Fallout Equestria: The Order of Belldam

It was dark when Scythe awoke. At first, he thought he had met his maker. The steel ponies had found them in his sleep, and soon Belldam would emerge from the gloom to lead him away. Where do ponies that commit mass murder in the name of justice go? Probably Hell. The princesses didn’t seem the type of goddesses to allow that to pass for “good pony”. Any second now Belldam will meander into view, in a blissfully mad way, and lead him to the place in pony Hell reserved for their family. Oh, there she is coming out of the gloom now. Funny, Scythe didn’t think Belldam looked like Lollimint at all. Wait…was Lollimint wandering dead too? But she was a good pony. Were her pony princesses so cruel to forsake her soul for one deal with him? That was just not fair!

“Scythe? You’re finally up. I’m so glad. Crisp and I were getting worried,” Lollimint said.

“Don’t worry. It seems we have all been sent to await our escort to Hell. Belldam should be along shortly to fetch us,” Scythe replied matter of factly.

“Scythe? W-what? We’re alive. The stable is on its reserve power protocol. We made it! The metal ponies are gone. But, we are…out of food,” Lollimint explained.

“Oh,” Scythe said as he paused for a moment, “Forget what I just said then.”

Lollimint giggled and patted his withers before saying, “Thank you, Scythe. You saved me from dying out there. You could’ve left me to die, but you didn’t.”

“Don’t forget your pact, Lollimint,” Scythe said, still as a stone, as she pranced to the door.

“Huh?” she replied as she looked back.

“You said you would give anything to not die at their hooves. You really think I will open that door and let you prance away just like that?” Scythe elaborated as a sickening grin was on his face as he turned to look at her. Lollimint felt a cold lump in the pit of her stomach all of a sudden.

“Oh, my dear Lollimint,” Scythe said as he got up and circled her, “Your life is indebted to me now. I already know how you will repay me for giving you a chance to live another day. Would you like to know how you will be keeping your end of the bargain?”

Lollimint felt sick to her stomach. Her head lowered in defeat. She had all but forgotten she was in debt to Scythe. She owed her life to a homicidal cult pony! With a sigh of defeat she mumbled, “What do you want, Scythe?”

“That is Master to you, my pet. I will be taking in return what I would have had if you little hostage ponies hadn’t destroyed my coup de ta. Lollimint, as long as we live, you are bound to me as my mare. This is how you will repay me for giving you a chance to live again. You will be my mare, and mine alone. If you wish to join The Order of Belldam, you may, but, only if you choose to follow her ways. If you choose to deviate from your pact and leave me, well…you have seen my handy work on ponies I deem no longer fit to live. Do I make myself clear?!” Scythe explained to his pet.

Lollimint glared at him with hot tears in her eyes. Scythe only smirked and flicked his ears dismissively. Her fury became her. If Crisp wasn’t in the room, he may have even made a pass at his new mare. He could only laugh with dark mirth as she said, “You’re an absolute bastard.”

“Mind your tongue, Lollimint. Crisp is still in the room. Do you accept these terms?” he replied with a smooth smile.

“I don’t think I have a choice anymore, do I?” she barked at him.

“No, my dear, the moment you accepted sanctuary from the steel ponies, your life was forfeit to my whims. And here I thought I would have to wipe Crisp of his memories of this whole ordeal, leave him out for you to take in, and die in this hole. If I didn’t know any better I would say I must have been a very good pony to get this instead,” he whinnied as she sighed in defeat.

“I can’t believe I used to be attracted to you!” Lollimint shouted. That stopped him in his gloating.

Scythe turned slowly with a quizzical look on his face. He stalked until he was barely touching his muzzle to her’s and asked, “What did you just say.”

“I…I said I WAS attracted to you. If you had been a good pony, and not a homicidal lunatic, maybe we could have been together without this dumb pact!” she shouted.

“If I was a good pony, I would have died not knowing that or had little time to enjoy it,” Scythe responded as he turned to fiddle with the door.

“En-enjoy it?!” Lollimint stammered.

“Filly, have you looked at yourself. If you gave me half the chance, I would’ve tried what every adolescent colt and stallion has fantasies of,” he replied off-hoofedly.

“Excuse you!?” she continued.

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t just admit you thought about me tapping your flank. Geez, if you’re that flustered, I can send Crisp out to scavenge while I find out what I about missed out on!” Scythe shouted at her.

“You most certainly will not! I might be forced to be your marefriend, but this tail. You see this tail of mine?! It is not lifting up that quick for you!” Lollimint rounded on him, her short charge catching Scythe off guard and fumbling on his back. The two glared at each other until a little voice spoke up.

“What does tapping flanks and raising tails have to do with being a couple?” Crisp piped up. The little colt was completely lost at what was going on around him.

Scythe sighed before saying, “Nothing, Crisp. It is just dirty things grown up ponies say. Lollimint is just mad at me, and is grumpy with herself.”

“Why?” Crisp asked.

“She hates me because I did bad things, but secretly still wants me to go do grown up stuff with her,” he told the little colt.

“Just! Just open the door already. We need to find out what is left of the stable we can survive with,” Lollimint said, deflating in defeat of ever winning this verbal assault with Crisp present.

---------------------------------------------------OoOoOoO----------------------------------------------------

The stable was left a ramshackle mess and a tomb of ponies born into a world of misfortune. The blood streaks of the main floor showed the steel ponies had dragged every corpse out of the stable. The trio dared not even voice their thoughts of what became of them. The congealed blood made Crisp quake in his hooves as he hung a bit closer to Scythe as they searched for food or anything to help them survive. What was left of the meager stable supported farm was barley a saddlebag of apples. The orchard was torn to pieces, and would surely wither away in days. The armory was picked clean of weapons and armor. Even maintenance was ransacked.

“Scythe! Scythe, I found something!” Crisp said before scrambling under a table in the maintenance room. The colt crawled out to reveal a pipbuck in his mouth.

“Well, atleast you can have one too. Anything else we can use?” Scythe said as he sorted through old screws and wires.

“No… Scythe, are we doomed now?” Crisp replied with doubt in his voice.

Scythe sighed before turning to face the young colt. This was a delicate situation. If everything went the way it should have, he would be ruling a stable that would establish itself as a trade post. He would be assigning ponies to explore and set up trade routes. That was if other ponies were outside the stable doors. Well, they were. Atleast metal ponies were out there. It was clear the wasteland above was not a perfect world. The metal ponies had left very little to work with, and no option but to leave into the unknown.

“Crisp, things are gonna be tough for us from now on, tougher than hiding in the wall. But, if we work together…We will be just fine. Belldam will guide us, and I will look out for us every step of the way,” Scythe said, his eyes welling up with warmth as he placed a hoof on Crisp’s tiny withers.

Crisp smiled. It was a smile of pity as he said, “Stop acting like that, Scythe. You don’t have to make things sound good because I am a foal.”

“I…Damnit, Crisp, I am not sugar coating it or anything! Our stable has been torn to pieces and has nothing to support us anymore. Faith and each other is all we have now!” Scythe shouted.

The little colt ducked his head and responded quietly, “I’m sorry, Scythe. I know it’s bad. But, I don’t think it will be that easy. I doubt Belldam even cares, for instance.”

“You stop with that right now! That is blasphemers’ talk. Belldam does care. We’re alive aren’t we? She could have let the enemy find us. In a way, this is a blessing in disguise. Those metal ponies have killed all those terrible ponies, tore this place of bad memories apart, and left the stable wide open to a new world. A new life where our views maybe celebrated, a life we can live free of these stifling walls! Belldam has a funny way of showing her influence, young Crisp,” Scythe ranted.

Crisp sighed and said as evenly as his little voice could, “Is Belldam even real? Maybe the all-mother is just a story. Is there any proof she even existed?”

Scythe looked down at his cousin in shock. Most of his family accepted Belldam without much question. She filled their veins with her blood; she brought insight to her truest children with the gift of madness. Her redemption was their soul quest as her followers. Of course she existed! Father Even Heart even spoke of….that was it!

“Crisp, hand me that pipbuck. I need to show you something,” Scythe said.

“What?” Crisp asked.

“You wanted to know if she was real. I have proof you need a pipbuck to see. So, hand me the pipbuck and your foreleg.
You’re getting a pipbuck early,” Scythe explained.

Crisp’s muzzle slowly broke into a smile as he nodded frantically. The all-mother aside, the idea of being given a pipbuck was amazing. It was the best thing that had happened in a month! Scythe took great care using the tools left in the room to open the pipbuck. He placed it gently on Crisp’s foreleg. Crisp was close enough to ten. His foreleg was already big enough for his pipbuck. Scythe may need to keep the adjustment tools just in case he needs it to be bigger in the future. For now, he would make due with fitting it to Crisp’s little leg. He found the link cable and transferred the files every Order of Belldam member received with their pipbuck.

“Watch the introductory recording. It was made by Father Even Heart, the son of Belldam. Enough proof for you?” Scythe instructed before he left Crisp to listen to the recording.

Scythe did not stay with Crisp Coat. The colt would be enthralled by the wonders of a pipbuck and all the files of their order at his hooves. He chose to look for the last member of his herd. The stable was eerily silent. The lights were flickering now as he headed down to the living quarters. The crusted blood was starting to flake from the walls and floor. A soft scrapping was heard the closer to Lollimint’s home he wandered. He found her there staring in her broken mirror blankly. Her horn had a soft pink glow as she brushed her mane repeatedly.

This was when Scythe remembered this was the first she had seen of her world torn apart. To Scythe, the stable was just a stepping stone on his destiny of a great leader. To Lollimint, it was the only home she knew and cared about. Scythe stood there quietly. He watched her continue brushing her mane long after it was perfectly groomed. Her tail was still a mess of her curly pink and white hair. Taking gentle steps, he moved closer. She started when she felt his smoky grey aura enclose her pink one, and tug for control of the brush. Lollimint looked at him questioningly as he pulled the brush to her tail and brushed it.

“If you’re going to have a mental breakdown while grooming, atleast groom your tail too,” he grumbled. Lollimint only nodded numbly.

She just stared in the broken mirror as Scythe worked and eventually finished grooming her tail. When he placed the brush back on the vanity she just stared at it. This was getting to Scythe. The worst of their journey was yet to come, if the metal ponies were still around.

“Lollimint, it is going to be fine. We survived. But, we need to keep ourselves together to stay alive. Can you pull yourself back together?” he said softly.

“I thought you were crazy when the found all those things on pipbucks. Yes, I know what you all were planning now. The irony of it all is…the crazy pony is telling me to pull it together,” she replied.

Scythe sighed before looking her in the eye. He told her, “If you know why we did what we did, then you can understand why I am who I am. I was born from the all-mother’s direct line. I have been spending my whole adult life acting as the overstallion of my family. Our main purpose is complete. I am standing here without a purpose, a colt, and a mare that thinks she is saner than me, a mare who is currently acting like she is waiting for the world to continue to end around us. I can’t allow that. Crisp, you, and I are all that is left. Belldam may guide me to keep her name alive, but you have nothing. Please come with us. We are better together”

Lollimint turned to look at him. She looked like a broken mare. Her eyes were more dull than normal as she shook her head.

“No. Please, don’t make me leave. I want to die here,” she replied
.
“That’s enough!” Scythe shouted as he grabbed the collar of her shirt and threw her on her bed.

The bed was barely changed from how Lollimint left it. The soft mattress broke her fall as she gasped at the sudden attack. She cowered as he stamped his forelegs on either side of her and stared in her eyes. Frustration and rage coated his expression as he looked down at her. Lollimint screamed in fright. She didn't care if anypony heard her. Most likely anypony that heard her would kill her along with him.

“Stop moping! So our stable failed. You made mistakes, and I made mistakes. Things happen!” he shouted,” None of it matters now. All that matters is we need to try and survive another day, week, month, or even year.”

Lollimint screamed,” Get off me! Don’t you dare start preaching about your cult either!”

“Atleast I have something I still believe in. Hell, I could never admit it to Crisp, but I even doubt All-Mother Belldam at this point. She safeguarded us this long, didn’t she? But, if I gave up believing she will guide us, I am no better than you were in front of that mirror!” he explained,” Crisp still needs me too much for that.”

“Y-you really care about him, don’t you?” Lollimint asked.

“Crisp lost his parents early on in his foalhood. I practically raised him. You might call us insane, but I still care about my kin,” Scythe replied.

Scythe lifted his forelegs from her sides and placed them back on the floor with his hind legs. He began leaving the room as Lollimint shuffled behind him on the bed. Scythe was wearing that brooding expression he was always wearing before. It suits him. The red unicorn with his brown mane and tail, his bangs fringed almost symmetrically if he didn’t have a tuft of wild hair above his right bang, and his grey scythe cutie mark with mirror burgundy wavy shapes over the staff of it. Pair it all with his bright green eyes, disheveled stable shirt, and his boots that go to the hocks of his hind legs he…he was quite a handsome stallion. He might be insane, but a handsome stallion.

“Why are you sulking? We have a whole wasteland to conquer,” Lollimint teased as she hopped off the bed and trotted up to Scythe.

He smiled as he replied, “Yes, we have a whole wasteland ahead of us.”