Fallout Equestria: Desperados V2 (of Blood and Dirt)

Desperado’s V2, Chapter 08

Tato Town (Part 2)

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Rook jumped out, letting her automatic rifle loose on the raiders. One of them not even having the time to respond as he was given several new holds. Her .308 rounds treated the raiders armor as though it was made out of thin cheap tin. The other raiders on the ground dove into one of the trenches as the Pegasus flew up into the sky and used the sun to keep us from targeting her.

"You arrived sooner than expected!" The Pegasus's voice boomed with an accent similar to that of a pony from Prance, if I had to guess. "The mistress of thorns told me you were not one to underestimate, and right she is. But you'll be a sacrifice all the same, now that you have come into our cradle."

Rook growled with hate, barking back at the mad mare covered in thorns, "you're all dead, I'll see to that."

A chuckle came from what was clearly the raider leader, "fine by me, but first the colt must be baptized by the thorns. You can join him too, if you're willing so."

She whistled loudly, and several shots rang out over our heads, followed by one of the ropes holding Fort up snapping.

Rook burst out to her son, kicking up dust as each hoofstep dug into the earth with great force. I chased after her, pulling what strength I could to catch up.

"I'll grab Belfry, you keep the raiders off our back!" I told her, getting just a nod.

Another Pegasus flew overhead firing wildly with two SMGs on a battle saddle from above. But from under her duster, Rook pulled out a revolver with her muzzle, and fired several shots.

I had to then dogged as the Pegasus raider crashed in front of me, their body flailing about in a spray of blood.

Reaching the bramble under the cage, I slid a stop just in time as a vine whipped out at me, just missing my face by half a hoof. Looking up, I saw a rather worried Fort, his eyes focused on just his mother.

The second rope then snapped and the cage came crashing down. But the colt remained safe as his horn glowed with a blue aura that wrapped around him, and levitated him just enough to not hit the ground with any force. Unfortunately he was still in the middle of the bramble, with no way out.

Looking back at Rook, I gave her a nod as she let out a burst of fire at the raiders.

With a deep breath, I backed up and then charged forward, jumping into the thorny bramble of cruel joke. It was like claws digging into my legs and barrel, the only protection being the thick leather of my Desperado vest. Both as an act of revenge and to push forward, I cut through the cruel joke with my cutlass, making my way to Belfry.

"Jmmph hhhnn" i said with my sword still in my mouth.

Lowering my head, he got the message and jumped on me. One vine lashed out at him but failed to break through his magical aura. "W…. Will you be fine, miss?" He then asked.

I quickly turned around, slashing at more vines that had moved in my way. "Nph nww." I tried to say as I pushed out.

"Oh no you don't!" Shrieked the raider boss as she dove at us. But then was hit with the firebomb, engulfing her in flames. The mad mare crashed behind us, causing the bramble to catch fire as she screamed.

Jumping out of the cruel joke, we were met by Rook, who still had a lighter in her mouth.

"Thanks for the save." I told her.

She put the lighter away as Fort jumped off and embraced her. "Just saving my boy, you just happen to be with him." She then eyed my legs. "You'll be okay?"

I looked at myself, but surprisingly found little blood. But the back end of my leotard was all cut up, which I had to admit looked a bit sexy, but no damage to myself. "Ehh, I heal fast."

But Rook glared at me, "that's not what I mean."

"I know that, but I'll deal with whatever comes, let's just get going." I told her.

But Harp came running, half out of breath as she dove into our ditch. "We… we got a problem."

"Raider reinforcements?" Rook asked.

Harp shook her head. "No, well, that too. But the vines, they've blocked our way out."

I looked over and saw the town part of Tato Town utterly covered in cruel joke. Not just hanging off the roof and sides, but blanketing the ground. There was no way we could get through without all of us getting tangled in it.

My stomach then grumbled as my mouth watered.

"S… Star, your eyes." Harp said.

Blinking, everything went red for a moment, and upon wiping them, blood stained my fetlock. "Oh… that's not good." I said to myself as I felt myself grow more hungry.

Harp quickly turned her map on for her pipbuck, panic crossing her face. "A way out, there must be a way out."

A few more shots came from Rook's automatic rifle and then a click. She patted herself down and then let out a groan. "Out of rounds here."

I took over, firing at the group of raiders, and keeping them down.

Order let out several beeps, getting our attention. "Lady Harp, I have learned of a place we can take shelter from that raider's pipbuck. Please follow me!"

"Thanks, let's go!" Harp said as she and the others got up. "Star! Let's go!"

"I'll be right behind you!" I shouted. "But you'll need somepony to keep their heads down first!"

She sighed. "Alright, but you better be quick about it."

As more raiders popped their heads up, I let out another long burst of lead at them, forcing them back down in their trench. "Ya, so get going!"

They ran off, following the drone as I again laid down suppressing fire. But each time I finished shooting, there were more heads peeking out, and all of them too far away to get a clean shot at them. The raiders that had run after Slowtrot and Pyrope were clearly returning, and as soon as I ran out of ammo, I'll get overwhelmed.

*Click*

The Outlaw went, and pressing the mag release I attempted to quickly change to a stick but fumbled. The damn older mag system was never easy to use!

*Click*

With a fresh mag in, I racked the barrel just as a raider jumped in at me with a crude spear. One of his eyes were missing, in which I could see a blue thorny vine poke out of

It slashed my flank as I dogged and kicked him, the raider wobbling and giving me time to draw my pistol. The Nightstalker's Regarded unloaded everything within over a second, peppering the raider with magickly poisoned bullets. Even if the raider survived the gunshots, they were still going to die.

Holstered my snake patterned pistol, I aimed Outlaw just in time to spray at two more raiders as they fired back at me. Several of their shots grazed me, hitting nothing vital, but the two of them were not so lucky and my own ventilated them.

"Okay, time to go!" I said to myself as I holstered my SMG and ran after my friends.

More bullets whizzed overhead and slammed into the ground around me, as I followed a blue dot on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, all while more and more red dots appeared.

"Where are you going?" Screeched the half burnt cult leader as she slammed into me.

I tasted dirt, but quickly recovered and blocked a kick from the crazy bitch. But then a vine wrapped around my leg, digging into me with its thorns. I had at first though she made a whip with the vines, until I saw that it actually grew out of her skin.

The blood dripping out of her flesh was making my mouth water.

"By the Goddess, the fuck is wrong with you?" I sneered as I ripped my leg away, leaving several long scratches down it. As more of my blood dripped, and the pain that came with it, I then realized that using my pipbuck leg for defense might have been better.

The cruel joke vines that wrapped around her head then quivered, causing some more blood to leak. She then laughed. "I've been chosen, and this is my ascension. Through me all will become one with the mistress of thorns."

Backing up, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. "And here I thought my religion was mad."

A crazed look formed on the raider boss's face, and she smiled wide, showing her many rotting or missing teeth. "And you too will know of her blessing. All too soon!"

Ya, I wasn't having it, and drew my cutlass and charged. More vines wiped out and I ignored them as I cut through the mare, taking her head off.

Sheathing my blade, I looked back at her, only to see her look at me, her head completely backwards and held together by vines. The blood had quickly stopped, and thorned vines snaked their way through her arteries as they slowly put the head back on straight.

"As I said- wait! Get back here!" She shrieked as I just ran for it, not wanting to deal with this bitch until I had bigger guns, or a lot of fire.

I then saw Harps head pop up from another ditch near a bunch of dead tato plants. Where she pulled up her bolt launcher, and for a split second her eyes went blank. the next thing I knew, she then let out three shots in a quick and calm manner, in which the crazy Pegasus bitch let out a scream and hit the ground.

Jumping into the ditch, Harp ran to what looked like some bunker ditch, and quickly climbed down with me close behind her. Descending into a dark hole, the light from Order was little comfort as he hovered between a blast door in which several bodies laid about. None of the dead looked as though they had been here for very long.

Rushing through the blast doors, Rook pulled a lever once all of us were in, and the doors slammed shut. Harp did her magic at a panel near the door, making it spark and ensuring it stayed closed.

"So… now what?" I asked as I wiped more blood from my eyes, but only managed to smear the blood from my leg to my face.

"We plan." Harp huffed and puffed. Then she looked at me with concern, "and get you help. How are you feeling?"

Now that the fighting was over, and I could catch my breath, I realized how shit I felt. "Don't know. I'm hungry, my head hurts, and who knows how much blood I lost."

Harp passed me a healing potion, and I guzzled it down. "Better?" she asked.

My cuts healed, but I still felt like shit. And was still hungry. "Maybe."

Taking off my saddlebag, I pulled out a lone carrot I swiped from PC's farm, and chomped into it. But it wasn't enough, and as I looked down on it, the blood from my eyes dripped onto the carrot.

"Star?" Harp said with a concerned voice.

I bit into the now blood dripped carrot, the taste of it so much better than anything I had had before.

"The fuck is wrong with her?" Rook asked as she kept her son behind her.

"I'm… not sure. Maybe the cruel joke curse is stimulating her evil eye." She suggested.

I could hear Rook shift her stance, preparing to draw her revolver. "So one magical brahminshit is fucking with some other magical brahminshit."

"Essentially." Harp replied as she trotted to me, avoiding making eye contact. "Will you be okay?"

Again I wiped my eyes, trying to get the red out, but it wouldn't go away. Everything was tinted red and blurry, even Harp. "I… I don't know." I stammered out. "Do you have anything to eat?"

"I'm sorry, it's all back in the Smuggler." She told me before turning to her pipbuck. "Slowtrot, you there? We're in a bit of a situation."

Her pipbuck radio crackled, and Slowtrot's voice came through. "We're here. How bad is the situation?"

Before Harp could respond, a loud bang came from the blast door, but it held firm.

"Fortunately we're safe, but we're trapped in some kind of bunker. Fighting our way out isn't the best option since were low on ammo, and we got cruel joke vines everywhere on the surface. Oh and Star got cut by those vines and it's causing her evil eye to go crazy." She told him.

There was a long pause before he replied. "You mean the plant cruel tea is made from?"

"Yes, so we're probably going to need you two to draw them away again. But not just yet, were going to need you to make some fire bombs first, this place needs to burn." She told him.

"And what about Star, will she be okay?" Slowtrot asked.

My teeth then clattered as my mouth watered and stomach grumbled.

This seemed to disturb Harp "I don't know, but she's getting worse."

"I'll see if I have a cure on my pipbuck, and Pyrope will get the firebombs ready. So hold on tight!" Slowtrot said before the static returned.

With a sigh, Harp returned her full attention to me, doing her best to not look me in the eyes. "Let's find you somewhere to rest, okay."

I nodded as I stood back up, but then lost the strength in my legs. My head was feeling like a hammer had hit it, and everything was looking weird. All red and… wrong.

"Star! STAR!" A little filly called out to me. She was clean, and not red tinted at all. Just a little pail blue filly in a dark blue dress. Her main was like gold, parted by two horns, and her hooves cloven. "Come play with us, Star!"

There were more of her, all the same, even the dresses. They stood around some large marble and gold room, which had shining brass pipes on the ceiling, going all over the place. There was even a window, in which the most beautiful fish swam by, some big, like really big!

The filly in front of me smiled. "Let's play tag!" She then ran off and I chased her.

My hooves slid around as I found them small again, taking a moment to get used to them again. But once I did I got to running, and ran I did! The filly tried to get away, but I was fast, and strong. It didn't take long to tag her, and when I did, the filly layed down giggling as she said, "You got me! You got me!"

The other fillies join us, giggling with excitement as they bounced past me and to a a sleeping pony, gathering around it. Then they began to sing "In these orchards we are tendin’. Many changes will be flowin’. If you want to be awesome. See the fruits we are raisin!”

Joining then in their song, I watched as one by one the fillies then bit the pony ever so gently. Drawing out a red fluid that made my mouth water.

"Sleeping angles!" The first filly said to me, "Sleeping angles are sleeping because they have too much ambrosia, they need help, so help them."

Looking at the sleeping pony… no it was a radiant angel, and in her was red ambrosia that needed to be drained. My mouth opened, and as though it was the most natural thing in the world, I bit into the pony to drain its ambrosia.

The sweetest thing ever hit my tongue, but before I could fully taste it, before I could truly savor the ambrosia, something grabbed me and threw me back.

All the colors dried, and the red tint returned. Between me and the angle I needed to help was an ugly monster, it's face distorted and unreal. It spoke, but all of it made no sense, just grunts and howls.

So I locked eyes with it, looking into its unpony eyes. I pushed what I could into it, all the fun and play. The intoxicating red ambrosia, the sweetness of it, and how golden the world truly is.

But the monster took a step forward, resistant to the joy. It was a dark thing, an evil thing that felt no joy.

It charged at me and I jumped out of the way, yet I still got hit? So I charged at it myself, and I was on it, ready to take a bite out of it. But I found myself thrown through the air, and hitting the ground hard. It barreled over me, threatening to crush my body, but I rolled and jumped back at it.

My hooves finally connected, again and again I hit it, unrelenting in my assault. But it didn't flinch, and soon grabbed me, turning me around as it wrapping its hooves around my neck and held me.

Strangely, the angel was here, no longer asleep, it was holding… something. That something was then forced into my mouth as my nose was covered. I chews on it, the glass, biting it, grinding it in my teeth. Whatever was in it tasted good, so good. It made me feel good.

And tired.

I was feeling better, but drained.

The monster also tightened its hold, making it hard to breath, which made me cold.

I again wiped the blood from my eyes. The beautiful world became nothing more than a rotting tunnel of pipes and leaking water. Sitting before me was that filly again, yet now she was older, dirty, thin, and her two horns were bone white. She opened her mouth revealing two longer than normal fangs, and blood dripping from them.

"Come find us sister! And feast upon the sleeping angles. Come find your home in Desponies."

Everything then went black, enwrapping me in darkness.

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I couldn't move as something enwrapped me tightly. Yet I was warm, and comfortable. I wanted to stay like this forever.

"Hello." A deep, yet gentle voice quietly called to me. "By the Goddesses, she's adorable. What's her name?"

"Haven't given her one." It was her voice, mothers voice.

The stallion let out an annoyed huff. "Damnit Setting Sun, she's three years old and you haven't named her yet!"

"Say's the famous navigator who then left right after fucking me raw! We had a deal, Dead Reckoning! And you haven't yet upheld your end of it! Until then, I'm only responsible for the bare minimum." Sun chastised the stallion.

"You're definitely Flintlock's bastard alright, right down to the heartlessness towards your own daughter." Reckoning grumbled.

But Sun let out that chuckle she always did when acting like she's superior to everypony else. "I take that as a compliment, after all, I did inherit the genes of my father, so having the same personality as my mother, the admiral, truly makes me the superior pony. But it's a shame she didn't, but I blame you for that, she dose looks just like you, but has no signs of being a kelpie. Just a loathsome earth pony just like you. I guess fate must have decided that she'll be just another whore just like your mother."

Reckoning growled at the mare, and then a loud smack and crash followed. "You're one to speak! Selling yourself off to every captain and official that makes port. I know your just hoping that you can find some weak-willed sailor to latch yourself onto like a barnacle. Actually, that's the only bicorn thing truly real about you, that tendency to be some blood drinking bitch."

I then felt something lift me up. It was strong, yet gentle, and so very warm. "I'm going to spend some time with my daughter. You can go and choke on a dick for all I care." Reckoning said sternly.

I was carried away, where for the first time I could truly feel and smell the cold salty air. The sounds of ponies were all around me, and the rhythmic clattering of chains was like music.

My eyes then open and illuminated by a full moon was a blue stallion with a long, almost seaweed-like green mane. He had a beard much like his mane, and both were decorated with gold rings. Dead Reconning looked down at me and smiled, showing off two rows of slightly yellowed teeth, which some had been replaced with gold.

"Hey there." He said softly.

I rubbed my eyes, looking at the stallion. "Who… are you?"

"I'm your daddy." he said to me.

"Which one?" I then asked.

He rolled his eyes. "The real one. Your real daddy." He gently put me down and wrapped his mane around his hoof. "See, we have the same mane and coat."

I did the same, though my mane was still a bit thin and short, but it did match. A smile formed on my face as I looked at the stallion, matching his own.

"So… so, are you here to take me away? Mama says you would come to take me away." I asked, feeling nervous and a bit scared.

He looked off over the waters. It was a vast unending ocean, and all I knew of this world. "I plan to. Though your mother will have to come too. But not just yet, there's things I must do first. I… unfortunately can't stay long, but I'll be back, and you won't have to live in a shipping container."

"But I like my home!" I said, not liking the idea of moving.

He then pointed over at a ship floating next to the Blackwater, it was big and covered in the whirly flying metal birds. "See that there, it's the Queen of Knives. I'll be its captain once I do one more job for admiral Flintlock Hoof."

My eyes opened with excitement. "Ya mean thee Flintlock Hoof. The mare who stole her own ship!"

Dead Reckoning nodded. "The very same. The Queen of Knives is one of her prized ships. And she's giving it to anypony that can locate the Leviathan."

My eyes open even wider with excitement. "The Levithan! Roseland's ship! That's amazing!"

"And I'm sure I know exactly where it is. I can feel it in my cutie-mark. Once I return with its location, you, me, and your mother will live together on that ship."

Looking at the Queen of Knives, I couldn't even imagine what life on it would be like. Maybe the room would be two crates big. That sounded awesome!

"Master navigator!" A pony called out, dressed in the uniform of the Blackwater guard. "Captain Blackpowder Blast wishes to see you."

"Is it about those three fillies I found! She better have not done anything with them?" My father said, squeezing me a bit tightly that it made me worried.

The guard waved his hoof dismissively. "You worry too much, master navigator. They're just fillies, and cute ones at that."

"They're also the only survivors to a ship in which all but the captain was missing. And the captain was dead and tied to the wheel." Dead Reckoning said with a stern voice. "Just tell Captain Blackpowder to leave them in the brig and wait for a bishop to show up and take them."

Now the guard looked nervous. "Well… about that. The captain has taken a liking to one of them, the blue one with the gold mane. I mean, she does have a striking resemblance to prophet Roseland after all."

A frustrated groan came from my father as he smacked himself in the face with his hoof. "By the Goddesses, if I had the authority, I'd stab Blackpowder with her own damn sword. Just tell her I'll be there shortly."

The guard saluted and then hurried off.

Witha sigh, Dead Reckoning turned his attention back to me and kneeled down. "Sorry, but I have to go. But once I'm back, we can spend all the time in the world together."

"Already?" I asked dejectedly.

"Sorry, but I don't have the authority to tell a captain no. So, let's get you back home, but before that." He then pulled out a large brass ring from his pocket, it glinted in the light of the sunrise, revealing a lens in the center. "I'll give you this, a magical reading lens. It's a family heirloom I stole from my father. You can use it to read secret messages and track ponies' hoofsteps."

Before I could take the lens he pulled it back. "But I think I should give you your name."

"My… name?" I asked, not understanding.

Dead Reckoning smiled as he said, "yes your name." He said as he looked at me, and then the lens. "Ya, this name will do, and if you become anything like me, this name will fit you perfectly." He then hugged me, and it felt so warm. "Your name will be Star Charter. May you always look up and find your way."

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I now had a father and a name. Two things I didn't know I ever needed or wanted before, but now have become so important to me.

…

…

…

But my father would never return, and he and his name would fade from my memory.

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