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!