Fallout equestria: preparations

Now that I had left the confines of the factory, the main question became in which direction should I travel first? I had plenty of maps, which would likely be outdated. I had very limited information about the current state of equestria.

North wasn't an option, at least for now, as it would lead me to the mountains and some mines. Which I doubted would be inhabited. And I knew for a fact that the mountains had been hit by a megaspell. Going east would lead me to the rest of equestria. But Any information about Canterlot, Manehattan or any other city would be useless right now and take too long to acquire. There was also a stable not to far in that direction, but i wasn't prepared to search for it right now.
So the south and west were my best options.
West would lead to the border with griffin kingdom. They had never directly participated in the war, so they should have been spared from the bulk of the destruction caused by the megaspells. Their mainland at least. But they may blame the ponies for any kind of harm that came to their kingdom. So I might end up being greeted by minefields and hostile border guards if I went their. But I didn't know if any of that was true. So it was still an option. But it could also have been utterly annihilated for all I knew. Which is why I would first head south.

Going south would lead me to the coast. It would be colder, but the ability to fish and use boats alongside an easy access to water would make it easier to survive. And by heading southeast I could reach the city of luxembuck. Southwest would lead to a military base. Seeing as the zebra scum had actually bothered to bomb this remote, empty region, it would safe to assume that they had targeted the military base. And they probably didn't miss like they did with the factory. There was also a second stable in that direction.

The best course of action was to head south then west. So that's what I would do.

I decided to avoid flying so that I could properly analyze my surroundings. And my helmet was off as to appear less threatening. I could only describe my surroundings as cold and snowy. Had it been winter such temperature would have been normal, but it was mid-summer right now. And I knew winter would be worse by a lot. We lost quite a few equidroids due to snow storms and they made construction much harder. The only reason that I knew that there were ponies in this region, was because of the spritebots we sent out to explore. They never made it very far, but they spotted ponies and griffons on more than one occasion. Often before being shot at by said ponies and griffons. That's also how we heard them using the word wasteland to describe equestria.

After a few hours of walking, I was pulled out of my thoughts as my modified EFS showed five hostile life forms approaching. And with modified, I meant that it was inside of my skull.

The five of them were heading into my direction, though they didn't seem to know I was there when looking at their movement speed. I decided I would head towards them. If they were just animals I would leave. But if they were ponies, I would have to talk to them.

It wasn't long before I could see them. Five ponies. They hadn't spotted me yet, so I tried to get a good look at them.
Was that a skull?
One of Them seemed to be wearing a skull on his head. Then they endly spotted me. And rushed towards me. As they got closer, they started slowing down. Probably noticing that i was wearing power armor and at least one head taller than any of them. I could now get a proper look at them. One unicorn and four earth ponies. Two mares and three stallions. They looked quite disturbing and made me feel sick(thank the sister I couldn't actually get sick). Their clothes were torn up and half of it seemed to be made out of hides. Pony hides if the cutie marks covering them were real, a disgusting sight. One of the earth ponies had a pony skull nailed to his helmet. Another had a collar made out of pony bones. They all were covered in dried blood and reeked.
Then they endly reached me. The only one with a gun stopped in front of me while the others proceeded to surround me.

"Well, what do we have here?"
The green unicorn mare on my left spoke up. She was carrying a sledgehammer with her magic. And a massive grin on her face.
The blue stallion in front of me, the only one with a gun and battlesaddle , then shouted.
"Some enclave fuckboy, cunt, Fucker, bi..."
"Locks would pay a lot for a Pegasus."
The shouting stallion was interrupted by the other mare, one of the two ponies behind me. A second ,bulkier stallion on my right then spoke up, a club in his mouth.
"cHow mchuch wchas chit? 9000, 10000 chcaps?"
"NO, no selling , just maiming and killing and rapi.."
"Shcut ccthe FCUCK Up!"
The four of them started screaming and arguing, while the fifth one was simply watching me with disturbing smile stuck on his face. He was also drooling. They were quite clearly insane. It was unfortunate and not a good sign.

"If we sell him then how will we have fun with him?"
"Chacve CHfun anhd tchen schell chim."
"Then he won't FUCKING pay us!"
"We only need to bring him alive, in a descent state, with proof that he is from the enclave. We could rip his wings off and we'd still get paid."
"Anch...."

Their rambling was quite insightful. I learned about some griffon named Lock and what he would do to me. And what they would do to me some of which involved ripping my wings off and shoving them down my throat. And when they talked about how they would shove my guns up my ass, the one who hadn't said a word winked at me. His smile actually became bigger and bigger with each words the others said. well, no need to waste more time listening to their disgusting ideas about "fun".

"Excuse me, is there any way that i can help?"
All five of them turned towards me, as i interrupted them.
"YES, you can go Fu.."
"SHUT UP!"
The gun wielding stallion was swiftly told to shut up by all three other ponies.
"It would be nice if you could pull that armor off, that would make thing much easier and pleasant."
"After hearing all of that, i think that i'll say no."
The unicorn smiled. She also shifted her sledgehammer, ready to strike.
"You know..."
She said with a sickly sweet voice and a smile on her face.
"Well, it would be better if you were alive, but..."

And then she hit me right under the jaw. She had hit me hard enough that her sledgehammer broke in pieces. It only tore through my skin, but did no harm at all. Their smiles disappeared when they noticed i hadn't died or at least wasn't laying on the ground unconscious. Which the unicorn proceeded to do as i hit her in the face and broke her snout. I then uppercutted the pony on my right with so much force the club in his mouth was torn into pieces. Meanwhile i used my tail to hit one of the ponies behind me in the leg and snapping it before hitting the other one in the chest and throwing him on the ground. The only one that remained was the loudmouth with the gun. He looked terrified as he stared as his companions which had been beaten in mere seconds. He had been the most insistent on maiming and torturing me. I flashed him a smile and then knocked half a dozen of his tooth out. I then knocked the one with the broken leg out.

Beating them had been easy, but deciding what to do to them would be harder. They were clearly insane and dangerous. I couldn't simply leave them there. They would wake up and then attack somepony else. And most likely abandon their companion with a broken leg. They didn't seem to be very loyal to each other. Killing them would better for everypony involved. A quick twist of their necks and they would never cause any harm. Cruel, but the best option.

There was also another option. An untested, unreliable option. One that might end horribly if anything went wrong.
I pulled a syringe and a vial out of my saddle bag. There had been a lot of debate about what to do if we ever encountered anypony that might be insane. And after a lot of research and no testing, as nopony turned insane while in the factory(thankfully), our researchers came up with this. A powerful drug that would calm the mind and allow the pony to heal by itself with regular doses. If it didn't kill them. I had taken a few vials with me just in case, but i had hoped that i wouldn't have to use them.

A colder, more logical part of my mind told me to use the unconscious ponies on the ground as first test subjects. It would help in the long run and that made sense. I inserted the syringe into the vial, filled it, grabbed the nearest pony and injected him.

The next few hours had been uneventful. I had put three of the ponies on my back, grabbed the one with the broken leg with my tail and dragged the only one wearing pants, that weren't made out of pony hide, with a hoof. I had thrown their weapons (except for the gun) and pony hide clothes away. They would freeze with so little clothing but luckily, my armor had both an interior and exterior heating system, so i turned myself into a glorified radiator so they wouldn't freeze to death. They also had a few thousand bottlecaps on them. When one of them had talked about being paid in caps, he probably meant that. A strange choice for currency, but there probably weren't any working banks laying around. Before leaving i had tended to their wounds and used one of the healing potions that i had brought with me.

I managed to find an old cottage as nightfall neared. It's roof was gone, but it's wall would give us some shelter. There also were some curtains left, which i used to try and make some extra clothes for my new...
Well if they didn't die because of the untested drug i had injected into them, then they would likely become my companions.
I put them in a pile on the floor and started a few fires around them to keep them warm. And kept watch waiting for them to wake up.

The earth pony mare had been the first one to wake up. At first she had a look of pure hatred when she saw me. It then turned into a look of realization. Then a look of unbridled horror. She then pucked on the ground and then broke down crying.
" What... what have i done?"
As she sobbed i could hear her lamenting and expressing regret.
She calmed Down after a few minimal of wailing.
"What did you do to me? How... I... i feel so..."
I'm trying to... let's say cure you.
"Cure!? You call this a cure!"
She looked like she was about to attack me, but she broke down again. She curled up and sobbed.
That was a good sign. Theoretically that was supposed to happen, depending on what they might have done while insane. And after hearing them talk they had committed done some horrible deeds. I just let the mare cry. I would explain things when she had calmed down.

Over the next two hours the other four ponies waked up. They all reacted similarly(however two of them were unable to talk with a broken snout and jaw). After lots of crying and sobbing for the next few hours they all fell asleep. I had managed to explain that i may be able to turn them back into semi-sane ponies. They looked confused and scared, but seemed to understand. I managed to learn a few things. Very few things, as they were still very confused and scared. One thing was that they were called raiders. And there were a lot of them in the region. Which i could use to my advantage. Slavery was also common. Another thing was that there was an unnatural amount of disgusting zebras roaming around the region. Hundreds at least. Which was very worrying and strange.

I'd made a lot of progress in one day. Learned a lot more than i expected. And i now had guides.