Fallout Equestria: Old World Renegades

Chapter One: A buck in the head

I was in pain. Alive but to what degree I was not sure. But I was alive and that was all that mattered. At first I didn’t have the strength to open my eyes. I felt numb all over as my body was flooded with increasing pain. I lifted a hoof slowly to my face as I rubbed one of my eyes only to draw it away seconds later as this only made the horrible feeling worse.

Slowly I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry for a while. Brushing my yellow mane from my face I glanced up at the sky which was full of clouds unlike what I was used to. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who I was!

I couldn’t remember my name leaving me franticly searching my thoughts trying to find it. My thinking was suddenly interrupted with a sharp jabbing pain at the back of my head as the nerves sprang to life. I used more strength than I should have to roll myself onto my side. Looking back over I found that the source of the jabbing was a small jagged rock splattered with blood.

Slowly I managed to sit up. Getting a view of my surroundings. To the left of me was a tall cliff with what seemed to be a shallow cave. Off in every other direction was nothing but dense forest and foliage that darkened under the leafy canopy. Looking back up I could spot a number of holes in the cloud cover above through which sunlight poured through. Putting the pieces together I recalled that the Enclave had trouble with the cloud canopy around the Everfree forest. So I knew where I was.

What I didn’t know was how I got here, who I was, or why I felt like complete shit. I searched for these thoughts as I rubbed my eye again. The pain not as severe this time as before. My vision cleared as I looked myself over. I had cuts and bruises all over my body. Blood standing out against my light blue coat had dried while trickling out of cuts that were just beginning to scab. The most notable cut being a curve across my side. As deep as it was I figured I was lucky to be alive. But with the amount of pain I would have settled for dead.

  Eventually I noticed that my cutie mark was not the yellow sunray I was used to. A dark cloud with a lightning bolt had taken its place. The mark of a Dashite.

I didn’t remember much but I knew that the Dashite brand wasn’t there before.

I clopped my forehead with my hind hoof trying to jog my memory but to no avail. If anything it made the feeling worse because I had somehow had chipped my hoof several times prior to me waking up.

I looked around me again. This time looking for anypony else nearby who might be able to help. Or at least know what was on. To my disappointment I was alone.

I staggered up on all fours. My legs wobbling and suddenly bursting with searing pain trying to tell me to sit back down.

I didn’t intend to use my legs. I was going to fly out to see if there was anything that would be helpful. I didn’t care how it was helpful I just needed help. Period. Besides my wings felt fine unlike the rest of me.

But as I spread my wings getting ready to launch myself into the air another searing bolt of pain sprung from my right wing. As I looked back at it I could see it was clearly broken. It was bent in a few spots right where bone should be and was bruised in a few spots. To my surprise it wasn’t bleeding and actually had most of its feathers. But it would still be useless for a good chunk of time.

My other wing however seemed to have no damage at all aside from a few scrapes and cuts. Not only that but I felt very little pain emanating from it. That or the rest of me hurt so much that it felt like the wing hurt too. But it was still only one wing and I couldn’t become airborne with just the one. Even so I probably didn’t have the strength to buck myself off the ground in the first place.

So flying was off the table. And the burning in my legs told me I was in no fit state to walk out of the forest. So I was stuck there.

I glanced over at the small cave which was burrowed into the Cliffside. I had paid no attention to it before but now I was staring at it with unbound curiosity.

I was in not fit shape to walk out of here. The pain all over my body was no better than it was when I woke up. And my wing was clearly not flying me anywhere anytime soon. This cave proved to be the only shelter in the immediate area around me.

A thought crossed my mind saying “dragons tend to live in caves”. I looked it over and I could just barely see the back end of the cave. If a dragon was in there it would have to be pretty damn small to be able to escape my gaze. So I ruled out that possibility. And considering my options right now this cave was starting to look like heaven.

I started trotting towards the cave.

I made it about five yards before the painful burning in my legs forced me to sit down again. I knew I was in bad shape but I expected to get farther than that.

I glanced back to the cave as something caught my eye. Slumped over a rock I could make out what looked like a saddlebag that was thrown over the jagged boulder. Considering I’ve had little to no hope at that point the saddlebag felt like a gift from above. My greatest hope was that it had some healing potions inside. Or at least some painkillers to dull the pain for a while.

It wasn’t much motivation but it was enough.

I pushed myself back up. Pain once again bursting from my legs as I slowly trotted my way over to the saddlebag.

I collapsed onto the rock it was nestled on. My muzzle impacting the hard surface. I hurt too much everywhere else to even notice. I grabbed the bag, rolled myself over, and let my fore hooves give as I slid down the cold hard surface of the rock into a sitting position.

I opened the bag only to have my hopes shattered by disappointment. The saddlebag had no healing potions or painkillers.

Instead the bag contained a knife, a blank notebook, a broken pencil, and a pair of brown goggles. Even though I was in a world of pain I felt slightly better having found at least this small collection of items. At least in mind. But it wasn’t helping my situation

The rock was no more than a few feet from the cave and I couldn’t find the strength to pull myself inside. I never felt so pathetic. I was in so much pain I was considering suicide. I did have a knife. And if I did it right it would be quick and relatively painless. I held the knife in my hooves thinking it over.

I asked myself questions like “what if it’s not sharp enough?” or “what if I mess it up?” the thoughts ran through me as I stared at the knife. Its blade like a mirror reflecting the cave off of it. I had held it away from my face for fear that it looked worse than the rest of me did.

I was about to do it when something in the reflection caught my eye. It wasn’t an object but an ever so faint green light emanating from behind a rock from within the cave.

I rolled back over and pulled myself onto the rock which I had been using to keep myself from lying face down. I could definitely make out a small pale green light.

Curiosity took over at that point. I pushed myself back up again sending my legs into yet another protest of pain. I then struggled my way over to the rock while dragging the saddlebag in my teeth unable to find the strength to sling it over my flank.

I made it over to the pony sized rock with the glowing behind it. At this point each step felt like I was wading through fire as my legs screamed out in pain. Eventually I collapsed onto my side with my eyes landing right in front of the light source. Sitting on the floor of the cave was a pip-buck.

I knew what it was but had no idea how it got here. It had been modified in many places. The standard strap to hold it on the leg had been cut off and replaced by a Velcro strap. Clearly whoever owned this had no intention of wearing it permanently. I looked through the databanks only to find them empty except for one message called “play me”

“Skylight!” I could recognize the voice as my own. “I know you’re confused right now. I don’t have a lot of time before they find me and chances are you ‘ll be suffering from amnesia...”

This struck me as odd because I thought I suffered a blow to the head that made me forget everything.

“if you can’t remember then that puts a wrench in our plan because I don’t have time to explain. I have maybe one minute before the enclave stumbles upon my location…”

Then shut up and explain me! At least I thought it was me.

“ok… I know you’re confused. Your name is Skylight. You have a blue coat, blonde mane, and a sunray cutie mark…”

Ok it was me.

“You’re here becau-“

The… my voice cut out with what sounded like a rock hitting my head followed by a loud thud and then static. I sat there a while. I played it again. Then a third time. I think I spent about fifteen minutes listening to it over and over.

I had no idea what to think of this new information. How did I know I had amnesia ahead of time? Maybe it was a precaution but in this case it was highly unlikely because I don’t know anypony who would prepare ahead of time for amnesia.

Why was the enclave after me? Did I do something to piss them off? I must have if they sent somepony down to find me. But from this recording all I had to go by was something hitting my head and knocking me out. For all I knew they could have had a raptor looking for me. I ruled that out figuring if they were desperate enough to send a raptor below the cloud cover then I would be dead right now.

So clearly they had no intention to kill me. But from the aching pain that was all over my body I could tell they were at least pissed. I can maybe imagine being concerned over amnesia ahead of time but it was still unlikely. I may be one paranoid pony but not that paranoid.

Remembering that I was paranoid made me realize I seem to remember a lot of things about myself. And for me to not remember something as simple as my name or reason for being here seemed way beyond coincidence. How could I possibly remember everything but my name and current task?

On top of all of my confusion I was also in denial. Part of me didn’t want to believe my name was Skylight. Even when I had conclusive evidence that it was. I didn’t know what to believe at this point. And I had only woke up about thirty minutes ago.

I slipped the pip-buck onto my arm and fastened the Velcro band. I had no intention of keeping it but I needed the medical readout to see how bad I was hurt. Part of me didn’t want to know but I pushed that thought aside knowing I was hurt and needed to know if I was in critical condition.

To my relief it actually wasn’t that bad. Nothing was broken except for my wing which had fractures left and right. The pain I was feeling was just from the cuts and bruises I had somehow obtained. Well I was no medical expert but I figure it should have hurt a lot less than it did.

I figured the pain would go away over a short time during which I could do some more thinking. The only thing keeping me from trotting out of here was this burning in my legs which had now ceased since I stopped using them.

Thoughts came again as I realized I had no real drive to actually leave this place I woke up in. I didn’t have any goal or path to take because somepony knocked me out before I could tell myself. At least I think it was a pony.

I turned on the pip-bucks Eyes Forward Sparkle. Figuring it would be better at finding somepony nearby. The search turned up nothing. There was nopony near me to help.

Isolation started to fall into play as I realized I was truly alone.

I hated being all alone.

I went back to my thoughts trying to forget my isolation. I started questioning the dashite brand on my flank. I had figured the enclave burned it on while I was out. i searched my thoughts and came up with nothing as to why I would want to come down here. So far I hated it for all it was worth. And the last thing I would want was to be labeled as a “renegade who defects to the old world” as my father would say. I wondered what he would think of me now that I had unwillingly become one of said renegades. He’d probably say I was a flat out traitor and buck me straight to the moon.

As much as I hated my father I still respected his decisions. At least he wasn’t there to see me curled up in this cave. Or for all I knew he was one of the ponies who were hunting me down.

Next thing I knew an hour had passed and it getting dark. I had spent all this time just contemplating what has happened. Thoughts were still flowing around my head as I realized I was still lying on the hard cave floor.

It wasn’t exactly comfortable. But at this point all I wanted to do was sleep. I figured I would wake up and the pain would be gone.

My eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.