//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Equestrian Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Edited by TacoTown Chapter 9 “Well fuck, I’m out of ideas; try not to get in my way.” Sarah told Winter, who had already begun to sidle behind her. “That was my plan actually.” Winter replied without taking his eyes off of the approaching raiders. A group of slavers had gathered along the wall to watch the oncoming spectacle, jeering and laughing to each other. One of the raiders, a brown earth pony, charged Sarah, cackling madly. She took a deep calming breath, and then slipped into a combat stance, keeping her center of gravity low to the ground. The raider reached her and launched his hoof at her face; Sarah’s arm shot out and snagged the raider’s leg half a second before the hoof would’ve hit her. Then, with strength that came from long hours of wearing power armor, Sarah bunched her shoulders, took a step, and threw the raider. The earth pony flew around ten feet before he landed on the concrete of the mall face first. There was a moment of silence. And then the raiders charged. Sarah’s eyes widened as every raider in the plaza charged her simultaneously. The first to reach her received a kick to the head that sent him stumbling away clutching at his face, but the second bucked Sarah in the shin causing her to sink to one knee as another’s hoof flew towards her face. Sarah’s hand came up to block it but the blow was strong enough to knock her off of her knee and send her to the ground. She rolled to her feet before they could dog-pile on top of her and sent the next raider to charge her reeling with a jab to the chin, followed by a kick to the chest. She turned to look for Winter, who wasn’t handling as badly as she’d expected. There were two raiders unconscious on the ground near him, and he was steadily backpedaling away from a third who was coming at him. Sarah turned back to the raiders and found that in the few seconds that she’d taken to check on her companion a unicorn raider’s horn had begun to glow with an eerie yellow light. She had just enough time to mutter a quick curse before she rolled away from where she’d been standing before a blast of yellow magic obscured the area. Sarah barely had time to regain her feet before another raider charged her, horn first. She sidestepped the raider, while at the same time sending her leg out to trip the raider, who crashed to the concrete. Sarah didn’t have time to congratulate herself because she suddenly found herself airborne, entrapped in a yellow glow as the unicorn from before smirked evilly at her. Winter dodged under his fourth opponent’s hoof and saw Sarah’s predicament; with a low growl he sent a pulse of magic at the other unicorn’s horn. The other unicorn let out a shout of pain and Sarah tumbling to the ground, landing hard on the concrete. A raider tried to kick her in the face, but Sarah dodged it, moving her head out of the way at the last second before she rose to one knee and punched the raider in the face. Wasting no time she charged the raider unicorn before he could recover from Winter’s spell and grabbed him by the muzzle before powering forward and slamming the back of his head into the concrete with a loud crunch. Her victory was short lived however, and a large earth pony blindsided her with a body tackle that sent her crashing to the ground. Her face hit the concrete and she tasted blood in her mouth as she rolled to the side just in time to avoid a crushing stomp by one of the raiders. She rolled again and came out of it on her feet again, breathing heavily. Sarah’s lip was bleeding and she was almost positive that she could feel a black eye developing as she stood there panting, waiting for the next rush. It never came. “What do you slaves think that you’re doing, get back to work! That includes the new slaves!” A large earth pony slaver shouted from a balcony above the plaza shouted. Every pony in the plaza froze. “You are wasting time that could be spent working, go to your shifts!” The crowd around Sarah and Winter dispersed, except for the several unconscious raiders. “Sarah, move, now.” Winter said quickly as he began to sprint out of the plaza without looking back. Sarah let out an aching groan and took off in pursuit of the blue unicorn as he ran. They stopped after several minutes of running and Sarah collapsed backwards against the wall of the nearest building. In addition to her lip bleeding, her arms were also dripping with blood from several deep scrapes and from the wetness under her pants she assumed that her legs were bleeding as well. Winter collapsed next to her panting, he was bleeding from a cut across the forehead that was dripping blood into his eyes. “Well, that could’ve gone worse.” Sarah said as drew in a deep, painful breath before she began to cough. “Yeah, we didn’t break any bones.” Winter agreed with a dry chuckle as he began to levitate healing supplies out of his knapsack. Several magic bandages and two stimpacks later the two were feeling slightly better. “So… now what?” Sarah asked. “We find a place to sleep that isn’t already taken, or we sleep in one of the areas where there are more ponies.” Winter replied with a frown, his forehead was still bleeding slightly but thankfully it was being contained by the bandages. “Then we should get moving before any of those raiders from before can find us.” Sarah replied with a slight sigh. “Yeah, let’s go.” *** Holly was staring at Day Kicker’s naked flank intently. “Day, did you’re fucking cutie mark just flicker?” She asked as she pointed her hoof at Day Kicker’s flank. Ethan looked up from his shotgun and looked at Day Kicker’s cutie mark, which prominently displayed the sun being blocked out by clouds, before shrugging. “I didn’t see anything.” Ethan replied before he went back to cleaning his new gun. A frown crossed Day Kicker’s face before he too shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He replied as he fiddled with his new gauss rifle and his battle saddle. “Yeah, I guess my eyes are just fucking with me.” Holly said with a shrug. Then she yawned. “I’m going to go to bed, wake me if someone starts trying to kill us.” She got up and left the main room of the suite and headed for the bedroom. “So Day, what was the name of your ancestor from that book?” Ethan asked the pegasus after a few minutes of silence. “Her name was Cloud Kicker.” Day Kicker replied with a shrug. “She was an interesting mare.” “Hmm…” Eddie murmured softly from Ethan’s wrist. “Something up Eddie?” Ethan asked. “No, not really; I was just thinking about how we’ve gone for most of a day without killing somepony.” Eddie replied cheerfully. “Yeah it’s surprising. I guess that we’ll have to work harder tomorrow.” Ethan told the AI with a chuckle. Day Kicker finished whatever he was doing with his gauss rifle and set it aside with a slight smile on his face. “Thank you again for this gift Ethan, it’s not exactly a common piece of equipment.” Day Kicker told him. “Well I just wanted to make your eventual betrayal more exciting.” Ethan replied with a smirk and a short laugh. Day Kicker rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep a chuckle of his own from escaping. “Yes, with this I should be able to blow your arm right off of your body. There won’t be any reason to have you dissected.” Day Kicker replied. “The last people who tried to dissect me were aliens; it ended poorly for them.” Ethan told him with a smirk. “Well I should go to bed; if we’re really going to start traveling to Fillydelphia tomorrow then I’ll need to have a good night’s sleep beforehand.” Day Kicker said with a yawn before he flapped towards the door to the bedroom. That left Ethan alone with the AI as he began to load and unload the shotgun, doing so until it was second nature and he could do it blindfolded. “Ethan, there’s something up with Day Kicker.” Eddie said suddenly. “What do you mean Eddie?” Ethan asked. “I mean that there’s something about his story that doesn’t check out.” Eddie replied simply. “Could you try being a little more specific Eddie?” Ethan asked curiously. “It’s just that Cloud Kicker would never go along with the other pegasi. She was one of Rainbow Dash’s best friends and would’ve supported her even if it cost her her life.” Eddie said seriously. “Not only that, but she was one of the Ministry of Awesome’s best agents.” The AI added. “So what? Things change Eddie.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “You don’t need to tell me that Ethan.” Eddie replied and Ethan swore that he heard a bit of venom in the AI’s voice. “My primary function is based around probability, I know that things change!” The AI said. “Right, sorry, but what’s the big deal about Day Kicker?” Ethan asked. “The Kickers were a very loyal clan, they’d always stayed close to the crown and a majority of them were royal guards or were involved in the army in some way. It makes absolutely no sense to think that any of them, especially Cloud Kicker, would go Enclave!” Eddie said. “The chance of that having happened is so slim that there’d be a better chance of Celestia turning down a piece of her favorite type of cake in favor of a steak!” “Well then Eddie, what do you think Day Kicker is doing here if he isn’t working for the Enclave?” Ethan asked. “I don’t know; I just don’t have enough data to make any type of prediction!” Eddie said, with a definite hint of annoyance entering his voice. “Alright, I’ll keep my eyes open then.” Ethan said with a shrug, then he yet out a yawn. “God I’m tired.” He added. “I don’t think that the goddesses care about that.” Eddie replied cheekily. “Oh be quiet you stream of data.” Ethan said as he got up off of the couch and headed towards the bedroom. He entered the room to find Holly sleeping soundly in one of the beds and Day Kicker in the other, leaving no place for him to sleep. He thought about it for a second before he went over to where Holly was sleeping, silently scooped her up in his arms, and then without waking her walked her over to Day Kicker’s bed and laid her down next to him. Ethan went over to the newly unoccupied bed, took off his clothes except for his underwear, lay down with an amused chuckle, and then shut his eyes. *** “So, are you regretting that you came with me yet?” Sarah asked with a sigh as she pulled Winter closer to herself for warmth. “No, I’m regretting not bringing my blanket.” Winter replied with a weak chuckle. They’d managed to find a rundown shop that seemed to be unoccupied; it only had one door and a display window so Sarah had decided that it was defendable enough for them. “Yeah, but at least you have fur to keep you warm.” Sarah said with a snort. “Do you think that those raiders will come after us while we sleep?” Winter asked with a yawn. “Hopefully not, I’ll take the first watch and I’ll wake you at around oneish.” Sarah told him “Alright then, wake me before we die.” Winter told her before he began to close his eyes. “Actually, I forgot to ask you something earlier.” Sarah said, Winter’s eyelids closed. “What is it?” He asked tiredly. “How did you knock out so many of those raiders during the fight?” Sarah asked. “Knockout spell, I may not have been trained in Tenpony but I still know my basic *Yawn* knockout spells.” Winter replied before his head lolled into the side of her leg and he began to snore. Sarah let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall, it was going to be a long night. *** Ethan was awakened a little after six in the morning and let out a yawn as he got out of bed and began to pull on his clothes. He looked over at the other bed to find that Holly had wrapped her forelegs around Day Kicker’s side while he’d been sleeping and he seemed to have returned the favor. Ethan’s mouth quirked into a grin as he went over to them and poked Day Kicker on the nose, the pegasus’s eyes opened slowly at first, and then he noticed how he and Holly were intertwined and his eyes popped wide open. He shoved Holly away from himself causing her to roll off of the bed with an indignant whinny. “What were you doing in my bed?!” Day Kicker shouted. “Fuck if I know. I was in here first, so how do I know that you weren’t the one who was in my bed?” The mare asked. “Because this is my bed!” Day Kicker replied loudly. “Wow, this is the worst I’ve ever seen someone react to waking up with a woman lying next to them.” Ethan said with a smirk. “Oh, this is your fault isn’t it?” Day Kicker asked with a slight glare. “Yep.” Ethan said with a sage smile. “Fuck both of you.” Holly said as she walked back towards her bed. “What did I do?” Day Kicker asked with an annoyed snort as he got off the bed and began to stretch. “You fucking shoved me off of the bed.” Holly replied with a narrowed eye. “I didn’t know it was you, I’d just woken up!” Day Kicker told her with a slight snarl entering into his voice. “Oh, so you’ve just made a habit of shoving mares out of your bed in the morning, you’re a real fucking class act Day.” Holly retorted. “It’s not a habit, it was one time before now and it wasn’t my fault!” The pegasus snapped back at her. “Oh, so it has fucking happened before!” Holly said with a tone of indignation entering into her voice. Instead of answering her Day Kicker turned to glower at Ethan. “Why did you do this?” Day Kicker asked him. “Three reasons really.” Ethan replied as he held up his hand “One; because it’s fun fucking with you two, no offense.” He said raised one finger. “Two; to see how you’d both react to it.” He said as he raised another finger. “And three because it’s always good to see how your traveling companions treat each other when they’re angry at one another.” He finished as he raised a third finger with a smirk. The blast of magic that caught him in the chest knocked him backwards off of his feet and onto the bed. Holly walked over to him and her eyes narrowed. “Ethan, do not fuck with me for the fun of it.” She told him simply. “No promises Holly. Besides, I’d say that we each learned something important about ourselves during this little conversation, so that’s always a plus.” Ethan replied as he rolled and onto his feet. “So who’s hungry?” The pegasus and the unicorn exchanged a silent glance, both agreeing to forget their annoyance with one another. It wasn’t exactly as if it were either of their faults… “Fine, let’s put this bickering behind us for the moment and go eat.” Day Kicker said with a shrug. “Yeah, fuck it let’s eat.” Holly agreed with a nod. “So where are we going to eat?” “Well we bought supplies last night. So we can either eat some of those, or we can go down stairs and eat some of the same two hundred year old bullshit, but instead of it looking like good old fashioned bullshit it’ll instead look like artistic bullshit and be expensive enough to burn through the remainder of our caps.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I vote on just eating here, the less time and money we spend here the better.” Day Kicker said. “I agree with Day, as much as I enjoyed my shower yesterday I’d like to get on the fucking road before too long.” Holly said with a nod to the pegasus. “The last thing somepony wants to do is be on the fucking road in Manehatten at night.” She added with slight shiver. “Why?” Ethan asked as he pulled out a small pack and then pulled out package of salisbury steak for himself before passing the pack to Holly. “Because there are giant vampire bats called bloodwings. Trust me, you DON’T want to be caught out in the open by those fuckers.” Holly replied as she magically lifted a small container of snack cakes out of the pack before she passed it over to Day Kicker, who shrugged and pulled out a container of potatoes. “Hmm, this place has more random shit trying to kill you then my Wasteland does.” Ethan said with a shrug. “Oh, what you’ve seen is just the tip of the fucking iceberg.” Holly replied casually with a shrug before she bit into one of her snack cakes. “Well I always like challenges, they make life more fun.” Ethan told her with a small grin. Day Kicker rolled his eyes. "Personally I prefer it when things are simple.” The pegasus said with a shrug after he put a plastic spoonful of potatoes into his mouth and started to chew. “I suppose you’ve got a point, when thing are simple you don’t have to worry about things going wrong.” Ethan agreed with a nod. “So what’s the plan for getting your friend out of the fucking slave city?” Holly asked curiously. “I don’t know.” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I don’t suppose that either of you know much about the layout of the place do you?” He added. “No, it was never one of my responsibilities.” Day Kicker replied with a shrug. “All I know about that fucking place is that the Equestrian Wasteland would be a better place without it.” Holly added with snort. “Well then we’ll just have to make it up as we go along, good thing I’m good at that.” Ethan said with smile. “And don’t forget that you’ve got me!” Eddie added from his wrist. “Right we’ve got Eddie with us too.” Ethan said with a nod. “So now I suppose we finish breakfast and then head out?” “Yes, that sounds fine with me.” Day Kicker said with a nod of approval. They spent the next of the meal in relative silence, and once they were done Day Kicker slipped out of the window once again clad in his Enclave outfit. Ethan and Holly made their way out of the building and nodded to the guard on duty before stepping once more into the wastes. Day Kicker joined them shortly, and the four allies set out for Fillydelphia.