Fallout Equestria - No More Tears

by Darkstarr48

Chapter 9

"And exactly how do you plan to find any working Stable-Tec facilities?" Lilly asked looking at me in disbelief, as if I had said something that defied space and time itself. Oh joy, this meant it was going to be a lot harder than I thought, but I told her my plan anyway.

"There would logically be a Stable-Tec hub up in Canterlot, so I thought we would head up there to find one." I say, confidence starting to build up. But it was smashed by what she said next.

"How stupid are you exactly?"

"Elaborate please."

"You do realize the ruins of Canterlot is filled with pink cloud, right?"

"Pink cloud?" She gave me the, 'how dumb are you?' look again. Well excuse me for not knowing the lore of the wasteland, I've been too busy being smashed, stabbed, raped, sanded, pricked and generally brutalized to sit down with a local and ask about all the towns.

"Pink cloud is a gas that flows through Canterlot. It ignores any protection, going right through gas masks, melting suits to a body, burning through protection spells, and possibly turning you into a ghoul that cannot die."

I look down a bit, "But we've got to find a way in there." I said pleadingly.

"It's suicide Gears. The only reason we... I mean, the Enclave haven't taken the city is because none of our scouting parties ever came back. Ever." She said, narrowing her eyes for emphasis on the word, 'ever'.

"But we have to try, do you know anywhere else that has a Stable-Tec hub?"

She thought silently for a moment, "Maybe there's one in Manehattan, Canterlot has to be our last resort." I sigh, I prefer not to be eaten by noxious gas, so it sounds like we're going to Manehattan.

"Alright, I'll tell the others, but for now, I'd like to rest." She nodded in agreement as I sat up, back against the headboard of the bed. I magically began to dig through my bags, I pulled out a brown bottle and hovered it over in front of me. "Buckweiser, Prince of beers." I read aloud. I looked over at Lilly who only shrugged.

"Are you sure you should be drinking? I mean, after what happened last time?" She asked as I popped off the bottle cap and dropped it in my bag.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere for a little, might as well, besides, I know my limit now." She shrugged I went to take a drink, but stopped and offered it to Lilly. She shrugs and took it from me, turning it around in her hooves.

"I.. I've never drank before. I'm only 19."

I raise an eye questioningly, "Is that a factor?"

"Yes, in Thunderhead, anypony had to be 21 before they can legally drink."

"Oh, well, alcohol was outlawed in our stable, no one inside even knows of its existence. Besides, I'm only 18." I said levitating out my second and last bottle.

She shrugged and brought the bottle up to drink. She took a mouthful and lowered the bottle. She furrowed her brow and swallowed, sticking her tongue out at the taste. "It.. that's horrible, but whoa, that's warm." She smiled a bit "Once you get past the taste, this really isn't bad at all." She took another drink.

I decided it was my turn, so I popped my bottle and took a drink, I too cringed at the flavor. It was unexpectedly bitter, and it was weak, didn't pack a punch like vodka did, but then again, that was liquor, this is a lager. I finished off half the bottle before sitting it down on the nightstand, I coughed, "Ugh, no more, that's definitely an acquired taste."

"May I?" Lilly asked. I nodded and levitated her my bottle, which she happily finished off. I leaned back against the headboard. She's interesting. I think, watching her inspect the bottle, and look inside thoroughly, I suspect that she was looking for more. She was cute too, but hey, slow down there Gears, you only just met her the other day, no need to bring out the wedding bands. She looked up at me, "Whatcha staring at? Have I got something on my face?"

I snap back into reality and stammer, "Oh.. um.. yeah.. I mean no... Just... thinking..." She giggled, I looked away and felt my face redden. Smooth. Thankfully the awkward moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. I put on a deep fancy voice and called, "Intrude."

Who came through the door wasn't who I expected, or who Lilly had expected either, because both of our faces started to panic. It was the sheriff, the eyepatched white one. "Hello there ladies." He pulled up a chair and sat backwards in it, straddling the back rest and propping himself up with his hooves. "Well Gears, you got yourself into one hell of a mess." I shrank down. "You destroyed hundreds of caps worth of liquor, wrecked the saloon, and killed Country Music." Fuck. That's two. "And I'd like to congratulate you. The town and I all owe you our thanks." Wait.. what? My thoughts must have had registered on my face because the sheriff laughed. "You heard me, thanks. You killed one of our town's problems. Country led a wannabe gunslinger gang, and they committed all sorts of petty crimes, like theft, sexual harassment, and in one case, arson. You beat down his gang too, and since they started it, all the damages are coming out of their pockets. Also, we got Slowpoke under charges of attempted murder. Lucky for you, he ain't a good shot."

I continued to stare at him blankly, trying to process the completely backwards situation. "Um.. thanks Sheriff..."

"Silver Star, but everyone just calls me Star. Also, you should know, everyone in town respects you now. On a personal note, sorry for holdin' a gun to your head when you got here, since you came across those mountains, we thought you were slavers, that's all that comes over from that way." A couple of times a month, they come over and capture residents to take away to be slaves."

My Pip Buck beeped. 'Quest Added: Good ol' Fashioned Throwdown.' Lovely, first objective, ask Star about defense of New Appleoosa, optional, warn him that you freed all of their slaves, so they will probably make another run soon. Okay then. Lets do this.

"Um, sheriff? Can I be of any help in defending the town?"

He smiled and nodded. "Of course, any extra hooves are greatly appreciated."

"Also, you may want to know, since I was locked up in Old Appleoosa, we freed most of their slaves, so they may be returning very soon to get more."

I saw him smile, "Good, Good, the sooner they come, the less time you have to spend here."

"Why are you so sure of my abilities? I've never even fired a gun before."

"Exactly, And you've survived out here so long without guns, that's even more impressive, of course, guns are quite difficult to come by though."

"I guess so, I wont make any promises to defend your town, but I will try my best." Objective complete. New objective, prepare the town for the impending attack. Optional: Build defensive fortifications. Optional: Procure weapons for your party. This new feature was beginning to creep me out. Maybe I had accidentally added an extra dash while coding my modifications and this happened. As helpful as it seemed, I wanted it turned off as soon as possible.

"That's all I came to tell ya, Oh, and if you would like somewhere nice to stay, If we pull this defense off, there's a nice empty house on the north side of town with your name on it." Wow, A bar fight just won me the respect of a town to the point where they're offering me a home. Is the wasteland so hard that even the smallest good deed was held in such high regard?

Star gave a friendly nod, taking the chair and sitting it back where he had gotten it from. He trotted out the door wordlessly. "Uh, huh.. so, step one, guns." I had never really seen a gun until just recently. Well, I didn't even get to see it, but I was shot by it, and that was enough for me to conclude that I probably wouldn't grow too fond of guns out here.

"There's an old weapons manufacturer out northwest of Ponyville." Lilly added helpfully.

"How do you know that?"

"I was an intelligence officer in the Enclave okay? We sent out a patrol out to see what we could see from the factory, they couldn't get in because it was locked."

"Wow, your troops seem generally incompetent, huh?" I asked with a chuckle. She was not amused. "Gosh, just a joke, lighten up." I said rolling my eyes.

"It was locked, how did you expect them to get into there?" I levitate out a screwdriver and a pack of bobby pins. This.. this amused her. Her face spread into an enormous grin as she began to crack up, and finally, laughed herself out of breath. Now I wasn't amused. "Gears! You know that only works in old spy movies."

I snorted triumphantly, "Yeah, that's what my brother said until I picked his ass out of a cell with this."

"I'll believe it when I see it." She said chuckling. I cuffed her on the shoulder and we both laughed. For the first time since I learned of the Overmare's betrayal, I was actually happy. We continued our laughing, eventually calming down enough to get up and out of bed. Now that the aching from my wounds had subsided, we could get back to work. Self pity gets you nowhere.

I looked at Lilly. "So. Ready to go to... where?"

"Well, if you insist on pointlessly trying to open a door my best men couldn't even crack, we're headed to Ironshod Firearms. Its north of Ponyville like I said."

"How do we get to Ponyville from here?"

"Its a straight road west, right at the edge of the Everfree forest." I shuddered, I didn't know much about that place, and I imagined that nopony did either. But from what I read and the tales that have been told, it was definitely not a place that I wanted to stay long.

"Right then... Lets go get everypony together and head out." I say rooting through my bags and getting out my stable suit. I suddenly remembered that I didn't have it on and I felt my face suddenly grow very hot. Lilly didn't act like, 'Dear sweet Luna you're naked!' Instead she just looked at me with a blank expression.

"Are you alright?" She asked observing my face. I remembered what I had said to Rusty back at the train yard and I felt the burn going away slightly, barely kept lit by embarrassment.

"Yeah, yeah.. Stable pony thing. Nudity is frowned upon." I say rather than taking all the time and effort to explain to her the regulations for cutie marks. I felt so exposed whenever my gears were showing, and that was whenever I was alone. It was another story if anyone else happened to be watching. I shrank down again, the conditioned morals beginning to sink back in. "Let's just go." I trotted to the door, as I opened it, I felt a pull on the knob, making me swing the door open faster than I had intended. Behind it was Rusty, who was surprised by my unexpected opening of the door, jumped up into the air. Upon his descent, he failed to find his balance and tumbled backwards down the stairs.

"Oh shit! Are you okay Rusty?" I ask rushing down the stairs where he was heaped at the bottom. As I helped him up to his hooves, he let out a little squeak. Shy as a mouse sometimes, and capable of mauling corpses another. I doubt I'll ever understand him. Anyway, I helped him up into the main shop room where my brother was sitting ready. I guess they heard our planning.

"So, taking us out on a suicide mission?" Wendy asked. Yep, that confirmed my suspicions.

"Hopefully not." I said reassuringly.

"Well, I'm ready to go when you are." He said pulling the gryphon knife out from under his wing and holding it in his teeth by the blade, offering it to me. I smile and levitate it into the deep slot on my pip buck where it fit snugly. Well, what a pleasant surprise, I have an extra pocket now.

"Rusty? Are you ready to go?" He looked back at the boxes slung over him and nodded. Okay, you coming Lilly?

She nodded. "Yeah, I am. I figured why not make what you can out of the situation and try to have fun."

"Alright then. We're all ready?" They all nodded. I cracked my door and stepped outside with the other three trailing me.

================================================================================
Footnote: Level Up
Perk Added: Mare of the Ponies - Your likable nature has become well known throughout town, your good deeds have not gone unrecognized and anypony allied with New Appleoosa will come to your aid, any allies see you with +1 Charisma. However, Anypony that is rival to your allies hate you, and while not actively showing aggression, they see you with -2 Charisma.
================================================================================
I'd like to thank KKat for writing the original Fo:E for writing an unbelievably great story, and Somber, for writing Project Horizons, the story that pushed me over the edge and forced me to try my hand in writing.

Comments

[Mr Pones]

i.qkme.me/3psylw.jpg
Relevant

[Darkstarr48]

1923675 are your jimmies rustled?

[Darkstarr48]

1926742 yeah, i know the chapters are short, sorry. I've been tired lately, which doesn't help my short attention span. also, what confused you?

[BoneCruncher47]

Another good chapter, yaaaaaaaaaaaay