Fallout Equestria: The Survivalist

Fallout Equestria: The Survivalist

Chapter 2: It’s the End of the World as we Know it

“Everyone look away from the windows and put your heads down! Protect your faces, your eyes!”

The morning brought the realization of what had really happened. The world was gone. There was nothing left of it, and the sadness of that realization was hard to process. Everything, and everyone was gone. The fact that he had helped those two mares get into the shelter was enough to make him feel better, but at the same time he felt a crippling depression. Everything was gone. His friends, what family he had left, and his marefriend was gone. Nothing was left. He got up and walked toward the mouth of the cave, but about twenty feet from it the pipbuck began to rapidly click. He did the mental calculations that his training had prepared him for, and he realized that going beyond this point was lethal.

He made his way back down to the camp that the Equestrian Government Geological Society had set up, and looked at his own radiation level. It wasn’t enough to cause harm, and honestly it was on the same level as drinking a Sparkle Cola Rad. But that had happened in the span of about two seconds. He looked at his supplies. There was plenty of radaway, so drinking one to ensure there were no problems would be okay. But did he want to drink it? A part of him begged for him to walk outside, see the world as it was, and deal with the quick death the radiation would give him. He certainly considered it. It would be simple enough, but after a moment he thought better of it. He drank the Radaway, and then he looked at the terminal left behind. He opened it up, surprised there was no lock, and then looked at the last entry. It was marked for yesterday.

“To whom it may concern:

If you’re reading this then it’s likely that you’ve sought shelter inside of this cave. First, your choice is a decent one, based on the geological setting of the National Park you are inside of. The cavern system itself is composed of Limestone, mixed with various chemical traces of sodium chloride. The very make up of this standard cavern should provide shelter enough for the fallout. Be warned that there are some crystals inside of these caverns that soak up radiation like a sponge. These crystals are normally clear or white in color, but once they have been exposed to radiation they turn to a sickly green. This is stored energy. It will leak off over time, but in doing so it will undoubtedly corrupt healthy living tissue.

I would have stayed behind, remained faithful to the work that needed to be done, but I’m not made of stone. My parents, my sisters, they need me, and I need them. I’ve left to find them. I have an environmental suit, and I hope that it provides enough protection to see me through. None of us really had time to take anything. The moment we heard the blasts everypony else left. I decided to record the last findings, and then leave. There’s roughly two weeks worth of rations here, at least for a single pony. The water supply deep in the cave should be fine, but I would warn no to rely on the potential water supply outside of the cavern network. Much of it would be contaminated. May our supplies and this cavern system serve you well.

Dr. Maud Pie, Head Mare, faithful sister and daughter.”

He read it over twice, and it was more or less what he suspected. The survey team had left because they believed there was still family out there. He hoped that they were right. That the group of them would be able to find their families. But at the same time, what was the real hope? It was likely that the Zebras hit most of the populated areas. That meant unless someone was in a shelter, or a Stable, they were likely going to die.

Still logged into the terminal he considered what to do with his time, and so he began to transcribe what had happened up to this point. The next two weeks were filled with physical training, rationing out water, rationing out food, and taking stock of the supplies that he had. As the two weeks came to an end he heard the sound of a wind storm. That was something he knew this park was famous for. The Pegasi would attempt to contain them, but the wild storms would still happen. But this didn’t sound contained. It sounded like a storm that happened, and was still going.

It lasted for three days, and finally it settled down. As the month progressed he realized how low on water he had gotten. He’d gotten the condensation from the walls gathered into a couple of blankets that had been left behind. He rang them out into a pan, giving him a few more precious swallows of life sustaining water. He finally dared to venture back to the mouth of the cave, and as he inspected it he realized that with some Rad-X and some Radaway he could likely explore further out into the park itself. The next two days were spent trying to decide if it would be worth looking at the park, and finally the drive to see what was outside won.

There was a small part of him that felt hope. Not that it was okay, but instead hope that something would take that last step and end his life. It was wrong to think like that, and he understood that much, but with so much gone was there really anything left for him to live for? There wasn’t a straightforward answer, and instead he found himself gathering the much needed rad drugs into his saddle bags, and then he stepped outside. The sky was cloudy, but more than normal. It was as if the very clouds themselves were sealed up to keep anyone from looking up into the heavens.

The wind blew cold as he walked, and he made it to the general store. He hoped that the two mares he helped to the fallout shelter were still okay. Stepping inside he saw that the store was still in much the same shape. He checked his saddle bags, found a few dozen bits still in there, and even though it made no sense he gathered supplies, potato crisps, cram, Sunrise Sarsaparilla, a few bottles of Sparkle~Cola, and then he gathered a few fancy buck cakes. The snack food was better than nothing, and then he did the part that made no sense. He counted out his bits, opened the register, made change, and then tucked his change back into his saddle bags.

The food he gathered was enough for a couple of weeks, if he took it easy, and of course he would need to check it for radiation. It could be okay to eat, but at the same time he wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to be radioactive enough to cause sickness or any possible poisoning. Gathering the food he walked back and snow began to fall. It wasn’t the planned snow that had happened all of his life, but it was wild, angry, and he noticed, if not for the first time, that the snow was tinted green.

Getting back to his cave he took a dose of radaway, drank some water, and then drank a Sunrise Sarsaparilla. The smooth drink was like heaven, and he instantly felt better. His Pipbuck warned him that there was a slight amount of radiation, but not enough to even warrant taking medicine for it. That night he ate a fancy buck cake, carrot flavor, drank a Sparkle~Cola, and began transcribing what he had seen into the terminal.

The days passed, the storm moved on, and he once again checked the radiation outside. To his surprise it was less than before. His thoughts went to that of Oneigh, and he couldn’t help but think of Sweet Kisses. By train Oneigh was a good three hour trip, by hoof it would be days. But with the radiation down the temptation was too great. Still, he considered what it would mean, and the temptation, though great, was put aside.

Instead the next few months were filled with trips to the general store, his ‘purchasing’ food, water, Sparkle~Cola, the last of the Sunset Sarsaparilla, and after what seemed like too short of a time he ‘purchased’ one of the last tins of potato crisps. There was still food, enough for a few days, but not enough to sustain himself with just the provisions from the store itself. There was no getting around it. The general store hadn’t been fully stocked to begin with, but the food he was getting from it was running out. He would have to make the trip to Oneigh. If for nothing else than to resupply his stock of food.

The next day he gathered some of his supplies, struck out, and headed toward what he hoped was his home. The first day of travel he had to adjust his route several times. There were pits full of radiation, burned out sections of road, twisted wreckage left over from sky carriages that fell, but through it all he hoped that he would find his home. After twelve days of travel, twelve days of scrounging for food, twelve days of avoiding death from radiation, he managed to find the outskirts of Oneigh itself. His newish hometown looked surprisingly intact. There were sections where bombing had happened, but several buildings seemed mostly intact. He moved toward his old apartment building, and found no real trace of any ponies.

It was morbid, he understood that, but he had expected to see a few ponies there. Bodies, and he had hoped that Sweet Kisses would be among them. Not that he wanted her dead, far from it, but he wanted the chance to bury her. Walking into his apartment building he went to his apartment and opened the door. Inside was something off. It looked like a diamond dog, which he remembered that they lived near here originally. Splendid Valley had been their home, but one of the Ministries had made them move.

The diamond dog looked deformed, grotesquely large, its normal claws far larger, more pronounced, and it looked angry. He saw the table behind it, and a feast of food from the cupboards was laid out. He looked for Sweet Kisses, and then he saw the diamond dog as it growled at him.

“LEAVE!” it barked.

“Where’s Sweet kisses?!” he demanded.

The diamond dog swiped at him, nearly hitting him, and he noticed that its claws swiped through the top of a chair like butter. He backed up, grabbed his pistol, and aimed it at the diamond dog. The dog growled at him again.

“No Pony here, ponies leave, go other place, no pony left here, Dogs take over, now leave!”

He backed out, watching carefully, and slowly he made his way down the steps. There was a good chance there were other diamond dogs in the area, and he didn’t want to cause them to chase after him. Leaving he could hear the clicks of claws on pavement. He did his best to use his training to disappear. It was slow escaping, and he considered going to the hospital. There was an emergency Gryphon Chaser II on the roof, or he believed there would be, but it was too much of a chance of being caught.

Instead his movements were quiet, his steps measured, and after several hours he was well outside of Oneigh. There was no need to ever return. On his way back he found lots of useful scrap. An overturned sky wagon revealed military supplies. He gathered fresh water, MREs, a new carbine, and a new desert ranger suit. He donned the armor and radiation resistant gas mask. Walking he considered what it had been like, what had happened, and silently he apologized to Sweet Kisses, his parents, and all of his neighbors. There was no telling where all of them were, but it was likely he would never find them.