Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter thirty: …For those we love

“I’m gonna have to start paying you for this sort of thing ya know,” Lilac muttered to me as my head remained stuck underneath the sink.

Winter might have gotten easier to handle, but there were still a few colts around school wearing bruises with her name on em. Between all the times attempting to keep her out of trouble, fixing things around what was becoming my second home… and the under the table fixings of the filly. You’d think I could have retired by now. Yet I got my own payment if a different sense. Getting to be a part of this little family was just what I needed. Plus, by golly could she bake!

“Say nothing of it,” I shook my head, knowing full well the look the mare was giving me, “you invite me over most nights anyway for supper, that’s payment enough.”

Leaking sink pipe… plumbing wasn’t in my job description, but how hard could it- a face full of waterlogged food chunks answered that question for me. Whatever might have been backing up the pipe not letting it drain found its new home through my mane, and I swore I could smell the pie crust she baked last week somewhere in there.

And through it all, Lilac was snickering at me… no, that laugh was a bit younger, “You’re supposed to use a bucket for that,” Winter chimed in from past the wooden cabinet, before I felt her head poke in to meet mine, “need a towel?”

My eyes were clenched tight, but I knew the look I was giving her, and it wasn’t long after that I felt the cloth draped over my face. This smell wasn’t gonna come out anytime soon, maybe if I used some of that turpentine, I might give it a run for its money. Then again, that’d cost a good chunk of my coat.

The wrench fell from my horn as I scrubbed what I could away, and right there for me to see was Winter wearing the smartest grin possible for her age… ugh, not even a teenager yet, and she had the attitude down packed.

Unceremoniously I was shoved aside as much as she could, and the filly wiggled herself into the cabinet with my wrench in tow. “You’re the smart one Wild,” she said working the mouth of the tool along the pipes, “why didn’t ya just follow the line?”

A small tinge of light from my horn gave off just the glow she needed to put me in my place, and after a twist from her. The plug at the bottom of the pipe gave out, letting the remains of last weeks meal drain free into the bucket I’d placed for just this sort of occasion.

Okay, I’ll give her that one then… “Not my forte, but I know enough to make due,” and that’s a terrible excuse.

In any case, the line was draining slowly but surely. All that muck that’d built up really brought any flow to a halt, hopefully now the mare behind us wouldn’t have to wait an hour before the sink drained to clean it out. Either that, or I’d be over here a week from now.

“And here I thought you knew all things about handy work?” she looked back to me, and through the drying bits I could still see that grin stretching ear to ear on her. Winter pulled the towel away, and started doing some of the clean up on my face herself. She had a much better view of it after all, something I was glad to not witness.

“Wild…” I heard Lilac mutter, and try as she might that smirk of her own wasn’t hiding like she thought it was, “you can just wash up here, no point in trekking it through your own place.”

With a small nod of thanks, and some relief I didn’t have to put up with trying to snake the drain. I went straight to the bathroom, and started scrubbing away before even bothering with the light. Improve the design of a new rifle? Sure. Mess with ordinance? Done deal. Basic home repair? I can learn just about anything… although by the smell of it, plumbing was one thing I’d have to brush up on then. Hell, maybe it was something both of us could do well in.

My hoof reached out, and after a flick I opened my eyes to see the fresh and- Bruises, cuts, and dirt caked every inch of my coat. Far more than the food chunks, and grimy water I’d thought. Even my face wasn’t spared from the damage, and I worked my hoof over the refection just to see if I was real.

How’d I get this beaten up over a sink?! The step or two back I took didn’t even register, as my eyes remained locked on that version of me that could only be from the trenches. He mimicked everything I did, the faces I made, even my tongue sticking out at him. Nope, that was me for sure. I knew those electrical burns across my coat well enough to know that much.

“What the hell?” I poked more at my face.

“Language, Wild,” Lilac said to my side, “Adult or not, you shouldn’t talk like that.”

I almost forget who’s house I’m in at times, “Right… sorry about that, it’s just-” I turned to face her, and my blood went cold.

That grandmotherly smile she always wore, even when trying not to laugh at my own dismay, was wiped clean. In its place all I saw was the hollowed out remains of a pony, its bones barely clinging to themselves with what little rotting tissue managed to hold it together. Yet somehow, Lilac… I think? Didn’t seem at all fazed.

“Something wrong dearie?” she cocked her head to one side, and I watched a normal sized roach scrape itself out from her eye socket.

What the fuck was going on?! I shoved passed her, and heard the yelp of the mare in return. That wasn’t the Pegasus I knew, no that was some horrible amalgamation of… whatever the hell that was! Though I couldn’t leave Winter in this place with that thing. It wasn’t a long dash back to the kitchen, and right where I’d left her the filly sat underneath the sink overlooking the piping.

“Winter! We need too-” our eyes met, and I felt my chest get punched through.

I thought my wounds were bad… but somepony had worked this filly over with a tire iron. Blood was dripping steadily from both her nostrils, and I wasn’t sure if there was an inch of her coat that wasn’t purple from the bruises and beatings. I couldn’t move seeing her like this, and even though I heard my name being called from what once was Lilac. My eyes couldn’t bear to see either of them like this.

So instead, I collapsed to the ground, covering my muzzle and face like a foal trying to hold off the boogiemare. ‘No, no, no, no, no, no,’ it ran through my head like a broken record, and my lungs raced to keep up with the storm erupting from my chest. “Stop it… it’s not true…” I felt my throat clench once more, as another pressed their hoof to my shoulder.

“Face it, Wild,” with one eye open, Winter stared me down with her own hollow orbs, “You failed.”

“FUCK!” I shot up from my back.

And promptly met a pair of talons, “Oh calm down!” Deacon snapped at, chomping his beak, “stop being so damn dramatic.”

My tongue froze there for a moment, and that was enough to send my eyes whirling while I looked around the room. The suit was standing over in the corner not far from me, but besides that everything down here just seemed dead. I never felt so uninvited in a place before, and that wasn’t even counting the glares I was getting from Tumble across the room. She looked pissed, more pissed than the gryphon tending to me right now.

Yet, she didn’t say a word, just continued passing that expression of sorrow mixed in my way. Deacon on the other hoof looked like he was going through the motions as if it was any other day. The damp towel sparked off some minor radiation as he dabbed it across my head, but I knew I wasn’t in any position to argue.

“Consider yourself lucky…” he gritted at me while rewetting the rag, “I’ve come close to an OD once or twice in my history, and I knew you were gonna do something stupid once you got out that door…”

Yeah… really stupid. My body took a dose like that once before, but reasoning I can do itagain wasn’t the smartest move in the book. All I could do now was let our team medic do his duty, and tend to another one of his patients.

That left me sitting there, and alone to my own thoughts. Not what I wanted to be doing right now. I remembered that little dream… memory? Thing? I’d witnessed in my slumber. Winter had picked up plumbing not long after that, and with my help excelled at it. We both did in fact, learning side by side. This world took that pleasant memory and turned it on its head.

Dream or not, I couldn’t help but let a tear of my own fall. I just went from watching the closest ponies I had to family enjoying an ordinary afternoon, to seeing what this world turned them into. One snuffed out at the start of Equestrias’ new chapter, and the other having been beaten by it through the years. Till it finally took her as well.

“What happened…” I didn’t intend for it to sound like venom, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to change how I felt. She looked healthy, a bit tired, but still breathing. So, what could have gone so wrong? “Why didn’t you help her?”

I didn’t think it possible for a gryphons’ pupils to narrow that much more, but he proved me wrong. Over his shoulder, Tumble looked ready to either throttle me, or give me a hug… probably both. Instead, Deacon held a talon to her, and continued going about his work wiping the cool sweat off my coat. My eyes were sharp enough against him to puncture steel, but he ignored it all the same.

Until he put the towel down, and I felt the talon collide with my jaw before I even saw it coming. If it wasn’t for the wall to my side I might have fallen out of the cot, but as I righted myself on my flank. The gryphon just stood there on his hind paws meeting my own glare.

“What do you want from me? You want me to say I called upon your goddesses to try and save one of their little ponies? Do you want me to have tried some Zebra black magic mumbo jumbo?!” now it was his turn to be angry, and truth be told. He had every right to be, I knew he wouldn’t have half assed his duty, but there still felt like it should have been more… “I can fix bullet wounds blindfolded, set bones with Wonderglue, and treat chems like no other…” That last one he meant to sting…

He turned his back to me, probably wanting to throw another punch. Until I heard a small sigh spill from him as he slumped against the cot with his back, and Deacon took a breath, “I’m a combat medic on the best of days, and a wasteland surgeon on the worst there Wild… I make do pretty well with what I have,” I was a testament to that. Patching wounds on the fly, and doing minor procedures was in his blood. I mean, both Tumble and myself owe our lives to the guy. “All that said, I’m not a miracle worker… I can’t cure cancer, not like that.”

There was a line to how much I could ask of my friend, and he’d already done so much for not only myself, but the town and other friends as well. I couldn’t go an- huh? “What do you mean?”

Slowly his head rose up from his palms, and panned over to me. Both of us sharing the same look of confusion, till I saw it dawn on him, “she… never told you, did she?” my expression told him that answer already, and all he gave in return was a shake of his head, “what is it with girls and their secrets?”

He didn’t see it, but it was Tumbles turn to stare him down after that remark. “When Winter was brought in, Walker got her back to that operating room with me as I looked her over. No real outside damage, so I figured internal bleeding,” a sound assessment if there ever was one, and one a doc like himself would have guessed, “so I took a look, and… well, it wasn’t good.”

The gryphon probably had seen more death and devastation with his old group than our little bunch. Having money on the line could mean any kind of work, and I doubted much of it was pretty. So, for him to be holding back his own tongue, it gave a good indication just how the mares’ body must have been fairing.

“Years out here in the wastes can do that to a pony,” Tumble finally got up from her seat and came over to join us, her expression no longer wanting to take either of our heads off, “especially kept in some of the conditions slavers frequent… getting wounded was just the final nail needed.”

That’s what it boiled down to… all those years ago of being in chains, finally caught up with the mare. If that band of ponies hadn’t already been taken care of, I might have gotten a new goal to meet.

That just begged one, rather obvious, question, “she knew, didn’t she?”

Deacon gave me a slow nod, “Yes… she knew it wasn’t going to be long for her. A year, maybe five for all I could tell, but in the end she just wanted to go out peacefully,” the times seeing her fumble finally made sense to me now, and if that was the case. She kept it secret then from not only me, but her own family as well. A talon rested on my shoulder, a lot more peacefully than his last gesture, “and with you here she was able to do that.”

That might have given me some semblance of peace, but not all that much. I would have preferred to have that extra few years to spend with her… but wouldn’t that just be selfish? The mare was fraying from the years spent out here, and who’s to say it wouldn’t have gotten ten times worse in the years to follow.

Would she have even been the same pony anymore? The image of her I saw while out cold came back to me again, and sent a shiver up my spine. All this time out here trying to track her down, and make sure she was safe. Yet, in the end, what did her in I couldn’t have even seen.

“I’m… sorry then…” I swallowed my pride a bit, before kicking the snot out of it for sounding so sour earlier. They didn’t deserve that, my friends didn’t deserve even a sideways look from me after what they’ve put up with, “Both for taking off like that, and doubting ya…”

A light smack from Tumble answered, before she gave one of the laziest snickers I’d heard in a while, “Yeah, you’re an idiot… we know.”

“And don’t think you’re gonna do it again,” oh I didn’t like that look he was giving me, “I took some liberties with that chem pump while you were checked out… might not have all the chems you were used to, but Med-X is still in there,” well that was a relief, “plus, a lot more slots for healing potions, should you go and get shot up.”

He knew my habits so well… “Thank you for that…” I was gonna miss the rush from the combat drugs, but at the end of the day I knew my heart would be thanking him, “How’d you learn how to modify it?”

“Well for starters you really shouldn’t be thanking me for that one…” Deacon started scratching the back of his head, and above all three of us heard hoof steps making their way across the floor. “We’ll let her know you’re awake, and then you can thank her personally.”

I wasn’t even able to get another word in before the pair scampered off to the stairs. It didn’t take a mathematician to figure out just who they were talking about. Only thing I had to wonder is just how pissed she really was.

Just as they left from my view, another came into it. With everything that’s happened in the last few… hours? How long was I out…? I could figure that out later. Regardless, the mare looked calm, but it wasn’t the kind of peace I’d seen before. Alimite kept her eyes forward while she walked in, and while they might have been in my direction. It felt like she was looking through me at this point.

True to that feeling, she held that stoic look all the way across the room while waltzing up to my armor. The same glare she gave across the room the mare repeated with the suit, both of them were staring blankly into one another. I about waited for the visor on it to break under her gaze, Celestia knows I would have.

Come on, say something at least… if there’s anything that worried me more than being chewed out, it was the silence before. She probably knew that, and while I wanted her to blow up on me already, the mare had different ideas. The same towel Deacon had been using on me, Alimite floated over to herself.

It probably didn’t do much besides smear the blood over those plates, but it was enough for her to ignore me a bit longer. We’d probably stayed like that for a solid ten minutes, and even I could see the cloth was long since dry.

Whelp, here goes nothing, “…Alimite?”

That’s about all I got out, before she pulled a wrench from nowhere and smashed it against the helmet. The first hit shocked me, but every one following I just got to see her composure fail a little more each time. She wouldn’t have said it out loud, but I knew she wished I was wearing it. At least then she could work her frustration out properly.

Oh shit! I dipped my head nearly to the covers, as the tool shot past me and collided with the wall. Now without anything to take her anger out on, I got to see the true brunt of just what I put not only my friends through, but her as well.

“You damned fool!” I winced back a bit after hearing that one from her, more than Deacons’ own punch, “What the hell were you thinking taking off like that, and to do what? Are you gonna fight the whole wasteland by yourself, is that it?” Alimite let off one more hit at the suit, this time with her own hoof, before turning those eyes my way. I knew that had to hurt, but right now I don’t think she even felt it.

“I don’t give a shit if you have a fancy suit of power armor to call all your own, you can still die if you do something like you just did,” and I’d come close to doing it myself, pushing the limits of its repair work, and even my own body. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest badass out there in the wastes, if you’re stupid your days are numbered… being smart about things, that’s how you live!”

Being smart, and lucky, was how I managed to thwart the Gunners as well as the Rangers for this long. At the end of the day, the mare was right, I knew that was a stupid thing to do… but finding out where they called home was the next task. Chasing them down just seemed like the quickest way to do just that.

“What would Winter have said!?” oh she knew right where to throw those punches… Every inch Alimite got closer I wished more and more that I could shrink away under the covers, though there was no getting away from this bedtime monster of a mare, “you made her a promise before she…” from this close I could see her jaw tense up at the thought, “and here you are about to throw it away to try and shoot a few more of them in the back.”

I could make out the tears welling up along her eyes, and somewhere I could feel Winter wanting to kick the crap out of me for being the cause of them. Alimite had every right to be pissed, and I half expected the same return I’d gotten minutes ago, considering she missed with the wrench.

Yet where my eyes closed expecting a slap, in its place I felt her slump to the side of the cot… Much like she’d done with her mom earlier. “…My mom’s dead, the mare that brought me into this world is gone…” her eyes met mine, and we both shared that same reminder in our ducts, each of us trying to hold it back for the other, “don’t make be bury both her, and you, all in the same day…”

Whatever energy she had after that rant left her, and her head, collapsed to the cot near my hooves. She was all out of steam, and while I might have been at a loss for words on how to defend my actions… truth be told, I didn’t even want to. I at least do know what I should have done instead of taking off.

Slowly one of my hooves made their way up to the top of her back, and started giving her that gentle comfort I’d missed doing before. It wasn’t much, far less than I should have done, but I don’t think she was in the mood for a hug. Not while she still wanted to beat the snot out of me.

What was a colt do say in this case? Besides… “I’m sorry, Alimite,” I let my head sulk with the weight of my choices, as her head stayed down. Even if she wasn’t looking at me, she wasn’t pulling away either, “I didn’t mean to make ya’ll worry… I just wanted answers to end this.” I hadn’t even looked at the clock to find out how long I was out cold, just how long did they have to wonder if I’d pull through or now? “And I know I’ll be making it up to you for a while,” that stirred her head a bit, “but I’ll find a way to…”

After she rose her head up more, I got to see the few tears she let fall in silence, not the proudest moment of my life… but at least this one I could make right. Alimite just gave me a small shake of her head as she got back up to her hooves. She wasn’t storming off, but I had to ponder what was going through the mares’ mind.

Once more she found herself back by the suits side, this time the cloth was ditched, and I got to see that faint glow of her horn take shape. I hadn’t gotten the chance to look over the damage myself quite yet, but judging from the shifting plates, it was a fair bet the gunners had managed to take a good chunk off its lifespan.

I wanted to say more, but what else could I? There was only so many ways to say sorry or I made a stupid choice in my book. So, besides just saying it, I’d have to act on it as well. “Make up for it… hmm?” she mused while going to work on the damage done to the visor, “You really want to make amends?”

Were there more powerful words in the dictionary to convey this? “Yes.”

“Good… then finish what you started,” I may have only caught the expression, but I knew a half-baked grin when I say it, “you can start by finding that bitch, and putting her in the ground.”

Well would ya look at that, seemed like we operating on the same wavelength after all, and that was an order I could follow… smartly this time. I’d have to track down those that attacked this place, figure out where their main holdup was. If Lock was anywhere, it’d be there, surrounded by her whole army. As much as I wanted to bound out of this room and get too it, my suit needed repairing, and I needed probably another hour or two to get my head back on straight.

I forwent the full speed ahead approach, and settled for putting my head back on the musty pillow. Letting myself breath a bit more evenly this time, I watched the mare work on patching up what she could. There was plenty of work that needed to be done on it, and I wasn’t making anything right with the suit being in pieces.

All that said, I knew there were… other matters, to attend to.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: “Life Giver”- With some skilled medical help, your overall med ports for healing potions had nearly tripled! Just make sure to keep them topped off, and do try to avoid bullets when you think of it.