Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

The Paths Ponies Choose, Part 2

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"The more details I gained about the religion Star Carter grew up with, the more I didn’t like it. I was not one to get into debates about religion with others. My own people would argue for days about how one can achieve divinity in the after life. The Thorn’s Chosen, on the other claw, arguing with them would be like trying to stop a bullet with your head. A really bad idea.

The core element of which I had an issue with is their belief that every creature is cursed at birth because of the Goddesses death and will be drawn to evil unless they are placed on the right path set by Thorn Roasland. It is an original sin concept tied to a conversion mandate. Worse is that they believe all souls that have not accepted Thorns teachings and are not fully corrupted by evil can still be saved by the goddesses, but only if they are sent to them.

It is a pure convert or die religon, of which murder is a form of saving a soul. Effectivity murder is part of their religoin, and all but their own kind are to be killed." ~ Azure Dice

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“You have to stop doing this, Star. One of these days I’m going to have a heart attack, and that’s if you even return.” Eventually the news of my runthrough the raider nest had reached mom. She was understandably cross about it.

It had taken me a few years to truly understand why Prism worried so much… No. Deep down, I understood from the start. I was just too focused on my own issues to bring myself to see her eye to eye. Bridget forced that to happen, which allowed me to feel the same as she did.

Yet she could never understand me. Could never understand why living here just made me so… restless.

“Trust me, I don’t plan to. Anyways the raiders are all gone, so it’s up to Ashy to keep this from happening again… I’m not going anywhere.” The taste of the words were extra bitter this time. But I knew, by leaving, they can have better lives. I just needed to make sure they could not follow me.

Prism’s disapproving gaze pressed down on me like only a mother could do. It was like my evil eye, but worse. The feeling of guilt was my own, not forced into me by eye magic.

She gave a long sigh. The kind she does when she is giving up on arguing with me. “You’re going to be the death of me. You know that.”

I smiled. “Good, because I don’t plan on you dying for a very long time.”

Prism again narrowed her eyes at me. “I get what you're saying, but you really make me worried sometimes.” She levitated her nurse hat over to herself. “Well stop by the clinic after you drop off Bridget. You owe Slowtrot an apology for dragging him into that mess. It’s amazing he actually survived.”

“Can’t have been that bad. I’ve been shot before,” I stated.

“He had fifteen bullets in him!” Prism emphasized with a slightly raised voice. “If even one had hit a vital organ, he could have died, even after getting the healing potion.”

I think I did hear about that. “All right. I understand. Anyways, it’s not like he got into a brawl with an on fire raider. The bitch was a heavy hitter.”

“Star…” She again looked down at me.

“Just saying,” was my defense.

Prism finally gave up and left, leaving me with my still sleeping filly in the bedroom. She had been playing until late with her cousins, so I figured I let her rest a bit more.

I trotting over to our little food cupboard. It still had several ears of corn and some cans of carrots which Prism found in the market. There were also a bunch of boxes of the nature bars, but the dried meats were all gone. The stuff had become expensive when all the ponies started showing up. What we did have got gobbled up by Bridget.

That filly loves her meat. Maybe I should take her to that food vendor on the edge of town to buy her a geco stake, if he has any to sell.

Taking a nature bar from the cabinet, along with a small bottle of water, I trotted over to the bedroom, knocking softly to get Bridget's attention.

It took a moment before she stirred. She rubbed her eyes with her little talons. “Mamma…” she said softly as she pushed herself up.

“It will be time for school soon. You should eat first,” I told her as my daughter slowly trotted over to me.

With a yawn, Bridget sat at our little table. The old stool creaked under her. “Are you going to eat, Mama?” she asked.

I smiled. “Already ate darling, so don’t worry.”

She quickly tore into the food bar, needing to choke it down with the water. It wasn't much, but it would help fuel her until it was soup time at the school.

We didn’t need to ration our food right now, but with how things have been, both Prism and I had decided to just be careful on the subject of food. It was never a guarantee that food would be regularly available, or if we will, all the sudden, be out of caps. Until things settle down, it would be better to make everything stretch when reasonable.

Still, I wanted to at least have a few nice meals as a family before I leave.

“Mama, are you okay?” Bridget asked.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?” I replied.

She tilted her head a little, clearly thinking about what she just asked. “Well mama, you looked a bit... sad, I think.”

Chuckling, I ruffled my filly’s mane. “Silly. You know mama doesn't get sad. Now let’s get you to school. I can tell you how I recently fought off a bunch of raiders.”

Her eyes brightened up. “You fought raiders?!”

“Ya. There was a whole nest of them. They were real evil” I told her as we left.

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“That's when I started shooting from the Smuggler. They didn’t know what hit them as I went; blam, blam, blam!” I explained as we stopped in front of the school.

Bridget enjoyed every word of it, asking. “S… so, what happened next?”

“Well, we took the ponies we saved to the Followers to get patched up. Mister Slowtrot too.” I finished the story.

It was far shorter than I expected when not including all the threats of rape that Noctern shouted at us, the half-eaten pony, or the two Harp put out of their misery. It was all guns, swords, and the beatdown of evil.

Lucky Shot was standing by the door with a cigarette in her mouth, watching the foals run by her. She waited for Bridget to pass before saying anything.

“Went and got yourself in trouble again, Star?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes. “How much do you know?”

“That you tangled with raiders two nights in a row and came out with barely a scratch,” she told me.

“I wouldn't say without a scratch. I just heal fast.” I responded with a smile.

She finished her cigarette, letting it drop before stopping it with a hoof. “If only we were all that lucky. Dealing with raiders was one of the few big mistakes I’ve made in my life.”

“What? No way you'd get caught by raiders,” I dismissed with a chuckle.

She shook her head and waited for another foal to pass by before responding. “Not quite. More a crew I ran with went raider. Real ugly that was when the rest of us finally woke up to it. You have heard the stories where gangers or bandits have a bad year and turn to a little raiding to get by? Mostly just theft and intimidation. Back then, ponies would simply drop what they could live without so as to run away from raiders. It’s how it worked out there, those who couldn’t provide for themselves just lived off the fear of others.”

Another foal ran by before Lucky continued. “Long story short, what started as an act became real. Of course, the ponies who had not lost our minds stupidly protested, thinking we could get them to stop. But, instead, we all got the full raider treatment.” She looked off into the distance with a pain in her eyes, along with a long since grown cold anger. “The few of us that got out alive and unbroken, later return to get our revenge.”

She looked in to count the foals and nodded. “Anyways Star, I’m just glad you're alright. It’s also good to know a raider nest is good and dead. Still, I wish Ashy had found it first. She's been needing to let off some steam. That bitch is wound tighter than the ropes I used to bind her with when we were dating.”

“Can you not!” I garbled, again trying to get that image out of my head.

“No,” Lucky said with a laugh before trotting into the school.

She gave me a stern glance and quietly said, “Not to be accusatory, but you always gave me the feeling that if things were to fall apart, you’d quickly become a raider boss. Like violence was in your blood or something. So, trust me when I say this; I’m glad you're here with us, and not out there with the mad ponies.”

I shrugged. “Who knows where I’d have been if Prism didn’t find me?”

Lucky chuckled. “That mare truly doesn’t get the respect she deserves from this town. At least she has you.”

Closing the door for her, I trotted off to the clinic.

Thinking about Lucky Shot, she had always been a mare of insight. A mare with more experience than most, yet so few ponies knew about her, She talks about herself the least. I think I remembered Waterspout said he had met her once when she was younger. Something about her in a brothel, or was it at a slave camp? Hard to remember, but the two like to flirt whenever they get together. Sometimes they compared kill counts.

And now the image of Lucky and Watersput fucking was stuck in my head… Goddess dammit!

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Slowtrot was fine, as I had suspected. The followers do good work at patching up a pony, though it was funny seeing how they patched him up. His flank and back legs that were wrapped up with healing potion treated bandages, making it look like he had some strange pants on.

“Ya. Ya keep laughing. I nearly died you know,” Slowtrot huffed.

I patted him on the back trying to lighten the mood. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make fun of you. Anyways, we're all alive, so why waste time pouting? Still, what did they shoot you with?”

“A Trot 9 is my guess,” Jali said as she trotted over. “Other than the Imperial M38, there weren't many 9mm SMG that were sent into the war. I saw a lot of the trots here in Equestria.”

“Trots?” I asked.

“The Trottingham MK2 SMG,” she answered. “My seniors in the war told me that they were put into battle when Luna was taking power. Like the heralds of a new era of the war, I think he told me, where the war went from like a chess game to a mad rush and waves of lead. Before coming to Equestria, I only ever saw the 10mm pony SMG’s. But I’ve quickly grown to hate the Trot 9’s.”

“I remember now!” Slowtrot said. “They were sold as a cheap, everypony SMG. The gun you can buy if you can't afford an Ironshod IF-44, the 10mm SMG they made. As far as I know, most ponies saved their bits to get the IF-44 as it didn’t jam as much and they wanted the same guns the troops used.”

He paused for a moment to scratch his goatee before adding. “Still don’t know why it was called the Angel Bunny.”

Jali cringed a little. “Likely because it was meant to stomp out zebras like Fluttershy's combat bunny, Angel.”

She began tapping Slowtrots injuries with her hoof. “Any pain?”

Slowtrot shook his head.

“Good, but make sure to let me know if your injuries start hurting in any way. Healing potions may stop the bleeding and close your wounds, but they can't stop infections,” she informed the stallion.

He again nodded.

I never really paid much attention to medical advice, but before I had Bridget, I learned the hard way that Healing potions don't fix everything. Whatever got in me after a fight often put me in pain for a month. But I got right back into the fight whenever I felt better.

Slowtrot got out of his seat and we trotted over to where Live Axle and two other Desperado mares were. All three were bandaged up and joyfully chatting among each other.

I had to ask. “Was finishing off the raiders that much trouble?”

The two other mares raised an eyebrow at me each before they proceeded to ignore me. Live, on the other hoof, turned to talk with me. “Fuckers boobytrapped the whole stable, so a lot of us got knocked around real good without a proper fight. Me and my friends here ran into a shitty nail bomb as we were clearing rooms. Hurt like shit, but we found a few full ammo boxes and guns we got to call dibs on.”

Jali shook her head. “How good can a raider gun be?”

One of the other mares clicked her tongue at Jali. “Oy stripe, if I want ya kinds opinion, I’d go look for a grave.”

A little smile formed on Jali’s face. “So you can ask your mother where the best zeba dick can be found?”

The Desperado mare got up, ready to fight, only for Live Axle to force her back down. “I swear to Celestia’s Transmission, if I have to beat the shit out of you to keep you from causing trouble, I will do it with a smile and use a chair to do it!”

The mare quickly sat back down.

Live eyed Jali with annoyance. “And what’s your problem, bitch? Trying to start a fight when you're old and decrepit and shit.”

Jali sighed. “Right. I’m not with the other ghouls here. Spent some time with the tank ghouls up north. Old war insults was how they kept their brains working right. You mares remind me of some of them.”

“Right... those elders,” Live said as she stretched. A twinge of pain could be seen on her face. “Our elders always call them the young fucks whenever they meet up. I think one of our elders is actually the father of one of them. Or was it the other way around?”

Shaking her head, Jali pulled out from an old ammo box some strange metal paddle with a bunch of wires connected to it, waving it over Live. It clicked a bit like our pipbucks had in Stable 24. “I remember you saying that some of your elders were early war veterans. It would be interesting to have a game of poker with some of them.” She waved the device over the two other mares. It clicked as well, but a bit slower. “Right, It’s minor, but you all got radiation poisoning. I’m betting all of you that went into that stable are the same. I suggest you have your clan take half a pack of rad-away each. The radiation may not hurt you now, but it will cause long term health problems if not taken care of. Just stop by the Followers camp later and let them know. They have a good cheap stockpile of rad-away since few need it anymore.”

Jali turned to me with a smile. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about not fucking around with raiders, Star.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, you don’t, though everypony has been anyway.”

“Thought so. It just means they don’t want to see you get hurt,” she said with a satisfied tone.

“Aren't you going to give me a lecture or story?” I stupidly asked.

Jali dropped her smile and looked off in the distance for a moment before looking at me. “Nothing in particular. Once you see one pointless massacre, you’ve seen them all. They were rarely any real threat to my comrades and I unless they had numbers. The big danger, as we saw it, was that a smart one would blend in among the normal wastelanders, then do as much damage as they can before any zebra knew what was happening. Other than that, if we wanted to avoid raiders, we just stick to feral ghoul territory.”

She waved the devices at me. It clicked a bit as well. “Also make sure Harp comes to see me later. I just know she is going to be more irradiated than the rest of you.”

Right. Harp was extra susceptible to radiation, though I don’t remember her using her magic when in that irritated water. I was sure she was fine, but it couldn't hurt to check on her. Also, I wanted to show her the crystals, see if she can make talismans out of them so to make the things worth a lot more caps to sell.

“Alright. I need to see her anyways,” I told Jali as I turned around.

Giving Slowtrot a little bump, I decided to tease him a little as I whispered. “So which of the sisters do you like more, Live or Dead Axle? They seem to like you.”

“What?!” Slowtrot quietly exclaimed in surprise. He was clearly a little flustered.

I nudged him a little. “Oh come on! We all can see it. Just ask one of them out, or both. Not many stallions are ever so lucky to get with twins.”

He cocked an eyebrow as I trotted off laughing.

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Figuring Harp was with the Gunrunners, I trotted over to the compound to take a look. As predicted, Harp was at the reception desk messing with some contraption as Dead Axle watched.

Raising an eyebrow at the two, I had to ask, “Did ya two become friends or something?”

The two stopped what they were doing to look over at me as I trotted closer.

“Here I thought Dead wanted to sleep with Slowtrot,” I said, trying to mess with the two mares.

Harp gave me a “your serious?” look, but Dead looked like she was giving it a serious thought.

Then Dead shrugged. “Not into mares much, but she’s cute, so I wouldn't mind having a threesome with her and a stallion.”

I watched as Harp gagged a little, which caused Dead Axle to laugh. “Oh come on. I’m not that bad looking, and how would you know you wouldn't like dick?”

Harp glared at Dead, telling her to shut up with her eyes. “I have a marefriend, and I don’t plan to bring another pony into the relationship, mare or stallion.”

This time I chuckled. “Then what about last night?”

She went beat red. Her magic shimmered a little.

“Th… That was a one time thing,” She meekly responded.

I didn’t want to push her too hard, so it was time to try and embarrass the ganger.

“Brothel lesbians aside, Dead, what the fuck do ya see in that dope?” I asked the Desperado.

She leaned back in her seat, looking too relaxed. “Ehh, he reminds me of some dopey dog I guess. My sis seems to like him, so I can't help but jump in and stir the pot. It also helps that he didn’t bitch and moan in that stable. Killed a lot of raiders too.”

Dead looked me in the eye and smiled. “I’d let him plow me. It would scratch that itch I’ve been having.”

Alright, this mare was shameless, making her no fun to mess with. But I was going to try anyway. “Big talk for a mare whose sister is going to get the stallion first. I’m sure they are having a nice little chat right now. Maybe making plans for a date. You know what happens next?”

She got a little less comfortable in her seat. “I doubt it. My sis is a wet noodle on her own. Shit at talking up another pony.”

Ha! Got her! I just needed to go a bit further before pulling back.

With a smirk I said, “Well, she was with her friends at the clinic. I also told Slowtrot to ask her out. Though-”

“Her friends!” Dead shouted loudly as she slipped off her seat. Quickly getting back up, she looked a bit more worried. “Fuck! I forgot those two idiots came to town with us. Fuck!”

The ganger mare glared at me. “If they make sis do anything stupid because of you, I’ll pay ya back twice fold. Fuck!” She galloped out of the compound, kicking up dust as soon as she was past the doorway.

Harp confusingly looked at me. “I’m confused. Are you trying to get them to sleep with Slowtrot?”

“I don’t know anymore. I was just trying to fuck with her. That all,” I explained while also feeling a bit confused.

She sighed and returned to whatever she was working on. “At least I don't have a mare incessantly probing me about what I was doing anymore.”

A smile crept on my face. “What are you working on?”

Letting herself go loose, Harp’s head gently hit the table as she huffed air out of her nose.

After a moment of silence, she straightened herself up and presented the device. “It’s a talisman copying doohickey box. You place a talisman on one end and a cut gemstone on the other. Running a controlled amount of magic through them and given a day or three, it should make a brand new talisman with the blank gemstone. It can't do anything complex, but it would help with making beam talismans.”

I whistled in surprise. “So you're saying I could get myself a laser blaster gun after a few days?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s magical, but not that magical, Star. This is just a crude talisman copying device, so nothing that nice can be made. Also, the gemstones the Gunnrunners have are mostly minor quality. I need at least a quartz to make an energy weapon quality talisman.”

Again a smile formed on my face and I pulled out the box I was given last night, presenting her with the smoky quartz inside. “Would this work?”

She gave the crystals a long look, then sighed. “Ya, those might work… Where did you get them?”

“A gift for saving those ponies from the raider den,” I told her as I passed over the crystals.

She picked one up then studied it.

“So, I was wondering if you can turn them into talismans. I want to make a lot of caps off them.” I announced.

Harp studied the crystal a bit more, bringing it close to her eye as she seemed to shimmer a little. All before putting it down.

A big yawn came from her mouth as she rubbed her eyes, speaking as though she was ready to go to sleep. “Quarts is the standard for most military talismans, but only the clear ones. Smoky Quartz, from what I remember, can't be used for anything super useful. The impurities in it tend to distort anything stronger than basic magic. Using it for energy weapons would just get you a scattergun. It would be nothing like the guns used by old Equestria, unless it has extra talismans to work through.”

She paused for a moment. Her eyes clearly came up with some kind of Idea. “Say Star, mind if I take this to Longslide? These crystals might be what he is looking for.”

I didn’t know why she wanted to show him those, but I trusted the two of them, so I was not going to just say no.

“Alright,” I accepted, “but you owe me if you break them.”

Harp smiled as she closed the box. “Good. Also, if this goes as well as I think it will, I’d like to know who you got the crystal from in case more might be needed.”

“One of the miners from the quarry. They find the chrysalis every now and then. Just don’t go telling nopony, otherwise the company might start watching them a lot closer,” I said as I mimed zipping my lip.

I didn’t owe the miners a damn thing, but they left me alone, so I didn't want to needlessly cause them problems. They were just trying to live their lives in peace, like I was.

… The words Hardballer told be about Redeye found its way back into my head. “He could never leave things well enough alone,” was what the old buzzer said. I don’t know why it was in my head, but it was now stuck there.

I didn’t want to bother any pony, and most ponies didn’t want to bother me. It was the sheriff and her deputies that were up in my business all the time. The raiders too. We would never have come looking for them if they never left that stable. Ya, that was it… Ponies who can't leave others alone were the worst. They were the ones who were making me pissed off about everything.

“Star, are you okay?” Harp asked.

Taking a deep breath, my mind calmed down. “Ya. Just been doing a lot of thinking. Everypony has been warning me to not tangle with raiders again. Not outright saying it, but it’s clear they were worried with how rape happy raiders can be.”

Harp looked away for a moment. “Ya. Those poor ponies. I hope they will get better.”

“They will,” I assured nonchalantly. “They were all wasteland ponies, from what I can tell. They all know that this shit happens. I mean, if Prism was not looking after me back on the Blackwater, some asshole stallion would have had his way with me. She killed his ass good.”

Harps mouth went slack.

“What?” I asked Harp with a shrug. “Like I said, that shit happens,” I told her, but she looked at me in confusion. “On the Blackwater, you can't be weak. The weak suffer the most, as the nun’s would say. If it wasn't for Victory or Prism, I’d likely ended up as a whore like my real mother, or just another deck-hoof taking what scraps I can get.

“I also had a few close calls in town with some assholes trying to slip me some rape chem. Waterspout catches onto that shit real quick, so I only had to deal with an upset stomach and a hell of a headache whenever it happens,” I explained.

“That’s horrible!” Harp exclaimed, with genuine worry in her voice. “I can’t believe a pony would do… well… I mean what would you have done if they got their way?”

I shrugged. “Likely hunt them down and kill them. I guess raise the foal to not make the same mistake.

As I said, this shit happens. We all just have to live with it. I wish it didn’t happen. I mean, I love to have it that Brass Chain was never abused like that, but then Copper Wire would never have been born, and I love that colt.”

Harp returned her attention to the talisman box she was making. “I guess you're right. I mean… it has been screaming me in the face from even before I found myself here. Bad things will happen, and the world will just keep moving on… But I still can't imagine how those ponies must feel, not to mention the two I executed. Could they have lived on?”

Right. I see now. Harp was trying to distract herself. Trying to ignore how bad things can be. I heard about this from Jali, calling it something like a wasteland break that all creatures deal with at some point. I think she said it’s where a pony possibly starts turning raider. Where their minds start to break or something.

I was not sure that was what's going on with Harp, but I knew what could help.

“Ya, should talk with Jali,” I encouraged. “She wants to scan you for radiation, and I’m sure she can talk to you about this far better than I can.”

She nodded before looking at me. “Say, if I ever end up like those innocent ponies I killed, what would you do?”

“I…” a twitch of pain hit me in the heart as I imagined the scene. Also… anger and… fear. Just thinking about it made me upset. Really upset. “I guess I’d kill every goddess damn one of them first. Make them hurt.”

There was another pause, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

“Such barbarity must be answered with righteous violence.” A haughty voice spoke up, causing the hairs on my haunches to stand up.

The older white pegasus, Purity Spiral, had trotted in. She was dressed as some lovely clean rich mare

She eyed me with a smile as she trotted over to us. “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. It’s the natural state of the world. Something we all must never forget.”

Harp looked confused for a moment before straightening herself up. She took a more professional stance and reached out a hoof. “Harp Melody. And you are, mam?”

“You can call me Lady Purity Spiral,” she said, shaking Harps hoof. “You're quite the well-mannered mare. Almost like a princess.”

A genuine smile formed on Harp's face… I think. “Why thank you! You clearly have the poise of a true lady yourself. If I’m not so bold to ask, but are you here to see the Gunrunners?”

Purity chuckled a little. “Oh, you're a charmer, but no. You can say I am, for a lack of a better word, a talent scout. Right now I’m here to see Star,” Purity said as she glanced over at me, but then looked back over at Harp as she went on to say, “but I love to have a private talk with you later.”

I couldn't tell if Harp knew if something was off with Purity or not. That mare actually had a dead-on poker face, second only to ghouls whose faces had fallen off. Still, I didn’t like the idea of Purity having her eyes on Harp. If Harp were to join the Corps Brigade, I wanted it to be through me, not this bitch.

Bishop Purity turned to me with a smile. “Shall we go? We all have places to be, and little time to waste my dear Star Charter.”

I didn’t like this. Not one bit.

_______________________________________________________

-Reputation-

-Lightbringer Foundation-

If there is anything they respect, it’s acts of heroism and mercy. Just like the Lightbringer, the three wiped out a raiders nest and saved ponies from it. This story is bound to spread around and ponies will likely know of the three’s good deeds.