Fallout Equestria: The Vanhoover Chronicles

A zebrecian stand off, that is what they called it in New Pegasus. Two sides with drawn and aimed weapons, none taking the shot. On one side was a gang of slavers, clad in hardened leather and armed with with automatics. 13 in total, they had completely surrounded their enemies and yet they hesitated. They had a grudge to settle and the mare that had messed up their operation had decided to visit Liberty's End and walked straight into their ambush. Even a head hunter of her caliber couldn't take them all, at least... that was the idea.

Ratchet gulped, the revolver next to his head was definitely not part of the plan.

"We were travelling peacefully and you had to throw your lives away?"

The voice was smooth and far too gentle to come from a cold blooded killer, yet he knew better. The duster and the hat both had golden signets in the shape of the number 7. First rule of slavery, never mess with the Vanhoover Express. It is more trouble than worth, every single one of their couriers were armed to the teeth and completely crazy.

"Hey, we can still work this out." He tried to hide his nervousness but failed, this courier freaked him out. "If everypony lowers their guns, we can walk our separate ways and forget about this. 'Kay?"

"Did you hear that, Sweet?"

"Yeah. Ah did. Only one li'l problem, ya'll are slavers. And ya'll sell to the zebras."

"Everypony does that!" he protested.

"Still technically treason." The mare next to him made a pouty face. "And traitors have but one fate."

Ca-click

She cocked the hammer.

He tried to move but found himself frozen in place.

BLAM

An eerie silence followed, the other slavers were paralyzed with shock.

Twelve golden auras enveloped their weapons, which twisted in the air and fired.

BABAM

"HEY, ya didn't leave any to me?!"

The tall white pegasus was furious.

"Ah, sorry. Got a bit carried away."

The courier blinked, as if trying to process what just happened.

"Do you want any of their gear?"

"Pfft, like ah want any of their junk?"

***

The two mares continued their walk on the broken street, leaving the dead fools to the carrion. The ancient city was more rubble than a thriving town, like so many others of its kind. The only reason to why it had become important over the centuries was that it was a crucial link between the southwest, the northwest and central Equestria. A hot spot for raiders, caravans, couriers and most importantly slavers. Straggling ponies were captured around Vanhoover, taken to Liberty's End and then sold to the highest buyer.

"Ah told ya, Goldie. This place is more pain than its worth."

"I know, I know."

"Why're we even going here in th' first place?"

"There is a stallion I want to meet."

"WHAT?!"

"And this is why I didn't want you tagging along."

"Ya have a lov'r here?! And a buck?"

The courier mare facehoofed and let out a sigh.

"No, Sweet. I do not. So please to try to not make a fuss"

"But, Goooldie!"

The shorter mare looked at her pegasus companion with an expression of disbelief.

"... You do realize that whining is not going to help?"

"Yeah, but... who even is this buck? A ghoul like High Roll'r?"

"No, a stable pony."

"Another crossbreed??"

A glow of magic grabbed hold of the pegasus' mane and pulled her head down.

"Stop that."

"Aouch, stop what?"

"Overreacting, shouting at every little thing I say! You are acting like a jealous school filly, and I am tired of it. If you can not behave properly I will teleport you to Trottingham and you will have to fly home. Got it?"

"But ah..."

The eyes of the courier mare was showing hints of anger, a rare sight these days.

"Sure, A'll be good. Promise!"

"Good."

The two of them walked in silence a while longer and had the gates of the slaver fortress in sight when the pegasus piped up once more, having one more thing on her mind.

"Ya know, if ya acted more like that..."

The courier turned her head slowly to look the pegasus in the eyes with a tired expression.

"OK, Ah'll shut up now."

***

The guards at the gate had let them in without a fuzz, couriers were a common enough sight for nopony to raise any questions. Even if the presence of the pegasus clearly worried some of them. At least three separate groups of ponies within the walls opened their mouth to comment about the bounty hunter visiting but shut it when they recognized that she wasn't alone. All the heavily armed lowlife in this place were a powder keg waiting to blow, and these two mares had a reputation for having exceptionally short fuses.

"So where's this buck of yers?"

"At the bar in the main building."

"How do ya know?"

"Ponies in the street are talking about them? Try to pay attention for once."

"Ah didn't hear anything?"

"... let's just go."

The courier sped up.

"Ya're hiding somethin' again!"

The hunter galloped after.

Despite her taller legs and better stamina she didn't catch up until they had reached the large open dining hall that held every visitor with caps to their name. To the bounty hunter it gave the impression of a less civilized version of the pubs and casinos of New Pegasus, the courier however was reminded that she would rather be back in the Black Hoof. Yet, at a corner table there were to stallions who stood out from the rest. Two cyberponies in fact, both looking well acclamated to the harshness of the wasteland.

"You go pick up drinks for us while I go introduce myself."

"Ya sure ya aren't here to flirt?"

"Some of us actually have other interests. Now, go."

The courier walked up to the pair and took a seat on the opposite side of the table, a faint smile on her lips as she read their reactions and noticed which one she was seeking. The thinner one, with the cybernetic eye. Clearly the brains of the duo, with the other being more of a combatant. Still, it was an odd place to find stable ponies. They ususally had stronger morals than this.

"Can we help you, miss?"

"I am mostly curious at what a pair of stable bucks are doing in a place like this?"

"Isn't that a line the stallion typically use?"

The courier chuckled lightly and removed her hat.

"How my reputation have fallen over the years... Anyhow, you two. Tell me, what do you think of this place?"

The stallion with the cybernetic leg tensed up when the tall pegasus walked up to the table with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. The courier suspected that her companion had a disapproving look on her face, but then again the over sized rifle might have something to do with his reaction. The other buck didn't even flinch at the possible threat and gave the impression of very much being in control.

"It is atrocious. And yet, it might be the biggest settlement we have encountered in Equestria."

The courier snatched the bottle and poured herself a glass of the amber liquid. Black Hoof whiskey, the best one made after the end of the world. Although she might be a bit biased towards the drinks from that place.

"Tall Tale and New Pegasus are bigger. But they are exceptions to the rule."

"Seeing the ponies who frequent this place, I can see why. Bandits, slave traders and frankly violent lunatics. Egocentric savages with no care as what the consequences of their actions would be in the long run. Looks like a recipe for disaster to me."

"HEY..."

The pegasus had a bad habit of taking things personally.

"Present company excluded of course."

"Not really, we belong to the third group."

The courier waved a dismissive hoof in the air.

"I am curious though, is it true that they sell ponies to a zebra warlord?"

"Very much true I am afraid." The courier emptied her glass and began pouring a new. "It is ironic, the zebras are outnumbered a hundred to one but ponies are too self centered to actually do something about it."

"That's just it!!"

The buck with responded with passion, slamming a hoof on the table, bending forward and pointing to the courier with the other. Something that made the pegasus twitch and she had her revolver out in an instant and was met with the her stallion counterpart aiming his cybernetic leg at her. It had unfolded, revealing a large boore barrel inside.

Then the magical aura gripped the revolver and ripped it from the pegasus mouth.

"OUCH!"

"No shooting! This is a civil discussion, Sweet! Pardon the distraction, you were saying?"

"Ahem, yes. It has been over 150 years since the bombs fell, how come nopony has managed to rebuild anything of note? Do all these outlaws outnumber the civilized ponies and bring it all down again? Has nopony tried? I know there are at least some stables that were opened."

"Ah, now we come to the point for which I sought you out. I have been travelling the wasteland for a long while and was asking myself the very same question back in the day. As a pony used to civilization it was very frustrating to find that nearly every place was as rotten as this slaver nest."

The red stallion closed his organic eye and sat back down in a slow dramatic fashion. He had figured it out.

"Your beauty belie your age, doesn't it? Miss?"

"Charming, but yes. I am ever as bit rotten as any of the ghouls you have seen."

He had a grin on his lips, the discussion now had more than merely social or academic value.

"An actual Equestrian... So tell me, what have you noticed over the last century and a half?"

"A few decades back I ran into a pony I met once before the end, a stallion of remarkable integrity and considerable leadership experience. There was this mare he found in a moderately sized town, reminded him of his old lover from before the war. So he decided to become the town's guardian."

She emptied her second glass but her mind was already drunk on nostalgia.

"I had been travelling with him for a few years at the time. But being reminded of the time back then... It reminded me that I still had unfinished business in this world and after a while I left and went my own way. A decade later I returned, a bit curious at how things turned out for them."

"And it was in ruins I take it?"

"Ruin?" She gazed deep into his eye. "No, it wasn't a ruin. It was a crater."

"And the stallion?"

"I met him years later once more but he refused to talk about it."

"So did you figure out what had happened?"

"Oh yes... It took a while, the pattern was clear enough but... It wasn't until I reached Vanhoover that I finally understood. Ah... How the Vanhoover Provisional Government failed.. A surviving remnant of the old nation, that just happened to collapse under mysterious circumstances."

"Outside interference then?"

The stable buck was quick to reach the correct conclusion when the option became a possibility.

"Exactly."

"Who and why becomes the question then."

"Tell me, how many pegasi have you encountered during your travels?"

"Few, very few."

Both of the stallions turned to look at the winged mare.

"Goldie, what are ya doing?"

The courier mare just showed a faint smile at the question.

"Ya know Miss Pega don't want ya talkin' about that stuff?"

It was a threat, simple as that.

"Bitter Sweet, need I remind you of why you follow me around in the first place?"

The winged mare hestitated at the reminder.

"But fret not, it is on her wishes that I am telling them. I am a courier after all." The unicorn turned her attention to the stallions in front of them. "Miss Pega is a wastelander when all is said and done, and no friend of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. So here we are."

The unicorn levitated out a holodisk and dropped it on the table.

"And this mare you work for, she asked you to seek us out specifically?"

"Of course not, any and all stable dweller or ghoul that seems worth the effort. Any pony with proper loyalties to the values of our lost nation, as well as the talents to do something about it. You are the sixth group I have reached out to since I took on the contract."

"And now you expect us to join in on some grand conspiracy?"

"hehe.... hahahahaha!!"

The pegasus was stunned, it was rare sight for the courier mare to show so much emotion. And the mix of cheer and insanity was just a bit too much, even for her.

"No, my dear Stable Dweller. No, we do not. It is a game, a game with impossible odds. And in such a game there is only one possible path to victory, cheating. By throwing a few wildcards into the deck the schemes and conspiracies that lay hidden in this wasteland of ours, will one day come crashing down."

"You are insane..." The bulkier of the two bucks muttered.

"Perhaps, but I am also quite experienced when it comes to things like this."

The other stallion had a shrewd smile as he asked the crucial question.

"So there is no strings attached to this gift then?"

"None. As I already stated, it is a gamble."

It was evident to the courier that the stallion knew they had merely been told half truths. Yet he wasn't going to bring any more questions out into the open, the courier mare wasn't the only one at the table with a plan for the future. And he had known more than he had let show, just how much she couldn't tell. Yet the meeting had proved fruitful for both sides.

The courier emptied her third glass, rose from her seat and put on her weathered hat.

"A final friendly word of advice, stay away from Vanhoover. A relative of mine gave them a proper fright once, and they never forgot, so unfortunately the they keep their eyes locked on the city. The whole west coast is filled with spies and saboteurs."

"And the east coast isn't?"

The buck raised his one healthy brow.

She gave him a conniving smile in return.

"I wouldn't know."