Fallout Equestria: Nearly Civilized

Topaz awoke to find himself in a bed; a bed that has aged and stiffened over the years of being neglected.  Topaz sat up quickly to investigate his whereabouts, knowing already that it wasn't his home at Chance, but instead what shielded him from the environment outdoors was an enclosed makeshift shack with beams of sunlight leaking through the cracks in the walls, else well as holes in the rusted sheet metal roofing.  His equipment lay next to the wooden plank door; this was everything he had before being kidnapped, though this excluded the Anti-Tank Rifle.

As Topaz lifted himself up into a sitting position, he took a glance at the bed only to wish the aged stains he saw never existed.  The air around Topaz was warm and dry as took a deep breath; this was something that he wasn’t used to at all, “Where the hell am I…?” Topaz wondered aloud to himself.

“Jade…?” Topaz called out softly, “Bolt…? Anyone…?”

Topaz exhales deeply before getting off of the bed then trots over to where his equipment lies.  He slips his IU onto his left foreleg and fastens the straps, then proceeds to strap on the holster for his magnum and puts a bit more effort into lifting up the 20 pound AMR.

“Gosh, do you have to be naturally strong for these rifles, or does everyone go through some kind of intense training to wield these bloody things…?!” Topaz pondered as he reached for the handle on the door, “…And why is it so damn warm in here…?”

Topaz’s question about the temperature was answered when he opened the door; the warm and dry desert breeze of the outdoors invaded the makeshift shack, kicking up dust and sand around the place.  Topaz shielded his eyes from the bright morning sunlight flooding the landscape.  Once Topaz’s eyes adjusted to the brightness, he began scanning his surroundings; the sheer orange-brown cliffs rise into the blue skies surround Topaz, leaving him in a valley full of large rocks and the cracked, dry earth.  The place seemed volcanic also.

The shack Topaz exited from was built on an elevated heap of land, its backside hugging the side of a cliff.  The valley bared the occasional signs of a place that once was full of migrating creatures – dragons.  A skeleton of one, no bigger than the average Hellhound, buried halfway in the earth a distance away from where Topaz stood.

“Hello…!?” Topaz hollered, getting even more anxious with every minute that passes by in the heat and the unknown location.  Topaz holstered the AMR onto his back before proceeding down the hill to venture around.

“Is anyone here…!?” Topaz shouted for the final time before losing hope in the use of his voice and trotted on through the valley.  Topaz glances slowly down at the IU on his left foreleg, he then immediately checks for any sort of map available.  Topaz exhales in relief to realize the IU does contain a digital map to utilize, but after Topaz hits the option for the map, a blue 3-dimensional holographic map flashes up instantly, causing Topaz to fall onto his flank from the sudden surprise.  After Topaz gets himself together, he takes a good look at the map; it’s showing the local area Topaz is currently at; the southern-most area of Equestria.  The Badlands; the east side hugs the Macintosh Hills.  Topaz zooms out more to the point he can see all of Equestria its major pre-war cities and towns marked on the map.  Vanhoover was a great distance away on the North-West corner of Equestria, while Topaz was currently on the South-East corner.

“…This is going to be one big journey home…” Topaz said under his breath, “…but seriously, who would abduct a pony and then just dump them so far from their home without looting or molesting said pony!?”, Topaz took a deep breath, “Now I’m ranting to myself, splendid.”

Topaz began to trot to the northern canyon exit of the Badlands, “At least there wasn’t some random note saying: ‘Lets play a game’…”

As Topaz was right about to enter the canyon that leads out of the Badlands, he hears someone behind him, giggling.  Topaz, in an instant, lets his reflexes take over and whips around to the sounds coming from behind him, magnum already drawn and pointed.  There’s two ponies; a mare and a stallion, standing side-by-side, smiling at Topaz. The average sized mare was a unicorn; black mane, crimson messy coat along with bloodshot eyes.  She also had crude looking sheet metal wings strapped to her body to imitate the wings of a Pegasus.  The stallion had the same eyes and idea as the mare, except he was an actual Pegasus, but with an ice cream cone glued to his forehead.

“Oh, you really think that gun will hurt such a powerful being like ME!?” the mare said with a non-sane manner.

“…Yeah!  YOU, the lesser being, really think you can hurt US!? AH-HAHAHAAA!  Silly…” the stallion followed along with the mare, same insane tone.  Topaz kept his magnum pointed, unsure what’s going on exactly.

“WE…  ARE ALICORN SIBLINGS!” the mare roared in a strong sinister manner.

Topaz, being smarter than most other ponies he’s met has caught onto the couple and gives a face with the lack of amusement, “Are you wankers serious…?  Alicorns?” Topaz shook his head.  “I obviously do not have time for you…” Topaz turned around and began to walk away.

“HEY! You simply just don’t… WALK AWAY from US!  Misery and Company will rule the universes!” the mare shouted.

Topaz turns back around to face the two again, and then raises a brow, “Or what?”

“OR THIS!” the stallion shouts as he tenses up, squeezing himself hard enough for the blood in his body to rush to his head, but nothing happens.

“Huh.” Topaz huffs before pointing his magnum and fires off a round into the stallion’s chest, puncturing a lung in the stallion.

The stallion lets out a loud wheezing sound before falling onto the ground, gurgling and slowly drowning in his own blood before going silent.

“PAH! You really think Company can DIE from something like that!? Pathetic attempt!” the mare boasted, still smiling.

“Whatever, I have more important things to do.” Topaz turns around before trotting off to the canyon leading out of the Badlands.

“Yes!  YES!!!  RUN IN FEAR, LESSER BEING!” the mare shouted after Topaz.

<><><><><><

After clambering over a few boulders and getting a few scrapes trending through the rough canyon, Topaz finally made it out of the canyon after about an hour.  What lay before him was a flat desert with a small town further down a dirt path; so Topaz continued down the path, hoping he can find someone who could help him out, possibly get some food and water while there.  To his right was what appeared to be a forest once lush with the green leaves, 300 years ago that is; now the forest was left there, dead, knocked over like an amateur attempting to balance matches on an uneven surface then burned them out of frustration.  Topaz trotted onward down the dry dirt path, motivated completely by his empty stomach.

After trotting down the path to the town, Topaz was weighed down even more by the effects of the intense afternoon sunlight in such a dry environment; he was dehydrated.  As he took deep breaths from exhaustion, he came closer to the old town which he could make out easily from the distance.  It was just another derelict of pre-war civilization.

Feeling nearly hopeless at this point, Topaz sat down on his flank as soon as the dirt path met with old asphalt roads that were beaten up by time like Vanhoover.  A lopsided sign parallel to the road on Topaz’s right said: ‘Welcome to Dodge Junction’.  The structures were foreign to Topaz, looking like old western towns where a shootout might happen in the silly cartoony comics Topaz used to read to pass time when he was young; this also led to Topaz’s liking for firearms.  Topaz looked around the abandoned town before the sound of something being knocked over in a nearby building catches his full attention.  Topaz gets off of the ground and wanders towards the noise, magnum ready to be drawn.

“Hello…?” Topaz hollered to the building from where the noise came from, “…Is anyone there?”

There was no response, but instead, Topaz heard the sound of fluids dripping onto the floor and some living creature breathing, so he decided to enter the building, knowing there was something alive.

“Excuse me… but I-” Topaz said before stopping his words after turning a corner to see an adult Hellhound holding up a fresh kill to its face and feeding off of; a pony wearing something that supposed to be armor made out of half a car tire and leather straps.  The Hellhound used its powerful jaw and sharp teeth to tear apart the pony by the belly, feeding on everything.  Topaz gasped and took few a steps back, fear and disgust pumped through his mind.  The Hellhound smelled the fresh meat on Topaz, and while turning its head to glare at Topaz, the Hellhound let out a low growl and dropped what’s left of the dead pony.  Topaz stood there in shock before realizing that the Hellhound was looking for another fresh meal, and he darted out of the building, the Hellhound seeing Topaz’s sudden movement, chased after him while letting out a loud, bloodthirsty roar.  Topaz managed to get to the other side of the road before pulling out his magnum and firing off four .45-70 Gov’t rounds, then realized that he hasn’t reloaded since he shot that one stallion from the Badlands.  Topaz panicked for his life, he dropped his magnum and drew the AMR he had, but this sudden action of weight shifting made him lose his balance and stumble backwards and impale himself through his torso on a large fragment of metal that was sticking out of the ground as a leftover from a battle.  Cringing in severe pain, Topaz lay there as the Hellhound approached him.  Topaz was bleeding a hefty amount, and pulling himself off of the metal fragment that impaled him would cause more potential damage and pain.  The Hellhound grabbed Topaz by his hind legs, sinking its sharp claws into Topaz’s thighs, causing him to squeeze eyes tightly with a small stream of tears running down his face.  Topaz at this point has given up, and he waited for those teeth to bury themselves into him.

“Oh hell no…!” a deep voice stallion hollered out of nowhere, then came a very large pony.  Topaz couldn’t make out the stallion fully since his eyes were blurred and he was losing consciousness from fast blood loss.  The large stallion lunged at the Hellhound and performed a bone-crunching punch with his left hoof across the Hellhound’s face, causing it to yelp and stagger away from Topaz.  The pony’s right hoof had some kind of bulky metal gauntlet, the hydraulics completely noticeable.

“You ain’t gonna eat to no pony again!  Fuckin’ bitch!” the stallion roared, and with one, powerful uppercut with his right hoof to the Hellhound’s jaw, the Hellhound’s head becomes nothing much of bits flying towards the afternoon sun.  The Hellhound, missing its head, goes limp and falls backwards onto the ground, the blood of the monster splattering over the dirt and asphalt.  At this point, Topaz couldn’t keep his eyes open to the see the pony face-to-face, and soon enough, Topaz passed out.

Topaz awoke in a soft, warm bed, his equipment and clothes removed.  Wondering where he was, he sat up quickly just to be introduced to the pain of where used to be impaled.  Topaz looked down to see his wound, but it was neatly covered up from gauze that wrapped around his torso, and he laid back down in the bed still feeling a bit weak.  Topaz rolled onto his side to get a comfortable look around the room which was full of fancy scanners and medical tools.  Topaz touched his hind legs and winced to the deep cuts from the Hellhound’s claws, those wound were also wrapped up in gauze.  The brawny stallion from the Hellhound incident in Dodge Junction stepped through a closed door to check up on Topaz.  The stallion wore a full suit of very heavy-looking armor, nothing no ordinary muscle builder could even hope to wear.  The colors on the armor were just simply a black color, though there were some lights on the armor that glowed a soothing cyan color.

“You been out for 24 hours, bro.” the stallion informed.

“What?  You’re not going to ask if I’m okay…?” Topaz scoffed.

“I know you’re O.K, you certainly ain’t dead!” the stallion replied.

“Ugh…  It hurts, did I damage anything internally…?” Topaz cringed, holding his chest.

“Naw bro! The metal shard penetrated too low to hit your heart, and it went in between something hard, and something soft…!  A-K-A, it went between your lung and spine.”

“Marvelous…”

“Yo, bro…”

“Hmm…?”

“I like your accent, but there’s something about you that I want to ask you…”

“And that would be my name…?”

“No.” the stallion points a hoof at Topaz’s flank, “Where is your Cutie Mark…?”

“Cutie Mark…?  You mean the symbols on some pony’s arse?”

“Yes!  Where’s yours!?”

Topaz looks down at his flank, which is indeed blank, “I never got one.  I thought it was a very large trend with tattoos.”

“So you don’t know your spec-…  How old are you?”

“Twenty-four…”

“Bro, that isn’t right!  How do you not know your special talent by now…!?”

“I don’t get what you mean…”

“Bro!  Cutie Marks come as a natural part of a pony’s LIFE!  How do you NOT have one at that age!?”

Topaz, becoming confused simply shrugs.

“Bro, you-… Never mind…  Forget it for now, you’ll learn on you own someday.” The stallion sighed, “So what’s your name, bro?”

“…My name is Topaz Spectrum, and what would yours be?”

“Everyone usually calls me by Splatter.  Nice to meet you, Mr. Spectrum, oh and… Uhhh…” Splatter reaches for something in a bag on a stand next to the door, “You dropped this…” he pulls out Topaz’s .45-70 Gov’t magnum, but seems to be bent up and mangled, especially at the barrel.

“What the…” Topaz stared at the magnum as he took it back.

“Yeah…  I sorta stepped on it…” Splatter said, heavy with guilt.

Topaz shakes his head, “Wasn’t really my style, small ammo capacity and too much recoil.  Oh well.” Topaz sets down the magnum on the nightstand close to the bed he’s in.  “So where are we right now?”

“We’re here at a small Consortium outpost located in Rambling Rock Ridge.  Current population is only you… and I” Splatter replied.

Topaz looks around for his IU, “Have you seen my Intel Umbrella?”

“You mean the tech thingy on your left foreleg?  That thing’s in the other room, along with you other weapons as well.  You’ll have to stick close to me when you want to go there; don’t want you getting’ lost.” Splatter chuckled a bit.

“Oh, for future reference, just call me Topaz, or Spectrum, or just Topaz Spectrum if you’re angry or being serious.” Topaz added with a scoff as he hopped out of the bed, but loses a bit of his balance.

“Careful there, bro.” Splatter said softly as he put his hooves on Topaz to keep him upright.  Topaz regains his balance and trots out of the room with Splatter following closely behind.

The room Topaz exited lead to a hallway that has multiple doors on either side of it and a lone door at the end and like what Splatter said; it is absent of any other ponies.

“So what’s this ‘other room’ you speak of?” Topaz asked.

Splatter points to a door to the right that has the word ‘ARMORY’ labeled above it.  “Just don’t touch anything and you’ll be fine, bro.” Splatter commanded.

“Got it.” Topaz confirmed to Splatter as he opened the electronic door to the armory.

As the lights in the armory flickered on, the contents of the area became clear as rows and shelves of various Energy Weapons were revealed, all neatly organized and categorized.

“Good gosh.” Topaz gasped with a pinch of joy, “Do you plan to take on an army or something?”

“No.” Splatter replied, “Just for a garrison to arm up during emergencies in this sector when they arrive.”

“Speaking of emergencies, where are all the Diamond Dogs that usually subside here in Rambling Rock Ridge?”

“What the hell is a Diamond Dog?” Splatter wondered.

“What?  How do you not know what a Diamond Dog is?  You just bashed in one’s face to save my arse.”

“Oh!  Those ugly mutants are called Hellhounds, bro”

“Oh, pfft.” Topaz shakes his head, “Wasteland terms…”

“Where’d you grow up at, bro?”

“I grew up at a city off of the coast of Vanhoover called Chance.”

Splatter thinks for a bit, “Never heard of it.”

Topaz finally finds where Splatter has put his equipment at in the armory, “If you want, you can come with me because I’m headed back to Chance.”

“Negative, I have a post to stand guard at.”

Topaz huffed as he slung the AMR over his back and readjusts the IU onto his left foreleg, “Alright, I guess this is good bye.”

“Maybe we’ll see each other again sometime in the future.”

“Sometime.”

Topaz checks the holographic map on his IU before trotting out of the bunker.  “..Small village called Ponyville is located directly west of here.  Hm…” Topaz talked to himself before trotting cautiously away from Rambling Rock Ridge and further down west to see what awaits him this time.

While the sun was setting and with the night creeping up on Topaz, he decided to trot around in search for shelter in a small forest he had stumbled upon while traveling west to this unmarked village.  Eventually Topaz found a small shallow cave in the side of a low cliff to take refuge in for the cold night.  Topaz, still uneasy about his first encounter in the wastes of Equestria, he decides to turn on his IU light and make sure that the cave he’s in is safe.

As Topaz descended deeper into this cave he noticed that the floor of the cave was rather flat and wide like a paved road with little to no obstacles such as stalagmites.  As Topaz slowly ventured further down with his attention to the ground looking for anything unusual, he soon learned his lesson about watching where you go when he banged his head at the dead end of the cave.  “Urgh…!” Topaz moaned as he rubbed his fore head before looking up at what he had struck.  It was a large vault door; the sign on the vault door was different from what Topaz has learned about these vaults; or Stables as they were really called.  Usually these Stables were identified with simple numbers such as 30 or 13, but the ID of this Stable was 20th, but there were other characters underneath the 20th, though time has worn them out to the point they’re only spots of yellow paint.  Topaz decided it was best to leave alone this pre-war relic and sat down against the vault door.  Topaz, thinking about his home and folks, sat there for a while before falling asleep.