Fallout Equestria: Syndication

Chapters

Chapter 1: Transmission
Chapter 2: Deep Freeze
Chapter 3: Frozen Wastes
Foreword

Chapter 1: Transmission

Chapter 1:

Transmission

Ten years before Fallout Equestria

War, war never changes. Yeah, it’s that bullshit that got us all into this situation in the first place, isn’t it? The pure bullshit of fighting over resources. Was that really worth it to have the world blown to hell? Yeah, apparently. Fucking zebras, took it way too far.

Anyways, let me get off my soapbox. Me? My name is Mystic Sapphire, just a plain ole 24-year-old Unicorn living in Stable 124. Yeah, nothing exciting happens in my life because of being stuck in a metal coffin underground. I was born here, I live here, and I will die here.

Stable 124 isn’t that large, nor does it have a large populace, probably around 250 or so. You see, due to my absolute love for reading, I have probably read every book in the Stable at least ten times over, and that includes all the Stable Tec manuals, so I know our Stable isn’t the only one, if the number wasn’t enough of a giveaway.

Anyways, I’m getting too sidetracked. Let the story commence.

*****

My alarm was blaring on my PipBuck (Go read LittlePip’s story for more on those, but they are pretty useful) signaling it was time for me to get my ass up for the day. I groaned as I rolled over in bed and slowly opened my eyes, gently running my right foreleg across them to drive the rest of my sleep away.

I proceeded to lift my left foreleg up, which held my PipBuck just above my hoof, and shut off my alarm. Jumping out of bed, I stretched out the rest of my body and stiff joints before letting out a yawn. I tended to get up before most of the rest of the Stable. I liked it, it was quite aside from the low hum of the overhead lights in the hallway, and the hum from the generators somewhere deeper within the Stable.

Turning the light to my bathroom on, I looked at myself in the mirror. My coat was just as blue as the gem my last name shared with, and my striking silver hair looked like a complete mess, making the bluish grey accent streaks hard to see. My light blue eyes were coming more into focus as I blinked the sleep away.

“Well, another morning in the Stable.” I let out a sigh as I stretched out my neck a bit, opting to hope into the shower since I hadn’t had the chance to do so for a few days.

It had been beyond crazy lately. A few days ago, we had begun picking up some strange radio transmission that was coming from outside of the Stable. As the Chief Technical Officer, the Overmare had tasked me with attempting to decrypt it and figure out what it said. What we didn’t realize was just how complicated the encryption on it was.

I have been working at it for days and have just started making some progress. It was driving me crazy though, just who puts that kind of encryption on a simple radio transmission?

A short time later, I was out of the shower and was running a brush through my mane as I heard a knock at my door.

“Come in!”

The door slid up into the ceiling with a hum before an orange Unicorn mare walked in. There were plenty of orange ponies in the Stable, but there was only one that I had a crazy crush on, and she had just walked through my door.

Mango Sunrise, my best friend and the mare I had a hard crush for. We first met on the first day of school, and we instantly clicked. Hell, we were pretty much inseparable from then on. You still would’ve never expected it, given me and her seem like complete polar opposites, but we’ve made it work.

Her coat, the same shade of orange as her namesake fruit, was well kept, while her mane and tail, a combination of a darker orange and violet, did look a little unkept, but that was just the way she was.

“Morning Mystic! Figured you would already be up by now.” She smiled over at me as she came over, where I was brushing my mane with a hairbrush that was floating in a field of teal magic. Seriously, still don’t get how Earth Ponies can do literally anything without the use of magic!

“Morning to you too Mango.” I smiled back at her as I finished up. “Just finishing up?”

“Yeah. Still don’t know why my dad keeps putting me on the night shift.” She let out a tired sigh. Mango had just joined the Stable’s security team, which was a given since her dad was the head of it. Exactly why we needed security for such a small Stable, I have no idea. But Goddesses, did she look exhausted.

“Wish I could give you an answer for that one Mango.” I said to her as I finished up with my mane and set my hairbrush back down on the sink. I truly did wish I could have an answer for her though. Trotting back out into my room proper, I levitated a clean standard issue Stable-Tec Stable 124 jumpsuit over to myself and proceeded to worm my way into it.

Once I was done, I looked back over at my best friend... only to find she had fallen asleep standing up. I proceeded to gently poke her in the shoulder, which jolted her awake.

“I’M UP!” She blinked rapidly a few times before just letting out a sigh. “I fell asleep standing up again, didn’t I?”

“Yes Mango, you did.” I gave a little giggle as I floated over my saddlebag that had all my notes on the decryption. I had a feeling it was going to be another long day for myself. “Do yourself a favor and go get some sleep Mango. You honestly look like you’re going to pass out any second now.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m going.” With that, Mango followed me out of my room and, once the door behind us had closed, trotted off down the opposite hall from me, giving me a tired wave, which I happily gave one in return.

Of course, before I dove right in to trying to figure out the encryption, I was starving, and I was gonna go eat… Hopefully there was someone in the atrium.

*****

By the time I had arrived in the atrium, which was one of the biggest rooms in the entire Stable, there were only a few ponies who were up and about, and luckily the head chef in the kitchen was one of them. I smiled as I trotted up to him. “Morning Banana.”

Banana Split, whose coat was as yellow as, well, a banana peel, and mane and tail what it looked like on the inside, was the Stable’s best chef in apparently the last fifty years or so, least that’s what the old timers like to say, smiled back at me as he finished sliding out some freshly cut fruit salad. “Well, good morning to you as well Mystic. The usual?”

I nodded to him, who then proceeded to start dishing out a healthy serving of said fruit salad, a small serving of hash browns, and tall glass of purified water. Whoever found a way to grow potatoes down here a hundred years ago, I thank you, and I hope you are with the Goddesses now.

I thanked him again before floating the try beside me and headed for my usual table. Given I was mostly up before anyone else in the department I worked in, or anypony else for that matter, I sat by myself and began eating. Thanks to the help of my magic, I was able to hold up my notes to skim over as well.

I furrowed my brows as I kept looking them over, and over, and over again. It just didn’t make sense. Why would anyone send out a radio transmission with this heavy of an encryption on it? Fuck, it would be so much more helpful if I knew exactly where on the outside the transmission was coming from, then maybe I could be able to decipher it easier!

I gently rubbed my temple with my hooves as I munched on a piece of apple. What was I missing?! I groaned to myself and gulped down some water, before soon just finishing up my food and picking up all my notes. I wasn’t going to figure it out by just sitting here, I needed to get to the lab.

*****

It didn’t take me long to trot my way down to the science department of the Stable since, well, it’s not big. I levitated my saddlebags up onto the table that held the terminal I had been working with and booted it up. The screen emanated its usual green Stable-Tec glow, and the software I had been developing to try and crack the encryption stared right back at me.

I groaned again, gently rubbing my face before looking back at the screen. It’s almost like the fucking thing was taunting me or something.

“I swear, I’m going to crack you TODAY if it’s the last thing I do!”

With that, I proceeded to plug my PipBuck once again into the terminal and… the screen went blank. “What the hell?” I blinked a few times at seeing the blank screen before it suddenly rebooted. I don’t know what I did, but the radio transmission suddenly started decrypting itself!

“Praise the Goddesses!” I couldn’t help but yell. Something that I had been working on for what seemed like a week, just suddenly fixed itself! Well, to a degree it did. It still came out faint, and full of static, but I was able to make out some of it.

“Hello? I hope this message reaches the Stable. This is *zeekk* Moon… I know that it's been *zzzzzzek* years since *zzzzekk* and I left, but I need *zzzzzzzkkk* Please, Overmare, please *zzzkkkk* Mystic that I need *zzzzzzkzkkkk* Please *zkkkkkkkzkkkk*

And with that, the radio transmission popped into nothing but static, no more voice coming through on the other end. My jaw was hanging open after hearing everything the voice had said.

My name, it had specifically said MY name! How in the fucking world of Equestria did this voice on the outside know MY NAME?! And did it say it had left the Stable, so does that mean they had come from here?!

So many questions were flying through my brain at the moment, but I did know one thing for certain. I bolted out of the lab and galloped up the stairs. More ponies were starting to wake up, and the hall was getting crowded.

I didn’t care though as ponies quickly got out of my way, I had to see the Overmare.

*****

I barged into the Overmare’s office before the door was even fully up, faceplanting it on to the floor with a clang that nearly sent the lilac purple coated Earth Pony straight through the ceiling.

“Mystic, what is the meaning of this?!” The Overmare, Lilac Petals, quickly got her own breathing under control, before running a hoof through her lavender mane to straighten it back out, then looked straight at me.

I quickly stood straight back up, panting for breath. Yeah, wasn’t exactly the most athletic type in the Stable, but whatever!

“Overmare… I… I plugged my... PipBuck… into the terminal and… the radio signal decrypted itself!” I managed to blurt out in between my pants for breath but hearing that clearly got her attention as Lilac’s eyes shot wide open.

“Well, what did it say?” She quickly got up from behind her desk and trotted over to me, though thankfully she gave me the chance to catch my breath first. I proceeded to play the copy my PipBuck had recorded, and I could swear I could see the color drain out of her face, making the soft purple nearly white.

“Overmare, why did this mare say my name? HOW does she know my name?!” I was clearly flustered by this happening, my mane already having started to frizz out from the stress it was putting me under.

"Moon... and that voice." Lilac just listened to everything again before taking a deep breath and turning to look out the oval window. Clearly, she was realizing something judging by the look on her face in the reflection of the window. "Mystic... there's something you need to know about. We tried to hide it, and maybe we were wrong to do this, but... that message is from Ember Moon. Your mother."

I could feel my heart sink at hearing that, and my brain trying desperately to comprehend what had just come out of her mouth. I was left speechless as Lilac kept looking out the window.

“What we told you about your parents was a complete lie. It was my idea to tell you that they had just died shortly after you were born, but no. Ember used her gift of shadow manipulation magic to escape out of the Stable. Pretty much just walked right through the wall.” Lilac let out a sigh as she looked across the atrium towards the hallway that led to the Stable door. “Your father opened the door shortly after and went after her. We never saw them again, and I’ve ordered the Stable door to never be opened again.”

The more she talked, the less surprised and confused I felt, the angrier I was becoming. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I blew up. “AND YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO ACTUALLY TELL ME THE TRUTH?!”

The sudden screaming coming from me clearly caught Lilac of guard as she took a few steps back while I paced the room, fuming over everything. I stopped in the middle of the room, took a few deep breaths, then looked back over at her.

“I’m going outside, and I’m going to find them!” I pointed the tip of my hoof out the window and towards the direction of the door. But upon doing so, Lilac shook her head before giving me a hard stare.

“No, you won’t!” She emphasized that with a hoof stomp. “I won’t allow it! I already lost two ponies going out there, I’m not about to lose their daughter as well!” She then let out a sigh before gently rubbing her temple with a hoof. “Just, delete that audio recording and forget all about it.”

Of course, she frowned as I just turned and galloped out of the room, already halfway down the stairs before the door fully closed. Once again, ponies got out of my way I was I thundered down the hallway, and in to residential.

Once the door to my room closed, I chucked my saddlebags across the room, causing papers to spew everywhere as I collapsed down on my bed and just cried.

I just cried.

*****

It had to be hours, but I eventually ran out of tears to shed, and I just laid there and wallowed in my sadness. How else would you feel after being told that the reason you never had parents growing up was a complete and total fabricated lie?

Yeah, exactly.

After a bit longer, there came a knock at my door, followed by the voice of the mare who had raised me my whole life. Was that a lie too? “Mystic, can I please come in?”

I honestly didn’t want to be bothered at the moment, if ever again. I just ended up grunting a response, which was apparently enough of an answer as the door slid up into the ceiling.

Aunt Ocean Mist, a sandy colored unicorn with a light blue mane and tail that faded into white tips (Didn’t fully understand that connection till years later) trotted into my room, the door sliding closed behind her.

She didn’t say anything at first as she slowly walked over and sat down on my bed, while I kept my back towards her. I could tell that the Overmare had told her about what I had found out. She just sat there for a moment longer before letting out a deep sigh. “Mystic I… I’m- “

“Why?” I barely let her get anything out before interrupting her, my voice crackling and weak from my hours of sobbing. “All these years, why was I lied too?”

“Mystic, you have to understand it wasn’t my decision, it was Lilacs’ call.” Ocean turned so she could look at me, gently reaching out to stroke my coat, but I only scooted away from her reach, bringing a hurt expression to her face. “Your mother was exceptional in shadow magic. Manipulating it, transporting herself and items through them, everything.”

“She just… left you with me one day and just… vanished. Your father went out the door shortly after to go after her, but he never came back, and we never heard from either of them again.”

“So, are you actually my aunt? Or just some random pony she dumped me off on?” I finally rolled over and sat up before looking at her, my eyes bloodshot and fur on my cheeks streaked with tears.

“I’m not related to you, but I was your mother’s best friend, so I was the only other pony she truly trusted to look after you. I guess she figured your father would follow after her.” Ocean sighed as she looked me square in the eyes. “Mystic, I’m sorry.”

I didn’t think I had anymore tears to cry, but I found them flowing down as I just leaned into her, buried my face in her chest, and just cried. I could feel her wrap her forelegs around me and hold me tight, her cheek resting against the top of my head. “Shhhh.”

She softly cooed as she just held me, letting me get the rest of it out. A good ten minutes passed before I moved myself away and wiped my eyes. “I… I gotta go after her.

Ocean sighed, closing her eyes for a moment as if she was contemplating something, before opening them and looking at me. “I really wanna tell you no, but you’re a grown mare who can make her own decisions. Your biggest problem will be getting out the Stable door without Lilac noticing, especially since you’ll need the access code for the door… which is in her office.”

Fuck. She did have a good point. The only way I was going to be able to get the door open was with the Overmares’ code, and to get that I needed to get into her office without her knowing, let alone manage to get out the door without Stable security-

And that’s when a lightbulb went off.

I looked back at Ocean, a look of clear determination painted across my face. I knew it was probably the single dumbest idea that I had ever had, but it was an idea, nonetheless. She could tell that I had had an idea and tilted her head to the side. “Why do I have a bad feeling about what you’re about to say?”

“I need to talk to Mango. I believe I have an idea.”

*****

“Hold on, you wanna do WHAT NOW?!”

It had already been a few hours since my talk with Ocean, and having to wait for Mango to wake up gave me the time I needed to come up with my plan and with how I was going to tell her the news. After she did, she looked confused after I asked her to follow me down to a low trafficked area of maintenance so we could talk more in private. She had responded exactly as I had anticipated.

“Mango, that radio transmission I was decrypting came from a mare who, surprise, is my actual mother that up and left the Stable instead of dying like I was told. I have to go out there and find her. For Celestias’ sake, she called for me BY NAME!”

By this point, my best friend was pacing back and forth across the storage room while I just stood still and watched her. I could obviously tell that she had a bunch of things going through her mind. She stopped in front of me and rubbed her temple. “Mango, I can’t open the door to the Stable without the Overmares’ access code, and I can’t get to that, grab it, and make it to the door without getting caught by security.”

She just stared at me as I explained all that, everything playing through her mind all at once. I had no idea if what I was about to ask was going to work, but I had too. “I need your help, Mango. Being Watermelon Rind’s kid, you’ve got to have access to the Overmares’ terminal?”

Mango took in a deep breath after hearing it all. “Mystic, you have any idea exactly what you’re asking me to do?” She once went back to pacing across the room, only at a slower pace this time. “Not only are you asking me to sneak around behind both the Overmares and my dads’ backs, but to also abuse what power I have to break you out.”

She stopped and looked at me again. “Plus, going out there is complete death sentence!” She thrusted her hoof upwards at the last part.

“I know Mango, but I have to do this. I have to know why she left in the first place.” I slowly trotted up to her and put my hoof on her shoulder as I looked into her eyes. “Please, Mango, I can’t do this without you.”

She looked back into mine, let out a long groan, before just sighing. “Fine. I’ll help you do this, but I’m going with you outside.” She then gave the smirk that I loved oh so very much. “Someone’s gotta look out for your flank out there.”

You have no idea how badly I wanted to kiss her right there and then, but I just settled for tightly hugging. “Thank you so much Mango!” It was then that the last thing she had said hit me. “Mango, are you sure?”

She just gave a firm nod as she happily hugged me back, the same smirk on her face. Clearly, there was going to be no changing her mind. “Yes, I’m sure Mystic. Now, what exactly is it you need me to do.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her as I leaned in and told her the plan I had come up with. By this time tomorrow, I was going to be on the outside. I was going to be facing challenges I had never thought I would face before. I was going to be facing certain death at every turn, all in an attempt to find parents I never knew.

But, knowing I was going to have my best friend by my side, I felt I could conquer it all.

*****

It took the rest of the day, and most of the following day to get everything in place, but it was finally go time. Ocean agreed to keep Lilac busy and away from both her office and the atrium while Mango and I snuck inside, I hacked her terminal, retrieved the access code, and sneak our way out. If everything went according to plan, we’d only need to wait till the shift change around eleven at night to get to the door and get out.

Simple, right?

Ocean and I trotted together through the halls and towards Mango’s room. Once we stopped outside her door, she turned to face me. “I hope you know wat you’re doing sweet- Mystic.” She let out a sigh, gently rubbing her foreleg as she looked down towards the ground. That’s when I pulled her in for a quick hug.

“I know you’re not my actual aunt, but you always will be Auntie to me.” I whispered into her ear, which caused her to give me a hug in return. I knew it was all hard for her, but she put on a brave face as we separated. She gave me a quick kiss to my cheek (something I still miss to this day) before around and heading down the hall.

I watched her go until she turned the corner and went out of sight, really hoping this wasn’t the last time I was going to see her before turning and opening the door. Mango was inside, double checking a few firearms she had managed to get out of the armory. Course, she had her standard issue 10mm pistol loaded with rubber bullets, but she managed to sneak out a second one and a couple of boxes of actual ammunition.

She looked over and smiled as I came in, the door quickly closing behind me. She swirled the gun she had in her levitation field around a bit before sliding it down into her holster. “You ready to do this? Because once we start, there’s no going back.”

I took in my own deep breath before nodding. This truly was the point of no return. With that, we both headed back out the door and towards the stairs that would lead us up towards Lilac’s office. Sure enough, the area was deserted as I made my way up to the terminal on the wall beside the door.

After plugging in my PipBuck, and a few key taps later, I hacked through the door controls and had it opened. Like I said, I’m pretty good with terminals and what not, plus her password was OPENMEADOWS, it kind of fits with her name. Once the door was open, the two of us snuck inside and quietly shut the door behind us.

Mango kept herself stationed by the door as I made my way over to the terminal on her desk. A quick glance out the window showed how few ponies were out, keeping my chances of being caught low. At least that’s what I was hoping for. I pulled the connecting cord back out of my PipBuck and plugged it into the port on the terminal, quickly getting to work on hacking in.

It was a little trickier than the door terminal, but I guess that was understandable. After having to backout a few times to avoid getting locked out, I cracked my way in. “Okay, let’s see here.” I muttered to myself as I started scrolling through the files. Some that did catch my eye were the entries of the Stables previous Overmares.

Giving myself to read later, I copied those over as well as the audio logs before I finally found it. “Bingo.” I smirked as I came across the file containing the access code. Smirking in victory, I quickly got that copied over. “Ok Mango, I found it.”

She nodded from her spot over by the door, keeping an ear close. “Doesn’t sound like there’s anyone out there but lets book it before somepony does show up. After getting unplugged from the terminal and getting it logged back out, I quickly trotted over to her and opened the door. Taking a quick glance down both halls, we made our escape and, making sure the door closed behind us, briskly trotted away.

I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this was all going too easy as we sneakily made our way back towards the residential section. I wasn’t going to relax fully until I was safe and sound in my room and getting myself ready. Luckily, we made it back without anything happening, and as planned, we parted ways and I went straight to my room.

Once inside, I finally let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding in once the door closed. “Okay, now to get myself ready and just wait it out.” I muttered to myself as I went around and gathered up what supplies I had managed to get. I hadn’t been able to really get anything from the Medbay aside from a few healing bandages, four health potions and a couple packs of Radaway.

I packed those into one of my saddlebags along with some food and water and put an extra Stable-Tec barding into my other one. Once I was done packing, I sat down on my bed and looked down at my PipBuck, staring at the file labeled Stable 124 Door Override Code. I couldn’t help but blink at that. “The fuck? I… thought it was an access code, not an override code?”

Shaking that from my thoughts for the moment, I hovered over it and opened it up, quickly memorizing it to memory. Once done, I deleted said file incase we were caught later, and let out a sigh. I just had to play the waiting game now.

*****

At a quarter to eleven, I met up with Mango outside her door. I had done the smart thing and had gotten a few hours of sleep to prepare myself for what we were about to go do. She was just walking out of her door as I trotted up. We looked at each other and nodded before heading off in the direction of the door.

The plan was to hide out close by and open the door during the five-minute window while the guards did their shift change. Along with, obviously, not get caught of course. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all still going too smoothly for the both of us, that the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. Lilac had plenty of time by now to have discovered that her terminal had been messed with and come down to confront me about it, but she hadn’t.

Mango could tell that something was bothering me as she glanced at me with a small tilt of her head. Keeping her voice down so we wouldn’t be heard, she addressed me. “Everything alright Mystic?”

I looked back at her and leaned my head in close, keeping my own voice down. “I just can’t help but feel like this is all going too well for us. Just… a nagging voice in the back of my head saying we’re going to get caught any moment now.”

She just gently patted me on the shoulder as we reached the hall that led to the door of Stable 124. The door that led to the outside world.

We both peaked around the corner and looked down the short hall… at an empty guard station. It was then that I looked down at a little-known feature of the PipBuck that I had just learned about from the Stables PipBuck technician called the Eyes Forward Sparkle, or E.F.S for short. The compass didn’t show any blue bars, indicating nopony was there. “Well, better now than never.” I indicated to Mango and we both slowly made our way down the hall.

Sure enough, we found the guard post deserted. Double checking the time, I figured that the previous guards got lazy and headed off early. I still didn’t want to run the risk of it, so I made my way over to the control panel, Mango not far behind me. Once I was standing in front of it, went to start typing the code into the terminal before looking at Mango. “You ready?”

With her usual cocky smirk on her face, she gave me a nod. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I nodded back to her, turned back to the control panel, and proceeded to flip the switch. Immediately, a blaring alarm sound as a giant mechanical arm swung down from the ceiling and connected itself to the door, the sound of metal-on-metal screeching sounded through the room as the arm pulled the door back away and rolled it off to the side.

Once it was done, we stared out to the inky darkness beyond, a chilling breeze blowing in.

“You don’t have to do this.” A familiar voice echoed from behind us. Turning around, I came face to face with both Lilac and Mango’s farther, Watermelon Rind. The green Earth Pony having a rather upset look on his face, which was mostly aimed at his daughter, who was standing firm beside me.

I just stared back at the Overmare, the same determined look on my face. “Yes, I do.” Which was clearly not the answer she had been hoping for as she let out a sigh and shook her head. I didn’t back down as I took a few steps towards the door. “You kept this hidden from me my entire life and the moment she tries reaching out for help, you just want to ignore her.”

“Don’t bother coming back then.” Watermelon’s gruff voice sounded, still looking straight at his daughter. “The moment that door closes, we ain’t opening it back up. Ever.” Which clearly caught Mango off guard, her stoic look faltering just a little, but she still turned to follow me.

The two of them kept watching the two of us as we trotted up to and over the threshold of the door. A chilling bite in the air met us, both our breaths becoming visible as the same alarm soon sounded, the door closing on us and closing us out of the only home we had ever known. Leaving us in complete darkness, both Mango and I had the same thought, which we both yelled at the same time.

“DEAR SWEET CELESTIA IT’S FUCKING COLD!”

*****

Footnote: New Game Started

Character Level: 1

500 EXP to next Level

Chapter 2: Deep Freeze

Fallout Equestria: Syndication

Chapter 2:

Deep Freeze

I had never truly experienced coldness in my life. Sure, I knew the feeling of cold water waiting for it to warm up in the shower, but that was pretty much the extent. This? This was beyond that.

It didn’t take long after the Stable door closed for my body to start shivering a little. “Goddesses fucking damn it! W… Why is it so fucking c… cold?” Bringing it up, I flipped on the lamp light on my PipBuck, illuminating the passageway Mango and I found ourselves in. The first thing I noticed was the thin layer of ice and snow on the ground and the walls. The next was how noticeable it was that we could see our breath.

Mango looked at me as she came closer, noticeably shivering herself a little. The one downside about Stable-Tec jumpsuits; They were not insulated. “I have n… no idea, but we better get a move on and find someplace warmer.” I wasn’t about to argue with that, so we turned and started trotting away from the door to Stable 124, and towards the mouth of the passage. Though I quickly stopped once I saw something catch my eye.

Turning to the right, I noticed what looked like a metal box just sitting there. I would’ve dismissed it, having figured it had been there for centuries, except it looked like it had been placed there recently. “Hold on Mango, I want to check this out.” She stopped and looked back at me as I trotted over to the box and opened it up.

Inside was what appeared to be a rather thick-looking book, along with a slightly thinner book. What struck me as odd though was how new said books looked. Wrapping the thicker one in my telekinetic field, I levitated it out of the box and held it up for me to read. The front cover had a pony skull covering most of the cover.

The Wasteland Survival Guide by Ditzy Doo

I blinked a few times after seeing the title, flipping through a few pages out of curiosity. To my surprise, there was quite a bit of good information in here. I then levitated the thinner one out, finding the same kind of cover, but more words to the title. The Wasteland Survival Guide: Denmare Edition

There was also a small hoof written note sitting on the top of the Denmare edition:

To anypony coming out of Stable 124, I hope these books help educate you in what it takes to survive out here. Please do pay me a visit at my store Absolutely Everything if you find your way up towards New Appleloosa. I also make deliveries and am usually around Denmare every month or so. Enjoy!

Love, Ditzy

“Huh, looks like someone took the time to make a book on how to survive out here.” That did get me to smile at the thought, storing both books away in my saddle bags to read later before turning and trotting off away from the Stable door.

As we reached the mouth of the cave opening, we found a simple wooden door separating the tunnel from the outside world. I stopped just in front of it, taking in deep breaths. Each breath brought an icy stab to my throat, clearly not being used to this kind of weather. I looked over to Mango, who was in the process of turning her own PipBuck lamp on, making the area that much brighter.

Once she had it turned on, I reached out and pushed the door open. We were greeted by more of an inky blackness, save for what our lights were showing. We couldn’t see much; more snow covered the ground, and the dead husks of a few trees poked out. I pulled my PipBuck up and pulled up the mapping feature, something else I hadn’t needed back in the Stable. What completely caught me off guard was the little blip right behind the arrow that indicated me.

Stable 124

“… How’s this t… thing know where the Stable is located, let alone w… what it’s called?” I blinked a few times at seeing that, before just shaking my head. I really wanted to get out of this cold.

“Any i… ideas on where we s… should s… s… start looking?” Mango was keeping herself close to me. Normally, I would be getting flustered, but given it was more than likely her trying to keep our body heat together in an attempt to keep us warm, I didn’t exactly have a chance too.

“N… Not really. Best place to s… start would probably be a b… broadcasting tower so I c… can boost the signal.” Thing is, I had no idea where one was, and I couldn’t see shit in the darkness. “We should p… probably find a place to b… bed down for the night and w… wait for it to get bright o… out.”

Mango simply nodded in agreement with me. Turning my head around and looking at the compass on the E.F.S., I spotted an empty triangle at the bottom off to the west of where we currently stood. It was better than nothing, so I indicated at Mango to follow. With that, we trotted off into the blackness.

After about ten minutes of trotting, darker shapes started to form out of the darkness and, getting closer, showed them to be dilapidated buildings. Most looked like they wouldn’t be able to keep the cold out, let alone stay standing for much longer, so we kept on moving. We soon reached a road, with more buildings on the other side. We appeared to be getting closer to a town. At least what was left of one. It was completely abandoned, the wind hollowing down the deserted street and between the abandoned buildings. A few auto carriages were sitting in the street, but that was about it.

Slowly panning my head and keeping an eye on the E.F.S, nothing else was coming up. The town was just completely abandoned. I could feel the shivering getting worse the longer we were exposed. “I g…guess we can try following the road?” It was honestly the best course of action we had. Mango, for her part, simply nodded.

Looking west showed the little empty triangle on the compass, so we turned and started heading down the road. It wasn’t much longer after that that we saw a building with actual lights shining through the windows. As we got closer, the triangle suddenly filled in, and words appeared in the left side of my vision.

Location Discovered: Kit Coltson Trading Post

Ok, seriously needed to find out how the fuck it knew how to do that.

We quickly made our way towards the front door, just as the wind was starting to pick up and our shivering was getting worse. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh as, once we were both through the door, we could feel the warmth radiating over our bodies.

There was a fire burning in the fireplace along one wall, while every other wall was covered in all sorts of stuff. Food, medicine, weapons, ammo. A pretty good selection. An Earth Pony mare poked her head through the doorframe from behind the counter and smiled. “Oh! Hello there! I’ll be with you ladies in a second!” She disappeared through the door, where we could hear a crashing sound echo, along with some cursing, before she trotted out through the door. “Welcome to the Kit Coltson Trading Post!”

The coffee brown mare smiled as she put her forelegs up on the counter, adjusting a pair of glasses on her face as she regarded us both, her eyes going wide in wonder. “OH! A pair of Stable Dwellers?! Well, this is a nice surprise!”

Before giving her an answer, I got myself closer to the fire for a moment, as did Mango. Instantly, the warmth flooded over us both, and I really couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Once I could actually feel my flanks again, I looked over at her. “That’s correct, we just came out of 124 to the west of here. Wasn’t expecting it to be this cold.”

She nodded as she came out from behind the counter, wearing a sweater that covered the majority of her front. “Yeah, that’s Coltorado for you. Very harsh during the wintertime. Luckily, spring should be right around the corner… hopefully.” Why did I not like the way that sentence ended? She shook her head a little before extending out her hoof. “I’m Coffee Bean, owner of this little roadside trading post.”

Seeing that she was friendly, especially given the bar on my E.F.S for her was blue, I stuck mine out and shook hers. “I’m Mystic Sapphire, and this is my companion, Mango Sunrise.” Said mare gave a wave once she was fully warmed up. “We’ve only been out of our Stable for not even half an hour or so, so we’re very lucky to have found this place.”

Coffee gave a nod at that. “Very lucky indeed. Given you’ve both just emerged from a Stable, I’m guessing you don’t know how the economy out here works yet?” She tilted her head a little, and damn did it look cute! At me shaking my head, she gave a nod before heading back to the counter and indicated for us to follow her.

Once over, she went back behind the counter and opened up an old cash register. She then proceeded to pull out a small bag that jingled as she set it down and pulled it open. Tipping it to the side, a few Sparkle-Cola bottle caps fell out and onto the counter.

“I don’t know if you brought any golden Royal Equestrian Bits with you, but those stopped being used as currency well over a century ago since new ones can no longer be made. Somepony then came up with the idea of using simple bottle caps.” She held one up for us to see. “There was a shit ton of them produced before and during the war, then after the megaspells fell, they were everywhere!”

I nodded as we listened to her explanation, levitating one up and taking a closer look. Indeed, it was just a simple bottlecap. I looked to Mango, who was already levitating out the bags of bits she managed to bring with us. Coffee looked at that. “To help you two get started out here, I’ll buy your bits for caps, throw in some winter clothing so you won’t go freezing to death, and probably some good weapons as well.”

Mango levitated out her 10 mm and levitated it over to the mare to let her take a look. Coffee looked at it herself, giving it a quick once over. “Fairly standard gun. It’s a good start, but probably won’t last till Denmare if you’re heading that way.” She then gave it back to Mango.

“And exactly how far away is it from here?” While Coffee was looking through her stock of clothing to pick some stuff out for us, I looked at my PipBuck to look at my inventory, wanting to see what I had of value. Surprisingly, it was already valuing things in caps. I will probably never truly understand this thing, will I?

“If you went at a full gallop, you could be there in just over two days’ time, but since that’s pretty impossible, it’ll probably take you closer to four at the least.” She nodded as she held up a long duster jacket, which looked to be lined on the inside, to Mango. “Try this on.”

I blinked at that as I swapped over to the map feature and zoomed out… and out… and out… fucking shit this map was huge! I shook my head a little as Mango took the duster in her magic and flung it on herself. With Coffee’s help, she got it all belted on and tested moving around in it. “Yeah, this already feels much better.”

Hearing that made Coffee smile as she went to look for something that would fit me. While she was, I went over to the wall that held what she had in terms of weapons. No way in hell would I survive with close combat weapons, and I definitely wasn’t a long-range kind of pony. That’s when I spotted a rather good-looking magical energy pistol. I levitated it over and looked down the sights… which it didn’t really have any. Unlike a regular gun having its iron sights, this mostly only had a little indicator at the end.

“Find something?” Coffee came over, another slightly smaller duster laid across her back before looking at the pistol. “Magical energy kinda mare?”

“Well, I do tend to lean towards the tech more than anything.” I shrugged as I looked at her, before levitating the duster off her back and went to try it on myself. Once again, thanks to Coffee’s help, I was able to get the duster buckled on over my Stable barding. Instantly, I was able to tell that it was going to be a great help for me in the current weather conditions. Though, that did bring me to my next thing as I looked at Coffee.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a spare room or something me and Mango can bed down in for the night? We really don’t wanna go back out in that till morning.”

Coffee lifted a forehoof up and gave it a shake. “Trust me, no way was I gonna let you two fillies head back out in that tonight. I’ve got a spare bedroom you can use for the night… Hope you don’t mind sharing a bed, since its only got the one.” She had taken the magical energy pistol with her over to where she kept her stock of ammunition, looking around to see how much she still had of what it needed as I headed over to Mango.

“I don’t mind sharing if it means we get a warm bed for the night.” She stated while looking at me, and I simply nodded at her in return.

*****

I was looking out the window in the room that Coffee was letting us spend the night in, seeing nothing but a black void on the other side. It was almost as if the building was in its own void, nothing to the outside world but the inky blackness. The howling of the icy cold wind still persisted outside, so I was beyond thankful to Coffee for letting us stay the night. I gently shook my head and turned away from it, looking at Mango testing out the worn mattress. It didn’t look all that big, so we would be practically sleeping back-to-back. Of course, that was something I was totally okay with.

Once Mango had sat down on the side she had claimed, she leaned back against the ancient headboard and looked to the ceiling. Of course, all the moving around was causing quite a bit of squeaking, but the bed held. We had both shed the newly acquired dusters and Stable barding to try and enjoy what would probably be our last good night’s sleep for at least a few days. Once I reached the bed myself and sat down, my companion looked to me.

“So, what’s the plan moving forward?”

That was honestly a very good question. I, quite honestly, hadn’t really thought that far ahead before we had left the comfort and confines of the Stable. Which, looking back on, was probably very stupid of me.

The Wasteland, from what I could gather just by simply looking at my PipBuck’s map, was absolutely vast. So many places where my mother could, I honestly didn’t even know where to start! But I suppose I did have one idea. I soon looked over to Mango, who was waiting patiently for my reply.

“Well, I guess our best bet would be to make our way to that city that Coffee had mentioned. It more than likely would give us our best chance of finding out something about my mom and why she sent that message to the Stable. It’s honestly the only idea I have right now.”

Mango nodded to that as she reached over and gently patted me on the shoulder. “Well, then I guess we’re in for quite a lot of walking. Probably would be best for us to get to sleep.”

She was right. We had a lot of ground to cover, and it would be best for us to get an early start. With my nod, Mango turned herself around and went to lay down on the bed and pulled the covers up. Within mere seconds, she was snoring away.

I took one last look at my PipBuck, at the audio file that contained the garbled message I had decrypted (somehow) and just thought. What would I say when, and if, we found her? What would happen? These were questions that continued to bounce around in my head as I laid my head down on the rather flat pillow, and soon drifted off to sleep myself.

*****

“And that should be everything you would need for the journey!”

We were standing on the front porch on the trading post the next morning. Thankfully, the wind had died down over night, and it was just marginally warmer, but it was still pretty damn cold!

Coffee had loaded up Mango’s saddlebags with some extra provisions for free, on top of what we had already gathered from her store. My new laser pistol hung in a holster opposite my own saddlebag, which now contained a healthy amount of ammo for it. Mango had also acquired a hunting rifle to go along with her pistol. She was levitating it in front of her to get a good feeling of how it worked for her.

“Well, thanks again for the supplies, and for letting us stay overnight.”

Once again, she just waved her hoof and smiled. “Think nothing of it! Now, I’ve uploaded a few coordinates to your PipBuck to hopefully get you started, including Denmare. Do hope to be seeing you both again!”

With that, Mango and I turned around headed off the porch. Once we were back on the cracked pavement of the road, we turned and gave waves back to Coffee as she soon disappeared back inside her little roadside shop, and we began heading off down the road leading west. Our hooves clopped along the broken roadway, which still had its fair share of snow covering it.

We continued along till the trading post was out of sight as a bend in the road took us around a small hill and unveiled the long stretch of road ahead of us. Vast, empty spaces around us, the dead remains of trees off in the distance. It quite felt like no ponies land out here, a stark contrast to what we were both used too.

As we went, I couldn’t help but look to the sky (something of which I almost regretted as vertigo hit me) but I managed to fight it off as I saw the immense amount of grey clouds stretching out as far as the eye could see. There were some small patches that peaked through to something blue on the other side, but those soon closed up, returning the sight to the bland, monotoned setting.

I did find it very strange where there was a vast curtain of them blocking the sky. Then again, I was still brand new to the outside world and had no clue how the weather worked. Maybe someday? Who the fuck knows!

What I did know, was that we had a long walk ahead, and the silence was going to drive me crazy. So, I lifted my PipBuck up and flipped over to the radio section, and was surprised to actually find a radio station had been picked up.

D.N.R

“D.N.R? No clue what that means, but it’s a radio station.”

“Well, tune into it! This silence is driving me insane.” Mango nodded as she had also been looking around the area, also taking it all in. I still wonder if she would come to regret coming with me, but I did appreciate it as I tuned the radio to the new station.

We caught it just as the end of the previous song ended, and the smooth voice of a stallion replaced it. “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOOOORNING WASTELAND!! This is DJ Denmare coming to you live over the airwaves of the Denmare News Radio! How we all doing on this fine, drab, cold morning? Hope none of you froze to death last night! I sure didn’t, as you can obviously tell.”

“Now, you may be asking yourself ‘DJ Denmare, why do you call it News Radio if you also supply music?’ and to that I say ‘Don’t ask me, the damned thing was called that already!’”

That was followed by a hearty laugh before the stallion returned. “Anyways, My Little Ponies, don’t have much new news to deliver, so why don’t I just get us back to the music! Coming up next are the smooth, dulcet tones of Sweetie Belle.”

With that, the stallions voice was replaced with that of a mares voice, in which we had both heard many times before over the Stable’s own radio broadcast. I turned and looked at Mango as we walked along. “Well, he was certainly energetic.”

Mango only chuckled at that as we passed the remains of a carriage off to the side of the road. “He certainly is, and at least we learned the name of that radio station now. Still has me wondering where it’s getting broadcasted from.”

Now that she had mentioned it, it did get me curious as well, which then led me to having an idea. I had Mango stop briefly as I went to look at the map, scanning it for something in particular. Once I believed I found something, I then looked up on my E.F.S, seeing the custom marker right in the direction we were heading.

Once it was there, I turned to Mango and nodded. “I think I found a broadcast radio tower further on up ahead, but it definitely looks like it’ll take most of the day. I think we can use it to help determine and finetune where the radio message from my mom came from.”

Mango, for her part, smiled and nodded at that. “Well, sounds like a plan. Lets get moving!”

With that, we both turned and headed down the road, now following the blinking marker on my E.F.S.

*****

Footnote: Progress Made.

Character Level: 1

425 EXP to next Level

Author's Note

After a very, very long time, chapter 2 is here!

Hope everyone enjoys the start of my story, I do have much planned for the future!

Chapter 3: Frozen Wastes

Fallout Equestria: Syndication

Chapter 3:

Frozen Wastes

It had been a couple of hours since we had left Coffee’s trading post, and my hooves were, for lack of a better phrase, fucking killing me! And don’t get me started on how my back was feeling at that moment.

We had stopped a couple times to rest for a bit, and to indulge ourselves in some of our provisions. Though, the cold air was starting to take its toll on us both. The dusters had helped immensely, but it was starting to seep in.

Just as I was starting loose the feeling in my hooves, a tall tower soon became visible over the horizon. And, luckily, it was in the same direction as the custom marker I had set. I got Mango’s attention before indicating at the tower that, as we were getting closer, was taking on the form of a radio tower.

“There’s our destination! The building at the base of the tower.”

Looking forward and seeing that, Mango looked back at me and nodded. Clearly, the trip was also taking a toll on her, though she was trying her best to not show it. My best friend was always like that, especially back during her training for the Stable security force.

After another fifteen minutes of trotting, we soon reached the building, and my PipBuck once again beeped with a location.

Location Discovered: D.N.R Tower 158

Once again, I rolled my eyes. At this rate, what was the point of trying to figure out how it worked. I would probably just drive myself batty! But at least this proved that I was right.

Trotting up to the door, I reached out with my magic and enveloped the handle in its aura and turned down… only for the handle to not even budge an inch. The damned thing was locked.

“Well, fuck. Damned door is locked, and I don’t exactly know how to-“ Was all I got out before Mango pushed me gently to the side, reared up, and proceeded to thrust her back legs at the door in a hard buck. The door didn’t stand a chance as it swung inwards, and luckily stayed on its hinges.

I just blinked at the display, as a smirking Mango just swung her foreleg towards the now open door, allowing me to enter first. After rolling my eyes, I went to head inside. “Showoff.”

“Yeah, I am.” Was all that came from Mango as she followed me inside and closed the door behind her.

Inside the moderately sized room, a couple of old and rather decaying chairs sat around a table, while the far wall was covered in all the electronics and monitors that the station needed to function. The flashing lights indicated that it was still in an operational state.

The other thing we noticed was a cot in the opposite corner, atop which laid out the skeletal remains of a mare.

We both jolted to a stop at the sight. Empty bottles littered the floor around the skeleton. There was no telling just how old it was, but given the door was still locked, that would usually only mean one thing. I shivered at the thought before quickly making my way over towards the still functioning terminal, whose sickly green glow was still washing over the room even two centuries after the end of Equestria.

Luckily for myself, the terminal was still logged into. Given, I am much more comfortable with hacking into terminals than I am picking a lock. I sat down in front of it (and getting to sit down was joyous on my hooves) and got to work as I heard Mango get to work looking around the rest of the place.

Among the many corrupted files, I did find some functions that would be of help to myself, but I also found many text and audio files that seemed to be from the mare who had worked here. A glimpse into the past, two hundred years into the past.

I glanced back over at the skeleton, a sorrowful frown on my muzzle. I let out a sigh before turning back and selecting the first audio file to play. Once I did, a ghost from the past echoed through the room for the first time in centuries.

“Well Call Letter, this is what you fucking get for sleeping around in Denmare. Demoted all the way down to a stupid broadcast station out in the middle of Celestia fucking forsaken nowhere! *sigh* Mom was right, of course she was fucking right… Was on the fast tack to the top of D.N.R, and now I’ve lost it all. First loosing Dad to that fucking war, now my career. Just wish it would end already. Thank Celestia this place has plenty of booze.”

With a click, the audio message came to an end.

“Wow, just wow.” That coming from Mango who was levitating one of the many bottles up to read the label, though it was so smudged that she couldn’t. “Filly just drank herself to death in the end.”

I just slowly shook my head as I closed out the files before going to connect my PipBuck to the terminal. Once said device had acknowledged the connection, I went about attempting to retrace the transmission back through the network, only to come into a problem.

Network Issue: Unable to Determine Source, Station to far from main network

“Well, that’s just fucking great.” I let out a groan before planting my head down on the table.

Mango had come over and read what was on the screen, letting out an annoyed groan of her own. “Well, that doesn’t help.”

“No shit sherlock.” I went to lift my head up and rub my temples. There had to be another way of doing this. Looking back at the terminal screen, I backed out and went searching again. That was when I found the last recording. I went ahead and played it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I just lost connection with home base! The sky is closing up outside, what is going on?! *boooooooooom* What was that?!”

There was the sound of crying in the background before Call’s voice returned.

“It’s over. It’s all over… Equestria is gone… I… I can’t take this anymore… My mane is falling out… I’m.. I’m so tired…. Fuck this, I’m gonna drink………”

With that, the recording picked up more crying followed by the sounds of choking, before just silence. I reached up to clear a tear from my eye as the recording finally came to an end. “Poor thing…”

“Yeah, couldn’t imagine what happened that day.” Mango gently shook her head before looking over at the skeleton. “We should burry her. I found a shovel in the closest.”

I just simply nodded as I unhooked my PipBuck from the terminal. This had been a complete waste of time, but at least we could finally give the poor filly who had died here a final resting place. Walking over to the cot, I wrapped the bones gently in a levitation field and headed for the door.

*****

An hour later, Mango stuck the shovel into the ground next to the newly disturbed soil where we had buried the remains of Call Letter. It had been done in silence, there really wasn’t anything to say in the moment.

Once we were done, we headed back inside to collect the things that Mango had discovered which, quite honestly, was virtually nothing. A couple of bottle caps and some still good healing potions and bandages, but that was about it. Once those had found a home in Mango’s saddlebags, we exited the door and closed it once again before heading back down to the road. A quick check of the time showed it to be coming up on midafternoon.

I flipped back to the map and looked, trying to find somewhere we could get too before it got too dark out again. That’s when I found one of the map markers that Coffee had placed for us, figuring it would be helpful to us.

“Okay, I think one of Coffee’s markers should be a good place for us to bed down for the night. Does look like it’s a couple of hours out still.” Which is when I showed my map to Mango who, after taking a look, gave a nod in response.

I wasn’t looking forward to more walking, but it had to be done. Just hope we get there before night. I put the map away and went back to the radio, catching in on a Sapphire Shores rocker as we proceeded back down the road.

*****

The hours seemed to just drag on by as we trotted, keeping a vigilant eye on both the horizon and the E.F.S, but nothing ever popped up. We trudged along to the map marker, as the sun started descending in the sky. Just as we crested the hill above our destination, the world was growing darker by the second. Soon enough, it would be as dark as it was the previous night when we had found the trading post.

Down below, we could see the battered remains of a road side convenience store. There were lights coming from within, so that gave us hope as we quickly made our way down the slop towards it. The flashing light from a still functioning Sparkle Cola machine could be seen on the side of the building. That would be something for later as, once we reached the door, I magicked it open and got inside.

Though, not being on the same level of warmth as the trading post the previous night, it was still better than it was outside.

The inside definitely looked like it was already set up as a camp, but my E.F.S didn’t bring up any other bars aside from Mango, indicating we were the only ones. The lights I had seen coming from within were coming from old lanterns, but weren’t doing a good job at lighting the rest of the interior. Turning on my PipBuck’s lamp unveiled a spot where a small fire could be set.

“I’m on it.” Seeing that, Mango shucked her saddlebags off to the side before finding a way to get a fire going. While she was doing that, I set my own saddlebag down next to hers and stretched a little. My hooves were killing me and, according, to Coffee, there was still at least three more days of this.

“Joy. Hope we get to Denmare before my hooves fall off.”

Soon enough, Mango had a small fire going, which had the duel effect of giving more light and a small bit of warmth. The extra light showed off that the still somewhat intact building was still being used for something, which was when my PipBuck finally decided to catch up with us in giving a name.

Location Discovered: Coltorado Trading Company Pitstop #58

“Coltorado Trading Company Pitstop #58? Huh, guess that explains everything sitting here?”

“Yeah, it does.” Mango, after she was done lighting the fire, was digging through her saddlebags to see what we could eat that night. I sat down across from her, holding my hooves out towards the fire in an attempt to warm them up. I couldn’t help but let out another sigh as it started taking its affect.

“Well, take your pick. Canned peaches or canned corn.” Mango held the two different cans up, allowing me to take first choice. After thinking it over, I took the canned peaches in my levitation field and floated them over, leaving the corn for Mango.

Once popping the can open, I dove in. Peaches were definitely some of my favorites. Mango wasn’t far behind in diving into her corn. While I kept the can levitating in my magic, I pulled my PipBuck up to scan through my inventory. From what I could gather, and if we could keep up the pace we needed, we should hopefully have enough to make it to Denmare, and hopefully the first true settlement there. Only time would tell there.

Coffee had been the only pony we had met outside the Stable up till this point, though I highly doubted that would change, given what both she had told us about, and what was written in the book under the ‘Raiders’ section.

Opting for a bit more, I pulled the book out of my saddlebag and levitated it in front of me, picking up where I had left off previously. Doing some reading was going to help pass the time. Mango, for her part, was looking over her newly acquired hunting rifle. She hadn’t had a chance to use it that day. Which, in my opinion, was probably a good thing.

Flipping through the book, the author definitely knew a thing or two about the goings on around this apparent part of the wasteland. Just how this mare knew about it all still boggled me though. Though, what did worry me the most was the previously mentioned section about raiders, specifically a gang called The Syndicate.

According to Ditzy, it was the largest group in this part of the wasteland, and had virtually came out of nowhere just over twenty years ago, and there still isn’t a lot known about them.

It was then that I started to wonder if this was why my mother had sent a distress message, but still didn’t quite understand why she would ask for me. She didn’t even KNOW me! This was just completely insane! I highly doubt I would get an answer till I actually found her.

I just let out a long sigh as I flipped the book closed and set it back inside my saddlebag, soon finishing off the rest of the peaches in the can before opting to just tossing it in the corner, having it land on top of a pile of similar kinds of empty cans, so it was totally okay to do!

“You good there?” Mango looked over at me after hearing my sigh, dropping the rifle back down onto her own bags. She had finished off her corn, and proceeded to add her can to the same pile.

I looked back over at my lifelong best friend and just gave a slow nod. “I… I really don’t know Mango. It just now hit me that I honestly have no clue in all of Equestria why my mother would have sent a distress call to me when she doesn’t even fucking know me.”

I then looked down and gazed into the fire. The crackling flames bouncing and flickering in the darkness of the night. I just shook my head.

“Well, I wish I had an answer for you Mystic, but no matter what happens, I’ll be right here with you.”

Hearing that did get me smiling. Having her with me definitely gave me hope for the future.

*****

We had packed up our stuff the following morning after we had each took turns keeping watch overnight. It was better to be safe than sorry, after all.

Before we headed off, I discovered the Sparkle Cola machine had previously been opened, and did actually have a couple of bottles left. While lukewarm, it was still great to have something other than slightly irradiated water.

After popping the tops, both bottle caps made their way into my pouch, which my PipBuck instantly counted towards our new total.

Taking a quick swig from it, we proceeded back along the road to the west. It wasn’t long before I went to turn the radio on, and once again catching a song that we had heard many times before, but was still good to hear again.

Once the song came to an end, the dulcet tones of the radio DJ returned. “GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOORNING WASTELAND!! DJ Denmare back at with the morning roundup!” Following that was some pretty mediocre sound effects, but I digress.

His tone did take on a rather serious tone. “Now, unlike yesterday, I do have some unfortunate news to deliver. One of my trusted sources to the south have informed me of some increased slaver activity centered around Castle Rock, so if you’re heading that way, you’d be best to enlist the help of the local Steel Ranger’s to get you through safely. Thank Celestia those guys aren’t like the pompous asshats up north.”

I simply blinked at that. Ditzy’s book did talk about that group called the ‘Steel Rangers’ and how she described just how different they were down here compared to the ones up by Manehatten and Fillydelphia.

“With that, be safe out there My Little Ponies, and keep on riding and striving to be the best you can be! Here’s some upbeat tones from the OG DJ Pon-3!”

With that, an upbeat tune started off as the DJ finished, and it instantly had Mango bobbing her head along. I did have to admit, it was pretty catchy.

As we walked along, and for the first time since encountering Coffee the previous day, a blue bar popped up on my E.F.S, which instantly got my attention. Though, looking in the direction revealed… A flying metal ball. A sprite bot, according to the book.

Mango also seemed to be confused by the sight of the ball, which was playing its own music (quite heavy on the tuba, I might add) which suddenly cut out with a pop as the sprite bot turned and floated towards us.

Mango instantly had her rifle levitated up and aimed at it in the blink of an eye. She was just about to magically pull the trigger and send a bullet right at it.

“Whoa! Easy there! I come in peace!”

… Did that thing just talk?

“Uh… what are you?” Was quite literally all I could muster as the ball floated back a bit before Mango lowered the gun.

“A friend.” We both gave it a deadpanned stare. “Seriously, I don’t mean you both any harm.” I still didn’t buy it, but at least it hadn’t attacked us yet. “Just call me Watcher.”

“Watcher?” The sprite bot bobbed up and down, so I took that as it was nodding. “So, what exactly are you doing?”

“That’s a long and complicated story. Let’s just say I look for those wanting to do good. I provide advice. You both seem to have a bit already covered though. What are your names?”

“I’m Mango Sunrise, and this is Mystic Sapphire.” Of course Mango was the one to respond to that.

The sprite bot was silent for a moment, almost leading me to believe we had lost the mysterious being, before the voice returned.

“Do you both want to do good?” Mango and I looked at each other before giving a nod. “Then I need your help.”

I was still very skeptical about what their true intentions were, but I figured we may as well go along with it. “Go on.”

“Further up the road is a raider camp that have been tormenting caravans going between Denmare and the Wild Plains. I want you both to take them out.”

Okay, it was official, mister floating robot ball was completely insane. There was no way in the name of Luna we were going to- “We’ll do it.” Aaaaaaand of course Mango spoke for us both. I proceeded to facehoof.

“Great!” It bobbed a few more seconds before a ping alerted me to my PipBuck. “I’ve sent you both the coordinates. Stay safe!” And before I could ask it any more questions, a popping sound brought the heavy tuba music back, and the sprite bot proceeded to float away.

I then just glared at my companion, who just smirked back before going to take lead and headed off.

I swear, that filly was going to get us killed at some point.

*****

“Mango, I’m going to kill you.”

We were standing on top of a hill overlooking the encampment, and I had no fucking clue how we were going to take care of this. Though, the amount of ponies we were seeing was not what was freaking me out the most.

Bodies.

Decapitated, mutilated bodies of numerous ponies were nailed to the walls, impaled on spikes along with the decaying remains of heads. Bodily entrails strung up like macabre party decorations. The mere sight sent a shiver through my spine.

“So, what do you think? Sneak in and take them out quietly, or do the fun way and go in guns blazing?”

“What I think is that you’re a fucking idiot. But I really don’t want to die, and I’m stuck on this crazy train, so let’s take the silent approach.”

“You’re no fun, but I also see where you are coming from.” Mango shrugged as we proceeded to carefully make our way down the hill. The closer we got, the more my E.F.S filled with red.

I gulped as we somehow made it to a back door without being spotted. Unlike the door the previous day, this one was open. It swung open, and we were both assaulted by the most revolting smell ever. I nearly threw up right there and then, but I swallowed it back as we slowly made our way inside, closing the door just before an emaciated, dirty brown mare whose mane was done up in blood red spikes looked over towards it.

We had luckily gotten out of sight behind a countertop before she could spot us, though it was too close for comfort. After a moment, the mare turned and headed off again. I was still trying to figure out how we were going to go about this, when Mango peaked her head up and came face to face with a decapitated head, and let out a way too loud squeak.

“What the fuck was that?” A stallion’s voice echoed from the other room as I had quickly clamped my hooves down around Mango’s muzzle to shut her up. Hoofsteps trotting on the rotting wood floor indicated we had another visitor. We could hear someone sniffing at the air.

“Weeeeeeeell, something smells a little too... different. Perhaps we have some… fresh meat crawling into our laps~”

I did not, in any way whatsoever, like how he said that. The hoofsteps were getting closer, and they were joined by the cocking of what sounded like a shotgun. I shivered more as Mango shoved my hooves away and rolled out in front of the stallion, completely catching them off guard.

“What the fuck?!” Was all they got off as Mango took aim with her rifle and fired. From that range, there was absolutely no missing. The gunshot echoed through the ramshackled building as the wall directly behind the stallion was soon painted in blood and brain matter. The body soon toppled over and laid in a crumpled heap.

Unfortunately for us both, the echoing of her gunshot had alerted the whole place, and a thundering of hooves were coming right for us. Mango rolled over to the other side of the door just as the mare from before came into view. Seeing no way out other than blasting, I hopped up and used yet another feature on my PipBuck that I hadn’t had any need for before.

I activated S.A.T.S, or Stable-Tech Assisted Targeting Spell, and the world around me came to a stop. The interface popped up, highlighting each of the mares’ body parts and my chances of hitting that part. Luckily, it gave me a 95% chance of hitting her head. Queuing up the spell to aim there, I felt S.A.T.S slip away, and my laser rifle firing.

The mare was hit right between the eyes, and in an instant, her body glowed a soft pink before vaporizing right in front of our eyes, ending up as a glowing pile of ash on the floor.

I blinked… I blinked again. Not only had I killed a pony, but there was literally nothing left of her! I didn’t have much more time to process it though as more gunshots headed our way.

We had been lucky to catch the first two raiders off guard, but we were now in for a harder fight.

I soon joined Mango on the other side of the door as more bullets flew through the air, most missing us. Some impacted against the door frame, splintering off good chunks of wood. Our pathetic defense wasn’t going to last long.

“Fucking wish we had some grenades or something!” I called out over the roar of the bulletstorm. Mango then blinked as she reached back to her saddlebag, and levitated out two metal apples.

I blinked at the sight, before deciding to question it later when we weren’t facing eminent death. Mango didn’t give an answer either, instead just pulling the steams and lopping them through the door.

“Fucking shit! Run!” Before anything else could be said, an explosion ripped through the building and completely silenced the other room. In an instant, my E.F.S was cleared of all red bars.

I slowly looked out from around the door and looked into the room, and discovered the extent. The force of the explosion absolutely obliterated any raiders. Blood had been splattered all over the wall, ceiling and floor. Intestines and liquefied matter covered everything else.

Finally, my stomach decided to eject its contents, having my breakfast joining the rest of the bloody mess. I really hated the wasteland.

*****

We had left the now vacant raider encampment an hour prior after Mango did the bulk of the scavenging. I had ran outside to finish evicting my stomach contents. After washing out my mouth of the foul taste, we had gone over what Mango had found. A good number of bottle caps, guns that had seen much better days and weren’t even worth the trouble of bringing, and a book titled ‘Today’s Locksmith’ . That I definitely took.

It was once again getting to the point were the cold was starting to get to us, and it was definitely getting old by this point, but we had to trudge along. It was a little further along before we heard the same tuba music echoing before we saw another sprite bot floating along.

Before Mango could react, I bolted over towards it. “Hey, Watcher!” The bot hadn’t reacted. “Watcher!”

The music popped before it turned to face me. “Hey Mystic! Great job with those raiders back there. Trust me, you both certainty helped out a bunch of ponies by doing that.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m still not happy about getting sent in to nearly get killed, but you’re welcome. You wouldn’t happen to know of anywhere we could warm up, do you?”

“Well, unfortunately, nothing like the trading stop you were at last night, but there are some still somewhat intact buildings up ahead. That’s the best you’re gonna get.”

“Wait how did you-“ And before I could finish that sentence, the sprite bot popped, and the music was back as it floated off once again. “… Damn it.”

“How did he know where we were last night?”

“I have no fucking clue Mango, and I honestly don’t want to know.” I just shook my head and, to get my mind off of it, I opted to turn the radio back on, just in time for the DJ to hope back on.

“GOOOOOOOOOD AFTERNOON WASTELANDERS! This is DJ Denmare, spinning disks and telling the news, and boy do I have something for you all today! Y’all remember that nasty, nasty raider camp parked right beside the highway just outside of Lemon?”

No. Fucking. Way.

“Well! Reports are coming in that a couple of Stable Dwellers were seen entering the camp, shots were fired, explosions were had. Long story short, they took out the raiders, opening up the trading route one again!”

Mango and I looked at each other, jaws hanging open, as the report finished.

“So thank ya kindly ladies! Keep up the good work! This next song's for you!” The music started playing, but all I could do was fall back onto my haunches and put my head in my hooves.

Fuck me, hard, with Luna’s horn.

*****

Footnote: Level Up!

Character Level: 2

875 EXP to next level

One Point added to Intelligence: Now 9

Author's Note

Would you look at that, a 2nd chapter wrote and uploaded in as many days?! I'm on fire!

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!

Foreword

Fallout Equestria: Syndication

Prologue: One month after Sunshine and Rainbows

Hello and greetings Wasteland Traveler! I am beyond thrilled that you came across this book (Or audio file, either or works) and have decided to give it a read or listen too.

My name is Mystic Sapphire, Chief Technical Officer for Stable 124 in the Equestrian state of Coltorado…. At least, I was. I haven’t been back home in probably ten or so years by now. Yeah, the Equestrian Wasteland is my home now, especially after everything I have done for this little part of it.

Yeah, this is my story of how I helped this part of the Wasteland in getting rid of something that was just purely evil. Of how I left my Stable on what I thought was just a simple quest to find something from my past.

Now, before you ask, I certainly don’t hold myself in the same regard as the great Light Bringer or the Security Mare, and I really don’t think this story is as thrilling as theirs. But Sunrise convinced me to do this, so I have. You have NO idea how hard it was to get these made, but I did it!

I’m going to shut up now, so that you may get on with the rest of this story, and I’ll let you be the judge on if this is worth it or not.

Signed:

Mystic Sapphire