So here it is, a brand new story! Once again featuring a changeling Infiltrator.

I'm getting to do some new stuff, though. I've got a female protagonist, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while now. It's first-person, which is a bit of a first for me, though it almost wasn't; Without a Hive would have probably been done in first-person if it wasn't leading into a mutual sequel with Fragments. I'm also tweaking my portrayal of changelings in various ways. For example, Whisper is female, and her ability to sense emotions is more specific, among other possible changes.

And of course, the setting, with all the good and ill it brings. Action, adventure, creepy decaying ruins of the old world; Whisper is going to have a difficult time ahead of her.

Though I'd like to note, I don't intend to make this some long chain of suffering and misfortune for her. She will likely have a hard time of things--this is the Wasteland, after all!--but it's not going to be some unrelenting train-wreck of misery. Her situation may look bleak, but I can promise there will be good to go with the bad.

So far, I'm having a lot of fun writing this. The setting, the situation, all of it. It's interesting writing a character that's very good at dealing with stressful and possibly life-and-death situation, without being a good fighter. Hopefully Whisper can put those good wordy Infiltrator skills to good use!

So, welcome to The Chrysalis. I've got a lot planned for this. I hope you enjoy the ride.

I'm all for a FoE fic where there is no never ending train of pain and misfortune. Project: Harmony is driving me up the wall with that insanity... though I'm addicted to it.

I'll fav this and see where you spin this yarn!

6606356
Oooh, a FO:E story from you? Nifty!

[edit] You need better contrast on your title pic, though. You can barely see there is a title, on the thumbnail.

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Oh, I got a pretty mild one, too, if you're interested. Adventure and comedy, heck, bordering on Slice of Life, with a side order of ancient dug up sads.

This is so fucking good...!

6606682 If you want real heartbreak, Hit up Murky #7. I'm waiting to eventually tackle that 50k word chapter.. someday. Horizons never clicked from the author, or the story. I loved FoE, and many of the lighter or darker ones its inspired. But, that one struck me wrong.

6606863 Well, I really do think it is waaaay darker than the orginal FOE. However, I hated how it ended. I'm hoping all the dark crap in Horizons eventually has a happy ending, or I think I shall be displeased with it in the end. I like the story, there are some parts of it I find darker than it needs to be.

6606871 There's a good way to do dark. But it goes Pitch black for the dark. I love murky for being where its situated, especially since its aimed at the fallout 3 expansion of The Pit. And it delivers that kind of bleak, and yet the moments of brightness are glorious too. And it's, well, ive had to set it down and read something nice and fluffy after a few chapters. But murky is like a 1-99 prize fighter thats made it to the champs, it doesn't matter who you are, you keep rooting for him to win. It's just one of those stories you process very very slowly.

Anyhow, this goes into the insta-faves. I know you do well with changelings, and that you are doubling down with foe. Good luck with writing this!

Heck of an ending on this chapter. Bravo. Just bravo.

Man, this is long. May take me a while, busy day.

I was afraid to no get more of your high quality lings, but you are doing it again, and in a perfect fallout story,no less
I am eager to read more :)

Oh shit. Liked and faved.

That didn’t seem to impress him. “Really? You’re telling me you were just wandering around the wastes and happened to stumble across us?”

Well, at this point, it probably wouldn't really matter if she just downright said she had been following them for a while but was unsure how to introduce herself, given their well-armed state and her complete lack of arms.

“Wait,” Sharps said, abandoning his scanning of the horizon to look back at me. “You’re trying to tell us you lived on an actual, working farm, and just decided… what, ‘fuck it, I’m going for a walk?’”

What'd I say? Lacking an entire world of backstory

“Wait!” Starlight said, her pale-blue eyes lighting up. “You went by the tower, then, right? You saw what happened?”

Heehee. Sunshine and rainbows, all right

Wait. Maybe it were the Sonic Rainboom shockwaves that actually caused the failures that woke her up?

...well. More likely it was the crashed whatever outside the door, actually

Yeah, it wouldn’t, but… “My… my mother died recently. She was the one who did the farming. I-I could never figure it out. Heck, I couldn’t even grow a weed.” I swallowed, managing to tear up a bit as I put on an act of trying to stay strong.

She's a smooooth playah!

“Ehahaha!” I blurted out, then cringed and placed a hoof over my face. It took a few moments before I was able to still the sudden rapid breathing and re-order my thoughts. I lowered my hoof, doing my best to look as if I weren’t in a very fragile mental state. “S-sorry. It’s… been a very exhausting day, both physically and mentally.” I smiled. “I think that’s a very fair offer, thank you.”

Ahh. The Giggle State of Exhaustion. I'm familiar with that.

I noted that she referred to money as caps, rather than bits. I remember thinking it was strange to name money after headwear, but figured it was probably just a name.

Heh. Headwear

As I began flipping through the various menus, I asked, “So, you said something about the most awesome gun in the Wasteland?”

Sneaky!

I remember hoping that his barding was warm. He lied to me. He didn’t have an extra blanket.

Ohey. The quiet one likes her

Offer to share! You know you wanna!

but I couldn’t help mentally grumbling that I had spent far too long doing nothing for the past two hundred years, thank you very much.

I had apparently moved past denying reality and on to being bitter about it.

Hah!

She smiled as I approached, her voice just above a whisper. “He likes you.”

No, really? What gave it away?

I’m normally loath to use insect metaphors, but I have to admit, the one about a moth being drawn to flame seemed particularly apt at that moment, especially when it would probably end just as poorly if I followed the instinct that welled up in me. The love I felt between them was intoxicating!

"'Scuse me, lady? This is a two-person nuzzle."

“Better dress warm, all the same,” Sharps noted, tugging on the straps of his barding. “Those are some dark clouds we’re heading towards. I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts raining soon.”

Littlepip, get yo rear in gear, girl! You got weather to manage

On a related note, a little-realized fact is that the destruction of the cloud cover was most likely accompanied by a rain of cloud-grown crops all falling down to the wasteland. The Day of Cabbage and Carrots Rain!

When I glanced his way, his look immediately changed my mind. I got the impression he was considering the exact same thing. I didn’t need to ask. If it did start to rain, it would spur things on quite well if he were to “come to my rescue”.

Romantic! Together in the rain!

I ship it. Dun care she's a love sucking bug. I ship it.

The curved white surface was just like those weather-control towers the Ministry of Awesome had been working on, and would explain what Starlight meant by a “tower” exploding. Had they actually gotten those online?

Oh! Well now. That means one of the towers malfunctioned and blew up from the stress of the Sonic Rainboom?

The three sharp sounds were so close together that they were almost one. A couple puffs of dirt kicked up beside Thunderhead, who was walking just in front of me, and the stallion toppled forward. His chin and chest hit the dirt, hindquarters lifting up with his momentum before flopping to the side.

Welp. There goes that ship. Thoroughly sunk.

The flicker of flame caught my attention. I watched in stunned fascination as a pinwheel of fire silently arced through the air, fixed to the neck of a bottle. It came down to shatter against Chuck’s side, fire bursting forth and flowing across Long Haul and Silver.

Oh-kay. This has gone officially tits-up

The second, possessive and protective, insisted that these ponies were mine.

Hah! Her cattle.

I didn’t understand what had just happened. It wasn’t just chaotic; it was wrong. This wasn’t some minor scuffle, or even a battle. It was ponies--ponies!--ambushing other ponies, for… for what? The merchant’s wares?

Welcome to the Wasteland! Here's your complimentary t-shirt. It may be made of pony hide. I dunno. I just took it off that dead raider over there.

No, this was reaching deep inside of her, into the depths of her mind, and tearing out the love within.

She tensed, giving a little gasp and fidgeting in her sleep. Moments later she gave a weak, strangled cry, her legs kicking out.

Well. Yikes

Remarks and corrections:
> I figure having one piece with a bit more range and punch should compliment that nicely, don’t you?
"compl[e]ment".
> I wanted to just lay there for a while
"just [lie] there"

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"'Scuse me, lady? This is a two-person nuzzle."

That awkward moment when the strange new pony starts drooling over your moment of affection with your partner...

I ship it. Dun care she's a love sucking bug. I ship it.

Oh dear.

Yeah, I sunk that one deeper than the Titanic. Sorry.

Well. Yikes

Eeeyup. It's been an all-around wonderful day, hasn't it?

"compl[e]ment"

Oh yeah, another thing I love about English. Words that sound the same but mean something different, so I occasionally screw up and write the wrong one. Almost as good as words that are spelled the same, but sound different. Freaking Homage...

[lie]

How do I keep doing this...

6608291

How do I keep doing this...

To be fair, I actually had to look up the laid/lain one in the previous chapter. I knew "laid" wasn't correct, but I had no clue what the right one was

Really good story, this is the first fallout equestria side fic i've read and you didn't disappoint. It'll be really interesting to see where this goes.

Holy shit. That got intense quickly. I had been worried that I was setting my expectations too high for a story I hadn't read anything of yet, but this instead exceeded my expectations rather decisively. I'm really looking forward to what comes next!

I could even use the same name: Whisper Winds.

I suppose she must be related to Frosty Winds.

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Heh, I forgot about her! Although given her history with changelings and general danger to everyone around her, Whisper may want to stay well away!

I haven't read an FO:E story in like, a year and a half. And i believe I'm going to enjoy this one.

...certainly more than Whisper is enjoying her day

6614909 your comment reminds me, I have got be so far behind in Project Hotizons by now.

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I've read about half of it. I'm currently waiting for the Fimfic version to complete uploading so I can read it as an .epub on my phone.

6616681 i believe i was around chapter 45 or so, but couldn't tell you what was going on.

I just startdd reading this one and it's already have me hooked.

Them feels at the end.

Cya
Raziel-chan

The Sole Survivor and laser-muskets, too!

Fallout: Equestria was Fallout 3.
Project Horizons was New Vegas.
Will this draw primarily from Fallout 4?

I hope Starlight isn't conscious of this. She could be a friend as well as an ally.

6606356 Thank you

Damn......

“Afraid I can’t help much with that,” Starlight said. “I only hooked up with Long Haul a week ago--”

Sharps quietly muttered. “It’s only been a week?”

“--And I didn’t travel much before that

I feel ya.
I read just a few sentences and look back to see its only been a minute, but I could swear I'd been listening to her babbel for ten.

She leaned in close as she shifted the PipBuck around so I could use it, and I immediately lost my train of thought. She was so close! If I could just coax out that feeling of love again, I could get a quick snack. “Thank you,” I said as I held the PipBuck in my hooves, practically leashing her in place thanks to that strap around her neck. As I began flipping through the various menus, I asked, “So, you said something about the most awesome gun in the Wasteland?”

I don't know why, but the idea of leasing that mare just really, really appeals to me.
I get the idea she would start acting like a pet just to embarrassing me during, then joke about it being fun after the fact...

...or she would joke about never wanting to do that again, and possibly killing you the next time you tried.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Sharps levelling a suspicious look over his bowl.

Oh cmon man, it's fucking soup!

I fed, and as the strength flowed into me, I tightened my grip. I held her head tight against my chest, muffling the whimpers and cries of anguish, her limbs weakly struggling against me. I could only imagine the horrible dreams that flooded her mind as I ripped the love and happiness from her.

Wow...talk about intense.
that escalated very quickly.
although I was not expecting the entire new crew to just get wiped out from the start...except Starlight.

I already like her. She was the youngest and nicest, with a curious personality and generic antiquity.

But..damn. she just lost all her freinds.

I guess there will be no leash jokes in the future yhen, huh?

That, was one hell of a chapter. FUCKED up, but AWESOME! Xd

I think you're trying to convince everybody way too hard that this character isn't like common changelings that "hate" ponies. I think saving a pony speaks louder for that than whatever words of "hate" of Chrysalis.

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It's kind of a bit more than just that. It's not just establishing what she and her hive was like. It's also establishing that there are changelings that aren't so nice, and setting up some important details for later in the story...

It's been two whole chapters and I haven't yet seen hide nor hint of the adorable-icorn that I was told was here. I want my money back! What? This is free? Well... Um... I want my imaginary not-money back, then!

Ah, The Wasteland. Where Stallions are dicks, Mares are bitches, and Raiders eat them both.*

*I've never actually played any Fallout game, so who knows if I know what I'm talking about.

I didn’t want to hurt her, but I did.

Ooouch...a rough start. Then again, finding everything possible about everything you knew is bound to be painful...let's hope it's not more fatal than it already is for Whisper.

we seemed to lack spoons

Wait... how lazy can those wastelanders be! Spoons are like one of the easiest things to whittle, heck even I can do it! I mean you can even form a spoon out of a tincan, so every small piece of scrap metal can be made into a spoon if you lack some wood. Time not spent on some kind of handiwork around the campfire is time wasted, so if you ain't fixing your old gear can you at least make something new... Yea sorry for rant, you will get used to me ranting about the smallest things when I find a story that I approve of, having nothing better to rant about. I have read "Ascendance of a Bookworm" which have given me a whole new view on "spare time"

Now, I’m sure some of you wonder why I didn’t just leave her.

Some of you, so she is speaking multiple people at once, I would guess a second generation of changelings, her telling the story behind how she saved them all, but time will tell if I am right or wrong.

I really dig the vampire vibes I am getting from this, too many stories have changelings being sweet little love bugs that find a single friend and are warm and fuzzzy and what not, and most changeling plots that I have seen in FoE have ended out in the most tropy trope of "You are not the one I thought you were, you lied to me!". Sure I bet that we will also get some of that here, I mean it is a trope and a cliche after all, but I am still expecting quite a twist to it, I mean there are actually a reason for someone to mistrust a vampire instead of a shapeshifter.

10536597

Yea sorry for rant, you will get used to me ranting about the smallest things when I find a story that I approve of, having nothing better to rant about.

Heh, no worries there, I like picking over the little details.

As for spoons, it was mainly to highlight the difference. To Whisper, spoons are a normal every-day thing that's always there. To these ponies, it's not really something necessary, since their travelling food was something they could just drink from a bowl (Though they did probably have a serving spoon to portion it out). Because yeah, like you said, if they felt like they needed spoons, they'd make spoons.

I mean there are actually a reason for someone to mistrust a vampire instead of a shapeshifter.

Oh, definitely! I mean, shapeshifting is like the coolest super-power. Sure, they both involve keeping something secret, but, well... the secret that was being kept is kiiinda different.

You find out that your companion can change shape? "Holy crap, that's awesome!"
You find out that your companion has been literally feeding on you? "Dude, what the fuck."

6608291
You know, you never actually fixed the lay/lie stuff...
There's another one of those in there, btw.

> I wanted to just lay there for a while
"just [lie] there"
> still laying beside me
still [lying] beside me

Her question snapped me out of my silent mourning. “I… don’t really know. Hopefully someone at Rust will have a job I can do.” I disliked that so much of my plan amounted to nothing more than improvisation.

She should have taken an improv class before the megaspells