Fallout Equestria: Wasteland Warriors

"Come on! Come on! I shouldn't be getting hit this much!" Kingsmeme stated as he flew over the battlefield.

An earthpony in power armor then set his sights on the player, and shot around 4 missiles at him. The player tried diving behind cover, but 3 out of the 4 missiles hit him, and he was out.

"Oh come on!" Kingsmeme stated as he threw his controller across the room.

The screen then notified him that his controller had just been disconnected.

"Don't tell me you broke the controller Gallus..." An orange dragon stated as she came into the room.

Gallus sighed and turned off the system. "I did Smolder... Sorry..."

"Ok Seriously!? That was the only way we could play this game properly! Now we will have to get another one! How do you think Silverstream will react?" Smolder exclaimed.

"Again, I'm sorry... Plus I don't think Silverstream wanted to play for a while anyway."

Gallus and Smolder both left the room and came into the living area of the dorm. In it a small changeling could be seen hooking up a device to the nearby TV.

"You two have no idea how hard it still is to get one of these...." The changeling said. "Should've been easier by now, but supply almost seams to be limited on purpose. Do any of these humans know that we have more important things to do than constantly refresh web pages?"

"So... That's why you were on the Computer more often than usual?" Gallus asked.

"Yep. I wouldn't have used it for that long if supply didn't vanish the same minute that it gets in..... And this was only for the Series X! I heard it's even worse if you are going for a PS5!"

A green earthpony just came in from another room with a plate of cupcakes.

"Hey is the setup done Ocellus?" The pony asked.

"Almost..." About to turn the console on now." Ocellus stated.

The changeling then turned on the console and the xbox logo was shown on screen followed by a message.

"Welcome to Xbox Series X. Before we get started, several Firmware updates need to be installed. Please wait..."

A large loading bar that started at 0% appeared beneath the message.

"Ugh..... Installation.... It's a waiting game now...."

"Hopefully it doesn't take too long." the earthpony said.

"Don't get your hopes up, these things almost always take forever...." Ocellus stated.

Soon, a yak and a hippogriff came in through the front door, noticing the loading screen.

"Just started installing?" The hippogriff asked.

"Yep..." Ocellus, Gallus, and Smoulder all said collectively.

"Well... It shouldn't take that long right?" The hippogriff asked.

"Don't bet on it. These things often take forever." Smolder stated.

"But... The school computers update rather quickly though. Shouldn't this be the same?" Said the hippogriff.

"This is a console. Two different things Silverstream..." Gallus claimed.

Ocellus went over and took a cupcake from the plate.

"So I take it that you got a copy of Wasteland warriors to play locally?" Gallus asked.

"Yep. I was worried that next gen consoles wouldn't support local multiplayer, but thankfully they do. For a while it felt like Nintendo was the only manufacturer that still cared. And yes, I was sure to get two controllers." Ocellus said.

"Good thing to, cause Gallus just broke the one we use for the PC!" Smolder stated.

Gallus gave smolder an angry stare.

"I said I was sorry...!" He complained.

"Ok... It would be alot more excusable if Yona was the one to break it but you..!?" Silverstream stated.

"Yona is right here you know..." The earth pony stated.

"Yak not offended. Yaks break Human junk all the time. Very fragile, easy to smash." Yona explained.

"So... While the system is setting up, did you want to talk about that PTSD reaction you had while playing a match? You didn't touch the game for a while even when the others were giving you a turn." Ocellus asked the Hippogriff.

"It's not about the game itself. It's more about..... Well......"

Silverstream felt rather nervous about stating her problem.

"You know that one pony with the chain...?" She asked the crowd.

"Chain link Shackles? What about him?" Smolder asked.

"Well... He's..... Kind of like the Storm King!" Silverstream exclaimed.

"I mean, he does have some similarities, heck he acts even worse if you think about it!" Ocellus stated.

"But, he isn't real...." Gallus said. "Plus I don't think anypony would do the things he does.... Well Maybe Sombra would, but he's dead."

"I know but..... I just freak out when I see him pull my character towards him!" The Hippogriff exclaimed.

"Sounds to me you would really like Murky though." The green earthpony stated. "He's the opposite of Chainlink. I can lend you a copy of the book he's the main character of."

"I don't think Silverstream should read Murky Number 7...." Ocellus interrupted. "Not only is chainlink the main villain in that story, but there are several parts that would send her into an emotional meltdown."

Silverstream's interest was captured however, as she did want to know more about this book that her earthpony friend mentioned despite Ocelluses warning.

"You know.... We should talk about something else. Like... Who's our favorite character to play as...."

"BRIMSTONE!" Shouted Yona before Smolder could finish her sentence.

"Brimstone is best pony at smashing things! Yona always main Brimstone! Always smash other players and their buildings!"

"Ok... Thank you Yona." Smolder said rather bluntly. "Any other creature care to say their favorites.

The room was silent for a couple of seconds before someone spoke up.

"Well.... I really like P21." Ocellus stated. "He's kind of cute. Oh! And so is protege!"

"So.... You just like those two cause they make for good shipping material?" Gallus asked.

"N... No! It's... not.... Just that..!" Ocellus stammered while she blushed. "I often find proteges spotting ability helpful in locating enemies. And P21's grenade launcher is much stronger and has a better impact than Steelhooves missile launcher!"

"Sure......" Gallus said mockingly.

"Why? Who is your favorite?" Silverstream asked.

"Henrietta. Mostly cause she's what I wish more griffons would be like. Confident and caring, rather than stubborn and greedy..." Gallus stated. "What about you Sandbar?"

The earthpony thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure.... I kind of like Blackjack, though I almost never get to play her unless character copying is enabled.... So I usually end up going with Little pip."

"Ugh.... Seriously....?" Smolder groaned. "Almost everypony I talk with goes on about how much they love blackjack! I thought you would like the Zebra character more to be honest."

"Oh no, Xenith is good, I'm just not that good with her, plus her personality isn't as fun as blackjacks." Sandbar replied.

"Well he did say little Pip as a second favorite." Silverstream stated.

"Now for my choice..... Morning Glory. Glimmerlight for a close second. I think it has to do with the energy weapons they use." The Hippogriff claimed.

Everycreature then turned her attention to Smolder, who was the only one who didn't state her favorite character yet. She pondered for a bit before giving her answer.

"Probably Steelhooves. I was pondering between him and Deus, but Steelhooves just feels like a more decent character." The dragon stated.

"Odd, I thought that you would like Deus more. I mean he hotheaded just like you!" Gallus taunted.

Smolder glared at the griffon who just smirked back.

"Says the griffon who broke the controller!"

"Don't break into a fight you two. I don't want you to break the console as it's still installing!" Ocellus claimed.

Upon hearing that, the two then looked at the screen to see how the instalation process was going. The bar had filled up a small amount, and the number changed.

To 5%....

"Ughh....! Is the dorms Wifi Really that bad...?!" Gallus asked.

"Actually no." Sandbar replied. "It's pretty fast, I was actually downloading some files earlier today, and it only took 7 seconds!"

"What files did sandbar download?" Yona asked.

"Just.... Research.." Sandbar stated.

Gallus had a good idea of what it was, but decided to not say anything.

"And how big were files?" Asked the Yak.

"About 4 to 5 Megabytes." The earthpony said. "How large is the install size for the console Ocellus?"

"15 Gigabytes.... And that's just the operating system. several games for this thing can take up to 50 or even 80 Gigabytes...."

Everycreature was baffled.

"That's absurd! Wasteland Warriors only takes about 24 Gigs! Plus the computer didn't take ages to download it!" Gallus exclaimed.

"Maybe it's cause human made games have alot more stuff to do...?" Silverstream guessed.

"I wish..." Sandbar said "I know this one pony from Manehattan who got Call of Duty cold war, and it only took him 6 hours to finish, and he wasn't even playing on the hardest difficulty."

"Well did he enjoy it?" Smolder asked.

"Nope. He said he felt ripped off. Though that might have to do with the fact that his system broke while he was playing zombies."

"Wait wait.... The game, BROKE, his console? Like not even from physical impact or anything it just decided to just..." Gallus made a mimic of an explosion sound.

"Well that's what he claimed happened. Don't know if it's actually true or not." Sandbar stated.

"Nah I believe it." Ocellus stated. "Something similar happened last year with the PS4 when Anthem came out."

Gallus just let out a burst of laughter. Which was shortly joined by Smolder and Silverstream.

"Games that are so bad that consoles just implode when they try to run them!? How is this even allowed...!? Or possible?" Silverstream claimed while catching her breath.

"From what I hear a lot of games from earth tend to launch broken, and gamers there just accept it. It's pretty frustrating if you think about it." Ocellus stated.

"So humans have to deal with broken games and bloated file sizes that take up half the hard drive.... You know. That sounds an awful lot like that story Applejack told us about the Flim flam ponies. Only difference is that their scheme was a total flop." Gallus stated.

"The sad part is, Flim and Flam could probably sell some garbage game to the humans, and nearly everyone there would eat it right up." Sandbar stated.

"Well actually..... It might not work out that way considering Flim and Flam are ponies. And you know... Humans and ponies..." Ocellus stated.

"Do humans and ponies have bad history?" Yona asked.

"They are usually very prideful greedy, and egotistical. Even by dragon standards." Smolder stated. "If they don't like ponies, then I don't even want to know how they will act towards dragons. Not to mention the rest of you."

Everycreature then looked at each other for a moment as they imagined an angry looking human looking down upon them. None of them were pleased by the image.

It had been a solid hour since the installation process began for the Series X. Every creature had gotten bored with waiting and they all went about to do their own activities. Gallus was the first to come into the living room after a short nap, and was greeted by the TV screen. The bar had just turned to 99% prompting him to shout out to the others.

"The system is almost ready!" He called out.

The others quickly came into the room and noticed the almost full loading bar.

"Finally! I was starting to think we would have to wait until tomorrow for this this thing to get ready!" Ocellus exclaimed.

Everyone looked at the screen to anticipate the final percentage to arrive.

One second passed.

Then two.

Then three.

A solid 10 seconds passed, and 99% was still present.

"Oh come on!" Sandbar exclaimed. "It's practically taunting us at this rate!"

"You tell me." Gallus stated. How long has it been?

"About an hour." Ocellus stated. "Doesn't even surprise me at this point."

"Do you think that maybe...."

"ONE HUNDRED!" Yona shouted as Gallus was about to ask something.

Surely enough, the screen read 100% and displayed Finalizing installation bellow it.

"About time!" Smolder stated. "Now can we play?"

"Let me put the disk in." Ocellus stated.

The changeling pulled out the case, which showed a pose of the character Little Pip on the front, and put in the disk. The dashboard then showcased a new prompt with the game title inside, as well as the stabletech logo.

Ocellus selected it and the screen went black.

A few seconds passed before a new prompt was shown.

"Welcome! It seams like this is your first time running Wasteland Warriors on this console. Would you like to install the game now?"

Ocellus selected the YES option.

"Please wait while the game installs."

A loading bar with a 0% was shown below the text.

"Again!? Come on!" Gallus exclaimed.

"Welp.... I'm going back to the Library...." Gallus stated.

"I'm coming with you..." Silverstream said.

Soon the other creatures, minus Ocellus, all followed the two out the door. Leaving the changeling by herself.

Ocellus let out a sigh.

"I hate install times...."

Footnote: Update 1.0.2 released. Crossplay.

Gone are the days of the petty console war limitations. Online play should be enjoyed by everycreature regardless of what hardware they use! Crossplay between Xbox Series X and PC has now been implemented.