Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Stable 24, Part 1

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"Harp Melody, having lived inside a stable, was a wealth of information about them. Large underground shelters, they can house between three hundred to six hundred ponies. They come with everything a pony needs to live comfortably, and can be cut off from the world for over a hundred years if needed, as they come with self-sustaining talismans that could potentially last forever.

The stables were basically the safest place in the wasteland, making me wonder why ponies would want to abandon them at all.

Though, I must admit, being restrained underground would make it hard to really live." ~ Azure Dice

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“Madam Harp, almost all systems are back up and running,” my drone reported to me.

I watched as Order hovered around as it doubled checked it’s systems for any flaws and recalibrated it’s flight balancing to deal with the two guns now part of it. It’s two stealth talismans were still nonfunctioning, so Hardballer had taken them out and passed them over to me for possible copping.

In the place of the missing talismans, I placed two crude shock talismans which gave it’s shock ability a more area burst then direct attack. It’s possible Order can now knock out several ponies, not just one. This also got me curious about what my Drone can do if I changed out its three talisman slots with other spells.

But, right now, I was finished setting up my attempt to copy the drone’s original talisman using a new device I threw together. Simply running a magical current through one talisman into an empty gemstone would hopefully imprint the spell onto it. The only problem was how long it would take, and the quality of the gemstone. If it worked, then the Gunrunners could make their own energy guns. I still needed to test if the new talisman actually works once the imprinting is done.

But that was an experiment for another time. With that part done, I had more pressing issues to deal with. That being the raiders.

Sleeping on the Gunrunners torn up the couch, Star looked quite comfortable. She had stopped by the Gunrunners as soon as it was sunrise and let us all know about what the patrons at the Ruffled Feathers had told her.

It seemed that the raiders were still wandering about, and a few ponies had gotten snatched downtown. It was also clear they were still looking for me and had raiders watching the tavern.

Hardball told Star to go home, but she insisted on sticking around. She wanted to help us deal with the raiders if they tried anything. We suspected that she didn’t want to lead the raiders to her home either in case they might come for Bridget and Prism, so we let her crash here.

It was beyond annoying that the raiders were able to move about so freely in town. Ashy had most of the deputies focused on protecting uptown, with few going into downtown. None of them were sent there at night either.

If things were not dealt with soon, it was going to make our lives very difficult, to say the least. Our best option now was to find where these raiders were, and somehow get the sheriff to go and do her job. Easier said than done, but we did have a lead thanks to Star, the Stable 24 barding.

I checked my pipbucks map. I had Order quickly locate the stable for me. It turned out that the place was relatively close to New Appaloosa. It could be a staging ground for their attacks, or simply a place to store their ill-gotten loot. Whatever the stable was being used for, we needed to investigate it and find out where their base was.

*Slap!*

A sharp pain at my rear caused me to jump. The laughter of Dead Axle pissed me off. The Gangger, and her sister, decided to stick around after Slowtrot puked and passed out onto Live Axle. Live couldn’t return home after that since she needed a wash and something to calm her down, so they crashed in the reception room.

“Fucking awesome robot, but I’d have given it rockets!” Dead Axle commented on Order.

I sighed. “RPGs are expensive. I much rather have Order be able to shoot twelve bolts and be easy to reload rather than two big shots that could harm it.”

Dead shrugged. “You're the tech mare, but you sure that will be enough firepower?”

“Order, return,” I commanded, and my drone floated over to me. The two Lelantos bolt launchers had been made more compact as part of Order with the talisman mechanic placed inside the shell and the two large air tanks on the back of the drone. Striking out of its side and extending past its face were two box toobs that housed the barrel and secondary air tanks. Closer to the body and under the propeller was the cylinder for the bolts.

Overall I was very impressed with the outcome, though Order was still having difficulty with targeting.

“For what I need Order to be, it will be enough. If we are attacked again like the other night, Order will be able to give us the cover we’ll need to be able to fight back. I don’t need a murder bot, just one that can bloody whoever comes after me,” I explained.

“Makes sense, though if I ever get my hooves on a robot, it’s murder bot all the way for me, baby,” Dead said with a sly smile.

The door from inside the compound opened up. Both Solwtrot and Live Axle trotted in. The two looking embarrassed.

Live saw her sister and pointed at her. “You!”

Dead Axle burst out into laughter. “Oh, come on! It can’t be that bad waking up next to a stallion.”

Getting muzzle to muzzle with her sister, Live growled, “Bitch, never do that again!”

“Alright, I won’t put you in a stallion’s bed again,” Dead said as she raised her hooves up in surrender, yet still smiled.

Slowtrot still looked confused, as were we all with what had happened to him. For the brief moment, we previously got him to wake up. He mentioned going back in time, about being in the trenches of the gate war. Again I got my hopes up about fixing my mistakes, but with how he returned to us and did exactly what his other self did, it quickly dashed that hope.

Time travel was not a foreign concept to my family, with several ancestors attempting the magic. But true time travel was impossible. One result in a false timeline made where the time traveler was eventually returned to the original timeline. Or a time loop was made and the time traveler simply reenacts the action of their future self.

I could only guess Slowtrot got caught up in a time loop. If I had the time to look into it more I would.

Things quickly calmed down. Star finally woke up because of the commotion which allowed us to all get talking over a breakfast of nature bars and corn.

Star yawned as she struggled to stay awake. “Let me get this straight, you want to go to stable 24 to investigate.”

I nodded.

“Well it’s our only lead” Slowtrot added.

Taking a swig of her water, Star sighed. “I don’t disagree, but there's likely raiders there, and nasty ones at that. You know what might happen to you if they capture you, right?”

How could I not? “Trust me, I am aware. Even my home had similar dangers with the bandits.”

“But you still want to go?” Star again asked.

I again nodded. “It’s clear that the deputies aren't going to do a damn thing about it right now. They're going to just let the ponies on this side of the tracks suffer.”

A loud bang came from the door as Hardballer stepped in, dragging a large case behind him. “Then you're going to need to be properly supplied.”

Placing the case near us, he opened it up to reveal our guns, ammunition, and other supplies inside. “Trust me when I say this: Raiders may not be the biggest threat in the wasteland, but they will more than likely surprise you. Over my years, I have heard many stories of fights going horribly wrong with raiders. Often it’s because a pony ran out of ammunition and were overrun. The raider left only the broken behind to tell others about what happened.”

Trotting over, I picked up my enforcer, its metal practically shining. “You know you didn’t have to. I mean you were busy as it was.”

Hardballer pulled out the shotgun Slowtrot had reappeared with when he had his adventure in the past. “No way am I going to skip going to work on a relic like this. The Windchester trench gun is a legend for changing how the zebras fought in the war, along with the griffonstone typewriter, Equestria utterly exterminated the Zebra spear units. Had my apprentices make a blueprint on the whole thing while I did maintenance.”

He sighed as he looked down at me. “But, more importantly, I want you all to get back here safely. Being unprepared is how so many have suffered at the hooves of raiders. They may not be the smartest or strongest of threats out there, but I’ve seen even the most skilled of talons get taken out by raider unpredictability.”

A groan came from Dead Axle. “You're sounding like gramps with our war with the Blood Mane tribe. They were clever and cruel with a fondness for raping. Around fifty year ago or more, they were able to take out a herd of Desperados which invoked us to go to war with them. Supposedly they were good at getting into pony’s heads and setting up ambushes, making the war quite brutal.”

Live Axle nodded before continuing her sister's little rant. “Ya. The elders said that we managed to dive them off to the south once we brought our artillery onto them. The remnants of the Blood Mane were said to have been annihilated by some local hero after they foalnapped her daughter. But, even still to this day, there are many hidden places filled with Blood Mane traps.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Blood Mane? Could they be related to the Blood Moon raiders?”

Dead Axle shrugged. “Fuck if I know. Raiders just love their big old scary names. You will find them use the words blood, skull, bones, death, and killers all the time for their names. I think there are at least three different raider groups that call themselves the Bone Breakers along route 50 alone.”

Hardballer pulled out three service rifles. He passed one to both Deperados and to Slowtrot. “All the same, you need to be careful. That's why I’m lending out these spare rifles for you to use. You’ll need the extra firepower.”

Slowtrot took a suspicious look at the rifle he was given. The wood on it was somewhat discolored. “Say, isn't this the one you gave me last time?”

Pulling out several magazines, three for each rifle, Hardballer pointed at Slowtrot’s rifle. “I can’t sell a damaged gun at full price, so I’m just going to give you it.” He then gave the two ganggers a stern look. “But those are not free. Either return them in perfect condition or you're buying them.”

Next, he pulled out several battle saddles. “You all can borrow these as well. They should help you shoot while on the move. Let’s test them before you head on out.”

I hated battle saddles. They reminded me too much of a corset, but I was not going to ignore the elderly griffin who was trying to help.

It didn't take too long for all of us to get suited up. I was glad to have other points shared in my discomfort as the saddles were tightened on up. I was also thankful that the bit was clean and well maintained. I was worried that it was going to be some over two hundred-year-old thing from the war, tasting of its age.

The real tricky part came with mounting the guns as both my bolt launcher and Star’s rust gun were a bit awkward in rigging up. They weren't made for a cylinder based loading mechanism and needed the rigging for a much bigger gun to even fit properly. The rust gun, on the other hoof, had the issue of its normal magazines moving within the gun to cycle ammunition then being spring-loaded. Her drum magazine had an internal mechanism that solved it, so they just gave her a second drum to use.

In the end, the five of us look ready for a fight, like some group of murder misfits.

After some test firing at the Gunrunners makeshift shooting range, everything was found in working order. The accuracy was not ideal, as battle saddles left little for any real aiming other than whatever was standing in front of me, but Order could help with aiming through my pipbuck S.A.T.S. and levitation talisman inside my pipbuck.

Every pony also had other ways to fight, with my drone and revolver to help me. Slowtrot had his pistol, shotgun, and a shovel as backup. Then Star and the two Desperado’s had melee weapons to help them. So the lack of any real aiming was not going to be a major problem.

I even put the bayonet combat knife in my boot for safekeeping.

The Gunrunners themselves looked impressed by how armed we were. Several joined us in the test firing of the guns and gave a few tips. Overall, I felt that they took pride in that their work was going to get used on raiders.

They did seem a bit disappointed that there was no armor for them to give out. Most of their resources went to the manufacturing of the guns. Supposedly they had plans for a Brigandine style combat armor. It's simple metal plates were held together with canvas and rivets, but demand for armor had been too low for them to invest in it.

Removing the guns from the battle saddles, we trotted over to the garage. Longslide offered us a ride one more time as well as support. The Smuggler now looked far less of a rusty mess and more like an armored light strike vehicle.

The twin Desperado's both whistled in unison when they saw the Smuggler.

“Fucking rad! Maybe we should commission you to build one for us,” Live realized with a proud smile.

Dead Axle trotted over to the vehicle while brushing along its side. “Better yet, we should get you Gunrunner’s to move into our territory. Get ya set up with our gear heads.”

Longslide gently pushed Dead off the Smuggler. “An interesting offer, but this compound is meant to be independent. We're not looking for another Fillydelphia factory situation.”

Looking at the two gaggers, and then at the rest of us, Longslide sighed. “You do know the Smuggler can't fit more than four ponies, right? Not unless you're fine with cramping up or some pony riding in a trailer?”

Dead gave one of the tires a kick, making a loud thump. “No worry. There should be a clan pony of ours along the outskirts of town with a ride. Just drop us off with them, and we can follow you. Maybe even bring a few more fighters, too.”

“Alright, then pile in,” Longslide invited as he jumped into the driver seat.

We all got on board. I had to sit on Dead’s lap and watched as an embarrassed Live sat on Slowtrots lap. Star, of course, took the gunner nest.

The old griffin, Hardballer, flew over and landed on the Smuggler. He gave us all a stern look. “Now you all don’t go getting yourselves into danger that you don’t need to be in, alright? That goes double for you, Star. I don’t want my Bridget getting heartbroken. You understand?”

Star gave him a salute. “Loud and clear.”

Getting off the Smuggler, Hardballer trotted over to the garage door’s switch and pulled.

Once again we drove off into the wasteland. Saying along the outskirts of town in order to locate the Desperados.

Waiting for his sisters was Tier Fire, who was playing a game of cards with Slashed Rubber and Greased Gears. It didn’t take long for Dead Axle to convince them to follow us to Stable 24, freeing the Smuggler from its extra passengers.

Finally, we were off.

“So what do you expect to find inside the stable?” Slowtrot asked as he fiddled with his trench shovel.

“Not sure. Maybe any information on where their hideouts are. I just hope there’s not too many raiders inside,” I answered.

“Makes sense, but what if the stable is their mane base?” he then asked.

I don’t know why, but that thought hadn't crossed my mind. I mean, a stable was a nearly impenetrable bunker with room for a proper fighting force to live inside, but it’s also a tomb with one way in and out. If it was their base, then all we needed to do was block the entrance to stop them.

It was a major fear, back home, that some rebels would bomb the entrance to Stable 50 and trap everypony inside. We could survive for several generations in that stable, but it would be only a matter of time before we run out of supplies.

Personally, I would use a stable as a forwarded base. Have it a place where supplies are stored and distributed from. It also would make a good place for captives to be held.

But as a main base? That would be suicidal without any proper defense to keep ponies away from the front door. With how Star had explained her encounter with them, that would go counter to staying below the radar. Likely their main base is further out in the wasteland and has several defensive and escape routes in case of attack.

Looking over at Slowtrot, I laughed. “No way. No group of ponies who are actively hunted would be so stupid to trap themselves in a stable.”

I tapped on my pipbuck to set up a quest log for the three of us. Naming it “Stable 24” with the goal of Investigating the stable for information on the raider’s main base and to element all raiders inside.

“The fuck! You can do that?” Star shouted from the gunner nest.

I stood up and presented my pipbuck, getting a face full of air. “It's a note-taking function to help ponies plot out their daily activities. I don’t know why Stable-Tec named it a quest system, but it just stuck. It should help us keep focused on or task ahead.”

When Star began to mess with her pipbuck, another quest maker appeared.

“Victory Party at the Ruffled Feather!” the quest log said in my EFS, with the goal of “getting drunk” next to it.

Another quest log popped up.

“This is Useful” scrolled in my EFS, with the goal of “This id use”

I looked down at Slowtrot who shrugged and said “Sorry. Just testing the thing out.”

“You misspelled IS.” I told him as I sat back down.

He deleted the quest log then turned on the radio to Spectrum Federation.

DJ Pon3 was on, chattering away. “Enough about those Buck Ball gangers. I got some news coming in from the west. The Enclave remnant group, Spectrum Federation they call themselves, seems to have made allies with that strange airship moving along the coast. Now color me surprised when one group of flying ponies makes friends with another group of flying ponies. But, thanks to that, we now have a name to who is flying that massive airship out west. They call themselves the Orthrus Technocratic Democracy, or Orthrus for short.”

I grabbed Slowtrots pipbuck and pulled it closer to hear it better, catching him by surprise. If Orthus was here, then my father would be too. My friends too.

The DJ continued. “Don’t know what this Orthrus group is, but President Laika of the Spectrum Federation has insured every creature that they are friendly. Now, I’m not one to blindly trust a government leader of any faction east or west, but that Diamond Dog has proven herself as a trustworthy creature. Practically Gwads mirror over in the west. So, take my word on this, there is no new Enclave envision out in the west. That said, I still advise not taking a vacation to Las Pegasus any time soon with all the other crazy stuff going on.”

Slowtrot looked confused as he said, “Wait, didn’t Laika get lost in space or something?”

I sat back and a pleasant smile formed on my face. Now I knew that I needed to go west, there I could find the protection I needed and ponies I could trust.

Time quickly passed and we soon got to our destination where we arrived next to a dried-up river and what looked like a mining tunnel.

Getting out and gearing up, I trotted around, looking at the surroundings. What caught me off guard was the signs of flooding at the tunnel entrance and rubble next to the now dry river. It looked like somepony had set off some high explosives to divert the river into the tunnel which seemed odd unless they were trying to block off or flood the stable inside.

It only solidified, in my mind, why a stable is a horrible place for groups, like raiders, to make their base.

As for the tunnel itself, the ground had been clearly brushed over to hide hoof steps, but the pony who did the bushing had left several of their own footsteps behind. Even if the raiders were not here, somepony clearly was.

One of the Desperado's trotted over to me. It was Tire Fire, the stallion with a mischievous grin on his face. “Taking the fight to some raiders? I can respect that. Just save a few for us to take back to camp. We’ve been needing some good entertainment.”

“Entertainment?” I asked, feeling concerned.

Tire did a few punches in the air as if he was pretending to fight. “Ya, entertainment. Elder Big Papa wants us to keep ourselves in fighting shape through sparing. It is fun to watch, but he hates it when we pummel each other too much, so capturing raiders for us to fight in the ring is a great alternative to fighting each other. They put up a good fight, and nopony cares if we utterly wreck a raider.”

I felt myself cringe a little. “That’s… barbaric.”

He gave a little laugh. “That’s the wasteland, little filly. If you're not able to fight and kill, then don’t be surprised when others stomp you under their hooves just because they can. Our history in the wasteland is full of meeting ponies who tried the whole peaceful act, only to get ripped apart by anything and everything. Most don’t mess with us because they know we can and will destroy them if they try.”

“I get it,” I said with an exacerbated sigh. “My family did the same thing actually, but with far more elegance and terrifying efficiency. I guess I’m still getting used to how crude everything is out here.”

Tire Fire patted me on the back a bit roughly. “That’s the spirit. We're not all that different. Have you ever heard the story about the rich pony and the Cazadores?”

“Ya. Dead told me yesterday,” I replied.

He looked a bit annoyed. “Of course she already told you about that. But ya, in the end, the same thing can kill us all, so it’s good to know how to use your hooves to fight. So, when you have nothing else left, you can at least use your body to fight.”

Just like with Dead, I showed Tire my thin legs. “Not legs for fighting.”

Tire shrugged. “Then use your teeth, or think of another way to fight. Only fools think they're all out of options in a fight.”

It was strange how the Desperado’s only seemed to care about fighting all the time, like some barbarians from the old comic books my elder brother loved to read. Yet I was getting the feeling that there was more to it, or maybe it was simply that they were not in a position to stop fighting. If the wasteland was as dangerous as everypony tells me, then fighting was the rule out here, and those who can fight well, survive.

Putting all that to the back of my head and refocusing on the task at hoof, Tire and I trotted back to the vehicles. Longslide was taking a look at the Desperados guns. Disappointment was on his face as he moved the parts. The other two Desperados, on the other hoof, looked extremely impressed as they looked the Smuggler over.

We were not all going inside. Not at first. Longslide and the other Desperado stallions were going to keep watch outside while the rest of us took a look inside the stable. Last thing we needed was having some raiders sneak up behind us and destroy our vehicles. If it looks like there would be trouble inside, then we would call some of them in to help.

With Order leading the way, lighting up the tunnel with now two working eye lanterns, the five of us trotted into the tunnel.

Inside and further back, we could see it, the entrance to the stable. Its door was open, like it was inviting us inside. There were signs of flooding on the metal, a coating of dry brown mud, and red rust all over. The smell inside was also bad as though the stable was a rotting carcass itself, it was stale and somewhat putrid.

Catching my eye was how clean the inside of the doorway was, where the large gear would be shoved in place. It likely meant that the stable door might be still working and had been closed at some point after the flooding.

Trotting inside, the stable was no better in the flickering lights, we could see all the rust and mud everywhere. Even here there was a poor attempt to hide the hoofprints left behind, which only seemed odd this far in.

“What's with hiding the hoofprints!” Dead Axle said out loud. “If I were them, I’d make more of them. Make a pony think there was a shit ton of us down here.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I thought of something I failed to think of. What if the stable was a trap itself?

A distorted siren went off as yellow flashing lights turned on. It was the signal of a stable door opening… or closing.

We all turned around to see the large gear-shaped door of stable 24 rolled into place. The large mechanical lock pressed down on it to push it closed. The sound of rusty metal grinding on rusty metal was ear piercing and caused everypony to flinch.

Star was first to react as she plugged her pipbuck into the doors control, but the thing had no power. Aiding her with my own magic, it flickered to life only to then burn out right there.

With smoke rising from the door’s control, we took a step back as we truly realized that we are now locked inside the stable with an unknown amount of raiders.

There was the crackling sound of a radio coming out of several speakers in the room. It was distorted and filled with static, but we could hear the voice of a stallion begin to speak.

“Hello, my little intruders. We have been waiting for you. This is your overstallion, Nocturn Bloodrage, here to let you know the fun now begins. Fight with all your might, for you now deal with the full force of the Blood Moon Raiders. Also please do scream as loudly as you can as we make you our playthings. The sound is enthralling.” The stallion began laughing maniacally over the speakers. His voice echoed as the sounds of banging and hollering came from deeper within the stable.

I face hoofed. “Okay, so they are dumb enough to make this their main base… and we’re dumb enough to trot right into it.”

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-Quest start-

Quest, Stable 24: Investigate and clear out the Blood Moon Raiders.Survive!