Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter three: Tutorial

I had expected to be blinded by the light or something when the top hatch finally came open, I mean according to my Pip-Buck it was only noon. Though the clouds above that seemingly blocked out everything put a damper on the chance of seeing the sun once more. Hey, at least the air tasted… raw. Like something about it screamed of pollution and decay, the surrounding area didn’t seem much better.

The walkway down from the elevator even after almost two centuries remained littered with the skeletons of those that had tried making it inside. Stuck at the fence they tried to pry open and get past the guards, even the guards themselves had stayed till the doors were sealed. How could that have felt? Trying to keep back a bunch of ponies who wanted only to survive, just to stay with them when it all got blown to hell.

All along the path there had been the remains of those and their luggage. ‘How many actually made it to their stables?’ it was a good question to be asked, better one would be how many other stables crashed and burned like mine did.

I looked around at the debris of crashed vertibucks and sky wagons. Apparently, some tried to take to the skies to get to the stable quicker. Judging by the number of bodies outside that fence, didn’t work out too well for them. Still, as long as the town hadn’t been wiped off the face of the map… I had a place to start at least.

With a glance down at map on my screen I saw a little tag pop up, Fetlockton.

***

Without daylight to burn time really does move fast, especially when there hadn’t been any other red bars shown since, I left 100. It was approaching evening when the place once called home came in to view. Good thing too, because the thundering crack behind me which drew my eyes, followed closely by the mounds of smoke rising to join the already grey skies only told me one thing.

Stable 100 was no more.

‘Hmm… I wonder if Las Pegasus could have seen that?’ it was a stupid thing to wonder, considering that place got the same treatment as most of the nation.

Whelp, home sweet home at least! Or so the thought should have been…

The various parts of ponies set up on pikes have a way of pulling any sort of joy out from you. Eyes had been removed, limbs cut off, and probably a dozen too many darts were thrown in to a mares’ torso like a dart board. At least I think that was a mare. I felt my stomach lurch almost to my tongue from the stench, these were fresh…

“Hello?” the whisper left my lips as I found my legs bringing me closer to the ground to sneak as best I could. Funny, how could it have been even quieter outside, than a stable where you’re the only one alive?

Then the cackling and chatter of another echoed through the streets that were but a memory as a little blue bar popped up, finally! It was beginning to get creepy. I trotted around the corner of the few wagons that laid up turned like crude barricades, and there in the middle of a street wandered another pony. Maybe their sense of attire was a little off, leather barding and a few metal plates here and there, but it was another pony!

“Excuse me… Miss?” the words had barely left my mouth when that head turned around, and I could only see the bits of flesh still clinging to her teeth.

And that’s when the bar turned red.

“Aren’t you handsome!” the crazed mare lunged while her teeth gnashed out those words, and swiftly pulled out a tire iron from the belt in to her teeth.

Okay, combat 101… if you try to attack someone with a melee object, make sure to see if they are armed with a gun as bullets are very effective. Then again, if your target is a stable dweller who hasn’t figured out a thing of this world, you have far better odds.

She wasn’t the heaviest mare in the world, but those pupils were the size of pin pricks! Who knows how many chems she must have been on? The wild swings from her tire iron might have knocked my pistol away, but good thing Pip-Buck casings were tough. With one hoof holding her head out of reach from mine, the case came in full strength and connected with her temple.

I might have knocked her sober for a few seconds as she rolled off the side, but as I got back to my hooves so did she. This time though she was disarmed, another lunge later met her with a bullet to chest… and merely a stumble to her stride.

Okay, take two!

Six more later and she dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap… hmm would that make it a take seven then? That’s when it dawned on me though, one very simple fundamental fact.

I just killed someone, I just murd- okay technically it was self-defense, but still. This is the first time another life had been taken by my hooves! Not even during the war did I see the front lines! My support for the effort was in a different area. How would you expect me to feel at first? Though, I guess to my testament if the E.F.S. marked them as red they didn’t have the best of intentions to begin with. Still, it didn’t feel right to do, maybe she was just sick? Murderous by first impression, but insane possibly.

My hooves fell to the ground for a moment at the lifeless body. Without her eyes open, the mare looked nearly peaceful, and I could imagine she was just sleeping. Here was a mare who might have had all manners of problems with her, ones I couldn’t know, and I just shot her. I wanted somepony to come out and tell me what was going on, at least say she had it coming… I mean she did?! …Didn’t she?

Then again, combat 101 should tell you another thing…

Guns made noise.

A few more red bars popped up on my screen, and boy were they getting close. The ruins of what was a diner gave me a good vantage as the mares’ friends showed up. Let’s see, two earth ponies, one unicorn, all with melee weapons save the unicorn who sported a… definitely a missile launcher, and definitely a number one threat.

‘What the hell had this world come to?’ I couldn’t help but wonder, my E.F.S. was outright marking ponies as threats.

Ponies of all damned things! We were probably the most peaceful race this world had seen… you know besides the years of war, bloodshed, weapons development, genocide, and chaos. I should feel bad about this, I should have felt bad about straight up executing some mare in the streets. Yet the more I looked over these ponies, the more I could only think how to come out of this alive. Something was very wrong with this world, and I had a feeling I was just getting started.

“Come on out!” the unicorn floated the thick barrel around as he searched, “we know your hiding…”

Well… duh? Why wouldn’t I be?

Three to one was never a good fight, I flipped through my inventory and looked at my ammo count. Only thirty rounds, and with the magazine on this version that was less than three full mags… whelp! What did I have to lose?

The gun hovered up as the sights aligned over top unicorns’ head, steady pull of the trigger and… the round pinged off the brick wall behind him. I hated small arms, you had to be way too nimble with them to do a thing, and usually required more bullets. A few more squeezes yielded me a better result as he looked around in one spot to try and find the shooter, and caught him in the throat and temple… I’ll take luck any day. Thankfully he must not have been as chemed up as the mare.

The two stallions with him though that held a bat and what looked like a piece of rebar quickly followed the flashes and darted towards the diner. Okay running now! Through the front door one plowed, his counterpart joining him a moment later. I could hear them across the counter as my head stayed low with the gun close by.

Slowly I crept along the tile floor, waiting for one of them to poke their own head over. Either they were brain dead, or hadn’t seen me leap the counter. Their hoof steps kept walking around as if they were searching, just doing a terrible job at it.

‘Alright think… think,’ the list of what was in my inventory flew past my eyes, there had to be something that could be… Hmm, what’s this?...

Time slowed down for what seemed like to a crawl, I had heard of S.A.T.S. once or twice before, but never used it myself. Boy was I glad it came with this Pip-Buck! Both colts’ expressions turned from one of anger to surprise at this stallion standing behind the counter with his gun at them, and from this close there wasn’t much that could have been done.

Four shots more down the chamber and they joined their friends, two in each head just to be sure. More than likely beginners’ luck having never used S.A.T.S. Still, it was kind of surreal. Fresh out of the stable, and four bodies now notched into my belt. What kind of world must it have been where these ponies were killing one another at first sight?

Add that to the ever-growing list of questions.

While the two that came in to join me might not have had anything on them of use, the mare and missile colt had bottlecaps of all things. Thankfully my Pip-Buck threw that in to the same field as the Equestrian Bit from before. So, caps were currency now? I wonder how long it took for that to take off, better question, how the hell did my Pip-Buck know this was ‘bits’ now?

The launcher itself looked beat up to every sense of the word. Rusted, dented along the exhaust port, certainly needed a little more than some TLC. My magic though took hold of it with all the familiarity of a musician to their favorite instrument. A waft from the exhaust port filled my nose with that sense of nostalgia as the chemicals danced long my mind, screaming to me that the colt had fired it recently.

“Oh, I’ve missed that smell,” there might have been saliva coming from my mouth. Who doesn’t like a little high explosives to brighten their day? Granted it might blow up in my face, but it’d be fun while it lasted.

About hugging the weapon to my chest, the three rounds for it quickly found their way in to my bag as the launcher wrapped over by back. The streets may have been cluttered and filled with a scent that couldn’t quite be placed, but it still had the same lay out from when I was here. Looking down either road way of the small town, my hooves started in the one direction that made sense.

Home.

Granted, I hadn’t a clue what state it might have been in, especially after all these years. Though, could anyone blame me for wanting to check it out while I was in the area? There along the many burned out streets that remain littered with… litter. The row of small cookie cutter homes remained still standing.

Well, partly standing at least.

A number of them seemed to be more than in just disrepair, but given the group I had run across, it didn’t surprise me that things may still be at their worst in the aftermath of total annihilation. Some roofs were caved in after the rot got to it over the years, a number were boarded up as if they had been make shift shelters for some, even some were torn in half from maybe just time taking its toll and the foundation giving way.

The teal house on one side of the street laid in tatters it seemed, having fallen victim to the decay of timbers. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell if it was teal or not anymore. Half its porch was gone, and a few of the windows were broken. If there was anyone trying to hold up in it, they weren’t making a peep.

Across from it on the other side of the street I saw the rusty red panels of timber that made up another home, the door had been kicked in long ago and hung off its hinges. Judging from the darker shades of red in the shape of a skull that were flaking, it hadn’t been inhabited in a while. Though I didn’t want to dwell on if that was paint that was used or not.

My place was a reck.

“Even after all these years,” I said to myself as I walked along the floor boards that still gave off their creaking, “the timbers are still holding, and still making just as much racket as when I walked them last.”

I never did get the chance to replace them, and it didn’t look like I’d ever have to think on it again. The kitchen had been tossed like a salad as even the empty cans were gone, hell someone in those years even took the door off of my fridge. Seriously, who takes a fridge door? I trotted past the kitchen and moved through the halls, trying my best to keep an ear out from anything that might be here.

Then again, I wasn’t always the stealthiest so if there was anyone. They’d probably already be at my throat. The door in the back only remained half open, letting me hear the titters that scurried across the floor, as my hoof steps slowed to a tip-toe. I may not be all that sneaky, but I could still try and catch something off guard.

With the pistol out it held up to my eyes as I pushed the door open, funny this place was probably cleaner than it was when I still lived here. Then again, I probably had a few unwanted guests that did some spring cleaning while I was out. Would you look at that, more guests. Why did roaches have to get so damn big too!

A few scurried out from under the workbenches and tossed tool bins, these ones weren’t much different than the ones I ran in to back in 100… or so I just had to think that at first. Oh, hello! Aren’t you a new one? The largest one of the bunch caused my Pip-Buck to tick from the radiation that came off of its glowing hide.

His little friends took a few bites out of my jumpsuit, but nothing a night’s rest couldn’t fix. The big one was a different story, how had radiation effected these things that much? I thought roaches were supposed to be immune to radiation for crying out loud! Nothing the butt of a grip couldn’t fix in the end. The smaller ones may have met their end, but the larger one half my torso size skittered away in the shelves of my old workshop.

“Oh no you don’t, come back here,” the barrel held in front of me as I went and followed the light it gave off like a beacon, waiting for it to-… yep, that’s it!

It fluttered in the air trying to go for my face, luckily a horn works so much quicker and swatted it out of the air into a chalkboard. Two, probably overzealous, shots later and it was down for the count. The chunks of flesh that broke off from the moderate caliber softly clicked to me on my Pip-Buck, then as they faded with the rads I put a few of them in my bag. Who knows if it might be useful later on? Bait to drive something off, bargaining, emergency rations?

Yeah, that last thought was pleasant…

Radroach meat my PB gave it, even had a value of one cap to it. “How the hell do you know that?” it was a question that would probably linger to the end of time, but didn’t matter.

A quick look around shown that there wasn’t anything not worth taking. Every screw, inch of tape, empty lube can, and even screwdriver had been picked from this place. Let’s see what the rest of the house had to show, shall we.

‘Well compared to the rest of my day,’ I thought for a moment if this would jinx it or not, ‘this has been kinda… uneventful really.’

The living room was cleared, just a lot of dust in the mix. The dining room only had a single table and chair to it, could have sworn I had a full set. Even my bedroom was a mess like I expected, and there were far more dried fluids in my bed than I left there… yuck. The bathroom needed a much-deserved cleaning, but the water that still managed to flow might have been a little grimy. Then again, the rads coming off of it were pretty low so I think I’d manage.

I looked around in the hall for a second and even waited to see if anything could be heard from above before my eyes turned to the one place left unsearched. The attic door was shut, and the roof looked intact from the view outside. Only one way to find out. With a grip on the handle and the pistol held in my mouth I gave it a tug.

Surprisingly, the whole contraption itself didn’t come crashing down on me in one go. Unsurprisingly, there seemed a good amount of garbage from time that did fall. Most of this stuff wasn’t even mine, I didn’t use the attic often. Just had it really for if I ever got a family of my own and needed the extra space.

Creeping up the stairs, it was impressive more so that they still held my weight. With a glance around as I peeked the edge, the only fading light that came within was the small X shaped window that looked out front. Keeping my hooves ready to brace myself should it give way; the floor boards here were probably the most stable in the whole building. As I worked myself further in, I scanned with my E.F.S.

No blue bars, no red bars. I was actually alone up here. Which was a good thing, because the handy clock that came with this wrist contraption was telling me it was soon approaching dusk. Damn… time flies when you’re having fun, don’t it? The light thankfully from the Pip-Buck was enough to see a little more clearly around, and once satisfied that the coast was clear I pulled the stairs back up for a little added security.

There really wasn’t much up here. A box or two, old books that hadn’t been read in a century plus. Nothing really as comfortable as a cryo chamber, or a bed for that matter. Hey I had made it though, escaped an exploding stable, and got back home. Here now I rested in my attic, and munched on a horribly expired can of what at one point was apples… I think. It was sweet at least, and there really wasn’t much left that the radroaches hadn’t gotten to. Yet, as I munched on that paste of a fruit long past, and a few other items I got from 100. I had to ask myself.

So why did I feel so empty?

Maybe it was the fact the skies were cloudy the whole day.

Maybe it was that I had no idea where to go after today.

Maybe it was the realization that it all might have been a lost cause.

However, I was alive. So, I had that going for me. Plus, a promise was a promise.

My eyes drifted out that window to the streets that were once known well to me, now left to the wilds of the world that others knew far more of. It would be a learning experience sure, but I was a good student back then. Always paid attention to the teacher, did my work when it was due, and was on time… I’ll just have to learn a little quicker out here it seemed… maybe a nap would help me to wake up from all this.

For being a young adult barely at the end of their teens, I was doing pretty good for myself, but then I had also gotten in the right job market. The door to my home opened up, and although it was lonely at times, it was still a home none the less. My saddle bags from work dropped to my sides by the door as I picked out a few of the designs in one of them and walked over towards the kitchen as I looked them through.

“Gatling Laser Conversion,” across the top I had read, right next to the stamp of the Ministry. The set of gears, surrounded by the apple with the swords through it had took up a majority of the front page.

It had been one of the many projects that crossed their desk, and just like any dreamer of an engineer or developer, there had to be somepony ready to try and make that dream a reality. Lucky for me, I was just that kind of pony for them. Probably why I got hired in the first place when the war started ramping up.

With an apple in my aura and a kettle of water on the burner for some coffee later, I returned to my living room to take a minute and look over some of the design a little more. The diagram itself told me everything I needed to know about the weapon concept. Longer barrels arranged in a group of four, higher capacity for the spark batteries. According to the numbers the total energy output would be a little lower than the typical energy rifles, but it’d sure make up for that with firepower output.

With the drawing placed, I broke out a pencil and got to work. “Let’s see… these should be spaced a little more apart for better cooling as they spin,” I changed the specs of the barrels just a tad as the words came like I wasn’t the only one in the room, completely normal behavior… I know, “hmm… probably should change to using sparkle packs instead of batteries…”

Small arms I never got a lot of involvement in, the heavy guns on the other hoof are where I shined. Something about taking a big hunk of metal and making bad guys disappear really fast appealed far more to me than the more subtle approach with other guns. The M.W.T. certainly shared my appeal with most of the projects they had. From the Power Armor those Steel Rangers wore, the weapons that armed them, and everything in between.

“Hmm… I wonder if-” the crash nearly made me jump off the couch and in to the ceiling, as something whizzed by my head and tore off in the kitchen.

Then again, the baseball that struck my cabinet and rolled back across the tile put me at ease as I picked it up with my horn. Having turned around, the neatly punched hole through my window only a head or two higher than my own when I was sitting let me breathe a sigh of relief. Whoever hit it had a pretty good swing on them.

A quick poke of my head at the window later earned me a group of very shocked looking colts, and one earth pony filly. The latter held a bat in her mouth as her violet eyes caught mine. All the others there scattered, and the filly herself raced towards the teal house across the way. With her mint tail disappearing around the door, I just shook my head.

Really? If you’re going to try and hide, don’t go straight to your house after you’d already been seen. Walking to the kitchen I turned off the burner and brought the ball back up to my side. It wasn’t much to fix a window, hell I probably had the glass for the pane somewhere in my workshop anyway.

Kids will be kids though, and I at least could return the ball.