Fallout Equestria: Gun Trotters

It may have been the weekend, but Neighvarro still bustled with activity. Looming above the cloud cover that separated it from the wasteland below, the largest base the Enclave had to offer was built around the hub that controlled every bit of cloud in pegasus territory. Even the leviathan Thunderhead-class cloudship permanently assigned to Neighvarro, the Victorious, appeared toy-like next to it. Every aspect of the base was meant to be overly impressive, to inspire its occupants and shock and awe its enemies; even the barracks for cadets had an imposing aesthetic.

The late afternoon sun flooded one cadet’s room with light, drowning out the surfaces that faced it in shades of orange and yellow. It provided heavy contrast to the dull gray walls, as well as the shades of purple and green in the Enclave flag that dominated one side of the room. Unfortunately, the sun washed out the cloud terminal’s screen with a healthy amount of glare, keeping the two pegasi gathered around it from reading properly.

“Hey, can you block the sun for just a second? I’m almost done reading,” The blue stallion on the right asked, the request being quickly granted by his companion. Unfolding a wing and extending it up, she took away the glare for the time being, letting the stallion finish the last couple sentences he was on. His eyes widened as he got to the end, amazed by everything coming together, and could only say one thing:

“Wow.”

The stallion’s eyes were glued to the screen, soaking in what he just read. The prologue alone was awesome, completely different from what his friend had attempted in the past—

“Dauntless.” His name being uttered shocked the pegasus back to his senses, as Dauntless sheepishly turned to face the mare sitting to his left.

“S-Sorry. I couldn’t help but get caught up in reading it over and over again,” He apologized, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof.

“Is it good? I don’t know what to think about that last part, if it fits, or even…” The mare rattled off a worryingly long list of concerns, not able to stop until Dauntless put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Arctic Charm.” Dauntless said, mimicking how his friend broke him out of his spell earlier. “I think everything works, it’s fine. You did a lot better than the last few times you tried writing a story.”

“Phew. I’m so glad those workshops weren’t totally worthless,” Arctic sighed, letting all of the tension out of her shoulders.

“Well I didn’t struggle with reading this time around, if that means anything!” Dauntless affirmed, only to be met with a glare from the light gray pegasus and an awkward silence. He shifted in his seat nervously, a sorry grin spreading across his face as he hurriedly tried to come up with something that’d fix his mistake. “Y-You know what I meant, Arctic. It’s good, don’t worry.”

“It better be. I’d hate for today to end on a sour note,” She said, ejecting the log from the terminal and placing it on the pile adjacent to it with a soft clack. The soft blue glow of the monitor winked out, the sun’s glare turning it into a makeshift mirror and highlighting a few spikes in Arctic’s mane that had drooped down. Running a hoof through her light blue hair to set them back up, she turned to Dauntless. “You wanna grab something to eat before I head out? All of this story talk’s got me hungry.”

“I was just about to ask if you wanted to hit up the mess hall. Hopefully they have some sorta special tonight.”

“Well, let’s go see,” Arctic declared, the two pegasi getting out of their chairs and making their way to the door of Dauntless’ room. The taller mare caught something out of the corner of her eye; a book peeking out of her friend’s saddlebag, just enough for her to catch the title: “Advanced Pre-War Flight Maneuvers?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I just didn’t expect you to be reading about something so old.”

“Like how you told me you have to study law from when the sky was open?” Dauntless said with a smug, letting Arctic pass by him as he closed and locked the door.

“Okay, you got me there,” his friend giggled. The two walked silently for a bit, the sound of their hooves echoing off the walls of the dull gray hallway. They had gotten to a pause in the monotony, a decently sized window, when Arctic broke the silence: “But seriously though—why that book?”

Dauntless’ expression sobered up before taking a long look down the hallway. The sun turned his already reddish brown mane orange, casting a series of shadows over his face while bringing out the gold in his eyes. “...Just needed something to keep me from freaking out over this last field test.”

“Aren’t you doing something on the surface? I know my brother is, based on whatever my father’s coaxed out of him.”

“Eyup. Can’t say anything besides that though.”

“So that’s why Father couldn’t get that much out of him…” Arctic muttered to herself. “Is this part of some special program since you two were always the fastest in your class?”

To her surprise, Dauntless didn’t answer right away. At least, audibly answered right away; she only heard the quietest mutter from him, along with his cheeks starting to glow red. “Sorry? Didn’t catch that,” She grinned awkwardly. Dauntless’ wings flared up out of embarrassment as he managed to choke out something that could be heard:

“W-Wonderbolts…”

Now it was her turn to throw her wings up, but out of surprise. “WHAT?!” Arctic yelled, making other pegasi up and down the hallway turn towards the pair. “Dauntless, you know what you’d be getting into, right?? The Wonderbolts are…well they’re the best! In every possible way!”

“I know…I just had to please my mom somehow.” Oh. That explains it, she thought. It was definitely in character for Dauntless’ mom to demand what seemed unrealistic. But she had helped Dauntless pass with flying colors for their academy entrance exams, so maybe she was onto something.

“...What about you, Arctic?” Her friend said, putting an abrupt end to her train of thought. “What are you trying to do?” Arctic felt her own face getting hot, as she struggled to answer just like Dauntless did.

“H-High Council…” The words felt ridiculous leaving her mouth, but seeing that it made her friend excited calmed her down some.

“Omigosh, Council?! We’d be working together if everything goes right!” Dauntless said, looking like he was going to start bouncing off the walls. “I’d answer to you for missions, and you’d be carving your own path in the Enclave!” Fuck! He immediately knew that that last part may have pushed the envelope some, as his friend hung her head and wings.

“I guess that’d be pretty nice…” Arctic said quietly, looking to the side. Dauntless cursed himself for bringing that topic up; how could he forget Arctic Charm was the outlier of her family? The bearers of a long and prestigious flying heritage had scoffed when she wanted to pursue the legal side of the Enclave, and he’d just reminded her of it all. The rest of the walk to the mess hall was quiet after that.

The mess hall’s design betrayed its actual size. The ceiling was low for something made by pegasi, and the choices in color and lighting made it feel more like a diner or saloon. Ubiquitous blue lights glowed softly from the ceiling, walls, and pillars. At capacity, it’d be borderline claustrophobic for its winged occupants. But right now, before the bulk of the personnel would pass through the mess hall, it was relatively open and quiet; Dauntless and Arctic Charm even got a booth to themselves. The blue stallion still felt bad over earlier, barely picking at his food while his friend was laser-focused on eating. Maybe it was time to change the subject a little bit.

“I don’t like going back to him,” Dauntless started, prompting Arctic to pause eating, “But how is Ice doing? He’s been almost silent these last two months of training, only speaking when spoken to, and I can’t think of an answer as to why.”

The light gray mare swallowed and put a hoof to her chin, trying to think like her fraternal twin. “Hmm…I don’t see Ice that often, even if we have breaks at the same time. It’s only been in passing, or seeing him talk to Father. Why?” She asked, picking up her drink and taking a gulp.

“Because a flight leader has to make sure all members of their team are in good shape,” Dauntless said, before getting absolutely soaked by a splash of water, accompanied by the telltale PBBT! of a spit-take.

“YOU’RE HIS FLIGHT LEADER?!!” Arctic yelled, wings outstretched and forehooves on the table, drawing a bit of attention from the rest of the pegasi in the room. “MY BROTHER! ICE COLD! UNDER YOUR COMMAND?!” Her outburst was met by an embarrassed smile and a squee from across the table. “Well. That definitely answers why I’ve never heard him talk about training, if he has to be told what to do by you. And why he’s always sulking with the other two stallions in your flight…”

“River Rush and Steamburst? Yeah, I have no idea when they don’t tail him around, and that has me a little worried.”

Arctic stopped wiping up her mess. “Wh-What, you think he’s gonna try and have them follow him in a rebellion against you or something?”

“Ice has always wanted to be the flight leader, Arctic. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s attempted it,” Dauntless said glumly, crossing his forehooves. “I have this feeling he’ll do the same on the surface, but I don’t know when it’ll happen.”

“Has he done anything up here?” Arctic asked with a raised eyebrow. In her head, it’d be a lot harder for her brother to stage something if other cadets were around.

“Probably.” Dauntless’ brow furrowed as he tried to find an answer for his friend’s question in his memories, but nothing stood out. “There’ve been times where I had to correct him for being a shithead, but I can’t remember being put in a situation I couldn’t resolve. But like you said, that’s up here around other trainees and instructors.” He sighed and hunched his shoulders some. “The surface is gonna be completely different. I don’t know what I’m gonna do Arctic; I won’t have the safety cloud of the instructors to fall back on.” Looking back across the table, Dauntless saw that the light in the gray mare’s eyes had changed; she was wearing the same look she wore while practicing her speeches.

“Dauntless.” Arctic’s voice was much more assertive and demanded the blue stallion’s attention, snapping him out of his funk. “Before you get inside your own head…think about why you’re the flight leader, and why Ice isn’t. He’s still stuck in the past—clinging onto that stupid notion that if he gets you back for ruining his life, everything will be better. But you’re looking ahead, towards becoming a Wonderbolt, and I bet your instructors see that difference in the two of you.” She pointed a hoof at Dauntless for emphasis. “You can absolutely handle my shithead brother on the surface. It’s not like you to come this far just to be thrown off at the end, Dauntless.”

Arctic had left her friend at an absolute loss for words with her pep-talk. All he could do for a few seconds was stare across the table, his jaw threatening to slam down on top of it. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Dauntless managed to squeak out something:

“A-Arctic Charm, do you know how scarily good you are at convincing ponies of things?” The question made the gray mare turn pink, flattered by the compliment.

“H-Heh, I guess that’s why I want my shot at the High Council down the line…” Arctic chuckled, looking to the side and running a hoof through her spiky light blue mane.

“And you’ll get it. I know it,” Dauntless said, raising his mug. “Cheers?”

“Cheers,” Arctic responded in kind, clinking her mug against her friend’s.

“Ice, you gotta stop staring at them…ponies are gonna notice,” River Rush said, extending a foreleg across the table towards Ice Cold. Arctic Charm’s twin didn’t take the advice from the pony across the table; his bright blue eyes were firmly fixed on Dauntless. If looks could kill, that miserable little blue stallion would’ve been a glowing pile of ash by now. The comment from River had even gotten Ice’s hoof shaking in quiet fury, worrying him and the fourth member of their flight, Steamburst. Turning to the ash gray stallion, River Rush whispered harshly,
“Why the hell are they here this early?!”

“How was Ah supposed t’know?!” Steamburst whispered back in a thick drawl. The sea blue stallion rolled his eyes and sighed as he turned back towards Ice, wanting to do something.

“Ice, if you wanna go somewhere else—”

“We’re staying,” Ice finally spoke. “I’m just glad our booth’s far away from the shithead.” The other two didn’t have a response to that, only managing to further drench the atmosphere of the booth in awkwardness. After a couple minutes of silence, River tried making small talk.

“Ugh…think they have anything good today?”

“Couldn’t tell. Ah was more focused on seein’ Dauntless an’ Arctic Charm here.” Steamburst’s response elicited a reaction from Ice at the mention of the two ponies, even if the others didn’t see it. As the conversation dragged on, Ice became increasingly angry, until the rage eventually boiled over—

“If you two are going to be running your mouths, it’d better be about the plan,” Ice said quietly, but with an overwhelming amount of venom and wrath backing his voice. River Rush and Steamburst immediately paled at the mention of this, shooting each other nervous glances.

“Are we really goin’ over that again?”

“Ice, we’ve gone over the plan a thousand times already. You should be trying to relax before our assessment on the surface—”

“No,” Ice cut River off harshly. “This plan has to go perfectly, and I refuse to let either of you compromise it because you forgot something.” The others stared at him with a mixture of exasperation and anxiety on their faces, before the conversation was interrupted by a fellow cadet approaching their table.

“Hey, aren’t you Dauntless’ flight?” A vein started to bulge in Ice’s temple as he and the others turned to face their new arrival. The mare’s face changed to an expression of confusion under her purple and pink mane as she gestured behind her with a tan wing. “Shouldn’t you be sitting with him over there?”

“If you think I’m gonna sit with a dirty cheating little—” Ice began to rant, but was muffled by River shooting across the table to cover his mouth.The bemused cadet watched as the light gray stallion got even angrier (if that was even possible), while his sea blue companion tried to explain why they were sitting separately.

“W-We’re just relaxing before the final; there’s no need for the four of us to be together one hundred percent of the time,” River said shakily, trying to keep Ice from getting out of his seat.

“Y-Yeah, I can see that,” The cadet said, taking a step back. “Actually, I wanted to ask you guys about Dauntless. Since the four of you are at the top of our class he must be a great leader, right?”

“He’s uhh…he’s good,” Steamburst mumbled, trying to tread the line between the truth and what would keep Ice from exploding. “Does his job like he’s supposed to. Yer welcome ta ask ‘im about it too, ya know.”

“Oh I plan to, don’t worry,” The cadet grinned. “I actually had a couple questions for him about flight maneuvers—” Her sentence was cut off by a rush of air and a blur of gray, blue, and black passing in front of her; other cadets were also stopped in their tracks as Ice sprinted out of the mess hall, tears flying from his face.

“Ice! Ice, wait!” River Rush and Steamburst trailed after him, but Ice had the head start on them. He ran through the halls of Neighvarro, not taking a particular direction to go in, just anywhere that’d take him away from the source of his anger and humiliation. At some point he stopped in front of a window, the now setting sun bathing the stallion and the hall around him in orange and red light. Wiping his eyes with a wing, Ice turned to face outside, looking at the cloud cover, the rest of the base, and the sun setting beneath it all. His eyes now sparkled red from the light, complementing his mood. Ice let his imagination run free as he stared at the clouds; images of him standing in formation with the rest of the Wonderbolts, a vapor cone forming around him as he approached supersonic speeds, and a broken, miserable Dauntless branded with the Dashite mark sitting in a dark and poisoned wasteland. Sniffing and wiping his nose, Ice said quietly to himself,

“One more week. One more week and seven years of humiliation will be over. I can see it now Dauntless; I’m going to take back what you fucking stole from me.”

“Oh, I’m so glad I got to spend at least a little time with you, Dauntless,” Arctic Charm said happily. With their stomachs full and having moved to lighter topics, the walk back to Dauntless’ room was much more pleasant for the two friends.

“I am too! I honestly needed this visit with you, Arctic,” The blue stallion replied, looking up into her bright blue eyes while letting her back into his room.

“Needed it? What do you mean?”

“Before you came over I couldn’t stop thinking about the surface, and how much time I’ll have to spend with Ice down there. A break from that was really nice to have, what with hanging out with you and being myself again, even if it was only for an afternoon.”

Arctic thought as she moved her story logs to her saddlebag, revealing a photo of the two pegasi as foals, sitting together happily. “I feel the same way. Just getting to sit with you made today better, like I wasn’t just some trainee.” Looking around at Dauntless’ room, a thought popped into the light gray mare’s head, something she’d been wanting to say since her friend said he was striving to be a Wonderbolt. “Look, I know we’re talking about feeling normal-ish again, but I can’t believe how much you’ve changed since we were first friends. Nopony would know if you came into or left a room, and now you’re aiming to be part of the most prolific group of pegasi the Enclave has to offer.”

“Well, I can’t exactly let everything I’ve worked for over seven years towards go to waste, can I?” Dauntless said, his expression sombering as he unfolded a wing and spread the feathers apart. “I’ve got to do something with my talent pool, right?”

“As long as that something isn’t cleaning up a mess my brother made.”

“That’s the plan, but you know how he is,” Dauntless rolled his eyes at the thought of dealing with his squadmate’s shenanigans as he let Arctic out of his room.

“Yeah…” She trailed off, staring at the wall. Unexpectedly, she grabbed her friend and hugged him tightly, the smaller pegasus staggering some under the weight of a pony taller than him. “I-I know we’ll definitely see each other again, but I’m gonna miss you Dauntless,” Arctic Charm said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “P…Please come back safe.”

After recovering from the shock of being grabbed, Dauntless was also overcome with emotion and hugged the light gray mare back, his own eyes watering up. “I’ll m-miss you too, Arctic. But I’ll definitely be back, I promise.”

Footnote:

Discovered:
Neighvarro