Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Fallout: Equestria - The Storm

Chapter 12: Remembrance

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The basic, scoped hunting rifle in my tiny black arms was comically large in comparison, as was the helmet drooping down the side of my head. An anti-machine rifle would be more effective, but anyone with a brain would be kidding themselves thinking a twelve-year-old runt like me could even hold one. At least I had some fancy bypass rounds sent in from the Cathedral.

I was panting, drenched in the heavy rain, clutching my weapon as if it was my stuffed toy back at home. Glancing in the direction of the false barn at the center of the old amusement park, I wondered if I should find mom. No… she was busy, and she’d told me to stay at my post no matter what. There were orders to engage the pegasi in the air once they arrived, but my partner, a griffoness named Jade, and I were personally exempted by the Captain.

Word of Red Eye’s death at the Cathedral spread like wildfire over the radio, which put Captain Stern in charge. Everyone knew what that kind of loss meant for our chances, but the arrival of a colossal cyber dragon allied to us gave us hope.

This was going to be the first combat I’d seen, but I’ve been an excellent shot at the practice range ever since I could hold a gun. Mom was always proud, and said I’d be Talon’s best sniper. I intended to live up to her expectations.

Rubbing my eyes, not realizing I’d been crying, I asked my partner for a smoke. She obliged and lit it for me. She lit one for herself and took a drag. “Can’t believe fledglings are being thrown into this… But I guess this is an all-claws-on-deck situation. You’re a damn good shot, though.” She rubbed my shoulder, and I felt calmer.

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Then we heard the music. The booming classical Enclave anthem began to echo through the city. I snuffed my cigarette and took a prone shooting stance. My right claw was on the trigger, the left stabilizing the rifle, and my right wing ready to operate the bolt and load rounds. My left did its best to keep rain out of my eyes. My heart beat hard in my chest.

“Thunderhead! Incoming Thunderhead, and at least a dozen Raptors!” The radio operator from the third platoon was just as terrified as I was. All at once, the hulking flying machines descended from the black clouds. One agonizingly calm moment passed, then all hell broke loose.

Our artillery barely deterred the Cloudships, and their powerful magical beam cannons began obliterating Filly’s skyline, raining debris on our forces. Only the dragon managed to destroy one of the ships. My bell tower foxhole was tucked away enough not to get hit, but had a good view of most of the fighting. Airborne griffons were quickly decimated and forced to retreat into buildings. As soon as pegasi started to descend in their black carapace armor, I opened fire.

My partner got to work calling out shots, as I did for her, focusing on wing leaders. “Eleven o’clock, seven hundred yards.”

Crack!

“Two o’clock, three-fifty.”

Crack!

Cheers sang across our lines as Red Eye’s Cyberdragon took out a second Raptor. Our forces rallied, but it was short lived.

Terror began to set in after the Cyberdragon was slain, only having destroyed the two Raptors. I caught a glimpse of a Talon squad barely escaping the building it crashed into, only for one of their gunners to get vaporized by a pegasus who noticed them. If I saw that Enclave soldier faster, I could have… Damn it, it was pushing fifteen hundred yards, but I could have made the shot. Whoever you were, I’m sorry.

With most of our artillery destroyed, nothing could oppose the remaining fleet. A wing of pegasi blasted our foxhole in a hail of lasers. I've never been shot at before. All I could think to do was curl into a ball. I felt Jade throw herself on top of me, and then she wasn't there.

When I looked up… Jade was dead, and her body seemed to disintegrate in slow motion above me. Specialist Jade Brightwing. I’d known her for six years, my personal marksmanship trainer alongside mom. She was my closest friend. Her twisted face evaporating into pink dust was seared into my brain. I threw up.

Then, I blew the brains out of the pegasi who killed her.

My radio was also hit, leaving me in the dark regarding intel. Lieutenant Blackfeathers was about to say something about Captain Stern… No, no… Mom is fine. She has to be. She’s the toughest there is. Just focus on shooting…

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B O O M

The entire battle collectively froze as all of Fillydelphia was engulfed in a glowing green shockwave.

Was this a balefire bomb!? Was I about to die!? Were we all about to die!?

I dared a glance to the sky. We all did. The endless blue sky above us, with the sun shining bright, was revealed through a hole in the clouds that spanned the entire city.

The deafening crashes of Enclave cloudships falling into the buildings and streets snapped us out of it. Nearly all of the Raptors, and the Thunderhead, were disabled. Filled with renewed hope, we started a counterattack against the pegasi.

My right eye stayed locked open, staring through my scope as one winged pony dropped after another. A large group managed to get close, having gone through a collapsed building, catching me by surprise. They were only thirty yards away, far too close for comfort. Staying low, I swung around and took aim.

“Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four…”

Then, pain. Pain, and blinding light. The group of pegasi and griffons in front of me were replaced by an eruption of solar fire from the sky, having shot through one of the remaining Raptors above us. I was outside the immediate blast, but I was looking through a tube of magnifying glass…

I couldn’t even hear myself scream as I fell backwards, kicking and writhing, clutching the semi-cauterized flesh that used to be my eye. Blood streamed down one side of my head, tears down the other. Everything went black as I passed out.

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I wasn’t sure for how long. It could have been hours. Felt like it. It was dark and raining again when I came to. And quiet, aside from an occasional shot in the distance. Looking around with disorientating half-vision, I couldn’t see anyone else alive. I searched my bag and downed healing potions until my face stopped bleeding. When my eye didn’t get better, I screamed and cursed. It was gone. All the potions did was smooth over the scar tissue.

Dragging my rifle behind me, the scope now a melted slag, I walked towards the command center. Eventually, I saw other Talons, nearly all of them injured, looting and discussing what they should do.

“No point sticking around here. Might as well fold in with Grimfeathers or Blackwing” Others expressed similar sentiments. What were they talking about? They’re under Stern’s contract! They can’t just leave!

I picked up my pace, and noticed griffons I recognized giving me pained glances.

“Oh, great, her runt survived.”

“Should we tell him what Lieutenant Blackfeathers announced? After Gawdyna showed up?”

“He’ll figure it out.”

A sickening panic filled me, and I unfurled my wings and took flight. A group of griffons were bartering for a familiar rifle and set of armor. Those don’t belong to them! Unless… No, no, no….

Time stopped when I saw her. My wings quit working, and I fell into the mud. My numb limbs carried me forward to her broken body.

“M-mom…” My tiny voice was barely a choked chirp. “Mama…” I touched a claw to her face, an expression of shock and pain etched forever to it. The way her body was contorted, her spine had certainly been snapped. Hoofprints were indented in her back. No one had even bothered to close her eyes. She can’t be…

I pressed my claws to her chest and began to do compressions, but the sickening noise of shattered ribs nearly made me vomit. I tried to pour a healing potion into her beak, but another Talon snatched it from me and downed the rest of it.

“Save these for the living, you stupid fucking cyclops.”

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One by one, the bystanders shuffled off. With each passing minute, the weight in my chest sank deeper. I collapsed into her onyx coat, sobbing. Stern was dead. My mother was dead.

I couldn’t leave her like this, stripped and forgotten in the rain. There was no way I could get her to the incinerators across town, assuming they were even standing. Damn it, why would no one help me? Did they all hate her that much? Couldn’t even be bothered to lay her to rest? I had to do… something.

After closing her eyes, I got a pair of long coats from my bag and put them over her. Over the next hour, my small, weak body dragged stones and slabs of concrete to bury her in.

I placed a twisted piece of rebar as a marker, and struggled to shove my heart down my throat enough to speak.

“In all our contracts, there are three clauses for ending service in Talon Company. Serving your tour, dismissal by the… or losing your life in its service. By giving your life, you have fulfilled your contract and are now absolved of all duties.”

The sky was opening again as I finished. All of it this time. Tears welled up in my remaining eye, and I collapsed onto my mother’s grave, wailing and sobbing.

What a terrible day for sunshine.

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