• Published 10th Mar 2014
  • 1,707 Views, 26 Comments

Fallout Equestria: Friends in High Places - Twilight_Sparkler



Kiwi Tart has always had problems with going outside, or not being lazy in general. So when he and his best friend, Sapphire Talisman, are forced to leave the safety of the Stable, what's a pony do? Kick flank and have a whole party of friends.

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Chapter 6: Dead Hoof Canyon (Sg)

[Hey, I'mStargazer and this how I met my friends, Kiwi Tart and his gang. '...' And that would be Sapphire telling me to hurry the hell up and get on with bloody story.]

So lets start off. Where should we begin? My day started with my usual routine. Check all my equipment, eat, gaurd my home and sleep. It's simple, really. Until something breaks. Then I have to go out of my enclosure, and search my huge scrap parts pile. And of course, on this day, I'm missing a part that was so ridiculous.

I didn't have a spare lightbulb for my lamp.

So that's where I met them. Next to my scrap metal stash on a surprisingly quiet afternoon. I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden I heard somepony.

"What is all this crap?"

I jumped about a hoofs' distance away from the sound before I saw the owner of the voice. It was a stallion with a green... everything. Well, that wasn't completely true, but it was close enough. But the important thing was that he wasn't alone. He had three more companions with him. Next to him was a tall, silver, slender unicorn stallion. The other two were a bright pink unicorn and and all too familiar gray pegasus. I haven't seen her since, well, the last time I lived on top of the clouds.

The silver unicorn replied, "Looks like spare parts and a ton of useless scrap." He kicked what at first appeared to be useless trash, but on a second-glance, it was the exact part I needed.

"Hey watch what your kickin' around there!" I knew that the moment the words came out was the moment I would meet my maker. How did I know this?

Four guns aimed directly at your head was a pretty convincing statement.

The green pony was the first to speak, "Well that was relatively easy. I thought it would be harder. Do we have to kill him? I would rather just take him back."

"Taking him back would be harder, but killing him would be messy." replied the pink one.

As the conversation went on about whether I should live or die, thoughts drifted back to a time that I could barely remember. A time where I lived in the clouds. There was were good memories and horrible memories, but they were there all the same. The only thing that could rip me out of my train of thought was when they decided to hog tie my hooves and wings together.

"What are you guys doing to me?!" This was an outrage! You did not simply hogtie a pegasus, his wings no less!

It was the gray pegasus that answered me. Her name and existence floating on the outside of my readable memories."Well we are tying you up. You're awfully dense for such a bright young stallion." She reached down and knocked on my head, making a hollow sound with her mouth.

She knew my name, that was certain. But she said like a plague, a disease. I had only known her for what, 5 minutes? And she was already making sarcastic remarks. I guess today just wasn't her day.

"Well I think we should let him live." The silver unicorn spoke so quietly it was as if he was afraid of speaking his mind.

"I second that." This time the pony speaking was actually easily understood.

"Well then I guess we can take him" The pegasus' voice sounding very displeased.

"So when do we start back for the cathedral? We got we came for."

"We can't leave just yet Kiwi." The pink unicorn's reply was short and to the point as if she was tired of the little earth pony, but now I knew the name of one of my captors. It wouldn't hurt to try and find all their names.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what are your names'?"

The pink unicorn was the first to answer, "My name's Bubble Burst."

Next came the green earth pony's name, "Well my name is Kiwi Tart. I really wish we could've met on better terms." I had just realized how he was holding his Sniper. And it was completely wrong. Even if I did favor melee over guns, even I could tell he was going to break it.

After him came the pegasus' name which turned out to be Shadow Flash. The bells rang in my head ever so softly. As if they where miles away on a ship trying to bring me into the harbor. Close enough to hear but to far to understand.

Finally the tall, gray unicorn responded to my question, "My name is Sapphire Talisman." He suck out his hoof in the manner of a hoof shake, but, noticing my hooves all tied he took his hoof back and looked around.

Heh, if you wanted to shake my hoof YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE HOGTIED ME.

"So why do they call this place Dead Hoof Canyon anyway?"

"You really do-" I was cut off by tremors. Uh-oh, it was that time of day again. Usually around this time, buffalo ghouls would run through the area, knocking around rocks and causing land slides.

I was stopped mid-sentence by a decent sized rock hitting me in the head. We all looked up to see about fifty of 'em looking down at us.

"That's why it's called Dead Hoof Canyon." Was all I managed to get out before the mass of living dead jumped down and surrounded us. Each ghoul looking like a bag of bones, the skin just barely hanging on. At first they were hesitant but once Sapphire started to take action with his shotgun, all hell broke loose. There was ghouls everywhere, against those 4. There seemed way to many bullets flying out of the fray for just 4 ponies.

Machine guns maybe? Who do these guys work for? They must be filthy rich.

At first it was just Shadow Flash, Bubble Burst and Sapphire Talisman fighting. It took a minute for Kiwi Tart to get his pistol to fit correctly in his mouth, his Sniper on the ground forgotten. But once he had a good grip on the gun he let loose and fought as fiercely as his three companions. What did I do the entire time this was going on? I was sitting there tied up slowly scooting towards a sharp piece of scrap metal that had been tossed around. Finally reaching it, I started sawing away at the rope. I wasn't too worried, I knew the ghouls well enough. Finally breaking the bonds, I fished out a small pistol under my wings. Previously I would have been sporting a different defensive weapon but due to recent events they where broken. Taking aim, I shot at a ghoul to get it's attention. It turned and charged. I had the perfect plan, fly up and make it ram the wall. The ghoul got closer... closer..

I flew up in the air, the ghoul smashing into the wall. That's what would've happened, if I had thought before I shot and undid my wings. Quickly rolling away, thanks to my light pegasus bones, I narrowly dodged it.

I was a sitting duck. My four captors on the other hoof, were having a hoot. The grin that was on Shadow's face was a little startling. She was maybe taking just a little to much joy from killing ghouls. Burst was shooting like a mad mare and each bullet never failing to hit its mark. Sapphire, though a little timid at first, had obviously had some training beforehoof and he had a handy-hoofy Pi-buck. That probably contributed quite a generous amount to his accuracy. My gaze quickly darted to Kiwi who was a green blur. Apparently his pistol had run out of ammunition so he had started to kick the ghouls, and was surprisingly very affective. Each kick was well placed and quick. The ghouls didn't even have a chance to realize they were being kicked.

It was after about half of the living dead were really dead did the rest back off, but they didn't leave. That wasn't the only strange thing. Once all the ghouls had surrounded us once more one let out a terrible wail. Their haunting wail ended with a horrible scratching noise. Then a path was made through the ghouls by an abnormally large and glowing ghoul. This particular ghoul seemed more capable of pounding us in to the ground.

It took its time plowing through the group of smaller ghouls, not caring if smaller ones where in it's path. About the time it got halfway to us its smell hit us. It was the equivalent of a mass grave digging. As it got closer I started to gag and looked around. No pony was moving. They each kept watch on the ghouls. As if they where statues keeping an intruding army out. Surprisingly no one had shot the largest ghoul, as if they where to waiting for something.

Finally the ghouls started to shift around as the glowing ghoul arrived at the front of the crowd. Once there it took a sweeping look at the crowd of living corpses then turned back at us. its attention on us once more it let out a low growl. Moments later the horde started to advance on us... until all hell broke loose. Again. Except worse this time.

At the first hoof steps of the ghouls' advance there were a few explosions that caused the ghouls to fall apart. Limbs went everywhere as the mines went of sets at a time. Apparently one of my captors had set them when the living dead first turned to surround us. Thank Celestia they did or we would all be screwed to the moon and back by none other than Nightmare Moon and her damn ghouls.

After the smoke and flying dirt cleared we were treated to the site of four ghouls who once seeing their fallen comrades turned tail and fled, disappearing behind a large portion of canyon rock.

Breaking the silence left by the absence of hungry ghouls Sapphire exclaimed "Burst you're a genius, setting those mines like that!"

Burst seemed to blush a little at this extreme praise. "It wasn't that big of a deal." That's when Kiwi joined in "No big deal? You saved our lives!"

Even Shadow chimed in, "That was really good Burst. We would be joining these bodies if it wan't for you."

After Burst got her fill of praise everypony went silent for a couple of moments then they each turned to me. The first one to break the silence was Sapphire. "So what do we do wi-"

He was cut short yet again by a loud cracking sound above us. We all looked up to see a boulder breaking away from its perch on the ledge. Somehow the rock had gotten loose and my caps were on the mines. Their explosions must have caused the rock to displace itself. As the boulder fell time itself seemed to slow down yet my thoughts began to race by. So this is how it ends for me. Never really thought I would die like a bug. Crushed under a giant rock.

As the boulder got closer to squishing me I felt a force shove me out of the way. It had what I imagined was the same strength as a locomotive charging down the tracks. As I was being shoved I turned my head to see where I had just been laying and was greeted with the sight of the rock shattering as it hit the ground. Shards of rock flew through the air. Burst called out as the pieces flew through the air but anything beyond that was blurry. Next thing I new was that I had blacked out. Apparently I had been hit, hard.

-x-x-x-x-

After what seemed like am eternity of nightmares filled with ghouls and slavers, I awoke up to the sight of my four captors sitting around a fire and trading stories. So it hadn't been just a dream. I tried my best to lay still and have my awakening unnoticed. So to pass my time I lay there and listened to their tumbling tales.

"Life in the stable was not as sugar coated as you might think. The mare in charge, or the Overmare as she was called, could be a wicked witch sometimes." After a long pause Sapphire continued, "And don't get me started on the other colts and fillies. Most days they could make you feel like you where a pile of worthless shit, but what are my problems compared to yours? The wasteland must me horrible." His tone dripped sarcasm.

The pink unicorn, Burst I think was her name, replied, "You're right, our problems make yours seem like a joke." She chuckled a little to herself and continued. "Working for Red-eye is no piece of cake. One minute you're carrying out a simple, innocent mission the next your pillaging a small town or settlement and your enslaving everypony in it." She took a quick breath and carried on, "I probably shouldn't be the one to tell you this but Red-eye is not all happy-go-lucky as he seems. He puts on an act to convince new ponies that they are for the right cause. Then they find out what is really going on, but I guess you'll probably learn that soon enough.By that time, it's already to late."

I figured that it would probably be wise to let them know i was awake instead of one of them finding me eavesdropping on their conversations. So I yawned to bring their attention to me then sat up and started to rub my eyes. I did note that my wings were still strapped.

"So how long was I out?" I asked.

My question was graced with an answer from none other than Shadow, "Well once we killed all the ghouls a rock just had to come loose from its perch and was going to fall on you, but your hero is none other than Kiwi. The little earth pony's strength was enough to get you both out of the way before it fell on you both." Somehow she made it sound disappointing. As if she wanted the rock to crush me.

Kiwi's protest quickly followed and included, but was not limited to, "It wasn't that big of a deal," or "Any pony would have done it." I noticed the Sniper rifle laying next to his log. I was really going to have to ask where he got that.

"Obviously not since the rest of us didn't jump for him. Anyway, Red Eye said he wanted him dead or alive. So why risk hurting myself on something unnecessary?"

"How dare you call another pony unnecessary!" Woah, the green one got fired over that!

"Get used to it, Green bean. That's the wasteland." Kiwi sat down with a disgusted glare.

I was really starting to dislike that pegasus more and more. Like she had an inner hatred for me. And almost as if on cue she said, "And yes, I wouldn't be sad at all if I had to scrape your remains off the ground for proof to show Red Eye."

Yep, definitely didn't want to get anywhere near her. She did seem familiar now. Though where could I have met her? I had my suspicions of where she was from and what kind of connection we had. She did have a faint accent that came from only one place, above the clouds. Yet the ideas all scared me to much and brought back too many painful memories.

"Well I think we should keep him. He seems nice enough"

"That's because he isn't another foal from the stable picking on you Kiwi."

"Well that's a step forward, isn't it Sapphire?" The edge in Kiwi's voice was very clear and I was starting to learn a little bit more about my captors. From what I gathered Kiwi and Sapphire were from a stable and, to be blunt at best, generally were not popular. Noticing their flanks, I was baffled by the fact that they were blank. That could explain it.

I also learned who I was being taken to and it sure as hell did not tickle my fancy. I had heard enough stories about Red Eye to last me a life time. There was no way I was going there without a fight.

Damn, why did my hoof blades and wing blades decide to break yesterday? Well, if I couldn't fight them, I could butter them up. I might be able to talk out of it.

"So why take me to Red Eye?"

After a moments pause Sapphire replied, "Well we have orders and such from Red Eye. Got to keep the boss happy and everything, even though he tricked us."

Sapphire's reply confused me slightly. "He tricked you into serving him, how exactly?"

"Well the gesture seemed innocent at first but then he pulled out his surprise contract sealing us into eternal servitude. Or death. Whichever comes last, apperantly." His tone was one of slight defeat. He sounded upset but unable to do anything about the source.

After a few moments of silence I took a good look around and found we had gotten a good distance from where we were earlier. The rock walls were gone and woods had replaced them. The trees were so close together, you could hardly tell where they were spaced. The only way I knew it wasn't was because of the small gaps between the trunks that would only allow bottle caps threw. There was also the hole in the trunks that looked charred around the edges like somepony had blasted right threw but the tree had not fallen because of its fellow trees holding it up.

It was killing me no knowing where I was so I asked, "So where are we exactly?"

Kiwi was the one to respond, "We're in a forest close to the cathedral."

"The Everfree forest. A place considered dangerous before the war, now considered deadly." If anything, the pegasus was read up.

Alright next question, "How long have we been here?"

This time Shadow answered me, "We have been here long enough. Sapphire, would you snuff out the fire and get our stuff together?" She batted her eyes for extra effect to make sure he did what she asked. And of course he did, for everyone execpt me.

Oh, shes that kind of pony. Yeah, just give me more reasons to hate you who-

"And we're off!"

Once they all had their bags on we left our clearing and started threw the thick forest to Red Eye's cathedral. On our way we had minimal diversion besides the time we got turned around, but thanks to Sapphire's Pipbuck we got to a small hill that over-looked a smaller valley with a massive stone building in the center.

Burst didn't sound excited when she said, "Well here we are."

This time they shackled my hooves and we started down the short hill and toward the towering front gate. Each side of the gate was guarded by four unicorns with some pretty serious firepower that I had only seen in magazines. With one nod from Shadow the guards stepped aside and opened the door with their magic. Inside was a breath taking seen. High vaulted ceilings and large walls with stained glass windows lighting up the room with a red tint. Dark corridors lead off in all directions. At the far end of the room was a red glass set of doors almost as big as the doors we had just gone through.

As we walked down the length of the room our hoof steps echoed cutting the silence in the room. Upon arrival at the red glass doors they started to open by themselves. Inside the room behind the glass doors was a large desk with a red earth pony sitting behind it. He looked normal enough, until he looked up with his mechanical red eye. Now I knew the reasoning behind his name. Red Eye. How clever.

His voice was surprisingly normal for half robotic pony, "Who is this?"

"This is the pegasus you ordered us to get capture." Shadow said.

"Ah yes, the little thief. Throw him in the dungeons. The enclave will be here later to pick him up. I am pleased that you captured him and didn't kill him. More for us I suppose." Red Eye beamed as he talked and walked from behind his desk, stopping in front of Shadow.

"How did they do Shadow?" he asked.

Shadow shifted her weight before answering. "They did well for ponies fresh out of the stable. We were attacked by ghouls in the canyon and both fought bravely. No casualties and we completed our mission, sir."

"Well then bring our guest to the dungeons and then meet me back here in an hour for you next assignment." He said over his back as he walked back behind the desk.

Once it seemed like he had no more to say my captors stood around me and we walked back threw the glass set of doors into the large stone room. This time we took one of the hallways a went down a set of stairs at the back. On our way we pasted what looked like a school room with desks and chairs and even a few foals with books. It had been a while since I had seen a school. One of the most rare things in the wasteland was a school. We also passed a door labeled "Medic" and another labeled "Armory".

As we started down the stairs Sapphire slipped in front of me and fell down the remainder of them. Kiwi tried to help but the staircase was too narrow for him to get around me and get to Sapphire. At the bottom of the staircase Sapphire just laid there and groaned as a small puddle of blood started to form around his head.

"Well done Sapphire, had to get yourself hurt." Kiwi muttered. "Well I guess I'll take him to the medic up the stairs. You two bring him to his cell, will you? You two have been here longer then me and Sapphire. Plus, I'm well aware where Medical is. I'm pretty sure I'm friends with one of the nurses." He bent over, and, with the help of Burst he got Sapphire on his back and stepped aside letting us pass. Shadow nudged me forward and we started again to my cell. As we walked the lights became more spaced and dimmer. Finally we reached a lone cell with nopony in it and nopony around it.

"All right here we are, in you go." Shadow said as she opened the door, shoved me in then locked the door behind me.

"Don't go crazy down here and don't get sick. We'll be back later to pick you up for the trade." Burst said over her shoulder as she walked away with Shadow not very far behind. Their hoof steps fading into the over powering silence until they could be heard no more. I could feel the coldness in my mane as I brought the bobby pin, and the rough texture of a screwdriver from my tail. If there was on thing the Wasteland taught you, it was always have some tricks up your mane.

Author's Note:

Sweet! I honestly like this chapter the best so far and it wasn't even written by me. Oh well, I want your thoughts on the chapter!

Also, something I find a bit strange. If I look at my view, just yesterday my views spiked to about 27. But I had posted nothing, not added it to a group or anything like that. But my upvotes/downvotes remains the same. It's weird.