Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

The Desperado’s, Part 1

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"Arriving with Harp Melody at the Desperado camp, I had seen my fair share of nomadic people in my time, and they were not all that different, to some extent. Now the motorized vehicles were a bit different. It’s a rarity from where I was from, and seemed to be uncommon in this world too.

Most times the nomadic people are quite friendly, if a bit wary of strangers. Being nomadic means that if their neighbors start becoming a problem, then they can just up and move somewhere safer. Most conflicts just involve trying to intimidate the other tribes, tests of courage and such. Though there have been some that were exceptionally violent, attacking others before they knew the tribe was there and taking whatever they wanted.

The Desperados had a mix of the two. Avoiding major conflict, but violent enough that no creature in their right mind would outright attack them. Having been in this wasteland for some time now, I had a feeling that their nomadic lifestyle might be what was making them so aggressive. No walls meant little safety from what lived out there." ~ Azure Dice

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“And that's when you showed up Miss Harp Melody.” Azure finished explaining to me his own journey.

It was surprising that he had met Velvet Remedy along the way, the mare who founded and led the Followers of the Apocalypse. It was also good to know that she was also working on a solution to the drought problem, so I wished her well in her endeavor.

“So, if you don’t mind me prying, how did you survive the fall into a junkyard?” I asked the Lurker.

He tapped on his own body, the claws covering his mandibles vaguely making a smile-like shape. “Oh, that’s not the first time I’ve fallen from such a height. You’ve got to know how to fall. Practice it a lot so that it becomes natural.” Azure averted his eyes and a grimace on his face as he then said, “They said it would be fun, but it was far from it.” He then looked at me again, all smiles. “It also helps that my chitin is quite strong and flexible.”

“If only we were all that lucky,” I lament with a sigh.

The light blue Lurker stood proud. His chitin looked like polished stone. Contrasting his chitin was his fins which glowed with a green light, much like a pipbuck, if a bit more intense in color. It gave him a ghostly appearance that visually unnerved me and everypony in the train car. I remembered that Mayall and the other Lurkers were not much different. They were just with a dark purple chitin and a deep red glow.

“Oh trust me, no luck to it,” Azure corrected as he pulled out a notebook. Inside it showed drawings of bones and plants. “I make sure to eat the kind of food that helps keep my chitin strong. With my line of work, dietary control is sadly necessary.”

I nodded as I looked at the strange plants and animals in his journal. Some looked familiar, but a bit oddly shaped. Others were just unknown to me. He did say he was from another world, so that would be natural I guess.

Putting that notebook away, Azure pulled out a smaller one, along with a pen. “So tell me, what are you planning to do before going west? I heard you worked as an entertainer before that whole mess happened. Would you be doing more of that?”

“Right, entertainer…” I cringed a little at the idea of explaining my time at the Ruffled Feathers. “Well no, not if I can help it. Actually, I have something better I can do while on our trip west.”

I tapped at a box I was keeping near me. It was filled with talismans and some other tech I was taking a closer look at. The stable had a lot of tech that, if given enough time, I could recreate in some crud fashion.

I pulled out one of the damaged stealth bucks to show him. Its magic leaked out a little, but the spell itself was still intact. “I’m going to research how to copy the magic in this thing. It has an invisibility spell which is really complicated to cast and drains a lot of magic. Back home they figured it out, though I only ever saw one pony use it. They were also part of an elite unit, so I’m sure it’s not going to be as simple as just copping it.”

Azure looked closer at the peace of arcano tech. His eyes widened. “Fascinating. Even back where I’m from invisibility is something only a rare few can do. Even then, its usefulness is limited. If I remember correctly, those big ponies said that some of them could turn invisible. One actually teleported me to the prison. If I had not seen it myself, I would not have believed it.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “But you said your own world has magic, even invisibility. Why not believe it?”

He chuckled. “Yes that's true, but it’s not to the extent of this world. Unless it’s for military purposes, the magic from where I come from is generally kept private. Closed behind the doors of religious organizations, hidden within secret organizations, or behind the gilded gates of the rich or nobility. There are the odd few who are more independent like my friend, but they keep quiet about it or risk being targeted by those who would do them ill.”

Azure then patted a nearby unicorn that was levitating a deck of cards. “But here it’s the norm. Used every day. Back home such things only existed in fantasy books.”

The unicorn mare dropped her cards in surprise which caused the other ponies she was playing against to throw down their own cards in annoyance. She then huffed and shot Azure a dirty look as she gathered her winnings and began dealing the cards again.

“Alright, I get it. Magic is far more rare from where you're from. I understand your… disbelief.” I told the Lurker.

Azure regained his composure, returning his attention to me. “Sorry. It’s been a lot of new things for me. All that aside, you said that this group, Orthris, you called them, can help me.”

I nodded. “Yes. They're the ones who control the sight where the megaspell is. Even if it’s not there anymore, they may know how to recreate it on a smaller scale. If I talk with my father, I’m sure they will help you.”

My pipbuck then beeped. “Orthrus has had over the last two hundred years to preserve and study old world technology, then apply it to everyday living.” Order explained.

I sighed at my own pipbuck, now understanding that its VI system had turned into a full AI. If it has a soul or not like Quicktrot was unknown to me, but it clearly has broken free of its own programming and could learn. Only time will tell if this is a good or bad thing, but at least it meant I could rely on Order without having to give it commands.

“That is a lot of time to study,” Azure commented. “But why have they not emerged after so long?”

That was a question even I wanted to know now. There is no way Orthrus could not have known that others were alive out there. Not when there are so many ponies running around and doing crazy shit all the damn time.

Order then spoke up again. “Historical records show that much of the resources of Orthus and other groups had gone to keeping the large population of the metro alive. There are a few accounts that expeditions were planned, but conflict within the metro had drained the resources for any expedition.”

That did make sense, to some extent. But that’s also what Orthrus openly told everypony. Believing the face-value explanation was always unwise. I would have to ask my father when I finally find him.

“Fascinating,” Azure said as he wrote it down in his journal. “I’m sure there's more to that, but right now it’s good material.”

He then looked back up at me, tapping on his notebook. “One more question, then I’ll stop chirping your ear off. Do you really have no desire to clear your name? There are a lot of ponies back in that town who don’t believe you three were behind the death of the gun dealer.”

“I… don’t know,” I answered, my uncertainty returning like a wave crashed on a cliffside. “I would love to just go back to denounce Ashy for what she did. I even have the evidence for it with Order. But I know that a lot of ponies would still side with her. It would only turn into a shootout. I know this. If we go in guns blazing, then to everypony, we just prove her right. We would be nothing more than raiders to everypony. I should have left town long before things went to shit. It’s not like I didn’t see the writing on the walls from day one.”

“Such as?” Azure asked.

“First off, I got on the bad side of the Mayor. I don’t regret it, but I should have started my plans on leaving town then and there. Second, I pissed off the deputies. I don’t regret what I did with that either. There were other smaller things too, along with two ponies who made everything worse. I guess I just stuck around because I was hoping things would work out in the end. That Ashy would leave us alone. That we could help the Gunrunners a little bit more before leaving ourselves.”

A sigh came from Azure. “A tale as old as time, for it is about time itself.

“Sorry, old bits of wisdom I picked up over the years. It’s from a tale that is about two brothers, the older one who always rushed around, and the younger one who always waited. They were tasked with cooking an offering for the gods. The older brother in his inpatients, cooked the offering too fast and with too harsh of a fire. This caused it to be burnt and undercooked. The younger brother took too long to cook the offering, resulting in him being late to even give it to the gods. Annoyed by the brothers, the gods cursed them to have one body between them, so that together they may find the right time to do things.

“So that they may find a balance between them,” I commented on the tale. “Though that must be horrendous for the brothers. And how does it relate to me?”

Azure nodded. “That’s just how old tales are. No sugar coating things to protect the feelings of others. Life is cheap, as I’m sure you know, so their lessons try to drill in the point. As for you, I guess it could mean that if you had rushed things, then disaster would still have happened. But then again I’m just spouting off old tales, not much more.”

He then pulled out another notebook, opening to a page which revealed his drawing of me. It was a simple sketch for the most part, but I could tell it was me. “Why don’t we stop dwelling on the past? And, if it’s okay with you, can I add more detail to my sketch?”

Positioning myself to pose like I had been taught to do growing up, I told the Lurker, “That’s fine by me. Just make sure you catch my good side.”

“Frankly, I don’t know enough about ponies to know which is the good side. I’m just glad you ponies don’t have a horse face. Snout aside, their faces are just so long and they always try to bite me,” he commented.

I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I took it as a joke. I sat still as he began to draw. It would be some more time before we reached the Desperados, so I was hoping for a really nice portrait by the time we arrived.

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Spending the rest of the ride trying to decipher the stelthbuck talisman was fortunately made easter with Azure lending out one of his notebooks. He had a lot to spare, along with a collection of artistically made pens. It must have been his hobby collecting them with how many he had and how different they were.

As for the invisibility spell, even writing down the little parts I could decipher with my own magic was barely helping. Much like teleportation, invisibility was not just one spell, but many spells woven together. If I were to try and make one myself, it wouldn’t just require me to carefully weave all these spells together, but to find a talisman strong enough to not blow up in the process. Then there was the problem of the talisman burning out when used. It made me want to see how Orthrus managed to do all of it themselves. Find out what trick they used.

The sound of several roaring engines passing by clued me to the presents of the Desperados. “Open the door!” I told Henbane.

The Mare nodded and put down her deck of cards, trotted over and pushed the door open. We were all bathed in bright unforgiving sun as dust blew in. Looking out myself, I could see a Desperado motor wagon take a wide turn around and roll up along the side of the open cart. The intimidating vehicle was armored with a wire fence and metal plates as it sparked with magical energy from its large engine. On the side was a familiar-looking large pony looking right at me.

“Make way. We have a guest!” I told everypony as I trotted to the side. Fortunately we had not taken everyone who wanted to come, giving everypony some space for this journey.

Riding close, the large stallion Crankshaft jumped in. His heavy hooves thumped on the train cart’s floor. Picking up a bottle of water from my saddlebag, I passed it to the Desperado who then quickly guzzled it down.

“Thanks. It’s been getting hotter out here by the day,” Crankshaft said with a smile as he looked down at me. “I guess I don’t have to ask why you're coming our way since Tire Fire is riding on top of that armored bulldozer.”

“Don’t worry. We have some gifts to repay your generosity,” I told the stallion as I then pulled out one of the snake-bight 10mm pistols we had. “This, among other things, we’re willing to hoof over if your clan is willing to let us stay.”

He huffed before taking the gun. “What's with the paint? It’s cool and all, but why?”

I smiled. “It’s a little zebra magic some friends of ours put on it. Make the bullets venomous. That aside, can you go tell your clanmates that we’re coming? Last thing I want to do is make a bad impression on them.”

Crankshaft shoved the gun into a large pocket on his clothes and smiled. “It’s good to see you’re well, and Elder Big Papa will be glad to know that Tire Fire is back. It was a fight in itself to keep his mother from raiding New Appaloosa over this brahmin shit.”

Trotting back over to the door, Crankshaft jumped back onto the motor wagon. It sped away while honking its loud horn.

Henbane quickly closed the door, looking a bit flustered. “So who’s that big cup of water?”

I chuckled. “Down, girl. Too soon to get thirsty now. We will have plenty of time for everypony to get to know each other later.”

She chuckled back. “I hope so. After seeing nothing but these ugly mugs for a year, I was starting to lose hope in seeing a real stallion again.”

“Fuck off bitch!” one stallion shouted, followed by several ponies laughing.

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As we rolled into a small canyon, I saw a densely packed campsite nestled between the tall cliffs. The large round tents were made from what looked like a patchwork of leather and cloth. They looked like anything from the old world and had a charm of its own. They were all a pale off-white color with yellow and orange decorations along the sides along with their symbol proudly hanging off the tent on flags.

From the tents, I could see heads of adults and foals poking out. There were a lot more ponies than I had expected to see. Young and old, it was clear they had far more than just fighters here. Possibly enter families.

Along the edge of the campsite were less impressive-looking tents that housed their collection of vehicles. Many I could see were similarly shaped motorcycles. The rest were a collection of motor wagons of different shapes and sizes. None of these looked rusted or beat down.

When Daisy Chain finally stopped, I hopped out onto the dry dusty ground and trotted over to the front. Star Charter quickly joined me as we met up with Slowtrot and Tire Fire.

“It’s good to be back,” Tire Fire said with a smile on his face.

A bottle flew out, nearly hitting us as it shattered on the ground.

“FUCKING ASSHOLE!” Dead Axle screamed as she ran out.

“Oh, did my little sis miss me?” Tire Fire mocked his sister.

The mare didn’t take the comment lightly as she charged in and tackled her older brother, wrestling him to the ground and getting him into a chokehold before he could resist. “You had one job and you still fucked it up!”

“Well, it was not his fault,” Slowtrot said nervously.

“You shut the fuck up. This is a family matter,” she chastised the Slowtrot.

Tire pulled himself up with his sister still around his neck. “Oh, I thought you wanted that stallion to be part of the family?”

“Just die already,” she growled.

Like a yellow blur, Live Axle tackled her brother as well, knocking him back to the ground and repeatedly hitting him in the stomach. “You moron, you moron, you moron. You know how upset ma was?!”

“She's going to be more upset if you fucking kill him girls,” the husky voices of a mare caused the three siblings to stop fighting. An older yellow mare with a short jet black mane trotted out. Hanging off of her in a satchel was a very young foal, and under her legs was a small colt.

“Hey ma,” Tire Fire called out with a bit of fear in his voice.

Crankshaft soon appeared with his grandmother, Burning Asphalt, sitting on his back. The older mare looked down at the mother with a dignified and amused smile. “Dear Rack End, maybe you should take your son to talk with his father before he goes see Elder Big Papa. I’m sure Stud Axle will want to see his eldest son alive and well.”

Rack End looked at her children with an intimidating glare. “Ya. Heard the elder. Fucking get off that idiot, or do you want to come with?”

Both Live and Dead Axle quickly let go of their brother, letting the stallion slowly trot over to his mother.

The older mare then eyes us, her gaze landing on Slowtrot. “Mister, I want to talk with you later as well.”

I looked at Slowtrot as he gulped nervously.

“Move those legs, you igit!” Rack End shouted at her son, getting him to pick up the pace as they left.

I leaned over to Dead Axle, whispering so that the others can’t hear me. “So… how many ponies know that you slept with Slowtrot?”

“Turns out I suck at keeping secrets, so only Live doesn't know,” she whispered back.

My eyes drifted to Live Axle who was now dusting herself off and giving an almost shy look at Slowtrot. “Really now?” I whispered again.

Dead sighed. “I’m not looking forward to when she finds out.”

“She can’t be that into him, can she?” I asked.

The mare rolled her eyes. “That whole raider nest incident got her properly interested, and the fact he is surrounded by mares has her thinking the lug is more desirable than he is. Also, she still thinks I’m a virgin like her.”

“Ahem!” Burning Asphalt spoke up as she hopped off Crankshaft’s back. “You ponies are just filled with one surprise after another. My grandson here says you want to stay with us, and have bright gifts. Now we may not care about what the NCR thinks about us so long as the trade routes stay open, but even we are not so stupid to piss off Gwadian Grimfethers. Now what do you have to offer that may make this risk worth looking after some escaped criminals?”

I stepped forward and gave the elderly mare a polite bow. “Well to start, we have a mostly untouched stable filled with preserved foods, clean water, and tech that you may find useful. There's also this bulldozer, of which you can see, is practically a tank needing a cannon. My friends and I are also willing to offer you our services in exchange for taking us with you out west. I’m sure the three of us will prove to be quite useful to the Desperados.”

“Talking all fancy ain't something we like, missy,” the old mare said to me as she squinted her eyes.

I just gave her a smile and said, “Talking fancy is what I was raised to do. Words can’t fill your belly, keep you warm when you're cold, or crush your enemy. That's why I’m not asking you to trust what I say, but trust in what we have done and what we now offer you.”

I looked back and whistled at the other ponies back in the train carts. They began pulling out several boxes and bringing them over for the Desperados to see. Mostly food and water, the simple things, but one box was put in front of me so that I could show it to the gangers.

From the box, I pulled out a water talisman, the very thing responsible for purifying the water in the stable. The other water talisman was left alone for now so that the ponies still in the stable could drink the water. “Right here is a bonafide water talisman. Hook it up to a power source and a water tank, and all that water will become clean to drink. Though you will still need to filter the water in case of other contaminants, with it, you don’t have to worry about any toxins or radiation. This is only one of many things we have recovered from the stable.”

The talisman itself was a work of industrial acano tech ingenuity. Not as complicated as an invisibility talisman. It was just made up of many similar spells set up to work together to clean water. I could reproduce such a talisman if it weren't for the fact that it required a large rare gemstone to even hold all the spells inside. The thing bordered on being a megaspell with how much magic went into it.

Burning Asphalt took a closer look at the talisman, a sense of unsureness momentarily on her face. Then she began to laugh, dropping any sense of seriousness. “You youngins didn’t put on the brakes at all. Bring all these gifts and shit, as though we’re some uptight soft ponies who need gifts to be happy or some shit.”

I tilted my head in a little bit of surprise. “You don’t want the gifts?”

The old mere snatched the water talisman from my hooves. “Fuck ya, I do. This shit is going to give us more options for setting up camp the next time we move out.” She then smiled at me. “It’s just that you, Slowtrot, and Star don’t need to give us gifts. Not when we still have to give you three back what's yours. We ain't thieves… well, not when we don’t need to be.”

Tilting my back, I then coked an eyebrow at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

With a smirk on her face, Burning Asphalt spat on the ground. “Just follow me and tell all those ponies back there to get settled in before you do. We got a lot of shit to sort out.”

I glanced over to see one of Cherry’s mares dropping off a box near me. “Tell the others to settle in. We got the okay to stay for now. Just avoid getting into any fights. These ponies are the real deal.”

She grinned as she looked over at one of the Desperado stallions. “How settled in is settled in?” she asked.

“So long as it does not cause any problems, do whatever,” I told her.

She smiled and nodded before trotting back to the train cart. She waved at one of the other mares. I didn’t like the idea of letting a few whores run a lot, but I was sure the ponies here could handle them.

“And the Nightstalkers?” Henbane asked as she trotted over.

Looking past her, I could see a few of them peeking out, but they didn’t seem that interested in leaving the train car. Since Star was the only one who could control them, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them at the stable. So far there haven’t been any problems, so I wasn’t that worried. “Just make sure they're fed. I’m sure they will stay out of sight.”

Henbane sighed. “So the usual. Are you sure they can be trained?”

“It’s what they were made to be. Once I go back to check that lab, I should have more information on them,” I said, looking down to see Cavall happily under her legs. “Anyways, I think they're starting to like you.”

“Joy. A pack of invisible stalkers,” she said, sounding a bit exhausted.

The small nightstalker then practically bounced off to Star, turning invisible. The sound of its rattling tail was the only sign of where he was.

Following Burning Asphalt, Star, Slowtrot, and I were taken to the line of motor wagons. The one we had stopped at was covered in a sheet and several “Do not Touch” signs were placed around it aggressively. I quickly recognized its profile. The vehicle was sleeker than the others with a smaller front and a protrusion on the top. Not only that, but Order appeared in my hud display with a happy look on its cartoonish face.

“So after yall gave us back our guns, we had a few ponies stay behind to keep an eye on shit. They heard a gunshot and came to take a look.” Burning Asphalt clapped her hooves, and Crankshaft pulled on the sheet to reveal the Smuggler. “Caught the sheriff Deputies loitering around this wonderful piece of art. After scaring them off, they drove it back here and told us about it. When we tried to go back to town to ask what the shit was going on, the fucking uptight assholes chasted us out and told us we were banned from New Appaloosa. So we’ve been keeping an eye on your shit since then.”

“Untouched?” I asked.

The old mare laughed again. “Fuck no. We took this baby for a ride and tested out the guns. My grandson also fixed a few things wrong with it. That Griffon, Longslide, may know how to make this, but we know how to make it run better.”

“Well, as long as everything is still here,” I breathed as I trotted over to the Smuggler. I saw that even the trailer with all the trade we got from the Desperados was still here. “Well, we can at least get this stuff back to the Gunrunners somehow.”

“FUCK YA!” Star shouted as she pulled her sword out from its sheath. The silver blade gleamed in the light.

Slowtrot, too, had trotted over. He pulled out the burnt service rifle from the Smuggler. He looked a little puzzled when he found a strange charm hanging off of the barrel. It was a small rodent skull with a miniature cowpony hat on and with yellow and orange cloth mane that looked like fire.

Dead Axle chuckled. “Seriously, Live, that's where you lost it?”

Live Axle looked embarrassed, face hoofing herself. “Oh fuck me. Now I remember.”

Looking inside myself, I found Order’s drone body along with my father’s enforcer. Picking up the revolver, the light beaming down on it giving it a blue-like shine on the dark steel. Checking to see it was loaded, I found six unused .357 in it. With a sigh, I shoved the gun in the secret pocket of my jacket. I don’t know why, but it made me feel far less naked now than when I finally got some proper clothes on.

My bolt launcher was also here. There were some signs of somepony having been messing with it. That somepony was awkwardly smiling at me.

“Ya. How does that fucking thing even work?” Dead Axle asked me.

“It works if you're a mirage pony, just like my drone.” I told her as I took a deep breath. Drawing magic into myself, it felt like warm water was filling my insides. Exhaling, I then pushed the magic to my drone, feeding it the energy it needed to function.

With a flickering of its eyes, the drone’s propeller wings came to life and Order flew up. “All systems are in green. Gun barrel is a millimeter off. Will need to be calibrated.” He then clunked. “Possible tampering detected.”

I looked over at Dead Axle, hoping for an answer to who touched my drone.

“Oh., Sorry about that. I wanted to see how it worked too… couldn't make heads or tails of any of it,” she admitted.

With a sigh, I turned back to the others, asking. “So is everything here?”

Slowtrot looked down at the sights of his trench gun, looking less than happy. “Everything but my pistol.”

“And Hardballer,” Star said as she put Hardballer’s large revolver and his griffonstone typewriter on the vehicle's hood. She then kicked the Smugglers tire hard and screamed “FUCK!”

Trotting over to her, I gave Star a hug. She was shaking, clearly holding back so as to not actually damage anything. “I know. Trust me, I know how you feel.”

“Doesn't make it feel any better,” she grumbled as she squeezed me tight.

“No, it doesn't,” I agreed.

Star held me for a long moment before letting me go, returning her attention to Hardballer’s guns. Taking the griffins guns, Star put them on the back seat as she started pulling out some junk. Eventually she found a large cloth and wrapped the two guns in them, all before placing them in a safe compartment on the Smuggler.

Letting Star do her thing, I trotted over to Burning Asphalt. The old mare had waited patiently. “Alright, there’s a lot of things to do, and probably not as much time as we would like to do them all. So, what's next?”

“Good. I hate beating around the radscorpion,” Burning Asphalt said with a smirk as she jabbed Crankshaft.

The stallion huffed in annoyance as he crouched down low enough for his grandmother to get back on his back.

“Now if you three would follow me, Elder Big Papa would love to talk with you,” the old mare told us.

I nodded, then looked back at Star and Slowtrot. Both looked like they were ready for a fight, and with how things had been, I didn’t blame them. “Alright, let’s go. It would be rude to keep our hosts waiting.”

“Mind if I come as well?” Azure spoke up, catching me by surprise.

“Where the fuck did you come from? And what the fuck are you!” Burning Asphalt said in shock as she held a hoof to her chest.

I sighed, feeling a bit ashamed that I had almost forgotten he was here. The Lurker magic might be strong with him for nopony to have seen him this whole time. “Sorry. Azure here is a friend of mine. I can explain the rest later.”

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-Reputation-

-Desperados-

What else is there to say? Not only did the three bring back a lost clan member, but with him, you’ve come bearing gifts. The Desperados are not going to stick their nose up at such generosity. Not from ponies they have already grown to respect.

-Items Recovered-

All formally lost items have been returned to the three, all except for Chekhov's Promise.