Fic Cancellation #4

A while ago, I came up with plans for a Fallout Equestria story, but I never got around to writing it and probably never will, so I'll just post what I came up with here.

Prologue

“Home is now behind you, the world is ahead.”

Grey.

Mareland is Lightning’s hometown, and where the story begins. At the start, Lightning is on guard duty, when she’s suddenly visited by her mom. Her mom is an earth pony, while she’s a pegasus, and her dad’s a unicorn. Her mom wears her mane in a ponytail, which Lightning loves about her. Lightning is also said to look a lot like her mother, while she has her father’s eyes. The two of them talk, her mother says how much she loves her, and gives her a Fluttershy statuette, which is a family heirloom. She then tells Lightning that she should take a break and rest, which she reluctantly agrees to. While she’s resting, and reading an issue of Zebra Infiltration Tactics, the town is attacked by Red Eye’s slavers. Most of the inhabitants are either killed or captured. Her mother is among the ponies that have been captured, and Lighting and her father are supposed to be captured as well; however, her father fights so hard against them that they end up killing him. Lightning sees this and becomes so mad that she instantly kills the one who killed him. If you were expecting a mission of revenge against the pony who killed my father, you’re wrong. As the fight continues, and most of the slavers have pulled back, Lightning’s wing is injured and she crashes to the ground. As the two remaining slavers are talking about Red Eye, Cipher and Paradise Hills, one of them is shot in the head and killed, and before the other can turn around and react, he’s shot in the leg and he falls down. Blitz reveals himself, with a sniper rifle, as he and Lightning are the only ones left. He forces the slaver to tell him where the others were taken, while holding him at gunpoint. After telling him where they went, he cocks his gun getting ready to shoot him. The slaver starts panicking and says that he told him he’d spare him if he talked. Blitz replies, “It’s funny that you remember me saying that.” BLAM! “Because I don’t.” “You know you can’t really taunt the dead?” “No, but he got the message.” He then helps Lightning up. Since they don’t have anything left, Lightning says that they’re going after the slavers and rescuing everyone. Blitz agrees, but says that they have to find a doctor to fix her wing first. Before they leave, she first wants to bury everyone. Giving her home one last look, she steps out into the Trottingham wasteland and their adventure begins.

Footnote:

Lightning

Special:

Strength: 2

Perception: 6

Endurance: 3

Charisma: 2

Intelligence: 3

Agility: 8

Luck: 4

Chapter 1

“You can always depend on the kindness of strangers.”

As they’re traveling along, noting that she would kill for a Sunrise Sarsaparilla, they notice the wreckage of a destroyed caravan in the middle of the road. When they investigate, they find an earth pony mare still alive, but barely, noting that only someone with her kind of perception would notice it.

---

“Her coat was pink like my own, but while hers was perhaps more battered down by the storms of the wasteland, it still wasn’t as dark. Her mane was curled along the edges and white - pure white. The kind of white that you would see in memories of the old world, not in the wasteland we now lived in.”

---

She asks Blitz how many healing potions they have, to which he replies two. She then asks for one and she pours it down the mare’s throat. She remains unconscious, but briefly mentions that her name is Dawn. She passes out again, but she’s in a much more stable condition. Lightning decides to take her with them, saying they need to get her some help. Blitz makes a quip about how he’s surprised by her generosity, but she just replies sarcastically, “Just for that, you’re carrying her.” He then puts her on his back and they continue on their way. A bit later, they spot a small raider hideout. Blitz suggests taking it out, but Lightning states, despite how much she hates raiders, and would usually be the first to suggest taking them out, she says that right now, they’re too weak and in no shape to do this and succeed. After some coaxing and reassurance from Blitz, see relents. She says for him to stay here with Dawn and give her some cover fire from afar, while she sneaks closer. When she’s close to the building the raiders have established themselves in, Lightning takes out a few, while Blitz also kills a few for her. When she gets inside, she does some looting and finds some of the regular things; small amount of caps, ammunition for weapons she doesn’t have, and a tablet of Buck. She also finds a memory orb. She also finds a terminal, but she’s unable to hack it. This is important later, far off in the future. As she proceeds in further, she finds six ponies who have been captured. The lock on the cage is rusty, so she shoots it off. This gets the cage open, but it also alerts the rest of the raiders. As the raiders approach her position, she shows the captive ponies to the exit and runs after them, while the raiders behind her are shooting at her. Once she’s outside, she jumps for it. The raiders are about to kill her, but then a sprite-bot shows up and vaporizes both of them. Lightning breathes a sigh of relief, giving a prayer to Celestia and Luna above. She then turns to the sprite-bot and says thanks, but is surprised when it responds. While she’s confused, she can hear the sprite-bot muttering, “First Littlepip, then Blackjack, and now her. What is it with me running into mares running away from raiders lately?” After that bit of awkwardness is cleared up, they both introduce themselves. Lightning asks if he knows where there’s a doctor around nearby, Watcher tells her that the town of Clinic is close by. After he leaves, the six ponies that she freed approach and thank her for her help. She says her own thanks and then asks if they want to come with her, since she knows where to go now; however, they just tell her that they’ll be fine on their own now. They offer her some supplies that they held on to, but she tells them to keep them, since they’ll need them more. When the group thank her, they call her a hero, but she just replies with:

---

Hero. No, I’m not a hero. Hero’s all live by this

So in conclusion, I’m not a hero; because I’m smart enough to not want to be one.

---

After the six of them head off, she regroups with Blitz, telling him where they should go, and then a moment later she mentally slaps herself, since she could have had them take Dawn with them. Shrugging it off, the three of them continue on their way to Clinic. When Lightning, Blitz, and Dawn first arrive, once she steps into town, she immediately walks into a huge tortoise’s shell. The locals tell her that a few decades ago, he flew into town. Confused by what they meant by flew, he tells her that it used to have a strange contraption that allowed it to fly. However, he’s become so big now, that he can’t fly anymore and can barely walk. However, he’s still a valued member of the town, and they use him as a barricade by the front entrance, which is where Lighting bumped into him, to protect them further from attacks. Lightning agrees on his huge size, comparing him to a tank. Turning back to the pony, she asks him about a doctor to treat her injured wing. He tells her to head to the town’s clinic and look for Angel. When she asks him who Angel is, he responds by telling her to just show herself to her and she’ll know. As she leaves, she turns to the tortoise and says, “Goodbye… err, Tank.” When she enters the clinic, she sees a unicorn mare in a white doctor’s coat. When she talks to her, she is busy at the moment and asks her to just say what’s wrong, without looking at her, concentrating on another patient. When Lighting mentions her damaged wing, Angel immediately turns around to see that she’s a pegasus. Not having an opportunity to treat many pegasi, she hushes her and the other two into a nearby room. When she enters the room, they hear a DJ Pon-3 broadcast about the stable dweller’s apparent death in the canyon after the attack on New Appleloosa, followed by a quick shout out about Lightning’s rescuing from the raiders, with DJ Pon-3 giving her far too much credit.

---

"...been warning everypony for some time now to steer clear of Appleloosa. Well, seems like the Stable Dweller either didn't get the message, or chose to ignore it. I've gotten confirmed reports that the little gal marched into Appleloosa, and brought hell on her hooves. Freed over a dozen slaves, many of them foals. I'm happy to report that they're safe and sound. But there's a bitter note to this song. When a small army of slavers tried to take their captives back, our heroine of the wasteland sacrificed herself making sure everypony got away safe. So this next song goes out to you, Stable Dweller. May Celestia and Luna wrap you in Their tails..."

…but first, in other news, word from Trottingham is that a raider nest has been cleared out recently. According to eye witness reports, a pegasus came running in, guns blazing, took out every raider in that place, and managed to rescue no less than six hostages. My heart goes out to you, pegasus. Keep up the good fight.

And now, to end things on the lighter side, if any of you plan to make your way out to Trottingham any time soon, be sure to check in at Goodsprings; the self-proclaimed ‘Nicest Town in the Wasteland’. They’ll be sure to set you up with a hot meal, a warm place to sleep, and a fair price on just about anything you could need. Just don’t go looking to cause trouble where it’s not welcome.

And now, here’s some Sapphire Shores to keep you company while we pay some bills. And as always, this has been your friend, DJ Pon-3; bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.”

---

Angel turns off the radio, and then asks Lightning if that was her. She confirms it, but says that between Blitz and Watcher, she barely did anything. Angel responds that that’s just the way things work in the wasteland, and that she doesn’t get to decide if she’s a hero or not. “Now that DJ Pon-3 has said it, it must be true.” After giving her a quick medical evaluation, she sees that in addition to her injured wing, she also has a bruised rib, and her radiation count is really high. She mentions that Trottingham has much higher levels of background radiation and that you have to treat it every so often. She also turns to Blitz and Dawn and says it’s probably the same for them. She says that the auto-docs can treat them, but they only have two available, and they’re also running low on med-x for the operations. Lightning notices that they have a recollector, but Angel then says that they only have one memory orb handy. Lightning then says that Blitz is a unicorn, and that they have another memory orb with them. Angel then puts them both on an exam table and connects them to an Auto-Doc. She gives Blitz the clinic’s memory orb, and gives Lightning the recollector and she uses the memory orb that she found in the raider nest. Entering the memory, she works out that it’s a male pegasus, from the other times that she’s used a memory orb. It’s actually Pound Cake on one of his first days in the army. He’s rushing all over his room, looking for his helmet, saying that he can’t be late or the captain would kill him. He finds his helmet under his bed, along with a picture of his family, and smiles at it. He then puts on his helmet and quickly flies out of the room. When he arrives in the main hall, he gets chewed out by Flash Sentry for being late. He asks him if he lost his helmet again, but Pound nervously says that he just temporarily misplaced it. Flash simply laughs and tells him that that’s what lost means. He then gives him his orders about his next mission. When Lightning comes out of the memory, she notes that Blitz is still in his, and both Dawn and Angel are missing. She then hears the two of them in another room, using her heighted perception. She hears Angel telling Dawn that she knows her secret.

“I know you’re a changeling.”

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Rapid Reload – All of your weapon reloads are 25% faster than normal.

Chapter 2

“She's a changeling. She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them.”

Angel explains that changelings are immune to radiation and that Dawn’s radiation count is at zero, which is impossible for any pony in the Trottingham wasteland. She says that she could reveal her to everyone else, but that she won’t if she does something for her. There’s an area nearby that they can’t scavenge from because the radiation is too high. She says that if she goes there and brings back everything she can find, then she’ll keep quiet. Without any objections, Dawn agrees. When Angel re-enters the room, Lightning pretends that she’s only just waking up. Awkwardly trying to keep the conversation going, Lightning mentions that it was Red Eye’s slavers that attacked Mareland. Angel isn’t surprised by this, saying that these days, Red Eye controls everything between Manehatten and the Divide. Lightning tells her that they should also be prepared in case they decide to attack Clinic. Angel, however, tells her that there’s nothing to worry about, and that this is one of the oldest settlements in Trottingham, and that they’ve survived for a long time. After a moment of awkward silence, Lightning tries to break it by asking how much this procedure would cost. Once she’s outside again, Lightning talks to herself about the pros and cons of wearing barding; that it provides more protection, but also slows her down. She also says that it’s a moot point now, since after that medical procedure, they’ve broke even and they can’t afford any barding anyway. She then looks to her side, to see an earth pony colt looking at her in wonder. He mentions that he’s never seen a pony with wings before, and how awesome it must be to fly. He then asks her if she can fly him up into the sky for a moment. When she politely refuses, he starts pleading with her, saying that he’ll give her his life savings of twelve caps. With a short sigh, she says he can keep his caps. She then grabs hold of him and flies him several feet in the air, above the town. After a moment, she flies back down and lets go of him. He says that that was so awesome and then offers her the caps. She tells him to keep them, but he just puts them on the ground in front of her and walks away. Reluctantly, she takes the caps and walks over to the merchant. She asks him what she can get with twelve caps. He says either a sparkle cola or a bobby pin. She asks him if he has any Sunrise, but he says that he doesn’t. After a quick sigh, she thinks back to her mother and how much she loved her manestyle. She then buys the bobby pin and puts it in her mane, tying it back in a ponytail, just like her mom’s. She’s then approached by Clover; a Crystal Pony. “Okay, I’ve seen bloodthirsty raiders, walking corpses, and literal Goddesses, but shiny ponies is where I draw the line.” He gives her back the caps they paid for Dawn’s treatment, saying that with the condition she was in when they brought her in, it wouldn’t feel right charging them. He says that doctors help ponies for the purpose of helping them, not for money, and if they already had enough caps to keep the clinic stocked, then there’d be no point to taking these caps. He then flashes her the most friendly smile he’s ever seen, and considers him to be the nicest pony she’s ever met. When he leaves again, she wonders how he did that. After Blitz wakes up, she regroups with him in the clinic. Dawn has also returned from her mission, and gives Angel everything she could find. Blitz is at this point the only one of the four that doesn’t know that Dawn is a changeling. Dawn doesn’t in anyway act angry at Angel for essentially blackmailing her and threatening her life. The fact that she isn’t upset weighs heavily on the unicorn mare, since she has always tried to be a good pony and help everyone. When Lightning and Blitz explain their plan to go to Paradise Hills to take on the slavers, Dawn asks if she can travel with them at least until they get close to her home town. Her trading caravan was attacked, and she wants to get back home and see her family again, and that it’s so far away, she might not make it on her own. The two of them agree to let her accompany them. Angel says their plan is suicidal; however, Lightning tells them that they’re still going through with it, since they have nothing else to lose. Angel calls them stupid for this and says that they’ll need a doctor to go with them, since they obviously don’t know enough about surviving the dangers of the Trottingham wasteland. This is really under the guise of making it up to Dawn for how she treated her. The group is at first hesitant, but eventually decide to let her come with them. Angel then puts Clover in charge of the clinic as head doctor. The four of them then head off and continue with their adventure.

After leaving Clinic, the four of them start travelling together. Blitz, Dawn, and Angel all walk along, with Lightning flying above them, acting as a scout. While walking, Blitz tries to make small talk with Angel, to learn more about her. She initially brushes it off by saying that she’s boring, but when he tells her that he asked because he’s interested, she relents. She tells them how she’s originally from a place far away. She had a pretty sheltered life, and growing up, she disliked conflict of any kind and spent her time learning how to use her brain and being nice instead, which is why she’s so weak. When she got older, she left with a friend of hers and started travelling the wasteland. Eventually, she parted ways with her friend and went off on her own, and eventually made her way to Clinic and became the doctor. She then says, “You’re probably wondering why some lucky mare hasn’t swept me off my feet yet. Like I said, I’m boring.” When they spot the MAS Hub in the distance, Angel tells them all what’s known about it and how it’s one of the highest irradiated and most infamous areas in the wasteland.

There’s an old military barracks that Lightning and the group take refuge in to hide from a slaver attack. The barracks contains what used to be Pound Cake’s office during the war. While the group is travelling in the wasteland, Lighting spots a group of slavers coming towards them. They retreat to the nearby barracks for cover, while still firing at the oncoming slavers. The front door is initially locked, but Dawn is able to pick the lock. When they enter the building, Blitz says that he’ll stay there, and for Lighting to find a top floor, fly around and attack them from the other side, pinning them from both sides. Lightning, Angel and Dawn run upstairs, looking for a window to fly out of. Angel eventually finds Pound’s office, seeing that it has an electronic lock on it, and that if she can hack into the terminal on the desk, they can protect themselves from the slavers. While Angel works on the terminal, Lightning finds a wall safe, deciding to stick with them until the door is locked. She asks Dawn if she could try her hoof at the safe, but she instead gives Lightning a few bobby pins, and says she should give it a try. Three broken bobby pins later, she gets it open. Dawn tells her that since she opened it, everything inside it is hers. She finds a laser pistol (Pew Pew) that she originally doesn’t recognise, inspecting it closely. Dawn pulls it away from her face, telling her it’s a laser pistol, “As in, aim away from face”. Lightning asks her if she wants it, but after she says that she doesn’t, she just pockets it. She also finds a Pinkie Pie statuette and a memory orb. After that, Angel successfully hacks the terminal and seals the door. Lightning then makes her way over to the window, opens it, flies out, and assists Blitz in dealing with the slavers. After the slavers are dealt with, they decide to rest in the barracks for the night.

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Moving Target – You now get +50 Damage Resistance and +50 Energy Resistance when you're sprinting.

Chapter 3

“The power of one man doesn't amount to much, But however little strength I'm capable of... I'll do everything equinely possible to protect the people I love, And in turn they'll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we little ponies can do for each other.”

After Lightning and the group leave the old barracks, as they’re making their way along, Lightning quickly picks up on a grenade being launched at her, and avoids it just in time. She turns around and sees a Steel Ranger there. The others retreat behind cover, while Lightning moves and attacks in the air. Lightning gives Angel the laser pistol that she found, who doesn’t like using weapons, being unskilled in using them, and thus, defenceless; but Lightning tells her that she has to have some way to defend herself, and that she’s smart enough to know how to operate it. When Angel says that she doesn’t like killing, Lightning just tells her to shoot to wound then. She then flies back into the sky. All of her attacks bounce off his armor, however, since she doesn’t have any armor piercing rounds. She then sees another Steel Ranger approaching and looks worried. However, when they arrive, they whack the first on his head. When he tries to claim that they came too close to their bunker, she counters by saying that if she wanted them dead, she would have seen them and taken them out before they even noticed her. Here, their names are revealed as Knight Havoc and Paladin Hawkeye. Havoc uses high explosives, and Hawkeye uses a Gauss Rifle. Hawkeye then asks them to accompany them back to their bunker. The group is initially hesitant, but Angel talks them into it by saying that it would be a good chance to get a first-hand look at the Steel Ranger’s technology, even if only for an instant. The two Steel Rangers then lead them back to the bunker, telling them that the Star Paladin wants to see them. Confused, Lightning asks how the Star Paladin knows them, but Hawkeye corrects her by saying that they really just need a pegasus to help them, which they found out about from DJ-Pon3’s broadcast. When they meet with Mustang, he explains how the Enclave has become more aggressive in their attacks lately, and says that while the Steel Rangers are holding out well against them, the fact that the Enclave has complete air superiority is a big disadvantage against them. He knows that the Enclave will be making a big move soon, and he wants to be prepared. He explains that he needs a pegasus’ help to sneak into an Enclave base and steal plans for a Vertibuck. They already have the necessary tools, but need blueprints for how to make one. He explains further that they captured an Enclave soldier a few weeks ago and tried to get them to side with them, but they refused and they killed them. Mustang says that they’ll give Lightning the Enclave soldier’s power armor and training with how to use it for the operation. When it’s brought up that the group is heading to Paradise Hills to fight Red Eye’s slavers and rescue their friends, he also offers to give them some energy weapons for the battle in exchange for their cooperation. Lightning asks Mustang for some time to discuss it with her team first. Hesitantly, he agrees, but tells them that until they give him an answer, they can’t leave. She asks what will happen if her answer is no, and he replies that in that case, they’re free to go, but also says that this is a rare opportunity and that she should take it. When the group is alone, Blitz and Dawn agree that she should do it, while Angel is against it. Lightning says that since majority rules, then she should do it, but Angel points out that she herself hasn’t given her answer. She agrees to do it, and later she and Mustang are talking, explaining the mission in more detail. He leads her down to the lower level, where they meet Havoc, who Mustang instructs to give her training in power armor. Once her training is finished and she’s suited up, they go topside. Right as she’s leaving, Mustang makes a quick quip to grab as many clouds as she can on the way back. She then starts flying up towards the cloud cover, taking note of the view as she flies higher. She can see the towers of Hoofington to the north. She then goes through the cloud cover.

When she’s up above the clouds, for the first time, she sees the sky and the Sun and the Moon. The place that she came up to is one of the Enclave’s bases. She is then immediately spotted by an Enclave officer. He asks for her name and she gives him the name of the pony whose armor she’s wearing. After a moment to check, he then tells her that she was supposed to have been back a week ago, and asks what took her so long. She tells him that her squad ran into a group of Steel Rangers and that she’s the only survivor. The officer eyes her for a moment, but then he accepts the excuse and tells her to get ready for the day. When Lightning asks if she can instead rest since she’s been gone for so long, the officer responds that she’s lucky that he’s even letting her go, and that if this was Neighvarro, she’d be killed instantly for been down there for so long. He then mentions how the Major will be visiting today to give a speech and that it has to go perfectly. Lightning is then lead off to the place where the speech will happen. When she’s there, another Enclave soldier starts talking to her while they’re waiting, and she’s friendly. Major Hurricane then finally arrives and gives his speech. After he’s done, the soldiers are told to go back to the barracks to sleep now. Lightning’s new friend leads her back there, and she realises that she can’t sneak out now since it will look too suspicious, so she takes off her armor and goes to sleep.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Intense Training – Your experiences traveling in the Wasteland have allowed you to add one to your Endurance.

Quest Perk added: Power Armor Training -- You have received the specialized training needed to move in any form of Power Armor.

Note: Your reputation with the Grand Pegasus Enclave is set to neutral whenever you are wearing a full set of Enclave Power Armor. However, your reputation with all surface communities is reduced by one.

Chapter 4

“Another glorious day in this pony’s army!”

When Lightning wakes up, she’s forced to go along on a normal Enclave pegasus’ day of work. During the day, she’s paired with her new friend, and from her, she learns a lot about the Enclave, and how not all pegasi agree with their policies, and don’t know everything about the wasteland. When she finally manages to slip away, she starts searching the base for the Vertibuck schematics. After Lightning successfully retrieves the Vertibuck schematics, she then wonders how she’s going to sneak out of her without being caught. After a moment, she looks down and realises that she can just fly through the clouds. When she gets back, she hands Mustang the Vertibuck schematics, to which he is impressed. He makes good on his promise and gives them some energy weapons, and he lets her keep the Enclave power armor as well. Blitz refuses any energy weapons, preferring to keep with his sniper rifle. Dawn and Angel likewise decide to refuse any weapons, so instead, the Steel Rangers upgrade the laser pistol that the group found earlier. Lightning, being the only one to actually receive any new weapons, goes with Hawkeye, who explains the different types of energy weapons to her, and Lightning decides on a plasma rifle and a laser rifle. While Hawkeye is installing them into her power armor, she mentions that the armor originally had novasurge rifles when they first captured the soldiers, but tells her that they’re keeping them, since they’re post-war tech. While the Star Paladin has also allowed them to rest at the bunker for the rest of the night, Lightning sees a recollector and asks if she can use it. The Paladin agrees, and Lightning uses it to view the memory orb that she got from the old army barracks in Pound’s wall safe. The memory is from Flash’s perspective, as he escorts Sunset Shimmer to her meeting with Shining Armor at the Crystal Empire. After she’s come out of the memory, and Hawkeye is finished installing the weapons into her power armor, Lightning awkwardly asks if she can request one more little thing; and has her cutie mark carved into both of her new energy weapons. She then tries to come up with a name for her two new weapons. Mustang then allows the group to all rest for the night, and they leave the bunker the next day and proceed on towards Paradise Hills, passing through Goodsprings first. As the group is travelling along, they begin walking up a hill, with Goodsprings on the other side. They’re all excited to get there, with Lightning saying, “Mares and gentlecolts. Welcome to Goodspri… Oh, no.” And when she looks again at the sight in front of her, Goodsprings is in flames.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Teacher Tazzer -- You only use half as much ammo, and half as much durability when firing laser energy weapons. This does not apply to plasma weapons.

Chapter 5

“Run, Goodsprings! Run!”

When they arrive, all of the inhabitants have either been captured or killed, but there are a few slavers left. Lightning speeds off ahead to fight them first. Instead of fighting like she usually does, this time she just stays where she is in the air, firing down at them, while all of the slaver’s attacks bouncing harmlessly off her new power armor, while she easily defeats them all. She then goes on about how amazing her new armor is. After the slavers are dealt with, the team investigates the town for any survivors. Lightning hears a rustle from a nearby piece of rubble. When she gets closer, she pokes her head in and someone shoots at her. The bullet simply bounces off her helmet, but it still causes her to pull her head back. When she kicks the rubble aside and slips into SATS, she sees a terrified unicorn filly, with a 10mm pistol in her levitation field. Snowbelle was the only survivor, so the team decides to take her with them, so that they can find her a new home.