Fallout Equestria-Painful Truths

Long ago this particular roadway was used daily, hundreds of vehicles coming and going to the city. The faded grey stretch of road now was barren, desert plains stretching for kilometers in every direction around it.

Looking on a particular area of the road walked a group of ponies surrounding a deformed creature strapped to a cart and carrying a heavy pack laden with all manner of tradable goods.

The creature that once had been a cow shook off the beads of sweat pooling at her brow.

“It’s so hot out here!” the two headed cow mutant whined.

“I know it is! It’s a desert, it’s always hot!” the lead stallion shouted at his charge.

The cow mutant only huffed and continued walking, four other ponies walking along side, some with guns at the ready, others just casually strolling along, but all had their eyes peeled for danger.

The lead stallion stopped for a moment and let the mutant cow pass him. He lowered his head and turned one of the dials on the radio strapped to the side of the cow mutant, the volume to the song growing louder and the stallion bobbing his head and tapping his hooves to the beat and then moving back to his place at the lead of the formation.

The song, heavy on trumpet and trombone, played loud enough for the entire caravan to hear.

“Might want to turn that down Swing, no telling who is out here listening.”

The stallion just turned to the mare with a big grin on his face, “Relax girl. Nothing is going to happen-“

There was a shot, the lead pony’s head exploded. The others frantically searched for the shot, the mare just hurled herself to the ground in her heavy combat armor and battle saddle with a thud and the others followed suit.

The group continued looking around, they could see no shooter. The stallion at the rear of the formation called out, “See anything?”

The mare said nothing, wishing she had seen the direction the shot impacted so that she would know what area was safe to take cover in. She told herself it was a trap, a raider ambush, or a gang, something. She needed to get out of here, she knew this would be her end if she didn’t move, but she was too scared.

Whoever this pony was, they were good, and they were probably relocating, or just waiting for them to get up, her mind told her. She cursed her luck, knowing she shouldn’t have taken this job, but she, like most in the wastes, needed the caps.

Minutes began to slowly creep by achingly slow when all of a sudden the group began to hear a faint rumbling noise coming down the road. The group turned to each other shrugging, the mare however, turned to look down the road, spying something in the distance. She turned to the cow, urging it to get down in take cover, but it just stood there, eating and tapping it’s hooves to the beat of the song.

Squinting in an attempt to make out what was on the road, her expression changed to confusion at what she thought she saw. She had seen many scattered about the wastes, usually in groups or tipped on their sides, but rarely in working order.

The group of caravan ponies watched the motorcycle drive into view, a light powder blue pony drove closer to them and then stopped, putting a hoof down and looking at the group crouched on the ground with a pony missing his head, raising an eyebrow.

“You guys alright, need some directions or something?” he asked nonchalantly.

“There’s a sniper! He got Swing dance!” one of the caravan guards explained, keeping his voice low as if the sniper was listening in.

The pony on the bike just looked around for a moment and then back at the stallion, “Must have been a disgruntled customer, anyhow, get out off the road, highway sees a fair amount of crazy drivers who love hitting ponies just for hell of it.” The pony said, causing the mare’s eyes going wide and ears folding against her skull.

The caravanners said nothing, the bike pony just nodded his head for a moment and then inhaled deeply, “Okee dokey… you guys, uhhmm… you guys have fun with the sniper thing. Oh, and if you do die for… whatever reason, try to do it to the side of the road. If there are bodies on the road, no one is going to clean them up, sooo… yea, good luck.” He said with a sarcastic tone, muttering something about morons and rolling his eyes then gunning the engine and speeding off.

The caravan watching him drive on until he disappeared on the horizon, then turned to each other, the cow just eating some of foliage on the side of the road now, it’s lips smacking together, “Nice pony, cool bike too.” It said then began trotting on.

The other caravan members eventually got to their hooves and joined the insane bovine as they continued towards the large white spire in the distance.

Chapter 2:

♪ I'm on my way to the promised land ♫

“Good morning Los Pegasus. This is your morning news from the beacon of hope in the wastes, Masters Tower.”

Riding through the rest of the afternoon and the night, I had finally managed to reach the outskirts of the city, no more than a few dozen kilometers to the actual walls of the city, but this was as far as I needed to go for anything. The radio broadcast from the city was available to anyone as long as they had an antenna that could catch it. Masters tower acting as a massive radio dish that allowed for nearly anyone to hear it, but the bike had only started getting radio broadcasts last night, the radio on this thing was shit. For the most part though the radio was mainly for updates of the city, and although they did some stories on surrounding areas, it mainly was for city people.

I continued listening to the radio as I continued riding towards my destination, the cracks of gunfire and constant sounds of automatic fire told me I was in the right area, or at least close.

“I welcome everyone to Master’s station. Now let us jump right into the news of today, The Master Engineers have just activated another block of lighting in the city and from reports out along the highway, they have also worked on nearly three kilometers of lighting for you late night travelers, well done engineers. On another topic for you out on the highway, I would just like to thank the vigilant efforts of our noble security forces, who last night, responded to a call that Big Rig, was attacked. The reports, sad to say, do not look good, and I am sorry to say that nearly everyone there, has been killed. But do not despair, upon the arrival of our fair cities security forces, they killed every attacker they came across, killing hundreds within the first minute of the encounter, good work security. Our hearts go out to those poor souls at Big Rig.”

Of course listening to that had brought back the memories of that night a few days ago, the ponies being taken away into the night and that colt, damn shame.

I listened to the radio go on about other works in progress through the city, the possibility of a water purifier for the city, other engineering project, how the war was going, ect. All of these were the main topics the city concentrated on, mainly things that benefited the whole. After the news came updates on the war, how we were doing and anything to note, which usually were how we weren’t losing, but we weren’t winning, but it was never put that way. The final notes, the main thing ponies on the outskirts were more interested in, was how the gang war was going, and who was winning here. I listened to the results and for the most part the list was the same as the last time I had been here, a few gangs having been removed from the list or a few new ones joining in, all moot really. The overall message was that the Lead dragons, the primary security force for Los Pegasus, were still the best, and that they were the only ones deserving of any attention, everyone else either needed to drop dead, or step up their game.

The voice on the radio finally said that was all and cued the music to start, a snappy set of trumpets and drums then breaking to a piano and drums, very hoof tapping kind of music, which was a shame since I was driving. So I turned the radio off and gunned the engine, hoping to get a rest soon, sitting like this was actually starting to feel weird.

About fifteen minutes later I finally spied the gates of my destination. I pulled up the gates of the place, the old world letters on the side of the building calling it “son tor”, the other letters having fallen off from time or fighting, who knew . Stopping at the gate I could see they were just the old world factory doors, but with a lot more plating on them. I spied the guard looking through an impact hole on the second story of the building, I tipped my hat and he just disappeared, the doors opening a few seconds later and I rode inside.

The interior of the place was very spacious, it even sported an area for travelers to stow their vehicles. I pulled my bike into an area next to an auto-chariot and parked it, setting down the kick stand and dismounting.

Walking towards the main living part of the town, I could see that the place on its own, had no rooms and with roof, wasn’t exactly great in the rain, or a dust storm, or much of anything. But, the town was still here, the merchants and township itself having crafted two story high shanty homes and stalls in the center of the building, the outer areas being used for defense and movement around the town. The building was about a kilometer in length and about half that in width, easily one of the larger towns I had visited.
I made my way into the town, hoping to get to the market stalls and see what they were selling today, but first, food. Wandering through the streets I could see the concrete floors were covered in straw and garbage or bare concrete, but in some areas there were craters, piping snaking through it and filled with puddles of water. The first time I had visited this place I had wondered what drew ponies here. Sure there were fairly thick walls, but there was no roof for Mater’s sake, who lives in a building with no roof? As I navigated closer to the city center though, I could see the reason why.

In the pre-war era water purifiers were probably not a norm, hence why they were hard to come by, but in some places, like stables or places catering to the rich and elite there might have been some, this wasn’t the latter. At the center of town sat a single large piece of machinery with a once hidden stair case at the base that once lead to the stable below, now had a large pipe trailing out of it and connecting to the sprinkler system above it, tiny pipes come down from where the sprinkler heads once were and now feeding pure water into most homes or places of business. I was impressed the very first time I had seen this, and even now, it was still impressive.

Sontor was an interesting place with clean running water and its location was ideal, it was only a few minutes off the highway, so most traders used this as their primary hub for trade, selling it to people here and then heading back home, leaving the town’s inhabitance to sell away the goods they had bought at a price to the city. Also with its location being outside city limits, it meant it wasn’t subject to the crazy gang fighting taking place on the city outskirts.

Music played over the speaker system to the place, giving the place a much more friendly feeling, which was a rare instance in the wastes. Walking down a side street I spied a place that at least claimed it had food, so I corrected my path and started towards the place known as “The Wrong Turn.”

The Wrong Turn was just a shanty building, the thing setting it apart though, was that there was a milk auto-wagon crashed in the side, and from the looks of it, the vehicle was still functional, the motor idling as it sat crashed in the wall.

With a hoof I pushed back the swinging door and was greeted with the smell of a dirty, dank and booze filled pub. The light from the doorway only came inside so far, probably more afraid of the individuals in here than anything else and as I closed the door the light retreated back into the safety of the outside.

Trotting through the bar, keeping my head level and my gaze as cold and ruthless as anyone else in the bar, I maneuvered around the oh so large and shaggy occupants of the stable, who I believe I forgot to mention were buffalo, massive, four times the size of a pony, buffalo. Other races occupied the bar too, groups of cloaked zebra sat in the shadows, black carapace creatures known as changelings sat with others in the bar, most in groups of their own with other pony sitting with them, whom I suspected were also changelings.

I trotted up to the bar and took a seat on a bar stool and ordered a drink, a minute later a frothy mug slid up to me and I took a drink, suddenly remembering I wanted food and letting out an annoyed sigh and banged my head against the bar, damn it.

“You still owe me Fell, pay up!” the gruff voice demanded.

I slowly wheeled around in my chair, mug attached to my hoof and head tilted to the side. It was a rather large white stallion covered in tattoos and missing patches of his coat. He needed a bath, smell aside, he looked disgusting, but what he lacked in hygiene, he more than made up for in scars, a large one running over his left eye and his mane buzzed off and replaced with bolts. Very charming fellow I’m sure.

“I owe you… why?” I asked, having never seen this pony before… I think.

The rather large pony rushed me, forcing my head against the bar, “You tried to run out on our card game, you owe me five hundred caps!” he explained rather loudly in my ear.

He gave me a shove and took a seat next to me, I rubbed a hoof along the side of my head, slowly turning to glare at him.

“So, you’re gonna do a little job for me, do it, and we’re square.” he stated harshly, but I just shook my head, “Don’t work for peanuts, I’ll have your money tomorrow.”

The stallion just sat there, staring at me and then began to smile. With three taps of his hooves on the bar the door opened again, light spilling in from the much more illuminated street outside and the sound of heavy hoof steps walking inside.

I didn’t turn, and instead, just finished my mug off since I was probably about to lose it, but as I went to take a sip, some pony blitzed the bar and hit me from behind with something, damn it.

I heard more hoof steps rush up and begin hitting me, kicking and stomping, it hurt, sort of, and after the longest minute or two, they stopped. One of them spit on my face and then they left, but I felt someone move in close and whisper, “Have my money, or I’ll let them just kill you next time.”

I gurgled my reply and he just punched me in the side of the head, what was a little bit more head trauma anyways.

Rolling onto my stomach I stood up and walked out, some of the patrons in the bar watching as I just strolled over to an empty table, a skip in my step as more jazzy music began to play over the radio. My head hit the table with a loud thud, probably shouldn’t have done that, but oh well.

“Ahem?” a mare’s voice asked.

I flipped my head over to face her, my eyes kind of meeting hers as she started examining my face more clearly horrified by what had happened, but before she could ask anything, I placed my order for food, water, and some a pillow if they had one. The mare just nodded and scampered out of sight.

I was seriously tempted to close my eyes, but as I started I heard someone pull up a chair- make that two, two people took a seat at my table, and I was not in the mood to turn to face them, so I just sat there ignoring them.

But again I wasn’t allowed to be alone, and they began talking to each other about how their days had been. I slid my head on its side until I could see them both and just stared, eyes wide in feigned interest at their conversation. They were a aged zebra and earth pony, both in patch work clothing that was covered in pockets that were jammed packed with all sorts of trinkets, spoons, knives, paper, you name it I bet they had it. Never mind, I knew one thing they didn’t have, “You guys alright there? Doing ok?”

The pair looked at each other then nodded slowly at me.

“Good, just wanted to make sure my bleeding interrupting your conversation. So please, resume your conversation.” I said, nodding my head awkwardly on the table.

“Hey we didn’t knows you were awake, we thoughts you was asleep.” The earth pony explained, and I was inclined to cut him a break had my head not felt like someone had beaten the shit out of it, but oh wait, it had.

The ponies stopped looking at me for a second, their gaze drifting to something behind me, great.

I slowly turned, finally forced to lift my head off the table and look at someone, but if I was to do this against my will, I’d make sure it was the most hate filled stare I could manage, all my hate. However there was no one behind me, great, now I was being tricked by a couple of old fa-

I saw a hoof wave in front of my face and I looked down, my hate stare mixing into confusion, which apparently was funny to the little pony I was now glaring at. He was a small tan unicorn pony with a dirty blonde mane that was a mess, but not in a struggling pony sort of mess, just a mane style I supposed. He just stared up at me with a large pair of lavender colored eyes and a massive grin. He raised a hoof and sat there, hoof raised in the air, bracing it after a minute and then waving it a bit.

“I think he wants you to… pick him?” the zebra said behind me.

That had been my guess too, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept it, so I did the next best thing.

“Who the fuck are you pipsqueak, because unless you’re my waiter and brining my order, get lost.” I said, turning back to the table and slamming my head on the table, ignoring how stupid I looked, the pony trotting away, hopefully getting my food.

The ponies continued on talking for at least five minutes before my food arrived, the mare waitress brining it, but with no pillow, oh well. I munched down on my grilled carrot and jalapeno pepper kebab, eating peacefully for nearly the whole meal before I could see that hoof again, waving at me.

As I turned to face him, I wondered if stabbing him with a skewer would be considered assaulting a child or an adult. I was sorely tempted to try my luck, but apparently he took my expression as a cue to talk, damn it.

“Hello, my name is Red Shirt and…” he suddenly looked perplexed and brought up a hoof and continued, “and I was very much hopping… no wait that’s not right...“ he said, pulling out a pencil and scribbling something on the bottom of his hoof and then cleared his throat, “Hello, my name is Red Shirt, and I was hoping… to request you to help me on a… pic? Oh, right. I was hoping, to request you to help me on an epic quest, filled with danger and untold peril. Will you help me?” he finished rapidly, giving me a large, nervous grin. Was he sweating?

My hate had washed away, replaced with only confusion, great mounds and heaps of confusion. Not confusion as to why I hadn’t punted this pony out the window, but completely baffled at the fact that… I wanted to help him. I need something stronger than water, now.

I shook my head to rid this pony’s whimsical spell he held over me and glared at him, not angrily, but genuinely wanting to hear this proposal, hoping it was a good enough story so that when I kicked him out on his ass I’d at least be laughing.

“What’s this “epic quest” kid?” I asked making the quotes with my hooves.

“Oh, uhm… it’s… uhm…” the kid looked back down at his hoof, chuckled, looking at me and feigned smacking his hoof against it, “forgot it’s on the other one, one second.” Raising the other hoof he began reading off it, the whole time I came to the realization that he was wearing a pipbuck on his right leg. The techno arcane device was a marvel of unicorn and earth pony science, or so the stupid brochure had claimed when I was pinning down inside of a Stable-Tec building, good read while waiting for a turret to run out of ammo. I shook myself out of the memory and found that the pony was not trying to read text off one of his read hooves, hugging with hind leg with wobbling around on his back. I had to speak up or I was afraid I would do something rash.

“Hey… kid? Uhm… how bout using the… yea know…” I said, trying to let him fill in the gaps while I gestured at the pipbuck.

He just looked at the device, then at me, then the device, then me, again.

“Why, it doesn’t know what I’m looking for.” He replied, and then began wrestling with a hind hoof again.

My mouth just hung open, and I said nothing, my face contorted into sheer disbelief, how… how was he still alive? It hit me suddenly, I pushed myself back from the table, thanked the gentlecolts for their conversing and started running towards the door, at least I thought I was running, it seemed more like walking, why was I walking, run damn you legs!

The boy spied me leaving and hopped up and raced after me, forcing me to continue my internal struggle.

“I found it, I had put it in my pocket for safe keeping.” He assured me, “My stable sent me to find some pony, to help me, bring back… something.”

I stopped, turning to him, why was I indulging this moron!

“Something meaning… what?” I asked. Shut up and walk away damn you!

“Uhm… I don’t really know? They were really just interested in me getting this thing quickly, they kept shoving me towards the exit.” He explained.

“Well… ok, how are you supposed to find this… something, if you have no idea what it is, tell me that?” I asked, pushed open the door and making my way out onto the street, the kid right behind me.

“Uhm… I dunno. I’m sure we could go back and ask them.” He said beaming at me.

I nodded and continued to play along, wait when had I given into indulging this pony!?

“How much are we talking? My rates for “epic quests” can be fairly high.”

“Oh I don’t have any money.” He said cheerfully.

I froze in place, of course you whore! Hear something about money and you’ll stop.

I turned to him, arching an eyebrow, “No money?”

He nodded.

“I don’t work for free. Scram.”

I began walking away, heading towards the market to see if anyone had managed to find anything good and trade to a weapon merchant her, but I could still hear hoof steps behind me, so I turned to see he was trailing right behind me.

“Seriously, if you don’t have anything to pay for this thing, I got nothin’.”

He frowned and then began looking at his hooves again as if he had written down an explanation or a retort he had yet to use. I continued towards the market and yet again found he was following me.

My shoulders slumped and I turned to him to him with hooves outstretched, “Go away…” , but he was adamant and when I stopped, he’d check a hoof, but it seemed like he had nothing so I left and he followed.

I didn’t have time for this lost puppy routine, so I sprinted towards an alley way, the pony in hot pursuit.

“Wait up!” he cried, but I just began dodging and weaving through alley ways, finally coming to a dead end. I did a 180 and saw the kid crash right into me, his head knocking against mine and pushing me off balance, causing me to fall to the dirt.

Growling and wanting to punch the kid I heard multiple hoof steps behind me and looked up to see ponies behind the kid too, damn it!

The exit was the most well guarded, a zebra and a pair of heavy earth ponies and I doubted the dead end was filled with teddy bears.

“What’s behind me kid.”

He looked at me and gulped, “There’s a unicorn and an earth pony.”

Nodding I moved my hooves to my holsters, keeping the awkward landing and using it and my duster coat to block the view of my weapons.

“Are they going to rob us?” the kid asked, but there was far less fear on his face than I had expected, he was barely shaking. I examined the weapons and from the looks of things, it didn’t look like they wanted just my bottle caps.

“When it happens, it’ll happen fast, just keep down and out of my way.”

“Wh-what are you going to do? Kill them?”

“These aren’t squirt guns kid.”

The boy nodded and sat perfectly still, my hooves already connected to the guns and waiting for the moment, whatever it would be.
I heard hooves behind me approaching, but I kept my eyes on the zebra mare and friends, the mare taking a few steps forward and giving me a blood thirsty smile, “Make them-“

She wouldn’t finish that statement.

Hind legs springing me backwards I felt myself slam into someone, my fore-hooves already bringing the guns out and on the zebra’s friends. Both fired at the same time and both impacted the large earth pony’s heads before they could even realize I’d shot, the backs of their skulls tearing open and gore flying out. I didn’t sit long enough to even watch the bodies fall, swinging my body to the right and waiting for a target.

A dark brown earth pony charged at me with a massive wrench in an over head swing. I side stepped, his weight carrying himself in front of my right gun and fired, the shot easily going through the skull and flying into a nearby wall, piercing the shoddy shanty metal.

The unicorn had a massive hammer that she held in her magical aura, the hammer already swinging low for my legs. I hopped back, firing two shots but both impacted the thick head of the hammer and were stuck, damn it.

She charged, head low and trying to spear me with her horn but I feigned right, putting her between me and the zebra.

Now on the side of the stumbling mare, I fired a shot pointblank right through her fore-leg shoulders, the shot’s power probably crippling them unless she got magical medical attention and stopped her, the scream coming from her was very loud and whiny. The zebra preformed a front flip, clearing the kid and landing just within hoof reach, not the place to be against a zebra.

Enacting my plan to combat the zebra mare, I grabbed the hammer mare as she fell and brought her just in front of me, the zebra’s first punch hitting low, the blow causing a fountain of blood to erupt from the mare’s mouth as the zebra’s blow probably crushed her intestines. I kicked the mare away and fired two shots through her back, the zebra saw this action coming and easily dodged it.

What the zebra could never have counted on was how powerful the shots were. The mare, now in an incredible amount of pain, was split in two by both shots cracking and releasing a plume of energy that exploded with a crack and threw the zebra off balance.

Seizing the moment I tried moving in close for the kill, the zebra recovered quickly, hopping to her hind legs and coming at me with a hoof strike to the right arm, the blow hammering against my shoulder with a meaty thump. I returned the favor by trying to swing at her from the left which she side stepped to move away from and ran into my other hoof, stopping her for just a moment and rammed my forehead into her face, the metal on my head cracking against her nose and causing blood to gush everywhere.

Not finished, my head now at her neck line and my right hoof grabbing her waist, my other hoof holstering and I threw my weight into her, smashing her against the wall. She slammed her hooves against my sides, but when I wouldn’t let go, she squirmed out of my grip, flipping over and landing behind me, right where I wanted her, my left hoof holstered at my side but still locked to the gun, I fired, the weapon’s shot discharging with a loud crack and boom then the sound of the mare impacting the wall a few meters behind us.

Standing up straight, knowing I needed a healing potion badly, I holstered the left gun for real and turned, my duster swishing in the wing and resting just behind me. The zebra sat up against the wall with both hooves trying to cover the hole in her gut, not even trying to stand. I could see the earth pony bucks were all dead with good head shots, the mare, to my annoyance, was still alive and weeping and hacking in the lap of the kid who sat horrified. I heard coughing and moaning from the zebra and I whirled around to glare at her with every ounce of my rage.

I took a few steps forward and smacked my metal hoof against the side of her head eliciting a cry of pain.

“Don’t like being hit do you, shit hurts doesn’t it!”

I crouched and punched my empty hoof into her gut wound and she howled in pain, but I kept just kept the pressure on and then punched it again. The mare’s eyes started to close and she began to turn a bit red. I put an ear to her chest, her heart was faint and he was very sweaty, blood dripping from her mouth onto me. I pushed her angrily onto her side and stood up and started walking away, pissed that she was dying before I was finished.

The kid was still where I had last seen him, the cold half a corpse still in his hooves and as I moved closer, I would have sworn he was crying. With a hind-hoof, I lifted the corpse off him and kicked him onto his back, he face on the verge of full blown weeping, it was disgusting I thought, rolling my eyes and sighing.

I said nothing and brought myself onto all four, trotting back to the main street to go on with my day.

***

Out of the, oh so annoying alley way, and back into the main street. Once again I tried heading to the market just as a few of the city guards came rushing up and barely brushing past me as I lowered my hat just a bit. But guards and crazy alley morons, the trek to the market was worth it, tons of vendor stands sat around the area, houses acting as boarders and consolidating all the trade to this area like a funnel. I spied several gun merchants, but most looked small time, though it was always the small time merchants who carried the interesting trinkets, so I started with each one, but to no avail.

I needed sleep, but my priorities were bullets first and the only ways to get them were through gun merchants (who usually didn’t even know what kind I was talking about half the time,) and through more dangerous means.

It was a fairly average building, still just a shack, but with colorful neon lights on the outside declaring they were “Salvage brokers”, and that they were open for business. I stepped inside and could see it was a waiting room, a couple of zebra’s waiting in chairs and a large bull headed monster sat behind a desk dressed in a only slightly worn out dark gray suit. He was at the desk on a terminal typing something when I came in, looking up at me for just a second and then returning to typing. I walked over to the desk and sat down, the desk nearly concealing me, it was big but then again, he was a big guy, two meters tall at the least.

I looked around on the desk, wondering how to get his attention properly. A sign sat off to the side made of card board, “Ring bell for service.” I looked at the minotaur, still ignoring me and rolled my eyes, and tapped the stupid bell.

The minotaur sprung to life, turning to me with a big smile, “May I help you sir?” his voice deep and booming, but strangely charismatic.

“Uhm, yea. I need to know what jobs you guys have in the area.”

“What kind of jobs? Military salvage, medical, robotics?”

“Military. Primarily military complexes dealing in R&D.”

The minotaur turned back to his console and began tapping away at the keyboard and then with a hand on chin he glared at the screen.

“I had one… but it looks like it’s taken? Strange.”

“Taken how?”

He leaned closer to the screen and pushed a few keys and then shrugged at me, “Dunno, a site can’t be “taken” like this.”

“well if I can still take it I will.”

Shaking his head he explained, “If it’s full I can’t sign you up for it, sorry sir. I have some other military sites that need extra help or a pony good with terminals.”

I declined and thanked him for his time, asking if they had a bathroom. He nodded and pointed just down the hall. I went inside and closed the door. I needed that address, and so I tried to think of a way to get him away from the terminal for a second. I started pacing around, waiting for something to hit me, but nothing did. Turning I lost track of where I was in the room and rammed a leg into the toilet, ow! I was about to curse at the device when I realized, this could work.

I ran out to the front desk, covered in water, “The toilet exploded, it’s crazy!”

The minotaur turned suddenly, aghast at the news and raced down the hall. Craning my neck back I could see when he was far enough away and walked over to the terminal and began working the keys to get to that address. From what I could tell, the company sold the locations of the loot to people or helped find scavenging jobs for ponies desperate enough to risk their neck versus old world security systems. I found the building I wanted and when I tried to find out more, I found that the contents had been deleted, only the location remained. Someone was trying hard to keep this find a secret, which meant I wanted it more.

I heard the minotaur coming down the hall. I had what I needed and I sprinted for the doorway, hearing him asking, “who tries to flush a plunger down the drain.”

***

The rest of the afternoon I spent gathering some supplies and needed supplies then headed out, using the rest of the daylight to get to my destination and hopefully, would arrive at the installation by night fall.

Gunning the engine down the highway I tried keeping along the route I’d been told to take from the pony I’d asked about the address. He said that the place was north-east of us, about a six hour walk. After getting the general area from the pony I’d made sure to buy a scavenger’s map and look for noted wasteland land marks (gang territory, raider dens, areas known of a certain beast, ect.) and plotted the best route I could think of through raider territory, the other routes heading through gang land and I’d rather not deal with any of their city shit.

At about three hours out from Son Tor, no one had bothered me yet. Which would be good in a normal world, but that’s not the kind of world we lived in.

After a few more minutes of riding hard across the open desert plain I could make out a set of ruins and thought they might be on the map, giving me an estimate as to where I was. So altering my course I began veering right and heading towards the town.

I stopped just outside the city, pulling out my binoculars and checking the buildings and such.

The city itself, was incomplete, probably still a work-in-progress even before the bombs dropped. I could make out a few pony shaped silhouettes wandering around, but I wasn’t close enough to see any weapons, possibly just a regular town. I couldn’t see a name on the city from here, but it was possible it wouldn’t be on the map anyway, but I’d try anyway and headed towards the town.

As I drove up the towns people just glanced at me then returned to their duties. I found a parking area between an unfinished concrete structure and a grocery store and pulled the bike next to a wrecked auto-chariot.

Stepping onto the half finished side walk I started looking for someplace of interest, primarily a town hall or an official building. But there was nothing, no completed town hall or anything, just a lot of half built buildings and hobo ponies wandering around, nothing of interest, great.

I flagged down the first pony that trotted past me, he just stopped and stared, not the least bit intimidated, just confused.

“Can I help you.” The mare asked, her tone more annoyed and aggravated than curious.

“Uhm, yea… what is this place?”

“This is esst Siie.” She said with a bit of a stutter, her expression completely unchanged the whole time.

“Interesting name. So… got a map to help me find out where I am, kinda mixed up out here.” I said, turning side to side with my hooves raised.

The mare just blinked and walked away, great.

From the looks on all the pony’s faces, this was a swell town, the clearly lacking smiles on their faces meant that this was a place you could trust.

I figured that the unfinished town hall would be the best place to start, so I thought, what the heck and started trotting towards it. Trotting in that direction I began trotting across the small park like area, a few dead trees dotted the area with decaying benches on hoof paths. All these though were normal, what was not normal, was the grass… because there was grass. I leaned down to examine it, it looked like any grass I’d ever heard of, green and shiny. Too shiny though. Curiosity got the better of me, I licked a blade of grass and arched back, my tongue and mouth spasming at the foul tasting… thing, that I had just licked. I looked closer and bit at the blade, my tongue retreating to the back of my mouth while I fought with it, the grass not wanting to come up and finally forcing me to give up. I glared at the evil grass and accepted that some pony might have overzealously, and stupidly, warded their grass. Nothing said dedication than keeping your grass alive through the apocalypse.

The rather embarrassing defeat by the lawn just forced me towards the town hall faster, the idea of some random pony in a hat and duster driving into town and then fighting your immortal grass would be rather hilarious to watch, as long as you aren’t that pony. However, grass fight aside, no one had tried saying anything, no one laughed at the moron on the grass, no one insulted me.

The only thing that this said, this town needed to loosen up.

Trotting over and moving up the stairs of the central structure I found the doors to the town hall, which were rather impressive. The paint was peeling and faded on rotted wood paneled doors. It would have made an impressive building if they had finished it, but yea know, end of the world and such, usually puts a damper on plans. The doors looked thick, and so I thought a good push would do it. I stood up and with both fore-hooves, shoved the front doors open, they weren’t thick, and they weren’t in good condition, oops. I fell on my face as the doors flew open with ease and fell to the ground.

I sneezed and a few coughs, the dust having been unsettled and now floating through the air as I waved the dust away from my eyes and struggling to my hooves.

Coughing and squinting through the dust, I could see that whoever had built this town were some cheap bastards. The place was filled with wooden crates and mannequins, who the hell needs this many sewing dummies? Crossing the room, I walked along side one of the crates and read the shipping label that was terribly faded but the words were easy to make out, the three letter organization making me take a few steps back towards the exit.

What was the Royal Equestria Army doing with mannequins in this town?

I ran calmly out of the building, trying to not look any weirder than I already did to these ponies and tried moving to one of the more populated places of town. The ponies on the sidewalks and sitting on the benches still ignored me.

I reached the side walk, slowed my pace and calmly approached the nearest pony on a bench. Give them a big smile Fell Iron!

“The fuck is going on with this town?” I demanded, glaring questioningly at the pony just sitting on the bench, a sparkle cola in his hooves.

He just drank his cola and said nothing, not even looking at me. Rude old buck I thought, moving in front of him and waving a hoof in his face, his concentration not even broken.

I turned and looked behind me towards where my bike was stored, my eye brow slowly rising. The same mare, glasses and chain trotted down the street, the same way. I turned to the buck and slapped the cola out of his hooves, or at least tried to. The cola wouldn’t budge and the buck just sat there, then took a drink. I looked closer to see that his fur was matted and filthy, and that the bottle was actually plugged at the end, the soda hitting the plug and then sloshing around inside the bottle, constantly. I watched a mare and filly walk along side, their movements seeming normal at first glance, but I looked closer. They walked yes, normally no. Their posture was perfect, their movements almost clockwork.

I wanted to test a theory, so I pulled myself up, drew my left pistol and keeping my eyes on the filly and mother approaching me as I held up this buck, but none of them moved, they didn’t even stop. I fired and the shot easily passed through him and embedded itself in the sidewalk below, but he just moved the cola to his mouth.

Okay, freaky ville, that had to be the name, no doubt about it. I looked around and could see ponies still going about their business, not bothered by the firearm discharge. My eyes darted about, looking for anyone normal when I spied something on the mountain in the distance. I pulled out my binoculars and zoomed them the best they could to see what was on the hill. What I saw was a large radio tower looking device with a large object dangling from the top.

Why did the tower have a magical radiation warning on it?

It hit me like a ton of bricks and backing up slowly I holstered my pistol, turned on my hoof, dropped to all four and ran as fast I could towards my bike. Leaping onto the back of the bike and sliding my hooves into place, I revved the engine and spun the bike one eighty, letting the break go and surging forward. The same mare with glasses walked into view and stepped out in front of me. The bike slammed into her, crushing her beneath the wheels and nearly throwing the bike off balance. I hit the brakes and turned, the mare’s body just sitting there, the limbs still moving and her lips still moving, repeating the same statement, “This is Tsst tie 4.”

***

An hour after of getting as far from that place as I could, I found a sign saying that “WARNING, R.E.A property, restricted weapons proving grounds.”

I made a mental note to avoid this place like a plague and after awhile I found a small community just on the outskirts, who apparently, believed it was haunted with the spirits of the ponies from before the war. I knew they weren’t spirits, but I wasn’t interested in staying any more than I had, radioactive posters under the warning sign assured me that was the smart thing.

Creepy old world city aside though, I was able to find out where I was on the map and continue towards the military complex unhindered. The trip taking the majority of the afternoon though and I watched the light slowly beginning to fail as I rode across the plain, the motorcycle kicking up a dust cloud behind me.

The flat plains began to become much more uneven, eventually becoming hills and forcing me to find a road so that I could continue, the bike not designed for such terrain.

I found a road not too far out of the way, the light failing and telling me I needed to hurry up and find some place to retire for the evening. After some thought though, I was closer to the facility than any town, or so the map told me, having to take a few stops on the abandoned road way and double check my surroundings.

Stopping the bike for at least the fifth time, I brought down the kick stand and sat up, digging into a pocket and searching for my map and then laying it out in front of me. Using a hoof and tracing my path, I took out a pencil and began dotting the route I believed I had taken, hoping to follow it back when I was done.

The sunlight was nearly gone and I had no portable light except for what the bike generated but the faint aura from the gauge dials and such were useless to plot a course.

Hoof to my chin I began trying to figure my next best course when my ears began to twitch, trying to turn. I followed the direction they wanted to point towards and watched rocks falling onto the road way from in front of, a hill obscuring the turn ahead. I tried to focus on the area, a hoof moving to my holster, prepared to draw and fire.
I heard a whistle and racing around the corner were four massive dogs, patches of fur missing and their eyes glowing red, fangs barred and running straight for me.

I moved my hoof away from my holster to the handle and opening the throttle, the bike roaring to life and racing towards the dogs. I closed the distance within seconds, two dogs dead center and one on each flank. Hitting the brake I swerved the bike broadside into one of the central dogs, slamming against it and throwing it back, but the other strafed out of the way and now was behind me.

Letting go of the brake the bike leapt forward and straight into the side of the flanking dog, his reflexes good enough only to turn him just in time to see my front tire impact his face, the bike crushing him beneath it and nearly toppling me off the bike. Just in front of me was a embankment leading down to the plains, a good four meter fall.

The first dog leapt into view and latched onto my shoulder, the other missing and hitting the rear of the bike but recovering quickly. I turned and bit the dog’s muzzle with everything I had, blood filling my mouth as the dog began to cry out in pain and releasing me.

Gunning the engine and swerving the bike in the opposite direction of the attack I flew down the road and put some good distance between me and the dogs, screeching to a halt and looking to see what had happened.

The dog from the initial attack was struggling to stay up, but the dog’s drive to kill me was keeping it going, slowly, but it was still up. Bloody muzzle dog and his partner were sprinting towards me, their handlers finally coming out from the cover of the hill, sub machine guns blaring but missing me completely.

Bringing the bike facing towards my attackers I had only seconds before the dogs were on me again. I got low in the seat, my chest resting on the central portion of the bike and my chin resting on a perch just above the front wheel housing. My fore-hooves pulled back in their handle housings and revved the engine a few times, then my hind hooves released the brakes and the bike shot forward like a bullet, passing the dogs, their rancid breath faintly visible in the wind rushing towards me, but I kept my eyes on the prize.

The pony handlers were a pair of unicorn stallions in leather armor and both carrying levitating SMGs and firing them from their mouths. I didn’t focus on their colors or their manes. I concentrated on how far apart they were in relation to me as my bike quickly approached them, their bullets flying all around me.

The wounded dog in the road was the obstacle just before the handlers, I removed my right hoof from its place and let it hang out along the bike, the dog taking the bait and latching onto the metal cap on the end. The bike swerved from the action but with all my strength I dragged the dog down the road and as I passed the first handler, brought the dog up and slammed it into him, the dog squealing in pain and the buck having the wind knocked out of him. The second buck was in the process of reloading his spent magazines as I finally reached him, hitting the brakes suddenly and the rear wheel flying off the ground. I put all my strength into turning the bike right with brought the now airborne rear wheel flying across the face of the reloading buck, snapping his head back and throwing him away from me.

The bike dropped and I sat up, drawing both pistols and firing a shot into the pile, the shot piercing the dog and buck in one shot. Leveling the guns down the road I could see the dogs, slightly slower than before, were almost on me, but I was already aiming at them and fired a shot into each, the rounds penetrating through the left dog’s maw and exiting through his belly below, the other dog taking the shot in the body and dropping dead.

“I-I’m gonna skin you alive!” roared a male voice over my shoulder.

I rolled off the left side of the bike, pulling myself up and aiming, the buck struggling to his wobbly legs, a knife in his mouth. Some ponies just didn’t learn even with a swift hit to the head. Lowering my guns and shaking my head at him with a chuckle I strode up close to him, the raider’s tiny pupils following me and his bloody muzzle carrying a bloody carving knife, rusted and rather blunt looking. The raider lunged at me but I just stepped back, the pony falling to the ground and scrambling to stand up. I brought up a hind leg into his jaw, the metal cracking against his skull and throwing his head back, sending sprawling again.

Without any words I walked over to the other handler, seeing he had a set of rusted chains attached to his leather barding. I bent over to pick it up, finding one end went in the pony’s mouth and the other end was attached to the dog’s collars.

Pulling off a dog collar and walking over to the raider I had an idea of what I could do with this pony, his snarling face still sporting the knife, but he looked in a bad way, probably needed medical attention.

After attaching the collar to him I mounted the bike and took a deep breath, the air was getting cool and the sounds of the night were already starting early, gunfire and explosions resonating off the hills and becoming a part of the ambient sounds of the wastes. I looked at the map on last time and nodding as I saw this would lead me all the way to the facility. I revved the engine and opened the throttle and steadily the bike began cruising down the road, the screams from the raider being dragged behind the bike becoming louder and more pathetic as I went faster and faster.

( Based in the universe of Fallout Equestria By Kkat. Go read it if you haven’t already.)
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-fallout-equestria.html

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