Fallout Equestria: Cloudfall

Chapter 4

“Come on, put your back to it,” Grave pushes the heavy crate onto a platform with the help of another earth pony. As they move away from the platform, it rises and two ponies pull the crate onto the boat. As the platform lowers, another two ponies push a crate onto it.

“I don’t get why you’re helping them,” File asked as Grave walked to the next crate and started pushing it to the platform.

“And I told you in the morning that having a place where I can relax and restock before heading to the next location is important to have.”

“But most of the creatures here don’t like the group you are in.” Grave steps aside and sit next to File who is sitting on a box.

“Look, I can’t keep going back to the Holy Grounds to restock; I have to wait for the boat to come and waste resources that others might need.”

“Just need those caps and we’re good to go!”
“Got them right here Rouge!” Grave watches a unicorn toss a sack toward the sailor Rouge as he catches it with his mouth.

“Can you show me where this Holy Grounds is?” File brings his pipbuck to Grave with the map open. Grave looks at it a bit before pushing the pipbuck away.

“I’ll bring you to the Holy Grounds when-”

“YOU! CULTIST!” Grave jumps as he turns to an angry bulky orange unicorn with red spike mane holding one of Dirty Brew health potions in his magic. “You’re the one that gave the doctor these expired potions!?”

“Blast, are you trying to start a fight with the cultist?”
“No, Try this ‘Health’ potion.” The pony took the potion from Blast and took a sip of it, only to recoil from the taste of it.

“Luna sake this tasted awful, no sane pony would drink this.”

Grave let out a sigh as another pony joined the group. “They work as normal health potions, the awful taste is just the brewer not wanting to give it flavour.”

“I call horse apples!” Blast grab the potion and pull out a knife. He then uses the knife to slit his wrist before drinking the health potion. The wound begins to heal as Blast recoils from the taste.

Before Grave can say anything he gets grabbed and pulled closer to Blast. “Look here cultist, if you bring any more of those p-”

“Put the pony down Blast Point, unless you want to spend some time in the slammer.” Grave looks past Blast and sees Rose holding a bag and both drawing and picture in her magic.

Blast ponder before dropping him and walk away. “Alright I’ll let the cultist go.”

Grave dust himself off as Rose gives him his drawing and the bag. “So I got good news about your father.”

Before Grave can ask he feels something tossed onto his back. “For your hard work, cultist.” Grave grab the bag and start pouring the fish skulls into the other bag.

“So what is the good news?” ask File

“Your dad had visited Prot Frolic, but he went to Coin Shot’s store likely to restock on things.”

“So where is this store?” Ask Grave as he puts the bag into his robes pockets.

“It’s close to the gate, he’s likely going to try and withhold anything about your father till you pay him.”

Grave nods and hears the boat horn. He turned to see a few ponies and a gryphon boarding the boat. “Well I guess this is goodbye then; I’ll let dad know I meet you.”

Save File look at Grave confuse, “I’m not leaving.”

“Why are you not leaving?” ask Rose

“Cloudfall is only known for its ‘treasure’ and the danger from those that can back from it. I want to record everything else about this island.” exclaim File

Rose let out a groan as she facehoof “What about the ponies that are waiting for your squad to return?”

“They knew the danger we were putting ourselves into when we went looking for these ‘treasures.’”

Before Rose can argue back, Grave puts his hoof on her shoulder, “I don’t think you can convince him to head back, he seems determined to learn about the island.”

Rose nods and relaxes, “OK if you’re just planning to stay in Port-”

“I’m going to travel outside of Port Frolic.” Rose grabs File by the collar.

“Did you forget that your squad got killed by the Fog Demon!?” Rose angrily shakes File. “You don’t even know about the other danger this island has.”

“Rose! you’re not his mother; let me teach him how to survive,” said Grave.

Rose let out a sigh and let go of File “Just make sure he doesn't lose his mind.” Rose walks away as File dust himself off.

“Thank for not freaking out about my dissension,” said File

Grave just nods and begins to head to Coin Shot’s store, “First thing we need to do is to stock up on some essancles.”

It didn’t take them to get to the store as a pegasus took a bag from a yellow earth pony with a waving white mane and flew away. As they got closer they noticed a sign that said ‘1 cap = 2 fish skulls’.

“Well aren't you two an interesting duo, What can I get both of you?” Coin Shot ducks under the counter and pulls up a clip board with a stack of papers on it with the top written ‘Inventory+price’. Grave take it and look through it.

“We've been told that you had dealt with a stain brown stallion who is bald, had he told you where he was going?” Ask File.

Coin Shot gets lost in thought before shaking his head. “I have trouble remembering most of my customers.” Coin then taps the sign.

File let out a sigh before reaching for his cap pouch but stop by Grave. “Get me: two gas masks, a saddle bag, a tinderbox, two purified water canteen, two of those pre-war mac and cheese boxes and three granny apple pies. And I’ll toss 100 fish skulls if you know anything of a bald stain brown stallion you may have done business with Coin Shot.” Grave put the clip board onto the counter.

“Well someone know how things work here; I’ll be right back.” Coin Shot trot away and Grave takes out the sack of fish skulls and passes it to Save File.

“Tell me how many fish skulls I actually have?” ask Grave

File takes the sack and looks at his pipbuck. “You have about three hundred and fifteen fish skulls on you, would that be enough?”

“That might not be enough if he plans to increase the prices of his stuff.” Grave takes back his sack as Coin Shot returns with a saddle bag in his mouth.

“I put what you ask for into the bag, that will be three hundred fish skulls.” Grave just nods as he puts the fish skulls onto the counter and takes the saddle bag. Coin takes the skulls before turning back to the duo.”Now for the stallion; He asks for repair from my brother Erratic Shot, he's likely heading toward one of the Headcase camps.”

“Thanks for the information; come on, I know where to go.” Grave takes out the second gas make and hoof it over to Save File. Both head out into the forest.
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Grave checks his surroundings as they continue to travel to the Headcase camp. “So are you going to teach me survival skills?” Grave stops and turns to see File who has his laser pistol out.

“Right, I’m not use to teaching somecreature.” Grave gave an apologetic look to File as he brought up his pipbuck. “The first thing you need to know about surviving on this island is to always be aware of your surroundings. It’s easy for any creature to hide in the fog and catch you by surprise.”

“Oh, my pipbuck has a magic compuse that can detect friendly or hostels; right now there are three friendly at 2 o'clock.” Grave looked at File confused. “Oh sorry, to the north east.”

“Sure it can show you where creatures are at, but it does not tell you how far they are to you or if they are above or below you.” File just shakes his head as Grave continues to walk before bumping into someone. Before Grave could apologise he quickly backs away and a spear is pointed at him.

“Stay away from the high priest, you filthy maniac!” Shouted the robed guard. Another robe pony goes around the tall unicorn and points their spear at Grave.

“Stand down brother and sister, the Goddess brought us these lost souls to us.” The tall unicorn walks past the guards and bow to Grave and File. “I’m father Silver Tongue; the High Priest of the Follower of Death.”

File bow to Tongue before speaking up. “I’m Save File, scribe to the Steel Rangers.”

Grave examines Silver Tongue and notices a yellow patch on the back of his blue robe covering his grey body and his mane pink has a few grey strands in it. “Empty Grave, travelling doctor.”

File look at Grave confused as Grave moves his saddle bag to cover his mother cutie mark, “You’re not telling him you’re also a member of the Follower of Death?”

“Ah… I had a feeling you had found the Goddess, but you wear the robes of a heretic group.” Tongue looks down on Grave with disdain.

“What would that group be?” Ask File

“That group is known as Soul Weavers. They are tasked to bind ponies' souls to their body to help them live longer, but when those ponies pass away the Soul Weavers would bind the deceased souls to their robes like their some kind of trophies.” One of Tongue’s guards spat to the side as the other muttered profanity.

“What tool did they use for binding souls onto ponies and their robes?” Grave let out a groan as File taps away on his pipbuck.

Tongue grabs File’s pipbuck with his magic and pulls him closer to him. There was a sound of the pipbuck being changed before Tongue let go of File. “If you want to know more you can find our little town over here.”

“Let us head back home brother and sister.” Tongue and his guards begin to walk away from the two before Tongue stops and looks back at them. “And Grave, I suggest removing those robes if you’re planning to come. My ponies might not be as… hospitable as I was with you.”

Grave and File watch as they disappear into the fog. Grave fixes his saddle bag and continues to follow the path with File lagging behind. “So… Can you tell me more about the Soul Weavers?”

“Tongue was half right, our job is like being a doctor but we bind their souls to their body so they don’t get possessed by spirits.” Grave pulls out a canteen full of purified water from the saddle bag and takes a sip and passes it to File who does the same before putting it back. “What he got wrong is that when they pass away in our care we can sew their soul patch onto one of the patches of our robe to remember them; not a trophy with a piece of their soul bound to it.”

“Soul patch?”

“Cutie Mark, the Followers call them soul patch.” Grave heard File tap away on his pipbuck.

“So that one cutie mark on your robe is who?” Ask File as Grave turns to look at his mother Cutie Mark.

“It’s my mother, she used to be a cook before a Black Thorns started to grow out of her body.” File said an apology as they continue to head to the Headcase camp.

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As the sun begins to set, Grave looks around their surroundings and heads to a spot with File lagging behind. “So we’re setting up camp here?”

“Yeah, it’s never a good idea to travel at night.” Grave begins to pick up some sticks, he notices a sudden green light beside him. As he turns to see File’s pipbuck shining brighter.

“Built-in flashlight.” File then lights up his horn as he lowers the brightness of his pipbuck. “I also know this light spell so we can keep going.”

Grave stares at File before pulling out a spade and starts digging a small hole for the campfire. He hears File sigh and walk away from Grave, likely to collect more sticks. “I’m going to assume there are more dangerous things at night.”

“It’s not just that, but even with your light sources it makes you a target for most Headcases and wildlife to go after you.” Grave puts away the spade and pulls out a tinderbox to ignite the pile.

“Who are the Headcases?” Grave sees File put down a pile of sticks beside him as Grave is having troubles with the tinderbox. “My squad presume they are just raiders with a different name; we encountered two of them and dealt with them swiftly before the fog got thicker and we started to hear feral growling behind us.”

“That growling was the Fog Demon and no, Headcases are creatures that have gone crazy and you can avoid conflict with them if you're good at tricking them.” Grave sees a light glow in the pile before it sets the pile on fire. Grave reaches into the saddlebag and pulls out a box of Potato Starch mac and cheese.

“Tricking them as in…?” Grave opens the box and pulls out a small packet and dumps its contents into the box, he then closes the box and gives it a good shake.

“Just play along with their delusion.” Grave looked at File who had pulled out one of the granny apple pies out of the saddle bag. The sound of the campfire crackling fills in the silence of the two ponies. Finishing the mac and cheese Grave tosses the box into the fire along with a few sticks.

“So can you tell me about your goddess?” Ask File

“Ok so Necramaceus was born into a family of alicorns with two pairs of wings. While growing up she was bullied by the other alicorns with her sister doing her best to protect her.”

“And what was her sister’s name?” File rudely interrupts Grave.

Grave was about to say something only to start to mumble out loud. “Well… It’s um… Sencer no uh… Justina. No, that’s not it.”

“Well if you don’t know then that’s fine, you can tell me later.”Grave just nod before continuing the story

“So Necramaceus gains her cutie mark by sending a soul of an old alicorn who passes away to Paradise, this causes every alicorn to be afraid of her, including her own family. Then the Lord of Chaos came and started turning alicorns into ponies where most got saved by the alicorn turned pegasus from falling to their death. Nacramaceus and the other alicorn who had yet turned into ponies fought the Lord of Chaos who began to kill the other alicorns. So-”

“Hold on,” Grave looks at File who seems confused at his story. “When you say Lord of Chaos, you mean Discord; the God of Chaos.”

“Of course, is there another Chaos god?” ask Grave

“No no no. It’s just weird that Discord would kill anything when he mostly enjoys messing with reality.”

“How would you know that File?” Grave glare at File.

“Well there’s records of Discord appearing in Equestria and messing with reality before getting turned into stone by the elements of harmony.” Grave watch File pulled out one of the canteen and drank from it before continuing. “He was placed in Canterlot garden for those to see him.”

Grave turns to toss more sticks into the fire. “So you’re saying there are Discord worshipers where you are from.”

“What!? NO… no… Just something that happened in pre-war Equestria, no one knows what happened to Discord during the war.” Grave looks back at File with concern.

“Can I continue the story?” File nod as Grave grabs the canteen and drinks from it. “Even out numbered, Discord was beating them like it was nothing. So as a last ditch effort Necramaceus took the souls of the fallen alicorns and absorbed them, giving her a boost of magic and blasting Discord back to his realm of chaos. Sadly Discord managed to gravely wound Necramaceus, and with her last breath she sent herself into the realm of the dead so she can continue sending souls to paradise.”

File taps away on his pipbuck before letting out a yawn. “I’m going to ask for more detail later, now I need some rest.”

Grave just nodded and began to pray to the goddess. Finishing his prayer, Grave looks at File to see him sleeping on his side. Grave reaches into his robes and pulls out the strange small statue of the white mare. Using a branch nearby, Grave put the small statue into the middle of the campfire. He then tosses the branch and the rest of the stick on top of it.

Grave begins to pray. “Oh Necramaceus, goddess of Death, as the flame burns away the binding holding the soul, guid this lost soul to your realm and sends it to Paradise where it will reunite with those it values as friends. Protect it from those who wish to bind it to their body to expand their life to live longer and to avoid you from their sin against your teaching. Omnes veniunt ad mortem.”

Grave watches the fire die down as he lay on the grass. His eyes grow heavy as he drifts into sleep listening to the crackling of the fire and the rustling of the tree.