Fallout Equestria: Hope's Last Gleam

Chapter 4: Tartarus

The marketplace bustled with activity as Twilight surveyed the landscape before her, before long they'd be making preperations for the upcoming winter wrap-up. Life in Ponyville since her move here from Canterlot had certainly been a learning experience beyond anything she could ever hope to explain in words. Twilight deeply wanted to write a book about all the many travels she had already shared with her friends across many differents parts of Equestria. The learning, the lessons in life, the sights they got to share and all the precious memories they had made together as the best of friends in such a short time already.

Twlight promised herself and all of Equestria, one day she would do just that and document all their journeys for future generations of Equestria to read and hopefully inspire them to carry on the same morals and values in their own lives and choices. But there was still so very much for Twilight to learn and share together with all her friends, she felt it would make for a much richer story to be told when she had fully learned about the magic of Friendship and had settled down a bit more.

Granted,

Being the Princess of Friendship meant her life may never settle down as much as a normal pony's life would in their later years, but Twilight had no idea what to make of her new alicorn status. The ability of flight was an amazing yet tricky ability for a (previously) unicorn to master. She was still nowhere near being what she would call an accomplished flyer, but she could make use of them at least. To this day she still had a fear of falling, and wondered when her instincts would realize she could actually fly.

Becoming an alicorn had been such a change in lifestyle, it expanded her already impressive magical font to near-legendary power, her body had begun to change somewhat, her horn growing about an inch and her legs beginning to grow longer. At one point she had begun to wonder if she might need to re-fit the library with new doorways and furniture.

Twilight sighed as she heard the tinkle of the many gems that hung from the oak chandiler above, each one holding a different memory from all of her friends, brushing against one another in the soft breeze through the windows. Twilight rested her head on the crystal balcony railing and smiled softly as the breeze blew through her mane softly.

"Guess I can cross that little lifestyle change off my list."

Was she and Cadance going to live for countless millienia like Celestia and Luna had? Were they not the same kind of alicorn as the regal sisters? Might their own lifespans be just significantly longer?

Twilight felt it to be a rather odd question to ask such a thing to any of her other alicorn kind, and thus had refrained from asking any of them such question.

Twillight shrugged her shoulders and decided to continue to enjoy life one day at a time, with time she'd learn just how long she was going to be a princess. Perhaps one day she'd have a child who could carry on her role of Princess of Friendship. Until she learned the thousand or so answers to the countless amount of questions her mind had formulated, life would be lived by Princess of Friendship,

One beautiful day at a time.

. . .

Being above ground made Cassandra almost wish she was back in those many hallways she had been lost in not so long ago. Buildings lie in ruins at every turn, their remains spilled out upon the ruined pavement. From their height upon the mountain of Canterlot, one could see the long and eerie marks upon the earth where the land was turned to shiny black glass. Cassandra dared not to wonder what could have created such long and terrible marks upon Equestria.

Goliath snorted from ahead as she saw they were coming upon what looked like the remains of a fair sized public building, perhaps a school or library. There was an odd collection of what appeared to be scraps of buildings and carts surrounding the partially standing building.

From here Far-Eye could make out her cutiemark and count every crystal feather on her wings through her high power scope. Just one squeeze of her trigger, say it was simply an accident as she was inspecting the mare through her scope for a better look. Far-Eye could be rich and famous, such a prize simply didn't offer itself up on a platter like this crystal pony had.

Her highly magnified point of view shifted to the mountain of a stallion leading this mare to their home in this hellish land. Far-Eye would never live long enough to enjoy her wealth and fame if she killed this mare, Goliath had already made that much clear through their last conversation.

Far-Eye went back to inspecting that mare, how her coat shone with a light like nothing in Equestria ever would again. She didn't belong here, there were no crystal stallions here for her. Far-Eye considered for a moment if a "normal" stallion could ever have crystal children with this mare. Far- Eye's eyes shot open in astonishment.

"That clever son-of-a-whorse, He thinks he can make more little crystal cunts with her, sell them off, and be made for life!" exclaimed Far-Eye.

Far-Eye considered the possibilities for a few moments as her scope combed over the mare, taking in every luscious curve of her frame.

. . .

Goliath stopped a few lengths from the building, now plain to see that a makeshift sort of fence had indeed been erected around the building. What the purpose of this fence was evaded her however. Was there something they were trying to keep inside the fence, or was it meant to keep something else from getting inside the building?

Cassandra's thoughts were interrupted when Goliath spoke to her.

"I must ask you to keep very close to my side at all times, Understand?" questioned Goliath in his deep voice.

"Uhm, I feel like I can trust you sir, can I ask why you sound like this place is dangerous? I thought you had friends here?" Cassandra asked submissively.

Goliath looked back toward the building and Cassandra almost swore to Celestia she could feel him glaring darkly at the structure and possibly it's inhabitants.

"We are a loosely grouped band of ponies just trying to survive day to day Cassandra. I did not say were were brothers and sisters, We do not all think the same way nor have the same values." answered Goliath as he looked back toward Cassandra.

"I'm quite certain very few of them will share the oath I made to you either." Goliath finished.

At first, this building they were going toward sounded welcoming, despite it's appearance. After what Goliath had said, Cassandra wasn't so sure she wanted to go inside this building anymore. Cassandra was having a hard time understanding why everypony was treating her so strangely, She wasn't that different from them was she? She had heard tales of how the ponies here were welcoming and accepting of all races and breeds of equine. Perhaps whatever horrible thing had happened here had changed all that?

Cassandra did her best to swallow her fears and summon the last drops of bravery she had left and followed Goliath toward the building before them.

As they approached, ponies came from their places of hiding and began coming toward them. Cassandra felt a very real tingle of fear wash over her as she realized these ponies all had weapons.

"Golem, Always one to bring something interesting back home as usual." spoke a rather rough looking green stallion.

"Found her in one of the vaults below Canterlot Emerald, Figure she's been there since before the days Equestria keeled over." replied Goliath as he noticed Cassandra fidgeting out of the corner of his vision.

Had he just mentioned the name "Emerald?" Cassandra was startled by this stallion's appearance, but she had to know if it was possible, and thus stepped forward toward the stallion.

"Excuse me sir, but I heard Goliath say your name was "Emerald", Would you happen to know of anypony from the Crystal Empire with that same name?" Cassandra asked hopefully.

The green stallion turned toward her so he was looking right at her and smirked.

"Come closer mare." Was the green stallion's response.

Cassandra looked back to Goliath for his approval or denial, Goliath only nickered deeply and motioned for her to do as the stallion had asked. Cassandra felt reason for alarm when she felt something peculiar, like she could sense something on or about Goliath change when he made the motion for her to step forward.

Cassandra took a few steps forward and set before the green stallion quietly.

Cassandra couldn't help but feel uneasy as this dangerous looking male looked her over, raising a scorched eyebrow for some reason or another.

"Yep, no doubt about it missy, a Faust damn crystal just walked right into my flankhole of a camp." the green stallion spoke.

Cassandra didn't like the way this stallion was looking at her, her concerns more than doubled when she realized plenty more of the mostly male group was looking at her with the same expression.

"Please, why does everypony act like there's something wrong with me? I'm a pony just like the rest of you, I can't help it my coat is different than yours, please don't treat me different just because I'm a crystal pony." Cassandra pleaded

The green stallion that was circling her stopped and grinned at her again, lifting a metal hoof from the ground as it changed into some sort of multiple limbed maw and held her by the chin with it. Cassandra tried to pull her head back but this device on his hoof was very strong. Her worries began to boil over as she found herself held against her will now by this stallion that was looking at her in a way she only wanted her Emerald Light to look at her.

"You don't know a damn thing do ya? You're a fuckin crystal, we don't EVER see a crystal around here missy." the green stallion sniffed her cheek and gave it an experimental lick that caused Cassandra to shiver with disgust, his breath was beyond horrible.

"Its been rumored for ages before I was even around, that your kind was wiped from the face of Equestria when she died. You are the first crystal I've ever seen and I'll let you in on a little secret girly." The green stallion released Cassandra from his grasp and gave her another circling as his eyes roamed all over her figure.

"Your flank is worth more than half the slave labor in all of Manehatten. Your shiny appearance could give you away over a mile away, that's not good for you at all when every stallion who sees you is gonna want to crack you open like the fine bottle of wine you resemble." the green stallion finished fiery passion deep within his eyes.

"Golem, what do you intend to do with your little find here hmm?" asked the green stallion as he looked toward the large figure he was questioning.

"She wishes to return home." was Goliath's simple response.

The camp was overtaken by rapacious laughter after Goliath's response to the green stallion's question as only Goliath and the green stallion kept their cool.

The green stallion cleared his throat and threw an arm over the sparkling mare, she had to resist the instinct to buck him as he placed more than a gentlemanly amount of weight upon her as he addressed the large armored stallion.

"Got a proposition for you Golem, you plan on actually taking this mare all the way up to what's left of that city of glass?" the green stallion asked.

Goliath gave a confirming nod of his helmet before answering.

"It's what the mare wants Emerald Acid, She wishes to go home and I swore to her I would take her to whatever remains there, what she does after I take her there, It's up to her what she does afterward. I just know she has no chance of making it there alone, she's from the old Equestria, the wasteland will eat her alive. I don't want it on my conscious that someday I'd find her crystal bones one day if I don't help her."

Emerald Acid nodded his head and clucked his tongue as he thought to himself.

"How about you leave the mare here Golem, leave her with me and save her the trouble of being shattered so far from the comfort of others, I'll make sure she's well taken care of and always well fed."

Goliath shook his head and took a step forward.

"I made her a promise and I aim to stick to it, Until I see it for myself, I refuse to think of her as a trophy. That's exactly what you want her for Emerald, a trophy to parade around make a name for yourself. You only want her around because of the coat she wears, if there's a chance she's not alone, then it's worth the wait don't you think?"

Emerald Acid rolled his eyes as he laughed.

"Please Golem, I used my old trophies for target practice long ago, I want her for no different reason than any other stallion in the wastes. This wasteland has so few mares worth rutting anymore Golem, perhaps I can persuade you with first dibs, hmm?"

Goliath nickered and walked toward Cassandra.

The crystal mare felt a very real shiver of terror as the hulking male she had just begun to trust walked toward her at such a proposition. Cassandra closed her eyes and sunk submissively, she was surrounded and there was no pony who was going to save her from what was about to happen to her. As Goliath arrived at her side, she looked up at him pleading for mercy with all the heart she had.

Emerald Acid watched as Goliath nudged Cassandra's side to get her to move back as he stood between her and Emerald Acid.

"The only thing that breaks this mare is if she has to see how much she has indeed lost, it will be hard for her to bear, but she'll still have a freedom to choose what she wishes to do with the rest of her life." Goliath responded to Emerald's proposition.

Emerald Acid withdrew a peculiar looking weapon from his side and aimed it at Goliath's face.

"You know not even that AF-42D armor could save your ass if I wanted to take this mare from you by force."]/b] Emerald Acid spat.

Goliath stomped his hoof into the pavement with a thundering impact, cracking the pavement and sending a few carrion crows scattering in the distance.

]i]"The thick skull inside this heavy armor would last long enough to see to it you never touched her Emerald." Goliath droned emotionlessly.

The two shared a silence only a wildcard and a cloaked crusader could before Emerald laughed and shrugged.

[i0"I don't know Golem, maybe, just MAYBE you can actually get her all the way there in one piece with that thick skull. Just keep your horn North and your mind outta the gutter Golem, she doesn't look like she could support you very long should you choose to give into temptation. I want her brought back in one piece when you find her home in ruins. She deserves to live, she's much to rare to go to waste."

Goliath motioned for Cassandra to head back the way they came from, out of the camp as night was beginning to fall upon the scorched earth.

Once they were presumably out of earshot of the camp, Cassandra spoke up.

"I thought it was dangerous to be out at night Goliath, why are we out here at night?" Cassandra asked as she looked to the forlorn buildings around them, looking over twice as spooky in the fading light as they cast so many bizarre shadows.

"It is very dangerous to be out at night Cassandra." Goliath responded.

Cassandra frowned and looked at what was possibly her only protector in all of Equestria.

"Can I call you Golem, it's a name I'm more comfortable saying." Cassandra asked.

"Refer to me however you wish Cassandra, Think of me as imposing or dangerous, I only mean to protect you along this long journey."]/b] Goliath rumbled.

Cassandra nodded her head as she looked up at the blank sky above them.

"I know what those stallions were going to do to me..."

Goliath stopped where he was behind her.

"Do you think I intend to do the same to you Cassandra?" Goliath questioned

Cassandra set upon the crumbled road and curled her tail around her. Looking at the destruction around her again, taking in what had happened to all those ponies that once lived here. Her eyes eventually fell upon Goliath behind her, awaiting her response silently.

"If you did then I imagine you would have done so back there." Cassandra replied meekly.

Goliath stood and walked so he was right before her, standing over the mare as that emotionless helmet looked down at her.

"You are beauty beyond anything this world will ever see again Cassandra, but you spoke of a stallion in the Empire back at the camp, You're not just scared of what the world has become. I understand now what you meant when you spoke of not wanting to be alone in this world. I see now why you so wish to return home, but I implore you to consider that it has been at least 300 years since you last saw the light of day, Whoever the lucky stallion is, It's very unlikely he still lives." replied Goliath as he continued forward.

Cassandra set in the middle of a ruined street filled with rubble for a few long moments before slowly standing up and following the mysterious stallion she had come to know as Golem.

What she did not see however, was the shadowed figure following them from behind, keeping to the shadows and always keeping it's sights locked on that crystal mare.

. . .

The mind behind those eyes wished many things, none of them of good intention.

. . .