Fallout Equestria: Brothers

Iron Heart quickly pulled his tire iron from his backside, when the pegasus stallion charged them. The two brothers dove for cover, as the raider fired a shot in their direction, the empty shell flew from the chamber as he quickly loaded the next round from the magazine. There was a wild expression on his face, as he held the rusty shotgun in his mouth.

“Shit.” Searing Arrow shouted, as he fired a shot at the pegasus. The shot went wide as he grunted. “I’m running low on ammo here.” He said and fired off another shot and hunkered down behind a stone slab.

“Sorry, I don’t exactly have the ammunition for you…” Iron Heart said as he leapt out of his cover, and struck the raider square in the chest with his weapon. The stallion’s leather armor took the brunt of the damage, as he snorted. He glared at the stallion and struck him twice more in succession. One of his two new blows struck the pegasus in his ribs, causing his armor to crack a fair bit, and the other on one of his right fore legs.

The stallion let out a grunt as he was hit three times by the earth pony, his wings quickly extended and pushed his body up and off of the ground. He flew high into the air, and fired the remaining four rounds down at the two brothers, and managed to land a shot on the unicorn’s right ear. A cruel and sadistic smile crossed the raider’s face, as the empty shells fell to the ground, and then he dive bombed the earth pony. His eyes were wild, the craving for combat raced through his nerves and veins, as he felt his mane be tussled by the air. He let go of his rusted shotgun and let it fall, only to catch the side of the barrel in his jaws. The butt of the gun, free to be used as a melee weapon. He closed in on the chubby earth pony.

Iron Heart heard Searing Arrow, as he shouted out in pain, and looked over just in time to see his right ear spurt out blood. He was in shock, and didn’t see the attack from above! The world turned into a series of colors, as he was struck across the back of his head with the butt of the pegasi’s shotgun. The earth pony grunted as he lost his grip on his weapon, which fell to the ground with a loud thud. Futily, the stallion turned around and attempted to hit the pegasus with a hoof, only to find that he was too late. The pegasus that had hit him with the butt of the shotgun, had taken flight back upwards. The world seemed to slow around Iron Heart, he was seeing two duplicates of his brother, as the colors left his vision.

As he watched his brother get hit by the butt of the pegasi’s gun, Searing Arrow felt the rage begin to burn in his heart. He quickly used his magic to take the magazine out of the pistol, and saw that he was down to one shot. That was all that it was going to take, if he was careful. The unicorn stallion narrowed his eyes as he slid the magazine back into position, and took aim. He wasn’t going to waste this shot, he was too angry to let this bastard go, after how he injured his sibling.

As he made one final dive for the earth pony, he didn’t notice that the unicorn had been taking his time to aim his pistol at him. His arrogance had gotten the better of him, as he moved in for his next strike. His bruised side was able to be seen through the cracks of his leather armor. As he used his powerful wings to propel his body down, he didn’t get the strike in, as the final bullet rang out and filled the air of the dead town.

Iron Heart fell flat on his stomach, his chubby body hit the ground with a thud that was muffled by Searing Arrows final shot. The raider let out a loud shout of anger and rage, as he was shot out of the air. The bullet from the pistol had hit the spot on his side, where the tire iron had struck his armor. He felt the bullet as it had become lodged in one of his ribs.

“O-oh! You have no fucking clue as to who you have just pissed off!” The raider shouted in pain as he stood up from the spot where he had landed on his back. “Your lives are going to be so much more difficult, now!” He said with a pissed off time in his voice, expanding his wings and clenching his teeth as he flew up into the sky and fled towards the west.

The pegasi stallion had been bleeding from his wound, as the fresh blood stained the ground where he had been standing mere moments before he took off. Searing Arrow hurried over to his brother, a worried expression on his face as he carefully examined the back of his brother’s head. The unicorn slid his now empty pistol into its holster, and used his magic to carefully move Iron Heart's mane to the side.

“Well.” Searing Arrow said calmly as he helped his brother up to his hooves, a nervous tone in his voice as he spoke. “The back of your head isn’t too badly swollen. Though it is a rather large bump, and you probably should take it easy today.” He said gently as he softly lifted Iron Hearts tire iron off of the ground, as he slipped it across his backside. His horn glowed softly for a brief moment, and then stopped as he dusted his brother’s jacket off. “Come on.” He said warmly. “Let’s get going.”

Iron Heart gave a nod as he grunted, his vision had returned to normal, and he felt the throbbing headache as the pain set in. “Yeah, I might have an idea as to where we can go. It’s on this map…” He said with a soft grunt, as he pulled out the map he had found, and unfolded it carefully. His right forehoof pointed to the location that was marked as Tenpony Tower, and tapped it softly. “There’s this Tenpony Towers place, I don’t know much about it, but it is a much better place to start, rather than out here.” He said with a grimace, the throbbing headache sent pain through his skull. Slowly, the earth pony folded the map back up after he had studied it, and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Well then, let’s get going.” Searing Arrow said with a soft smile, and began to walk alongside his brother, as they made their way towards Tenpony Towers.

The trip was quiet as the two made their way through the wasteland, they had been following the map to the north. Their supplies had run low after their third day of travel, their mouths were dry from the hot afternoon sunlight. They scanned the roadside for any sort of diner or cafe to scavenge, only to remember that they were not that lucky. They trekked onwards, despite the circumstances, and kept a lookout to ensure that they wouldn’t be snuck up on. Both of them were not ready to have to fight again.

The two blinked as they came upon what appeared to be a building out in the distance. Their eyes grew wide as they began to run towards it. As they approached the building, they both saw that it appeared to be a store. Their eyes moved to the faded posters that were inside of the windows, and saw that they were all faded to unreadability. Looking at one another, they gave each other a nod and walked to the entrance.

As they approached the entrance to the building, they saw that the spot where the two doors should have been, had been destroyed some time ago. Inside of the store, at the front facing the door, the two took a moment and looked around the front of the building. As they walked inside, the two brothers took a moment and looked around. Their eyes passed over what looked like aisles. Dust covered shopping carts were flipped and turned upside down and onto their sides, strewn throughout the building.

Eight cash registers were set up at the far right of the interior. That’s when they both realized just what this building once was.

“This place used to be a grocery store.” Searing Arrow said calmly as he looked at his brother. “Maybe there is some water in the back? Or possibly some canned food that we could take.” He blinked as he looked at the ceiling, where two iron bars hung down between the aisles could be seen.

“Maybe…” Iron Heart said in response, as he began to walk cautiously and silently towards one of the aisles. “Let’s split up, and see what we can find. You take the left side of the store, and I’ll take the right. We’ll meet in the middle, and put all the things that we find together in a bag.” He said calmly as he headed off.

“I… We really shouldn’t-” Searing Arrow didn’t have the opportunity to even suggest sticking together, as he watched Iron Heart go off on his own. He gave a shrug, and sighed, as he made his way to the left side of the ruined store.

The building was littered with debris from patches of the ceiling that had fallen inside, over the course of the years since the megaspells hit. The aisles were empty, cereal boxes and empty aluminum cans littered the floor. The sun had moved just past the distant, open hole in the roof, which had casted the interior into a cool shade. The ragged soles of their shoes could be heard, as their hoof steps echoed within the empty building.

Iron Heart blinked as he passed by a cooler door that had a glass bottle of Sparkle Cola inside of it, the stallion felt his thirst as he eye’d it. He opened the door without a second thought, and took the glass bottle. He had to save it for Searing Arrow, he knew that, so he did what he was taught by their parents, and put the full glass bottle in his free jacket pocket. He knew that was a bad place to store it, but he didn’t exactly think to grab his travel bag, when their home had started going up in flames. The stallion took a moment and thought to himself, he had been observing his brother since the day that he was kissed and bitten by that raider. He had noticed how much hungrier his brother had been getting, as well as the odd laughter. It was beginning to trouble him, a little.

Iron Heart shook his head, surely it was just his mind playing tricks on him, right? He shrugged to himself as he returned to scavenging the shelves, and picked up what he could carry on his back.

Searing Arrow had been all of the way across the store, in what looked like it once was a produce section. His eyes scanned the walls where the food once was held. The now empty and barren walls had been coated with a fine layer of dust, which had been left undisturbed for what seemed like years. The unicorn buck exhaled, as he proceeded cautiously and silently down the aisle. His pistol was empty, and the rusted shotgun that Wildcard had dropped three days prior was out of ammunition, as well. He scanned the shelves one by one as he pressed onwards, but caught the glint of something shiny on an end cap as he stepped up to it. He blinked as he found two small boxes on the shelf.

The first box had the image of a tan and gray coated pegasus who had a dark brown and well kept mane. They had a bandage on their right foreleg, possibly covering a scrape or maybe a cut.
The words on the box were able to be somewhat legible, as he read the label to himself, ‘Caballeron’s Pristine Bandages! The bandages that won’t let you down!’ The pegasus’s expression on the box wasn’t at all reassuring…

The other box was a small, white and blue box that had a white coated stallion with a blue curly mane on the side. The writing on the box was faded, but judging by the way that packaging looked, he recognized it! He recognized the box as Fancy Buck Cake, something he had found half a box of during a scavenging expedition. Slowly, Searing Arrow opened up the more colorful box, and found that there were three of the wax paper covered snack cakes left. He closed the box, and scooped the two boxes into the air, as his horn glowed. Calmly, he made his way towards the back rooms of the building.

After ten minutes, and not having found much else in the way of supplies, the brothers regrouped and set the supplies that they had gathered on the cold and dusty floor. Searing Arrow used his magic to clear away a small spot from the accumulated dust and debris, and looked over what they had managed to scrounge up. Searing Arrow exhaled as he shook his head.

“This isn’t enough.” He said calmly. “There isn’t enough food here for even a week. We can’t make it to Tenpony Tower on this much food.” Searing Arrow let out a soft sigh.

“Yeah, we tried to scrounge up as much as we could find. Sadly, there isn’t a whole lot of food left in this place.” Iron Heart said as he looked around calmly and his expression took on a much more somber look. He then spoke softly once more. “Searing Arrow, I don’t know how much farther it is to Tenpony Tower from here… We have to be close, if we’re going by what that map showed.” He said with a slight glimmer of hope in his voice.

“Well, I sure hope so. Otherwise we’re going to be dying in the damn hills nearby, probably by raiders or some sort of monster.” Searing Arrow said softly as a nervous smile formed on his face, his snout twisted as he tried to put on a show of confidence. He was failing miserably at it, too… He was about to speak once more, when the voice from a few days ago began to speak to him in its mischievous and cruel tone once more.

“Oh! He looks so tasty! Aren’t you hungry?” The voice said as it whispered into his ear.

“What? No!” The unicorn said with a horrified tone in his voice, which caused the earth pony stallion to look at his brother in confusion. The unicorn shook his head, as he looked to the side of his body where he had heard the voice from. There, he saw what looked to be a small moth-like pony!

The small, moth-like pony was a mare. Her wings were elegant and strong, the many various and intricate lines on her wings formed heart shapes all across their delicate surfaces. Her coat was a soft, shimmering magenta that shone darkly in the sun’s ever sinking rays. Her amber colored eyes gazed into the unicorn’s own, as she seemed to drool. She looked from the unicorn, to the earth pony, which looked like quite the appetizer to her.

“Uh, Searing Arrow.” Iron Heart said somewhat nervously as he looked at his brother. He didn’t see the pony that his brother was talking to, which caused him to feel like his stomach was rolling and tumbling around inside of him. He shook his head, and spoke after he steadied his voice. “Who are you talking to? I don’t see anypony there…”

“Oh, he can’t see me!” the small, moth-like pony mare said with a devious giggle. “I’m all in your little mind, cutie pie!” She said with sadistic glee in her tone. “Don’t tell him, but my name is Little Miss Sunshine, and I am your personal shoulder devil!” She said with a wicked giggle. “Tell him that you aren’t talking to anypony, that you just had a bit of a nervous break, from all of the walking and exploring.” A crooked and evil smile formed upon her lips, as her expression changed. “If you do as I say, I’ll help you get back at that fucking bitch of a mare, who imparted that ‘gift’ to you, before she left~”

Searing Arrow shook his head as he looked to the odd moth-like pony, then to his brother. ”Um… nopony, brother.” He said with a gentle tone in his voice, his tail swished back and forth as he exhaled. “I’m going to see if there’s something in the back that we could use to carry this stuff. Maybe somepony left a backpack there or something.”

Iron Heart blinked as he looked to his brother, his tail hung somewhat limp behind him, as his ears flattened against his head. “Alright, I’ll go with you.” He said in response. He didn’t believe that his brother wasn’t speaking to somepony, in fact he was more than sure that his brother had been speaking to somepony.

The two made their way to the back of the building, its cold and empty hallway echoed with each and every step that they took. It didn’t take them long to find what they were looking for, as they had soon come across a room that was incredibly dusty. Two long, singular desks lined the walls, with dusty terminals that were dark. Several chairs stood motionless in front of them, the fabric having come apart, with the stuffing and fluff puffing and falling out of it. At the far side of the room, the two could also see what looked like a separate room; an incredibly thick pane of glass separated the two rooms, alongside a doorless frame.

The brothers walked into the smaller room, and noticed that the terminal was oddly clean. Their eyes scanned the desk, only to find what looked like a device that resembled a tape of some sort. Iron Heart blinked as he sat down at the desk and faced the terminal. A moment later, he had pulled out a keyboard from an opening underneath the top of the desk. His hoof pressed the power button on the machine, seeing it light up with a soft greenish glow! The small and square object looked like it was able to be slotted into a terminal.

“So, this is a holotape, right?” Iron Heart asked Searing Arrow, as he motioned to the small, square object.

“Huh? Oh, yes! It is!” The unicorn said with a smile as he examined it carefully with his magic. “I remember how I found one of these when we were both ten. We didn’t know what was on it, and the settlement leader took it right away from us, but… I remember the design of a basic holotape.” His tail swished softly as he carefully set the holotape back onto the desk.

Iron Heart blinked as he looked at the coding that had appeared on the screen, and realized that he would have to try and hack into the system. The earth pony focused as he tapped the keyboard and moved the cursor over a series of symbols, numbers and letters to the lower right corner of the screen, before he hit the enter button. on the keyboard. A sound emanated from the terminal, signaling that Iron Heart had messed up and selected the wrong piece of code to try and hack into. He looked over the various symbols and data that was on the screen, and moved the cursor once more. Two more failed attempts as the terminal made a soft clicking sound. He was about to try once more when he felt Searing Arrow gently tap him on the shoulder. He stopped and looked to his brother, who motioned to sit down.

The earth pony gave the unicorn a soft nod, and stood up. He stepped aside as his brother sat down in the chair, keyboard levitating in front of him as his horn glowed, and he motioned to the code that he had spotted with a smile.

“The code that you are looking for is there, you, however, selected this one…” Searing Arrow said to Iron Heart with a soft and gentle smile. He gave his brother a smirk, as he returned his attention to the terminal monitor, and hit the enter key on his selected code. The stallions were not used to having to work the coding that was part of the matrix. The terminal had become unlocked for Searing Arrow, as he began to sift through the files that the machine held within itself. He had just moved the cursor down to a folder that had been titled “schedules”, before Little Miss Sunshine fluttered directly in front of his face.

“Oooh!” The small, fluttering pony said with a devious smile on her face. “What did you two find?” She asked as she turned and fluttered in place, her small wings beat at a rapid pace, as she kept herself calmly floating in Searing Arrows vision.

“...” The unicorn didn’t even respond. He knew that his brother couldn’t see her. And that if he had explained the situation, and who exactly he was talking to… His brother might call him crazy! Searing Arrow focused on the task at hand, and clicked on the “schedules” folder, which had a list of names. Searing Arrow tilted his head as he calmly spoke. “Huh, this must be the employees’ shifts.” he blinked as he exited out of the folder, and looked through the other folders, only to find nothing of any real value. Nothing, except for a file titled safe. He blinked and clicked on it, only to be met with eight numbers and looked them over repeatedly.

“What’s that? Some sort of code?” Iron Heart asked as he looked at the numbers, his tail swished alongside his brothers. “Do you think that it even still works?” He asked calmly, his eyes scanned the holotape. “Searing Arrow, let’s see what’s on this thing. We can always get the contents to the safe on the way out, I’m more curious as to what is on here.”

“Huh? Yeah! Yeah, definitely.” Searing Arrow said as he finished memorizing the numbers. He exited back to the desktop of the terminal and, with his magic, took the holotape and inserted it into the slot! After a moment, the screen went black as words appeared in a bright green color. The two calmly looked at the text.

“So, it is about time that I saw you again.”

“Well, hey there, cuz! How have ya been?! I heard that you and your folks picked up a grocery chain! How’s that workin’ out for y’all?”

“Eh, it’s working out okay, I guess… When will I be able to meet up with you and the rest of the family? I have been missing you all, something fierce!”

“Well, that’s kinda tough to say. What with how y’all picked up a shop, now. And with how I need to head to Canterlot with the others, for business, I don’t really know when we will be able to see each other again…”

“That fuckin’ sucks, cuz! I’ve missed you all, so much! I wish that we could get our Coltfriends together sometime, and have a little double date? Or maybe a family BBQ! I always used to love those!”

“Cuz, we’ll see what happens. Right now, I’m just glad to hear from ya again!”

“Be careful, please? I don’t want anything bad to happen to you…”

“Don’t worry, B! I’ll be totally fine! I have the ladies with me! What could possibly go wrong? Y’all just focus on spending as much time with your Coltfriend, and deepen those bonds of yours. Y’all hear me?!”

“I do, thank you! Safe travels!”

As soon as they finished reading that, the two brothers looked, and gave a soft nod to one another in unison. Searing Arrow took the holotape out, and exited the office. The two of them looked at one another as they came across a storage closet, just on the opposite side of the office. The earth pony blinked as he opened the door, and found a well used saddle bag hanging on the inside. Searing Arrow took the saddlebag carefully, his horn glowed as he calmly lifted it off of the hanger. The unicorn slowly examined it, and gave an affirming nod.

“Well, I think that it is safe to say that this saddlebag is in usable condition.” Searing Arrow said with a smile on his face. “We at least have something to carry our crap in, and we won’t have to worry about what to leave behind, and what to take with us.” He calmly slipped the saddlebag onto his back, where it hung there comfortably. He took a couple of extra moments to adjust the straps, to where they wouldn’t be causing too much strain on his underside.

“Right, let’s go back and get our supplies that we gathered, and be on our way.” Iron Heart said in response, his eyes scanning the hall as he started to walk back to where they had left their supplies.

As they returned to the spot where they had left their scavenged food and aid, they saw a pale pony sitting with their back to the hallway. Her mane was black, and styled in short spikes, while her red tail was long and fluffy. The two brothers both stopped dead in their tracks, and looked at one another. Their expressions were unsure, as caution flared to life.

Footnote: Level Up! New Perk! Trait Unlocked!

Unlocked Trait: Wild Wasteland- You have the propensity for discovering or
encountering extremely unusual and “wacky” elements of the Equestrian Wasteland.
When coupled with Random, you also possess unusual perception (such as limited
precognition or the ability to see ghosts).

New Perk: Magitechnologis (rank 1)- You receive +5 [Hacking & Matrix Tech, Repair & Mechanics] per rank. Mastery: 5 extra points in each of these skills.