Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter twenty-three: Hollow victory

“…To victory, and endless Ale,” I finished off the last line for another time.

How long had past I didn’t track any more, nor did I the miles. I just kept walking towards that marker on my E.F.S. and hoped eventually I’d see something. Tungsten stopped singing along what felt like a few hours ago, and opted to hang his limbs off the side of my suit while they nearly dragged across the ground.

Warning: Servo condition critical! Seek repair!

My steps weren’t even a full stride as one of those servos gave out along the way, by this point I probably could have crossed more ground crawling while I dragged that limb along for the ride. Though I wasn’t about to ditch him out in the wastes for some raider to have a field day with. This ranger deserved better than that, something his bothers and sisters in arms would never measure up to in my eyes.

Those eyes instead saw something else as the sun peeked behind me, and guard posts I once critiqued were now my beacon. “We’re almost there, Tungsten,” I jostled him a little trying to get a reaction. Yet, his helmet slumped to the side like it had been for half this trip, and a tear blurred my vison.

Either it was the tear, or just lack of sleep, and food, and water… and everything else a pony needed to survive. Out in the distance I saw movement, and something take to the sky. The black dot in the air was undoubtedly our medic, as for the figure that stood a few heads higher than the others, definitely Riff. From the others that joined em, I couldn’t make out anything to distinguish one sandy mare.

Warning: Right servo failure!

Thanks for that suit, my face in the ground didn’t tell me that already. I tried to bring another hoof out to push back up, but this time the suit wasn’t hearing it. Instead, I got a groan and another pop from the joint collapsing under just that pressure. Yeah, I think I’ll just rest here for a moment.

Sorry guys, I couldn’t… meet ya… halfway.

***

I could feel my ears twitching from sounds of others nearby. Though my eyes were still heavy after that trek across the wastes. I had to say though, feeling a breeze across my burns this time around felt great compared to the last go.

Wait a second…

In a snap, I shot up to my flank and got a look around. My armor stood only a few feet from me at the wall as I remained naked. This had to be one of the few places I wouldn’t feel so worried about not being in it. Some kind of medical shack, the cots for those in care and butterfly covered boxes gave that much away. From a window I could tell the sun was out, and with a quick check to my Pip-Buck it was only half past noon.

More hoofsteps were just past that door, and soon enough it creaked open. “Ahh, you’re awake now…” an earth pony mare stepped in with a work apron on, and I saw the clear stamp of a syringe on her flank. She couldn’t have been much older than Winter was when we first got to the stable.

“Towns’ Doc I’m assuming?” one pony I hadn’t run into while exploring the place.

“No, designated sewage worker at your service,” she took a bow of all things, “… of course I’m the doc,” yeah stupid questions deserved stupid answers, with that she held a hoof out to me. “Lack Luster,” not the kind of name I’d put hope in to, but once she had my hoof in her own the mare got to work. Twisting the limb around, in a few ways I didn’t know it could bend. From that apron a small hammer was brought out, and smacked into the leg forcing me to cringe, as it jerked out, “Hmm… feeling seems to have returned quite a bit, I didn’t even get a reaction while you were out.”

Grade-A treatment out here in the wastes, ain’t it? “Thank ya for the patch work, Miss Luster.”

“Oh please, I ain’t old enough to be Miss just yet,” now where have I heard that before? Do you have a sister? “Besides, in your case I was an assistant more than anything… he did the real treatment.”

Just past her I saw a familiar face, as Deacon stepped in and passed me a small smile. “Hey all I did was give him fluids and try to patch up those burns,” after those words my eyes turned to the scars from the interrogation, and wouldn’t ya know it? They were still there, not as raw as they once were, but I didn’t see them going away any time soon, “well… try to patch them up. You’re lucky Alimites good with those tools, otherwise we’d never have gotten you out of that suit.”

That explains it, I just hope she didn’t have to take a hacksaw to those locks. At least the rangers didn’t have somepony like her on their side, “you did what you could, that’s all that matters.”

“Sometimes that’s not enough though,” his beak dipped down, and I couldn’t help but mimic the gesture, “we both tried to do what we could for that other ranger… figured he was someone important if you were willing to cart him all the way here.”

Maybe not in the ranks of the rangers as a whole, but for the short time I’d known him? “Yeah, he was.” Whelp, time for bad decisions.

I kicked my hooves out to the side and much to the cringe of both my docs put weight on them, and just as fast found the floor once more. Both Luster and he were at my side holding up my weight as the legs tried to steady themselves. Ponies were used to travel in the old days, covering the whole country in a few days by hoof was nothing new to us. To do so while carrying what amounted to three ponies though on their back? Let’s just say unicorns weren’t known for their strength.

With a flare my horn reached out to the suit and undid those locks, and like that the back of it opened up as I was guided back in. Just put one hoof in front of the other, “alrighty, I’m good now,” I answered while the back closed up.

It probably wasn’t healthy to spend so much time in this thing, but I did feel right at home. Almost like another day in the office, an office where there was a high chance of getting murdered every which way to Sunday. Now that my hooves were working, if not a little tingly, Deacon opened the door up for me as Luster stayed back. Together we walked only a few doors down, before stopping in front of another.

I knew what was behind this one, and with a shove the door opened up to a single table there in the center. The closest thing to an operating room this place could have, and on it was one body that I’d basically just met for the first-time face to face. He must have spent just as much time in the suit as I had, for his caramel coat to be that clean and all. Not a hair on his mane was out of place, besides the hole in his side, and from this view it looked like he’d been sleeping.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when seeing him, certainly though not this. For being a pony of well-rounded combat prowess, Tungsten was a lot younger looking than I thought. Maybe I was waiting for an older colt with a grey beard to pop out of that suit, instead I got one who appeared only a few years younger than myself… probably more than a few, his flank was still blank after all.

A late bloomer like Winter was, and one that’d never get to see what their skills could really do.

“Riff brought his suit back to the shop while we worked on him, but from all the blood that caked its insides… there was just too much lost,” the wound on his side said that much, it never quite healed. Even with all the potions that went in to him over the journey back, “who was he anyway?”

A Paladin, a fighter, and a leader. More importantly, “One of the good ones,” I muttered back, though if one had fallen. Was there another that pulled through? “What about Tumble…” my jaw clenched for a moment and my breathing stopped, please don’t let me-

“Don’t worry, we got her back here in time,” oh thank goodness, half the weight in my chest let off with those words and I could breathe again. “Had to dig the rounds out, but that mare’s a tough one,” he started to beam a bit more at that fact, “you’d be surprised how simple it is to donate blood to a pony with some tubing and the right needle.”

And the right gryphon for the job. As tough as she was, we might have to invest in some better armor if we kept getting in to these adventures. I’d seen enough, and Tumble I could catch up with in a moment. There was a job to do, and this colt wouldn’t have any sense of peace while he still remained above ground.

“Where are you going?” Deacon asked, and I heard him follow me to catch up as I headed out in to the sunlight.

“To find a place to put him to rest… it’s the least I can-”

Apparently, a wrench can reach terminal velocity with magic alone! My head jerked to one side after the tool hit, and as I started rubbing the side of my cheek it picked back up in an aura. “You said… you’d be careful!” that was a mare, and she sounded pissed. Okay, pissed and worried. Alimite trotted up along the road getting closer with every step, and I could see the redness in her eyes, “instead you go and throw yourself at the Rangers like a rag doll!”

Somepony wasn’t telling the story right, “I wouldn’t say throw, it was either go with them or get blow up in that case,” and that was being generous. There wouldn’t have been much, if anything, to even bury in the end.

For a second there I saw her brain stop mid firing, and her mouth started to stammer, “… Riff’s terrible with telling stories then.”

“Well… I can fix that, but first can you point me to where ya’ll bury ponies?” her eyes drooped there, and she must have remembered that I didn’t come back here empty hooved.

A short walk toward the outside of town near the mine let me put some things straight. Those rangers meant business when we ran into them, and they weren’t going to take no for an answer. I’d glossed over the whole part about electrocution and murdering me when they got the suit off, but her whole demeanor changed once I started talking about the Paladin and what he’d done to help me out of that bind.

A sniffle came from the mare as we approached a spot with several markers around it, the various names of those that’d passed displayed on everything from two by fours, to actual stone, or even just a rock to mark for a loved one where they were.

“Mom said you’d be fine in the end, you’re stubborn like that,” your mother knows me well, and with that Alimite started back towards town, “Let me grab a few shovels.”

***

Even with magic, going through some of this compacted dirt proved a bit harder than expected. With myself and Deacon going at it we’d managed a hole not quite six feet, but enough for our liking. The wrapped up remains of the Ranger rested by Riffs’ feet, and in hindsight she could have made this dig a whole lot faster. Though in the end it was something I was glad to partake in.

At least out here he wasn’t alone. The towns cemetery wasn’t all that large compared to some during the war. Though there were enough markers for the ponies buried that he’d have some company. Tungsten gave his life to save a pony he barely knew, but one he saw potential in. I’d just have to live up to those expectations.

Tumble had joined in with us halfway through, and I was glad to see with my own eyes her still breathing. If we had been any further from town, then I might have been making two holes out here. She looked in high spirits for a mare that’d had a brush with death, but then again that probably wasn’t her first rodeo.

With a hoof, I helped pull the gryphon out, and Riff used her paw to coddle the body gently into his final resting place. Together the four of us stood there, I don’t know how many ‘funerals’ were actually held in the wasteland. The last body I asked how to dispose of, all I got in return was a laugh. Though with the only one that interacted with the guy being me, I let out a cough and cleared my throat.

“I know many out here in this new Equestria look at the Steel Rangers as nothing more than thugs,” by far the best description I’d gotten for them, “yet some clung to the old way of things, just like the Paladin here… you all didn’t know him, but if it weren’t for this colt then we’d probably never have met in the first place.”

I’d gotten lucky with that, if I found his patrol before they encountered the gunners. Then there wouldn’t have been a reason for him not to take my Pip-Buck and keep on rolling. Hell, I’d probably have run into that group of gunners before they did, and been left rotting alongside the Rangers as they were finished off during that fight.

“Tungsten Shield didn’t have to give me this suit as a gift, and it’s thanks to his kindness my flank had been saved more times than I can count while traversing the wastes… and in a way, not just mine,” the only one that logic didn’t really apply to here was Deacon, he’d have just kept on doing his merc thing in that town. Steadily my visor went to the two others present, as they first landed on Tumble, “I wouldn’t have been able to give you any support when we first met, and the gunners then probably would have killed us…” then on to Riff Raff, “and even if we survived that, down in those tunnels the other hounds would have made quick work of us.”

Claws that can slice clean through a suit of armor, imagine what that’d do to a regular pony? Or better yet, let’s keep that image away. There were enough horrible images in my mind from this place. Though the generosity Paladin Tungsten Shield is what really kicked off this little journey for me, and let me be what the rangers had hoped to become… even if I didn’t think I’d ever live up to the tile of Ranger. That alone made some of those images’ worth it in the end.

My horn grabbed the first clump of dirt with a shovel and scattered it in to the hole, “To that, I have to thank you, Tungsten.”

The others there didn’t say a word after me, but their faces sure did. As little as they might have known him, it looked like genuine sadness splayed across their face. From what I could tell, they might have thought this to be one of those rangers that could have helped drive the rest of them towards a better path. Yet, his life was cut short by another.

After the hole was filled in, I brought something to mark his final resting place. The helmet from his suit seemed like a fitting tombstone, while no one else would have known the one that was buried here, or what he’d done. It’d been the first thing I’d seen of him, and even without the pony to go with it. I doubted I’d forget that face behind the visor.

***

Even after death, Tungsten was still helping me out.

Just like he wanted I was taking what components I could to put some patchwork on my own suit, something it was desperately in need of. Rogues might have been upgraded, but in the end most of the core parts were all the same. Made swapping out components all that much easier out in the field, should the need arise.

Another servo let go of its housing from the knee joint, and I got to see the extent of its damage first hoof. The bearings inside were nearly flattened against the wall, their spherical shape long gone only to be replaced by what more amounted to straight up metal shavings. Walking all that way had done exactly as the Paladin said, it damaged the hell out of my suit. Even with the repair talisman installed from his, mine needed some TLC before it’d get back into the fight.

With the guns off to the side for easier work, it’s TLC I’d been giving it for the last several hours. Everypony else in town must have gone to bed for the night, the only pony I’d seen walk past the shops open door being one of those few guards that roamed the town. Under the floor my friends had followed suit, and called it an evening early. That left me to my own devices, something I could use right now.

Another set of hooves made my ears perk up, and this time it wasn’t from one of the guards, “You’re still going at it,” Alimite said as she approached, a plate held out in her aura of something I couldn’t make out.

“Somepony has to,” and if he gave me the tools to set things right, you’re damned sure I was gonna use em.

“Well mom always said you threw yourself at your work when upset,” Passing by me for a moment, she slid the plate on to the workbench. “And I haven’t seen you eat all day ya know…”

“Not hungry right now, thank you though.”

And just like that her horn grabbed hold of my tail, “Come on, and eat, I just made it,” jokes on you, my hooves are stronger than your horn, “Don’t make me grab my mom…” Oh that was a threat that got me moving! I’d seen Winter in a fight or two in the earlier years of our friendship, suffice it to say. If Alimite could be pinpoint with a wrench, I knew her mom’s game must have improved tenfold.

Some reluctance later and I found myself putting down the tools, and taking a seat at the bench. Whatever it was, I had to admit. It smelled delicious… which kinda made me worried if my sense of taste for wasteland food was getting more optimistic, or just my tongue was completely fried.

Stringy for sure, and the skin had a crunch to it that reminded me of Bloatsprite, “Well… this is new,” I took another bite, and found myself actually enjoying this one. Yep, my tongue was getting too used to this.

“Radtoad,” she said casually, and for being a toad its legs were pretty beefy. Another thing I didn’t want to run in to out here, though as I chowed down on the first real meal I’d had in the last few days. I caught her eyes roaming.

Namely across my coat, and the scars that were the price to pay for refusing the rangers. Those burns after all Deacon did to them still showed as if they were fresh, dancing in trails like a lightning strike. The coat hadn’t even gotten any stubble to it, and likely barely would in the weeks to come, or years if I was being generous. At least they didn’t hurt any more just from the air, and I could work pain free.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I mean it sucked at the time, but I got through it.

With a quick shake to her head, she must have thrown that thought out, and instead turned her attention to the suit. “How come it’s not repairing itself? I thought the talisman would have been the first thing you replaced.”

“I did, but somethings require a more delicate touch,” a few more bites out of the toad, and we both got up to look over my work, “the talisman is pretty straight forward, the servos on the other hoof…” I just showed her what I pulled out, and with her mechanical mind the mares’ jaw started to cringe.

Between getting the crap kicked out of me by Lock, and going through the ringer with the rangers. It was good that I didn’t make it out of the steel mill on my own, otherwise I don’t know when I’d have gotten any replacement parts. The old talisman was nothing but a rock, and the servos now would just serve as scrap for the suit to make the final repairs once I brought it all back online.

“That walk back knocked the wind out of it,” and gave me this headache to contend with for the evening.

Whelp I had parts, tools, and time. No use complaining over it all, and with some food now in my stomach I crouched down and got back to work pulling those worn parts out. I knew I wouldn’t sleep right with work still to be done, especially when I had plans for this thing. Apparently, Alimite wasn’t in a sleeping mood either, as she brought out that bandana of hers and tightened it to keep the hair from her eyes.

She might never have worked on power armor a day in her life, besides that repair spell on occasion. Though the mare still knew her way around a tool box, with a helping hoof we pulled the other servos from the joints and set them off to the side. Tungstens were far easier to remove, they hadn’t been shot to all hell.

Mine still had bent and even broken attachment points from us trying to pry them out, and a couple of the connections nearly fused to the part itself. Nothing a liberal application of magic couldn’t fix, and of course elbow grease. In half the time with the extra help, those connection points were straightened back out into place. Ready and waiting for their replacements.

Working like a well-oiled machine… no pun intended. As I finished installing one, she came behind me, and closed up the access ports to it. Going the extra mile, Alimite even started patching up some of those holes made by Lock that hadn’t quite sealed up, or what I missed. The talisman might have covered that, but any bit that wouldn’t stress it was all the better in my book.

“So, what about after this is all fixed up?” she asked working on one of the rear legs, “with the rangers I mean.”

“Well as crazy as it might sound… I think it’s time to pay them a visit,” regardless of the look she was giving me from over the suits back, I swear I’m not suicidal, “the rangers have control of a port out west, plus some kind of ship,” details I could always go into later, but that was enough to put worry on her face, “and so long as they have a hoofhold they’ll be a threat on the horizon.”

There’s no way the guns on the ship could reach out this far, or any real distance mainland. The Crystal Empire wasn’t quite on the scale as its southern cousin when it came to military might. Regardless, it was still a base of theirs. Something I had to see removed from them, if there was to be any peace in my neck of the woods.

“Considering the mindset of their leader… I don’t see them just rolling over,” I did say Snatchback seemed like the vengeful sort, and Tungstens’ words confirmed that.

“You’ve been that much of a pain in the ass for them?” she asked, and if you considered the few I’ve killed along the way. Including what I could do for their whole organization. Then yeah, I think I have.

“You could say that,” and if they found this place, it’d be the trump card he needed to force my hoof, “all I have to do for now is destroy a port, at least a good part of it.”

With a final push the last of the servos was installed, and Alimite came right up to finish off the process. As she worked on the panel, I connected my PB to the suits interface and started going through the menus. The hoppers I could fill up in a bit, and let it repair over night while I rested. For the time being I just wanted to check one or two more things, then I’d be satisfied.

The locks opened back up, and in I went while it closed behind me. Inside there was the ambient glow of the HUD as it cued, before coming to life right before my eyes. No warning signs, that’s always a welcome start. A few clicks later and I started running the diagnostics.

Repair talisman: Online…

Chemical pump: Online…

Warning: Armor integrity: 15%

Okay, one warning sign I could live with. Spent servos went in hopper, and my attention turned towards the guns. Shotty was the first to find its place back home on my side, and along the other was something a bit more for range. Tungstens IF-90 was cumbersome in its purest definition, but if the Paladin told me to haunt the Gunners with Rogues suit. Then I’d be doing the same to the Rangers with his gun. At least it was a bit less ammo hungry than the mini had been.

Time for a second opinion, “Alrighty, how do I look,” I gave the mare a turnaround of the suit. Not the prettiest sight to see, but beauty was in the eye of the beholder. To me this thing was just gorgeous.

She seemed to think so too, and as much as she might have tried. That smirk wasn’t going anywhere, “Meh could be better,” Alimite answered while she walked up to the suit… ouch… After a comment like that, was a closer look really-? Her lips planted on the side of the helmet there for a quick peck, and in that short time I might have just blown another servo motor, “But nothing that can’t be repaired… I’m glad it got ya out of there in one piece.”

Was it hot in here?

“Ah ha…” I could feel the heat building up in that helmet. Just keep the visor down, and say something! “Couldn’t have done it without ya,” that was a lie, and you knew it.

Judging by the look she gave me; she knew it too. Though that didn’t stop the smirk from growing, “And as lovely as it looks… do you at least have a plan on how to destroy nearly a whole port?”

I’d been working on that thought about as much as I had the suit. However, all the synapsis bursting into flames were putting together some that just might work. “I dunno,” yep, definitely a plan coming together, “I might have a trick or two up my sleeve.”