would proceed to cause some bad things to happen to the rest of equestria.
You need to make a bomb to stop bad things from happening.
Here is a recipe for a small improvised explosive follow these instructions carefully and plant it inside the reactor do it before midnight so security is not down there.
1 fission battery
4 large bullets from the armoury
20 cm of wire
1 timer which can be set for over 15 hours

The rest of the entry showed the recipe for how to make it it was basically attach this to this, tie them together and be careful not to make it explode too early, i decide to keep it as if the wasteland is bad explosives can be helpful.

There is only a couple more entries i proceed to read them.

To: Crimson
How am i supposed to bring down a stable with 500 creature which are larger then me even other thestrals are not as big as me.
Why do i have to do this? Why can't i tell the overmare she can help

To: X
To who ever is reading this i am Crimson you have to keep this message a secret because i have a huge task to ask of you.
Can you please eliminate this stable as it is a danger to Equestria.
If you don't reply this message will delete in 1 hour.

These entries if anything have made me more confused about what was going on with this Crimson but I learnt that X was also a thestral as she referred to the thestrals as the other thestral which meant all but themselves but that still left 124 other thestrals in the stable as i was not X so there was still a lot of thestrals it could be.

When we arrived at Facto i was shocked at how beautiful something in this wasteland could be with the bright orange glow from what must have been the forges that were used in here before the war and were probably restarted when Facto was founded. I saw ponies all around us trading and just chatting with each other and if most of the towns were like this won't be so bad, but i know that is just a dream nothing is perfect especially in a world like this.

Long Haul decides to give us a quick tour while walking us through "welcome to Facto, nice little town but don't piss them off or else they will be your worst enemy. The clinic i am sending you is Cauterizer's clinic run by a little pony by the name of Laughing Gas they is the closest thing to a doctor that is in Facto so be happy they will be treating you and not someone like me who barely has any medical experience." he takes a pause probably allowing us to remember the name of the doctor Laughing Gas he resumes "if you want to trade there is a square for that stuff in between the 4 factories that make up Facto. I have a little store called Long Haul if you need stuff hauled across the wasteland i am always ready to do so." he says finishing his little bit of self promotion he sighs i wonder how many times he has had to do that to other ponies.

"Long Haul is there a bulletin board or someway to get a job because we are some caps because we can't rely on free help and begging" Long haul looks at us and nods his head at a building on the second floor "that up there is called Crash, Bang and Wallop those three ponies are always hiring and giving out jobs but if you do get jobs from them be prepared for a few weird conversations as they are identical triplets and you have to know their cutie mark but you see the cutie marks and you will remember." i nod in thanks and we arrive at Cauterizer's and he helps me walk in as my body isn't screaming for me to sit down or i will pass out but i am probably not far of doing that.

The clinic was empty which could mean good things as this town could be safe, there was only a couple of medical beds and a bunch of medical boxes probably filled with tons of medical supplies, and what of this doctor were they make of female I did not expect what came through the door.

A little unicorn filly dressed in medical scrubs that had little spots of blood around that I hope was not from annoying customers I saw her cutie Mark and it was a canister of something so I wondered what it meant was it even medical or was it balloon modelling? Did they even have balloons anymore? Many questions but for now I asked her "are you Laughing Gas" I ask with a cock of my head and she quickly scowls at me "what just because I am a filly I can't be a doctor" says as she gets a good look at me and then smiles fully suddenly "Oh. My. Goddesses are you a thestral, like a full blooded thestral?" She says as she starts fangirling and as soon as I nod she starts coming over and examining me and starts listing off questions like "Do you drink blood?" "Are you purely Nocturnal?" "What are the tufts on your ears for?" And many more very quickly so I place my free hoof on her mouth and say to her "I will answer your questions but please heal me and my friend we are carrying injuries and we need healing badly" I say and she stops inspecting my body and shifts into professional mode "ok I will heal but I would like a full interview because we don't know anything about thestrals apart from the fact they were Luna's guard before the war and they all vanished until you showed up. So where is your friend?" I realise Ant didn't follow me in "Ant come in here and we can get your eye cleaned and hopefully properly bandaged."

I see Laughing Gas furrow her grow probably confused at the name Ant so you can guess her reaction when he walked in without a disguise I see her go into fangirl mode again but I place my hoof on her mouth again "he will answer some questions but sort his eye out because he has had some random cloth over it for nearly" I look at my pip buck "12 hours give or take don't want it to get infected now do we" I say looking at her hoping she can help she nods "I can clean it and give you an eyepatch because if it is as bad as your thestral friend says ain't no saving it" she frowns in sadness and walks up to Ant and when she lifts the makeshift bandage she screams and gags in disgust and when I have a close look o nearly have the same reaction.

His eye had deflated like a balloon and was leaking a green blood like substance on the bandage but what was worst is it kept twitching in from him trying to blink and look around. After a few minutes Gas calmed down and started to apply some disinfectant to the wound and while she was doing this she asked "what happened, I might not know changeling biology but that isn't normal" she says gesturing towards the eye I sigh "Ok this story will take a while so please don't interrupt me. Ok" she nods.

"When the stables were built 200 years ago many of them were only for ponies or one race of pony, stable Tec didn't lime this so they built what were referred to as 'oddity vaults' these were for any non ponies. In our stable Stable 11 there was Thestrals, Changelings, Griffins and dragons the stable was a normal stable apart from the kitchen and the farm, do you now what we eat?" She nods and says "Thestrals are Carnivores and Changelings are Emotivores" I nod and continue "so I was on security in the reactor and on my way to my patrol me and Ant start talking. When we arrive at the reactor it is empty even though 2 changeling engineers were supposed to be down there so we started looking and found some entries that show that someone was communicating with our stable telling someone to blow up the stable and they planted a bomb." I stop to take a breath and choke back a tear as my thoughts start to go to Midnight, Mitternacht and my Mother Loving Care, she was the head of the medical department and I hadn't even got to say goodbye, Solitary has probably made her think I was the terrorist. I feel a hoof on my shoulder and it is Ant, Gas is wrapping his eye in bandages and had an eyepatch ready to put over his eye, she is trying to keep a professional attitude to the situation but her curiosity is getting the better of her.

All of a sudden the door pops open as a Earth pony with a orange mane and a white coat comes in with a smoking gun and quickly looks at me and Gas "Gas you are needed its urgent I did it again" he says panicking and hyperventilating, I see Gas eyes widen and she picks up some medical supplies and I follow her and even for her size it is hard to keep up with her we get to the front gate and some unicorns are huddled around a prone form of a small pony probably a filly and we quickly approach and as soon as I see who it is My jaw could not have hit the ground any faster.

It was Mitternacht. What was she doing out here? Had Confinement Blamed her too and kicked her out? I could think about that she was injured so she needed help all other thoughts needed to be evacuated from my head. "Mitter oh god what has Confinement done to you" I see the bullet has passed through her shoulder but luckily she is still breathing so I lay down as she needs body warmth I wrap my wing around her protecting her from any cold air I see 2 ponies approach Gas and the white and orange stallion from the clinic I see red.

I leap up and get in an aggressive stance spitting at him with venom in my words "YOU" his eyes widen in fear "What have you done" my wings flare out in a show of dominance as I continue to approach while keeping an eye on Mitter as I see Gas treating her, the stallion stutters "I.. I....I'm s.. Sorry I have n.." I press my face I to his slit pupils staring into the soul of this stallion as he starts to panic his ears are laid back on his head "if she doesn't make it out of this with anything more then a scar then I am going to come and tear your throat out you Noctrali Maaltijd you are going to dr" Gas and Ant say in sync " FANG STOP!" Ant gets in front of me and pushes me away as I continue to growl at him baring my fangs in the most aggresive posture I could force.

I walk up to Mitter and see that her shoulder has been bandaged and a bullet has been removed and she is lucky that it didn't hit anything serious and when I spot him I growl and he curls into a ball and is sobbing uncontrollably I lay down beside and look at Gas "sorry about that Thestrals are really protective over family and yes this is my little sister Mitternacht her name is Germane for Midnight because that is my little brother's name so that is sorted as the painkiller you have me are wearing off" I say as the pain slowly starts to come back, my instincts tell me to stay close to Mitter so I curl up next to her and place my wing over her and lick her neck to show her that a family member is nearby as that is a thestral family tradition, I see Gas look over at her curiously as I stand up and place her on my back and mouth "later" she nods in understanding and we start back towards the Cauterizer's Clinic.

We arrive at the clinic and I placed Mitter down onto the medical bed and I laid down behind her trying to provide her with heat and to act like a pillow while she rested until I needed to sleep but that was not for a while because of all the remaining adrenaline coursing through my body and the pain slowly starts to come back after the painkillers start to wear off and I look over at Laughing Gas and she is obviously in a position to ask some of the questions she wanted to earlier today so I nod at her and say "let's get this over with" she giggles and asks the first question.

"What is the purpose of the tufts on your ears, do they provide you with better hearing or do they keep you warm in colder temperatures?" I sigh as this was always asked of us in Stable 11 by the other races "Thestrals can speak in a pitch which the average pony is unable to hear, the tufts provide us with the ability to hear it, also it does provide us with better hearing in general" she nods and scribbles it down in her magic.

"I know I said you are carnivores but do you drink blood for sustenance?" I again sigh as 3ven before the war my race was always falsely accused of being vampires but at least I can set it straight with Gas "can we drink blood yes. Is it tasty yes. Do we rely on blood? No, blood drinking is usually done through eating meat, but Thestral couples will drink each other's blood as it is the valuable essence of a body and shows the connection" she accepts this answer andnasks another.

"Because you are hurting I will let you sleep but I want to ask one more question. Earlier when you saw Mitternacht injured you went a little bit feral and you acted really protective of Mitternacht and it made me curious of your race's instincts?" I think for a minute of how to explain this to her "Ok never call a thestral this but Thestrals are like a hybrid. Part pony, part feline and part wolf. Before you ask the wings was from nightmare moon blessing our race with them even though we were tricked into siding with her because of ponies not treating us right. What you saw earlier is almost like a wolf's pack instincts. A member of the pack is injured and my mind says to eliminate the threat but all thestrals can suppress instincts in some circumstances."

"The feline parts are your eyes then?" I quickly respond with "yeah but also because of our lack of feathers we have to groom them so we groom somewhat similar to a feline with our tounges" I blush while saying this and quickly add " we can also move silently like a feline but only when we are hunting and only concentrating on the hunt" I think that distracted her.

She gets down from a chair and goes over to a medical box and pulls a jar of something, the bottle has a pony and a bunch of Zs she walks over with it "I know the pain is back but take 1 of these and it will help you rest. Do thestrals have a sleeping preference?" She says handing me a deep blue pill almost the same colour as my coat. I nod "Do you have a bar which will support my weight from it thestrals like to sleep hanging from something it relaxes us" I say and she thinks for a second until she points at the roof "use the big central beam but be careful" I thank her and fly up and hook my tail around the beam and take the pill wrapping myself in my with my wings and feel the sleeping pill and my body's tiredness start to kick in and my eyes start to close and I have my first full night's or morning's sleep but I am happy to be able to sleep without pain as I fall into a dream about hunting.