Fallout: Equestria - A Good Teacher

Holding the gun in the snowy-smoky light of my magical thought, I stood by the wall and pushed the door with my foot. For about a minute I listened to the breath of the wind, and only then I did dare to look inside.

Before me appeared a pile of rubble from the upper floors, covering most of the room. If there even was something valuable here before, now it would be unreasonably difficult to get to it.

I walked down the corridor and came across a staircase to the second floor, but having climbed only halfway, to the window, I decided to abandon this idea. There was no further way: the ruined staircase bared its red needles of reinforcement, threatening me for excessive curiosity.

Come on, two bags of grain is already very good, what else do I expect to find in the ruins that is more valuable than food?

The window captured my attention. Time had not been kind to it: the frame had rotted, crumbled, and now lay quietly in the shards of its glass. Nothing lasts forever. Everything, except perhaps time itself, sooner or later comes to an end.

I stood right by the window. The same clouds with their grayness. A strong stream blew around my face, pressing on my glasses, ruffling my mane. I brushed my hair out of my eyes and looked into the distance, at the path I had taken. Everything was getting dark outside. The clouds stood above the black wasteland like a stone ceiling, greedily absorbing the heavenly light, leaving us with almost nothing. They seemed so close that they were pressuring the entire world beneath them with themselves, while in fact they were hovering in the sky heights, so far away that all that was left was to reach out to them in a senseless attempt to touch their silent greatness.

Going back down to the exit, I decided to go into the waiting room, where once upon a time there were many intertwined voices, carried away by the bustle of life, a life from which only emptiness remained, and only the wind disturbed its dead silence.

Balancing the gun on my back, I walked over to the stand with the train schedule and the map of the surrounding area, about to open the map in my pipbuck and make an update, but then, from the street, I heard a quiet shuffling. Small stone chips crunched silently under someone's hoof.

I turned around, shifting the gun, and time seemed to stop running. I managed to see a face that expressed tension, but also uncertainty and something else... could it be, hope? Before she disappeared behind the wall. Holy Celestia, it was a pony! The same as me, which, both, awakened joy in me and threw me into flatterful fear.

My blood was almost boiling, and my heart was racing so fast that its beats merged into one continuous noise, trying to overtake each other. Carefully stepping to the side, keeping the doorway under gun`s sight, I telekinetically felt for the targeting spell key.

“Hello!” came from outside.

“Well, hello,” I threw through the wall.

"I'm looking for something, and if you don't mind, could you please lower the gun?"

She can't see me, can she? This wall is still standing for a reason, it would be hard to shoot through it.

“Let’s say so. What next?” I said, swinging the gun in the direction of the empty dorway. “Shall we part ways? If you don’t mind.”

"Of course, you can go, but I still have some work to do here – a quest..."

"Okay," I said, wiping the pipbuck screen where the marker displaying the location of the interlocutor had frozen. No words could express how happy I was that her mark was green.

"A stupid quest to be clear. Where have you ever seen an elite intelligence officer tasked with pulling a cart! A ca-a-art damn it."

"Oh yeah!" I said, laughing almost sincerely, lowering the gun. There was still a wall separating us. A concrete and brick, reinforced wall. If this is exactly the condition needed for a heart-to-heart talk with a random stranger, then I don't mind. "Where are you from? I'm from Stable Two."

Did I really tell this secret to a stranger? Admitting that you are a shy rag piece who can't see beyond her own nose and believes every word is better than saying that your whole life has been spent in the comfy walls of a nuclear shelter.

"Really?" she said, and then the unicorn's head appeared from behind the wall. I flinched in surprise, but didn't have time to raise the gun, or maybe I just didn't want to shoot?

The pony looked at me searchingly, and then disappeared. Could I shoot? There was a muttering, and then the unicorn continued out loud: "Oh, yeah! I thought the Second would never open. If our people find out, my wallet will be a little lighter... You know, why don't you come with me? We'll drag the cart, it's easier together!"

The unicorn entered the room. I tensed, but I didn't see any weapons. Following the sleeve of her black armor-plated jacket to her pipbuck, which glowed a faint green monitor, I saw the Stable-Tec emblem on her flak jacket.

"Stable 45?"

"Yes. We unsealed it recently… we founded an outpost in a village nearby. Of course, we don’t have patrols yet."

"Wow. They don't have patrols. I'm one of the first here, you know, and it turns out you're already exploring the wasteland."

"You have a serious gun," she praised my gun. I looked at my barrel, lowered almost to the floor, then at my companion, behind whose back I could see an unusually wide, shiny metal of some kind of weapon.

“Who are you anyway?” I asked.

"I used to be in security and finally ended up in long-range reconnaissance. You can brag about that kind of work, freedom and all that. But in reality, it turns out that you're constantly dragging something back to the base. You find it, and then you drag it. In short, it sucks."

The grey pony gestured actively, expressing boredom.

"To tell you the truth, my stable didn't open. I ran away," I admitted. Hearing this, she beamed.

"Oh, so that's three times better! First, I met you. Second, I don't owe anyone any caps now, because I haven't lost yet!.. And third, you'll tell me how to get into "Stable 2" or just take me to the Overmare so that we can form an alliance between our stables."

Her pink eyes expressed complete confidence in her good intentions.

"It's a whole day's journey to the Stable. I'm looking for my sister, she's probably in trouble."

I shifted from foot to foot, looking back at the window under the ceiling and the iron table that stood against the wall.

“We will take care of your sister and everyone else, but first we need the canisters.”

What in Celestia's name does she mean? What does it mean, 'take care of everyone'?

"Look in the neighboring wreck. However, I don't think you'll like the junk you'll find there."

"Do you have any empty flasks? And don't say junk. My name is Junk. Quite a name, believe me. It's annoying. Okay? Let's go."

"And I am Mary…" I doubted. The unicorn looked at me steadfastly, gesturing to me to come closer. The mark blinked yellow, and then turned green again. Her mark blinked yellow! It could mean anything. "I am truly sorry, but…"

“You’re so boring,” she interrupted.

A quiet flash from the pipbuck monitor bathed the unicorn's silhouette. The familiar click of the S.A.T.S. (or Stable-Teck Arcane Targeting Spell), indicating the acceptance of the action, sounded from an unfamiliar distance. It was the click of not my aiming spell!!!

Overthrowing the heavy iron table as a shield in front of me, I fired my gun. At that very moment, a return shot clanged. Large stones hit me in the back.

“Are you still alive there or something?” the mare asked in an innocent voice.

Without saying a word, pressing myself to the floor, I snatched the submachine gun, and raising it above the shelter, I clicked the trigger extremely briefly, orienting by the position of the rapidly approaching red mark. The weapon jerked, screaming a few shots, but I could not see the result of my attack, and all attempts to bend my gaze over the horizon would be useless.

I looked at the ceiling, past the metal surface of the table that had become my protection. The radiation counter on my pipbuck was clicking nervously as I pressed it to the table. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up..." I whispered through clenched teeth, holding the gun convulsively, shaking it in the direction of the blip reddening on the locator.

Something metallic fell to the floor. The mark froze. Did it really hit?

“How are you?” I asked into the ringing silence.

"All ok. Let's continue. Come on, you first, come out," the opponent responded.

“Yeah, and then you’ll want a child from me,” I quipped.

"So, I'm waiting!"

"Just don't say I didn't warn you."

There was silence for about a minute. Understanding came to me. She also has a pipbuck, which means she sees me in the same way with a red mark on her locator. She sees me, which means she can aim!

"Come on. What, you weak, huh? Are you scared, you creature? Just a sec... Just wait, wait..."

There was an electric crackle of magic, and the next moment everything around was drowned in light and thunder. All my hair stood on end, and the table became so hot that I had to move away from its sparkling, fiery red surface.

It was her lightning!!!

I felt a blow, gasping in fear I touched my head but couldn't find my helmet. Through several bullet holes, an overturned iron shelve was visible, from behind which, with a cocked shotgun, a pony was cautiously peering out.

Stupidity. No, madness: to rely on Celestia or Luna, to ask for their help, in moments like this. When the metallic death clanged again, causing the table to shudder almost imperceptibly, piercing it without the slightest resistance in the place from which I had just cleared out. No. I could thank only myself.

I started digging through my bag, trying to find something that would magically be my salvation. Jackpot! I had a pink inhaler with a combat drug in my hooves. Without thinking, I took a drag.

Immediately, I felt a surge of strength and confidence. My hearing returned, pain in the back of my head became louder, but I didn't care anymore. I knew exactly what was happening.

The table was still hot. I lifted the edge of the helmet above the table. A moment later, the helmet was blown off by buckshot. Its half, with a fragment of broken protective glass, was found in the corner of the room, riddled with holes. Well, it had served its purpose.

"Are you completely unhappy with my company? Why don't we both go away alive?"

"Why don't you just die? You're annoying me," came the reply.

I activated the targeting spell, and, using only the acceleration of reaction to aim, without rushing to limit my actions with the program, I looked out from the shelter, raising the gun.

My chances of making a headshot in this dash, even from ten meters away, looked ambiguous. However, the combat aiming spell also has a special function that allows you to simply shoot at the silhouette of the enemy.

In this case, the chance of a successful attack increases a lot, and it is practically impossible to miss. It is impossible, just as my enemy could not miss, having already aimed at my face at that moment. Green light, the click of her targeting spell... and only Celestia knows what miracle helped me to cancel my aim and fall down.

I was kicked by the shoulder, and found myself on the floor. She got me...

At that moment, I decided I had never felt pain before. She had hit me. Shot me like some kind of animal! I wanted to scream, but that would only please the enemy. Instead, I raised the gun above the cover and fired one shot.

Grimacing in pain and frustration, I tried to load a new cartridge, but telekinesis wouldn't obey. Half a dose was clearly not enough, but I didn't have more.

“You fight well, sniper,” a mocking female voice sounded.

I licked my shot shoulder and pressed it with my hoof, dropping blood and tears onto the floor.

To hell with the Stable, to hell with the cart with this damned fuel. Was it really impossible to come to some peaceful agreement? What the hell does she want from me? My weapon? If so, why didn't she try to kill me right away? Maybe she needed my trust? Then what the hell?! Damn it

The table couldn't hold the hit again, my bag got caught. From the large holes left by the buckshot, the grain started slowly raining onto the dirty floor. I wanted to cry, and I cried.

Stable 45 - Friends. Stable Two - Home... empty thoughts, empty hopes. Now only one thing mattered: The red mark displayed on the screen, which began to approach almost imperceptibly.

She came closer, which means she came out of hiding. She is vulnerable.

I growled, blinked away tears, and, having inserted a cartridge, raised the gun, firing a volley from both barrels. A terrible recoil pulled the gun out of my magic, and it crashed into the wall. The red dot jerked from side to side, but remained in sight, having approached to a critical distance. Without missing the moment, I grabbed the SG, and waving it, pressing the trigger all the way, I shot a burst across the horizon.

A heavy shot pierced the table, and the floor tiles in front of me shattered into pieces. The enemy mark returned to its original position. I silently placed the empty pistol on the floor.

"Hey! Scum?! Do you have a healing potion there?"

"What does it matter to you?" I yelled.

"I want to make sure you kick the bucket. Catch!"

The grenade rolled past me on the floor. There was no time left! I threw my telekinesis at it to throw it back, and then groaned in frustration and relief. It was an ordinary tin can!

— BOOM!

The mare laughed hysterically.

Adjusting my glasses that had fallen off, I carefully peered out between the legs of the table, battered by battle. Surrounded by various rubbish, the iron cabinet was still lay, with the imprint of a cloud of shot visible in its rusty wall. The mare remained in hiding, not even peeking out.

The floor beneath me was stained with blood. Leaning on my healthy shoulder, clenching my trembling jaws, I looked at the dropped cartridges and touched my knife. If there were no more bullets, I would have to fight.

For some reason, I was sure I had hit her. I couldn't tell if I had actually hit her, because I hadn't seen it, but I was sure I had. Just hit her, that's all. Maybe she was bleeding out right now, and... and would die!.. Before I. Probably. Or she could have attacked. In that case, I would rush into battle with what I had.

With each minute of waiting, my head grew heavier and heavier. I began to feel blood pooling behind my ears. Instinctively feeling my mane, reaching the back of my head, I felt a burning sensation from touching the marks of bullets sliding across my head. My shoulder was in worse shape, but it seemed to barely hurt. I would hold out. I would survive.

“Do you have foals?” I said unexpectedly for myself.

“No. And you?” she answered unnaturally calmly.

"Actually, I was training other people's foals in my stall. I had no time for it."

"Stable... to be born and raised in a Stable?! People like you are the envy of everyone! It's me who doesn't have the opportunity to have children."

"Why?"

"I once caught a candy in my tommy. So hard that it went right through. My former employers patched me up somehow, but they said that this is it. Now I'm as sterile as a stable toilet! No need to worry about the foals."

"That's terrible! I'm sorry. I'm sure you would have had wonderful foals."

"Pity? Ha-ha-ha. Better shut up and listen. Even if I wanted children with all my heart... even if I could, isn't..." here she coughed, "madness? To raise them in this nightmare."

“Probably…” I agreed.

"And it would seem, why live then? But you still have to live for some reason, otherwise the bastard with the scythe will get whats his."

"Listen... listen to me please!" I begged. "Let's drop this. Put away the weapons and talk nicely..."

She was silent, and I continued:

"If it's that important, I can actually take you to Stable 2. I'm pretty sure they'll let us both in. No need for anyone to die."

"Is it true?"

"Of course! After all, this is my home," I assured.

"Leave me alone" she snapped.

"But why?!"

"You know, I think its easier to gnaw the stable door open with your teeth. That damned armored door, capable of holding back a point-blank blast from a Heat-Megaspell Bomb, one of these they used 200 years ago to obliterate Equestria. Easier to eat through it with your own teeth, than trying to talk down that bitch in charge who's standing on the other side of the console... and calmly watches from the cameras as you and your friends die right in front of the door."

I briefly looked out from behind the table and saw her again for a moment. The blonde pony, wounded in the neck, looked straight into my eyes with hatred and contempt. In any case, at this moment, she was not pretending.

"I don`t believe you. This is a lie" Her horn was glowing? I tensed.

"Tell me your tales when you get to Heaven, along with Celestia and your dear friends from Forty-Fifth. You're more useful dead. Bye!" the bandit shouted. Behind me, the trigger of my empty submachine gun clicked. "Damn," she growled in frustration. My pistol hit the back of my head. I turned around for a second, seeing the pale white telekinesis of the enemy disappear around it.

The unicorn screamed and charged. I waited. The pony rounded my protective table and charged at me, her deadly horn, entwined with magical sparks, aimed at my chest.

Despite the speed of her actions, she had a certain predictability, as if she attacked only because it was necessary.

Clearly understanding what to do, I stepped to the side, kicked the unicorn in the chest, causing her to recoil and attack again, and, dodging the expected attack, swung the hidden knife towards another lunge of her natural weapon...

The unicorn tried to intercept the knife as soon as she noticed it, but the blade had already entered her throat to the base. The aggression on her white face was replaced by surprise. With her mouth open, the mare looked at me in fear when I, gritting my teeth, pulled the knife out.

I stepped away from the dying unicorn, letting her fall to the floor. The flickering glow of her magic tried in vain to hold back the gushing stream of blood. Finally, the pony went quiet, her pink eyes grew pale and the mark turned yellow, and after a couple of minutes it disappeared without a trace.

"Hush now, quiet now, its time to lay your sleepy head"

I felt almost no pity. It was just what had to be done. Either me or her.