Fallout: Equestria - All Roads Lead Home

Chapter 1: All In

“I like to think all ponies have enough sense to do the right thing.”

New Appleloosa.

A small town surrounded by a rusty steel ring wall made from old train cars. It turned this settlement from a raider’s wet dream to an almost unbreakable fortress. Guards lined the top of the walls, ears perked, as they watched the horizon. Houses made from the salvaged rail cars made up most of the settlement. It was a nice town. Maybe one day, when my travels are done, I’ll settle down here until I become one with the dust of the land. But death was gonna have to wait.

I felt my ears burn and redden as I walked through the town. Dirty unicorns and earth ponies stared at me, some in empathy and others in prue astonishment. It’s not everyday you get to see the dead walk again. I quickened my pace to the settlement’s store: Absolutely Everything. It was run by a ghoul named Ditzy Doo. I’d never had a problem with her kind as long as they didn’t actively try to eat me. Then there’s a problem.

The hacked together building was truly an architectural marvel. Three completely different types of train cars were welded together to make up the settlement’s general store. Old wood signs hung above the door, but I couldn’t be bothered to read them for the thousandth time. I pushed the door open and stalked into the building.

A dark wood sales counter took up a majority of the room. Paper orders and supplies were shattered around the whole room on shelves and tables. On the front counter was a small bag and a note that read:

Sorry I couldn’t be here to greet your delivery

but I had to make a delivery myself.

In the bag is your payment.

Just lock the door on your way out!

:)

My eyes drifted to the bag. I picked up the pouch with my teeth and proceeded to place it into my weathered bags. This wasn’t money for me. It was for Ivy Jewel’s family back in Manehatten. I know caps wouldn’t bring her back, but what else could I do for them?

My ears drooped as I looked down at the dusty floor in shame. ‘I guess I really fell out of grace with lady luck.’

On exiting the building I was greeted with more questioning stares than I would have liked. I quickly scurried off to the gate of the town.

*** *** ***

Death had always been nothing more but a normality for me. Everypony’s clock stops eventually, but there is a difference between a justified death and just plain murder. Ivy was barely even a mare before her light was snuffed out. Now she lies in a shallow grave.

My hooves were dirtied from properly burying the cold body of the green mare. The corners of my mouth arched down. I sat down and prayed to the goddess that the young mare would find happiness in another, better world.

I slid the late mare’s pistol into my left leg’s holster and pulled out my hoof-drawn map. Wrapped into the paper was the shipment manifesto; it listed where all items in the delivery were from. My eyes searched through the list until glaring on the name: “holotape.” Looking across to the right side of the page, it was stated that the item was received from Canterlot, specifically Stable City.

Using New Appleloosa as a land marker, I located the fastest way to the ruin of the great old world capital of Canterlot. Grabbing a black pencil from my bags, I marked a path to the once grand mountain city on my map. While wrapping everything up, my eyes drifted over to another open grave. I removed my cowpony hat from its place atop my head and softly placed it in the center.

“So, how does a pony like you manage to escape Death’s knife? Did your rage prevent you from dying, or are you just that lucky?”

A deep, almost robotic voice caused me to turn around. I came face-to-face with a huge griffon fitted with solid steel power armor, the likes of which I’d only ever seen from the Steel Rangers. Twin pipes connected to his helmet, which was covered in white tally marks. Across his torso were multiple steel plates that were held together by nuts, bolts, and weld marks. The breastplate proudly portrayed the mark of the Talon that was colored with a dripping red paint. Even the wings were protected. I had only seen armor like this from members of the Steel Rangers, so clearly it was their version of the suit.

I forced myself to remain expressionless, even after I noticed the six-barreled minigun attached to the griffon’s right side. “It would have been better for my killer if I was still in that grave.”

He removed his helmet and revealed a handsome, muscular, ruby face with tan feather accents and a black beak. His crest feather’s were tied back in a small bun, and his eyes were ash grey. The ironclad griffon’s eyes lit up as he broke out into laughter. He kept going for so long that I almost turned back towards Canterlot, but just as I was about to, he spoke again.

“Wow, I haven’t laughed like that for a while. Anyway, if you’re really set on tracking that pony across the breadth of the Wasteland, I’ll help guide you.”

“Sorry, but I don’t believe I have the bits to pay you.” I began to walk away from the mercenary. Clearly he was just looking to make some easy caps.

A tidal wave of solid brown rolling across the horizon was visibly approaching and looked only a few miles away from me to the east. I tightened my respirator around my muzzle and mentally prepared myself for the journey ahead. Because this was going to be one hell of a storm.

*** *** ***

My eyes were burning with sand as I continued down the road towards Canterlot. I couldn’t stand this storm any longer. If I had to walk through that wall of brown any longer I was going to lose my shit. Up ahead was a faded bright purple house that stuck out in the brown wind. The two story building’s roof had caved in on one side, but it would do for some quick shelter.

With one hoof shielding my eyes, I trudged through the sea of dust until the rotted wooden door was before me. It probably used to be white, but the decades of fallout had stained the door a sickly yellow. Swiftly, it was open and shut to keep the storm outside of the home.

My sigh of relief was cut short by the pain of something small quickly biting through my left flank.

“Well, it looks like we have some fresh meat lads!”

Behind me was the smoking barrel of a half-aimed shotgun, held in the magic of a bright blue unicorn mare covered in scars and spiked armor. She inhaled a dose from a red inhaler, better known as Dash, that was held in her teal magic. Blood shot into her eyes as her pupils grew to the size of bottle caps. I quickly threw my body through the archway of the room adjacent to the entryway to avoid the next shot from her.

I landed into what looked like a kitchen. The whole room was covered in the bloody body parts of ponies. The overpowering smell of iron grasped my nose. Even through my mask’s filters I could smell the decay.

Blood began to ooze quickly out of the multiple holes on the left flank of my body. If that raider’s aim was any better, I would have died. The wound didn’t break bone, so I could treat it later. I quickly removed my pistol from my front right leg holster. My ears were on edge listening for the smallest sound.

“I’m sure he's alone. Go tell somepony to get their fat flanks out of the basement! I need help up here!” A female voice screamed.

Then an eerie silence followed. Only the soft sound of hoof steps were audible. I slowly pressed my ear against the drywall and heard the loading of multiple firearms.

“Fire!”

I quickly went prone as the sound of bullets roared through the wall. Smoke and dirt engulfed the entire room in a thick brown mist. Shell cases bounced off the floor in an almost sing-song tone.

The shooting continued endlessly until a muffled voice yelled, “Stop shooting, you fucks! Johnny Cake, go check if we got him!”

I pushed myself off the floor and slowly edged my way towards the sound of the hoof steps. The barrel of a rifle entered the room, followed by a young cream-colored unicorn stallion, shaking. Quickly, I knocked the barrel of the firearm down towards the floor with my hoof and quickly tongued two rounds point blank into his head. It exploded like an overripe tomato into a red mist that painted the fridge behind him.

I launched myself out of the archway of the kitchen into the hallway and was faced with three more raiders, all with bloodshot eyes. A stallion with broken welding goggles tried to quickly shoot at me, but his gun jam. With a flurry of shots I killed the mare that injured me. I bolted at the stallion to her left and slammed him into a wall with an audible crunch. With a quick buck to the mouth of the last pony, I disarmed every threat in the room. The stallion screamed and dropped his pistol from his mouth. Any other ponies here would be coming to the ground floor shortly.

I swiftly shot two bullets towards the last raider still standing and missed hitting the wall behind the stallion. He laughed as he head-butted me onto the floor. The sheer force caused me to drop my gun. His howling continued as the pony began blindly throwing punches at my face. My eyes rapidly search for an out. The only thing next to me was a burnt book. I desperately reached for the item with my hoof. After a few tries, I grabbed the book and slammed the raider’s face with its corner which caused him to backpedal away from me. Wiping the blood out of my eyes with a hoof, I picked up my pistol and fired a single round into the stallion’s unprotected chest.

He stumbled backward and crashed into a cabinet behind him as four more ponies rushed up the stairwell from the basement and into the hallway. I stared at them coldly after breaking the unconscious stallion’s neck under my hoof.

The first pony up the stairs shot two rounds from his own pistol, which hit me square in the chest, knocking me back. I roared out in pain as they impacted my armor, mindlessly realizing that they'd probably leave some nasty bruises later. I regained my hoofing just in time to dodge the swing of a spiked bat from another enraged raider.

I jammed the heated barrel of my pistol into his face. I could smell the flesh start to burn. I proceeded to push him backward towards the other ponies. They opened fire on the poor soul. The stallion screamed out in agony as I used him as a meatshield. Using his momentum, I guided the now lifeless corpse of the pony into another raider, which caused both of them to fall down the stairway into the basement.

I turned to face the last two hostiles. The first was a large stallion covered in an unhealthy amount of spikes. The mare that followed him wore dried marks of blood on her face like a mask. I swung my hoof as hard as I could muster, hitting the mare in the face, and turned to shoot two rounds into the neck of the other. The remaining pony stumbled back as I thrusted my pistol into his face and tongued the trigger.

*click*

I looked down at my pistol and, to my surprise, I ran out of ammo. After a swift kick to the chest of the mare, I reloaded my pistol and fired a single round into her head, which caused the pony’s eyes to roll back lifelessly. I shook out my left flank as I prowled down the stairs.

It was a dimly lit basement with only a small hoof-full of candles keeping the place lit. As I slowly stepped down the stairs of the house, I removed the flatten bullets from my vest. I saw a cornflower-blue mare chained to one of the walls in the room. She wore a torn and bloody stable suit. The collar read the number 11. Behind her was the last raider, shakily holding a knife to the mare’s throat. His back left leg was bent like a straight razor.

“Don’t move or I’ll fucking kill her! T-the Goddess knows I will.” I took aim at the pony’s head. That caused the pony to press the blade a little tighter.

‘Fuck me sideways.’ I slowly lowered the pistol in my mouth to the floor, and a smile grew on the stallion as I did so.

He gestured with his blade to the far corner of the room, “you know what to do.”

The chained mare began to stir and woke up. Looking around wildly, she began violently trying to escape her cuffs. In her flails, she knocked the raider back into the basement’s concrete walls. The pony responded by knocking out the mare with his free hoof. Immediately, I galloped at full speed at the distracted stallion. With a rapid kick I freed the knife from the pony’s hoof.

With little hesitation, I turned the blade on it’s previous owner, slamming it right through his throat. A face of pure terror was the last look on his face as he stared into my own. I gave no emotion for him to feed on. Only an empty look from a pair of blue eyes.

As the fresh corpse dropped to the ground, I looked over to the unconscious pony on the wall. I let out a groan as I checked over the pony’s body in detail. Dark rings hung around both her eyes. Going down the rest of her body I located multiple cuts and gashes. Looking lower I noticed an area on her right flank where dry blood caked around a hole where flesh used to be. She would need to be patched up.

I looked over the lock that held her hooves in place. I couldn’t pick that lock. Remembering the bodies upstairs, I proceed to loot each corpse around the house, looking for the keys. After roughly half an hour I found two hoofuls of a variety of ammo, some medical supplies, and the keys for the locks.

On my return, I unlocked the mare from her chains and, carrying her on my back, trudged upstairs to treat her wounds.

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk: Sneering Imperialist -- You don’t take too kindly to raiders or junkies trying to “settle” or “stay alive” in civilized lands. Against raider and junkie types you do +15% Damage and gain unique dialogue options with them.