Fallout Equestria: The Blue Lightning

— I didn’t want to! I-I didn’t mean it. They m-made me do it! I-I didn’t want t-t-to hurt h-her!

Fallout: Equestria, chapter 38

Rain was gathering over the Wasteland.

Dark gray clouds, denser than usual, puffed out their bellies, ready to burst with a flood of water. The air smelled of smoke and freshness; if one sniffed, a faint hint of ozone could be detected. A distant rumble announced that the storm was near.

A lone blue mare in blood-stained armor, laden with weapons, wandered across the lifeless plain. Her left shoulder was covered in bandages brown with dried blood, and she limped slightly on that leg. But her eyes were burning with determination to finish the route and fulfill the promise she’d made to herself.

If only that bastard is there, Cosmic thought – there was nothing else to do anyway. Then I wouldn’t have to chase him all over fucking Equestria. But he could tell everyone his version of what happened, and it would be my word against his. But I have the truth on my side, while he’s a dirty liar, a thief, and a murderer. He has to answer for everything.

If Metal Dawn isn’t there, it might be better in some ways: at least I’ll have an easier time convincing the town’s ponies that I’m right. I can’t stay there for long, though. There won’t be enough caps for a night’s lodging, or even enough to drink myself to death in grief. But in the meantime… oh shit!

The blue earth pony broke into a sweat and froze for a second.

He might as well have gone to The Republic! What to do, what to do, what to do…?

Frustrated, she kicked the ground with her hoof.

In the distance, the railroad tracks and the sprawl of New Appleloosa around them could already be seen. The town looked especially unfriendly in the gray weather. The first raindrops pattered softly on the ground, and the rumble of thunder drew nearer. A chill wind ruffled Cosmic’s mane and blew into her face, as if to force her to turn back and abandon her quest.

Discord I will, she decided, and continued on her way, with only a short distance to go.

It was too late to change anything. The only thing to do was to keep going.

The guards on the wall had stopped walking when they saw her and were now standing with their weapons pointed forward. Cosmic recognized them: Ivory and another who had met the squad on their last visit to the town.

The welded steel gate was about fifty meters away when the soft sound of the beginning rain was broken by the rumble of a shotgun blast. A fountain of wet earth sprang up at the mare’s hooves; she immediately took a step back and stared at the ponies pointing their guns at her.

She was being shot at. As if she were a raider, this cancerous tumor of the Wasteland. By the same ponies that had let her and her comrades in a few days ago without much conversation.

Cosmic’s insides were definitely torn. No, it still happened…

But it was too late to retreat.

“What are you doing?!” she shouted through the wind. “Ivory, I’m talking to you! Let me in! I need to talk to the sheriff, this is important…!”

“Yer outlawed for shootin’ yer squad!” A bullet from the sniper rifle slammed into the ground. Much closer, barely grazing her hoof. - Get outta here or we’ll open fire on ya! Sheriff Railright’s order!”

“He couldn’t–”

Ugh, of course he could: he’s the authority here!

Cosmic decided to change tactics.

“It was Metal Dawn who told him that, right?! He’s lying! He’s the one who killed th–”

The bullet whistled near her ear, almost causing the mare to bite her tongue in surprise.

“Ah won’t warn ya ‘gain!” Ivory had to shout over the thunder. The rain was already pouring down from the sky in thick streams, soaking everyone to the skin. “Next bullet t’ the head! Get outta here!”

“Whatever, shoot!” Cosmic stepped forward. “Just remember: if you kill me, you leave the real criminal alive and free within the walls of your town! And I have nothing to lose! There’s no one left! So shoot me, I’ll even be glad you did! Well, what are you standing there, eh?”

She waited for the shot. Waited for the pony sniper to be true to his orders and pull the trigger, interrupting her suffering from the losses that had weighed down on her with a heavy, almost unbearable weight. She waited for relief from the pain that was shooting from her wounded shoulder straight into her unarmored soul.

But no shot was fired.

“Drop yer weapons!” came the yell of a pony with a shotgun instead. “All weapons!”

In the sky, lightning flashed.

The assault carbine and two submachine guns fell to the dirt. The other’s telekinesis picked them up and carried them away.

The doors of the town began to open.

“You!”

Cosmic stood stiffly at the door of the shabby carriage, pointing a hoof at the one inside.

Metal Dawn looked up. There was a half-empty bottle of apple whiskey on the table beside him. Several more lay on the floor.

The stallion’s eyes widened when he saw Cosmic; he seemed to sober up in an instant. With an awkward swing of his forelegs, he fell off the stool and tried to scurry away, but the blue earth pony pounced on him and began hammering him hard in the face with her hooves. He struggled to get away, but not much succeeded.

“You… bastard… do you even know… what you’ve done?!” the mare shouted at him as she continued to hit him as hard as she could. Metal Dawn’s face was almost completely covered in blood. “You have… killed… our comrades! Without our squad… The Republic… was almost… left… without defense! And you’re here… drinking… caps… taken… from… them…!

“ENOUGH!!!” yelled sheriff Railright behind Cosmic’s back.

A shot rang out, nearly deafening both fighters. Flinching at the same time, they froze where they were and turned around.

Railright, a gray pony with a coal-black mane, spat out a revolver – the very familiar .44-caliber revolver! – and looked sternly at the two clashing mercenaries.

“Well, well…” he said, shifting his gaze from one to the other and back again. “So each o’ ya claims that the other’s the murderer an’ that one’s jus’ a victim…”

“He wounded me in the shoulder!” Cosmic shouted and pointed at the lying Metal Dawn again.

“I also have a piece of flesh torn out of my leg!” He lifted the left hind leg that was wrapped in bandages (much cleaner than the mare’s).

“You shot yourself to avoid suspicion…!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

That had an effect. Well, at least he didn’t shoot at the ceiling again, otherwise we would’ve gone deaf, Cosmic thought.

“Well, if the confrontation can’t be passed in the normal way…” the sheriff’s voice was soft, deep, and ominous. “…then Ah’ll have t’ resort t’ other methods. Like... questionin’ both o’ ya at once.” His eyes narrowed. “For the beginnin’”.

Metal Dawn was lying on the floor, pinned by Railright’s hoof behind his neck. The sheriff’s left hind leg was on the interrogated’s privates, and from time to time Railright increased the pressure to add weight to his questions.

Cosmic sat nearby and listened. She had no pity for her former comrade. The rage that covered her eyes was gone, too – in its place, a cold blue flame of calculated, deliberate hatred burned in the mare’s soul.

And the earth pony wanted to know what had driven the stallion to this crime. It wasn’t just the caps. There was something else, something much more important. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have talked so much while standing over wounded Cosmic.

Outside it was pouring rain, providing an atmospheric backdrop to the ongoing action. The claps of thunder made her squirm from time to time, bringing a feeling of slight fear that combined with a carefully concealed nervousness in the mare’s soul. She was... uncomfortable being here. But she couldn’t leave either. She had no right.

Not until she knows everything from beginning to end.

She wanted to know why her fighters had been killed and why she had nearly shot herself. Maybe it’ll give her life a new meaning… after she helps Sonic and Tails, and they return to their world.

So she won’t make the same mistake again.

“…Who ordered ya their team?”

Railright pressed harder, both on the neck and somewhere lower. A long groan of pain with a hint of wheezing echoed through the carriage.

It didn’t take long for Metal Dawn to "float", while Cosmic answered questions clearly, telling the truth as she knew it. The hardest part was getting around the point about the existence of Sonic and the rings; but that part of the story interested the sheriff the least, so it wasn’t much of a problem.

The hoof on Metal Dawn’s neck relaxed a bit.

“I don’t know his name!” the light-brown stallion howled, trying to catch his breath between sentences. “He’s… wearing a hooded cloak… dark… Sitting on the Turnpike in the far corner… offered… to make some money… I agreed…”

“Why?” The pressure was back on. “Jus’ cuz o’ the caps?”

“I was forced!!!” Metal Dawn screamed, sobbing on the floor, blood and tears smeared on his face. “I didn’t have time to… think… anything… before… he stuck something in my leg! It was a syringe of something… He said it was poison and I had three days… to do what he said…”

“But he was not after us, was he?” Cosmic coldly inserted. “And a certain tube that Monterey Jack had with him. Right?”

“What kinda tube?” Railright turned to her.

Cosmic explained.

“So the merchant was the target, an’ ya were jus’ c’lateral damage…” the sheriff muttered, stomping so hard on Metal Dawn’s colthood that he screamed in unbearable pain… until the hoof on his throat turned the scream into a wheeze. “How ya got four o’ them shot?

“Night… I decided to take advantage of the darkness… I was given… a zebra cloak of invisibility… I had to act quickly so that... the pegasi with their PipBucks, where they could see my mark, couldn’t… react in time… I waited for the right moment… threw the cloak on… next thing y’know what happened… I couldn’t shoot her ‘cause…”

Don’t tell him about Sonic! Cosmic mentally begged. She still thought it would be better if New Appleloosa didn’t know about this new temporary resident of the Wasteland.

However, Metal Dawn himself wasn’t happy about including the blue hedgehog in his story. Didn’t want to bury himself any deeper.

“…’cause the slavers came just as this one had led them there… They were to take the unicorn, and no one’d ever see him again… I took the tube and ran away. They weren’t supposed to know about me.”

“Y’know what was inside?” Railright asked another question.

“Yes.” Metal Dawn licked his lips, which were stained with blood. “Some blueprints… I didn’t understand a damn thing about them, to be honest. I had two days left, so I thought I’d just take the load to that pony in cloak and get him to give me the rest of the caps… and the antidote…”

“An’?” the sheriff tilted his head slightly. “So yer wounds, supposedly from the battle, are really fake?”

Metal Dawn closed his eyes. Even though he had a break from the "special methods", it was obvious that he was having a hard time talking about it. About his deception that had somehow come out.

“Before I got to town, I” – his face twitched – “shot myself in the leg… added a few more scratches and wrapped myself in bandages. I wanted to give the impression of a miracle survivor…” He grinned crookedly. “So I did. Everyone believed me – even you, sheriff. Even you.”

“Ya seen that merchant since you got back?” The pressure was on again.

“Ahhhh… hhhh… hrr… not so much…” Metal Dawn’s eyes bulged with pain. Cosmic thought that once this was over, his testicles would hardly function at all. “Yes… yes, yes! Last night… oh-oh… when you left me here… I put on the cloak and slipped unnoticed past the guards at the entrance. We met behind the Turnpike… or rather, not like that…”

He breathed heavily, apparently remembering another unpleasant moment for himself.

“He appeared suddenly, out of the darkness… I had no time to do anything before he injected me again. My body stopped obeying me and I found myself on the ground. He leaned over me, took the tube… and told me the poison wasn’t real!!!”

Metal Dawn burst into tears.

“His poison… was… a fucking fake! To make me… do… what he needed!!! The asshole even thanked me for my work…” He started to calm down again. “I blacked out and when I woke up I found a bag full of caps next to me. He didn’t even take the zebra cloak away from me – so much he didn’t seem to care about me after I had done the job… It was still night, and I could easily return to the carriage unnoticed.

“Since then,” the stallion turned to Cosmic, “I’ve been sitting here waiting. Waiting for him to come back. To kill him. To make him pay for the way he used me! Everything that happened is his fault! Not mine! A-argh…”

“Oh, really?” Railright raised an eyebrow as he continued to test the strength of the interrogated’s body. “Ya agreed, an’ that was enough. Ya shot, an’ that’s what finally brought ya down. So don’t be happy. Ya’ll answer t’ the full extent o’ the law o’ New Ap’loosa.”

The sheriff looked at Cosmic.

“O’ course, Ah could turn him over t’ The Republic an’ let ya deal with him, but Ah don’t think either of us wants that headache. Besides,” he leaned toward Metal Dawn, “that piece o’ shit might run off on the way.”

Straightening, Railright raised his head. His eyes were full of determination.

“So we’ll take care of it ourselves. Here an’ now.”

He whistled, and one of the guards on duty outside peered into the carriage.

“Call here Crane an’ Apple Whiskey,” Railright ordered. “Tell ‘em it’s important an’ urgent. Eh,” he shook his head as the pony in the raincoat nodded and sped away, “if jus’ Calamity were here…”

“Calamity?” Cosmic asked, remembering the familiar rust-brown, red-haired pegasus. “And where’s he, by the way?”

“T’gether with Li’lPip, they went t’ an abandoned Stable not far from here.” At the mare’s confused look, he explained, "Li’lPip, the unicorn filly from the Stable. Not this one, the other, near Ponyville. Calamity shot her a while back, mistaking her for a raider. Still, they found a way t’ be friends.”

A raider, Cosmic thought, glancing at Metal Dawn, who was curled up on the floor. He acted like a damn raider that night. Actually, the only difference between us mercenaries and them is that we demand caps for what we do.

Suddenly she remembered Monterey Jack’s words to her after he had escaped from the slavers.

“They’re all dead. I had help, and I… Fuck, I just tried to rob a unicorn filly that just came out of a Stable…”

Was it really her? For the first time in her life, faced with the Wasteland’s abomination, the Stable dweller didn’t hesitate to help an unknown pony who was in trouble with her.

And in return, he betrayed her.

We’re all raiders at heart a little, the mare thought as she watched Metal Dawn, huddled and breathing heavily, waiting in fear for his fate to be decided. There is this virus in all of us. The only difference is who can resist it.

Suddenly, Metal Dawn roared and jumped to his hooves. Before Cosmic could think of anything, he pushed himself off the ground and lunged at Railright!

The mare leapt from her place to help the sheriff…

A shot rang out, causing her to slow down and the other guard to rush in.

Railright pushed Metal Dawn’s body away from him, a pool of blood beginning to spread underneath, and rose from the ground, looking down at his red-stained clothes with disgust. A revolver lay nearby, finally turned on its former owner.

“Well, so it’s over,” Railright muttered, hoofing away the blood that hadn’t had time to dry, and turned to the guard, who was staring at the wild scene with a stunned look on his face. “Make sure the body’s removed. But discreetly. No need t’ spread rumors.”

And then he turned to Cosmic.

“Stay the night? Anyway, yer cleared of all charges. Sorry for the way it turned out. Until you came, I had no... op’tunity t’ look into everythin’ in detail.” He looked at the body the guard was now dragging away. “All o’ his caps are yours now. Ya can pay for dinner an’ a night at the Turnpike if ya want.”

Cosmic nodded silently. The adrenaline had worn off, and now she wanted to sleep more than anything else in the world, and before that to take some painkillers, because her shoulder reminded her of itself again with a pulling pain. And she could eat something tomorrow.

For today there were more than enough impressions.

The steady hum of the bar flooded her ears, blinding her attention. There was nothing to think about, nothing to concentrate on.

Cosmic Valor sat and sipped her whiskey.

She had a lot of caps now: Railright’s decision, approved by the barpony and the local telekinetic, had given her all of Metal Dawn’s possessions, including the revolvers (though the sheriff had promised that she would only get the guns when she left) and the zebra cloak. Cosmic didn’t know if she would use it: the pain of the memories began to tear at her soul at the first sight of the large robe of translucent fabric with a small red crystal on the clasp.

Nothing else kept her here. The crime for which she longed for retribution was a thing of the past, as was the pony who had committed it; nothing stood in the way of Cosmic’s return to The Republic. Especially since there was no rush to offer new contracts: her reputation as a mercenary had been thoroughly damaged.

But if she went home right away, Sonic and Tails would be left alone with the Wasteland. Dammit, they didn’t even have weapons! She tried to give them Nige or Dan before she left, but the hedgehog didn’t agree. “It’s not our way,” he insisted. “There’s nothing here anyway, so the raiders should avoid this place. And if they do come, then–”

…then you’ll probably die, Cosmic thought grimly.

No, she couldn’t let them die for nothing. The mission of these two was important to them in its own way – just as it was important to her to get justice.

And she wouldn’t be welcomed home with open hooves. After all, she’d lost her team; and the town’s population, as Metal Dawn had pointed out when he’d started hitting on her aggressively, wasn’t exactly large. After a failure like that, she’d only have to guard the wall, nothing more. Half of the caps would go to the treasury one way or another, under Silver Star’s hoof. And soon Cosmic might be set up with someone, so she could finally stop fooling around and do what she was meant to do: give the town a new offspring.

And there’s no way to get outside the walls anymore. Unless she runs away forever, like Life Bloom. But that would be even worse because her heart would still ache for home.

And so the home will wait a bit longer.

She was about to call over Apple Whiskey and order another drink when she noticed a mysterious-looking figure in a dark cloak in the far corner where the spark-battery lights could barely reach. The stranger was sitting alone at a table, with only an empty glass in front of him. Who was he? How long had he been here? It all seemed like a mystery shrouded in darkness.

But Cosmic began to guess. Goddesses, she began to guess everything.

She literally stared at the strange merchant. He turned his head in her direction… and Cosmic realized that he, too, understood everything. It was as if something invisible had passed between them, forcing them to remember the recent past and make logical connections.

In a silent exchange of glances (though Cosmic couldn’t see the face of the merchant under the hood), perhaps half a minute passed. The earth pony didn’t even notice that the barpony was asking her something.

Meanwhile, the cloaked pony stood up silently and slid along the wall towards the exit. Obviously, he understood that he wouldn’t gain anything here today, but that the problems could come easily.

But Cosmic wouldn’t let him go just like that.

Turning to Apple Whiskey, she realized that he was just wondering what she was staring at.

“Uh, nothing…”

Refusing a refill (any more and she’d be sick), the mare paid and headed for the door. Trying hard not to break into a run.

She’d have to be smarter to unravel this tangle.

Cosmic followed the strange merchant down the rain-soaked street. He glanced back a few times, but neither of them increased their speed, which should have been reason enough for a chase. Running through the mud, and even a little drunk, Cosmic was clearly not happy about it.

The blue earth pony had no weapons with her. However, she didn’t care. She had the truth on her side – and a passionate desire to get to the bottom of things so that all those involved in the collapse of her life would be punished.

The merchant she was following looked back again – and suddenly darted away, disappearing between the carriages.

But Cosmic was ready for that.

In a leap to the next street, she saw the back of the pony that had started this whole mess with the attack on the troop and Monterey Jack.

The alcohol in her blood didn’t bring rage (though it should have), but the certainty that whoever was being chased wasn’t going anywhere. Wouldn’t make it in time.

Cosmic’s body, compressed like a spring, straightened and threw her in a powerful leap forward. A few such crazy jumps – and now she was right on his tail.

Grab him by the clothes and drag him into the lane. Hoof him by the neck against the wall of the carriage. Like Railright to Metal Dawn.

“Wh-what… Who’re you?” the merchant gasped, kicking his legs in a vain attempt to break free.

He didn’t seem to know how to kick; Cosmic easily dodged his hooves, which came so slowly at her face,

(all my defense is speed)

and her armor protected her from the rest of the blows.

“Don’t play dumb,” the mare hissed through clenched teeth. “I know a lot about you. Like the fact that you ordered that fool Metal Dawn to kill my comrades!”

She pressed harder, but it wasn’t as if the merchant was about to faint from lack of air. He just couldn’t speak properly – but he was still swinging his legs around quite a bit.

“But there are things I’d like to know from you,” Cosmic continued quietly, with a threatening tone in her voice. “For example, what is this tube you sent him to steal from Monterrey? What kind of blueprints are there that allow you to kill anypony? And who are you? Who are you working for? Answer me now!”

A bolt of lightning illuminated the scene, burning out all shades to white and gray blue for a moment. Thunder rumbled, creating a dramatic background to the scene.

“I… nothing…”

“Who are you working for?! Name!”

Cosmic was no longer afraid of being heard: the thunderstorm safely masked all sounds.

“Ly… ra…” the merchant exhaled… and suddenly collapsed under her hoof.

Too much, Cosmic thought and removed her hoof. The cloaked body slid down the wall into the dirt.

Dude, if this is some kind of ploy to get my attention so you can break out and run, you’re clearly overplaying.

The merchant showed no sign of life.

Uh-oh… Maybe I overdid it a little?

Cosmic cautiously leaned toward him – and with a sharp movement, she knocked the hood off his head. And then recoiled, collapsed onto her rump in a puddle by the opposite railcar, gulping for air.

The merchant in the cloak was a ghoul! Rainwater dripped down his dried, ulcer-covered skin. What’s more… sucking Celestia’s horn, he was a cyberghoul! One of his ears had been completely replaced by a cybernetic implant; metal with a tangle of wires also ran down his neck to somewhere under his cloak.

And strangest of all, he was dead.

Because ghouls don’t fucking die! In a way, they’re already dead – so they’re as immortal as alicorns! And even more powerful: you can kill alicorns like normal ponies – but with ghouls, you have to rip off their heads at least!

The merchant, however, was dead.

But I didn’t… I mean, you can’t strangle them because they don’t fucking breathe! I couldn’t have killed him! But then it turns out…

Cosmic thought about it, and she really didn’t like what she had come to.

…someone did it? From a distance? Someone just… switched him off?!

The name the mysterious cyberghoul had managed to shout popped into her mind.

Lyra… who’s she? Why does she, whoever she is, need all this?

I have to find out. The mare looked at the corpse once more. All these deaths mustn’t be in vain. Spark, Stream, Nightlight, Snow… and even Metal Dawn and that ghoul… it all must be for something.

I want answers. And I’ll get them.

Meanwhile, I gotta get out of here. I’ll spend the night at the tavern, then I’ll be out of here by dawn. The only question is when they will find the body. And explaining about another dead pony – no, no way, thanks.

Then Cosmic noticed that something had fallen out of the ghoul’s cloak. Leaning over, she saw that it was a plastic card with embossed numbers and some kind of drawing. Humming, Cosmic picked it up and put it in her saddlebag.

Thunder rumbled.

The flash showed a drenched earth pony weaving through the puddles between the carriage houses.

The corpse of the cyberghoul remained in its place.

Note: 50% of the next level.