Fallout Equestria: just Arma things

The night vision feature on the rangefinder was pretty much useless tonight. There wasn't enough light for it to enhance for any sort of vision. I removed my tinted goggles, along with the face wrap and shoved them in an empty pouch. I wasn't going to need them, but better to not leave anything that could be useful behind. As I closed the pouch, a noise grabbed my attention.

It almost sounded like hoof steps. There were no lights visible other than the ones coming from the town; so it was either an auditory hallucination or something was actually walking around out there in the dark. You're just stressed Hanz, it was nothing. Calm down. The sound had disappeared as it quickly as it had arrived thankfully. Keeping a slow pace as to not trip over anything on the ground, I steadily made my way around towards where I presumed the front gate to be. So far things seemed okay. There wasn't any disemboweled corpses or large fuck off spikes, so it was a good chance they weren't raiders.

Coming around to the front gate showed that they had used what looks like an old boxcar as both the gate and front wall. A mix of sandbags and scrap metal lined the top of the gate. Two guards were sat on top behind the fortification, one seemingly on the verge of falling asleep and the other staring off into space. Or more likely the cloud layer. Walking forward into the light, the one that was half asleep managed to wake up enough to point its rifle at me.

"Don't move! State your business here!" It spoke in a very tired yet still authoritative voice.

"I just want to get out of the dark... and maybe find some work."

They started whispering to each other about something. After a few minutes they looed back at me. "Looking for work, right? The Mayor might have something, follow me." The same one said, motioning for the other guard to open the gate. "Watch yourself, start causing trouble and you'll regret it."

It lead me through the main street of the town towards where the Mayor of this town more than likely resided. The architecture was a mix of patched up pre-war buildings and shacks made out of metal. Most of the ponies just glanced at me before continuing on their way or just ignored me entirely. A few of the younger ones gave curious lances as I walked past, though were mostly quickly ushered off by their caretakers. I took note of the rough location of a few stores, a medical place of some kind, and a bar. Blackjack would be proud that I found one so quickly. We entered into a rather sparse lobby of the central building of the town. The only furniture was a few couches, and a desk in the center with a terminal. It told me to wait in the lobby before it walked off through a door on the left. I walked over to one of the couches to inspect it, and it appeared to be in good enough condition. I sat down on it, the frame creaking slightly due to age but it held.

I didn't get long to relax as the Mayor had walked in followed by the same guard from earlier. The guard had stopped by the door, keeping its eyes on me with a glare. The Mayor was also a pony. A standard pony I had assumed at first, though a slight bulge on the sides of its jacket led me to think otherwise. Ignoring that for now, I stood back up to talk.

It cleared its throat before speaking. "So, you're the creature that's looking for a big job?" It, or more accurately she, asked.

"Yeah, that's right. I was told you might have something you needed done."

"And you'd be right. What I need is parts to fix the Sparkle Pack powering our fine settlement. We do know where one is, we just need somepony to go get it from Stable 100." She explained. "The pay will be good, along with extra pay if you can bring back more parts."

"If it's so important, why haven't you had someone else go fetch it for you?"

"I've hired a few mercenaries and sent a few creatures who volunteered to go. None have them have comeback. Not to say they died in the Stable, a million things could've happened in between here and the Stable. They could've changed their minds and walked off, could've been killed by mutated wildlife or raiders, or even got there and walked off last minute. The pay is 800 caps."

"Hmm. Give me the location of this Stable and one night to get my gear ready. I'll take it."

We shook on it, and with a nod, she walked back off to where she was grabbed from. I sat back down to take a look through what was with me at the moment. I had seven rounds for the M1911, a smoke grenade, and one-hundred-eighty rounds for the M7 SMG. It wasn't much but it will have to do.

I followed along the dirt path further east into the valley. At a few points along the path the radio had started making a high pitched whine when nearing anomalies, making it into an impromptu anomaly detector. Thankfully it didn't go off very often. Walking for long periods made me realize how much I took vehicles for granted. The path had brought me into a small village ruin, more of a pitstop place than a town.

As I walked through I spotted a green crate laying next to a vehicle wreck. It was the same kind that was in that Chinook with the splints, hopefully this one would be useful as well. Inside of the crate was one magazine for the 1911, a flashlight attachment for the M7, a gasmask with its carry bag, and a bag of glow in the dark chalk. After slinging the gasmask to my chest and attaching the flashlight to the SMG, the rest of the stuff got put in the chest rig.

The directions I was provided said the Stable was supposed to be near here somewhere. Looking around the few buildings gave me nothing on its location. As I walked over to the final building a manhole cover caught my eye. The detailing on the cover was in the iconic cog of a Vault hidden in with the regular detailing. A wave of stale air hit me as the cover was pried from its rest, and it fell to the side with a slight clang. This was it alright.

I put the gasmask on before activating the flashlight. I dropped down the ladder, hitting the floor with a soft thud. The tunnel stretched on to the west, while to the east was Stable 100. The door was already open, the lights inside were off. Already not a good sign. Alright, here we go into an abandoned stable with god knows what else. Hell, here's hoping I get to see the surfaces again. Quickly drawing an arrow towards the ladder with the chalk before entering just in case it's night by the time everything is said and done. The Stable was still very clean with no rust whatsoever to be seen, signaling that whatever happened was recent. Placing a mark by the entrance to the rest of the Stable with the arrow pointing out towards the door, it was time to head further in. The light couldn't break through the darkness very far, limiting visibility to about four wall panels. Soon there was a T-junction, with the two choices being left towards a set of stairs, or straight further down the hall. Heading left after marking an arrow reveled that the stairs went downwards, and usually the reactor area is on one of the lower levels so it made sense to head down. Taking each step slowly down, testing each step for instability was my way of heading down. You never know what could be ready to give with these places.

The landing at the bottom turned left, which lead to another set of stairs. That set led to an X-junction with all three ways looking the same. Marking my path with the chalk, I turned left. Following it down until hitting two doors and stopping gave me more ways to go. Checking the left door, my light illuminated lab equipment that was scattered upon tables and the floor; nothing of use here. The door on the other side was much the same story, though with an active terminal. Heading over to it showed that it was unlocked. There were two options on screen, an option called Notice from Overmare, and Experiment logs. Opening the Experiment logs, it came up with an error. The files were corrupted. Backing out and opening the Notice from Overmare brought up what was sent.

Notice: MaS Personnel are to report to their nearest containment shelter ASAP. A failure of @#^&@#^&* protocols on Research Sublevel C has lead to a rouge @*%$@^, injuring four and killing @%&#%%&. The rest of the file was corrupted, but with what little there was didn't make me feel good about this situation. It was probably best to hurry. Leaning back out and scanning both directions showed nothing thankfully. Keeping upon the original direction took me to a dead end with a closed door on the left. The controls for the door were broken off; no getting in there it seems like. Turing around and heading back towards the X-junction was all that's left this way. Once back at the junction, I put a cross on the wall to show I've been that way.

Heading down the way across from the stairs led me to another set of stairs. A sign reading Reactor was above the stair well. Traversing down led to another landing. This once turned to the right, leading down to the reactor level. Once again marking my path before venturing further into the reactor level. An uneasy sensation started growing in my stomach with each step further. Fighting past the nausea, I arrived at a T-junction when something screeched from up ahead at me. I shot a burst into it as it leapt from the dark, the rounds tearing it apart. The thing fell apart into black smoke just before colliding with me. So I guess this is what that terminal mentioned, not to tough it seems.

I kept on my toes moving past it, looking out for any more of its kind. The radio had started to emit a constant low squeal, growing louder when one of those things was nearby. This whole level was filled with them. They must've been gathered around the reactor, as the low hum of a reactor grew with their numbers.

The feeling of nausea got worse outside the reactor room, which was unfortunately locked. Right across from it however was a storage room. This door opened up just fine. A half decayed body fell on to the floor, another one of those abominations eating it. Emptying the last of the second magazine into it dissipated it quickly; it was down to the final magazine before having to switch to the pistol. Stepping over the body into the storage room, the nausea was almost unbearable. Luckily there weren't anymore abominations in here. Located on the shelfing unit in the center of the room was the parts I needed. Scooping them up into two pouches, it now meant it was time to get the fuck out of dodge. As I turned I got pounced on from behind.

The nausea got even worse. Managing to shove it off before it got a grip, I sprinted out of the room. I started to fell light headed on top of the nausea. The only audible sounds was my footsteps impacting the metal, my own breathing, and the sound of abominations giving chase to their prey.

Foot note:
Warning, Sanity levels critically low. All memory formation and recollection disabled.