Fallout Equestria: The Blue Lightning

— Who are you?

— Oh Princesses, what a banal question.

“FoE: Enclave’s Shadows”, chapter 5

Shut the clasps of the light armor and tie the saddlebags tighter so that they do not hang out. Check weapons: assault carbine "Last Argument" of 5.56 caliber and two submachine guns – nine- and ten-millimeter; throw the first one on the back and put them in holsters under the saddlebags.

Next, the ammunition. After filling the mouth with rounds, one by one shove them into the magazine with the tongue. Damn it, there’s not much left. From the next contract would be necessary to purchase. In this way, equip five magazines for a carbine and three for submachine guns, then put them in breast pockets, from where they can be knocked out, caught and reloaded with a single movement in battle.

Put a box with five medicinal potions inserted into special cells (probably called a "tube holder"), so that they won’t break, in the bag. Add there some food and a flask. In the other bag – a set of bandages, binoculars, and an audio player with a pair of micro-earphones. After a little thought, insert the player into the groove on the armor specially attached to it and put one earphone into the ear, for no mess with it later.

Finally, look at herself with satisfaction in the mirror – a piece of glass leaning against the wall, its back was painted with silver paint. Make a face at the reflection of a blue earth pony, hung with weapons, and smooth the unruly dark brown mane.

Well, Cosmic Valor, here comes another day. A new shift as a local guard.

Jump, making sure: nothing rings anywhere, and she can go.

Opening the door with a hoof, the blue pony stepped out of the threshold and breathed in the fresh cool air with pleasure.

The Republic, the town she was born in, was spread out around her. The houses, placed with a certain claim to order, formed the streets that were not very wide, but at least more or less straight. The buildings were mostly wooden and numbered one or two floors, except for the mayor’s house in the center of the settlement, which was reinforced with steel sheets and concrete blocks.

Cosmic turned around and looked at her one-room shack. Not much, but it was enough for her.

Because you live alone, right? If you had a coltfriend, then what would you say?

Dismissing the uninvited thoughts, Cosmic adjusted the carbine on her back and made her way to the west gate, where her squad was supposed to gather.

It was cloudy outside, as always, but there were blue gaps in the endless gray shroud in some places. Cosmic smiled – in the Wasteland, such weather could only be described as excellent. The mood lifted, and the earth pony trotted happily through the town, weaving between the houses.

Without looking, she pressed a button on the player. It was always interesting to guess what kind of song from a small music library she had listened almost to the pieces, would be offered to her by a random selection.

The accordion played, and the pony began to nod to the rhythm of the simple melody.

And then the song itself began[1].

Cosmic didn’t know who these Scootaloo and Spitfire, mentioned there, were; it didn’t matter. The song has been written two hundred years ago, and it was striking that the music might even be related to real ponies that lived then. More specifically, pegasi – the mention of wings left no other options.

The first words of the chorus, with the singer’s voice rising quickly to high tones and the drums and electric guitar joining at the same time, made the blue earth pony mentally sing along and almost squeal with delight. And the powerful bit filled her strong body with extra energy.

Shaking her head to the sound of the song, Cosmic walked lightly through the town, looking at everything around her with warmth in her eyes.

Here are the homes of her friends, members of the squad, just good ponies. Here is the house of Silver Star, the mayor, who has the largest family in The Republic. And off to the side, Aunt Grace’s cheese factory, which made the best cheese in the world from milk purchased from neighboring villages.

Cosmic remembered how she and a few other recruits at the time used to guard Grace during her trading trips. Now, a few veterans, retired from the main shift, did that job, and the earth pony herself commanded a much more formidable force than she had as a recruit.

Everyone in The Republic served in some capacity with weapons in their hooves. But only a few continued to do this permanently; the rest returned to the family business or discovered something new according to their cutie marks.

So, Cosmic had a carbine as her own mark – the same one she never left home without. The cutie mark appeared during one of the milk runs, when the earth pony, covering her mates, had shot her first raider. This was the point that determined her future fate.

Many years had passed since then, but Cosmic had no regrets at all.

After all, she liked protecting the town and the other ponies. It was a noble cause in her eyes.

Cosmic walked past a large poster with a stylized image of a gray stallion raising a hoof, from which a rainbow stream was beating, flooding the gloomy background with bright colors. There was an inscription at the bottom:

Vote for Murky Gray! He will take over all grayness!

The earth pony couldn’t help but grin, looking at the well-drawn, proud gray figure.

In the town, the mayor was elected every four years, and this fall it was time for another vote. Silver Star’s only rival for many years has been Murky Gray, the owner of a local bar. He could have had something more valuable in his posession, but everything vital for the settlement was in the hooves of the mayor and his family: an arsenal, a water talisman, keys to a barn with provisions…

Nevertheless, the barpony also had his supporters, who always gave him about a fifth of the total votes. And each time the results were counted, Silver and Murky went to the party with all the ponies and drank together as if nothing had happened.

But that’s true democracy – when we all make a decision that suits the majority, and the rest don't mind too much either, Cosmic thought. And that’s why we, the inhabitants of The Republic, are somehow considered strange ones. As if the absolute power of the Princesses would be more logical.

Yes, Stream and, it seems, another pegasus from New Appleloosa – Calamity or whatever his name is – said that the Enclave has something like our system… Cosmic shook her head. But these are pegasi – they always like to complicate things.

New Appleloosa… A trading town a couple of days away, where the blue pony’s squad, when it was their turn in the rotation arranged by the mayor, took on contracts to escort caravans and brought The Republic such necessary caps – the universal currency of the Wasteland.

It was there, by the way, that Cosmic picked up her record player from a merchant. She had to pay a fortune for the device and a chip with some old songs, but it was worth it. Cosmic even, she remembered, kissed the merchant with happiness. He was clearly taken aback by this… and perhaps also by the fact that Dan’s mouthgrip was rested on his belly – that was what she called her ten-millimeter weapon (another submachine gun was named Nige – also in accordance with the caliber number[2]).

The earth pony giggled, reliving the memory. Yeah, there was that time…

Since then, she had been collecting music, which seemed to be incredibly plentiful a long time ago, but after the war there was very little left. And when she found or heard any new records, she tried her best to add them in her playlist. The files were very old, but even after so much time, the technomagic maintained normal sound quality in them – and that also made her marvel at the achievements of pre-war Equestria. Achievements that had been instantly erased by incompetence and recklessness.

The song was coming to an end. Cosmic listened to the last chorus and turned off the player. She was almost at the right place.

A small company managed to gather in an open area at the western gate of the town. Cosmic smiled as she saw her entire squad waiting for her before going out for a shift.

Five ponies she had gotten along with once and then worked with on their missions. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns – race didn’t matter in The Republic; the most important thing was how the inhabitant presented oneself as a person.

Metal Dawn – a light brown dark-eyed stallion with a black mane. Holsters with intimidating looking revolvers hung from a belt that encircled his armor in front of his saddlebags; clips for reloading were stuffed into pouches on his chest. He wouldn’t even try to hit on me, and in general it would be perfect.

Snow Vision – a white unicorn with a red mane that stood out like a dragon’s crest. Cosmic was always a little scared by the cheerful gleam in his amber eyes – and in moments of battle, she wanted to stay away from him at all. Snow didn’t use firearms, but there were ten knives hanging on his armor – five on each side. And the unicorn could control them all at once with his telekinesis, turning him into a real death machine. It was even more unusual to see his good-natured fun in ordinary life. In addition, he was Silver Star’s cousin nephew, and Cosmic also tried to maintain a good relationship with the unicorn.

Spark Glider and Stream Dash – a pair of pegasi, Dashites who settled in The Republic a dozen years ago. They were the most powerful strike force in the troop – largely because they wore battle saddles with weapons mounted on them: Spark, a yellow stallion with fiery orange hair, that resembled a flame, preferred automatic grenade launchers, and Stream, a blue mare whose mane and tail resembled the "bottom" of a rainbow with their green, blue, and purple strands, liked her light miniguns. Ammunition for these weapons was in serious shortage, so the pegasi rarely entered the battle, preferring to cover their comrades from the air.

Stream Dash’s real name, by the way, was Stream Dust, and she was probably a descendant of Lightning Dust, the general who, according to legend, founded the Enclave two hundred years ago. But Stream had always been disgusted with the way things were done above the clouds – so one night she dyed her mane green to match the legendary Rainbow Dash’s, took weapons from the arsenal, and her coltfriend from the barracks who was also getting angry with the situation. And they both descended into the Wasteland, where they successfully hid from the watchful eyes of the Enclave.

Finally, a white unicorn mare with a crimson mane and dark glasses stood at the edge of the group. Cosmic sighed and looked at her permanent poker face. Nightlight Twister was taciturn, but she was a master with her energy magic rifle. And Silver Star often hinted that his special attitude toward Cosmic’s team was directly influenced by the presence of his own daughter.

The blue earth pony looked back at her comrades. Yes – with such a barrier, The Republic had nothing to fear from either raiders or slavers. That there were other, possibly more dangerous enemies, Cosmic preferred not to think about.

“You’re early,” Metal Dawn snorted.

“The commander’s never late, she just lingers,” Stream Dash said with a pompous look and giggled, pressing a hoof to her mouth.

“That's right,” Cosmic said, getting down to business. “So, today everything is as usual. We get into position, watch the area, change in the evening.”

“Tomorrow we can go for a new contract”, Nightlight said. Everyone immediately turned to her. Still with the same stone face, she added, “The mayor gave us the green light. All the same, the situation is quiet around here.”

“Well, y’never know how ‘twill be t’morrow,” Spark Glider chuckled, adjusting his blue goggles on his forehead. “Maybe one of us ‘ll stay?”

“No," Cosmic snapped. “I need you all. That’s the only way we can be completely sure that we can hoofle the mission.”

“Okay, enough talking,” Metal Dawn muttered and pointed with his hoof at the town wall. “Let's finally get doing work. And then these are already waiting for us there.”

The only bad thing about being a sentry is boredom, Cosmic thought a couple of hours later, walking back and forth along her section of the wall and gazing intently at the Wasteland. As always, no movement, just the wind – the goddamned wind. Well, at least the dust was barely rising.

From time to time, the earth pony’s attention was drawn to a grove of trees about half a mile away. But if no one had come out of there for so many months (although it happened at night, lights were visible there – no doubt the raiders’ fires), then it would be logical to expect that everything would be just as calm now.

Pre-war hard rock was playing in one of her earphones, but Cosmic knew that with her other ear she would be able to hear the approach of danger, even if in some incredible case she missed it with her eyes.

Dust began to rise on the horizon in the distance; bluish flashes shone through the dense cloud again and again. Cosmic frowned: something strange was always a bad sign. She turned off the music and removed the earphone, then took out the binoculars and looked closer.

Soon the dust settled, revealing a lone figure.

Fuck Luna herself with a crescent moon, what kind of scarecrow is that?!

Cosmic lowered her binoculars for a moment, but immediately brought them back up to her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

No – half a mile from the town, the strangest creature the earth pony had ever seen was still standing.

It was a blue hedgehog the size of a full-grown pony, standing on two legs. It looked as if he was just looking around.

Blue. Fucking. Hedgehog.

What the hay?!

Who put magic mushrooms in my water? a sarcastic thought flashed through her mind. But at the same time, Cosmic understood that she really did see this alien.

And that he saw the village. And was heading right here.

Sweat broke out on the mare’s skin. She didn’t know what to do now. It was unclear whether this strange, materialized hallucination was a threat, and if so, how serious.

Okay, we'll wait.

Cosmic put away her binoculars. Then she slowly pulled the carbine from her back, snapping the safety off, and gripped the weapon with her teeth. The tongue habitually felt the trigger, and the eye clung to the optical sight.

One shot – and the uninvited guest would have a hole in his chest.

But there was something that kept the mare from starting to shoot indiscriminately at anything that moved. After all, she was a defender, not a soulless killer.

The hedgehog was in no hurry. Probably, he was afraid of attracting attention to himself, as well as Cosmic did from his side. Reasonable.

The earth pony let the carbine from her mouth carefully and whistled – first once sharp and high, then a bit lower and longer, with a rise at the end. For the group, it was a signal that she had found someone, but it was too early to shoot. Nor to panic. Instead, they had to sort everything out without haste.

A response whistle sounded from both sides. As she turned her head, Cosmic noticed Metal Dawn and Spark Glider coming at her from the left and the right. She pointed at the approaching hedgehog, which was now clearly visible to the naked eye, at herself, then back at the Wasteland, then in turn at each of the stallions, at the wall below her hooves and at the weapon. Like, I’ll take care of this, and you guys cover me.

The fighters nodded silently in agreement and moved away a little, so that it was more comfortable for them to do the crossfire. And Cosmic continued to watch the unusual alien.

Little by little, he came very close – and headed around the town. With a whistle, Cosmic repeated the order not to shoot (for Snow Vision, that meant not to throw knives), and the stallions on the sides carried the signal further.

And what should I do with this? the mare was thinking feverishly. If there had been another shift here, they would have shot him without hesitation. And they would be right. And just for some reason, I’m doing junk here, playing a good soldier. Oh… everything will depend on what this misunderstanding of nature will do later.

Having gone full circle, the hedgehog froze. He just stood there and stared into space, probably thinking about something of his own.

It’s time, Cosmic decided. This is my chance. Let’s go.

Just in case, she glanced back at the shooters who were covering her, cautiously approached the edge of the wall, stepped over the barbed wire and, clutching with her front legs, hung the hind legs down. Then she jumped down carefully.

As her hooves hit the ground with a thud, Cosmic thought for a moment that her appearance would scare the alien away. But he seemed to be so deep in thought that he didn’t notice the earth pony moving toward him.

Cosmic walked slowly, sneaking, with a loaded carbine in her teeth. Her mouth was dry, and her tongue didn’t slide down the trigger at all. It might be hard to talk with a gun in mouth, but it will be easier to shoot if something happens.

What an idiot he is after all, the mare thought as she found herself right behind the hedgehog. She walked almost silently, and none of them cast shadows under the clouds anyway, so the only way the hedgehog could see Cosmic approaching was if he turned around in time and listened to his sixth sense.

The earth pony released the weapon from her teeth, took it in her hooves and deliberately pulled the bolt loudly.

It seemed to work. The hedgehog turned – and his eyes widened as the barrel of the carbine poked him in the bridge of his nose.

“Well, maybe meow?” he said in an uncertain tenor voice, raising his… paws?

Cosmic had never seen anything like this before. This creature stood on two legs, and the other two limbs had five appendages. And he wore something like white gloves that matched in shape with… the ends of his paws. Even though winter has been over for two months.

The mare gritted her teeth. The last thing she needed was to be distracted by all sorts of stupid thoughts!

“Who are you?!” she snarled, almost pushing the weapon barrel into the hedgehog’s muzzle. “What are you doing here?!”

“Mmm… walking?” he suggested. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Cosmic questioningly.

She was surprised to see that there was no fear in the alien’s eyes – but only confusion, as if he really came here from another world and did not know what the rules were here.

One thing was clear: he was certainly not going to attack first.

Cursing through her teeth, Cosmic took a step back and lowered her weapon.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

The answer was simple.

“Sonic. My name is Sonic.” And immediately a counter question, “And you?”

“Cosmic Valor,” the earth pony reluctantly identified herself. “And now again. What. Are. You. Fucking. Doing here?!”

“This story is a bit longer than you expect. Are you sure you want to hear it here, hmm?” The hedgehog spread his front paws and looked at Cosmic from under his eyebrows.

I wonder what Silver Star will say if I bring this miracle to the town? Cosmic thought. She had already made up her mind, but she was still thinking about what else she could ask the uninvited guest.

“Well, stay where you are!” Metal Dawn’s voice sounded nearby.

Cosmic turned around to see the stallion approaching them with a cocked revolver in his teeth. A rope was attached to his front leg, connected to the trigger of the other weapon, which was mounted in a special clip on his armor. A bit sharper step – and the hedgehog’s head would have been a bloody mess.

“Is this your friend?” asked Sonic, still carefree. “He’s not very polite. And guys… are you seriously shooting with your mouth?”

“Shut up right now,” Metal Dawn said, turning to Cosmic. “What are we gonna do with him?”

“Let’s take him to the town,” the mare said firmly. “If we have to make a decision, then only together.”

“Pfft,” the stallion snorted, but under Cosmic’s menacing gaze, didn’t argue.

Defiantly, he spat out the revolver, inserted it into the same clip on the other side, and tied a string to the other leg. Just twitch, his eyes said, and I’ll shoot you out with full cylinders – you won’t even have time to blink.

Looking up, Cosmic noticed Spark Glider hovering above them. The pegasus was obviously surprised by what was happening, as the two earth ponies were too, but he tried not to show it.

In such a procession: Cosmic in front, followed by the hedgehog and Metal Dawn at the end – they headed for the western gate. Spark Glider dashed away – probably to the mayor, who might allow the heavy doors to be unlocked.

Cosmic sighed and looked up to the sky. Something told her that nothing would ever be like it was before.

Note: Level up.

Player: Cosmic Valor. New perk: “Don’t shoot!” – gives you a 50% chance to end a conversation with an unknown person peacefully.

Player: Sonic. New perk: Diplomat – +3 reputation, +10% intellect.

[1] Song meant: Lenich & Kirya – Scootaloo. Lyrics by Anonymous. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JkCL39l-y_E?si=HLm_p2Sk0fcafLMe

[2] Nige – nine, Dan – ten.