Fallout Equestria: New Lands
Chapter One: Metal Walls
*ring*…*ring*…*ring*
Thud…thud…thud
“Goddesses damnit. Shut up!” I practically shouted at the pip-buck as I slammed it into the bedside table. “Eeuuurggh, stupid alarm clock” I muttered as I fiddled with the various dials on the pip-buck, looking for that elusive snooze button.
“Rise and shine my little one, it is another day in the beautiful world of metal walls” a cheery voice said from the door of the room, a smell of stale alcohol emanating from the same direction.
“Morning mum. Way to cheer up my day”
“No problem, my little Stick needs to be up early today for work and could do with the morale boost”
“Jeez mum, how many times have I told you not to call me ‘stick’? It’s either ‘chop’, ‘chopstick’ or just ‘CS’” chopstick, great name right? But I guess it went with my expertise in the cooking of noodles. I can cook any kind of noodle: noodles, noodle soup, noodle pie, noodle sauce, noodle cake and pretty much anything else that can possibly have noodles in it. So, noticing my amazing talent, the Overmare put me in the most honorary of positions, a cook. Yay for me. That meant early shifts and working in front of a pot of boiling water, not the most glamorous job but it has to be done.
“Well whoever you are, you need to ready for work in half an hour. So get your but in gear and wakeup.” My mum said before walking to the door and sliding it shut behind her, leaving me in my room.
My room was small but was spacious enough to move around in and had plenty of shelves and cabinets to store stuff in. and most of that stuff was spilling out onto the floor and strewn over the back of my chair. The neatest thing in my room was on my top shelf, up there was a short, slightly curved blade kept safe in a black sheaf. It had apparently been in my family for generations, but from what I have heard from other ponies it had been won in a poker game by my great grandpa. Still it was a beautiful blade and I kept it with pride.
Walking into the small en suite bathroom I looked into the mirror to inspect myself. Yep, still had that lighter grey mane with the darker grey coat and brown eyes. I felt sorry for the earth ponies that had no magic to assist in the use of a toothbrush. After having left the bathroom, with a minty taste on my breath, I searched for some adequately clean work clothes. After finding an apron with just a few holes and stains on it, I wandered into the main room to find my mum sleeping on the sofa.
“Be back in a few.” I said to the sleeping pony as I slipped out of the residence and into the metal hallways of stable 52. It may be the blandest and boring place ever but it was still home.
Stable 52 was quite the ordinary little balefire bunker; it had normal agriculture zones; it had functioning mechanics, and didn’t have death and secrets around every corner. So what made it unique, simply the education? The schools taught both pony and zebra beliefs, it also taught other zebra teachings such as potions and unarmed fighting.
Ahhhh yes, fighting. The older you got the more advanced fighting techniques we were taught, and those who showed exceeding skill were put into security and were trained at the even more advanced techniques. I was a young adult, very young adult, but was quite a bit smaller than everypony else. This and not being the best fighter meant that those in the top would make snide remarks about me and my fighting skills, and generally do what bullies do. The worst of these bullies was PoundFist, a security mare who didn’t hesitate to throw her weight around and make life hell for those who were smaller than her.
Trotting down the hall, nodding a welcome to those who also had to get up early to complete their tasks, I started my journey to the cafeteria. The hallway widened out into a larger hall that led into a large atrium. On the lengths of the atrium was two large paintings, with one of a pony on one side and one of a zebra on the other, both smiled upon the ponies talking seated at the various tables I the atrium. I don’t get how anyone thought having a pony and a zebra staring down at you from both sides while eating was a good idea, that designer definitely needed a buck to the head.
Not stopping to talk to anyone I made my way to the back of the atrium where there was a counter with the kitchens behind.
“For once you’re on time CS” said a unicorn buck with a brown coat and blonde mane; he had dull blue eyes that gave the impression that he was going to fall asleep at any moment. He wore an old yellowed apron with more stains on it than there are rocks in the world. “Well you know the drill, get to your station and get cooking” he said in a bored voice while turning around and walking to the service counter. He was muttering something about how if he had to eat anymore noodles he would make a noose and hang himself. No different than any other day.
Sigh, time to get to work CS you’ve only got to cook enough food to feed something like five hundred hungry ponies. Setting myself into the daily rut that happened every day for as long as I cared to remember, I got down to work. Grab a pot, fill with water, heat, add noodles and then apply my own special brand of spices to give it flavour, I called this brand ‘Stable-Tec standard’. Just drain and serve into bowls, then slide down to the buck at the counter. Honestly I didn’t know the name of the buck, he had only joined the cafeteria team because he had been demoted for something he had done, and I wonder what he did?
Half an hour later and the food was being served thick and fast, working at top speed to serve all the ponies there was no room for error. “Aarggh” shouted a familiar mare’s voice, “these noodles burnt my tongue, take your noodles back”. I looked up just in time to see a bowl of noodle and burning liquid smash into my face, oh jeez that’s hot oh so very hot. Rushing to grab a cloth I rubbed the noodles and liquid fire that was the watery soup off my face. Looking up I saw PoundFist at the counter pointing and laughing with her ‘friends’ either side of her laughing as well.
“Be a better cook or I may have to arrest you for attempting to poison an officer, maybe they will kick you out of the stable” she said with a large grin across her face. “That would do everyone a big favour” she giggled and wandered away before snatching up a young buck’s bowl of noodles, the young buck not even trying to stop her. Nobody tried to stop Poundfist, and those who dared try were pummelled and then thrown into a cell for resisting arrest. The captain of security didn’t even try to control her, which might have something to do with the captain being PoundFists’s mother.
“What a bitch” muttered the brown buck.
“Yeah” I murmured in agreement, watching PoudFist terrorize her way across the atrium. How much I hated her right now could not be measured.
“Maybe there is a way you can get back at her” the buck said to me with a glint in his eye, the first time I had ever seen any interest in those usually dull eyes.
“What do you mean; nobody can get at her without being beaten to near death”. Really opposing PoundFist was about as safe as jumping in front of a speeding train.
“Oh well, talk to you tomorrow about it maybe”. He said before walking off heading towards the living quarters. Really what was that buck planning, oh well I’ve got much more important things to do, like getting beaten up in front of ‘Fallen Caesar’ class. Being the smallest in the class meant that I was usually singled out and used as a punching bag.
So I set off down the grey halls towards mine and my mum’s living quarters, my dad wasn’t around anymore. No mustn’t cry in the hallways, people would think I was weak. So I continued down the hallway with the thoughts of my father being pushed down into the depths of my mind.
Opening into my quarter’s I could hear the sound of the shower, and unfortunately my mum’s terrible singing, Celestia please shut her up, please.
“You have 99 bottles of whiskey on the wall...” sang my mum, thank you whoever made the living quarters sound proof, no one deserved to listen to my mum’s singing. “Is that you Chop? If so could you pass me a towel?”
“Yeah it’s me!” I shouted as I picked up a towel from the stack and then slinging it across my back. Peeking the door open slightly to the bathroom, I then levitated it in and placed it on the towel rack.
“Thanks” my mum’s said from the shower. Another quest completed by the amazing CHOPSTICK. What, I need to be thinking of something to stop me from getting bored.
10 minutes later and I was lying on my back reading a comic, something about a zebra buck killing monsters and rescuing beautiful princesses. I wonder if my dad was doing something like that up there, but how could he leave us like that? No stop chopstick, that’s a painful thought, I just need to learn to get over it. But how could I stop thinking about it, how could he leave us. I sighed as I felt my mind slip into that old memory, closing my eyes I surrendered my mind to the memory.
It was ten years ago and my family was happy, or as happy you could be in a metal tin can, but it was better than the radioactive wasteland above. Just wish my father thought of that.
It was the Overmare’s birthday and so was a day of celebration, extra food rations for everybody, and if you could handle it the maintenance ponies made a strong alcohol drink from scraps of food and other chemicals. The atrium was decorated with banners, which were getting old and turning a yellow tinge, but still the atrium had a lively and fun air to it. The banners covered the staring paintings and tables had been slid together to form 3 long tables with a single head table at the front. Ponies were sitting everywhere and chatting loudly while they sat and ate their extra portions of noodles. I was sitting between my mum and my dad enjoying a bowl of noodles, completely oblivious to the fact that my entire life was going to be cooking them for everyone else. My dad had a dark blue coat and a brown mane; he also had deep penetrating blue eyes that had the look of someone who is determined to get something done.
“Honey, I’m just going to talk to the overmare about what we talked about earlier” my dad said to my mum, in the type of tone indicating that he wasn’t looking forward to it. “I’ll be back in just a moment”
“I’m sure she will listen to reason” my mum said to my dad, she gave him a reassuring smile as well. This smile was returned by my dad who leant down and gave my mother a kiss. Then I watched as my father trotted through the atrium towards the head table.
From this distance I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I could see the lips of my father’s muzzle moving and the look the overmare gave him, one of cold calculation. Then the Overmare’s lips moved and a look of shock was on my father’s face, this shock turned to anger and his lips moved faster and I could tell the argument was becoming heated. Ponies’ heads turned towards the table as the argument got even more heated. Seeing the heads my father and overmare hushed their tones a little, but the argument was no less heated. Then the overmare said something that put another look of shook on my father’s face, except it didn’t turn to anger, it turned into hate. I saw my father lash out at the Overmare, quickly security ponies rushed up and battened my father down, they then proceeded to drag him down a side hallway towards the security cells.
Looking at my mother I saw her give a sob and then cuddle me close saying how it’s going to all right.
She sobbed as she repeated the words, “Don’t worry Chop it’ll be alright, it’ll be alright”
Opening my eyes I could feel them becoming moist, oh dad why did you have to do that? I couldn’t bear to remember any more of what happened, so I just supressed the memory down. Turning over I stared at the shelf up high on the wall, the one with the sword on. Getting out of the bed I walked up to the shelf and removed the sword from its stand. ‘What a well-made piece of workmanship’, I thought as I took the blade out of its jet black sheaf. The blade seemed to gleam along the edges as its smoothed and polished surface reflected the light. It was sharp, very sharp, so as I handled it in my hooves I was very careful to handle the flat sides of it. I just sat there for a minute taking in the beauty of the curved piece of metal, it must have taken a master workman weeks to perfect the blade and get the balancing of the weapon correct.
Gripping the sword with my magic, I gave the sword a few swings and stabs. Giving myself a slight grin I fell into a trance as let the sword swing, spin and stab. The fluidity of the sword moving through the air helped me relax as I let my world be taken up by the movements of the blade and I gave one last swing that cut the head off of my imaginary opponent’s shoulders.
Sheathing the blade into its black sheaf I placed it back on the shelf. I felt a sense of satisfaction to use the blade, it was a way for me to escape the reality of being stuck in this metal tin can. I thought over the moves I had I performed and studied it for ways in which I could have performed better, I did this as I pulled my work clothes off and slipped into some lighter combat robes.
It was time to get a pummelling.
SLAM…SLAM.
Oh goddesses I think I felt something break in my ribcage. Poundfist stood over me with a look of satisfaction as she looked down at me winded on the floor. “AGAIN, put more leg power into the downward slam Poundfist!” shouted a buff looking buck that looked like he could kill you with a stare and a flex of his muscles. This buck was called Takeshi and was the best fighter in the stable, he had never lost a match and half the time the opponent walked away with a serious injury, oh and he was the captain of security’s husband and the father of Poundfist. He also seemed to hate me, a lot.
Groaning as I got up from the floor I saw the sadistic smile on Poundfist’s face, I knew what was coming next. Left hook, right hook and then she twisted grabbing my neck with her fore hooves and standing on her hind legs she flung me up and over her head, on the way down she jumped above me and kicked down at me just as I hit the floor.
Yep, I have most definitely broken something this time. Ugh my head feels like my brain is rattling around inside, and I have a nose bleed, I thought as I wiped blood off my muzzle. Hang on have I pissed myself, now is a really bad time for that to happen. No wait, that’s blood, that would explain why I felt so light headed. I pulled open my robes and saw a broken rib puncturing through my flesh. Some of the other ponies learning to fight gasped and some rushed to my aid, Poundfist just looked at me and snickered.
The other ponies helped drag me out into the corridor and towards the medical section of the stable. As I looked back I saw Takeshi smiling and congratulating Poundfist on a perfectly executed move, I swear if I had my sword I would stab her right in her smug face.
Until then I would have to get medical for my injury, honestly everyone is making such a fuss to get me to medical safely, it doesn’t even hurt that much, although I do feel light headed. Ponies looked at me in all different ways; some looked shocked, some pitiful and a few even mildly amused, as I was carried on the shoulders of a mare and buck.
After a couple minutes I arrived in the white walled medical bay. The arriving room was pretty large and had seats for about 50 ponies, besides seating there was a desk with a mare and buck sitting at it. They both looked up at me being carried in and while the mare held open a door through to the correct section, the buck took out a device that looked like a weird shaped pistol that had a antennae for a barrel. Pointing the device at my Pip-Buck he then plugged the pistol into a computer and then typed in details of my injury.
The mare led us through a few short halls and opened a door into the broken bones wing, the largest and most commonly visited part of medical. She pulled back a curtain and laid me down on a bed, “the doc will be with you in a moment” she said with a smile to me, “here this should help with the pain”, and then she jammed a Med-X needle into my leg. Well that’s helping push that burning feeling I was starting to get in my chest away.
Sitting there I just felt distant as I waited for the doctor to arrive, and I just kept thinking of how much I hated Poundfist. Just because of her parents she was allowed to get away with anything, and the rest of us were left to suffer under her tyrannical rein. I looked at my Pip-Buck and stared at the screen flashing a warning, ‘WARNING: TORSO CRIPPLED’, well duh, I just had to look at my torso to know that. Actually I would rather not look at my torso, the sight of bone sticking out of flesh is not something you want to stare at, thank Celestia for Med-X.
A couple minutes later and the doc finally turned up, an old white unicorn buck with a syringe cutie mark and a grey mane. “Sigh, Pound has been picking on you again hasn’t she?” the buck said with a look of understanding on his face, “Wish her parents, or even her the overmare, would just take control of her and stop her from abusing her power. Well let’s get you patched up”. And with that he pushed the bed through a door into a small operating room.
“How long is this going to take doc”, funny how his name was doc and he was a doctor, meant there never was any problem remembering his name. He was a nice buck and this wasn’t the first time he had patched me up, usually an injury caused by PoundFist.
“Oh, no more than half an hour. Afterwards you will be excused from work duties for the rest of the day, don’t want to put stress on your body.” Doc said with a slight smile as he turned and walked to a cabinet on the wall. “Now it is time for you to sleep though” he said he turned around levitating a small syringe, which he then promptly stabbed into a vein and pushed the liquid into my blood stream.
The world turned into a tunnel and I felt the world turning black, and then I was unconscious.
A field lay before me, it was empty and grey and repeated the same patterns into the distance, but off in the distance lay a mountain, a mountain of colour and promise. I started to trot towards the mountain; it felt like I had been walking towards the mountain my whole life, and now I was finally going to get there. As I trotted closer and closer, I saw a figure standing near the base of the mountain. The figure turned towards me and there was a flash of brilliant bright light…
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP
Ugh it felt like my chest was being squeezed, but at least it wasn’t sticking out of my flesh like earlier. Although sticking to my chest was a small pad that was monitoring my heart beat and displaying it on a screen. I looked around and saw that I was in a recovery ward lying in a bed, and beside my bed was my mum.
“Ah, you’re awake Chop. It’s nice to see you back in the world of the awake” she said with a slight smile, a smile stitched with concern.
“Hi mum, and don’t look so worried the doc stitched me up fine”. I sure didn’t feel fine, yes there was the pain of the injury but what got me angry most was how PoundFist had done this before and was going to keep doing it, and that no one is going to stop her.
“Well it’s nice to see you ok. Now that you’re awake I’m going to have to return to my work, ponies aren’t going to nurse themselves. I gave a nod and looked down at the bandages wrapped around my chest, honestly I felt like shit as to how easily PoundFist beat me up. Then my mother took my head in her hooves and raised my head level with her eyes, “don’t let her beat you, remain strong and you will always be the victor”. She gave me small kiss on my forehead and walked to the ward door, and gave one last peak back before leaving.
Those were wise words, but they were wasted on unwise ears. If she keeps beating me down how can I remain strong, still I couldn’t sit around all day, or night, who even knew if the timing in the stable still matched outside?
As I started to get out of the bed doc came into the room, “You can leave, but you can’t put your chest through any stress”.
“Don’t worry doc, I won’t.”
“And stay away from PoundFist”, he said giving me a look of concern.
“I will”
“And remember don’t put any stress on that injury”, ok doc you told me once you don’t need to tell me twice.
“Yeah you said, thanks for patching me up anyway” I said to the buck, who still looked concerned.
With a sigh he said “No problem Chop, I guess I will be seeing you again in a week”. He gave one last sigh before walking towards his office.
And with that I began to hobble my way towards the exit, my chest still felt very sore. At least by the morning the pain would recede, zebras really knew how to make fast working medicines.
Arrgghh, why was living in a stable so boring. There wasn’t much to do normally, and with an injury all I could do was sit around doing nothing.
So I spent the rest of the day alternating between reading old magazines, listening to the stable radio and banging my head on a wall. Eventually though it reached dinner time and I had an excuse to leave the room.
So I walked down the hallways towards the cafeteria, at least there I won’t die from boredom. Still eating noodles, again, is still pretty boring.
As I walked into the cafeteria a few heads turned my way, and a few snickered. I could see PoundFist over at a table, surrounded by what passed as friends, and judging by the hoof gestures she was making, she was telling them how she broke me.
I pulled up a chair at a table with the cooks, the cooks always ate together. On my right was the new brown buck, he was settling in well with the other cooks despite only working in the kitchen for about a weeks.
“So are you interested in my proposition” the brown buck whispered to me.
“Proposition?” I whispered back, “What proposition”.
“Whether or not you wanted to get back at PoundFist”
Oh right that proposition, it would be nice to get back at PoundFist as well, but could I trust this buck. “I don’t even know your name, how can I trust you?”
“My name is Hydro, it’s short for Hydrogen” he said turning to look at me, again he had that glint in his eyes, a look of excitement.
“Well nice to meet you Hydro, but how can I trust you?”
“Because I to know what it is like to be bullied by PoundFist. Did you think you were the only one?”
“So what did she do to you?”
“I used to work in the chemical department; we made the chemicals that are used for all different kinds of things around the stable. One day PoundFist came in and was doing the usual terrorizing, but she knocked a bottle of acid onto my back. When I flinched from the burns I knocked over some more and they fell on Pound”, the buck then fell silent
“I’m guessing she didn’t respond well to that?” I asked feeling pity for Hydro, I to knew what happened when she got angry.
Hydro gave a sigh and continued on with his story. “She got angry and showed it. She blamed the damage she caused on me. The overmare saw me no longer fit to work with medical supply creation team, that was the team I was a part of, and so then she dropped me in the kitchens. I want revenge on her just as much as you do.”
Sure I didn’t know him very well, but he showed real contempt for PoundFist, and if he had a plan then it was alright with me. “Alright I’m in, so what’s the plan?”
“Oh but that would ruin the surprise. Trust me I have a plan but I need your help, I will tell you the rest after breakfast tomorrow”, he gave a smile and then turned to his bowl and continued eating his noodles
All through dinner Hydro didn’t let up on any information and eventually he left and I had to return to my room. As I lay there in my bed I thought of what the plan could be, maybe we’ll jump her and beat her down, or maybe Hydro will get more of that acid and we’ll drench her in it. No those all seemed to extreme, and fighting her is a definite failure of a plan. Well whatever the plan is it will have to wait until tomorrow.
The next day I walked into the cafeteria, I felt giddy with anticipation of getting back at PoundFist. First though I had to find what the plan was. Hydro gave a nod to me then to my cooking station, the message was clear ‘work and I will tell you after’. I tried to focus on cooking but it was hard to ignore that feeling in my stomach as if it was hollow. I probably sent some undercooked noodles down to the counter but nopony complained. PoundFist appeared and heckled me, but other than that she didn’t do anything major, the look on her face was enough to aggravate me anyway.
An hour or so later of agonising cooking later everypony was fed, and it was time to hear the plan. I sat down next to Hydro and asked him the question to which I have been agonizingly waiting for an answer to, “So what’s the plan?”
“You know how I said I worked in the chemical making department”, to which I nodded in answer, “Well even when you work with the medical team you still learn many things about how to create cool things. A bomb for example”
“What the fuck, are you crazy? That could damage the stable.”
“sshhh, don’t want somepony hearing us. Plus it’s not powerful; in fact it will just singe and sting a pony. The plan is to place some on the top step of a stair in maintenance and when she goes down we detonate and she falls down stairs and into a barrel of ‘waste’ ever so conveniently placed at the bottom of the stairs. In the end nopony gets hurt, too badly, and PoundFist is covered in faeces. You in?” as he asked that he had that gleam in his eyes again, I probably should have found that unsettling but I to felt excited to get back at PoundFist.
I smiled and answered, “Fuck yes”.
As we stalked through the maintenance we searched for the perfect stair set, it had to be not too long or strong and had to be out of view. We found the perfect one and as Hydro set down the two small charges over the bolts that secured the stairs to the wall, I went and found two barrels of waste. The set up was in the lower parts of the stable and there weren’t many workers down in this section, just a whole lot of pipes piping something around the stable.
Hydro was on look out and when he saw PoundFist he would wave to me and that was my cue to move the barrels into position. We would then retreat back and we each got a detonator that exploded one of the explosives, then we sat back and watched the comedy unfold.
Waiting… waiting…waiting, fuck I hate waiting. We knew the approximate time that PoundFist was going to be reaching us but she sure was taking her time about it. As I sat there I fiddled with some of the things on my Pip-Buck, unfortunately as a cook I didn’t get access to the other options like the E.F.S or S.A.T.S, which might have been useful at this moment.
Then I saw Hydro franticly waving at me, it was go time. As I started moving the first barrel with my magic Hydro hopped down the stairs and helped levitate the second barrel, then we both used crowbars to pop the lid off the barrels. Oh Celestia does that smell bad, still that meant better the results, and with that thought I smiled to myself.
We crouched in a corner and listened as we heard hoof steps come from the hallway, then as soon as we saw PoundFist’s hoof touch the first step we simultaneously pressed the detonators.
“FUCK!” CRASH, BANG and then finally I horrible SPLOOCH sound. Then PoundFist climbed out of the pile of shit that had been tipped everywhere. “WHO THE FUCK LEAVES WASTE BARRELS OPEN AT THE BOTTOM OF STAIRS”, she then started venting that anger out on the wall, leaving a nice dent in the metal.
Hydro and I barely stifled our laughter, and then we felt our blood turn to ice when PoundFist looked directly at our hiding spot. Oh you know that EFS thing I said earlier, well it is a HUD that has a compass and points out where and who is a friendly and an enemy. Also all security officers were given access to it, fuck.
“FUCKERS” she screamed as her eyes filled with a fiery hate, we were most definitely screwed. She charged us down, but for fortunately for us the shit was causing her to slip and slide. She tried to attack us anyway, she kept trying to deliver powerful applebuck style kicks but she was slowed by the slipping. Her slowing meant that she missed us and hit the pipes around us, in her rage she destroyed a lot of machinery and piping trying to get us. We turned and ran down the hallway as alarms started to ring out.
On the speaker system a mare said, “Warning near catastrophic failure in air filter system, all maintenance ponies report for repair. Please remain calm, the problem will be fixed”. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, not good really not good. We ran and ran and we could hear PoundFist’s screams begin to subside. We ducked into nooks and crannies to hide from the maintenance ponies that came running by, having a dark coat and mane became very useful for hiding. We made our way out of the maintenance section, but just before we got out there was another announcement over the speakers, “do not worry the problem has been contained and repairs and being successful. We also have found and detained the mare responsible”. Well that was a load off my chest, the maintenance ponies must have found her kicking and screaming amid the wreckage of the machinery.
We slowed down to a trot as we made our way back into the public areas of the stable; our bodies were pumping adrenaline around our bodies. We finally made it to the residential area of the stable and into my room; we both stopped and gathered our thoughts, and some of our breath.
We then both fell onto our backs laughing our flanks off, the thought of seeing a shit covered, bruised and angry PoundFist was too much for us to handle. We rolled about on our backs for while just laughing at our revenge, sure PoundFist would get her own back, but until then she would have to explain to the overmare how she destroyed part of maintenance.
After we got ourselves composed we sat there for a moment, and then broke out into more laughter, really seeing the person you hate most covered in shit is really quite hilarious. Eventually we calmed down enough and Hydro said goodbye, but not before giving me a hoofbump. I sat on my bed and lay down smiling, today was a good day, and with that thought I closed my eyes for a quick nap before having to go to the kitchen’s for lunch.
Argghh, since when was my bed made of metal, and speaking of which since when did Hydro have a metal bed opposite mine, and since when did my room have metal bars, oh fuck I was in a cell. “Wakey wakey, you’ve been out for three hours. Nice to see you awake, terrorist” said a security buck wearing full body armour.
Wait did he just call me what I think he just called me. Oh fuck what did PoundFist tell them? Almost reading my mind the buck responded, “PoundFist told us all about your plan to blow up the air filters, fortunately she was suspicious of you to come down and stop you before you completely buggered the filters up”. Damn it PoundFist, we were innocent she was the one who wrecked everything.
“But we’re innocent; Pound was the one who wrecked everything.” I pleaded with the buck, judging by the look in his eyes through the visor he wasn’t believing us.
“Yeah sure say that to the overmare. You’re probably going to get the worst sentence in the stable, just like your dad”, and with that single sentence I was reduced to a quivering wreck that burst into tears. As I lay there crying looking at the unconscious form of Hydro, my mind retreated into sleep.
Again I was walking in that grey field with the mountain in the distance, except it wasn’t so distant anymore. That figure still stood there staring at the mountain, it was closer and I could recognize it as being a buck. I was trotting, and like before It felt like I had been traveling this way for a long time. I eventually got within a few feet of the buck; I could have sworn I knew who it was, but I just couldn’t remember. Then the buck turned around.
And I suddenly recognized who it was, it was my father.
“Dad? But how?”
“Hello Chopstick, I haven’t seen you in so long, look how big you’re getting.”
“What are you doing here? How are you here? What is here?”
“This is just a message, and I am the messenger. You have been moving towards this moment your whole life and deep down you’ve always known it. Your future is going to be difficult and you will face many dangers, but I know that you will always do the right thing. You will go through much pain but in doing so you are going to help so many. Just remember what your mother said, ‘don’t let them beat you, remain strong and you will always be the victor’. Will you remember that?
“Y...yes, I will try to remember that”
He gave a nod and spoke, “One last thing, don’t forget about me and your mother”
I gave another nod, “yes I will”.
He gave a smile and turned towards the mountain, the mountain looked much taller and foreboding than before. Suddenly the mountain blared in a flash of light, the light engulfed everything and I felt myself slip away.
I was in that memory of when my father left forever. Except now I was sitting next to my mother, who was silently weeping, on a bench in a room with many other benches and ponies in it. They were all looking forward at the front of the room which held an open area with a raised table at it, before the raised table was a small table which my father was hoofcuffed to.
“Would the court come to order?” shouted the overmare while banging a small wooden gavel. “you stand here charged with assault of the overmare and threatening of taking an action that would pose a risk to the well-being of the stable. Do you acknowledge these accusations?”
My father didn’t speak but simply gave a small nod of the head.
“Then I, with the power of overmare, sentence you to the highest punishment this court can give, exile to the wastes. You will likely not survive the high radiation, but that is your punishment. This court is now out of session” and with that the overmare gave another double bang with the gavel.
Beside me my mother gave an out loud weep, I was too young to understand what was happening, but I knew that my father was going to be gone for a very long time. So I sat there as I watched security officers take my father away and lead him down a hallway towards the entrance to stable 52.
I woke up to banging of a guard on the bars, “Wake up, it’s time for your trial. But I wouldn’t hold your breath over the verdict.” And with that the guard gave a small chuckle. I saw that Hydro was awake; he was just sitting there though not saying anything. The guard opened the cell and poked us with a baton towards a door. This door led into the courtroom, the very same one where my father was sentenced. I felt a feeling of dread and I knew what was going to become of this trial. I looked into the crowd and saw my mother sitting at the front of the seats, she was crying heavily. I also saw PoundFist sitting among the security, I really wanted to smash her smug face in now, and this time I would lengthen it out as long as possible.
“This court is now in session” shouted the overmare, again, banging a gavel, again, it felt like history was repeating itself. The guard cuffed my and Hydro to the table and joined his other security ponies at the side of the room. “You stand here accused of an act of terrorism that threatened the whole stable, and I have very reliable sources to back this accusation up. Do you acknowledge these accusations?”
Yeah reliable sources my arse, but still no one would believe me, and if somepony did they would never stand up for me. So I just gave a small nod, Hydro did the same thing.
“Then I sentence you two to the highest punishment this court can give, I sentence you both to exile to the wastes”
And with those words it was over, I was doomed to the wastes. In a way I was happy, the stable was never exciting and while I would miss everything, especially my mother, I knew that there was nothing for me down here. Who knew maybe the wastes were survivable and maybe my father survived, maybe I could find him, don’t worry dad I won’t forget about you.
The guard ponies led us towards the entrance, but then they turned us down towards the residential area, and then to our respective homes. “Grab what you want to take with you unless it is a stable issued item, you have half an hour.”
So I trotted into my room, for what would probably be the last time. I started to grab what I wanted to take with me, which wasn’t much. I grabbed some of my books, unfortunately I couldn’t take all of them as some of them were issued from the stable library, I could only take what was handed down by my family. As well as reading material I also put some snacks into the saddlebags, and with that I had one last thing to grab, my sword. I lifted it off the shelf with my magic and swung the sheaf over my neck and tied it down onto my back, it was positioned just so that when I twisted my head to the right I could grab the handle in my mouth.
With all my stuff packed I trotted back into the hallway, just as Hydro turned the corner with his guard walking behind. We were led back into the entrance and in the room was my mother, the overmare and a few security ponies. A security pony walked up and dropped a small med box in front of each of us, “inside you will find a Med-X, two healing potions, two Rad-X and a Rad-away” the security pony said before moving back. The overmare said nothing but just stared at us. My mother ran up to me and gave me a strong hug and cried down my shoulder.
“Don’t worry mum I will be fine. I promise you.” I said looking into my mother’s eyes.
“Just…just stay safe, please”, I gave a nod and my mother sobbed and walked back.
Then the overmare finally walked up, her face one of complete cool. “We are not completely throwing you to your doom, to help you I am going to give both of you access to all the Pip-Bucks functions.” With that she pressed some buttons on both our Pip-Bucks, a message came up saying ‘full access granted’. The overmare walked back towards the security ponies, she the shouted “Open it up” towards some ponies up in a control room.
With a large hiss a bar came out of the ceiling, then inserted itself like a key into a slot on the giant cog that was the stable door. More hissing and a metallic grinding noise later and the cog was pulled out of its slot and rolled to one side.
Before I stepped out I looked around, but I couldn’t see any relatives of Hydro’s. “where’s you family Hydro” I shouted over the din the machinery was making.
I saw that the buck was struggling to bite back tears, “Maybe, I will tell you later, but now”. I wanted to press for answers, but now was neither the time nor place for that. So we stepped out of the stable.
Inside my mother was crying but was trying bite them back, she was waving to me, and I waved back as the door slowly slid shut. And then we were left alone looking at the vast metal cog with the number 52 written on it in faded yellow paint. We were in a cave and it went up a steep slope, at the top of the slope was a light. We looked at each other, and knowing there was no choice we began to silently climb the steep slope.
I was taking my first steps up the mountain.
Footnote: level up
New perk: punching bag—all those years of being beaten have given you a tough hide, an additional endurance point is granted and an increase of 2 DT
