Fallout Equeastria:Digital Shadow

by star dust pony

chapter 2:right on time

As Jerome and Star dust look around,blinking and shaking at the new world Jerome nearly pisses himself if it wasn't for the reminder that their are raiders looking for them and he does not know if they can smell fear,or piss but star dust manages to stop his shaking,calm down and smacks himself in the face for not thinking this plan through,at all,in any way.

"Idiot idiot idiot IDIOT!!!" Star dust says as he smacks himself repeatedly "I JUST RAN OUT HERE LIKE THE DUMB ASS THAT I A-." Before he can finish Jerome shoves a hoof into his mouth.

"Considering the rest of the stable would have just pissed itself,i'd say you just saved the whole damn place,now stop hitting yourself,your smarter than you think." Jerome says reassuringly."Common lets get moving,we clearly are not safe out here." the zebra says with a smooth yet obviously horrified smile.

"Hehe yea i guess your right..." star dust replies with a light chuckle as he breaths in the murky and dirty air and gets up from the little hole,helping Jerome out of it as they both start to trot to a little hut that is surrounded by ruined chariots.

"What the hell happened here? it looks like- oh wait thats right,mega spells." Jerome says as he just now remembers that Equestria was bombed with mega spells.

"Well no sh-." Before star can finish theirs muffled struggling and crying that makes both Jerome and star dust stop and look at a shattered,golden chariot that has the sounds emitting from under it "Uhhhhh..." star says under his breath and slowly moves to the chariot and looks under it and just as he does...beep...beep...and the beeping slowly goes faster as he sees a filly and just as he is about to say something.

"GET AWAY FROM IT,ITS A BOMB!!!" A dark-ish blue pony in a grey duster coat and armor yells as he tackles star dust out of the way,making the ponies desperado cow pony hat go flying off as the bomb explodes into a fiery flash of red and yellow and shrapnel hits the ponies coat and Jerome's stable cloths as he looks away and tries to leap into cover as star screams a little and gets up before looking around,grabbing his gun and aiming at the pony "...Get that gun out of my face,i just saved your life..." The pony says with a sigh and fixes his already messy grey and brown short hair and star dust slowly puts the gun back into its holster.

"Well...thanks,i just didn't expect anypony on the surface to be decent enough to save another pony." star says and scratches the back of his head but the blue pony just smiles and catches his hat in mid air and puts it on.

"Well to be honest with you i'v been watching your stable for quiet some time ever since a friend of mine got in their,even sent me a message that he had a son...not sure how he got it to my fucking house though,just heard a knock on the door and their the note was..." The blue pony says while scratching the back of his head. "im James by the way" James says with a smile and holds his armored hoof out as he smirks.

"S-STAR?!?! ARE YOU OK!?" Jerome says,rushing out and galloping towards star,causing dust clouds behind him.

"Y-yea im fine" Star says 'we hardly know each other,why is he even concerned?' He thinks to himself.

"Good...wouldn't want the only pony who knows how to use a gun to get killed." Jerome says jokingly before chuckling.

"oh are you two friends?" James says as he looks at them both.

"hardly" Both star dust and Jerome say in unison before looking at each other.

"Ah,i see...well i guess since you two don't know your way around the wasteland you'd want to go to the nearest settlement?" Jame says as he raises one eyebrow and lowers his hat to get the light out of his eyes.

"yea,that would be nice,i know things are going to be harder but i think i'd prefer to start somewhere sa-." star says before stopping and looking up to see one of the debris from the blown up chariot was falling down near him and his ears flop down as he whimpers lightly then the debris gets blasted out of the sky by a thunderous boom shot by James and when star looks down he sees James holding a rather large pistol in his mouth that seems to be made out of thick silver and shines brightly even when in the shade.

"Rightio then." James says in a rather thick British accent that seems new to star and Jerome even though they haven't known him for long "lets get going eh?" James says while spitting the gun into his holster and begins trotting.

through the entire way their they do not say a word as James always says "quiet" the very instant they open their mouth,the sky gets dark causing panic and slight fear to go through star dust's and Jerome's hearts which get eased the moment they reach the gates of a unnamed and rather small town that is filled with ponies that have scars,burnt,bruises and guns that look ether hoof crafted or stolen from the hands of raiders.

"mind telling us why you wanted us to be so quiet all the way here?!?" Jerome says in the lowest shout he can at James who is unfazed.

"you wanna see?" James says as he turns around and suddenly shouts incredibly loud at the direction they came from "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH-" KABOOM most of the trail starts exploding into flames as James stops shouting and some of the special bombs go up into the air and explode mid flight "See? triggered by sound,whisper too close to them and they blow." he says as he turns to see star and Jerome's jaws nearly hitting the floor.

"...y-yea...thats a good reason." Jerome shakily mumbles as he turns and takes star dust into the small town as James fallows behind them and they all look around the makeshift town and its shinning lights and the ponies guarding the place all wearing heavy armor that can take any bullet star's pistol can throw.

"Welcome to the republic of the phantoms!!" James yells out,grinning. "Now where shall we go f-" star dust has already dragged Jerome to the bar. "HEY WAIT UP!!" James yelps out as he gallops after them.

star dust and Jerome both slowly enter the bar and look around as every pony slowly stops and looks at them,seeing star dust's wings and giving them both a blank stare before slowly resuming what they were doing as star dust and Jerome go sit on the rough leather stools at the counter.

"what would ya'll like?" the bartender asks them while cleaning the counter.

"just some sparkle cola pleas..." Jerome says awkwardly as he looks around,trying to ignore the gusts of bar smell and the faint whiffs of sex from behind the curtains near the counter.

"Some bear mixed with vodka and whiskey." Star says as both the bartender and Jerome stop and stare at him. "...what?"

"You drink?" Jerome asks,a little shocked.

"do you have any idea how strong the shit you just asked for is? and how insane it sounds comin from a stable dweller?" the bartender says to star dust and points a hoof at his pip buck.

"yes,i drink,not often but i do,and what i asked for is just a combination of all the things i drink throughout the week to get through it without losing my balls,now serve 'em up." star dust says while slamming one hoof onto the table and the bartender serves Jerome his and hesitantly serves star dust a shot of his and star dust drinks it down and shakes his head while grinning. "WOOOOWEE thats strong stuff!!"

"star...you are one insane blue Pegasus" Jerome tells him while sipping his sparkle cola,enjoying the carroty flavor he always liked in the stable.

"Yes,yes i am." star dust says with a smile as James runs in,panting.

"You two could at least WARN ME before running off like bloody twats!!" James says,out of breath and frustrated.

"...whats a twat?" Jerome asks to no one in particular.

"I have no idea." star says while getting off the stool and looking at the stage which is empty. "did somepony used to play here?"

"Used to,then the poor feller died,shot right in the head,haven't had much music since,or any for that matter,not like we NEED it but it was still a nice distraction from our...'troubles' that the town was going through" the bartender replies with a sigh.

"...i have a idea." star dust says with a smile as he jumps onto the stage and Jerome and James look at each other in confusion.

star dust puts in a record and goes to the microphone as everypony stops and looks up at him as he starts singing.

http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/the-day-the-world-died

as star dust finishes the song the crowd slowly starts stomping their hooves in applause and James and Jerome even applaud at his new found talent that nether of them knew about even in the stable.

"wow star dust where did you learn to sing like that?" Jerome says wide eyed and surprised.

"my mother taught me...she was a really good singer" star dust says smiling while thinking about his mom.

"well your mother must have been one hell of a singer" James says smiling and slowly stops his applause.

"well i think ah speak for everypony when ah say that was a mighty fine performance,not sure where you got the music though but who cares? drinks on the house for ya tonight." the bartender announces with a pleased smile and a tip of his hat.

"Hehe well thanks but im not that great,i just learned it from my parents." star says with a shy smile and a scratch of the back of his head as he grabs Jerome's and James's hooves and rushes out of the bar in embarrassment.

"So star...what are we going to do? we have your dad's files but...what are we going to do with them? we don't even know who was after it." Jerome says as he leans on a wall and looks at star.

"...I don't know...im no leader...just did what i thought would get them out of the stable." star dust says with a sigh."i guess we need to make a name for ourselves,or at least catch the attention of someone just enough so that the invaders know were still out here,and we still got the files"

"And i'll help,i saved you from blowing up and i know more about the wasteland than you do,so i'll stick with you two for now." James says with a smile and Jerome and star dust nod,agreeing that its best to take him along.

Star dust trots through the phantom's town with Jerome and James and goes to the gates as the guards let them through without hassle just as they let them in.

"hey...do you even have a gun?" James asks Jerome as soon as he notices the lack of guns on him.

"Hmm? no...i don't but i don't like them anyway...too loud...but i guess i better get used to it." Jerome says as star dust looks around the landscape,hopping to find something.

"Well here." James says as he tosses him a six shot revolver and Jerome grabs it in his mouth. "Its better than nothing,just try not to kill us,aim for the bad ponies alright?"

"Im a zebra from a stable,not an idiot." Jerome says making James chuckle.

"...NOW!!" a pony yells as 6 ponies jump out of cover wearing different kinds of armor (leather,reinforced metal,combat armor,merch,makeshift modified power armor) and all holding different kinds of small arms guns and aim at them as the leader comes out,meeting eyes with star dust. "hello,i would introduce myself but basically,you have 2 choices,ether give up like a good stable dweller and we become rich by selling you to the ponies that want you,or you don't g-" before the clearly greedy merch pony can finish his head gets blown clean off,showering star dust in gore and James goes wide eyed as he pulls out a gun and fires 2 shots at the ones wearing leather and power armor making their bodies splatter onto the ground and star dust seems to turn to the other 4 and as they are about to fire 4 thundering booms sends their bodies shattered and destroyed into the muddy ground behind them

"...Or option 3...you shut the fuck up and drop dead." star dust says with a smile before spitting his gun into his holster,making Jerome stare at them both for a second.

"...What kind of gun is that?" Jerome asks star as he stares at the large and dense 11 shooter that has a barrel the size of a foals hoof which seems oddly out of place for a stable ponies gun.

"its a high caliber heavy pistol,not sure how a stable guard like him got one" James answers for him.

"...How DID i get this gun?" star asks while looking at the heavy pistol but then he remembers...the ponies were not from the stable so they could have had better guns. 'yea thats it' star dust thinks to himself as Jerome shrugs and James just looks forward.

"im going to go scout ahead." James says as he spreads his wings and flies up and flies ahead.

"Alright...lets take a break Jerome,im starting to feel hungry anyway." star dust says as Jerome nods and sits down with them and star takes out some water and a few apples and gives one to Jerome and takes one himself. "...Hey...look." One of the ponies they shot and killed is still alive and they can see the body rising onto its hooves.

"...Whoa...how did he survive?" Jerome asks as he gets up and gallops back to the bodies with star dust.

The surviving thug coughs up blood and looks around and as soon as he sees star dust he levitates a gun in front of him that instantly gets smacked away as star grabs him by the neck and pins him back to the ground.

"H-how did you...y-you killed them." The survivor thug wearing make shift power armor says shakily with blood coming from his nose and mouth. "i-i thought...stable ponies...w-weren't supposed to fight like that."

"...I may be from a stable,but i only hesitate to shoot ponies...innocent...ponies." Star dust says as he pulls out his heavy 11 shooter and aims for the thugs head and winds up looking down one of the barrels of a sawed off shotgun.

"...If im going down..." the thug smirks weakly. "Im taking you down with me."

"...then its just a matter of who shoots first." star dust replies...and as he is about to pull the trigger...blam...blackness.

Author's Note:

well lets go through some things first:the song belongs to Gavin i do not own the song in any way but i sure as hell enjoy it,yes this chapter was a bit rushed,im sorry but im tight on time and want to get chapters out quickly,if you want me to stop rushing,just ask :3