Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Eight

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Content Warning: not for those faint of heart

This chapter had sensitive content, such as rape and suicide, some of which is in graphic detail. Readers have been warned.

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The journey to Dead Pony Pass took more than a day, which fortunately let me break in the armor. During that time Tripwire went over what strategies we were going to apply, and imagined certain scenarios.

Mostly he was making it clear that direct confrontation was a bad Idea. Something to do with the raiders being heavy chem addicts, and it making them pain resistant. I'd be lying to myself if I said that I was not a little scared, but I also felt that so long as Tripwire was with me, everything was going to just work out.

When the day grew late, and we found a safe spot to camp, I couldn't help but be a pest for some attention. The nights in the wasteland are cold, and having a partner is the best way to stay warm. I also liked the feeling of waking up in Tripwire's hooves, It was something I could really get used to.

When we finally got moving again, I made sure to stick a little closer to Tripwire. Even if he didn't show it, I knew he liked me, and that was all that mattered to me in the moment.

By the time we reached the pass, it was a few hours before noon, and already the place was filling me with dread. Blocked off by a chain linked fence and motor wagons, the entrance was decorated by corpses impaled on spikes. Each corps had wires attached to them, forcing the dead into poses as though they were dancing.

Seeing it made me wretched, of which I was thankful that Tripwire had us skip breakfast. He had an inkling that something like this would happen, suggesting that we eat after we get around the raiders.

"Onyx was right on the money, it's the fucking Corps Dancers." Tripwire said in annoyance.

"Should I even ask?" I asked.

He gave a long sigh before telling me, "Let's just say that they're exactly like the raiders your parents warned you about. Now let's find another way around, the fuckers are likely watching this end of the pass."

In full agreement, we trotted away from the entrance, looking for an altrant route. It didn't take long, but I also quickly found that some other ponies had also taken this route. They had left large and deep hoof prints.

"Definitely steal rangers by the looks of it. No normal pony can make hoofprints like that" Tripwire pointed out. "At least they will kill us quickly, unlike the raiders. But let's find another route, just in case. "

I nodded and moved on.

It took over an hour, but we found our way around to an unused path, well not one used by other ponies. The animal trail was hidden enough, and had soft spots that left our hoofprints, but none from any other pony. This made me sure it was safe. Unfortunately it was a long winding path, taking longer to traverse through and into the valley.

By the time we were in, the sun was already high over our heads, and oppressively bearing down on us with its heat. Looking over at what was Dead Pony Pass, I began to understand why they were fighting over this place.

From what I could guess, it was a long trainyard with several warehouses, and other small buildings. The other structures that peppered this place were towering spires of metal with cables dangling from them, and watchtowers made from scrap, some with a red flag depicting an eye. Through the scope of my hunting rifle, I could see that there was one larger building in the distance, it was fortified and had many ponies on guard.

"As you can see, this place is a fortress." Tripwire told me, "Fortunately we don't have to go into the heart of that mess, just do our best to scurt along the outside."

I nodded as I scanned the valley again, looking for trouble and then making sure my mane and tail stayed hidden under my cloak. From a distance we blended into the ground, so I didn’t want any bright colors to tip anypony off to where we were.

As we slowly trotted along the edge of Dead Pony Pass, the distant sound of gunfire was a constant reminder that this was a dangerous place. Sometimes it was the Daka Daka of some heavy gun, other times a loud boom of an explosion. All fortunately far away.

"Lottery, get down!" Tripwire whispered.

Making myself smaller inside my cloak, I saw three shadows pass overhead. The Enclave, I thought to myself as I looked up to watch three Pegasus fly into the valley. For a moment I felt jealous of their ability to fly, having a freedom of movement I'll never know.

"Must not be their best soldiers, or some sacrificial lambs." Tripwire commented.

Confused, I asked. "What do you mean?"

"Flying into the valley like that, even I know it's a stupid maneuver." Tripwire explained as he then pointed down at one of the towers. "Remember what I said about the raiders, that some of them are crack shots."

A loud snap went through the air, and I watched as a pegasus then fell out of the sky, a trail of feathers following them. The other two dived down after the first, one firing a rifle that shot pink beams.

"That's about what I expected, a pegasus is a much bigger target than a bird." He then pointed up, where I saw a few clouds above us. "I've worked with a few griffins, and the standard tactics for fighting from the air is to either be too fast to hit, too high up to hit, or use a low drifting cloud to hide in. Unless you have some way to stop bullets, low flying like that just makes you an easy target."

I couldn't argue with that logic, as there was no cover in the air.

Looking down into the valley again, the three Pegasus were lost among the buildings of rusting metal. I did catch movement going on, flashes of brightly colored and very spiky ponies running between the structures. It left me conflicted, as both the Raiders and the Enclave were bad ponies, but seeing what those raiders had done to the ponies at the entrance, I hoped the three Pegasus would get out alright.

We moved on, having to go further down into the valley as staying higher up would have left us without a way down to the mine's entrance. There was also the need for some cover, as once the sun starts going down, our shadows may give our position away to the Enclave, if they are watching from above.

The gunfire only grew more intense as we got closer, making me more aware of how loud my hoof steps could be. Creeping up to one of the buildings, Tripwire and I had to duck down behind some trash as two raiders trotted around a corner.

Their armor looked just like the one Molotov had, but far dirtier, rustier, and with even more spikes. The ponies themselves were just as dirty, with brightly colored rigid spiky manes, and a heavy amount of piercings on their face. One even had a skull painted on their face, and when they opened their mouth, I saw two rows of pointy yellow teeth.

"Not the best time to take a piss, ain't we hunting those bird brains." A raider mare groaned in frustration.

The raider stallion growled out, "fuck you, why'd we have to do work, fucking pricks, ordering us around. Anyway, I got ta take a piss really bad!"

Unfortunately my need to observe them got me the view of raider dong, of which I horrifyingly saw that his member had several spiked piercings, and had red scabby splotches over it.

He then winced as though in pain as he pissed. "Fuck, it's like fire!"

The raider mare then laughed vindictively. "Told ya that bitch had bailfire crotch." She then pulled out a strange rainbow colored cylinder and put it to her mouth. The thing made a "pss" sound as she breathed in and sighed. "Ahh, that's the shit.

"Oy, give me some!" The male raider demanded.

She took a step back, laughing again. "Get your own dash, ya bitch faggot!" Then like a frolicking foal, the mare skipped away.

"Get back here you fucking cunt!" The stallion raider demanded, chasing after her.

Waiting for several seconds until we felt it was safe to move, I then went ahead, ensuring the path was safe.

Making our way further in, we then came across a rather troublesome roadblock. The riders had set up several pillars, of which had ropes with bundles of tin cans attached, strung up between the pillars. Under the rope were thick disks, which had a red light on top.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Landmines." Tripwire answered. "Standard issued Equestria Military proximity landmines to be exact. Not very powerful as explosives go, but enough to fuck up your leg, or even kill you. Fortunately, if you're fast enough, there's a switch on them you can flip to turn them off."

"Odd," I said, thinking for a moment before saying. "So, as long as I'm fast enough, I can turn them off."

He nodded, but then said. "Though you can do that, I really would not advise it. You see that cone over there." Tripwire pointed at a tall orange cone near one of the land mines. "Likely there's another mine under it. So while you're busy turning off the first mine, the one under the cone will trigger and go off."

"Fuck that sounds bad." I said in realization.

"Can be worse. If you survive the blast, you will likely be too hurt to run away. Meaning that you will be an easy target for the raiders, and they will likely use you like a toy until you pass on."

I shivered at the thought.

"So… what do we do?" I asked.

Tripwire sighed. "Since we can't just go through or around it, and certainly not over it. We need to find the raider's path through, and sneak around them. Which means we need to go further in."

"Are you sure?" I asked, hoping there was a better way.

He nodded. "I'm sure. Just as sure that they set up some sort of death trap around here, like a maze or gauntlet. But that can be avoided so long as they don't know we are here. We just need to locate their side entrance."

I cocked an eyebrow, "side entrance?"

Tripwire then explained. "Ya, raiders like their shortcuts, so there's likely at least one side entrance near the main entrance to whatever deathtrap they made. If you can find it, I should be able to open it. Look for a door decorated in more profanity than any other and you likely found their side entrance. Come get me when you do."

"Wait, you're not coming?" I asked in surprise.

Another sigh came from him. "I'm not as light on my hooves as you are. Best if I stay here where I can hide, then risk getting caught while searching for a way through." He then pulled out what I had come to know as his pocket watch. "And you should hurry, the later it gets, the harder it will become. Last I heard, some of the raiders have been abusing the chem Cat's Eyes, so they'll be able to see us in the dark, where we will be blind."

I didn't like it, but if there was no other way, then I just had to do it. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as I find it."

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Making myself as small as possible, a raider trotted by me, unaware that the burlap sack was actually a pony. Downwind of them, the stench of the raider was horrendous, it was like somepony had died and rotted, then the raider had rolled in their entrails.

Once the raider had passed by, I got back up and continued my search. In the short time I left Tripwire, I had seen a few things I wished I hadn't; mutilated ponies used as decorations, cruel implements of tourchure, and dicks drawn on everything.

My ears twitched at the sound of a crash and the crack of wood braking, followed by laughter. I knew I probably shouldn't go look, but so far I hadn't found this side entrance door.

As I got closer, another sound became a lot more apparent, that of a muffled sobbing and loud grunting.

Peeking around a corner, I saw a few more raiders."

You really think the boss isn't going to know?" A bald raider asked a raider mare.

It was the mare I saw before, and again laughing vindictively. "The fucking boss is too… haa... high on dash and buck right now to even care. Just d…. Drag the dead bird brain to him and he will go to town on th…. Ahhh the corps. Not like a pony would live after that anyways." She then let out a loud moan before relaxing.

The mare was sitting on a pony, a Pegasus, blood pooling under him.

The bald raider looked annoyed as he watched the mare. "Speaking of dead, I think you killed that fucker as you were riding him."

She snickered as she began thrusting her hips again, a white fluid leaking from her crotch. "So that's why he suddenly got real stiff, best I enjoy this wh… while it's still warm."

I had to hold back from gagging as the raider continued to fuck the corps.

The bald then snorted. "Fucking whatever, just tell that asshole to finish up, I want my second go before seeming the boss."

She laughed again. "He's been having tr… trouble shooting his little gun lately. It m… may be a while. Just g… go see the boss, the bitch will be here w…. When you get back.

Again the bald raider snorted. "Ya I'm sure she will be. Just as sure that if she's still alive, the rest of the crew will be lining up for their turn."

"Just fucking g… go!" The mare growled. "And watch the traps, j...just reset them!"

I then watched as the bald raider grumbled and trotted over to a corner, where he pulled at a tarp, revealing another Pegasus. The poor thing was clearly dead, with one of its wings mutilated and several bullet holes in their torso. Dragging the dead pony away, he trotted to the decorated door before opening it and passing through.

With now only two raiders here, I sneaked in closer to get a better look. If one of the Pegasus were alive, I wanted to help them. But what I saw was almost too much. It almost made me gasp in horror.

A poor mare was tied down to a short wooden bench with her legs forced open by a bar between them. Her wings were bleeding from being crudely wrapped in barbed wire. The mare's face was battered and bruised, with some dirty rag shoved in her mouth and a rope tied to her head to keep the gag in place.

Sickening me the most was the stallion with the mohawk mounting the mare, violently thrusting into her with blood dripping from where he was raping her. He seemed to be in a trance as the mare's eyes looked dead, tears flowing from them.

I knew I needed to stay hidden, or what was being done to this mare would happen to me next… but I couldn't just ignore this!

Creeping along the wall, the raider mare too busy fucking the dead stallion to see me, I first needed to make sure I was in a good position before doing anything.

*snap!*

Pain shot up through my back left leg as something had clamped down on it hard, causing me to muffle a scream.

"Fuck was that?!" The raider said as she stopped thrusting her hips and looked behind her.

I quickly ducked down, making sure my cloak covered me in hopes that it kept me hidden. Looking down I saw that I had stepped on a bear trap, with one side of the jaw bending my leg armor a little and the other jaw deep into my flesh. When I attempted to move my leg, I had to bite onto my own hoof to further suppress a cry of pain. I was sure of it, the trap had hit bone.

"Was that sack always there?" The mare questioned as I held my breath. The sound of her taking a hit of dash was followed by a chuckle. "Stupid sack, interrupting my good lay."

Clenching my teeth, I slowly pulled out my hunting rifle from its holster. The sound of hoofsteps in front of me and a rancid smell was all I needed to know that she was now standing over me.

Something then poked into my shoulder, piercing my flesh like a needle. "Who left this shit here, fucking lazy slobs." She grumbled.

Pulling the rifle up, I shoved the barrel into her mouth as I raised my head. Looking into the yellowed and bloodshot pinprick eyes of the raider. The mare seemingly did not even see me as she smiled with her jagged teeth. Placing my hoof into the trigger guard, I then pressed down onto the gun's long trigger?

*BANG*

A split second later, the raider mare's head exploded, sending blood, brain, bone, and flesh flying. Much of it splattering across to the other raider.

The raider stallion let off a loud moan, then a satisfied sigh. "Fuck was that… if it didn't help get me off, I'd fuck you up right now." He grumbled.

Pulling out of the mare, blood and cum sloshed out of her, splattering onto the ground. Turning to look at me, he then snarled. "Oh fucking cores." He growled, but then grinned as he looked down. "Got ya leg all trapped I see. All the better for me."

A cold shiver ran up my spine as I aimed my rifle.

*Click*

Fuck, I forgot to cycle the bolt!

As I lowered the rifle to cycle the bolt, the raider rushed me, picking up a plank of wood from the ground and swinging it at me.

Hitting low, the plank smashed into my chest armor, shattering the plank into splinters and knocking me back. The hunting rifle flying from my hooves.

All I could do was raise my hooves up as he swung the broken plank again, this time shattering on my leg guards and further knocking me on my back. The pain from my left back leg only intensified as the raider stepped onto the bear trap, making a loud snap sound and causing me to scream.

"Oh fucking yes! I'm going to have fun with you." The raider said, practically salivating.

Looking up at him only filled me with horror as his dick was erect, covered in blood and semen, along with the spiked piercings. Scrambling for anything that could help me, I somehow managed to grab my flare gun, shoving it in my mouth.

The raider only had a second to register what was pointed at him before I fired, enveloping us both in a thick cloud of smoke.

The pressure on my leg lessened. So I pulled myself up, trying my best to ignore the pain. Dropping my gun, I then bit onto my axe, rearing up to strike.

As the clouds dissipated, the raider stood before me, bleeding from the holes that peppered his body, but still standing. He charged forward, colliding with my axe and me, sending the both of us tumbling over.

This time instead of getting up, I just grabbed my junk rifle, and took aim. The raider got back up, now with a golden axe stuck into his shoulder, and still terrifying.

"The more you fight the harder I become!" He growled menacingly.

*bang click, bang click, bang click, bang click, bang click, bang click, bang click.*

The shots didn't have the power of my other guns, and didn't even slow the raider down as he trotted over to me. But as the raider loomed over me, he wobbled, then fell over lifelessly.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I then pointed my rifle down to put one last shot into his skull.

*Bang!*

Breathing heavily, the pain in my leg then reminded me where I was. Quickly, I used my rifle to pry open the beartrap to free myself, blood oozing from my wound. Now free, I could see that the armor plate was even more bent, likely unusable.

Taking a deep breath, I removed the armored peace, causing me to let out a pain filled moan. My leg flopped free, it bening in an unnatural direction with the bone visible.

The pain was almost unbearable, but I knew I could not stay long. More raiders would be here soon.

Digging out a healing potion, I pushed my leg together as I guzzled the potion down. Watching as my leg patched itself together, I winced as needle-like pains shot up through the leg. It was painful enough to make me cry, but soon subsided as the healing came to an end.

With my leg whole again, I got up… then fell over. The same sharp pain shot up my leg, almost causing me to scream. Feeling my leg, I found that the bone felt wrong. It was bent oddly, with a point sticking out. Something had seriously gone wrong.

"Fuck!" I groaned as I got back up. It seemed that as long as I didn't apply too much pressure on the leg, I was going to be fine. Now limping, I quickly gather my things, including the broken leg armor, and that damn bear trap. After the trouble it caused me, I wanted to get something back from it.

Once I had everything, it was time to finish what I started.

Again ignoring the pain, I trotted over to the poor Pegasus mare, using my axe to cut her free. She let herself fall to the ground, sobbing as she curled up.

"It's okay, you're safe now, I'm going to get you out of here." I told her as I reached over, she flinched at my touch. "You need to get up, okay, there's going to be more of them if we don't move. Now what is your name?"

The mare froze for a moment before she then slowly stood up, shaking like a leaf. "I...I'm… recruit Chilly Skies… of the… Enclave."

Looking at her, she was young, likely younger than I was, and behind the bruises, she must have been beautiful. It broke my heart having seen what was done to her.

"Alright, recruit Chilly Skies, I'm Lotter, and I'm going to get you somewhere safe. So just follow me, you understand?" I told her softly.

Chill nodded before looking back at her wings, then shivered.

The sound of metal banging on metal drew my attention, and I saw the silhouette of more raiders coming our way. "Alright, let's go."

With my junk rifle read, I tugged on her to follow. Chilly stumbled at first, unable to walk right, it was clear that even moving was painful to her. But she managed to get moving, following me.

Getting away from that room and down a hallway I quickly rounded a corner and froze. I had come face to face with another raider mare, who was in the process of sticking a needle into her leg. She looked at me, and I looked at her for a long moment. She then bolted to a nearby apple shaped grenade, blood spurting from where the needle had just been in. But I stopped her short as the axe head of my rifle stuck into her other leg.

Horrifyingly, she didn't flinch, or scream as she pushed herself to the grenade. Blood splattered from her injury, bearly slowing her down, as though she felt no pain at all. As I took aim with my rifle, the mare grabbed the grenade before looking at me with pinprick eyes.

*Bang!*

A small hole appeared in her head as the raider looked at me with the same mad stare, then fell over. Her grenade fell to the ground and rolled off past me.

I was starting to understand why ponies feared raiders, the fuckers just didn't seem to feel pain or fear of death. I was sure now, sure that I had gotten lucky. One mistake, or being too slow, I would have been dead or worse.

Remembering how close that raider stallion had gotten to me sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Trotting over the raider, I strangely saw no exit wound from the gunshot. Maybe the bullet bounced around in her skull?

I looked back to check on Chilly. The mare was still shaking, and in her hooves was the grenade the raider tried to grab. To be fair, she should have something to protect herself, so I was not going to take it…

*ping*

Cilly pulled the pin on the apple grenade, tears flowing from her eyes as she smiled. All I could do was dive for cover.

*BOOM*

The poor mare turned into a cloud of red mist, feathers floating through the air as I was left in shock.

As my hearing returned, I could hear shouting that was quickly getting louder, so I wrapped myself up in my cloak, making myself as small as possible, doing my best to not make a sound.

"FUCKING FUCK!" A raider screamed. "The fucking Pegasus blew herself up!"

"Another one bights the dust." A second raider said, chucking.

"Shut up!" A third raider hissed. "This is why we take live captives to da boss, because this shit happens!"

"Always the grenades too." A fourth raider spoke up. "Last week we lost two of our fuckers because nitro wanted first dibs on that unicorn faggot."

"Oh I remember that, the explosion was fucking awesome" a fifth raider chimed in.

The first raider groaned loudly. "Well I ain't tellin da boss we fucked this up again. We don't even have enough of a body to string up!"

"Lets just string up the ones we do have" the fourth suggested, the snickered. "That spiky dick asshole had it coming for months now. Maybe have his dick up the bitches neck hole. One last rape in death."

"I fucking hate you, I hate you all. I'm taking their stash, and getting high to forget all this shit." The third rider grumbled.

As I stayed still, holding my breath, the raiders slowly left, one dragging the body of the raider I killed away. Once I was alone, I let myself relax, only to find that I was shaking just as much as Chilly was.

Looking down, one of her blood stained feathers laid at my hooves. Anger, sorrow, and terror all mixed together as I suppress a scream.

Why did she do that, she was free, all she needed to do was follow me. I had saved her, and she just killed herself with a smile on her face. It just didn't make sense to me, and it made me want to scream.

Defeated, I began limping my way back to Tripwire.

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Finding my way back to Tripwire, I let myself collapse onto the floor at his hooves. He looked down at me, and sighed. "How bad was it?" He asked.

I explained what had happened among the raiders, sparing some details, though I was sure he could fill in the details himself. Then I showed him my leg, in which he looked rather concerned.

He felt where my leg had been broken, causing me to filch from the jolt of pain.

"I see what happened." He said as he let my leg go. "You used a healing potion before correctly setting your leg. Those potions are miracle cures, but if you're not careful, they can do more harm than good. Like what you're dealing with right now."

I winced as I moved my damaged leg. "Can it be fixed?"

He grimaced. "Yes, but doctors charge a hoof or two for such operations. It requires them breaking your leg in the right spots, and resetting the bone. It's not guaranteed to be a complete fix, but it should get you trotting normally."

I felt numb from hearing that. Just because I didn't know to set my bone before drinking a healing potion, I could have a permanent limp. It was almost too much to imagine. But I know I would at least try to make the best of it, not simply give up.

My thoughts then drifted to Chilly.

Muttering "I'll… live. I must."

"Thinking about that enclave mare?" Tripwire asked.

I nodded, "why would she do that, she was free"

Tripwire took a deep breath. "Because the wasteland breaks ponies. For some they become like iron, but many others can't handle it. There are those who take the easy way out, like that mare. Why bother living in such a cruel world and the like. Others, they go raider."

"Go rider? Why would anypony want to become monsters like them?" I asked in confusion

"It's better to say they simply stop caring. Stop trying to be better ponies, and let their baser urges take over." Tripwire explained. "You saw them abusing chems, wildly modifying their bodies, the lack of any hinge at all, and the torment of other ponies. They are, in a sense, free."

"FREE! That's not being free!" I growled at him.

Tripwire rolled his eyes at me. "It's as free as a beast is. I'm not saying it's a good thing, just how it is. We ponies follow rules and laws, find our place and stick to it. That's how things should be, and what I'm working on to achieve. Raiders find their freedom by dragging the rest of us down to their level, where we all are miserable and mad."

He then helped me back up. "You and I are different, we know our place, and such ideals as freedom will only drag us down. You and I will help bring order to the wasteland, of which will be the cure for raiders. So what do you say, are you going to help me finish this?"

My back leg still hurt like fuck, but I could deal with it. "ya… ya I can. I'll take you to the side entrance."

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