Fallout Equestria: Bronies Dawn

Chapter 2: Starting point

Fractured black veins spread through the landscape, crawling into the horizon with the wind whispering into my mind. From our position we could see the grey skeleton of what once had been a prosperous town called Ponyville, now joining countless of crumbled cities all over the Wasteland. Looking around, we spotted a pair of radscorpions minding their own business.

Mecha was shaking, and no matter how many times I asked her, she always replied, “I’m fine” over and over. It was clear that she wasn’t ready for this.

“Are you sure that you still want to do this? We can always try another day when you’re more relaxed, or at least when you stop trembling so much.” I kneeled at her left and as I rested my hand on her shoulder, her shoulders slumped and her body stopped shaking.

“Don’t worry, I got this. I’ll show you what I’m made of!”  A halo of magic wrapped the varmint rifle as she adopted the same stance I taught her and aimed at the radscorpions. She pulled the trigger, firing a single bullet and impacted one of the radscorpions as a fountain of blood erupted from its forehead. The remaining ones were alerted and started to run heading straight towards our position, clacking their claws and with their stings raised.

Mecha was starting to lose her cool as they approached. Her bravado didn't last long. She was panicking again. “Buck!” She fired four shots more, of which one of her bullets impacted on the left claw. The creature stopped in his tracks for a moment before resuming his attack and clacking his remaining claw angrier than before.

“This fucking shit ran out of bullets!” She was struggling to reload the gun, but I knew that they would reach us before she could even take aim.  I quickly equipped my 9 mm and fired a few times. Holes appeared all over his torso and head before falling to the floor, his blood staining the warren sands. The other didn’t stop, focusing his attention on myself.  I pressed the trigger again, trying to strangle my gun, but all I received in response was a click.

“What was that? Why did you stop firing at them?” Her voice was trembling with every word.

I aimed at the scorpion between the eyes and squeezed the trigger, but all I got in return was a distinguishing click. “Jammed? Why do they always break in the worst moment?” The scorpion attacked me with his sting so fast that I barely managed to avoid it. Taking this chance to fight him back, I seized his sting and plunged it inside his head. Blood splattered all over my face as he struggled in vain and his strength slowly faded away until he couldn’t move anymore. Releasing his tail, I kicked his dead body as hard as I could in frustration, taking a few deep breaths until I finally cooled down.

I could feel her head gently nudging against my waist, going up and down. She spoke to me, her voice filled with sorrow and sadness. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have panicked.”

I crouched down to her eye level and patted her on the shoulder before hugging her with my arm. “No, it’s not your fault. I should have waited before sending you to the battlefield. You’re not fit for this, Mecha.” I was an idiot for trying to turn her into myself. After all, she was born in a bunker without knowledge of the world beyond the steel door. “I don’t want to get you killed because I was too stupid to realize that you’re still not ready for this.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m ready for anything you can throw me! I just got nervous because they’re so big, and with those claws and stings, and-”

I interrupted her. “I know, I know, don’t worry. Next time you should try the aiming system, and don’t start shooting so wildly. If you waste too much ammo, you won’t be able to defend yourself. I think we should leave our training for another day, when you’re ready. ”

A smile appeared on her face, quickly followed by a big grin.“Yeah, you’re right. But don’t worry, I promise you do it better the next time we find one of those things. I will be somepony you can be proud of,” she replied, rubbing her head against my arm.

“I’m already proud of you, Mecha. You don’t have to show me that you can do everything; just focus on what you do best.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I want to do something else. Just because I have a Cutie Mark for repairing things does that mean that I can’t try something else, like...” She struggled to find a word. “I don’t know, but I want to develop my other skills.”

“Don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to develop all of your skills. But as of now, just keep focused on learning how to use guns. And remind me to fix this junk when I find some spare parts.” I extracted the jammed shell and examined the clip. Five bullets left and another ten clips full of ammo. “This should be enough to take care of any more mutated creatures we could find as long as it doesn’t get jammed at the worst moment.”

“Don’t worry, you can leave them to me,” she replied before reloading. The gun answered with a clack, ready to shoot anything in front of her. The rest of our travel remained undisturbed, and I couldn’t help but feel rusty after spending so many years underground and leading a life without monsters, mutants and such. I wasn’t allowed to use guns because of fear that I would start a massacre; they obviously didn’t know how easily one can build a weapon or even a bomb with the right ingredients.

We continued through the remnants of the road towards the ruins of Ponyville, since experience told me that straying away from the roads will end you in a nest of Cazadores or even Hellhounds. It’s not strange to hear about travelers who tried to take a shortcut and disappeared without a trace, and even entire groups without a single survivor, believed to have been attacked and killed by raiders.

Ponyville was different from the other towns that still remained in Equestria. While most towns were composed of flats, the town was plagued with skeletons of wooden buildings reduced to rubble and firewood, yet nowhere did we find any traces of metal beams or concrete. Only a few buildings remained standing, the remaining ones now turned into improvised coffins for the unfortunate souls who thought they would be safe from the Great War.

Mecha was trembling, constantly checking her Littlepip in search of any enemies hiding nearby. “You don’t think that these buildings contain those hideous creatures ready to attack, right?”

“Don’t worry. I can take care of a few radscorpions by myself.”

“I know, but for a moment there I thought you were injured. With all that blood flying, and…” Words failed her, but I already knew what was going through her head. I couldn’t blame her, since even I had doubts that I could fight a group of radscorpions on my own, but I wasn’t going to show fear or weakness in front of her.

“Hey, you’re with one of the best survivors of the entire Wasteland. That radscorpion couldn’t scratch me, much less kill me. Trust me, everything will be alright.” She didn’t say anything, but the smile spreading through her face was all I needed to see. My Littlepip emitted a few beeps, bringing my attention to the small screen, now telling me that the map had been updated with the location of Ponyville’s ruins.

Even though this place had once been a town, it was probably the size of a small city, able to contain hundreds of families. As we walked through the empty streets and crumbling homes, there was one thing catched my attention, an old, giant tree sitting in the middle of what seemed to be a plaza. The shattered windows allowed me to take a look at the inside, but it was pitch black. A black scar was carved on its skin, starting at its roots and rising towards the tree’s crown, the remaining branches stripped of their leaves. The rest of the tree wasn’t that damaged, but there were obvious traces of vandalism still imprinted on the crust and its surroundings.

Mecha was the first to break the silence.  “So, what do you think that happened here?”

“I’d say that’s probably the work of raiders having fun.” I had visited too many raiders’s nests to identify their signature between all the wreckage and damage done by the war. I gestured Mecha to get closer and to lower her voice as I gripped the varmint rifle, ready to shoot anything that moved.

“Do you think they’re still around?” she whispered.

”I don’t know. Maybe it’s abandoned, but it’s as rare as surviving a Hellhound’s attack.” I checked my Littlepip in search of any warning of a raider ambush. Nothing.

Mecha’s voice destroyed the silence that surrounded us. “Then maybe we’re lucky.” I raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you survived an attack from a Hellhound, and even managed to kill him in the process. Of all the stories you have told me, this one is my favorite. ”

I remember that story. How could I even forget it? If it hadn’t been for that Hellhound, I wouldn’t have been allowed into the Stable Vault, which started this journey in the first place. I expulsed these thoughts from my mind, focusing on what really mattered. Slowly approaching the door, I examined my surroundings in search of any hidden trap, but I didn’t find anything. A red small door adapted to an average pony’s height proved to be the only way inside, sealing its contents from any outsiders. Raiders always left traps when they left a nest for shits and giggles.

“You should get far from this door. There could be an explosive trap or something similar if I try to open it.” She nodded before backing away as far as she could to avoid a possible blast. I pressed the handle firmly and pushed as slow as I could, trying to get a peek inside, but I couldn’t see anything as far as a few feet in front of me. Activating the Littepip’s light, I aimed inside the darkness to find some land mines scattered all over the floor. The red, blinking eye on top of them told me that they were armed and ready to explode as soon as I stepped inside.

“Land mines? Those idiots couldn’t use a more obvious trap…” A suspicion struck me. It was way too obvious for them, and that usually resulted in a hidden trap somewhere else. Since coming through the door was the usual route, I went to one of the windows to look through the rest of the hollowed tree. I searched every corner, but I couldn’t find anything else aside from the land mines and lots of books stacked on the shelves.

“Mecha, can you come, please?” She approached cautiously, as if a single misstep could trigger the trap. “Do you want to learn how to disarm land mines with magic?”

“You’re going to force me even if I refuse, right?”

“Of course not! I want to teach you how to deactivate a trap if you ever find one. And these mines will be the first lesson.” I kicked the door open, revealing all the scattered landmines waiting for someone to step on them. “They only explode if you get close to them, so you can always use your magic to place them somewhere else. They can be deactivated, but that’s only possible when they’re ready to blow up in your face. It’s a bit risky, but it works as long as you know what you’re doing.”

“If this goes wrong and we die, I swear to Celestia that I will resurrect us so that I can kill you again.” I wasn’t sure if she was joking or serious. ”Alright then. Wish me luck.”

She put her safety glasses and concentrated her attention on one of the mines. A green light enveloped the mine and slowly but steady, it started to float towards us, carefully not to drop it on the way. As soon as it crossed the doorframe, an alarming beeping started a countdown towards our death, but Mecha didn’t run away or even flinch; she trusted me more than anyone in the Wasteland, as anyone else would just run away and leave me alone with the bomb.  After deactivating the mine, I dismantled the explosive charge to avoid any more trouble and placed it inside my backpack.

Mecha was still worried about bringing the mine with me. “Are you sure that it won’t explode?”

“Why are you asking that? You don’t trust me?”

“I’d say that the answer is pretty obvious if I had to ask you in the first place.” That was a good point.

“Don’t worry. The worst that could happen is that you’ll get covered with my blood, entrails and maybe some teeth. I would always be inside of you if you swallowed my eyeballs.”

“Thanks. I love you too.” Her deadpan expression was priceless.

It didn’t take us very long to disarm all the mines and get inside the tree. I knew something about tree houses, but I never thought I would see a house tree, or library in this case. We strolled through the door and took a gander at the inside. The library had been carved from the living tree, with countless books resting on endless shelves and a stump resting in the center of the room, probably serving as a table. The only source of light we had came from our Littlepips and the open doorframe, casting shadows all over the place and allowing us to see how much damage they did to the inside.

Most of the books left were scattered on the floor with their pages ripped out, and even some scorched copies. The walls were painted with blood, bullet holes and graffiti with slogans like “Death to humans”, “Fuck the Brotherhoof of Steel” and “Suck it up and choke, Enclave”.

I had the urge to look at the ceiling, discovering a collection of corpses hanging from chains and meat hooks, comprised of humans and ponies alike with expressio

The light that entered the library from the front door was casting strange figures, all of them similar, but very different from each other. Looking back to the door, I noticed that some shreds of light were pointing upwards to the ceiling; I lifted my gaze upwards, only to be greeted by mutilated corpses of their victims. Ponies and humans alike were hanging from the ceiling with meat hooks and chains lodged inside their bodies, missing body parts and some of them even being reduced to a simple torso. The expressions of fear frozen in their faces told me that they didn’t have a quick and painless death.

I could hear the horrified voice of Mecha, struggling to control her stomach. “By Celestia… All that people… How could they do something like this?”

I shook my head. “Because they can. No order, no laws, nobody to stop them… That’s a raider for you, Mecha. When you deal with them, getting killed is the only mercy they can show you. They like to play cruel games like blinding their victims and leaving them in the middle of a mine field.” I hated those bastards more than anything in the entire Wasteland, and I knew very well how they worked and what kind of sick, twisted games they played on their victims.

“Yeah, I can see it.” She approached one of the shelves and started to look among all the books, placing the ones left untouched inside her saddlebags. “Let me get some books and we can leave this place to never return again.”

“Alright, then. I’ll go and take a look around this place. Maybe those idiots forgot to steal something from this library. If you need something or someone attacks you, just scream.”

The upper floors of the library were no better. Anything that could have been considered valuable had been either destroyed or stolen by those raiders, making my search pointless. The last place I could search was the basement, with the door firmly locked. The excellent condition of the door contrasted with the environment – no scratches, bullet holes or any damage whatsoever. A strange aura surrounded the door, as if a spell shield had been casted to protect whatever was stored beneath the library.

Using a bobby pin, I spent a few minutes working on its bowels until the door finally opened with a triumphant click. My only guess was that the door was protected with a spell against damage, as to avoid any unwelcome visitors; luckily for me, lock picking wasn’t included on the list. The darkness of the basement made me feel uneasy, like the mouth of a giant dragon about to eat his next meal and hideous monsters lurking on the corner of my eye, ready to maul me after me as soon as I stepped inside.

An abandoned laboratory appeared in front of me, abandoned after all these years as it waited for someone to reveal its secrets. Thick layers of dust covered everything in sight as I walked down the stairs, leaving my footprints behind as their new visitor. The basement was home of some weird machinery I had never seen before, and I had the feeling that they could explode just by looking at them in a wrong way. My attention was directed towards an old, rotten desktop sitting on the opposite end of the room with some letters scattered all over the surface. From what I could grasp, these pages were some kind of diary about the first humans who came to Equestria.

I couldn’t help but feel like some pages had been missing, since it skipped entire days or even years describing some events between both species. The last entry was a study of the groups that rose between the humans after they installed in Equestria; the Bronies, who were willing to have a peaceful coexistence with the ponies and even helped them to improve their technologies and the Unity, who wanted to claim everything and eradicate or enslave anyone who opposed them. I didn’t really give a fuck about some old papers, but I knew some researchers who would pay a lot for these writings.

After I finished scavenging through the basement, I went upstairs to leave this place behind and resume our trip to the scrap yard. As we exited the library, Mecha started a new conversation to make the travel less boring.

“By the way, thanks.”

For a moment there, I thought I had missed part of the conversation. “For what?”

“For allowing me to be your partner. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have spent the rest of my life trapped in that bunker.” I couldn’t help but smile back at her, proud of having done something right in my entire life.

“No problem. After all, friends always help each other, right?” If someone had told me years ago that I would have a friend I could really trust, I would probably have shot them in the face. “So, did you find any interesting books?”

She quickly nodded with her head. “It was about time I could read something new. Those stupid books we had back at the Stable Vault weren’t entertaining in the slightest. I can’t wait to read them back at Small Town.”

“Don’t worry, you will have enough time to read them after we go back.” Not bad for a boring day.

New items acquired:

Diary from before the war

These old papers don’t seem to be of any use for you, but maybe you can get a good price from a researcher.

Books from before the war

Not very valuable, but you can always read them if you’re bored.