Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Nostalgia, Part 2

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"Further requesting information on the water-born nation, the Oceanic Illuminated Authority, Star Charter’s knowledge of it was a bit limited due to her leaving it at a young age.

What she could remember was that there were multiple fleets led by Admirals and managed by commodores. Each fleet would act as their own independent region within the IOA, guardian supply ports that kept the ships in the fleet loyal to the admiral. The ports Star knows of are floating cities like the Blackwater. They were floating Islands that have plantations on them and the holy city of Avalon, in which all new ships are made and blessed.

The fact that such a civilization survived on raiding around the world and could make their own ships was more than worrisome to me, but how a floating city could build its own ships did spark curiosity." ~ Azure Dice

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“So, Star, this is where you live?” Victoria Rosary asked as she stepped in my nice and clean home with Puppet Strings standing outside.

After I had made sure the foal had all eaten and gotten ready for class, Lucky let me go for the day. Victoria still wanted to know a bit more about what I was up to and to do it without all the foal around us. The best place I could think of for that was to talk to her at my home.

I was heading that way anyways since I still had a few chores to do.

“It’s not much, I know, but it’s lots better than living in an old train cart. It’s thanks to the Gunrunners and the Follower that Prism and I can afford this place, though I still have to do other work,” I explained.

“Yes, I heard that you do some other work, though the details were vague. Something about you causing and solving problems.” She trotted over to a windowsill. The open glass let a fair amount of light through.

She ran her hoof across the frame to check for dust.

She didn’t find any dust as I had cleaned it yesterday. If a pony told me six years ago that I’d become great at housekeeping I’d probably laugh and give e’m a bloody nose, now it was just natural to do. It filled the time when not much else was there to do.

“Well, I constantly did cause a lot of trouble. The deputies still bitch at me for almost burning the town down by accident, but I try not to cause trouble anymore. I don't want Bridget picking up any bad habits.” I trotted over some sheets we had hanging. They were up mainly to air them out and get dust off them. “It’s why I don’t tell her about my night job at the Ruffled Feathers.”

Victoria gave one nod. “The bar on the less wealthy part of town.”

“Well, the boss there likes to call it a tavern, but it’s more an exotic dance club with a brothel and bar,” I further explained as I pulled the sheets and began folding them up. “I work as a bouncer there, mostly. It helps keep my fighting hooves loose. Even the dancing helps. You’d be surprised how much exercise it is to just keep moving about like that.”

“That, at least, is good to know. It would be a waste if you got lazy and weak,” she commented.

I nodded in agreement. “Ay. This may not be the Blackwater, and the wasteland is certainly not the grad fleet, but this place will still chew up the weak whenever it can. If I let my guard down and something were to happen to me, then I don’t know what Prism or Bridget would do.”

Victoria trotted over, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “If Bridget is anything like you, I know she’d be fine. We, of the Corps Brigaders, are tougher than most. She's part of our family.

Speaking of which, have you ever thought about returning? Just because you left doesn't mean you ever stopped being a Corps Brigadier.”

“Sometimes,” I said honestly.

She raised an eyebrow as she prompted, “But?”

I sighed. “It's not the life I want for Bridget, and I know Prism is not going to come after what happened to her. Sometimes I do let my mind wander to what life would have been for me if I stayed with you. I wonder where I would have gone or how much power I'd have and all the fun I could have had.”

Victoria went and found herself a seat. She motioned with her hoof for me to join her.

Sitting on an old squeaky stool I had scavenged a year ago, she looked over at the window. Her gaze seemed far off.

“Well, about all that,” Victoria spoke up, “it seems that, recently, the position for my second has opened up. I was thinking that you could take it.”

“Your second?” I felt a bit confused at what she was saying.

She took a deep breath. “It’s a bit complicated, but I’ve managed to gain the rank of commodore, though under the command of a bishop and not under an admiral, so different rules. One of which is that I need a direct successor for the leadership of the gang who can act as my voice when I’m not around to speak. If I don’t, the bishop will assign one of their priests as my second, then probably have me killed whenever convenient.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. The nuns always said that ponies from the Holy City were touched by Thorn. I remember having nightmares about them coming for me.”

Victoria huffed. “You have no idea. Our benefactor is quite the sly cutthroat, all while giving off an air of nobility. It’s annoying.”

She turned to face me with an inquisitive look on her face. “Star, I need to test something, so look into my eyes.”

I again nodded then made eye contact.

My body stiffened. Again, I could taste and smell salt and iron. My hearing was filled with cries of battle that only got louder. After that, a twinge of pain prodded my body as though some pony was poking me with needles, and hot needles at that. It all got stronger as though ponies were screaming in my ears as I was drowning in blood with spikes through me. Then Victoria reached out. Her hooves pressed on my neck. She began strangling me.

My heart pounded as I endured her evil eye. My skin felt like it was on fire. It was both terrifying, yet… thrilling.

She closed her eyes, freeing me from her gaze. I held my mouth shut as I puked, thus preventing it from getting on my clean floor. Swallowing the bile back down, I wiped off what little escaped with my fenlock as I said, “Was that necessary?”

There was a long pause. Victoria took a handkerchief to clean off her bleeding eyes as she sat there. She tapped her hoof on the floor while a smile slowly formed on her muzzle.

“May the Goddesses curse me for letting you go so easily.” She then sighed. “When you left, I didn’t know I needed a pony to train to be my second, and then I had foalishly thought I could easily find another like you.”

I tilted my head slightly. “Wait! What about Carving Doll and Puppet Strings?”

She huffed. “Carving Doll was a good pawn. She was loyal too, but also easy to read which was a fatal flaw to have in the fleet. It’s likely why Carving is in the Pony Jones Locker right now. Her thick skull could never quite grasp a cunning trap or how a gift given could become a new weakness. I was hoping Blackspot would be a good counterbalance for Carving and that this mission would be short enough that I’d return before any grand scheme would unfold.”

“Then there's Puppet Strings. As smart as she is, she’s too inflexible and obsessed with work to deal with fleet politics. The bitch only took a political husband because I threw her in bed with the fat pony, and even then, she went back to studying under those harpies.” A groan came from Victoria. “I had to actively be the nurse maid for her foal, for crying out loud!”

I chuckled. “That sounds a bit cute… wait! Harpies ... as in bitches, or harpies as in… harpies?” I didn’t know much about the creatures known as harpies except that they had a small fleet within the grand fleet and that the adults-only talked about the large feathered predators in hushed, frightened tones.

Victoria smiled wide. “Aye. I got a deal with the witches of the corvid fleet. Lucky us that we have… similar interests.”

She shrugged. “So no, those two would not work well as my second. I’ll need to train a pony from the deck up. It would have been you, but you know, ya flew away. Little Blackspot filled in as backup with how young and moldable he was. At first he did well to learn what I knew.”

This time I said it. “But?”

“But the little shit loved ta mare too much and would ignore my orders to go bed some deackhoof.” She began rubbing her temples in frustration. “I just know it’s his fault why Carvings is likely dead. Should never have left that flippant shit with her, but I had no pony else who could fill in the role.”

She took a deep breath to calm down and gave me another smile. “So that’s why I want to extend my offer to you. Not as foals ripping through a ship, but as adults with the wisdom of a survivor.” She reached out her hoof to me. “I want you to be my second. I want you to return to your family. Return to the Corps Brigaders.”

I sat there, looking at her hoof, my jaw slack. “But… you work as an Idol now.”

She pulled back her hoof and covered her muzzle with that hoof like a fancy mare with her nose tilted up slightly. “I am, and as my second, you will have to join me while I’m on tour as I retrain you from the ground up. I’ve also been needing a good backup singer, and you're clearly fit for that job.”

The thoughts rushed through my head. All the caps and power, no longer having the deputies breathe down my neck, and being able to properly look after Bridget. It was not just more than I wanted, but more than I could ever need, and it was offered by Victoria. How could I say no?

Nervously, my hoof ran over the pipbuck on my left fenlock. I looked at it. I remembered what I might leave behind. I doubt I’d be able to just stay and be with my friends. Same for the Gunrunners. “So, how soon would you need me? You don’t mean joining you right now?”

Victoria shrugged. “Of course not right now, but the sooner, the better. I can't just hang around here and wait for you to make up your mind. I’ll give you before the festival starts to decide. That’s the most I have patience for.”

I nodded. “That’s understandable, but it’s been eleven years. Are you really sure you even need me? I haven't been leading a band of misfits, or really doing all that much fighting outside the odd drunk or two.”

She grinned. Her large canine was much larger than the rest of her slightly pointed teeth which was something Briget and I shared with our own mouths. “Oh trust me, you're more than qualified! Of that, I am sure.”

“But still, why me? All I did was carry packages. Ya, I killed a pony or two, but I didn’t do anything all that impressive.” I don’t know why I was arguing or what I wanted to hear from her, but something was holding me back from just jumping at saying yes to it all.

“Didn’t do anything all that impressive?!” She said as she cocked an eyebrow, then laughed. “Ye ripped the throat out of a full-grown stallion wit' naught but yer teeth as but a foal. Ye took bullets 'n kept on goin', even faced down Captain Blackpowder Blast with me. But most interestin', ye took to the evil eye faster than any pony in the gang.” The Blackwater accent came out of her like the rust tainted water of the ship. It was harsh and nostalgic.

“Oh,” I said, still rubbing the pipbuck, “Thought that was nothing all that impressive compared to you, but all that can’t help with your current job unless you're planning on trouble.”

She rolled her eyes and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Havant ye been listenin', Star? Blackspot 'n Carvin' are likely dead. No way I let that stand.

“Anyways, I 'ave other business back o'er th' waters. T’is business ‘n I needs a strong 'n trusty pony t' watch me back t' do. Yer that pony, Star. I know now that it has t' be ya.”

I pushed her hoof away, feeling frustrated and pressured. It was so much, so fast. “How can I be that important, ye cunt? I’m jus' some dumbass mare who can’t even lissen t' her mother about nah farrgin' a griffion. Then ye come out of the blue, 'n throw all this on me like th' prophet Thorn Rosland reboan, ‘n wantin' me ta return ta the violence of the sea as yer second. I can barely keep me own life in order. Now ye want’ten yer here? Wantin' me back?”

I covered my mouth, surprised that my old accent had re-emerged so forcefully.

Victoria was glaring at me at first, but quickly softened. “That's why I’m givin' ye time t' reckon it o'er” She cleared her throat. “And you have time, as that twice damned heretic called a mayor has yet to announce a date. So sleep on it, and may the Goddess Luna guide you to the right answer.”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. “That be fair… that’s fair.” I was still unsure why I’m being argumentative at all.

Again I was rubbing my pipbuck as it occurred to me that I’d have to leave everypony behind. Leaving with Victoria would not be like leaving with the Gunrunners or simply moving out west. I can still visit here, or maybe have my friends and family come with me.

No. On second thought, I realized that it was all or nothing with Victoria. It was how things were on the Blackwater. I doubt that had not changed for her at all. The water was no place for the ponies of the wasteland who know nothing about the prophet's teaching or how weakness can’t be tolerated there.

Then there was Mother and Bridget. I know Victoria would never let harm come to my daughter. She was like a big sister to me, so Bridget would be like her niece. But Prism ... Victoria was the one who gave Prism her scars. I remember when the spiked chain dug into her flesh to hold her down. Leaving almost killed Prism, and if we didn’t get to land when we did, she would have died. I’d have been alone, and that’s if I didn’t fall into the water first.

Maybe there was a way to bring mom with me, possibly convince her to agree. Victoria did say she has foals of her own. Maybe mom could help look after them.

“Say, Star,” Victoria spoke up, regaining my full attention. “Leaving all this aside, I want to know more about your daughter. Though not unheard of, half griffins are still rare. Is there a way I could meet the father?”

The sudden change in topic snapped me out of my own head.

I nervously chuckled. “Unfortunately, no, he ran off to be a Talon before Bridget was born, but if you want to meet his family, they're the Gunrunners,” I explained.

She nodded. “Ah yes. That compound run by griffins on the edge of town. Maybe, on another day, you can introduce me to them. I might need a few new guns in the future, after all.”

There was a loud thud from the outside, then a gasp. “Let me go, ye miserable demon!” Puppet Strings shouted.

The door flung open. Prism stepped in, holding a rather unhappy Puppet Strings in her magic. “Give me one good reason why I should not snuff out your life right here!” she growled at Victoria.

Victoria didn’t flinch. She just tilted her head slightly and gave a smug smile. “Other than being weak, ye also become an outlaw, thus damning my Star to never live peacefully again.”

Prism let go of Puppet String. The rather angry unicorn mare flopped onto the floor. “She is not yours, she is my daughter. Now, leave before I make you leave!”

“Fair enough,” Victoria said with a sigh. She trotted over to Puppet, who had gotten back onto her hooves. Victoria brushed Puppet Strings off. After that, Victoria looked back at Prism who, in turn, avoided Victoria’s gaze. “But I am disappointed. I did ask you to make her strong, and I hate being disappointed.”

Puppet Strings’s horn glowed with an eerie green overglow as she reached a hoof out for Victoria.

Chuckling again, Victoria looked my way with a wide grin on her face. “And you, Star, belong with me. Never forget that.”

She took Puppet’s hoof. With a crackle like pop, they were gone, leaving the smell of ozone in the air.

Prism and I stood there for a minute. Not a word said. Just silence.

After what felt like an eternity, Prism turned to me with what was obviously a fake smile. “Well, at least nopony died.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course nopony died. She’s not some ravenous beast right out of the wasteland, and what’s the deal with grabbing Puppet like that?”

With a long sigh, Prism sat down on the ground as though she had lost all her energy. “I know. I may have overreacted when I saw her. I just thought they were here to take you away. I panicked.”

I chuckled. “It’s nothing like that. She was just offering me a job. That’s all.”

“Didn’t sound like that’s all she was asking.” she countered grimly.

I avoided her gaze. “Well, no. It’s not just that. She wants me to return to the gang, but that would involve joining the Idol tour! Just imagine, I can be her backup singer.”

She looked at me and sighed again as she got back up while pulling out a rag from her shirt pocket. “And she didn’t say anything about returning to the sea or running off to a fight?” Levitating the rag, she patted my eyes, thus cleaning off the blood from them. “You know you're better than that.”

“She didn’t say anything about a fight!” I lied.

“Are you sure? What was all that about you being strong?” Prism probed.

“Is how we lived. The strong live, and the weak… they suffer and die.” I looked away. “Out on the sea, it’s how life is.”

Prism took a step closer. “But we are not out on the sea. We are barely in the wasteland.” Pulling me in with her magic, I felt her embrace me into a hug. “Please don’t go.” Her embrace became tight, almost crushing.

“Mom… it’s hard to breathe.” She let me go. I took a deep breath. “You worry too much. I’m not going anywhere… not without you.” I again, lied.

I watched as Prism regained her composure, returning to the tall and strong pony that had saved me so long ago. Seeing her panic like that only reminded me how fragile she truly was. She was strong when she needed to be, but so quick to crumble if something were to happen to me. Even if my life was my own, I didn’t want to see her hurt because of me or to know that I somehow disappointed her.

Giving her leg a light hug, it felt warm and comforting. Unlike Victoria’s eyes which had the familiarity of the home I left, she had the warmth of the home I chose. “Ya, this is a lot better.”

“Star… are you okay?” she asked.

I nodded. “I’m good. It’s just Victoria’s just dropped so much on me that it’s still taking time to just understand it all. Still, I know you're where I want to be. If you can’t be there with me, then why bother?”

She gave a nervous chuckle. “I was worried you would suddenly leave, but now you're making me worry you will never leave.”

I chuckled back. “Well, I’m selfish and greedy… I want it all… even if I can’t have it all. It’s just who I am.”

A flat smile formed on Prism’s muzzle. “If you know that about yourself, then why not change it?”

“Nope,” I said with a playful grin. “If I changed, then I wouldn’t be me.”

Letting her go, I returned to the sheets I was folding up. “Anyways, Mom, I got a lot to think about and the chores to finish.”

“Thinking about what? You're still not considering Victoria, are you?” She asked with concern as she raised an eyebrow.

I sighed. “I don’t know… I don’t want to just leave with her, but maybe I can still work with her for the festival, just for that night. We both know we're going to need those caps, and if I perform with her, then maybe the town will stop being such assholes to us. Maybe let me get a proper job in the upper part of town. If that happens, I can stop working at the Ruffled Feathers.”

“Are you sure she’d just let you do that? Victoria didn’t sound key on just that,” Prism stated with lingering worry.

I nodded. “Well, she’s going to be just as selfish and greedy as I am. It’s who I learned it from in the first place, but she’s like a big sister to me. I know that she just wants the best for me. She’s just like you, but in her own way.”

“Star… she had you rush into gunfire as a filly,” Prism reminded me with a cold voice.

“It’s how life was back then,” I said with a simple shrug.

“She gave you that evil magic!” her voice raised.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s how I became part of the gang. It’s how she showed her trust in me, that we were family.”

“Family doesn't praise cannibalism!” Prism said in a low hushed tone.

“I…” my mouth became dry as I tried to find the words, but they escaped me.

Again Prism sighed. “Sorry, that was too far. It’s just that you… you just need to understand. Victoria may be like a big sister to you, but that doesn't mean she’s not a monster… I’ll give you time to think about it, but please just remember, the things she did to you, to me, to so many others, that doesn't just disappear.”

“Anyways, I should return to the clinic before Jali gets worried,” She said as she trotted to the front door. She hesitated to leave for a moment to look back at me before finally leaving.

I stood there looking at the half-folded sheet, feeling pulled in two.

I wanted to stay with Prism. She made me happy, and I knew she loved me as though I really was her real daughter, just as I loved her like she was my real mother. We had Bridget to lighten our lives. Even if he was a grumpy buzzard, I enjoyed being around Hardballer as well. I had friends and a place to call home.

But I also knew it couldn’t last, not with the deputies being the way they are. If they ever found out that I was the one who killed the Gravedigger, they’d hang me in a second. Caps were also always an issue. Between rent, food, and water, things were only getting more expensive by the week. Though I have been bringing in more caps, that was not going to last.

Even if I wanted to keep everything as it is, I was not dumb enough to think that it wouldn’t change.

But with Victoria, there is no way the deputies would fuck with me. I’d be able to make the caps to move into the upper part of town. However, there was no way Victoria would just let me stay. Not if she wanted me as her second. To be her stand-in for when she can’t be around. She clearly wanted to head back to the grand fleet for whatever reason. With her, I knew violence and bloodshed would follow. It was something that, if I chose, I could not take my friends and family with me, but maybe I could convince Victoria to leave them with the caps needed to live better lives. She had to be rich, and I knew Prism could look after Bridget. She just needed the caps.

Prism and Bridget aren't the ones with the bad reputation in town, it was me. Maybe, if I left, then they could have easier lives. All I needed to do is make sure they had the caps to get by.

I looked down at the half-folded sheet. On it, I saw a small wet spot, then another drop fell onto it.

I… I was crying.

“Fuck.” I muttered as I wiped the tears from my face and finished folding the sheet. “Why can’t I just have everything?”

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-Reputation-

-Corps Brigade-

There is no way Victoria will just let you go.