Fallout Equestria-Painful Truths

Anyone outside would tell you that it was hot. The cloud cover was sparse and not as thick as most days, which had the temperatures scorching the area.

The road was broken and in horrible disrepair, but that was how things were in the wasteland, ruined.

There was almost no one around to see the tiny black dot bobbing down the road, hovering on tiny wings just above the ground, no more than a meter or so.

As it followed the road more one could see that it was black at one time, the paint having faded and the metal rusting in other areas, a large panel on the front with a grill forming something akin to an eye and underneath the eye sat a tiny rod with a glowing red tip. Along the back of it’s spherical body were antennae and other broadcasting equipment, giving it the ability to transmit and broadcast radio frequencies, which it was doing, broadcasting a very familiar tune to those who had seen them before, heavy on tuba and accordion.

The music suddenly clicked off and the bobbing sphere stopped bouncing, turning left and then right.

“Hello? I don’t usually do this, but you are the only pony I’ve seen out here. Do you have any idea-“

A shot rang out. It boomed with a sublet electric buzzing as it punctured the central eye of the robot, dropping it where it flew. A figure walked out from behind a hulk of a auto wagon and approached the machine, walking cautiously and keeping a weathered eye down the road.

The pony loomed over the machine as it sparked and twitched, the broadcaster screeching and buzzing, and then dying.

“Stupid sprite bots, I thought these were all destroyed, damn things. Oh well, looks like dinner is on you, you little bastard.” The pony said, kicking it with a hoof and then lashing it to its back and then continuing down the road.

Chapter 1:

♪ This ain’t no place for no hero ♫

As I walked down the road more, I could see a glistening spire in the distance but it was no sign that I was any closer to the city. That damn place was visible from anywhere.

Keeping good watch on my peripherals, I could see that the normal squatters and people lining the road had scattered, probably hearing the machine before they saw it and thinking something from the city, who knows.

I’d been walking this road for nearly eight hours and I was actually hoping for something to do, a mugging, maybe even some raiders, raiders were fun to fuck with. Unfortunately the damn bot had scared everyone off and now I was stuck with that damn tune in my head, whoever had created it was a genius, and in my opinion, should have been shot for making such an obnoxious song.

My head was bobbing back and forth to that stupid song as I passed by the remains of a roadside power station. I turned to see a couple of ponies gathered underneath the overhang, a couple of cars sitting next to the recharge stations, burnt out and abandoned, but acting as a nice place to take cover from the heat and onlookers. I looked back to the road ahead and was greeted with the crooked smile of a brown unicorn stallion, his eyes looking from my legs to my saddle bags, “them some perty hooves you got there.”

“Uhm, thank you? Nice… smile.” I said, seeing his crooked and rotted teeth and thinking this buck clearly was from out of town.

“Them some perty teeth too…” he said, licking his lips, his left eye twitching only slightly.

“Thanks.” I said as I moved past him, but he jumped to the side and blocking me, I tried again and the same outcome.

“You know blocking someone’s path is the easiest way to upset someone right.”

I watched as his horn glowed, a pair of revolvers flying out his leather barding and rushing to the sides of my head, “You think this is a game!”

“Well as you haven’t stated any rules, so no. And since you haven’t given any demands, this can’t be a rob-“

I felt the guns press against the temples of my head harder, “Give me yo’ money!”

“There you go, now see if you started off with demands and not complimenting me, we could have gotten here quicker.”

The guns pressed harder, so I thought it prudent to oblige the buck, dropping my saddle bags and the bot, but that didn’t seem to satisfy him.

“The shoes, I want them metal shoes” he demanded, levitating my stuff away.

“Shoes don’t come off, sorry.” I explained, but that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, oh well.

While he had rambled on with his compliments I had made sure that I had also looked for things to compliment him on, but those were few and shortcoming, so I just made notes of what looked in pain. I could see his front leg was slightly askew and whenever he moved, he kept the weight off it, broken me thinks. The road I traveled on was covered in rubble and sand, which I had made sure to note while I walked along, but only now was it useful.

Step one, blind him.

Quickly I kicked a wad of rubble and sand into his eyes, then jumping onto my hind hooves and righting myself, his guns discharged where I had been but both guns only hit asphalt.

Step two, disable.

With a kick I targeted his crippled limb, putting all the force I could behind it. This elicited a powerful yelp and brought him to the ground quick, which in turn, summoned his friends under the overhang of the recharge station and that in turn, forced me to enact step three, fuck shit up.

My hooves moved to my side, the metal caps on my hooves locking with the firing mechanisms with a soft click and telling me they were attached. I brought the guns out of the holsters and turned to the ponies camping in the station which were already taking up arms and diving for cover behind the auto-wagons.

I took aim at the closest of the pair fired, the shot flying straight at his head and out the back, impacting the pavement, but his body was still moving, not having caught on that it was dead and carrying him a few more steps before slamming into the side of the auto.

The other in cover, a unicorn, fired an assault rifle blindly which was held in a magical aura, hovering over the hood of the auto, I supposed she was hoping to get me with a lucky shot.

I moved for the crippled buck in front of me, putting a hoof under his good hoof and lifting him up for a shield. The assault rifle pony peeked over cover, seeing me and firing much more aimed shots, but they still flew wild and inaccurate, poor maintenance from the looks of it.

While this was happening though, I had seen the unicorn was a she, and making sure to sight her in, then firing, the round flying through the car, through her, and impacting into the ground. Her face contorted and she stood aghast, the mare in complete disbelief as she realized that she’d been shot through the auto, her aura dropping the rifle and falling to the ground screaming. I threw the buck to the ground and sprinted to the auto, making sure that if she was planning to shoot me as I approached, that I’d be prepared.

My back slammed into the car door and I peeked up for just a moment then back into cover. She was on the ground writhing in pain and screaming for help, her voice growing weaker with each call. I ran to the hood of the wagon and slip across, landing just behind her as she tried crawling away, I spied her rifle just beside me and kept my pistol on her, making sure she had nothing else on her, but the longer I watched the more genuine she seemed. I walked over to her and flipper her over to see a hoof trying to plug the hold in her belly and begging to be spared. Ignoring this I followed her path with my eyes towards a medical box and a door leading into the station, I turned to her and pointed the pistol at her.

“Who else is inside?”

“P-p-lease, we- we didn’t mean it.” She blubbered, her breathing becoming erratic and her voice growing quiet.

“Tough shit, who’s inside?” I demanded, putting a hoof on her gut, but this only made her stop talking, so I stopped it, making a mental note on when such an action was appropriate.

“P-please… help… me…” she started, but her stopped breathing and her eyes closed, damn it.

I looked at the place and figured it might be nothing, but just to be safe I reached into a pocket and grabbed a grenade. Holstering the pistols I put the pin of the grenade in my mouth, dropped to all four and trotted up to a boarded up window with a gap in the wood planks nailed to it.

“Anyone inside comes out now! If you don’t, Mr. Grenade goes in!”

No response.

With a shrug I shook my head in the direction of the window, the grenade coming off the pin and flying inside, exploding a second later, still nothing.

After the grenade, I moved inside and cleared out the charging station, found almost nothing inside except for some cans of beans and other pre-war food, nothing huge, but still good trade supplies. The bandits also had had nothing super interesting. The medical box had a healing potion, some water, and a few bandages, medical pony stuff. I collected up guns, bullets and such , then trotted back to see crippled pony was just cowering on the road, he hadn’t touched his gun again or my bags, so grabbing those up and strapping the bags to myself again I began trotting down the road, the cripple left cowering on the road, stripped of his goods and alone.

All the goods I’m sure wouldn’t be worth the two shots I’d used, but oh well, at least I had that fight to mull over, but as I continued on I found myself with a bit of a skip in my step, still remembering that damn sprite bot song. So, not wanting to fight it any longer, I bobbed my head to the tune of the song and continued on.

So far a good start to a Wednesday.

***

About an hour down the road I finally reached a trade post, one of the few that existed on this road according to a pony I asked and so I’d try to make it worth it while I continued back to the city.

It was a small town, probably just a wagon train station way back when for big cargo auto-wagons. Now days, it had the cargo wagons surrounding the town, acting as fairly impressive walls that stood nearly three meters high.

Moving closer, I saw the ever familiar gate guards appear, both sporting special saddles with assault rifles attached to the sides, a control mechanism running from the rifle’s trigger housings up to a control bit sitting in front of the pony’s mouth, a very common battle saddle configuration.

“What’s your business here?” a blue earth pony guard buck called out.

“Here to sell some stuff, maybe buy some stuff, maybe even do some stuff.” I replied obnoxiously

I could see the other guard, a dull green colored earth pony buck just squint his eyes at me then turned to his buddy and nodded. The blue buck went out of view and the gates began to open. I tipped my hat and trotted inside.

Inside was rather ratty and degenerate, but overall well set up. The interior cargo wagons were used for living quarters, while the primary recharge station acted as the central market from the looks of things. I could see a sign on the other side of the town telling me that the building below it was a weighing station, but it gave no clue to its primary purpose now days, just that it handled a lot of traffic from the looks of it, ponies coming and going fairly frequently.

Still walking, I spied a unique collection of large cargo containers with a cargo wagon, the back of it acting as the entrance with a sign declaring it to be a hotel. When one walked up the hotel cargo wagon hallway, they were allowed to stay in one of two areas that were made from the large cargo containers stacked two high and three long.

I continued towards the market though, passing by some rather inscrutable ponies, but just from their aggressive stares and the weapons, they were probably some sort of local gang or something of the sort. Rolling my eyes and continuing, I passed by a pair of happy and from the smell, very drunk, ponies, who were wandering around and being merry and such. The drunken pair were the last of the notable ponies, but there were dozens crowded around the recharge station and I moved past the makeshift barricades and entered their market area.

A dozen merchants were wheeling and dealing with ponies for their wears and gear, each merchant seeming to deal in one or two specific items, but some seemed to sell whatever they found on the ground.

I moved towards the one surrounded by a pair of pony shaped robots, the tops of their heads with a glass panel where the face would be, sitting between two pincer like metal supports. The pony bot’s neck was a set of black plates descending till it reached the chest where then the yellow plating that made up the vast majority of the pony bot began again. The bot was supported on four powerful mechanical legs with hazard stripes ringing around the knee joints, this told me these were probably just maintenance robots.

The merchant was sitting on his rump, turned to see I was eyeing his bots and gave me a big smile and threw his fore hooves wide, “Welcome, interested in either of the protectaponies? How about any of my other old world devices, need a terminal?” the robot salespony asked charismatically.

He was a dark tan buck, a bit shorter than the average equine and with a near balding mane of dirty blonde which was held out of his face by welding goggles. He wore a repurposed stable uniform. The standard blue with yellow trim jumpsuit had lots of tools jammed in the many pockets on it.

“No thanks. I need to know what I can get for this.” I asked, unlashing the sprite bot and then putting it on his work bench, which also doubled as his area of bartering.

He mulled over the bot for a few minutes while I sat in front of him and observing what he was looking for. I was fairly good with repairs and knew my way around Stable-Tec electronics, so I was confident it could be salvaged or at the very least, sold to the city for a recycling bounty. The merchant’s head arched back from the bot and he turned his head to me with a grin, “Pretty nice sprite bot you got here, where’d ya find it?”

“Out on the road, darn thing just wandered up and started talking, strangest thing.”

“Huh… never had that happen, probably just picking up a radio broadcast or something, plenty of those around here.”

I nodded and gestured at the bot, “So how much?” I asked raising an eye brow.

“Well I’ll give you two hundred for it, plenty of ponies like having them around to play music or strap bags to them to carry crap. At the very least, sell it to the city.”

I wasn’t much of a merchant, but I knew these could go for a little bit more than that, but I looked out at the crowd and the slowly failing light and I wanted to make sure I got a room before the rush hit the hotel. I nodded and held out a hoof, which after a moment was weighed down by a pouch he dropped on it. I brought the pouch to my mouth and checked the amount which seemed legit, thanked him for his time, put it in my bags, and wandered to the pony selling munitions.

The pony’s selection was rather crap, but I was after bullets more than anything and began looking to see if she had anything of use which then demanded her attention so the mare turned and smiled, “Can I help yea find something specific?”

I looked at her and sighed, “What bullets do you have?”

The merchant nodded lowered herself to the floor and after a few no’s, pulled out a metal box with green, peeling paint and sat it on the table. She opened the top and looked up at me, “I got 9mm, some 5mm, lot of .357, and a ton of 10mm. Any of those you need?”

I shook my head and walked away. She called out asking what I needed but she didn’t look like she’d carry my caliber.

After my romp through the merchants I wandered over to the hotel again and went inside, following the length of the tunnel until I reached the split and a mare sitting behind a desk. She looked up at me, a cigarette in her mouth and mouthed it to the side and hacked and coughed a bit, then cleared her throat, “It’s a hundred a night, hundred an fifty for any night after the first.”

My expression was meant to confer my lack of amusement in her prices, but from the look of the peach colored mare, she didn’t give off an aura of negotiating and so I gave the wrinkly old mare her bottle caps, which she checked immediately, and after a minute of scrutinizing the amount, gave me a room key with her magical aura and I left.

I walked down the hall and found the number corresponding to the number on the key, 5. I put the key in the door and turned the handle to be met with a not so welcoming smell of old and unwashed pony. I trotted inside and closed the door with a hind hoof, then began un burdening myself with my gear. The room was no more than then a two by two meter box, the interior red paint having peeled back and exposed rusted container beneath, but it was sufficient for a nights stay, and I dropped my saddle bags on the crate in the corner of the room and pushed the ruined chair to the corner adjacent to the door. I eyed the bed and without even needing to touch it, I could smell that it was more a hazard than anything, believing ponies used these beds for more than sleeping.

I laid out my few belongings and set to work making sure everything was there. I started with my bag of caps, which had grown exponentially after selling everything I’d found three weeks ago at the military base and encountering The Doctor, but I hadn’t taken the time to count. I unloaded my other goods and went through the motions of cleaning them the best I could and just checking everything was there, but really it was just a time killer and getting me ready for bed. The whole time this happened I could hear my neighbors above me were being very loud with their activities and the pony in the room behind me was playing his music rather loud. I heard yelling in the hallway from a mare to a buck saying something about her not paying for his bad service, this went on for a few minutes and ended with the mare beating some pony up in the hallway. I took my saddle bags off the crate and pushed the crate in front of the door, it wasn’t heavy, but it was just for peace of mind.

As the night dragged on I heard the noise beginning to die down, music pony was the first to shut up, the songs finally ending for the night and the radio turning off. Second was the ponies above, their activities finally ending, but of course as soon as I think I’m home free, they’re back at it again.

All these noises were coupled with just the sounds of the night and any other noises , the closed space reverberating even the tiniest sound. All and all though, the sounds were the ambience that reminded you that you were alive and slowly I started to nod off, I made sure to stay awake as long as possible, my eyes fixed on the door, the crate in front of it, the bed across from the door, I kept staring at them and in the end I nodded off, eye lids closing and a final yawn.

Clink.

Someone dropped something.

Clink, Clink.

Clumsy ponies.

Clink, Clink, Clink.

Soon to be very dead ponies, honestly, who would keep…

Clink, Clink, Clink, Clink, Clink…

I opened an eye, checking the room, the light still on, check. The door locked and braced, check. I listened closely, but I couldn’t hear anything else, it had stopped, probably someone spilled a case of bullets. I sniffled a bit and moved myself back into a comfortable set-up in the chair again, closing my eyes and enjoying the quiet, very peaceful, very… quiet.

I couldn’t hear the stamina couple upstairs anymore, and from having to listen to them go at it for hours, I doubted they’d end so abruptly. I got out of the chair, strapped on my gear and moved towards the door, moving the crate away as quietly as I could, but it was a metal box, the crate made noise.

Clink.

I flipped the switch to the lights and the room went black. Slowly I opened the door, peeking with one eye into the hallway. I couldn’t see anything, just a partially lit hallway as before, but the smell. I didn’t have the keenest nose, but only a person with no nose could miss it, it was faint but there, a sort of sweet but tangy smell, very weird combination.

I opened the door and stepped into the hall, keeping on all four and low as I stalked towards the stairs.

I heard a whining noise beside me. I raised up, drawing and pointing in one action, but it was just a colt. He looked up at the pistol, ignoring any intimidation it held to a more mature mind and then looked at me, a model rocket in his under developed mouth as he drooled on it. I holstered and continued up stairs, peeking back to see him still sitting in the cracked door way, looking at me while I ascended.

The second floor was like the first, minus the doorway exiting the building with nine doorways. The fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered fairly regularly as I started down the hallway. I saw the fifth room ahead which would be where the noise was coming from. I raised myself up and drew both pistols who I knew were loaded and charged to full.

I heard yelling coming from down the hallway, then a door burst open and a pair of figures came at me, I aimed at them and watched them freeze in place with absolute terror, their mouths open, teeth gritted and eyes wide as they fell to their rumps and came sliding to a stop just at the ends of the gun barrels, one for each. I looked up and saw a mare run out in the hall with a double barrel, ranting and raving about some pony being a cheating slut. I hurled myself to the side just as the gun discharged. I flew through a door into a dark room on my back.

The ponies in the hallway scampered off quicker than I’d have thought, but they have plenty of reason to with the mare screaming obscenities and reloading as she raced after them. This all happening in the time it took me to blink away the dizziness while getting back up to my hooves, shaking my head and finally remembering that I had been standing in front of rutting couples door, I turned, guns trained on the area where I believed the bed was.

“Hello?” I asked, nothing replied.

I backed up towards the door, my left fore-hoof going for the light switch, having trouble finding it of course.

“Comon, common.” I beseeched the light switch, hoping it would move to my hoof instead of avoid it.

Finally I turned, saw the switch just below my hoof, went to hit it… then heard the hissing voice, shit.

Something barreled into my chest, hurling me into the hallway and started clopping against metal. I looked down to see a brownish yellow colored earth mare banging on my chest with her hooves, the hooves hitting my chest plate and doing nothing. I shoved her to the side and got to my hooves, guns trained on her, “Calm the fuck down, it was an accident!”

The mare got to her hooves and hissed at me and got to her hooves with surprising agility. I held my ground and kept the guns trained, she just snarled and hissed, but from the sounds of it, she was either throwing her voice, or it takes two to make a pair, shit.
The buck flew out of the room, I ducked and jumped back, his face impacting the wall. Hissing mare took the chance to lunge at me, missing just barely with a hoof swipe to the gut and I jumped back again.

“I’ve never hit a girl in my life, but you’re not making it easy lady, get back.” I threatened.

She didn’t notice and came at me again, this time lunging with her whole body. I side stepped and the buck, who I hadn’t seen get up, came low and caught my legs.

“Bitch!” I yelled, falling on the floor face first, landing hard on my jaw, ow.

I rolled over to see hissing mare trying to drop her hooves on my head, I rolled to the side, just in time to see dumb buck drop his hooves on one of my hind legs with a crack. I brought the leg up into his jaw, hearing a louder crack as metal met bone, but it was short lived, feeling a bit of drool land on my face I lifted myself up to hear hissing mare’s face impact with the metal floor. I got to my hind legs and kicked buck in the side of the head, another crack and turned to see mare already recovering from the face plant and coming at me again, this time with talons on her hooves, the fuck?

I swiped the hoof aside and pistol wiped her with the other hoof and forcing her head against the wall.

“Fuck it!” I said, using the hoof not pinning her head to the wall, putting against her forehead and pulling the trigger, the shot going through her head, through her pack and through the floor, fuck.

I let the now holy mare drop to the floor just in time to feel the buck’s clawed hoof hit the side of my head then shoved my head against the wall, ow! I swung with my right fore-hoof into his gut and kept swinging, hearing crack after crack but the bastard wouldn’t drop! I felt him hit the back of my head and a dull clang, I saw him look to check what had happened and took the opportunity to duck, his concentration having been taken away from the pinning hoof and giving me the chance to escape. Partially ducked I moved out from underneath him and sprinted for the end of the hallway, he snarled and hissed at me. At the stairs to the bottom floor I crouched and spun on my hooves, bringing my guns up and pointing down the hallway, both bodies were gone and the door to their room was still open.

“What the…”

Suddenly I heard noise down stairs, shit, I’d forgotten there was a stair case at the farthest end of the hallway. I turned and ran down the stairs as fast as I could, jumping the last few steps and pointing my guns down the hallway. I saw the ass end of the dead mare racing around the corner, exiting the place. I raced after them and as I hit the exit I slipped and fell, falling on my stomach, my jaw slamming against the floor again, ow damn it! I looked down, cursing whatever had felt the need to trip me, my anger subsiding a bit at the sight of a toy rocket left sitting in the hallway, fuck.

I got to my hooves, holstered my guns and sprinted on all four out of the place, skidding into the main hallway and seeing the mares rear again and disappear heading out towards the market place. Diving into the street I could see the pair moving to the market, the buck with something in his mouth and I gave chase, racing past onlookers.

I skidded beside the barricade just beside the entrance, a scuffle inside and gunshots ringing out. I drew myself up, drew both pistols and peeked inside.

The buck had the colt in his mouth, the colt wailing with blood dribbling down his back. The mare had taken a pistol and shot the gun merchant and was grabbing what she could, the hole still in her head and back, damn… non-dying ponies!

I took the lull while they armed themselves and advanced towards a recharge pump, the buck hissing and pointing at me, causing the mare to turn around and unleashing a flurry of bullets on my position, forcing me to dive the rest of the way. I got small behind the recharger while she just continued to fire away. I waited for her to stop and then peeked to see the buck was rummaging in the gun merchants area while the mare reloaded.

Taking my chance I rounded the corner, peek-ah-boo’ing the mare and firing once, twice, three times into the bitch before her head was no more, the shots flying through and going into the actual recharge station building. I moved back into cover and looked for the buck, I couldn’t see him anymore.

Standing and turning, I slowly advanced, crouching slightly and keeping an eye on the merchant stand. Suddenly, I saw something go flying out the side of the stand, I fired two shots into it and watched it stop and roll along the pavement, it was a trash can, the hell… crap.

I turned and saw the buck with a quad 10mm sub machine gun battle saddle, each fed into a pair of large drums on the buck’s back and now with the colt strapped to the front of his chest and neck, his face hidden behind a heavy metal welding mask, the battle saddle control mechanism running from the guns and running underneath the mask.

“Are you fucking kidding me!” I cried and turned, racing back to cover, just as the guns opened up. Who the fuck makes these things, I want to know so I can shoot them!

The fire just kept coming and I could see my cover disintegrating quickly and the barricade in front of me being riddled with holes quickly. I watched as the shots began to encroach more on the right side, slowly approaching me, so I moved around the left side and took a glance, seeing the buck moving along the right side hoping to flank me, so I moved left. I saw him see his error and still firing, began moving left, so I started moving to the right side, hoping he’d run out of ammo eventually, but still nothing.

We danced around and alternated sides twice more, him still firing, and never tiring. The fuck were these things attached to, an ammo press?!

Finally, after the longest and most impressive length of fire, he stopped. I stepped around cover and drew my guns on him, his face low with the face plate covering him and the child, but making any head shots possibly hitting the colt.

I took a step forward, he took a step back. I’d move to a side, he’d mirror it, he was good.

We did this a few more times, but I was growing impatient and after a double take of the situation, he was almost to the doorway. I started hearing more gunshot. Screams and cries for help just outside. He started backing up towards the doorway, slowly, but I would step forward deliberately, asserting that if he made a move, I’d be ready. He was getting closer to the door and from the sounds of it, I couldn’t get outside before he was already back into the populated area, I made a choice.

“Fuck it.” I muttered, and fired both pistols for his eyes. The shots left the barrels loudly with a bang and a electric current undertone to them, both impacted exactly where I had aimed and had exited out the back, but unlike what I had planned, the shots threw the buck off his feet, hurling him a few meters back and him landing with crunch, his face impacting first and then his body pulling in a direction it shouldn’t and snapping his neck. I holstered a pistol and raced over to the corpse, pulling back the mask and seeing the colt.

I brought up a hoof to my face and gave a heavy sigh as I saw two large puncture marks in the back of the colt’s neck, the little guy’s eyes shut and his color rather pale, he wasn’t breathing. I could hear the gun shots beginning to die down and the screams growing less and less. I turned back to the colt and shook my head and biting my tongue. The gunshots were now only a hoof full of rifles, but then I heard an explosion. I looked back at the colt and then at the entrance.

I made my choice, holstering my gun and dropping to all four and racing out the exit of the merchant place, seeing the front gate had exploded and seeing a horde of something flooding the main entrance. I looked up and saw black shapes buzzing around and dragging off screaming ponies, guns blaring around in their terrified teeth or on their battle saddles, but the figures carrying them off didn’t seem to mind. I sprinted for towards the weighing station as fast as my hooves could carry me, the sounds of gunshots finally ending and replaced with a buzzing on the wind and hisses advancing into the township.

I reached the station, lights still on I advanced slowly to the windows and peered inside. I could see a couple of mares huddled together on dirty mattresses while bucks and mares sat in the other room loading firearms. I thought about telling them to hoof it, but I heard a loud buzzing overhead and then the clink, clink of them walking along the roof. The gun ponies inside lifted their guns up the best they could, the mares trying their best to keep quiet.

I could see the side exit to the township just nearly by, the door open and waiting for me. I turned back to the township, seeing the fire from the doorway growing and dozens of red lights bobbing around in the black, the lights to the town having fallen black and throwing nearly the whole area into darkness.

I knew I had to escape, but looking inside I figured these ponies wouldn’t last thirty seconds with these things, but I could see the advancing red lights moving closer and closer, some flying away into the night sky with what I assumed were more ponies underneath them. My window of escape was closing and looking back inside once more, the clink, clink, clinking noise was drawing the ponies attentions to the ceiling, one telling the creatures to go fuck themselves and firing a few shots into the ceiling.

Once again though, I made a choice and knew that if they were dumb enough to stay in there, It wasn’t my fault if they were dumb enough to not see the obvious distraction. I blitzed the doorway, hearing a loud bang and warping of metal, more gunshots ringing out and the mares on the mattresses finally letting out their pent up screams.

I made it to the door way and closed it behind me, a loud clang of the locking bar falling over the door and locking it from the other side. I drew out a mine and placed it in the dirt just ouside of the doorway, tapping the red button and then hauling ass as far as I could.

The gunshots and screams finally subsided and the buzzing eventually was lost on the wind the further I ran away. Feeling I had a moment I turned to see what had happened, pulling out a pair of binoculars from my pocket and looked at the settlement. The front gate had in fact been blown apart, tops of roves had been smashed inward and watching the last remnants of the city being carried off. I could hear the roars of engines coming down the road and I ducked behind some rocks, but kept an eye on who was out this late at night.

It was a convoy at least six auto trucks long, two were covered with canvassed backs but the other three sported massive anti-aircraft guns. Two were quad guns and the other was a heavy looking, single barreled gun and the middle truck of the unit had a large spot light on the back that was deactivated. All the trucks had headlights and lights over the driver and passenger side doors, and a light coming off the back of the auto truck cab, illuminating the cargo area. The trucks continued on down the road until they were just outside the city and I had to go back to the binoculars again to see what was happening.

The canvassed trucks disgorged a few dozen ponies while the spot light began shining into the night sky, illuminating dozens of black figures that were outside the range of my vision. The AA guns began firing hundreds of bullets, the sounds a rapid and deep thud, thud, thud as they riddled the night sky with tracer fire. The single barreled gun began to fire, a very deep, boom, boom, boom as large clouds of grey began appearing in the sky, only the slightest sign of an explosion, causing half a dozen of the black creatures to fall at a time. The black creatures tied flying right at the mounts in a great horde, but the combined fire of the three AA guns were killing them far faster than they expected, near a hundred dead within a minute. Movement tore my gaze to the weight station and I saw a dozen fly away from the guns, ponies underneath them as they took to the skies.

The fight was over in a couple of minutes and I could see pony shaped figures moving from the convoy into the town. I took that as a sign to leave and so I began on my trip again towards the city.

I was fairly confident that after what just happened, I could sleep another time, and continued into the night, using the lights of the massive white tower in the distance as a marker for direction.

***

The night had been thankfully rather quiet. I had been able to guide myself by the light of the city down the road, but it was pitch black and the station, which was now a ghost town. Hopefully it wouldn’t scare off traders, but I doubt the traders who had been there that night and escaped would forever forget that.

When the morning had rolled around though, bad thoughts about last night aside, I’d found a quiet town, or what looked like a town. As I got closer to the, “town”, I could see it was more like someone had camped out here and merchants just stopped by.

I saw that the camp was built on the side of the highway, easy to spot and had vendor stalls for each of the merchants to occupy, but other than that, it was a pair of shacks and some tents for others to occupy I supposed.

I saw a unicorn mare opening her door, stretching and giving a yawn, all things I’d pay to be able to be doing right now.

I hobbled over to her, feeling only a bit out of it from having not slept in awhile, and only slightly wobbling about like a drunkard. She watched me confusedly as I wandered into camp, stopping in front of her and sitting down.

“Ma’am… you wouldn’t happen to know where a pony can buy a bed for the day, would you?”

“Uhm…” She started, looking around and shrugging, “fifty caps and you get to use a tent?”

I dived into my bags, finding my caps and dropping a hundred in her hoof, “double, and nopony bothers me.”

I didn’t wait for a response and just chose the closest tent and with a very thud, fell onto my cardboard box mattress and passed out.

What felt like seconds later, I head metal clanking against each other, and chains. What do metal and chains have to do with each other. I opened my eyes and saw, the desert. I rolled over, and saw the damndest thing, manacles. I licked my lips as I began to ponder over what having my legs manacled together meant, but this was rather short lived, damn.

I felt a rifle butt hit my face and causing me to fall onto my back, nose bleeding, ow.

I looked to see more manacles being attached to my legs and a magical aura taking away my stuff, my gun belt unlatching itself and floating away, poop.

I raised my self up again and as I went to open my mouth to say something about how I didn’t pay for the kinky tent, another rifle butt hit me, and I fell again.

“Shut your mouth.” A stallion commanded, walking past and looking through my stuff. The mare floated my bag of caps up next to her then dropped it on her hoof, the bag giving a good clinking sound and her giving me a devilish smile.

“This bastard just walked up to me, gave me his money and then passed out in the tent. How fucking good do you have to be, thank you master!” the mare chuckled.

“Dumb fuck, and here I thought after the last haul it’d be awhile before we found anyone else to sell.” The stallion explained, reminding me that once again, I need to ask more questions before paying for my own enslavement.

I wasn’t much of a locksmith, but here’s hoping I told myself as I removed the bobby pin I kept under my tongue, just in case. I moved my foreleg manacles close and began picking, hoping that my bags were interesting enough to keep their attentions.

“The fuck? How’s anypony supposed to use these?” the stallion demanded.

“Dunno, probably broken, dumb fucker, walking into a camp with broken guns.” The mare said arrogantly, hawking a loogie and spitting.

I heard the pair saying something but couldn’t exactly tell what, then one pony was walking closer and one further away. I tried picking faster but again, I’m no good at it, so I just kept going, but I watched myself being dragged out of the tent, shit.

I was outside the tent in the center again, I could see that the shacks were really out houses, and the stalls were most likely abandoned. Sitting up, I could hear someone walking around the side of me, so I lowered my head and continued to pick, using my nose to cover the lock picking.

“Comon get up.” The stallion said, hitting my shoulder. I needed time, so I began to do my best poor pitiful me impression. I began to sniffle and cry, but tears were hard to conjure, so I began to bite the inside of my mouth, painful, and drew a few tears.

“Comon cry baby get up, gotta get you to the market before they start the bidding, I’m sure somepony can use your ass for target practice, or for mine clearing, whatever happens first.” He said dryly, hitting my shoulder again, which was not helping the whole, being bad at lock picking thing, but I was almost done, boy would he be in for a rude-

He hit me again and snarled, “Comon you dumb fuck!” he yelled, the hit knocking my bobby pin out of my mouth and knocking me onto my side, damn it!

Eye twitching, I tried thinking of something, anything, but I had nothing, fuck! He began dragging me away instead of waiting for me to go on my own terms, which besides the rocks and such hurting the underside of my jaw, was the time I needed to think, but think of what, crap!
I looked around, there were rocks, dirt, and, more rocks, there was nothing, what to do! I looked around, and spied it, my salvation, and my key to turning the tables. I rolled over onto my back, my duster getting caught underneath me and making me look ridiculous.

“Bathroom!”

He stopped, turning slowly to me, and gave me a look of, are you kidding me?! I just nodded a bunch and started gesturing to the bathrooms like an idiot. He face hoofed and started dragging me back towards the outhouses. Once there, I scampered inside like a filly and closed the door behind me. With a sigh, I began trying to think of what to do, I imagined I could over power him, but there was no telling what the unicorn was doing, for all I knew, she was getting the rest of their crew. I contemplated my options and came to the conclusion, that I was screwed and I was probably about to be sold into slavery, and the only escape attempt I could conjure, required I be on the toilet. I hate my life sometimes, a lot.

I heard the stallion banging on the door and telling me to get out. I looked around saw nothing, not a gun on the back of the door, no random melee tools forgotten inside, nothing, damn, these idiots were just smart enough to not make these too easy. Eye twitching again, I frantically searched and saw something very useful indeed on the floor, standing and grabbing it with my teeth.

The stallion knocked once more and told me to finish or he’d break his hoof off in my ass, which seemed more rather short sighted on his part, but that might be just me.

While I was over analyzing his threats though, he threw open the door, and I reacted. I was already bent over and flew out of the room, ramming my head into his gut and knocking the wind out of him and landing me on top of his chest. He was stunned for a second, so I began beating him with my manacled, steel capped hooves (why the fuck had I forgotten about those!) in the face. He rolled to the side, throwing me off and going for a knife, I kicked it from his mouth, and as he went to pick it up, I got to my hind legs and brought the chain around his neck, pulling back as hard as I could.

He began hitting his hooves against mine, but the manacles and caps blocked his attempts to break my grip. I wrenched his head violently, a confirming snap telling me he was dead, and I dropped to the ground in success.

Woohoo… wait.

Why was my ear cold?

I turned, looking up to see the mare was seething, her breaths heavy and hissing through her teeth, her horn glowing around a drum fed combat shotgun.

“Was that a no no?” I asked, refraining from smiling and then watching her swing a hoof across my face and my world going black.

Crap.

***

The sound of a loud motor revving awoke me, my eyes taking a moment to focus on where I was exactly, and my brain having trouble figuring out why I was on the road headed forwards, but facing backwards, very perplexing stuff.

I looked down and saw I was sitting atop a large metal covered wheel, going very fast. Looking over my shoulder I could see the mare, low to the motorcycle as she glided it down the road, the bike roaring as it flew down the road.

I was fairly impressed that these two had the ability to afford a motorcycle, but I wasn’t going to question how they transported slaves with something like this, or thought it was smart, but I didn’t care, I was now the proud owner of a bike, the mare just hadn’t realized it yet.

I saw my legs were chained together, inhibiting me from stretching very far apart, but that was fine, as I produced my trinket from the bathroom excursion. I began picking the lock again, and even with my shitty luck, I managed to pick up from where I left off, popping the lock immediately and freeing a hoof, which let the chain fall, crap it was falling. I lunged to grab it but it hit the road and began dragging, making a distinct sound, shit. I turned to see the mare had heard it and was going for something, I looked beside me and saw exactly what I wanted, grabbed it in my mouth just as she pushed me off the back of the cycle.

Tucking and rolling, I rolled along the ruined pavement and bounced, a lot, and it hurt, a lot.

Shaking off the whole, “being thrown off a bike going very fast feeling”, I managed to stand, staggering and falling, then repeating the gesture, but staying up right and shaking my head again. I could see the mare cut on the brakes and screeching to a halt, using the momentum to turn her around and facing me. She revved the engine a few times, I bent down and picked up my tool of choice. It was long, having aged well in the apocalypse and with a rather satisfying taste unlike some old shit ponies are forced to put in their mouths. The mare even at this distance was clearly smiling, giving me an evil eye and revving again. I turned to the side, looking at her and lifting up a hind leg and hitting the weapon against a hoof in both hooves, making sure it was good and solid and hearing the clunk, clunk. It was a nice sound and I thought, the best way to end this, “oh so fucked up”, encounter.

She gunned the engine, biting her tongue and staring at me extremely determined, the bike thrusting forward and roaring towards me. I hopped up and down a few times, getting nice and loose and shaking my head back and forth, I had only seen this in magazines, but if you’re going to learn something, you should try using it at least once. The mare was almost on me, seconds away. I closed my eyes, rolling my shoulders then, with the weapon under one hoof, I pointed the other off into the sky.

She was no more than two meters away as I dropped my pointed hoof to the weapon, managing to hold it between my hoof caps, bringing the weapon just past my right shoulder and hopping to the side just as she was a hoofs touch away.

“Swing batter, batter, batter, swing!” I yelled, bringing the aged baseball bat right into line with her face.

The scene slowed in all the excitement and allowed me to make out her priceless expression. Her eyes were wide in horrifying disbelief at me, with the left eye on the verge of twitching. Her mouth hanging wide open as she was asking, “how the hell-“, but of course she wouldn’t get to finish, the bat connecting with the left side of her head, exploding in a shower of splinters and ejecting her off the bike. The bike drove on for a few seconds and then crashed, the mare however was thrown back a few steps away from me and crashed to the ground in an oh so satisfying sound of crunching bone as tiny splinters of wood rained down.

I brought the handle of the bat onto my shoulder and took a deep breath, closing my eyes and mentally giving myself a pat on the back and nodding at how impressive that was. I thought back and remembering the book I had read, it really was just as easy as the book said, but they had used a ball. I looked down at the mare’s head, and nodded, close enough.

After tossing the remains of the bat, I swaggered over to the bloody heap that had been a mare and removed the key to the manacles, the manacles dropping to the ground with a heavy clank. It was nice being free again.

I walked over with a skip in my step to the bike, picking up my saddle bags and righting the bike. I gave the vehicle a quick once over, checking to make sure it looked serviceable still, and after all that had happened, it seemed fine. With the bikes repairs on the brain, I had nearly missed the noise coming from behind me, and turned to see the mare was still conscious. With a sigh, I dropped the kickstand to the bike and turned to the mare, her body horribly mangled and trying to crawl off to the side of the road.

I strapped on my bags, guns, and added her loot to mine and then, with a whistle, trotted rather gleefully back beside her on all four. I watched her stop moving and her right eye moving meet my gaze. Her eye was darn near completely red from blood vessels popping, was crying, but I felt this was fairly normal, being in the state she was, so I felt congratulations were in order.

“Wow! You’re still alive, that’s talented.” I said, taking a seat and gesturing at her whole body with my hooves, “Too bad you weren’t that good with anything else in your life, or you wouldn’t be here, bleeding on some random stretch of road.” I finished, giving her a smug smile. Looking around for a second, basking in the victory rather blatantly in front of her then taking a deep breath and smacking my lips a few times (damn I was thirsty, but that could wait), then looked down at her again.

“Should have just left me in the tent like I asked you to, very nicely I might add.” I told her, looking down at her broken body and just reveling in how well that had worked out, she didn’t return the sentiment obviously and instead just continued to cry.

“P-please, kill me.” She begged, coughing up a wad of blood, her eyes to rolling back in her head a bit.

She was tough, I’d give her that, being hit in the side of the head with a bat hurt, being thrown from a bike hurt too (as my recent experience told me), and being thrown from a bike with a bat and tossed to the ground, I’m sure was a whole different kind of pain.

I hardened my expression and glared at her, “You were about to enslave me. If you want to die, just do what you were just doing, being yourself, seems to have gotten you half way there.” I snarled.

If she thought she deserved any pity, she was looking to the wrong pony. I started walking away towards the bike, ignoring her cries of pain and begging for mercy.

I had never driven a bike before, but the mare seemed to be good at it to a degree (being knocked the fuck off, aside) and had shown me the basic mechanics. I mounted the bike and remembering what she had done, brought my fore-hoof down on the handle jutting out from where my legs would sit if I was in mid sprint, which is what it felt like, laying on my belly and my hind legs against the rear pegs. I turned the key with my mouth, the motor humming to life and then revved the engine, it was loud and powerful, like a powerful beast, snarling and roaring as it was preparing to be released. I revved it again and (after a fashion), got the kick stand up and drove the bike up alongside the dying mare, her eyes following me until I was now looking at the front of her face, the left side marked with the outline of the bat, swelling and very angry looking, her eye closed due to this and twitching, while the nose and mouth leaked blood onto the pavement.

“P-Please…” she asked, the roar of the bike almost completely nullifying her last request.

I thought about this just for a moment, and reached a conclusion. She would not have granted me anything as noble as a last request, nor given me a quick death had I been forced to live a horrid and painful life in some pony else’s services. With her final time on this earth, she would be allowed to think over her life in intense pain. Seeing how it had lead up to this very moment, and how the old saying still held true, “what goes around, comes around.”

I sped off into the distance, not looking back. The past few days had been rather, quick and simple, but that was life in the wastes it seemed. These were fucked up times, ponies behind armored walls and totting guns weren’t enough to stop the crazy stuff happening, it was enough to drive a pony crazy. Myself though, I just continued on, kept moving and kept my goals clear.

My goal right now, was to get to a place I could trust, get some sleep without worry of being enslaved or carried off in the night, and the only place right now that seemed able to do that, was the city. So I rode on, the white tower in the distance a goal marker, an indicator that they were almost there.

Trouble was, no matter how long you walked, or rode for, it was always so far away.

_______

( Based in the universe of Fallout Equestria By Kkat. http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-fallout-equestria.html )

(Pre-reading/ general help done by: Horus_Ascended, Msvman)