Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Seventy Three

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After getting something to eat and drink, Plasma guided me to the war room, where Grizzly was waiting. With her was Prickly, Silver Bristle Brush and another green alicorn. But unlike Benday, this alicorn had her mane and tail braided and tied into a loop.

"Good, we can go at any time." Grizzly said as she sat in her seat. She was wearing a black suit that looked too clean for the wasteland, and on the table in front of her was one of the M.E.W. SMG's Flyright had. As I trotted to her I saw that there was another gun on the table as well, and if it wasn't for how much it shined, I might have mistaken it for Tripwire's pistol. But instead of the pink alicorn engraved on the side, this one had a gold and white alicorn engraved on it.

Grizzly saw me looking and smiled. "You like, it's a limited run pistol made in honor of the princess, and only three were ever made."

"Ya, Tripwire had one." I said as I looked at the beautiful gun.

Frowning, Grizzly pulled the pistol back to herself and then placed it into a holster under her suit jacket. "I know. Unfortunately we don't know where the third one is, rumors were that Celestia had it, and if anypony ever found it, they would also learn of what happened to Princesses Celestia."

"A worthy mystery to be solved, with a nice prize. If I know my metal right, that gun hast to be made of pure mithril." Plasma said.

Grizzly nodded. "And magical too. The gun Punch Love, which Tripwire has, is said to make the owner of it more charismatic. My gun, Golden Sun, gives off an aura of authority, and stands as the Ursa's Rest mark of rulership. As for, Blue Moon, the third gun, nopony knows what it does, but rumors are that it protects you from nightmares and mind altering magics."

"I guess that answers why Tripwire used such a low caliber gun." I commented

"That and he is a terrible shot, I doubt he could use a gun that's any better." Grizzly said, mocking our enemy. "But enough talk about guns, or this will take all day."

"Yes, enough idol chit chat cousin." Prickly spoke up from her seat. "As soon as you four leave, we will move onto the re-education center by cloudship. It will be like with the breaking grounds, if things go well. Honestly, I'd charge in there now and rid us of that sorge, if not for my need here."

"I understand my cousin, if it was possible, I'd have Silver just send a megaspell bomb there and call it a day." Grizzly said with spite. "But we cannot sacrifice the hostages."

"Excuse me, but about the hostages, Who exactly got taken?" I asked.

A look of disgust flashed on the other three mare's faces, and then Grizzly answered. "Unfortunately the Bailfire Fiends snatched up any foal they could get their grimy hooves on. And for the few adults taken, they're likely dead by now."

"And if they're not dead, it will not be a pretty sight." Prickly added.

"I can imagine, so is there anything else I might need to know?" I asked.

"Actually there is." The green alicorn spoke up as she trotted over. "Names Sand Castle, and we'd like you to try and get Majestic back for us." Sand Castle's horn glowed bright green, and a bag was levitated over onto the table. The bag was opened with her magic, reveling a strange device covered in wires.

Plasma sighed. "Can I ask you how you managed to get one of the anti-magic pulse bombs? The Rangers are not the kind of ponies to just lose or give something like this away."

"We made it, the sisters and I." Sand said with pride. "We want Majestic back, but none of us know how to fight, so we made an extra powerful bomb to free her."

"Will that mess of wires work?" Grizzly asked Plasma.

"Lets see…" plasma then poked around the bomb for a minute, then pulled back with a smirk. "They got close, and with a few tweeks, I'll work. I'm more surprised they found the materials needed to make this!"

Sand looked nervous as she said, "you know, being resistant to radiation and all, so some of us went to a hotspot with a military base."

Plasma nodded. "That would make sense. Alright, just give me a moment, I'm sure I can use this to knock out the magic of the whole center with this."

That sounded too good to be true, so I asked, "realy, then we just need to send the bomb, right?"

"Unfortunately, no." Plasma answered. "It may fry any weaker talismans and spell matrixes, but anything important will be protected. At best it will just knock out all the arcano-tech for a minute. But that may be enough time for us to save Majestic if she appears." She then looked over at Sand Castle, giving her a smile. "It's a promise, if she appears, we will do what we can to save her."

"Th… thanks." Sand Castle said as she backed away, then with a wing, pushed Silver over to us. "Also, keep her safe."

"Of course." I said as I trotted over to the unicorn, or well, the unicorn looking alicorn, but not quite… that was going to be confusing, so I'll just call her a unicorn. "How about you, Silver, are you alright?"

Silver took a moment before she answered, the poor mare clearly very nervous. "I'm… doing better. I'll be able to… help." She then finally looked me in the eyes. "I said… bad things to you… sorry."

I rolled my eyes. "You and I are cursed, so I think you can be forgiven for being driven crazy by it."

But she shook her head. "N… no, you and Plasma were able to hold on, and help. I let myself be consumed, let myself become deprived. I could have helped… I should have helped… but I became a whore instead." She then slammed her hoof down, finding some confidence from within as she told me. "But I can help now, and I will. Even if just getting you there is all I can do, I'll do it!"

"Then I'm glad to have your help." I replied, patting her on the shoulder.

Silver then leaned in and whispered. "When this is… over… can you teach me a… a few tricks?"

I let out a quiet sigh, patting her on the shoulder again. Though reduced, the curse was still there for her. "How about this, once the curse is lifted, we can talk about it."

"Okay!" She said, and with a smile on her face, trotted off to the others.

I shared a worried glance with the others, in which it seemed that we all concluded that it would be better to have Silver like that, then to be too depressed to help.

As I rejoined the others, it was very clear that Silver was far under equipped then us, as in no equipment at all, not even clothing. "Will Silver be alright with nothing?"

Grizzly shrugged. "She's still technically a mutant alicorn on the inside, with potent raw magic and all."

"And she doesn't like clothing anymore." Plasma added as she rubbed her leg. "Actually I've been finding clothes to be weirdly… uncomfortable lately too."

"Same." I admitted.

Plasma then looked annoyed as she stomped on the ground once. "Fuck, must be the curse. Which is odd, as most ponies don't wear any clothing."

"It's more that we are extra sensitive to touch. Even being beaten feels good to me now because of it." I informed my friends.

Out of the blue, Grizzly lifted the back of my duster and slapped my flank, causing me to let out a surprised moan. "Ya, I think Lottery's right. She's not a masochist like you Plasma, and that was a masochist's moan."

I retreated to hide behind Plasma, glaring at Grizzly. "Fuck you, bitch!"

There was a moment of silence, lasting only for a few seconds, then the three of us began laughing. I was still pissed, but it was kind of funny.

Stopping on the floor a few times, Prickly got our attention. "Alright, before my cousin decides to drag you all to her bedchamber, maybe you should get going. Eventually father is going to find out what you're planning, and nopony will be going."

"Wait, Rattlebones is against this?" I asked.

Prickly nodded. "Grizzly is still his niece, and despite her sins, she is still loved as family. So he wants her to say where it is safe. But he can be overprotective at times, and not see that revenge must be done by those wronged, and those seeking redemption must work with their own hooves. By doing this, my cousin will both receive her vengeance, and her redemption."

The tall mare then narrowed her eyes at me. "There is magic in symbolism, as there is magic in friendship and love. You all have a shared goal, a shared pain, and a shared sense of responsibility. Use that which binds you all to find the strength to gain victory."

I nodded and looked back at the others. Grizzly and Plasma had helped me a lot, but I barely knew Silver. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes. Just find the strings that bind you to others, and either cut it, or embrace it." Prickly said, looking rather profound.

A huff then came from Grizzly. "Can you stop quoting your father, he's normally drunk when saying that shit."

Prickly frowned, sighed, and then backed away. "Just trust each other and bring those monsters to ruin. The sooner their base is destroyed, the better Equestria will become."

"I guess we wasted enough time chit chatting, so let's go." I told the others.

Plasma, Grizzly, Silver and I all faced each other, Silver's horn beginning to glow. The unicorn looked uncomfortable as she gritted her teeth and breathed heavily.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"No, she has to visualize the place before teleporting." Sand Castle said as she trotted over, touching her horn with Silver's. "I'll help her concentrate, lift some of the burden from her memory." The green alicorn also gritted her teat as her eyes opened wide with shock. "I… I understand why this is hard. But it must be done, so take care sister, and destroy those monsters!"

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For a moment everything tasted of copper, and then my other eye went blind. A stench then hit me like a rampaging Yao-Guai, causing me to gag, and nearly puke.

"The fuck are we." Grizzly yelled in disgust, her voice nearly drowned out by the sound of buzzing flies.

"Just a moment, I got a light." Plasma wheezed.

"Same here." I added as I held my breath and looked for my torch light.

Two beams of light flooded the once dark room, revealing us to be in a pit of bones and rot. Death surrounded us, corpses discarded and left to bloat. This place also smelled of piss and shit as well, along with mold and other forms of decay.

"Fuck, this must be their trash pit!" I stated the obvious as I looked for a way out. There were some stairs not far away, so I began trotting. "Over here."

As I moved, my hoof went through the ribcage of some poor victim, their rotting inners coating my hoof. The stairs were not much better, as I found it hard to get a hoof hold due to its slick slime surface, forcing me to dig in with my gauntlets. Turning back, I reached out to help Grizzly and Plasma out, and we made our way up.

Reaching a catwalk, the smell had not improved, but at least we were not treading in filth.

"Um, girls… where is Silver?" Plasma asked, and I realized she was not here.

"Shit! She didn't go with us, that bitch!" Grizzly growled out.

A light then slowly began to bathe the room we were in as a loud squeal of metal on metal assaulted our ears. With more light, I could see that we were in some warehouse-like room, with nothing but death below us. Turning my head to the light, a pony stood in the doorway, and I knew we had already been caught.

The pony then waved at us.

"Over here!" Silver called out!

The three of us sighed in relief and rushed over and out of this room, slamming the door behind us.

Silver held her nose as she said. "S… sorry about that. St… still learning to c…control the magic."

"We're here, and that's all that matters. Though I could do with a way to get rid of the smell." Grizzly complained.

"Oh, I can do that!" Silver's horn then began to glow as magic wrapped around Grizzly, causing the filth and grime to flake off her.

"That's… useful." Said a mildly shocked Grizzly.

Silver nodded. "Mother wanted me to spy on the more powerful ponies as a maid, so she gave me everyday magic that I could cast. I can cook, clean, and perform sexual tasks!"

Plasma grabbed her friend, shock clear on her face. "Silver, does that mean your memory is back?"

The unicorn looked nervous again, and shook her head. "S… sorry. Only bits and pieces."

Letting her go, Plasma then wiped off her hooves and pulled out the map as Silver casted her cleaning spell on her. "Alright, back to the mission. Anypony see something that indicates where we are."

I looked around, seeing nothing of note, all while the cleaning spell was casted on me, getting rid of the slimy rot from my hooves.

"Here!" Grizzly said as she trotted over a graffiti covered sign. Running her hoof over the sign, her mouth moved as shough reading it by touch. "East… equipment… storage."

"How? That thing is covered in paint. Even if I wasn't illiterate, I still couldn't read that?" I asked.

Grizzly tapped the sigh, it banging louder than any of us liked. "Sorry!" She said softly, then explained. "It's written in blind text. Their bumps that translate to poneish, made for, well the blind."

"You can read that?" Plasma asked.

"Of course I can read it, you'd be surprised how many important books were written in blind text. It also makes good code, since almost nopony can read it, or even know what it is." Grizzly further explained. "Speaking of which, the map, Plasma."

"Right, you said the East Equipment Storage. Ya, here it is!" Plasma pointed at a large square on the map, then unfolded another map. "The security control isn't far from here, so long as the way is not blocked. We just need to go up two floors and down the hall to the main building."

"And if it's blocked?" Grizzly asked.

"Either through the courtyard or through the dormitories. Both are likely going to have eyes on them." Plasma's hoof moved about the map, which I barely understood. "I'd advised the dormitories, as it will not have turrets."

"What about Molo's body?" I asked.

Plasma shook her head. "Not until the defence matrix is taken down. After that we can go get her."

I hated it, leaving Molo out there. But she wouldn't want me stupidly getting killed getting her corpses back. "Alright, let's turn off that power." I then turned to Silver, asking her, "are you still holding it together?"

The unicorn nervously fidgeted for a moment. "I'll… be fine. Fortunately my memories are still a mess, so I'm not recalling the worst… yet."

"Good enough, so just stay with us, and you'll get through this." I told her.

She nodded and we were off, following Plasma as she guided us. As we trotted, I was reminded of the Corps Dancers, with how everything was caked with graffiti. Often drawings of dicks, or rude comments I couldn't read, which Plasma remarked that most of them were misspelled. Guns and skulls were commonly painted, along with a few real ones just lying around here and there.

The climb up stairs was no better, as every hoof step of this place had been defiled in some way or another. Disturbingly was how many small hoof prints that were everywhere, many involved in some of the more disturbing images along the walls.

A breeze greeted us as we reached the top floor, which blew away the stench of shit and death we had been breathing. The windows here were not boarded up, but left smashed open, giving us a view of the outside. What I saw was several gray blocks, surrounded by thick walls, in the middle of a vast dead land. The same graffiti from the inside coated everything, but out here it looked more like some infection that veined out from holes, doors, and windows, trying to escape.

There were a few ponies on the thick wall that surrounded the re-education center, along with a lot of turrets, and what looked like robots. On the ground were thin ponies working in a tato garden, looking a few hoof steps away from death.

"Ya, those turrets will kill us in seconds if we go through the courtyard." Grizzly commented.

"Agreed, but unfortunately we're not going to be able to go this way." Plasma said as she looked around a corner.

Looking at it ourselves, the floor to the door had collapsed, and the door itself looked blocked off.

Plasma pointed over at another building on the other side of the one we were trying to get to. "The path on that side is still good."

"Ya, but how are we going to get there, and wouldn't just going to the main building be easier?" I pointed out.

"I'm suggesting that Silver takes us to the other side." Plasma said, pointing over at an uncovered window on the lower floor of the building.

Silver looked over at it herself, and nodded. "It's a short jump, so no problem."

"Good, but be ready in case we are seen by anypony!"

I checked my revolvers quickly, and racked the slide of my silenced IF-64. "Alright, I'm ready."

After a short moment, we gathered around Silver, and then everything shifted. Looking out the window, I saw where we had just been.

"Enough sightseeing, we need to move." Grizzly ordered. "Which way, Plasma?"

Again Plasma had the map out, but this time she looked less than happy. "From where it looks like we are, if we want to stay below the radar, we need to go through the cafeteria, and up through the dormitories. And that's a big if."

Giving her a nod, we let her lead the way again, quickly taking us to a pair of double doors. Testing the doors, we found them locked. "I got this." Grizzly said as she trotted over and pulled out a box of bobby pins and a screwdriver. After a quick moment, the doors clicked open. "My brother always liked to lock me out of places, so I learned to unlock them and go in anyways."

Entering the cafeteria, it was fortunately empty, but it was an absolute mess. Broken chairs and tables were all over, with only a few likely being used for their original purpose. Several corpses hung by hooks on the wall as macob decorations, their intestate strewn about between them. Of course, the smell of death and rot was rather pungent here.

"Let me guess, they eat ponies here." I commented as I tried to not gag.

"Probably, so let's not stay long," Grizzly said as she quietly trotted forward.

Following Plasma, she took us to the back and into the kitchen, though it strangely didn't look like any kitchen I'd ever seen. More a lab from my brother's comic books than a place to cook food. But the sight of cut up ponies in a grinder was all I really needed to know about this place.

"Shit, the doors are magnetically locked, I'll need to hack it." Plasma said as she trotted to a terminal.

As she turned on and tapped at the terminal, I took a quick look around, my eye catching one of the weird contraptions that came out of the wall. Silver was already at one, and before I could stop her, she pressed a button.

After a few clunks, the machine produced a metal plate and dropped a green brick, and then poured pink slime onto it.

"What the?" I said.

"Food." Silver answered.

"I wouldn't eat that!" Plasma spoke up, getting our attention as the doors opened behind her. "This place uses an organic matter converter system. It lets them turn uneatable matter into edible matter."

I raised an eyebrow. "How is that bad?"

Grizzly cleared her throat and pointed at the ground up pony. "What do you think they used for organic matter?"

Both Silver and my eyes looked back at the plate of food, and we backed away from it. "Disgusting." I said under my breath.

"It's worse than you think." Plasma then said, looking as disgusted as I felt. "Those converters are said to be terrible at sanitation. Easily tainted with bacteria and other pathogens. And they fed that shit to foals."

We then quickly made our way out with another reason that this place needed to burn.

Quickly trotting through the back way, things became a lot less dirty. It was still an old building covered in cracks and dust, but now with far less graffiti, and far less wear and tear from hoof traffic. Actually this place felt far more dead than corrupted.

Plasma brushed her hoof along a boarded up windowsill, knocking up dust. "I guess they must have locked themselves out of this section."

"Good, then it means nothing should be in our way from here on." Grizzly commented before freezing in place. "Shit, called it too soon."

A door creaked open, and the sound of moving mettle came from inside the building. With a thud, a protect-o-pony trotted out, dust breaking off its clear face that gave us a view of the mechanics inside.

"Hello and welcome to the Happy Hooves Re-education Center and Orphanage. Where we save foals from the lies of the Zebras that have poisoned their parents. You… FOUR… must be the new staff that have been requested. May I have your names and position?" The robot attempted to sound cheerful, but unlike the pink robots from the proto stable, its flat tone was exceptionally lifeless.

Plasma lifted up her hoof, waving it around a bit. When it was clear that the protect-o-pony could actually see her, she answered. "That's right, we're the new staff, I'm Plasma, and the others are Lottery, Silver and Grizzly. Were the new security, sent here to re-establish order before the rest of the staff can show up."

Several loud and fast clicks came from the robot before a red light flashed on, then replaced by a green. "Security cannot be contacted, home office cannot be contacted, the ministry's cannot be contacted. Communication failure is likely, danger to staff and subjects is high. Emergency security recruitment is activated." Lifting up a leg, the robot gave us a salute. "Welcome aboard new security, let me show you to your duties. Follow me."

The robot then turned and slowly trotted away.

"How'd you do that?" I asked Plasma.

"Robots are easy to read and trick, so you just need the right item or the right thing to say. Protect-o-pony's are also known for being notoriously dim in their programming, both easy to hack and easy to trick. Which is concerning, since most have guns on them," Plasma explained.

Grizzly stepped ahead of us. "Well, let's follow it, if it thinks we're security, then it may take us to the security matrix."

Plasma nodded. "That's why I said that to it."

Following the robot it would slow down at several different rooms, and explain it to us.

One room was dark, with but a few terminals that would show the inside of a different room, now and then flickering to show another room. Some had foals in them, all crammed together uncomfortably. Another had a few pregnant mares in them, on being blind and missing her hooves. A third room on the screen gave us a view of a raider raping one of her slaves, the poor stallion looking half dead, and bound up painfully.

"Here is one of our security offices, where you can keep an eye of the foals being kept here. Making sure they are safe, both from sedition, and from themselves. Remember, it is our job to make sure the young know their place in Equestria, and grow up to be happy and obedient citizens."

The lack of any privacy that I was seeing was disgusting to me. Though it was hard to see who was worse, the raiders who terrorized the ponies here, or the ones who built this place for foals as though they were animals.

"Fuck, so what the twins said was true, this place is horrible." Plasma commented.

"More like a maximum security prison than a place to care for foals." Grizzly added.

Silver got between Plasma and I, quietly saying, "if you did anything they didn't like, they beat and rape you. Even the foals."

Plasma gave her a quick hug before catching up with the robot.

"Here is the interrogation room, where naughty foals are asked why they are being naughty. The two way mirror allows a team of researchers and security to view the integration as it happens without being seen by the foals." The robot explained, but all I saw was a rape room. From the tools inside, to the blood on certain spots on the floor, it was not hard to imagine what went on here.

The robot moved on, quickly stopping at a fenced in room that was empty of whatever was once inside. "Several armories are stationed in the center, in case of riots, or zebra attacks. As security, you are required to practice your aim regularly."

"From the looks of labels over the gun racks, this place once had military grade guns, and a lot of them. Just for keeping foals in line." Grizzly pointed out.

We passed by a few more rooms, with nothing of note. Just some bunks and a break room, all left unused. Though slower than we would have liked, the robot eventually took us to the main building, and to a somewhat larger room with several benches on an incline. It gave us a clear view of an old rotting white screen at the bottom.

"Here is where my time as your guide ends. Just watch the introduction video, and then the control room will open up to you. From there you will meet the head of security, and be assigned your duties." The robot explained, and then trotted back from where it came, the door clicking shut behind it and locking.

Plasma pulled out her map and smiled. "Looks like that control room is where we need to go."

The lights in this room then dimmed, and a projector on the ceiling turned on. Appearing on the screen were several words on a grainy screen, along with a white alicorn that's jaw was too square to be a mares.

Plasma began reading the text for me. "Production by the Mares for a better Equestria and the Society of Vigilant Mares. Funded by Solaris Inc. With the support of the Ministry of Image, Peace, and Moral."

Music then began to play as a mare trotted onto the screen. She looked a lot like Candy Corn, but younger, fatter, and less crazy… though she still gave off a crazy vibe. "Hello sisters to our beautiful experiment, if you're here you have been hoofed picked to help us improve Equestria for the better. Yes I know, you're asking how that would be possible, and the answer is simple. By shaping the minds of the next generation. Here we are studying and conditioning foals to become proper adults, in which what we learn here will be applied to all of Equestria."

The screen shifted, showing an image of a family; a father and mother earth pony with a colt and filly, all standing in front of a moter wagon that looked a lot like Duke Pharynx's one. "Here you see the standard family. Husband and wife, son and daughter, all a construction of our modern era, and wrong. This is not how Equestria used to be, or how it should be. Let me explain."

The screen then focused on the mare, and began showing different mares in different outfits around her. "Before it was, and mostly still is, the job of us mare to lead Equestria, using the compassion and wisdom we all are naturally born with. From the princesses to the mayor's, from police to royal guards. Even the titans of industry are mares, showing how capable we can be when we put our minds to it. Mares have been the backbones of Equestria as long as there has been an Equestria. But unfortunately times have changed."

Now the screen focused on the stallion, also showing other stallions in different outfits. "Before they were just laborers, allowing us mares the freedom to build this wonderful country, knowing their place. Farmers and builders and such. But then they started showing their greed, pushing their way into places where they didn't belong. As members of the royal guard, they repeatedly fail to stop attacks, requiring the six mares of friendship to save the day. But now, with the war going on, they continue to show their ineptitude, dragging down Equestria with them." A few photos were then shown, one of a panicked soldier, holding himself in a corner. Another showed a few stallions on a strange two wheeled motor wagon, looking like stylish raiders. There was even a photo with words of what looked like Tripwire… but not, being escorted out of a building, surrounded by ponies with cameras.

"The tragedy of Littlehorn! That must be Chasaler Naysayer!" Plasma spoke up, and I saw the resemblance.

The film continued. "As you can see, time and time again it has been proven that the source of almost all our setbacks have been because of stallions. And unfortunately our leadership is unwilling to fix this mistake. That's where we come in. Here we will reshape the minds of the young to the proper way of thinking. Where the colts will come to understand their place in Equestria, and the fillies will be installed with the confidence to rise above their lesser gender. Through them Equestria will return to better times, in which a true utopia will be formed! Now please follow the instructions of your host, who will be hoofing out a questionnaire for you all to fill out. Now please be honest, we are all in this together after all."

Music returned as the film dimmed, and the lights turned back on.

A long sigh came from Grizzly. "I see now why my ancestors hated them so much."

"I don't know, I kind of like the idea." A filly spoke up, and we turned to see her sitting on a bench, chowing down on a green bar. She then looked at us, and confused formed on her face. "You don't look like a Bailfire Fiend… who are you?"

I then recognized her, that filly was Spur, Short Fuse's inbred daughter. "Shit, grab her!"

We all charged as the raider filly bolted, using her small size to avoid us and run. She then dashed to a hole in a door, but a teleporting, Silver blocked her way. The two collided, and knocked the door over.

We watched as junk shot out, knocking over more junk, and even more junk, causing a very loud racket.

"Oh there you are, you little bitch!" The husky voice of a mare I knew came closer. Trotting into the doorway was a heavily bandaged mare with a peg leg, her one red eye looked like a cut ruby, and it burned with pure hate.

"Lottery!" Bandsaw snarled.

I drew my revolver and fired, but the raider was too fast and ducked out of sight. Then a loud whistle was blown, followed by a concofiny of yelling.

"Let's go!" Grizzly shouted, waving at us to go into the control room.

None of us argued, we just quickly followed.

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