Fallout: Equestria - Equilibrium

"In this world of White. Not all is innocent..."

Happier Times…

My mind needed to go back to those happier times. Times when rainbows ruled the clear caeruleum skies; when sunshine brought happiness to all proud playing ponies below. We danced, we laughed... But most importantly we cared. Now gone forever. My first hour or so out here in this now blasted, snowy wonderland was a slice of hell, but what was I expecting to find anyway? This new way of surviving is the only way forward now, I guess. Whether I liked it or not. Taking one life to save your own, anypony would take that chance, but to dance with the devil is the last thing on my mind right now. To kill a pony, another living being... needed to be a last resort.

Getting out of bed was the hardest part of starting this new day. Was there even a point? It just seemed pointless to move anywhere, knowing that I could possibly get killed or captured or unexpectedly jumped on again at any moment. Ponykind just wasn't the same anymore. It's killing me inside. Maybe dying to those ponies yesterday would have been a mercy, because it seems that the more I move... the more dangerous life will become…

For long I stared at the cracked wooden ceiling in my bedroom, for long just thinking about her... Trying to put Nimbus at the back of my mind to focus on other things was impossible. Something in me just needed to find her, my Wonderbolt…

Even if it kills me.

That necklace Nimbus had given me, it felt so long ago, I still had it... Long I stared at it. A platinum bullet with a golden tip. It seemed strange for her to wear it at times, I never had gotten the chance to ask her where she'd got it from. Etched into one side her actual full name Nimbus Lightning Strike, though I don't know why she changed it to Shock instead... On the other side were words in Old Ponish 'Semper Amare, aeternum' meaning: Always Love, forever.

This day wasn't without a looming shadow of doubt, with crowded skies, a shallow life, everything still dead... When I woke up I had hoped everything was still a dream. But the dream is still true to it's dark, twisted future I live in now. The goals I had set in mind needed to be done, but I just can't move now. Finding Nimbus... Celestia knows where she is or even really alive. Those thugs from the Stable as well. Well, they can just go-

Huh- what?

CRASH!!!

"...Knock, knock! Any little ponies home!?"

"Hey knock it off. This is not how you enter a building, all loud an' shit."

Oh, crazy ponies…

My choice of a hiding place is nothing but the classic hiding under the bed, from here I could only see a shadow or two through the bottom part of my bedroom door, where barely any light got through... Damn this floorboard is dusty as fu-

Cough!

"Hey! Did you hear that? Sounded like a cough..."

Oh! Shit!

"...no? I think you need to lay off those Party-Time Mint-als dude. Got you hearin' and seein' shit. Also blackin' out every now an' then."

"Ok fine probably, I'm gonna check that room out..."

Damn it! Why do I always mess everything up? From my first experience yesterday it kinda seems like these types of ponies aren't very smart.

CREEEEEAK!

My bedroom door opened slowly, notoriously, I just stayed very still, holding my shallow breathing steady as a set of four grey hooves came cautiously into this small space. Looking around…

Celestia be my holy protector.

"Ohh man, I think a mare used to live here..."

"You think it could be that mare from yesterday? That little red pegasus, who looked like she just woke up and found a nightmare?"

"Mmmm I hope so, wouldn't mind a piece of her..."

By the Sun, are all stallions perverted?

"...Been a long while since I last saw a pegasus. Must be all dead now. Except this one..."

Huh? WHAT THE-

Suddenly I got dragged out from under the bed by a pair of those grey hooves... Not too kindly either, now I have déjà vu.

"Ahh, there she is..."

A brown unicorn said I could barely see him because of dusty sunlight... Wait I've heard that voice before!

"...Remember me?"

Oh it's him! That brown unicorn from yesterday. He came into full view now, I was looking straight at his wicked face, a visage of... Something I never want to see any longer. Ugly son of a-

"You pegasi sure do love hiding, don't you. How's it feel?... Getting a big fresh dose of reality, huh?"

Despite his aggressive look, I was unwavering in my attempt at silence, he isn't worth anything I have to say…

"Ohhhh great, the silent type huh? I know some folks that will love you..."

Dirty idiot! I spat at his face, that didn't do much besides from making him chuckle a little... He violently got me by the neck then whispered.

"So you think you're a tough bitch huh?! Yeah, we'll see... Stable Dweller. Little cute outfit is a dead give away. Ohh the Raider Queen's gonna love you too... If she doesn't kill you straight away first."

"R- Raider Q- Queen?"
The words barely escaped my mouth, he didn't strangle me... yet. It was just hard to talk with his hoof holding my damn throat!

"Hey! You gotta bow first before saying that..."

The gray pony behind me was saying just before he was cut off by the brown stallion…

"Did you forget I'm holding her by the throat dumbass? You seriously need to lay off on those Mint-als."

Raider Queen huh? Sounds more like she's the queen of a bunch of idiotic senseless degenerates! Maybe in time, I'll give her a chat about 'recruitment' someday.

"...Sickle, did you hear that?"

"Quit it! For fuck's sake, Hammer!"

Wait? Some more ponies then arrived... Wow by Luna, they look like clowns in the outfits they are wearing…

"I order thee to cease immediately, you are trespassing on Queen Novasurge's territory. Release the prisoner, she belongs to us..."

Oh fuck me with the Moon, is this guy serious? A pale blue earth pony wearing some improvised armor made to look like a guard or knight of some kind. Looks almost like Royal Guard armor with other bits of metal for extra protection. The other two earth ponies wore the same, but with full helmets.

Earth ponies are so primitive… In one respect.

"Damn it, man! Fuck you! We were here first!"

Sickle turned around then suddenly drew a gun from his holster, his strange grey magic lighting it up…

"Oh, it's you, Sickle, brother... Queen Novasurge has a pretty nice bounty on your head..."

"Yeah well, tell her to join the fuckin' queue..."

"Very well, Sickle. Looks like my boys will have to take your head by force, then the girl. Death waits for nopony..."

Shit!

It seems ponies will never learn... Sickle opened fire on the Knight in shining rusty armor in the center, only to have bullets bounce off his chestplate. The three drew swords of lightning steel, with zeal in their eyes as they charged forward. Really wanting him dead, probably more than I do. It seemed that he didn't stand a chance, three against one, Hammer, the other pony still held me. But I tried to break free, now while everypony but him is distracted…

"Damn Sickle! Behind you!.."

Sickle looked behind him but it was too late. He, quite literally now was headless... Quick, painless, but still made me feel sick to the heart. Decapitated, I just couldn't look at his headless corpse as it fell to the floor. My territory soaked with blood spilling from him by the second.

"May Light guide thy troubled life, forth unto afterlife, Brother..."
The main Knight pony muttered, then all three turned their attention towards me, Hammer as well.

"Fuck this shit! I'm outta here!"

Hammer just dropped me to the ground. They marched forward slowly.

"Wait, Caelum. Is that her?-"

I didn't stay long to hear what one Knight was gonna say, getting to my hooves quickly then jumping out of my bedroom window. Damn did that hurt... Landing next to a pony skeleton. Suddenly I took off running, running blindly through the snow drowned ruins of Ponyville, in search of something that can grant me solitude. This town looking more rundown and contorted, in parts I ignored, running for dear life... Stuck amidst death in Winters' cruel embrace.

My faculties still remained, despite witnessing that horrific death of Sickle. He had it coming though, I guess... But he didn't have to die like that. It seems like this town has a power struggle, the Queen of 'foals' against the Queen of 'Death-Knights'. Ponyville was strange before all of Equestria became an apocalyptic wonderland, but this is just going beyond strange now. It's fucking crazy. I'm slowly losing my Luna-damned mind already.

Through Ponyville I ran still, not looking back to see if any psycho was chasing me, but it didn't sound like they were. Though it was getting hard to run through these blood-drenched streets with the thick inches of freezing snow underhoof, so I flew instead, a few meters from the ground.

Flying aimlessly, I saw a seemingly derelict school on the outskirts of Ponyville, it looked mostly preserved save for a destroyed left half. Something was calling me to that place... A childhood memory. Now I remember! It's the school where I first met Nimbus. Sunnywood, it was called, and I guess it still is. The sight of Sunnywood kinda gave me hope, a hope to know that everything of the old world isn't dead... Maybe there's the hope of a reclamation day? To take Equestria back from these psychotic pseudo-knights of their unholy crusade... To Begin Again... Now, in this memory of a future for Ponykind, I must light the first fires of hope, I feel it strongly in my heart. Maybe it's just my element? If any element of goodness exists anymore…

So needless to say, I flew closer to that vestige of the old world, not knowing what I was going to find... But I hope it wasn't going to be raider ponies or weird knights or whatever craziness this world had bred now.

There was once something I had heard from a wise pony before my time, he would say 'Never venture, never win.' If I were to find a meaning to this, then I suppose I should keep going forward. For Nimbus' sake. I'm just stuck at where to start…

For now, I suppose I just need to survive.

Flying near the torn half of Sunnywood is where I found my entrance. Though there is always the front door, that gave those raiders away. Kicking my door down like that... So I just wasn't going to be a dumb-dumb and give myself away, plus sometimes you never know what could be on the other side. Oh, I almost forgot about my baton, I still had that too…

Where I had just landed it looked like this part used to be a music hall. Surprisingly, the musical instruments where still here, the sound of silence their symphony eternal. Despite the silence, I found the solitude welcoming... Nothing but me under grey gaze in a mix of melancholic harmony, playing out in a Lyre, tugging at my heartstrings. An Accordion for the heart to sing of its own accord, with a Harp to signify heaven's holy angels. All were a symphony of Harmony in the end... Life's but a walking shadow, and these are the silent players, ghosts of the past. I'm now stuck between a fantasy world and a world gone awry.

When I had finally snapped out of my music-induced dream, I was found now laying on my back, completely unprepared, surrounded by raiders.

Well fuck…

WACK!

Woah- I just had the craziest dream about being surrounded by boys...

Damn!

I must have gotten knocked out…

I shook my head around, the next thing I know I'm locked away in a small well-put-together metal cage. Stuck somewhere possibly underneath Sunnywood, the basement area. Everywhere was nothing but darkness, feelings of cold and the smell of urine were the only things that mainly bothered me. My whole body feels strange, but my flank felt worse, my mane and tail ruffled up, wings missing some feathers, flank really, really hurting now when I tried to stand up... There's a chain-link between all four of my legs going into the wall that seemed rotten, cracked; weakened by decay- maybe I could-

"Oh look at that I think the songbird has finally woken up..."

Songbird? Oh, why the fuck did I start singing?

"...Eh man, it was like she was drunk or something. I mean what the fuck is she singing about a Cutie Mark for? Like what even is a cutie mark?"

...excuse me?

One raider then came into view, a crimson, blue-eyed stallion just laughing at me... He threw down a hoof-made paper box, I doubt this is a gift for the serenade I must have provided…

"Hey, songbird or whatever your name is... In there's your food for a whole week."

"What is it?..."
I asked the crimson raider just before he was about to go away.

"We find that it typically goes down better if we leave ponies guessing... So eat the fuck up!"

Rude…

Two raiders exited the area, I couldn't see it but I heard it. I'm guessing there was only two. At least that's what my cutie mark is telling me. So what is this?

Managing to just barely open the small box with shackled hooves, inside looked to be a decent-sized piece of meat, brown to the point it looked burnt or if it had even been cooked, I don't know. Though despite it's slightly unappealing look it made my stomach rumble, it appears that I'm more hungry than I first thought. Not eating in a day, or so long. I don't know if I really want to eat this, it could be a hoof or something…

Celestia's Grace, I really need this meat…

I ignored my doubts about it and just started to eat it anyway. Slowly, carefully, savoring every bite out of this succulent chewy chunk of meat…

"Ahem, pardon me but you do realize you are eating radroach meat?'
Hmm?

I'm eating- what the fu-

My stomach immediately backed up at those words... Radroach meat? I was eventually sick all down the rotten-brick wall, heaving it out like some cannon.

"Happens to the best of us..."

How long has he been there? Looking to the stallion I noticed he's- blind? But I had to ask, what is a radroach? He said it's the only type of food they feed their prisoners in here, the older you are the less amount of food they give you. Which would explain why he looks a little... Skeletal. He sounded like he's not from around here, not from Equestria but somewhere else as he spoke with a strange formal accent.

"So, who are you?" I then asked the mysterious dark grey unicorn…

"I am called Equinox, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Researcher, scholar of the untold and a remarkable storyteller... Or so someponies just say."

"Storyteller huh? But if your blind how can you read?"

"The Sight has its uses..."

"The Sight?" I replied to him.

"The Sight lets me see a little of what was... Some of now... And some of what is to come..."

Okie dokie lokie.

"So… What can you see?" I asked Equinox. If this is true maybe I could get to know if he can find Nimbus or those other ponies. He took a minute to think…

"I can see the past. Equestria, as it once was... Blooming, colorful, so full of life. Then the bombs, so much destruction, a sudden winter everlasting. Past is gone now..." Yeah... All gone now. That did bring a tear to my eye, the events of days leading up to the last day of Equestria. All-consuming fire. Now a winter to cool the cinders…

Equinox continued... "But the future? It's not much but I can sense something that will soon be fire... And you Scarlett Dawn. Need answers..."

Immediately I stood up just looking at him still. It was a bit creepy that his pure white eyes followed my every move as I paced around the cell. But how does he know my name? Fuck that-

"Where is Nimbus?..." I almost shouted at him, now I just needed to know so bad... Almost ready to pull down this fucking wall if he tells me that she's dead.

"Sadly I don't know of the pony you are looking for. But one pony I know you are looking for is... A lot older than you think. If you head to the city of friendship far East of Equestria they might have the answers you seek."

"How old is this pony?"

"Fifty-three years old. You have also been locked away in that Stable for the same time. I saw you leave it too."

Fifty-three fucking years? Ok, so that definitely means Nimbus is-

CELESTIA-DAMNED DEAD!!

In a fit of blind rage using my wings that were apparently not tied up, I hovered a bit and pulled back hard from the wall in an attempt to make it fall down. After a few tries and almost breaking my hooves it eventually came tumbling down louder than it would've looked.

Equinox didn't do much, he was unshackled now, but didn't go off running... Whereas my hooves still had shackles, but at the end of the chains were lumps of rock that could definitely be a sight to see. Ooh, I had crazy ideas for what to do with these…

"Oh well bravo, Scarlett. Remember to be the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath. For in this world of White. Not all is innocent."

Now every raider in Sunnywood had to hear that, but I now have a solution…

Kill'em all! Let Celestia sort'em out!...

When I said earlier about earth ponies being so primitive... These ones are so less than that. Stupid, arrogant. Animals with no sense of anything... I had just made a pact to burn them all, these ruffians need to be taught their place... All of them…

THUD!!
"Arrrgh!!!"

"Woah, holy shit... Run!" More helpless raiders arrived after one ran... They only had close-range weapons as worthless as sticks and stones, I with two very big stones. Those five were just playing hero, they could see the trail of many dead raiders I had left in my rage, still lasting. And I steeped in blood so far not to call my own… The corridor behind me is almost littered with the dead, as these five think they've got what it takes to kill me? Murder in my eyes. I could see their fear…

"Oh man fuck this!!"

Now only four remained true…

Using my wings to fight with the others helped me with carrying these rocks, also giving me unmatched speed. One pony charged at me with a knife in his mouth, I swung the rock in my right hoof at his kneecap and was satisfied to hear a bone-breaking... He just fell down screaming his vocal cords out loud. A second bone was broken, then he was dead. It gave me a thrill every-time one of these bastards screamed in agony. To see them die was so much more exhilarating.

Now only three dead ponies walking…

I started to spin my other hoof around in a circle, so when the other one raider ran, the rock met his jaw at a fast deadly pace.

Two remaining…

This time they both came at me together, I focused mainly on the one to my left flying at him, winding up my hoof. That was careless. About to collide, he crouched down, avoiding my swing in the air. Then I definitely felt his slashing counter-attack…

"Arrgh! Son of a-" I shouted out in pain before crashing up against some overturned rusted school lockers... Ah fuck! Looking to my underside I saw that the lucky fucker slashed above my stomach... Damn, that hurts!… By Luna!…

"Heh. What's the matter, afraid of the sight of your own blood?" The yellow stallion chuckled. "Gonna carve you up real good..."

Shit!

He tilted his head back then threw it forward letting go of the knife so it came flying in my direction, it landed an inch away from my left ear. Good thing I moved my head to the right to dodge it. At the same time swinging my left hoof in his direction, the chain snapped throwing the lump towards his head…

Only one unlucky boy left. Now I am more pissed off than before… Ignoring the exasperating pain from above my stomach that bled but not too much, I stood up, waiting for him to make his move.

"You just don't die! You fucking angel of death!" He shouted. His fear was so obvious. Trembling hooves, trembling voice, eyes the size of pinpricks. Using my wings, I then flew straight into him, knocking him down to the floor with me straddling him as he squirmed. It took a second to realize he's a unicorn with his magic locked on to something…

Damned mother!!-

His magic was using another bloody knife, he jammed the damn thing into my side... Arggh! Fucking hell! Everything seemed to stop around me as I could feel him pushing it in further, the whole blade felt entirely inside me... My face contorted in severe pain, but this wasn't gonna stop me. The adrenaline rush from the fight keeping me alive.

"How's that feel bitch?" The unicorn smirked using his magic to hover the rock in front of my face, ready to deliver me unto hell…

"LIKE A FUCKING! STUPID! BLOODY! WASTE OF SPACE!!" Each of the words I screamed at him was the exact number of times I smashed his head in with the boulder.

Who's laughing now?

Oh dammit… Celestia. What have I done?!

Falling off the side of the now-dead unicorn I now could only wait for death, the knife had made a pool of blood spill out profusely but was still lodged into me. I couldn't be bothered to attempt to take it out... Let me just sleep... Fuck. It's only phantom pain… I can't be dying already…

I- I don't want to die…

I don't want to-

Die…

...Damn, there's so much blood. I feel light-headed almost delirious... This damn world with it's fucked up pony scum can go to hell. Just take me back to the old Equestria, the better world, before all of this…

"Hey..." Nimbus? That sounds like Nimbus' voice... Oh Luna! I'm dying!

Everything was going white, like the snow outside, or maybe I am outside now... Feelings of cold, slowly fading…

"Don't worry. Everything's gonna be ok." Wait, that's not Nimbus? I could barely see but I saw I was being picked up by a light orange mare. Where is she taking me? I'm already dead, just let me go back… Back to... those… Happier times...

"...Going to get-... someplace safe. Can you hear me?..."

Everything fades to darkness...