Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Ten

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After having given Tripwire the medallion, he motioned for me to stay silent while I watched as he made a hole in the air magically opened up and then jumped through. On the other side of the blue barrier I saw Tripwire appear from another hole in the air.

It took me a bit of time to understand what a portal actually was, even after seeing it myself.

Returning through the portal, Tripwire held a crystal that was attached to a brass fitting. It had an odd glow about it, likely magical.

"This should do, let's just give the rangers their damn key and get these collars off or necks." Tripwire huffed.

Fortunately the trip out of this stable was rather quick, with both robots bussy brushing ancient confetti and dust around. I did my best to not look at the mummified pony along the way, and as we came to the entrance, I stopped.

"Dumb question, but did your family come from here?" I asked Tripwire.

He nodded. "I don't know the details, but I was told that my ancestors were talented spell casters and educators before the great war. They used what had been made here to help rebuild some of the surviving civilization in this area. Unfortunately, with the way the wasteland is, my family has had its ups and downs, including forgetting how our artifacts worked. My father wanted to return our family to our former glory, and raised my brother and I to be better than the average wastelander."

"Then Redeye came," I commented.

"Then Redeye came," he said in confirmation. "I was actually in the midst of studying some of my family's artifacts, learning how to use them before my father hid them all away."

Tripwire then trotted to the barrier. "We can continue this talk later, before a certain pony becomes impatient."

Following him, we both trotted through the barrier, and to the waiting Steal Rangers. Where they quickly escorted us away.

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When we arrived at Shortcake's office, she looked nether pleased nor displeased, just expecting. Taking the key, she examined it for a minute, carefully looking it over in detail.

"This certainly looks like it will fit in the ignition slot." She said, passing the key to a scribe. "Now to see if it works. If not, the little mare here loses her head, and this time I'll have one of my knights escort you though that stable."

I physically gulped at her comment. "Why me?"

Shortcake looked at me as though I was realy dumb. "Unlike Tripwire here, Miss Lottery, you are not necessary for getting into that stable. Thus utterly expendable, and a good example that those collars are not just a bluff."

"Oh." I said, again feeling very small and vulnerable.

Tripwire cleared his throat, getting Shortcake's attention. "I assure you, it will work. The real issue is if the train here can even work."

The power armored mare laughed. "That's not going to be an issue, the scribes here are quite talented engineers. If that key wasn't some rare arcano-tech artifact made from just as rare material, they would have made one themselves by now."

"It's a shame that your kind spends your time hoarding technology, and not using it for the greater good." Tripwire commented. "Those scribes of yours would be worth their weight in caps, if not more."

A look of disgust formed on Shortcake's face. "That may be so, but we all have sworn an oath to keep the artifacts of the old world out of the hooves of savages like you. As history has shown time and again, when you ponies gain the power of the old world, nothing but destruction and tragedy follow. Something my foolish brothers and sisters have forgotten with their formation of the Apple Jack Rangers. An endeavor they will come to regret."

"The road to Tartrates is pathed with good intentions, as the old saying goes." Tripwire said with a smile.

"Though I hate to admit it, I must agree." Shortcake said as her face relaxed. "But the damage they will do before they realize this, it may become catastrophic if nothing is done."

There was an electrical wine in the air before lights turned on all over the train, with the humming of long slumbering tech now waking up. Shortcake then smiled at me, "looks like you get to continue to live your pathetic life. So now be gone and go bang rocks together in the mud."

Before I could say anything, both Tripwire and I were grabbed from behind, and the pressure on my neck was released. A unicorn scribe held the bomb collars in their magic, quickly bringing a rag over to clean them off. Another power armored pony then opened the door and with a telekinetic pull, another scribe tossed us out.

With a face full of dirt, and pain screaming from my fucked up leg, I looked up to see Shortcake looking down on us. Her eyes were cold and filled with disgust. "Never say we Steal Rangers don't uphold a deal, even if we force you to make it. But be warned, whatever you've found down there, we may one day return to save it from the likes of savages like you. Best leave it where it lays, and let it be forgotten. Otherwise there will be no mercy from us."

A great roar came from the train and wheels made an ear piercing screeching of metal grinding on metal. Slowly, the train began to move, Shortcake slamming the door shut as dust and dirt was shot into the air, enveloping the two of us.

Tripwire and I stood there, the loud clunking of metal defining us to all, but as the dust cleared, we watched as the last train cart passed. Standing on the back of the train and waving at us were several foals of various ages, all in thick gray uniforms. Instinctively I waved back, now leaving me a bit conflicted.

They had been assholes from the start, putting bomb collars on us. But as I watched those foals grow smaller, I felt that they must have had their own reasons. And if Tripwire's father had sealed this place off from Redeye, then the Steel Rangers had to be justified in their views.

There were evil ponies out there who would abuse the things from the old world. Keeping such things out of the hooves of evil so others don't suffer was, to me, a noble cause. Still didn't stop me from never wanting to cross paths with them ever again.

They were still, without a doubt, assholes.

There was a loud crash in the distance as the train rammed into what had to be the raider gauntlet, sending columns of smoke into the air and starting fires. The train didn't stop, plowing through the makeshift buildings and disappearing into the wasteland. The cracks of gunfire and explosions that followed sounded pathetic from over here, as the raiders got a bit of what they deserved.

Though it would have been better for everypony if the Steel Rangers had stopped to wipe out those monsters. It would have at least improved my opinion of them.

Turning to Tripwire, I asked, "so, do we leave now?"

Tripwire scratched his chin for a moment. "No, we should give the raiders an hour to settle down. They're going to be too riled up after that."

He then pulled out the medallion and made a portal. "Let's take a break in the stable, eat something before we try to get past the raiders."

My stomach grumbled at that, reminding me that we haven't eaten anything all day.

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Back in the proto-stable's office, we finally took a break, and dug into our rations. It was just some dried meat and hard crackers, but my stomach was so grateful to have the hard tasteless food.

While we were here, Tripwire and I decided to look in the craters. Opening a smaller one, it revealed a lot of rings and bracelets. Each of them had a small carved and polished gemstone that seemed to glow. Despite how beautiful they were, looking at them made me feel uncomfortable, as though something was wrong with them.

"What are they?" I asked instinctively.

Tripwire raised an eyebrow at me before slowly closing the jewelry case. "Just some magical accessories. They have a… calming effect on those who wear them. Sell's for a high price to the right ponies. Though I plan to use most of them to help bring order to the wasteland, a few will be sold to pay off our debt."

After my run in with the Corps Dancers, I could use something to calm my nerves. "That's…. Well amazing. I'm sure those would help a lot of ponies out here, with all the pain and suffering that goes on I mean."

"It will be a far better alternative than turning to chems, that is true." He said as he trotted over to a far larger case.

Opening it, inside was some strange device that had a hoof trigger like a rifle, but instead of a barrel, it had a long empty cylinder on rails. Next to it in the case were six large eggs with the radiation symbol on them. Tripwire whistled loudly as he inspected the odd weapon. "Didn't expect a balefire egg launcher, though this one is a bit odd looking from the few I've seen before."

Cocking my head, I had to ask. "What is a… well any of that?"

"Right, you're not as knowledgeable on this stuff." Tripwire then levitated the balefire egg launcher to me, and I found that it fit nicely onto my back. It even had an odd scope that sat next to my face and could fold down for me to look through. But the wait of the weapon made it hard to stand as I tried to not put pressure on my bad leg. "First off, the balefire eggs and it's launcher are, from what I know, zebra weapons, many of which were captured by the Equestria Military. They're rare, but not so rare that you will never see them in the wasteland. The destructive threat of this weapon is enough to scare most ponies into choosing a more peaceful solution than fighting."

He then examined the basket, trotting around me. Then his eyes light up in realization. "Oh those dirty bastards, the ministry of Awesome made a balefire egg launching shotgun. Must be talisman enhanced too."

The waist of the weapon was then lifted off my back and put on top of its box. "Once we're done resting here, you want to test this baby out?" Tripwire asked me.

"On what?" I asked, then remembered what we had to pass through to get back to Ursa's Rest. "Oh… yes, a thousand times yes."

With gleeful hop in my step, which I made sure my bad leg was not used, we opened a few other crates. The ones nere the weapon were filled with more balefire eggs, ensuring that the launcher could be used a bunch of times. There were more cases with the off jewelry, and one that had a whole bunch of clubs with a wire frame around each one. Tripwire said that they were weapons made to be non-lethal, which sounded like a good thing to me.

Some of the cases had odd rifles and with them small syringes and grenade-like canisters. Tripwire explained that they were more non-lethal weapons. Something to knock out a pony without hurting them. I wanted to take some for myself, as knockout gas sounded useful, but Tripwire advised that I leave it for now.

The last batch of cases were the oddest, filled with nothing but orbs that had a slight glow to them. With them were folders filled with papers. Tripwire quickly looked through several of them, disinterested on his face before picking up one, in which a satisfied smile formed on his muzzle.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Knowledge." Tripwire said as he carefully put the papers back where he had taken them from. "Looks like my ancestor, Pentagram, made sure his knowledge was not so easily lost. From spell casting to arcano-tech, he had it stored here in these documents and memory orbs."

"Amazing!" I almost did not believe him, but so far he hadn't lied to me. If what he said is true, this knowledge could be given out, used to help ponies help others.

Looking at them, I then noticed that a batch of orbs and their folder were missing. "What about those?" I pointed out.

Tripwire frowned. "That would be the last artifact I'm looking for. It's the thing that helped my family's original rise to power. I already predicted that it would not be here, though I had hoped that documents of it would be. But I already have friends that have figured out where it could be. Once we return to Ursa's Rest, and pay our loans, we'll meet up with them."

"Does that include… Onyx?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, but don't worry too much about her, so long as you're with me, she won't touch you." Tripwire trotted up to me, nuzzling me and giving me a kiss.

I reciprocated, enjoying his touch. But I then stepped on my bad leg and the memory of Chilly flashed into my mind with its pain, causing me to push Tripwire back.

"S… sorry. I think I'm not in the mood right now." As I spoke, one of my front hooves was shaking, and I held it to make it stop.

Tripwire sighed and sat down, levitating a bottle of water over to himself as he pulled out his pocket watch. "Alright then, I'll be opening the portal in half an hour, so get some rest."

"Ya, I'll go take a short nap. It's been a real fucking day." I said as I curled up onto the floor, not minding the dust. Closing my eyes, I focused on home, on a place not filled with death and torment.

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As I pulled out my axe to strike the raider, he knocked it out of my mouth with his large chipped hoof, and with a second strike, knocked me to the ground.

A wait pressed down on my chest as the raider stepped on me. "Look bitch, you ain't cut out for this wasteland adventuring shit. But there is something you can do. For me."

His vile tongue licked me as I felt a collar around my neck, making it hard to breathe as it beeped. Then ropes tied around my legs, pulling them apart with the raider still over me. Looking down, I could see his mutilated spiked covered dick, it fully erect and pointed at me.

Cruel laughter erupted around me as I noticed that I was surrounded by raiders, all smiling with their pointed teeth. They looked at me like I was food with their yellow bloodshot eyes.

I pulled at the rops, trying to resist, but found no strength to free myself. I wanted to scream, but nothing came from my voice, not even a whimper as I felt the raider press agent me.

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I woke up with a jolt, not feeling either rested or calm. Grabbing my bottle of water, I guzzled what was left of it down, and got up. The pain that shot up my bad leg again reminded me of that horrid memory.

"Alright, let's do this!" I said with determination as I tried to keep my legs from shaking.

Tripwire checked his pocket watch, "it's only been twenty minutes, but alright."

Getting our gear ready, Tripwire loaded the balefire egg launcher and sat it on top of its box to be picked up a little later. Then he opened the portal and we hopped through.

Again outside in the dry hot air, the sun was starting to dip low, and our shadows were growing long. Adjusting our burlap scout cloaks to properly cover us, we trotted back the way we came, making sure not to get too close to the raider base.

Through the scope of my hunting rifle, I could see how much the raider base was in shambles. The train had rolled right through the middle of it, effectively destroying most of it. I was unsure if the few red smears were dead raiders or not, but I could see that the living raiders were trying to rebuild a barricade. There were at least fifteen of them throwing trash into a pile, making a rather shitty wall.

One raider caught my eye; bigger than the other with a painted brahmin skull on his head. This raider had to be the boss, as he did nothing but yell at the others.

Looking about a bit more, I caught sight of the raider snipers. Both in the same watchtower, both more interested in watching the other raiders work then keeping an eye out for danger.

Motioning for Tripwire's attention, I pointed at the watchtower. "Do I take out the snipers, or the raider boss first."

Looking through the scope of his rifle as well, he carefully assessed the situation. "I think the snipers can wait, anyways, if we take out most of the raiders in one go, the rest are more likely to run. So taking out their boss, with the others around him, is the better move right now. Strike while we're unseen as it were."

With the plan of attack set, we got a little closer, keeping under cover in case the sniper did decide to do their job. Once we were in a good position Tripwire opened his portal and jumped in to fetch the multi balefire egg launcher.

With it loaded, the weapon was even heavier than before, forcing me to use my bad leg to maintain balance. But as painful as it was, I wanted to hurt the raiders even more. Tripwire then helped adjust the launcher, turning dials and directing me how to stand. Eventually the high tech scope of the launcher was giving me a bunch of green dots, which I guessed meant good to fire.

"I'll keep an eye on the snipers, just fire when you think will do the most damage." Tripwire informed me as I focused on the raider boss.

They were a bit too spread out, so I waited for a moment, watching the monsters. How they hurt Chilly, how they hurt others like that, and how they could have hurt me. The thoughts ran through my head, making me angrier. They deserved worse than this, so much worse, but settling with keeping them from hurting any pony else again was fine with me.

The raider boss began yelling at the other raiders again, calling them over. What then happened was a public display of punishment as the boss began beating a raider as the others watched. This also meant they all were now closer to each other, close enough that I felt confident in firing.

With a loud clunk and thud, almost knocking me over, the balefire eggs were launched through the air. Soaring almost gracefully as they spread out. Then with a bright green flash, I was temporarily blinded.

Pushing the scope away from my eyes, it took several seconds for them to recover. But the wave of heat that hit me from so far away was all I needed to know if it had worked. When I could see again, I saw six mushroom looking clouds rising from where the raiders once were, slowly rising high into the air. Pulling the scope back down, there was nothing left of the raiders, only six craters surrounded by green fire. If there were bodies, they were indistinguishable from the rest of the flaming trash.

"Ya, that will do it." Tripwire said, lowering his rifle. "The blast actually knocked down their watchtower. And as soon as the snipers knew what just hit them, they ran with their tails between their legs. You likely killed several raiders from just shrapnel alone, with this, I think the Corps Dancers can officially be counted as a dead raider band now."

A sense of pride washed over me, knowing that I had helped eliminate one of the evils of the wasteland. Though I wished this happened sooner, and saved those poor ponies from the pain they suffered.

With its job done, Tripwire took the balefire egg launcher and returned it back to its case, keeping it safely away from any evil pony that might use it.

Then we began trotting again, skirting the edge of the valley to avoid any mad raider stragglers, and the radiation left behind by our attack. To my pleasant shock, the land mines that had obstructed our way before had all been detonated by the balefire egg blast, clearing the path for us. Deciding it was safe, along with wanting to save time, and with some consideration to my bad leg, we chose not to take the side way out and trotted down the railroad tracks.

Signs of the raiders that ran away were here, heavy hoofprints in the dirt clearly from panicked galloping. But oddly, some of the hoofprints just stopped, even though they were still in soft ground. An odd pile of ash near it was slowly getting blown away in the breeze.

As we got closer to the gate out of the valley, the sound of something high pitched caught our ears, and sent a cold shiver up my spine. The cold expression on Tripwire's face hinted to me that he knew what that was.

Sighing, he motioned for me to stay still and quiet. "Like before, I'll do the talking."

A light thud came from behind us, followed by two others. "Turn around slowly, any sudden movements and we will kill you dirt kickers."

Slowly turning around, I saw three Pegasus, two in some well kept gray cloth armor with a boxy like thing held in their muzzle. The third Pegasus was a mare in a very clean gray uniform and had a hat with an almost useless brim at the front with a big "E" emblazoned on it. Proudly embroidered on the shoulder of her sleeves was a strange "X" connected to a small circle in the middle, with three skulls in between the top and the side arms, then below it was embroidered letters selling "E.P.S."

Tripwire and I didn't say anything, which seemed to put a smile on the Pegasus mare's face, leading her to say. "Good, at least some of you dirt kicking pests know not to run your mouth. I'm so tired of being told that I fornicate with my mother. "

She then trotted up to us, and it became clear she was an older mare, though not as old as Shortcake, but several gray hairs were visible in her mane. "Now I'm to assume you have some knowledge as to what transpired here?"

Tripwire spoke up, his voice smooth and with a somewhat fancy accent to it. "A little mam. We saw the Steel Rangers ride off on that train, and as a guess, they left behind a present for the raiders." He then slowly levitates a card from under his armor, passing it to the Enclave mare. "Tripwire Neighsay, and who might you be mam?"

The mare grabbed the card with her wing, looking at it with disinterest before pocketing it. "Colonel Flyright, of the Grand Pegasus Enclave… well, of this remnant of it. Now answer me, why are you here and why should we not shoot you where you stand?"

Giving her a smile and a bow, Tripwire continued to speak in his fancy accent. "I was simply visiting my ancestor's home to recover an artifact and knowledge from the old world they once owned. They were scholars who survived the war, and up until recently, the path had been blocked by Redeye's forces, who wanted the knowledge for themselves."

"And what knowledge would that be?" One of Flyright's eyebrows cocked as she inquired.

"Spell and psychological studies. Things that take years to understand and more years to put into practice. But when you have ponies to lead, such knowledge is invaluable. Something a leader like yourself would understand. " He smiled at Flyright, holding his head high.

Flyright looked less than interested, but oddly attentive to his words. "I see, then I'm to assume you had no involvement with the loss of our scouting wing."

My leg slipped a little, drawing attention to myself.

Before too much attention could be brought to me, Tripwire spoke up, "Unfortunately my subordinate here saw the aftermath of what happened to your scouting party. What raiders do to their captives is rarely ever… pleasant."

A loud thump laned behind us and a Pegasus in intimidating black, insect-like, armor jumped into view. It's bladed tail swayed in the air threateningly, and had two larger boxy things on the stallion's sides. If I had to guess, they were guns, weird guns.

The armored stallion then got face to face with me. "Is that true, do you know what happened to my sis-"

"Major Cold Trails, please maintain your professionalism." Flyright spoke sternly.

The colonel then looked at Tripwire, asking him the question. "We have recovered two of our soldiers, but the third is still M.I.A. if you know any, I advise that you tell us."

Cold Trails growled at Flyright. "Soldiers! They were recruits, and beardly that. Chilly was just a fucking college student a month ago for crying out loud!"

Flyright's voice became even colder and with more authority. "Remember your rank, Major!"

Even through his armor I could see Cold Trails cowering back. "Yes Colonel."

"Good. Anyways, with how things are there are no civilians anymore, and we must work together to protect ourselves from…" she looked at us with cold eyes. "Them."

"Yes mam." Cold Trails said again.

Flyright then again addressed Tripwire. "Now if you would give us an answer."

"Most certainly." Tripwire said back before explaining. "This Chilly, as I am sure you're talking about, had survived her run in with the raiders by the time my subordinate found her. But unfortunately the raiders had surrounded her, and as a result, she had used a grenade to kill herself and them. I doubt you will find the remains, unfortunately."

The major grabbed Tripwire by his collar, holding him up. With pain in his voice, he said, "There's no fucking way my sister is-"

"Major!" Flyright again said coldly, but he didn't put Tripwire down.

Seeing how this armored Pegasus was so upset by Chilly's death, so hurt, it just broke what walls I was trying to hold up. Tears formed in my eyes as I did my best to hold back a sob.

"Lottery." Tripwire said, but it was too late.

"S-sorry…" I choked up. "I tried to save her… I thought I could… but… b-but If I had gotten there sooner, then m-maybe I could have." I couldn't say the rest, couldn't tell him how she had been brutally raped by the raiders. How even though she had been freed, she had given up and killed herself. It was just too cruel, too horrible. Even after killing the raiders, I didn't feel all that much better.

The raiders were gone, yes, but that mare would never come back. Cold would never get his sister back.

"No… I'm sorry." Cold Trails said as he let go of Tripwire and backed off. "She… she was just all I had left… and I acted out, it was unbecoming of me." He then turned to Flyright and I could feel the glare through his helmet as he growled. "This is not over Colonel. Once we send off our dead, the two of us will have a long talk about who is and is not a soldier."

With a powerful beat of his wings, sending dust into the air, Cold Trails flew off and over to the valley gate.

Flyright's face had not changed its disinterested look, she simply brushed some dust off her uniform before addressing Tripwire again. "Sorry for my own subordinate's outburst. Since the Enclave's fall, it has been stressful for everypony. Some are having a harder time adapting then others."

Tripwire sighed as he too brushed some dust off himself. "As it goes with changing times. But, those who can maintain order will survive, thrive even. It's a hard thing, being a leader and having to make the choice others can't make."

"Too true." Flyright said then took a step back. "You can go, and pray we never cross paths again."

"Prey that you will never need to." Tripwire bowed again at Flyright, then turned around. "Lets go Lottery, we have clearly overstayed our welcome here and the sooner we get back to Ursa's Rest the better."

Turning to follow, we trotted past the valley's front gate where we saw that the bodies had been taken down and thrown into a burning pile. All except two, which Cold Trails and several other Pegasus were standing around, with a few ponies sobbing over the bodies. It felt like I was peeking in on something very private, so I averted my gaze and focused on the horizon, letting them grieve among each other.

Once Dead Ponies Pass was far behind us, I broke a long silence and nervously asked, "s-so what's going to happen with them. I mean over the fight for that supply depo I mean."

Tripwire pondered the question for a moment. "Honestly, I'm still unsure. With the Steel Rangers and Raiders gone, the Enclave can fight with the Redeye slavers uninterrupted. My bet, the Enclave will win out in the end. Their leader looks the sort to know how to use her subordinates to their full effect, for better or worse."

"Like those three ponies the raiders raped and murdered!" I snapped.

He gave me a flat look and sighed. "Tragically as it is, such losses are to be expected, and sacrifices are necessary. Though I disagree with Flyright's methods; it is better to send the less capable out then risk your more capable solder. Otherwise you could find yourself unable to protect anypony."

I couldn't bring myself to agree with him or that. Tripwire and I managed to get around the raiders almost unseen, so why send three ponies out to be an easy target. Why to such monsters that would rape, murder and then display their corpses in such a grotesque manor. It just felt so wrong to me.

"I still don't like it." I grumbled.

"It's just how the wasteland is my dear Lottery." He said smoothly and calmly. "You either learn how to survive the easy and smart way by accepting that it's how things are. Or you can stubbornly fight the wasteland and have it personally teach you how brutal and savage it will be. Even then, we all get challenged by the wasteland, no expectations. Through it a pony may suffer and die, or be forged into something stronger. For better or worse."

His words filled me with anything but ease, likely because it felt that he was being honest, and that scared me.

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