Fallout Equestria; Crusader Chronicles

Chapter 1: Outset.

As the doors of the Fillydelphia Museum of Technology (or so words that went across my sight told us) closed, we startled a funny mare standing just outside... Obviously the sudden appearance of clean fillies was something to comment on out here...

"Holy shit..."

Considering myself spokesmare of the group, I adjusted my hat to a different angle with a nice neat telekinetic field. "Good evening m'am... We're lost."

"I see that. Uh..." She watched all of us for a minute before a sudden smile came across her face. Apparently she recovered from the scare we gave her- which was good! I didn't want to kill anypony... "Hmm... I'll bring you to my friends, and we'll figure out where you're supposed to be."

I exchanged a happy glance with my sisters, before watching the mare as she clasped a pretty necklace around my neck, pushing out my chest a little bit to make it easier for her. Bounce's went on a little harder, as she couldn't sit still long enough for the thing to go on, and Hack's just barely fit. "Thanks miss! Hey, do your friends have any ice cream?"

I heard my sisters straighten up at the prospect of ice cream. Our new friend got a funny look as she was assaulted with 1000 watts of pure filly cute-smiles. She smiled a little bit back at the three of us before turning to lead us somewhere. "Yeah, sure kid."

"Hear that, girls!?" I bounced a little bit as I followed her.

"Ice cream! I love ice c-c-c-ream~" Bounce chattered in her cheerful falsetto.

"Mmm.. Ice cream.." I could almost hear Hacksaw's grin, neither of us could come close to her low voice.

I stumbled a little bit, and looked up after correcting it, before backpedaling into my sisters, shaking a little bit. "Th.. The.."

"... It's pretty..."

Bounce said nothing, just stared at the... Clouds? My picture-book education wanted to call it clouds, not the ceiling, far above us. Our guide had stopped, and was watching us patiently as we marveled. (Well. They marveled. I tried to hide under Hacksaw and held tight to her. I felt like I would fall into it!) Bounce spoke up... "Hay miss, wuh-why is the ceiling so high up?"

"Yeah.. ceiling... right. Those are clouds. Ain't been a day it's not been cloudy or rainy in Equestria in a hunnert years. So says my granda'. I don't much like it either, filly." She nipped her jacket a little closer around her as she started trotting again. "C'mon, let's get inside before it rains."

We shrugged at each other, before I trotted after her, catching up and slowing to a canter beside her. "My name's Diesel, and my sisters are Hacksaw and Bounce.." Each waved her hoof as she was named.

"My name's Victory. This here's Fillydelphia, of course if you were.. born under it I'd figure you'd know that much... This area is pretty much locked down by the Steel Rangers- that's me and my family. We protect ponies from dangerous technology, and themselves. Most Rangers don't like looking out for normal ponies, but our chapter is... different. You'll see."

I nodded a little bit, before looking around at our surroundings. It was dark, but I could see well enough... Bounce dropped to the ground and hopped along behind me, humming to herself and twitching a little bit. "Oh... Hmm.. That sounds nice!" I liked the sound of nice ponies doing nice things... I perked my ears as she swore again. "Momma says good fillies don't curse..."

She looked back at me distractedly, before I noticed a couple red bars in my vision... There was a cracking noise, and I was pitched off my hooves and dumped onto my back. "My cooooaaat!" I frowned when I noticed the hole and a puddle of flattened-out metal... And popped back up, waving my hooves frantically as Hacksaw rushed forward. Victory slung something off her back and peered through a black thing attached to the top of it, putting part of the thing into her mouth.

There was a crack from the thing Victory was holding, and one of the red bars disappeared. "Haaack noo!"

But it was too late.. I couldn't stop her in time.. More cracking sounds, and I hid my face under my hooves, shaking a little bit as Victory swore again. I looked up, and saw her standing with her mouth hanging open, her thing laying on the ground. Hack was standing over a pony, covered in red stuff all over her face and coat. Bounce tucked her hooves around me and comforted me as I lamented the loss of life...

"So.. what was that..?" Victory questioned as she cleaned her thing with a rag. She called it a 'rifle'. "That... What happened to her foreleg?"

I tapped my hooves together, and fiddled with my hat a little bit. We were holed up in a shop, a little fire boiling a pot of water for tea. Luckily, only my pocket-square had suffered much damage. "Uhm... Hacksaw's got a titanium-carbide diamond-edged chopsaw stored in her right foreleg... But she's a bad, bad pony, because we're not supposed to kill ponies."

Hacksaw was grumbling a little bit, and looking at me every now and again as she scrubbed at her jacket, trying to get all the chunks out of her clothes and mane. "So you girls were... built in Stable 0?" Her tone implied she didn't think anypony could live in the Stable.

"No, we were built to... in.. Help me, Bounce, you remember better."

The pegasus picked her head up off her hooves, making a little ticking noise in her maw. "Uh.. Hm. Ten years? After Luna returned. Almost a centuh-try anna half ago. War effort and all. Solaris Industries, Four Stars, Glistenhouse, General Thaumics, Ironshod... They all cuh-contributed, our schematics were stored in the Stable computers in cuh-case we needed a tune-up or an overhaul. Like Diesel."

I nodded a little bit and puffed out my chest proudly. "I'm modeled after Equestrian Civil War models. They stored us in 0 after we were done with the zebras though. Mechanic found us a while ago and turned us back on. Now we're onna 'venture." Bounce nodded, and issued a little puff of steam with a 'pssssh' noise. "We're musicponies now. We were supposed to not kill anypony after the war ended." I pointed to the bass case slung across my back, and the collapsible drum kit in my pack.

"The war never ended. Bombs dropped, everypony died, we all lost. Now groups like the Rangers scrabble in the rubble for anything they can find from the old world..." Victory mumbled, watching us carefully. She sighed a little bit. "I should travel with you, make sure you stay out of trouble. Rangers don't need me much anyhow... And they'd never let you leave."

So that's how Victory the not-so-nice nice pony joined us on our adventure. To see what we could see, know what only we could know.

Brass giggled to herself as we trotted along along one of the streets of Fillydelphia, three of us admiring the pretty redness to the clouds above us. Victory seemed furtive, glancing at alleyways all around us, but none of us paid her any mind. We were writing lyrics and figuring out a song out of sheer excitement at seeing things other than the same plain gray walls of the Stable over and over and over and over...

Then there was that funny popping sound again and we scattered, Victory shouting at the pony that had shot at us. After a very scary couple minutes, we were allowed to pass, the male grumbling a little. I was very proud of Hacksaw for keeping herself under control.