Fallout Equestria: Crusades

Chapter 4

Fo: E The Crusades Chapter 4

New Bonds

By Quinton R. Johnson
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When I woke up, I slowly opened my eyes to the room around me. Sturdy wooden frames held up slightly rusted metal paneling, the floor made of planks of wood and the window made of a scavenged window frame with shards of glass still inside it. The bed I laid in was an old child's bed, rusted metal groaned as I rolled around. I got out of bed and shook myself off. I felt a little dusty. (I wonder if they have showers out here) The wooden floors whined and croaked as I trotted across them. I went downstairs and saw Daemon asleep on the old couch. The bed looked a little more comfortable but I guess he didn't mind. I trotted over to him and tapped him. "Hey Daemon, wake up." I said shaking him a bit.

He groaned, "five more minutes." as he waved his claw dismissively.

"Ok fine, I guess I'll just shoot my gun without you." I said enticingly.

His eyes opened slowly and looked at me, "ok fine, I'm up, I'm up." Daemon stretched, hopped off the couch and looked at me sourly for interrupting his sleep. I was up until somewhere around midnight and still woke up before him. Maybe it was a Griffin thing. I trotted over to a chair and sat down. I looked at my pipbuck and checked the time, it read, 1:01 PM, and it was Saturday. I had a new icon on my map and a few tasks but wasn't sure how i got the latter. It said to 'Ask around Turntable to see if anyone needs help.' (Strange, I didn't put them in here, did it just... show up. Well I'm doing something else right now, so I'll hop onto that one later.) Daemon was finally ready to go. He had gotten a little bit of food before we left; some of that bloatsprite meat that made me cringe. (Eyeck) We went over to the workshop and picked up a few things; my portable workbench, some tools for on-the-fly adjustments on the RG-32, and some scrap metal for ammo. We set off towards the camps front gate, where Stardust and Styng were talking to a few of the guards. "Hey you guys, wanna see my new gun?" I asked.

Everyone looked suited up for battle. Atleast four other Crusaders were gathered near the gate.

"Later, but first they need some help with some radigators, you can show us on the way." Styng said. The guards were getting their guns and armored barding together and began to head out. "Hurry up, lets go!" Styng said.

I looked at all the extra stuff I had. "One sec, I'll be right back." I said.

"In case you take forever we're in a ravine to the southeast, between two big boulders." Stardust said.

"Alright, Daemon you can go ahead, I'll catch up." I said starting to run towards the house.

"Alright, but try to hurry, I don't want you to miss out." Daemon said continuing with the others.

I trotted over to the shack we were staying in, grabbed my inhaler and tossed all my extra stuff inside. I raced over to the workshop, grabbed a lot more scrap metal and I raced back over to the group. Once I caught up, we started to move a little faster.

~ ~ ~

"Hey what's this place called anyway?" Styng asked the orange colt. We had seen him before, he was the colt who was attending our Crusader initiation.

"Gator Gulch, and for an obvious reason." He grumbled.

"Hey, what are your names?" I asked.

"Castro, I'm the chief of defense for the Crusaders in Turntable. I specialize in melee combat. The dark blue colt is Cliffjumper, he's good at getting around enemies and navigation. the yellow colt is Glade, shes a long range specialist. And the red-orange filly is Jasper, she's out survivalist. They are the best guards under my command. Now, are you done asking questions?" Castro asked.

No one answered. We finally got to Gator Gulch, which wasn't actually that far, we got there in about fifteen-twenty minutes and getting here wasn't even that dangerous. Guess I spoke too soon though since getting down into the ravine was another story; well unless you had wings. Daemon and Styng just hovered around the group as everyone else jumped, slid, and fell down. I was behind Cliff Jumper and he was jumping down like a mountain goat. He sure did live up to his name. Daemon helped carry some of us down some farther drops. After this I was DEFINITELY learning a teleportation spell. Everyone was finally down the cliff side and we started to go up a slight incline that overlooked the nest full of radigators. I had pulled out my railgun and floated it out in front of me. Castro was one of the more decorated guards, he was holding on to a larger version of a sledgehammer, but it had a piston like hammer head and a small ruby on the other end. Two of the other guards had battle saddles equipped with an SMG on one side and semi auto rifle on the other. Castro stood close to the edge and turned to the group. "Alright everyone, we'll have two teams of four. Glade, Jasper and Cliff Jumper are with me. Rogue, you and your friends are together. the plan is that both teams take up opposite sides of the ravine and take out single targets. No shooting the matriarch or the alpha, we don't want another incident like last time. Everyone got that?" Castro asked, looking directly at my team with a scowl.

"Yeah sure. We'll try to appropriate." I said with a scowl. "Let's go team we take left side." We began to move, but Castro stopped us.

"Sorry that's not happening, my team is already going left." Castro said objectively.

"Are you serious!? What difference does it make?" Daemon questioned.

"That difference is that I'm leading this Op. and that means I choose sides and I say we got left side." Castro

"Well then team, looks like we got right side." I corrected sourly. This was going to be a long day.

We started to move along the right side and took up positions a few meters away from each other. Castro's team was opposite of us taking up positions behind a few raised rock walls. I looked down into the ravine and saw a small group of radigators over in a pond with a few barrels in it. I looked over into a cave down near the far end and saw two piercing orange eyes hovering inside the cave; probably the alpha. On the outside I saw a big radigator laying in a crater outside the cave with some large eggs; probably the matriarch. I pointed them out to my friends and we aimed our weapons away from their direction and towards some gators in the pond. I whispered, "okay everyone, we'll fire on my mark. There are five total gators in that pond so someone will have to kill two. My railgun doesn't have a high rate of fire so I won't be able to do it. I'll go for the furthest away, just on the lip of the pond. Call your shots."

"I've got the closest." Daemon whispered.

"I got the one towards center." Stardust whispered also.

"That means I got the two over by the barrels." Styng finally whispered.

I looked across the ravine over to Castro and his team, but I couldn't tell if they were ready or not. They looked down at the gators and back to Castro. "On my mark." I said as lifted my right hoof. "Ready? Aim. Fire!" I said quickly as we sent speeding lead into the radigators. There were a few quick splashes as the rounds pierced their targets and hit the water. I looked to see if any of them were still moving as I looked down my scope. Nothing. "Good job guys, now let's see how good Castro's team can do." We looked over to Castro's side and saw them about to take aim towards a few gators that were basking in the slivers of available sunlight. There were at least six that I could see and... did those rocks just move? Nah, I must be seeing things. I looked back over to Castro's team and they were lining up their shots. Castro lifted his left hoof as he put the battle saddle bit in his mouth. His hoof shot down and flashes erupted from the barrels of their rifles. Three gators were taken out in the first volley and the others had begun to react when the next volley fired off. The rest went down as well. Glade whistled and pointed over to where we had gotten in. I waved back and we started to move towards each other. Those rocks started to move a lot more as they slithered over to the were Castro's team was walking and slammed itself into the wall underneath, shattering it. The cracks crawled up to them and the cliffside began to give out. Glade and Cliff Jumper started to fall down into the ravine as the moving rocks backed away from the collapsing rubble. Castro and Jasper got clear and were able to stay on the uncollapsed part of the ridge. Dawn and Cliff Jumper had fallen to the bottom and Glade had been pinned underneath a boulder. Cliff Jumper was knocked unconscious from the fall. The moving rocks started to close in on the helpless ponies. Sparks started to fly off the creature and I looked over to Castro and Jasper as they fired as fast as they could at it. "Hey, let's get down there and give them a hoof!" I called out to my friends. I triggered S.A.T.S. and time slowed. As the world crawled around me I thought of what this creature could be, trying to remember all the books I read in the stable. I remembered one of them and mentally flipped through the pages. Cragadile flipped into view; a creature that was known to live in the Everfree forest. Thick rocky hide along the top of it, two-hundred pounds of bite-force and the strength of ten bison. I queued up two shots to the Cragadile's head as Styng and Daemon took to the skies. Stardust was sliding down the embankment, slowing himself with his hooves. One of my shots hit and pierced it's thick armor, crippling it. The creature slowed down to refocus itself, but before it could Daemon had landed on top of it and fired into the weakened armor. The creature reared back and threw Daemon off. He readjusted himself and recovered before hitting the ground. Styng passed over the creature and landed a powerful kick into its head. The creature's rocky hide shattered and revealed its bare head underneath. The Cragadile roared calling the others to its aid. Stardust had snuck around the gator and started to pull the rocks off of Glade. Castro had slid down into the war zone and started to carry Cliff away from the Cragadile. I aimed for the it's head and charged a few shots. Two shots later the last one pierced its skull and destroyed its brain. The other Cragadiles and Radgators didn't stop though as they crawled out of puddles and burrows. Glade had been freed but Cliff Jumper was still unconscious, so Castro was carrying him on his back. Now we just had to get everyone out alive. Styng and Daemon were covering Castro and Cliff as they clambered up the destroyed cliff side. Jasper and I shot from the tops, firing at anything that got too close, some of them were even trying to climb up to us. A few more Cragadiles showed up and Castro was only half way up. "Daemon! Carry Cliff on your back. Styng! Cover us while everyone climbs out." I shouted. Daemon and Styng nodded and went to work. Daemon flew over to Castro and picked up Cliff Jumper in his claws, Castro started to hurry up the rubble Glade and Stardust coming up behind, Jasper and I started to move back to the entrance. Styng landing a few swift kicks into some of the gators' muzzles. I looked back to the cliffside we hopped down to get in here and saw that some of the jumps were either too far or high to make without wings. I went into SATS to think, time slowed but I had to be quick. Okay let's look around; at least five gators and two crags, the main entrance was obsolete, and we have two wounded with two flyers to carry them. I looked around for a secondary exit option, the gators had to have another way out of here. I looked down into the ravine and scanned the rocky floor below. The small pond had a pipe that had a small stream running through it. The gators weren't guarding it but would try to block us off if we didn't get their fast enough. I checked my pip-buck and saw that my pipbuck's SATS meter was halfway drained; I needed to hurry. I queued up a single shot to a Cragadile's head and set off the spell. The shell missed and I slung the railgun over my back. "Hey everyone, down their!" I yelled as I pointed to the rusty piping. Everyone looked and started to dash and glide down towards the exit. I slid down the embankment down into the ground below and levitated my rifle from behind me. The gators closed in on our path and blocked the exit. I fired my rifle into a Gator on the left and sent it flying backwards into a few of it's friends, clearing half of the path. Glade, Castro, Jasper and I took the opportunity to run into the tunnel. Styng and Daemon flew over the gators and followed us in. The gators tried to crawl into the tunnel all at once and blocked up the entrance. They frenzied and started to claw and bite the walls and each other. We began to move down into the tunnel and Daemon, Styng and I turned on our pip buck lamps to illuminate the area. The small stream ran between our legs and swirled with silt glistening in the light. The water was cold and our pip bucks slowly clicked as we waded through it. There were scratches and dents on the inside of pipe. The gators' growls echoed through the tunnel as we walked through, now up to our knees in water. I turned and looked to everyone and did a head count. Styng, check; Daemon, check; Starldust, check; Castro, check; Glade and Jasper, double check; Cliff, unconscious but here. That was everyone.

We kept walking further and further into the dark tunnel, the growls of the gators had grown quiet. A light at the end assured us we were getting closer, so we started to walk a bit faster. The light grew larger and soon into an entrance that led to an exposed pipe hanging from a cliffside overlooking a bubbly, green pond that smelled of sulphur. The clicking on our pip bucks quickened as we drew near. The left side of the pipe had been ripped off and wooden planks formed a ramp down to the dead wasteland soil. I looked at my pip buck's map and saw we were quite a ways off from our original entrance point. A little arrow marker pointed off into the direction of Turntable.

"Everyone okay?" I asked.

"As okay as we'll ever be." Castro muttered.

"Cliffjumper is still unconscious though." Daemon said matter-of-factly .

"It'll be dark soon. We need to set up camp." Jasper said.

Castro looked over towards the horizon and nodded his head. "Yeah, I agree. Glade make a fire. Jasper, try to get Cliffjumper awake. Daemon, Styng you two check the area; don't want anything killing us in our sleep. And Rogue, I want to talk with you."

"Yeah, okay." I said. We started to trot over to an area farther from the group. "So what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"I want to thank you."

Well this is a surprise. I thought he would get mad about something.

He continued, "I wanted to thank you, for saving my team. Those Cragadiles weren't there last time we went. Most people thought them extinct after the mega spells dropped. Anyway I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being mean to you before." He said sincerely.

Wow, I hadn't expected this turnout. Maybe this would grow into a lasting friendship. "Apology accepted."

"Well, now that that's over, let's get back over to the camp."

I nodded and we trotted back.

Camp had finally been set up, Styng and Daemon's came back with reports of a few bloatsprites around. Glade had finally gotten Cliffjumper to regain consciousness and Jasper's fire burned brightly in the center of camp. The dimly lit rusted crimson clouds rolled slowly across the sky as everyone started to gather around the fire. Everyone looked very tired from the fight in Gator Gulch, especially Daemon. Castro started issuing guard shifts to everyone. Me and Styng got chosen to guard the earliest. Jasper and Daemon next, then Castro and... where's Stardust? I checked my E.F.S. for his pipbuck tag and followed it, Daemon and Styng trailing behind. We came up to a lonely purple stallion looking off the edge of steep cliff from the top of a boulder. He just sat there gazing out into the dark abyss.

His ears flickered, "What do you want?" Stardust asked sullenly, turning his head so only one eye was barely visible.

"Checking on you, since you left without telling anyone." I said with slight concern.

"Just leave. I left for a reason; to be alone." He murmured. I started to climb up the boulder and he stood up. "Don't get any closer." He growled as he looked at me with a sharp glare. "There isn't anything you can do to stop me."

"What do you mean? What are you talking about!?" I asked, my heart rate beginning to increase.

He just turned, looked at me coolly and grinned. "You know, I always wanted to come out here," he said as he looked around. "but now that I see the outside is nothing but a wasteland, I don't think there's anything left for me out here." He said as he stepped closer to the edge.

"Stardust! Think about what your doing. What does killing yourself actually accomplish!?" Daemon asked from beside me.

He just chuckled as he took another step. "You know, I've asked myself the same question ever since I left the stable, and now... I know the answer. I get everything I lost from the stable back. I get to see my parents again. I'll get to be happy again. And all I have to do is jump off." He said as he took another step.

"Stardust don't!" Styng yelled.

"Don't do this." I insisted, my heart about to leap out of my chest.

Stardust looked at me sharply and screamed, "And why shouldn't I! Huh, I have nothing out here but you guys and I don't even really know you. Following you out here was a mistake! You wouldn't understand though since you've always had true friendship. You guys grew up together and have common interests. What did I have?! Fake friends and a false identity. I still don't know who I am. All I want is to be HAPPY!" He yelled as he brought is hooves down onto the rock, cracking it.

"You can be happy with us. We can all be friends, theirs no need to kill yourself. We can work this out. Just step down. So we can talk." Daemon said.

Stardust dropped his gaze and looked down at his hooves. He closed his eyes and a faint shimmer fell from his eye. "You guys really don't get it, do you?" He looked at each of us and began to smile. "I really can't understand why you guys insist on keeping me alive. What do you have to benefit from my existence?" He questioned.

"..." Silence fell upon us all. Nothing came to mind besides the easy way out. Because he was our friend, maybe not Styng's but he was still somepony we knew. We can't just let him end his life. I thought hard a moment; it felt like forever that he waited for out reply.

"Well, I guess you don't have an answer. Guess I won't be seeing you." He said as he turned around.

"Wait!" Styng yelled.

Stardust stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I know you don't feel like any thing is going your way right now. I don't really remember what happened in the Stable, but I do remember what I saw when I woke up yesterday." His head fell as his eyes began to water. "So don't you dare think you're the only one here who's been going through a lot of crap lately!" He yelled.

Shocked by Styng's outburst, Stardust hesitated to move or even speak. He turned his head to look at Styng, then looked back into the dark abyss he was about to throw himself into, then looked back to us. "I don't know why you guys care so much." He huffed as he shook his head.

He began to step down but the cracked stones rolled apart and caused him to slip. He lost his hoofing and started to teeter over the edge as he screamed. I threw my telekinesis around him but he weighed more than I could stop. "Guys, I can't hold him!" I yelled as my horn's glow began to flicker.

Daemon and Styng launched themselves at Stardust as he fell over. My grip vanished and he began to plummet, Styng and Daemon right behind him, their pipbuck lights illuminating the space. I heard his scream turn from fear to panic, as they began to lift him from the darkness. They came back over the edge and landed on solid ground. Each of them breathing heavily, Stardust more so. Once he got his breathing under control he looked to us and said, "Thanks... for saving me..."

"It's what friends do." I said lamely.

His ears flickered at the sound of that word.

Friend.

We went back to camp and didn't tell the others about what happened.

"You guys look tired, if you don't think you can take first shift, me and Jasper will." Glade suggested.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off I was actually really tired. "Thanks" I yawned, "I'll take third shift if that's okay." I said, my eye lids becoming heavier. I went over to a spot closer to a rock face, cleared out some stones and lied down.

Styng on the other hoof wasn't so inclined to sleep just yet. "No, I can take first shift. I can stay up all night." He said with obvious gusto.

Jasper wasn't buying it though. "Nah, I think we got this. You guys should get some rest." She insisted. He tried to reassert himself but was cut off. "No really, you need to get your sleep. I'm not going to be the one carrying you back to Turntable."

Styng stood their, unable to counter. He just gave up and cleared an area to sleep.

Daemon had flew onto a boulder and went to sleep.

As I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep I heard Jasper and Glade speaking.

"You would really leave Styng here?" Glade whispered.

"No, I just wouldn't carry him. I'd probably drag him back." She joked. They shared a hushed laugh and started their shift as I slowly dozed off.

My dreams were halted as I was awoken by Jasper. "Get up, it's time for your shift." She said as she walked over to Daemon and began to wake him up.

I began to rise and shook the dust from my hide as well as from my eyes.

Jasper walked back over to me, "Your friend won't wake up, you should try I'm going to sleep." She said as she lied down beside Glade and went to sleep.

I trotted over to Daemon who was sprawled across the boulder he had perched himself on. I kicked the rock a few times, nothing. I climbed to the top and shook him till he woke up. "Come on b, time to wake up." I said as I shook.

He mumbled something to himself and began to rise.

"Time for our shift? Already?! Agh, how long do we keep watch?" He asked as he stretched out his wings.

"Yeah, I think we stay up for around an hour or so." I said as I hopped off the rock.

He growled as he hopped off the rock aswell. "Really?! Well dang, I was really hoping to get a little more sleep in. So how are we doing this?" Daemon asked as he shook off the urge to fall asleep.

"Well, I got this new spell that I'd like to try out so I guess we'll just sit around somewhere while I use the spell every so often." I responded.

"When did you have time to learn a new spell?" Daemon asked.

"Ugh, it's... a long story. Not sure you'd want to listen to me ramble on about nonsense." I said honestly.

"No b, I really want to know. Tell me about it." Daemon insisted.

"You're sure you want to? It not too interesting." I dissuaded.

"Yes, I want to hear it. I don't know why you'd not want to talk about it." He said.

"Well alright, but first let's find a good vantage point." I added.

We walked over to a few stones that were within yelling distance but out of the reach of the fire's light. I focused on casting the spell. My horn began to glow a faint white as I sent out a pulse of telekinetic energy. An outline stretched out around everything around me, revealing a few equine skeletons within the ground, some bloatsprites, and in the farther distances; the faint outline of a road.

Daemon shook his head and brushed his head feathers. "Dude, I actually felt that. So did it work? Or was that something else?" Daemon asked.

"Yeah, there's a few bloatsprites out there but nothing too serious." I said, leaving out the part about the skeletons. "I can see through stuff too, it's got quite a range, revealing things that are far away. Like the road about 30 meters out. One sec, let me cast it again." I said, charging up for another cast. My horn glowed again and another pulse was sent out. I looked over towards camp and saw some of the supplies that we had. I could barely see the radiated pool in the distance. I cast the spell again and looked at Daemon. I could see his muscles, organs and bones all overtop each other. It was actually kinda cool but still gross. The way they'd squirm every time his heart beat. I pulled my hoof into view and saw its muscles and bones within; contracting and expanding as I moved it. It was really cool, but still really gross. I also noticed that I could hold my concentration on a certain object and prolong the X-ray effect.

Daemon interrupted my concentration by shaking my shoulder. "Cut it out, you're making my insides vibrate." He said, as he felt around his torso.

I began to explain what I had experienced last night to Daemon. I told him about how I got the new spell and that Scrap n' Craft made an A.I. to guide the new inheritor in their efforts to master their gift; to guide me. He looked quite intrigued by my story as I explained.

"Wow, that's some story. Do you know if he can teach me a thing or two? I'd really like some new skills, maybe one that allows me to fly with my eyes closed. Wouldn't that be something." He fantasized.

"I'm not sure how it works but I'll check next time I see him." I assured.

Some time later Styng woke up to take a leak and spotted us. He came over and sat down beside us. "So what are you two up to?" He asked

"It's our shift, nothing yet." Daemon explained. "Oh and Rogue learned a new spell."

"I bet it's really lame." Styng scoffed.

"Gee thanks," but did I really have to explain everything over again. (Sigh) I retold my story.

After another long six minutes of paraphrasing my story and the occasional interruption by Styng, I was finally done.

"You're lying." He accused. "There's no way you're some chosen one. Why aren't I the chosen one huh?" He denied.

"Well don't complain because you didn't get something cool to happen to you." I teased.

"I swear if I'm the only one here that doesn't get something cool, I'll..." He stopped, seeming to choose his words. "I don't know, but it won't be good." He finished as he walked back to his bed and fell in.

I used my pulse a few more times before Daemon and I went back and camp and woke up Castro and Cliff for their shift. They got up, picked up their equipment and got to their posts. I lazily went over to my bed and lied down. My eyes began to get heavy as I fell asleep.