• Published 12th Jul 2013
  • 1,883 Views, 33 Comments

Fallout Equestria: A Child's Hope - RLYoshi



They say that every cloud has a silver lining. And in Cobalt Blue’s mind, that silver lining is all that matters...even when the cloud is the Horseshoe Wasteland.

  • ...
2
 33
 1,883

Chapter 7

Author's Note:

Alright, so here's the thing. This story is back up and running again, but I need to explain some things first.

When I started writing this, I had no Fallout knowledge beyond Fallout: Equestria and about five minutes of Fallout 3. In my hiatus, I've beaten Fallout 3 and started New Vegas, so I have significantly more knowledge on how it all works now. In addition, I didn't want to be forced to use the same locations and events as in the original Fallout: Equestria. These two have caused me to make changes to the story.

If you re-read the earlier chapters, you may notice some changes. I've added quests, just for the fun of it, and I've changed the names of places. The Equestrian Wasteland is now the Horseshoe Wasteland (different place entirely, not just the same place with a new name), and New Appleloosa has been replaced with Sunsettlement. Other small tweaks have been made as well, and in the future of this story, I will be doing it "properly", using unique locations and characters and events while staying true to Fallout 3/New Vegas ideas. Starting with this chapter.

Now, we return you to your regularly scheduled shenanigans.

“Bloatsprites are a lot like parasprites I read about in stories, but they’re a lot more...mutated.

“I say this because bloatsprites are kind of stuck on my mind right now. Given that Gentle and I have shot about fifty of them today, I hope that’s justified.

“...okay, it was mostly Gentle. My toy gun doesn’t do a whole lot...

“Lackluster was supposed to only be two or three days away on hoof, but it’ll probably end up being a little longer than that. I’m not exactly a fast walker, and plus, we may have gotten a little distracted by the remains of an old town.

“There was only one building in the town that was still really standing, and that was the hospital. Every other house or store was empty and missing at least half of its...um...

“Foundation?

“Yeah, that. Every one of them was missing a few walls, and none of them had a roof anymore. I don’t know how the hospital survived...then again, it wasn’t exactly empty...


Cobalt’s PipBuck labelled the town as Winterstar, and Gentle suggested dropping by to scavenge some supplies if possible. Of course, all the torn-apart places were almost entirely bare of anything they could use. There was a half-full bottle of water that seemed to contain trace amounts of radiation, barely a hoofful of caps, and a few old cans that were too dirty to even use as storage. They only picked the caps up, leaving everything else.

The hospital was the one place they didn’t check out immediately upon seeing it, and that was because as soon as they got close, bullets were fired in their direction and forced them to retreat. Luckily, whoever or whatever was shooting didn’t care to follow them.

“Whoever’s there must not be a raider,” Gentle said quietly after they had retreated to cover. “Probably just a pony or few trying to protect something.”

Cobalt tilted his head. “Like a treasure?”

“It’s a hospital, so probably not.” The mare allowed a small laugh. “Maybe they just like where they’re staying.”

“So...they’re normal ponies like us?”

Somehow, Gentle had a feeling this was going somewhere she didn’t like. “Probably...why?”

Cobalt smiled obliviously. “We can talk to them!”

“...Coby, they were just shooting at us.”

“And if we tell them we’re not bad guys, they won’t shoot anymore, right?”

Gentle sighed. “Not necessarily. I highly doubt they’d believe us, especially since we’re carrying weapons. Besides, what would we do after we told them we weren’t hostile?”

He shrugged. Obviously he hadn’t thought that far. “At least they won’t shoot at us when we try to leave.”

He had a point. The light blue mare wouldn’t say it out loud, but he had a point. She took a moment to think. “...stay here and guard our things. I’ll leave my weapons with you, and see if I can talk to them.”

Cobalt nodded and sat down on the ground as Gentle began shedding her equipment. Once it was all off, she began trotting out from behind cover.


Quest Added
THE INVINCIBLE INTANGIBLES
See what’s going on inside the Winterstar Hospital.


Once out from behind cover, Gentle took a look at the hospital. Nopony was immediately visible, meaning whoever was shooting at them was either hidden or had gone back inside. Deciding to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, she walked slowly towards the hospital, looking around constantly in case anything popped out.

Sure enough, out of nowhere, a pony holding a rifle of some sort poked his head and weapon out of a second-floor window, aiming down at the mare. However, rather than firing like she feared, he yelled to her.

“State your business here, leave, or get shot!” the stallion demanded.

Gentle looked up at the window. The stallion was green in colour, but she couldn’t tell anything else due to him being higher up than her and mostly obscured by an instrument of death.

“We’re just scavenging for supplies!” she called back. “We’re not here to cause any trouble!”

The stallion didn’t aim his gun anywhere else, but he didn’t fire either. “Bring out your friend!”

Gentle didn’t have to do anything. Cobalt heard the conversation and stepped out, no longer wearing his own saddlebags, having deposited them with his older companion’s. However, he didn’t stray more than a few feet from the rubble they had hidden behind, trying to keep their things in his peripheral vision so nothing happened.

“Got any weapons on you?” the stallion yelled.

The tail-less mare gulped as she tried to figure out how to word her reply. If she lied, they’d likely be shot as soon as the ponies in the hospital saw the guns. But if she said yes, they’d be in trouble just the same.

“...yes...b-but we won’t use them!” She quickly tried to dissuade the possibility of them shooting up the place.

She could’ve sworn she heard the stallion chuckle. “Not like I expected anypony to be out here without one.” He lowered the rifle, but was still holding onto it. “Grab your stuff and come on in. But make one threatening move and everypony in here will have a knife to your throat or a gun to your head.”

Gentle turned back to Cobalt and nodded. Getting the signal, he went back behind cover and donned his saddlebags, dragging Gentle’s out from behind cover as well. She went back to pick it up, and then the two trotted towards the hospital.


The stallion with the rifle - a hunting rifle, as Gentle discovered upon getting a proper look - was an earth pony with a light green coat and blue mane. He said his name was Stack; an ironic name considering his cutie mark was of building blocks falling apart. From what Gentle could gather, Stack was the leader of the ponies in the hospital, of which there were a surprising amount. It was like a little town inside a single five-story building.

“What are you all doing in here?” Cobalt asked.

Stack sighed. “All of us used to live all around Winterstar, but some assholes came in and started tearing the place up, setting fires and shooting at us.”

“Raiders?” Gentle asked, worried.

“Nah, not raiders. We’d be dead if they were raiders. It was just some explorers looking for a good time, and they got it through pyromania. Burned down the entire town except the hospital, and the only reason we saved that was because Break chased them off.”

“Break?”

“That’s what we call him. He’s a mechanic, and he built some sort of flamethrower a while back. When he realized what was going on, he decided to fight fire starters with fire, and they haven’t come back since.” He chuckled. “Practically had their tails between their legs.”

Gentle snickered. “So you all moved into the hospital for the time being?”

“Time being?” Stack shook his head. “We’re probably gonna be in here until we die or leave. No way we can fix up our old homes, and besides, we have all our supplies here. By sticking together, we can keep an eye out for anypony who’s trying to finish the job those assholes started.”

“And that’s why you shot at us?” the light blue mare asked. Stack shook his head. “Then why?”

He sighed. “For several years, we’ve been using Winterstar as sort of a rest point for travelers. We give them food and shelter, and if they need it, medical attention. In return, when they feel better, they run a trip for us. Either to some other settlement to pick up supplies, or to wherever they can find anything we can use. We don’t have any use for caps, since we never leave this place and don’t have stores of our own. But this made us a little too...naive. Even after most of the houses burned down, we continued to help travelers from the hospital itself. Until somepony...betrayed us.”

Cobalt tilted his head. “They attacked you?”

Stack shook his head. “Worse. They sold us out to the Intangibles.”

The young colt looked confused, but Gentle’s eyes widened. “Oh dear...”

“Um...who are-”

“The Intangibles are like raiders,” Stack began to explain, anticipating Cobalt’s question. “But whereas ‘raider’ is basically a catch-all term for anypony in the Wasteland who kills and tortures for fun, the Intangibles are a close-knit gang that roam the Wasteland to find caps and supplies and whatever they decide they want. But they don’t just scavenge like you two were doing. They overthrow entire towns, killing all the residents until they find what they want.”

Gentle nodded. “If they want to attack your town, the only way to make them go away is to bribe them, and they don’t go for cheap offers. Sunsettlement barely avoided conflict with them, and it left us starving for months.”

“They call themselves the Intangibles because they ‘go through anything and everything’. Kind of dumb, but nopony has the balls to walk up and tell them that. Or even go near them at all.” Stack shrugged. “But anyway, it was about a week ago when that traveler went and tipped off the Intangibles about Winterstar. We’ve been on our guard since.”

“How’d you know they were told?” Cobalt asked.

“Not everypony in the Intangibles sticks around. One of them ran away, and when she came across Winterstar, she told us that we were their next target. She’s still here, in fact.”

Gentle sighed. “I don’t know what to say. I’d offer to stick around and help protect you, but I don’t think two ponies would make much of a difference.”

“You’d be surprised. Besides, we’ve already prepared for when they arrive.” Stack grinned. “We’re all carrying at least two guns at all times, and we have armour available at short notice. Grenades are stored in boxes right by the windows. And best of all, Break’s upgrading the flamethrower to something extra special. Those guys won’t even make it through the front door.”

“They aren’t feared throughout the Horseshoe Wasteland because they fall for traps,” the mare pointed out. “They’ll overrun you before you know it. They’ll come at the hospital from all sides, bring snipers to take down the ponies in the windows, have upgraded weapons of their own...”

Stack’s grin faded and he sighed. “Probably. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let anypony else here know that we’re screwed. Confidence can make all the difference.”

“Why not leave?” Gentle asked. “You could run, couldn’t you?”

“Gather up enough supplies to survive, get everyone ready and packed, and still be far enough away that the Intangibles won’t come after us when they invade the town?” He snorted derisively. “Sure, that’s completely manageable.”

“So...they’ll be here soon?” Cobalt tried to confirm.

“Afraid so. They might get here tomorrow, or in a few hours, or in ten minutes. So unless you’re gonna help us with what’s likely to be a suicide mission defending this hospital, you might want to get going.”

The mare and the child exchanged a look. They both knew what this meant. If they left, they’d be safe, but almost certainly dooming the population of Winterstar - not to mention one of few safe havens in the middle of the Horseshoe Wasteland - to a fight they could never win. They’d all be slaughtered, the hospital would be raided and possibly destroyed, and the Intangibles would go on to kill another day.

But if they stayed to help...Gentle was right. Two ponies wouldn’t make much of a difference. All that’d happen is they’d join the hospital’s residents in death.

So why was it such a hard decision to make?


Quest Updated
THE INVINCIBLE INTANGIBLES
Leave the hospital and escape Winterstar before the Intangibles arrive...or stay and help fight them.


Footnote: Level Up (8)
New Perk: Hunter. You'd rather deal with mutated creatures than ponies. In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.