Fallout Equestria: Last Days

Lights!

Bright lights flared all around me. They lit up the night with the radiance of Celestia’s sun. I had heard about the brilliance of the Las Pegasus casino strip, but never before did I imagine it would be so brilliant. I had entered the infamous city of sin expecting to do nothing more than set up and watch Miss Belle’s performance. But, now that I saw the metropolis in all its splendor, I wanted nothing more than to drown myself in the wickedness that it offered.

It didn’t take long for the overpowering emotions to wear off. All it took was half a glass of wine, and the loss of a months pay at a blackjack table to sober me up. Now I sat at the bar in ‘The Clops’ Casino. Trying to flush what little alcohol I had consumed out of my system. I didn’t know if Sparkle-cola could do that, but it made me feel better knowing that I was trying.

The bar was full of others like me. Sorry sorts who were drowning their losses of fortune or love in bottles of whiskey and absinthe. It made me feel pathetic. I was no elitist, but I knew that this place alone at the bar was unbecoming of somepony like me. I made a move to get up. To go back to my hotel room and sleep this off  like a bad dream, but something stopped me. At the other end of the bar sat somepony who shouldn’t be there. It was Sweetie Belle, her eyes downcast as she idly sipped her drink.

I couldn’t help my eyes from continuously wandering in her direction. No matter how many times I told myself to move, my body ignored my commands an stayed rooted to the spot. my eyes remained transfixed on the beautiful mare. She still wore her performance attire, a sequined blue dress laced with gold. The high quality garment fit tight around her waist, and gave her body a very shapely form. Her hair had been straightened, and pulled back into a bun. It made it easier to see her entire face, which had also been spruced up with pink lipstick and baby blue eye-shadow.

Somehow, she must have taken notice of my mesmerized gaze. Before I knew it, she was staring back at me with her breathtakingly deep green eyes. A friendly smile spread across her face, and she waved a hoof for me to come over and sit next to her. Out of shyness, I was hesitant to accept the invitation. Ultimately, I took it and moved to be next to her at the bar.

“Enjoying yourself, Ivory?” she asked me with sincere interest and enthusiasm.

“Yeah, this place sure is something. I’m glad I was able to come.” I replied. Unfortunately, my tone betrayed my words.

“I’m not convinced,” she responded, sticking out her bottom lip. “you insult my intelligence. I’ve known you since before I even started Stable-Tec. Believe me, I know when your lying.” I sighed lightly, mentally kicking myself for not being persuasive enough.

“No, really Miss Belle. I’m having a wonderful time. Cant you tell by how ecstatic I am?”

“Ha!” She laughed. “you, ecstatic, that’s rich. I’d be lucky if I ever saw you get even a little excited about something. I can’t even remember the last time I saw you honestly smile.”

“Perhaps you’re not looking close enough.” I replied.

“Horse apples.” she responded. The utterance of profanity from her caused me to inhale my sparkle-cola, sending me into a minor coughing fit. “We are together twenty-four seven. I spend more time with you around then with my own family. I bet I know you better than the back of my own hooves.”

“In that case you would know me too well, saying as how you spend so much time working with them”

“What was that? Did I just hear a flux of emotion in those words? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you just sassed me.” she teased. I was quick to respond.

“I wouldn’t dare, Miss Belle. I-” she cut me off with a wave of her hoof before I could continue.

“First, there’s no need to get so defensive, I was just foaling around. Second, how many times have I told you to not call me ‘Miss Belle?’ We’re friends, there is no need to be so formal. Third, what will it take to get you to enjoy yourself? You look like a colt who just got his lunch money stolen.” I sighed in defeat. Sweetie Belle wasn’t the type of pony to let things lie. If I didn’t tell her what was bothering me, she would worry me about it all night.

“What you just said isn’t too far from the truth.” I responded. “I’m down a few hundred bits from blackjack. It’s nothing really important Miss Belle. Now that I’ve told you can we please drop it?” she rolled her eyes at me, probably because I called her ‘Miss Belle’ again.

“Finally, I get an answer!” she exclaimed throwing her arms in the air. “Thank you for telling me, I was afraid that the war was going to end before you would! In addition to that, no. I’m not going to ‘drop it.’ we’re going back to that blackjack table, and getting you your bits back.”

“Wait, Miss Belle! You do-” again, I never got to finish my sentence. She jumped down from her stool and headed for the casino tables, ignoring my pleas for her to stop. I decided I should go after her in case she made a scene. I caught up with her as she was exchanging several bits for casino chips. “What in Equestria are you planning on doing?” I asked. She looked me in the eye with a devious expression on her face.

“It’s not what I’M going to do, it’s what YOU’RE going to do.”

“What in blazes does that mean?” I almost shouted. Again, she gave me that look. It was the playful look of somepony scheming.

“Ivory, I’m going to give you a little tip about gambling. There is only one rule when you play, and that rule is that the house always wins.” I looked at her, bewildered.

“I suppose that’s true, seems like a tough rule to play by.”

“That’s just it!” she responded. “you can’t play by the rules. If you do, then you’ll end up living in a cardboard box.”

“Then what do I do?” I asked

“Cheat.” was her only response.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The sight of Sweetie Belle’s mischievous look melted away as I was pulled back into consciousness. The world around me was fuzzy at first, but after rubbing my eyes I managed to clear up my vision. It was still night time, probably not much later than it had been when I had crashed. A fog had settled upon the ground, obscuring us from the assassin with the sniper rifle. The chariot still lay where it had fallen, flipped over and in shambles. There was no way it could be repaired. Standing above my prone form was the silhouette of a large stallion, Pipsqueak I assumed. Behind him sat a smaller pony, Sweetie Belle. Her horn glowed with a faint blue light. Featherweight was nowhere to be seen. I reached for my glasses, only to find them smashed beyond recovery.

“You alright, Ivory?” asked Pipsqueak as he handed me a small flask containing a healing potion. “You hit your head pretty hard, might’ve received a concussion.” I felt around my head with my muddy white hoof. A few small bumps were present beneath my black and white mane, but it didn’t feel like I had cracked anything. I brought my hoof down to eye level to test my depth perception. My vision checked out alright, and my head didn’t have any internal aches. I figured everything was alright. Just to be safe I took a swig of the health potion, and instantly I felt better. the lumps on my head disappeared, as well as the other cuts and bruises that dotted my body.

“Thanks for that.” I said to Pipsqueak. “I should be alright. You don‘t look too worse for wear, how is Miss Belle?”

“I’m fine.” she responded. “I think you received the worst of it.” She was probably right. Unless she had taken her own dose of the magic potion, she didn’t seem be hurt in anyway. Satisfied, I turned my attention back to Pipsqueak to discuss the current situation.

“Pip’, what the hay happened?”

“You were still awake when we were attacked by the sniper, right?” he asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and nodded ‘yes.’ “Ok, so after we crashed you were flung from the chariot and knocked yourself unconscious. After that I pulled Belle from the wreckage and made sure she was alright. I looked for Featherweight for a minute or two, but then remember he got detached from the vehicle. So he is either still flying around up above this fog, or he got shot and is lying dead in a pool of his own blood somewhere. I heard somepony shooting a gun  off in the distance so I took a quick walk around the surrounding area to make sure our attacker wasn’t near. I just returned as Belle was waking you up.”

“So, we’re safe?” I asked.

“Far as I can tell were out of harms way for now. With the fog as thick as it is, I cant imagine our exact crash site would be easy to find. No doubt the assassin is looking for us, but they’d have to hoof it a long way to even get close to us.”

“Ok, that’s reassuring.” I interjected. “But what are we going to do about the mission? Should we go back to Manehattan for help, or do we keep going?” Though the choices seemed simple, the decision was quite hard. If we turned back to Manehattan we ran the risk of crossing paths with our assassin on the way there. Also, we would be returning to the very place we had left due to the threat of bombs and increased violence in the streets. If we continued on to Ponyville we would have to travel through the Everfree Forest by hoof with what little supplies we had. Neither option was very appealing.

“Well, what if we contacted Applejacks escort with a walkie-talkie or something like that. Couldn’t we just tell them our position and have them pick us up?” asked Sweetie Belle. It was good to see her getting invested in the situation. That’s what made it hard to shoot down her idea.

“It wouldn’t work. Even if we did manage to make contact with them, they couldn’t turn around. No matter how much Applejack orders Rumble and Pound to do it, they wont listen. Once an order is given it is followed to the letter. Under oath of the royal sisters I ordered them to fly to Ponyville without stopping for anything, and by Celestia that’s what they’ll do.” I ended my small speech with a dramatic stomp of my hoof. I prayed that the two pegasae would listen to what I said and not turn back for us, for Applejacks sake.

“So what’ll we do?” asked Pipsqueak. “Should we let Sweetie Belle decide? It does concern her life after all.” I wanted to say no. I knew Sweetie Belle very well, but I wasn’t sure if she would make the right choice. Not only was she scared, but she was confused. All of us were. We were all lost in tangible fog of bewilderment and discomfort. Before I could interject, Sweetie Belle gave us an answer.

“We keep going.” she said. Fear dripping from her voice like poison. “I’ve been in the Everfree Forest enough times to know about some of the nasty tricks it has to offer. Besides, we’re closer to Ponyville than we are to Manehattan. It would be silly to turn back now.” I was thankful for her response. I would’ve chosen to do the same thing.

“Fair enough, lets gather what supplies we have and move out.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

By the time we reached the Everfree forest, the sun had already climbed to the top of the sky. My pocket watch was broken, so I had no way of telling what the exact time was. If I had to take a guess, I would say it was just about to turn eleven o’clock. We had made better time than I had hoped, and in addition to that, we hadn’t had anymore run ins with our homicidal pursuer. The odds were definitely in our favor. When we entered the forest, however, all delusions of luck vanished like dust in the wind. There was no path for us to follow. We were forced to rely on our instinct and Miss Belle’s faint memory of the place to guide us. It wasn’t much to go off of.

“Are you certain that this is the right way?” asked Pipsqueak. “I swear we passed that same weeping willow three times. If you ask me, we’re walking in circles.” Sweetie Belled let out an exasperated sigh at the security officers insistent remarks.

“To be honest, chief, I’m not sure where we are going. I Haven’t been in this forest since I was a little filly. Decades of absence tend to addle memories.” They had been going back and forth like this ever since we entered the forest. As a loyal companion to Miss Belle, I trusted that she would be able to guide us through the wilderness. But I wasn’t a stallion who would follow something through blind faith, and I started to agree with Pipsqueak’s incessant arguments. If anything, he was right about us repeating our hoof steps. Suddenly, I got an idea that could possibly solve our predicament.

“Does anypony have a needle?” I asked. “preferably one that’s magnetic.”

“What do you plan on doing? You gonna stitch us a map?” joked Pipsqueak as he opened up our supply bag and began to rummage through it.

“Here!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle as she pulled a tiny needle from her handbag. She levitated it over to me, and I gingerly plucked it from her telekinetic grasp with my teeth.

“Erkay, ‘ow we ‘eed  some wa’r a’ somefing ‘o ‘old it in.” I mumbled through clenched teeth. Though my sentence was first met with the confused looks of my companions, they soon understood what I had said and placed a water canteen at my hooves.

“We don’t have any cups or bowls if that’s what you’re looking for, but maybe there’s something around here that we could use.” offered Pipsqueak. I searched around for a place where I could empty the water into so that it would remain calm. Finally, my eyes settled on a decaying tree stump. It was blackened from age and elemental abuse. The bark had all fallen off long ago, and the wood was weak enough to chip away at with my bare hooves. It was perfect.

“ ‘us a knif ‘u ‘ollow ‘is out.” I commanded, pointing to the decomposing remains of the tree. Immediately, Pipsqueak set to work carving out a tiny bit of the rotting wood from the base of the stump. Once it was about four inches deep and six inches wide I motioned for him to stop cutting, and to pour the water from the canteen into the makeshift bowl.

“You sure that’s a good idea? We only have two other canteens, and a long way to go to get to Ponyville. There’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to refill it.” I rolled my eyes and motioned for him to pour it anyways. I would have told him that we could empty the water back into the drinking flask when we were done, but I was tired of trying to communicate without skewering my tongue on the pointy metal needle.

After the water had been poured into the hollowed stump I carefully placed the needle onto the surface of the liquid. Thankfully, it floated. The needle spun around for a moment before straightening itself out.

“There we go!” I exclaimed joyfully. “We’ve found north and south!” the confused looks of Sweetie Belle and Pipsqueak weren’t reassuring. “There’s a magnetic force located at the north and south poles.” I explained. “Since this needle is magnetic, it has an attraction to those two points. This causes the tips of the needle to point north and south. It’s something like that, I’m not entirely sure.”

“But how do we tell the difference between north and south, I don’t suppose the tiny end points north and the eye points south?” Sweetie Belle had asked an fair question. One which I had no answer to. I wasn’t sure how to tell which end pointed where, but I knew how to figure that out a different way.

“Ok, we know that north and south face these directions.” I said pointing to the straight needle. “Now we just have to figure out which direction is which.” I looked up at the trees that stretched far above me, but my vision was to weak to see very far up the trunk. “Miss Belle, I cant see very well without my glasses. Would you be so kind as to examine both sides of this tree and tell me which side has more branches on it?” again, I was met with a befuddled gaze, but she did as I said and examined both sides of the trees.

“This side looks a little less full compared to the other.” she said, pointing to the further side of the timber.

“Alright, trees tend to have more branches on the side facing south. So that means north goes to the right of this tree, and south goes to the left of it! And if we were traveling west from Manehattan to Ponyville, that means we have to travel in.” I paused for dramatic effect. “That direction!” I exclaimed, pointing straight ahead of us.

“How in Equestria do you know all this? I thought you were just Belle’s secretary.” asked Pipsqueak, his facial expression clearly portraying his bewilderment.

“I used to be a colt scout. They teach you stuff like this.” Never before did I think the things I learned during my scouting days would come in handy. Now that they had, I was thankful that my father had forced me to sign up. I took a moment to scoop the water from the stump back into my canteen. I wasn’t much, but it was still something to keep me going. Soon enough, we had packed up all our equipment and continued towards our destination.

“Nice work Buffalo Bill.” commended Sweetie Belle. She shot me a wink and a smile before pushing slightly ahead of me. It was good to see her mood improving, even if it was just a little. I felt the muscles around my mouth spasm as they tried to form a smile.

“Not yet,” I thought to myself. “Perhaps when we’re safe, I’ll have time to be glad.”

It may have been my imagination, but as soon as we found our way the forest seemed to thin out a bit. We were all tired from the hours of walking, climbing, and crawling that we had to undergo to reach our destination. Thankfully, the discovery of an old ,worn path lightened our moods.

It felt like the outside world around us had simply stopped. There were no megaspell bombs, no zebra assassins, no war. Everything outside the Everfree forest ceased to be, and all that remained was the three of us strolling down a dusty road humming tunes in perfect harmony. I remembered the world being like this before all the violence started, it made me happy. At the same time I felt sad, knowing that Equestria would never be like that again. Ponykind had gone too far this time, and the limits of our tolerance and humanity had been stretched far beyond the breaking point. Realizing I wouldn’t have many more moments like this one, I decided to get the most of it while I could.

“So, what’s Ponyville like? I’ve heard its pretty peaceful compared to cities like Fillydelphia and Cloudsdale.” I asked the other two members of my group.

“Well, you heard wrong.” laughed Sweetie Belle. “Ponyville is anything, but quiet. Remember all those stories I told you about the dragon attacks and monster invasions ?” I nodded my head. “They’re all true.” I did a double take before responding.

“Bollocks! There is no way in Tartarus that the things in those stories really happened. Am I supposed to believe that Ponyville was attacked by an Ursa Minor, infested by an army of Parasprites, and demolished by the librarians pet dragon? Pip, please tell me this isn’t true.” the security officer simply smiled and continued to look forward.

“That’s just perfect. Taking you to Ponyville was meant to keep you safe, and now your telling me that it was assaulted and destroyed several times during your childhood alone?” I felt like I was going to die of amusement. “Now I’m starting to believe that staying in Manehattan was a better idea.” Sweetie Belle just rolled her eyes.

“Don’t tempt me, Ivory. I want to be at my home in the city just as much as you did.” I wasn’t sure if I agreed with her. Though I loved my quaint apartment, I was quite eager to experience life closer to the countryside. Or at least as close to the country as you could get in this forced industrial revolution. Most every inch of land had been swallowed up by the increase in technology and production. It was another prime example of Ponykind’s  lacking thought process. We had swept through this once beautiful land and twisted it into a hideous scar made of manufacturing and engineering. We had created everything from vehicles to robots, weapons to textile mills, computers to….traps?

Suddenly, a course rope squeezed tight around my leg. My hooves were pulled out from under me and I was carried upwards till I hung upside-down, my head at least two meters above the ground. I couldn’t think of anything to say or do, my mind was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late. Several masked ponies had moved out of the foliage and were pointing zebra assault rifles at my group from every angle.

“I had hoped to capture the Stable-Tec Mare” chimed the rhythmic voice of a female zebra. “Instead, I find a stallion in my snare.” The speaker came forward amongst the back of the crowd of anonymous foes. She was a tall Zebra, wearing some kind of leather armor that had seen many years of abuse. Her mane had been styled to resemble black and white spikes, her tail bore the same style. She approached me and looked me in the face. Unlike the propaganda posters that depicted all zebras as red eyed monsters , her irises shone an icy blue. They would’ve been pleasant to look at if the rest of the face wasn’t mocking me. After silently jeering at me for a moment longer, she turned her attention to the two ponies who stood behind me. Damn it! why didn’t they run? “Regardless, it would seem that we still found our prize. I never forget a face, mane, or eyes.”

“Stay back!” shouted Pipsqueak as he drew his weapon. The sound of a dozen assault rifles chambering rounds froze him in place.

“Not another move pal! I wont hesitate to turn your head inside out.” growled the gunpony closest to him. Pipsqueak looked at me with an expression that begged for help. I didn’t know why he was asking me for advice. He was the security officer after all, not me.

“Quit looking at ‘im.” commanded another one of the goons. His order was followed up with a violent blow to Pipsqueak’s head with the butt of his rifle. The pistol fell from the security pony’s mouth as he collapsed to the ground.

“Don’t touch him you bender!” I shouted in anger.

“My, my, don’t we have an angry one.,” teased the zebra. “be a dear and shut up, we’ve already won!” her final rhyme ended with a violent buck to my face, and I was knocked unconscious again.