Fallout Equestria: Desperados

FoE: Desperados, Epilogue.

Epilogue

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New Appleloosa was a lot dryer than the last time I was here, but also bigger too. I wouldn't have recognized the place if no creature had told me where I was when I had gotten off the train.

"You're finally here. I was getting worried that Gwad had decided to abandon this place." Ambassador Gavril greeted us. The former ranger reached out to hug our vetren ranger.

The old griffin stopped the ambassador in his tracks by pointing one talon in his face. "We ain't never been that close, Gavril," he warned. He looked over at me and pointed to the mayor's office. "Green claw, go tell the fuck head mayor we’re here. I have some paperwork to fill out."

Saluting my superior, I turned to the team of twenty NCR troopers that were assigned to us. Their job was to secure the stability of the town since most of their law officers had died and the mercenaries left. "Let’s go, and don't fuck with the locals… yet."

As we trotted down the main street, one of the lieutenants broke formation and matched pace with me. "Say, isn't this your home town? Got family here, right?"

I glared at the idiot through my ranger helmet. "None of your business… but ya, though my old buzzard of a dad is liable to shoot me as soon as he sees me."

"Fuck! Whad ya do?" he asked innocently.

"I… broke a promise and ran away from my responsibility," I said solemnly.

Inside the mayor's office, I could hear yelling. The ponies inside were clearly not having the best of times. I could only imagine how much worse they would react if they knew it was me under this mask.

Looking at the troopers, I ordered them to stand outside as I went in.

A portly looking mayor Espresso was yelling at a less than held together Deputy Willow, both looking at least a bit drunk.

"I don't care. just tell the NCR to fuck off out of my town. Nopony wants them here. No pony needs them here!" Espresso loudly elaborated.

"With all due respect, there are only five of us left. Even if we wanted to push the NCR out, we don't have the pony power!" Willow yelled back. "And how were we to know that Blue Skies would just up and leave like that?! At this rate, without the NCR, we're just one big target for every raider in the wasteland."

The mayor glanced my way. "Oh look, a fucking NCR ranger. Just shoot me already."

I trotted over to them, making it nice and slow to piss them off. "Hello Espresso, Willow. I'm here to inform you that twenty NCR troops have arrived to help stabilize the town. More are on their way. I do hope we can find common ground in these troubling times."

Willow sunk into his seat. He grabbed a bottle of whisky. Espresso, on the other hoof, just glared at me and yelled. "Get the fuck out!"

I wish he could see me smile as I told him, "Also, to ensure we help serve the ponies of New Appaloosa to the best of our abilities, we will be holding an election within a month's time. As new members of the NCR, we look forward to your corporation, Mayor."

Espresso chucked a half full bottle of booze at me. It bounced off my helmet harmlessly and shattered on the ground. "GET OUT!"

"Gladly," I told them as I turned to leave.

I barely contained a chuckle as I left since pissing off that sack of brahmin shit had been something I wanted to do for so long.

"Sorry, but no visitors. NCR business only!" The lieutenant told one of our new citizens.

As I stepped out, I saw it was a griffin… no, a hippogriff…SHIT! It was Longslide! Among all the creatures in this town, he was among the few I was not ready to deal with.

He looked at me and pushed the lieutenant aside. "Good. I need to talk with one of you assholes about that damn custom order your superiors keep requesting. It’s what my father did, and he's not around to do it anymore!"

"Dads… gone?!" I asked in shock.

Longslide froze. His eyes widened as he looked at me. His eyes went from my hemet, down to my talons, then further back to my hooves at my flank. He then snarled. "Skipper!"

I took off my helmet, unsure what to say. "Ehh… I'm home."

We both said nothing as we stood there. The painfully long moment was only broken by a filly crashing into Longslide.

"Uncle! Uncle! Look at what I drew!" The filly yelled as she held up a yellowed piece of paper. It had a crude drawing of a blue pony with a green mane and tail.

She had the same pink fur as I and dad have, but with a thick wavy green mane. Her talons, wings and tail were that of a griffon, but she had the cute face of a pony, similar to that of a mare I loved. Seeing this little filly sent a pin into my heart since I knew who she was.

Longslide bent down and took the drawing as he patted her on the head. "Nicely done, Bridget. That looks just like Star." He then looked at me, glaring with anger that had been smoldering for over six years. "Now Bridget, why don't you go get your cousins and meet me back at the compound. There is someone you need to meet."

With a big grin on her face, my daughter ran off, skipping with excitement.

Getting up, Longslide passed me the drawing of Star Charter. "Your fucking late, as usual. Now finish your business and come home. There's a lot of shit you need to make up for."

I couldn't argue. I didn't have the right. "Fine, but first, tell me where Star is. I need to apologize to her… for everything."

Longslide sighed. "Sorry, but that's impossible."

My heart almost stopped. my mind raced with the worst conclusion. "What do you mean? Please tell me she's not dead!"

My brother pointed to a board near the entrance of the mayor's office. It was covered in notices long unfulfilled, but had three new wanted posters. One of them had the drawing of Star, but her wavy mane was far longer, almost covering one of her eyes.

"She is far away from here now. Likely she’ll never return," Longslide told me.

I looked at him in genuine shock. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you all about it later when you come home." Longslide bargained me as he turned around and trotted off. All I could do was watch.

Meanwhile, my mind was a mess.

The lieutenant whistled loudly. "I think I might know what's going on, ranger. Hate to be in your hooves."

"Shut up, lieutenant. That's an order," I growled. He saluted and got back in formation.

I reached over and tore Star's poster off the wall. As I looked at it, I also pulled out a small box from my pocket. Inside was an old world ring I found and polished up. Gripping both tightly, I didn't know what I'll learn from my brother, but I did know one thing.

I should never have run away. It was time I started taking responsibility.

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In the time after the Lightbringer festival, New Appleloosa would go through a dramatic change. Without the protection of it’s vigilant guardian, the town would be annexed by the ever expanding New Canterlot Republic, becoming the new nations western most territory. For merchants traveling from the west, the town would become the final stop in their journey through the wasteland and their return to civilization. For those seeking independence, New Appaloosa became a symbol of the NCR’s insatiable hunger for territory and control. But for the citizens of the NCR, the annexing of the town was simply another example of Equestria slowly recovering and slowly becoming unified once again.

Mayor Espresso knew his time was up. All his old rivals were part of the NCR and they knew how to deal with him, unlike the townsfolk of New Appaloosa. Before even the first political smear even reached the town, Espresso had poached his things and vanished. The void left behind helped the NCR transition their new citizens to their new lives as members of the NCR.

Though still plentiful in number, the remaining deputies were shattered by the death of Ashy Oaks and further devastated by the evidence of her murdering Hardballer and the raid on the Desperados. They would quickly disband until there was only a hoof full left. Many found small settlements in need of a protector far off in the wasteland.

Deputy Willow never quite recovered from the loss of his hero and mentor, but was worst affected by the knowledge that he had done nothing to help Ashy Oak’s from herself. Though doing his best to take up her mantle as sheriff of New Appaloosa, he only lasted a year before passing on his badge. Supported by his wife, Willow would refocus his life to the care of his family and attempted to start a farm just outside of town.

The New Appaloosa General store stayed as it was, tended to Heavy Hoof diligently. What did change was that things were now a lot quieter for the stallion since his wife, Karat Gold, ran off with the town doctor along with his kids. Though lonely, he was also a lot more at peace and would soon remarry the dancer Rusty Clever and adopt her daughter and newborn son. Strangely, though not strange at all to those who knew, they looked more like a family then Heavy Hoof had with his first wife.

The practice of chain gangs would be banned soon after Calamity took office as president of the NCR. He decryed it as slavery under a diffrent name. This led to the NCR having to precure cheap materials through more diplomatic means which resulted in the quarries of New Appaloosa having a bigger inflow of money and able to bring in more workers to break rocks. This also had the benefit of providing the NCR more taxpayers in which to support the system. This, in turn, painted Calamity as an economic genius, even if he had no idea that that would happen.

The Followers of the Apocalypse would eventually return to New Appaloosa, taking over the void that Quacksalver would leave after being found out to be a fraud. His medicine was nothing more than sugar pills and diluted chems. Under the supervision of Velvet Remedy, a proper clinic would finally be made. The health of the citizens would gradually improve. Though New Appaloosa would suffer from chem abuse for the foreseeable future, the new clinic would at least ease their pain as they slowly recover.

Jali would move on from New Appaloosa, staying in Junction Town for a time as she worked on making a medical scanner device. She tirelessly attempted to recreate the technology that would undoubtedly help save many lives. The notes she copped from Slowtrot’s pipbuck would rattle in her ancient mind along with the name Doctor Life Beat. The name translated to Ukushaya kwempilo, which happens to be the same name her grandfather had. The thought would drift from her mind as she refocused on her work. The future was far more important to her than the past.

With an influx of customers, the Ruffled Feathers would continue to be what it always had been, a wild and raunchy place for any creature to unwined. Its owner eventually had to expand the joint and hire more staff to manage it. In time, ponies from all over the NCR would come to the “Taver” looking to get their start as dancers and “entertainers”.

Cloudy Sunrise would later retire from her job at the Ruffled Feathers after having been scouted by Apricot. With the NCR in power, the discrimination againt the pegisi was lifted, legaly at least, and the most popular mare in town could finally spread her wings. With her cheerful disposition and skills she had gained from the Ruffled Feathers, her popularity would only grow. She would quickly become the manager of the Saloon. Later, Cloudy would find a new partner in a simple mare that moved in from the west after hearing about New Appaloosa, and strangely enough, already knew Cloudy by name. She learned from a friend she had made out there.

Brass Chain would relapse in her alcoholism and nearly passed away only to be saved by her son Copper Wire. Her near death experience would do little to cure her from her deeply bedded trauma, but she was forced by her son to regularly visit the new clinic. Under the protective eye of her son, she would improve. Slowly but surely she would become the mother Star knew she could be.

Nothing much changed for the Gunrunners, though they were now far busier than before. They later called in for more claws to assist them with the orders. For anypony heading into the wasteland, their first stop, after getting drunk at the saloon or the Ruffle Feathers, was always the Gunrunners. This provided plenty of reliable and new guns and ammo. Raiders would become rarer and rarer in the region as everypony had a gun they could rely on and enough ammo to protect themselves and their family with.

Longslide, recognised as the new leader of the New Appaloosa branch of the Gunrunners, would find little rest in the years to come. Between being a father of five and the inventor of a new line of mortar wagons, which he just started calling them carts for short, his work would never end. When he rode in the fleet of NCR transport carts with his family, he truly felt happy. Even more happy when he got to test out the NCR’s new machine gun attached to the cart's gunner nest.

The NCRCF would be left as a ruin, later reclaimed by scavengers. It was taken apart bit by bit. The only thing that would remain of its existence would be it’s broken foundation and a strange circle of ashes that smells of sulfur.

The residence of New Appaloosa would finally finish what the Lightbringer started and permanently sealed Stable 24 using explosives to cave in the tunnel leading to the rusty cog shaped door. Tales of the monsters that once called it home would persist. All could at least sleep soundly knowing that no longer could monsters come from it again.

Blue Skies would continue to do business within the region, taking no responsibility over what happened to the Desperados or for the cut chems being distributed through the market. They were, after all, a simple guild of merchants, not a single company. If any members were found breaking any law, they did it independently. It also helped that they made friends with some of the higher ups in the NCR who may have pulled a few strings to keep eyes where Blue Skies wanted them. Still, rumours of their less than savory business practices persisted. Because of that, few politicians in the NCR would openly support them, and that’s how Blue Skies liked it.

Victoria would continue her tour of the NCR, spreading music and cheer, along with being followed by fans wherever she went. Few would ask about the ponies that would go missing who had followed her since ponies went missing all the time in the wasteland. When her tour was over and Victoria could rest, she simply disappeared from public view and could not be found unless she was scheduled to appear. But one question was asked by those not interested in her music. “How was it that she could so easily whip a crowd into a frenzy by merely staring at them alone?”

Bridget would bounce back, as all young foals tend to do, but not once did she stop thinking of her mother. When her father finally returned home, the filly had only one question for him. “Can we go find mom?”

The wasteland has many tales. Some good. Some bad, and some of them mutated. The tale about the New Appaloosa shootout would become quite popular and exaggerated, as tales go. It started with two ponies falling from the clear blue sky and ended with a bloody shootout with a legendary sheriff turned mad mare. The three ponies who broke out of prison and enacted revenge would receive names like so many wasteland legends. But only one stuck, “The Desperados”.