Fallout: Equestria - Shadowless Augury

(Advisory Warning: this chapter sucks. I thought I’d warn you now.)

Fallout: Equestria – Shadowless Augury

Chapter 1: Alpha

“Hi, my name is...”

Life was routine for my family and I. We would go from somewhere in Neigh City to somewhere else in Neigh City. We would usually trot until we found somepony in need or we simply decided to turn back after three days. With the way things were in the Wastes, we were usually destined to help somepony.

Now I, your tour guide through this story, will start off by introducing the four pony gang.

Let’s start with my Mother, Amaranthine. She wore a violet coat and eyes, a pure white mane, and neat horn on her head. She was beautiful, smart, and a good shot with her scoped .44 revolver. She painted over parts of it in purple, painted a purple eagle, and calligraphically engraved “We All Sing Glory” on the handle with her magic. Her artistic ability really showed on that revolver and her painted leather armor. The armor was a midnight black with a coat of deep purple painted over parts. Around her neck she wore an eagle pendant. She also served as our medic since we don’t know anything about anything. Mom was even nice enough to teach us some things. If she wasn’t helping us or the Wasteland she was either reading, writing, or drawing. Yes, she was a bit of a nerd, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t handle herself in a fight. She could shoot and run, what else is there? Her nerdiness even carried into her cutie mark. Her flank carried the silhouette of a paintbrush and pencil above a medical cross, and to top it off, a book underneath all of that. I hate reading.

Damned eggheads.

Let’s now go to my Father. Mr. Beryl Blue is a beautiful and independent unicorn and he don’t need no buck. His coat and eyes were a deep blue and his mane was blue and white. He was very similar to Mom; very smart, had a passion for learning, egg-head. Just like Mom, he could seriously kick tail if he needed too, with or without a weapon. With all the studying Dad did, he became very skilled in everything he set his mind to: magic, repair, lockpick, a lot of stuff actually.  He did plenty of reading at a Stable-Tec building and learned enough to outfit us all with a shiny and polished Pip-Buck from the same building. Similarly to Mom, he had black leather armor with blue painted over the same parts. Dad’s weapons of choice were an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, both in perfect condition. Mom used her magic to make the engravings, “Roads That Don’t End” and “Views That Never Cease”, respectively. And for his butt mark: a book (again?) with a wrench atop it. I still hate reading.

Since unicorn blood ran strongly through our veins, my brother and I were both unicorns of course.

So my Bro, my BBBFF, Best Big Brother Friend Forever. Best brother in this piece of shit Wasteland! And how could you go wrong with a name like Fortis Cor. He had a bluish-purple coat, blue eyes, and a white mane. Just like our parents, he was very smart. Not as much of an egghead though. Mom and Dad were good fighters in the Wastes, but Cor was the best fighter I have ever seen. Mom and Dad taught him how to shoot at an early age for obvious reasons in the Wasteland, and his skills continually improved. He became a really good shot at all ranges, and so his weapon of choice became a hunting rifle with a scope. With this he wore plain black leather armor. Even with his skills, he was hurt at a young age when his gun was knocked out of his hands by raider with a knife and was nearly killed; he still has a scar on his face and a few on his body. After that he taught himself how to fight, and as soon as he could he taught me everything he knew about fighting. With all the time we spent training he got a really nice body. I did not, unfortunately. Another talent of his was music; he could write and play several instruments with his horn. As for his cutie mark, it was a silhouette of a pony kicking another pony-silhouette in the face. The former having an iridescent musical note where a cutie mark would normally go.

And at the end of the list we have me, Suthain. Yes, my bro and I do have strange names, get over it. I had a coat and eyes just like Mom’s and a white mane with light blue stripes running through it.  As I said before, Cor and I trained in hoof-to-hoof combat and we both became deadly. However he was the one who came out of this training with an excellent body, I was still in the weak body I had always been in. Cor taught me how to shoot and fight when I was just a colt, and so I became a decent shot at long ranges and a great shot at short to mid ranges. I had dual .32 pistols and a rifle and armor like Cor’s.  I took a lot of traits from our parents that my brother didn’t. I became great with magic, medicine, art, repair, and lockpicking. Those were the major skills. I can pick other skills up quite easily.

*  *          * * *        * *

A common day for us, we walked amidst the ruins of this forgotten world. Not a soul in sight, not until we saw three balls not too far away, each one covered in a red coat. As we got closer, my Pip-Buck’s Eyes-Forward Sparkle picked up a friendly green bar in the same direction as the balls. I’m starting to get the feeling this was something else. My fear came true, they weren’t balls, they were ponies, and the red color was blood that pooled around them and stuck to their coat. We rushed to see if any of them were breathing. One was taking very slow breaths, maybe there was hope her. She was missing a limb and her blood dried onto her coat and formed a dark pool around her, I’m surprised she was still alive, but she was close dead at this point. She barely moved as we approached her. There was a melancholy look in her eyes; she knew her fate. Mom starting using her magic and whatever we had on us to try and heal her wounds, Dad went to scavenge nearby buildings for supplies to help the mare, Cor and I stood watch over the doctor and her patient. The mare was hurt badly, Mom was trying her best to save her, but we all knew she wasn’t going to make it.

Dad came back after 10 minutes with a disappointed look on his face. “Nothing,” was all he said.

“No healing potions?” my mother asked in response.

“Nothing.”

“Not even food or water.”

“Nothing, besides we have some of our own.”

“We have this,” she said as she floated out three bottles filled with murky water.

“Can’t you filter it, or something?”

“I would have done that already if it were an option,” she said matter-of-factly.

My father waited a moment before starting again, “How’s she doing?”

“She’s doing better than when we first came to her, but I’m not sure if she’ll last too long without food or water. She’s terribly dehydrated and has certainly lost a lot of blood; it’s amazing she’s still alive.” It must have been through the strength of her own heart that she was still breathing long enough for help to come to her. She must have been lying there, in her own pool of blood, for at least two days.

“I’ll go check in the other buildings, then,” Dad said as he left again. The other buildings were completely rundown, so I wasn’t sure if there was going to be anything other than rubble.

We awaited his return as Mom continued to give the mare purple healing potions and used her magic to heal her. She was starting to look much better than when we first got to her, Mom wasn’t lying about that. She was lying that she had a chance of surviving, with or without food and water. It wouldn’t have done much other than extend whatever was left of her life. She wasn’t going to make it, and that’s why the Wasteland sucks. No joy, no compassion, no breaks.

The mare started moving. Maybe Mom did save her. The mare looked at all of us and all of her surroundings. “What happened?” she asked this as if she truly didn’t know what happened. Perhaps she had brain damage.

“It’s okay, you’re safe. We need you to remember what happened. How did you end up here?” Mom asked with kindness in her eyes.

“Um…,” the mare took a moment to think about her answer. “I was going from… I can’t remember. Where was I going?” She asked herself.

“You were going somewhere, that’s all that matters. Were you travelling alone or with somepony?

“I was with two other ponies. We… we were going down this road, and then… we were… attacked. It wasn’t… it wasn’t anything I’ve ever seen before. They were viscous… no mercy… they killed them. Then, they left me to die…”

“Who did this to you?” she wanted to go after whoever or whatever did this.

“They weren’t ponies anymore… they were monsters… soulless monsters,” it was definitely a scarring experience for her.

“Who? Who were they?”

“Don’t go after them… they’ll just do the same to you. They… they don’t have morals… they only kill… they’re worse than anything in the Wastes,” she said. The worst part is she was probably wasn’t lying. The Wasteland fucks you over continuously and won’t stop until it chooses to; the inhabitants only make it worse.

“Tell us so we can stay away from them if we see them,” Mom lied. We were going after who did this. We knew it and the mare knew it.

“There’s no use… if you see them… you’re already dead…”

She was gone. We failed her. The Wasteland didn’t give her a chance of hope. It doesn’t give anyone a chance of hope, and that’s why it sucks.

Dad joined us shortly afterwards, he didn’t have any food or water. “She didn’t make it?”

“No,” she informed him, “Let’s go,” and with that we continued down the road.

* *           * * *        * *

The sky grew dark. We walked in silence. There was nothing along our way, just destroyed buildings. We decided to set up camp in a small grey building. It wasn’t completely destroyed like the rest of the buildings around us. After clearing the building out, we put down our saddlebags and lay our bed rolls down. We could finally get some rest, we definitely needed some.

Just as we thought our day was over, we heard noises outside. There were a few red bars on my E.F.S. I couldn’t quite tell how many though because they were bunched together. We stacked on the sides of the door, two per each side. They weren’t going to expect an ambush upon entrance. The door was kicked open and two ponies in black armor rushed in. Their armor had a coat of yellow that branched out to form a lightning pattern. Cor and Dad took them both to the ground and began choking them out. Two more ponies quickly rushed in and shot three times above us all, and then a mare aimed her gun at Mom and me, a buck aimed at Cor and Dad. “Stand down! Move away from them,” the buck ordered. Cor and Dad loosened their grips and the ponies they were grabbing slipped away from them. They checked all of our pockets and emptied them. “Get up,” the same buck commanded. Cor and Dad obeyed. I could see what Dad was doing; he was trying to figure out if he could fight them. Unarmed and a 1:1 ratio, it looked like we had a chance.

Of course three more ponies entered. Two wore the same black armor with yellow lightning, but the other wore only a tattered black cloak. He was a unicorn buck that was much bigger than everypony in the room. His muscles weren’t defined, but large and intimidating. He had a look in his eyes. That look that told us he wouldn’t just kill us; he would make us suffer first, just like the mare we tried to save. His coat was a blood red and his mane was the same but with yellow streaks, his eyes were also a deep red and his voice was deep and had a soothing accent, “Restrain them.” Four ponies came to shackle us while two others kept their guns on us. Dad countered the mare trying to shackle him and took her weapon. He managed to get two shots into her head before a buck shot him. All of my family in shock, we were ready to rush to him. Mom was the first to move and the second of us to fall. Whether it was out of fear or smarts, Cor and I didn’t even scream. We only watched as our parents were killed before us. “Fools. They’re actions have led to their downfall,” the buck said, “Take everything they had on them, you could use it.” Two mares took everything on the ground before them. A mare went and picked up Mom’s necklace. Cor and I were shackled together by one of our forelegs. It really didn’t make walking easy, but we got it under control quickly. He left the room, our captors followed him. “Bring these two to the cages. If they try anything, let them know what death feels like,” and with that he departed with the two ponies that entered the room with him. The other four led us in the opposite direction.

I had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen to us. Instinct told me to analyze the ponies around me. Two had assault rifles, the other two had shotguns. All of them carried a knife on their armor and one shotgun mare carried all of our belongings. She holstered Mom’s revolver and Dad’s sniper and assault rifle. Around her neck she wore Mom’s eagle necklace. She was definitely going to die. This was going to be a tough fight, but we could do something; we just had to be patient.

* *           * * *        * * *

We walked for about 30 minutes before I decided to do something. The assault rifle ponies led us while the shotgun ponies watched us from behind. I started looking around. Taking in the image of destroyed buildings, gazing at the ever cloudy sky, peeking at which pony had all the weapons. She was walking behind Cor, perfect.

I looked at my brother. There was no worry in his face. He would get us out of this, but I could do it before him. “Behind me,” I whispered, almost soundlessly. I grabbed my mother’s revolver with my telekinesis and instantly brought up the unique Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell. I selected the mare’s head and put three shots into it. At such a close range, she was dead in the first shot. I kicked the mare behind me in the face as soon I was out of S.A.T.S., it was enough to keep her confused. My brother, realizing what happened, grabbed the mare’s fallen shotgun with his telekinesis and quickly shot the mare behind me twice, turning her into a bloody, gore strewn mess. Both assault rifle ponies were stunned. Waiting for S.A.T.S. to recharge, I aimed down the sights of my mother’s favorite gun and shot the mare directly in front of me. Out of ammo, I beat the remaining pony with the revolver. It gave us enough time to keep him dazed and let my brother shoot him with the shotgun.

Cor and I searched these ponies for a key to these shackles. We unlocked our restraints and hugged each other. Our parents were just killed before our eyes, and a hug was greatly appreciated. A few tears fell from my eyes, none from Cor. He was crying on the inside, but he wanted to stay strong for me. He wanted to let me know he was going to be there for me, that it was all going to be alright. As long as we were still together, it would be alright. I took Mom’s eagle pendant and hung it from my neck. After gathering everything at our feet, we took a look around us then headed back from where we just came. We needed a place to sleep, but because we were constantly on the move we never had a home. We would just travel from one town to the next and sleep wherever we could. So Cor and I made way for nearest trading town, Prute.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added: Point Buck – +10% damage with guns.

Quest Perk Added: Big Losses – When you suffer a big loss, you want revenge. Your attacks now do 10 % more damage against those who have wronged you. Your companions feel the same effect.[/size]