Fallout Equestria: Wandering Woes

Chapter 8: Ships and Stories
(Roasted)

Walking deeper into this basement, I notice a few things at first glance; firstly, the only light down here, aside from my own, was from Melody. Smart enough to light the way, but not smart enough to stay out of harm’s way; seems fitting for our group. The second thing I notice is that the bird brains have come up behind me, the sounds of their light steps almost imperceivable. The last thing I noticed was a mare with a dull blue coat and a sunset red mane that fades into orange, sitting next to an almost skeletal gray pegasus with messy blonde hair wearing a rugged engineer's outfit. I assume that this is the Ma and Ditzy pair we’ve been told about; I vaguely recognized Ditzy from the few times I’ve been in New Appleloosa but never had much of a chance to talk to her, considering she has no tongue. I’ve stayed my distance as most do for me. The three of them are having what appears to be a pleasant conversation with each other as Ditzy just stands politely to the side, I would assume waiting for one of the members of my band of asshats to open the cage they are stuck in.

“This is the stallion you said was like a son to you? The handsome, strong, and fearless son that was amazing in every way!?” Melody proclaims gesturing to Tolson with a stunned look on her face before continuing, “I mean just look at it, that really is a face only a mother could love!” Tolson gives her a smile as he tilts his head; I’m not entirely sure he knows that they are even talking about him.

“Well of course hon, this is the finest fellow you will ever meet; maybe not the cleanest, but look at that handsome face!” Ma replies in what I would assume is a country accent; huh, do they even have ‘countries’ any more? She proceeds to gesture to Tolson, “He may have a few edges on him, but inside of that torn apart body is a heart of gold and a soul of silver to match!” Ma seems to have the happiest smile on her face. Tolson proceeds to sit on his rump looking at the bars. Junker is… staring at his flank for some reason; welp, this is what I deal with now.

“I’ve seen his insides, Serabelle, his heart is a black pit of death and depression. His “soul”, I’m fairly certain, is burning in whatever hell resides in this stallion’s stomach. How does he even process food? What kind of creature is he? How does he work? Why isn’t he dead?!” Melody seems to be either getting more frustrated with every question, or more tired as she eventually just slams her skull against Tolson’s chest with a sigh. Tolson then proceeds to pat her head in a form of either gambling or comfort, if he even knows what that is. Melody, I think, is comforted but I’m not entirely sure. Junker on the other hoof just starts scooting closer to Tolson with a… would that be counted as ‘maniacal’ on such a young looking face? It’s like looking at a foal that is intent on killing you, but also looks so Celestia-damned innocent. Sends shivers down my spine. Ma gets the biggest smile on her face as she leans against the bars almost swooning at the two of them as Melody gets out her needles, Tolson’s open wounds bleeding into her stark-white mane.

“Awww, Tolson, you got a marefriend~ I didn’t think you would have it in you. I know I’ve said your handsome a lot, but oh boy, I did not expect a mare to actually be interested in you! Well done!” Tolson looks at her confused as Melody’s needles stop halfway into his wound. “She is a mare, and she is my friend, it's like you and Miss Ditzy, Ma. I'm not sure why you're getting so happy. Is it because I made another friend? Also, do you want out of there? Those bars do not look very comfy.”

Ma gives a chuckle at this and looks at Ditzy with a shrug before gesturing towards the bars. “Ah yes, if you would be so kind, Tolson that would be lovely; I would do it myself, but I feel that would be rude, and you can show off all those big muscles to your new little marefriend! Ah, my heart swells with pride~”

I have a feeling Ma enjoys either torturing those around Tolson, or making jokes about Tolson he simply doesn’t get, as he just shrugs and stands up. Melody actually growls at him as he has a scalpel stuck inside of his chest frame and Melody hangs onto it, being dragged along for the ride. He pulls it out easily when he realizes Melody is slowing him down. What both shocked and horrified me, however, was when Tolson ripped the metal door off its hinges, an impressive feat, one that I’m sure even the cybernetic enhancements I create would have difficulty handling. On top of that, it would appear most of the muscles in his forelegs are pulsing. Melody immediately backhands him and tiredly shoves another syringe into his chest as the muscles in his forearms calm down. I wonder if she will kill him at this rate or if she will kill herself first.

“What’s wrong, Cyclops, see something you like? Is there a book over here? You also look like someone just hit you with a building, Ma is stronger than I am, so this isn’t that impressive in the slightest,” Tolson says with a shrug as he looks back at me; my mouth must have dropped, as I can feel Melody telekinetically forcing it back into place. If Ma is even stronger than that, then I will have to remain on her good side. With how many ponies Tolson killed outside, I’m sure Ma would turn me into paste. “I’m fine, Bonehead, just got taken aback a bit.” I righten myself once more; can’t be too unprofessional in the eyes of such a mare after all. Speaking of, she steps out of the cage almost in a regal fashion, patting Melody’s head softly, and thanking the bird brains and I for coming all this way to get her and Ditzy... before she turns to Tolson and I swear a fire is lit inside of her skull.

“Now then, Tolson, would you mind repeating to me exactly what you called this poor gentlemen that made him call you a rather fitting, albeit somewhat offensive nickname?” Tolson for the first time, almost seemed apologetic I suppose. Similar to as if a foal got caught pulling drugs out of their parent’s stash. “Well Ma you see, it’s how we are to one another. I call him Cyclops cause he’s a one eyed wil... jerk I mean, and he calls me Bonehead ‘cause his brain is the size of an amoeba.” She seems to take a breath for a moment, and looks back at me with the kindest eyes I’ve seen in many years; oddly enough, it was terrifying, “I apologize for my son’s behavior; he’s a bit of a shit head.” She moved so fast I swear she gave herself whiplash and slammed her back hoof into Tolson’s head so hard his entire body lifted off the ground and he flew into the bars of the cage, creating a dent in them the size of Tolson’s entire head. Melody gave off a deep sigh before standing in front of Ma and proceeding to yell at her, “I just bloody fixed the bastard! Do you have any idea how many ponies he killed above and how much damage they did to his Celestia-forsaken body?! He got hit with a sledgehammer the size of me, and it flattened nearly every internal organ he has; the amount of health potions he would need to even function after that was astonishing, albeit lower than the number I would use on other ponies, but most would ALSO BE DEAD! And now he has brain damage? Keeping anypony in this group alive is going to be a challenge that I’ll have to endure EVERY FIVE SECONDS!!!”

Ma just watched her patiently, Tolson not moving from where he was; I wonder if he was dead. After Melody finished her rant, Ma turned back to Tolson before asking him, “Did you ask even a single one of those raiders if you could just get us without killing anyone?” Tolson simply uttered, “Yes, and they told me to kill them for the answer, so I obliged.” She sighs before resting her hoof on one of the bars as it bends inwards slightly. “Was this before or after you slaughtered everyone they cared for?”

Tolson sat there for a moment, his head bending the bars as he twisted it to look at her. I think the area where his brain began, and the walnut ended, just broke into pieces. “Kinda both? To be fair, they attacked the big guy first.” Ma puts her hoof on his back, if not for the fire in her eyes, it appeared to be her almost consoling him. “And did you ask them why they attacked him? Did you give them mercy, Tolson?” I think he just about crapped himself before he answered.

“Not really, the first one that died kinda was a blur-” He seemed like he was about to continue before Ma proceeded to punch him, not just through the bars he was stuck in, but also the bottom of the cage, and partly into the floor. “I don’t give half a radroach’s ass about your excuses, boy! You fight an enemy and they attack first, you ask them why! Then you give them a chance to explain their actions, and then you pull off their heads and feed it to them! You do, NOT, EVER, MURDER. Before you give them mercy! Do you hear me, boy?! They could have had a family, children, husbands or wives in this hellhole of a world we live in, and you could have destroyed that simply because they hit your friend! I’m sure if you had asked the first one where I was, and if you could just get me out, you wouldn’t have had to kill so many of them! Or waste as much ammo. Learn from this, Tolson, or you’re no better than a crazed raider who wishes he were dead.” With that she turned away from him and looked to the rest of the group, the fire in her eyes having cooled down. “And do apologize to your mare friend for healing you so damn often; she’s just wasting her supplies with how fast you heal in the first place.” As he starts working himself out of the hole he got buried in, he finally turns back to the rest of the group, “I apologize that you’re all blind as bats and didn’t notice I heal quickly. ”

I swear I heard the wall crack as his head went through it once Ma kicked him; I’m not entirely sure what Tolson is made of, but I’m truly amazed he can withstand this kind of punishment without so much as blinking past the normal expression he wears. The rest of the group just watches on in shock and horror as he pulls his skull out of the wall, blood flooding across his face as the cuts start to close themselves up, albeit slightly slower than when Melody does it for him. Ma glares at him as Junker seems to approach his backside once more; I’m still not sure what he is looking at, but honestly, I would not like to know. As Ma turns her head back around she asked us what we were getting paid to do all this; a mare of standards at least, even though she's unbearably violent. Maybe that's how she keeps Tolson in check; whether it’s cause she can kill him or there is genuine respect there, is yet to be seen.

Rogue takes this opportunity to talk with her, discussing some payment options as well as how to find other sources of information and payment; I would have been much more invested in this conversation but the sudden movement of the hulking body of Junker caught my eye as he lunged forwards with a knife in his mouth before carving a bloody circle on Tolson’s flank as Tolson simply looks at him in surprise with an eyebrow raised. “You have a tic-tac-toe board on your butt! I wanna play!” Junker says around the knife in his mouth, practically hopping in place. Tolson proceeded to raise both his eyebrows, take the knife, and mark an x before handing the knife back; the two of them seemed to play for a moment as blood freely drips down Tolson’s flank. At this point, everyone in the room had gone quiet and were staring, Melody’s eyes seemed like they were on fire as she raised her needles rubbing them together with a growl as she watched.

“Tic-tac-toe, three in a row! I won! Yaaaay!!” Junker said, bouncing up then spinning Tolson to his other side, “Wanna play again?!” He seemed rather ecstatic; Tolson, on the other hoof, was not. Tolson proceeded to grab the knife and mark three x’s in his flank before doing a line between them. “Awww! Come on, why are you such a sore loser! I don’t think that counts anyways.”

Melody slowly starts walking over to the two of them before grabbing both of their skulls and bashing them together with a resounding “Thunk” that echoes throughout the basement. Ma gives off a laugh before continuing her conversation with Rogue. “If you really want bits, feel free to take some contracts around the bar; we often have a surplus of them, although they have you go all around Equestria.” Rogue nodded and replied, “Thank you Ma’am, I’ll be sure to remember that. Do you and your companion need an escort back to the town?”

During this exchange of information, Melody is currently strangling the two giants over in the corner; they may be bigger than her, but I swear she must be drowning in drugs with how hard she is beating them into the ground. Rogue, who seems rather unfazed by all this. looks over to Ditzy as she walks to him with what appears to be a mini-chalkboard and writes on it “Thank you, but Tolson is fine; he protects well.”

As Rogue starts to reply while staring at this chalkboard, my eye starts twitching under my eyepatch. I growl softly before reaching into my bag, the other conversations around me fading into the background as I grab a kit. Opening up the kit, I sigh and pull out the last of my painkillers; gonna have to make a trip back home soon; haven’t been there in years. The pain in my eye shoots up, breaking my train of thought before I slam my syringe gun against my temple; the brief stab of pain slowly starts cooling down, and the twitching in my eye eases as I take a sigh of relief. Opening up my good eye, I see everyone staring at me; Melody smacks away Junker’s hoof as he is trying to get his drugs back, before she starts walking over to me.

“What happened to your eye?” She asks as she leans in, lifting my eyepatch and looking over it concerned; her voice is rather grating as she immediately regains her medical pony nature. “It’s fine, I’ve had this since I was young. It makes my eye hypersensitive and gives me a massive headache if I stress it too far, I use this to deal with the headache once it hits me,” I raise the now empty syringe as she grabs it in her magic, I assume from the glow that she’s scanning it as I shake my head, “You’re not going to be able to understand what’s inside of there. It's a painkiller synthesized by the scientists in my town, but I haven't been back there in years; I’ve been unable to refill, what with it being inside of the desert.”

Ditzy at this point started wiping at her chalkboard before tapping at it with her chalk and showing it to me, “I assume from your pipbuck, and your town being in the desert, you lived in the town around vault 64; if you’re going back there, you should take a group with you.” I look at her curiously as Melody lets my eyepatch fall back over my now closed eye, the throbbing subsiding for the moment. “Hrm, has it gotten that dangerous? Well, if you would all like to follow, you are more than welcome to; I shall be moving out as soon as possible, as my eye shall only get worse.” I grab my saddlebags with a sigh looking over the group.

On hearing this, Junker got really excited, “A vault?! I heard that they have really advanced tech in those; I really want to go!” He runs up to Ma, “Can I go Ma?! Can I, can I?!”

As that was going on, Rogue walks over to me, “Vision and I shall accompany you on your travels. Vision could possibly find some bits there or something to drink, or even kill something, and I shall search for the secrets behind your vault. Every one of them is made differently and it shall be fascinating to see how this one differs.”

I nod to him as Tolson speaks up, “Well, Cyclops, as much as I would enjoy seeing you get your flank beaten to the ground by all kinds of creatures, I shall be joining Ma and Ditzy for their travel home; I don’t want them kidnapped again if I can help it.” Melody was about to speak up but Ma put her hoof on Melody’s head, “And this dear little filly shall join your group, as they will need her healing far more than Tolson shall, at least for the time being.”

Melody appears to pout for a moment before walking over to Junker and jumping onto his back; it was an almost entertaining sight. “Fine, but I’m taking this drug filled maniac with me. Tolson, I swear to Celestia, if you get killed before I can kill you, I will personally abuse your grave.”

He shrugged and stood up as I looked over our little gathering.“Hrm, well then it appears it is decided. Us five shall head to my town, you three shall head back to Appleloosa; we’ll regroup once I get my painkillers and we shall see about other plans once we finish,” The rest of the group either shrugged or nodded in agreement, and we started to head out of the basement we were in; as we started climbing the stairs, I swear I could hear, “Don’t worry Melody, I’ll plan the wedding for you~!” from Ma as I start shaking my head.

Several days and nights of traveling passed and the first thing said was, “It’s too hot! When are we gonna get there?” I sigh as I hear Junker complaining behind me, the searing heat of the setting sun blasting down upon the five of us as we walk on. I know this desert like the back of my hoof, so heading back home, even after so long, is not that difficult. Melody, who’s on top of Junker, has been rubbing a water soaked cloth all over him and has been for the last hour we’ve been walking, even the Bird Brains have gotten quiet to conserve their energy. “We’ll get there when we get there; it’s not that much further of a walk, although we may want to set up camp for the night.”

“How can you possibly know that, Cyclops? For the last hour, I’ve seen sand, some more sand, and just a little bit more sand. I’m surprised my eyeballs aren’t just sand!” Vision states with his head low, sweat dripping off his muzzle splattering the ground.

“Simple. I lived here for most of my life, and explored the desert every day. Those mountains in the distance,” I gesture to the mountain peaks; from this distance, to most they would look exactly the same. To me, however, they were a guide. “They would help me find my way, no matter where in the desert I may be.”

Looking around, I motion for the group to stop, Junker practically falls to the ground exhausted; even a giant like him gets tired sometimes, it seems. Looking at the mountains, I see the sun finally setting; the last rays of it falling down, causing the world to be sprayed in hundreds of colors as I pull out my canteen taking a swig of its refreshing water. “We should set up camp; night has fallen, and as we have seen, it gets rather cold. It shouldn’t take too much longer to get to town, so we’ll get some sleep and keep walking once the sun rises.”

Rogue immediately sets to making a fire with the supplies he gathered from Hope, a bit of kinder, some rocks, and a small fire quickly lights. Considering how the wildlife out here are, tents would be rather useless, so we simply sit around the fire. The past couple of nights have been silent, the group seemed to prefer to remain silent aside from Junker and Melody; although they seem to keep to themselves more than anything else. Junker did not seem to take this heat as well as the others, so he’s been keeping to himself a lot; odd change of pace, considering what the last week has been like.

Sitting around the bonfire, I begin to focus on each part of our ragtag band. Junker is sitting next to the fire watching the flame flicker like a foal. Melody is sitting next to him watching him closely with a soft sigh. Rogue is walking around the perimeter keeping an eye on the darkness as Vision is cleaning his rifle. Silence reigns as I give off a sigh and add another twig from our dwindling pile.

Junker looks up at me as his trance was broken by the twig’s crackling, “So, um... Mr. Cashew, why are you here?” He sits up, looking at me with an almost childlike smile; the look of pure innocence upon his face astonishes me, one such as him should not be able to exist in this world. Before I can respond, he opens his mouth with a smile, “I’m here because I don’t really have anywhere else to go. I never knew my family, and I don’t really have any friends. I’ve been meaning to get away from that junkyard for some time now; it’s a nice place and all, but Martha was getting a bit too clingy, if you know what I mean.”

I looked at him a bit confused as the rest of the group laid down for the night, Rogue being the only one still standing. I shrug, “A long time ago, about 5 years or so, I left my hometown, the wonderful city of San Toyetic. It was a nice town back then, calm, but always full of life. The vault was always an issue but we survived. I left originally because I wanted to explore, to learn about the world and explore cybernetics. After I left, I joined a company, and learned cybernetics, and eventually left because I learned this company, like every other one in the wasteland, was using what I made for evil. Selling my work to the highest bidder and then profiting off of their death, or off of the kills they make, etc, After that, I went from town to town, exploring and learning, until I eventually came upon all of you.”

After I explained my story, albeit in less detail then they likely wished for. Why they expected the full story to be told to ponies I just met, I haven't a clue; likely they were as naive as Junker here. Speaking of him, he’s laying next to the fire with a soft smile, softly muttering, “Ooh wow, sounds like you’ve had a real adventure!” He speaks a bit louder to get everypony’s attention. “What about everyone else? What brought all of you here?”

Melody giggles as she sits next to him and leans against his side; considering his size, I would imagine it was like laying on a pillow made of muscle. “My story is simple and sweet,” She pauses for a moment with a yawn as she looks into the fire, “Loved music since I was a filly, but was taught how to be a medical pony. Learned the code, and been using it ever since; fixing up broken bones, taking care of disease, and just generally trying not to die. Certainly not the worst life.”

At this point, even the smile on my face was evident, albeit small. Junker was like a foal around us, seeming to have the time of his life. I hope he will always feel this way, his foal-like innocence is a nice break from reality; it would be such a crying shame to see him crushed like the rest of us. Vision speaks up with a grin as he lifts up his gun, looking over it as he cleans what has to be the only thing in our mini camp that doesn’t have a speck of sand on it. “My story is a fun one, full of pain, betrayal, hurt... So like most of the wasteland!” He puts the gun down next to him as he lays down for the night, his grin never fading. “I was top of my class, best fighter around and any that decided to pick a fight quickly lost their teeth, had to get Rogue out of more situations then I care to count. I left my home in the sky to find who killed my mother and to help Rogue survive down here. Meeting you guys was a twist of luck; the more we got in our little party, the easier it will be to survive.” Rogue grunted when his name was said but did nothing else, his eyes scanning the wasteland for even the slightest movement.

At some point, Junker fell right to sleep as his steady breathing could be heard, his eyes closed and a lazy smile laying across his face. Melody was laying on him yawning again, “We should all get some sleep, long day ahead of us. You boys switch out with each other if you feel the need, but I’m going to get my full sleep. It will be interesting to see where you used to live, Roasted, I just hope we can get out of there in one piece.”

I grunt in acknowledgement as Melody drifts off to sleep as well. Looking back at our small campfire, I allow myself to drift off too. I truly hope tomorrow goes as well as you believe it will, Melody, it’s been far too long since I’ve been back there… I wonder how my cat is doing.