Fallout: Equestria - Silvertown

3rd Buckton Avenue. That was the location written on the bounty note. And avenues are big, right? You'd think it would be easy to find, and yet, I've spent hours trying to find it. I ducked into one of the many alleyways, sitting down on an old milk crate after making sure I was alone. Might as well try to figure out how to use this arm. So how does one control a robotic arm? The legs had been easy enough to figure out, but that was just a matter of fixing his spine. I thought back to when the doctor had touched it, and I pulled it back. Was it as simple as just doing it instinctively? I tried raising it, and I could feel the servos whirring, but nothing happened. I tried it again, and this time managed some movement. Getting over the initial alien feeling, I went further, clenching the hand into a fist. Standing up from the milk crate and getting into a pose like the ones in the boxing magazines, I made an attempt at throwing a punch.

It was enough to throw me off balance, and I only narrowly avoided smacking my face on the opposite wall. Regaining my footing, I tried throwing a punch again, this time impacting into the brick wall. It sent dust flying and created a small crater in the brick. Satisfied, I left the alley to continue my search.

It was when I exited a small side street that I finally found it. Buckton avenue. Littered with skeletons, of course, even more so than the usual. It was chaotic, with broken barricades and police autowagons and bones everywhere. Trotting along, and taking note of the numbers on the buildings, I started to approach my objective. The bones were piling up more and more, accompanied by tatters of red fabric and old, barely legible protest signs. I did my best to ignore the gruesome sight as the numbers on the buildings became lower and lower until, finally, there it was. 3rd Buckton Avenue. It was an office building, big and boxy and worse for wear. Sure didn’t look like any raider den I had seen. Then again, it was only a small group I was after. Taking a closer look, I started to notice bullet holes and splotches of blood outside the building.

Well then. I readied my laser rifle, slowly pushing the doors open. There hadn’t been any guard outside, so I could only assume the place was booby trapped. Quickly scanning the room for threats, I entered the building. The reception area was dominated by the large desk in the center, and branched off into several different hallways stretching in various directions. The chairs behind the desk still had skeletons sitting in them. A large streak of blood on the floor, some of it still fresh, led into one of the hallways.

Following the streak of blood, I entered the hallway. All I could hear were the sounds of my own hoofsteps, the building was otherwise silent. The blood diverted from it’s path down the hallway, running under a closed door. Stopping in front of it, I turned the door knob and opened the door.
A wave of stench emanated from the room, in which lay easily a dozen or so corpses, their blood and entrails spread about the room. It took all I had to not throw up at the grisly sight. I slammed the door closed and leaned up against it, trying to calm myself down. I could do this. I could do this.

I could hear movement and yelling from somewhere else in the building, and panicked. I was in a long hallway without any cover and outnumbered. As the noise got closer I opened a different door in the hallway and took cover behind it. Hoofsteps were getting closer, too close.
“I know you’re there, rookie!” A voice called out. “Just come out and make this quicker for the both of us!”
I raised up my rifle and ducked out of cover, firing a bolt as I did so.

Nothing. The hallway was empty. I was instead met with a baseball bat to the side of the head, sending me stumbling across the hallway, and followed up by another hit from the bat, this one hitting me in my ribs. Still reeling, I took a look at my attacker. Motorcycle helmet, leather jacket and skin-tight leather pants.

He charged up for another swing and, having recovered from the two blows, I ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding the bat. My rifle having been knocked out of my hands, I resorted to my fists, throwing a right hook at the raider’s head. It connected, smashing through the visor and into the raider’s face.

He reeled back, blinded by the broken pieces of plastic shoved into his eyes. I stared at the now bloody metal fist. Adrenaline was rushing through my system as I looked back at the raider, who was struggling to get their helmet off. Shifting all my weight onto my left leg, I threw a straight punch with my right hand, knocking him off his hooves.

With the raider on the ground, I tore his helmet off and punched his face repeatedly, reducing it to a bloody mess. He cried out in pain, weakly holding his hands up in a feeble attempt to stop the barrage. It only stopped once he’d gone completely silent and his face was beyond recognition.

I stood up, breathing heavily and with blood dripping off of my fist. I had never killed someone with my fists before, much less in such a brutal manner. Still, I couldn’t just stand around. I had to keep moving. I could hear more yelling and approaching hoofsteps.

I quickly looted the fallen raider, grabbing anything that looked valuable and taking his jacket. It wasn’t like he was gonna have any more use for it. Grabbing my rifle, I continued down the hallway, staying close to the wall.

Another raider, dressed similar to the first, rounded the corner at the end of the hallway, firing off a blast with a sawn off shotgun. I pressed myself against the wall, some of the pellets just grazing me. I fired back with a laser bolt, hitting him square in the chest, staggering him, and pulled the trigger again to finish him off. Click. Click. It was empty. With the raider raising his shotgun again, I tossed my rifle to the ground.

I dashed forward, still riding high on adrenaline, narrowly avoiding the spread, and caught him with an uppercut to the body mid reload, throwing him off and opening him up for a followup punch with my right hand. Blood sprayed from his nose as metal impacted into flesh and bone, sending him staggering backwards.

He clutched his broken nose in one hand and drew a knife in the other, lunging towards me. I stepped back, doing my best to keep my distance from the blade. I threw a few light jabs towards him, measuring out the distance between us, remembering what little training I had in unarmed combat.

He took a big swing at me, and I dove in, closing the distance and throwing a right hook at his ribs, hearing a loud crack as the fist impacted. I briefly felt a sharp pain in my side, but it went away almost immediately as I stepped back. I was caught off guard by a knee to the stomach, knocking me off my hooves and onto the floor.

The raider was on top of me immediately, hitting me with blow after blow. I scrambled, looking for some way to fight back or get out. It was only now I discovered the knife sticking out of my side. With no other option I pulled it out, ignoring the blood spurting out of the wound, and thrust it into the side of the raider, giving me enough of an opening to headbutt him.

I pushed the dazed raider off of me, getting back up on my hooves. The raider was still on the floor. I raised a hoof and brought it down with full force on the skull of the raider, sending him sprawling on the floor. I brought it down again, this time producing a sickening crack. Then one last time, and the raider stopped moving.

I quickly searched his pockets, finding nothing other than some bottlecaps and a syringe, miraculously unbroken. Med-X. At least, that’s what it looked like. Desperate, and without much time to think, I stabbed the needle into my arm and pushed down on the plunger, feeling the liquid flowing into my veins.

I felt relief at first, as the pain died down, but soon enough I felt my body getting warmer, the fire rising. I took a look back at the two corpses decorating the hallway. The ones I had killed. With my bare hands. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation. I approached the end of the hallway, still giggling to myself, and started to pick up the pace, even breaking into a sprint.

“Crash? Smash?” I heard a feminine voice calling out at the end of the hallway, and when I rounded the corner I was met with a surprised looking mare. She was clad in old pre-war sports gear, and wielding a pool cue. Not that it helped at all, as I smashed into her with full force and knocked her to the floor. She screamed as I started to pummel her with my fists, trying to fight back and having her fingers smashed as a result.

With another one running down the hallway towards me, I stood up, just in time to catch a pipe wrench in the face. Could be worse. I responded with a quick jab, leading into a barrage of punches, forcing the raider up against a wall. Blow after blow landed, painting the wall red with his blood.

I only stopped when I heard a gunshot and felt a stinging pain in my left side. I turned around, finding myself facing the barrel of a hunting rifle. This raider was different from the other. Their jacket had a lot more decoration for one, with a big plume of raven feathers decorating the back and with plates added at key points for better protection. The helmet was painted in vibrant colours.

“Hey asshole, why don’t you fuck off and die?” The raider jeered at me, still keeping the gun aimed at me. They were standing in a doorway, and far enough away that I couldn’t close the distance without getting shot. Well, getting shot more than I already had been.
“Why don’t you come closer so I can beat the shit out of you?” I called back, clutching the wound in my side. I wasn’t out of the fight yet, I just needed an opening.

In the corner of my eye I could see the mare from earlier trying to crawl away, and I ducked to the side just as another shot was fired. Grabbing the mare and pulling her up, I held her out in front of me as the raider boss rounded the corner.
“I got your friend!” I taunted, holding the mare in a chokehold. I slowly closed the distance, careful not to expose myself. Blood mixed with tears dripped onto my arm as the mare struggled against me.
“Fuck you!” She responded, keeping the rifle trained on me, but not firing.

Once I got close enough, I shoved the meatshield at the boss, throwing her off balance, and dove in with my fist, aiming to hit her with a right hook to the face. She was quicker than me, though, and smashed the butt of the rifle into my face as the other raider fell to the floor beside her. She followed up with a kick to my stomach, sending me stumbling back.

I regained my footing and quickly closed the distance again, knocking the barrel aside just as another shot was fired, causing the bullet to go into the wall. Once again the rifle butt swung towards my face, but this time I ducked, going under the barrel and springing back up in an uppercut to the stomach. It connected, smashing against plates sown into the jacket and severely denting them. Just as I was about to throw a follow up punch a knee came up, striking me in the stomach and knocking me back.

“This ain’t my first rodeo rookie!” The raider taunted, once again levelling the barrel of the rifle at me. Bang. I wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way, and I could feel the bullet go straight through my stomach and out the other side.

Mustering all the strength I had left, I charged at her, pulling my right fist back as she raised up the rifle to defend. I unleashed a right straight punch right at her helmet visor, smashing through it and into her skull, my arm crying out as the wrist joint shattered from the force of the impact.

The raider boss stood still for a moment before falling limp to the ground, dragging me with her as my fist had become jammed in the helmet. Both of us fell through the doorway, ending up in another room. I hesitated a moment before pulling my fist out, being a bit careful as to not damage it further. Blood spurted from the hole in the raider’s face, and the wiring in my arm sparked and crackled.
I cried out as feeling began to return to my body and the adrenaline died down, making me acutely aware of just how badly injured I was. Everything hurt. Every bone, every joint, every muscle.

I’d been beaten, I’d been stabbed and I’d been shot. I rolled off of the raider and onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. With a lot of effort I sat up, looking at the dead raider beside me, and then down at myself. I was covered in blood and dressed in tattered rags. More importantly, I was also losing a lot of blood. With a new found urgency, I started to search her body, trying to find healing potions. Bottlecaps, a switchblade and some other bits of junk. A healing potion. Without a moment’s hesitation I popped the cork off and chugged the liquid. I breathed a sigh of relief, finally taking a look around me. I was in an office, with various bits of scrap laying about as well as some supplies.

I took another look at the raider bosses jacket, then at my own rags. I stood up, taking off the cloak and letting it fall to the ground along with the various metal plates I had strapped to my body. it wasn’t as if they’d protected me at all, anyway. Kneeling over the raider bosses body, I undid the clasp on the helmet and took it off. She was young, probably around the same age as me. It was hard to tell what colour ehr fur had originally been under all the dirt caked onto it, and her mane was equally dirty and ragged. Oh, and she also had a gaping hole in her face. Slightly unnerved, I shifted my focus to her jacket instead, pulling the zipper down and taking the jacket off of her corpse. It was when I rolled her over onto her stomach that I discovered that she was a pegasus.

A chill went down my spine as the realization struck me. This could very well have been me if I wasn’t born above the clouds. Trying not to think too hard about it, I took the jacket off of her. It was heavy. I put it on, struggling to get my right arm into the sleeve. Once the jacket was actually on, it was a lot less heavy. And hey, I could always just get rid of the sleeves if they started causing problems.
I went about searching the corpses of the raiders for anything valuable, pocketing whatever I could find. By the end of it I had a few dozen bottle caps to my name along with a sawn off shotgun and a dozen or so shells. Making sure to grab the boss's helmet, as the name ‘Motor Baby’ was written on it, I was about to leave the building when I heard a door opening behind me.

I went back into the hallway, towards the source of the noise. I stood in the doorway, shotgun drawn. It was a small supply closet. The raider mare from earlier cowered inside, holding her hands above her head. She was terrified, her eyes puffy and red and both her face and body covered in bruises.
“D-don’t shoot!” She pleaded, “It was all Motor’s idea!” I levelled the shotgun at her head. Last thing I needed was for a bunch of raiders coming to seek revenge on me. Best to get rid of any loose ends.
“I didn’t kill anyone!” She continued to plead. Even if it was true, she was still a raider. She was still guilty even if she didn’t personally pull the trigger. Was I any better though? After all, I’d taken out my fair share of caravans. But that was just following orders. It wasn’t like I took any pleasure in it. But I still did it anyway. I still reduced innocent ponies to ash, and for what? Padding out my resume so I could get a cushy job after I left the military?
“Please, you have to believe me! I didn’t kill anypo-” The blast of the shotgun splattered her brains on the walls, painting the room red. I closed the door and left the building, heading back out into the wastes.