Fallout Equestria: ShadowFall

Chapters

Chapter 1: The fall of the Crystal Empire
Chapter 2: A Night to Remember
Chapter 3: Places to Go, Ponies to See
Chapter 4: Harkan's Talons
Chapter 5: Caps and Contracts

Chapter 1: The fall of the Crystal Empire

Chapter One: The Fall of the Crystal Empire

“The empire I once ruled over shall fall in an abyss of dark magic”

The massive bombardment had yet ceased on the Crystal Empire’s shield, making the generators grow weary in keeping them stabilized. Magic was useless against the Megaspells, whose balefire danced across the dome ceiling creating a beautifully silent light show for all the ponies in the grand crystal city. Grandparents, fathers, mothers, and even the children knew the shield would not last forever, and spent the last hours of their lives with each other waiting for death to blast them away. The last safe haven for all the ponies lay outside in the snowy tundra, and was occupied by the Caesar’s legions of zebra, whose thirst for pony blood was unquenchable. However, the zebra’s hatred for the ponies inside the city was outmatched by it’s former king, who rose again with the help of a zebra’s dark magic, regaining his shadowy form.

The doors to the bunker opened as the Legate made his way through the cold steel corridors, receiving salutes to Caesar from zebra soldiers rushing to their posts, preparing for their next orders. The Legate took the elevator down to the level labeled “Surveillance”. The shaking of the bunker walls grew less as he made his way down, with nothing but a stern look on his face. He got off, and looked around to make sure no one was following, and for extra measures shut down the elevators with his clearance key. He stood at the door, shivered from the coldness of the bunker and of nervousness, and walked in.

“Were you followed?”

“ No, I made sure all access keys to this floor are with me. No one is down here but you and I.”

“Good, I wanted to talk to you about our little agreement. You do remember don’t you? I do hope the idea of thousands dying by your hooves in a single swift action doesn’t bother you.”

“Of course I’m fine with that. What kind of question is that when my people have already killed millions of their filthy kind?”

“ I wasn’t talking about them.”

Confused the Legate thought it through, and in a dash figured out just what he meant, turned ghastly pale, and uttered out the few words that could come out of his dry throat.

“ Y-you are asking me to...to...betray my kind? But that is treason! If the Caesar finds out, I’ll be-”

Just before the Legate could finish, the shadowlike figure rushed to him swiftly without making a sound, and clenched the Legate’s throat. His eyes burst with dark magic and stared into the Legate’s eyes without moving an inch away. The Legate began to writhe around, screaming in pain so much that his veins began to bulge and his eyes bled. It was as if the Legate were somewhere else, and not in the presence of the shadowy figure. He called out to the Caesar that he was innocent, and would never commit such high treason. He then began to murmur, and finally scream out as if he was burning alive.

Just then the shadowy figure released the Legate from the terrible magic, and looked at him with a grin of pure satisfaction. The Legate couldn’t speak, his pinpoint eyes just stared at the ground now covered with his blood. Then the shadowy figure spoke to him in a casual tone.

“ Now, take note the pain you just experienced. It wasn’t even real, just a-”

He stopped to make sure the Legate was listening. The Legate was at full attention now, and said nothing as a sign for the shadowy figure to continue.

“-a glimpse of your worst nightmare, and by my luck yours was incredibly excruciating! How could you ever bend over and kiss his ass when he would burn yours alive for a mere crime, hmm?”

The Legate remained silent.

“ You’re quite pathetic you know that. You decide to resurrect me back into this world, expect that I will be forever in your gratitude, and hand over my powers so you can just overthrow a tyrant who is already destroying the world with a pointless war?! And just a few minutes ago you were complaining to me like a fucking school filly about treason!! Please explain to me you’re idea of treason, because apparently murdering your superiors is a fucking community service!”

The Legate used what little strength he had left and spoke up.

“I will do whatever you ask, just please, spare me. I will do anything, even kill thousands of my own kind, no.....millions!”

The shadowy figure smirked, obviously pleased with the Legate’s broken will.

“ I know you will, and in just a few minutes you and I will lead the final attack against the Crystal Empire.”

“But...I thought you didn’t want to be seen until you were in the Crystal Tower? How will we both lead an attack when the others have no idea who you are?”

The shadowy figure seemed to be agitated at the last comment, and faced the Legate suddenly.

“ Oh don’t worry about me getting by, I’ll be with you the whole time. Then once the shield goes down, the Megaspells will cease fire at our command and our army will charge the city, killing anyone in our way. And finally once at the tower, we shall fill their precious Crystal Heart with dark magic returning the city to my control. Sure the zebra’s will be confused at your order for ceasefire, and to charge head on, but who would challenge the command of one of the Caesar’s finest legates?”

The Legate nodded in agreement, still confused on how the shadowy figure would get by everyone. Just then the shadowy figure smiled as if he knew what the Legate was thinking, and lunged at his body, covering it in a dark cloak. The Legate fell to the ground now stained with his dried blood. The Legate’s body got up, but it was not he who was in control of the body.

“ Obey your king! Obey King Sombra!!!”

*** *** ***

The shield fell, and the final battle for the Crystal Empire had begun. The forces of Caesar’s Legion clashed with the Crystal Empire’s Steel Rangers in the outskirts of the city, causing mass chaos and confusion on both sides. Bullets and plasma were shot at the zebras with pristine precision, and ponies limbs were sliced, broken, twisted, and shot to pieces. There was no artillery support from either side, it was an army against an army, neither letting up on their attacks. Thousands upon thousands were dying in just a few seconds, and this was only the beginning.

From the Central Plaza underneath the Crystal Tower, a steel ranger in royal gold power armor stood watching the horrific scene of war. He never wished to see such chaos in this city, but knew from the beginning it would happen. Just then a group of Paladins rushed to their commander.

“Shining Armor, sir, we received a...uh...transmission from Hoofington about your request for Enclave air support. They denied.”

The stallion turned quickly around in astonishment as if he misheard something.

“What?! Why?”

The young mare Paladin didn’t answer, obviously not wanting to tell her commander the transmission they received.
Paladin Roads stepped up.
“Sir, please excuse Paladin Heartstrings. Hoofington denied Enclave support because... they don’t have any. Nopony does, the Grand Pegasus Enclave fled back into the skies, refusing to answer anyone still on the ground. I’m afraid we’re on our own out here sir.”

Shining Armor paced back and forth, trying to think of something, anything that could possibly give them an upper hoof. He looked back to the battle taking place. It was now being taken out of the outskirts and pushed further into the city , meaning the Legion’s forces were moving in closer. Completely stumped, Shining Armor took off his helmet and sat down hard, causing the ground underneath to crack under his power armor’s weight. The Paladins behind him looked at each other, worried about their commander. Shining Armor let out a deep sigh, got back on his hooves, put his brilliantly gold helmet on, and turned to face his Paladins.

“Alright, I know you don’t want to hear this, in fact I hate myself for saying it,but...”

Shining Armor suddenly gave himself a mental slap and recomposed himself, standing up tall above the others.

“No! You know what? We are not going to die today! I don’t care about the odds, or the fact that our brethren completely abandoned us in our time of need. I am going down with zebra blood on my hooves today for my parents, my friends, my sister, and my wife! Today Equestria rises, today the Crystal Empire stands tall, today we kick some zebra ass!!!”

“HOO-RAH!!!”
The Paladins all cheered and their spirits reignited. They saluted to their brave commander ready for the battle to come.

*** *** ***

Sombra advanced his forces forward, leading the assault himself and slicing the steel rangers with dark magic. The other zebras did not question the Legates new powers, and protected him with their life. Knowing every shortcut throughout the city, Sombra ordered the zebra forces to flank the steel rangers from all sides. They followed orders with ease, slaughtering the steel rangers mercilessly from all sides, eventually cornering the remainders further into the city. The Crystal Tower was now only a few miles away from Sombra’s grasp.

*** *** ***

Shining Armor and Paladins Heartstrings, Roads, and Fuji stood against any zebras coming close to the Crystal Tower. They formed a small barricade around the beams of the tower, allowing them to protect themselves from all sides, countering the zebras frightening new tactics.

“Yo Caesar!! Pass me some zebra salaaaaad!!!” screamed Paladin Heartstrings, who barraged the zebras with countless explosives, making chunks of zebra fly across the streets. She smirked, pleased with her work of gory art.

Paladin Roads vaporized dozens while letting loose hundreds of plasma beams from his plasma caster, making the air have a tainted smell to it. He sniffed the air, enjoying the smell of vaporized zebra through his rebreather.

Fire poured from Paladin Fuji’s flamethrower, burning the zebras slowly alive. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with that of plasma, giving an even worse smell to the battlefield. Fuji muttered something about zebra kabobs while exchanging his gas tanks.

Shining Armor fired off two high-velocity rockets which swerved past dozens of zebras and impacted on a ten story crystal, causing it to crack and fall crushing all zebras flanking the north side of the Crystal Tower. Then he yelled over the screams of dying zebras,

“Cease fire!!!”

The three Paladins removed their helmets as the smoke slowly cleared away, revealing only the hundreds of zebras killed by the four soldiers alone. Shining Armor sensed something was off. There was no sound of the zebras anywhere,it was as if they suddenly...

“Everypony get down, they have stealth cloaks!!!!”

psst psst psst psst psst!

Dozens of zebra rifles suddenly barraged the barricades, killing Paladin Roads within seconds. Shining Armor, Paladin Heartstrings, and Paladin Fuji stayed down for what seemed like hours, until finally the firing ceased. No one moved, then Paladin Fuji slowly got up.

“Y’all think its safe no-”

Suddenly Fuji’s head exploded, his blood splattering over Shining Armor’s face.Roads and Fuji’s bodies just lay there, lifeless. He then realized he was responsible for their deaths, and felt as if his heart was going to pop out of his chest it was beating so fast. He then looked over to Paladin Heartstrings who was in tears,crying over the dead bodies of her friends.Slowly, Shining Armor regained his sense of surroundings. He couldn’t let another pony die, it would be too much. Suddenly a voice called out.

“Well, well, well. I see you’re still alive after all these years of ruling my empire! Oh, but I shouldn’t be mad at you. After all, it was the Princess who ruined my plans. Her and that baby dragon! But seeing as the dragon is probably dead by now, I think I’ll satisfy my revenge on the Princess, slowly killing her with her worst nightmares. And making you watch, Shining Armor!!”

Finally Shining Armor couldn’t take it anymore, and kicked away a chunk of the barricade, which missed the Legate by inches.

“ YOU WILL NOT HARM CADENCE!!!”

“Oh calm down, there’s no need for violence. We’ve already had enough of that today wouldn’t you say?”

“Wait a minute, you’re not Sombra! Where is he?!”

The Legate smiled and laughed, his eyes glowing with dark magic.

“Well, actually, I am. Not as a whole, of course, more like a second piece. Its not like you could ever understand, you ponies never had the guts to use our dark magic.”

“Your ideals on magic are sickening! No sane pony would ever split their soul like that! Now tell me where you are Sombra, the real you!!”

The Legate grinned viciously, looking up to the top of the tower.

Shining Armor’s eyes grew wide with fear.

“Cadence!”

He turned quickly, and started to run towards the towers staircase.

“ I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Shining Armor glanced back and stopped. The Legate had wrapped Paladin Heartstrings in his dark magic, slowly crushing her body. Shining Armor backed away from the staircase, and faced the Legate once again.

Paladin Heartstrings yelled through her pain, “No!! Don’t worry about me sir...AAGH!! The Princess is more important, remember what she’s guarding!!!”

Shining Armor remembered exactly what Cadence was guarding.

“The Crystal Heart!!”

The Legate became angered, and enforced more pressure on his dark magic.

“Shut up you little shit!”

Lyra’s body fell limp to the ground, dead.

Shining Armor wanted to kill the Legate then and there, but realized the best way to avenge his friends was to do what Lyra asked. He started for the staircase only to be stopped again, restrained by the Legates dark magic. The Legate then threw him away from the tower, sending him sliding across the cracked streets. Shining Armor slowly got up, realizing the only way to get past was to kill the Legate.

“Alright then, if thats the way you want it,” he unsheathed his crystal sword made of the finest crystals in Equestria, with a handle made from pure Starmetal, “then I challenge you to a duel! You. And. Me.”

Suddenly, hundreds of zebras appeared around the two,their stealth cloaks deactivated,dropping their weapons by their hooves. They were in shock, frozen in fear of what Shining Armor held in his magic.

The Legate, regaining some of his own conscience, started arguing with himself.

“Sta....Starmetal! Nightmare Moon!! AGHHH!!! You fool what are you scared of! Kill him!! No, no! I can’t! He has been tainted by the stars!!!”

“Starmetal...” Shining Armor was extremely confused, he had no idea what was going on. He then looked to his weapon, then the handle. A wicked smile crossed his face, and he took advantage of the situation.

He pointed his sword to the Legate, then shouted to the zebras surrounding him, “KILL HIM!!!”

Another vicious smile was upon his face.

“Slowly!!!”

The zebras started towards the Legate, who lashed out at them viciously.

“NOO! STAY BACK!! I SHALL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!”

The Legate fought off the zebras with his dark magic for as long as he could, eventually overwhelmed, grabbed, and pulled down. The zebras started to beat the Legate to death, breaking his bones, and his spirit. Shining Armor watched, pleased with the Legate’s painful torment. Suddenly the city began to shake violently, the zebras stopped beating the Legate, and everyone looked up.

*** *** ***

Shining Armor finally made it to the top of the Crystal Tower, frozen in shock at what was happening. Princess Cadence stood firm on the left side of the Crystal Heart, casting her powerful magic onto it,countering Sombra’s dark magic, which he cast on the right side of the Crystal Heart. The combination of pure and dark magic began to overflow the heart, consuming its original powers. Sombra’s body began to flicker, his dark aura flowing into the Crystal Heart, overpowering Cadence’s magic.

Cadence saw her husband out of the corner of her eye.

“Shining Armor!! Please, you have to destroy the Crystal Heart!! If you don’t-”, she staggered and knelt down, overcomed by Sombra’s aura.

She began to cry silently, and mouthed softly to her husband, “I love you.”

Shining Armor’s power armor began flashing warnings of extreme radiation, and he realized the Crystal Heart was becoming a balefire bomb of dark magic. He knew what he had to do. Looking at his wife one last time, he lifted his sword to the sky and sliced down as hard as he could.
His sword cut cleanly through, splitting the Crystal Heart in pieces of two. A faint scream was all that was heard from Sombra as it released magic with the power of ten Megaspells combined. A soundless explosion occurred, and the Crystal Empire suddenly vanished, leaving only the top of the Crystal Tower above the snowy tundra.

A blizzard of radiated snow began, and continued for another 200 years....

Chapter 2: A Night to Remember

Chapter Two: A Night to Remember

“Why is the wasteland so fun?”

200 years later, Manehatten...

A small gust blew across the streets of downtown Manehatten, so nice, so peaceful...well maybe when I’m not busy blasting raider pony heads off! Sweet Celestia the bastards are persistent! I swooped down, doing a barrel roll mid-flight, all while dodging bullets and grenades. I landed on top of a building, some barber shop I thi- oh why the hell do I care! I got a good view of the chaos below. Raider ponies were attacking the caravan I was travelling to New Appleoosa with, and now I began reloading microfusion cells back into my shotgun’s drums. I love my gun! So elegantly designed by...ok back to the battle Skyline! I flew down entering S.A.T.S, looking around for a leader of some kind. Well that was pointless, since raiders are...well....raiders! There never is a head honcho, and even if there was, I’m guessing he would be as crazy as the others.

“Hmmm, lets see here....head....head...ohh a flamethrower gas tank! Interesting...”

I exited S.A.T.S, letting off a spray of energy shells which exploded a raider who was....fucking eating Dandy Lion’s head! I got distracted, and was smacked in the face by a thrown baseball bat, hitting the ground hard.

“Gah! Shit!! Who the heck throws a baseball bat?!”, I yelled as three raiders headed my way, one of them with a....flamethrower.Just. My. Luck.

The first one jumped wildly at me with a hatchet, and I deflected it with my right metal wing, causing a large “CLANK” and sparks that spewed in the raiders face. I forced my wing up, causing the hatchet to sky rocket into the air, and the raider to be defenceless. He looked almost happy when I blew his brains out with my shotgun.

“Terst muh flermes yer littar shiet!!” screamed a raider, who I could barely understand. Probably because she was chewing on a raider’s head in her mouth.

Flames burst from her flamethrower, and I quickly broke left with only minor degree burns. She not-so-gracefully turned the flamethrower’s tube towards my direction, burning both merchants and raiders alike. I flew up with the smell of burned tail, which just happened to be mine. I ignored it, and loaded up S.A.T.S again.

“Bingo!”, I had spotted the raider with the flamethrower, her gas tanks exposed to me.

I fired my shotgun, and it hit home.

BOOM!!!

A small, fiery explosion occurred around the flamethrower raider, causing her and a few other raiders to catch fire. I think what disappointed me was that they were laughing the whole time.

She ran around on fire, the last raider still burning alive, when suddenly a familiar hatchet fell from the sky and landed on her skull, slicing her tiny brain in two.

I smiled at the irony.

“Just. My. Luck!”

*** *** ***

The caravan(what was left of it)finally arrived at New Appleloosa. Man I was tired! I really needed some Sparkle Cola Quantum right now, with a side of more ammunition. We all unloaded our trading goods, mine being some scrap electronics, a few grenades, and a ton of old gun parts I found in the ruins of Arbu. I headed in with the others when Ramrod, our caravan leader, stopped me.

“Skyline, I-”

“Ramrod, just call me Sky, ok? It makes me feel like we’re really good friends and stuff.”, I said sarcastically. He was always way too serious, so I liked messing with him. Ya gotta have some fun in the wasteland!

“This is serious Skyline, we lost a lot of good merchandise back in Manehatten. Too much, to the point I have to deduct everypony’s pay by 100 caps. Unless of course we get a huge profit here. I need you to get as much caps as you can today trading, or go find something that’s worth a ton. Can I count on you?”

I rolled my eyes, I mean why should I care? I can support myself, I just hang with these guys because I get to explore a ton. I’ve been to Hoofington for Celestia’s sake!

“Yeah, yeah, you can count on me.” I said as I wiggled my forehoof in his face.

He just stared at me with his “don’t fuck up” look on his face. Of course he always had that look whenever he talked to me.

I headed on over to “Absolutely Everything”, the local general store in New Appleloosa. When I walked in I was greeted with a smile from Ditzy Doo, and a “hello!” on her chalkboard. She was probably the nicest pony left in the wasteland, and the only pegasus, along with me, I had seen that wasn’t in the Pegasus Enclave.

“Hey Ditzy, I got a lot to sell to ya.”

We bartered for a long time, and I must say I’m pretty good at bartering, but she usually won on the prices. She’s a ghoul for Celestia’s sake! It’s not really fair when you’re bartering with somepony who has been around for more than 200 years!!!

“Thanks Ditzy! I’ll see ya when I come back from Friendship City.” I said as I began to walk out of the store. Suddenly Ditzy waved her forehoof to stop me and get my attention.

“Huh, what is it? Did I forget something? Do you need something?”

She then went under her counter to retrieve something, and came back up with a book. It had a grey cover and what I assumed to be a black pony skull. I then squinted and read aloud,
“The Wasteland Survival Guide.”

“ Sorry Ditzy, but I don’t think I need a book to help me survive the wasteland.”

Then she frowned. Ahh! I couldn’t stand to see her frown! Wow am I an asshole.

“Alright, alright! I’ll take it.”

Her face brightened up, and she made what seemed to be a silent squee of joy.

“Oh, uh...how much is it?”

She scribbled something on her chalkboard, then turned it to face me.

It’s free!

“ Wow, thanks Ditzy! I’ll see you later!” Then I walked out of the store, and headed towards...well wherever drinks were served!

*** *** ***

“You know what the greatest thing given to us by those pre-war ponies is? Sparkle Cola Quantum! Its like Sparkle Cola....but with twice the spark! Or sparkle. Whatever, its just really awesome! Like if I had to range it on a percentage scale, it would be like.....20% better than...other...stuff...” I said as I gulped down my fourth Quantum.

The ponies sitting with me at the table just started laughing, one spitting his drink all over from laughing so hard! I laughed too because it was fuuuunny! Huhu!

“Wow Sky, I never thought I’d see the day! A stallion who gets drunk from too much Sparkle Cola! Hahahaha!!!”

“Hey! This....this isn’t regular Sperkle Cola, its uh...um...Quantum! And don’t you guys forget that!” Wow! The fifth bottle was the best! So....quantumy!

“Clanks, whadya reckon is wrong with Sky? How can Quantum make somepony drunk?”
asked the guy with the funny cowboy hat. Haha! He’s a cowboy...

I then lifted my sixth bottle to the air, screaming, “WITH SCIENCE!!!” I then fell out of my comfy chair, and onto the floor, my bottle soaring through the bar and hitting somepony’s face.

Suddenly the bar went quite.

I stumbled up, smiling widely at the stallion with broken glass in his face.

“HAHA!! I can see my reflection! Get it? Because....you got glass....in your eyeballs! Haha!!”

The stallion took up his beer bottle, and threw it towards me. I was stumbling so much it missed, hitting the pony with the funny cowboy hat.

“You BASTARD!!” yelled the pony with the funny cowboy hat, who then seemed to glide across the room, tackling the stallion that threw the bottle.

Suddenly there was a lot of ponies yelling for some reason, and I went up to the bar, seeing ponies hit each other with chairs, bottles, pretty much anything they could get their hooves on. How do we even grab stuff anyway? I lifted up my forehooves, wiggling them around. I put a bottle onto the counter, slowly wrapping my forehoof around it.

“Wha...how is it possible...hehe...sciencey!”

Suddenly a pony slid across the counter, screaming while crashing into bottles. My bottle too! How dare...he....she...whatever! Nopony ruins my sciencey experiments! I looked to my left, seeing the stallion who threw the pony across.

“CHAAAARGE!!!” I screamed, flying across the room at the stallion. He ducked and I went right through the wall. I slammed into a large garbage bin, the top slamming down.

I felt tired in the darkness of the garbage bin,and slowly drifted off to sleep with the taste of yummy Quantum in my mouth.

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Quantum Strength--+10% damage to any pony/zebra after consuming Sparkle Cola Quantum, but -2 to Intelligence

Chapter 3: Places to Go, Ponies to See

Chapter Three: Places to Go, Ponies to See

“I need something....new”

Agh! My head hurt like hell! And I was sitting in....I don’t know what but it smelled like crap! Then I heard some yelling outside, more like arguing. It sounded like Ramrod. I moved my hoof around in the darkness, finally pushing up. Once my eyes adjusted, I realized I was in a garbage bin, then looked over at a giant hole in the wall of the....crap, I must have screwed up really bad last night. I caught a glimpse of the bar through the hole, and even through that small glimpse I could tell it was a wreck. I climbed out of the--well more like fell out of the garbage bin, and got back up, seeing Ramrod and the bar owner arguing. Then Ramrod saw me...and I really wish he didn’t.

He then turned away from the bar owner, and jumped out of the hole in the wall, trotting towards me with a “you’re fucking dead” look on his face.

I started to speak up, when suddenly he turned and bucked me in the face, slamming me against the wall of the building behind me.

“Gah!! What the hell Ramrod?! What’s your-”

“Do you realize what you’ve done to me Skyline?! You’re little fiasco last night caused a breakout, basically destroying that bar! You wondering how that’s connected to me? I have to pay for repairs! And do you know how much that costs? 2,000 fucking caps!! You just put my caravan back three months pay, and now I have no choice but to fire you!”

“Well fine! I only hung out with your little caravan to explore and get free food! I think I can manage on my own! Oh yeah, and I always thought you were tight up little fuck too!! You’re just pathetic, I bet you couldn’t even kill a radroach!”

I think I pushed too far on the last comment, because he then pulled out his bowie knife, and clenched it hard in his mouth, staring at me with his dark red eyes.

“Ha!! Bring it on!! I’ll kill you the second you try something!” I said, pulling out my specialized combat shotgun.

We stood there, looking at each other with angry eyes. I was waiting for him to try something, and he was....I really have no idea what he was thinking on doing. He brought a big knife to a big gun fight, he really didn’t have the upper hoof here, and although I really wanted to at least blast a limb off, I never shoot first...well when I’m not facing raiders of course. Just then, the bar owner came over to us.

“Alright lower your weapons! My bar already has enough damage to it, blood ain’t gonna help it look any better. Now you fellas have a problem, take it outside of the town. Now you,” he pointed a hoof at Ramrod, “you are gonna pay me the 2,000 caps to repair the place. And you,” then he pointed his hoof to me, “I don’t want to see you in this town again! We got ponies hurt because of you, and finding health potions an’ such ain’t easy. So get!”

Ramrod looked at me with hatred in his eyes, then said in a lowered voice to me, “I will kill you for this.”

Angered and shocked at his statement, I flew off and away from New Appleloosa, not sure what to do next.

*** *** ***

What am supposed to do now? I mean I can continue traveling the wasteland and stuff, but that just isn’t going to be fun anymore. Ramrod may have been a total ass, but at least he provided food and some other merchants as company. It just isn’t fun when you’re alone in the wasteland. So now I have to actually worry about food supplies, a safe place to sleep, and watch my back the whole time. And to top it all off, I now have a guy who is out to kill me! Well I don’t really see him as a tracker type of pony, I mean he always groomed his mane, so I’m not afraid of the guy himself...I’m afraid of the people he knows.

Traveling in the caravan didn’t really restrain me from exploring, so I usually ignored all the major trading Ramrod did with the Talon mercs, which was the main group he dealt in trading with, weapons and ammunition, that sort of thing . But one thing’s for sure, there was a lot of trading with that group, so much that Ramrod was able to get major protection when in a big settlement, such as Friendship City.

I never really noticed how big of a threat he was until now. I got three choices then. One, I can kill Ramrod off, but I’m no murderer and I’m not aloud back in New Appleloosa, plus it’s probably going to take awhile to pay back the caps he owes and I’m not going to wait around in the wasteland.

My second choice would be to go somewhere his mercenaries wouldn’t, like Fillydelphia, but that would be suicide for me too. Ever since that Red Eye guy started going wacko against the Enclave that place is a deathtrap. Of course there’s Canterlot, I hear there’s a bunch of treasures there, that and some type of pink poisonous cloud. Yeeeah that’s probably a no go. Even though I’m a pegasus I wasn’t born in the clouds, so that could be a good place to go...although I’ve heard rumors that anything from the ground that comes near the clouds not wearing anything Enclavey, is in for some deep shit.

Final choice is to find someplace new. Equestria is big and all, but when you’re in a caravan it kinda shrinks in size, plus a ton of places are so hyped on radiation it’s impossible to get in without dying of radiation poisoning. A lot of megaspells fell ya know. And surprisingly I actually learned a lot while traveling, lots of ruins have a ton of data and info on the days before the war. I found out that Equestria isn’t the only big country around, there’s places like Saddle Arabia, Germane, and even some place in the arctic north...the Crystal Empire I think?

Well...choice three sounds the best to me, although I’m going to need a lot more info about these places outside Equestria, for all I know they could be in even worse condition. But I think I know the place to find out...

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Saddle Up level 1--you can now carry 10 pounds more in your inventory. Anything with a weight of four or less now weigh half as much for you.

Chapter 4: Harkan's Talons

Chapter Four: Harkan’s Talons

“A friend in the wastes is like an ally in a war”

You would think,me being a pegasus and all,it would be a smooth ride traveling through the ruins of Manehatten. Well thats not the case when you have four Talon mercenaries chasing you through the sky! The odds are totally against me, and thats usually what happens when you’re alone in the wasteland. I swerved in and out of buildings, trying to shake the bastards away from me, but that was completely useless. I suddenly dived down, going as fast as my metal wings could take me. I was hoping they would stop chasing, because usually diving strait down doesn’t end so well. My plan worked! Well, partially, because I pulled up almost too late causing me to crash into a building through glass, old cabinets, and a lot of other stuff that hurt like hell.

“Ahh! Shit!! Why does glass have to be so damn sharp!”, I said, realizing I now had a large gash through my lips.

Suddenly I heard four griffons land softly, and I hid behind some old desk covered with pre-war papers.

“Fuck! This one is going to be an ass to kill, I can already tell. Vance, you take the top floor, Reyes you take bottom. Aoroles and I will be scouting the outside to make sure the bastard doesn’t escape. Let’s move out!”

Well now I know Ramrod got his mercenaries, I was expecting more time but I guess he couldn’t afford to let me escape. Alright,so it looks like I’m going to have to fight out of this one since they pretty much have me trapped. But I am definitely not going to die in some pre-war building. There was a sudden movement around me, and then I was face to face with the one called Reyes.

“He’s he-!”

Just before he could finish I stood up on my hind legs and punched him in the throat, causing him to stammer. I then jabbed him multiple times in his stomach, flipped over his back while pulling his wings back. Then I placed my left hind leg on his lower back, pushing it hard on his back while at the same time pulling his wings towards me. Then there was a loud snap, the griffon tried screaming but lost his voice in the pain. I released him, and he fell down unconscious and paralysed from the waist down.

If a person dies in a group, the group can carry on. But an injured member is a burden to the group. Something my father taught me.

I then took Reyes’ unconscious body up to the fourth floor, which was about mid way up the building where the two other griffons were surveying around outside. I placed him down near a window, and took out my specialized combat shotgun, blasting the window to pieces. Hopefully that will get their attention.

“Harkan look! Reyes is down!”

Yes, it worked! Now they were headed towards....oh crap I gotta hide! I looked around frantically, then at the ceiling. Perfect! I flew up, and spread my hooves to keep myself balanced on the ceiling. Three griffons flew in and landed by their paralysed member. The one I assumed the leader was Harkan, he had jet black feathers with some white around his beak and green eyes, and was by far the toughest looking one with his albino hellhound gauntlets on both of his claws.
Then he spoke up.

“Damn it Reyes. Vance check if he’s still alive.”

Then the one called Vance knelt down by his comrade lifting his claw, and checked his pulse. This one had a certain resemblance to Reyes, both of them having snow white feathers and red eyes. The only difference being that Vance had some dark red accents around his eyes.

“He’s still alive. Aoroles, hand me some Dash and Buck, quickly!”

Aoroles then dug through her luggage and damn she’s beautiful! I never thought I’d be attracted to a griffon, but her body and those pink and white feathers! Alright, calm down Sky, she’s one of the ones that’s trying to kill you, not looking for a date.

Vance then proceeded to inject the Dash into his friend, who quickly woke up, screaming in pain.

“AHHHH!! Shit!! I can’t feel my back! Do something Vance!!”

“Hold still!! I’m going to give you some Buck, now swallow these pills.”

Reyes swallowed, and after a minute or so relaxed. Then Harkan stepped over to Reyes, looking more pissed than concerned at him.

“What the hell happened Reyes?! Did the bastard sneak up on you or something?!”

Reyes stammered for a second, then leaned against the wall, unable to stand.

“I-I found him hiding behind one of those old desks, and I was about to yell for you guys.Then all of a sudden this guy goes all zebra style standing on his hind legs, and punches me in the throat and beats me at my stomach and I couldn’t breath!! And like a second later, he’s flipping over me pulling my wings back....next thing I know I’m here and I can’t feel my wings or anything below my waist...”

Startled, Vance spoke up.

“He used Fallen Caesar Style...”

I smirked. Learned from the best! Well my father was the best I knew.

Harkan, angered and confused, spoke.

“What the hell is this guy?! I thought only zebras knew how to do that kind of shit!”

“Well obviously he either read a handbook on how to do it his whole life, or he was raised by a zebra. I’m guessing the latter, it’s possible he’s a halfer, or Zony. A rare sight in the wastes from what I've heard .”

Harkan looked pissed.

“That bastard Ramrod didn’t tell us we were up against some fucking assassin! This guy is worth way more than 1,000 caps.”

Wow, thanks Ramrod.Now I know how much I’m worth to you.

“Maybe we should search tomorrow, with Reyes in this condition I’ll need at least one of you to help me carry him, leaving just one to go out searching, and I think you know Harkan that you won’t find him on your own.” said Vance to Harkan, who obviously didn’t like the idea.

“No, I ain’t waiting around just because this idiot screwed up! Because of you Reyes, this guy got away! Hell, he’s probably gone by now while we’re here treating your ass!”

My face grew red with embarrassment. Why am I just waiting here! Agh! Its too late now...

Suddenly Harkan grabbed Reyes and held him over the edge of the broken window.

“AAHH! What are you doing Harkan!!”

“What I do to anyone who screws up.”

Harkan let go of Reyes, who then plummeted to his death. Vance tried to fly after him, but was pushed back by Harkan and slammed into the desk behind him.

“What the hell Harkan?! We could have helped hi-”

“Shut up Vance, or you’ll end up like your brother.” said Harkan in a disturbingly calm voice.

Vance looked at Harkan with hatred burning in his eyes, then he looked at...me! Oh shit!! What am I...but nothing happened. He didn’t say anything at all! But Harkan caught his glance, saw me, and pulled out two .44 Magnums!

“Gotcha you little fuck!”

Quickly, I jumped to the ground, barely dodging Harkan’s shots, and flew out the window as fast as possible.

“After him!!”

Before I knew it, the chase through the city was beginning again, only this time I think I had an ally.

We zoomed at high speeds, dodging buildings left and right, spinning through the small spaces left between buildings leaning on another. I then headed strait up, and glanced at who was behind me. Harkan, Aoroles, and Vance all were after me. Then I stopped completely. All of a sudden the four of us were floating mid air....they had me surrounded. Or so I thought. Vance then unsheathed a katana sword, lashing out at Harkan. Both Harkan and Aoroles were caught off guard, so I took my chance and pulled out my specialized combat shotgun, blasting Aoroles, who was about to kill Vance.

Vance disarmed Harkan of his .44 Magnums, leaving him to use his albino hellhound gauntlets. Vance sliced for Harkan’s wing, but was countered with a slash from Harkan. The two cut, sliced, and lashed out at each other, neither one of them letting up. I would have shot Harkan by now, but Vance was to close in for me to take a safe shot. Vance went in for a stab in Harkan’s stomach, but Harkan grabbed the katana, crushing it under the massive pressure of his gauntlets. Vance was defenceless, so I had no choice but to shoot. I aimed more towards Harkan, but the spray of the shotgun still hit Vance. They both started plummeting towards the ground, and I flew after Vance.

I barely reached him in time, catching him and slamming into the ground, making us both tumble across the destroyed roads. I stammered and got up, looking around to see where Harkan was, but he was nowhere in sight. Damn! I have a feeling he’ll be back, mercenaries don’t tend to give up so easily, especially a leader of Talons.

I trotted over to Vance who had slammed into an old pre-war wagon. He was unconscious and had a minor wound near his ribs.Night was coming, so I put him on my back and flew up towards higher ground to rest for the night.

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Ferocious Fighter - You now have a 20% chance of paralysing your opponent with Unarmed attacks

Chapter 5: Caps and Contracts

Chapter Five: Caps and Contracts

“Money can save ya and kill ya, but it can’t give ya a true friend”

I wonder sometimes, why the wasteland is so cold during the night.It always feels that way to me, maybe because of all this death and meaningless destruction? The loss of our goddesses, our friends, our damn lives?! Everything those ponies did before the war....would they have taken it back if they saw what happened? What about the griffons, the buffalo, the dragons, the zebras....would they have taken it all back?

My father once told me that war, war never changes. But ponies do....even when they were the ones who killed him.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

I gasped for air as I woke up, feeling as if I had flown for miles! All sweaty and...ugh. Then I looked around noticing that Vance had woken up and started a fire. He barely glanced at me when he spoke.

“Thanks back there,” then he shot a stern stare, “even if you did shoot me.”

“I....uh..”

He smirked at my expression, “Aw I’m just fuck’n with ya. I know you had no choice but to shoot, but it’d be nice if you didn’t aim so low next time. You almost killed my kin back there.”

“What?! I wasn’t even close! I shot your ri-” A sharp pain shot around my lip, and it started gushing blood.

Vance quickly got up, and came over to me with a needle and some old string.

“Don’t scream so much, that gash on your mouth is pretty bad. I stitched it up as best I could and gave you a healing potion, I’m afraid a cut that bad is going to stay with you forever. Hopefully the potion will heal the worst of it in a couple of days.”

Once he finished, I moved my mouth around, then stuck my tongue out feel the crude stitches on my mouth. Hmm, I can still taste some Quantum!

“Sweet a scar! Always wanted one of those!”

He looked at me like I was the craziest guy in Equestria! What?! Scars are cool!

“What? Why are you staring at me?”

“I can’t believe you know Fallen Caesar Style. I expected you to be more....serious.”

“Well trust me, when you’ve seen the stuff I’ve seen, you kind of have to liven up your wasteland experience....wanna bottle of Quantum? Eh? Ehhhhh?” I said smiling, waving the bottle in his face.

He just seemed agitated at me. I swear his eye started twitching, but he eventually took the bottle of Quantum. We sat by the fire, and it was really awkward. Mainly because he just sat there staring at me. He wasn’t even drinking his Quantum! I stared at his bottle, then to him, then back to the bottle, then back to hi-

“AGHH! Will you stop staring at the fucking bottle?!”

“..........ya gonna drink that?”

I swear if he had hooves, he would have smacked his face with them.

About two hours later into the night, neither one of us had slept. Eventually I decided to start asking questions.

“Sooo...what’s your story?”

Vance sighed deeply, and without taking his eyes off the fire, he started talking.

“I might as well tell you, its not like I’ll be going anywhere tonight.”

Sweet, a story! With my Quantum in my hooves, I listened closely.

“It all began ten years ago. My father was the leader of Asoka’s Talons,named after him of course.His coat of feathers as white as the sky in the story books, and his eyes as red as mine, a true leader to behold. He never accepted any contracts that involved killing someone, didn’t believe the wasteland needed anymore violence, even if these contracts did bring in the most caps. We all agreed with his ideals, all 100 of us. Everyone but Harkan.He began working behind my father’s back, accepting any contracts that involved murder. His actions began to give our group a bad name and our old contracts started to slip away. No contracts meant no caps to keep us afloat. The griffons started questioning my fathers leadership. Even when we were about to lose all our caps and contractors, my father still kept to his ideals. Harkan took this opportunity by gathering those who wanted my father out of the picture, and promised them a vast amount of caps and a reputation that would gain respect.”

“Only a few were still loyal to my father, Reyes and myself included. Asoka’s Talons was split in two, and eventually battles started to break out around the wasteland. Those who chose to leave my father joined up with Harkan’s Talons. With all the contracts that Harkan had, they were swimming in caps, buying better weapons, armor, supplies, anything that would take Asoka’s Talons out of the picture. Even outgunned, my father still had respect among other Talons, gaining allies from Manehatten to Baltimare. Before we knew it an entire war between Talons erupted. It became known as the Contract War. Not many outside the Talons knew about it, mainly because it wasn’t like any war before it. We fought for contracts, caps, and respect. After five years, my father was killed in a skirmish between some of Harkon’s Talons, he was caught off guard you see, given a fake contract and was cornered and killed in Baltimare. It all slowed down after that, and eventually the Talons all separated again.”

“Harkan’s Talons is still one of the biggest groups of mercenaries in the wasteland, and now in his growing age takes jobs involving murder from anywhere and for any price above 1,000 caps just to keep his blood pumping. Reyes and I were found a few months ago by Harkan, and said if we didn’t join him we would die like our father. We had no other choice, and just to piss us off he made us part of his scouting group.We were heading back to Baltimare but got a transmission for a contract from an old associate during the Contract Wars, the guy who sold Harkan the weapons, armor, and ammunition that were used to kill my father and countless others, Ramrod.”

*** *** ***

“I can’t believe all that happened, and I didn’t even notice! And Ramrod involved in it all....I feel like I never knew him.”

“Believe me, I never thought it would happen. I just hope it never does again. Caps and contracts can be a dangerous thing in the wasteland.”

Vance and I were packing up our things. I was ready to head out in search of info on the areas outside of Equestria. Vance....he didn’t really say what he was going to do. Maybe...

“Hey, uh, Vance.”

“Yeah?”

“I could always use a companion. You being a griffon, I would always have someone backing me in the skies and ground.”

He thought a moment, looking around at the ruins of Manehatten, then back at me.

“I’m sure Harkan will be back for me, and I think it’d be wise for me to have someone on my side when he does come. So, where are we headed?”

Smirking at my new companion, I knew exactly where to go from here.

*** *** ***

Ramrod was waiting impatiently with his caravan in the outskirts of Manehatten, awaiting news on Harkan. Suddenly Harkan arrived, only in a condition he didn’t expect.

“Harkan! What the hell happened? Did you kill the bastard?! Where is the bo-”

“Shut the fuck up you idiot! You didn’t tell me this Sky was some fucking killer! My whole team is dead, and one of’em turned on me! Should have known he would, just like his damn father.”

Startled and confused, Ramrod spoke.

“What do you mean? That idiot Skyline isn’t any threat! All he does is go around pretending to be some adventurer! There’s no way he killed all of your scouting party...”

“Well did you know that he can use Fallen Caesar Style?! Or that he’s some kind of mixed freak?!”

Ramrod couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He found Skyline bartering for that ridiculous Quantum drink back in Hoofington, he wasn’t with any zebras or anyone else, just alone.

“Wait, did you say Asoka’s son was with him?!”

“Yeah, the bastard lashed out at me for no reason at all! He even killed his brother just to help this guy escape.” Harkan convincingly said.

No! If Asoka’s son told him about anything during the war....this contract just became serious. If he blabs about me being involved, I could be put on a contract! The irony in it all....just sickening. I need to kill him without me being connected.

“Harkan, I need you to kill Skyline without being noticed or having me connected. I know this isn’t your favorite way to deal with a contract, but I will pay well if you do so.”

Harkan obviously didn’t like the idea of killing his contract from the shadows, but he had the guy just for the job.

“Alright Ramrod, but I want 35,000 caps for this one. But don’t expect the same special treatment for Asoka’s boy. I want to hear him scream when I rip open his stomach!”

Reluctantly, Ramrod agreed with the price. Although he told Skyline that he was short in caps back in New Appleloosa, he kept his wealth from the Contract War a secret. Caps can be taken or earned back, but when an employee causes a mess in a town like Skyline did, the trust is hard to regain. Especially in the wasteland, where trust is almost impossible to find.
Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Wing to Wing - You have a wingman now, and he’s got your back! When fighting in aerial combat, your chance of a critical hit increases by 15%