Fallout Equestria: Desperados V2 (of Blood and Dirt)

Desperado’s V2, Chapter 13

All in the Past, (Part 2)

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"I'm surprised you're able to understand any of that." Prism said to me as she rested on a cloud.

It was weird, being so high in the sky like a pegasus, alway at risk of falling. But in these moments, Prism spread out her wings to give me more space to read Dead Reckoning's journal, and use his tools. It was pure luck that I had found them in Captain Blackpowder Blast's office, and even better luck that this Dead Reckoning had written instructions on how to use his tools.

"It's actually super easy." I told Prism, showing her a page. "He even drew it down all simple like."

The alicorn squinted her eyes, a bit confused, but understanding as he used her magic to flip through the jornal. "I'm afraid I can't read all that well, but even then, it looks like gibberish to me. Not to mention that a lot of the writing is covered up by ink. What does that top line here say?"

I looked at the page, a bit confused myself. To me it was in perfectly neat writing, though the cursive loops were a bit over done at some parts. And ya, much of the journal was blacked out, but the important bits were there.

"It says, to my darling daughter," the name of whoever this was addressed to had been stained in ink, as to hide the name. "I hope this finds you well. Unfortunately, It looks like I'll not be returning as promised, my own situation beyond recovery, and even if I do escape this place, they will come for me. So, I've had this book and my tools be delivered to you, and aid you in becoming a true sailor. I regret I couldn't be there for that, and that we only ever met once, but trust these words written in the ink of the kraken, I love you, and pray to the Goddesses you grow up to find happiness. Sincerely, your father, Dead Reckoning."

"How… tragic." Prism said, being all emotionally.

But I stayed stoic, as I was a buccaneer of the Blackwater, and a Corps Brigader, we did get all weepy so easily, or ever, like at all. "Well their loss is our gain." I said as I flipped the book to the instructions on how to use a sextant. "Right, time to find this Equestria place you told me about."

Prism sighed and smiled. "Right, we should move quickly. Who knows how long I'll last out here."

…

Waking up on the lumpy mattress the locals provided, Harp was snuggled up right next to me for warmth where as Slowtrot had chosen the floor.

Getting up, I trotted to my bag, opening it up and rummaging around the inside. In it we're all my navigation tools I took from the Blackwater. It was nostalgic, a reminder of where I came from, but now the meaning had all changed. Among them was a jornal; bound in red stained stingray leather, and the paper made from thick green hued parchment. Opening it, I saw the writing, it was a crisp pure black that was still sharp even today. Bup dotting the jornal was many deep blue specks smugging here and there, having faded over time.

If my memory serves me well, then the black ink is from a kraken, and is used in the holy books due to its magical quality. But the blue… I believed it was used for ship to ship communications, and only available to captains and higher ranked sailors, or those who were close to them.

My hoof then ran over the inked out name on the first page. Maybe I was deluding myself. Just having a wishful dream about a father I never knew, who loved me like my mother never did.

Pulling out the lens, I studied it. The Oracle's Eye, a magical lens my father gave me. Then I looked at Dead Reckoning's journal, the same name as my father. With a sigh I flipped through the jornal, looking for writing in blue ink, and finding curse words repeated over and over, vindictively. The kind of cursing I would have, and did use as a filly, yet I remember never liked reading these ones.

It was probably because I forced myself to forget, but now I recognized the harsh curves of the cursive blue lines. It was how Setting Sun wrote, and the cursing, it was how she described me all the time.

Flipping back to the first page, and placing the Oracle's Eye on the inked out name of Dead Reckoning daughter, it only further confirmed things to me. There it was, "Star Charter" written in black kraken ink.

I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding as the realization hit me all at once. I did have a father, he did love me, and I completely forgot he ever existed. Yet, somehow, in some way, he was able to find me again.

Flipping through the pages again, and reading where notes were left behind by both Dead Reckoning and Setting Sun. My father parted little bits of wisdom to me, and Setting Sun ranting about how the two of us ruined her life.

She truly hated me, to the point she inked out every mention of my name or who I was. And as I flipped through the jornal, I found one message Setting Sun left that caused me to freeze in place. A date, and that it was the most disappointing day in her life. The day I was born, and as just an ordinary earth pony.

I then checked my pipbuck, and let out a laugh. It was the same day. For the first time in my life I knew my own birthday, and I had just turned twenty three years old.

Holding the Oracle's Eye, I cracked a smile, and began properly reading my fathers journal. Catharsis washed over me with each page, and something that felt missing inside of me was filled, if only a little.

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With the morning came busy ponies entering the mine, or shifting through the dug up dirt for gemstones. They were an efficient lot, even if most of them actively drank whiskey grog as they worked. But before we could get to wrapping up our stay here, we joined Almandine, Pyrope and Rook in checking the body pit outside of town.

Though most ponies did bury the dead of even raiders, it didn't surprise me that they had just left the corpses in a pit to rot. Not everypony cared enough or has the time to dig individual holes in the ground. Much less expect a bandit clan to give a damn about outsiders.

That said, proper graves did prevent wild animals from getting too close to a settlement, and would have prevented the fucked up seen I was now looking at. In the body pit was a tangled bush of blue brambles, of which had several buds ready to bloom. Entangled in the cruel joke was at least three vulchers and two night stalkers, of which, one of the snake dogs was still alive and whimpering.

"Well, that plant certainly works fast." Rook said with a sigh.

"Probably because of the nutrient rich soil… since you just dump bodies and waste here." Harp added.

A rather annoyed Almandine clicked her tongue as she trotted around the body pit, keeping her distances. "Fuck, I still wasn't a hundred percent sure of your story about this plant. But here we are. The damn thing is growing out of the raiders corps. And you say it's infectious?"

Harp nodded. "It's a strain of cruel joke that grows under the skin, though were still unsure exactly how it spreads, only that it dise."

"And you're a hundred percent sure this cure works?" Almandine then asked.

"Yes, we've taken it ourselves, as we told you." Then she pointed to Slowtrot. "And he can check everypony too, just so that we know for sure."

Slowtrot nodded as he lifted up on his pipbuck. "Slowtrot then showed Pyrope his pipbuck. "This thing has a medical scanner spell built in. It lets me check on the health of others, and what medicine they might need. Speaking of which, I already have the cure ready to brew, and there should be enough for everypony."

Almandine also trotted over, grabbing Slowtrot's pipbuck. "If that's true, then I'll gladly accept it. Though we don't have much to pay you for it."

"Actually," Harp spoke up as she joined us. "We were hoping you might have some weapons grade gemstones available, even some lower grade ones would help."

"Well, we still owe you for taking out those raiders. So I'll see if any of our miners have found anything good while you make sure they ain't dying of anything." Almandine said with a smile.

As I watched my friends and the mayor trot off, Rook and I turned our attention to the body pit. Where Rook then drew her revolver and put the nightstalker out of its misery.

"Shame to let good meat go to waist, but I got a feeling it's a bad idea to put anything in their nere our mouths." Rook said as she took out her lighter and a torch, lighting the stick on fire. "Have you ever heard of the raider sickness over in hoofington?"

I vaguely remember hearing about that. "Maybe. Is it the thing that turns you into cannibals?"

Rook nodded. "Supposedly you get it from tainted food, mainly anting with their spit or blood on it. Though for most of the victims, they get iinfected from getting raped by them. A double dipping of fucked up. Well whatever it is then rots your brain, making you hungry, violent, horny, and unable to stop laughing. Also, whatever the sickness is, other than using fire on it, tends to stick around for a long time. Makes any place an infected raider has been staying at, a breeding ground for more of them. A burn everything to the ground, even the victims situation."

Looking at the tangle of vines, I could see the comparison. If we didn't have a cure for this cruel joke, how many of us would then need to be put down. Both fore our own mercy, and the safety of others. Worse, how would we even have known if we were if it wasn't for our pipbucks. It's a harrowing thought to be sure. "Sounds like you dealt with it before."

Again Rook nodded. "That sick town I killed off, they were good folk. Real good folk." She then spat on the ground with disgust on her face. "Some mad raider took one of their foals, a sweet kid… and did terrible things to him. I helped them get the kid back, and lynched that bastard for what he did. Didn't stop laughing or trying to bite us until his neck snapped. We should have known something was mighty wrong then and their, but raider sickness was something that happened in places not here."

She took a deep breath as a few locals returned with a few buckets. The smell of alcohol from them was considerably strong, and when Rook pulled out a cup, I wasn't surprised she dipped it in the concentrated booze and drank it.

What did surprise me was when she picked up the torch and spat the booze out above it. For a brief moment, she looked like a dragon breathing fire.

"Ya, this will do nicely." She told the locals as they then tossed the booze into the pit. "The Townes did their best to help the poor foal, knowing it would take him a long time to recover both mentally, and physically." She then tossed the torch in, and the cruel joke was set ablaze. "At the same time, all those who were bitten by the raider got sick, including myself. But were I was just bedridden for several days, the others… they became more active."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Wait, you were infected with the raider sickness?"

"Most certainly." She said as she pulled out two cigarettes, passing one to me. Using an ember from the air, she lit her cigarette, and she used it to light mine. "Fortunately, the ponies of my clan have poisonous blood, we even sweat poison. It was enough that the raider sickness was prevented from getting into my brain. Or at least that's what I guessed at the time. Well, by the time I recovered, it was too late for the town. The other infected had unknowing spread it to their lovers, their family, their friend, and any pony unlucky enough to be spat on. The colt spread it damn well everypony trying to help him from biting, spitting, and pissing all over. Then they spred it to everypony else"

"And then you killed them?" I further asked.

She shook her head. "Not at first no. Enough of them were fortunately not infected, and tried to quarantine the others. But I think my recovery might have doomed them, giving them hope where there should have been dispare. Made them stick around in and try and help cure their neighbors. So when the infected turned violent and moderately organized, most of the unifected were unprepared and not mentally ready to fight their friends and family. They didn't last long."

"But you did." I stated.

"They actually ignored me at first. Probably because I didn't flinch or revolt at the madness." She said with a shrug. "But when they did turn on me, they were still just townsfolk, not a trained killers like myself. So when it was clear they needed to all die, it wasn't hard to do. It wasn't even the first town I saw go mad like this. Though it was the worst. And I did bury them all… until help finally came."

"How would help, change things?" I had to ask.

Rook took a long drag of the cigarette and held it for a moment before smoke bellowed out of her mouth like train smoke. "Because the help was from the Followers of the Apocalypse, and they quickly identified what had actually happened. Turns out just leaving the bodies in the ground is like planting landmines. So I had to dig them all up and burn them along with the town."

"Oh… I'm so sorry." I said, realizing how horrible that must have been.

"No need. It was enough to really kick me in the ass and get me thinking about my life." The cigarette on her lips quickly turned to ash, and Rook then spat it out into the blazing fire. "Anyways, thanks to you and your friends, I won't have to do that again. The folk here may not be the nicest, but they're not entirely bad folk. Far better than my clan, I can tell you what."

"I'm glad too. Last thing I need on my shoulders is a dead town." I said with a smile, but then a question formed in my mind. "But did the Followers let you go, I mean that sickness, it must have been covering you?"

She let out a huff before saying, "they took me to the NCR in a sealed box, and then held me in a cell for a month. Where they made sure I was completely clean before letting me be free. Did all this testing, and shit to hope that they could make a cure or vaccine for the sickness."

She then kicked the dirt, further disgust on her face. "No, instead I learned my genetics are purposely resistant to that kind of sickness. It's not just that my blood is poisoned, but oddly shaped in a way that such sickness has a hard time moving though our bodies… which the only other ponies like that are all from Arbu."

That name was very familiar to me, it being the place the Lightbringer burnt down and slaughtered all the adults. The village of cannibals.

Rook looked me in the eyes and nodded. "Likely, if I had to guess. My ancestors were likely forced into cannibalism to survive, probably eating ghouls as well. At some point something like the raider sickness got into them, and the survivors would become the White Scorpions clan. A bunch of mutant cannibals that turned to mercenary work when their other food ran out, probably used mercenary work to get more of that food. Just turns my stomach knowing that such monstrocity runs through my blood."

"You might not be wrong about that, Rook." Keep sa8d as she trotted out, a sour look on her face. "Turns my stomach just knowing you're my mother."

"Ya, ya here to remind me about how bad of a mother I am." Rook huffed out.

Keep rolled her eyes at her mother. "Naturally, but I'm also here to take Fort back."

Both mares then shifted their stance in unison, ready to draw their muzzle trigger sidearms. It was rather eerie to see, with how much they looked alike, I might have thought they were the same pony, but with one younger and the other older.

Wind blew through the valley, kicking up embers around us. Rooks main and tail whipped around like scorpion tails, where Keep's fluttered like fire. Both mares remain unmoving, the killing intent so thick I could taste it.

"Ahem!" A stallion called out, getting the attention of the two mares. Moody Peddler then trotted in between them, putting on his best merchant smile. "Hey now, we're not here for a fight, so why don't the two of you relax."

"And if y'all are, I don't have a problem putting the two of ya down." Percussion Cap jo8nd us, two revolvers already out and pointed at the two mercenaries.

Slowly, but steadily, the tension faded, and both mares relaxed.

Then Rook spoke. "I may be a shit mother, but no way am I hoofing Fort to that hag. You got that!"

Keep clicked her tongue in irritation, "like you have the right, after what you did!"

"I'd do it again if it was possible, those old fools had it long coming and you better not deny it! Otherwise you would have raised yours with the clan, and not with that cradle robber." Rook said as turned back to town, and started trotting. "Now unless you have something better to tell me, ya'll best get talking."

The younger mare gritted her teeth, clearly frustrated. "You're always like this ya ornery bitch. Acting before you think, always solving problems with violence, and leaving messes behind for others to clean up."

Rook stopped for a moment, sneering at her own daughter. "Never once did I ever ask you to clean up after me. And have you ever thought that maybe those messes were best left a mess! That some things don't need fixing!"

"Like with Fort." Keep said coldly.

Rage flashed in Rook's eyes. "Yes like with Fort you dumb cunt! If you'd just left him with the Followers, he would have been happy, never knowing of the clan or myself. But no, you had to act as my mothers little lap dog and drag him to that shit show we call home. And what did you get for it? Probably then let the elders fuck ya." A cruel smile then formed on Rook's face. "I wonder how many of your kids are even your husbands. Which ones are as inbred as you!"

*BANG*

Keep had drawn her revolver so fast that it looked like a blur, but PC was faster, shooting Keep's gun out of her grip. "What the fuck did I say!" Percussion Cap growled.

Keep glared at PC, and then at her mother. "If not for them, I'd be throwing ya in that fire pit."

Rook rolled her eyes, giving off the feeling that she was more bored than annoyed at her daughter. "If I was that easy to kill, you would never have been born. Fuck, if I was that week, I'd kill myself. "

"I wish you would already, and put yourself out of our misery." Keep spat out.

"Enough!" Moody shouted, once more putting himself between the two mares. "I'm not going to ask you two to hug it out, or even forgive each other, but dammit, stop trying to kill each other every time you meet." He then glared at Keep and pointed at the town wall. "Honey, I'll talk with your mother, you go watch the kids. Okay?"

Keep slowly nodded and then picked up her gun before trotting off.

Moody let out a long sigh. "I swear, if I didn't love her so much, I'd stay as far away from her as possible."

"I'm amazed you're still alive after being with her." Rook said as she visibly became less tense."

He shrugged. "I developed a tolerance to her body fluids. Actually, I might be addicted to them."

Rook actually cringed at that. "You poor and stupied stallion."

"Stupid as I might be, I would rather be stupid and with her, then smart and without her." Moody said in all confidence.

Trotting over to them, I needed to figure something out before I became completely lost. "Alright, so can you explain to me what's going on. This was a rather fucked up family reunion if I have ever seen it. So there's got to be something going on?"

Moody took a deep breath as he took a meditation pose for several seconds. "Right, you're right. I wouldn't have let this reunion happen if it wasn't important." He then looked over at PC, who joined us. "And thanks for the save."

"Well it's bad for business if I let that idiot murder her own mother." Percussion Cap said with a sigh. "And right when we have good news for you."

Rook cocked an eyebrow, "like what, is my bitch mother finally dead?"

An awkward smile formed on Moody's face. "Well, ya. Your mother passed on a while back, and your clan is calling everpony back, including you."

She let out a laugh. "Fuck finaly, thought that bitch would never die. But why me, I'm a pariah. No fucking way they'd want me back. Anyways, my brother should be next in line to be elder, along with like five others. No reason to call everypony back."

"Well about that." Moody said nervously. "Their all dead."

"What! How?" Rook yelled in shock.

"Long story short, Spire and Belfry went on their own rampage, just like their mother." Moody told Rook with a serious glare.

"Who?" I asked.

Rook hoofed at the ground for a moment before letting out a huff and telling me. "They're my twins. But why would they do that?"

"Since you dropped away from your clan, you wouldn't know this, but Spire and Belfry never got along with their grandmother or the elders. The first chance they got, they ran off to stay with Keep and I. Lived with the Talons for a spell, and made their own path." Moody explained. "After what you did, they finally returned to help, but something happened between them and your mother. I don't know the details, but as of right now, your twins are leading your clan until they can find somepony to be elder. Among those who are seen as eligible, your one of them, Rook."

I watched as Rook seemingly lost her strength, slumping onto the ground. "Th… that's a terrible idea."

"Keep said the same thing, but the twins wouldn't budge on it. They want you back home, and want you to bring Fort."

"Well, I guess it's not all bad news. Right?" I said, still a bit lost.

Moody nodded. "As grim as it is, it's rather good news all considered. Though they weren't all bad folk, the elders of the White Scorpions were not all that stable in the head. A common issue most veteran mercenaries tend to have. It's why I insisted on never leaving my kids with them."

"But you left Fort with them!" Rook snapped.

"It was Keep's call, not mine. I wanted to leave him with the Followers, where he could get a proper education around ponies who care." Moody countered. "Anyways, that's all in the past, and we need to focus on the here and now. We can't make you come, but I implore you that you do. You don't even need to come with us, just take the train from New Appaloosa, the railway to your clan's home has been mostly restored by the NCR. It should be a relatively short and smooth trip."

Rook shook her head, "I… don't think I can. Since the day I gave my twins to my clan, I haven't seen them once. I'm no mother to them."

Moody let out a long and frustrated sigh. "Well despite how much blood covers your hooves, your lack of being a mother is far from your fault. And strangely, Spire and Belfry idolize you."

"What now?" Rook asked in bewilderment.

Shrugging and shaking his head, Moody then said. "You might not know much about them, but they know of you. Frankly, the two have always been on the rebellious side of your clan. Thought working with Redeye was a bad idea, of which your mother would hold you as an example… then you just up and vanish, leaving Fort in Redeye's school. Which turned into a big spit in the eye to your mother and clan. It actually caused many others of your clan to leave Redeye, agents your clans will. Oh and many years later you apper again, only to kill most of the elder and take your son back."

"None of that was for anypony but my own self delusion." Rook argued.

"But you still did it, and harrowing events followed in your wake. Face it Rook, to the White Scorpions, you're becoming a legend. And if you don't want that, then maybe you should go tell them yourself." Moody further explained.

A grimic formec of Rook's face, and then she spat at the ground. "I know you're baiting me, but… you're right. If my mom's not there, and only children are left to lead, then I at least need to make sure they're not leading the clan into the ground."

With a huff, Rook then trotted off, small embers following her.

Silence followed for a long moment, in which Moody and I watched Rook disappear past the walls. Then, I had to ask, "How much of any of that is even true?"

The slimy merchant smiled. "I may have stretched the truth here and there, embellished a few things."

"Like Rook becoming a legend?" I further asked.

"Well more infamous than anything, but the twins blamed their grandmother for that. They have always been smarter than the rest of their clan, and understood when somepony was feeding them brahminshit. Truthfully, they just want to know who their mother actually is, sort out the facts from the fiction you can say."

Right, that made more sense. "And what about Keep?"

"Oh, she fucking hates the idea." Moody said with a chuckle. "But it's more that Keep is repeatedly compared to her mother. When her grandmother died, Keep was more relieved then saddened. You see, she's alway been trying to get out of her mothers shadow, yet that old bitch would never let her, always reminding her to not become like Rook, that one mistake and she'd become just like her mother. But at the same time, compelling Keep to perform better then Rothento takes on more work than her mother."

"Wow, I don't know who's worse, my mother, or Rooks. Would being hated be better that being unloved?" I asked myself.

"Make my relationship with my mom sound downright pleasant." PC commented.

Moody shrugged again. "All I know is that I'll never let my kids feel that pain. Speaking of which, I should probably check up on them before my wife flips her lid again."

I cocked an eyebrow at that. "Okay, why?"

A chuckle escaped Moody's lips. "Oh, our kids love rankaling their mother's hankles, and the last time they met Rook, they found out nothing pisses off their mother more than wanting to be with grandma."

That sounded like a bomb ready to go off. "Ya, let's go before there's a shootout."

Moody trotted away with the tension of a father and husband who knew that he was the sane one in their family. Made me almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

"The more I learn about the White Scorpions, the more I'm reminded how fucked up the wasteland can truly be." Percussion Cap said in a disappointed toan. "Also makes me more grateful to my grandmother. Who knows how I'd turn out if she didn't step up to help raise me."

"Right, that whole raider shit." I said, remembering what her father was.

She nodded. "Ya… if Storm Rider wasn't who she was, I'd likely be just another raider, and probably dead too. It's why I don't blame my mother for being so distant with me, she never wanted a child in the first place. Or at least not in the way she got one."

Ya, I don't even know what I would do if I found myself in that situation. Bridget was a result of my own stupid decision, but I had put myself in that situation, not having it forced onto me. I also had mom to help guide me, keep me from making worse decisions.

And it's not like I didn't see examples of this all over the place in the wasteland. Brass Chains was an alcoholic because of how her son was conceived. Then all the abandoned foal's my mom helped the Followers find, and when their mother was located, it was the same story of how they refused to raise a raider foal. But there were also mares who still raised their foals with love, despite how they were conceived.

"The wasteland is truly a fucked up place." I said with a sigh.

"E'yep. And that's why we must not let it drag us down. Otherwise, how can it ever get better." PC said as she brushed off some ash off her jacket. "But enough on this depressing shit, let's get ourselves a drink."

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