Fallout Equestria: Recollection

The Yellow Sixty

Written and Edited by- Ballpoint

An Original Fallout Equestria Side Story

" This world isn't much different from the last, this time, you need to strive for what you believe in."

Napalm looked quietly at the heavily modified Vertibuck that sat peacefully in the old, rusted hanger bay, half a dozen troops stood at attention. Each suited in miscellaneous equipment, varying from an automatic rifle to a small caliber revolver. Their armor, however was identical, each wearing light vests. The leader herself was heavily armored, her trench coat outfit replaced with black combat armor, a scrap of bright red cloth draped across the front of the armor, clamped by a rough steel buckle. She had a highly personalized pre-war Zebra rifle fitted onto her battle saddle, having her name inscribed onto the butt of the cherry wood finish of the rifle, along the nickel plated sheen of the gun itself.

She was intimidating. The highly trained and hardened soldiers before her exchanged glances, trying not to gaze too long into the alicorn's eyes, with the fear fresh in their minds.

Napalm began to pace slowly along the row of TiF troops, her expression lifeless and blank, " Soldiers, ten shun!" She ordered, the rebels straightening on command, " We are commencing Operation PARCEL, we are to retrieve the 'Parcel' from Stable 60 for negotiations with Big Dog to go as planned and free the hostages." She struggled by concealing the fact that it was her family at stake but she wanted to keep it personal, " Unfortunately that's not our only mission, as it turns out, the Incident in the Stable District has reached to the point where the Second and Third Commander are trapped there. We are to evac them and bring 'em back to the center for radiation purging. Got it?!"

“ Yes ma'am!" They responded in thunderous unison.

" Move it out!" The Commander shouted, briskly walking over to the open ramp of the lead lined and steel reinforced Vertibuck.

" Hoo-rah!” They shouted, filing into the cloudship, Napalm following close behind, squeezing into the cramped confines, with just enough room to take a stand at the door of the cockpit. She looked over her squad, each silently waiting for the ramp to shut. Once it did shut, there was a surge of kinetic energy as the small cloudship took off into the clouded sky of Trottingham.

The Encalve was built above the clouds and everyone in the Trottingham Federation knew it, so taking an ascent into enemy territory was risky, but fortunately the Enclave presence at Trottingham was small, and if they were noticed, they could easily be mistaken for their own as this bird was stolen. It still had many of the features of an Enclave ship, including the insignia and the olive color. The only changes were to make it radiation resistant, the entirety of its interior lined in rubber coated lead.

Unfortunately, this new layer made the former cramped interior look like a large park compared to the cozy shoulder to shoulder room they all had to share. But that didn't bother Napalm in the slightest, her mind entirely wrapped around her only son, holding back tears and cries of rage, looking down at the padded floor.

" Commander?" Her head shot up sluggishly, finding the voices owner to be a navy blue mare, a battle saddle affixed with a .223 Caliber Rifle.

" Yes Grain?" Her voice was still very flat but commanding, but it didn't deter the trooper from asking her question.

" I just wanted to know, are you from Sixty?" Upon closer inspection of Grain, Napalm could see she also brandished a Pip Buck and a rough patch of blue cloth had been stitched into her uniform, a woven sixty on the cloth. Napalm looked at her own fore leg strapped personal terminal then back to the questioner.

" No." Emotion in the alicorn's voice was virtually dead, giving Fine Grain the wrong impression.

“ Well I didn't mean to pry or anything I was just-"

“ It’s alright Corporal, just focus on the mission at hoof." Following the superior officers words, she nodded and fell into silent thought, leaving Napalm to do the same. Only thing was that she wasn't thinking about the mission, but rather if she could live up to her promise of "neutering that Dog."

***

" Coming in near Stable 60 now," Napalm yelled over the excessive hum of the engine, " this is the area of the smallest concentration of feral. We are going to obtain the Parcel first, it’s our main objective. Then we'll work our way a few blocks north from the Stable to our secondary objective! Got it?"

" Yes, ma'am!" The leader nodded and took a glance at her Pip Buck, checking the time.

" The area is highly irradiated so everyone pop some Rad-X now!" In unison, everyone in the cabin knocked back two pills apiece, but each had another two on hoof. Once she had swallowed her own pills, she consulted her groups again," at 1900 hours, take your other two pills. They last two hours apiece so if we can't reach either objective in time we are to be immediately evacuated! Alright soldiers, move it out!" All faced toward the declining ramp, weapons armed and ready to fire.

As the ramp was no longer obscuring the top portion of the exit, three feral ghouls were on the outside, already growling at the intruders. After a few rounds were fired, they were dispatched with relative ease and the squad exited the cloudship. All moved around the small cart lot, securing the area of hostiles, Napalm in the lead.

" Secure." She sounds off, receiving the same from the rest of her squad, who gathered back at the landing site. They were in a small cart lot, a few abandoned merchant stands had been erected here. The lot was sandwiched between two large apartment buildings. The air was stale and rancid, it even had a faint green hue, giving the impression it was some kind harmful gas was mingling with the air.

“ Alright everyone keep a tight formation, Crow," The called stallion took a step forward, his combat shotgun still giving off heat from its recent discharge, “ You got the back, make sure nothing hits us from behind." He nodded solemnly, falling back behind the loosely gathered group,” the Stable is a few blocks north, just follow my lead and watch yourselves. Let’s go." In silent unison, they filed in a loose line, two ponies out of the lines confines.

The Stable District was composed of a small area of Trottingham, including its center at Stable 60 and the rest  only comprised of a dozen blocks of ruined buildings. This district had a purpose, like many of the others, which primarily was to provide a proper settlement for the Stable Dwellers that emerged twenty years ago, who were greeted by a platoon of friendly TiF forces. Once the Dwellers were fully accounted for, they were given food and the ruin of the district that remained; in exchange they provide whatever pre-war tech that was useful. The only one to surface was the Parcel.

The Bartering Chip, Napalm thought as they made a through and brisk pace down the streets, being on the guard in case of ferals, seems fitting.

At two blocks away from their primary objective, the leader signaled a halt and every one pressed against a brick wall, crouching slight as a brick wall was all that remained of the ruined structure. The alicorn had activated her EFS long before they had landed and it turned out to have paid off, shielding them from the twenty ferals around the bend. She turned to here squad, awaiting orders.

“ Twenty hostiles, anyone with rifles cover me, Crow, Tension and Cable while we attack head on." Everyone filled in and agreed, they prepared for the attack. Fine Grain and Unconventional Tactics (nicknamed "Tack") silently took their place farther across the street, having clear shots at the mutants, who paid no mind to the intruder a few hundred yards away; out of their field of vision.

With their support in check, the remaining for marched out in the middle of the street, assault rifles aimed at the now growling, increasingly hostile crowd. With a round in the camber and her firing line in the ready, she announced a great, thunderous and commanding “ FIRE!"

Without any hesitation, weapons were discharged at the now charging ghouls, each taking about twenty to ten rounds to be put down. And that wasn't good.

Even with the thunderous roar of firearms and the tearing of flesh, only five of the thinning crowd of fifteen were put down and Napalms magazine was spent, then the click of a bullet void in a firearm's chamber was universal, the only shots coming off were from Tack and Grain, dealing incredibly accurate head shots; violating the well-established center of mass tactic.

" RELOAD!" Was yelled as they were now in a steady walk backward as the ghouls were closing in, about fifty yard distance. It took about two seconds for the battle saddle of each squad member to cycle another magazine into their weapons and the wielders to bite down on the trigger to resume firing.

Soon, the crowd was torn down to three as they reached to gun happy soldiers. One was lucky to pounce on the solid Cable and knock him to the ground, both landing with a clack as he fell on his weapon. He put the thing as far as he could from his body, pushing the snapping jaw of the feral away with his hooves. But the ghoul didn't relent and Cable gave, letting the mutant sink his teeth into his cheek, making him howl him pain.

" Gah!" He hollered and the beast tore a chunk of flesh from the stallions face, crimson running fresh to the dusty, cobbled ground. Before it could have taken another bite of the meal it desired it was dispatched with a .223 caliber round through its skull and it slumped to the ground, its last electronic pluses making it twitch a few times before it seized, leaving a cowering Cable as he pressed his hooves against his face, soaking them in blood.

" Dammit!" Was the shout of a distressed High Tension as she went over to the withering stallion, the street around him starting to collect his blood. She pried his hooves apart and assessed his injury, " Damn..." Quickly, she levitated a small vial filled with amber liquid and popped the lid, " Alright so how am I gunna do this?" The mare questioned as she took to note that the right side of his face was partially gone, revealing the molars in the back of his mouth. With a shrug, she forced the healing potion down his throat, Cable choking slightly at the liquid slid down throat without his approval.

Once it was down, the rest of the team had been covering the two from hostiles which were nonexistent at the moment. Napalm took a glance back at the wounded Cable and the Tension that hung over him, “ He alright?" It took a minute for the answer to come in the form of the colt rising with the mare’s aid, the injury properly dressed with the blue aura of magical bandages.

“ Yeah he'll be alright," She looked at him with a sly grin," ain't that right pretty boy?" This brought a fragile smile to his lips as he nodded, falling in with the group. With the his injury assessed, Napalm signaled for the distant sharpshooters to fall into the group along with them.

“ You saved our asses out there guys." She praised Grain and Tack, who gave proper thanks and fell back into the group, which almost immediately continued their mission to Stable 60.

***

" The console's broken?" Napalm’s voice was ripe with rage and irritation as she looked down on Grain, who was fiddling with the broken terminal that would signal the large elevator's accent to the surface, now only a dark shaft was in its place.

" Yeah," The stable dweller withdrew from the consoles innards, a handful for wires in her mouth which she spat out," its missing many of its transmission components and one of hydraulic containers are missing." Napalm's jaw slackened as she wondered what her next course of action would be. The elevator was out and the only way down was to drop down, and she was the only one with wings. Were not going to find the components in time, she looked down at her Pip Buck, especially with only an hour left on our Rad-X. She tried to come up with an alternate plan of approach which involved her whole team journeying with her in the depths but the factors of the current situation were against her.

" File in!" The alicorn shouted, making the large group guarding the outside of the large concrete structure fall in with the two inside for her orders,  “ As it seems, the elevator to the Stable is out and there is no way for all of us to go together. So, " The tall pony took a step back, a bit closer to the edge and looked at Grain, " Your coming with me as you know the Stable best, Crow, give her your shotgun. We’re going to be working in close quarters and that's the best choice of weaponry."

With disdain that was miniscule, Crow traded his weapon with the mare. She supported the new, heavier weapon easily and with little difficulty.

The mare walked next to her leader, who said, " Everyone else, take position outside, guard this location at all costs. Shoot anything that moves. We'll be back as soon as possible." Without any further orders, everyone went to their assigned tasks, leaving Napalm and Grain alone, both activating their lantern spells for the dark descent.

" You ready?" The engineer asked, getting her answer as she was lifted off the ground and was plunged into the depths of the shaft, light illuminated the rough stone shaft. She was terrified as alicorn held her in her hooves; the cold air cut into her body and seemed to drain her very life . But she never closed her eyes; she literally stared down the darkness of the depths below, knowing she would be safe in her officer’s grasp.

The drop lasted for three minutes, but felt much quicker as their adrenaline blinded their judgment. Once the metal, grated elevator came into view, Napalm pumped her wings downward with thunderous force, cushioning the fall and she hovered gracefully onto the metal floor, setting down the stable dweller and then herself. Grain could hardly breath, the events that had just taken place stripped her of her ability to breath temporarily, gaining it as her stress levels descended and she was calm.

" First time flyers always are scared shitless afterward.” The mythical equine joked, giving way to Grains instinctive giggle, tugging on her combat vest.

" I don't think falling counts as flying." She dusted herself off, the alicorn shrugged.

" Still petrified are you?" That much, the blue mare agreed with and they regained their militaristic attitude and peered down a slightly shorter rough rock shaft, with broken floodlights along the ceiling of the corridor, which was an even fifty foot height. It made the smaller mare uneasy, as large spaces never agreed with her very well. She already had a tough time dealing with the limitless surface and an enormous corridor wasn't welcome either. Even if she ventured down it once before as a foal.

With heart full of forced determination, she ventured forward with Napalm, her already about a meter ahead. The mighty god had her sights set on freeing her family. And yet she found it very strange.

Napalm had many loves in the last two hundred years; most of them are only a vague memory. None of them actually left an imprint on her life and she'd just move on and be done with. The stallion she now sees as her lover was nothing special either. She loved him just as she did her others, but with him, she was able to bear a child. Their love for that precious little colt was undeniably unconditional; they knew they had to be there to raise Flash Card. No matter what the world had in store, they'd do their best to shield him from it. If only they could've kept that innocence for just a little longer.

If only he was with me and Iron, She thought, scoping the length of the tunnel, and not that crazy sonofabicth. She gritted her teeth at the memory of sicken cackle of Big Dog. All she wanted to see, even before she met Iron Diligence, was to have a bullet between his eyes. He was just lucky that she was better than his dirty tactics, or she would have sicker punishment in store for him. She even debated whether a gunshot was a fitting fate for a monster such as himself.

" Ma'am," She turned and looked down slightly at the smaller mare, who was staring off into the black nothingness they progressed through," what is this Parcel that we’re retrieving?"

Napalm took a minute, " Well what reports that I got from this District prior to the Incident suggests that its maybe some sort of power source. I don't much about it myself." She looked down the cavern as well.

" I grew up in this place and never knew we had something so valuable under my nose. Talk about being left in the dark." She looked up at the combat armor clad goddess," It feels weird to come back after so long."

" Why didn't you come back?" The cave seemed to go on forever but small talk calmed their frayed nerves.

" Well the last time I was here I around fifteen, them after that I joined the mil-" She could feel the irritated glare from Napalm as she nearly finished her sentence,"-Federation and been here ever since."

Napalm gave a dark laugh, “ You missed out on a lot kid."

Grains brow arched, "Whaddaya mean?"

" I mean that I made the same mistake as you did. A long time ago. Got caught up in a cause that was none of my business, and suffered for it."

" Hold up." The engineer planed her hooves solidly into the ground, Napalm stopping a bit later staring down Grain, c" So fighting for freedom is something that's none of my business?"

" We have plenty of stallions and mares fighting for us, we-"

" Plenty? This war has been going on for longer than I’ve been alive and we've managed to stay on the losing end of this one sided fight for a pretty large portion of-"

Napalm made a brisk walk toward the outspoken technician, eyes seemed to be alight with fury, " Now you listen to me, I am your commanding officer and you can speak your mind but if you feel the need to interrupt me and downplay the effort that I have put into this resistance for over fifty years, than you shouldn't even be here." The inferior was taken aback. She swallowed hard but continued to stare into the gods eyes.

You pick up things after a hundred years of unwanted living, and you knew if someone was fearful of you or if you're defiant and fearless. When she peered into the warm magenta of Grain’s eyes, she sensed only confidence. She stood by her word. Which, to Napalm's disdain, knew was true.

She continued to stare into her eyes, but soon they both broke in unison and continued down the tunnel under the unspoken agreement to drop the conversation. The tunnel continued to go on for another minute or so until they reached the open, enormous gap of the Stable entrance, the gap about the size of a small cloudship hanger.

Stable 60, from what the Federation gathered from its inhabitants, was the largest Stable to ever be constructed by Stable-Tec. It runs under one third of Trottingham and actually was so large it needed two entrances but the other was sealed off by years of concrete rubble. Even with its large confines, it was meant to house a little under ten thousand ponies but according to the records dating the day the door closed, over sixteen thousand registered stable dwellers entered the stable along with an excess of five hundred stowaways. Many would think that the Stable would collapse for many reasons and fall into anarchy, but it didn't.

The dwellers simply got by, they survived up to this point with almost double their numbers on The Last Day. How any pony, Napalm thought, can survive that is just... She struggled to find the right word but tried to stay on task and consulted Grain, her anger had faded, “ You know where this Parcel might be?"

Grain was still a bit irked but she cooperated accordingly, “ If I'd have to guess, maybe around the Research Wing or the Labs."

" How many rounds you have left?" Napalm simply consulted her Pip Buck, reading her ammo counter in the item management section," One clip left, thirty two rounds."

" Fifteen shells." The smaller mare read off her own terminal, looking up at the deity.

" Alright make every shot count," She magically cycled a round into the chamber, " lead the way." The operative complied and took the first steps through the Stable door, taking no time to look over the clean, steel interior she once called home. Napalm was the second to step into the Stable and shivered under her combat armor as a strange cold chill caressed her for a minute.

She walked up the grated steps to where Grain waited at a door up the steps," The Research Wing is closest, stay close and cautious, we don't-"

Flashing yellow light filled the entrance along with a repeating buzz. Napalm was going to question why this was happening but Grain knew as a cylindrical machine from above the high ceiling descended, screwing into the Stable door.

" Oh no." Her voice was monotone as she took her position behind the door controls, flicking levers, pushing buttons and doing just about anything to get the door from sealing them inside the steel tomb. Napalm how ever was in no distress, she just watched as the Stable door began to close, the rusted metal straining both mares ear. Napalm saw the doors closing more of  preference rather than a priority.

Soon, they were plunged into darkness, the yellow lights snapped off, leaving the duo with the glow of their lantern spells. Grain was still toying with the panel, she was unable to accept their fate. This seemed to only irritated Napalm as she looked down upon haste filled actions.

She stomped her hoof on the metal floor, breaking Grain out of her trance and her attention now focused on her leader, " We'll find a way out once the Parcel is secured. Clear?" Grain was a bit shocked at the deity's resilience to fear in such a dire situation, but complied with an assuring nod, breaking off from the panel.

Napalm was calm but still clueless as to who closed the door. It could've been some kind of malfunction, she thought half heartedly, or something else entirely. Hm, can't do anything about it now. With priorities under control, she gestured toward the metal door in their path. Grain took the lead and opened the door to be rewarded with another gust of chilling air.

They made their way down the dark hallways of Stable 60, following the dimly lit signs to the get to the Research Wing. Napalm found it rather difficult to keep up with grain as she knew this place like the back of her hoof, sounding off "Secure!" at least five seconds before the alicorn did. Eventually she ordered her to slow down, and she complied, satisfying the problem. This Stable was an active stable at the time it was opened to the point before the incident, many of its lights were dead or barely alive, the PA System played a very eerie song which echoed down the corridor and sent a chill down Grain's spine.

Those were the only signs of deterioration, as the gray concrete walls were free of erosion, save for the chipping strips of dull yellow paint that ran down their lengths. As the duo neared the Research Wing, Grain stopped and looked up to the ceiling.

" What is it?" Napalm whispered, thinking that hostiles were present. Grain didn't answer, but she listened to the music playing, listening to the last few lines.

"Maybe you`ll sit and sigh, wishing that I were near,

Then maybe you`ll ask me to come back again,

And maybe Ill sayMaybe`."

Napalm expected for the PA System to go dead but it didn't, and another song began to play, adding a much more chipper tone to the atmosphere.

"I love those dear hearts and gentle ponies,

Who live in my home town.

Because those dear hearts and gentle ponies

Will never ever let you down.

They read the good book from Fri' till Monday..."

" Someone's in here with us." Grain finally answered, making her officer cock her head in confusion, " in one of the Overseer's offices, that's where the PA System is controlled and new songs are cycled."

" Aren't things like these automated?" Napalm concern was with the engineer but focus was on the dark hallway behind them which she aimed down with robotic instinct.

" No. And if I were to guess, our friend who was kind enough to shut the door behind us is the same pony." She remarked, going down the hallway at a hastened speed, Napalm with no objection following close behind. So problem solved, just need to secure the Parcel and deal with whoever trapped us in here.

Still on the prowl, the goddess poked her weapon through every open room just before Grain would, and she noticed something rather obvious. As they neared the objective, the hallways and the rooms became more and more grotesque. Blood was smeared onto the walls, bodies with numerous bite marks and missing limbs. The stench was just as bad, it seemed that ever step they took they both needed to stifle vomit.

What got Napalm.s attention is that the blood was still fresh, it hadn't had a chance to dry up. Even the corpses gave off a slight radiance that bothered her and Grain. Then, nearing the metal door to their objective, Napalm ordered a halt to observe a faint indentation in the wall.

She brightened the area and the indentation became, what seemed to be a jagged bite mark. Which dug at least two inches into the concrete wall. The technician got a fair look at it and it shattered what courage she had left," Damn..."

The alicorn exhaled," Hm, something bigger than a ghoul is down here." She ran her hoof along the rough edges of the mark, " This could be...problematic." The mark didn't look like anything that the wasteland could produce, it seemed neat and natural.

" One big motherfucker isn't it?" Grain muttered under her breath, her voice beaten down to its current level by fear. Soon she shoved off only a fraction of her fear and they both continued down the rest of the hallway and entered the Research Wing and was surprised to find what was behind the metal door.

Dozens of metal desks and chairs were placed haphazardly around the room, some knocked over, others torn in in half, their jagged metal edges like the teeth of a monster. Crimson was splashed in an almost fabricated manner across the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, which dripped the fresh fluid. But all attention was giving to the glass tank in the middle of the room, a gaping hole was at its center, florescent green fluid surrounded it, lighting the room dimly. Oxygen tanks were secured on the side of the broken tank while a large rebreather hung inside the tube. Something was in this tube, and from the various signs in the room and outside, was capable of devastation unlike anything the alicorn and the Stable Dweller had ever seen. And it was in the very Stable they were exploring.

Napalm could only awe at the sight, walking slowly around the large tank, stepping in the polls of strange fluid threat surrounded it," What were your people doing down here?" She noticed the fluid tingled slightly, so she stepped off of the possibly hazardous goo, the sensation soon subsided.

" I..." The native couldn't even fathom what could have been in the confines of the tank before her. She had been in this place he entire life and never seen this thing here. This thing is in here with us, stalking us. I just know it. She thought as she joined Napalm, who broke her stare of the tank and onto the task at hoof.

" What room?" She asked, pointing to the two on either side of the room, neither with a proper label. Grain gave the question a minute before she walked over to door on the right, followed closely by the alert Napalm.

Grain's hoof hovered over the button to open the door, waiting for Napalms approval. Which came in a silent nod and she slammed down on the button, the door slid open and everyone tensed, all weapons aimed into the confines of the room.

The room only contained a lone desk, a terminal that was long dead and a medium sized black box. The box was metal and had the words "TARTARUS" stamped onto its face in silver lettering. Napalm couldn't help but grin, it was the Parcel.

" Parcel secured." She said just for the joy of it, and began to walk over to the desk and retrieve the Bartering Chip but stopped as she heard a low growl that echoed off the walls that mingled with the music in the air. It soon escalated to a grating roar that strained both mares ears and petrified Grain. Soon, there was a recurring wet smack coupled with the only other sound in the Stable as the mares didn't move, the now ironic music.

"I feel so welcome each time that I return,

That my happy heart keeps laughin' like a clown.

I love those dear hearts and gentle ponies,

Who live and love in my home town. (in my home town)

Those dear hearts and gentle ponies,

Who live and love in my home town. "