Fallout Equestria: Injustice

Is this friendship, it’s hard to tell if a pony is a friend or they are just bullshiting to try and rob you when you sleep, but Frost and Flame they seem different, they don’t seem like the type to do that sort of thing and they agreed to help me deal with my boss, so maybe the Sludge thing was right maybe I should put my trust in other ponies and actually use my powers for good.

After leaving the town and getting a safe distance away from it we set up camp for the night and sat around the campfire, we put most of our gear in a pile with our other supplies but I kept War with me just in case, Flame brought out various cans of pre-war food and passed them around, when I opened the can, it seemed to be some sort of mixed vegetables soup or something that resembles soup, the taste wasn’t too bad, I’ve had worse, then Frost put her food down and looked towards me, “Well a promise is a promise, so who are you, Hammer?” I sighed

“Well it all started when I woke up in a stable with no memory”

The door to my pod opened and I promptly fell face first onto the cold floor, when I recovered my balance and was able to walk, I looked around and noticed multiple other pods but they were all vacant, then I heard a faint beeping, I followed the beeping through various hallways that held generators, small bedrooms, and a clinic, after walking through most of the facility, I eventually found a somewhat empty room apart from a desk with a terminal and a box onto of it, when I approached the terminal the beeping stopped and a recording appeared on the screen and I tapped play which started with a Mare clearing her throat
“Hello Hammer, if you are hearing this then you are awake and unfortunately Equestria has been destroyed, so I’m leaving this message to help you, to help you survive in whatever is left out there, so the first order of business, and this may be hard to hear but you’re immortal meaning that you can survive anything that would usually kill a pony, I can’t explain how you are immortal because we don’t have enough time, ok next thing, there should be a box to the right of this terminal, use your magic to open it and grab what’s inside” I turned to my right and let my magic grab the box and with a click it opened and inside was a hybrid mix of a hammer and a sword when I picked up the weapon I felt a sting of pain in the back of my head that went away quickly, the voice continued
“This is War, it’s a prototype hybrid weapon that you used to weld back before the world went to Tartarus, and no...” then there was a knocking sound and another voice could be heard faintly in the background

“Come on doctor, it’s time to go” the voice on the recording sighed

“Just give me two more minutes I need to finish this recording”

“You have one I’ll be waiting outside” the hoove steps could be heard walking away

“Well looks like I’ll have to wrap this up, ok last thing, when you head towards the exit before you leave there’s a locker near the main control panel, unlock the locker and take what’s inside, it may be a relic but it works, so I think that’s it, oh the password for the door is ‘ETERNITY’ and the very last thing is that I hope that one day we’ll meet again and I can explain everything, but that day might not ever come, so if I don’t see you again then I’m sorry” then the recording ended, I just stood there baffled, I was immortal I could never die but why me, what’s so special about me, after I thought it over for a few more minutes I then walked towards the door which turned out that I actually was in a stable, the gear shaped door stood in front of me and as I looked around I saw the locker and walked towards it, when I opened it inside was what seemed to be a piece of armour with beige coloured cloth and green armour plating, I put the armour on and it fit like a glove there was even a slot for War, with all my gear ready I walked towards the control panel and typed in the password, with that alarms and lights started to blare, but eventually the gear door was moved out of the way by some sort of mechanism and I walked out for the first time into what was left of equestria

“And after that, I’ve been traveling ever since taking odd jobs and eventually becoming a bounty hunter”

“So, what about eating, drinking or radiation and stuff like that?” Flame asked

“Well I mostly learned about that through experience, so pretty much I still need to eat and drink but not as much as a regular pony and when it comes to radiation if I get enough of it then I still feel the effects and I can still get radiation sickness but I won’t become a ghoul” they both nodded

“Ok but what about sleeping, can you just stay up for weeks on end and not have problems,” Frost asked but I shook my head

“No I need a lot less sleep than a regular pony, but I still need to sleep so I can give my brain a chance to rest because if I don’t, well let’s just say it won’t end well for anypony in my path”

“Ok, but how does the healing part work like what’s causing it?”

“To be honest Flame, I don’t know all I know is that the healing factor will focus on individual wounds at a time, so say I’m shot three times in individual places, as soon as I’m shot by that first bullet the healing factor will start repairing it and when it’s finished it will move onto the next in a matter of seconds”

“Well I have to say Hammer you are an interesting pony, just one last question those tally marks on your hammer what do they represent” Flame queried, I was surprised, how did she notice them, War is turned away from the light

“Well it’s a long story but the short answer is that they represent all the innocent ponies that I couldn’t protect, all five of them, it may not seem like a lot but these deaths made me quit being a hero and just do the things I do best and that’s killing others that deserved it” Flame bowed her head in shame

“I’m sorry for bringing that up”

“No it’s fine, we all have dark secrets, it’s what makes us who we are” with the comment of dark secrets Flame started to look nervous, but quickly shook it off when I spoke again “So what about you two, Frost I noticed that you are wearing a stable jumpsuit, I guessing you were born in a stable, what was it like?”

“Yes I was and it was horrible, it was pretty much a dictatorship where we had to follow the rule of the Overmare and if we spoke out against her, we would be beaten, so me and a group of friends decided to leave and after we had left it didn’t get any better, all my friends were slowly killed off in this Luna forsaken wasteland and it wasn’t till about a week after that I was hit by something which nearly killed me but luckily Flame was there to help me and after she patched me up we started traveling together and after traveling for a while we were captured and I think you know the rest” while listening to Frost I noticed that whenever she mentioned Flame saving her life Flame would avert her gaze and rub her front hoof nervously

“So Flame what’s your story?” Flame was taken aback like she didn’t expect the question

“Don’t really have one as good or exciting as yours”

“Come on Flame, you haven’t even told me your past, so what juicy details do you have to share?” Frost encouraged, but again she did the same thing, averting her gaze and rubbing her front hoof

“I just don’t want to talk about my past” but Frost persisted and before I could tell her to stop Flame turned and glared at Frost

“I SAID NO OK, my past isn’t sunshine and rainbows so please just leave it” Frost was shocked but she backed off and when she tried to apologize Flame didn’t say anything and in silence they both moved away from each other and went to sleep in their bedrolls while I stayed up and kept watch.

About an hour had passed well I think an hour had passed couldn’t tell, really needed to get my hooves on one of those Pipbucks, but as I was scanning the area I heard a voice and it was the sludge pony again but when I looked around I couldn’t see it
“Hello again Hammer” the voice was coming from nowhere

“Yeah hey, umm where are you and wait why can I hear you I’m not dead”

“Well like I said Hammer, she is getting closer every day and that means I have a stronger connection with you, so how’s it going with Frost and Flame?” The creature asked inquisitively

“I thought you saw what I saw, shouldn’t you already know?”

“Yes I was watching the conversation but I wanted your opinion on it” I just sighed

“Well I have noticed that there’s something up with Flame, she’s very defensive about her past, and when anypony mentions the time she saved Frost’s life she gets really nervous like she regrets saving her or something”

“Well I agree with you there but do me a quick favor and look at Flame for a second and look near her eyes notice anything about them” I did as I was told and even though it was hard to see with the dim flame I could see that she had been crying quietly to herself

“Do you think she was crying because we mentioned her past?” I asked the nothingness

“Either that or maybe she wasn’t happy with how she snapped at Frost, maybe there’s something there” I just nodded

“I also noticed that she gets really nervous whenever we mention that she killed a Deadshot so that might have to be something to look into whenever she’s ready to talk about her past” I heard the sludge thing agree and then nothing but the wind blowing in the calm night.

After both Flame and Frost were up, we packed our camping supplies away and headed towards the bounty hunter’s town, it was a nice morning with clear skies with the sun shining bright as ever, as we walked I was looking around the barren wasteland, keeping an eye out for threats but luckily I didn’t see anything dangerous, Flame and Frost stood on opposite sides of me and didn’t say a word to each other, I glanced at both of them and they had different expressions that I could read, Flame held a sad expression while Frost held a worried expression, I’m hoping that when we get to the town they will be able to put their argument aside and help me deal with whoever is left in this town.

When we approached the town I noticed that it seemed empty, no guards, no other bounty hunters, nothing, as we entered the town through the main gate we quickly figured out why it was so quiet, in front of us lay dozen of motionless bodies, with hundreds of empty shell casings and blood splattered everywhere, it looked like a manticore had attacked this place
“Well this isn’t good,” Frost said while walking among the bodies

“Recognise any of the bodies Hammer?” Flame asked, I just shook my head

“I can’t tell if that is a good or bad thing” as we continued to walk around the town we noticed that the buildings were completely fine, the Mayor’s office, the bar, and the armory still stood including all the temporary homes, Flame walked up next to me

“Well looks like revenge will have to wait, what’s the plan now?” I thought it over for a moment

“Ok, Flame you head to the bar over there and look for supplies, Frost, you head to the Mayor’s office there and look for clues on what in Luna’s name happened here, while I check the armory for any space ammo” Both ponies nodded and headed off towards their respective buildings while I headed to mine.

Walking into the armory, I immediately noticed that it was a mess, shelves broken, guns and ammo scattered everywhere also there were two dead bodies both killed by what seemed to be plasma burns, as I walked back the bodies and approached the main desk, I saw a note on top of the counter, it was from Sky Chaser.

"Hey Hammer, I don't know what's going on here but the boss isn't happy, he seemed scared over something you had done, and now he's running away with all of his guards and a few other bounty hunters, leaving us with no leader and no pay, so the rest of the bounty hunters either fled or tried stealing from the town, they even tried raiding my shop, but as you probably would have noticed that didn't end well for them, anyway I'm leaving this place, there's nothing for me here, so since I still probably owe you free weapon repairs I've left you some extra plating for your hammer and some special ammo for your revolver in the safe, also take the device that's in there as well and if you can find a pipbuck and install it on to one of them, it's pretty much a tracker, if you ever need me just tap the icon in the Pipbuck's inventory system and ill be on my way to help, also please be careful Hammer" I put the note down and noticed a key underneath it, with it I walked behind the counter and found the safe, opening it I found the scrap plating she mentioned and three small boxes of bullets with different colored stripes on them, one red, one blue and one black, I had no idea what they meaned since I've only ever used normal bullets but she said they were special so I might as well use them, after putting the scrap and the boxes into my saddlebags leaving three of the different bullets out, I looked around the shop one last time and grabbed a few boxes of pistol and sniper rifle ammo, then left.

As I approached where I split off away from my friends I saw Flame standing there, but no Frost "Ah there you are, did you find anything useful in the armoury?” Flame asked, I nodded then passed her the sniper rifle ammo and showed her the bullets
"Do you have any idea what kind of bullets these are?" Flame leaned in closer and examined them

"Well the black ones are armor-piercing, the blue ones are shock rounds very useful for taking down robots and the red ones are obviously incendiary" Flame then smiled

"Ah thank you, so what did you find in the bar?"

"Not much, quite a few dead bodies managed to find some pre-war food and a few sparkles-colas"

"Nice, so what in Luna's name is taking Frost so long?" Flame just shrugged her shoulders

"Don't know, but..." She then just stopped talking and aimed her sniper rifle at a random spot and fired, she did this so fast that it took me a few seconds to register what happened

"What is it?" I asked, Flame then loaded another bullet and turned to me

"No idea, but it looked like a mix between a robot and a griffon, it seemed to be watching us, I managed to hit it but it flew away"

"Well that's never a good thing, come on let's go get Frost and get out of here" She nodded then followed me towards the Mayor's office.

As we entered the building, we saw Frost working away on a terminal" Ah, there you two are, come have a look at this I think I may have found something" as I walked over to the terminal I noticed there were two different messages on the screen

"Are these from the Mayor?" I asked, Frost shook her head

"Nope, they are messages sent to the Mayor and they both come from Celestia's rest, both of them are corrupted, but I managed to get something out of both of them and they are requests for your Hammer, but while the first one wants you dead, the second one wants you alive and brought to Celestia's Rest"

"So why do you think the Mayor wanted to kill you instead of just sending you to Celestia's Rest, it just sounds easier that way," Flame asked

"Well there wasn't really much to say in terms of payment but I imagine that if he was killed then they would have been paid more, But I did find one last thing on here and that was a name and a message that was supposed to be given to you Hammer when you were given the job"

"Well, what is the message?" I asked, but Frost just scratched the back of her head

"I, unfortunately, can't read them since they are in Zebra" then Flame stepped closer

"Let me try, I know a little bit of zebra" She examined the terminal for a few minutes and turned back towards us "Well the message reads Usisahau yaliyopita, njoo unitafute, Jaji wako, which roughly translates to don’t forget the past, come find me, your Judge” I just stared blankly at Flame

“My Judge, and what past, I remember nothing” both ponies just shrugged

“Well it looks like we’re going to Celestia’s Rest, just need to work out the best route there,” Frost said while tapping on her Pipbuck, as she did that Flame looked over her sniper rifle and I got an idea.

“Hey Flame, do you trust me?” Flame was taken aback at the question

“Well you did save our lives from the raiders and you haven’t tried to kill us so yeah I trust you, why?”

“Well I have an idea on who might have some answers to this, but I need you to shot me in the head” both ponies just stared at me in pure shock

“What...no I ...”

“Please Flame just trust me on this” Flame looked back and forth from me to Frost, then she pointed her rifle towards me

“You better make this up to me” then a gunshot and the dark swallowed me again

After waking up again, I noticed that the black liquid was gone and I was stood in a square room with white walls, there were also empty picture frames on the walls but that was about it
“That was really foolish” I quickly spun around and saw the sludge pony but this time it was just pure black with no dripping liquid or anything, it was like staring into the void

“Yeah, well you seem to know more about me then, well me, so before I ask about what I’ve just seen, please can you explain why I’m seeing four walls and not a void this time?”

“Well, every time you find a clue towards your past, this place changes to the one place where you were last happy” I cocked my head in confusion

“Well, where is this place then?”

“You’ll have to wait and find out, but before we carry on why did you ask Flame to shoot you?”

“Well I needed to talk to you, and it was the only plan I could think of” I couldn’t tell but I think the sludge thing was glaring at me

“You’re a moron, I told you to gain their trust and you ask one of them to shoot you, not really what I had in mind”

“Well you weren’t appearing beside me like you did back at the campfire, so I didn’t have much choice” the thing snarled at me

“Fine, what do you want to know?”

“It’s about what was on the terminal, and the message from somepony calling themselves my judge, does that ring any bells for you?”

“Ah the Grim Reaper’s Judge”

“Who?”

“Well back before the bombs fell, you lead a team called the Grim Reapers, you did the jobs no other pony wanted to do and one of those members was Judge, she was the only zebra on your team and she kept the rest in line, she was supposed to be your second in command, but one thing lead to another and you picked somepony else for unknown reasons”

“Wait, I led a team, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” the creature just chuckled

“I had to make sure it was you and frankly you weren’t a good pony back before the bombs fell, I also wanted to make sure you had changed”

“So where can I find this team then?”

“That’s something you will have to figure out on your own, but if you can find Judge then talk to her, she’ll be able to help you, but heed this warning, watch out for the Grim Reaper’s Scalpel” then I was pushed back into darkness.

As I awoke I realized that I wasn’t on the floor I was now leaning up against the wall, I was still in the Mayor’s office but I noticed that Flame was sat with her back to me and she was looking at her sniper rifle which had been disassembled, then Frost walked up next to me “Hey Flame he’s finally awake” Flame’s head then shot up and she turned to me with a look of anger

“Why didn’t you tell me you would be out for that long, I thought I had actually killed you, what in Luna’s name is wrong with you” she then hit me across the face so hard that I thought it would knock me out again, she went to hit me again but Frost stopped her

“Flame, just go outside and cool off for a minute and I’ll talk to him ok?” she nodded then left the building closing the door behind her

“How long was I out?” Frost sat down next to me and sighed

“You were out for quite a long time, maybe about a few hours” I turned to her in disbelief

“What, a few hours, how?”

“No idea, if you don’t know then I’m not going to know either, was it worth it?” She asked, I sighed and explained who the sludge pony was or what I thought it was and I also explained what it had said, after telling Frost this she sighed again

“Listen I’m sorry, but usually it only lasts a few minutes not a few hours”

“Yeah well, it’s not me you need to be apologizing to” I nodded

“Is she still willing to travel with us?”

“Yeah I think so, but you will need to make it up to her eventually” she then got up and walked towards the front door “Just let me talk to her and we can get going”

“Ok I’ll wait here” she nodded then left leaving me with absolute silence apart from muffled talking

“Well this is going to be fun to watch” I quickly turned my head to face the voice and it was of course the Sludge pony

“Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why did I spend hours dead while I was only with you for barely two minutes?”

“Well I specifically asked you to gain their trust but you ignored that and thought asking them to shot you was a good idea, so I messed around a bit in your head and made you wake up a lot later than usual”

“But why?”

“To teach you a lesson”

“I...” but before I could say another word, the creature was gone and Frost walked in with Flame walking towards her sniper rifle and quickly reassembling it, picking it up and then leaving again through the front door without out even looking at me, I quickly got up myself and headed towards the door, but I was stopped by Frost

“Listen, she still wants to come with us but she doesn’t want to talk to your right now, so just give her time ok?”

“Ok, got it, so what’s the plan now?” I asked

“Well since we have multiple sources saying we should go towards Celestia’s Rest, that’s where we are heading, but walking straight there will take us a while and through many dangerous areas, so there’s a town a few hours away from here, I’m thinking we should head there, rest up then continue our journey”

“Ok that sounds like a plan, let’s go” she nodded then we headed towards the main gate and before we left I looked back towards the town, and with one last glance I left the town I had spent so long at, never to return.