Author's Note
[Disclaimer © (this story is loosely based on the canon of Fallout Equestria and Fallout 76, however, it is my interpretation of the material and lore, some things that are canon is other stories will not be in this one do it only being 25 years postwar. So 90% will be fallout 76 lore and the other 10% is Equestria.) ]
Name: Apple whiskey or Apple
Age: young adult (25)
Gender: female
Species: earth pony.
Height: 5'09.
Weight: 145lb.
Mane color: orange.
Coat color: pale caramel.
Eye color: emerald green.
Name: Dusty Petal or Dusty
Age: young adult (23)
Gender: female
Spicier: Pegasus
Coat color: Dusty gray
Mane color: Black
Eye color: ocean blue
Chapter 1
[Chapter one]
(Country roads)
[Holo-tape begins]
{A song started to play over the intercom of the stable, followed by an older mare's voice}
A rather hungover caramel-colored earth pony with a curly orange Mane fell out of her bed woken by the loudspeaker playing the music and that mare's voice coming over it, she looked around her stable room and realized it was very quiet, way too quiet, there was a huge party just yesterday, and today was her 25th birthday, it was also the day she was supposed to depart stable 76.
Apple blinked and held her forehead with her hoof "Oh shit... ouch my head, ... I reckon one day I'll stop all my drinking... One day...maybe ."
She always said it but she never meant it, after all, she owed her cutiemark to alcohol, all the members of her father's family had an alcohol cutiemark, it was a family tradition and Apple whiskey wasn't going to be the pony to end a family tradition!
She looked at the good morning stable-tec window with its happy little birds and smiling sun, the stable colt smiled back at her reminding her she was late.
"Good morning stable 76, this is the Overmare, I hope you all enjoyed the party last night, even those who might have overindulged and overslept. But it's time to get up and get out there, we've been locked away long enough."
She listened to the Overmare speech as she brushed her teeth and combed her mane, it didn't do anything to help, her mane and tail was a knotted mess of curls and tangles, she had tried to keep her hair nice but since her mother died Apple had a hard time with managing it.
"Stupid mane... ouch! How am I expected to brush this mess if I ain't no unicorn!?" She yelled frustrated by her lack of magic or her mother's hairdresser bot.
Her mother was a robotics engineer, the best in Equestria or so others told her. The stable was full of the best and brightest members of Equestria and many of the ponies once worked for stable-tec or rob-co, some were doctors and musicians, others were bankers, scientist, farmers, painters, chefs and more, if they were the best they were in 76! and the offspring, the children of the generation of genius ponies? Why they were told daily that they were going to save Equestria... and the world, that day was today... But Apple wasn't running to the stable door as the others had.
A robot brought Apple her pipbuck, it had a big {76 Pip-buck 2000} In blue and silver numbers on it with the ugly brown and tan pipbuck casing, Apple placed it on her fetlock and began to adjust to its weight, Apple thought her pipbuck was very ugly and useless, all she ever used it for was the radio and the stable news.
"Stupid heavy thing..." said Apple.
"Oh miss Apple I thought you would never wake up" said the floating Mr. Handy.
The over mare's voice pulsed for a moment or two then continued.
"Today is Reclamation day, I know..." the voice was drowned out for a bit.
"What? Why? " Apple asked.
"Why its Reclamation day don't you remember? Most of the stable is already gone ." Said the robot.
"All ready gone?! But I reckon it's only..." Apple looked at the time.
"Half-past noon! How'd you let me oversleep that long you bucket!?" She started to run to get her stuff packed.
[The Overmare's voice started again.]
"It may be time to leave but I'll always remember the day you all entered stable 76, you come from every walk of life, every pony race, color and creed, but you all share one very important trait, you are Equestria's best and brightest but more importantly you will always be my family."
[The broadcast ended.]
"Wow Overmare ... I wonder if the old mare is still hanging around? ... would make sense that the Overmare would be last to leave." Apple got all the things she wanted to take with her.
{Apple packed a large saddlebag with 5 bottles of purified water, 3 stem packs, 2 boxes of big-mac and cheese, 1 picture of her parents, a hoof pistol and a hoof full of bullets, 2 Med-X, 2 healing potions, 1 sparkle cola cherry and 4 bottles of her famous Apple whiskey and the recipe so no one else could make it.}
"Miss Apple you mustn't forget about you're camp " said Mr handy.
"My camp? What is that? ... you'll mean my still bot? " Apple asked.
The Mr. handy looked insulted by her calling that metal pot a robot.
"No miss Apple not that busted excuse for bolts.... the camp unit is your home away from home miss... " he handed her the rather small box.
"This is a camp?" She looked bewildered.
"You need a home base out there. The Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform is designed to give you one." Said the handy.
"So this will help me survive? Good to know... uh ok " Apple took the camp and stored it in her saddlebags.
"Wow it fits a lot... one day I'll learn how it carries all my junk..." she was impressed by the bags, she thought it had to be part of the stable-tec spell Matrix.
Apple strapped the saddlebags to her back and holstered her pistol.
"Ok looks like that's everything Handy...what yah do once I'm gone?" She asked.
The Mr. Handy hovered around and brought her a tiny Mr. handy statuette.
"Miss Apple please take care of yourself... I'll be here, I must lock up the stable, and once I do the life support will be turned off... no living creature will be able to close the stable door." The handy said.
Apple looked sad but she understood she would never see the first friend she had again, tears fell down her pale caramel coat.
"Goodbye old friend " Apple gave the bot a quick nuzzle and a kind smile.
Apple set out of her room and into the corridors of the stable, the gray dreary walls of the stable gave her a bit of comfort, she was very nervous about leaving, if it was up to Apple whiskey she would have stayed there until she died un old mare with many grand foals running through the many hall's.
As Apple walked past the Overmare's office she popped her head in to say goodbye however the office was completely empty of life.
"Overmare!... eh? ... Nana?... Overmare are you here? " ( there was no answer) "I wonder where she went? " Apple walked around her desk and sat in the big chair, it smelled so nice, the smell of foal hood memories.
The Overmare loved to let the foals play in her office while their parents worked their various jobs in the stable. Her happiest memories were learning how to be an Overmare from the only grandmother she would ever know.
"Overmare... I guess I'll never get to say goodbye to her..." Apple saw that her terminal was still on, normally she wouldn't snoop but she was a rather nosy filly.
Apple clicked her hoof to the keyboard and ejected a holo-tape from the Overmare's office terminal.
"For the love of luna?... a holo-tape? " she wondered if it was a goodbye from the Overmare.
"Overmare what could you be up to?" Apple noticed the holo-tape port in the side of her pipbuck, she put the holo-tape in.
[The holo-tape started to play]
"Overmare's log, or should I say, direct communication. Because whoever is listening to this had the moxy to try to find out where I've gone." It paused for a moment.
"But I'm glad you did. Truth is, I need your help. I've been given a task, and... I've decided to break protocol and tell you what it is. Because If there's one thing I've learned in these past few years, it's that we need to rely on each other." It paused for a moment.
"There were three active mega spell silos in the Whitetail Mountains before the Balefire Bombs fell. They blew up the Equestria before. We can't let it happen again. So we've got to locate and secure all of the silos, or die trying. Hopefully the former. Hmph." It paused for a moment.
"But it's been twenty-five years. I just don't know what we're going to find out there. Or where to start... My directive was to go to the nearest population center and assess the situation. I'll set up a C.A.M.P. on the way once I get my bearings. Find me there." The holo-tape stopped.
Apple felt confused as she tried to figure out and take in all the information she just heard. Apple wasn't exactly sure what she could do to help her but if the Overmare needed her she would try her best to find her and help... not because of Stable tec but for the only grandmother she had... the pony who called her family.
"Looks like I'm going out there after all..." she thought to herself.
"Reckon I best get going then" she said to herself.
Apple started to walk out when she stopped at the Overmare's bedroom door, she had taken the time to make her bed and straighten her room, maybe she should have cleaned up her room before as well but she didn't want the handy bots to have nothing to do for all time.
"Wow Overmare you really need to relax... hehe" Apple said with a giggle.
She smiled at the handy bots that met her at the hatch to the stable door.
"Goodbye, handy... I wish you'll the best, look after the stable for everypony. " Apple hugged the Silver handy bot.
"Goodbye miss Apple, and we will look after your still bot... even if we think it's a waste of technology and fermented grains." Said the Mr. handy.
Apple smiled, she rubbed her eyes.
"I'll miss you all so much " Apple attempted not to cry as she walked through the stable entrance and stepped out into the world beyond.
Apple stepped out of the stable-tec door and was surrounded by the damp humid air of the outside, it was harsher then she thought it would be, the smell of rotting plant matter and Death that covered the mountains and over the rolling hills of the land her parents once called home, it made her feel sick.
Apple felt like a stranger, being born and raised in the stable she was shaking with every single step. Apple dropped to her hunches and screamed into her hoofs, she tried to muffle it but she was so scared as she saw there was no walls of any kind, she turned to go back in but the door had closed and refused to move no matter how much she screamed or cried loudly for the handy to let her back in.
"Handy! Please! LET ME BACK IN!" She cried for help but no one answered her.
The sounds of the outside made her realize she should not make any more noise. Apple wasted no time to pull out her namesake and took three quick swigs of the golden liquid and she slowly started to calm down, the warm liquid made her feel better.
"Get ahold of yourself Apple... let's see where we are...." Apple always talked to herself when she was alone, when you're born in a stable full of ponies and are suddenly alone you tend to lose your mind a little bit.
"Well great I reckon I'm talking to myself again..." Apple sighed. "Well at least no one is answering back haha" She was starting to feel better and started to mess with her pipbuck.
Apple checked the radio stations first, three stations showed up, Apple tried the first one {Whitetail Mountain radio} a stallion's voice came out.
{Radio plays country roads}
Apple loved the music, it was way different from the music in the stable, she locked the station to her favorite list.
"Wow, I reckon it might not be smart to be blasting the radio out here but horse apples to it, better than the Silence " Apple shivered as she looked out at the dark night full of clouds.
She checked the time and it changed from stable time to her surprise, it was the middle of the night not noon.
"It's so late!" She was very upset with all the changes.
Her pipbuck beeped out of the blue, a message rolled across the screen, camp mod yes or no?
"Camp mod? ... oh right I see makes a camp unit set up." Apple saw an arrow pointing her to the woods.
Step one, please place camp in a relatively flat terrain that is not near existing structures nor in a restricted area.
Apple checked her pipbuck for the camp kit and put it down in a pretty flat area not far from the stable but still covered from attention from unwanted pony eyes.
"Looks like I'll need wood and stones... and some clean water..." apple looked around her makeshift camp.
"Easier said than done " she pulled out some water and a cooking pot and cooked one of her big-mac and cheese boxes.
Apple checks her pipbuck and saw lots of red pips and warnings for rads from the food but she was hungry and too scared to leave the little campfire.
"Relax Apple... the campfire should keep us safe until morning." Apple laid close to the firelight and slowly fell asleep.
It was a little past 4 AM when a loud scream rudely woke Apple from her poor sleep, the voice that reminded Apple of somepony else from her stable.
"What!? A filly?" Apple pulled out her pistol and ran to help.
The screaming was coming from a dark gray female Pegasus with three lightning bolts for a cutie mark, she was wearing the stable barding for 76, this young mare was from the stable but Apple couldn't remember what she was called, Apple wished she paid more attention to other ponies in the stable... she must have been around Apple's age, maybe a bit younger than her but still a young adult.
"Hold on Filly! I'm going to help you!" she ran to help the screaming filly.
The gray Pegasus was in a tree being chased by four radroaches, she clearly didn't like bugs and was trying to blow them off the tree, Apple went into S.A.T.S and targeted three shots and fired her pistol exploding the roaches with one bullet each.
Apple was so grossed out by the guts of the huge bugs raining down on her head.
"Yuck!... so gross " Apple wiped off the bug guts. "Thank you!" The pegasus hopped down and hugged her tightly.
"AIR!" Apple cried out.
The gray Pegasus let her go. "Oh sorry, but I don't know what I would have done if you didn't come along when you did."
"Yeah don't mention it." Apple dusted off her coat and looked at her. "I'm Apple whiskey... and you are?"
The gray Pegasus looked at her confused. " oh I'm Dusty Petal... I was at you're cuteceanera... I was one of four filly's born in the stable since it closed... you were one of them... " she looked almost hurt.
Apple felt bad. " okay it's not that I don't know who you are... more of I don't right know what your name was Dusty... sorry."
Dusty smiled kindly "Yeah I guess I don't stand out, you know other than being one of two Pegasi in the stable."
Apple saw that she had a pipbuck that was dark blue and yellow however the 76 was the same as the one on her ugly pipbuck, Apple always thought pipbucks were the same.
"Dusty why do you have that Color? Eh the pipbuck." She points out the right foreleg.
Dusty looked down. "Oh yeah this is for maintenance ponies, the color of your pipbuck shows the job in the stable... my mother and I both have this Color.
Yours shows you're a resident of the stable without an essential job, that's why it's brown and bland." Dusty showed her maintenance badge on her stable barding collar.
Apple worked in the cafeteria and when she was old enough she was promoted to a Soda-Jerk what was a fancy way of saying a Bartender.
"Eh Dusty why are you alone... didn't you say your mama was with you?" Apple hoped she didn't die. Dusty looked at the cloudy sky, she smiled sadly.
"My mother said she was going to fly up to the clouds and see what became of the Pegasi... my mother told me to hide from any enemies until she came back but she flew up there hours ago." Dusty tucked away her wings.
"Why didn't you fly with her? " Apple asked.
Dusty looked nervous. "My wings are misformed, I can't fly, mother tried to teach me but I can't fly... I fall like a rock." Dusty looked like she was ashamed of her wings.
Apple lead her back to her camp and fed her. "Eat, when the sun comes up we'll go look for your mama and the Overmare." Apple saw a spring that became a stream.
"Oh we can get some water, it will have to be tested for radiation and boil it ." Apple got a bunch of dirty water and started to boil it in her cooking pot.
"Wow how do you know to do that Apple? " asked Dusty.
"My Father was named Moonshine... Two guesses on what his special talent was {smug smile}, so with my Mama wanting to keep his memory alive so she taught me everything he taught her, Mama was a great robotic engineer but not a great Moonshiner haha!" Apple laughed loudly as she remembered her mom.
"So she taught you how to boil water before drinking it?" Asked Dusty with a little blush.
Apple nodded. Yes'm, she gave me a survival book from the colt scouts and filly scouts, even if the water didn't go click click click...you should always boil rain or dirty water. " Apple gave her bottles of boiled water.
The mare's both sat together talking and laughing late into the early dawn, neither were paying attention to the woods around them.
Apple heard something moving and her pipbuck showed four red pips around them.
"Reckon we got company!" she jumped up and pulled her pistol out.
Dusty didn't have a weapon, she picked up a stick. Two large tick like bugs jumped out and attacked them, two more attacking from behind, Dusky swung and hit one of them sending it flying like a hoof ball.
"Wow! Home run..." Apple said with a smile as she shot the other three using S.A.T.S.
"Oh um thanks... but I'm better with energy weapons " Dusty put the stick in her saddlebags.
"Good to know we're gonna keep an eye out for better weapons." Apple bucked the ticks away from the camp, she packed her camp up and put it away.
"We're going to have to find the Overmare's camp Dusty, I reckon she is the only pony who can possibly find your mama..." Apple looked down the mountain at the nearby town that the pipbuck called Flatwoods.
"Ok I'll follow you Apple " Dusty trotted happily behind her as the two of them headed down South towards Flatwoods.
Apple smiled, she was feeling more confident now that she wasn't alone, and Dusty was very glad to finally have herself a friend.
[Holo-tape ends ]
[Chapter two]
[Holo-tape begins ]
Apple and Dusty hiked back to the stable door and glaired down the mountain towards the nearest town, the town was where the overmare told her to go.
Looking at the map there were two ways to go, a road or going through the woods. The road was worn and cracked by Time and elements, grass and weeds were growing out of control poking from the cracks, dirt, and dead leaves covered Parts of the old highway road.
"Highway 88? " Asked Dusty, she was looking down the long fog covered road, the road scared her a bit.
"From what my pipbuck map says if we take this road it will lead us to the Overmare's campsite marker in a day... A day in a half maybe." Apple replied.
Dusty looked nervous about not having any weapons, or ammunition, she hated feeling so anxious.
"Apple we should have a look around places on the way because we are getting low on supplies" Dusty mumbled shyly.
Apple looks at her inventory Index, she saw that they were getting short on food, chems, and supplies.
"Yes, I recking we are... Dusty does your pipbuck pick up anything that looks like a building or house on its radar? We can trade with survivors or loot the places." Replied Apple.
Dusty took a look, she saw a small shack on her screen. "Oh Yeah, it says there is a place called the moonshiners shack..." Dusty squinted her muzzle.
"Was it called that prewar? If not how does our pipbucks know?" Dusty was bewildered by the pipbuck.
"I got no idea Dusty" Apple was just as confused by it.
The girls turned from the stable and followed Dusty's map marker south from the stable through the wilderness.
Apple and Dusty saw lots of mutated animals and plants, after running away from a small pack of mole rats and some Radstags who were protecting their mates and young.
It took the girls two hours to reach the shack.
"Apple... I'm tired... We walked so far and more than half was running for our lives... Can we rest for a bit?" Whimpered Dusty.
Apple was wheezing trying to catch her breath and hitting the sats button repeatedly to see if there were any enemies, she wasn't getting any red pips on her screen but she was still nervous.
"Yeah, it's clear, I don't see anything aggressive on the pipbuck" Apple was clearly as tired as Dusty.
The two ponies saw some old shacks down the hill perched overlooking a cliff, they are heavily worn with age and many Winters.
The girls headed down the hill, their hoofs hurt and they were very exhausted and really wanted to lay down.
As they came around the front of the first old shack Apple was attacked by an even larger tick then the ones from earlier. Turned out the shacks we're infested with these oversized mutated deer ticks.
"Shit! Get off! " Apple made a neighing sound and reared up onto her hind legs and stomped down on them with her front hoofs crushing it like a blood-filled blueberry.
Dusty was unarmed and helpless, her body was too tired to run as her legs trembled beneath her as she was slowly backed into the corner of the small wooden shack.
"APPLE HELP ME!" Dusty cried out, there was a painful scream.
Apple made a mad dash into the shack, her revolver drawn tightly in her teeth, Apple saw Dusty on the floor of the shack as two more smaller ticks were trying to kill the Pegasus.
"Dusty! Get off her you bastards!" Apple screamed and took aim and fired three shots into the ticks, she was getting quite good with her old revolver.
Apple ran to Dusty, she feared that the gray Pegasus was dead, Apple checks her for breathing, thankfully for Apple's worried heart, Dusty wasn't dead.
Dusty was unconscious from blood loss, Apple worked quickly to stop the bleeding, she used up their only remaining stem packs and medical tape, it took her a while but Apple finished wrapping her leg and placed Dusty on her back.
After killing the rest of the ticks Apple looked around the moonshiners camp.
The old camp was clearly deserted, it's occupant must have been in a hurry to leave, the camp was a mess, there was dust on everything, the still was rusted and falling apart.
There was a heap of molded grain and old jugs of moonshine in a corner of the shiners shack, the shack itself was falling apart, holes in the roof and walls must have been months to a year since the owner left it... Probably last winter from the old leaves inside the building.
Apple looked around and found some neat little things, Apple found a recipe for a honey-based moonshine that the maker called Mountain honey shine.
There was a cutiemark of a bee over a moon, Apple thought it was cute, she also found a recipe for swamp tofu soup, a couple more stem packs and a battle-saddle with a rare shotgun called {The Moonshiner}
"The Moonshiner? Is this why this place is called that?" Apple wondered to herself.
Apple laid Dusty on a sleeping bag and let her sleep as she started to cook at the cooking station at the shack, she liked that the old pony who used to live there was kind enough to leave it behind and the recipe was easy to read and follow.
Apple never made tofu or had to cook anything that didn't come for a box but with the notes left by this moonshine pony she learned quickly.
"I wonder what else he has left here? I reckon he must have been waiting for some-pony to come out of the stable, I hope he is ok... It seems like he left in a hurry... I hope they are ok." Apple thought.
Hours passed and night fell upon the shack as Dusty slept, she seemed to be so very tired and Apple couldn't just leave her there to die so she stayed and waited until she woke up, Apple eyes felt heavy, she yawned and fell asleep next to her.
Dusty woke up to Apple's sleeping face and had a slight blush.
"Oh my Celestia! She is so close" Dusty's heart quivered in her chest, she had Secretly liked Apple since they were both foals.
Dusty thought that Apple was the most beautiful pony in their stable, Dusty loved how her Emerald green eyes glistened next to her orange-colored mane and pretty coat and how could anypony look so cute when they laughed she wondered.
Surely she was the most breathtaking view Dusty ever seen... However, Apple wasn't into mare's and Dusty wasn't brave enough to tell her.
"Oh Apple... I'm so stupid... foolish mind and heart..." Dusty nuzzled her very gently.
Apple moved slightly and moaned as she rolled over. "No mama... I don't wanna go to school today."
Dusty looked at her back leg, it had medical tape and track marks from the stem packs, Apple had done her best but she was clearly no medical pony, the bandages we're put on horribly and it was clear that she messed up the first stem pack but it made Dusky smile.
She cared enough to try this hard to save her, Apple could barely care enough about her mane and here she was sleeping so close to her.
"Did you stay up looking after little old me?" Dusty noticed the cold soup and her little heart fluttered with glee, she cooked for her too, what couldn't this wonder mare do?
"You're amazing Apple..." Dusty drank it down, the color was moldy green and the taste was revolting but she was her first love anything Apple made was worth dying over.
"Needs pepper, and I see you couldn't help but mix whiskey in it." Dusty felt a bit lightheaded and giggly.
She giggled and poked Apple's face, " Chubby cheeks, so cute... " she kept poking her with her hoof.
Apple slowly opened her eyes to a drunk Dusty.
"Hey there sleeping beauty... It's a beautiful *hic* beautiful night." Dusty said as she slurred her words which means what Apple heard was "Hey! Here, sleepy beautiful mare, *hic* night so and it's lovely... Like you."
Apple was completely confused by what she was saying. " Dusty sweet pea... Did you have a stroke? Because you're not making any sense."
Apple then realized that the green liquid was gone.
" Oh, sweet Celestia no, you didn't drink that bowl of green stuff right? " Apple asked hastily.
Dusty nodded and giggled "yes'm ma'am I did"
Apple started to Panic "You silly Filly! Ain't no one told you not to drink stuff that smells bad?"
Dusty shook her head "nope... *hic*"
"Well I am!... That was for your leg!" Apple sighed.
"It shouldn't be poisonous but you'll be sick like the Dickens soon... Maybe from both ends." Apple helped her outside so she could throw up.
A while later the sun could barely be seen rising over the mountains into the gray clouds above.
"Sorry Apple, I messed up... you must hate me..." Dusty said as she wiped off the puke from around her muzzle.
"None you fear... I don't mind holding your hair." Apple petted her back and wings. "We all get shit faced once in our lives... I have..." Apple's cheeks flush red.
"Apple you're a Saint..." said Dusty as they both walked back to the campsite.
Apple laughed "yes'm saint Apple whiskey, patron saint of intoxication and drunken ponies, yeah that's me..."
Dusty clopped her hoof. "I'm being serious Apple."
"So am I... Dusty, I ain't no saint... I'm a bartender, a lousy good for nothing who builds junk in her stable room and blew up the kitchen with my first still... The best thing I ever did for the stable was made booze." Apple looked a bit ashamed to admit she wasn't as great as the others.
"I can't live up to the stable-tec belief that we are the best of the best... I'm a failure." Apple's ears sagged.
"No your not! You can! Didn't you say we were going to find the Overmare? What would Overmare Sunset say to you if she saw you talking like this? " Dusty was oddly confident and aggressive, she wouldn't let her talk about herself like that.
Apple sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "She would say she wouldn't have wasted her time looking after a failure... And probably would have hit me..."
"Then smile... You're going to be the best moonshiner in all of Equestria... No the world! You'll bring booze the four corners of the world, then all the world will know of your Apple whiskey!" Dusty was very excited and brazen as she gave her pep talk.
Apple laughed and sighed "Ok there Pinkie Pie... I'll stay happy and not lose faith... In the name of Luna, I'll be the best... I can." Apple took out the soup and gave her some "here eat, we leave soon."
Dusty sniffed it and didn't gag so she drank it and smiled, it burned going down but it was good. " yummy, what is that?"
"The moonshiner left it in a book, seems he was writing about after the spells... I think he was here when they fell, the Journal talks about him coming out here the day before the spells, then he writes an apology to his wife but doesn't leave her name just the name or word Honey shine... But I don't know anyone called that in 76." Apple showed Dusty the notebook.
"Maybe she changed her name after going in? Or maybe she went to another stable? It didn't have to be 76." Dusty replied.
"No, he said it was 76... I fear the mare never made it... And he doesn't even leave his name either... I wonder who he was..." Apple smiled, she hoped he was still alive and well, she really wanted to meet him.
Apple remembered the battle-saddle "oh Dusty, do you know how to fire a gun?"
"Energy weapons are my specialty but I guess I can try," Dusty said as she drank her second bowl of tofu soup.
Apple pulled out the battle-saddle and helped her put it on. "This gun is a single shot shotgun called the moonshiner... I will let you use it but do not shoot me." Apple put a lot of emphasis on the (not shooting her part).
"Yes I'll try to" Dusty adjusted the bite grip to the right height.
Apple took some old sparkle cola bottles and lined them up. "Here practice for a little bit while I pack up our stuff."
Dusty nodded and took aim and fired the shotgun at the bottles, she hit 3 out of 8.
Apple smiled "Not bad, should be a crack shot soon enough."
Dusty blushes "You think so?"
"Yeah, you'll learn fast just keep both eyes open." Apple finished putting the call away.
"How do you know so much about shooting?" Dusty asked.
Apple pulled out the colt-scouts handbook. "Would you believe it's in full length in chapter 33? " Apple was grateful to her mother.
"Wow, what else did your mother teach you?" Asked Dusty.
Apple smiled as they started to walk down the mountain path. "Well, mama was super smart, she could make a robot out of anything, she taught me how as well, she really wanted me to go into robotics and take-up her job in the stable..." Apple looked dreadful as she showed dusty the only picture of her and her mother, it was the day of her cuteceanera, Apple's mother was smiling but it looked fake and pained.
"Mama died a year later...~she sighed sadly~, Turns out mama learned she had cancer the day before my party, she never told me she was sick.
She never told me anything about her really, I ended up reading about it in her diary a couple of days after she died."
"Turned out she asked the Overmare to adopt me that very day, she knew she was going to die, I was 11 when I watched her be placed into the composter... I didn't stop crying for a whole month." Apple was walking a little bit ahead of Dusty, Dusty couldn't see her face but she knew she was fighting back tears by the sorrow in her voice.
"I had no idea Apple... I'm sure sorry" Dusty felt horrible.
Apple shook the tears out of her eyes. "You didn't know, it isn't your fault, mama was so different from other mares in the stable, it took me a while to figure out not everypony had a mother like her." Apple stops, she looked down at the road to the Overmare's camp.
"There that must be it, she must be there..." Apple said hopefully.
The two galloped down to the overmare's campsite, it was nestled up under two large oak trees and a burned pine tree.
"Overmare?" Dusty said confused by how quiet the camp was.
Apple approached nervously " there isn't anypony around... it abandoned too" Apple saw a holo-tape on a stable tech locker, she picked it up and played it.
"Overmare's log. South of Stable 76. I knew this wasn't going to be the Whitetail forest I remembered, but... mutated animals, haywire bots, and no ponies so far... We have to be ready to rebuild in - what I can confirm - is hostile territory.
Fortunately, Stable-Tec was prepared. You see this? The cooking station, the stash box, the workbenches. All built with the C.A.M.P. You need a home base out there. The Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform is designed to give you one.
Just add resources, planning, and a little Hoof grease. When you move your C.A.M.P., everything you've built is stored, ready to be placed back down in the new area. Use this to establish a foothold whenever you're in unfamiliar territory.
I've left my C.A.M.P. behind so you can use it.
I know I'm breaking my own advice by not taking it with me, but after seeing whitetail for myself, I need to make sure every resident of 76 has a safe haven they can start from. I'll make do without it. If it's still standing, the village of Flatwoods is further down this road. Find me there. This is Overmare Sunset Shimmer. Signing off."
Apple stumped her hoofs angrily "It's not fair! She lied!" Apple looked defeated.
Dusty nudged her forward "Get up let's go, it's just a little farther, she said she is in Flatwoods, I think that's an old Deer village from prewar... We might find some ponies or Deer who seen her." Dusty wouldn't let her get depressed.
Apple nodded "Yeah okay let's get a move on."
They started to walk to Flatwoods.
[Holo-tape ends].
