Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Forty Three

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The nightmare was different. I was still in the dark, but the voices were far off in the distance. Next to me was the shadow filly, Mire Frost and floating above her was Will-o-Wisp. A feeling of sadness could be felt from them.

I kneeled down to get closer to them, and asked, "are you two trying to comfort me?"

Mire nodded and the wisp bobbed.

I looked back, seeing that the vile things were not getting closer. Even their voices were distant, like scornful whispers.

"Are you doing this?" I asked the two.

This time Mire and Will-o-Wisp shook to say "no"

"Even nightmares have things they fear," the voice of Bandsaw spoke up from behind me, her sickening hooves wrapping around me in an unwanted hug. "And I can see it, the next two great warlords, only but a small speck right now."

Kicking her off me, Bandsaw landed gracefully, a wide and unnatural smile filled with black teeth on her face. "Oh, or will they become gunslingers? Fighting for whatever they want, just like Six Gun Red." She then scowled, cracks forming on her face and a arced black smoke seeping from them. "But why did she stop, so much potential as one of my children. Damn that Storm Rider, she was so close to becoming my new champion, and yet the blue flame sparked."

"Strife." I growled out hatefully.

The mare again smiled, it was so wide it tore at her face, causing it to flake off. The pitch black form of the mad god Strife stood before me. "Yes Lottery, hate me, loath me. For it is the truest form of love. And teach that love to those foals, teach them it all."

"No." I said coldly. "There will be no foals."

I could feel a sense of disappointment from Strife, then… amusement.

"What?" I asked.

Then an oppressive force washed over me, causing my knees to buckle as a booming voice spoke. "Because Strife does not care, for Strife is incapable of empathy or hope. To such a thing there is only the cruel comedy of tragedy."

The sound of barking came as several two headed dogs rushed past me and attacked Strife, she not even resiting as she was torn to pieces and vanished into black smoke.

"My apology, I did not intend to let her in for our meeting." The voice again spoke, now far more quiet and smooth.

I managed to find the strength in my legs and turn around, seeing an imposing stallion clad in very ancient looking black armor, a two horned helm covering his face.

"Who… are… you?" I quietly asked, unable to raise my voice to this stallion.

He sighed. "I sometimes forget how fragile you ponies truly are." He said, then removed his helmet. What I saw was probably the most handsome stallion I had seen in my life. Old, yet youthful, with a mischievous wisdom visage that is all wrapped up in a regal visage that almost made me fall to my knees again. Strangely, the two horns were not part of his helmet, but were actually from his own head itself. "I am the husband of Persephone, Hades, king of Tartarus, and the god of the inevitable. I am here to oversee your third trial."

"M… my third… trial?" I said in confusion.

He nodded as the two headed hounds ran over to him, sitting by his side. "Let it be known, you, who have unjustly been denied your true death, and given favor by Persephone, are not yet free from the eyes of the old and forgotten gods. One more favor may yet be yours, so long as you pass this trial."

The awestruck feeling finally faded and I now felt more annoyed, and more than a bit confused. "What is this trial, what happens if I lose, and what do I get if I win?"

He lifted up his helmet, the mere act nearly causing me to fall over. "Your trial is to not cause my wife to cry in sorrow. If you fail in this I will come to take you to the Elysian Fields, of which you belong. And if you overcome this trial, then my helm will be granted to you until your journey's end."

He then placed the helmet on, and faded from view, along with his hounds.

"Pony Lottery, I do not take pleasure in intervening in the lives of mortals like my brothers and sisters had long ago. Do not make me regret doing it now." Hades said with a booming voice.

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I woke up in a cold sweat, the memory of the dream hazy, yet the message was clear. "How do I not make Persephone cry… how would I even make a god cry in the first place?" I mumbled to myself.

I then had the same dream for the last few days now, which made it impossible to just ignore it, as it had been burned into my memory by it. Clearly this Hades wanted me to understand its importance, yet not tell me the details.

Sitting up, I found myself just staring down at myself, at my stomach. Just like Plasma, I now grow within me was the spawn of raiders. The idea sickened me, that inside me was more raiders, more vile rapists. It made me wonder that if I couldn't get that poison, then maybe I could cut the things out.

The thought became so overwhelming that I had to rush over to a garbage can and began dry heaving. Nothing came out, but I just sat there, waiting for something, anything to come out.

I hadn't told anypony about the pregnancy, not wanting them to know my shame, as it was just too far too much for me. Finding the comfort of the bed to be the best place for me. My friends did try to cheer me up, and I eventually got up and out, but any interest in things had taken time to return. As far as any of them knew, my run in with the raiders was what was bothering me, which was close to the truth. When I wasn't keeping busy, I would find myself wandering, either to a bar or to the Red Light Showroom, but I had managed to control myself and return here instead.

At my darkest moment, I found myself thinking about giving up. Just let myself become a drunken whore, it was the only thing stallions wanted from me. Just a wet hole for breeding. And if I couldn't get rid of those things… everypony will know I am just that.

The door clicked as a pony trotted in. "Lottery… you okay?" Molo asked as she trotted over. "I don't smell booze, so it can't be a bad hangover… what happened, tell me?"

I took a moment just breathing in and out before peeling myself from the garbage can, and returned to the bed to sit next to my friend. Today was the day we headed out, and I knew how I had been acting had her greatly worried. It made her distracted, and I knew that would be dangerous.

So I felt it was time to tell her, it was only fair. With a deep breath, I said "I… I got bad news…" Swallowing the bile in my throat down, I then told Molo everything that had happened last night. She had a knowing look mixing in with horror, then a bitter rage.

Molo then hugged me without saying anything as I began to cry.

After several long minutes I began to feel a bit better. At least good enough that I didn't think I would go crazy on anypony, or return to sulking in bed.

"Thanks Molo, for being a friend." I told her.

She smiled and patted my head. "Any time. Any time. But talking about time, we should probably get ready. Grizzly is here and is waiting for you."

I pulled myself off Molo, and wiped my eyes. The makeup will be done on the go.

So I got dressed, I checked out all my gear before putting it on. It was day eight after all, and even if I wanted another day to think, the war against Tripwire could not be postponed. This was all his fault after all.

"Did I ever mention how cool those gauntlets are… you never did say how you got them." Molo said as I put them on my back legs.

Like with almost everypony else, to her I had always had the Grizzly Gauntlets, and just never made it a thing to talk about them. Since getting them I hadn't had much time to truly test them out, but they did seem to help when trotting, as the claws dug into the ground. So having the opportunity to truly test them out sounded fun.

"Did some chems and fought a Yao guai. They were… in its dean." I half lied, a lie I planned to stick to. Saying that some god from a forgotten time gave it to me was out of the question. I already felt crazy, and didn't need my friends thinking I was actually crazy.

I still didn't know if all I had been seeing was real or not.

"Seriously… that does strangely sound like you." Molo said, then shrugged. "Well whatever. At least you're getting the opportunity at some good old fashioned revenge. Still, that little colt Spineless really became a monster."

I raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Spine Breaker, I mean." She began to explain. "Don't know much, but When I was still living in Fillydelphia, he was just some small runt running errands for the Murder Ballers, a bit cute too. Supposably he got left behind when several raider clans had a get together, and the Murder Ballers took him in as their water colt. Despite all his scars, I don't think any pony ever saw them hurt him outside of training, so it was likely his original raider clan that gave him them."

"The Bailfire Fiends." I said.

Molo nodded as she got geared up herself. "If there like how you say, I'm not surprised that Spine Brakers so fucked in the head. Then again, buck addiction does that too. Still, I can't help feeling that this is a trap."

With the last gauntlet on, and all three guns holstered, I trotted over to Molo. "You mean Bandsaw plans on getting rid of us or something."

"No, not that." Molo said as she shook her head, now having three sets of pipe SMG's on her for some Celestia forsaken reason. "I imagine she needs us to get at Tripwire, so no. I think the trap is for you, emotionally I mean. Though the Shatter Hoof raiders were rather lax on recruitment methods, there were a few times it got extreme. Mainly when slavers defected to us, the boss would have them do some stuff that insured both that they were not spies, and that they could never return to Redeye. Murder and rape being among the tasks they had to perform. Often in the disguise of revenge, where the recruit would brutally take out the one who wronged them, and in the process, mentally mess themselves up."

I clenched my teeth with seething rage. "So that's you think what's going on!"

Molo placed a hoof on my shoulder. "It's possible. But I'm only guessing. I mean your still going to kill him after all, right?"

I nodded. "Let's go."

In the main room everypony was here, almost all ready to go. Plasma didn't look all that well, but we still had some time to prepare ourselves, so I didn't bother her over it.

Grizzly Deal then trotted over, with Spell Circuit trotting next to her. "Good to see you up, Lottery." She paused for a moment, clearly not wanting to bring up why I might have stayed in bed. She then addressed everypony, "Now I would have liked to have this meeting in the war room, but time is something we don't have enough of to waste. We have the guns and troops to start this fight right now, so I'll be brief."

Spell Circuit pulled out a map for everypony to see as Grizzly then continued. "Your goal as a few of you know, will be to take out New Unity, and rescue the captives there. To do this you will be taking a back road through ruins of the settlement of Elysium, and to this hidden bunker."

"Wait, isn't Elysium the settlement that took in a lot of Enclave refugees?" Cold Trails interrupted. "And you said… ruins."

A nod came from Grizzly. "It was surrounded and destroyed yesterday, and now is a raider base. Those who escaped have taken refuge here, but from what they told us it was bad. There are some survivors there, but our scouts are sure that most of those who surrendered were being taken to New Unity."

Molo clicked her tongue. "Damn, they managed to resist Redeye for all these years, only to fall now."

Spell Circuit then spoke up. "Elysium was one of the few places that listened to Redeye before he became Redeye. They actually believed that every creature should help each other. So I'm not surprised that he left them alone."

"But Tripwire has no such ideals or virtues, as twisted as Redeye was with them, he did have them." Grizzly added, pausing for a moment before continuing. "That aside, if you do manage to save the survivors of Elysium, you are to take them with you to the hidden bunker. This will require you to kill any and all raiders there. Elysium is in a strategically advantageous spot, which will give the raiders access to several back roads to attack from, and a walled settlement to hide behind. If they are not rooted out before they can repair the walls, they might be able to hold out for years to come. This also means you must destroy Elysium after dealing with the raiders, otherwise Tripwire will just move his own troops there."

Grizzly then looked at me for a moment before again addressing everypony. "In all likelihood, if this operation goes as planned, then only one raider clan will be there. Likely the Murder Ballers. So I advise against direct confrontation if possible. But remember that time is not on our side in this."

Low Pressure raised a hoof. "Must I go, I'm a lover not a soldier."

"You're good with words." Mint spoked up. "There are going to be a lot of scared and confused ponies. Somepony who can talk to them, calm them, and help explain to them is going to be invaluable."

"Very true." Grizzly said with a nod. "This is as much a rescue mission as it is a denial mission. Making sure those captives are safely brought back here will be invaluable for morale, and potentially add to the pool of soldiers. In truth, only Lottery, Molo, Cold, and Cauterize are expected to fight, the rest of you are the support. Don't go putting yourselves in unnecessary danger, alright."

"Any questions?" Grizzly then asked.

"I have one." I spoke up. "Do we have at least enough time for some revenge?"

Grizzly looked at me with eyes full of cold empathy. "There's always time for revenge, but do remember that other ponies will be fighting and dying for that time."

Nopony else spoke up, so Grizzly smiled. "Alright everypony, you move out in an hour, we have a sky cart ready for you on the roof. It will drop you off as close to Elysium as possible, from there you're on your own."

With that, Grizzly left the nine of us alone to get ready.

"This sounds so exciting." Margret then excitedly yelled.

Spell looked at the miss nanny with concern in his eyes. "Umm, Margret, your not coming. You can't even fight."

The sphere shaped robot smiled with her eyes. "Oh don't be a silly, master, of course I'm coming, Miss Plasma updated my anti foal napping subroutine."

We all then looked at a tired looking Plasma, who nervously smiled. "After fixing the power armor, I needed something else to distract me. I even have a few things I can replace her grabbers with that's useful in a fight."

Margret then passed Spell a cup of tea. "See master, you don't need to go out alone again, I'll be with you."

I had to admit, having a robot maid helping us would be useful. If anything, she'd help keep our spirits up.

"Fine, you can come." Spell gave in.

So the ten of us quickly got ready for the mission.

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As almost everypony trotted down the hall, I waited for the last of us to make sure nopony was late. Trotting out with heavy hooves in his power armor was Cold Trails, trying to look rather regal. At some point somepony had repainted his armor in the dark purples and pink highlights of the Ursa's Den. It contracted with the serious look of the armor, making it more ready for a party than for war.

"Ya, laughed it up." Cold said in annoyance, having caught me smirking.

"Sorry, it just doesn't match your big old warrior look you like to present yourself as." I explained.

"Whenever I find the pony who did this, they will get a broken leg." He huffed.

The pegasus then looked at me and smiled a bit mischievously. "Well at least we match."

I rolled my eyes, and started trotting. "Just barely. Now let's go."

He matched my pace, his armor clunking on the ground. "So, you still don't want to talk about it."

"It was one night and we were drunk." I told him, hoping he would drop the subject.

I had been avoiding the subject since it happened. Not that I felt embarrassed about having sex with him, I was long passed feeling embarrassed about such things. It was just that thinking about it made me want it now. He understood, yet now and then he would ask if we could talk, or eat out. Always pretending it was not about sex. But I knew it was always about sex. Ever since I left home that's all stallions ever wanted out of me.

Cold then huffed in annoyance. "By Celestia, I'm not talking about that, Lottery. I know you need to avoid it, so that's why I'm not bringing it up."

"Then what are you talking about?" I stopped to ask.

"Our date." He responded.

I raised an eyebrow at him, feeling a bit confused. "Our… what?"

"Well before we got drunk, you agreed to go on one with me, but you've avoided the subject since." He explained, but I still didn't get it.

"Sorry, but I think I'm not understanding something, what's a date?" I asked, feeling that I have been acting stupid… again.

A long sigh came from Cold Trails as he then asked. "What did you think I was asking?"

"To fuck." I answered.

He then face hoofed. "Well… you're not exactly wrong, but no."

"No?" I said, feeling even more confused.

"No," he repeated, then explained. "A date is what ponies do when they want to get to know each other, you know, what Molo and Spell had done together the other day. Generally there's only sex when both ponies really, really like each other, and even then rarely it's on the first date."

I stood there stunned for a long moment, then face hoofed myself. "I'm a fucking moron."

Cold Trails patted me on the shoulder with his armored wing. "Well, if it makes you feel better, you weren't that bad in bed." He then trotted ahead of me with a chuckle.

I felt heat rise to my face as I felt something I haven't felt in a long time now, embarrassment. Swallowing the emotions down I chased after him. "Not that bad, I'm fucking fantastic in bed!"

He looked back at me and smirked. "Maybe I'm just misremembering, you could show me again."

I just knew he was winking at me from within his bug-eyed helmet. "Maybe I will, curse or not."

A frown formed on his muzzle. "I'm just messing, you know."

Catching up to him, I bumped his power armored flank with my own. "Once or twice cant hurt, anyways, if I don't get any soon i might just jump a stallion."

"It's that bad?" He asked as we stopped at the doors to the roof.

I blushed again, looking away to avoid eye contact. "Well, ya, though not so bad that I'm losing my mind or anything. But I've caught myself trotting to the Red Light a few times."

It was true, lost in thoughts I had almost wandered back into the brothel, and just the sound and smells of that place had me yearning for it. The feeling would die down after some time, but it was getting easier and easier to excite me. I knew it would only get worse if I gave in, but I had a strong feeling I would do something I'd regret if I didn't get some release.

Again Cold patted me on the shoulder with his wing. "Well, let me know if you at least need a pony to hold onto."

Somehow that made me feel even more embarrassed. "Th… thanks."

Opening the door, everypony, and one robot was waiting for us. To our surprise, two Pegasus in really nice dress uniforms were the ones pulling a rather large and very nice looking cart.

Cold let out a laugh. "The Enclave transportation service, and a VIP cart… how?"

"Money, that's how." Grizzly said as she trotted over. "And a little luck. Theis fellas had been holding up in some ruins with other refugees and wastelanders until the raiders flushed them out. When they found themselves near our border, I made sure to buy their services. So do not fuck with them, they cost me quite a few caps."

"Yes mam." I said quickly.

She then smiled. "Good. Now get on."

Both Cold and I then trotted into the sky cart. It wasn't the most spacious, but it managed to fit all ten of us quite well. Not only that, it was also quite comfortable.

A loud pop caught us all by surprise as we looked over to see Low Pressure holding a big glass bottle, foam coming out of its neck as he then poured it into a glass.

"Oh how I missed stretched sky carts, it even has a full stock of sky apple cider in it. My sister practically lived off this stuff." He then took a sip of the alcoholic beverage. "Ya, still good."

"That's going to cost you." One of the Pegasus cart pullers said.

Low just waved him off dismissively. "Ya ya, I know how this works."

The other puller then shouted. "We launch in Five…."

As it began to move, I clung onto Cold Trails tightly, finding this even worse than the death box to Grizzly's office.

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The ride had been surprisingly smooth, which was good, because we were taking the long way around to avoid any of Tripwire's soldiers from knowing where we were going. After I had gotten over the initial terror of being in a flying box, and taking a long swig of the sparkling wine, had the confidence to put on my makeup.

"Really?" Cold said in a disappointed tone.

"What, dark colors help with glare." I said as I finished putting on the dark purple eyeshadow. Then winked at him. "And admit it, I look good in it."

"Alright, but what about the lipstick?" He then pointed out.

That I had no good excuse for, not one I wanted to admit. It just made me feel more in control, and not feel as much as the ignorant little mare I had been. The group therapy had helped me understand this, as well as my tendency to flirt. I both wanted to be seen, and not wanted to be seen. Or something like that. It was a bit of a disturbing realization, that my tendency to where more alluring underwear and makeup might be a way for me to to take charge if a stallion were to get forceful with me again.

It would explain how I could be so… flirty with Cold when I had just been deeply depressed before.

"Uhh, you got me." Was all I could say.

"It's fine, I'm just teasing." Cold said sympathetically. "We all have our ways to cope when going into a dangerous situation." He then pulled out a picture from his armor. On it were four Pegasus, whom I could only guess was his family. "I used to have a bad habit of over pruning my wings. But when the Enclave fell, my sister had started helping me with it. Now… I have the habit under control."

Looking at the photo, Chilly looked younger and full of life. Far different from the battered and broken mare I found.

I didn't know what I should do, or say, but my hoof found its way onto his hoof for a brief moment. Then the sky cart bumped, and I pulled back in shock. With the moment over, we sat in silence, and soon we began to descend.

I hated the feeling of going down, it felt like falling, and I didn't know how to deal with falling. An earth pony is meant to stay on the ground after all.

Both Pegasus seemed to enjoy watching most of us hold onto dear life.

With the ride finally over, and making sure nothing was left behind, we waved at the two sky cart pullers, who quickly left, not wanting to stay near a warzone,

"You know the worst thing about skycarts" Plasma then spoke up, still a bit jittery, "their engin can critically explode."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "And you didn't tell us this, why?"

She retreated into herself a little. "I… was nervous."

"And talked our fucking ears off about shit we don't care about." Cauterize said with a huff.

Molo nodded. "I now know more about talisman integration in everyday tech then I could ever want to know."

"S… sorry. I like to talk when nervous." Plasma apologized.

Spell Circuit then cleared his throat to cut in. "Personally, I found it enlightening. My knowledge on every day arcano tech is a bit lacking. But that aside, we should get moving." He then levitated the map over to me. We should be in the red circle, and our path is dotted in red as well, along with our stops."

Looking at the map, it was clearly made with the illiterate in mind. Everything was listed with symbols, and any landmarks were drawn on. Trotting over to a ledge higher up, I could see almost everything. It would take some time to reach Elysium from here, but we should reach there before nightfall, giving us time to prepare.

"I remembered when it was all green." Mint said as she looked over the ledge. I could hear the hint of sadness behind her mask. "But now, hardly feels like the Equestria I knew, or if it will ever be that way again."

I nodded. "It does feel that way. Back home my Ma and Pa managed to turn a small part of the wasteland green. Maybe once this is all over, we can all work on making it green again, together."

Molo then jumped in between us, pulling us into a hug. "Maybe Equestria just needs as much therapy as we ponies do.

Mint chuckled. "You might be right about that, though from the little I've seen, the therapy needed may take a long time before things improve."

"Well I'm sure some good old fashioned purging will help things move in the right direction." Molo said with a laugh.

"Agreed." I said bitterly.

She then smiled at me, and got off us. "Lottery, remember that were in this together, so no running off to fight on your own."

I rolled my eyes, "I know that, Molo."

Molo then poked me in the side. "Ya you know that, but I've seen plenty of ponies still run off on their own. I'm just saying, just like when fighting Pink Haze, we're here for ya."

Breathing in deeply, and exhaling slowly, I pulled out my binoculars. "I'll remember. When the time comes, I'll rely on you all for support and not think I can do it alone. I wouldn't be in this situation if I wasn't forced to fight him on my own."

Looking down the route we were going to take, there were several small shakes the raiders could hide in, or be a nest for monsters. We would need to be very careful and not use guns or risk revealing ourselves. I had a suppressed rifle, but even that was not completely silent.

Turning to face the others, they were all checking their equipment.

Cauterize had on some padded and spiked scrap armor that was able to take some heavy blows. The spikes were no mere decoration, and in a demonstration, could rip apart a target if he were to run into them. Somehow and for some reason that I didn't understand, he had his Redeye Rifle gold plated, and a drum magazine made for it.

Plasma on the other hoof kept things simple, with simple scrap metal plates attached to the inside of her green jumpsuit. She was loaded up with even more tools than myself, all on a specially built saddlebag. Her crossbow had been further built up like she said she would, now with gears the string attached to, and some arcano-tech scope. The bolts looked nasty too, being barbed, or with long pointed heads. She was also in charge of the explosives, which were stored safely in an armored case.

Both Mint and Aloe had the same outfits on, some old medical uniform, and ministry of peace saddlebags. It seems that though they never saw combat, or expected to be in a fight, they did have some training to use guns. Both had gotten over and under shotguns that were chambered in 20 gauge, not powerful, but I was not going to complain in case we need their help in a fight.

Margaret had been outfitted with a securitron electro claw, and a mister helper mini flamethrower, both things Plasma had gotten to see if the crossbow could be combined with then. If all else fails, she'd make a terrifying trump card to turn things around. Or at least scare any pony we rescue into staying calm.

Low Pressure was annoyingly under armed and armored, choosing to go in style then look like one of us dirty wastelanders. His suit at least did look good, though ultimately useless. His engraved .45 revolver was at least somewhat useful, if I ever lost mine and needed another.

The opposite to Low, was Cold Trails in his power armor. One of his magical energy rifles had been beyond saving, so we had it replaced with a old Equestria combat rifle, a IF-64 I think it was called. The 5.56 ammo was the least expensive surplus rifle ammo we could get, so it had to do.

Spell stuck to leather armor under a jacket, saying that it was better to travel light. Other then his revolver, he had also upgraded to a IF-64 as well, after some convincing by everypony. At the very least, he could now teleport somewhere useful and shoot down at raiders with full auto fire.

Molo's armor had gone through the most change since I first met her, having gotten rid of her raider armor. Now she sported combat armor over leather, though still painted in wild colors. Her three pairs of pipe SMGs were each in a different caliber, which still confused me, but I felt she knew what she was doing.

I then trotted to my friend, in my armored jumpsuit, and the Grizzly Gauntlets over my legs. My .45 revolver Whisky Shot, was hid in my chest and my suppressed .308 battle rifle, Last Dance, and Shotgun Mire Frost hung off my saddlebags. One bag had the bear traps, and the other had my supplies and ammo.

We were all ready to do this.

So I smiled, "Ya, let's start this fight together."

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