• Published 18th Jan 2013
  • 1,040 Views, 25 Comments

Fallout Equestria: Old World Blues - Combinatory



Cloudchaser has always been tired of life in the Marejave, longing for something not coated in 200 year old dust, and when Canary Belle,one of Applejacks Rangers, trots into her life, her wish might just come true

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Chapter 2-Wild Wasteland

Standing here, looking at my mother, I realized how much had changed in an hour and a half of time. Actually, thinking about it, a ridiculous amount had changed. In the past hour, I had met, and then comforted a beautiful, albeit bald mare when she burst out into tears, become involved in a chase to find an old buck from Applejack’s Rangers, and somehow gotten a crush on the mare I comforted, and the two hundred old cherry on top, been given a dirty old bow as a gift from my mother, with permission to leave Stability. Today has been an interesting day.
After sitting in stunned silence for a moment, I was shaken out of my stupor by my mother, who pushed me out of her office and slammed the door. I looked down the hall, spotting Canary Belles robe turn a corner, and I gave chase, cursing my armour for slowing me down. “Wait up, Canary!” I shouted, speeding up my pace, I saw her turn around.
“What are you doing?” She stared at me with a puzzled look on her face, stepping out of the way, as I was unable to stop running, and I crashed into the door, dizzy. Canary couldn’t help but giggle at my epic fail and helped me get back up. “I’m guessing you’re coming with me, right?” She looked into my eyes and I blushed. Does everypony read minds but me? Has everything I knew been a lie? Am I just that easy to read? “Well spit it out, Cloudchaser.” Canary smiled weakly, trotting away, motioning for me to follow.
“I’m supposed to help you get to wherever you need to go." I grinned. “Mom figured you weren’t strong enough to do it on your own, and she…” I faltered, she was giving me a disbelieving look, and I found myself unable to finish my lie. “Ok, I wanted to go with you and she said yes.” Damn her judging eyes that looked deep into my soul.
“Feel better now you got that off your chest?” She smirked, patting me on the back. Despite her smirk, I couldn’t stay mad at her. “Come on, perk up, we’ve got to get going, we have a long way to go.” We trotted down the hallway in awkward silence; I stole some glances at her every couple minutes, trying to get a good look at the symbol on her robe. Sometime she would look back and give me a disapproving glare if she caught me staring.
“So, um, whats with the bird stitched in your robe?” Awkwardly changing the subject, I pointed to her robe, and she stopped, letting me take a better look. The symbol was a blue songbird with three music notes next to it. They seemed to be stitched into the robe with yarn of some sort.
“It’s my cutie mark, actually.” She explained, pointing at the bird. “I think it represents that I’m good at gathering information.” I gave her what I hoped was my “I am not a clever pony, please explain” look, and she sighed. “The expression, you know; A little bird told me.” I nodded, looking at the notes, she recognized the look, evidently, and continued. “The music notes are information.”
“That’s kind of abstract. Mine is a power hoof. I think it’s pretty easy to guess what it means.” I turned so she could see my flank better, blushing. “It seems a little unnecessarily vague.”
“I used to think that, but now, I think it’s kind of poetic.” She was blushing as well, but quickly calmed down. “I do have some questions about the Marejave, so I don’t end up doing something utterly stupid.” I gave her a nod, and she continued. “What are the major cities here, and where will we need to avoid?”
“Well, there’s Primm, which is a little town down south, which unfortunately has a problem with Powder Gangers, but normally is the best place to gamble besides New Pegas, there’s also Nippon, which the radio says has been silent for a while, which usually means that they’re all dead, so we should stay away from there, and the only other place of note close by is Goodsprings, which is a really nice town, nothing much else there. The Marejave isn’t really that populated.” I began explaining all the towns near here, hoping that she wasn’t headed any farther away than that. I really, really hoped she didn’t have to go anywhere near Nippon, because I didn’t mention the real reason they were dead. She wouldn’t need to go near Caesar’s legion… Please, Goddesses, let that be true. I wouldn’t trust my luck.
“I have one last thing to ask, Cloudchaser.” She turned back around, looking at me. “Is your mom always that… weird?” She looked confused, and a little scared.
“Oh, today has been one of her good days, actually.” I grinned, but stopped when I noticed the shock on her face.
“So aiming a shotgun at anypony that comes in with the full intention to shoot them before asking questions is a good day?!” She looked angry and scared at the thought of that.
“Well, I guess it’s odd, but at least she only shot at me once this morning.” Canary’s jaw dropped, and I looked sheepish.
“And you find nothing wrong with that?” Canary Belle stopped completely in her tracks, and was yelling at the top of her lungs.
“I guess I just never thought about it, it just seemed really normal to me, she’s always been like this.” She looked at me with pity in her eyes, and I felt embarrassed, I didn’t need her pity, I was strong.
We heading into the Stability Market Center, which was the main trading hub for the Marejave, besides the Strip of course, but this was the one for the ponies who don’t have caps or connections. All the stands had to be approved by the stable’s security team, but it was really more of the Chasers jurisdiction that mattered here. From shady ponies chewing some freakish mix of tobacco chew and Mint-als, to clearly batshit dash addicts, the crowd of ponies that were disallowed entrance was pretty damn big, and Canary Belle was clearly very scared of them, edging away from any buck that walked by.
“Well, I do have to stop at several places before we can pinpoint Cottage Cheese’s location, as it’s very likely he’s tried to find more old world tech before heading to wherever that mountain is.” Canary Belle was whispering to me while I was trying to argue with Shack and Shovel again, who were working their next shift. I groaned, couldn’t she tell I was busy? I mean, I’m only talking our way out of the crowd. She got the hint and piped down.
“Come the hell on, Shovel! You fucking let her in not less than an hour and a half ago!” I was yelling at him so angrily that his ears had folded back as far as they could go, and frankly I was happy about that. I mean, they were just fucking with me at this point. “You know that there aren’t any rules about these kinds of things. You know damn fucking well!” I stomped my hoof, making the power hoof crackle with electricity. I guess it’s a good way to set up a hoof based weapon, but it makes it hard to just stomp for emphasis, even if it does help enforce my point. Shack was mumbling apologies for his brother under his breath, before Shovel gave him a glare.
“She isn’t allowed until she has an I.D. tag, as of the new rule enstated by the head of Stability off of an anonymous tip off from the Steel Rangers that a spy is here from a dangerous group of outcasts. As you are the only pony here with any prior affiliation with the Steel Rangers, we need official I.D so our pipbucks can have a tag on you.” Shovel pointed to a small new notice stuck on the side of the wall, with the Stable logo on it. Canary Belle gasped, then sighed in defeat, turning so he could scan her cutie mark, giving me a nice shot at her…Damnit, I am not a pervert, even if it did look nice. “You’re free to pass.” He smiled happily.
“You realize that he probably made that up to get a look at your ass, right?” I looked back at them, who were giggling like little colts who found their first playcolt magazine, and Canary Belle nodded. “So, ignoring that debacle, do you have any weapon specialties, and do you have one with you?” I tried to make it sound professional as shit, but I was pretty sure my voice cracked for the first time in years.
“Of course I know that, but they wouldn’t let us in.” She sighed, looking back at them. “ And I specialize in energy weapons mostly, but as a scribe, I was not issued a weapon.” Canary Belle glanced at a weapons cart run by a bright pink unicorn with an equally obnoxious neon green mane, who smiled charismatically, waving us over to the makeshift shop. She looked closely at a small laser pistol, picking it up with her magic and turning it over.
“Be careful with the merchandise, lady, you break it, you buy it.” The bright pink buck glared at her suspiciously. “That thing’s 75 caps, so it’s a pretty good deal.” He pointed at the gem jammed in the power slot. “Powered by that thing there, all you need is to feed magic into it, and boom, laser goes out there!” He motioned towards a target, smiling. “Go on, free trial.” I honestly didn’t buy the “free” part, but it seemed to be fine, and Canary Belle fired a shot at the target, leaving a scorch mark on it. She forked over the caps, and he handed it to her, smiling even wider, false kindness oozing from every pore. “Try not to get killed!”
Most of the other purchases went over well, and by the time we were done, we had everything we needed for travel; food, ammo, a radio, all that was needed was something to carry it (and us), which was luckily covered by my mother, who was waiting by the gates with a dilapidated old train cart that was clearly made to be hauled by pegasi, the wheels and harness being made of clouds. She smirked at us, and I glared back, my mother was up to something, and she wanted me to know it. “Hey squirt, guess what I’ve got for yah!” She kicked the back of the cart with her back hoof, and it opened up, revealing a cabin. “Courtesy of Cloudchaser the 7th, and it’s all yours now, goddess know I have no use for it anymore.” She trotted away faster than I could get over to her, avoiding my gaze. Canary Belle shrugged and unloaded her saddlebags into the cart, and quickly began organizing it into a small little hovel.
“I don’t like how eager she was to get away from the cart; maybe we should search it for bombs.” I put down my stuff, and started searching under the floor boards, pulling out a dusty towel and plates, tossing them out.
“Well, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth, but if it makes you more comfortable, I can search with you, but I doubt your mother is that crazy. She is crazy, but not that crazy… yet.” I glared at her, but went back to my diligent search of the cart, but so far all we had found was a dead radroach and dust. Lots of dust, actually, but nothing dangerous.
“Wait, so an hour ago you call my mom a loony, and now she’s not “that” crazy. Make up your mind damnit!” I groaned, letting go of the floorboard I was pulling up, sending a cloud of dust out into my face.
“Don’t get me wrong, she’s gonna crack someday, but booby trapping a present for her daughter?” She wiped the dust off my face. “She probably just put some water squirter in the cart somewhere, not anything to worry about.” I didn’t want to bring up the fact that water was way too precious to waste on a stupid gag. “She’s still crazy though.”
“My mom isn’t crazy…” I mumbled under my breath, then sighed, and pulled up the last floorboard, which caused a loud explosion to ring out, and I heard laughter from outside the cart. The explosion hadn’t done any damage, but it had covered my face in soot. Looking down at the floorspace, I saw a note that had the words “PUNKED” scribbled on it in ink. I crumpled it up and tossed it angrily at the wall. Damnit mom, you’re basically a five year old with gunpowder!
“Gotcha, kid!” My mother poked her head in, spotting the soot on my face; she burst into peals of laughter. “Gunpowder is the best thing ever!” She saw the look I was giving her and started trotting away slowly, before breaking into a gallop.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I looked back to see Canary Belle pulling my mother back to the cart with her magic. My mother looked like a little filly with her hoof caught in the mint-als tin (I should know the look), ears pulled back, blue tail tucked between her legs. “If you had put more gunpowder in the charge, you could have blown her head off!” Her eyes were a fiery hot pink as she stared at my mother, with an amount of rage I never thought I’d see her express.
“Oh, come on, it didn’t kill her, so everything is perfectly fine!” She pulled herself away from Canary’s grip, grinning half in mirth, half in embarrassment. Canary looked like she was about to deck my mom, which was not unnoticed by my mother, who backed up in fear. “You aren’t seriously upset, are you? It was just a joke!”
“OF COURSE I’M UPSET, YOU BITCH!” The cart rattled as Canary Belle yelled at my mother, so loud I swear my eardrums still haven’t recovered. She snorted and stomped, and in general became a cream colored ball of rage. “You seriously thought that putting a miniature bomb in a gift for your daughter is ok? I’m surprised Cloudchaser wasn’t killed by your neglect years ago!” My mother recoiled, backing into a wall.
“Canary, please calm down…” I grabbed her cloak, pulling gently on it. She turned around to face me, still steaming. “She didn’t mean any harm…” She kept a skeptical look on her face, but she stepped away from my mother, though she kept one eye on her to keep her from leaving. “I mean, if she really is as fucked up as you seem to think she is, she couldn’t have meant to kill me!” I pointed a hoof at my mom, who was glaring at Canary, who was returning the look in full. “And even if she did, you can’t just be a bitch back, I mean… I just... UGH.” I pounded my hooves in frustration. “Just… Mom, leave.” She opened her mouth to protest, but gave an annoyed groan and left, muttering about “Spoilsports.”

“She just shot gunpowder in your face and you’re defending her?” She wasn’t really mad anymore, but she still had an angry gleam in her eyes, mostly, she just seemed frustrated with me. “Is everypony in the Marejave goddamn insane?” I was feeling kind of insulted, but I knew where she was coming from. I guess it might be the heat, but strange things happened here that didn’t happen anywhere else, and mirages were common, so I guess the land itself was a little nuts.
“You can’t just act all high and mighty when you were the one blowing up in my mom’s face!” She recoiled as if I had slapped her across the face, and stammered. “I get that you just lost a marefriend, but you can’t do that here or you’re just gonna end up shot, or worse!” I felt bad that I had yelled at her, but at the same time, her attitude needed adjusting, even if I chose probably the worst way possible to break it to her.
“I’m sorry, Cloudchaser, I just…” She sighed sadly. “It’s just hard for me seeing somepony get away with things that they should be punished!” She smiled slightly and poked me with her hoof. “I mean, you seem like a nice, if rather impulsive mare, and you’re letting your mother get away with murder.” I tilted my head in confusion, my mother hadn’t killed anypony; at least nopony I knew. I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the toolbox. “Figuratively.” She looked at me and smiled as I gave a sheepish grin.
“Now that mom’s gift is finished blowing up, we actually get something done about ... whatever you actually got sent here to do.” She gave an annoyed glare. “I wasn’t paying that close attention to your guy in power armour, ok?”
“It’s ok, his speech really was just meant for me and Sunny…”Her voice caught a little on the name, but she recovered, I waited patiently for her to continue, intent on hearing about why she was here. “So it’s understandable why you couldn’t grasp what we need to do.” Pulling out the poster that seemed to be her only reference guide, she pointed at him. I finally got to get a good look at the old buck, who, as my mother had described, looked like he couldn’t walk a step without reinforcements. His eyes were misted over, and he looked half blind, yet they still had a cold look in them, golden and harsh. He looked older than most of the Marejave, to the point where his wrinkles almost seemed to have wrinkles. “This, as I’ve already explained, is Elder Cottage Cheese, and, again, as explained, he is a refugee from the Friendship city attack, and an enemy of Applejack’s Rangers.” Her gaze hardened when she mentioned Friendship city, but it didn’t seem like she was sad anymore. “J was sent to Friendship City in anticipation of his arrival, and I was to watch for any signs of a repeat of Stable 29, or anything similar.” I raised my hoof to interrupt, but she silenced me. “Stable 29 was a stable run by a computer, called a Crusader Mainframe, which he intended to use to preserve his mind inside of it. Luckily, the Stable Dweller was able to keep him from achieving his goal.” I tried once more to raise a hoof, but she seemed to read my mind, continuing. “He intended to rule over the Steel Rangers indefinitely, to lead the ponies of the future, after, of course, all the “tribals” here had killed each other.”
“What the fuck?” I mouthed out, groaning. “And minutes ago you called us the crazy ones! We aren’t going around becoming cyborgs and blowing up cities!” I seriously doubted the world needed anyone who calls other ponies “tribals” leading them.
“Ok, there are so many reasons what you said is wrong, starting with the fact that he didn’t blow up Friendship City, the Enclave did, so please keep your facts straight, and don’t combine them.” I pouted as she gave me a condescending look. “Not only that, he wanted to transfer his mind to a computer, not become part machine! I’m not sure that’s even possible outside of comic books!” She seemed amused at the grumpy look on my face, and I frowned even more, before my eyes brightened.
“But what about that, what’s her face, Security Mare? I heard that she became a robot pony, but then again, I heard that she was traveling around with Rainbow Dash, so take it with a grain of salt.” I felt proud of myself for winning this battle of logic and wits, even if it was just a discussion on the existence of cyborgs, it felt good to be right.
“I think we need to get back to the whole, mission thing, Cloudchaser.” She looked at me disapproving as I began acting out being a cyborg, growling and stomping in a mock rage. She clearly didn’t appreciate my unique brand of awesome, so I stopped, and she nodded her approval, and continued. “As he has escaped Friendship City, it would seem that he has fled here, for unknown reasons.”
“Wouldn’t the crazy bastard keep looking for stuff that could make him immortal?” I posited, trying to make up for the little puppet show I was doing. Nopony ever appreciates a good joke anymore, anyway.
“I’m operating under that assumption, yes.” Canary Belle smiled and nodded. “As such, he probably would have come here to find something. I don’t know what, but it’s imperative that we know. I think you know why having him as an immortal leader would be a bad thing.” I nodded, and sat there pondering the future of the Wasteland under his rule. It wasn’t pretty, though there was tech everywhere, and that was kind of cool. “So we need to find sources of tech here that he might have visited, but it’s probably better if we wait till tomorrow to begin.”
“I guess you’re right, I’ll go search the upper cabinet for bedding.” I flew up to the ceiling, which had a small latch on it, pulling down a ladder to a small attic, barely big enough to even put my head in. I tried to look around inside, but it was too dark and musty to see, so I stepped down, looking pleadingly at my companion. “I can’t see in there, could you light up your horn and see if there are any bedrolls or something?” She nodded and climbed up the ladder, and I saw the light coming from her horn, she was silent for a minute, before coming out of the attic with two sleeping bags, covered in dust.
“I can’t guarantee that it won’t be uncomfortable, but it’ll do for the night.” She put them on the floor, and spread them out on opposite sides of the cabin. “I’ll go check the door to see if we have a lock on it, we can never be too careful, you know?” I nodded, and she trotted to the door, and pulled it open, inspecting the handles, she gave a small “Ahah!” and closed the door with a click, smiling.
“I know this is an odd time to bring it up, but I’ve been wondering since you walked in; why are you bald?” I was sitting on the sleeping bag, trying to avert my gaze as she took off her cloak, revealing that she wasn’t completely bald, her red and lavender tail was fully intact, raising even more questions in my mind.
“Oh, that,” She was curling up on her bag when she turned around to face me. “All scribes in Applejack’s rangers have to shave their mane. I don’t even know why it is, but it’s just a rule.” She seemed annoyed at that, rubbing her head and sighing, blowing out the lantern that was lighting the small cabin.
“Well, you look pretty either way.” I blushed slightly as I said it, grateful for the lack of light, before getting under the covers. “Goodnight.”

Footnote:
Level 1: No level up
Companion Perk: Canary’s Song- As long as Canary Belle is in your party, all transmitters (Such as radio’s and sonic guns) function better, as well as sonic attacks dealing 10% less damage.
Companion’s SPECIAL:
Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 7
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 7
Luck: 4

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long guys, I tried to make everything a little better, but I can't really guarantee that it's any good.
I just hope people enjoy it, even if it's flawed.
As always, constructive criticism appreciated, but hopefully not too harsh.

Comments ( 4 )

2072399

the Enclave favored homosexuality

operatorchan.org/n/src/136097663472.jpg
WHERE IN THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THIS SAID IN THE MAIN FIC?

That's goddamn hilarious but I would clearly remember something as off as that during my read through of the fic.

2194245
Chapter 43 page 1816 in my version. In a discussion on why Life Bloom was punished for his homosexuality:

“Fer the same reason, Ah’ll reckon, that the Enclave rewards it,” Calamity said, approaching us, his words prompting another wait, what? from the little pony in my head. “Population control. Small place like The Republic, Ah bet they needed as many babies as they could get”

Excerpt From: Kkat. “Fallout: Equestria.” iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Hey, I´lo preread this! Message me back if you want me to. I'll be more than happy to help you out and get a good read in along the way. :raritywink:

For something that made it onto Equestria Daily, I am surprised that it was never finished.

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