Fallout Equestria: Enclave's Might

Enclave Recon Corps - Base

Blue waited near the entrance to the barracks, he had been there for a good 5 minutes now. Ever since his talk with Topaz, he had been a bit nervous. He had not asked anyone to go out with him in over three years, and now he was about to ask a pony out who not only had a crush on him, but also knew little to nothing about him. But then he remembered what Topaz said, how after he would go on one date with him, his crush on him will go away. Blue needed to be at his game, and worrying about romance and feelings don't have a place in that game. Then Blue saw Gem he was, walking to the entrance where he was standing. So it was time to make his move.

"Uh...Hay Gem. Could uh...we talk for a moment?" Blue asked, He rubbed the back of his head nervously. It had been a while since he had done this, so he was more than just a bit rusty.

"Yah sure, what's up?" Gem asked, he looked at Blue with curiosity, a soft smile on his face.

"Well uh...I wanted to know if you were free by any chance?" Blue asked.

"O-oh...uh...yah I'm free. Why? is there something you need me for?" Gem asked, somewhat surprised by Blue's question.

"Well uh...I was going to hit the bar near the docs, I have never been and I wanted to check it out. I thought...Mabey we could go together" Blue asked, his cheeks ever so slightly flushing red upon asking the question.

"I--uh..." Gem was completely speechless, he had no idea what to think about this. His words were caught in his thought and he was panicked, not knowing what to say he just nodded to let Blue know he said yes.

"Alright! um...ok I will...meet you outside by the docks at 0:1700" Blue said smiling as he backed up. However he was not looking where he was going, and he ended up walking into the wall. Hitting the back of his head as he rubbed it. Turning around and walking out the door. Gem could only chuckle as Blue walked out the door, then he walked over to his locker to see what kind of clothing he had available.

Enclave Recon Corps Base - Meating Room

The Meeting room of the Enclave. Every base location has one, always used for important meetings such as tactical talk, mission briefing, as well as casual talk when it's not occupied. However today it was being used for something much more important. Three ponies stood at the large table, one was General Misty Dawn of the ERC, she was in her power armor still and looked quite less than happy, while two other ponies deliberated amongst themselves.

"General Misty. Do you honestly think that my branch gives a flying fuck about this "Brotherhood" group? In all honesty this just sounds like a pitiful cry for help" One of the ponies said, he was a rather small-looking pony. He had a dark shade of green for a coat, and a lighter shade of green for his mane, with individual red, white, and blue stripes on his mane and tail. His eyes were yellow and soulless, like somepony who has seen war, and its consequences "Time and time again your department has asked for not only my branch's assistance but also General Solar's branch as well. Each time we come to these damn meetings it's the same damn thing, you need supplies and men."

"Windbreak you know damn well that if the Brotherhood keeps pushing us every time we go to the mainland, we will have a war!" Misty shouted, now looking properly pissed "All I am asking for is assistance from our fellow branches!"

"I hate to agree with Wind here...but he has a point Misty" The other pony spoke, General Solar of the EDF. She was a rather tall pegasus with a purple coat with a light orange and light purple mane, her eyes also pure yellow like Windbreak. She too looked like somepony who had seen war "You tell us every time we have these meetings that the ERC is on the verge of war, first it was the Desert Rangers, then it was the Steel Rangers, and now its the Brotherhood, this is just the Colt who cried Timberwolf at this point."

"Look I realize those last few times may have been... overdramatized. But I'm telling you that this time it's serious. I am running out of supplies and men, while you two are getting all of the necessary stuff for your department!" Misty said angrily.

Windbreak slammed his hoof on the table, his eyes full of rage and fire "Mabey that's because our departments actually do fucking something!" He shouted "Your the bloody fucking Recon Corps. Your main department is in charge of one damn thing. Recon in the Wasteland! Meanwhile our departments actually fucking do something!" He put his hoof back off the table and sighed, rubbing his head "Solar just....fucking tell her what we decided on."

Misty looked confused as she turned to Solar "What is he talking about?"

"Misty, myself and Windbreak have decided that from now on, your department is going to be getting its resources from other parts of the Enclave Territories" Solar said.

"What?! you can't do that!" Misty shouted "Thunderhead is where all of our departments get our supplies!"

"We are aware...but you have wasted your resources on useless endeavors, the Government is tired of reporting the ERC are broke and in need of loans from the banks, it makes us look bad" Solar said, sliding over a piece of paper "Your last official shipment of recruits and supplies will arrive in the following month. After that you are to report to The Enclave Capital in Thunderhead so you can work on a new place to get men and supplies."

"And what happens if I refuse to go or sign?" Misty asked.

"Then you will end up like the EID" Windbreak said with a shit-eating grin "The Enclave will consider you as a rouge Enclave Group and will no longer recognize you as a branch. All of your men will be recognized as traitors, and you will be considered an enemy of the Enclave."

Misty took in those words, she slowly sat down in her seat and thought for a moment. She then reluctantly grabbed a pen and signed her name on the Endorsement Paper "I'm doing this because I have no choice. Not because I agree with it.." She said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night" Wind said, as he stood up with Solar "Now then, I hope that you have this whole Brotherhood issue solved, because if you don't then you going to need a lot more than just another location to supply yourself with."

"Misty, we will contact you if there's anything else we need to discuss. Otherwise, we will talk at the next summit meet" Solar said, as she walked out the door, closing it behind her. Misty could only just stare to the piece of paper, the thing she used to sign her rights away sitting next to it. She could only feel one thing. Hatred.

Mainland - Docs

The Wasteland. Something Blue would have never imagined being in, nor what it would be like in person. However, the thing most surprising about the wasteland, was there were actually ponies here. A lot of them too, all of them of all different kinds, Unicorns, Earth Ponies and even Ground Pegasi all living together without a care in the world.

"I know, it's a lot to take in" Gem spoke up, from next to Blue. Both of the ponies had decided to go rather casual. Blue wearing Gem's hoodie while Gem wore a spare grey one he had laying around. "I was surprised as well....the academy never really does prepare you for what it's really like down here."

"It's just...they are all walking around like it's normal...even the Mud Ponies and Horn Heads...they just...leave each other alone.."

"Well...to them it's normal for different kinds of creatures to co-exist with each other. Might even see a few Alicorns here too" Gem said as he began to walk forward to the bar, Blue noticing and following him.

They came across the docs and continued on for a bit of time, passing a lot of different groups of ponies and creatures alike from Griffons, to Kirin, to even Bat-Ponies. It was like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. As they continued walking, Blue could make out the shape of a rather large building. It was made of what looked like old Spruce Wood, the windows a dark shade of yellow, suggesting the building was quite old. There were cracks and dents in the wood as well, including a large sign on top of it, covered in what looked like old Harthswarming Lights, the words read out "The Chipped Hoof" in big black letters, looking to be written by hoof as well, given the letters were sloppy and not as big and bold as the most businesses would be.

"Well this is the place."

"Uh...wow...I have to say I did not expect it to look like this.." Blue said just looking at the building. It smelled like piss and vomit, as well as beer. So it was definitely a bar.

"Yeah, it may not look like much but it does what it was built to do" Gem said walking closer to the building "You coming?" He asked.

"Oh uh..yah sorry" Blue said as he rushed to Gem's side, pushing open the doors to the bar.

Mainland - The Chipped Hoof

Going inside the building, Blue would see that it was quite larger than it was on the outside. The bar was the same as the outside, an old spruce color. However it was much cleaner inside than out. With two giant pool tables in the entrance, with a piano close by, playing some casual bar music. The bar also had huge red booths with dark tables covered head to toe with beer. As the two ponies walked further into the bar they saw the huge countertop, with tons of wasted ponies sitting on the stools, shelves were behind the counter, as well as a huge glass cabinet full of drinks of every kind. With a scruffy yet friendly-looking bartender across the way, a huge Wanted Poster was hanging on the wall next to the jukebox, The bold words "WANTED" underneath the poster. It looked to be a large stallion with power armor on him. He looked like he had a horn, with some mechanical wings attached to them, above the picture was the bounty of $1,000 Caps. Whomever the stallion was must be important.

"Hay Blue, I found an empty booth come on" Gem said tapping, on Blue's shoulder. He looked away from the poster to see where Gem was leading them. A good-looking booth in the corner of the bar, between that booth and another was another jukebox and a dartboard. Above their booth were what looked like giant horns probably belonging to a creature of some sort. Blue took his seat on the booth part facing away from the wall. So he could see who was coming and who was leaving, while Gem took his seat on the booth part facing to the wall, and more importantly Blue.

"So uh...why did you choose to come here out of all places?" Gem asked "Not uh...not that I don't mind, I was just curious."

"Oh...well um...I heard from the other soldiers that this place is popular for hangouts so uh...I thought coming here would be a good idea?" Blue said, nervously chuckling.

"Ah" Gem simply said looking around. The waiter eventually came and Blue and Gem both ordered their drinks, as the waiter walked away Blue kinda looked at them oddly "Something wrong?"

"I'm just...a bit surprised to see a Unicorn doing a job like this..." Blue said "I heard from the academy that Unicorns are only used for labor and stuff."

"Oh...well around the wasteland, they usually do whatever they want. Some of them are waiters, others are hunters, you name it" Gem said "So uh..what academy did you go to?"

"Thunderhead....uh...I graduated a couple of months ago" Blue said.

"Oh cool, I went there too” Gem said "Didn't it make the news a couple of years ago? I remember hearing about it"

"Uh...yah...I remember that..." Blue said, slightly looking down at the floor, then quickly looking back up as he noticed the waiter returning with their drinks. Blue quickly took his drink and had a couple of sips from it.

“Seems like only a few years ago I chose to be in the ERC after graduation” Gem said

"Why did you choose to join the ERC by the way?" Blue asked “Most people go for the EAC”

"I had family in the ERC. So I made a special request" Gem said "I don't like to be separated from my family."

"I....get that.." Blue said "I have family in the EAC, so I can understand why you would want to stay with them."

"Why did you not just...join the EAC then?" Gem asked.

"Let’s just say I thought it was in my best judgment to stay away from the other students who I graduated with..”

"Are you close with your family in the EAC?" Gem asked, taking another sip from his drink, seemingly more or less toying around with it then actually drinking it.

"I guess? I...have a Brother and Sister, both are older than me. But...things have been a bit iffy between us, its always been like that since our parents passed away" Blue said.

"Oh..I'm sorry to hear...what happened to them?" Gem asked, eyes focused on Blue now more than ever.

"My mother was killed by a burglar who tried to break into the house. My dad too..." Blue said, looking quite saddened from telling the story "I was only five years old when it happened, so my older brother raised both myself and my sister."

"I...know what it's like to lose parents. I lost mine too" Gem said "They were killed in a house fire."

"My condolences" Blue said, not really knowing what to say he took another sip of his drink. Finishing off half of it, getting slightly buzzed.

"Hay so uh...I know you probably get this a lot but" Gem asked, kinda twiddling his hoofs "What...happened in the Thunderhead Academy" Gem asked, looking at Blue curiously "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, seeing as you were there when it happened, I thought it was worth asking."

"No no... it's..it's fine" Blue said, as he took a large drink from his glass "There was a student there who had Dashites for parents, and she thought that she could go Dashite too, but she planned on taking a handful of the most popular and well-trained students with her" Blue said "Her boyfriend found out and reported her, so she and a handful of the students she convinced to join her where arrested and branded."

"Really? that boyfriend of her's must have been really popular after that."

"Well..not exactly no...before she was arrested she found out he reported him. The student got a personal punishment by the Dashite Traitor. After that he fell off the rails" Blue said.

"What happened to him?"

"He graduated, though most students think he transferred to Manehatten. Sence going there is basically signing a death warrant" Blue said.

"That's a shame...I feel bad for him" Gem said "It must have been difficult for him after that happened. No one trusting you or even thinking your worthy of being in the clouds."

"Yup...one could imagine" Blue said, he looked at Gem to say something but...he stopped. Something about this all, it felt...right in a way. Gem was here, listening to him talk. No one had ever treated him like this in a long time. Not since his younger days in the academy. Yet this stallion somepony he had only just met. Was indulging him in not only his own time, but also Gem's as well. He took the time out of his day to be with Blue. It was...almost like he truly did feel sympathy for Blue. The way he listened to him about his parents, and his struggles at the academy. No pony would have done that unless they really meant it.

"Did you by any chance hear about the new briefing tomorrow? apparently the new recruits are going on their first recon mission" Gem said.

"Wait really?" Blue said "So...we will be doing our first mission then?"

"Mhm! although the general is not telling us what we will be doing. She said it's top-secret" Gem said.

"I don't care what it is, as long as I get to do something" Blue said smiling.

Gem then raised his glass and held it close to Blue "To new beginnings, and new legacies?"

Blue just smiled, and clanked his bottle onto Gem's "To new beginnings, and new legacies" Blue said. He looked at Gem one last time. That greyish-brown stallion, with a grape-colored mane. Smiling and enjoying his time with him. Blue smiled back, he... thought to himself, "Perhaps...another date would not hurt in the future" with that, he took a long sip of his bottle, excited for the coming days in the future.