Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Sixty Eight

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The sounds of combat continued on as the cloudships landed around us, the Wildcard Bandits having formed a secured zone. Several Applejack Rangers trotted out, and leading the militia members, they began pushing Tripwire's forces further back. They all moved like a well oiled yet rusted machine, effective enough to deal with the now disorganized enemy.

Elder Honeycrisp trotted over in her green uniform, flanked by two rangers. "Situation?" She asked with authority.

Cold Trails saluted her. "Good news is that the enemy is headless and without their trump cards."

"Bad news?" She further asked.

Cold looked over at me for a moment and sighed before telling Honeycrisp, "not everypony survived."

The ranger elder clicked her tongue. "They knew the risk of what they were doing, but it's still a tragedy." She then glanced at me. "At least the hostage has been secured."

She then trotted to me, but Lucky Shot stepped in the way. "Sorry dear, but best leave Lottery be. It's the usual vile wastelander brahman shit, I'm sure you understand."

Honeycrisp scrunched up her nose and looked away. "I see, well medical support is on its way. You bandits continue to keep the L.Z. secure, and I'll focus on rooting out the slavers. Hans and Prickly are securing the outside to prevent escape, so avoid leaving the perimeter until you're given the green light."

"Right right, stay here to prevent friendly fire, I got it." Lucky told her.

My grandmother returned her attention back to me, patting me on the shoulder. Letting me just sit there, saying or doing nothing.

After directing a ranger on where they were needed, Cold Trails trotted over to me, and addressed Lucky. "H… how bad is she?"

I hadn't said anything since I had my cry, and didn't feel anything. I wanted to, but just couldn't do anything. It was like a heavy wait was crushing me, preventing me from moving.

"I ain't no doc, but I've seen this before. Been through it myself. We call it the wasteland moment, it sometimes comes in fast, or becomes a slow burn, but it's never easy." She explained, but it didn't make any sense. When Cold cocked his head at her, she further clarified. "Like I said, I ain't no doc. But once she recovers from her state, she'll either be broken, or become stronger."

"Broken? Stronger! What the fuck do you mean, and how long will it last?" Cold barked at Lucky.

The old bandit shrugged. "It could be a few more minutes, or a month. You can never know. As for broken, it's where the term turning raider comes from. Yes most ponies actually turn raider over time by acting like one, but when they say turned raider, they refer to the wasteland moment, and how a pony can change dramatically after it happens."

Cold then growled out. "The fuck are you saying? She's not going to become one of them!"

Lucky rubbed my back, comforting me, but I felt nothing. "She's one of mine, so I doubt it. Well there may be a lot of blood and screaming, but that's just how my family is. Anyways, ain't no way I'd let her lose control now, ya'hear. Just give her some time, lover colt."

With another sigh, Cold then sat down, looking somewhat defeated. "This is all my fault, I should have been there. I should have prevented her capture."

"Shoulda, woulda, coulda." Lucky said in a mocking tone. "None of that thinking helps anypony. Now get your head back on straight and be ready to join the fight. Last thing she needs is for ya to lose your spine, ya'hear."

"Right, you're right. All the complaining can be done after these bastards are dead." Cold said, and then trotted off to meet a landing cloud ship.

It was all a blur to me as ponies laned and ran off to join the fight. So much so that I didn't notice when a pony rushed over to me and knocked me over with a hug.

"Oh Celestia, what did they do to you, Lottery." A panicked and tired looking Plasma Cutter said as she held onto me.

"Let her go you spaz!" Mint demanded as she trotted over with Aloe behind her.

Plasma let me go and backed away, letting the two ghoul nurses start looking me over.

"How long has she been in a catatonic state?" Mint then asked.

"Not long, like ten minutes if I had to guess." Lucky told her.

"Twelve minutes." Cold corrected her.

The ghoul sighed. "Alright, then I know how to treat this." Mint then took off her medical saddle bag and pulled out an inhaler from it that had a yellowish see through cone at the end. "Okay Lottery, this is a sedative, it will help you feel better, and regain control over yourself." Sticking it over my muzzle, she forced me to breathe in the chem several times. Each time I felt more tired and numb, but also less… powerless.

I began to cry again as I reached out and hugged Mint, holding her squishy body tightly.

"There, there, we're here now, everything will be fine now." She told me.

I shook my head. "No, no it's not! Not without them!"

Mint patted me on the head. "I… see… I understand Lottery. I understand too terribly well how you feel."

My tears only continue to pour out of me as I hid my face in Mint's lab coat.

Again I lost track of time as Mint held me, but once the tears dried up, and I was left with an empty hole in my heart that I knew could never be filled, but I was finally able to stand up on my own. Cauterize had already explained most of what happened tonight, but there were a few more things I needed to fill them all in on. Mainly about the Baelfire Fiends, and their leader, but I was sure she was long gone by now.

"Well fuck, I knew the old brod was nutzo, but Candy Corn being a cannibal!… no, wait, that's not suppressing actually." Commented Cauterize.

"Agreed, but that's not what we should be concentrating on." Spoke up Spell Circuit as he trotted over. The cybernetic unicorn gave me the same guilty look as the rest of my friend had before continuing. "If the leader of the Bailfire Friends is or was just here, she would have brought many of her fighters too. Most of them are still here fighting us."

"Meaning their base is going to be lightly defended now." Plasma added on. "With Silver sane again, we might have a chance at taking them out if we move fast enough."

Mint cleared her throat. "Maybe worry about the next fight, after this one." She then hoofed me a bottle. "Drink this Lottery, it should help you stay on your hooves until we get you back home."

Drinking it, I quickly felt more relaxed, though no less empty. "When do I leave?" I asked her.

She looked over as a cloud ship that just dropped off another team of militia ponies. "Actually I think that should be our ride, let's get you out of here"

The others offered to help me trot, but I was strong enough to move on my own, so I followed Mint to the cloud ships. The last of the militia got off, some of which looked younger and less beaten down by the wasteland then myself. I hoped they were not bound to make the same mistakes as I had, or suffer what I had suffered."

Slowly getting on board, Cauterize rushed over, and tossed my gun case in. "Don't forget your loot!"

I placed my hoof on the case, sighed, and pushed it back to him. "I don't care about it anymore… never really did."

But he shoved it back to me. "Lottery, just take it. Think of it as a rule from us ex-raiders. Where life is cheap, good loot never is. So make every loss worth something, okay."

I took the case, feeling nothing from the gesture. "That's messed up, you know."

"But no less true for raiders, be it current or former." He said as he backed away.

Mint then helped Plasma on before hopping off herself. "They'll take you to our forward operating base, where Rattlebones will be waiting. Just stay there and you'll get the care you need until the fight is over."

"Th… thanks." I told Mint. "And… well… I'll be needing your support for… I don't know how long."

The ghoul sighed. "I feared as much. But I'll be there for you, as long as you need me. Now I got others to help and save, so don't go and do anything stupid, okay. You deserve a break, so go get some rest."

Sitting back, I felt the cloud troop transport lift up, and began flying.

"Lottery, what's in this?" Plasma asked, poking at the large gun case.

"Two 20mm auto cannons I snatched." I told her.

The former Steel Ranger scribe's eyes light up with excitement. "Can I see?" Giving her a nodd, she then excitedly opened the gun case, but only then to lose that excitement. "Oh…"

"What?" I asked as I looked over, hoping the guns were not missing. I saw the two disassembled 20mm's and ammo, but also a few other guns that weren't there before. Having been shoved inside haphazardly were all six of Molo's SMG's.

Trotting over and picking one up, the crude looking, yet well crafted pipe SMG was heavy in my hooves. The paint job was a chaotic slashing of colors, and the metal was covered in many nicks and scrapes that showed how rough Molo had been with the guns, and how well they held up despite the abuse.

Plasma picked one up, examining it. "You know, I never did take a closer look at her guns, but Molo must have spent a fair amount of caps modifying them. All of the cheaper parts have been replaced by some heavy duty stuff." She then let out a long sigh, and then tears started to well up in her eyes. "I'm going to miss her."

"I know." I said as I put the SMG away.

There was then a bump, sending us both sliding closer to the two pegasus pulling the cloud ship.

"Report, what was that? !" Plasma demanded from the pilots.

A pegasus in power armor then jumped in, her armor painted in the neon purple and pinks of Ursa's Rest. "Enemy flyers inbound, and they got cloud ships of their own!" Chain Lightning told us. "This ship needs to turn back or risk getting shot down."

"Flyright!" I growled.

Chain Lightning nodded. "More than likely. And from the looks of it, she's got a few bomber cloud ships. Though I don't know why she'd bring bombers if she's here aid her allies."

The reason was clear to me, all to clear. "She's not here to help, she's here to wipe out everypony in the Breaking Grounds! Likely on Tripwire's orders."

"What! Why?" Chain asked with mild panic.

I trotted over to the pilots, and looked down at the Breaking Grounds below. Many lights of gunfire and explosions light up the place, along with many fires still burning. "Tripwire doesn't care for his allies, and Flyright only cares about the pegasus. So when their enemies are all concentrated in one place, beating down an ally, what do you think the response would be?"

"Fuck! Those bastards." Chain huffed out before opening a hatch in the side. "I'll go warn the others, but in the meantime land this ship and find shelter." She then jumped out.

I clicked my teeth in frustration as I returned to Plasma. Life was not content with letting me just leave, was it.

"Hey, hold this for me!" Plasma said as she passed me a long barrel.

Sitting down to hold it in my hooves, I watched as Plasma pulled out the parts for the 20mm. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think?" She said while rolling her eyes. "You got two anti-air cannons, and we're about to be air raided."

"Right, and who's going to be using them? You see how big they are?" I asked.

She glanced up at me and smiled. "Well I know the armor I fixed up for Cold Trails can. I was the one to fix it up afterall."

"Were you the one who welded those two IF-64's together?" I further asked.

Plasma nodded. "The IF-64 is a versatile platform, so it was easy enough to modify. Actually, it should be the same for the 20mm. You got all the parts here for an artillery setup… actually, I think some of these parts are for power armor conversion, so attaching one to him will be easy as pie."

"You seem rather… focused." I commented.

"Got to be, or I'll go crazy. Now hoof over that barrel!" She commanded, and I did just that.

By the time we had landed, she was almost finished putting together the second auto cannon. It was amazing to watch her work as though a mare possessed.

"We got a building secured for you two to take cover in!" Cold Trails spoke up fr9m the back of the cloudships. Only to then have the auto cannon tossed into his hooves. "What's this?"

"Your ability to counter attack, so let me put it on you." Plasma said as she tossed me the other auto cannon, and hopped out to help Cold. Like with the guns, she worked quickly, if not even faster as she popped off the dual IF-64's and slapped on the auto cannon.

"Okay, I get it, but are you sure this will work?" He asked as his armor then wiggled the very large gun around.

Honeycrisp trotted over, clearly interesting. "The fuck are you doing?"

Plasma saluted the elder. "Getting this armor ready for ground to anti-air combat. Unlike the standard Ranger power armor, the pegasus power armor has a targeting system made for fighting flying targets. So it should work well for what's coming."

A sigh came from Honeycrisp. "If it was just pegasus I'd tell you to stop fucking around. But those bastards are bringing bombers. We'll cover you, just try to take as many down as you can."

A flash of light in the distance announced the start of the bombing run, soon follow by the sound of the explosion. Looking at it, I wouldn't have been surprised if Tripwire had not planned this from the start.

Honeycrisp then blew on a whistle to gain every ponies attention. "Form up, we're expecting an air raid, protect our anti-air support at all costs!"

A few rangers and a bunch of militia then gathered around, guns pointed in the air. Then Honeycrisp grabbed what looked like a thin rocket launcher and pointed it up before firing. The projectile flew high in the air, leaving a smoke trail before exploding.

Night had become day, and we could see the cloudships along with their pegasus support in power armor.

Cold's body shifted followed by him grinning. "Got the flight path. Their easy pickings without a vertibuck escort." Letting out a controlled three round burst we watched as a pegasus fell out of a bomber, then the cloudship lurched and slowly fell itself.

Flyright's soldiers then immediately dropped, flying right at us. I could only expect that they didn't expect us to have anti-air, so we were now target number one.

Cold had enough time to let out another burst of 20mm before the enclave started firing at us, peppering our area with pink beams. To everypony's credit, the rangers and militia laid down heavy counter fire, forcing the flyers to scatter. I attempted to take aim as well, but having half of my vision gone was disorienting, and the yelling and screaming around me made my head throb.

A militia mare near me then hit the ground as she began to glow pink before turning to dust.

"Will-o-Wisp can ya help a mare out?" I asked, and the blue flame spared to life and directed my vision. Pointing the 20mm gun in the wisps direction, only a few seconds later did a pegasus swoop down right in my sights. They only had a split moment to realize what was about to happen before I pulled the trigger, and lifted their leg to protect themselves. The large round easily punctured through their armored leg, ripping it off and sending bits of shrapnel into their helmet. The pegasus fell, hitting the ground to become a cartwheeling spray of blood.

My stomach churned, remembering how Cold Trails had survived that twice.

Will-o-Wisp bobbed around to catch my attention, and following her my sighed found another pegasus coming in for an attack. This pegasus chose to dogged as I unleashed a burst of fire, and struck them in the wing. They didn't drop, but it was clear that they could no longer fly as they quickly descended into a controlled crash in the distance.

"Get down!" A Ranger yelled, and as I ducked, they stood over me. A barrage of prisma pink beams slammed into the Applejack Ranger, and ricocheted all around, killing a few militia ponies.

As the pegasus passed over, I saw that their helm had three gouges in it like a claw mark. It was Flyright!

The ranger fell to his knees, grunting in pain. "Fuck, I almost got roseted there. We can't hold out much longer."

A wrench then smashed into the side of the rangers armored flank. "The fuck you can't" Plasma yelled as she then opened the side of the armor and began doing some scribe stuff. "This should mitigate the heat buildup for the next few minutes, so don't you dare stop fighting!"

Looking around, I saw that Flyright had regrouped with her soldiers and were now coming in for a big attack.

"Incoming!" I yelled.

"Aim at the sides, box the bastards in!" Honeycrisp ordered.

The rangers then let their heavy guns loose, striking from the sides and closing in. The pegasus, in an attempt to avoid getting hit, were then squeezed together. But the Enclave soldiers didn't seem to care much as they too fired back, causing me to flinch as the wave of pink beams came for us.

But instead the beams slammed into a magical wall, saving us from the wave of death. Again they passed over, and I let loose another burst of 20mm, hitting another of them.

"Sorry I'm late," Spell said as he panted in exhaustion. "I got the defense up, so take a break."

In the distance another bomber came down, crashing into Grinder's bedchamber and exploding in a brilliant orange and green fire. It was mesmerizing to see it all burn, I could only wish Grinder was in there so that he would die a second time.

"Lottery lookout?" My world was turned into a blur as something slammed into me, knocking my gun out of my hooves and dragged me away from the others. The wind threaten to steal my hat away as I then realized that I was in the air.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy seeing you become but a smeared on the ground." Flyright sneered at me as she flew higher. I attempted to break out of her grasp, but her power armor was too strong. "Oh don't try it. As much as I'd like to see you suffer more, I don't have the time to drop you a second time."

We passed a bomber, only for several shots to go through the cockpit, and killing one of the pegasus pushing it.

"Celestia damn you!" Flyright growled. "You weren't supposed to have anti-air, that's the last time I trust a ground pounders intel!"

I began to laugh, finding the situation absurd. "Get Fucked, Flyright! You lost and your going to die."

"No, I will live, and you will die." She then smiled with her scarred up muzzle. "Even if it's a loss now, I'll claim victory in the end. You, Tripwire, even that traitor Cold Trails, you all will kneel before the might of the new Enclave I will build." She then chuckled to herself, the kind of chuckling a sane mare does not do. "Ho, that's right, you will not live to see it."

She then stopped in mid air, high above the Braking Grounds.

I knew what she was about to do, and every part of my being wanted to scream in panic, yet I was calm. Actually, I smiled.

"Say Flyright, before you drop, I have something I want to say." I told her.

She sighed. "What ever, say your last words."

"Rime Frost." I said calmly.

She looked at me, and I was certain she was confused. "What's Rime Frost?"

"THIS," I screamed as my axe shotgun formed in my hooves, and I managed to lodge her spike through a joint in the armor between her body and her wing.

Flyright let me go and I dropped. But so did Flyright as Rime Frost was still stuck in her as her wing had started to freeze. Even after dislodging Rime Frost, it was too late and Flyright couldn't even move the wing.

I laughed, getting a scowl of rage from the older pegasus mare. "How does it feel to be a loser to the end, Flyright?" I yelled at her.

But she then smiled. "Stupid little earth pony, this is mark 1 Shadowbolt armor, a fucking uncomfortable armor, but one that can survive a fall at any height." She laughed back at me. "I'll live, but you, you will become nothing more than a red smear of blood and gore!"

That killed my high as I saw the ground quickly catching up to me. It was the absolute worst, and I only managed to stifle a scream just so as not to give Flyright the satisfaction.

I shut my eyes as the end of the fall came, wondering how much this will hurt if I didn't die right away.

…

Actually there was no pain, other than a sudden yet gentle stop that made my guts lurch. Opening my eyes, I was surrounded by a swirling of magic, its source was an exhausted looking Spell Circuit.

Landing gentilly on my hooves, I almost kissed the ground, and then Spell. I reframed from such affection, knowing I wouldn't be able to stop if I ever started. "Th… thanks for the save." I breathed out

"Any time. But…" he looked over at a dust cloud, in which the form of Flyright slowly became visible. "What about her?"

I drew Last Dance and fired, in which two shots rang out before the gun pinged empty. Yet Flyright seemed unfazed. "Well… shit."

"Indeed." Flyright said with a chuckle, and her two guns then aimed at us, glowing bright pink was magical power. "Like I said, this is mark 1 Shadowbolt armor, not the ultra light crap made by Rarity and that traitor Rainbow Dash. You don't have the firepower to stop me!"

With a flash, her two beam SMG's let loose a torrent of energy bolts. Spell managed to put up a barrel in time, but his horn was quickly losing its color.

"She can't fire those guns forever, Talismans can't take that stress." Spell explained as sweat beaded from his head.

Flyright cackled with gleam, yelling over her gunfire. "Oh yes I can! These are Shadowbolt issued MEW SMG's, they can fire non-stop without ever overheating!"

Spell stumbled, the strain of blocking the beams was quickly draining him.

Then it all stopped with the sound of a bang, then a scream from Flyright.

"Can your armor stop a 20mm cannon shell, Flyright?" Cold Trails snarled as he slowly trotted to her.

Flyright pulled herself up, blood dripping from a large dent in her armor. "Traitor, I should have had you branded a dashite!"

"The only traitor is you! All the lies you help support! All the lives you ruined! At any time we could have come down here and helped the ponies we abandoned. But no, it was ponies like you who kept us ignorant, and let them suffer." Cold Trails shouted at her.

She chuckled. "There's a saying, Ignorance is bliss. Those lies, it kept us alive. Those lives ruined, those ponies would have killed us all. You don't understand what is to come, do you? Even after I drilled it into your head, you still don't understand! Starvation, sickness, murder. How many pegasuses do you think will die because the Enclave fell? I'm trying to save them before it's too late, before there is no pegasus left to save!"

Flyright then straightened herself up, a smirk on her face. "Tell me Major Cold Trails, if the Enclave had not fallen, would your sister be alive right now?"

A grimace formed on Cold Trails muzzle, and I could tell he was glaring pure hate through his helmet's lenses. He then sighed. "Your… right about that. If the Enclave had not fallen, she'd still be at University... alive."

Flyright smiled and said. "See, if it was not for the damned dirt kickers, she'd be alive."

"Operation Cauterize." Cold trail said loudly. "The wastelanders didn't come up with that, it was the Enclave. We chose to come down and fight, we chose to make everypony our enemy. The wastelanders didn't make me pull the trigger and murder them! No, I did. I was blind and dumb, following orders like some toy soldier. So much so that I turned good ponies into murderers just because Colonel Autumn Leaf wanted to send a message! An entire town full of ponies turned to ash by my command, all because I was a good soldier following orders!"

He then stomped on the ground and growled at Flyright. "The fall of the Enclave is its own fault, we did it, not the wastelanders, us and us alone. All the pain and suffering the civilians are going through is on our hooves for we were the ones who made sure they were unprepared!"

A disappointed frown formed on Flyright's scarred face, and her guns revved with power. "A Shame. But what's there to expect from a lower class farm bumpkin. In the end you just don't have the guts to be a true soldier." She then shared, saying, "there never was enough room for everypony, and we Pegasus will be victorious in the end. Equestria for the pegasus, and nopony else!"

Both of them let loose a torrent of fire at each other, sending smoke and steam into the air, obstructing my vision. The gunfight quickly slowed to a stop, leaving just their silhouettes standing. Cold Trails stumbled but stood still. Then Flyright, ever so slowly, tilted and fell. Her slamming on the ground sent a puff of air out, clearing out the haze.

Cold Trails stood there, spots of his armor glowing with heat, but he looked fine. Rushing over to him, I gave my stallion a hug, only to jump back as the heat of his armor sizzled against mine. "Shit, is that what happened to me! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, a bit burnt, but Plasma insulated my armor, so I'll be fine." He reassured me.

I then looked over at Flyright, the chest of her armor was caved in, and her face was covered in blood and gore. "What did you do to her?"

"She was right about that armor." Cold Trails breathed out. "Strong as fuck. But after that first hit, I knew it wasn't invincible." He wiggled the 20mm. Cannon. "So I stood firm and fired everything into the same spot and caved that armor in."

"Lottery!" I heard the raspy voice of Mint as she ran over, with the rest of my friends in to… all except for two of them. The ghoul slid to a stop in front of me and shoved her hoof in my face. "By Celestia, do I need to tie you down to get you to not put yourself in more danger. If I didn't have wounded ponies to attend to, I'd personally drag you out of here myself." She then glared at Cold and Spell. "Now that the sky is clear, you two make sure she gets home safely, and don't forget Plasma. She's on the edge of a relapse."

"I'm not that bad!" Plasma protested, with the other 20mm cannon strapped to her saddle bag.

"And you wanting to tinker with that power armor for longer was not an excuse to flirt?" Mint questioned.

Plasma rolled her eyes, and then took a sip from her canteen. "Fine, fine."

Mint then returned her attention back to me. "And you… just get some sleep, even if you need to take a few pills, just get some rest. You promise me?"

I sighed and gave her a nod. "All I want is to get out of this nightmare."

My ghoul friend gave me a light hug, telling me. "I'll do what I can for you, so just hold on."

Looking back at Flyright's corps, I wanted to feel satisfied, but this victory still felt hollo to me.

"Wow, the leg servos must have locked up from that fall." Plasma commented. "When was the last time they got tested?"

"Just now." Cold said with an annoyed huff.

"So what changed your mind? About the Enclave I mean." I then asked Cold.

He looked at Flyright's corps for a long moment before looking at me. "When you cried for my sister. Only then I realized my thinking was wrong. That the wastelanders… They were still ponies. That they cared far more for Chilly than some of my own did. Only then I understood that we were the monsters we saw everypony else."

Cold then trotted to me, using his one wing to brush some dirt off me. "Lets go, and put th8s place behind us."

I was then escorted back to the cloud troop transporter by Spell and Cold, along with Plasma, who waved at one of the Applejack Rangers. In the cloud ship, wrapped in bandages was Cauterize there, who was clearly in a daze from med-x.

As we lifted off, there were still sounds of fighting going on, and many new fires, but the sense of tension was gone. The battle was winding down, it had to be. But as we got higher into the air, and I took a peek down, the damage was severe. Though Cold Trails had managed to shoot down the bombers, they had still flattened half of the Breaking Grounds. Who knows how many of ours had gotten caught up in the destruction.

But Tripwire's forces had been crippled, and his campaign would no longer have the fangs it once had before.

Pulling myself back, Cold passed me a canteen, and I sipped from it, sending a wave of calm through me. "Thanks." I told him.

"Any time." he said, and then sat back, his armor opening up and the one winged pegasus got out.

He was sweaty and a bit grimy, which made me feel a bit lightheaded. So I took another sip from my canteen.

My friends all laughed, even I laughed. For just this moment I felt fine, felt that things will be okay. It wasn't and I wasn't, but right now I didn't care, I was with my friends again.

Though not all of them.

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