Fallout: Equestria - Red Alert

Chapters

01: The Men of the Union
02: Survival is of the Essence
03: The Wasteland Reds

01: The Men of the Union

Fallout: Equestria- Red Alert

01: The Men of the Union

“The Red Army and Navy and the whole Soviet people must fight for every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages...onward, to victory!” – Josef Stalin

I flickered as I awake in a pleasant bedroom, my own. The smell of Okroshka making its way throughout the entire surroundings as I moved my arm up to scrutinize it just as a sweet female voice spoke.

“Artyom, breakfast is ready!” Ah yes, my lovely fiancée. Her name was Vera, and I loved her very much. But I scrounged through the realms of my inner consciousness. Was I supposed to be even here? But it didn’t matter as I slid off the bed, revealing a wholly plaid V-neck and a tight pair of black boxers. I sighed and shuffled like a zombie towards the nearby mirror that Vera and me bought a few months ago, it was a precious thing indeed to her.

I eventually reached the mirror and saw myself, but something was dead wrong, indicating that I’ve just entered a dream, most likely a nightmare like many before. I saw myself dressed up in a bright red trench coat, or a shinel as we Russians called it, and accompanied by an ushanka that rested comfortably on top of my head. I reached out to feel it, and soon I felt the weight of the coat in the mirror being placed upon my shoulders. As soon as that happened, I looked to my side and saw an ADK-45 assault rifle resting on the walls of my bedroom.

What was its significance? I wondered to myself, before a terrible shrieking sounded, the sounding of air raid sirens wailed throughout the shaken atmosphere to my horror. No, not again. This was the very nightmare I suffered for the four months of my service, and the one I dreaded the most. Vera was the one who had shrieked and I grabbed the ADK to save my fiancée from death, only to find her dead and her blood splattered on the walls of the now crumbling household. Who knew being a Conscript was this frightening?

The war, the war that made me enlist to protect my love and my family, but one by one they all died fighting, until Vera was the only one left. Damn them all, damn the Premier for dragging me into the crude business of combat and damn those Allies for ruining my life as I found a growing shadow forming from a corner. I couldn’t speak, but my muscles could react and that was good enough as I raised the ADK up to engage this nightmarish entity. But the shadow grew bigger and bigger and came in the form of a cackling, monstrous demon from Russian mythology.

I kept on firing in blind hope that the beast will dissipate into thin air, but then the surroundings turned into darkness. I was trapped in an endless, horrifying against an outlined demon, the demon that threatened my sanity. But no matter how long it continued its advance, I still fired to my last rounds. Then the rifle clicked, and the demon stopped before laughing at my pathetic form.

“You are no hero, Artyom Salnikov,” I hear it rumble as I strengthened myself for the worse, the ADK still empty. “You are merely a conscript, a living meat shield.” There was truth in the words of the demons, I watched countless of my friends and comrades die meaningless deaths, and no one did a single thing but watch.

“You are fighting a losing fight, and so the day will end with your meaningless death,” the demon cackled once more before it lunged at me.

The blackness came soon, and I fell through a void of never-ending damnation.

“Hey, Artyom.”

I awoke from the hell of a nightmare, gasped for air and fumbled for my rifle, which sat alongside my bunk bed. That nightmare would never stop until the day I die, and I will most likely lose my sanity to the horrors of war. But that was not the issue as I looked around for the source of the voice. It revealed to be a gruff man who stood by the doorway, smoking a dying cigar. “Taking a beauty nap, it seems.”

I wanted to strangle him for remarking on my nightmare, but I let it be. He wouldn’t know that I was even having one unless I told him about it. “Not really, terrible nightmare.”

“What? The one they say you mumble about whenever you’re asleep?” Damn, this soldier was onto me. What was his name again? Ah yes, his name was Dmitri, a seasoned Flak Trooper. He was not the man to be toyed around, having crushed the strongest and toughest armor in the war so far. King Onis, Mirage Tanks and hell, even captured Apocalypses. And he was in my squad, hooray.

“Yeah, pretty much Dmitri,” I respond as I crawled out of my stiff mattress, grabbing my ADK and the ushanka that was sitting on top of a metal protrusion from my bed. “What time is it?” I asked the Flak trooper as I began warming up for duty.

“Half past noon, no Allies in sight,” I breathed a sigh of relief, no Allies invading Leningrad, at least for now. I groaned as my bones cracked under the stretching and soon I was all un-stiffened from my period of inactivity. “Come on, boss. Patrol duty isn’t going to do itself.”

I sighed again. I was just a veteran Conscript who was one of the very few to get promoted, having survived almost all of the battles the Union had fought. I was basically the last man standing seeing that my fellow comrades were all but bumbling fools unlike me. I was a born tactician, gunman and just what a Russian would be. As spoken before by Dmitri, I was relegated to the hazardous duty of taking charge of a Soviet Super Reactor. They’re highly volatile, and I’ve seen what they can do after being destroyed. I shuffled towards the doorway as Dmitri pulled out, reaching his left hand to take ahold of a Vorana Steelshot flak cannon. It was one of the useful things left in our squad, as it could clear up enemy anti-infantry and those disgusting Vindicator bombers they used to clear our finest ground units in a short controlled explosion.

Soon, I was beginning to restart my positivity as I was known for, actually what every conscript was known for, being high spirited and positive even in the face of death. I was a little different from your regular conscripts, being a little more insightful on combat situations and thus, I could be called a natural born leader. I promptly thought about Vera, who lived near Moscow and far away from Leningrad, before the Flak trooper appeared with his signature heavy anti-armor weapon, his personal radio blaring away the Soviet March at full volume much to my moodiness.

“Looks like you snapped out of the coldness of today afternoon.”

“It’s not even cold Dmitri, and I thought you would be the one being cold,” I responded as I saw sunlight bearing down on the both of use, the rays of it reflecting on the bright yellow hard hat that Dmitri had. I shielded myself from it before I got used to it, the outlines of the Super Reactor burning away and the shadow of a passing KA-65 Twinblade covered it for a brief while. I appreciated Krasna Aerospace’s designs, as they consisted most of the attack forces of my missions on the frontlines, beyond Leningrad.

“If you had a little trouble earlier on, welcome back to Leningrad,” Dmitri said, clearly keeping his serious tone that made me reconsider having him as a squad mate. Although he might’ve been the only person in my experience to have held such a brutal weapon and currently conscripted into my squad, I’ve been sifting through his dossiers and found out he had murdered a Soviet officer in cold blood, much to my dismay. The incident wasn’t clearly described in the dossier, considering that it is in fact, fallible Soviet documents but I had a feeling that he must’ve did it for a good reason, since no one had the right mind to simply kill a Soviet officer.

The rest of my squad mates were privates Mikhail, Nikita and Josef. No doubt they were slacking off somewhere nearby as I pushed that matter into my next sentence. “Yeah, yeah. I get that, where’s the others?”

“They’re hanging out by the Hammers and Flaks, drinking vodka again,” Dmitri replied, his voice instilled with hostility as he never got along with anyone besides me. For once, I actually respected the former convict, seeing that he was not all that hot headed and such as per every trooper I’ve encountered so far. “They’ve been at it since you took a nap, taking potshots at the Allies faces on bottles.”

I chuckled weakly, knowing well that we Soviets are filled with intense hatred and animosity for the Allies. “Well, I certainly can’t blame them.”

“You can’t, Artyom,” Dmitri responded as he lugged the Vorana up high, loading a huge magazine into the slot behind in the process from a bandolier containing almost a dozen of these lethal shotgun-like shells. He nodded as the Flak cannon clicked in working order, as the huge words that was scrawled onto it shone with great intensity. Dmitri was singing along with the tune of the Soviet march being played on the radio.

Our brotherhood’s a good life, our generosity is without compare,

All those with us are strong,

All those against us, beware.

It’d be a shame if we had hardships.

I cracked a hard smile as Dmitri hefted the heavy piece of weaponry onto his shoulders and started to walk towards a small contingent of olive drabbed Hammer tanks, where I could see the familiar tinge of red trench coats being reflected by the midday sun, bottles of Vodka constantly being lifted up and down as the men continued downing them.

A minute later, we had reached the tanks where my men immediately saluted, dropping their vodkas and leaving behind a terrible and unsightly mess. “Sir! We didn’t see you!”

I waved them down, I didn’t care about broken vodkas. Only about the situation at hand as I spun my head to behold the Super Reactor working effortlessly to power the Iron Curtains that were built on islands far from where we were now before I turned my attention back to the inconspicuous men. “It’s alright, Russians do slack off anyway.”

They looked at each other before chuckling slightly and turning their attention to me. “Thanks, officer.”

“No problems, I’m not Moskvin, am I?” I replied, hinting my apparent dislike for that man.

He might’ve been an unpredictable and sadistic man to me, but to the Premier he is a perfect example of what a Soviet commander should be. He is to me, just another maniac in the ranks of the Union unlike people like me. I treat our soldiers with utmost respect but as for Moskvin, he doesn’t even know the difference between friendly and hostile as I watched his V4s destroy each and everyone on the battlefield, even his own.

“Of course, sir! You are not Moskvin!” They chimed out as they gripped around for their ADKs, causing me to grin and Dmitri to grab his cigar, just to flick it away unto the ground. “So sir, is there any news on the Allied scum?”

I looked at Dmitri, who just shrugged under the weight of his Vorana and I immediately turned my attention to the radio strapped onto my bandolier, which was buzzing with Russian commands. Judging from the radio communication frequency, something big was going on as I caught word of the Allies.

“Can you see them?! This is Viper 2-3 mayday, mayday! Allied fighters are engaging us, they are not far from Leningrad-ARGH!” I felt myself sink deep into the reaches of my soul, my own men knowing that there was almost no hope for victory.

“Sir… they approach,” Nikita stammered as he gripped his ADK tightly, I followed on as I prepared my bayonet, which I had ordered specially for myself.

“I’ve heard, prepare yourselves. This might be our last fight,” I responded with utmost regret as the men started mumbling amongst themselves. The only one to not say anything at all was Dmitri, who himself had seen his share of battles and understood that dying will mean nothing at all. I wheezed and collected myself again as the frantic boot steps amongst the Hammer tanks stamped.

“Sir, with all due respect. Do you think we might win?” I shuddered, not wanting to digress the truth in the current situation. I am an honest man, and I knew we would fail whether we tried or not. But breaking the truth to such fragile children was rather terrible, but it had to be done.

“…No, I’m sorry but no,” I replied as they started trembling. Dmitri huffed and got ready to fire, with me feeling the tension emanating from him. He then turned and faced me, pulling out a new cigar and an engraved lighter.

“Well, Artyom. It’s been a pleasure being in your squad,” he responded as I reached out to eject my magazine to check whether I had sufficient ammo or not. “I can face the truth, not like many men.”

“So it is, a fight to the end,” I responded, the magazine freshly ejected showing enough ammo for the upcoming fight. “If we die, we die for the Union. Remember that in your motto!” I shouted out to them, as they stopped trembling.

“Yes sir! For Mother Russia!” They held up their hands as our MiGs rippled through the skies, the air raid sirens now freshly sounding and blaring loudly.

“Good, now be brave. They come.”

As far as I knew it, I was now taking cover behind a wallpapered wall, with Dmitri right beside me and the rest taking cover in the upper regions of the building. I spoke with him as I saw the familiar shadows of their feared fighters closing in on the horizon, accompanied by their mighty destroyers. “Dmitri, do you have a will?”

“They don’t allow convicts to have wills, Artyom,” he responded as he propped the Flak cannon and got ready to fire on the incoming fighters. “But let’s not dwell on that, we’ve got a Super Reactor to guard.”

“Well said,” I responded as I saw mist coming out from my mouth from my heavy breathing. Then I saw the MiGs and Twinblades come to face the armada, and soon the battle was on.

Our MiGs had taken down some of their fighters, but they were all scrap metal just as Dmitri’s Vorana started pounding them in response. Slag metal was all that remained of them as I saw bits and bits of metal falling out of the sky at high velocity, shaking the conscripts above.

The Allied destroyers were now closer than ever, with their assault cannons withering away our responding Akula submarines. Then I watched one explode in extreme ferocity, presumably from a well-targeted Ultratorpedo just as I saw an APC hover down the road. These odd vehicles were not to be underestimated as I knew of their lethality. I took the liberty of informing Dmitri of this, as he spun.

“Dmitri, take care of the APC! The fighters won’t do anything to the reactor!”

“I have them,” he then aimed the cannon at the APC and let loose, gutting the pitiful transport and lighting it aflame just as our Hammers finished it off with a barrage of 90mm shells. The Hammers moved out into the streets ahead, crushing some civilian pickups and other object before they turned their attention to a newly adapted Assault Destroyer. I feared them, for they are amphibious and capable enough to lay waste to our Apocalypse tanks if carefully coordinated enough, judging from what I have observed.

I didn’t know what to respond to, but then I sighted two tank topped soldiers approach from behind the tanks, and I immediately slaughtered them as they fell with their rocket launchers clanking on the ground. Then I saw three big shadows in the skies ahead, as a Twinblade came into the scene to engage the Allied heavy armor. I shuddered, this was the end.

These shadows were Century bombers, our worst nightmares. They are the most feared aerial vehicles in their arsenal, and I expected well enough for them to fly them in considering that they had finished off our MiGs for good. I clicked my radio to break the news to the unfortunate men above as their rifles cracked in bursts.

“This is Artyom, we’ve got enemy bombers inbound!”

The response was undoubtedly in the tone of sheer terror. “What?! BOMBERS?”

“Yes, Century bombers!” I yelled back in response as I spotted heavily armored troopers slinking behind our occupied armor. “It’s been an honor!” I faced the truth without fear, we were going to die.

“Sir! We can still-

“I’m sorry, but they are going to drop the bombs on us and that Super Reactor,” I slowly said to them, as I watched the bombers with utmost attention while firing at the Allied forces below who stumble and fell dead. “And we can’t do anything about it.”

“You can’t,” Dmitri responded and I almost wanted to slap myself. He had a flak cannon for God’s sake. “But I can.” He heaved up and aimed it for the growing shadows and thundered, causing the building to shake vicariously. I braced myself for the worst as the Centuries above just shook off the shells like nothing. The hovering Twinblade that was still scourging the now heavily damaged Allied destroyer was then razed by a newly arrived IFV that tore it down like nothing, before it turned to us.

But we were too late, the Century bombers were above us. I could hear the bombs’ whistling, and I knew we were going to die. Knowing this, I turned to Dmitri who was already accepting his fate. “Well, Dmitri. I guess this is goodbye.”

“You too, comrade.” The bombs were closer than ever, and for three seconds my last thoughts were about Vera safe. I wanted her to be safe from them, from the monsters I fought.

I was Artyom Salnikov, and everything went pitch black.

Vera, I love you.

Cold.

That was my first feeling in the afterlife, cold. I flickered and saw nothing, for it was pitch black. Something was off though, the afterlife didn’t smell… off. I groaned as I tried to move my arm, only resulting in total numbness. I was now looking up towards the sky, which was vaguely odd.

Where was I? The last I remembered was… no. The bombs, they dropped and I died alongside my fellow comrades. So what is this place, and where was it? I found my view of the midnight skies blocked by thick clouds and I immediately raised my attention, scrambling my hands to look for my ADK.

To my surprise, my arms jerked to life and soon I found it in perfect condition. No damage, nothing at all as if it just came out of the foundries in Kursk. I remembered what our instructors had taught us as we were training.

Remember! Your best friend is always a Kalashnikov! If anything moves that isn’t red, he is not your friend!

I smiled weakly, remembering that mantra over and over again. Then I found my ushanka not far away from where I laid and I groaned in pain, trying to get up. I eventually rose from the ground as my dusty boots scrunched the gravel underneath my bulk. Only then I realized I was not in a building anymore, in fact I wasn’t anywhere close to the urban scenery of Leningrad.

Now I realized my other hand was equipped with some sort of device for some reason, and I would find out the answer as I looked towards the arm hefting the ADK and rolled up the sleeve of my shinel, only to find some sort of a miniature computer with a emblem seemingly engraved onto the device. What it read was PipBuck 3000 in clear English and a little to the top, wrote “Property of the Grand Pegasi Enclave”.

What on Earth was this device, and who was this Grand Pegasi Enclave? I swung my arm around and soon I was accustomed to having a little extra weight onto my right hand, and I let out a depressing sigh. This wrist-mounted device was very peculiar as I squinted to find something related on it, only to find a small button labeled ‘On’. I hesitated to press it, but I did anyway knowing that I was dead and someone just had to put this on me.

It flickered alive, to my shock as it revealed the map to this place with a luminous blue glow. A quick flash suddenly blocked my vision out as I stumbled about, and then I could see again. This was definitely Allied technology, but who had created it? To my surprise, what I saw was a miniature blue compass pointing north in my vision. I rose up my free hand to rub my eyes in dismay, only to find that it was still there.

That device, it had something to do with this. I looked down on my right wrist again only to find a blue arrow at where I supposedly stood, a town in proximity from where I stood named ‘Ponyville’. What an odd name, comparing it to our own city names.

Then something flashed on the compass and soon I could see the northwest highlighted with green, signifying something important that I had no idea of. Regaining my composure, I sent my first step into this strange land.

No sooner than that, I realized the atmosphere was… dark and the place littered with dead trees. This was definitely not Leningrad, I thought as I continued walking towards the direction it had pinpointed me. It took a few long seconds to recognize the sound of the Soviet march flowing through the surroundings.

I then remembered Dmitri’s radio, and broke out into a restrained sprint. Finally I reached where the marker wanted me to be, and I saw a passed out man with a large cannon to his side.

Dmitri, out of all the places in this strange wasteland, even more so with his radio still working and playing the march’s familiar tune, his Vorana lying still on the side fully loaded. I quickly slung back the ADK and shook him.

“Dmitri… DMITRI!” He groaned, that was good as it meant he was still alive. Then he flickered and looked back and forth to only find me.

“Wha…What? Artyom?” He mumbled under his breath as he let out a stern cough of dismay and flexed his arms before pushing himself upwards, the same strange device was revealed on his right hand just like me for a split second. “What… happened?”

I wheezed and started. “I don’t know and for all I know is that I woke up with this,” I showed the Flak trooper my PipBuck, as it was called, and he looked visibly dismayed. “Not only that, I can see weird things through my view now. You have one too.”

At this, Dmitri looked around until he pulled up his right sleeve, revealing his own PipBuck. I waited and scrutinized the surroundings, to see what this place was, and its secrets. But hardly anything was a secret as I saw the ruined and decaying structures far ahead that was probably Ponyville in the distance. The ghastly sights made me tremble with primordial fear, are we in hell? Or somewhere worse to wear?

“Artyom, did you put this on me?” He asked, to my visible dismay at the astounding amount of stupidity in that question.

“If I had, then I would’ve woken you up and told you so much earlier,” I responded with a clear tone as I gripped my ADK tightly for any hostile creatures of this wasteland. I had no idea what lurked in the darkness, but I am guessing it will most likely kill me if I didn’t react fast enough. Dmitri had already pressed the activation button, his stumbling was how I knew and how I felt like being blinded for a while.

“Artyom! What in blazes-

“Yes, Dmitri. Get used to it because it happened to me too,” I replied coolly as I felt a cold breeze shift through me. Dmitri was in a state of panic, something I rarely saw in my entire career serving with other Flak troopers. Then I thought of checking my inventory when the PipBuck responded with a brief table on it to my initial surprise. I was going to have to get used to this for now, until I find out why we’re here.

Listed was my ADK-45 outfitted with an ACB-90 bayonet and loaded with 32 round magazines with 7.62mm rounds, a Molotov cocktail, a logbook and a few bottles of emergency vodka, ending with my current trench coat and ushanka. I noticed that their value was listed as ‘caps’, not rubles, but didn’t matter, the chances of a wasteland having the same currency as us is almost as close as to our chances of getting home.

Now acquainted with my inventory, I turned to Dmitri who was shuffling towards his Vorana like a zombie, I smiled weakly and continued examining the surroundings.

I felt total dread, this world must’ve had a war of massive proportions to scathe such large areas, and it must’ve happened decades ago judging from the lack of recent smoke. Why are we here anyway, to such place? I had a sinking feeling we were going to find out sooner or later as Dmitri’s PipBuck lit up.

“Okay…. So Artyom, this thing shows all of my gear?”

“I think so,” I reply, knowing that it does. I wondered what else could this intricate computer do, so I took a few steps back and sat on a rock as I glided my fingers over the various buttons.

It was then I found a curious audio file, labeled ‘message_to_subjects.mp3’. Was this meant for us? It was time to find out as I confirmed the playing of this message to Dmitri’s newfound interest while cleaning his dusty Vorana.

“Artyom, what’re you doing?”

“Finding out why we’re here,” I respond with absolute sturdiness, and listened attentively to this curious.

Ack…Ack! Watch the electromagnetic fluxes! Anyway, you might be wondering why you’re in the Equestrian Wasteland? I will be explaining why, and by the way, try not to get mauled by a Hellhound!

I am Lightspark, the lead scientist for Project Spacestorm that is currently under constant monitoring by the Grand Pegasi Enclave! How fun is that?

Not much really… Anyway, if you are listening, that means my warp machine has worked its magic! But sadly, the only triumph in doing this will go to my team and me as soon as this message is played, it will send a special signal to us regarding our success. But as for you, I’m truly sorry.

You might’ve attending to your families or other important things, and now that you’re here in the desolation of the Wasteland with a terrible factor, you cannot go home. I’m truly sorry, but it works that way. So you are free to do anything to ensure your survival.

I wanted to destroy this thing after listening to this infernal message. We were pulled to this wasteland for some fucking experiment? I wanted to scream and shoot Lightspark, whoever he may be for taking us away from Leningrad. I wanted to die for Vera’s sake, not to be a guinea pig for some stupid project!

I buried my face into my black gloves just as Dmitri came over with his Vorana ready for combat. Then he spoke, hearing of the message I played. “So we were brought here for a finished task?”

“Yes, and now we’re on our own,” I mumbled, wallowing in despair. Then I raised my head out of my gloves and looked towards the destroyed town not far away, Dmitri following my look. Then the PipBuck restarted again, not having finished this scientist’s grand speech.

Oh, and one more thing. I saw the luminous marker in my vision changed to face the town, Dmitri also seeing it too as I guessed.

I have placed a marker on your map, it will lead you to a safehouse in Ponyville that was built before the Great War. We have no need of it and subsequently I sought to help you out a little bit. You will find non-radiated food and water there, but once these finish, you will have to face everything the Wasteland has to offer.

I wish all the best for you, whoever you may be. The message finally crackled into nothingness as Dmitri pulled out his cigar box to smoke while I felt torn apart, having known that our sacrifice was indeed worthless, as the demon in my nightmares had said.

“So Artyom, you have any plans on surviving this place?” Dmitri asked me, and I thought long and hard, accepting a cigar that he kindly offered me. “I lived in Siberia during my youth, so I think it should be easy to survive this wasteland.”

“Just for you, Dmitri. But what about me?” I responded as I lowered my cigar, smoke rising up into the air.

“Do what you want, as you see fit. But think before acting, we don’t know this place at all. Thus, we have no way of predicting anything,” Dmitri responded with a tinge of coldness and remorse. “I think it’s best to head for that safehouse first, then we’ll decide on what to do next.”

I looked up towards the clouded skies and pondered. The safehouse was our best bet, and I think that we shouldn’t mull around here any longer. So it was, I decided that we both head for the safehouse.

"Yes, Dmitri. I agree with you,” I reply as I got up and readied my ADK for anything hostile. “Let’s go, before anything finds us.”

Footnote:

SPECIAL: Artyom Salnikov.

Strength: 6

Perception: 8[+1]

Endurance: 6 [-1]

Charisma: 6 [+1]

Intelligence: 7

Agility: 8

Luck: 6

Perk added: Conscript- Your experience during the War of the Three Powers have granted you +1 for Perception as well as a 25% accuracy bonus when using Explosives or Small Guns.

Unsung Leader- You are unlike any other soldier during the war seeing that you have survived to the point where you were promoted, so this grants you +1 to Charisma and 20 extra points for Speech.

Knowing Them Well- Your relationship with your fiancee grants you extra dialogue with female characters, human or not.

Trait added: Human- Your dexterous hands give you an extra 15 points each to repair and survival, but you suffer -1 endurance and -50% movement speed over open ground. Due to your alien appearance, certain species may flee from you or attack without provocation.

SPECIAL: Dmitri Amosov

Strength: 9 [+1]

Perception: 6

Endurance: 9 [+1]

Charisma: 4 [-1]

Intelligence: 6

Agility: 6

Luck: 5

Perks added- Flak Trooper: Your months of destroying enemy armor with ease and carrying around a heavy cannon have granted you with +1 with Endurance and Strength as well as 40% accuracy bonus when using Big Guns.

Wronged Convict: Since you have a criminal record for doing the right thing, your persuasion skills might not wholly convince someone that you’re a good soul. -1 to Charisma.

Grizzled Survivalist: You’ve lived in harsh conditions just before the war, and so your outdoor skills have given you an extra 15 points to survival and medicine.

Traits added: Human- Your dexterous hands give you an extra 15 points each to repair and survival, but you suffer -1 endurance and -50% movement speed over open ground. Due to your alien appearance, certain species may flee from you or attack without provocation.

Disclaimer: Yes, I did copy the 'Human' trait from Rule's Of Engagement, and that only.

02: Survival is of the Essence

02: Survival is of the Essence

“One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage, if no one is thinking of firing it." – Anton Chekhov

The destroyed town was now barely a few meters away, and already I am panting like a mad dog. Even though the air was supremely frigid, I could not bear the heat of being torn away from my world just for some stupid experiment.

“Artyom,” Dmitri piped up from behind me and I spun my head to face the flak trooper.

“Yes?”

“You think there will be anything alive out here?” I pondered for a good while as I stopped, and regained my stamina. Then again, I did get ready for a fight and considering that we’re in a place where we don’t know anything of, I think there is something here.

“If I get ready to fire, it means there’s something here,” I reply as we reached the borders of the wrecked town. It looked worse than I thought as I hugged a wall, poking out the barrel of my ADK slowly. I could feel the cold fingers of death in this place, as watched the crumbling walls of the buildings. What caused this much destruction? I have witness the true might of the Soviet Union repeatedly, but almost nothing could match the scale of destruction this place reeked of.

Dmitri was on the other side, lugging his hefty flak cannon and ready to pounce on anything that moved. If I knew him, one single and unfortunate step from even a rabbit will set him off into a chain reaction of destruction. I put up my glove to signal to him that the coast was clear, and we moved out into the large chunks of debris ahead on the cracked path of Ponyville.

I quickly checked the map on my PipBuck, considering that it was found on my arm, and found just the marker just a little to our left and into the heart of the aftermath of the destruction. What laid in this town just for us?

“How long more?” Dmitri asked me in haste, getting more and more concerned about the condition of the wasteland we were in. For a Siberian, I have never seen even one act like this. But I couldn’t blame him, for I felt a feeling of dread building up inside me like a Super Reactor waiting to be destroyed. I miss the coziness of my apartment in Moscow, the warmth of Vera’s constant state of affection with me.

But alas, I was subjected to being here.

“Should be an hour before we get there,” I responded as I moved forward, my gear properly fastened and therefore almost muffled. Then I heard something moo out in the town and I immediately waved to Dmitri to hug the looming darkness of one particular housing. How surprising, a cow here.

Considering what happened so far, I couldn’t wait for anything more. Maybe even an Allied Mirage Tank rolling through here seems highly possible. I breathed a sigh of stress and crouched to avoid any hostile attention. Peeking out of my cover, I saw the source of the mooing: a horribly mutated bovine with not one head, but two. I wanted to faint, if this was indeed real. The bovine appeared to be carrying several crates filled with items of some sort, and following it was something surprising.

Two ponies, both colored with lightly mottled brown and wearing caps with goggles. Very odd, in addition to that one of them was looking around and even smoking a cigar, similar to what we smoke in Leningrad. Something felt wrong, ponies weren’t supposed to do such things with a mindset of an animal, or was I wrong?

This place was called Ponyville, and I was mostly wrong as I picked up on several lines of intelligent speech, seemingly from them. Dmitri quipped up and got ready for a fight just in case, but I quickly calmed him down and listened attentively to this conversation. What grabbed my newfound curiosity was that they spoke clear English, which I understood quite well for a Russian.

“Shucks, I hate going through this raider hellhole.”

“Shut it, the Rangers at Gecko are helping us and we should be glad, instead of moping about.”

“Really? Then where the hell are they?

“They said they cleared out the area for Chase’s raiders quite a while ago, so I think it should be safe.” From that conversation, I now had a well-pictured view of the situation as I breathed out puffs of mist. They were most likely wandering sales…ponies, if I am proven correct and they seem to be heading for an unknown destination that was probably located in Ponyville. Where was it, I don’t know but I knew of this so-called ‘Gecko’. It was an interesting name for a place in any way, but I shook myself out of the daze I was stuck in.

“Psst! Artyom!” Dmitri hissed from his veil of shadow, and I turned my attention to him from the clattering of cargo. “What the hell is out there?”

“Two ponies that can talk, and one hell of a cow,” I reply, keeping my voice down as low as I could. I could actually make out his immediate scowling, and it was then I realized these contacts registered as green lines in my vision. Friendlies? Most likely. Fast blurs of thoughts travelled through my head, if they were friendlies, will they react?

“Dmitri,” I called out silently to the grizzled flak trooper on the other side who coughed and shook his head.

“What?” He grunted back.

“Should I contact them?”

“The fuck, Artyom?” He cursed back, basically indicating that he highly disagreed with my course of action. “Do you want us to die?”

“Of course not,” I reply with all my energy as the lines started moving to my left. Neither good nor bad, I just watched them shuffle out with the clanking of their inventories. “Well, they’re going.”

“We should move,” Dmitri suddenly spoke out in an alarmed tone, and I took the liberty of climbing over the debris and sprinting towards the inside of a building. “I didn’t say move now.”

“Let’s just say I don’t want to die out here,” I reply as I took glances on both sides, not wanting to be caught in anything he sensed. I knew them, for troopers like Dmitri had an almost unnatural ability to mentally detect hostiles moving in from any direction, and that made me re-assured for they always saved us before we were taken out by Vindicators. I shuffled further into the building, and that was when I heard gunfire.

Gunfire.

The sure sound of trouble brewing. Dmitri almost fired his Vorana, but luckily he could not find the targets anywhere. But I knew for a fact that it was not us who were the targets, rather it was that very caravan I saw earlier on. With a quick look outside a shattered window, I saw bright flashes being emitted on the flanks of the cornered ponies and the bovine taking a lot of hits, which caused blood to spurt out of it like a fountain. Soon the bovine fell after a long period of gunfire and the two ponies had equipped themselves with guns.

I found that very odd, considering they had no appendages like us. But that was soon cured as I found that they actually bit the weapons, and upon inspecting them, they were clearly modified for equine usage. Not modified, built.

Built for equines. So now we’re in a land where talking ponies could kill you with versions of our guns. How fantastic.

“Artyom! What’s going on?!” Dmitri yelled from beside me as he propped up the Vorana for engagement. “Please tell me it isn’t the same fucking ponies!” To this, I saw their weapons flare up and his following scowl. I also raised my ADK and checked it before I aimed it at the brown ponies. They might be friendlies, but I was going to have to find out myself. Suddenly, from the street emerged a brick-red pony biting a machete who then charged at the dazed caravan ponies huddled around their deceased bovine.

I didn’t know who was right or wrong. Anyone could be the villains. What can I do? Training didn’t instate the rules of engagement, but everything was screaming at me to kill that red pony. The lines below also told me as the same machete-wielding pony was marked as a red line, in fact there were four of the same ones. I hesitated.

“Artyom! Are we going to help them or not?!” Dmitri yelled as I felt the anger emanating from him. I thought longer and longer, until I reached the decision point.

I was a Soviet.

I will do things right, and justify the good as I see fit.

I aimed the ADK at the red pony and pulled the cold metal of the trigger. It fell within three shots of my rifle and he crumpled onto the ground like paper, his machete flying through the air until it landed next to the ambling caravan ponies. Then they turned to find the dead body, and then they looked at us.

Cover was not of the essence, it was the essence of survival. I stood up and hopped over my cover to help them out, sliding to a wall as Dmitri followed while he attempted to cover fire the defending ones. They then quickly trotted to us, not before I watched a bullet pierce the heart of one of them. It made me feel a little…sickened.

“No!” The remaining one said as I saw three different colored and armed ponies emerge from the ruined buildings ahead, the lines confirming they were hostiles. Dmitri then rose up and fired his highly destructive Vorana, and one of them vanished into a red mist to the others’ surprise as they looked at us.

The brown pony slid to cover next to us and huddled the wall, still biting onto his clearly visible pistol. “Whoa! Who the fuck are you?” He asked us as I looked over at it, with all attention still at the approaching ‘raider’s, as it had mentioned earlier.

“No matter! We will help you out!” I blurt out in perfect English, as Dmitri boomed once again. His flak cannon missed the shot, but decimated a building within the firing line of his shot and caused the ponies to stumble back in suppression and confusion.

“Well, thanks!” It thanked as it fired again at the ponies, with me following suit. “Damn! I lost Suitcase!” At this, I felt a little lurch in my stomach. So that was his friend, laying dead next to the rotting bovine as I fire my ADK in two successive bursts, catching one of them in both its head and chest and causing him to collapse with his weapon sliding on the ground. Dmitri then moved up to a large piece of masonry and begun his symphony of destruction, just as a reverberating crack of a sniper caused him to recoil back.

“SNIPER!” He yelled out at the other pony approached us. The pony next to me quickly finished him off, but not before sustaining a crippling wound to his leg.

“AH!” I hear him cry out in pain as he fell to the ground, his leg bleeding profusely. I crouched down amidst the trade of fire from Dmitri and the sniper, trying to assure it.

“Don’t worry! We’ll get you out of here!” I slung back my ADK and approached it, getting quite a response as he waved me away.

“It’s…okay!” He said as he slowly got up, his shot leg still trembling and bleeding. “I’ll be alright…” He kept huffing, and I immediately waved for him to approach Dmitri as he fired away, completely destroying almost half the inflicted buildings. I knew the wounded pony wouldn’t last long in such a derelict place with a wound like that, and we didn’t have the proper equipment to treat it until we get to that safehouse.

“Just… just stay here, comrade!” I barked at him, not wanting to get him anymore injured than he already was. “We’ll handle them!”

“No way! They killed Suitcase!” He was the defiant one, but I quickly shoved him to cove, causing him to spit at me. “Hey!” Sorry, but I had to.

“Sorry! You stay there, pony!” I responded and attended to Dmitri, who had just locked on to the sniper, which was revealed to be another dark silver pony that seemed to be…levitating his sniper. Odd, but he had a horn on his head and I vaguely remembered a creature from mythology that had such a feature. A unicorn, to be exact. A unicorn with a sniper, brilliant.

But Dmitri was now visibly grinning at the doomed unicorn as he muttered in Russian. “Good-bye, you’ve been a bad boy.” His Vorana then thundered and send a spiraling flak towards the sniper, blowing up his vantage point and he himself. I sighed in victory as Dmitri grunted in satisfaction.

I then turned back to the pony, before signaling Dmitri to take a look at ‘Suitcase’ and the carcass of the bovine. It was a long day, with one conflict after another. The firefight was no different, and all I wanted is to take a rest from all this. I then spoke to the brown pony.

“Are you okay?”

“Okay? I’m fucking fine!” On the word of Stalin, this pony was rude as hell. Hey, I just saved your life so be thankful or else I would’ve killed you a long time ago. “But thank you anyway, we were in a jiffy. Poor Suitcase…”

“It was rather unfortunate we couldn’t save him,” I reply to his loss of a friend.

“Her,” he corrected me, and I shook myself.

“Sorry, I meant her,” I replied back, slinging my ADK back and rubbing the back of my frazzled hair, my ushanka still in tip-top condition. “So, what’re were you doing?”

“What the fuck does it look like we’re doing? We’re just having a routine caravan trail!” I wanted to slap him for such disrespect, but thinking about the state of the wasteland, it would be normal to pick up such language in front of something you don’t even know of. But hey, I use these language too.

“Sorry again,” I apologized as Dmitri called out from behind.

“Artyom! There’s some magazines for you!” At this, the brown pony looked at him, then back at me.

“…You’re going to ransack our load now?” I felt really, really guilty now.

“…Do you mind?” He sighed before replying.

“No… I suppose you can take what you want since I can’t carry all that shit alone.” The guilt was still there, but he just allowed us to take whatever we need for our trip to the safehouse. Then I looked around the wrecked town and subsequently, I sought to ask him what had happened to ensure such…darkness.

But first, I’ll ask his or her name. “Hey,”

“Yeah?” He looked at me, and I rubbed my ushanka again.

“What’s your name?”

“Kahn, it’s Kahn,” Very, very odd name indeed. It was Russian, but at least I knew his name. Now unto the next set of important questions.

“Good, now Kahn,” I breathed and looked around, with Dmitri still scavenging the remains of Suitcase and the cow. “What happened here?”

“Wait first, lemme ask you a question,” he asked me. I found that perfectly reasonable. “First up, what the hell are you?”

I stood back up and straightened myself. “We’re Soviets, men of the Motherland. Although this isn’t the Motherland…”

“Uh huh, explains why I’ve never seen critters like you two around.” I grunt and sigh, I felt extremely homesick. “Okay, next. Why did you save me?”

“Why not?” I replied with coolness. If he was indeed questioning the validity of our well-timed rescue, then we might’ve just left him for dead. But we didn’t.

“Well, you are some kind of thing. And I suppose that whatever the fucking Wasteland has to come up with, it’s bound to be dangerous,” he responded sturdily as I huffed, unslinging my ADK to check its remaining rounds. As I slid back the bolt for the ADK, I began to ask Kahn what had occurred.

“So Kahn, what happened here?”

“Just now,” he replied, as I did not made it very clear of my intentions.

“Ahem… I mean, what happened to Ponyville?” I then spotted a innocent looking yellow…pegasus on a poster with eyes the size of grapefruits that were somehow sparkling. The paper was torn and severely aged as I made my way to examine it more closely.

“The war, that’s what happened.” So I was right, a massive war that most likely engulfed the world in blazing hellfire. Our war looked more timid compared to this one. “Zebra’s dropped the balefire warheads on us, and we did the same. Fuckers, they deserved it.” Balefire warheads? Our Vacuum Imploders sounded like a petty instrument of destruction with the vocalization of these ‘balefire’ warheads.

“That’s bad, and from where we come from. War is there too,” I respond as I struggled to read the English letters on it, as it was written in a strange style that was not comprehensible enough for me. All I understood was ‘War! Fear! Death! We must be…” then just like that, it cut off. I felt sad for these ponies, if they managed to wipe themselves off the map like that. The grimness of the world was sinking into me, and I wanted to curl up and wish for Vera’s warmth.

“Oh? That’s fucking great,” he remarked as I heard his hooves grinding on the broken street, meaning that he was getting up. “Beings that speak Equestrian, dress up oddly and they fucking came from a war-torn world like ours!”

I sighed and slung my ADK to withdraw a bottle of vodka, before putting it back into my belt for later drinking. Looking over to my Pipbuck, it still lit up the way to the safehouse that was a little farther away deeper into the ruins of the town.

“Whoa!” Kahn exclaimed as he trotted over to me. “How in the hell did you get a Pipbuck?”

“Woke up with it,” I spun after finishing my observations and pointed to Dmitri who was still busy scavenging. “He has one too.” Then the sudden reaction of Kahn caused me to stumble back, after I realized he had laid eyes on the engraving of the Grand Pegasi Enclave.

“Fuck me… Enclave! I knew they had to do something with you two!” He then bit the handle of his pistol nearby and pointed it towards my way, as I slowly reached out for my ADK. Dmitri heard the commotion and he faced Kahn, with his flak cannon out and ready.

“What in the living hell? Who are these damned Enclave?!” I yell in intense frustration, as my pent-up mix of curiosity and anger was released to find out just who in the hell were these Enclave.

“Pegasi! That’s what! Hiding in their little clouds! Bastards tried to clean us all out some time ago and now they send you two?!” I was hesitating to shoot the out of control pony, but it was apparent he didn’t have the strength too as I saw his injured leg tremble before he collapsed and grunted in pain.

“FUCK! YOU DAMNED ENCLAVE BASTARDS!” The Enclave was now apparently hated by the remaining survivors of the wasteland, as indicated by Kahn. Then I felt intense anger surging up my veins, a well-hated organization brought the both of us here and I wanted to burn them all.

“Ow…” He mumbled under the pain as I looked around for some sort of cloth to wrap around his leg, just as Dmitri came over with his Vorana still locked on to him. Spotting the dead raider ponies, which wore tattered remains of clothing. I sprinted over to one of them and used my de-attached bayonet to cut a lengthy piece of cloth before running back to Kahn, who hissed.

“Get away, Enclave freak-GAH!” He screeched as I grabbed his leg and circled it with the cloth, tying it up with a dead knot as I saw the blood seeping through it. He still had a bullet inside him however, and we had to wait until we get to the safehouse. “Damn… it hurts!”

“Of course, blithering pony scum,” Dmitri cursed at him in Russian as he eyed him with vengeance for attempting to kill me. “Try to kill the officer again, and I will end you.”

“The fuck are you trying to say, Pegasi language? Fuck…” He slowly got up, the pistol still in his clenching teeth. I was not worried now, just assured that he wouldn’t dare shoot me with the flak trooper around.

“Now, are you okay?”

“Ugh… just fine. Sorry about that,” he apologized as he looked down, the pistol following. “Damn Enclave took out my brother, Gravel. I promised that I would kill them all.”

“Well, they didn’t kill us,” I responded as I panted and looked at my luminescent screen again. “They just simply prolonged our pain.”

“Why so?” He asked me as I ambled about, my ADK gripped on.

“Well, I can tell you everything. But first, how far is it from where you came from?”

“You mean Gecko? It’s pretty far and we made it out here without any trouble. Until Chase’s raiders came along, and then the two of you…” he was cut off and I had to help him up, giving me an opportunity to scrutinize his weapon. It was a pistol, no doubt and I was right about it being built for equine usage. It must’ve held standard .45 ACP rounds, if I was correct. “About an hour or two to get back.”

“Then you have to come with us,” I answered to him, knowing that such a journey was almost impossible in his current condition. “We’re heading to a safehouse in this desolate land.”

“There’s a safehouse here?” Kahn questioned. “Must be that Enclave tech you got. I think I’ll go with you, but I have to get back to Gecko by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Why so?” I asked back I began to shuffle out, Dmitri and Kahn following along slowly.

“The Rangers there are pretty paranoid, and they’ll bring in an entire armada just to look for me,” Rangers, what were they? I knew the Enclave and the war, but these Rangers made me curious about them.

“Rangers?”

“Yeah, Applejack’s Rangers. Pretty good bunch of ponies, but paranoid as hell,” he explained to me, and I nodded along. There used to be one commander who was paranoid, and after word about an Allied attack force he immediately set up about 50 sentries and flak cannons alone. Then the force turned out to be the Empire’s attack force, and they were completely decimated without his base being touched at all. I was there to bear witness to the destruction, and I found it pretty amusing.

“That’s… interesting,” I reply as we soon reached a crossroad, the map saying we should take a left towards the safehouse. But Kahn stopped and told me after seeing where my Pipbuck wanted us to go.

“Don’t, maps aren’t always accurate. Going down that way is like going straight into a Hellhound cave, too many raiders.” He was very right, as I saw multiple red lines appear in my vision as I pulled out the ADK, now on it’s last few rounds. I was not worried though, as I had more than enough to take on a King Oni.

“Then we’ll take right,” I respond as Dmitri nodded from behind, noticing the astounding amount of hostiles down that road. We then quickly hurried down the shattered pathway, with the Pipbuck immediately detecting the change of plans and re-directing us to another pathway that was behind the raider ponies.

Even as an experienced conscript, I will now shudder at ponies if I ever get back. Make a note of that, never underestimate one ever again. Soon, I could hear them ranting about the earlier kills, causing Kahn to grunt in disgust.

“I hate raiders.”

“You say that a lot,” Dmitri replied in shaky English, still tangible enough to be understood by the brown pony.

“What, you like them?”

“They remind me of gulags, where the Premier threw me into after I saved boy from abuse,” Dmitri grunted under the weight of the Vorana as we progressively moved closer to the safehouse. So that’s what happened, a good intention turned bloody and the following consequences. Why they chose to redact the part with the child was all too clear, for they wanted to keep his law bringing down low. I couldn’t help though, as we were far away from the Motherland.

Dmitri’s heaven, as it seemed.

We eventually snuck past the raiders, with the only mishap being my tripping over a piece of rubble and the evidential remains of dust being the only thing that hinted of our existence. As we continued on, Kahn took this time to talk with me, not Dmitri.

“So, what is your name?”

“Artyom,” I reply as I looked forward to maintain guard.

“A nice name, so what are you?”

“A soldier,” I reply. “If you can’t tell.”

“That’s pretty reassuring, considering the only soldiers we have are the Rangers,” Kahn said as we continued on, my Pipbuck blinking. I looked down and immediately, I saw something ahead flicker on and off. Attracted to this, I hurried and found out it was a passageway to the safehouse.

“Here! The safehouse!” I waved to them as they both hurry up. The passageway was locked with a tough-as-hell steel door, and next to it was a still operative scanner.

“Well shit, I never noticed this thing over here,” Kahn remarked on our discovery of the haven, as I walked up to the scanner.

Please produce a valid I.D from your Pipbuck 3000. As soon as the monotonous voice spoke, my Pipbuck’s screen immediately turned into lines, and I found myself lifting up my hand to let the scanner handle the work..

Scanning…

I.D confirmed, Grand Pegasi Enclave bunker doors are now opening. Please step back.

The doors suddenly grinded open, causing all three of us to recoil back in surprise. I wasn’t expecting this door to be that loud, but I was hoping it wouldn’t attract too much hostile attention as we learnt in boot camp about noise.

Remember, noise is no good! Make one sound and the whole place will blow up, whether you like it or not!

I cracked a quick grin as the inner sanctum of the safehouse revealed itself, a metal table awaiting us ahead. I waved to Dmitri and Kahn to enter, before eying the environment for one last time. Going in, the doors then closed behind us, effectively covering us well. How did they erect such a bunker without any attention? I don’t know, but what I did know was that there was a stack of food at the corner of the room, two first-aid boxes, ammunition on top of the table, ballistic goggles accompanied by a few gas masks and finally, several unusual weapons leaning against the wall. Dmitri let out a slow whistle, followed by an awestruck Kahn.

“Pretty good place,” Dmitri remarked as the lights turned on, illuminating the room. “Would last us a long time.”

“How on Equestria did we miss this place out…?”

“Probably because of us,” I told Kahn as he trotted to a laid out mattress and flopped onto it. “We’re all tired.”

Dmitri was busy trying to place his Vorana in a position where it wouldn’t drop and kill us all, as I went over to the boxes to find something that can help Kahn live a little longer. Finding antiseptic, I went over to Kahn and began unwrapping my tourniquet. “Hey! What’re you doing-

“Just something I picked up,” I cut him off as I began to swab the wound with the antiseptic I found, causing him to hiss.

“YOW! Watch it, buddy!” Thank god the bullet went through, as from what I’ve seen under the lights. If it was still there, it would’ve been a little more…torturous than Kahn would’ve thought.

There, done. He was now good to go as I tie back the tourniquet, now putting a piece of wood I picked up along the way. “Better now?”

“Urf… at least you know how to treat a bullet wound. Unlike some ponies…” Kahn mumbled before yawning. “Hot damn, it’s been a long day. We’ve got like, three hours of sleep?”

“Don’t worry, we should be able to wake up before noon,” I assure Kahn as I unslung my ADK and laid it on the provided table, carefully observing the weapons on the side. Dmitri had taken off his helmet, and was now preparing to take a power nap. I was too, but I was very curious of their level of technology.

These guns were longer than my ADK, and they looked far more lethal than ours could ever be. But they were not made for us, as I kept in mind. Damn, I was beginning to wander off into the unconscious, as I yawned.

Taking off my ushanka and placing it on the same table, revealing my hair, which was lined with silver, I shuffled over to one of the free beds available and relaxed after lying down.

Some sleep, at last.

Footnote: Artyom Salnikov

Level up;

+5 Speech

+5 Medicine

03: The Wasteland Reds

Chapter 3: The Wasteland Reds

“Even in dark times, we cannot relinquish the things that make us human.”-Unknown

Sunrise, it’s a very nerve-calming sight and one that fills the heart with vigor. This couldn’t be truer for me, at least back in Russia. I shared the view of the sunrise with Vera before the war, amidst the sound of helicopter blades. It was these kind of moments that made me happy to know that I still have hope for the future.

But the wasteland’s sunrise was another story altogether. The sun was barely visible under the thick, grimy clouds and it made me feel dreadful, with only little to no hope of returning. But at least I could see more clearly now, with the outlines of Ponyville being highlighted and reminding me of what Kahn said about the state of this world.

Ravaged by war, it made me shudder. What if my world ended in that kind of way, and she was caught in the crossfire? No, I will die to protect her, but I was not exactly there, was I? I sighed and stood back up, the magazines attached to my belt jingling along with its precarious load of 7.62mm bullets. I had been up since half an hour ago, while the two of them continued sleeping. It was best, since I knew that Dmitri needed more vigor to continue carrying his Vorana while for Kahn, he needed to strength to make the long journey to Gecko. It sounded interesting enough, and maybe there are more things there than here.

I thought about this for a while, after finding two backpacks just nice for us humans. It would be best if I carried the food, that last just enough for the day, and if Dmitri was to carry extra ammo. But I wouldn’t put too much pressure on Kahn, seeing that he was injured the night before. If he wanted to help out, he could. I also decided that after we visit Gecko, the bunker would be our fallback base in times, just in case the Enclave come storming in, presumably for us.

But all in all, the strong will help out first, with the injured later. I looked on the horizons of destroyed Ponyille and huffed through my newly acquired scarf. I had equipped myself with one of the ballistic goggles inside the bunker, the same scarf and one of the intricate weapons inside. Then my curiosity piped up and I pulled out the weapon from behind me. It was quite heavy for a man of my stature and judging from its looks, the caliber of this thing might be able to pierce through an Apocalypse in a heartbeat.

This weapon was oddly built for both humans and even ponies, while being drabbed in a dull shade of olive. Engraved in a silver nameplate on the side read ‘Burn filly, burn!’ and judging from its looks, it could be used by me to some extent. The magazine was surprisingly intact, in fact the whole gun itself was in excellent condition. I saw a few magazines for this gun back inside the bunker, but I really wanted to try out this intricate weapon.

Finding that the scope could be used by me and that my head fitted into the supposed holder that looked like it was designed to assist the user, I looked through it and arced to find a board of plywood sticking out in the open. A target, good. I shifted around for a little bit before finding out that trigger of the gun was surprisingly behind the magazine.

I held my breath, and my hand that gripped the magazine pushed the silver trigger causing the gun coughed out three muffled thumps that set the plywood aflame after the shots. I lowered the gun and marveled at the beautiful display of miniature pyrotechnics, lifting the gun up to gaze upon it.

This will be my secondary weapon, and I lowered it down to raise my arm with the PipBuck. Noticing that the weapon was registered into my inventory named ‘Burnmaster’, I let out a satisfying grunt and kept my eyes on the environment, ever scanning for the presence of raiders.

It was then it struck me, they can smell the plywood being burnt. But it meant little, as I could fend them off by myself. Looking at my Pipbuck again, I surveyed the map for the location of Gecko, having found out I could adjust the view of the world with two screws attached to the side of the screen. I found it quite a distance away from Ponyville, confirming that it would be a long trip. I then marked the location of it with a waypoint, and immediately the visible compass had the marker pointed to the northeast of where I stood.

I cracked my back and shuffled back to the bunker to either wake the two of them up or just rest some more. Rest would be needed, but for how long? I didn’t want to risk the Rangers that Kahn had mentioned coming into Ponyville to commit mass murder for just one pony. After all, we all know that feel.

Scanning my Pipbuck again, the steel doors grinded open and I walked inside, the Burnmaster still grasped on by me. I sought to find a sling, so that I don’t have to be pre-occupied with it all the time. Dmitri was snoring away like the great bears of Siberia while Kahn slept with no sound at all, which promptly scared me, creating the illusion that he had died of his wounds the night before.

Yeah, I think I should just sit and shut my eyes for a bit. Finding a folded up chair, I set it up and just sat in front of the cold metal walls of the bunker. With the other assortment of weaponry still leaning on the wall, I scavenged an unused sling and finding the right holders on the rifle, I could now take it out with ease, not having to worry about the reaction time needed.

Letting out a yawn, I took a short nap and drifted off into a dreamless state of sleep.

“Hey, Artyom,” someone called out. I flickered alive and found Dmitri snapping his fingers in my face. How surprising, I must’ve exceeded my original timeline if I had to get him to wake me up. “Sun is shining, and that means we must move.”

No dreams, and no nightmares. I wasn’t sure whether it was a good thing or not, but I ignored it. Trying to get up, my feet were numb and I had to stomp it hard on the concrete flooring to get rid of the irritating numbness. Dmitri silently chuckled, not knowing that I could hear it. Dismissing it, I stood up and tightened my trench coat as Kahn rumbled.

“He’s the heavy sleeper.”

“Sleeps more than you,” I replied, finding it rather amusing that a pony could beat a burly Russian in a sleeping contest. At this, I walked over to Kahn and crouched down to give him a quick tap in the noggin.

“Mm… Fuck… Why now…” I chuckled and tapped him again to wake him up from his sleep. I got up and walked over to the steel door, where a carbon copy of the scanner was present in order to open the door. It was a good security measure, just in case that someone happens to be a handsome rogue, or woman.

The steel doors grinded open as Dmitri was busy attending the needs of his weapon, and Kahn still arguing mentally whether to awake or continue snoring. I couldn’t blame him, because he had travelled from Gecko with his now-dead companion and transport animal. Speaking of which, I should ask him what it was. My mind was hungering for information of this world, and its insatiability was going to override my combat skills. Why so, because I was the son of a very intellectual man and a mother with a kindred soul.

But that was not the matter at hand, as my boots thumped during the transition from concrete to broken terrain. Looking through my goggles, there were clearly no raiders in sight, which meant it was clear to move. I then retreated back into the solace of the bunker and found Kahn standing up, quite fazed as he rubbed his face with his hoof.

“Ugh… Don’t knock my fucking head if I overslept…” he grumbled, as he blinked and looked around the bunker. “What time is it anyway?”

I just decided to play along and looked at my Pipbuck, seemingly looking for answers. To my surprise, it did, in fact, show the time. It was around noon, and I knew that most living things would be prowling around. “It’s almost 1230 hours.”

If he knew the 24-hour system, then he’ll know what I’m talking about.

“Using fancy terms, eh? I’m not a dumb fucker, and it’s pretty damn late,” he snarled and shuffled to retrieve his pistol, which sat on the same table where Dmitri was tweaking his Vorana.

“I’ll say,” I responded to the pony before I switched my dialect and spoke to Dmitri. “You still have shells?”

“Plenty, enough to take care of anything big or small,” he replied as he stepped back and flexed his muscles, causing me to chuckle and shift. I then used my sleeve to wipe the plastic of the goggle, making it clearer for me. With the compass already blinking, I decided to hurry them up.

“Dmitri, you ready for the world?”

“Anything, so what’s our game plan?” He spun to face me, as he grabbed a gas mask that would fit him if I was correct. “We’re not just going out there and blast everything on our way there, right?”

“Ugh,” Kahn groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. “Please speak Equestrian, I can’t understand jack from what you’re saying.”

“…Fine,” Dmitri’s hoarse voice begrudgingly responded as he put on the gas mask to see whether it fits. “At least mask fits.” I leaned against the wall, next to the backpacks, and lifted one of them up.

“Now then, we have these,” I explained my plan. “I will carry supplies just enough for the day. But first, let me check whether I can wear it.” Slipping my hand through the hole, I followed up with the other hand going through. It was tight, but soon I found straps and quickly loosened them, making it more comfortable than before. “Alright, Dmitri.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you carry the ammunitions?” Then I drifted off and instantly, I face-palmed myself. We don’t need to carry ammunition, because we have fucking bandoliers! “…Never mind, I take that back.”

“Okay, boss,” he grunted as he went back to the Vorana and used his hands to lift the heavy weapon up, which rested on his shoulder comfortably even with the weight. If I had the right mind to carry such powerful weaponry and to even fire it, I think I would’ve broken my shoulders. But I had two weapons, and Dmitri had only one except for his stashed away anti-vehicular magnetic mines. They will do no good here, for war has taken all of the vehicles away for him to blow up, a pity.

With the sunlight shining on the dull concrete, I stepped outside and sighed. It was going to be a long way to Gecko, I thought as I checked my own ADK beside the other rifle I had. Looking up to the clouded skies, my Pipbuck suddenly sent a jolt of electricity through my nervous system. Momentarily panicking, I stopped and took a quick look at the device. There was something…off, as a line of tangible text rolled across the screen.

There was a new audio file sent to me, and this garnered my attention. Was it Lightspark again? I didn’t know, so I just flickered and moved my fingers to play the recording.

Hello…? Hello? Finally, this accursed device is working…? Ah…There we go! Sorry about the electroshock you have presumably felt during the transfer, but my last message was not very comprehensive about the little details, was it?

Anyway, now that I’m recording, I shall explain to you the dilemma of the world and the features of your Pipbuck. But first up, congratulations on surviving your first night in the Equestrian Wasteland, if you’re still alive and listening.

The Equestrian Wasteland, as you see right now, was created through the Great War, a conflict that pitted the Zebras and the Ponies together with their highly destructive arsenal of balefire bombs being launched on the last day. We never officially existed before the war, and we only came into being after it. The Enclave is in possession of some of the most advanced technology in the Wasteland or even the world, which probably explains how we managed to proceed on with Spacestorm.

But alas, they have taken a special…interest with you, and whoever accompanied you. Be careful, for even as this message goes on, they will track you. I don’t know how, but they can. After the success of the project, they have since relegated us to other projects. I have been replaced, but my link with your Pipbuck has not been severed just yet.

I scowled, I didn’t want to be tracked or followed. The words of Lightspark about the Enclave stalking us had opened up a new feeling: paranoia. Back in Russia, the enemy came head on. But being followed by a enemy above the clouds? It was frightening, and I shuddered. Even with our weapons, would we be able to stand up to the Enclave? I snapped out of my trance and went back to the message.

…Now then, I have just remembered that maybe after a day in the Wasteland has taught you something about your handy device, so I’ll let that be. Also, if you’re wondering why you can understand Equestrian, we have installed a translation software into your Pipbuck, making you tangible to us too. Putting that aside, I’m also encouraging you to help out the ponies below, as it was my dream to. But unfortunately, the council does not allow such ‘filthy’ interactions, stupid isn’t it? Now then, if you may have not noticed, there is a small town named Gecko that’s probably an hour or two away from Ponyville. It’s advisable to go there, since we’ve noticed that a small contingent of Applejack’s Rangers are stationed there because of a faction of raiders that have discovered something…unusual.

But it is nothing dangerous, I assure you. Now then, I must be off. Take care and please, try to help out.

The message crackled to a standstill, leaving me alone with my ADK out in the open. I somehow felt sorry for Lightspark, and I vowed to abide by his wishes. It was my nature to help out the poor and the sick, even after the war. This made my superiors feel disgusted about me, but my nature had saved many soldiers under my limited command. I even remember that one time I had to help our famous sniper, Natasha Volkova, from death’s embrace during a reclamation operation on Krasna Aerospace’s factory. It earned me some kind of mutual respect from her, something that I think Vera would probably kill me for. But I never told her about it, and I didn’t regret a single thing.

I then heard Kahn’s voice broke through from behind, and it scared the crap out of me. “So that’s the pony who sent you here?”

“Gah!” I shriek as my weapons cluttered, causing Kahn to step back in fear. “Shit… tell me the next time you’re behind me!”

“Well, I’m sorry as fuck!” He yelled in anger, and I was justified. I really would’ve shot him, until I just had a feeling it was he only. Dmitri followed suit, with his gas mask ready and Vorana all set for major demolition. “Damn it, why did I have to listen to the Rangers?”

“Pony seems upset,” Dmitri voiced out as he stepped into the sunlight, covering his eyes for a bit with the hardhat mostly helping him. “Want some hay?”

“Fuck no, although that would sound good,” Kahn said, in defeat over the word ‘hay’. I let out a chuckle, then went back inside the bunker leaving the two outside. Walking over to the pile of fresh food, I took off my backpack to start shoving the meals into it. With several bottles of fresh water, we don’t really have to worry about hydration until by some unfortunate accident, we lost almost everything. Kahn also entered the bunker to ask me a question.

“Hey, Arty’.” Gah, a nickname. I hated nicknames. I was called Shirley one time, and then that mission went to hell after we were sent packing by dozens of hounds and Cryocopters.

“Yes?” I responded as I continued packing.

“You two have any caps?” I stopped and checked the trench coat’s pockets absentmindedly just to look for currency we clearly do not have. Finding none, I sighed.

“We have no caps, comrade,” I grunted in clear dismay as the last of my planned supplies were shoved into the back with my hands. “Just us and our guns,”

“Hmm… we could sell off those guns,” Kahn said, causing me to turn around just to find him pointing towards the assorted weaponry leaning on the wall. “I’m just saying, because I can see their worth. Pretty rare stuff, the Rangers wouldn’t mind spending just to get them.” I looked back at the backpack and zipped it up, before wearing it once more as my weapons clattered.

“What are these weapons, anyway?” I ask him with great curiosity. I had eyed these for quite a while, and even taken one of them as a side weapon. But how powerful were they? I’ve only tried one out, and already I’m quite impressed with the ponies’ technology level.

“Enclave-grade weaponry, made for battle saddles and power armor. It’s powerful shit, I tell you,” Kahn commented as he trotted over to the weapons, I followed to just see where he was going with this. Nudging a weapon, Kahn continued.

“Anti-machine guns, assault rifles, basically they’re all powerful if they’re used properly,” Kahn finished off, as I nod. “There’s even a freaking autocannon here, these things can rip through armor like butter.”

“Heh, Dmitri’s flak cannon does the same,” I reply, knowing of a weapon similar to his prized weapon. “But how are we going to carry them? Your…cow is dead.”

“I know, and it’s called a Brahmin,” he replied as we moved outside the bunker. “I think we might need some help. Once we get to Gecko, I could persuade one or two ponies there to help us out. But I want to let you know one single thing.”

“What is that thing?” I respond as I held out my ADK and aimed it at a building, just to make sure my aim is still there under the goggles.

“Let me do the negotiations. I don’t think the Rangers are going to take you guys in at first sight,” he said, causing me to sigh in frustration. Are they that paranoid? With the addition of our arrival due to the Enclave, I think we would be burned on spot already. I had no worries now, since I know Kahn won’t try to sell us out because we saved him.

“Alright, do what you can and we’ll be guarding you. Anything else we need to know?” I asked him as Dmitri kept ambling about, attempting to shoot something out of boredom.

“Oh yeah, be careful with radiation, ‘cause it’s pretty much everywhere,” Kahn advised and I listened. Radiation was one of the things back on Earth that we avoided with extreme caution. It could do many, unimaginable things to the human body. Luckily, the Union has no weapons that could cause such high radiation, do we? So now that I know there’s radiation around, we have to more cautious. I walked up to Dmitri to tell him this.

“Huh? Radiation? Sounds pretty bad,” he replied. No shit, was it bad. “Guess that means we have to be careful.”

“Dmitri, it’s fucking radiation! Of course we have to be careful!” Sometimes, that man is a little dim-witted, but he’ll make it up for it at the end anyway. I was now tensed up, and several red lines appeared on the leftmost corner of my vision. Oh shit, here they come.

“Kahn, I think we’re going to have an early morning skirmish.”

“Why?”

“Four raiders, coming our way,” I reply as I reached out for my Burnmaster, eager to try it out. Kahn saw it and whistled.

“That’s a zebra rifle, I’ve only heard of one pony who ever had one!” He exclaimed, causing me to chuckle and resume my guard stance, Dmitri also following as he broke into a sprint for cover across the bunker. “Looks different from a regular one.”

“It certainly is, Pipbuck tells me it’s called the Burnmaster,” I replied and slid behind cover, Kahn following with his specially built pistol clenched in his jaws. “Let’s count this encounter as a test run, shall we?”

“Go ahead, I always wanted to see how these rifles work,” Kahn replied as he popped his brownish muzzle out of our cover and watched the approaching raiders. “They’re coming in about five seconds.”

“Good,” I responded and looked to my left, to signal to the awaiting trooper for free-fire. I held my breath and clutched onto the gun, waiting until the perfect moment to open fire. I felt the adrenaline being injected into me, and the time gradually ticked on.

The raiders finally came into view on the street across us, and I raised my rifle to pull the trigger.

“Eliminate them!” I shouted with pure hatred, drawing the attention of the surprised raider ponies. Dmitri let loose his flak cannon and instantly, one of them vanished into fine red mist. Kahn fired his pistol and gutted the acid-green one in the brains while my Burnmaster set aflame one of them who was levitating a shotgun above his salvaged armor. He screech and shortly tumbled on the ground to extinguish the flames and the pain, but I ended his pitiful life after that.

We emerged from the shadows and took them head on, with Dmitri using his Vorana now as a makeshift club that smashed the skull of another raider. Kahn was taking all of his anger out on one of them, for killing his friend. I could hear him over the thumps of my rifle.

“Have a load of this, cock sucking piece of shit!” I couldn’t help but chuckle amidst the noise of pure chaos. In just a minute, the raiders were all eviscerated, with Kahn still beating the hell out of the now-dead raider.

“Want some more, bitch?!” I wiped the blood off of my goggles and went over to the enraged pony. I stood by the bloodied hooves of Kahn as his punches slowed and eventually, he stopped.

“Whew… it hasn’t been that long since I’ve taken out on somepony like that…” he gasped, frantically breathing for oxygen. I patted him on the back and helped him get up from the brutal bloodfest.

“Take it easy the next time,” I told him as I went into the darker side of me. On the open, I seemed like a normal soldier who fought for his country, but on the inside I know every single thing about torture. Pure, bloody torture. I never told anyone about this, and the knowledge of torture remained in me with all the new information I sucked up during the war. “Next time, try to do it more…painfully.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Kahn spat out at the dead raider, the blood pool gradually expanding and his or her weapon covered in splotches of red. “We gonna take their ammo?”

“Just do it,” I responded as I walked over to the raider who possessed a rifle which magazines looked like it was compatible with both of my guns. Crouching down and grabbing it, I scoured the base of it for a bolt and pulled it back, ejecting the magazine which I caught. Scrounging around the pony’s self-made bandolier, I found more 7.62mm magazines and ones compatible with the so-called Zebra rifle. After finishing my check, I stood up to find Dmitri reloading his flak cannon and Kahn having moved away into the shadows of some destroyed buildings.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” I asked Kahn as he looked back on me.

“Havin’ a headstart, buddy,” he responded as he continued trotting on, with me signaling for Dmitri to move ahead. We followed on and soon we were well on our way to the town they call Gecko. In the meantime before anything else happened, I took this time to ask Kahn about the geography of the wasteland, in case there were any other settlements before Gecko.

“Well, there is Hoofington, pretty far away though but that city is almost indestructible. Then there’s an abandoned train station on the way to Gecko, actually there’s a few more stops even before the station.”

“What stops?”

“A junkyard littered with feral ghouls, a swamp populated by radigators, a military base filled with uncontrolled sentry bots that I learnt not to deal with, a hospital with unspeakable atrocities and finally, that fucking Enclave research station that for months, pissed off the Rangers at Gecko.” Well, Lightspark did say that he wanted us to help out the good ponies, so would he approve of my plan to help out the Rangers by destroying that station? I shook my head and continued striding along the path, having the feeling that we were being watched.

“Artyom,” Dmitri called out from beside me as he tensed up and prepared to raise his Vorana. “I think there’s something watching us.” Then it was that damned music that made its way into my head started blaring.

“If there is, let God sort them out,” I reply with confidence that whatever watching us would not attack us, as the horrible music went on. It was then I felt something thump with my ushanka, causing me to stumble and grunt while the noise intensified.

“Gah! The fuck…?” I fumbled with my Burnmaster and in panic, aimed my rifle at every nook and cranny in Ponyville. Kahn moved to act, and Dmitri leveled his Vorana to blast the would-be assailant to smithereens. Eventually, a silver orb with four transperant teal wings came into my vision, causing me to scowl in dismay at finding out the source of that painful collision. “What the fuck is this?”

“Ain’t that a Spritebot?” Kahn remarked at the floating robot as it continued blaring music, with Dmitri in the corner of my vision ready to slag it. “Annoying little buggers, although some ponies who have been to Ponyville said that these guys here could talk.”

“How about we find out ourselves?” I respond as I leveled my Burnmaster at it, just as a precaution. Then the music that was actually being emitted from it stopped and in came a rough, grand and wise voice.

Indeed, you’ve just found out.

“Mother of god…!” I growl and was all too ready to blast this damned robot into pieces. Everything about it screamed ‘Enclave’ and because of that, it warranted destruction. The voice came back soon.

I know you’re all surprised at the Sprite-bot suddenly talking, but hear me out. Let me introduce myself, I’m Watcher.

Okay, that’s good. But what I wanted to make sure if this ‘Watcher’ was not an Enclave spy. “Good to know…”

If you’re wondering and judging from your Pipbuck, you are both not of this world and very paranoid of the Enclave, yes? Then do not be afraid, for I am not part of their stinking organization. I’m just simply a being who controls the robots of the land and offers advice to wayward wastelanders.

“Go on,” I mused as we all stopped and took out time to listen to Watcher.

Just be aware though, this is live and I can hear whatever you’re saying. So since you’re not native to either Equestria or the wasteland, I will ask you what you are and where do you come from, do you mind?

“Ahem,” I coughed and straightened up, feeling a little silly just for the sake of decency in front of a root that was controlled by a being I couldn’t even see. “I am a Soviet, of Mother Russia.”

Interesting, I’ve also noted that you and your…companion, happen to be soldiers. Is this true?

“Yes, Watcher. We are soldiers for the Motherland and we were sent here by these Enclave for a fucking experiment.”

Ah… so that’s how you got here. I feel a little remorseful for you two, and I’m glad that you’ve actually had the heart to help out a pony in need. But the reason why I sent the Sprite-bot here isn’t just for the questions, but because I need to tell you something.

“Is this relating to the scientist?” I ask the robot as I looked at my Pipbuck, reflecting on that message earlier on today and his words of something unusual in Ponyville.

Perhaps. Anyway, there is something…here in Ponyville. Its just here, built by Applejack originally as a mining machine to, you know, mine diamonds and other materials...? . It was completed just before the war, and during the war, she commissioned for heavy weapons platforms to be installed onto it instead. I was never let on to this due to my slumber, but after I woke up, I found out about it but I refused to tell anypony about it. This machine is the source of the raiders, under the leadership of Chase. I watched his moves and his plans, and I fear something bad is going to happen soon.

“This involves us, right?” I ask him, wanting to bore through the veil and knowing more about this machine. It certainly sounded like trouble, and it was most likely why there are plenty of raiders around. There might’ve been more before I came, but who cared?

Yes, it involves you and your friend. I know, after I watched the both of you expertly eliminated the raiders assaulting your friend’s caravan, and I commend both of you on that. Please, garner the support of the Rangers in Gecko, because they have the weapons to destroy it for good, as within the bowels of the machine lay multiple balefire launchers, all loaded and inactive until given the signal.

Of course, that was our whole point being here. Sent through the ruse of an experiment before being revealed that we were actually meant to destroy a monstrous war machine, as Watcher said. If that was our purpose and if the Enclave was into this situation, we would be too happy to oblige the destruction of it. In actuality, I was the one getting confused and so was Dmitri. If it was dormant inside the town for so long, why hasn’t it been destroyed for so long? Why were we meant to destroy it?

So I just went along with him, still remembering Lightspark’s mantra. “Okay, we’ll do it.”

“Artyom, are you fucking insane?” Dmitri snarled at me, presumably because of my supposed badly thought decision. “If they wanted to destroy such a machine, they would’ve brought in the entire Soviet army!” Now that was a very, very excellent point. We Soviets have the toughest armor in the world, so why bring the two of us here just to fight it? It was still counted as an accident in my book, so I knocked my head in dismay.

“You’re right, Dmitri,” I said to him and went back to talking with the floating robot. “It was an experiment, and you’re just picking us to fight it, are you?”

Maybe, if you weren’t so negative. But consider the mission, if you wish to think about it. The machine, tell the Rangers about it and its name, the Scarab. It cannot be allowed to be used by Chase, the head raider of the contingent here nor can the Enclave use it, where it will undoubtedly end all of life. Just think about it, and I will let you all go for now.

The music came back and snapped us out of our trances, just as Dmitri and my Pipbuck lighted up with text. The robot then floated away, until it vanished in the light of the midday sun. I was now deep in thoughts, the Scarab sounded dangerous as hell and with Watcher’s demands to destroy it, maybe there was a reason why we’re out here.

I lifted up my hand to reveal that the screen had already listed out the mission Watcher gave us, I nodded in advance and continued on, leaving Dmitri and Kahn behind befuddled.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Gecko, let’s just move now,” I sternly responded as I no longer want to dabble around any longer in this foreboding ruin. “If we don’t want to be meat.”

“I’ll say,” Dmitri grunted as he sprinted to catch up with me, his Vorana locked and loaded. Kahn followed along with his pistol at the ready and his mind clearly scrambled on what to do.

“Alright, we ready?”

“Anything works, boss.” I looked at Kahn and snapped my fingers, causing him to jerk and pay attention to me, also making me grin a little.

“Oh right! Let’s GO!”

Then we set off, off to Gecko.

Soviet Saviors

Objectives:

• Reach Gecko

• Enlist the aid of the contingent of the Rangers there to destroy the inactive Scarab

• (OPTIONAL) Enlist the help of other splinter and stand-alone factions on the way

• (OPTIONAL) Help out anypony in distress