Fallout: Equestria - .50 Caliber

by FailSketStu

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Science Fiction, Fallout, Profanity, Violence, Crossover, Dark, Death, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 8804

The story of a Stable dwelling plumber gone Reckless, suicidal, self hating, Wasteland mercenary

The Story of Blue Buckler, a Plumber in Stable X50. Forced to Flee his Home after an attack of an Unknown Group.

Armed with only His Growing knowledge of the wasteland, his Knowhow and his Damaged Pip-Buck, This Earth pony Learns How to Survive the wastes the hard way, all the while, meeting Other ponies along his journey, both sickening and fascinating.

Published 2018-08-09 19:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2018-12-14 18:47:36 UTC

Steel Pipes and Stable Raid

Author's Note

Original story by Kkat.
This is just a spin-off/side story and this is not canon to the Original Fallout: Equestria Story in any way, shape or form.

This (Fo:E) Fallout: Equestria Spin off Side-Story is more focused on the Narrative side, so no level up prompts, I know that it makes the story less exciting, I write stories that suck so bear with me here.

Steel Pipes and Stable Raid

The low buzzing of the stable lights in Stable X50 fills Blue Buckler’s Ears as he twists a leaking pipe at the Overmare’s office, high pitched squeaks from the twisted pipe fill the room when a Click of a Pipe signaled that blue buckler is finished with his Pipework.

“And with that, your leaky pipe is fixed miss Overmare”
Blue Buckler Wipes his forehead, putting his Plumbing tools in his gray toolbox.

“Thank you Blue Buckler, if that pipe were to burst then this office would turn into a Sauna”
The Overmare giggled as she ushered Blue Buckler to go back to his quarters and Take a Break, blue buckler complied nodding and trotting back to his quarters, for quite some time now, he had a crush on the overmare, he admired her emerald eyes, her pinkish-orange mane and her short height, which he found quite adorable. don’t let her height fool you though, she could pack a Devastating punch.

“Who would be stupid enough to think that a High class stable overmare like her would be interested in a measly plumber like me? Me! The idiot that's talking to himself, That's who”
He laughed to himself proceeding down the hall.

When he arrived, the first thing he spotted was his roommate Snoozing away on the top bunk, he let out a big sigh as he grabbed his book called ‘Expert Pipework Volume 5’ and Plopped down on the lower bunk.

Its true that stable X-fifty was not the ideal place to live in, but it's certainly better than the rumored 'land of radioactivity and balefire' that the first overmare had told the first generation of stable dwellers.
They said that the only thing that can keep them safe from the outside is the safety of the stable, and said 'safety' comes with a rule.

The rule is that; when a colt or filly get their cutie mark, the overmare will have to take a look and decide in what will they do to assist the stable once they reach the right age.

Buckler was still confused of why he was put in plumbing duty and not in security duty when his cutie mark is an image of the second part of his name, a 'buckler', which is made for defense, a miniature shield if you will.

* * *

A loudspeaker shat out some Static before Speaking into a more clear sound with actual Understandable Words.
“Plumber unit 3, Report to the Stable door, we appear to be having some pressure decrease”
The speaker called out to his snoozing roomate who appeared to not have heard the call to him.

“Hey Rustbucket”
Buckler calls out to his roommate on the top bunk hitting the metal bed frame to wake Rustbucket up.
Rustbucket jumps out of his bed and leaps down saluting with still clossed eyes.

“Plumber unit 3: Rustbucket reporting for duty”
He says sloppily facing the Door with drool dropping from his mouth.

“Hey Rustbucket, they said they need you to fix some pressure decrease on the stable Door”
Blue buckler says to his roommate Slightly amused of how he was still sleeping Despite the loudspeaker practically right at his Ear

“Oh really now?”
Rustbucket yawned and rubbed his eyes before taking a raw coffee bean and chewing on it, picking his tools up and taking his leave after.

* * *

The Loudspeaker once again shat out a bunch of Static before Speaking clearly.
“Plumber Unit 2 and 6, Plumber 3 has requested some backup, we don’t know why because our security cameras are down, could you check it out?”
The Male voice behind the speaker Spoke out spiting some static after.

“What is it now Rustbucket?”
Buckler says out loud to particularly nothing before getting up and Taking his Blue Stable plumber Suit along with his toolbox that has a Number Two Spray painted on it.

“Get a move on Blue Buckler”
Plumber Unit 6: Iron Bolt Trotted past him with her Toolbox hanging and swinging from her grey wings

“Alright i’m coming”
Buckler groaned following close behind

* * *

“Alright baby-Dee what seems to be the problem?”
Iron bolt Mocked looking at the progress Rustbucket has done

“You see.. " he scratched his cheek "when I opened the valve to let any remaining air out I found that the pressure was already out. and rather than pushing air out, the air kept on going

in

the pipes”
Rustbucket Explained with a worried expression covering his face

“So basically you're saying that something from outside is sucking air out of these security valves? You know that would Make it easier for the stable door to be blown down right?”
Blue buckler asks his Colleague with a questioning expression

“That’s exactly what i’m saying”
Rustbucket replies sweat dripping down his orangey-red cheek

"and considering that this door is made of Steel, I'm starting to get worried"
Buckler says unlocking his toolbox

“Then let’s get this damn door fixed!” Iron bolt drops her toolbox making a loud Sound and taking out some tools after.

Just as Rustbucket was about to operate on the door, the gear shaped door made a Loud hiss startling the three pipe workers, slided towards them just for a little bit before rolling left to reveal the relatively bright outside, sand dunes was the first view of the outside, a silhouette walking in the way of the view after.

“Woah, is the outside world safe to travel Now?”
Iron Bolt asked Sheilding her eyes with a hoof.

A loud boom sounded out with Rustbucket’s Head Blowing up into a juicy splatter, the sound was like a high speed rock hitting a watermelon, and the sight of it was horrifying, Buckler freezed in place before getting snapped back to reality by the shooter.

“To answer you're question little Ma'am. No, the outside world is not safe to travel, it is a dead almost dry, irradiated literal wasteland”
The voice answers Iron bolt’s question.

Two figures trot to the side of the voice owner and kicking the objects strapped to their sides
“Light em’ up Bucks”
The voice speaks with more of the loud booms booming out.
before Buckler could even look, Iron bolt ran off to the safest place she could think of.

“Bucking Hell”
Buckler shouts making a mad dash away from the stable door that was getting filled with the intruders, a bullet grazes his cheek and it hurt like getting sprayed with boiling water to the face, or like having hydrochloric acid squirted to the face.

“Miss Overmare: Waving flag”
Buckler gasps and Gallops as fast as his fatigued legs could take him, there was only one thing in his mind. the Overmare

* * *

“Miss Overmare!!”
Buckler Bangs on the Overmare’s Iron Door Shouting at the top of his lungs, the short height of the Overmare meets him with a worried and confused expression on the Overmare's Face

“What is it Blue Buckler?”
She was sweating profusely

“Outside invaders are in the stable! Put the stable on Lockdown”
Buckler Shouts Running Past the Overmare and slams his hoof on the Lockdown Button and Proceeds to Shout at the Microphone on the Overmare’s Table

“Warning to all residents of stable X-Fifty, invaders from outside have entered the stable and is Proceeding to Raid and Take every resource we have, it is advised to stay in your Quarters and Wait out the trouble while the security handles it. May Celestia Guard you all” he sent out a warning that Could be heard on every speaker in Stable X-fifty

Blue Buckler was panting when the overmare trots up to him and raises her voice
“Blue Buckler! I demand an explanation on how those ponies got in the stable!”
The overmare Yelled at the Plumber sitting on the floor.

a loud bang was heard at the locked door. when the overmare checked the Cameras to see what it was, her pink face turned from rose pink to Pale pink

“What is it” Buckler asked to which waving flag responded with

“Battering Ram”

Abandoning Stable 50

“Wait a fucking second, Where did they get a fucking Battering Ram?”
Blue Buckler asked No one in particular getting slightly frustrated.

The overmare fumbles around in an Iron cabinet nearby.
“You tell me, you're the one that Had first encounters with them”

The door was starting to succumb to the repeated banging of the Battering Ram, the constant hard knocks has caused the door to bend to a Curved shape, much like a bowl only bigger and more crooked.

The overmare pulls out a shotgun from her metal cabinet along with Three Shells for the shotgun.
“I present to you, my twelve gauge Modified shotgun, I kinda named her sally” followed by a childish blush

“So how is that Modified?”
Buckler asks squinting to see the difference between the overmare's modified shotgun and the shotguns the security carry with them.

She gave a look saying that she doesn’t know and looks at the beefy shotgun in her hooves (Probably taller than her)
“I Don’t know, the thirteenth Overmare just gave this to me after she resigned. She said that this shotgun has been given to her by the twelfth overmare after said overmare resigned”

The door Finally Broke down with one of the stallion intruders Coming in the room with Revolver in his magic and shouted
“Surprise Mothofucka”

Before he could fire, the overmare smacked his face with the butt-stock of the unloaded shotgun knocking him unconcious
“Black eyes Mothofucka”

She proceeded to load the shotgun, Buckler ran to a steel pipe on the wall and forcefully tries to Yank the hot pipe off lt.

“Blue Buckler what are you doing?!” She asked him slightly worried he would get badly burned as she hears the slight hiss of hot metal touching flesh

He answered her with determination and the sound of resisting the urge to pull away from the hot pipe in his voice.
“I’m trying to pull this pipe off the wall to Provide Cover, what does it look like i’m doing?”

More intruders flooded the room and pointed all guns at the struggling stallion at the pipes, they all shot and missed because of the overmare kicking up a steel table and blocking the bullets, during that short time she managed to pull blue buckler down behind the cover of the table.

“What are you doing?” Buckler asked with Burned lips and tongue.

“Saving your rump dip-shit”
She answered him with a shout so he could hear her over the gunshots

“At least let me do this for you!” He Tried to reason with her

“Blue buckler!! This table is the only thing between us and a rain if bullets, do you really want to risk your life for a hot pipe?” waving flag yelled at the plumber pulling him down closer to the floor

“I’m not risking my life for the pipe!! I’m risking my life for you”
Buckler gets up, Grabs the shotgun, Shoots the attackers and runs towards the pipe using the shotgun as a crowbar

“We need some backup”
a mare’s voice calls out from behind the door

The pipe gives in to the force of the pull and bends just enough for Buckler to finally yank it out. After that, buckler runs to the door grabbing waving flag by the hoof and Tossing her on his back.

Buckler jumps out the door, wall flips off a wall and smacks the female intruder in her muzzle making the sizzling sound of Buckler’s Lips touching the hot metal when her face made contact with the pipe, leaving her with a Red Line crossing her face

“We need to get out of this stable”
Overmare: Waving flag Shouted from Buckler’s Back"

"And leave the only home I've even known? Hell no"
Buckler had a slight light of hope that if they hide long enough, the Intruders will leave

"Even if we survive this, everypony is still going to be dead" she replied

"You don't know that!-"

"YES. I. DO. Blue Buckler, please, just trust me, on this. Get us out of here" silence was between them, then buckler complies and gallops toward the exit, having a few encounters with a lot of corpses and the intruders but quickly getting Smacked with Blue Buckler’s pipe and pummeled by Waving flag’s Shotgun leaving her with one shell left.

* * *

“I think I see the Exit”
Waving flag Looks at the bright light around a corner and Shields her eyes as they come closer towards the Stable X-Fifty door, hope streams through the lone survivors of stable X-fifty but disaster strikes.

A sniper shoots Blue buckler’s right foreleg going through it and hitting the Screen of Buckler’s Pip-Buck, Damaging it beyond (Basic) repair, toppling him over and sending the overmare on his back Flying, stopping three feet away.

With blue Buckler unable to stand up and the overmare refusing to run away, she runs to the direction of where the shot came from and empties her last shell on a Sniper Rifle and Getting Punched by the sniper who dodged her attack rendering her unable to move because of the pain

* * *

A Splash of cold liquid wakes Blue Buckler up from his Passed out state. all he remembered was running out of the stable door, hearing a loud bang and passing out.

“Hey hey hey! guess who decided to wake up; the Lord of Bullshittery”
a Familiar feminine voice Catches Buckler’s attention, he looks up to see the mare he hit with the steaming hot pipe spinning an 10mm pistol on her wing pointing another gun at Waving flag’s Head, the look of the red line on her face reminds him of a Certain Video game he had when he was a colt (only if she was a white Stallion with a scar over his eye and Bald)

He looks at his surroundings and Realizes that he is in the stable (the front door to be exact), He also Realizes that the comrades (or possibly underlings) of the female intruder was holding him up, keeping him from falling down

“You think you could easily get away with what you did to my face? well bad luck to you buckeroo. you can’t” she said to the blood-drained plumber in front of her.

“well to be honest, I did”
Buckler sucks blood out of his bleeding and burnt bottom lip and spits it out.

The female intruder rolls her eyes and mumbles something along the lines of: ‘you're a future carcass’ and ‘this guy’s a dumbass’, probably, most likely, definitely the latter

“Since you're about to die anyway i’ll let you have a heart-to-heart talk with each other.. we’ll give you ten minutes”
The intruder gestures for her comrades to put Buckler down to which they complied and tossed Buckler to the floor rather Aggressively. then they explored deeper into the stable.

A long silence takes on the area, the atmosphere was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. then the now former overmare decided to break the crushing pressure of the silence.
“Since we're about to die anyway, can I tell you a secret?”

“Sure, can I tell you mine after?”
He asked laying on the ground unable to stand. waving flag nodded.

“Waving flag isn’t my real name, its a name that I chose to sound intimidating to counter the pathetic look of my height”
She explained looking down at him.

“You look pretty tall to me”
Buckler spoke trying to make her feel better

“Buckler i’m just an inch taller than a filly!”
She gave him a friendly kick to the face since she can’t punch him.

“So what’s the real name?”
Buckler asks shifting positons to look directly at her since he can only shimmy and shuffle.

She hesitates at first fearing that he would make fun of her. but since they’re about to die, she told him.
“Rosebud Citrus...”

A silence fills the room before once again getting broken by Waving flag
“How about your secret?”

“I.... uhh.. how do I put this”
Buckler contemplates on how to say his long hidden secret, he had no chance to say it because of the face burned mare coming back in.

“Time’s up Foals”
She announced with her buddies picking the disabled plumber back up

“Any last words?” She asked now pointing the gun at Rosebud Citrus' Back.
seeing this as the time he could tell her before they die, he told Rosebud his long kept secret.

“I like you, since I met you on the day you got your cutie mark, I had a huge crush on you.. I... love you”
He said with tears streaming down his face.

Rosebud shed her own tears and nodded to him with a smile
“I knew”

The female intruder rolls her eyes
“It’s so sweet its giving me tonsillitis”

She finally shot Rosebud in the back earning a devastated sob from the plumber.

“Don’t worry colteo, you're next”
She pointed the gun and shot Buckler in the gut.

Blue Buckler felt himself being let go and Falling on his back with everything going black. Cliche, but true. but before he finally rested and draws what he believes to be his final breath, he heard clashes of metal against metal along with gunshots.

Cratertown

“Hello?”
Buckler calls out in the dark and bloodied hall of the stable.

“Why Buckler?”
a familiar voice spoke in the dark.
The figure was then illuminated showing the dead looking Overmare and her bloody abdomen with her head lowered.

“Why did you let me die?”
She spoke again raising her head to reveal eyes of black and white pupils with dark crimson running down from them.

Rosebud Citrus started to slowly walk towards Buckler mumbling something, gradually getting louder
“its all your faultits all your faultits all your faultits all your fault”

Buckler woke up with sweat dripping down his cheek and chin.

He took a good look around as an Unknown pony wearing a face mask came into view.

“Oh Good, you're awake”
The unfamiliar mare spoke to buckler who just realized he was patched up.

“Where am I?”
Asked Buckler to the pony wearing the mask.

“You're in crater-town medical building” the mare answered crushing up some charred wood and mixing it with juices of a plant to make some makeshift ink.

“Hold up.. Crater-town?”
Buckler asked raising an Eyebrow (if ponies have eyebrows that is)

“Yes Crater town, you don’t know what crater-town is?”
She asked Buckler to which he Shook his head

“To simplify, crater-town is a city built inside of a megaspell crater, rumor has it that this crater we are in was a misfired megaspell.. well what I know is somepony lost thier job” she said to him laughing with a snort on the end

“i’m outside the stable?”
Buckler’s eyes widened in disbelief

“Yes Now tell me your name”
She said pulling out a very old and dirtied piece of parchment and a quill

“Blue Buckler”
He answered feeling like he’s forgeting something but can’t seem to put a hoof on it

“Okay patient one-eleven, you rest up while I check on your buddy okay?” She hung the paper on the foot of buckler’s bed and taking her leave after.

“Wait!”
Buckler calls out to the pony, now remembering what he is forgetting.
The mare turns around and looks at buckler’s Brown eyes, worry filling them

“What’s her name?”
He asked. The mare puts a hoof on her chin and took a recent name from her memory.

“I think her name was Rosebutt Circus” she scratched her dusty forehead

“Do you mean Rosebud Citrus?”
He asked Overjoyed

“Yeah! Thats the name!”
She shouted smiling and pointing at buckler.

“I’m glad she’s safe”
He sighed in content taking a small nap afterwards.

* * *

Buckler was on his improvised hospital bed looking at his destroyed pip-buck’s screen wondering how the sniper got his hoof dead-center, when a sound catches his attention.

“Buckler?” A familiar voice comes from the door. Buckler had no time to look when a pink and orange blur tackles buckler and wraps its hooves around him, accidentally applying pressure on his abdominal bullet wound (which somehow, someway changed it's location on his abdomen). His eyes widened from the pain and rapidly exclaimed as an instinct
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“Careful now, we don’t want any reopening bullet wounds now, do we?”
The same masked pony as before warned the blur. The “blur” complies and gets off buckler revealing the devastated face of the former overmare of stable X50, waving flag, or Rosebud Citrus rather.

“I’m so happy you're awake! I've been waiting for six months just to see you, welcome to crater-town by the way”
Rosebud wipes a stray tear away and looks at the frozen face of buckler, to which she asked what was the problem.

“Six months... I've been out for six months?”
Buckler asks in fright and holds his forehead.

“How did we get here?”
He raised his head and looked at the pony wearing the face mask

“One of our scavenging squads called ‘wasteland blades’ found you in the stable with the front door wide open, good thing they were nice enough to rescue you and carry you guys here”
The masked mare explained, sitting on the floor and staring at the degraded ceiling.

“You should go thank them after you make a full recovery”
She continued.

“Yeah... maybe I will”
He says after caressing rosebud’s cheek under her dirty orangey-pink mane.

* * *

A week has passed since the awakening of blue buckler who was now roaming around in the metallic concrete city surrounded by a three meter thick and five meter high wall of sacks filled with dirt and rubble. not the optimal protection against high energy explosives but protects well against most high caliber rounds like anti-machine rifles.

He was told that the scavenging groups are stationed at the improvised barracks made of whats left of a big diner's walls, windows and door. He goes there and got stopped by an armored pony with weird looking guns strapped to his fore hooves.

“How can I help you?”
His raspy voice asked buckler with a smile which was missing a front tooth.

Buckler answers with nervousness mostly because of the guarding stallion being taller than him by five inches.
“I-I’m looking for a scavenging squad called ‘wasteland blades’, they said I could find them here”

The guarding stallion’s face made a look saying ‘why those guys?’ And answered
“Oh those suicidal nut-jobs? yeah they’re here, just go down that hallway and follow the arrow marked with two swords in an ‘X’ position. But tell me, why are you looking for them?”

“I wanted to thank them for rescuing Rosebud and I”
He answered to which the big guy made a bigger smile like they’ve met before but in reality, they’ve. never

“So you're the stable dweller they rescued? I didn't even notice that you were one. Probably because you don’t have the stable barding. You look much taller than their description of you, damn, six months really did a difference”
The guard shrugged at first then put his hoof above buckler comparing the height difference from the description to the real thing.

“Okay. I guess i’ll be on my way now”
Buckler crouched down and trotted past the guard towards his destination to meet Rosebud’s and his saviors.

“Sure, good luck”
The tall guard waved vigorously accidentally hitting the side of his muzzle with the wierd gun to which he held his muzzle and shouted a ton of profanity in his hooves.

* * *

After a minute trot down the wooden hallways, he finally found a wooden sign bearing the image of two swords forming an ‘X’ hanging by chains nailed to the ceiling (kind of), he followed the sign until he stopped at an Wooden edged sheet-Metal door with the same ‘X-swords’ image.

He knocked and the door opened with a loud squeak revealing A stallion that has a shoulder-length brown mane, a thin beard along his jawline, and gray eyes. He is a very tall and slim stallion who appears to be well-built. He has the appearance of a middle-aged buck with wrinkles around his eyes, which are small and piercing. He wears a simple white shirt , along with a fedora hat, he also has the same weird guns strapped to his hooves.

“It’s you”
He spoke, eyes bearing the slightest ounce of surprise.

“..the stable dweller of X50”
He continued taking off his fedora.

Saviors and 'the Gear'

Buckler was let in and decided to take a seat on a hay bale, not smooth and bouncy like the mattresses in stable X50, but not as cold as one.

“You found us in the stable?”
Buckler asked the pony with the fedora who was later known to be named ‘Canyon’

“Well. Not found per say.. we had to fight off some sons o’ bitches to get ya”
another voice joined in coming from a mare walking out of a room with the sign that says ‘secondary armory’ on top of the door, she was holding a bottle of premium two hundred year old vodka and chugged it down in less than five seconds.
Out of bewilderment, buckler’s jaw was hanging loosely as the mare threw the bottle out a nearby window, followed by a shattering sound.

The mare had exotic looks, she was a fairly tall (Slightly shorter than Buckler), physically fit, and very muscular teenage female with long coal-black hair, with a pale yellow coat and woozy maroon eyes, which may not look woozy if she wasn't drunk.

“Under-aged drinking at its finest everypony, give her a round of applause. The award for the most drunken sixteen year old goes to.. Shell Shock” a sarcastic tone came from a colt with a short, straight black hair styled in an undercut, as well as narrow, intimidating dull gray eyes with dark circles under them complemented by his dark brown coat and a deceptively youthful face. He is quite short, but his physique is well-developed.

“Hey! You do you, and I do me. So me drinking nine bottles of liquor a day is none of your business mud flash”
The drunk mare named Shell shock walked towards mud flash pointing her weird gun inches from his face, this doesn't seem to faze mud at all.

Mud opened his mouth to answer but got cut off by the sound of a siren reminiscent of the ‘severe leakage alarm’ back in stable 50.

“Attackers on the outside of the wall! The Defense section needs help! Everypony get your battle saddles and report to the wall”
Canyon shouts running to the armory.

The room was immediately emptied and the alarm was finally silenced, he followed after the group and never had the chance to ask what were those guns for, but he was going to find out.

The loud sounds had filled buckler’s senses the moment he set foot on the outside of the former diner, he spotted mud flash, shell shock and canyon using the weird guns on their hooves, but he found that they don’t function as weapons, rather they were minature harpoons shooting out of the guns and cables attached to the said harpoons.

His prevously punctured gut told him to follow the trio, and indeed he followed. On the way, he passed by a pony being carried to the nearest medical bay and with his left foreleg severed by something with a ton of punch. The mere sight of this had caused buckler to feel woozy and his stomach to gurgle which had caused him to run to an alleyway and spill his lunch out his stomach.

Despite this, he pushed forward through the pain remembering what his mother said to him when he was a blank flanked colt.
“Buckler, when things get tough for you, power through the pain and don’t let the feelings get to you. Push your body to the limits, but don’t go past your limits”
The smile on his mother’s face had solidified his body and power of will. By the time he finished his flashback, he had already made it to the wall of sacks filled with Rock and dirt... the battle had already ended.

* * *

With the battle won (again apparently), Shell shock, Mud flash and canyon had met the exhausted blue buckler on their way back and had agreed to tell buckler what was the purpose of the wierd guns strapped to their hooves.

They made it to the barracks and went to the main armory where they show a blueprint of the contraption. Apparently its called a grappling harpoon, a tool that helps the user to fly through the air. It uses a compressed air cansiter strapped to the sides of the wearer to launch the harpoon, and once the harpoon sticks to something, the anchors activate and pull the wearer of the contraption towards the hooked harpoon. once the wearer wants to move on to another position, the wearer just pulls the bottom trigger and the harpoons release and get stored back into the gun via spring pulley which gets disbled when the harpoon is fired using the top trigger.

Now that buckler had a good Idea of what those guns are (apparently named Grappling harpoon), he was now thinking of some improvements that could be made to improve the quality of use, but since buckler had no Idea what it feels to use it, he brushed off the ideas, storing them in his mental archives.

“Also next week, we’ll be going on a scavenging expedition with your wife” Canyon rolled up the blueprint and stored it in one of the lockers.

The word ‘wife’ has buckler surprised and confused at the same time which resulted in him correcting canyon
“Uhmm.. Canyon, Citrus and I aren't married”

Buckler could have sworn canyon had a devious grin when he left the room saying:
“Look under your pipbuck dimwit”

In curiosity buckler had moved his pipbuck aside only to find scar cut to look like the cutie mark of the princess of love: cadence, buckler slightly gasps to see that the scar was a few months old. He needed to talk to Rosebud when he gets home.

———————

3-DAYS LATER

———————

after days of living with Rosebud, he had been used to the daily life of crater-town. He also found that the currency in the wasteland are crowns of glass soda bottles they call 'caps'. With all this information, he could finally survive the wasteland (inside cratertown at least). Although one small thing had been bugging buckler for a quite some time now.
if this city was built in and on top of a missile crater, then how were they able to get rid of the radiation?

buckler thinks about one of the posibilities while sitting on an old and rusted office chair, staring at the dirty ceiling as Buckler fiddles with the buttons and dials of his bullet holed pipbuck. As he sits there, the squeak of the wooden door catches his attention, taking him out of his trance.

“Buckler i’m home”
The Oh-so-Familiar voice of Rosebud Citrus shouts from the door, the sound of the door closing coming after her shout.

“Let me cook dinner tonight”
Buckler offers citrus who was holding on the metal box holding what seems to be radhog meat and taking it from rosebud to put somewhere near the improvised grill.

“aww radhog? I hate meat.. A~nd i’m pretty sure rosebud does too”
He internally says to himself grabbing the metal box and firing up the improvised grill, filling it up with the branches of charred trees that are just outside of crater-town.

“I’ll call you when it’s ready okay?”
Buckler says to rosebud to which rosebud smiles and nods, although the nice feeling filled the home, the happines had not lasted when a frown stuck on rosebud’s face when she spotted buckler’s pipbuck just after buckler had turned around to tend to the meat he was cooking.

Siege

Three days before the scheduled scavenging run of wasteland blades which apparently rosebud citrus is a part of.
So before all that happens, buckler would like to do something for his apparent wife and have a few questions on the side.
But right now they're at the table enjoying some barbecued radhog. (at least rosebud is). Buckler had once again spotted the crystal heart scar under his pipbuck and decided to ask rosebud about it.

“Hey rosebud”
He breaks the quite eerie silence of the place.

With radhog meat still stuffed in her mouth, rosebud responds with a muffled
“Hmff?”

“I was meaning to ask you about... this” the hesitation in buckler’s voice had caused rosebud to expect a near unanswerable question. and in deed it was.

“Remember when you said loved be back in the stable? Well I sort of had feeling for you back”
She smiled to which buckler cocked his head and said in an almost fatherly tone, shaking his head at the same time.

“That’s not related to my question, could you at least add just a weee bit of details?”
Buckler asks with a face of Calmness and Mellowness which gains a sigh from rosebud

“When we almost died in the stable, We were rescued and carried here. But you already know that. The thing is.. a week after the attack on stable 50, I woke up and got out of the cratertown medical building they call a hospital. I asked if I could see you, they let me in your cubicle and they said you were in a coma. They said that you only had a few weeks left because your brain activity was going coo coo and would soon enough, plummet, then stopping your heartbeats.. so before that happens I asked Canyon of what their version of an eternal bond of love between lovers is. Canyon said that identical scars is their version of wedding rings. So I decided what other way to symbolize love than the cutie mark of the princess of love?”
The whole explanation had so much information that blue buckler felt like he was hit in the face with an info flavored pie

Before buckler couldn't even respond, they heard a zipping sound just outside their household. The zipping sound stops just before the door of their home got opened in a rather violent manner, the pony who busted down their door showed itself. It was wearing full battle gear along with the grappling harpoons at their hooves and Metal canisters at their sides. It was shell shock, not drunk and ready for a big fight.

"Hey citrus, we need your help. Raiders with Raider-Made steel ranger armor outside the wall. They look like they're carrying a Fuck-ton of explosives that might just Blow down the wall"
Shell Shock said as clearly as she can make her sentence

Rosebud's eyes widened then looked at buckler. She ran to the back room while shouting at buckler.
"Bucky could you check it out? I'll meet you there"

Buckler nodded, running outside, past shell shock and towards the wall after saying
"We never agreed on that nickname"

He ran to the wall, never stopping even though his body was not built for long distance running.
(Being in a stable for twenty six years proves that). he sounded calm when he left his house, but in reality, he is terrified. He was afraid that he was going to lose his new home so soon. he was just here for a few days (technically for six months. Being in a coma and all that)

“I have just found a new home and already! I have to flee. Again?”
He whispered to himself never stopping for a breath and running to the wall. While he was running, he didn't notice the growing number of armored ponies galloping with him. having the relatively same destination, but different objective.
Buckler’s objective was to ‘check it out’. Their objective was to defend the wall and the town inside of it.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Buckler had finally had a view of the wall and has climbed to a higher position to get a better view of the commotion (on top of a roof to be precise).

The gunshots rage off while buckler just looks and waits as ponies and steel-raiders die and get replaced. There was the occasional explosion that were sometimes disturbingly close to the wall that the wall would wiggle but would immediately rearrange itself.

While all that chaos happens, buckler’s friend, Shell shock and his “Wife” have finally arrived wearing their gear and ready for a head-to-head fight.

“What’s the condition bucky?”
Asked rosebud as she landed on the roof next to buckler, the canisters on her sides were visibly not made for rosebud’s size, but her small size gives her an advantage when using the gear. Her light weight gives the grappling harpoons less weight to pull therefore giving rosebud much more speed than the average grappler.

“We never agreed on that nickname.. The condition is getting pretty out of hoof, I wonder why they haven't called for backup yet”
Buckler asked after telling rosebud the situation, but quickly getting answered when mud flash and canyon landed at the same roof as them.

“Because the wall defense sector has an ego the size of manehattan and Fillydelphia combined. maybe put Detrot in the mix. Last attack, the town guards were smart enough to call the scavenging squads” Canyon answered behind his metal mask. Canyon and mud flash were now wearing full battle gear also ready for a fight.

“Don’t fool around. These steel-raiders are not your average raider. These guys have heavy automatic battle saddles and some armor to go with that. But a disadvantage to having automatic battle saddles, is the battle saddle is prone to jams”
Mud flash smiled as he put on his Helmet. His helmet is covering his whole face while having eyeholes.

“When things get tough. Release the blood-ghouls. Let’s go rosebud” Shell shock shouted as she put on her own headwear. Hers was a replica of the front of a steel ranger helmet.

Rosebud nodded and put on an iron helmet that covers her head but not covering her whole face and a hole in the back for her mane. They all attached the attachments on their gear which were shotgun battle saddles that canyon handed out. After they've prepared, they all jumped off the roof and zipped towards the wall, expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

"Is Bucky going to be fine with us leaving him up there?"
Rosebud asks to her comrades

"Don't worry about him, he got himself up there, he can get his ass down"
Canyon assures rosebud that her husband is going to be fine, she spots her cadence cutie mark scar, she smiles

"Besides; he's trained with us for six months right?" She'll shock asked

"Remember that he can't remember that, and he doesn't want to remember anything after that, it's his wish"
Rosebud reminds her best friend

"Oh yeah, sorry"
Shell apologized

"No prob"
Rose smiles

Mud flash, stayed silent throughout the whole trip to the battlefield. A stun grenade shoots up from between the alleyways and explodes in the middle of the squad, they fall down and get separated, after a few seconds, canyon and mud flash find her and pull her close to them.

"Where did that come from?" She asked them

"Either from the raiders or one of our own who thought we were raiders"
Mud responded

"No raider knows how to operate one of these" Canyon reminded him

"Where's Shell shock"
Rosebud looks around

"Shit"
Canyon goes out of the hiding spot to look for shell but gets shot

"Canyon!" Mud shouted, grappling around the corner to shoot

"Get the G.H.A.M.R.B.S."
Canyon who was in a ditch ordered Mud Flash

Mud flash leaves to call the said division and grapples away, around an alleyway across the road from rosebud, shell shock pops out and comes back in to avoid getting shot at. When it was safe and the enemies were reloading, some were jammed, shell grapples over to rosebud then taking canyon along with her.

"There's no use in fighting them, our slugs just bounce right off their armor, they got refined metal, leave me and Go!"
Another order from canyon

"NoIWillNot"
A blunt statement from shell

"I'll try to hold off for as long as I can, mud flash already called for backup, GO!"
Rosebud says and tosses canyon's fedora on Shell's head, shell leaves after

The Dreadful words

Buckler is waiting at the roof of the building, just standing there, waiting for the return of the scavenging squad which was apparently a semi-Defense squad. What do you know, You DO learn something new everyday.

as he was just starting to get his hopes up, the gunshots get uncomfortably louder, then followed by a large explosion that rumbled like thunder. Then, he hears it. those two very dreadful words.
"Fall Back!"

all his hopes just crashed down into oblivion. The thought of losing rosebud overcomes him.
He starts running towards the direction of where the attack took place.
He jumps off the roof trying to parkour down galloping across before jumping. As he was falling, ready to grab on a pole and slide down it. he would've made it if he wasn't caught in the air by Shell Shock.

“Don’t bother galloping to her, Stable Colt. She’s practically gone”

Those words had hit buckler hard. When he looked up to answer, he stops in surprise and sees Shell shock wearing canyon’s fedora with a pained expression with tears streaming down her face trying to grapple straight and properly trying to aim the hook with the blurry vision of having tears in her eyes.
Grappling with one hook is hard, especially when you're swinging while holding on to a pony heavier than you.

He pauses to decode what shell shock said. ‘She’s practically gone’
The tears started to form on buckler’s own eyes, asking so fast that shell shock almost couldn't even remotely decipher what buckler had choked out.
“What happened to her?”

Two drops of tears roll down from shell shock’s eyes, momentarily clearing her vision as she answered after a sniffle.
“While we were fighting, one of the steel-raiders had shot canyon pretty badly, the G.H.A.M.R.B.S. Finally came but not in time. Rosebud Citrus Stayed in hopes of carrying canyon to safety. Last thing I saw her do was toss canyon’s fedora on my head. The G.H.A.M.R.B.S. Had lost their numbers via surprise ambush by the steel-raiders.. and the order to fall back and retreat was given”

“The G.H.A.M.R.B.S?”
Buckler asked through his sobs and tears

“The ‘Grappling Harpoon Anti Machine Rifle Battle Saddle’, Pretty stupid name if you ask me. Since it isn't a Real Anti Machine Rifle”
Buckler was even more confused because: 1; he did not know what a rifle was, much less an anti machine rifle. And 2; he didn't know what a battle saddle was. He was planning to ask.

“Okay. 1; what is a rifle? and 2; what is a battle-saddle?”
Buckler asks shell shock, getting momentarily distracted from his loss.

Shell Shock Landed on the busier side of Cratertown, ponies have gathered around helping however they could. She continued to explain once they were back on solid ground.

“One; a rifle is a weapon like a pistol but deadlier, has more range and has different calibers and sometimes are bolt-action. Two; a battle saddle is a kind of weapon that the wearer mounts on themselves to hold some PRETTY big and buff guns. Kind of like these little colts”
Shell shock gestures to her sides holding combat shotguns each engraved on the barrels with their own names; ‘Hank’ and ‘Cole’

He pretended to understand by nodding his head, after he followed up his response with a question.
“So, you name your own weapons now?”

Shell shock's eyes began to water again as she answered.
“No. my father named these”

“Oh” he said. He tried to say something after that but got cut off by the calling of his name in the distance.

“Buckler!” it was rosebud. With cuts and bruises and also having an arrow in the knee of her hind leg (More precisely a Crossbow bolt).

Buckler ran as fast as he could towards rosebud before wrapping his hooves around her as she cried at his chest. Rosebud soon also gave buckler the hug.

“I thought you were dead”
Shell shock said in complete surprise

“It's gonna be hard to kill this little Orange”
The teary eyed Rosebud responded through buckler's dusty plumber's stable suit

Buckler broke away from the bone crushing hug and asked his lover
“How were you able to escape with that arrow through your knee?”

Rosebud touched the cold metal of the grappling harpoon barrel to buckler's cheek. Buckler flinched at the unexpected feeling, when buckler looked down to see rosebud, she had a smug look
even in great pain she can still give a smug face
Buckler thought to himself

* * *

After the big fight against the steel raiders, almost half of cratertown was taken under the control of the steel raiders. While in between the steel raiders and Cratertown's forces (The GHAMRBS and the Blood Ghouls) raged a battle that would last for days.

Meanwhile in the Cratertown medical building, rosebud was all patched up inside the infirmary, she rested in one of the rooms that lined the walls, out of the nurses orders along with other injured Crater-Soldiers. Buckler was outside while shell Shock and Rosebud talked inside.
At Least That was what Buckler had thought.

Everything came Crashing down again at the sight of Shell Shock coming out of Rosebud's room, tears streaming down her cheeks again.
“what happened?”
Buckler asked

“Blood Loss, Blood Clot and Blunt hits to the head”
She answered with no emotion but clear sorrow

“What do you mean?”
Another question from Buckler

“She's Dead Blue Buckler!”
A Crying Shout came from shell shock as the news hits buckler and makes him cry again.

All buckler could do was just sit down on the floor repeating a single word of denial
“no”

“first my dad and now by best friend”
A sorrowful mutter came from shell shock as she wiped her tears and sniffle.

“Wait, Dad?”
Confusion whips buckler's wet and devastated face.

Shell shock gave the fakest smile in the wasteland and wiped the tears off her face and eyes
“I always called Canyon by his name cause he doesn't want me to cry by the time he bites the dust.. But even though he doesn't want me to love him. I treat him like my dad when he doesn't notice. Cause he's still my dad, and I love him for that”

“Excuse me, I'm looking for Blue Buckler”
A nurse comes out of Rosebud's room

“i'm blue buckler”
He says

“missus rosebud asked us to give you this”
The nurse gave a piece paper that has dots and dashes

It was her final words written in code, the paper says:

--. --- - --- --- ..- .-. .... --- ..- ... . .- -. -.. -... .-. . .- -.- - .... . ..-. .-.. --- --- .-. -... --- .- .-. -.. ..- -. -.. . .-. - .... . .-. ..- --. .- -. -.. - .- -.- . ... .... . .-.. .-.. ... .... --- -.-. -.- .-- .. - .... -.-- --- ..-

“Let's move”
Buckler says after gasping

“What?”
Shell shock asks

“it's a code that was taught in the Stable, and it's probably unique to the stables with a letter instead of a third number, it’s a good thing I learned it, and apparently she learned it too, but being the overmare she probably had to learn it”
buckler says before running out of the medical building, shell shock behind him.

* * *

CRACK

The sounds of broken floor boards was uncomfortably loud in the eerie silence of the abandoned residential district. A screen of something had been filling the said district which gave Buckler a hard time differentiating between if the ‘something’ was a smokescreen, some fog or Tear gas residue. judging from the color of the smoke, buckler could have guessed that it was a smokescreen but the smell says otherwise.

“what could she be telling us to make us go all the way behind enemy lines?”
Shell shock complained

“I don't know what it is but By the time we find it we need to immediately dash outta this place”
Buckler dug deep into the dirt under the floorboards.

A fake grin spread on shell shock's face when she spoke
“its heartless of you to only cry a little when you found out that rose was gone”

“I guess I'm just that hardened by continuous emotional devastation”
Replied buckler

Shell shock looked at him with the look that says ‘There is no way’ “Really? Nopony can get emotionally hardened that quickly”

..Silence.. Eerie and uncomfortable silence

“This is getting us nowhere!”
Buckler shouts from the 1 meter deep hole he dug up and slams his hoof on the dirt

“Ow!”
The sound of a Broken piece of wood made a cracking sound almost in sync with buckler's shout of pain

“Found something?”
Shell shock asked

“I Think so”
Buckler responded climbing out of the hole

The thing was reeled out using The grappling harpoon shell shock was wearing, attaching it to a convenient hook. Turns out, the wooden thing was a small crate containing Celestia Knows what. they soon got out of the area and back to safety

* * *

The Duo have now reached the safety of the Cratertown defense and had looked inside of the crate only to find Rosebud's pip-Buck set to play an audio recording once a certain button was pressed.
Buckler pressed the said button in response to the note that says ‘At any condition, only blue buckler and shell shock may hear this’

”Hello Bucky, if you're hearing this then I'm probably, most likely, Definitely Dead, and as a last message, I will be spilling every ounce or gram of beans I have.

Number one: Blue Buckler, I'm mad at you because the first time you got laid wasn't with me.
Shell shock, please slap him.”

Silence.
He looks at shell, she shrugged and slapped buckler straight across the face, it hurt and it was a little warm.

“Number two: I have weapons and armor stashed with Mud Flash, you also should be training cause you won't survive an hour out in the Equestrian Wasteland

Three: Shell Shock, if you Really did slap Buckler, That was so unnecessary, you could have just ignored the request

Four: if you want something more Technological like magical-energy weapons kind of like those things I saw in the wasteland, feel free to go to W.E.L.C.O.M.E.

Five: Mud Flash and ‘The Doctor’ are Working on a Suit of Power Armor called the K-1R. The armor's full name is supposed to be K-1R-15H-1M4, The armor was solely good at hard punches, but they realized that one on one punch battles are rare out there so, they lowered the punching power to bear two miniguns on both sides, guns are essential in the wasteland”.

Six: I want you to ask 'The Doctor' for memory or number 889 and tell her to test out the M.O.F.

The Audio recording cuts off

"The M.O.F?"
Buckler questions

"'The Doctor' calls it the "Memory Orb Flash" it puts the entire contents of a memory orb and shoot that memory into your brain, Rosebud calls it Ponies' mind blowers" Shell shock gestured an answer

“And what's W.E.L.C.O.M.E.?”
Was the next thing buckler asked

“it's the ‘Whooves Equestrian Labs of Cryopods, Organics, Mutations and Engineering' At least a branch of it, That place is Packed with tech”
Shell says with eyes still on the pip-buck