vanhovver's wasteland is a dangerous place with many dangerous pony's and dangerous secrets hidden in the sand and in the dark one such is a dangerous pony from a dangerous place found in the dark under the sand along with 3 others this is their tale
This story is going to be updated every other weekend seeing as it like another story fallout equestria dead tree by fiaura this story is also baced off of a campaign every other Saturday.
in the vanhover wasteland as you know thier are a great many dangers, secrets, and dangerous secrets. Groups fighting for power, groups avoiding fighting as much as possible but I cant tell you about them or vanhoovers secrets you'll just have to read about them as No.4 and her admittedly Hodge poge hontarage saves the fucking wasteland.
Alright, let's get this over with, some pony I met recently told me I should compile my thoughts put them down in a little journal or book something like that, so that's what this is my journal.
Now on to the nitty-gritty you all now the story its been told thousand times with hundreds of different characters, out of nowhere a mysterious stranger suddenly appears starts saving ponies protecting the week yad, yad ya but I'm sorry to say that's not everything and everything is not that simple, or at least not with this one
I was a pre-war pony and at the ripe old age of 17, went to chanterlot with my ma for a school trip, we were supposed to be going to the museum of equine art but well, it was a bad idea everything got fucked bombs went off poison flooded the streets my ma died, my friends died, and debatably I died that day but no I survived, an old relic of the forgotten world I'm not sure what all happened after the story ended but I went to sleep and woke up having not ended the story
I kept on writing despite major tone shifts and themes having been blurred. I woke up caged and spent the next few years a slave used as a weapon because for those of y'all who don't know we chanterlot ghouls bleed pink and it is suffice to say, deadly after that continued for some time I eventually broke myself free along with other chanterlots and normal ponies but I was not a smart pony the chanterlots we're feral they killed them all, all of them but me and me alone so I grabbed a cloak off one of the now-dead slavers draping it over myself as well as a skull mask of another dead slaver and some collars then took one of the farmhand scythes from the dead hands of my fellow slaves before taking my leave
I had been forced to live for so long that I honestly knew nothing of the world, oh and call me number 4 back in my slavehood its what they called me and that's all I remember about those times so that's what I call myself well that and the reaper of the wrong just call me the reaper or No.4 it docent matter really.
The Heartland Merchant League bunch of preppy fancy bullshits that's what they are but at least they pay well I hope all I had gotten thus far was some food and water useless rubbish for a ghoul but I was supposed to get caps when I made it to Vancouver so I begrudgingly agreed to their proposal.
the proposal in question was sent to my doorstep by mail pony. I had to walk a bit to get there, but that ain't nothing new.
the job, guard caravan going to vanhoover that's when I said yes don't know what they were doing nor how much id get paid but I was bored so I said yes there were a few other guards on assignment with me but as usual, I just stayed a good yard ahead only stopping and coming back when we had decided to settle
settle we must have done because I just woke up and all but the other 3 shit head guards are here with me in a sand cave one kirin which at first freaked me out when I first met up with them
I still didn't say nothing there was also a zebra with what looked like maybe a dyed mane not sure but It wasn't black and wight and finally a dragon pony he was as inferred a pony but he had scales coating him hear and there a patch on his nose and everything as we rose ourselves up and dusted off I heard the dragon pone holler out
"I found out what happened to the rest of the caravan look at the walls" I wasn't sure what he was talking about but He was correct in his assumption the walls we're made of sand and had limbs and body parts sticking out of them
Analyzing them I noticed that simple fact that they were dead and then somepony else tried speaking well some zebra but I don't see much difference he didn't actually say anything he was cut of by what sounded like the scurry of
"Mole rats!" id dealt with these fucks before and I really didn't like them
I yelled out from my spot hiding in the walls many open crevices and my fellow zebra did the same opposite of me whilst the other two just got as far back as ponie'ly possible before the kirin started opening fire and I started charging there were five of the bloody vermin.
I rose my scythe up and brought it down with a reckoning slashing the thing into as three shots rang out behind me killing another three that just so happened to be in a perfect line the fifth one had run over to the zebra and was trying to maw him keyword trying but that wasn't important at least when you compared it to the mother of all rats down the hall of the cave
I only saw it briefly out my eye corner but I was positive that, that was mamma and me now not to mess with mamma so I read'ed my scythe to strike the bitch down the second I saw her ugly mug
evidently, the zebra had handled there rat problem with kirin aid services cause it wasn't there anymore and the zebra was reading their own weapon as well as the other knuckleheads than the bitch head rose round the corner only to, not be blown to shit only one of us hit the vermin and it wasn't me
it bolted after the zebra guess she's just a mole magnet the others and myself started in a chase after it laying into it I personally took two swings at it
only my second hit however and I think I may have hit it again rendering it dead along with the others but I don't think so I think the zebra headshot her themselves before they sat next to me and I again shied away from the main group only to come by the dragon pony whilst the others talked
Hear have these
said the Dragonborn with a voice said in a voice that said don't worry you'll be fine
He handed me over two canteens chock full of water
Found them on one of the dead guys
he gestured over to one of the ponies with its hindlegs sticking from the wall I finally I graced him with an acknowledging rasp
I see
I again walked back with what he gave me avoiding my fellow guards
Ah so it ain't just my looks you just don't like ponies seeing as your a ghoul am I right
I didn't respond to his statement I just went out the door following the kirin who I overheard that the name of was Lila and seeing as I knew their name but they didn't know mine I exclaimed mine
Names no.4
yeah its a weird name but that happens when you live with slavers for a long while
What an interesting name
Again they pried but not the dragon pony this time it was Lila who was spearheading our way out followed by myself and the dragon pony whom I discovered was named Cool Ice and the zebra Three Stripes
Immediately after getting past those pests we found a fork and I went right another fork some grass shrubbery all trash I turned around there were all the others the idea was that I headed this way and the others go the other way but no they came with me instead
It appears there isn't anything down this path at least nothing of interest
said the kirin in a pretty obvious tone
Thanks captain obvious kirin
Yeah I agree maybe we should head the other way
I wasn't really in the mood to make enemies so I didn't say my thought out loud
That was the plan Three but you all followed me instead
yeah I know I said I didn't want to make enemies but I'm not very go at censoring myself
I don't think it would be wise to split up is all
As much as I didn't want to agree Cool was right even if I was more of a deceased hindrance than they knew
Sigh alright let's go the other way
said the dragonborn
Somehow yet again I spearheaded the group forward forward forward and Another fucking split in the path
Oh for Celestia's sake
I curs' ed for a good bit at that before Cool started talking to me well not me specifically more so everyone
I say we flip a coin
well the dragon-pony was offering a solution admittedly one that earned a glare from me but it was still a solution
Flip a coin
said the zebra accusingly
Well yeah well a bottle cap actually tails right heads left
he said it in a way of trying to calm the situation
Why was I stuck with thees ponies
I don't have any objections
replied Lila in a soft tone
same here
said the zebra
Seriously, we were making a decision on a toss of a coin
Alright fine let's do this shit
I said admittedly finding the situation a little funny
He flipped it with tk and it spun and spun in the air before he caught it exclaiming
Tails
he exclaimed
Looks like we're going right
great The kirin was very observant good for her
Alright let's get out of here
I said before I walked forward and
*screech*
I stepped on a screamer and then another one screamed and another one all down the hall mole rats we walked right into their fucking nest
Nope fuck that
I yelled out and at that, I ran past cold who was midway through suggesting
I may be able to telepor-
he was in his usual semi calm tone
I didn't catch the rest I was to busy noping the fuck out of there followed and passed by Cool then Lila and finally the injured Three being last in line passed me
I hit my scythe up into the ceiling of the cave pulling it forward, dragging sand and dirt down to close off the cavern but not before one of the bastards got off a pretty solid hit on me thankfully no pink cloud was shed but I was a little injured
Continuing on our path that I had originally chosen we decided to stick to a mace strategy
stick to the left and you'll eventually find the exit doing this we immediately ran into two-mole rates but they were admittedly more afraid of us than us of them
Leave em they aren't causing nobody any harm
said the dragon pone
Evidently, the others had sorta appointed me leader because they didn't oppose to my command stead we just continued left down the most open path only to find another divergence but this was a small one that leads to a room with some corpse in it he had a shit load of food and water I now this because Cool offered me some of it I declined instead letting him keep it and instead just continuing on after that we found some boxes or something I didn't really pay attention just silently minded my own business until my spearheading lead us to another big open room poking my head I looked about and
Oh sweet mother of lunas throbbing cock what was that thing
my swear was admittedly out there but its how I swear
hmmm luna cock, no wait get ahold of yourself 4 you're supposed to be fighting right now you can dream bout uh that later
Right it was a huge hulking monstrosity of a rat bigger than any pony id ever seen that's for sure
I could teleport us past it I think but two y'all would have to stay back and wait and I wouldn't get far in all honesty
said the dragon pone as he flared his horn a bit
well that would have been really helpful if I had started listening that is
I ran out in rage galloping, scythe handle in maw I raised it up and brought it down on the beast, nothing but dirt and dust, I quickly spun my scythe around and rose it up with just as much force as when I'd brought it down cutting the underside of the monstrous rat leaving it writhing in pain but not enuff pain to keep it from retaliating pretty bad too it returned the favor
it started laying into me with two out of what I think was 5 or 7 swings this, in turn, cause much more of a problem for himself as I started to secret the horror that had killed my mother and so many others, the pink cloud
I wouldn't survive another attack barrage like the previous one that much was clear but I also know that hill die no matter what and I'll live on
now you probably know this but ill tell you anyway chanterlot ghouls are immortal unless you completely cut the connection from the brain to the body or completely destroy the body through any means fire, explosives, acid anything now back to insanity
while my fight was going on Lila had ran up behind us and was taking care of the rest of the rats and somebody had killed the one nearest to the entrance but focusing back on the now half-melted into the floor behemoth of a creature it was roaring out a gargle of pain and horror flailing it's one still free limb unable to hit anything due to the predicament it was in his upper arm had fused to his lower jaw
I took pity on the creature it was just protecting itself but we needed to get out and it was in the way my way
I saw some paper or something in his teeth taking and putting it in my cloak so it didn't get pinked as I call it I left so that the cloud might dissipate while I healed
evidently, the display had scared off two of the other rats and there was only one remaining and it was shooting magical lasers from its face squinting at the beast from my corner of the room it had mutated and had unicorn-like horns all around his face casting some sort of laser spell sending pink and purple lasers until
'Bang' Three stripes ended it with a quick clean shot
Looking at my new trophy it was a map thankfully only a corner of it was goofy and stuck to my cloak so it wasn't too detrimental when I ripped it away from its new home as death dissipated and we left
This time I had reason to be the leading, 1 they knew what I was and just weren't saying anything about it, and 2 I had a map
admittedly it took me a bit to figure out where we were but I did the map was divided by the railroad tracks in its crease and had some lakes on it
there was a large structure in the middle of said lakes and past that a good way was what looked like either small rocks in front of really big rocks or houses in front of really big rocks I wasn't sure which but we were near the bottom near the train tracks
I put an x there and showed the others before we walked for what I believe was six Celesta be damned hours before finding some ruins
Anybody looking to scavenge
I said giving some conversation to our trek through hell
Scavenge for what this place is a shit hole
he was getting tired and a bit angry
that's a no on dragon pony
I agree what could we possibly find here
responded the zebra and with it, I came to the conclusion that my companions we're stupid evidently cause thy didn't know the wonders of ruins
I don't know maybe you'll find some ammo or chems laying around
see I had good points but of course, no one was on board yet
pleas tell me I'm not the only one who nose the wonders in ruins
I heard that these pre-war places usually have ammo cans in them at least said Lila in her usual soft tone Yet again I was liking her
These places don't look pre-war it looks pre pre-war almost
pronounced Cool and I did agree with him that this place was old it was a tower with some pillar's in a line from it outside and a wall diagonal from the tower going northwest
I'll spend an hour at most scavenging than we're outta here
pronounced cool
I agree with Cool
said, Lila
I do as well
and finally Three
Yet again the feud between cool and I grew without either us even trying to guess we're just both natural-born leaders n such
Going over to the pillars to being investigations I found a small something didn't pay it no mind though choosing stead to focus on the pillars proper they were tall stained with blood old old blood from long-dead skeletons nearby that had been nailed it to warn the average waster
Beware the fire starter clan they said
written in faded something probably blood I thought
I knew they were some raiders or something like it but seeing as the skeletons had spiders crawling out there eyes I figured the clan was long dead
going into the tower where strips and Lila had gone I was passed by Cool as I walked up and knocked on the door frame only to be ignored they we're all fiddling with an old busted terminal than Three Stripes decided to stick a fork in the socket nothing happened
aside from that the room was full of busted and broken office equipment evidently this was the junk corner of the tower going up the broken tower right behind Stripe and Lila with Cool behind me we went up the floors to the third there was a satellite radio dish thing atop a pile of rubble
I didn't care much for it and I assume stripes didn't either cause he went with me to the second floor where we looked out the window at some lakes that we're shining?
I cocked my head to the right I could see the sun reflect a rainbow off of the water and being both impatient and a ghoul which allowed me to be arrogant and stupid I opened the window and slid down the wall to get there faster
after landing I inspected the lake and no I didn't have a clue what it was and thankfully my savior had finished coming down the stairs and around the corner just as I was about to lick it
Wait don't touch that its taint
yelled Three, I pulled my self up from the pool
Taint what the hell's taint
I was as usual clueless
What
Three sounded genuinely shocked yet equally exhausted from sprinting out to me
"yeah what" I still was clueless
Taint one drop of the stuff it'll do some pretty nasty stuff to ya
he spoke like it was something I should know
Like what
I was curious now
Oh uh grow a dick I guess
he said pretty casually to my mental response, I was fine with that
Have another eye
I was fine with that
Kill ya
he grimaced with the last one, I was believe it or not fine with all these things
I see well then i"d better not touch it
A plan had formed in my 200year old some 17-year-old brain I needed a stick or something and some duct tape
And hey would your now it the shit-scape provides a broom handle and half a roll of duct tape, taking one of cools formally gifted water canteens I handed it to Stripes
Here drink this
I told them
He glanced at me with a perplexed look and proceeded to down it and holy shit his wounds just vanished, and I realized that fucking dragon gave me some sort of healing water blessed by Celesta's left flank or some shit
I'm gonna make a mental note of that
So I did Celesta cock water heals injuries
Taking the now empty canteen I taped it to the broom handle in a way that I could scoop out a canteen's worth of taint and so I did just as the other's arrived
There we go one canteen full of taint
I exclaimed pretty proud of myself
Why in lunas name to your need a canteen of taint
said Three Stripes
Well Stripes I can intimidate ponies with it maybe say something like how'd you like to have eight dicks
this taint would come in usefully later
Eight dicks I wonder how good, bad, and or awkward that would feel
Whilst I daydreamed about Eight dick having ponies fucking me everypony else especially Cool face hoofed as we went on through the desert
wading around the taint lakes at one point in our trek we noticed a band of wandering bloat sprites matured by taint one was a bloat sprite that had what looked like a tail and real big wings thankfully we avoided them without any trouble and traveled tell we came up to what appeared to be in my mind a facility of some sorts with a fenced of perimeter and a sign
a sign I couldn't read because I'm illiterate
Footnote: Level up Level 2 New Perk: Black Stallion +1d10 damage to the opposite sex and extra +5 Negotiation & Seduction for seduction purposes on other-gender individuals (whose barn door swings that way). Skills: unarmed 46 thrown 17 mew 15 melee 57 firearms, alchemy survivalism & traps, lockpick 17 explosives, hacking & matrix tech, chemistry, medicine, academics & lore, Repair & mechanics, arcane magic 15 battle saddles 21 bluff & intimidation 27 negotiation & seduction 12 barter, profession, shamanism 7 sneak 44 slight of hoof 10 gambling 13 athletics 20 and finally flight magic 16
No.4 A dark sky blue earth pony chanterlot glowing ghoul eye color brown mane wight cutie mark a paintbrush branded over with the number 4 age appears 17 probably much older
Walking, we all do it it's just that most of us don't do it for hours on end so your can imagine how the rest of these knuckleheads felt after doing so
we had arrived at this big enchantment, or factory, base maybe I don't know I can't read and because of this I had no clue what the map said, the stretch of waste we had crossed was a barren field filled with lakes of taint, nothing not even the usual ambient sounds of despair was heard but the occasional chatter of Lila to Stripes, or Stripes to Cool I even chimed in a bit but we didn't talk about anything too important, eventually we arrived at this area which Lila thankfully pointed out the name of
“Area 69 well that's certainly not a dirty joke” she said this with heavy sarcasm
Looking at the big base type facility I noticed that area 69 was surrounded by a rusted down crumpled fence witch was pretty obvious so I didn't feel the need to say it aloud
Besides the fence there was the other obvious thing the train tracks running into the base, following the tracks they ran right through the fenced off area, it had its own little designated entrance even, looking inside the fenced off area there was some clear liquid up in the farthest right corner of the base as well as some to our left mostly outside the fence
The first of us to say anything was cool “Well mares first” kindness and civility we're rare so it did take me off guard for a moment but I obliged his offer
“Thanks” that's all I said nothing more nothing less if you couldn't till tell now i'm not much of a talker
I walked in and instinctively I started looking around there were some buildings on all sides of me
Off to the north-east there was as I already stated a glistening clear lake it didn't look like the taint lakes that we had been walking around on our way to area 69 no this lake was different it was clear unlike the rainbow tinted color of taint and so in my brief brilliance I thought about licking it but than I had the sudden realisation that if this is some weird poison that if by some miracle this could kill me which I didn't want obviously so I just touched it instead
nothing absolutely northi-oh sweet celestia, you no that feeling when you hit a nerve and it just, yeah imagine that through you entire body but only for a second, then it passed and nothing had changed about anything but wishing not to feel that again I turned back and went towards a building id had passed on my way all of my compatriots we're starting to congregate around it as well and soon the inevitable happened ponies started talking first was Lila
“What do we have here some sort of defence robot?” she out of everyone seemed most intrigued and by everyone I mean her and cool because I didn't care and stripes well she tried sticking a fork in an electrical socket
“interesting evidently this thing crashed hear, strange, keep your eyes peeled there may be more of these rolling around and I wouldn't like getting caught off guard by one” she had a decently serious tone to her,
at that I went westward along the in base road towards what remaining buildings we're in here, followed by Cool
Reaching the first building it was double the size of one of the two buildings it was facing, one of said buildings Cool was starting on it was the one closest to the gate, ,before I got started on my structure there was a noise it was a sort of faint rumbling I couldn't really make out exactly what it was but I knew where it was coming from, the largest building in sight it was like some sort of factory smoke stacks and all, after the noise faded I looked back to cool to see if he had heard it and he must have seeing as he was looking to the building as well
Ignoring it I started on my building. Inside there were some pristine desks 1 2 3 4 a lot and you wouldn't have ever guessed what wonderful things I found in my scrounging ammo, caps, happiness? no I found some fucking wonderglue as well as some other things of even less importance before leaving, on my way out I heard the wonderful sound of
“Warning intruder detected” the voice like all pre war recorded voices was metallic and oh so annoying
looking to Cool he had moved back to the road and was using his telekinesis to open the door to his building only to have it not open but instead trigger an alarm and open the door on it's own
Robots, like the prior one began activating the only one in sight was the one behind Cools door but I knew one was to good to be true so there was bound to be more
Than just to prove my fears the wasteland responded by opening another door to the north coming from the factory there was another one along with Three and Lila plus the already mentioned Cool
looking around at the situation I found myself in I briefly considered running hell I even made a motion to but instead of running out the gates I ran straight to the robot to inspect it and see what I was up against before It finished booting
they didn't seem to have any weapons on their bodies, they were like robo brains but smaller without weapons and many more sensors and eyes than the usual and then
“Bang bang”
shots started ringing out if my memory was right it was the same sound as Lila’s pistol but who knows, then I heard a much more defining weapon the pew pew of Cools recharger rifle and than a robot exploding, looking back I noticed ice and snow flowing quickly from the doorway where the northern robot was
turning back to my robot who had finally finished its programs and was flashing lights from all but two of its eyes kinda like a flashbang in purpose, it damn near blinded me well actually it did, I couldn't see anything not even the robot that came from the left and tried to hit me but I was blind so I didn't know
nonetheless in my haze I moved, i'm not really sure where I was going but eventually I got behind the corner, and from my cover I prepared to slice and dice the bastards then Lila came down from the road up north to aid me firing shots at the one robot that attacked me and I alerted her of the strobe light eyes
“Hey Lila that robot has some sort of flash blinding light shit” to which she responded pretty out of breath and how should I put it, focused
“duly noted i'll be sure not to look at it“ yeah focused was the right word
then after her shots range out she backed back out of my area as I call it the cloud radius that is
some time went bye permeated by the clanging of robots and shots of my companions until finally the one bot came rolling around the corner at which point I brought my scythe raining down upon it in an arc slicing through it's top half causing it to go wild spinning out of control before it's tracks bolted it back the way it came but it didn't turn instead it hit the corner smashing with a crash
then the siren grew louder as it issued out more warnings
Defcon 3 activated!
it cried as the robots marched and rolled around in various places one to my left and one to the north
slamming my scythe into the mechanical fuck on the left I damn near sliced him apart and upon my second swing his body was in two parts
Before I got charged by another bot I ducked back behind the long building where I could see Lila and since we hadn't seen in a bit I waved and she returned the wave before bolting up north firing shots at one robot before doubling back and returning to her position on the other side of the gap between buildings taking a stance to shoot
“Clang!, Crash!” There was a loud smack as one robot was thrown into the air and back to the ground with enough force to kill and finally a pew of Cools gun but no sounds of impact
Looking towards the factory there we're a few robots but the one I was looking at what was the same one that was fighting with Cool and Three,Three took four shots at said robot blowing it up on the fourth shot and than visibly took stance to doge
“Deafcon four activated” again the senseless ringing of commands range off
Looking back to the factory I saw the robots treading continuously in front of the factory
One such robot came around the corner in a skid to face to face with Three Stripes followed by two more in front of the factory along the road and behind them lasers from the west targeting and thankfully missing Three
She was out there without backup or aid against all that, I ran up to her open side smacking my scythe into the side of the robot it didn't exactly kill it as planned so I struck at it again, miss I slammed the point of my scythe right on a rock chipping it's perfect blade I knew I couldn't swing it again so instead I spun around to face Three’s plot, it was nice really nice plot
While I was intoxicated by zebra plot Lila ran up and started shooting at a bot out of my sight the only thing of worth in my sight was Three’s delicious looking plot
Lila ran back to her prior position, Three started shooting the left most robots peppering them and then mid way through my decision to lick the zebra balls Three ran back with Lila, my plot armor was gone
I was left there eyes closed tongue sticking out only to lick the air expecting succulence but instead getting lasers shot at me from the mid most robot thankfully they all missed me despite my stupor
The rumbling tracks grew louder once more as the speakers announced yet another warning “Defcon 5”
Realizing the danger I faced, I followed suit with Three and Lila rushing back to the building with a destroyed wall from earlier
“Guy's if you haven't noticed we're gonna get overrun soon” I was panicking witch was evident even through my ghoulish rasp
“Ok uh” Lila paused for a moment before continuing “ok here's the plan we get enough explosives and we blow them up” she was so energetic and I tried to energetic but I was cut off “wait no we don't have enough explosives for that” there goes plan A
“Could we uh fight it out maybe decibel that blasted siren” Three was right about the concept we could fight it out but that would take time and we we're getting exhausted even i was exhausted and i'm a ghoul, I blame stress, I had tuned out the siren but at her mentioning of it, it became louder than any gunshot id ever heard
“Well yes but there getting smarter or at least it seemed so when I fought them” an evolving robot it was a horrible thought
“Even if so they seem to be very slow” that was true and admittedly i'm surprised Three noticed it more than anyone else
“And that's precisely why I have been staying back waiting for them to come to me” Lila was a startlingly smart kirin or maybe all kirin we're like that and being as rare a sight as they are who knows
“Could we perhaps go in” that was an obvious yet good plan that of course the fork in a socket zebra said, great Three was smarter than me and had a nice ass
“Yes we could do that I mean it's where the sirens are blaring from isn't it” what kind of question was that of course they were
“Well yeah” said Three
“The sirens didn't trigger immediately so we must've done something to cause this, but what” Cool he must've triggered it when he opened the door to the one building
“I think Cool might have caused it while we were scavenging” yes that had to be it he caused this it was his fault we were fighting but that didn't matter now, now we had a plan
“So we're going to storm the facility good to know” I sprinted to the factory going the entire distance of the facility in a mear instinct it seemed leaving me tired, no i'm a ghoul I didn’t get tired I pushed on and opened the door to the factory seeing a hall with yet another two robots behind it at the halls end
“still booting perfect” with my remaining energy I ran up to the bot closest to the door slamming it with my scythe removing head from body, it started running around like that of a chicken with its head cut off
I didn't have the strength to handle the other bot nor the living steal corpse of the one id decapitated only enough energy to move so I prepared to move upon attack
Lila ran in behind me firing wildly at the bot “miss” and again she shot this time more sturdy “hit” the metal monster feel limp as her shot killed the beast
“Your welcome” well wasn't she cocky
“You do realize your might die if i'm hit?” I still don't now why they're following me don't they know i'm dangerous
“Pshh i'll be fine” well I can't fault her confidence she was smart enough to back her words, she fired a round of bullets into the other bot till it sparked and died
“Well thanks I owe ya one” why did I say that
“Don't mention it” she said with nice soft tone as usual
At that Three came running in and opening the door letting us see the long corridor full of both large and small boxes the right side was full of big crates bigger than ponies mostly and, hang on a second is that a tree, sure enough it was, a tree, it was growing out of a crate, in a factory, in the middle of a desert that just didn't make sense
Three walked into the room and started shooting thing's like you do until eventually one of the sirens fell from the ceiling slamming against one of the larger crates this in turn dulled both the the sirens sound and red flashing lights in the room followed by a few more shots as Three silenced the sirens and darkened the red lights but it wasn't all peachy
“Defcon 6 activated” the monotony was louder now than ever going until three shot the last speaker out
Before going into the room with her I looked outside seeing where Cool had frozen some robots and blasted a few others before now coming back towards us, I went into the big room passing Three to round one of the bigger crates, a dead end at the hands of another even bigger crate and a bunch of smaller ones
Turning back to the crate id just rounded the corner of it was bigger than me and looked like it could be opened maybe all these years without care loosened its hold together prying open the large box it was another robot that I just about slashed before realizing it was deactivated
“hey uh Lila your know computer stuff right can your take a look at this” I wasn't sure what to make of it all I knew was it's different and not the same color but not much else
Lila came trotting to my side and examined the ancient machine “so what do you make of this thing“ I said blandly
“Well this model seams very well preserved must've been but in hear on the last day besides that it isn't on this systems mainframe evidently it was supposed to be sent to manehattan but well it's safe to say I don't think it made the trip” she got all of that from looking at it no wait those are words written on it, must be nice knowing how to read
“Do you think you could make it work for us “ for a brief moment I was taken back, back to then
“Oh don't worry you head little whore you work for us now and will take real good care of you” work for us now those four words riverbed through my mind, the slaver like most was filthy and retched in tone not even trying to stay clean but with how I looked now I didn't have room to judge instead I just cried, cried for all the torment of the past three sleepless days i'm not sure who she was but her death in my mind was so strong it was all that kept me from going mad
Coming back to the present I was hyperventilating good thing my hood was up nopony noticed i tried to calm myself down
Three didn't know 4 calm down they aren't here to make you work for them their dead
Regaining myself i continued listening in on the conversation“I suppose we could but it would take some considerable time“ good I didn't miss anything
“Are you sure I mean do you even understand all this techno wired mumbo jumbo garbage” The zebras skeptical tone was accompanied by patronizing hoof gestures
“Look zebra i'm the smart one here or as 4 calls it the computer pony of the group so I think I know what i'm talking about” I could tell she was getting, not pissed but annoyed by Three already also why'd she drag me into this
“Oh yeah well what happens if another one of it's friends comes in through the barrier Cool built and turns it back on ever think about that” wait what barrier
Looking back toward the entrance I noticed that Cool like implied had put a bunch of boxes in and around the doorway to keep out our robotic pursuers meanwhile the argument raged on
“well uh what to uh, I don't know”and with that Three won the dispute
Turning back to where they were Lila had started looking at something in another part of the factory
“Hey uh guy's we may have bigger problems than that too worry about” she was unnerved and looking to where her gaze was laying I understood why a conveyor belt full of robots all deactivated but still this was replicated in a pile to the side all a bunch of dead bots, I briefly wondered whether or not they'd ever been activated or were they assembled only to be left to rot like the one sealed in it's box
“Whys everypony so quiet” Three broke our silence evidently not realizing how lucky we have been to not have locked ourselves in here with even more robots
Lila presumably in an act to make sure they we're dead took cover behind a different crate and shot at one of the bots in the pile “miss” she fired again this shot smacked the robots metal casing with a ping but nothing more the machine had long been dead if it ever was alive really
Following the confirmation of it being dead Three trotted up to the pile before looking around that half of the factory floor
“Hey guys we got more robots up hear and uh Lila there's some weird flashy screen thing” she had that worried tone to her and despite still being back near the pristine robot I could hear it a rumble
“Where at” Lila was urgent in tone
“in there” i'm not sure where she gestured but I could see some light shining out of one of the rooms in the main are so I assume that's where the computer screen was
Defcon Die! Defcon Die! Defcon Dieyeeeyeyee-! the voice of the speaker finally gave out beginning it's forever seasless monotone until it just stopped that or it's sounds were overshadowed by the new sound it was that of 50 treads combine moving as one both I and Three ran back to where Lila had set herself up and as I passed I noticed Cool hugging the big crates prepared for a fight from either directions
Looking back over to the place I was I could see over it the box wall that is behind it was the source of the deafening tracks and whatever it was it was big, big enough to see it's brain dome above the boxes which we're 15 to 18 feet tall so it was a big mother fucker
Than cool called out to us the other side of the room “anypony have some sort of heat source I think I have an idea“ “wait he's a DRAGON-pony why was he needing fire”
“Mind not thinking aloud i'm not a dragon pony i'm a dragon born just a pony with dragon blood in them ok, and i'm an ice dragonborn we don't have fire” oh shit I was thinking aloud, must be forgetting things again like not talking aloud
“If I had some heat I could teleport over there and flash freeze the fucker” it was a good plan problem was that even after all of us emptied out our bags we didn't have any heat sources just a taint canteen, some kitchen supplies and a bit of 9mm ammo among other things
“Hey uh 4 you think you could poor taint on it or something” poring taint on a nonliving creature didn't sound like it would work in all honesty but who knows this shit might be dangerous enough to do something
“I may be able to teleport in and freeze it but it will take longer without the heat source”
All of our ideas were scrambling like mad and none of us had the slightest clue what do until I voiced this concern
“Every pony shut up we need to figure out what in zebra plot we're doing and throwing ideas around without solid ideas behind them isn't working!” I was panicking and not sure what to do
“Well I mean if I can get to that terminal I may be able to shut them off but” that was all I needed to hear and I put plan distraction into motion spinning around grabbing my scythe in mouth and hooves only removing it to yell
“Distraction!!!” and with that I ran out catching full glory of the rainbow assault sentry as I shoved the scythe's mouthpiece back in and brought it down on the first robot “miss”
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Lila running into the room getting the hint I was her cover and as cover I was gonna fight slashing and dodging the robots as she spoke
“I need some log in credentials to get in, or I could try brute forcing it but” oh for Celestia's sake
“Than fucking brute force it i'll stall as long as you need”i'm insane I know
“But”I could till she was concerned but I was pissed, tired, tired, and pissed off by they's robots and i'm never tired
“Fucking do it!” I may have been a bit harsh but considering a robot just smacked my face hard enough for a slip of pink mist to seem out I wasn't happy
Lila started looking around her desk just as Mr big rainbow assault sentinel bot pants finished charging up his arc welder and gatling laser opening up his fire he brutalizing all the smaller robots as he traced my darting body all around the room
“Oh shit oh fuck oh shit” ok look i may be immortal but i would like to keep my limbs attached not to mention i've heard of chanterlot ghouls dying by desinagration and i didn't want to test the theory
Wall! that's a wall i'm gonna hit a wall, then the guns died down as Lila deactivated the facilities robots making the sentinel fall limp on his own barely supported mass I was going to examine it further but I was so tired and
“"...Savages on approach from North East,”what was that “Rebels on hot West! It's going to be a fucked battle. Griblies comin to play as well! Fuckin Tartrus, mate!" it was a stallion speaking through the radio “...Squadron 3, you should be retreating from the fuckin' rebels! Squadron 5, Celestiaspeed... Squadron 1, hit the flightless scum from the north…” flightless scum oh no “Amazing, Squadron 4! LET THEM TASTE ENCLAVE STEEL!!"”
with that the radio voice cut off and I looked to Lila she was wearing a pitbug and I was at this point confused, tired and done with this shit, I could till she was even worse off than me, they all were that much was evident and even despite not feeling like I needed it I new from experience this bag of bones needed rest and so rest I did we could figure this shit out tomorrow
Footnote: Level up Level 3 Feral Affinity Feral Ghouls will not attack you unless you attack first Who knows it might come in hoofty later Taint Mutation Poison Blood Your blood is now TOXIC! However, your eyes are now a baleful pure pink color You suffer -1 CHA to anyone who can see your eyes. You can easily conceal this with a full helmet or sunglasses. Unarmed 71,mealy 77, Alchemy, Survivalism & Traps 19, Lockpick 18, battle saddles 25, bluff & intimidation 30, sneak 56, athletics 22, and finally flight magic 18 everything else is same as before
Three had evidentaly gotten up before me because they we're being stupid and touching me the chanterlot glowing ghoul needless to say I woke up and sheaded a few extra rads onto Three
We really need to get some rad away for them before I accidentally kill them without meaning to
The factory unlike last we left it was drastically different there were plants everywhere and while there was a little bit of greenery when I went to sleep but now the wall of boxes and crates is now a wall of plant life and trees and the facilities floor was covered in grass and moss it was unsettling
Ignoring the overgrowth I set out to look for the others Cool was in a bush with a zebra sized pathway leading into it sorta so I assumed they slept together
After checking where we found the robot in a shipping crate I found her, Lila was cuddling with the robot drooling on it and everything
While I woke her up while Cool started removing the boxes and rubble from the doorway
“Really I didn't peg you for liking robots but I guess we all have our taste” she shot me a glare that could start a fire before *bang* a shot rang out from nowhere, looking to Cool I saw that the box he had picked up was smoldering with a hole through it's upper bit and he was taking cover in the overgrowth
Running over i started stomping out the fire when red points two of them ran across the floor up my hooves and they both respectively rested on where my heart was and the center of my head
Trailing the laser sights I saw that they we're coming from a moderately large hole in the roof over near where Cool and Three woke up, on the other side of the hole I could vaguely make out the forms of two ponies no wait they were pegasi
“well this is just great” said three clearly sarcastic he started moving along the treeline but still stayed on this side, the box was still smoldering but it didn't seem like it would spread or anything so i left it alone and focused on the snipers
“Sigh” this is gonna be fun
“Stay where you are savages” his voice was rough and strong
“I assume your the ponies on the radio” silence they we're unbreaking in there resolve “yeah thats about what I expected” i'm not really sure what I expected besides that
“can we go, do you plan on killing us before we leave?” unlike my question Cool’s got a response from the mysterious pegasi, no scratch that pegasus the other one that was aiming at my head just left
“general's orders” said the remaining pegasi
“So that's a yes” Cool didn't sound to sure but he was sorta laughing a bit
This isn't going well I thought to myself I guess we're fighting our way out but before I started on my attack plan the other pegasus came back 5 other pegasi in wing they all landed inside three of witch perched on a box opposite the shrubbery
The center most one was visibly distinct a stallion wearing a grey uniform and medals on his shoulder
alright fuck heads whats going on come out and nothing will probably happen to you! His voice was gravely kind like he had been smoking for the past 10 years of his life I didn't like the sound of probably won't happen especially coming from a pegasi who seemed like an officer or something
“your not giving us many options so why not tell us why your here and will tell you why were here” he was giving me an insulting glare of are your serious
“do you have any clue what's happening out there, I don't care about any of this nor about killing you
“Mr what rank are you so I can address your properly” again he was staring in angry disbelief “we came in here a few days ago, and yes we dont know whats going on out there so do your mind explaining” Oh i'm insane yes I've heard
“I dont fucking have a luna damn what you did but I want you to step the fuck out of wherever your hiding and surrender” the officer was clearly getting angrier to the point I expected him to just shoot me himself
I kept going with a slight change in tactics
“we have like 6 ponies hear, one pegasi so were fairly even with your guys and not to mention this factories full of robots mostly sentry's and we could turn them on at any moment wiping you away” I said it confidently because it was mostly true and even if we did fight i expected us to win
He squinted his eyes in a glare towards me “Fire!”
“Oh shit” I whisper to myself as a shot slams into my backside no pink cloud *fewh*, Lila turn on the robots I yelled as I looked at her, what was she doing, she was out of cover and hadn't even drawn her pistol yet
Past her Cool spoke “preferably the big one”
“Well no dip” responded Three sarcastically
After recovering from the sniper shot I leaped at and forced through the shrubbery and once I ended up on the other side I pulled up my scythe swinging it at the officers neck but not to kill only to bring the down.
I yanked down on the scythe as hard as possible, he never knew what hit him
Once he was on my level thing's became much simpler I hoped bare bodied on his back wrapping my hind hooves around his back and, front hooves around his neck as tight as I could
He then went into a panic probably because of the glowing ghoul, me had decided to wrap around his back
he hit me against the box twice neither hit shook me off and so he jumped to what i assume was the last resort, he drew out his gun
“if you shoot me we're going down” I blatantly pointed out he didn't care
Bang bang my body couldn't handle all the abuse and the pink cloud began seeping out off me and onto the enclave officer as well as the two closest pegasi
He started melting immediately and I was melting into him, his body was melting primarily from the mid back out and as I pulled back ripping myself away the blood and gore of the half rotten carcass fell down to the ground making I sicking “scrunch” but he was still alive barely but he was and that's the worst part about it
I didn't have time to focus on my horror or see what all I may have taken with me mid rip before *brrr* *brrr* the shots of machine-gun's rang out, two burst
And oh shit! Three, I hadn't noticed earlier but he was in the cloud barely, but still he was in danger and I was suddenly losing consciousness
Each burst respectively sent out more plums of pink but before the third one could hit Three I called out
“Move< get back !” he was week and it wasn't just the cloud I could till me being with them was harmful, with Cools help they got him out
“Words indistinct by white” I wasn't sure what mom was saying but I didn't care we were here, the chanterlot museum of historical artist was huge must have been 20, 30, no I don't now how many times larger it was than the house
“Be careful sweaty don't run off I need to get our tickets” I loved my mom but did she really have to call me sweaty I mean i'm turning 17 in a few days
*sigh* memories thing's we're fogy when I started regaining cohesion, at one point I think the end of the fire fight, if i'm not mistaken there was a dragon made of Fire!
officially waking up the cloud still hadn't dissipated and the enclave we're gone evidently scared away by a dragon on fire emerging from a cloud of melting gas, I could see why they ran Besides that, everyone was on Three making sure he was ok, I couldn't bring myself to go near him, I caused it i'm the problem why the hell are they even following me I mean i'm sure they have some level of rad poisoning by now and it's all my fault
I chose to go exploring instead of talk to them about all of what happened, inside the room behind the big robot there was a room with a sticky seaming floor
mutated mossy mushrooms I had never seen anything like it, looking up there's a vent equally overgrown as the rest of the facility and room the next room over was more or less the same and my the time I went into the room the sentry exited from the others had finally caught up to me
Inside the room were hooking racks for robots in the back and some workbenches as well as two robots that used to be patrolling the floor besides that around the west corner there was some stairs leading into a long room with boxes more than twice a ponies length lining the walls and a robot near something sticking out of the boxes
A radiation suit it seemed fairly advanced environmentally sealed and everything the only notable downside was that it was a tad scuffed up
Taking it I consulted the others and well
“Yes please put it on” said Cool Lila responded “I second”, and Three he uh “I Third it”
At the consensus it began removing my gear which consisted of a scythe, my cloak ,and I evidently lost my bomb collars at some point
Everypony was either silent or looking away, witch I didn't blame them for the disdain
Than i started slipping the suit on and *snag* that felt weird kinda good I tried slipping on the suit once moe and once again *snag*
“Four your uh you have a” Lilas tone was flustered and awkward mostly awkward and looking to her she was blushing
“what?” I was confused as I slid the suit on with one final hard tug to get past the snag
That's when I, well I discovered what they we're talking about
I assume it happened when I partially fuzzed with the pegasi I took his dick with me and by chance it lined up the nerve endings just enough to feel pleasure and well,... cum in my new suit
Cool was holding back a snicker as well as Three they were slight one’s but still, Lila well she was done with our shit for a day and had gone off
“We will never speak of this am I clear” to say I was flustered would be an understatement because on the other end of my helmet my eyes might be glowing pink but they weren't the only thing thank Celestia for this mask
“Crystal” fuck Cool he was barely holding back that laugh
“Alright now should not we get out of here gay birds” I wasn't sure what I was anymore but I knew for sure that Cool and Three liked each other
“Hey now wait a sec it wasn't like that” Cool could say that however many times he wanted he would always be flustered and I will always now what I saw, a zebra and a dragonborn pony walk out of the same bush pretty suspicious
Than as we got back to Lila her pitbuck blared out again
"To whatever Crews inside, we await you outside, League Traders." -Glow Sticks of the Moonrise Scavs” the radio voice was an odd accent, gruff, deep kind like an actor from the pre war Arndel Swartzinpon but if he was a mare
“Seriously does everypony have this damn frequency or something” Lila was getting visibly frustrated with the little device that has yet again been hijacked I think?
“well I guess it's time to try and get out of here” at that Cool disappeared in a flash living cool air in the place where he was and reappearing in another flash on the roof yelling down at us
“Whenever you ready” we all nodded our approval to lift and he one by one floated us up through the hole in the ceiling first Three then Lila and lastly me
Whatever happened while we were asleep it was big there were trees all around in each direction for a pretty good distance but besides that there were ponies to the north east of the factory
“ what the fuck did we do” cool said in a tone mirroring my own disbelief, i'm not sure what caused all the greenery but considering the plant life that was in the factory last night I think it's safe to assume this factory had something to do with it
“So is everyone else just as confused as me” need to start saying everyone Lila is a kirin and Threes a zebra, but yeah I didn't now what to make of the sight only what to make of the ponies to the north east, oh and I finally figured out why the pegasi we're here
“FUCKING TREES!” my outburst gained a glare from everyone but nothing more
“Guy's I don't think they we're after us just the factory” Threes thoughts mirrored my own on the subject
Followed by Lila “I agree I think our camping spot is just a bad one and it looked so good too”
The distant ponies to the north we're standing there looking at us and one of them was riding an alligator? I cocked an eyebrow at that but it was better than west bloat sprites we're like sharks in an ocean of trees on that side the ponies finally acknowledging us beyond a stare waved at us and Lila waved back just as Cool flashed away in his signature cold
the ponies visibly startled pointed their weapons at Cool in his sudden arrival but after a bit of talking and me waving my hoof in the air Cool finally looked back and teleport'ed
“none of you can fly right” we all blank stared him waiting for him to remember why he levitated us to the roof
“Right Four you can survive a fall right?” the answer was yes obviously
“Yeah”I said plainly
As Cool teleport'ed the others over I jumped off the roof of a building something that should kill most ponies but it just made my walk there a little slower
The one mare with a weird accent from before was talking to Cool when I arrived well actually she was yelling at him with a gun to his head “what do your mean what chip, you we're supposed to be delivering it with the caravan
Lila piped up to cool of the situation “it's back with the caravan wreckage probably” this got a glare from the mare
“yeah we had a sandstorm or something” I promptly stated but outside of the suit i'm not sure how I sounded, probably like a rasp through a radio
“*Sigh* the shifting sands ihy ihy ihy” she was holding her temple in clear annoyance and a bit of frustration
“we were part of a caravan”Cool whispered back to us confused and I made a mental note of his short term memory
“yeah don't you remember how'd you forget that”responded Lila in a equally confused tone
“Well in short I've been trying not to die” there was a tad bit of frustration in that line just like in Lilas response
“well if we hadn't angered those Enclave pegasi we wouldn't have to be trying not to die” I feel like part of her anger was directed at me with that statement
I stopped focusing on there conversation at that point but I think they stopped talking anyways, the guards of this traveling band all seemed fairly tired, annoyed ,and angry, the doctor mare who I believe was speaking in a germane accent was off in front of us by a bit talking to another unicorn in white lab coat gear similar to her own ,and lastly the crocodile or alligator i'm not sure which but it was sniffing Cools hooves
the gator in question is about three times an average ponies size so I could understand Cools worry when it was sniffing him
“is he friendly” Cool was a bit nervous I could tell
the rider simply nodded in reply but evidently that didn't satisfy Cool because he retreated to the back of the group with me leaving Three in front by an alligator, he glared back at Cool because of this
“Cool you follow me around and your afraid of an alligator” it honestly perplexed me, before I got this suit I was giving radiation poisoning to all of my friends and they all didn't look to well
“well I know you” was his reply, like that was a good reason
Three finally piped up at that “I don't really know any of you first time I met your was when we started this damn caravan job” he got shut up really quick by Lila who was now in front leading us as the doc came back
“would you be able to track down the chip” she was calmer than earlier but still urgent
“probably not it was covered in sand” said Cool but that's not something she would accept
“well we aren't going back without it and since you're the leader he-” Cool cut her off
“im not the leader here mam I just work with the caravan” he said dumbly
“well I don't care we need that chip or the Moonrise will die, and your the only ponies who seem to now anything about it” by her wording I came to the conclusion that Moonrise was the name of some settlement
“well the chip is in a mole rat den not to far from here then just a few hours of walking is all” said Three i guess he being a zebra has mapping or tracking skills
“Can your show me where on you pit bug map” asked the mare to Lila revealing her own pit bug that i'm just to blind to notice sooner
“I just got this I don't know how to use it really”said Lila a tad embarrassed she kept talking as the doctor came over and started inspecting it
“I accidentally stuck it on and now I cant get it off”
“Well most notably it doesn't have the s.a.t.s. module installed and you’ll need a master key to unlock it, witch are very rare i'm not even sure if we have one back in Moonrise” theirs that town again i have a feeling we're gonna end up heading there soon
“well it seems pretty useful so I wasn't planning on removing it any time soon“ Lila was right it did seem pretty useful minis the whole random broadcast every day so far
“The wagon will be here in around twenty minutes so be finishing up anything crucial” said Glow Sticks in her usual tired of this shit tone
After all the pleasantries we're finished we started our wait
Footnote quest perk? do to unforeseen events you now gain the Dark mare perk witch is exactly like Black Stallion but now you do more damage to mares and have more dialog options for them you didn't actually level up better luck next time
Our wait wasn't to very long or maybe the time just flew by while I was exploring, Celestia knows which is right.
I went to inspect one of the factory's buildings on this side but was stopped by an approaching guard.
“Hey uh, sir, I don't think you gonna find much in there may be some small arms or something but we already took anything of worth” the sir comment took me a minute before I remembered what had happened with the enclave officer and his... Gift. it must've shown through the suit
“Yeah well there's always a chance I'll find something of use, “ I said with a smile before remembering the fact that I had a helmet on. That’s gonna take some getting used too.
“Oh well suit yourself” at that I headed in, nothing the walls were lined with beds and boxes mostly, I didn't pay no mind to either of which instead I walked down the hall coming up to a door.
a bathroom, it was small like most but it had a cabinet above the toilet and a first aid kit by the door marked with a red cross overlapped with butterflies the cutimark of the ministry of peace's hed mare, Fluttershy
Inside said kit I found three bottles of what I think is medical alcohol for disinfecting wounds and what not besides that there were some bandages and two healing salves one in the aid box the other in the cabinet.
Exciting the dingy space I rounded the corner further through the building into an armory of sorts.
“Interesting this must be the guardhouse” I found it funny seeing as they have robot guards and all military hardware, rifles, and pistols were strewn about everywhere as well as a few boxes I quickly realized this was probably caused when the scavengers looted the place.
Scrounging around for a bit I found an armor repair kit, some hacker type tools, and pulse pistol it must have been left by the scavengers besides that there was a door in the back.
Poking my head out I looked right to face a fence and left to see the gator coming around the corner followed by the guard's plasma pistols ready and then my companions.
And to my front, a door to another building like the one I was in just not as long instead this one was around 10 feet taller around 40 feet instead.
Looking at the building's wall it had the same writing as the wall Area 69.
“ well while we wait we could poke our heads in see if theirs anything of value,” said Lila, I remember when she wouldn't even look at stuff in those ruins a few days ago
“Yes well I don't really feel like exploring I know a path and it's quicker then roaming around like a bunch of fools” for being a scavenger glow didn't seem interested in scavenging
Opening the door ahead of me I came face to face with more boxes and to my left some corridors
Heading down the east most corridor I somehow managed to trip over some boxes landing in a pile of them it would have been comedic if it was anyone but me, standing I discovered a box was stuck to my helmet
That incident was the only actually notable thing in this facility until I got to the end and ran to my companions.
They were in between my building and a second bigger one with double doors through which I saw something unsettling a tank almost as tall and as long was filled to the top with taint but not only that but it was cracking
Glow than spoke pulling me away from the sight “any minute now and they'll be here so move you plots” she didn't seem to even pay notice to the tank as she walked past
the guards had blasted a hole in the fence and were all walking out
“Uhm miss sticks did you not see that taint” good to now at least Lila was concerned with me
“Why yes I did these are the taint lands deer, I mean where do you think it all comes from” she had a point with all the lakes around there had to be some sort of source so it made sense
“well we need to do something about it” Lila gestured to the tank
“Humm another day there are more pressing matters at hoof currently” I swear glow sticks resolve was unshakable, she was a mare on a mission
It was around this time the carts arrived and we all left the compound we were all crammed in the first cart all the others in the second but Glow was on the crocodile with the rider I think she called him Gondy but I may be wrong
After about of mostly meaningless chatter such as the question from Cool
“So do you just not eat or sleep or anything oh and do your make the cloud or” I suspect he had never actually been with a ghoul of my variety for long if even ever so I obliged his questions the best I could
“I don't need anything you've listed but it helps and about the cloud, I don't have a fucking clue” of all the thing's about me that's one id never been able to figure out honestly id never really thought about it for long either
After about 50 minutes of chatter, we saw the radio tower off in the distance
“Will be stopping here for a brief look around,” said the driver I suspect we didn't have a choice on the matter
Upon arrival, we started looking around, something about figuring out an angle of approach so a few guards went with glow and three to the tower to get a better vantage while everyone else looted the already looted ruins
Soon after we made it to the burrows and faced our first issue
“No I ain't going down there” the others being glow and the crocodile had already started down the hole
“Babies, that's what you are the whole lot of you” I didn't expect her attempt to work and it didn't
Three tried to say something but he was immediately cut off “NO!” seeing that talking, well sort of insulting them wasn't working I instead tried to go for a fear factor
I went up to the one guard that had cut Three off and pulled the trump card
Raising my hooves up to the helmet I twisted it off with slight resistance from the seal and immediately after it was off I clasped it at my side and looked the fear-stricken stallion in the face
One of such guards ran and another pissed themselves while the one I was staring at decided to respond
“What in lunas name are you, fucking monster” he threw a soup can at me thankfully his I'm sucked not that the can would do any real damage to me
Heading down the winding staircase back into the caverns I slipped my helmet back on to keep from irradiating anyone
At about the time I reached the bottom of the stairs the wasteland struck
Mole rats, I hadn't but stepped off the stairs and two rats came leaping out of the shadows tackling me to the ground biting and scratching at me and the suit
Then the suit did something weird “damage sustained beginning repair sequence please stand by” the voice was feminine but robotic in nature
“environmental leakage resolved” that's good I think “warning you are in dire medical need you have advanced radiation sickness, you have an unknown toxin in your system, you have toxin pink cloud, little horn agent in your suit beginning immediate inoculation, you have…” it continued it's on slot as I was stabbed by what I believe was three different needles
The suit continued it's repeated onslaught of diagnosis with a pony in a rad suit on the screen getting highlighted each time with a different color corresponding with each diagnosis ending in it looking like a piece of abstract art
“please seek your nearest M.O.P location for confirmation and medical aid” it stopped after that seaming to think I was going to actually do what it said but I had more dire matters to attend too
Looking around there were tons of them, I couldn't tell how many and considering I was on the ground it didn't help things
“Rawr!” the crocodile cried out in pain probably from being gnawed into by mole rats and following its rawr energy beams started flying they were Pink and purple ones from those star-nosed rats wed fought before
Suddenly I felt a burning impact in my side one of those lasers hit me and triggered the same senseless alerts
Choosing not to focus on my suits blaring I instead started on the rats throwing them off with a roll and grabbing my scythe in one seamless motion so gravity would bring its head down on the rat and then rearing it up to strike the other as I stood but my consistent hits indeed with missing that one as Three started her own onslaught on a different rat
Looking back to my rats as Lila started an onslaught on the one I had missed
She let out a burst of what I think was five rounds only three hit not even fazing the beast until her second burst put a solid to hits in it
“Guy's I think it's about time to get going” Lila was right it was time to go I wasn't sure how long we could hold out
“Yeah I don't think we can last much longer,” said cool restating my thoughts
“ yeah we need to go” after hearing our suggestions Glow did something odd, she holstered her gun lifted a rat up with her telekinesis and thrust it onto an outshooting stalactite killing it
“Focus on the stronger ones these small fry won't pose many issues” in one move she had killed one and reinforced resolve with the rest of us it's no wonder she was the leader of their group
“Rumble” suddenly thing's started moving like something big was coming than the shaking grew more than twice as violent as monstrosities climbed from the earthy ground giant mole rats dwarfing the one wed fought before
Two of these beasts we're staring me down creating trails of drool as they forced their way threw the other star rats that blocked their path to me
And just like that the resolve that had been built up vanished “Retreat!” I was panicked there was no way we could kill those things and not lose someone or at least come close to it
Cool started running up the stairs at the word while the crocodile splattered the area with blood
My current plan was for everyone to get out and id release the pink cloud that had built up in my suit it had not fused everything together yet, miraculously
Everyone had started heading on the stairs while Cool sent ice down and froze the rats ahead of me making my plan much more plausible
And then shit hit the fan in a good and bad way
the guards from before finally decided to help and began flooded in followed by a bright luminescent of red and blue Lila had turned into a black flaming version of herself all of her mane and tail we're ablaze her eyes glowed white and soulless
It dragged the attention of everyone including the beast and the guards used that to there advantage they fired on my two decapitating one replace its head with a smoldering hole of magic green plasma
And I guess having seen its counterparts demise it got angry outright smacking me against the stairs starting the same announcements as earlier as I passed out, only having a haze to go off of, faint and minor like a voice a thousand lightyears away, I slept
I was in a town it was admittedly bland and boring I don't even know the name of it just that it sucked
I was wearing my usual attire a robe mask and scythe, the town was really big so I couldn't get threw all of it instead I settled for a small inn sort of midway threw town
it's been a few years since the incident but I'm still being hunted evidently they didn't take too kindly to me killing most their slavers and subsequent slaves even if it was accidental
The town was pretty empty or maybe I just ignored everypony I can't remember
I had sat down for a drink in one of the town's bars and was getting a drink when low and behold shit happens
I don't remember what words I exchanged actually I don't remember much of any of that just that someone came in and somehow we ended up on the street
Needless to say, he shot me a lot and I cut his head off but here's how it went
“Alright take *static* steeps away and then you'll turn and fight” he was loud like an announcer pony I think he was green but I don't now
We did as he said taking steps than before I turned around he shot
Needless to say, I was fine and this surprised him as well as all of our onlookers, I turned around drew the scythe and charged I new how much ammo was left in his gun
The rules we're one bullet only but he had slipped another few in before we started these few are the ones that he logged into my chest before I put my scythe threw his skull
Upon waking up I noticed just how much cloud had filled my suit my glowing eyes reflect at my face in the mist showing in full glory my face
Glow had been critically injured in the combat same as the crocodile, Lila was with the guards helping Glow while Danti I think is his name was tending to his crocodile mount
Lila was no longer on fire, admittedly I was interested in what had happened to her but she didn't pry on my disposition so I won't pry either
After Glow had recovered Lila started on the crocodile while Glow intimidated the guards, well “intimidated is the nice way of putting it”
“Do you not understand that you would be executed if anything were to happen to me” she proceeded to smack one up the side of his head “pay attention” she was a very loud very stalyingrading mare
It was around now that Cool officially reached the bottom of the stairs and joined us
“she's worse than my mother” that comment wonder how Three was raised but not much more
“she seems to be speaking germane… I think” I mean it made since germane accent, languish I don't understand, she's very angry
Glow went behind her guards further in followed by Lila
Three was doing some zebra, shaman, alchemy shit honestly I never wrapped my head around all of that Cool was also helping out and Lila gave her some empty bottles
It was honestly pretty boring so I followed after the others
Evidently, some ants had found this place and started a turf war between the two creatures I inferred this from the various piles of dead ants and rats strewn about the path to the caravan
They were in the original place where we woke up and they had pulled bodies out of the walls and uncovered most of the buried supplies
Amongst said uncovered supplies I didn't find much of use until I stumbled upon some sort of rad suit kit thingy
It was an out piece that I affixed to my left breast piece triggering another notification
“Exterior modification equipped skin-tight seal. Beginning activation” let's just say that was an odd semi uncomfortable yet pleasurable feeling despite that and the blushing it had ensued I powered through trying to ignore it
One of the guards found the chip and handed it off to Glow and Lila before heading out. Lilas face when holding the chip was that of both disgust and confusion
they secured the chip securely in a reinforced container strapped onto the first
“Hey uh glow I have a question” what was Three on about I wondered
“Yes what is it” she spoke with minor urgency “do you have any clue what this is” Three was pointing at some swirly rune on the ground it kinda looked like a 6 if I'm honest wagon what's your plan three asked “well after careful thought I don't have a clue, it's certainly not any raider gang I know of
“Well ok what about tunnels, under area 69” this question seamed much simpler for her
“Oh the tunnels why yes they make up much of the underground of the taint lands ”sigh” we've lost many ponies trying to go down there Vocadel can tell you more he's back in 202 just don't do anything stupid
“202? What's that” said Three simply not understanding the concept of what I believe are stables
After a brief face hoof Glow responded “sigh” she muttered under her breath before responding “imagine like a really big house built underground” well that confirms my stable suspicions That's where we're going to be heading and as I said you're free to come along, it's in a town not far from here called moonrise Amargosa It's up north
“I wouldn't mind that,” said Lila
“Agreed it should give us some time to relax and lick our wounds” Cool had a point mostly when referring to himself and the others but I wouldn't mind a little less action
“Well there's no harm in it,” I said before Three talked to us more directly explaining he visions
“Well I don't think my guns can handle more chaos like this especially not if we charge the epicenter, it's like going into ground zero naked”
“I'm also not so sure we should go poking around there for a while last time we did we created a giant forest,” said Three. Personally, I'm still not sure about the whole tree situation either
“I think we should go restock on supplies and go from there and.., glow we're getting paid right” I hadn't even thought about payment and the question of whether we'd get it until Lila mentioned it, something I really should have asked earlier
“Well yes I'd assume since you are all that's technically left of the caravan even if you weren't exactly delivering it” that was reassuring at least
“Now we should be heading out I'll answer any questions your have while we travel” that made sense, it was killing two birds with one grenade
We all loaded into our caravans Glow had got in our cart and we left
“So Glow any clue where that chip is from” that seemed like a weird question but Three can ask what he wants
“Nope, sorry but I can't help you there all I know is that the league had an available chip to trade for and so we hopped on it
“Alright well how much is it worth” that got a glare from me and Glow but she answered
“Well it ultimately depends whos buying for instance stables are in much dire need for one when it breaks and thus it costs more than say a water chip in a purification plant,” I thought about it for a minute cause to me it didn't seem right, it was but still
This could have gone smoother but I'll take what I got
“If the guards hadn't wimped out it could have been much easier” that's true they just wanted to be lazy it seemed but us insulting them and scaring them shitless probably didn't help matters
“Personally I'd like to see them punished, if they hadn't come in at that last minute I'm not sure all of us would be here right now” Cool was right if they hadn't come in Glow, Lila, and Danti (the crocodile rider) probably wouldn't have survived I'm not sure about the others tho
“No they should not get punished well, at least not severely that is” especially since we contributed to them not coming in
Well if that's all settled miss Glow can I take a look at you maybe give you a touch-up, medically speaking that is
Dead I've been running for three days straight through raiders and molerats on nothing but coffee I think I'll be fine a bit longer
“Alright just don't die I don't think bringing back your corpse would make us look very indearing” that got a slight chuckle out of Glow
“Yeah I don't think it would” at least the mood had lightened to bad that there were still some questions that needed to be asked specifically about the Enclave
“Alright I guess it's time for me to ask a question I think I know the answer too, why did a bunch of Enclave pegasi attack us at that facility” Glow let out a heavy sigh
“The enclave we've been fighting those winged fucks for years. As for why they attacked your guy’s, well your did create a giant forest” as stated I expected that
“Ok how did we create a forest that just doesn't make sense,” said Cool almost mimicking most opinions on that situation, none of it made since
“Well I don't know I was just on my way to get a water chip when our caravan woke up surrounded by flora and trees and seeing as your we're at its epicenter you did something” I can't argue with her logic
“Well yes but… we haven't done anything” Three was also right all we've done since waking up is turn off robots, fight enclave, and be confused about a forest it's been an eventful three days that's for sure
While we were talking our travels led us past the taint lands and it's subsequently new forest it was spread far and wide fauna just kept showing up everywhere we went eventually we reached a small city more akin to a town there was some sort of silver tower in the distance of the town probably some pre-war landmark or something
our carts meandered through buildings and ally ways seemingly trying to avoid any open spaces but I couldn't think of a reason why
Most buildings we're sort of small corporate offices as best as I could infer kinda like really short skyscrapers
After about twenty minutes of this we eventually entered one such building heading deeper in it was dark and cold it felt like a grave damned by the princesses and we were trotting right in, right in to face the long rusted soules steel door of stable 202
Footnote you didn't level up and won't get experience from murdering shit anymore there must be a story +500 exp