Fallout Equestria: Distant Lands

by Crawver

Chapter 3: Make a Difference

Chapter 3: Make a difference

Trapped.

I was trapped, and in more ways than one. Physically, I was trapped in a small, dark cave which I had successfully caused a rockslide in. I was lucky not to be crushed. I was trapped emotionally because of the mark on my flank. I was a tribal repairpony without a tribe. To anyone else, it would seem like madness to think I felt trapped, given I was destined to do the same thing for the rest of my life in the tribe, while now that I was an outcast, I could do anything I wanted. My response is how can you be free when the only thing you want is to return back to those very ponies who want me dead?

Maybe it’s for the best that I just lay down and die in here. I couldn’t make a difference for my tribe, or for anyone else. Out here I was useless, even now with a miracle machine strapped to my leg. The previous owner got himself killed trying to make a life for himself, even if it was one that seemed to be based on greed.

I had listened to his recording a number of times. Apparently there was a pony out there generous enough to just give this marvel away. I found that amazing myself. Why any pony would want to part with such a special thing, I would never know. He also seemed to be a medicalpony, given how he saved this pony from a bullet to the head.

Suddenly I winced, remembering Footlock again. My medicalpony died from a bullet to the head. I didn’t want to know if there was a way she could have been saved. I wanted to believe it was out of my hooves, that I did everything I could. I guess I’d have to talk to the good doctor to find out.

Checking the Pipbuck’s map, I guessed it must have been the place marked ‘Hoofsprings’, not too far away. I had to say, I was pretty disappointed with this traveller. Given one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen, and he seemed to have travelled less than four miles. Only three places were marked on the map, Hellhound quarry, where I was, the Collerodeo River Memorial, and Hoofsprings.

It seemed like such a waste. I set a marker on the map for Hoofsprings, and suddenly a holographic framework appeared before my eyes, an arrow pointing in the direction of Hoofsprings. After getting over the shock of having it thrust into my face, I began to smile. This was going to come in handy. I also noticed little red marks on it. Unlike the arrow, these were moving. They must have been the Hellhounds, remembering that the trader from a long time ago told me his Pipbuck could spot hostiles.

Brilliant, I had a plan. Avoid the monstrous Hellhounds, make my way to Hoofsprings, talk to their doctor, and make it up as I go along from there. Brilliant plan, Deadhead, how are you going to avoid the Hellhounds? They noticed you the moment you walked in, and for that matter, how are you even going to get out of this cave?

I drooped. Of course it wouldn’t work. I used all my luck in simply making it to the cave and surviving. There was no way it would last me getting out alive. Not to mention the Hellhounds were probably pretty pissed with me, given how I managed to kill two of their kind. More through chance than skill, but still, I’d be pissed with me if I was them.

I turned up the brightness of the Pipbuck and shone it against the pile of boulders blocking my exit. There was no way I was digging my way through the lower layers of rock, it must have been three or four meters thick. However, further up the pile, the rocks didn’t seem to be so large or strong. If there was something I could use to shift them, I should be able to squeeze my way out.

I decided now would be as good time as any time check the body of the pony who I shared the cave with. He didn’t have much. His barding was so slashed it wasn’t even worth taking. He had a meagre amount of caps on him, and his gun, which I recognised to be a 10mm pistol, was in such bad condition that I thought if I tried to fire it, chances are it’d just break in my mouth. Still, I could always use it for spare parts, or maybe sell it if I ever got the chance.

As I put it in my saddlebags however, my Pipbuck put that second thought to rest, given how it had assigned it a value of - caps. How did it know how much a pistol that I’d just found was worth? How could it have such a thorough understanding of the trade process, that it could just say without doubt, that this gun, which if nothing was useful scrap and parts, wasn’t worth a single cap? This was equally annoying given how it had decided to assign my revolver, which it also took the liberty of renaming, over a thousand caps worth. How could my gun be worth so much? It never even hits anything! And whenever it did, I usually regretted it.

Great, I’m arguing with machines again.

I decided to ignore my rather rude metal companion for a bit, and continued to search the dead pony. I couldn’t find anything else on him bar a red stick of plastic. Not having a clue what it was, I decided to put my annoyance with it aside and consulted my Pipbuck. It seemed to be patronising me now ‘Dynamite- light the fuse to get rid of rocks. Permanently!’

Now that just seemed like too much good luck for me. I needed something to get rid of rocks, and I was provided with something that boasted it could do it.

Of course, luck is a fickle mistress, isn’t it? I had nothing to light the fuse with. I rechecked the body of the dead pony, hoping that he may have something that could light it. Nope, as per usual with my luck, the door closes, and the window opens just enough for me to see a way out, but not enough to squeeze through. Great Phoenix roast my cock with her breath, this was aggravating!

Think. Think your way out of this one, Deadset. This is perfect for you, no ponies’ lives hang in the balance by your choice, so think! If it needs its fuse to be lit, then it requires fire. That, I imagine, would travel down the fuse and into the insides. That must provide whatever energy is needed for it to do…whatever it does. Remove rocks I guess. Try shooting it?

I stopped for a second. That might just work. If the bullet could penetrate the case, it might be able to kick it into doing whatever it is meant to do. Not like I had much else to try.

I grabbed the stick in my mouth and began to climb up the side of the rocky mound. Near the top, I found a nice little place to lay the stick of dynamite. Pushing it in place, I began to descend very ungracefully down the pile. I thought it would be best for me to have some space between me and the dynamite before I shot it. After all, I had no idea what it would do.

Taking about five steps back from the base of the mound, I withdrew the revolver and started to reload it.

There must be a better way to reload this than by individual bullets. Maybe I’ll be able to look into it after my time with the doctor.

Once it was fully loaded, I clenched it with my teeth and took aim. I knew that it would almost certainly take me a few shots before I hit it, but I had quite a surplus of revolver ammo anyway, so it didn’t bother me too much. I steadied myself, taking aim as best I could, and then began pulling back on the trigger. As expected, five loud cracks echoed around the cave, and five misses, some embarrassingly far off the mark. I sighed. One shot left and then I have to reload.

This could get repetitive.

I re-aimed the revolver and took the last shot. The explosion that followed knocked me clean off my hooves.

*** *** ***

I looked up at my dad. He was always so supportive of me, always there for me. Being an earth pony himself, he understood what it was like for me, not being able to use my horn.

Mother never was there for me after blade-master Sixleaf died. She was promoted up in the ranks of the warriors of the tribe, so dad had spent more time with me to make up for it. He was one of the village scouts, so while he would be gone for a few days at a time, whenever he returned he would spend the rest of his time with me.

Sometimes he’d bring back things with him. I loved the things he’d bring back. This time he brought back a light colourful ball. I couldn’t wait to find Footlock and show her it.

We played with it for hours. I loved the way it bounced across the ground. Dad just watched us and waved at me, smiling whenever I told him to watch me do a trick. It was when I was bouncing the ball repeatedly on my head though that he looked really impressed.

…four, five, six, damn it, I missed.

Wait, dad isn’t looking at me, and why isn’t he smiling? Suddenly he got up and started running towards me and Footlock. Is dad coming to play with us? I heard a light clunking noise and turned to see a strange metal ball rolling towards me. I didn’t want to play with it, my ball was far better.

Everything that happened next was a blur. Dad ran into me and Footlock, jumping on top and covering us. There was a loud bang that rang out in my ears, pain and heat washed through my entire body. My eyes were blinded by a bright white light.

When my senses finally returned to me, the village was on fire, and other loud bangs and flashes of light were happening everywhere. I could see a grey mare holding more of those metal balls in her mouth, and there, on her flank, was a picture of one in mid-explosion. Where was dad? He could protect me.

I tried to stand up, but my legs were too weak and I collapsed under my own weight. I began to crawl, looking for him. I found all I could of him near a tent. He was missing both his hind legs and one foreleg. I crawled to him, placing his one leg over me and started to cry.

*** *** ***

When I came around, the dust was still settling. My entire body hurt and my ears were ringing, but the rocks were gone. Mostly. Well, to be honest, it was more that they had just been moved by a great force. At the very least I could exit now.
I shakily got to my feet, head still ringing. The revolver was still in my mouth, so I went and put that back into my saddlebags. I could barely think straight. Taking slow steps forward, I had forgotten why I was even in that cave. Still, all’s well that ends we-…why are my hooves not touching the ground? Why am I flying? Why does my side hurt? Why is the ground coming towards me worryingly fast?

Crunch.

I landed on the hard ground and skidded along. Pain was shooting through my right hindleg. Oh for god’s sake, please don’t be broken! I looked in between my forelegs and-- THE ZEBRA SNAP MY NECK IN THE NIGHT I CAN SEE THE FUCKING BONE STICKING OUT!

Seeing that really caused me to wake up to the here and now. Adrenaline started to pump through my body like never before as I looked around and saw a growing number of Hellhounds build up ahead of me, looking ready to charge. Fuck! I can’t die now. I got away from these things once; I had to be able to do it again.

I got back up on my hooves, but the moment any weight was put down on my right hindleg, I collapsed in a heap, screaming in agony. I must have something that can save me. I must do! The Hellhounds were now charging towards me. I was certain that they’d be ripping into me in ten seconds flat.

I went into my saddlebag and pulled out the first thing I could get hold of. It was the thing my Pipbuck labelled a Stealthbuck. ‘For when you’re in a tight spot’.

I’ve never been in a tighter one.

I had no idea what it would do, or even how it worked, but I was out of options and time. I shut my eyes, prayed, and slammed it down onto my Pipbuck. There was a click and a slight whooshing noise. I was expecting to be torn into hundreds of tiny pieces of Deadset. Instead, one of the Hellhounds called out,

“Pony gone! Can’t even smell pony. Must be nearby. Go look for stupid pony!”

I slowly opened one eye, and to my astonishment the Hellhounds were turning away and walking off in different directions. I slumped on the ground, letting out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Thank you gods, and thank you stealthbuck and Pipbuck.

I looked down at my hooves and had to stop myself from letting out a scream. It had taken away my legs! I tried to find them with my mouth. I could feel them, but I couldn’t see them. It was then that I saw the slight shimmer of the outline of what I guessed were where my legs were. I looked back behind me, and there same was there. I was all but invisible. I had no idea how long this would last for, so got to my hooves, keeping my weight off my mangled hindleg, and began to limp down the quarry.

*** *** ***

Progress was slow, and occasionally I would accidently put weight on my bad leg, or kick a rock I didn’t see with it and would have to stop myself from screaming out in pain, not to mention cause my bleeding to accelerate. While the stealthbuck made me invisible, and if the Hellhound is to be believed, masks my smell as well, I really didn’t want to see whether it would also make me silent, just in case it didn’t.

As I walked, I brought up the holographic framework that pointed me in the direction I needed to go. I couldn’t help but be thankful that the pony I wanted to find happened to be a medicalpony as well.

Now that I wasn’t charging down the quarry at breakneck speeds as I did last time, I was able to get a far better look at the area, and was regretting it. Corpses of all sorts of animal and pony littered the ground, along with the bones of many others. The entire quarry smelled faintly of rotting flesh when I thought about it.

Looking at the bodies, it seemed that the Hellhounds didn’t kill to eat. Very few of the corpses had any evidence of being chewed at all. They were just left there to rot and decay. I guessed the Hellhounds were just extremely territorial.

I must have been limping along for a good twenty minutes before I reached the entrance of the quarry at last. The Hellhounds had come frighteningly close to accidentally walking into me on a number of occasions, but thankfully each time they missed me by a hairs breadth. The gods sure were having a fun time toying with me, repeatedly putting me in harm’s way, before snatching me back at the last second.

Maybe I should start just praying to a specific deity, instead of praying to them all. But I also don’t want to risk receiving the ire of any of them. Especially since they could turn me into a charred corpse in one blinding flash of anger. No, better to stay on their good side I think.

I began to limp away from the thrice damned quarry, never intending to return there again. I’m pretty sure my monster hunting days are over. Now just keep limping down this rock line and hope that no hungry animals find me.

I reached Hoofsprings by nightfall. My journey down the four miles of black rock line had been pretty uneventful besides the stealthbuck wearing off a few minutes after I got away from the quarry. I was endlessly grateful that no passing raider happened to stumble upon me. With my leg, I doubted I would be able to last five seconds against them.

Like you could last much longer at full health.

Shut the fuck up! I just survived going in and out of a Hellhound infested quarry. Although my experiences in the wasteland were pretty paltry, I imagined that was something worthy of boasting, right? You didn’t survive by yourself. The gods kept throwing you favours and you know it. Oh, just shut up. I’m too tired and lightheaded to argue with myself now.

Hey, look, there are some buildings over there. Buildings mean ponies, and ponies mean… erm… something, right? Maybe carrot cakes? Hey, when did the world start to spin like this? Can somepony please tell me when the world decides it wants to spin from now on? Ooofff. Oh hello ground, mind if I sleep here for a bit? No? Thank you.

Finally everything went black.

*** *** ***

When I woke up I was lying on my back on a surprisingly comfortable bed. I couldn't have walked here, last thing I can remember was the ground telling me how much it liked it when I slept on it.

I looked forward at my hindlegs. They looked like normal hindlegs to me. No bone poking out of the side of it. Remembering that grotesque sight, I suddenly felt my food rush up.

I leant over the side of the bed, and someone had thoughtfully placed a bucket down there. Aiming as best as I could, I threw up yet again. This was happening a little more often than I was enjoying now.

“You’re looking a lot better now.”

I looked up to see an elderly earth stallion walking into the room. He was a dark rusty brown with a white mane that was greying around the edges.

“I don’t feel it.” I said, the bitter taste of bile strong in my mouth. Actually, that was a lie. Ignoring that my food was now in a bucket, and that my mouth was burning from the acidic residue, I hadn’t felt better for days. Not a single ache or pain. My hoof was still cracked, but I was just used to that now. I had guessed he was the doctor I was looking for, but my theory was confirmed when I saw an image of a leg brace on his flank.

“Now don’t be all mopey like that. Most ponies don’t survive a brush with a Hellhound. You should consider yourself lucky. The name’s doc Muffinhair.” I did consider myself lucky.

“Deadset.”’ I reached forward and shook his hoof. He looked at the Pipbuck on my leg, frowning slightly.

“And would you care to tell me where you found that?”

I didn’t want to meet his gaze. I knew it was his, I just hoped he didn’t want it back. I could lie, say I bought it. Would he believe me? I would have guessed these things were very expensive and rare. I couldn’t tell. The damn thing put a price on everything I had with me apart from itself. I was never a good liar, better be honest.

“I found it on the body of a dead pony in Hellhound quarry. I thought the previous owner had no need for it anymore.” I gave a weak smile. He didn’t laugh.

“I told that buck not to do anything too strenuous for a couple of days. Charging into a colony of Hellhounds is probably one of the more stupid things he could have done,” The pony slumped down into a chair.

“And there I was being an old fool, thinking that he could make a difference.”

I felt sorry for the old pony before me. The news that he wasted his hopes on a pony he saved from death seemed to hit him hard.

“How do you know it’s the same pony?”

I knew it was, but if I could make him feel better about himself, it was worth lying. The look he gave me made it clear he wasn’t going to buy it. I felt bad having it clamped to me.

“Do you want it back?” I held my leg out to him. He appeared to think about it for a second, then looked away.

“Don’t worry about it. I try to help where I can, and I don’t need it any more. I’m just the old sawbones of a quiet town in the middle of no-where. Anyway…”

He got up, and gestured me to do the same.

“Allow me to explain quite what I did for you. First I repaired the broken and damaged tissue, gave you the standard potion and sew-up job, but I have a good feeling about you boy, so I decided to do a little bit more for you. I gave you a shot or two of a special serum I have. Reinforces your bones. What’s the point of fixing you up, if you’re only going to break it all over again? Don’t worry, no extra cost. You can keep the Pipbuck free as well.”

My bones are reinforced? As useful as that sounds, I wasn't sure how I felt about having my bones altered. Especially without being asked beforehand. On the other hoof however, I probably was going to bleed out if it wasn’t for him, and he was being far too generous for me to even begin to criticize him for it.

“How much do I owe you then?”

“One-hundred and fifty caps.”

That seemed awfully cheap, especially compared to tribal prices, where just fixing a leg would cost me a hundred caps, and that didn’t come with the bonus perks of full body repair, bone strengthening, and Pipbuck thrown in as well. I was about to open my mouth to say deal when he continued;

“Or, you could help me with a little problem Hoofsprings is having, and I’d even give you a couple of healing potions and shots of med-x for your trouble.”

I stopped. Was he really going to give me all this for free, for doing one errand?

Then I remembered that the dead pony in Hellhound quarry, the one whose Pipbuck I now wore, went in there because of an errand. Better find out more before I just say yes.

“I’m interested, tell me more.”

*** *** ***

It turns out not long after I had arrived; the ponies of Hoofsprings received another group of guests. These ones however, were not so pleasant. They were ponies from somewhere called the Commonwealth, and they had apparently threatened to burn down the small town. Doc Muffinhair didn’t know much else about the situation going on; he was too busy tending to me. He sent me down to the town’s saloon to ask around a little more, offering to answer any other questions I had when I returned.

I must say, this town is awfully friendly. The bartender, a mare a bit older than me with a cutie mark of a glass of what I assumed was water, let me fill up my canteens free of charge, and even gave me my first glass of water at half price. The saloon had a musky smell around it I couldn’t quite place. The old hay yellow buck sitting next to me wearing a thatched straw hat complained about this.

“Why’re yah givin’ free drinks when *hic* the rest’ve us gotta pay?” She chose to ignore him and he decided to wander off, walking in an awfully indirect fashion. I was surprised he didn’t just fall over.

“Ignore Ol’ Pete, he’s just had a lil’ too much scotch. So, what else can I help ya with?”

“What do you know about those Commonwealth ponies? Why did they threaten your town?”

She frowned, pouring herself a glass of a darker liquid, one that matched her cutie mark a little more accurately.

“Not rightly sure to be honest. They say their robot is busted, and that they needed some spare parts. They said they knew we had ‘em, but I ain’t never heard of them before in my life, ne’er mind seen ‘em before. We jus’ don’t have what they want. When I told ‘em that, they just said that they’ll burn the town down if we dun give ‘em the parts.” She took a swig from her glass.

“What did they ask for?”

“Just some strange soundin’ metal bits. Ask ‘em yourself if you’d like. They ain’t hostile yet. They’re just a few minutes trot from ‘ere I think.” I got up from the bar.

“Thank you. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Just if ya think shit’s gonna go down, talk ta Sunny, she’ll help ya with defences.”

That struck a chord with me, as if I had already decided that I was going to stick around for a fight. Just because I managed to survive a run-in with some Hellhounds, it doesn’t make me a fighter.

I made my way out of the saloon in search for these Commonwealth ponies. I also wondered what a ‘robot’ was.
As the bartender had said, I found a small group of heavily armed ponies. I had to admit, if they really did want to destroy the town, they could probably do so with ease. There were eight of them, all heavily armed with weapons that glowed with strange energies.

I’d only ever seen such a gun once before. It was owned by a griffon bodyguard of a caravan that came to the tribe. Said griffon chose not to part with it, so I never got a close look at it. Now however, I had a plethora of them pointing directly at me.

“Don’t shoot! I just want to know what’s going on. I’ll keep my gun holstered.”

I knew that there was no point in me even drawing out my gun to shoot. I was such a bad shot, all it would achieve is me getting plugged with holes. That is, of course, if these glowing guns fired bullets, but I somehow doubted it.

A sickly green unicorn with a surprisingly well kept brown and purple mane pointed her rifle at a rock and fired. A green bolt of pulsating light burst from the end of the weapon and struck the rock. It glowed brightly for a second, before dissolving into a puddle of green goo.

“Magical rifles! Don’t try anything or else the same will happen to you!” She must be the group’s leader.

The pony spoke with a strange accent, as if she didn’t come from here, but some other distant land. I guessed that was the Commonwealth.

“Ok, I won’t try anything. Can I step closer to you now?” I yelled to her, trying not to upset the pony with the gun that could melt me, one more thing to add to the growing list of things that I didn’t know much about.

She nodded, lowering her rifle. All the other ponies did so as well, besides the largest one who had two of those rifles bigger brothers strapped to his side. I certainly did not want to piss this lot off.

I slowly walked towards them.

“So, you the one the town sent to surrender with?”

"No, I actually don’t live there, just wondering what’s going on.”

“It doesn’t concern you then. Piss off!” I better play my cards now, before I get melted. I really, really don’t want to get melted!

“I know that you’re looking for some parts, and that you think they have them, but won’t give them to you.” The unicorn looked at me suspiciously, but then decided not to bother asking how I knew that. She probably worked out somepony told me. They weren’t exactly being subtle.

“Pretty much. We know they have them. We offered to buy the parts from them, but they refused to sell, claiming they don’t have them. We know they’re lying.” I decided if I was going to help, I needed to do a little deeper digging.

“What parts do you need?”

“Some pretty basic stuff first, scrap metal, a couple of conductors, some scrap wiring and a spark battery. We could find that stuff easily enough if we wanted.” They could, I had all of this stuff in my workshop back at the tribe at one time or another. It was all relatively common.

“What we need the most is a new central processor.” Now that is something I’d never heard of.

“How do you know they have one?”

“Because they have a working water talisman, and each one of them has one inside it. They’re probably too stupid to even understand how it even works though.”

I had heard of them before, and they sounded fantastic. They were tiny little things that purified water perfectly. My tribes purifier was good enough, but they were large, often broke down, and the water tasted like crap. These talismans were perfect. Although I didn’t believe it, I was even told that under the right circumstances, it could even create clean water out of nothing.

“So you want to kill everyone who lives in Hoofsprings, take one of the few ways of getting clean water in the wasteland, and tear it apart because…” I knew the great sea-serpent would not be pleased with me if I let that happen. The unicorn however didn’t even seem fazed by the fact that her plan would anger a very powerful god, gladly finishing off my sentence.

“Because Sgt Hoofcamp is broken.” What?

She saw the look of confusion on my face and gestured me to follow her.

“Hoofcamp is one of the Commonwealths combat robots. Each one is priceless to us, and to our survival. Technology is wasted on you wastelanders out here; you’ve forgotten what it was for. We at the Commonwealth however have not. We remembered how the ministry of arcane science and technology created and used these machines, and we intend to return the wastes back to how they were.”

She stopped before a strange, spidery looking machine. I had never seen anything like it. It had arms ending in another magical weapon, a round saw, and what I guessed would be a flamethrower. How this thing was able to move though was beyond me.

I was absolutely in love with it. I had to get this beauty fixed. Something so…gorgeous couldn’t just be left in the dirt…But I can’t let them destroy Hoofsprings. The ponies there were too kind for me, gave me too much to simply abandon them. There had to be another way.

“I want to help you, but do you know of any other place that might have one of these processors or water talismans?” Her mouth twisted into a smile. Somehow I knew I wasn’t going to like the answer. This was so not going to be worth 150 caps.

*** *** ***

She sent me off to a place called a ‘stable’. Apparently ponies used to live in these massive underground caverns for some reason. I can’t say I could understand why anypony would have wanted to do that, but apparently they did. But what I found more important was that it should have a water talisman deep inside.

I did have to worry slightly though when I asked her why they just didn’t go there themselves. She had replied, “Why would I risk that when there’s a perfectly usable one here?” I guessed that ponies were using that one didn’t mean much to her, particularly when she only gave me twelve hours, else they would raze the quiet town to the ground.

When I got to where the stable was however, I was met by a rather strange welcome. A strange metal ball with wings, not looking too dissimilar to a bloatfly, was hovering before an entrance to the cave which the stable was located in. It wasn’t attacking me or anything, hardly moving if not for the fluttering of its wings and a slight bobbing.

I trotted closer to it, inspecting it carefully. It was in bad condition. I was considering shooting it and searching it for parts, after all, it may have what I’m looking for inside, when it spoke.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” I jumped away in fright.

It spoke in a tinny, monotone voice. It turned to look at me more squarely. Was this a robot too? Was it alive? Could it think?

“I…I’m looking for a water talisman, I was told there was one in here.” It didn’t say anything for a few moments, before speaking again;

“Why would you need one of those?” Was I really being questioned by a ball of flying metal? Come to think of it, was I really even talking to a flying ball of metal? I thought I was going crazy when I argued with my Pipbuck, but this was another level entirely.

”To help ponies. If I don’t, the ponies will die, but I can try and make a difference. I have to help.” The flying thing remained silent for a little while longer, before speaking once more.

“There is a water talisman in there, but be careful. It’s not the only thing down there. One more thing. Do not just give those ponies it. Do not trust them, Deadset.”

What!? I froze in shock. “How do you know my name!?” The ball gave off some static, then began to play upbeat tuba music and began to float off. Did I just hear that? Did it really say my name? And what did it mean “don’t trust them”? Still, it did say that there was a water talisman in here, so I guess nothing has changed really.

*** *** ***

I descended into the cave. It was littered with the charred skeletons of long dead ponies. There were a few radroaches as well. Finally, an enemy I knew I could kill. With a couple of loud squishes, I was left as the only thing alive in the tunnel. Continuing down, I came to a large metal opening in the shape of a giant cog.

As I stepped through it, I noticed a giant metal cog to the side of it that must have slotted in place. Well, she did say the ponies had sealed themselves inside here.

*Click*

My ears perked up. What was that? I crouched, waiting. Nothing. Must have been my imag-

*Click*

I crouched again, bringing up my Pipbuck an activating the holographic framework. There was no red. No enemies, so what was that…

*Click*

Oh, that’s…strange, it was coming from my Pipbuck. Must be something wrong with it. I’ll look into that once I’m done here.
Breaking from my crouched position, I began to trot through the dark, metal room to a set of stairs leading down. Now, if I was some crazy pony wanting to live underground, where would I keep my water supply?

As I slowly made my way down the staircase, I was met by a corridor that had barely lit signs on the roof, all pointing in different directions. “Maintenance” “Main atrium” “Residential” and “Dining Hall”.

I guess the dining hall would be a good start, right? After all, ponies want water with their food.

I followed where the sign pointed me, and soon I was led to a huge metal room with massively long tables with chairs scattered around. From the ceiling hung flags declaring the overmare as the benevolent leader. The room was quite a mess. It looked like the ponies here left in quite a hurry. Many had left their half-finished, now rotting food.

I began to search around, my Pipbuck still giving me an occasional click. It was getting quite annoying now.

“You better stop that soon! Don’t think I won’t stick a screwdriver in you to make you shut up!”

*Click*

I don’t think it heard me.

Fine, I’ll concentrate on looking for this water talisman thing. I walked around the tables and towards the kitchen. It looked as big a mess as the dining hall. Whatever happened here, ponies sure did want to get out in a hurry. Maybe they just suddenly realised how stupid it was to live underground.

After much searching, I didn’t find any water talisman, but I did find a few boxes of food. I realised I was actually quite hungry so started to tuck in. I would have found more, but it looked like the place had been pretty heavily ransacked long ago. My Pipbuck gave off a few more clicks as I ate. Seriously, what was wrong with it? This was starting to get annoying.

I left the dining room, talismanless, but with a belly full of food, and decided to search maintenance. As I trotted through the metal tunnels, a large metal wall stood in my way. That wasn’t right; the arrow pointed at it, telling me maintenance was just through it. It even had maintenance written on it in big yellow letters. Could stableponies travel through walls? I hoped not, or else this would make my search a bit harder.

I turned around and headed into the main atrium instead. I was fairly unimpressed. Just another big empty metal room, apart from some more flags hanging down saying “The overmare is the Law”, and two other signs. One labelled “recreation”, and another labelled “Overmare’s office”. I guessed this Overmare was this tribes’ Elder.

Without leads for where this elusive water talisman was, I decided to ascend the flight of stairs that the sign told me to follow. The door to the office was open, and the room had a dark green glow to it, similar to that of my Pipbuck.

As I entered the room, I looked around, and suddenly froze. There, in front of me, stood the oracle. But the oracle couldn’t move. It was permanently in the cave of ancestors…unless this tribe had their own oracle? I walked slowly up to it. I could still remember how I had to communicate with it last time. Would I have to do it this time?

I looked up at where the words were, but they were different to what I expected. Instead it just had a long list, currently highlighting ‘entry 1’. Not expecting much to happen, I pressed the enter key. To my surprise, the words flashed away, and were replaced with new words.

Entry 1-

Well, this is it. Caramel Twirl standing in for my first day as overmare. And the megaspells are already beginning to drop. To think, had we been a few hours later in closing the seal, we might all be dead now. Ponies are scared, but I told them they’re perfectly safe. I decided not to tell them that our stable was chosen to act as a storage house for a balefire bomb of our own. Down in maintenance no less. What the fuck was Stabletec thinking? Why are we holding onto one of the things we’re trying to hide from? What if it goes off? We could all die. I have done what I can. I’ve sealed and permanently locked the room which holds the bomb. As long as nopony ever finds it, and I’m the only one to know it’s in here, it shouldn’t cause a problem. I also ordered ponies to tear down the posters everywhere that have the slogan “fear the bomb” on it, as well as all the other propaganda that’s hung from the rafters. This stable is one of free thought, not one where I’m the ultimate arbiter of ponies fate.

Balefire bomb? What’s that? My curiosity got the better of me, and I opened the next entry.

Entry 2-

What the fuck Stabletec? I could kind of understand why you had a fucking bomb in here in the first place, but then why does every single computer terminal say “fear the bomb” on it the moment you start it up? Why does every textbook in our school make our children have nightmares of being incinerated by bombs? Why does my broadcast always start and end with one of you fuckers saying “fear the bomb”? I thought the whole bloody point of a stable was so we didn’t have to fear the bombs, not to become so paranoid of them. Things are bad enough as it is, without you making it so much worse.

Entry 3-

Technicians are starting to ask about what’s behind the sealed door. I can’t tell them. They’re all being brainwashed by the propaganda you sick bastards have filled this place with. Ponies are now saying “fear the bomb” in their fucking sleep! If they find out that they’re sleeping on top of a fucking megaspell, there’ll be a riot. They’ll want my head if they realise I’ve been lying this entire time. I panicked and said I didn’t know. It won’t be long before I’ll be asked to open it, for fear of there being a bomb in there. Also, maintenance is warning me that there has been a little bit of a problem with the mainframe wiring and that I shouldn’t try to control any doors up here for a bit. Things are getting better and better.

Entry 4-

More maintenance problems now. Apparently the problem is a little harder for them to fix than they initially suspected. For fucks sake, Stabletec, we’ve only been in here for what, a couple of weeks? We’re meant to be able to live down here for centuries if need be, but it can’t even last a fucking month without problems? Doors are now starting to open and close seemingly randomly. Thankfully the door to them bomb has yet to open, but I fear it’ll only be a matter of time.

Entry 5-

Tick tock tick tock. It’ll only be a matter of time before that door opens. Can’t let anypony find it. I’ve sealed the maintenance wing off. It’s a small price to pay to make sure I’m safe. Nopony will miss a few tens of maintenance ponies. Of course they won’t. They’re all just busy bees, working for their queen. That reminds me, I replaced the decorations back to the set Stabletec had provided. Should let everypony know I am in charge. No mutiny here. No riots here. No bombs here. Everything is perfect. Everything is safe. No need to fear the bomb when it isn’t here.

Entry 6-

Oooooh those naughty maintenance ponies. They broke into the forbidden room and found the bomb. At least it’s in maintenance, and not in the stable. I’m safe. I can’t fear what isn’t here. If they don’t stop playing with that bomb though, I’m going to have to invade maintenance and kill them. Nopony asks about them, as long as there is no bomb, everypony is happy and safe. Everything is happy and safe here in the stable.

Entry 7-

They set it off! As an act of war against the stable, those bastards set it off! I was lied to. It wasn’t a balefire bomb. It was a seeper. Radiation is flooding the stable. Those maintenanceponies can rot down there in their hole. I’ve opened the stable seal. We’re going to rebuild the nation of the vault on the surface. It’s been a month and a half, must be safe on the surface by now. Oooohh, look at my little workers scurry out. Fear the bomb, fear the bomb. I must now leave you computer, my life as a queen begins on the surface.

There were no more entries. She went insane. She had gone entirely insane, killing off ponies because of the fear that they’d find out her secret.

I still didn’t understand why ponies wanted to go underground, something about megaspells? I didn’t know what they were. To be honest, I barely understood what radiation was, just knew it could kill you. Pity I couldn’t tell what it looked like.

It was then that I noticed under the entries a heading saying “unlock maintenance door”. I clicked enter and heard a loud screeching as old and rusted mechanisms sprung to life. I guess I should return there next.

*** *** ***

When I made it down to maintenance, the metal wall had gone. Judging by the grooves in the wall, it must have slid up into the ceiling. My Pipbuck was now clicking far more rapidly. Was that clicking a sign of radiation? Could be, would mean that my Pipbuck wasn’t broken.

I went through the doorway marked ‘maintenance’ and noticed pony corpses lying on the floor. If it wasn’t because I knew the place had been sealed, I would have guessed the raiders had been at them. There wasn’t a single strand of mane or coat on them, and huge chunks of their skin had just rotted away. I could easily see bone in a number of areas on them. The stench was disgustingly foul.

Better make this quick. I rushed through the metal corridors, lit only by sparking machinery, looking for anything that could resemble the water talisman, finding nothing besides more dead ponies. I ran into a dead end.

I was about to turn around when I noticed, attached to a pipe, was a small, blue…thing. I moved towards it with my mouth, clutching it with my teeth. It was cold to touch. This must be it. I yanked it off, putting it in my saddlebag when a rough, raspy voice sounded out of the darkness.

“Put that back, the overmare can’t have it!”

Sea-serpent swallow me up whole, did that make me jump! Somepony was alive down here.

“Where are you? I’m not with the overmare.” A pony stepped out of the shadows, except… it wasn’t a pony. It was the corpse of a pony. Oh night goddess, ram your horn down my throat! Corpses can walk and talk now? The corpse bared its decayed, yellow teeth;

“Lies! The overmare always lies! She can’t have it! She said there was no bomb!” The monstrosity roared at me.

Further down the corridor, I could see another corpse starting to get up. No, this was definitely impossible. When something died, it stayed dead. The dead don’t walk. The talking corpse continued.

“Get this thief, boys! Do to him what we’re gonna do to the overmare!” With that he slunk back into the shadow he came out of, while the other corpse I could see began to charge at me. I quickly unholstered Misfortune. I hope these things don’t bite as hard as raiders do.

*** *** ***

I could have sworn that I had said I was giving up monster hunting. Why the fuck was I having to fight monstrous dead ponies then? After the first one, none of them seemed to be as chatty
.
One of the monsters lunged out from the shadows and bit hard on my hindleg. I let out a scream as I dropped my gun.

If anything, they bit harder than raiders. I was now immensely grateful the doctor had strengthened my bones; otherwise I think it would have bitten clean through it. I really needed to stop getting into fights.

That or find some decent barding. Actually, any barding would do.

I bucked the corpse that was currently chewing on one of my hindlegs, causing it to stumble back slightly. I had no idea how many of these things there were down here, and they seemed to just come out of the shadows, but at least I haven’t had more than one come at me at the same time. I just had to kill each one before another appeared.

I spun round, pulling out the badly damaged 10mm pistol with my teeth. I hadn’t checked to see whether it had any ammo loaded, and I certainly didn’t happen to have any spare lying around.

Aiming at the monster’s head, I began to pull the trigger. The gun gave off some very unhealthy sounding noises as it fired. The corpse barely seemed affected by being shot. Finally something snapped in the gun. I kept pulling the trigger, but it didn’t have the courtesy to even pretend it was firing.

Lightpony bite off my balls, why was my luck getting so bad? I threw the pistol at the dead pony and it shattered into pieces on contact. The dead pony just started to shamble back towards me. My gun was around my hooves somewhere, but it was too dark to see it easily, and with a dead pony coming at me I barely had time to look.

Without thinking, I struck out with my forehoof. Fuck, that hurt, why did I use my cracked hoof to punch it? I must have something harder than it? The monster stumbled back, giving me room to breathe again.

I looked at my hoof. Why did I have to shoot it when I was younger? I then noticed the Pipbuck on the same leg. That’s pretty hard isn’t it? Well here comes the corpse again, time to see if it’ll work. I lifted my foreleg up, and smashed it down hard on its skull. The monster flinched. I hit it again and again until it was sprawling on the floor. Without thinking about it, I quickly withdrew the rusty knife and plunged it into its neck and twisted. It let out a gurgling howl before finally lying limp. May the great phoenix embrace you this time around.

I very nearly didn’t kill the first one. It was hard to find the will to pull the trigger, even when it had me pinned down, its gnashing jaws only a few inches away from my face.

I was barely able to hold it back before I found the guts to fire. I can still remember the gory fountain I created when the bullet passed through its’ head and out the other side, brains splattering in all directions. It was then that I had finally realised that it was either me or them, and these ponies were dead already.

Suddenly I threw up. It wasn’t because of the smell of the place, it smelled awful, but the raiders still had the trophy for vileness. It was because I felt like my insides were boiling and melting into soup. This place was like poison. I had to get out of here.

Find my revolver, I need it. If another corpse should find me, it’ll have no problem eating me now. I hated being weak and useless, and I had never felt it more in my life than now. I caught a glint in the corner of my eye. Thanks to the years of care and polish, combined with the lack of use it ever received, it still practically glowed in the dark. I grabbed it and started to run.

I was nowhere near as fast as I hoped. Running when your insides feel like mush is never easy. I’d barely run for a minute when I could see the exit from maintenance. I’d never been more pleased to see a door before. As I began to run to it, I heard the rough voice again.

“Stop right there overmare scum!”

I turned to see a group of walking corpses behind me, with what I imagined was the leader in the centre. They were given an eerie blue silhouette by a large sparking machine behind them. Oh come on, I was nearly out of here. I’ve already re-killed two of them, why couldn’t they leave me alone? There was definitely too many of them for me to fight.

Since one of them was willing to talk, I had to talk my way out of this. My stomach lurched. Every second I spent in here, I was dying more. I had to do this quickly. Carefully placing my revolver on the floor, I was trying to find the words to say to stop hungry monsters from eating my brains.

“Don’t get any closer, I will shoot you.”

“So you admit you’re with the overmare now! I knew that bitch would try to destroy us further!”

I don’t think the tough guy approach was going to help here. Didn’t help that I most certainly wasn’t a tough guy. By the gods, I could feel my stomach melt.

“N…no, I just need the water talisman. Ponies will die without it.”

“A likely story! Either you hand over the talisman now and die quickly, or resist and we’ll tear you limb from limb!”

To me, negotiations were over. I wasn’t going to die down here; I wasn’t going to become one of them.

Quickly grabbing the revolver at my hooves, I began to fire at the corpses. I had forgotten how many shots were left, but I couldn’t exactly think clearly anyway. Crack. One shot pierced the skull of the far right monster, dropping it to the ground. Crack. Another one dropped to its knees as the bullet passed right through its foreleg. Crack. Miss. Crack. Another miss. Crack. It struck against the sparking machine behind them, making a rather nice clanging sound. Click.

Fuck.

I was out of shots, and the corpses were now charging at me. I wouldn’t even have time to reload before they were bearing down on me. Shifting Misfortune to the side of my mouth, I bent around and frantically tried to unzip the pocket on my belt. Fucking great time to get jammed. Oh shit, they were moving fast. *Clunk*. What was- *Boom*

The sparking metal machine I had hit exploded in a shower of sharp metal and heat. I was thankfully too far away from it to be in any real danger of being sliced apart. The monsters however, were not. In a visceral display I saw heads torn off from bodies, torsos torn into large, meaty chunks, organs and severed limbs fly in all different directions. A rather large portion of it directed at me.

As the hot wind and gore washed through and past me, I threw up again. This time I wasn’t sure if it was because of the sight I had just seen, or because my insides were now most definitely mush. I looked down at my revolver I had just dropped. It had finally gotten covered in undigested food. Was vomit always that shade of red? Does it matter?

Quickly grabbing it, I was thankful I couldn’t taste anymore, otherwise I probably would have just thrown up again. I turned and broke into what I thought was a run through the stable towards the exit, but what was probably more just hasty staggering. When I burst out of the cave and into the cool evening air, I stopped and breathed in heavily. By the gods, it was hard to breathe.

My entire body was screaming in agony. I felt like any second now organs would start just giving up. I didn’t even want to let go of my revolver in case I would be incapable of picking it up again. I wanted to just fall over and die now. No, give the water talisman to the Commonwealth ponies first, die second.

With much resistance from my legs, I slowly started to get moving again.

*** *** ***

When I finally made it to where the Commonwealth ponies had set up camp, I could barely stay conscious. My vision was blackening. I had vomited a few more times on my way there, my vomit progressively turning from red to black. I had no idea what it was now, I must have thrown up all my food long ago. Why did I never seem to be able to hold down a meal anymore?

As I neared the campfire, the ponies around it looked at me, a mixture of shock and suspicion across their faces. The green unicorn then broke into a smile, beginning to trot towards me.

“We were beginning to worry about you. We thought you might have died!” One of the bucks around the camp shouted to her.

“By the looks of it, he nearly did!”

I was glad I couldn’t see myself in a mirror. I must have looked as bad as the revolver between my teeth, which was now covered in what I could only imagine were my guts.

“I’ll assume you’ve returned with the talisman. Just hand it over and your business with us will be done.”

“Do not trust them, Deadset.” the metallic voice spoke in my mind. I’m not sure if it was because I was certain I was going to die anyway, but I did a very stupid thing. I levitated the gun out of my mouth and pointed it at her.

“Not…just…yet.” The energy I was using lifting up the revolver made talking and thinking extremely hard. The Commonwealth pony glared at me, the other ponies around the fire grabbing their weapons and aiming at me.

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” She hissed. There was no point threatening her. She may have been their leader, but one of the others would take her place if she died, I was sure of that. I needed a better bargaining tool.

Not moving my gun away from her, I went into my saddlebags and threw the talisman on the floor. I then placed the barrel of my revolver on the talisman. All I needed to do was accidentally pull the trigger, and my bargaining chip was gone. I had to keep control of myself. No mistakes allowed.

“Leave…now.” I was drawing huge, ragged breaths between each of my words. I was hoping it made me look a little more intimidating, but it probably just revealed how pathetic I was at this moment in time.

“Leave…Hoofsprings…alone. I don’t…trust you.” The green unicorn gave a short smirk.

“Clever boy. We were going to take their water talisman regardless of whether you came through or not. But what’s to stop us from shooting you now, taking that talisman, then taking Hoofsprings?”

“Because…either way…you’ll only…get one.”

“What…?” She gave me a confused look. I was gambling and guessing now. One wrong word, and she would be able to tell that.

“Do…you think…you could really…kill me…with one…shot?” I was pretty sure they just needed to give me a hard shove and I’d fall down dead, but the expression on her face told me she wasn’t so sure.

“One…wrong move…and I…destroy…this one.”

Suddenly she realised what I meant. They could either take my one and leave peacefully, abandoning Hoofsprings’ talisman, or lose mine and have to risk themselves attacking the small town. I was a little worried when she gave out a laugh.

“Well played. I never expected a Wastelander to be quite so astute. Very well. We won’t attack the town.” it wasn’t good enough.

“You…have to…repair your…robot…elsewhere…as well.” She smirked a little again.

“Fine, you drive a hard bargain, but I accept.” I felt relieved. I did what I set out to do. I dropped my gun, feeling a huge weight of effort being lifted. I kicked the talisman to her. She wrapped it in a sheath of green magic, bringing it close to her face, examining it carefully. Finally she spoke again;

“Yes, yes this is quite satisfactory. Hoofcamp will be up and running in no time.” It was then I notice the ponies near the fire had yet to lower their weapons. The largest one with the two massive magic cannons yelled at the leader.

“Boss, should we kill him and then attack the town anyway?” Oh fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. They had the talisman now, there was nothing stopping them from killing me and the citizens of Hoofsprings. The green unicorn remained silent for a few painfully long seconds, before turning to her large cohort.

“No, I don’t think we should.” Great buffalo, hoof-fuck my ass, I was barely able to remain standing the relief hit me so hard. She then turned back to me.

“I like you, Wastelander, you’ve got guts.” I didn’t feel like it, they felt more like they were lying on the ground somewhere in a red and black heap.

“The name’s Greenbeam.”

“Deadset.” I gasped. “Now…please…go.” I couldn’t say another word even if I wanted. She simply nodded, then gestured to the robot. Three of the ponies rushed to it and lifted it off the ground.

“We’ll travel two miles down the road and begin our repairs there. I assume that is good enough for you?” I nodded. She turned, giving one final smirk.

“Deadset. I won’t forget that name any time soon.” I didn’t say anything. I just watched them walk away, waiting until they were lost in the darkness of the night. I finally collapsed.

I could see the great phoenix behind my closed eyelids.

Footnote: level up
New perk: rad resistance--your time exposed to radiation has helped you build up a level of immunity to it. Your resistance to radiation is increased by 25%
Quest perk: Reinforced skeleton--thanks to some of Doc Muffinhair’s special brew, your limbs now take 20% less damage, are 20% harder, and are 20% cooler

Comments

[UM... Random brony?]

I used to be a wastelander like you, but then I took rad poisoning to my body.